The fourth wife, Yu, was furious after learning that Wei had the errand she had longed for, and when the two met in Mingshantang the next day, Yu was very sarcastic and mocking of Wei, and Wei's attitude also changed somewhat, she no longer let Yu insult, but made Yu a few times sharp.

And the second lady occasionally persuaded a few words on the side, and helped Wei more often, so Yu hated Wei even more.

After the Yu family and the Wei family took the errand and left, Mama He, who was beside the second lady, said: "The third wife looks like a very honest person on weekdays, and I don't want to really be able to suppress the fourth wife, but it surprises the old slave." ”

The second wife put down the account book in her hand and smiled slightly: "No matter how honest a person is, there are also reverse scales, not to mention that the Wei family was able to live to the end of the Wei family and marry peacefully with the dowry left by her biological mother, although she has only given birth to a son and a daughter over the years, and the only son is in that situation, but have you ever seen the third child say a heavy word to her? ”

Mama He thought for a while, and said thoughtfully: "Madame is right, when Mrs. Bo first entered the door, didn't she also bow down everywhere and look down on her gentle......ness and virtuousness?

The second lady's face gradually turned cold: "Don't mention the past again." ”

Mama He sighed and stopped mentioning the year.

He Linwan didn't bother to ask about the situation on Wei's side, she received a post from Yuan Xiang, and Yuan Xiang invited her to be a guest at Yuan's house tomorrow. He Linwan looked at this post and her heart jumped, Yuan Xiang said that she also invited Zhao Qingqing, He Linwan guessed that it was for the jade pendant, could it be that Zhao Qingqing already had news over there?

After Wei came back in the afternoon, He Linwan took the post to find Wei to mention the matter of going to Yuan's house tomorrow, Wei was meeting people in the main hall, and when He Linwan passed, a round-faced woman in her thirties was talking.

“...... Although the Yasukuni Mansion is nominally in charge of the house, after all, the Lady of the Prince has only been in the door for half a year, and before the Lady of the Prince entered the door, because the Duchess of Yasukuni was not good at doing things, the Guogong Mansion has been the housekeeper of the Yasukuni Gongru Lady You for more than ten years, so the situation in the Guogong Mansion is really difficult to say. ”

Mama Li was surprised: "If I remember correctly, the background of this prince of the Yasukuni Mansion is not low, her father Mu Jingcheng is the nephew of Mu Shoufu and was still the youngest champion of my dynasty, and her grandmother is the eldest daughter of the first emperor, Princess An Yi, half a year ago, when the eldest lady of the Mu family got married, the dowry was spread all over Zhengyang Street, and it is still talked about. Is her background still unstable in the Yasukuni Mansion?"

The round-faced grandmother said: "Mama Li, you only say that Miss Mu is from a prominent background, but do you know what the origin of that Mrs. You is?"

Mama Li thought for a while and said in surprise: "You family, there is no family surnamed You in Beijing?"

Wei suddenly spoke: "What does her maiden family have to do with Mrs. Lao Shou Anhou?"

Mama Li's face changed: "Shou'an Hou Mansion?

The round-faced grandmother nodded and said: "The third lady is right, this Mrs. You's father is the nephew of Concubine De's biological mother, Mrs. Lao Shou Anhou, although she is just a concubine, no one dares to underestimate her." ”

Mama Li pursed her lips, but didn't say anything more, raised her eyes and saw He Linwan standing at the door and said with a smile: "Yo, the eldest girl is here?"

Wei Shi also turned his head and beckoned with a smile: "Ah Wan is here, but is there something?"

He Linwan glanced at the round-faced grandmother who was saluting her, nodded, and walked in front of Wei: "It's nothing important, mother is busy beforehand." ”

Wei pulled He Linwan to sit down, and then said to the round-faced grandmother: "The birthday gift for the Duchess of Yasukuni should be done according to what Mama Geng said just now, as for the You family...... This time it is just to congratulate the Duchess of Yasukuni on her birthday, so naturally it is good to only prepare a birthday gift, and our house does not often move around with the Yasukuni Mansion on weekdays, so there is no need to specially prepare a gift for the You family. ”

The round-faced Mama Geng smiled: "What the third wife said is that generally some people who pay attention to the rules of the family act like this. The slave and maid withdrew first. ”

Mama Geng bowed and withdrew.

