in spring

Chapter 76

The news that the imperial decree was coming was sent back to the mansion when the decree-issuing team was still two miles away from the Hou's mansion.Therefore, his wife, An Shi, arranged for the reception of the order early, and ordered people to notify the children and daughters-in-law.

When Huanhuaxuan got the news, it was also a mess.Mei Xiang urged Man Ru to take out the newly made gown and put it on for the third young master Li You, while talking about various precautions to the latter, Li You became impatient, hurriedly dressed and left.

Because when receiving the decree, a maid was needed to wait on the side, and Ping An sent a letter from outside the second gate to each courtyard to summon the handsome maid.In Huanhua Pavilion, Yanzhi, Manru, and Chen'er are the most beautiful. Mei Xiang picks the first two. Chen'er is very upset and complains to Lan Xiang in private, but Lan Xiang tells her to shut up.

Rouge was still looking clean, someone brought a maid uniform for pick-up from outside, she tried it on slowly, and complained that it didn't fit.Mei Xiang frowned and said: "If you don't want to, then you don't have to go, we don't want you alone in our house! So that you won't be in trouble!"

Rouge was short of breath for a while, she turned her head to look out of the window at Manru who had changed clothes and was waiting in the corridor, bit her lip, and quickened her movements.

As soon as she changed, Mei Xiang pushed her out of the door without waiting for her to fix her hair accessories and makeup, and ordered Manru to pull her out.Rouge walked all the way, her face was ashen. The little girls caught a glimpse in the front yard and secretly joked that she was a fake daughter pretending to be a young lady, but she was actually a silver wax gun head.

Chunying guessed in her heart that they were probably making fun of Yan Zhi, who was a maidservant, but she acted like a lady?Speaking of which, she hasn't seen Rouge for several days. It seems that the other party doesn't go out of the room except for occasionally opening the window to let in the air. The bath water was brought in by the little girl.The timid Xiaoling seemed to have become Rouge's exclusive girl.

Chunying looked at her back and sighed.It's not okay for a girl to do this. Didn't Yanzhi realize that she has been marginalized in Huanhuaxuan?Most of the maids ignored her existence, but couldn't suppress their jealousy towards her.If one day she really becomes the third young master's concubine, how will she survive here?

Chunying shook her head, lowered her head and continued making a pair of shoes in her hand.These are a pair of men's shoes, the size of the third young master. Recently, Mei Xiang seems to occasionally give her some work, asking her to participate in the production of the third young master's clothes and shoes.To be honest, it's not an easy job and you have to rework it all the time.

"Chun'er! Chun'er!" Someone called her outside the gate, Chunying looked up and found that it was Manru: "What's wrong? Didn't you go to the front?"

"Come on! I have something to trouble you to help." Manru seemed very anxious, Chunying hurriedly put down her needle and thread and ran over, but was dragged away by her: "What's the matter? What are you in such a hurry for?"

While running, Manru lowered her voice and said: "The little girl Chen is looking for, one of them has gone somewhere, and she is looking for someone to make up for it. When I heard about this, I thought of you. This is very good. Errands, you just need to stand there, and you will be rewarded when the work is over. Let's run faster, don't let anyone take the lead!"

"Huh?!" Chunying was very surprised, and immediately stopped, "Is this okay? Didn't you mean to find a pretty girl? And... I have never done such a thing!"

Man Ru anxiously said: "After you put on your clothes and stand there, don't you mean you are uglier than others? Just standing, it's very easy, come quickly, if you are late, it will be too late!"

Chunying hesitated for a moment, thinking about how much time it would take for him to stand in the hotel for several hours at a stretch, to receive an order?If it is really beneficial, it would be a good job, but...she asked: "Sister Cui, why did you find me?"

"After all, we grew up in the same courtyard. We are our own people. If we don't look for you, do we want to take advantage of others? Let's go!"

Chunying immediately made a decision, and ran all the way to the front yard with Manru, turned into the east wing, and walked out a woman in front of her: "Are you here? Quick, change your clothes!" Chunying fixed her eyes, It was Widow Cui!It's just that she is wearing a dark brown bijia and a gray-blue jacket and skirt, with an old woman's low bun on her hair. Except for a silver hairpin and a pair of silver earrings, she has no accessories. She is old-fashioned, just like the one in her impression. The remaining women are almost in two shapes!
Widow Cui smiled at Chunying, then stuffed a stack of clothes into her hands, and pointed to the screen behind her: "The imperial envoy will be here soon, hurry up and change your clothes, and your elder sister Man will help you."

Chunying took the clothes to the screen and found that it was a light green fine silk dress with simple and elegant orchid patterns embroidered on the neckline, cuffs and hem of the skirt. There was also a dark blue short bijia. Embroidery, but the material is obviously more advanced than what Mei Xiang and the other big girls wear.Chunying hurriedly changed her upper body, and Manru arranged the belt and other details for her, and someone outside was already urging her.

Widow Cui responded to the man, then hurriedly turned her head and said to Chunying, "I'll wait in the back later, I can't remind you all the time, you have to obey the orders of the stewards outside. Sister Man is waiting outside the hall Yes, you stand in the porch with other little girls, remember, don’t make a sound, don’t look around, when others kneel, you kneel, don’t make mistakes, you know?”

Chunying agreed, and Manru pushed her out hastily.When he got outside, a somewhat familiar steward came over and asked if it was a little girl, and then motioned her to follow him.Manru whispered "Be careful", and hurriedly followed Widow Cui to the main hall.

Chunying came to the corridor on the right in front of the hall, and there were already seven or eight little girls about her age standing there, each of them was about half a zhang away, all of them were green shirts and young girls, and their hairstyles were similar to hers. The same is a double servant girl.She listened to the steward's order, stood at the end of the line, and quietly looked at the opposite corridor, there were also the same number of little girls, and there were two rows of servants in the courtyard, all of them were male servants of about the same age and with good looks. Hold your breath and be careful.She didn't dare to be careless, and learned to stand with her head down and her hands down.

