National Beauty

The kitchen lady began to prepare meals. Lin couldn't wait for her daughter to come in for a long time, so curiously walked to the door of the hall, she saw her daughter standing under the peach tree in the courtyard with her little head up, wearing a pink jacket, combing the top of her head. The two maids were staring at the peach blossoms without blinking, like a statue of a girl.

"An'an, I'm eating, and I'll look at the flowers after dinner." Lin cried out with a smile.

Song Jianing's neck was getting sore. Finally, when her mother got the bait, she rubbed her neck with satisfaction and ran to her mother happily: "Mother, my sister said that the peach blossoms on Peach Blossom Island are all blooming, and the peach blossoms are very beautiful. You take me there too. Right?"

Since ancient times, the widow’s house has a lot of right and wrong. After the death of her husband, Lin didn’t have the mood to play. Secondly, he was worried about incurring gossip, so he stayed in the back house and seldom went out throughout the year. At this time, her daughter acted like a baby. Her first reaction was helpless. She touched her head and said: "My second uncle's family went to admire the flowers and asked you to go. Now, do you regret it?"

Song Jianing pouted and hugged her mother and muttered: "I want to be with my mother, will my mother take me there? I haven't been out for a long time."

Lin heard this, startled. The daughter was lively and active, and she was suffocated during the three years of keeping her filial piety for her husband. Once she became filial, she followed her niece every day. In the morning, she went to find sisters close by nearby to play with her. After the first month's daughter had nightmares for several nights, the little girl stopped moving and stayed by her side every day.

"An An tells the truth with your mother, have you quarreled with your sister?" Lin took her daughter into the house, took a seat, and asked her shoulders.

Song Jianing shook his head blankly: "No, why do you ask?"

The daughter's expression didn't seem to be fake, Lin was even more confused, and asked suspiciously: "Then why don't you go and play with her?"

Song Jianing has made up his mind to alienate her second uncle’s family, and has been waiting for the opportunity to remind her mother that the second uncle’s family is unbearable. At this moment, she lowered her head, holding her little hand, and said, "My sister doesn’t like me, I went to her that day. I heard my second aunt persuading my sister not to bully me. My sister was not happy, so my second aunt said, saying that our family is rich and my sister is kind to me, so my mother is willing to give my second aunt money, and said that when our family's money is used up, my sister can do it. Bullied me."

Lin's face changed abruptly. Her daughter was only ten years old. She only knew how to eat, drink and sleep, and she would definitely not lie. The younger brother and sister...

"Mother, the second aunt asked my sister to bully me, doesn't she also like me?" Song Jianing raised her head and asked with red eyes. She was really wronged, wronged for the harsh treatment of her former uncle.

The daughter was ignorant and pitiful, Lin's eyes flushed suddenly, and she was suddenly very guilty. She has always felt that her life is bitter, and her parents, who are as precious as pearls, have passed away in old age. The brothers and sisters who were once siblings have a soft ear, because the sister-in-law has gradually alienated her, and she has been married to Jiangnan. Died of illness. For the past three years, she has been immersed in misery all day long, but she has forgotten that her daughter has a harder life than her. She has lost her father at a young age. The aunt and cousin whom she really likes seem to be kind, but in fact they have hidden secrets.

"Why? We An An is the best and most sensible. Everyone likes An An." Recalling his tears, Lin's daughter said softly on the forehead.

Song Jianing's big tears fell off. It's nice to have a mother, and it feels so good to be coaxed by her mother.

The daughter cried and cried. Lin panicked. Knowing that her daughter wanted to see slices of peach blossoms, she immediately coaxed: "An An, don’t cry, mother promised to take you out to play, if you cry and swell your eyes, let’s just Can't go out."

Song Jianing burst into laughter suddenly.

Lin also smiled, personally wiped her daughter's face, painted her face again, and took her daughter to dinner.

Breakfast is very simple. The two of you have a bowl of three prawn noodles and a plate of four minced soup dumplings in the middle. These are the childhood tastes that Song Jianing missed deeply. He just spit out the smell of rice and immediately sat down on the mahogany stool. First, he picked up a soup bag, dipped it in the vinegar, and ate it happily.

After eating a soup dumpling, Song Jianing started to eat noodles, two bites of noodles and a shrimp, with meat and vegetables, with relish.

Lin's appetite has been poor for the past three years, but today I don’t know whether he was infected by her daughter’s gluttonous attitude, or she just figured out that she was determined to take good care of her daughter for a lifetime. Seeing her daughter eat so fragrantly, she has an appetite. It came up. I usually only eat a few bites of noodles. I ate all of them this morning, with a soup dumpling.

Song Jianing was overjoyed when he saw it. He picked up the last soup bag to honor his mother: "Mother, eat one more."

Lin shook his head and smiled: "An An eat, mother is full."

Song Jianing glanced at her mother's slender willow waist, misunderstanding that her mother was afraid that she would eat too much meat, so she ate it by herself.

After the meal, Lin asked the maid to inform the coachman to prepare for the mule cart. She went back to the inner room to change her clothes. She replaced the spring jersey embroidered with orchids with a plain bean-green twill, and a white skirt underneath, which was simple and elegant. Dressed inconspicuously on the street. After the clothes were changed, Lin replaced the hosta on his head with a wooden hairpin. The only thing that could not be changed was a beautiful face that was fair and beautiful, one in a million.

Looking at herself in the mirror, Lin suddenly felt sad. When the peach blossoms were in bloom, someone would appreciate her. She was so beautiful, but she liked to appreciate her mates, and she was no longer in the world.

"Madam." The maid Qiuyue walked over with a white hat and whispered.

Lin returned to his senses and smiled faintly.

