On this day, I had lunch, and in the afternoon, I heard someone come to report that Mama Qian was coming, Jia Lu hurriedly asked people to come in, only to see a thin and shrewd forty-year-old woman come up to say goodbye.

Jia Lu looked carefully, this Qian Mama met when she was five or six years old, a little familiar, different from the Mama in the garden, she wore gold and silver, she was shrewd and exposed, not like a subordinate, but looked like a wife from a medium family.

Mama Qian asked for peace, and said with a smile,

"I have long thought of the girl's side, I said that I would wait for the girl to come up when she was ten years old, the old slave was looking forward to it, and counted it with his fingers, but there was no order in the house, and the old slave did not dare to come in, and when the wife ordered it this morning, the old slave immediately packed up his things, and then rushed over, and asked the girl not to laugh at my urgency!"

Listening to her speak like this, even Jia Lu listened to it and ironed it in her heart, and said secretly, no wonder she can make a lot of money!

"Mama doesn't need to be polite, sit down quickly, I was about to ask you, how can you laugh!"

Mama Qian sat down, and Jia Lu asked, "Mama has settled down?"

Mama Qian replied, "It's settled, it's Miss Jiao Qian, it's next door to Mama Li." ”

Jia Lu asked again, "Have you settled down in that family?" Unlike Mama Li, who is alone, Mama Qian is dragging her family, she used to live at home, but now she lives in the garden, and she is separated from her family, so I am afraid that she will feel uncomfortable.

Mama Qian replied, "The first boys in the family are all older, and now they are all independent, and the old man in the family often goes out to buy goods, and I am usually alone in the family, so it is better to come to the garden and go on a blind date with everyone!"

The two exchanged pleasantries for a while, and then Jia Lu asked, "Mama, do you know about the embroidery village in the east of our house and the grocery store on Zhuangyuan Street?"

Mama Qian has been in charge of several shops in her hands, and she knows them all in her heart, and when she heard Jia Lu say it, she knew which two they were, so she said,

"The girl is a good fortune, these two shops are rare, and there are five or six thousand taels of silver a year, and the shops purchased in the house are considered to be of the best class.

Especially this embroidery village, the full name is called the rich embroidery village, specializing in the business of the rich and noble, the embroidery girls are mostly recruited from the south of the Yangtze River, that is, the silk of the spinning thread is mostly used to come from the south, every needle and every thread are carefully made, such as the girl on this dress is made in the rich embroidery village. ”

Jia Lu glanced at the green bamboo and Qingxi jacket on his body, and couldn't see any difference, so he asked, "Didn't you say that we won't use clothes made from outside in our house?"

This is asking about the affairs of the house, and Mama Qian can't come back, Mama Li said.

"It should be said that the girl should also learn these things in the middle, even the clothes she wears don't know where they come from.

It is true that most of the girls' clothes are made by themselves, especially the close-fitting clothes, which are not allowed to be taken over by outsiders, and most of them are made by their own maids in the house.

The girls' four seasons clothes belong to the daily routine, all of which are made by the embroidery room in the house, but there is only one embroidery room, and the embroidery skills are not lacking, but they are not only for the girls to make the clothes, they are more elaborate on the old lady and so on, and the girl's clothes are not very careful.

Girl, your four-season clothes, in addition to those from Rongfu and Ningfu, have been sent from both sides. The clothes made by this Rongfu have always been the same as you and the second girl and the third girl. ”

Jia Lu knew it, no wonder in the Red Mansion, the three girls of the Jia family wore the same clothes at every turn, so it turned out.

"However, I haven't seen the second sister and the third sister dressed the same?"

Mama Li said again, "The third girl wears more of the house, as for the second girl, I'm afraid that the eldest lady has some help, after all, the eldest lady is the mother of the second girl." ”

This is true, this Chen family is not stingier than the Xing family, and there are no children under his knees, so he can't take care of some of the second sisters.

Mama Li continued,

"The clothes of Rongfu, the girl is not very wearable, the main thing is the clothes made in Ningfu, but the clothes made in the house are not as delicate as those made outside, so when the girl was young, the old lady in our house ordered that she would let the outside make clothes every season, but I didn't know that they were all sent from my own embroidery village. It was the old lady who went, and this rule was retained. ”

Mama Qian said, "Exactly, this rule has been continued for many years, because they are all their own shops, so they don't have to come in and tailor the girl in person like the outside, just ask the house for the size, I think so, the girl doesn't know." ”

Jia Lu listened, "So I understand, is this embroidery village just its own, or will it accept some work done by other people?"

Mama Qian replied,

"The harvest is collected, but the things collected will not be sold in the rich embroidery village, after all, the outside is not as good as their own doing, there are other embroidery villages in our house, and they can also be sold from elsewhere.

It's just that the embroidery village is well decorated, looking at the high threshold, the average people, or the craftsmanship is not perfect, or the fabric needlework is not good, and they dare not enter when they see the door, so not many people will send life to the embroidery village. ”

"And what about the grocery store?" Jia Lu asked again.

Qian Mama replied, "That grocery store is inferior to the rich embroidery village, his name is called Sishifang, located on the champion street, because there were three champions and named, now there are many people living in it, and most of them are doing the business of readers, such as pen, ink, paper, inkstone, rouge gouache and other things." ”

"Ahem!ahem!" Jia Lu was drinking tea, and suddenly she choked on a big mouthful.

"How is rouge gouache a scholar's business?" Jia Lu asked after a long time of relief.

"This, this. Mama Qian hesitated.

Mama Li saw it, I was afraid that there was something difficult to say, but the girl was also older, and she didn't have a mother, so she had to contact one or two things for some things.

said, "Mama Qian, you can just say it." ”

In this way, Mama Qian came one by one,

"At first, there were three champions on this champion street, which was recognized as a blessed land, and then the houses of the people on the street were bought by the powerful people in the middle of the court and used as a place for the children and nephews of the family to study, but the son of this powerful and wealthy family left home, and where would he study hard and spend money like dirt.

This, cough, the dusty women or the girls who are greedy for vanity will come to hear the wind, and after the two look at each other, the Zhuangyuan Street is even more smoky, and the people in Beijing are more sarcastic when they talk about the scholars on the Zhuangyuan Street. ”

Jia Lu asked some more questions, and when she saw that she was a little tired, she asked her to go back to rest, and instructed her to go out together in the morning to see these two shops.

However, on the morning of the second day, I heard the people in the stable go back and forth, saying that the horses were afraid that they had eaten something wrong, and that they had some diarrhea, and that they might not be able to go out, so they could only wait for two days to see.