[Red Mansions] The big maid struggles daily

Just after the Duanyang Festival, the temperature in the capital is already similar to that in June of the previous year, which makes people feel restless.

People at the time said that this year's weather was weird: it was extremely cold at the beginning of the year, and there was still peach blossom snow until March, but when it got warmer, it suddenly became hotter, just like a severe winter followed by a midsummer, and the spring disappeared after a few days.There are also rumors that the sky is different, and there are traitors in the court.In the south of the Yangtze River, high-ranking officials and ministers competed with the people for profit, and several good merchants who built bridges and paved roads and were loved by the villagers went bankrupt.

On the eighth day of the lunar new year, an article "Golden Lotus Fu" written by a scholar named Cui Minggui suddenly became brilliant, and was quite sought after by literati and officials.In the Fu, the three-inch beauty of raccoon red soft shoes is capitalized, and it praises its extremely restrained and slender gait, its precarious and fragile state; it also ridicules the corruption of ethics in the north, and many women with big feet show their heads, rough and ugly, suggesting that the north and the south should bind the feet of girls , to restrain its temperament, restrain its actions, and beautiful its manners.

The wife and daughter of Cui Minggui's family, Ji and concubine, are all three-inch golden lotuses, and their daughter is not yet the age of the golden hairpin, because it is rumored that this girl's feet have been bound since she was a child, and her toes are like a crescent moon, soft as if boneless, which makes the suitors They have broken through the threshold of Cui's family, and there are many high-ranking families among them.Cui Minggui said that his daughter is blessed by nature, and the bow shoes she wears are only two inches long. If she can't serve the gentleman, she will have to go before the Buddha.

Although this remark is implicit, it is said that the gentleman is on the side, but his heart is clearly revealed, isn't he just wanting to send a girl to serve the king.

I don't know when, there have been a lot of female prostitutes with their feet bound in the Chu Pavilion of Duzhong Restaurant, all of them swaying and curling like willows in the wind, their postures are really beautiful.Hearing the eloquent boasting of all the disciples of the Jia family school, Xue Pan's heart has long been itchy, but his good friend, Yun'er from the Jinxiangyuan, is quite able to control him, so that he can't get away easily.Yun'er said: "Don't be fooled by those winking eyes in the nest, I don't know why! The words of the golden lotus and silver lotus are better than the singing. I saw it when I was a child. It broke and wrapped up human bones, and the bone scum was rotten." It’s in the meat, it’s fragrant, soft, sharp and thin, I tell you to take a look, and you’ll spit out all the food from the previous night!”

Xue Pan couldn't help it, and took out jewelry, gold and silver ingots, finally coaxed Yun'er, and finally slipped out when she was not prepared, and went to see with three or five good friends.

Xue Pan once heard by chance that there was a beautiful girl named Qingwen in Baoyu's house who kept her shoes on her feet and even wore a pair of red night shoes when she slept. Presumably she was a girl with bound feet.Although Xue Pan is a mess, he has never been to the inner courtyard of the Rongguo Mansion, so he has never seen Qingwen, but he knows that all the girls beside Baoyu are beauties, and this Qingwen is the number one, so he can't help guessing in his heart One or two, my mind was exhausted, and I became more interested in exploring the golden hook.

Arriving at the most famous Ruanhong Restaurant recently, the lights are on, and the inside is already very lively. In the hall, there are many literati and poets "drinking" with prostitutes' small arched shoes, and everyone at the table is scrambling to bow their shoes. Throw lotus seeds in the shot, and the person who hit the shot is very proud, and takes a drink from the wine cup placed in the bow shoe.

Xue Pan grinned and said with a smile, "How did you get the wine out of your shoes?"

Those friends laughed at him: "I'm really ignorant, this wine is delicious! Hurry up, you'll understand after you appreciate it."

After a while, the old bustard in red and green wobbled over, smiling all over his face: "Masters, should we sit in the lobby or go to the private room? , or in the Liankui Pavilion at the back?"

Xue Pan just laughed: "Look at your mother, you clearly have a pair of big feet, how twisted it makes people dizzy, it's so ugly."

Jia Qin, who was at the head of the few good friends, saw that the old bustard's face was lost, and hurriedly said: "He is drunk and talking nonsense, mother, don't take it seriously. It's just that this hall still understands how to divide these private rooms. Pay attention?"

