Daiyu's wife in the Red Chamber

Since the banditry in Ping'an Prefecture has been eradicated, although it is inevitable that some fish slipped through the net, or bandits who did not belong to Zhang Kuang's command, there are often soldiers from the camp patrolling. In the letter, in addition to sister Qiao's homework, there are also some little tricks that the two sisters-in-law think are excellent, and this time is no different.

Daiyu opened the cloisonné enamel brocade box. In addition to a stack of letters, there was also a red silk bag, which was tightly wrapped and filled with the brocade box. what?"

Daiyu unwrapped the red silk bag, layer by layer, and found a piece of emerald wrapped in it.

This piece of jadeite is about the size of a fist, square and non-square, round and non-circular, crystal clear, with a base like glass, with a few vivid green flowers floating on it, the color is the same, bright and unusual, except that there are occasional blemishes of trachoma and black spots, It is inevitable that there are some fly in the ointment.

After seeing it, Daiyu wondered, "Why send me a piece of uncarved jade right now? Needless to say, it must have been sent by the fourth younger sister. The clothes and jewelry she usually wears are all made in the mansion. I don’t have anything else in my hand except February or two months’ money and some gold and silver coins from festivals, where can I get a piece of emerald?” As he said, he took the lead in opening Xichun’s letter.

Just unfolding the letter paper, I saw Xichun's provocative and phoenix-dancing handwriting appeared in front of my eyes, and I was very happy between the lines. It turned out that she went out with Sister Feng to offer incense, and passed by a jadeite shop. The ugly black or yellow stones were so popular that they bought a few pieces for more than a dozen yuan and took them home. When the craftsman at home cut them open, one of the five stones turned out emerald, so he showed off how many stones he had at home. Day, and then sent to Daiyu to carve something stubborn.

Jadeite is crystal clear, with different colors, red, green, blue, yellow, etc., or light or light, or all three colors, or floating flowers. Unlike white jade and jasper, only white and green are the best, so it has become The world's favorite thing, the price keeps climbing.

Seeing this, Daiyu told Wei Ruolan, "Our jewelry shop transports a lot of jadeite or rough stones from the southwestern Toungoo country every year, I never thought about seeing how jadeites are carved out of stones. The fourth younger sister is really interested, which is very good, although it has been less than half a year since the adoption, but she is much more mischievous than in the old year."

For Xichun, Ningguo Mansion is indeed a burden, she bears the reputation of Ningguo Mansion and refuses to bring others down, now that she is away from Ningguo Mansion, many things have been overlooked, as Daiyu can tell from the letters.

Wei Ruolan had already picked two sets of jewelry designs from the brochure, tore them off, raised her head and said with a smile: "So you should be at ease."

Daiyu said with a smile: "No, the fourth younger sister is no longer the lonely fourth younger sister in the manuscript. Naturally, she will not try to become a monk in the future. Before the country's filial piety, I will prepare for her well." A dowry, in another one or two years, she won't be able to keep her, Lian's second sister-in-law is secretly checking every household's brother is good or bad."

Wei Ruolan nodded and said: "You sisters, it should be like this."

Suddenly seeing Daiyu frowning when looking down, she couldn't help asking what happened in the capital.Xichun loves to inquire about news for fun, similar to the nature of Emperor Changtai, every time she writes to Daiyu, she will mention the capital and many things around her, so that they are very well-informed.

Daiyu read it word by word, and said with a frown: "The fourth younger sister said in the letter what will happen to Zhang's family members. You and I have expected this. It's not surprising. But before Mrs. Zhang died, the second aunt in the hall Regarding the matter of hiding the property of the Zhen family, and also said that the second aunt took the silver things from her, the silver alone was 5000 taels, and promised to help her daughter."

Hiding the property of criminal officials and accepting bribes are serious crimes. Mrs. Zhang has hated Mrs. Wang for a long time, so she naturally refuses to let her go.