Mama Li said in a low voice: "It should be like this, I have never heard of the birthday of Mrs. Zhengmu, and there are people who give gifts to a concubine by the way, and those people are too disrespectful." At the beginning of the Wei family, the Yao family also relied on their own kinship with Concubine De's family, and if the Queen Mother was still alive, the current situation of the queen would not be so embarrassing. ”

The Empress Dowager in Mama Li's mouth is Empress Gongxiao of Emperor Taizu, Empress Gongxiao died early, and the Empress Dowager made the decision to set up Empress Gongxiao's niece as the queen, that is, the current Queen Wang, but unfortunately she is not the queen of Gongxiao's son today, and she is also very cold to Queen Wang, but she loves Concubine Ande.

However, He Linwan felt that Mama Li was not upset with the current queen, just because Wei's biological mother Wang and the current queen were of the same clan, and Wang's grandfather and Queen Wang's great-grandfather were cousins.

Wei glanced at Mama Li and asked her not to talk about this in the evening with He Lin, and Mama Li stopped.

He Linwan didn't seem to notice it, and only said: "I have never seen this Geng Mama, I don't know where she is?"

Mama Li smiled: "It's normal that the eldest girl hasn't seen her, she was originally the steward of the pantry in the outer courtyard, and her father heard about it in front of the old marquis." Because Mrs. is now in charge of the people's relations in the house, someone recommended this Mama Geng to Mrs. I don't think this Mama Geng really has some knowledge, and she knows everything about the inner courtyards in Beijing. Mrs. has never been a housekeeper before, but Mama Geng has helped a lot today. ”

He Linwan listened thoughtfully, there are naturally hidden people in the big family, but with the He family's background, it is surprising that the Wei family can casually find a person like Mama Geng.

"Then this Mama Geng appeared really in time, I don't know who recommended her to her mother?" He Linwan asked curiously.

Mama Li glanced at Wei, and seeing that Wei's had no intention of stopping, she whispered: "It was recommended by Mama Wang next to Mrs. Hou, otherwise Mrs. would not dare to use someone who doesn't know the roots." ”

He Lin nodded lately, it turned out that Mama Geng was the person who her grandmother Wei put in the outer courtyard, and it was still a secret stake to see the situation. He Linwan didn't ask much.

Wei said: "You are also old now, it doesn't matter if you hear about these things." Just remember not to talk about it. ”

He Linwan nodded and smiled: "Mother, don't worry, I know how to measure." ”

Wei smiled and touched her head: "Ah Wan has been a lot more well-behaved recently, and she will be like this in the future." Ah Wan came to find his mother, has something to do?"

He Linwan told Yuan Xiang about inviting her in a post, and Wei Shi pondered for a moment and said: "Now that you have grown up, it is not impossible to go out to socialize, but you have to promise your mother that you are not allowed to cause trouble when you go out, otherwise your mother will not allow you to go out next time." ”

He Linwan nodded hurriedly: "I know my mother, I must not cause trouble." ”

Wei was also very happy to see her well-behaved, and said with a smile: "Tomorrow, I will ask Mama Li to help you prepare the carriage, but when you come to visit this time, remember to prepare gifts for the Yuan family girl and Zhao girl, don't lose your courtesy." A few days ago, I saw that your needlework and thread had grown a lot, so how about you find a few small objects that you embroider yourself and give them them?"

He Linwan couldn't help but feel embarrassed after listening to it.

The original He Linwan's one-handed needlework is really unbearable, but her needlework was taught by her grandmother when she invited the first embroidery lady in Suzhou to teach her, although she didn't dare to say that she was the best in Beijing, but she was still quite good at it among her peers. That time Wei checked her needlework, she was afraid of being suspected by Wei, so she deliberately embroidered according to He Linwan's technique, and she didn't want Wei to be very surprised after seeing it, and praised her needlework for making great progress, and then He Linwan didn't dare to touch the needlework. She is a person who pursues perfection, and she used to always ask herself to do her best in everything, but now it is really difficult for her to embroider things of the level of He Linwan.

So now the embroidery she has in hand is still embroidered by He Linwan before, and He Linwan really has no way to take those things out and give them away.

So He Linwan hurriedly said: "I have prepared the gift, Miss Yuan's birthday has only passed for a long time, I have to give her a birthday gift, and Miss Zhao, the gift she gave me last time was not low, and I didn't return the gift well It was too shabby, so I prepared a hairpin for Miss Yuan, and a hand for Miss Zhao, which was in the jewelry that my mother asked Duobaoge to send me last time." ”

Wei Shi was even happier when he saw that He Linwan was talking about the truth, and nodded with a smile: "It's still thoughtful, last time those jewelry were personally picked by my mother for you, although it is not very valuable, but it is a new trick over there in Jiangnan, I think they will like it." ”

He Linwan breathed a sigh of relief, as long as Wei didn't let her send those embroidered sachets that couldn't see the patterns.

