On the third day of the 29th lunar month of the 29th year of Jingli, twelve spacious and luxurious carriages entered from the east gate of Yan'an City, passed through the bustling Kyoto market, passed through the same streets and alleys where princes and nobles often walked, passed through the eyes and ears of every Kyoto family, and stopped at the Chengping Marquis Mansion in the depths of Meihua Lane. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

There was silence outside the towering mansion gate, which was not empty, but the respect of more than 100 people approaching but being shocked by the majesty.

Hongzhi took a deep breath and jumped out of the carriage first, the curtain of the carriage was slightly lifted, and Shen Qihuan took Hongzhi's hand and came down the steps.

Or someone has raised their eyes to spy in the dark, or someone may be observing in a place where no one is looking, but as far as the eye can see, everyone, from the master mother with beads and emeralds, down to the servant woman who kneels down to greet him, is in a posture of surrender and humility.

It wasn't until the Marquis of Chengping and the King of Jing'an stepped down from the carriage that the lady standing at the front of everyone sang: "Welcome the prince of Jing'an, welcome the prince back to the house." ”

Every scale, every trace of intonation, is converging just right.

The greeted voice that followed was humble and high-pitched, showing the supreme honor of the head of the Chengping Marquis family.

Affected by the atmosphere, Shen Qihuan unconsciously took a deep breath and walked towards the door of the mansion behind Chang Ru.

Shuke begonias spread from the gate to the front hall porch, large shrubs inlaid with seasonal flowers enclose a piece of greenery, the eaves are bordered by a natural spring, the water flows slowly into the lotus pond from the steep stone wall, the pool is crystal clear, there is no fish and no grass, the clean white goose eggs are paved with the bottom, there is a stone frog squatting in the middle of the pool, majestic against the trickle of the spring mouth.

Everything in front of you will make you feel like you are in the middle of spring and summer, and you will forget that it snowed a few days ago.

There is a maid standing in five steps on the corridor, all of them are brown and orange waist pinching jackets, and a rabbit fur collar is exposed at the neckline, which is beautiful and spiritual. There are long streets on the left and right gates, because of the presence of King Jing'an, everyone moved straight to the Taihe Hall of Zhengyang Courtyard, which is the place where the Hou Ye discusses matters on weekdays, the maids of Yingying Yanyan are few, and the gray-clothed little guy bows to lead the way for the people behind, and there are many guards under the courtyard wall, revealing a sense of tranquility.

From the beginning of entering the door, a handsome middle-aged man followed Chengping Hou, Shen Quehuan saw Changru calling him the eldest brother, presumably it was Shen Hongcheng, the eldest son of Chengping Hou, the waiter of the Ministry of Works, and there were several men behind this person, presumably all of them were old men in the house.

Shen Qihuan couldn't be mixed with this kind of man's occasion, and she was worried about where she should go, when a servant woman waiting by the second gate greeted her, "Third Miss, please move to Jingtai Courtyard, Lao Anren, old lady and several clan relatives are waiting for you." ”

Shen Qihuan nodded at her slightly, neither humble nor arrogant: "Mama will lead the way." ”

In the end, she has been with the third lady for many years, and her life is not in vain, although she is not as good as her mother, she can still learn something. If she stabilizes, Hongzhi will naturally be able to stabilize.

Out of the Zhengyang courtyard there is a sedan chair man, Chengping Hou's inner courtyard and the outer courtyard are far apart, the average woman is very hard with her feet, Shen Quehuan hesitated, or got on the small sedan chair, all the way through the streets and alleys, the scenery along the way is exquisite, the garden connecting the inner and outer courtyards also has sika deer and red-crowned cranes, the passing maid couldn't help but look at her, a slightly older woman, will be surprised by the appearance that looks like Shen Yulan.

Finally, the sedan chair stopped in front of the gate of Jingtai Courtyard, Shen Qihuan was helped out of the sedan chair by Hongzhi, and as soon as her feet touched the ground, she heard a woman shouting in a sharp voice: "Coming...... Hurry in and report that the people have arrived......"

Shen Qihuan still forced herself to put on a proper smile, stepped over the threshold, and the beautiful ladies and boudoirs waiting in the courtyard all brushed their eyes, and then there were voices coming from each other, Shen Qihuan knew that her lake blue with rouge powder dress had an effect, she did not pretend to be cramped, and was introduced into the hall by the servant woman generously.

As soon as the curtain of the door was lifted, the incense tent was warm, and the voice behind a flowery porcelain screen was slight, and Shen Qihuan stepped in the midst of thousands of calls.

She hung her head and stepped forward to salute without humility or arrogance: "Que Huan has saluted the elders." As she spoke, she made a set of blessings in eight books, and when she was done, she heard the voice of the old man coming from above.

"It's not bad, raise your head and let your great-grandmother take a look. ”

The old woman on the seat is full of silver wires, wearing a treasure emerald inlaid silver forehead, and two emerald small ringed earrings are hanging in her ears, plump and round, not like an octogenarian at all.