Wei Ruolan put the torn-out two blueprints on the case, and said, "You and I knew that the second aunt was hiding the property of the Zhen family, and Mrs. Zhang is the one who must take revenge. This is a logical move. Could it be that something happened? Not in the newspaper."

Daiyu shook her head and said, "Nothing happened, but I was suppressed instead."

Wei Ruolan was stunned, and then said: "That's right, Jia Wang's family has a very wide network, if they hear the news, they can suppress it with a letter, even if someone hears it at the time."

Isn't that the Jia family's power in the original manuscript of Dream of Red Mansions?The yamen obeyed the orders of the Jia family everywhere, just as Sister Feng had privately ordered Zhang Hua to sue Jia Lian. The people in the yamen didn't even dare to accept it.Sister Feng still has such abilities, let alone Mrs. Wang, the mother of the imperial concubine who is over half a hundred years old?

Daiyu sighed: "So bold, do you think there is no one to control you? I don't know what kind of upbringing the Wang family is. All the daughters are like this. Fortunately, Lian's second sister-in-law has already changed her mind."

When Xue Pan beat someone to death, their family didn't take it seriously, thinking that it would be enough to spend a few bad money, isn't it also Aunt Xue's education?

When Feng Yuan died, Xue Pan was only thirteen or fourteen years old. Since the family will go to Beijing to be elected later, the brother and sister must have passed the three-year filial piety, so Xue Pan lost his father at the age of ten, and cultivated such an extravagant and lustful temperament. , are all caused by Aunt Xue's doting.

Wei Ruolan comforted: "Don't think too much, the second uncle's room is already powerless, and it's useless to think too much. Your majesty is very busy at the moment, and the eldest uncle just paid back the money owed. I don't think it will happen in a while. Taking care of the Rongguo Mansion, they still have a stable life. Besides, I have always agreed with the four words that a crime deserves what it deserves, and once you have done the cause, you should suffer the result."

Daiyu nodded and said: "The cycle of karma and retribution is not good. It should be so, and I agree with it very much. Therefore, from the beginning, I didn't intend to use any power to help them get rid of their crimes. I just hope that the sisters are safe."

Then, she talked about several other things in Xichun's letter.

One is that shortly after the Chinese New Year, Jia's mother was in poor health and never recovered. Fortunately, Jia Amnesty often took the post to ask the old doctor Wang to consider the medicine, and Daiyu often sent good medicinal materials, although she fell ill every now and then. , but it's okay for now.

The Rongguo Mansion is so poor that it can't afford to buy high-quality ginseng for Jiamu. The ginseng in Jiamu's hands has long since turned into ashes and lost its medicinal properties. Butler Li Wan dare not tell the truth to Jiamu. She refused to ask Mother Jia for money to buy ginseng, and it spread to make people laugh, but it happened that Baochai heard it from Mrs. Wang, and Tete took unadulterated ginseng from his own home to dispense medicine to Mother Jia.

After Daiyu learned of this letter, she immediately packed several boxes of the best ginseng medicinal materials at home, sent someone to rush to the capital, and handed them to Sister Feng to be taken by Jiamu.

The second thing Xichun said was that since Qingwen left Rongguo Mansion, she has been doing needlework and selling money to earn a living. She took shelter under Wei's family, and her eight or nine sisters were safe. Once in a while, Qingwen went to the embroidery village in person. Selling needles and threads, I met the eldest son of the shopkeeper of the embroidery shop, and he was very admired. His parents asked a matchmaker to come to propose marriage two or three times.

Xichun's letter said that the eldest son of the shopkeeper of the embroidery shop was Wang Yun, a real nerd, 20 years old this year, and not yet married. Baoyu made friends with him because of Qingwen, and told Xichun when he came back that he was more talented than himself and had a good character. .It's a pity that Wang Yun's parents were slaves released by a wealthy family. Although Wang Yun was well educated, he couldn't take the imperial examination. It is ignorant.