On the second day, He Linwan got into the carriage prepared by Mama Li and went out.

Wei is really a good mother, it is only a quarter of an hour's drive from the He family to the Yuan family, and the carriage is full of tea and snacks, a change of clothes, and even the nine rings and leaf cards used to relieve boredom. Because he noticed that it was hot today, Wei was afraid that He Lin would be stuffy in the carriage at night, so he asked Mama Li to lead people to replace the carriage curtains with light and breathable gauze curtains, and the cushions were also replaced with cool silk surfaces.

When He Lin arrived at Yuan's house late, Zhao Qingqing had already arrived, and when He Lin got out of the carriage late, he saw Yuan Xiang and Zhao Qingqing standing at the door of the second gate waiting for her, so he hurriedly smiled and said while saluting: "I'm late, and it's really a sin to be so tired that my two sisters come to pick me up." ”

Zhao Qingqing returned the salute and smiled: "I also just arrived, and I was about to go to Ah Xiang's courtyard, and when I heard that you were coming, we simply waited for you to go over." Today, the lady and wife are out, and we don't have to go to the elders' courtyard to pay respects. ”

Yuan Xiang led Zhao Qingqing and He Linwan to the courtyard where she lived, but Zhao Qingqing said: "The weather is so good today, why don't we go to the Lotus Heart Pavilion to sit down?" ”

Yuan Xiang said with a smile: "Sister Zhao's nose is really smart, the lotus flowers in my pond just opened the day before yesterday and you smelled the fragrance, no matter what, the lord is a guest, Sister He hasn't seen the lotus pond dug by my family last year, right?"

He Linwan smiled: "I haven't seen it, I really want to take a look, if the flowers bloom well, you can let me pick a few and bring them back later." ”

Zhao Qingqing chuckled: "Ah Xiang, look, there is someone here who is more polite than me." ”

The house of the Yuan family is newly bought in recent years, only half the size of the house of the He family, but the scenery inside is much more exquisite than the He family, pavilions and pavilions, garden rockeries, small bridges and flowing water, there is a taste of the Jiangnan garden, He Linwan feels that there are lush greenery everywhere from the first entrance to the second door, a vibrant scenery, and there are a few very precious camellia plants in the garden.

The lotus pond of the Yuan family covers an area of about four acres, surrounded by willows, and there are already a few early-blooming lotus flowers in the pond. The lake pavilion in the lotus pond is a hexagonal two-storey pavilion pavilion with a spire, glazed tiles, painted red columns, painted cornices, as soon as you enter, you can feel the cool water vapor blowing on your face, and the little dry heat that has just come all the way will dissipate instantly.

He Linwan followed Yuan Xiang to the second floor of the Huxin Pavilion, where the view was the highest, and he could actually take the entire Yuan Mansion into his eyes, and couldn't help but admire: "This pavilion is extremely well repaired." ”

Yuan Xiang instructed the maid to prepare refreshments, and said with a smile: "My grandmother and mother are both from Jiangnan, and the house is organized according to their wishes." You have also seen our family's old mansion at the beginning, but there is no such view. ”

He Linwan hadn't seen the old mansion of the Yuan family, so he just smiled and said yes, and then asked Chunxiao to take out the gift he had prepared and hand it to Yuan Xiang and Zhao Qingqing: "This is a gadget for the two sisters, and please don't dislike it." The two thanked each other and took it.

Yuan Xiang opened it and said with a smile: "This hairpin is really beautiful, is it a new trick?"

Zhao Qingqing took the pair of bracelets and looked at it, and said with a smile: "This is the style that is in vogue in Jiangnan this year, presumably it won't be long before Jingzhong will become popular, I have a silk village at home, and I have also introduced a lot of new patterns in the south this time, and I am waiting to make a sum of money after a while." ”

Zhao Qingqing said and winked playfully.

Yuan Xiang: "Oh?

Zhao Qingqing put the handkerchief on his wrist and said softly: "Have you forgotten that this year is the year of the general election? In two or three months, the show girls will all enter Beijing......

As soon as Zhao Qingqing said this, He Linwan also remembered that this year was the year of the triennial general election. According to the rule, all court officials above the fifth rank, and a woman in the family who has reached the age of thirteen and has not yet reached the age of seventeen and has not been married, must be sent to the palace to run for election.

When she was in the Yang family, it was her sixteen-year-old eldest sister Yang Weishan who decided to enter the palace. ・