Xichun, the first daughter of the Red Chamber

On December [-]th, as soon as the clapper was struck at the third watch, the whole Rongguo Mansion became active.

Mrs. Wang hardly slept last night. Today, when she heard the sound of the clapper at the third watch, she got up before the servant girl called her, and urged the maidservant to fetch water to wash up.

When Mrs. Wang hurried to Jia Mu's yard, Jia Mu also packed up.

Wang said with a smile: "Why did mother wake up so early today? You should sleep more."

Mother Jia smiled and asked Mrs. Wang to help her to sit by the table, "I can't fall asleep when I think that sister Yuan can go home today."

"It's been so many years in a blink of an eye. I remember that Sister Yuan was not as long as my arms when she was born, and she was also when she entered the palace..." Mother Jia patted Wang's hand, "I know you have been thinking about Sister Yuan all these years. Son, why am I not? Today is the day when Sister Yuan comes back, we must do our best to give our Sister Yuan more face!"

With tears in her eyes, Mrs. Wang sighed, and hurriedly sent food to serve Jia Mu for breakfast.

After breakfast, Mrs. Wang asked Mother Jia to wait in the living room to entertain the guests, "I'm a clumsy tongue, so I have to work hard for my mother to help entertain the guests."

Mother Jia naturally agreed, so Wang went to see the ladies in charge again, and asked again carefully.

Have you put away the antiques displayed everywhere?Has it been dusted?Have you ever fed the various birds you purchased?Is the place where the birds are kept cleaned?Is the troupe over there in the garden ready?And are the servant girls below restrained?It can't be messed up for a while.

The women in charge below are also dressed up in festive clothes today, and they are all ready to answer when they hear Wang's question.

This one said that the antiques had been set up long ago, and the master took people to look at them a few days ago, and they checked them again last night; The place looks like a scene; that one even smiled and said that the maids and women did not sleep last night, and they were staring everywhere.

Mrs. Wang nodded, "I'm tired of you today. After today, everyone will be rewarded with a month's money!"

Everyone thanked and congratulated again, and when it was five o'clock, Mother Jia hurriedly changed into clothes and make-up again, and led the family members of the family to wait at the gate. Jia Zheng also led people to the intersection of Ningrong Street to wait. with.

Ningrong Street was cleared a few days ago, and then fences and curtains were built, and water was sprinkled early in the morning to avoid dust.

Although there were many people, there was no confusion at all. People from Jia's East Mansion did not participate, but there were also many servant girls who sneaked away to watch the excitement.

The spring equinox and a few little maids also went, and when they came back, they said to Xichun: "Those people don't know how long they have been training. After going today, several of them found their own positions and stood up with their eyes closed."

Xichun smiled, "Where do these people stand, how do they stand, how do they enter and how do they retreat? If the eunuchs in these palaces are not taught well, they will not agree to their request to ask Concubine Xiande to visit her relatives, otherwise it will be a mess and be lost." But the royal face."

Entering the painting, he said again: "We originally thought about going to see what the guard of honor of the concubines in the palace looked like, but after waiting for so long, no one came, and the eunuchs came one after another. I secretly listened to a few words, I heard Concubine Xiande just got up now, she has to go to worship the Buddha first, then go to pay her respects to the Empress Dowager, and also to ask the Supreme Emperor to resign, when she arrives, it will probably be almost after lunch."

Li Chun frowned, "Then those people have been waiting like this? Many people are old. In such a cold day, standing in the cold wind for so long, I don't know how many people can hold on."

Xichun smiled, "You think they don't know? If you look carefully, you will find that they are standing almost out of the wind, and Doctor Jiang Tang has already prepared them."

Xichun put down the gift list in her hand, "No one came to the door today, let's go and clear the warehouse."

As Ruhua said, the guard of honor of Concubine Xiande did not appear until after lunch.

First, ten or so pairs of eunuchs in red stood at a certain distance apart, and then there was the faint sound of music.