Daiyu said with emotion: "I don't expect Qingwen to have such a romantic relationship. I just said that after leaving the Rongguo Mansion, as long as someone takes care of her, any girl will be better off than living in the mansion, especially the delicate girls like Qingwen." "Think about the words Mrs. Wang said in the manuscript, which is simply unsavory, swearing at herself with Qingwen insinuations, and saying that the girls who sing and sing are vixen, etc.

Coming from a dignified family and being the wife of a wealthy family, I really don't know how she thought of saying that.

Wei Ruolan was very happy when she heard this, and said with a smile: "A marriage of thousands of miles is connected by a thread. Everyone in this world has their own marriage. I think it was said in the manuscript that Qingwen alluded to you. Now that Qingwen is safe and married again, it is a good thing One." Wei Ruolan hoped that all the girls who alluded to Daiyu in the original manuscript would be safe, and always felt that they were safe, and that Daiyu was even safer.

Daiyu unconsciously thought of and alluded to her senior official, and said: "It's a pity that the senior official didn't survive. I don't know what happened to Brother Qiang."

Wei Ruolan remembered the news she heard by chance, and said: "I vaguely heard that the Jia Qiang you mentioned was married a long time ago. As for who the lady married and when they got married, I don't know."

Daiyu lost her mind for a while, and said: "From this point of view, Brother Qiang looks like Baoyu. Baoyu is expected to agree very much. You can see how much he agrees with Ouguan's words in the manuscript. That's okay, age." The official has passed away, and the living will continue to live after all. Let’s not talk about them, but the fourth younger sister said something later, and it really made a big difference."

This incident was that the second sister You gave birth to a son on the sixth day of June. It is said that the eyebrows, eyes, mouth and nose are very similar to Xue Pan.Xue's family is not a noble family, and they have already left the country for filial piety, so they can have fun.

Wei Ruolan smiled and said, "You want to say that the Xue family didn't marry Xia Jingui?"

Daiyu nodded lightly, and said: "Exactly. Although Xia Jingui's jealousy resembles Lian's second sister-in-law, I don't like Xia Jingui's character. Besides, there are many things in the manuscript that are wrong. According to the manuscript, Xue Pan is I went to Xia's house when I was out for business, and it was so intimate, how could it be a few years before we got married?"

Speaking of this, Daiyu suddenly remembered something, and asked, "Yuan Fang, do you think Xue Pan is dead or alive on the Ding Register? Jia Yucun judged it like that, so I don't know if his household registration has been cancelled. If the household registration is cancelled, Xue Pan Pan is of course a dead person, but how can we get married if he is dead? To get married, you have to write a marriage certificate, and you don’t have to go to court to get married. The etiquette is full. Moreover, Xue Pan is dead, and the entire family of Xue’s family can’t keep their business. Xue Pan is dead. , According to the court regulations, those properties should be paid in installments."

Wei Ruolan smiled and said, "What can't be figured out? It's just a cover that Jia Yucun announced to the outside world. It's under the official protection talisman, and no one will investigate the details. Naturally, Xue Pan is not a dead person whose household registration has been revoked, just like you. As I said, if Xue Pan's household registration is revoked, he will not be able to get married, and he will not be able to keep the whole family business, and the three families of Jia Wang and Xue Pan will definitely not follow him."

Daiyu put down the letter she was reading, picked up Sister Feng's letter and Sister Qiao's homework and letters, opened them and said, "I think so too. The fourth sister said in the letter that Aunt Xue was trying to talk to Xue Pan about her marriage." Let’s talk about Zhang’s family today, and Li’s family tomorrow. Even Baoyu said that the daughters of these families did not know what crimes they committed, which made them talk about it. We can get married, but the fourth sister said that the Xue family seems to be negotiating marriage with the Osmanthus Xia family, so I don’t know if it will happen.”

