Pan Jinlian's petty bourgeoisie life

Chai Wu sent it out, saying that while he was going to the village to collect the accounts from the previous year, he secretly bought his own wine shop.

At this time, the yard was quiet. Ying'er ran out early to play with her friends, and she was the only one who was lounging by the window. She was about to pick up her cloak to look around the yard, but she heard the sound coming from outside the door. There was a sound, and when I came out to see, it turned out that someone was knocking on the door.

Pan Jinlian went to open the courtyard door, only to see that there were four people outside, all of them were women, all dressed very brightly, but the first one was the eldest son of the Chai family, Chai Wang.She supported the girl with one hand, and the stove with the other, and the two girls next to her were standing there with their heads down, holding a box of futons, snack boxes and many other things, without seeing the expressions on their faces.

"Young Madam?"

Chai Wangshi pursed her lips and smiled lightly, moved the hand on the girl's arm to hold Pan Jinlian, and said with a smile:

"It's said that you married and came to Chai's house, but I haven't even seen you yet. I'm busy with these mundane things at home all day long. I just happened to go to the kitchen today to check things for the New Year, so I just wandered over."

"So that's the case. I'll take it as a taboo again and ask the young lady to come and point me out in person."

Pan Jinlian was taken aback, seeing Chai Wang's benevolent smile, she couldn't keep a straight face, so she hurriedly put on a smile, turned sideways and let them into the yard, but felt a little uneasy.

Chai Wang went into the yard, looked around, and praised:

"Sure enough, it was cleaned up. The table is a table and a stool is a stool. There is nothing wrong with it. It can be seen that you are also a hardworking person. But how did I hear that there is a little girl serving in your yard? Why don't you let him She came to open the door, but she came out by herself in the cold weather? After all, she is also the master, so you can't indulge these servants like this."

"Young Madam was joking. I don't have any girl here. It's just a child I brought over when I got married. Later, she was assigned to the kitchen. Madam Endian said that I needed manpower to cook food for her, so she sent it back. , if there is nothing to do, I will naturally ask her to help in the kitchen, and I don't do much on weekdays."

While speaking, Pan Jinlian pulled up the curtain to let Mrs. Chai into the room, and poured the tea herself. Mrs. Chai sat down on a recliner by the window, and smiled and patted the place beside her:

"Come and sit next to me. Let the girls do all the work. Why do we need to do it ourselves?"

As she spoke, she pulled Pan Jinlian over, and a big girl named Yu'er next to Chai Wang hurriedly took the two of them to arrange the box of tea and water, turned around and went out, closed the door, and waited outside.

"It was my fault that day. There were so many things to do during the New Year's Eve. I was irritable so I didn't hold back my temper. You were wronged. I always thought in my heart that I came here today to apologize to you. "

Seeing that there was no one around, Chai Wang smiled and took Pan Jinlian's hand and said, but there was no guilt on his face.Pan Jinlian's heart moved slightly, and she only acted like this because she had something to ask of herself, so she replied with a smile:

"What did the young lady say? I can't understand your thoughts, and even contradicted you. I should go over and ask for your sins in person."

"That's good. Since you don't dislike me, I don't blame you. We are still good sisters. You will often come to my house to sit and sit in the future. I have a lot of bitterness in my heart. Everyone in the whole family who talks only looks at me. I think you are an honest person who doesn’t chew your tongue, so I’m just telling you.” At this point, Mrs. Chai Wang couldn’t help wiping the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief, “You just got married Thinking that this house is infinitely beautiful, you will be dazzled everywhere you look, but if you don’t see it, it’s even more smoky, and every girl, woman, housekeeper and servant has evil intentions, waiting to see your joke.”

Seeing that she was really moved, Pan Jinlian didn't know if it was true or not, how to dissuade her, so she just smiled and said:

"I heard that this is the case in big families. There are too many people talking, and the young lady should not take it to heart. Anyone who is in charge of the house will naturally offend others. The young lady can suppress a family of 80 people at a young age. Very shrewd and capable, let alone care about these fools?"

Hearing what she said, Mrs. Chai burst into a chuckle and suppressed her tears. Pan Jinlian poured hot water to soak a brand new white handkerchief, and brought the basin over.Mrs. Chai picked up a handkerchief and wiped it, and replied with a smile:

"Only you can understand my heart. There are too few people in this yard, and it's not good if it's too quiet. It doesn't look like a big family anymore, but it's lonely. When I go back, I will think about my wife's thoughts and find a chance for you. You want two maids, and Madam also thinks highly of you now, so she must agree, just wait for my letter."