The old bustard gave Xue Pan a white look, and giggled coquettishly: "At first glance, the masters are new customers. You don't know, this small foot is easy to get, but golden lotus is hard to find. Only three inches are called golden lotus, and those within four inches are called silver. Lian, if it is more than four inches, it can only be an iron lotus." As he said, he shook his handkerchief, bringing out a burst of fragrant wind, pointing to the women frolicking in the hall and said: "The one in this hall is the iron lotus, the second floor The private room is Yinlian, and the third floor is naturally Jinlian. Only the sharp, thin, curved, soft and fragrant Liankui can be judged in Jinlian to live in Liankui Pavilion. Where do you guys want to go?"

Jia Qin pushed Xue Pan, pointed to Xue Pan and said, "Brother Xue has a lot of money, so naturally go to your Kui Pavilion to see it."

The old bustard said "Ouch" and hurriedly said: "It's a coincidence, there are only three girls in Liankui Pavilion, and Miss Xinyue happens to be free today, gentlemen please hurry up."

Turning to the Liankui Pavilion at the back, it is indeed more exquisite and richer than the one at the front. Xue Pan saw that the curtains are heavy, and the large room is surrounded by small rooms. There are only four or five rooms in this new moon, and he thought: A kiln sister is more attractive than everyone's young lady.After waiting for a while, two maidservants in green clothes walked over with the help of a slender woman of seventeen or eighteen.

When Xue Pan saw the appearance of the crescent moon, although it was neat, it could not be called stunning. He couldn't help being disappointed, drank a glass of water and wine, and said to the old bustard: "It's a good name, you Uncle Xue thought it was Chang'e in the middle of the month." Well, it’s nothing more than unimaginable.”

The crescent moon's face was full of anger, and she was about to turn around and leave immediately, but her movements were not very flexible, the two little maidservants couldn't understand what she meant, one twisted her body backwards, and the two moved forward, almost bringing the crescent moon down .It made Xue Pan laugh out loud.

The old bustard in the Ruanhong Pavilion has already received a hundred taels of silver ticket from Xue Pan. Knowing that this is a fat and oily uncle, he hurriedly said: "The crescent moon naturally refers to my daughter's pair of little feet that are worthless. Liankui Pavilion Here are my other two daughters, one is Lian Petal and the other is Xiang Hook, how many masters are begging to see you with gold, silver and jewels."

He comforted Xinyue with soft words, Jia Qin and the others also held their hands together and talked, and Xinyue calmed down and sat down.

This woman is quite talented, and she wanted to invite Xue Pan to give some more elegant drinking orders. Everyone may write poems or recite poems, and the winners can drink from the wine cups in her jewel-embedded mandarin duck and water bow shoes.Unexpectedly, these few well-dressed and coquettish people look like dogs, but all of them have silver-like pewter tips, seeds of ignorance, which made Xinyue even more wronged.

After drinking for three rounds, Xue Pan saw that the crescent moon still had a sad and sad attitude, and only occasionally promised a few words, so he couldn't help being arrogant, lighting the crescent moon and saying: "I don't sing songs, and I don't want to sing." Hey wine, what do you want!"

Jia Qin hurriedly stopped him, showing off like a crescent moon: "The imperial concubine's cousin, who has always been favored by others, is making faces for the girl like this today, which is already terrible."

After hearing this, Xinyue took off a big red bow shoe embroidered with green mandarin ducks and asked them to enjoy it. Jia Qin said: "It is said that it is so beautiful that it is so beautiful that you can't lose your soul. Let's have a look?"

As he spoke, he held his cup and said some kind words, until Xue Pan showed an impatient look, Xinyue gently took off his socks, put a small foot on the embroidered stool and watched it with everyone, Jia Qin waited and watched At that time, the edges and corners were indeed narrow and narrow, curved like a crescent moon, and could be held in the palm of your hand to play with.

What other people look at is Bai Nen's top and Gongyue's profile, and after hearing too many beautiful words, even if they don't like it, they still think it looks good.Du Xue Pan, who displeased Xin Yue because of his inappropriate speech, did it and went across to him, and put it on the embroidered stool, so that he could see the soles of his feet.Xue Pan, who had never seen it before and couldn't understand the "Kit Kat" aesthetics of Fu Ru, saw that all four toes except the big toe were twisted and flattened to the bottom of the foot.

But Jia Qin's generation thought he saw something novel, so he hurriedly pulled him closer to watch it. Xue Pan thought of Yun'er saying "the bones and dregs are in the rotten flesh", and felt that the sharp horns of the golden lotus were all rotten. Put it in the bow shoes and tell him to get ahead.Xue Pan couldn't help but pushed Jia Qin away, rushed to the window and vomited.