After a while, seven or eight couples of eunuchs and maids held dragon and phoenix flags, and pheasant feathers and Kui heads walked in the front. Five or six couples of court ladies carried gold furnaces with imperial incense burning in them. Feng Jinjin came over with an umbrella, followed by several pairs of eunuchs on duty holding incense beads, embroidered handkerchiefs, rinsing bowls, dust whisks and other utensils.

After the teams passed by, a gold-topped golden phoenix embroidered palace was carried slowly by eight eunuchs.

Jia Zheng led the people to kneel down hastily, and the eunuch who accompanied them came forward to ask them to get up, and followed the driver. When they reached the gate, Jia Mu also led a group of people to kneel down, and another eunuch came forward to ask them to get up.

The middle door of Rongguo Mansion was wide open, and the driver entered slowly, and finally stopped in front of a courtyard.

Mother Jia bowed and asked Concubine Xiande to come down and change her clothes.

Concubine Xiande promised to go into the house to change clothes.

At this time, all the eunuchs also withdrew, only the female officials and maids were left waiting.

When Jia Yuanchun came out, Jia's mother, Jia Zheng, invited her to board the boat again.

Because Jia Amnesty and Jia Jing didn't take out any space, the final garden was built in a long strip, with a running water running through the front and back, and the scenery was built along the river.

Jia Yuanchun got on the boat and slowly enjoyed the scenery along the river. Jia Zheng explained to her and said that if you are interested, you can enjoy it after getting off the boat.

At the same time, Jia Zheng also mentioned that these places have not yet been named.

Jia Yuanchun noticed that words had been mentioned on those plaques, "Then there are words on the plaques?"

Jia Zheng said with a smile: "These are all mentioned by Baoyu's child. If the empress is interested, please give me another name."

Jia Yuanchun nodded, saying that he would look at it carefully before mentioning it.

Jia Yuanchun noticed that even though it was deep winter, there were still buds and flowers blooming by the river. Looking closely, the leaves on the tree were fake leaves, but the flowers were real flowers.

Jia Zheng explained: "If you visit the garden in winter and see only dead branches and loess, you will not be happy, so I made leaves with silk and velvet paper, and decorated them with flowers from the greenhouse."

There are also stone railings on both sides of the river bank, and every other section there is a crystal glass wind lamp of various colors, lit like silver flowers and snow waves.

Jia Yuanchun frowned, "This is too extravagant."

Jia Zhengdao: "Your Majesty is thrifty, and we will naturally follow suit. Most of the silk, satin, and velvet paper used to make leaves are leftovers from the house on weekdays. Now, you won’t be afraid to waste it later.”

Jia Yuanchun hummed and said no more. As for whether she believed Jia Zheng's statement, only she knew.

When he arrived at the inner harbor, Jia Yuanchun got off the boat, boarded the boat again, and arrived in front of a palace.

There is also a stone archway in front of the palace, with the words "Heavenly Immortal Mirror" written on it. When Jia Yuanchun saw it, he quickly asked someone to replace it with "Visiting Family Villa."

When they arrived at the palace, Jia Yuanchun sat in the first place, the music gradually started, and the female officials at the side stood up and sang the salute, and the salute was completed after offering tea three times.

Jia Yuanchun went to the side hall to change clothes again, and when he came out, he took the family-speaking carriage to Jiamu's yard.

Jia Zheng couldn't enter here, and Jia's mother and Wang went forward to invite Jia Yuanchun to enter.

When they arrived at Jia Mu's main courtyard, the maids accompanying Jia Yuanchun were also sent out by holding the piano, leaving only a few standing outside the door to wait.

Jia Yuanchun had tears in his eyes, and wanted to perform the family salute. Jia's mother and Wang's knelt down immediately. Jia Yuanchun didn't salute, but stepped forward to help the two of them. The three looked at each other and wept. Wang Xifeng Yingchun and others , and all followed suit.

