"Jin'er, this, come here." Su Xiuli beckoned to her.

Su Xiujin was holding the brocade in her hand, she really didn't want to get involved in the bad things in the garden, and the brocade in her hand was still urgently needed by her aunt. After a pause, I wanted to change my head.

"Little Liu'er, I will definitely regret it, I heard that it was quarreling again." Su Xiuyuan didn't know when he came up from behind, bringing a burst of incense, and Su Xiujin's nose knew that it was the rouge incense of the Agarwood Pavilion as soon as he smelled it.

"No, fourth sister, I'm still waiting to send brocade to my aunt, and my aunt is missing two feet of brocade to make shoe uppers, so I can't wait." Su Xiujin excused.

"Just let Cuizhu send it," Su Xiuyuan took the brocade stuff in her hand and gave it to the dry little girl behind Su Xiujin: "If you miss such a good thing, you won't know how you beat your chest when you go back." “

Su Xiujin couldn't refuse, so she had to turn her head and instruct carefully: "But you have to hand it over to your aunt properly, it's getting late, let her not rush the upper, and the lights in the house will be brighter, so as to save her eyes." ”

Cuizhu answered a few times and hung his head and left.

Su Xiuyuan grabbed her wrist and couldn't wait to say: "Today, the shopkeepers along the coast came back to report the accounts, and those shopkeepers couldn't enter the inner courtyard, guess what?" Su Xiuyuan covered her mouth and smiled, and Su Xiujin asked, "What happened to the second aunt?" ”

"Isn't it?" Su Xiuyuan said: "Who doesn't know that the second aunt's mother's house is the big shopkeeper's family, the big shopkeeper came back this time and secretly brought a box of pearls the size of a grain of rice, the second aunt has been hiding, who knows that the third aunt doesn't know where to get the news today, and she will come to make trouble with people, not to say that the box of pearls is greedy in public funds, and the second aunt does not follow, from the morning to the present, it has made trouble to the ancestors." ”

Su Xiujin was stunned: "The old ancestor has been sick." “

Su Xiuli had been standing at the gate of the garden, and this time she took Su Xiujin's arm and said, "Isn't it?" Originally, the mother solved the matter with two sentences, but the second aunt did not give up, and the ancestor was shocked when he was eating tea at his mother's. “

Su Xiujin thought about it carefully, the big shopkeeper is the second aunt's brother, and the third aunt dares to say that the big shopkeeper is greedy, this matter is not trivial.

Entering the garden, the pavilions and pavilions, the flowers are like brocade, the garden is delicate and elegant, there is a bird cage hanging on the promenade, and the extraordinary budgie inside shouts as soon as it sees Su Xiujin: "Splendid, splendid." “

Su Xiujin covered her heart, the budgie is her mother's favorite object, and it is not usually untouchable by ordinary girls, but others are cute when teasing, and she will jump up and down at Su Xiujin, shouting Splendid, Splendid.

Su Xiuyuan took the handkerchief and slapped the birdcage: "It's Xiujin, Xiujin!" “

Su Xiuli covered her mouth and smiled: "This stupid bird, no matter how you teach it, you can't teach it." It will be splendid, splendid. It should be a little guy who lost his mouth and taught the wrong thing. “

Su Xiujin glanced at the budgie parrot, her heart tightened, and she pulled the two of them: "Leave this little beast alone." Didn't the two sisters wait to see the excitement? “

Su Xiuli stomped her foot: "Isn't it." Let's go. “

The three of them walked across the verandah, and the budgie blinked its little black bean eyes and jumped away.

When I entered the garden of Erjin, I vaguely heard the reprimand of the old dragon bell inside.

The girl in green stood at the gate of the garden with her head down, the light gauze and thin clothes of the green bamboo, which was a satin lining, leaking a crimson collar, red and green, but she was pressed by the grace of her life.

"Lu Yi, the three of us sisters are here to greet our mother, but I don't know what happened in the garden?" Su Xiuyuan glanced in a few times and pretended to be puzzled and asked.

Lu Yi smiled and said: "There are some things inside, the old lady is dealing with it, the three young ladies go to the side hall to sit down, and use a pot of tea." “

The three of them glanced at each other, and Su Xiuli asked, "I don't know what's going on?" “

Lu Yi smiled a little more, and replied smartly: "This slave doesn't know either. “

Su Xiujin couldn't go in anymore, so she had the idea of retreating, although it was a rule to set the province in the morning and dusk, but her mother was not a person who cared about it, and she couldn't find any thorns in her own way this time.

Just as he was about to speak, a well-dressed old woman came out of it, with a kind face.

"The old lady heard that the three young ladies were coming, and said that she should not stand outside, and let the three young ladies go in and sit." The old woman is humane.

Su Xiuyuan listened and said, "There is Grandma Lao Zhou." “

This decently dressed person is none other than the old man next to Mrs. Su, Grandma Zhou. Not to mention that these three young ladies have to speak politely, even the master in charge has to speak respectfully.

Grandma Zhou smiled, turned around the three young ladies, paused her eyes on Su Xiujin, and then took the three into the garden.