Xue Pansheng is tall and tall, following Aunt Xue's appearance, he is also a good-looking face like a full moon, and he often likes to be a schoolboy in the middle of school, and the romantic dandy puts a flower on his head. The "Flying Swallow New Makeup" pink rose on the hairpin on the treasure-encrusted hair crown has fallen somewhere.

Jia Qin finally patted his back and rinsed his mouth with tea, telling Xue Pan to calm down.That Xinyue bluffed God at first, but now she was so ashamed and angry, the girl in Tsing Yi who was serving her hurriedly asked the old bustard to come over.

Xue Pan's face turned yellow, he came up domineeringly, and didn't look at Xinyue, his eyes were like bells, and he yelled at the old bustard.

Only the old bustard turned pale with anger, and spit: "The old sow knocks on the door, where did you come from, you are a layman in Fengyuechang, how elegant are you to come to my place!"

Xue Pan had never been so angry, and immediately called the leader and the boy to beat him up.When Jia Qin and the others saw that there was a big commotion, they all wanted to slip away first, but they were afraid that only Xue Pan would be left here, and he would be annoyed that they could no longer coax him to spend money. Two silver bills were given to the bustard, so he had to walk out of the soft red restaurant with all his tail.

Unexpectedly, this incident taught people to look at it, and most of the so-called literati with half a bottle of ink in the Ruanhong Pavilion, the next day there were rumors of impeachment in the court hall, saying that nobles can't control their children, and some children surnamed Xue are domineering and perverting the law. Bullying.

Although this matter is insignificant, it affects the whole body.If Xue Pan's crime is committed, someone with a heart will definitely spread it out with an excuse, and say something like "the sage and the ministers also like small feet", and the folks will regard this footbinding as a golden rule.

Before the court has spoken yet, the Imperial Censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate came out and said: "The minister has his own performance." Then he was eloquent, but he impeached Cui Minggui for deceiving the world and stealing his name, for being unfaithful, filial, benevolent, and unrighteous.

It turned out that Cui Minggui was born in a farming family, his biological father died young, and his widowed mother will raise him up.This Cui Minggui has a bit of a crooked talent, he won the favor of the squire, made a marriage contract, and his family sponsored him to study the imperial examination. Cui Minggui's widowed mother also liked the squire's daughter very much.But this Cui Minggui is an ungrateful Zhongshan wolf. Once he wins the exam, he turns his face and refuses to recognize anyone. He cheated and married a salt merchant's concubine.Ever since the small foot trend started in the south of the Yangtze River, this Cui Minggui jumped up and down, wrote countless articles, and disliked his widowed mother's big feet, so he even hid the old man back to his hometown.

Youdu Yushi said: "The wind of bound feet will not stop, and the harm will spread day by day. There will be a lot of public opinion, and there will be chaos."

A few more people stood up: "The minister seconded the proposal."

He took the woman's bound feet to the court hall and said that it was the first time in the world. Many officials disagreed. Unexpectedly, the golden mouth on the imperial steps opened: "In the past, King Ling of Chu had a thin waist, so the minister of King Ling had a solar eclipse. Meals, tied around the waist and ribs, can only support the wall and stand up. Over time, the military cannot defend against the enemy, and the literary cannot secure the country. In the end, the country is destroyed, and the king of Ling hangs himself in the wilderness. How do you see the comparison between the bound feet and the thin waist? "Before the minister could answer, he was already furious: "The lessons learned from Emperor Shang of the previous dynasty are not far away!"

The emperor has been holding back all this time, and this time of furious anger, the court immediately knelt down on the ground.

"Women's feet are bound, all kinds of pain, blood dripping, and all kinds of diseases are born from this. I think that killing the hands of children is enough to gain beauty, just like cremating the bones of parents for welfare... From today, I declare All over the world: order the old women to let their feet go, and the new ones are not allowed to be the main family; all officials whose wives have their feet bound will be deprived of the imperial order..."

The emperor was angry and laid down millions of corpses.Not to mention how many innocent girls were troubled by a pair of golden lotuses, but the effect was immediate. Almost overnight, the bustling golden lotus brothels were left in the cold, and both inside and outside the atmosphere were cleared up.

However, Nanny Zhu and Uncle Cheng's perception of Zhan's family has improved because of the custom of footbinding.

