Love of Friends in the Red Chamber

After the new year, Miss Feng was ill during a miscarriage, and Tanchun, Li Wan, and Baochai took care of the housework. The three of them met every day in the three small flower halls to the south of the entrance of the Grand View Garden.Today the three of them were discussing about celebrating Daiyu's birthday during the Huachao Festival, Tanchun sighed: "I also thought that Sister Lin would be more grand than usual this year, but Sister Feng is ill. , the old lady and his wife also have a lot of outside parties, so they don't have time to spare. They thought it would be easy to do, and I told Sister Lin once, and Sister Lin also agreed-she doesn't like lively people. Who Zhiqianer's old lady, Tetel, called me over and gave me 50 taels of silver, so that the name would be thicker than previous years' birthdays. It seems that I was trying to save money and was afraid of trouble, and deliberately treated Sister Lin slowly..."

Li Wan immediately took over the conversation: "Third sister, don't say that, the old lady doesn't understand what's going on? Of course she knows the reason we use it for the festival, and she agrees, otherwise she won't let you A girl came to meddle in the housework. It’s just that sister Lin’s status is different from that of the past. The uncle of the Lin family has just been promoted to the third-rank servant. Looking at the face of the Lin family, I also want to celebrate this birthday for sister Lin."

Baochai pursed her lips and said with a smile: "Sister-in-law is very right. I have a birthday gift from the Lin family that I copied from the old lady. There are six pairs of Jiji's combs alone. People who don't pay attention At first glance, it doesn't say it's a birthday gift, but it looks like I copied some young lady's dowry list." When Li Wan and Tanchun hurriedly took it over to look at it, they saw that it read:

Jewelry: a pair of floral ivory combs, chi pattern rhino horn combs, white jade wishful combs, filigree agate combs, emerald lotus leaf combs, and red gold brocade combs; a set of red gold emerald emerald head and face jewelry; a red gold head and face jewelry inlaid with south beads ; a piece of mutton fat jade Pisces bismuth; a piece of jasper happy brow.

Clothes: a brocade feather satin cloak with plum pattern of Yunfei, a plain brocade cloak with white fox fur with silver silk and white border, a jacket with silver and red sprinkled flowers and gold thread embroidered folded branches of plum blossoms, Yunfei makeup brocade satin and colorful hundreds of flowers and flying butterflies One piece of jacket, one piece of gold silk satin cloud mist Ruyi cotton skirt, one piece of gold peach silk cotton skirt with Yunfei makeup flower satin, a pair of four-color begonia embroidered shoes with gold silk edge, and one pair of Yunyan Ruyi water ripple phoenix wing satin shoes.

Money and objects: a set of ink crystal dragon pattern stationery, a ream of Song paper, a volume of Zhao Zigu's "Narcissus Picture and Book Fu" ink and color on silk in the Southern Song Dynasty, a piece of emerald with incense and Ju Ruixun, an enamel music box, gold Ten pairs of gold coins, twenty pairs of silver coins, and two hundred strings of clear money.

Li Wan looked surprised and said: "If this is a small family, you can really get a decent dowry. There will always be 5000 taels of silver, right?" Tanchun was silent, but Baochai continued: "More What is rare is the heart. Zhao Zigu’s picture of narcissus in this picture was added by the sister-in-law of the Lin family in the twelfth lunar month years ago. She said that she loves narcissus. Miss Qianjin is dignified and dignified, and every action she makes is caring and considerate." Li Wan said with a smile: "It is true that the Lin family is also well-mannered, and Miss Lin is also caring."

The three of them discussed in this way, and then they discussed the business. After a while, they talked about where to hold a banquet, when to congratulate, what drama to play, what banquet to set up, etc., and ordered them one by one.

On the day of the Huachao Festival, Daiyu got up early in the morning, served by Zijuan and Biye, changed into a few different clothes, added a few more pearls, hairpins and jade ornaments to her hair, and went up to the main hall in the garden.In the garden, the grass grows and the warblers fly, the willows are green and the flowers are red, and the multicolored silk sash is tied on various flowers and trees, all of which are thriving. , I can arrange future affairs calmly..." Thinking like this, I suddenly saw Li Wan accompanying the Lin family's second grandmother, Lu Lexuan, coming to welcome her. The Lu family is a Xifeng-style character, with humorous words and a straightforward temperament. With her, there is no need to worry about being left alone. , so Aunt Lin brought her here today, just to make up for Sister Feng's absence.So Le Xuan took Daiyu, and the aunt and sister-in-law went to the banquet affectionately.

