The four bright red characters of "Ploughing and Reading People" are inlaid in a dark black frame, and when you look at it from a distance, a sense of majesty arises spontaneously, which makes people feel awe and fear from the bottom of their hearts. It's not that I'm afraid of these four words, but that they represent a symbol of culture and authority that is beyond the reach of ordinary people.

The large wooden plaque with a black background of the vermilion character hangs high in the front of the double ebony vermilion door, and below the plaque is a pair of fat brass lion heads, the hideous lion grinning with a huge mouth, the eye sockets are fierce, and an iron ring with a thick thumb spits out from the mouth of the lice.

The vermilion threshold was a foot high, the double door was tightly closed, only the corner door next to it was open, and on a snowy day, a few people hid in the gatehouse to be lazy and play cards for leisure.

Two huge stone lions on the left and right of the door are squatting there, not far away is the horse stone, and then go forward and stand a high stone pile, that is the horse tether pile, the top of the strip-shaped bluestone squats a monkey with a funny appearance, that is the meaning of the marquis immediately, it is the favorite shape of the big family in Lingzhou Mansion.

In the chaotic snowflakes, suddenly a small face poked out from behind the tethered horse pile, this is a child, he is ** years old, his hair is unkempt, he casually tied a pigtail, and a thin old cotton jacket wrapped around his thin body, so cold that he shivered. But he didn't care about his coldness, reached out and stroked the body of the bluestone pile curiously, and looked up at the top while stroking, with a look of admiration and curiosity on his face.

"Dumb man, don't be naughty, don't dare to touch the things of Master Liu's house casually, in case people see it, we will hurt your sister if they are beaten with a stick." ”

A middle-aged woman bent over and ran over to take her son's hand, but the dumb man did not listen, he shook off his mother's hand, looked left and right around the hethered horse post, touched and touched, hugged his hands and gave it a try, and looked up with great envy at the grinning monkey at the height of the pillar.

A man in a gray cloth shirt lowered his head and approached the corner door, probed his head to look in, rubbed his hands worriedly as he looked, wanted to take a step forward, hesitated, uncertain, and very difficult.

Suddenly, a fat man saw it, snapped and lost the only few cards left in his hand, he was unlucky, lost the cards again and again, and simply took the opportunity to let go, "Hey, hey, who are you? What are you doing? Don't you know where this is? It's the famous old man Liu's house! If you want food, let's go, let's go, don't disturb it, and don't look at whether this is a place where you can come? If you dirty the door, you have to sweep it again, uncle." ”

The gray-shirted man hurriedly retreated, but he hesitated to come up, and asked cautiously with a smiling face: "Uncle, I am the family of your little grandmother in the house, since she entered the Liufu as a child daughter-in-law, she has been gone for two months, the child and his mother remember it very much, tomorrow we are going to leave Lingzhou Mansion to find a way to survive outside, and we came to see the child and meet each other before leaving." I can rest assured, too. I want to ask the uncle to make it easier for me to ask if we can meet my daughter?"

The subordinate who was called the uncle at the door rolled his eyes, this hillbilly looked dressed in tatters, with a hungry face, and he spoke clearly and clearly, a little smoother than the average banker.

However, it's useless to be smooth, who called the uncle I'm in a bad mood today, I lost again and again, and I lost a third of the monthly cases of a month, how to go home and explain to the tigress-like lady.

"Go, go, there are more people in the township who come to Liufu to meet each other, who knows which one you belong to? Meet our old lady? Bring the name post! No name post? I'm sorry, we in Liufu have no white ding, and we don't deal with those lowly people who have no name and no surname in Liufu. ”

The gray-shirted man lowered his head and listened tremblingly, his eyes secretly scanned, and he saw the silk shirt on the chubby body in front of him shining a cool luster in the snowlight, and his heart was miserable, and he didn't dare to say hard words to offend, so he could only continue to plead with a bitter face.

Mrs. Liu sent Xie Yulin away, she was in a good mood, and called Lan Mei softly.

The tall girl had already come out of the ear room, appeared in front of her briskly and dexterously, and stood with her hands down, waiting for her orders.

Mrs. Liu opened the lid of the Boshan furnace, and was gently plucking the incense ash in the furnace with a pair of slender carved pluckers, she didn't turn her face to look at Yahuan, but said slowly: "Tell someone to go to the corner courtyard to have a look, it is estimated that he is still in a coma, in case he is really dead, it is not easy for the master to come back...... This Sister Ying is really ignorant, and she doesn't care about the lessons, and it doesn't matter if she does it. ”

Her tone was light, and Yahuan couldn't decide how to respond for a while, so she could only listen quietly.