Su Xiujin entered the garden and had a headache in her heart, the old lady on the seat was playing with an iron egg in her hand, the pearl with purple air coming from the east of the cloud on her head wiped her forehead, the purple cardigan with narrow sleeves, and the soft-soled embroidered shoes on her feet were decorated with pearls the size of a fingernail.

The corner of the beautiful woman on the side smiled: "Xiujin, Xiuyuan, Xiuli is here, sit down quickly." As he spoke, he motioned to the girl on the side to take a seat. There was a trace of sorrow in her eyebrows, she hesitated for a while, looked at the old lady and asked, "Ancestor, it's not good for the children to look at it." ”

The meaning of this sentence refers to the maid slaves who knelt all over the courtyard, led by two well-dressed women, Su Xiujin and his party didn't know whether to see each other or not, but fortunately, their mother-in-law let them sit, and the three of them sat honestly on the side.

"Where do the businessmen care about this, the pickled things in the back house, they will have to understand sooner or later." Old Mrs. Su stood up, and the iron egg in her hand was slammed on the mahogany table: "Even if the elders do this pickled thing, they have to clarify and confess in front of the juniors and set an example!" ”

As soon as these words came out, the kneeling thin beautiful woman said: "The ancestor is not a cheap concubine who has nothing to do, and splashes dirty water on the second sister, but it is related to the innocence of the big shopkeeper's family, and the concubine has to say it." “

"Who knows if you are the pearl that the big brother gave me, the front foot sent it, and the back foot smelled it?" The plump beauty raised her eyebrows and said sarcastically.

"The dog's eyes look at people low, and pearls the size of rice grains are also precious like something, I'm afraid that everyone in the world must know that your mother's family is solid."

As soon as the third aunt's words came out, the big shopkeeper kneeling on the side said tremblingly: "The villain doesn't dare, the third aunt and grandmother are serious." "Don't look at Mrs. Su doesn't care about the Su family's business now, but among the housekeepers of the older generation, who doesn't know the majesty of Mrs. Su back then, she is a big man who stomps her feet, and even the entire Suzhou business community has to shake.

"Shuqin," Mrs. Su shouted, and Zhang Shuqin, the head of the Su family, stepped forward, "You were born in a scholarly family, and there were three in the family before you entered the door, I didn't intend to embarrass you, but all of them are old people in the family, and they are all reluctant to be rich and noble." ”

Zhang Shuqin nodded and listened, not daring to make a sound. Su Xiujin said secretly, the old lady has a good means, and her words not only knocked the two aunts, but also indirectly said that Zhang Shuqin's ability to take charge of the back house is not good.

"Originally, this box of pearls was not worth a lot of money, but the big shopkeeper was greedy from the public, with the big shopkeeper in the Su family for so many years, he has followed me to the north and south since he was a child, and it is not a big deal." Mrs. Su lowered her eyelids, as if she remembered what she had done to make a fortune back then. It caused the big shopkeeper to kowtow again and again: "The villain will never dare, even if God gives the villain 10,000 guts, he will not dare to do something greedy. ”

"Hey, look at that." Old Mrs. Su raised her eyes, as if she was frightened by these words, "The old body also believes in you, and after following the old body for so many years, I have long treated you as a member of the Su family." ”

The big shopkeeper wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead.

Mrs. Su coughed, Zhang Shuqin stepped forward and handed over the snuffbox, Mrs. Su took a puff of cigarette, turned her head and said to the third aunt: "In our Su family, we can't all be shallow-eyed, Zhou Er, go and bring the box of pearls I put on the table." Mrs. Zhou answered, and after a while, she came over with a two-foot-square box of carved peonies made of mahogany.

"This year's benefits are not good, the pearls sent up are not as mellow as in previous years, I am old, and I am not as pretty as your little girls and daughters-in-law, Shuqin looked, and gave points, to play a pearl hairpin or earrings, seeing that the New Year is approaching, I also wear it to celebrate and celebrate."

When the box opened, it was full of pearls the size of a fingernail, round and radiating a soft luster.

Seeing that the women in the yard were stunned, the second aunt remembered the pearls the size of a grain of rice in her room, and the handkerchief was about to be crushed.

"Ancestor, this can't be helped. The daughter-in-law also has a box of pearls sent over—" Zhang Shuqin excused.

"Save it and give it to your in-laws." Mrs. Su patted Zhang Shuqin's hand.

Zhang Shuqin's face was embarrassed, the situation of her mother's family was getting worse and worse, all relying on her help from home from time to time, I thought the old lady didn't know, but I didn't expect her to see it all.

Jinpa wrapped two pearls and divided them, and Su Xiujin hurriedly thanked them.

Su Xiuyuan, the joy on Su Xiuli's face can't be covered, the second aunt's face is blue and red, the pearl in her hand is like a hot potato, and the third aunt doesn't shirk, two white pearls the size of a fingernail, don't take it.

Mrs. Su looked at the courtyard for a week, her eyes fell on Su Xiujin, and she stopped for a while.

Su Xiujin didn't notice, just looked at the pearl in his hand, there was no joy, but there was some sorrow.

The pearl is big, the same as in previous years, but the pearl is the most precious but in the shape, but the pearl in Su Xiujin's hand is not round enough, and there are some flaws up close. Even the pearls in the old lady's hand are like this, but the situation of the Su family is becoming more and more unsatisfactory. ”