He turned his head and thought about it, the Xue family was in decline, and he took a fancy to the Xia family's wealth, so why doesn't the Xia family need the support of a wealthy family?Widowed mother and weak daughter, a family of enshrined wealth, how can no one covet such a fortune?Just like myself in the original.

Wei Ruolan waited for her to finish reading the letter, then rushed over and stuffed it back into the box, holding Daiyu's face, and said face to face: "Don't keep thinking about other people's affairs, the fourth cousin is already safe, and we don't need to worry about the rest, so don't worry about it." Think about it. I finally got a day of leisure, and I came home to accompany you, not to talk about others. "

Daiyu laughed and said, "It's just some new news, that's all."

Even so, she stopped immediately, no longer mentioned some new things that Sister Feng said in the letter, but pushed Wei Ruolan and said: "It's time to set the meal in a while, please let me put the letter." good."

Just as Wei Ruolan got out of the way, she heard that it was time to set dinner.

After lunch, Daiyu picked out four pairs of red gold noodles, four pairs of emerald noodles, four pairs of pearl noodles, and four pairs of white jade noodles for Xichun from the brochure. After an hour or so, Hao put the books back to the original place, then changed his clothes, and went for a stroll in the manor with Wei Ruolan.

The structure of Zhuangzi is still simple, but in the early spring, Daiyu asked people to plant a lot of flowers and plants under the inner and outer corners of the high wall, as well as fruits and vegetables in the village. Now the green vines climb the high wall, dotted with some scattered flowers, which is an idyllic scenery. , looks very nice.

Daiyu pointed to the wall and said with a smile: "The loofah flowers are very beautiful, but the loofah smells strange."

Wei Ruolan looked up and saw yellow flowers blossoming, and thin loofahs hanging from the vines, she said: "It's good to eat loofahs in summer, and I think the cook's ones taste good at noon."

Daiyu covered her mouth and said, "I will make it in the kitchen at night. You can eat it by yourself. I won't eat it."

Wei Ruolan took her on his arm and walked forward, passed by rose bushes, looked at it for a moment, then flew forward to reach out, and pinched back a bright red rose from the depths of the bush, put it on Daiyu's temple, and said with a smile: "Could it be that you took the girls to do it?" Rouge cream? I saw that there were not many flowers left in the yard, even if there were a few flowers, I didn’t pick them because I was afraid that you would not be able to reach them.”

Daiyu laughed and said, "No, since I got Baoyu's prescription, Chengbi loves to make these, and I don't like to use the rouge pollen that has been put away for a long time, so the few of them did it by themselves, and what they made was not inferior to Baoyu's. "

Speaking of Baoyu, Wei Ruolan couldn't help but miss her a little bit, and said, "Brother Bao hasn't been engaged yet?"

Daiyu sighed, and said: "It would be great if Baoyu could make the decision, but unfortunately she can't. Sister Bao is 19 years old, she has survived all these years, and it is even more impossible not to wait."

Wei Ruolan said: "Poor Brother Bao is full of reluctance. Han Qi didn't even say anything about kissing him. He is the same as me, two years older than Brother Bao, and he was hurt by his parents' orders and matchmaker's words. A pair of troubled brothers. Today I received a letter from Han Qi, he is going to Xihai Yanzi to join the army, so as not to face his parents’ pick and choose at home.”

Han Qi is an ambitious person. Ever since his parents treated Jiang Rong like that, he felt that something was wrong, and he couldn't say anything. He could only go far away to avoid the turmoil of the capital.The Marquis of Jinxiang and Mrs. Marquis of Jinxiang are now flattering the eldest son of the emperor, but the eldest son of the emperor doesn't see him favoring them. Han Qi can't persuade his parents.

Daiyu's heart trembled when she heard this, and she said, "Xihai Yanzi is still under the command of the Prince of Nan'an? Don't follow the speculation of those red scholars. It is very likely that you will be defeated and captured, and you will have a marriage."

Wei Ruolan smiled and said: "Don't worry, we have treasures such as explosives and treasure ships, if we lose again, we will be really powerless."