Since the rumors started to spread, those who love their daughters in Duzhong are still on the sidelines, but there are also some families who hope to use their daughters to climb high branches, as if they were killed, they wrapped up the girls at home early.This is the case with Zhao's natal family in Zhan's big house.

Mrs. Zhao has a little niece who is older than five, six, seven or eight years old when her feet are bound. The girl in her early ten years old has a pair of natural white and tender feet.But she was the youngest in the Zhao family, and there was still a glimmer of hope that they could wrap them up, so the Zhao brothers and sisters cruelly asked someone to break their bones and wrap them up, but they were only a little bigger than three inches, and they could still be regarded as a pair of silver lotus.

Ever since her niece's feet were bound, Mrs. Zhao had some thoughts in her mind again, and she spoke out in a roundabout way, saying, "The grandma who came in is a disgrace, and it's not easy to go out to socialize" and so on.

Zhan Da got angry and sent Mrs. Zhao to a farm in the outskirts of Beijing, "Rough tea and light food are always enough for you to eat and drink. Don't come back these two years. It's all right to find two better ones tomorrow, Mr. When will you be honest, if I still remember you as a master, I will never let you come back."

No matter how much Mrs. Zhao cried and begged for mercy, it was useless. Po Li pressed her down and sent her to the village to be taken care of on the same day.

Mrs. Zhao, who disturbed the family, sent him away, but Zhanda became worried. He didn't understand what good these little feet were, and he didn't think much about his own wooden and ice-like obstacle, and he was afraid that the Zhu family might misunderstand.On the one hand, Zhanda sent people to the yamen to look for Zhandong, and ordered him to come home no matter what; on the other hand, he prepared gifts and ordered his cronies and stewards to deliver them to the Cheng family.

The steward was clever, and when he saw Uncle Cheng, he kowtowed: "Uncle, my lord has newly obtained several jars of high-quality Wujiapi wine, this wine nourishes the vital energy, refreshes the spleen and eliminates evil, and is suitable for consumption during the poisonous month. No, hurry up and ask the villain to send two jars to my uncle."

This uncle is called, who is your uncle.Even though he thought so, the attitude of the Zhan family still reassured Uncle Cheng.

Uncle Cheng kicked him lightly, and cursed with a smile: "Okay, get up. I also have self-brewed rice wine here, which is not as good as the Wujia skin sent by your master. You take a jar back and ask your master to make up for it." eat."

The steward laughed quickly and said: "Oh, my uncle's rice wine is so good, our master is probably sweeter than honey water after eating it."

Zhan Da loves wine. When he was on duty at the city gate a few years ago, the cold wind in autumn and winter could freeze people's bones. These city gatekeepers relied on a sip of dirty wine in the wine gourd on their waists to warm up and survive.Until Zhan Da became a patriarch who enjoys blessings, this preference has not changed at all, but he is used to the amount of two taels when guarding the city gate, and no matter how expensive the wine is, he has not made an exception.

The steward of the Zhan family was originally the lowest official at the gate of the city, but his luck was bad. He was trampled by a galloping horse half a year ago and broke his leg. Not to mention losing his job, he couldn't even afford money for food, clothing and medical treatment.Zhan Da has a family background, and he was cured by helping him. This man knew how to repay his kindness, so he stayed in Zhan Da's family as Zhan Da's personal entourage.Following such a master, Qiu Guanshi naturally has some knowledge in wine, so he opened the yellow clay seal, and then leaned over to sniff the wine, hoping that his master would reward him with a bite.

Zhan Da smacked his mouth and asked, "Does his family brew it?" This taste is even better than the best Shaoxing wine.

Qiu Guanshi nodded hurriedly, and said with a smile: "No, Uncle Cheng said it himself, so it can be false. Master, master, give me a bowl."

Zhan Da patted his thigh, and laughed loudly: "I just said that this Cheng Datou is a rake for money. I, a vulgar person, have heard of the cosmetic shop he bought. I didn't expect that there are such capable people in his family. It's really good, we will become in-laws in the future, and this wine will be indispensable during the festivals! Hey, our family can make a lot of money!"

Just when I was happy, I suddenly heard the young man outside saying: "When I arrived at the Yamen, I didn't find my uncle. Mr. Deng fell down. I heard that Mr. You are looking for Mr. Deng. Mr. Deng said that Mr. Deng took leave at noon and left early. Mr. Deng Please don’t worry, master, he must be busy today, he is on duty today, if the master returns, he will tell the master immediately.” After the Lantern Festival, he has been practicing for a full ten months, even if Deng Ji has learned his lesson, he dare not tease the tiger easily Xu, if Zhan Dong had asked for leave for an unprecedented time in the past, he would have long wanted to join in the fun.

