The oil bottle of the Red Chamber

That Xu Zichuan is a veteran who is used to writing Fengyue stories.The idea that Chen Gui requested was naturally out of the question.In only three or two days, he really wrote a complete set of scriptures and dramas and delivered them to Chen Gui.

Chen Gui hurriedly took it home again, read it to his parents, wife and sister, and asked Mrs. Feng to send the scriptures to Mr. Wu for a review.Seeing that Mr. Wu was not impeccable, he copied some Sanyu storytelling and singing operas, and asked them to practice and sing them in the market.

It's the end of the year, and people with a little background in Beijing like to invite some female storytellers to tell a couple of new books.Or there are those who are tired of their own opera wine, but also prefer to pick out some outstanding little operas and sing a few new operas at home.

The story that Xu Zichuan compiled for Chen Gui is novel, the rhetoric is wonderful, and the plot is even more twists and turns. Wealthy people compete to pursue it.In less than half a month, eight out of ten people in Beijing knew about it.

Seeing this situation, Chen Gui felt complacent and said to his family members with a smile: "In this way, no matter how the family members slandered and abused Zhou, our family will not be afraid anymore."

But the old lady of the Zhou family, since she got the answer from the mother-in-law that day, was angry and ashamed, very aggrieved, and wanted to do whatever she wanted.However, she is a widow and old man, and she has very limited communication on weekdays.What's more, Zhou's family had a poor background. Except for her close relatives and neighbors in the original hometown, most of the people Zhou Pu had a good relationship with and frequented during his lifetime were Mr. Wu's disciples.In daily communication, everyone knows that Mrs. Zhou is mean and difficult.On the contrary, Mrs. Wu is generous in handling things, and her speech and behavior are remarkable, and these female family members are also willing to get close.

Unexpectedly, after Zhou Pu's death, the old Mrs. Zhou took him back to her family in the name of Wu Shi Kefu's childlessness. A widow with no children and no children, who is obsessed with a few husbands.If you say some high-sounding words, you can also think that Mrs. Zhou is an act of benevolence and righteousness because she can't bear her daughter-in-law to be a widow at a young age.

But Mrs. Zhou shouldn't have done anything wrong, she shouldn't have withheld Wu's dowry and refused to return it after driving Wu back home.Immediately, some disciples and children who had been taught by Mr. Wu couldn't see it, and wanted to fight for Wu's injustice.However, Mrs. Wu has such an attitude, and Mrs. Zhou's reputation for being mean is spreading far and wide. After thinking about it, everyone is afraid that Mrs. Wu will not be able to stand up. , which is ignored.

It's just that I hate Mrs. Zhou so much that I don't want to see her anymore.

Therefore, although Mrs. Zhou wanted to make trouble with her tongue, no one would listen to her.The only thing to do is to make a few noises when visiting relatives and friends in the hometown, those rural women are willing to talk about it, and the parents gossip about people.

After the New Year's Eve, some fresh operas began to be sung on the streets of Beijing.Those who have nothing to do don't feel much when they hear it, but only Mrs. Zhou and her natal family know what's inside.Unknowingly startled and frightened, at this moment Fang realized the power of the Chen family.

Although the old lady's natal family acted shamelessly that week, some of the juniors in the family were literate and wanted to take the imperial examination to become officials.Besides, that family is also smart, and they have seen such vicious schemes before.Therefore, before meeting each other, he was already timid.

He also thought about the fact that the Chen family acted in such a ostentatious manner, but they pretended to be in the name of the deeds of the previous court, probably because the warning was the most important thing, and they didn't want to seriously tear their faces.What's more, now that Mrs. Wu has been kicked out of the Zhou family, she doesn't want to ask for the dowry back.That being the case, if Mrs. Zhou is allowed to chase after her, there will be no benefit after all except to increase resentment.What's more, it is of no benefit to offend the Chen family for nothing.

So after thinking about it, he finally didn't dare to let Mrs. Zhou abuse Mrs. Wu.After all the coaxing and scaring, Mrs. Zhou finally stopped coaxing.

The old lady of Zhou lost her son Zhou Pu, so she lost her support for the rest of her life.Now my heart is tied to my mother's family.Seeing that her natal family was so panic-stricken, it was not good to do anything arbitrarily.I can only pinch my nose and recognize it.

That old lady Zhou's natal brothers were still worried, so they took advantage of the New Year's Eve and prepared a thick New Year's gift to pay a visit in person, and made it clear that the old lady Zhou acted recklessly—"The old man is stupid, if you are so abrupt Your Majesty, please forgive me a little bit."

In this way, seeing that Chen Gui didn't intend to investigate further, Fang finally got over the matter.Not to mention.

Now let's talk about Chen Gui, who had just sent off Mrs. Zhou's natal brother, and when he returned to the inner house, there was a message from the boys in the class at the gate saying that the Zhang family, the head of Huangliangzhuang, had handed over a greeting card and intended to visit with his whole family.Chen Gui took the greeting card and looked down at it for a while, then said to Feng Shi with a smile: "This Zhang Shixiong is a caring person."

Feng Shi then laughed and said: "No matter how you say it, the eldest sister is the daughter-in-law of their family after all. Sister Hui is also the widow of his good brother, so it is reasonable to come here often."