Emperor Changtai loves the people like his son, and never regards the lives of the people and soldiers as nothing. Even though he intends to cut down the military power of the Nan'an Palace in the West Sea, he never thought that the Prince of Nan'an was defeated and captured so that he could send someone to take over. Because the prince of Nan'an was defeated, it hurt the lives of the soldiers and the local people, how innocent they were.

Therefore, the Yuehai and other troops in the northern Xinjiang obtained sharp weapons such as gunpowder and explosives, and the West Coast also had them, but they sent confidantes to supervise them.

Daiyu smiled suddenly, looked at him and said: "In the room you said I was only thinking about other people's affairs, so what about you now? It's rare to have a free day, and it's not for talking about others." She took Wei Ruolan Words block Wei Ruolan.

Wei Ruolan blew on her hands, and said, "Tell me, see how I tickle your itch!"

Before he could finish speaking, Daiyu had already held her handkerchief to hold her mouth, and ran away from a distance, but she saw her light figure, her skirt fluttering, while running, she turned her head to look at Wei Ruolan, but she didn't see Wei Ruolan behind her. At the sight of Ruolan, my heart skipped a beat, before I could turn my head, I fell headlong into Wei Ruolan's arms, it turned out that he relied on his lightness skill to catch him in the head.

Daiyu said angrily: "How can you bully people just because of your skill!"

Wei Ruolan had a smile on her face, and the tension from these days disappeared instantly. After all, he couldn't bear to tickle Daiyu, so he dragged her into the room and said, "It's too hot outside, let's go back. Tomorrow morning, we can take advantage of it." When it’s cool, I’ll take you outside for a stroll, four or five miles to the east, there are several adjacent ponds for planting lotus root, and the lotus is in full bloom.”

Daiyu looked forward, and said: "Okay. Although there is a pond in our village, there are a few bamboos in it that are just blooming, but they are too stingy, and they don't even want to be painted."

Then he smiled and said: "It's too eye-catching, how about we pretend to be farmers and women? Wearing big bamboo hats."

Wei Ruolan couldn't bear Daiyu staying at home without going out every day, and said with a smile: "It's all up to you. But you can't wear silk and satin to pretend to be a farmer and a peasant woman, or you will be recognized when you go out. We have a farmer Coarse clothes that people wear?"

Daiyu giggled, and said: "There are thousands of soldiers stationed outside the village, and the women in the kitchen can't cook a lot of meals, so I ordered people to investigate secretly, and hired dozens of clean peasant women from nearby houses to cook. I saw the clothes you were wearing, so I asked someone to buy a few bolts of fabric that the common people often wear, and made two sets of clothes that imitated the styles they wore, and I also made two sets of linen clothes for you."

As soon as Wei Ruolan heard it, she knew that Daiyu had already made up her mind, she couldn't help smiling, and felt distressed, thinking that fortunately, although Ping'an Prefecture was hurt and everything was busy, but after several months of busy work, how much did she finally get? You can accompany her at leisure.

Waking up early the next day, Wei Ruolan opened her eyes to see Daiyu all dressed up.

She was wearing a linen slanted skirt with white background and blue flowers on top, and a blue thin folded skirt, which was also made of linen, on the bottom. A piece of blue cloth like the skirt was wrapped around her head, and her black hair was wrapped. The hair was tightly wrapped inside, the ears and eyes on both sides were pierced with red thread, and a knot was tied under the earlobe, and there was no jewelry on the whole body.

Daiyu turned around and asked Wei Ruolan, "How is it? Does it look like the peasant women we saw when we were on the road? They all wrapped their heads in cloth, which is said to keep their heads from getting dusty. We wash our hair every three to five days, but they I don’t wash it once for ten days and half a month.”

And peasant women have to work every day, very hard.