Zhan Da put down his wine bowl and said angrily, "Sure enough, the brat is not doing well, but I can't find anyone right now."

After touching the wine bowl, Qiu Guanshi poured the remaining half of the bowl into his mouth, and the master was sure that he was a capable wine maker.

At this time, the capable wine maker was standing on the stone steps of the wine cellar, watching her uncle count the jars of wine back and forth, and said helplessly, "Uncle, you asked me to come to watch you count the jars?"

Uncle Cheng gave her a blank look, he has no conscience, if it wasn't for you, as for giving up those jars of rice wine, there would only be two jars left in his house.He completely forgot that this wine was made by Zhu Xiu himself.

Zhu Xiu glanced at the cloth that sealed the jars, and knew which ones were still left and which ones were running out, and said with a smile: "This glutinous rice yellow is very easy to brew, and the new glutinous rice from Zhuangzi comes down, and I will brew a few more jars for uncle. "

When Uncle Cheng heard this, he was relieved because the Zhan family's father and son came to the door one after another. He said: "The Zhan family is here, you follow me to the front." He also said: "Stand behind the screen and don't come out!"

Zhu Xiucai wanted to ask if the Zhan family had just sent someone to deliver something, why did it come again, and immediately reacted——

Uncle Cheng was complaining: "This father still has a plan, and he knows to send someone. This son came to the door by himself..."

Chunliu gently tugged at Zhuxiu's sleeve, and Qiugui and Qiugui looked at each other and smiled.

For some reason, Zhu Xiu, who thought she was not thin-skinned, suddenly felt warm in her ears.

When he arrived at the front hall, he saw Zhan Dong's tall and straight figure, standing in the hall, being left alone by Uncle Cheng for a while, but he didn't feel irritable at all.Seeing Uncle Cheng come out, he hastened to salute with fists in his hands.

Zhu Xiu's eyes were shining, and she stuck to the back of the screen and looked out from the gap.

Zhan Dong had just exchanged a few words with Uncle Cheng, but he felt that Qing Lingling's gaze on him was disturbing, but fortunately he was always reticent and calm, so Uncle Cheng couldn't see the clue.

Uncle Cheng sat in the main seat, although he couldn't see his niece, the apron was right behind him, and the smell of the niece's new deodorizing fragrance made him know that the girl must be peeping through the apron.Uncle Cheng thought of his daughter's extroversion, regretted bringing her here, and was afraid that the boy of the Zhan family would see signs from the hollow carvings under the screen.After talking for a while, Uncle Cheng couldn't wait to bring tea to see off the guests as soon as it came to an end.

Zhan Dong also knew the situation very well, so he got up to make a speech because he still had business to do.

Uncle Cheng opened the box that Zhandong sent. Inside the taller and larger mahogany box was a statue of jade cabbage. Jade cabbage means fortune, but it was just right to put it in the cosmetics shop.Uncle Cheng nodded secretly, thinking this kid has a heart.When he opened the more delicate red lacquer and gilt flower box, Uncle Cheng's face was still dark as luck would have it.

Zhu Xiuqian stood up and took a look, and saw a pair of extremely exquisite red satin embroidered shoes with bird longevity stones, a small pearl was inlaid on the top of the bird's head, and there was a pearl hanging from the seam of the toe. The tassels are made of red silk thread, and the cap with the tassels is made of Isshiki agate.The end of the shoe is exquisite and precious.

Uncle Cheng turned his head and glared at his niece, then handed over the box angrily, and Zhu Xiu hurriedly caught it.

It is the first time in two lifetimes to receive such a gift, the red embroidery is very flattering.

Such a pair of normal-sized embroidered shoes is completely different from the bow shoes worn by the little-footed daughter. It is not clear what the embroidered shoes represent.Furthermore, a bird with a white pearl on its head is standing on the Shoushi, facing a clump of rose flowers in full bloom. Zhu Xiu is proficient in embroidery. How could he not know that this means "white-headed Changchun".

Zhan Dong was walking on the street, a little lost in thought: it was the first time in his life that he was pleasing a girl, I don't know if she likes it or not...

The author has something to say:

Note: "Thinking that the hands of the children of thieves are enough to obtain beauty, it is like cremating the bones of parents for welfare"-quoting Yuan Mei's "Yuan Wai Yan", changing "killing thieves" to "killing damage".