Sure enough, the eldest lady continued to groan, pulled out the incense ash, put it in a small silver box, twisted the box with her fingertips, and blew it, the green clay incense is special, and even the incense ash after burning also exudes a special smell.

Mrs. Liu put down the silver box and gently cleaned her hands in the copper basin, Lan Mei did not dare to go up to serve, the eldest lady had a strange temper, especially when she was undecided, she liked to do some work by herself, if you disturbed her at this time, there would generally be no good fruit to eat.

A forty-year-old woman, a pair of jade hands is very successfully maintained, the skin is delicate and smooth, the ten fingers are slender, like a white onion that has been peeled off one by one, and on the two pink and white wrists, she wears a green jade bracelet on the left and nothing on her right wrist, which is simple and simple, but gives people a simple and elegant beauty.

The rose petals were mixed with honey in the water, a special emollient cream was added, and a pair of jade hands were soaked in the water.

The door curtain moved slightly, and a middle-aged servant woman walked briskly, until she reached Mrs. Liu's ear, and said softly: "Mr. Xie is gone." ”

Mrs. Liu had woken up from her state of distraction in an instant, "Didn't you say anything?"

"Nope. ”

The servant woman looked very shrewd, her slightly chubby figure looked very rich under the cover of the nine purple silk shirts, a big bun was simply coiled behind her head, and a colorful silver hairpin ran across the back of her head, fixing the fat and big bun. A string of fine tassels hangs from a hairpin on the sideburns, gently swinging in front of the forehead, rubbing against a full and bright forehead.

Xie Yulin gently carried the hem of his shirt, he didn't know what was wrong today, maybe it was because the snow kept falling, the soles of his feet were stained with snow, he walked unsteadily, he always felt that the hem of this shirt was a little long, and he would step on the soles of his feet from time to time.

When he turned the wall, he suddenly stumbled and almost fell headlong. The housekeeper who sent him off hugged him, "Mr. Xie be careful, the road is slippery on snowy days, and the eldest lady specially instructed us to be extra careful when we wait." ”

The housekeeper is talkative, laughing while talking.

Those subordinates who were fighting cards just now had already dispersed when they heard the sound, and now they were sitting in danger one by one, looking like they were guarding their posts with all their hearts.

"Hey, what about the troublesome poor stick?" a thin man whispered to the fat man.

The fat man grinned: "Bomb it away, poor rotten goods, and don't pee......"

Mr. Xie had already stepped out of the threshold, turned around and saluted gently, there was already a small carriage waiting on the stone road on the right, Mr. Xie picked up the corner of his clothes and prepared to get on the car.

With a sound of wind, a figure suddenly came out from behind a few trees, hugged Mr. Xie's left leg, and slipped on the ground, actually kneeling there, kowtowing vigorously, and shouting tremblingly in his mouth:" Please, Master Liu, please pity us, let us meet the dumb aunt, she is still so young, ignorant, and can't speak, I'm afraid that she won't serve the little master, if she makes a mistake, you will beat, scold, don't be reluctant, even if we are killed, we dare not complain, but please let us meet, we will leave when we see it, and we will go far from now on, and we will never cause trouble to you again. ”

His head was really strong, and it clattered on the snow that had just been swept and fallen.

"What for?

The housekeeper and the porter's subordinates immediately rushed over, pulling and pulling the man who hugged his legs and kowtowed, and the scene was as chaotic as someone blocking the road and robbing him.

However, Xie Yulin quickly calmed down, he helped the person up, and said, "Is there someone in the family who is sick and comes to seek medical treatment? ”

The gray-shirted man's face was gray, and his eyes were full of joy and expectation, full of disappointment, "You are not the master of the Liu family? ”

The housekeeper took a closer look at the green-faced man and suddenly came to his senses, pulled Mr. Xie over, and accompanied him with a smile, "Misunderstanding, Mr. Xie is a bit long to talk about, didn't my young master marry a house boy and adopt a wife a few days ago, or the unconscious woman who asked Mr. to see yesterday." This is her family, probably heard that the girl was going to die, and rushed over to see what was going on. ”

Xie Yulin turned around, and several porters with big shoulders and round waists had already clamped the gray-shirted man, like a flock of fierce eagles erecting a thin chick, throwing him out fiercely, and several mouths scolded him high and low and told him to get out.

Xie Yulin shook his head, it was none of his business, he bent down and got into the car.

The man was thrown to the ground and fell into a daze, and could not get up for a long time, when suddenly a child ran out from behind the hitching stake, went up and grabbed the man and dragged him up from the ground, whining and crying something, and a woman stumbled after him, and the cries in her mouth rushed out one after another.