Wei Ruolan lay sideways on the bed and couldn't get up, propped her head on her hands, looked at her with a smile, and said, "It's more playful. The style of the clothes is similar, but the person is not like him. Such icy muscles and fine bones, thin skin and tender flesh , Who would say that you are from a rich family? Even if you are wearing tattered clothes, you still behave like everyone."

Daiyu looked at the full-length mirror, her brows were tightly frowned. The self in the mirror was indeed not like the peasant women who worked in the village. They were exposed to the wind and sun every day, and their skin was dark and rough, but her own skin was like ice and snow, extremely white and tender.

Wei Ruolan turned over and got up, said: "Anyway, we just take a stroll, no one gets close to look at it, it's already good."

He gathered his middle coat, took a set of dark blue linen clothes that Daiyu had prepared by the bedside, and put them on his body, together with a pair of straw sandals, the size was right, and they were ironed everywhere, but the rough linen cloth made his skin ache slightly, and he noticed this , He opened Daiyu's sleeves and took a look, and sure enough, her arms were quite red. Looking at it was shocking, and he couldn't help saying: "Hurry up and change them, if you can't wear these clothes, don't wear them."

Daiyu pulled down her sleeves, and said seriously: "How can it be so delicate? Only after wearing it will you know the hard work of the people, and you will cherish everything you have so far, so that if you don't like it, you will trample on silk."

No matter what Wei Ruolan tried to persuade, Daiyu insisted on pretending to be a peasant woman to enjoy the lotus.

Really unable to resist her, Wei Ruolan had no choice but to wrap two handkerchiefs made of fine cotton cloth around her snow-white wrists, to separate the skin from the touch of the linen cloth, looked at her neck that was rubbed red by the collar, and sighed, It was so easy to tidy up, the maids outside came in to take care of the grooming, they were all taken aback when they saw it, and said in unison: "What are you and grandma doing?"

Daiyu laughed and said, "Today there is no grandpa and grandma, only a peasant couple hired by the village." After dinner, she put on the big hat and the small basket that she had prepared earlier, covered her face with a cloth towel, and urged Wei Ruolan to go out, with a No one takes them.

The two walked east along the road, tucking their hands into their sleeves, without attracting attention from others for a while.

Looking at the large fields of crops by the roadside and the farmers and women who came out early to work in the fields, Daiyu sighed softly and said: "In the past, I lived deep in the carved beams and painted buildings, and I wore silk and ate fat every day. Have you ever seen the suffering in the world? It was here that I understood Li Shen's poems about farmers. One is "Plant a grain of millet in the spring, and harvest ten thousand seeds in the autumn. There is no idle land in the world, and the farmer still starves to death." The other is "At noon on the day of hoeing, Sweat drips down to the ground. Who knows that the food on the plate is full of hard work.' These two poems have exhausted the suffering of farmers."

Wei Ruolan looked at the children running and playing on the ridge of the field, and said in a low voice, "It's been like this since ancient times? How can anyone change it? Only I can keep my conscience, collect less rent, and tell them to pay more rent." There's only one bucket of grain left."

Daiyu knew in her heart, so after they got married, only [-]% of the rent was collected from the farmland after paying taxes, and the remaining [-]% went to the tenants. Hard work only earns [-]% or [-]% a year, and they can't even make ends meet, which corresponds to "there is no idle land in the world, and farmers still starve to death."

She often wanders around the village, and she doesn't feel tired after walking four or five miles. Besides, the small pannier on her back only contains three or two light things, which is far inferior to Wei Ruolan's big pannier, and there is Wei Ruolan on the way. Lan Tuo said, and before he knew it, he arrived at the large lotus pond that Wei Ruolan said. Several ponds are adjacent to each other, and each pond is a scene of "the lotus leaves are boundless in the sky, and the lotus flowers are red in the sun".

They bought all the land in this village, and these ponds belonged to them too. They have always been taken care of by the tenant farmers in the village.

The two walked along the edge of the pool, and after walking not far, they heard someone shouting and asking.