All of a sudden everyone came together, and Daiyu sat next to Jia Mu at the main table. The only ones at the same table were Aunt Lin, Baoqin, Xiangyun and Baoyu. But she couldn't listen to a word, she just chatted privately with Daiyu, and Jia Mu just smiled kindly, showing no sign of inappropriateness.But Xiangyun couldn't stand being lonely, and interrupted from time to time, complaining that Baoyu didn't listen to the play well, it was just gossip.Aunt Lin knew that the little girl was jealous, so she just smiled inscrutablely.

Today, Jia Cong was called by Madam Xing to his table, sharing the same table with Madam Wang, Yingchun, Tanchun, and Xichun. Madam Xing never cared about Yingchun, but Madam Wang and Tanchun really looked like a couple. Mother and daughter, one loving, one filial, quite seductive.Jia Cong was thinking wildly, but suddenly heard Mrs. Wang talking to him: "I heard that Cong'er is going to go to the final examination for talent in two months?" Brother Zhu also went to take the exam at your age. After three years of exams, he was selected as a scholar, but he was exhausted..." She was a little teary, and Jia Cong said quickly: "My father said let me enter. Seeing the world, although you can’t pass the test, you still know some internal and external rules.” Madam Wang nodded, but Madam Xing said proudly: “I heard from the master that Cong’er’s understanding is very high, maybe he can pass the test once. In addition to talent and learning, the imperial examination also depends on luck."

Mrs. Wang took a deep breath and ignored her, but suddenly turned her head and said to Baoyu who was chatting happily with Daiyu: "You should calm down, you see that Cong'er is working hard every day, and this year he will be the best." It's time to take the talent test. Your father will come back in autumn, so be careful to beat you when he comes back." Baoyu felt uncomfortable when he was splashed with cold water.Jia's mother immediately stopped her and said, "Listen to the play carefully. What are you talking about? " Mrs. Wang didn't dare to make a sound, but Aunt Lin couldn't help laughing: "It turns out that these are not important things."

After a feast ended happily, Daiyu's status in the Grand View Garden seemed to be above everyone else. Fortunately, she had a gentle temperament. The original small personality was actually sensitive to helplessness. Now she is at ease in her heart and handles things flexibly and thoughtfully Not inferior to Baochai.Needless to say, the sisters in the Grand View Garden were originally on good terms with Daiyu, and we know that she has always been loved by Jiamu, and the granddaughters are always behind, while the maids and maids used to be orphaned because Daiyu was an orphan. Although she didn't dare to offend her because of Jia Mu, after all she had some thoughts of contempt, Daiyu was very smart, how could she not know, no one would shed tears of sadness, now that Daiyu has the support of the Lin family, those people immediately catch up fawn on.

Now the momentum of Jia's mansion is gradually declining. Although it looks like it is still full of flowers and flowers, the inner bag is actually exhausted.Tanchun is a talented and ambitious person. Although she is well aware of the family's shortcomings, but due to her limited status, she has no words to say, so she just forbears it. Now that Sister Feng is ill and Mrs. Wang trusts her, she insists on rectifying it. Disadvantages, prosperous family business.After some reform measures, the weather in the Grand View Garden is very different from the past.However, what she has the right to revoke is only the two taels of money for makeup and powder every month for the girls, and the eight taels of money for pens and inks for the family schools of Baoyu, Jia Huan, Jia Cong, and Jia Lan every year. The expenses are limited, and all the gardens and gardens are contracted to After the individual, those daughters-in-law and mother-in-law will naturally not be moved by a grass, a flower, or a fruit. Although the intention is good, although it can save 400 taels of silver in a year, it is a drop in the bucket and does not help.Aunt Lin watched coldly, knowing better than anyone else that although she admired the three girls as women, she deeply knew that the 400 taels of silver saved was not enough for a powerful eunuch in the palace to make an autumn wind.

In addition, the palace has always been "but the newcomers laugh, but the old ones cry". Yuanchun was favored for a short time, and the expenses were huge. [-]. The lords of the palaces make New Year's and birthday gifts, and the second is to reward the eunuchs and maids, which can be thousands of taels of silver in less than a year.Her life in the palace was also difficult. The chief eunuch often came to Jia's mansion to borrow money to ask for rewards under the name of imperial concubine. He became more and more daring, Mrs. Wang, Sister Feng and others in Rongfu couldn't tell what they were suffering, and they didn't dare to offend them, lest Yuanchun would suffer.