Chen Gui smiled when he heard this, grabbed a handful of pine nuts from the fruit plate on the table, threw them into the mouth with the outer layer of thin skin, and said with a smile: "It's impossible to imagine." The short-lived ghost surnamed Zhao is such a bastard, but he knows how to make a good brother. Our eldest sister gave it to their boy, and it is not very wronged."

Hearing this, Mrs. Feng said with a smile, "Since it's the first time for the in-laws to come to the door, we have to make a good show of wine. Although this family is not an official, after all, it's under the control of Huangzhuang. Isn't there a saying, In front of the Prime Minister's door is still a seventh-rank official, let alone in charge of the emperor's village. I must have seen some of the world on weekdays. If the wine scene we prepared is too thin, I'm afraid they won't say it on the face, but will laugh at us behind the scenes The house is poor."

The words fell away, because he said that the singing of such a small opera invited by the family is not very good, so it is appropriate to invite famous people with surnames in Beijing to sing again.

Chen Gui was leaning on the grand teacher's chair, eating melon seeds while casually listening to Feng's saying which class of small opera is good, but which family has already decided on it, which famous actor has a good singing voice, I'm afraid I won't have time tomorrow , After talking for a long time, I couldn't come up with an idea.Unknowingly annoyed, he said: "If I had known this before, I shouldn't have invited this troupe of small operas back then. It was you, so I must have said that the previous troupes of small operas were tired of listening to them and wanted to change to something new. Now I want to invite others It’s impossible to come back.”

Chen Gui saw that Feng's namelessness was about to come out on his own head, so he couldn't help laughing: "At the beginning I said to change to a small show, and you agreed. Now you don't like it, and you blame me. It's really Kong What the master said is right, but women and villains are difficult to raise."

Feng Shi spat at Chen Gui angrily, because she said: "Everyone seems to be in a hurry, you are still talking sarcastic here."

Seeing that Feng's breath was out of breath, Chen Gui stopped teasing, threw the melon seeds in his hand on the table, and said seriously: "Don't worry. Our family doesn't have A good little opera, but brother Zichuan loves opera and wine the most. Their family must have invited a good one. I will write a handwritten letter later and send it to Xu's residence. Tomorrow, I will invite their little opera Sing a few plays, and it's over. It's worth your effort if it's a big idea."

Hearing this, Mrs. Feng felt annoyed and amused, and said, "You said it lightly. During the New Year's Eve, Mr. Xu doesn't invite guests to drink. You called someone's Xiaoxier, and you called him Xu." What should you do, my lord? Why don't you leave the house empty and don't hear a single sound?"

Chen Gui smiled treacherously and said: "How can it be! Anyway, send our family's little play over there, let's deal with it for a day."

Feng couldn't hold his palm anymore, and laughed "puchi".With slender fingers, he tapped Chen Gui from the air and said, "You, you are really bad."

Chen Gui hooked the corners of his mouth very complacently.Sure enough, he got up and went to the study to write a handwritten letter, and ordered his confidants to send it to Xu's mansion with a person named Chen Li.When he came back for a while, the follower also handed it to Chen Gui with a reply letter in his hand.Chen Gui took out the letter paper from the envelope, and saw Xu Zichuan's pen wandering around, his words were sharp, but he quoted scriptures and scolded Chen Gui.Chen Gui laughed out loud while reading the letter, his confidant Chang Sui also knew that his master had an irresistible relationship with Master Xu, which was different from other families.Because of joking, he said: "The young one came to Mr. Xu's house. As soon as Mr. Xu heard about his intentions, he laughed and said, 'Good guy, the old one has come to grab our opera wine before he has eaten your banquet. It’s gone’, and he said that there is no need for our family to send Xiao Xi’er over there, but we just send the good food and wine prepared by our family to their home. It’s just borrowing Xiao Xi’er’s interest.”

When Chen Li said this, he smiled again, because he said: "Because of the master's order, I'm just delivering a letter today, and there's no need to pick up the little play from Xu's mansion right away. Small pictures are cheap, but I went there on horseback." When Mr. Xu saw it, he said that the master had a good plan. He invited their little opera children to the house, but he didn't even prepare a car and sedan chair. That troupe of little opera boys even got into the car and ordered the younger ones to bring them back."

The more Chen Gui listened, the more cheerful he became, and he said to Chen Li: "Brother Zi Chuan is still so humorous. It's a pity that Zhang's family will come tomorrow, otherwise I will definitely invite him to come. The two families will be together, and it will be lively."

After that, he ordered Chen Lidao: "It's so cold, and it's snowing outside, it's hard for the people from the Xu family to come here with the car. And invite them to stay for dinner, drink two pots of hot wine to go to the cold, and then go stop."

Chen Li then laughed and said, "The little one has already made arrangements. Why are you still waiting for the master to order you?"

He said again: "The small opera group invited by Xu's mansion and the same group play ten times. Now I let them rest and have tea in the western courtyard. How can I arrange them at night? I have to ask the master under the instruction."

Hearing this, Chen Gui smiled again, because he said: "This is a strange question, how can I care about such trivial matters. Go ask your grandma for advice."

Chen Li had no choice but to agree.After standing for a while, seeing that Chen Gui had no more orders, he backed away without further elaboration.