After the three of them were seated, it was Jia Yuanchun who calmed down and said, "I finally went home, why did I start crying instead of talking and laughing? When I leave, I don't know when I will come back next time." .”

Only then did Jia's mother and Wang's stop crying, and introduced the people waiting at the side to Jia Yuanchun.

Jia Yuanchun met them one by one, and said: "Why don't you see the fourth sister, and sister Xiangyun, Aunt Xue and Sister Baochai?"

Jia Mu replied: "Sister Mei is now serving her father in the mansion to recuperate from illness, and she can't get away from her body. As for the others, their relatives have no job and are not family members. How dare they enter without authorization."

Jia Yuanchun nodded, and hurriedly let Shi Xiangyun, Xue's mother and daughter come in.

The three of them came in again and said hello.

After seeing the people, Jia's mother invited Jia Yuanchun to visit the garden again.

Jia Yuanchun agreed, and a group of people went to the garden again.

Jia Yuanchun glanced at the plaques everywhere, and said with a soft smile: "Baoyu mentioned these, right? Being able to mention these must have improved a lot in knowledge."

After finishing speaking, she asked why Jia Baoyu didn't come to accompany her, and Jia's mother hurriedly said, "No instructions, how can outsiders enter."

Jia Yuanchun smiled, "Baoyu was also brought by me for several years, and he is my younger brother. What kind of outsider is he? Call him here quickly."

Wang hurriedly asked someone to call, and after a while Jia Baoyu came in a hurry.

Jia Yuanchun visited several gardens he was interested in, and named them again, and finally ordered Jia Baoyu and others to write poems with the names of various yards.

Jia Yuanchun carefully looked at the poems made by everyone, "Just looking at the poems, everyone has merits, and it can be said that they are superior, only Daiyu and Baochai, but..."

Jia Yuanchun took out two poems, "Baoyu Xiangyun's poems happen to have the same artistic conception and use similar allusions. If I hadn't watched you write them with my own eyes, I would think they were written by the two of you after discussion. "

Jia Mu said with a smile: "Your Majesty doesn't know, these two children eat, live and play together since they were young, so naturally they think the same way."

Jia Yuanchun nodded, "It's really rare to have such a connection."

Jia Yuanchun said with a smile: "Both of them are in their prime now, if that's the case, I wonder if the historian of the Jia family would like me to be the matchmaker?"

Mother Wang of Jia was naturally happy, and immediately stepped forward and knelt down to thank him. Shi Xiangyun also looked at Jia Baoyu with surprise.

At this moment, Shi Xiangyun's personal maid, Cuilu, knelt down with a pale face and said, "Your Majesty, my young lady has a marriage contract."

Cui Hui tremblingly said: "This marriage was arranged by Miss's parents while they were still alive, and they also exchanged Geng stickers and tokens."

Shi Xiangyun was annoyed: "Although we have made a marriage contract, we have never visited the door for so many years."

Cui Hui was about to cry, "Miss, Wei's family visits the house, and the four festivals and eight ceremonies are also complete every year. When the young lady reaches the age, the wedding date is fixed. The golden unicorn worn by the young lady's neck is just a keepsake."

Shi Xiangyun was anxious, grabbed the golden unicorn around his neck and wanted to throw it away, but Cuilu hurried forward to stop it.

Jia Yuanchun's expression also faded. Today's engagement to Shi Xiangyun and Jia Baoyu was agreed by Jia's mother before. She also knew that Shi Xiangyun had a marriage contract, but as long as she didn't know it in front of outsiders, she would be able to make a mistake of the marriage, but now The servant girl directly stabbed it out, and she couldn't force the Shi family to dissolve Shi Xiangyun's engagement, otherwise it would be her fault if it spread.

Jia Yuanchun said: "Since this is the case, I was reckless. I only cared about doing good things, but I forgot to ask first."

The others naturally said it was all right, and the empress also had good intentions.