At this time, the sound of carriages and horses and the footsteps of the crowd came from the direction of the gate.After a while, a large group of people poured into the courtyard. Although there were many people, everyone was quiet. Standing in the corridor, Chunying could clearly hear Lord Hou talking to a loud male voice, courteously pursuing each other. , the man also boasted that the houses in the Hou's mansion are very imposing, but the Hou Ye kept saying modestly that he didn't dare to regard them as old houses. The courtyard of the Taishi's house is admirable, and so on.

Could it be that Grand Master Liang mentioned by the third young master and Zhou Nian?Chunying resisted the urge to raise her head, until their voices entered the room, and then took a peek carefully, just in time to see the third young master in a brand new red dress getting ready to go up the steps, looking at that action, she seemed not very happy.Behind him was the young mistress and young ladies with a big belly, and the eldest and second young masters were at the end.

Then, the voice of the imperial decree was read out in the hall, and Chunying knelt down along with the other maids.The imperial decree was written in ancient Chinese, parallel, four and six, and she didn't understand it. She only roughly understood that the long list of bottles, bowls, beads, and satins that were read later were all good things.The Emperor Dare to Love is rewarding the Marquis Mansion?Could it be that he apologized in disguise for the fact that the Empress Dowager detained Princess Jing earlier?

After reading the imperial decree, the hall returned to calm. It seemed that the masters of the Hou Mansion wanted to talk to the imperial envoy and treat him to a cup of tea and some snacks.From a distance, Chunying saw Man Ru, Yan Zhi and four other beautiful maids going in with tea in their hands, and after a while, they came out with a graceful posture, as if they were stepping on lotus flowers.From Chunying's point of view, Manru's appearance is considered average among the six people, but her walking posture is the most ordinary one.

I don't know if it was because the walk was not beautiful enough, Manru and another maid were removed by the steward, and only the remaining four continued to wait by the door for orders.Manru lowered her head and walked down the corridor with small steps, came to Chunying, raised her head and gave her a forced smile, then stood behind her and did not leave.Chunying hesitated to say something to comfort her, but thinking that now is not the time, she had no choice but to give up her thoughts.

The courtyard was peaceful, only voices and laughter could be heard from the hall from time to time. Suddenly, Master Hou yelled: "Nie Zi, what kind of dignity is this?! Why don't you get out of here quickly?!"

Everyone outside the door was startled, and then, it was the third young master Li You who ran out, with a look of dismay.Chunying also had no choice but to agree to the ban on looking around, and hurriedly probed to see what was going on.

Li You glanced at the courtyard, his eyes stopped on the soldiers guarding the door, then he ran to Chunying and Manru angrily, and cursed at the latter: "What clothes did you prepare for me?! Look! It’s all torn!” He unfolded his sleeves, and saw a tear on the left cuff, which was torn by something, which shocked Manru: “This... how could this happen? I’ve clearly checked... ..." "I don't care! Go and get me another one right away! How shameful you are to wear rags in front of the imperial envoy!"

Manru's face was pale, she bowed to him with a trembling voice, and quickly ran out the door.Chunying was staring at the crack on the sleeve, suspecting that it was accidentally torn by the third young master himself, so she was frightened by his scolding: "What are you still doing here?! Why don't you catch up?!"

Chunying was about to respond, but she heard the third young master hurriedly said in an almost inaudible voice: "Go and tell Brother Nian to hide and the officers and soldiers are coming to arrest him!" She couldn't help being stunned, and looked up at the third young master She shouted loudly again: "You idiot, get out of here!" She blinked and ran away immediately.

Just as she was leaving the hospital, a scabbard blocked her. She hurriedly stopped and saw a young man who looked like an officer. He looked at her with a stern face before putting away the scabbard.Chunying caught a glimpse of the cold light flashing on the spear held by the soldier next to him, and then looked at the officer's knife. She felt a little weak on her feet, and as soon as she gritted her teeth, she rushed towards the backyard.

She quickly caught up with Manru, and Manru turned her head when she heard her footsteps, and said in a crying voice, "How could the third young master's clothes be broken? I checked them before putting them on! Could it be?" Accidentally hooked on a branch or something?"

"Maybe..." Chunying replied dryly, thinking that the third young master probably made it up by himself.

Manru bit her lip, quickened her pace, and rushed towards Huanhuaxuan, her mind was full of counting the most likely new dresses that the third young master could wear in spring, but she didn't realize that Chunying, who was running behind her, had quietly Turned on another road and went in the direction of the garden.

Chunying ran close to the garden, and as soon as she saw a corner of the garden gate, she quickly hid in the bushes next to her, carefully poking her head out to look around.At some time, a group of soldiers came to the gate of the garden and started arguing with the women guarding the gate. Judging from their tone, it seemed that they planned to block the garden.

Pozi Zhu yelled at the leading officer: "Keep your eyes wide open to see clearly! This is not a place for you to run wild! If you don't get lost, be careful that our Marquis punishes you!"

But the officer snorted coldly and gave his subordinates a wink. Immediately, two soldiers came up to hold Pozi Zhu, moved her aside, and let her yell, ignoring her.He also coldly said to the other panicked women: "How many gates are there in the garden? Lead the way! Be obedient, and the official will not hurt you!"

The mothers-in-law looked at each other, and their expressions were already shaken.

Chunying was shocked, did these people come to arrest Zhou Nian?With them blocking the door, how would she report the news? !

(It’s almost the end of the month, ask for a pink ticket~~~)
(End of this chapter)