"I just said that we can't see each other at all, you don't believe it, people are big families, big families, what are we? Cats and dogs are not as good as poor people, you shouldn't have sold the girl to the Liu family in the first place, you just didn't listen to my advice, now it's good, this one will be sent in and you can't see each other, you and I go out to ask for food, who knows which foreign country we will starve to, at that time we and the dumb aunt will not see each other for the rest of our lives......"

The carriage started, the road was slippery, the coachman drove the car very slowly, Xie Yulin looked out from the hanging curtain, the woman's cry was not heard word by word, suddenly he frowned, and jumped out of the car again, "Steward Liu, look at this-"

Steward Liu knew that Mr. Xie was the visiting doctor of Liufu, and he had taken care of the Liu's family's illnesses for many years, and his status in the eyes of the old lady was not comparable to ordinary outsiders.

Steward Liu had an idea, smiled and hugged his fists: "Mr. Xie rest assured, I will go to ask the eldest wife, flesh and blood, whether it is the emperor or the ordinary people, Mr. Xie is benevolent, and he can't bear to see the sorrow of the world, I will arrange this matter satisfactorily, Mr. rest assured." ”

Xie Yulin and Steward Liu didn't deal with each other for a day or two, listening to his tone, he knew that it was not perfunctory, since he said so, he would try his best to maneuver, so he smiled and hugged his fists, got into the car and left again.

Steward Liu watched the carriage go away, and the smile on his face, which had been smiling, suddenly stiffened, and he scolded lightly, "Nosy-" But he still waved his hand at the fat doorman, "Don't worry, tell the shopkeeper Tian to get up and talk-"

In Mrs. Liu's room, the middle-aged servant woman watched the eldest lady soak her hands, and she finally couldn't help but break the silence.

"Then, Mrs. Eldest Lady, Mrs. Ninth ......"

Bite one's tongue.

In fact, their masters and servants all understood that this desire to speak was intentional, and they each knew what it contained.

Mrs. Liu tirelessly fumbled with her fingers, as if groping for the delicate skin of a newborn baby.

In a simple hourglass on the table, fine grains of sand were leaking all the time.

"It's the same, she can ask the small kitchen to cook whatever she wants to eat, and she is about to give birth, and it is really hard to conceive a baby in October, don't let her feel a little wronged. ”

The servant nodded silently.

"Also, it's time for the midwife to prepare. ”

The servant woman still nodded, but didn't say a word.

"Let's invite Wang Liu, old man, he has a lot of experience, so he couldn't be safer. ”

The servant nodded faintly.

Lan Mei stood dumbfounded. She is the most faceful maid in front of Mrs. Liu, and she has been serving her in close proximity for many years, and she can be regarded as the most noble and decent person in the house, but at this moment, how can she feel so awkward and uncomfortable, she feels that she can't understand what Mrs. and this servant woman are saying. In fact, she heard everything they said, and her wife didn't tell her to step down, she stayed here. But she clearly felt that at this moment, among the three people, she felt that she was outside the two of them, and the conversation between them, in addition to the surface meaning, seemed to have another layer of deeper meaning, but unfortunately she couldn't see through, couldn't understand, and couldn't enter that world.

Or, is it because you are too careful?

The servant woman turned and walked away.

Lan Mei was still stunned, "You go and take a look, if it doesn't work, ask Mama Li to arrange for someone to go out for a run, and invite the people of the Tian family, who are the daughters of the people, and call them to meet when they die." ”

Lan Mei seemed to have just woken up from a sleep, with a little bit of confusion that she hadn't fully woken up from a residual dream, she hurriedly walked out of the door, and almost bumped into Mama Li, who was hurrying over.

"Big lady, the Tian family is here, and the old couple is crying and crying to see the dumb aunt, saying that their daughter has been married for two months and misses it very much. ”

Mama Li speaks with a high voice, as neat as walking, and she looks like a neat person.

"Oh, such a coincidence? Tian Jia...... Did you hear something somewhere?"

Mrs. Liu said as she scooped her hand out of the basin, and clear droplets of water slipped from her delicate fingers.

Mother Li shook her head: "According to the old body, it won't, what kind of family is the Tian family, a tenant farmer from a small family, so poor and sour that he can't afford to wear a pair of pants without patches, and the old man sees that the money for selling his daughter has been spent, and he has come to fight the autumn breeze again." Such people can't give them a good face in the first place!"

"Mama Li—"

The eldest lady interrupted her.

"Go and bring people in, I want to meet my in-laws. ”

Mrs. Liu's voice could not hear a trace of affection.

Mother Li was startled, but she swallowed the words that were about to pop out of her mouth, after all, she was an old man who had been doing things in front of the eldest lady for many years, and sometimes there were some things, and it was not good to ask too much.

Mother Li hurriedly went to the front yard to pass on.

Lan Mei trotted all the way into the thin gate of the corner courtyard with a chaotic head of snow foam.