Naturally, the servants of the family don't know about these things, so the Grand View Garden is still lively and lively.However, under the arrangement of Aunt Lin, Daiyu's Xiaoxiang Pavilion is properly arranged.Aunt Lin, the old Zhuma who contracted the bamboo forest, directly rewarded her with one year's interest in advance, and only asked her to do some work of planting and tidying up. Come out, chop all the bamboo and sell it for money.In addition, every flower and grass sent to the Xiaoxiang Pavilion received ten times the reward, so Daiyu's daily use was not affected at all.And Baochai has already informed the various places in advance, all the rules will not be used. Tanchun and Li Wan are managing the housework, and no one dares to detain them. Only Yingchun and Xichun are suffering, especially Xiuyan lives in Yingchun. , received a lot of dark air.

In April, when it was Yingchun's birthday, there was no wine for guests in the Rong Mansion, they just got together to eat noodles.Yingchun has always been easy-going, she doesn't know what to say, all the daughters-in-law and maids in her yard became annoyed, rumors spread in front of Yingchun, Yingchun couldn't help it, but just ignored it.Her nanny was originally a muddled person, so at this time, she expressed her displeasure with Jia's mother: "They are all daughters, not to mention that our girl is a granddaughter, and Miss Lin is a granddaughter. How can you make your birthday more generous to outsiders and less to your own family?" Everyone agreed, and the nanny became more and more wanton, and turned her resentment to Xiuyan: "It's no wonder, Miss Lin is so generous? She has good relatives to help her, and she wants money and people, so she can't complain." I have face in front of the old lady. Our place is good, a relative is free, and every month I don’t say a tael of silver for free, and all the expenses are asked here..."

Xiuyan couldn't listen to it in the room, and couldn't argue with these people, so she hid quietly, feeling wronged and depressed, as she walked along the flower corridor, she secretly wiped away her tears.Due to the flood in her family, her property was lost, so she had no choice but to go to Mrs. Xing, but Mrs. Xing was unwilling to take a piece of money to settle her elder brother, and only let Xiuyan allocate one or two of the two months' money to her parents. If there is anything that is not enough, it will be used evenly by Yingchun.Yingchun is not enough for herself, how can I even give Xiuyan, I have to buy everything by myself, and in the midst of riches and honor, the clothes should not be too shabby, others think she is very simple, but they don't know that she is trying her best extravagant.And rewarding servants made her even more stretched... No one told her all kinds of troubles.

It was getting late, and Xiuyan knew that she would still have to listen to the noise and complaints from those people when she went back. Naturally, it was not easy to eat dinner, but if she just sat here and was seen by others, what kind of gossip would come out—poor her nowhere to go.He and Miaoyu have always been on good terms, but at this time, it is time for the evening class to read scriptures in Changcui Nunnery, so it is not easy to disturb; Li Wan and Tanchun's affairs are complicated, and people come and go; Baochai is very good. But recently she heard from her aunt that the Xue family wanted to hire her to be Xue Biao's daughter-in-law, so they should avoid suspicion, and it was not good to take the initiative to go to Baochai; Go get close to her; Baoyu is a man again... Thinking of this, I can't help but come to Xiaoxiang Pavilion.

Entering the Xiaoxiang Pavilion, I saw dense bamboo shadows, quiet and elegant, and the maids inside and outside were respectful and cautious. Seeing her coming, Xueyan hurriedly lifted the curtain and said with a smile: "Miss Xing is here." Daiyu was leaning on the bed. Concubine Xiang appraised several fans carefully on the couch, and when she saw Xiuyan coming in, she got up and gave up her seat with a smile.Xiuyan asked, "How is Sister Lin?" Daiyu said, "Sister Xie, she remembered it and came to see her specially. This spring, the old illness did not reoccur, only a slight cough. I have been recuperating in my room for the past two days. I'm with the sisters, and I'm looking forward to a sister coming to talk." At a moment, Xiang'er brought tea, Xiuyan drank the tea, and asked, "What is my sister doing?" Daiyu smiled and took the tea in her hand. He handed over a bunch of fans and said: "It's almost summer, my aunt sent some fans, let me choose the one I like to use, and give it to relatives in this house. My sister came just in time, let's see which one I like, I will give it to you." elder sister."

When Xiuyan heard this, she was not polite. When she looked closely, there were two types of fans: round fans and folding fans. The calligraphy and paintings on the fans were all written by Dong, Wen, Mi and Zheng. , ebony, brown bamboo, varnish, inlaid with gold and silver threads, inlaid with mother-of-pearl and other top-grade materials. Everyone in the Grand View Garden usually uses round fans, but Xiuyan only chooses a folding fan. The fan surface is Dong Qichang's ink lotus. Fu Luping can't bear to look at it, and she admires it in the light mist of Qionglu. The fish leaps and the magpie talks about the green plum, and the good day silently talks about bathing in the rain." Small and exquisite suet jade fan pendant.