When she saw Shen Qihuan's face, the bottom of her eyes seemed to shrink urgently, and in an instant, two hot tears poured out, and the withered old hand stretched out towards Shen Qihuan: "You...... You ......"

The two women who were waiting on the side didn't recognize the eldest lady Shen Yulan, and when they saw Lao Anren's face change suddenly, they hurriedly went to help her pat her back and soothe her, and said in their mouths: "Lao Anren, what's wrong with you?"

"I'm afraid that this child's appearance has made her great-grandmother sad. The one who spoke was a noblewoman sitting at the head of Lao Anren, sixty years old, with two deep folds between her eyebrows that made her look very serious.

Shen Que guessed her identity, Chengping Hou Ping's wife, Chen.

Lao Anren's face full of ravines had already shed tears, and he said to the women beside him: "You don't know, Yulan was seven or eight points similar to her when she was a child, and they all said that giving birth to a daughter is like a father, and there is nothing false about this." ”

Lao Anren used to feel the most sorry for the children of the main house, especially Shen Yulan, who almost grew up under her knees. Therefore, the catastrophe in the Protectorate Mansion was also hidden from her, for fear that she would hurt Yulan.

"Grandmother, this child is like me, can you take a look?" It was Shen Manzhi who spoke, the aunt of the Shen side branch, and after her husband was widowed, she went to the Chengping Marquis Mansion to be a pension girl for Lao Anren. and Shen Yulan and Shen Hongru are considered to be the same generation, and everyone in the house calls her Miss Gu.

She is actually kind-hearted, and she wants to say that Mrs. Tai's memory is not good, so she may not talk about the taboo. Unexpectedly, she was disgusted when she said this, and several of Chen's daughters-in-law all wrinkled their noses and eyes.

"Ouch, sister-in-law, don't put gold on your face. A woman wearing pearls and flowers and golden sideburns spoke on the side, "I see, she is a little like our second girl." ”

Jingtaiyuan is not a place where juniors can come in, and all the young ladies of Shen Qihuan's generation are not there, Shen Qihuan naturally doesn't know which one she looks similar to, but after the woman said this, the old lady Chen's face was obviously not good.

The woman who mentioned the second girl also noticed, but for no reason she trembled all over, and stepped back in a suppressed voice.

The topic fell back to Shen Qihuan, and the woman beside the Chen family asked: "The master only sent someone to tell us that the second master and the third lady were found, and asked the clan elders to come over and say that they wanted to join the clan, which made us dizzy, but I don't know what is going on here." ”

"That's right, the second master has disappeared for more than ten years, what have you been doing all these years?When did you get married to your mother, why didn't your mother come back with you?" The woman who spoke was waiting at the head of the Chen family, and her demeanor was the most graceful, it should be the main room of the uncle Shen Hongcheng, the current mother of the Shen Mansion, the Lin family.

Shen Qihuan replied clearly: "My mother passed away three years ago. She avoided the important and trivialized, and picked out something that was innocuous and everyone knew to say it, so that others mistakenly thought that the other questions were not easy to say.

In the interval of everyone's hesitation, Shen Quehuan raised his eyes and glanced at the Lin family, Shen Hongcheng, the master of the Shen family's big house, is now a waiter in the Ministry of Works, and his wife is not small, when the uncle of the Chaoguo Zuo Xiang Lin Hui is her own grandfather, the elder brother of the family served as the prefect of Handzhou at a young age, and the Lin family is definitely a pivotal figure in the Chengping Hou Mansion.

An old woman brought a stool to Shen Qihuan, Shen Qihuan sat down between the crowd, and listened to Lin's self-care: "I'm really not used to calling you three girls, originally my daughter Quechun ranked third, but your birthday was half a year older than her, so she became a fourth girl, and the finches in your name and the magpies in her name are homophonic, and it is estimated that people will be confused for a while." ”

Everyone stammered at Lin's and laughed with their eyes, noses, noses, and hearts, and the young woman with a flowery face and moon looked at Shen Quehuan and asked Shen Quehuan about the old things, except for the one she memorized before answering, she didn't know anything else.

After a while, the grandmother beside Lao Anren came in and said: "Old lady, Master Hou has sent off the distinguished guests in front of him, and he has come this way." ”

Everyone stood up when they heard the sound, even the old Chen moved the group seat to the bottom, Shen Qihuan stood aside from the goodness, watching the maids and women ventilate and sprinkle water for a while, and when they were done, they heard the voices of everyone in the courtyard welcoming the Hou Ye.

Suddenly, Chengping Hou was welcomed into the house by two grandmothers and four other noble maids, and everyone in the house saluted respectfully, even the Chen family was meticulous, which showed that the rules and etiquette in the house were deep, and Shen Quehuan looked at it, and there was only one great-grandchild in the house.