They left for Beijing two days after Huang's death, arriving in Beijing in early August. Xie Daoyong's wife in Beijing is a flag girl, born in the side line of the Guerjia clan, although not as delicate as Mrs. Qin's eyebrows and eyes, but she has a heroic spirit, and at first sight, she knew that she was a lady who could take charge of the family's affairs. Wanlan met this uncle who had never met in the lobby of Xie Daoyong's mansion, performed the Manchu blessing ceremony, folded her hands at her side, and said, "Wanlan greets my uncle." ”

"Oh," the second wife of the Xie family looked at her standard full courtesy, and laughed in surprise: "I have long heard the master say that the eldest girl of this family is the most clever and intelligent, and she is a few mountains better than Xin'er I don't know, I didn't believe it before, but when I saw it today, it was really extraordinary." ”

She said, shaking her head regretfully: "Such a good talent must have been promised to others, it's a pity, if I knew that there was such a good girl in my family early, I would have to leave it to my mother's family, let's be a kiss." ”

Xie Daoyong stroked his beard and smiled: "When will you be able to get rid of this problem?" No matter what good things you see, your first reaction is to take it to your own home, fortunately, Ah Lan is a girl from her own family, if you have a foreign surname, you have to be recognized as a goddaughter if you don't marry a daughter-in-law." ”

"Who said no, I panicked when I heard her call her aunt, and I couldn't wait to remove the word 'aunt' and only call me mother. Master, take a look for yourself, this is the Miss Gaomen of the righteous family of poetry, calligraphy, and etiquette, and then look at your girl, there is no shape for splashing and rolling all day long, Lan'er is just right to come, teach you this sister, and let her behave like a girl. ”

She exaggerated a little too much, and Wanlan was faintly uneasy, lest she would make her cousin Xie Wanxin, who she had seen for the first time, unhappy, and hurriedly said: "Uncle and aunt look down on her niece, and the new sister is lively and delicate, and she is liked." ”

"A-Niang heard it, and even the big sister said that I was liked, which shows that I am really cute. Xie Wanxin smiled and lied to Xie Daozhong and his wife, and then turned his face and said to Wanlan and Huaichang with a smile: "I heard that the eldest sister and the second brother are coming, my mother and I have already cleaned up the house in the house, and the second brother wants to stay in the ocean, I specially arranged the second brother on the edge of the study, so that it is convenient for you to be hanging beams and piercing strands or chiseling walls to steal light." ”

Xie Huaichang couldn't react for a while that this was Wanxin joking with him, and waved his hand at her in a formal manner, and his tone was solemn and respectful: "Thank you uncle, thank you new sister." ”

Wanxin and her mother were stunned, and couldn't help but look at each other for a moment, before saying: "What are the second brothers polite to their own family? I'll take you to the bedroom, so that you can freshen up and wash all the way. ”

Although Wanlan and Huaichang didn't know the name of Taifeng Building, they might have been said so proudly by Wanxin, which showed that they were famous in the capital, so they immediately bowed their knees and thanked them, and went to the bedroom with Wanxin to bathe and change clothes. There was a cloisonné enamel table clock in the room arranged for Wanlan, and a small portrait of a foreign woman with an open chest and back was painted on the side.

Wanxin instructed the four girls in the room to open the salutes brought by Lixia and pack them up one by one, and when she saw Wanlan's love for this, she sneered: "Sister Lan, don't look at it, it's not a rare thing, if you like this Western watch, I'll take my sister to a foreign store to buy as much as you want." ”

"It's not that I haven't seen a chiming bell," Wanlan pointed to the portrait of a foreign woman and smiled: "It's just that I haven't seen such a portrait, Ah Xin, are all foreign women dressed like this?"

"I don't know," Wan Xin said, "I haven't seen many foreigners, let alone talked to foreigners, but I've seen a lot of foreign women in Beijing wearing our clothes, some wearing buns, and some wearing flat squares!"

"Oh?" Wanlan asked, "Didn't my uncle say that he would send you to Liuyang as well?"

"He just thinks so, A-Niang and I don't agree," Wanxin smiled and said: "What's so good about going abroad, you have to bother learning their language, and you can't understand a word of it." ”