After getting dressed, Lin took her daughter's chubby hand, led Qiuyue out, walked out of the courtyard gate of the big house, and ran into Hu's hurried footsteps. Because of her daughter's words, Lin didn't like this lady in his heart, but the surface etiquette still had to be maintained, so he temporarily removed the veil and asked the Hu politely: "My younger brother and sister are in a hurry, what happened?"

Hu looked at both Song Jianing and Niang without a trace, and said with a dry smile: "It's okay, it's okay, I heard that you are going out, I'll come and see."

Lin looked down at her daughter, and smiled lightly: "An An wants to see Peach Blossom. I think the weather is good, so take her to Peach Blossom Island."

Hu was secretly overjoyed, but said on his lips: "It is time to go and see, my sister-in-law is bored in the house every day, and it’s good for your body if you go out to breathe. Then you go quickly, there are not many people boarding at the pier at this moment. , I'll have to squeeze later." He said graciously to give up the place.

Lin nodded and led her daughter away.

Hu smiled and sent the wife to the door. Watching her mule car turn with her own eyes, she immediately called her daughter and returned to her family's home in the name of visiting relatives. The two county towns are adjacent to each other, but Lin's walking in a mule cart is slow. When he turns back, his younger brother rides a donkey to chase him. Maybe he can rush to the edge of Taihu Lake ahead of Lin's.

~

The mule cart walked steadily and slowly, but Lin's spring outing with the girl was originally for relaxation, so he was not in a hurry.

The spring in the south of the Yangtze River is good. There are scenery on both sides of an ordinary official road. The shimmering paddy fields, the green willows swaying in the wind, and three or two peach trees and plum trees often come into view, accompanied by crisp and sweet The birds chirping, quiet and serene, just like a timeless picture of the south of the Yangtze River.

"Mother, look at the sky!" Song Jianing was lying by the window watching the scenery, suddenly calling her mother excitedly.

Lin leaned over, raised his head, and saw a group of geese walking in line, heading all the way north.

Touching the scene, Lin suddenly missed his home in Beijing. When her husband passed away, the elder brother came to offer condolences and asked her quietly if she wanted to remarry. Lin didn't want to, and she didn't want to affect her brother-in-law's feelings. If she really wanted to remarry, she had to go back to her natal family first, but the sister-in-law didn't like her.

Touching his daughter's head, Lin sits upright again.

The mule cart walked for half an hour and finally came to the edge of Taihu Lake. The sky was clear and the smoke was vast. The island closest to the shore was Peach Blossom Island. Every spring, the peach blossoms on the island are quite famous in the local area. When the blooming season comes, people from far and near, wealthy businessmen, and government officials will pick a good day to go to the island and enjoy the flowers.

The mother and daughter came early and there was no one on the shore. There were three small boats on the lake. One awning boat had already set off, another awning boat was parked on the side, and there was another simple boat, which ordinary people who were nervous on hand liked to board. . Lin's dowry was generous and well-off. After getting off the bus, the maid Qiuyue went directly to the Wu Peng boat to ask for the price.

"The charter is five dollars, and if the ten people are full, the boat will cost 50 cents per person." The boatman said in the local dialect.

Qiuyue directly took out a five-dollar silver corner and handed it to the boatman: "My wife has chartered a boat."

The boatman smiled and said hello, put away the silver, and graciously set up the boat board.

Lin clenched her daughter's little hand, and the two of them boarded the ship together.

The three masters and servants were seated. Just as the boatman was about to set off, there were two rushing horses hoofs on the shore. Someone shouted, "Wait!"

The voice was full of anger, and the boatman raised his head. Two black-headed horses were already in front of him. The leader was wearing a gray robe, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, and he was very thoughtful, with the aura of a martial artist. Seeing that he was not punting, the thick-browed man slowed down and let the people behind him line up in front of him.

The boatman looked over and was stunned at a glance. The new one, who was in his early thirties, was wearing a black round-necked robe with a white jade pendant hanging around his waist, glowing in the sun with a fascinating light, and he looked like a big family. Look at this person's face again, his eyebrows are like Qingfeng, his eyes are like cold stars, his face is cold, more majestic than the general on the stage.

I could tell that he hadn't noticed when the other party dismounted. When the boatman reacted, the cold-faced man had already stepped aboard the boat.

The boatman was embarrassed. Just as he was about to explain that the boat had been taken off by someone, the backward man suddenly threw something over. The boatman instinctively caught it and looked down. The good guy was actually a small ingot. The boatman kicked the ingot into his arms with a grin. He didn't move and listened to the movement in the boat. If the three women didn't make trouble, he would punt the boat away silently and earn two money.

Qiuyue showed indignation and asked her master with her eyes. As long as the wife gave an order, she immediately went to the boatman for theory.

Lin was wearing a drapery hat, glanced at the two of them quickly through the veil, and shook his head at Qiuyue impenetrably.

Qiuyue also saw that the two new men were not easy to provoke, so she lowered her head sensibly, not looking at what shouldn't be, so as not to cause trouble.

On the other side of the Lin family, Song Jianing had wanted to take a look and then retracted her gaze, but I don’t know why, the more she looked at the man in black, the more familiar she became. The more familiar she became, the more she couldn’t help staring at it, trying to remember what she was. I haven't seen this person somewhere. As a result, he was too engrossed, and the man in black suddenly looked at her, his gaze sharp as a knife.

Song Jianing panicked and hurriedly hid back. Then, at the moment when he met the man's eyes, Song Jianing suddenly remembered. She had never seen this man in black, but she had spent a full seven years with an aristocratic child who resembled each other, and that person was the famous Prince Weiguo in the capital...

Guo Xiao.