The two chatted a few more gossips, and Yu'er's voice came from the door:

"Young Madam, the mother-in-law came to the door and said whose family is here to pay New Year's greetings. Madam is looking for you."

After hearing this, Chai Wang stood up and hurried out. Pan Jinlian turned around and came back after reaching the door, but she still didn't understand why Chai Wang changed his face so much.Not long after, the little girl Ying'er came back with a bunch of things in her hand, and immediately ran to Pan Jinlian's room after entering the yard, and said with a smile:

"My lady, come and have a look. Today I was lucky. When I was playing in the garden, I picked up a white jade hairpin. I was standing there without a clue when I saw a girl outside looking for something. I went over and asked, and it turned out that this hairpin was left behind by the sick and beautiful second young lady, she was very happy to see it, so she rewarded me with many things, and asked me to bring it to my wife."

While talking about Ying'er, Pan Jinlian opened the bundle in her hand. Pan Jinlian saw that they were all novelty toys, and the table was piled up with food, which was to be prepared for the Lantern Festival.

"Is there no one else beside you at that time?" Pan Jinlian was a little worried.

"It's a coincidence," Ying'er said with gestures, "I was playing with two little girls who were doing rough work in the kitchen, but they were called away by Ms. Wang. I was bored thinking about it. I want to go back and look at that thing as soon as I turn my head, but we didn’t notice it before, and now thinking about it, I still feel really weird.”

Pan Jinlian nodded, also felt a little strange, but couldn't think of a reason, so she didn't take it to heart.Put those things into the cabinet, and asked with a smile:

"If you hear any news outside, tell me about it."

Ying'er had already taken an apple from the table and gnawed it, blinked, propped her chin and replied:

"It's the messy things in the yard. The master's two concubines got into each other again for a gold chain, and the wife gave him a lesson. Also, the young master seems to have bought a 15-year-old girl from a restaurant outside. When I came back, the young lady smashed half a shelf of bottles and cans. The second young lady's housemate was two months pregnant. The second young lady asked the kitchen to cook tonic for that girl, but she secretly spilled it on the ground. , because the second young lady is angry and ill again... and the master has not been in good health for the past few days, the doctor has already been called, and he is busy making medicine, and the kitchen is short of manpower."

It's all about the chaos in the big family, Pan Jinlian couldn't help sighing when she heard it, but this Chai family is really what Chai Wang said just now, the outside is beautiful, but the inside is rotten, I don't know when It's about to collapse.

But since someone gave this thing on purpose, she should thank her. Pan Jinlian felt depressed for a while, thinking about avoiding the women of the Chai family, but she couldn't be alone.She took out the four red hairpins that she was going to give to the women of the Chai family that day from the cabinet, thought about it, but stuffed them back in again, just sighed, washed up, walked around the garden and walked to Chai Lin's house. The yard was quiet inside, and there were two women standing outside talking with something.Then, Dicui, Chai Lin's personal maid, came out:

"Young Madam said I got it, you go back for now, and come back when you have something to do."

Saying that, she gave each of the two wives a string of money, and they left with a smile. Pan Jinlian took advantage of this moment to rush forward and said with a smile:

"How is the girl's Chinese New Year?"

"It turns out to be sister-in-law. Our young lady has just been talking about you. Please come in."

Seeing Pan Jinlian, Dicui quickly showed a smiling face, welcomed him into the yard, asked the little girl to close the door, and said:

"Our young lady wanted to go and see my sister-in-law, but I didn't expect that the one who celebrated the Chinese New Year would be sick, so I had to stay at home to raise her."

The two of them walked into the corridor. It is said that Chai Lin is also a young lady of a rich family. She has been able to read and write since she was a child. .After entering the outer room, Pan Jinlian looked around. Although the room was a little smaller than Chai Li's, it was more exquisite. Pipa and Qiangdi, and ancient books were neatly arranged in a grid carved from teak wood. There is a large table next to the window, complete with pen, ink, paper and inkstone, and several thick copybooks.In the center is a table with banana leaves and jasper, a translucent white porcelain large flower tea set, a moon door inside, and a crystal roll-up curtain, and on the high table next to it, fresh flowers are inserted in pastel vases, and people can be glimpsed through the curtain. walk around.

"Sister-in-law, wait here. I'll come as soon as I enter the room."

Di Cui gave up her seat with a smile, and was about to lift the curtain to enter the room, when she heard someone talking:

"Chai Wu's family is here, why don't you come in?"

38 Play

Pan Jinlian hurriedly walked in with a smile, and saw that Mrs. Chai Lin was helping the girl to get up from the bed. She was wearing homely clothes and holding a hand stove in her hand.