Daiyu laughed and said, "My sister has good taste. I often use round fans in my boudoir. They are full of makeup and fragrance. After all, they are not as elegant as folding fans. Folding fans are very good, but unfortunately they don't have any ancient meaning." Xiuyan wondered: "I only love this one. Things are ready to use when unfolded, and easy to hide when folded. How can you say that there is no ancient meaning?" Daiyu laughed and said: "The folding fan is also called the bone-gathering fan. It was originally a Koryo tribute. Su Dongpo said, 'The Korean white pine fan can be spread more than a foot wide, and it can only be closed when it is closed. Two-finger Xu' was only popular in China during the Yongle period, so it has no ancient meaning." Xiuyan nodded and said, "So that's the case, but these fans seem to be old, and they seem to be objects that can no longer be obtained." Daiyu He laughed and said: "These fan bones were made by the Imperial Palace in the previous dynasty. The fish, dragons, birds, animals, and teeny-headed small letters are carved with clear knife skills and regular brushwork. Then I found a skilled craftsman to cut out the fans that were written by modern literati. , combined into one, of course it is not comparable to the crude fans on the market."

The two were discussing, Zijuan came in and asked with a smile: "The dinner is brought over from the kitchen, Miss Xing will eat it with our girls too?" Xiuyan laughed and said, "It is said that the side dishes made by Qing Zhi here It's very delicious, I'll bother my sister today." As he spoke, he asked someone to bring his food over.Daiyu stopped her and said, "Sister, don't bother. You can't eat the dishes, but you have to add a few more dishes every day. Sister can just keep it."

Here the maidservant and daughter-in-law set the meal quickly, and first put Daiyu's six regular dishes on the table.Then Zijuan only served Xiuyan with rice, and said with a smile: "Our girl has a cold stomach, and we don't eat rice for dinner. We only use the high-quality Royal Tian Rouzhi rice to make porridge. Miss Xing, would you like a bowl too?" ?” Xiuyan smiled and shook her head and said, “I’ll just eat rice.” Her rice was steamed with white japonica rice, and she knew that the rice sent to Xiaoxiang Pavilion was the new rice of that year, and it was sent to Zilingzhou It was Chen Mi, but he didn't say anything.The dishes are all the same, nothing more than chicken, duck and vegetables, nothing new.It's just that Mother Jia sent a maid to bring Daiyu additional dishes: steamed ham and abalone with scallion oil.Daiyu laughed and said, "It's always greasy. It's strange that Sister Ribao and Tanyatou took the money to let the small kitchen figure out fried goji berry buds to eat. I'm going to do the same, and I'm afraid people will laugh at me. Now, the dishes made by Qing Zhi are still light and delicious."

While talking, Qingzhi has already brought up two bowls of dishes that she made in the small kitchen behind the Xiaoxiang Pavilion. One is boiled cabbage. It looks refreshing, but it tastes extremely mellow. Xiuyan smiled and said: " I don't know how many chickens it takes to bring out this flavor." Qingzhi smiled and said, "Young lady, it tastes good." Another dish is fried mushrooms with winter bamboo shoots, tender and fragrant, all four are delicious.When the meal was over, Qingzhi brought another soup, and said with a smile, "Girl, try the walnut cheese that I just learned to make." Xiuyan said, "I'm not used to cheese." Qingzhi smiled and said, "This name Although it’s called walnut cheese, it doesn’t have milk. It’s made by grinding the best white japonica rice into rice milk, scraping out the jujube paste from candied golden dates, peeling and mashing the walnuts, and then cooking these three ingredients in a small silver choko. Add some snowflakes and rock sugar to the juice and it will be done." As he said, put it into two small glass bowls, Xiuyan looked at the color, it was slightly purple, with jujube and walnut aromas, and it was sweet and moist in his mouth, and he couldn't help but admire it.

Bi Ye smiled and said: "If we girls like Qingzhi's craftsmanship so much, we won't worry about it." Daiyu smiled and said: "What's wrong with me? Since Qingzhi came, I haven't eaten every meal?" Zijuan Sighed: "Eat every meal, and put down the bowl after just a few mouthfuls. It's better than eating only one of the previous three meals."

Talking and laughing like this, Xiuyan waited for the gate of the courtyard to be locked in the evening, expecting that all the women over there had gone out of the Yuan's house before returning to Zilingzhou, and since then they have been walking close to Daiyu.