An Geun agreed, and the sisters greeted each other. Ruan Zhenyi said: "I often heard Sister Mei praise you, although I knew that my sister must be a good one, but I also felt that Sister Mei must love her sister, and I never thought that Sister Mei was humble." I've heard that you love to draw the most, and this hobby is the same as our family tattoos. He said to his sister Ruan Zhenwen, "Didn't you praise the lotus pond painting you saw at Sister Mei that day?" When I saw the master today, why didn't I make a sound? ”

Ruan Zhenwen smiled at An Jin, but did not make a sound. At first, she thought that the painting was painted by Ruan Anmei, who was gentle and kind, and treated her very kindly. But when I saw Ruan Anjin at this time, I knew that she was the one who painted, and seeing her crystal and compelling complexion, for some reason, I felt a wave of displeasure in my heart.

At this time, the old lady interjected: "Okay, I have met my aunt and grandmother of my family, you also go to meet your aunt, I haven't seen you for a few years, go and say hello to your aunt and cousin." ”

Only then did An Geun have the opportunity to take a good look at the middle-aged woman sitting on the right hand, who was also the only daughter of the old lady, Ruan, in fact, Ruan was not very old, only in her early thirties, but compared with Zhao, who was still bright-looking, Ruan looked almost ten years older, she was thin, haggard and pale, and she was wearing a new vermilion brocade jacket, but because it was too new, and the style was a little old, it looked a little cramped.

Behind her stood two thirteen or fourteen-year-old girls, wearing silk cotton skirts of different colors and styles, and wearing new jewelry pendants, among which the smaller one was five points similar to Ruan's, the old lady, all of them had long faces, slender eyes, thin lips, and their appearance was really not good-looking, but fortunately, the skin was soft and white at a young age, and it could be regarded as delicate, An Jin guessed that this should be Ruan's daughter Cai Lanhui, and the older one had apricot eyes and peach cheeks, watery eyes, and was a somewhat charming little beauty, At this time, she looked at An Jin with a smile, quite lively, thinking that her aunt only had one daughter, but she didn't know who this was.

An Jin stepped forward to salute the woman and called, "Auntie." ”

Ruan Shi helped her up, her face was a little embarrassed, and she smiled a little reluctantly: "Sister Jin is so old, my aunt really can't recognize it." Do you remember your cousin Megumi? When you were a kid, you also liked to let her take you to play. ”

As he spoke, he summoned the girl with a long face who was about thirteen years old and said to An Jin: "This is your cousin Hui, do you still recognize it?" The girl greeted An with a shy smile, but she looked a little timid.

Ruan Shi said again: "This time I also brought your eldest cousin Lance over, and you will also come to recognize it." It was the little apricot-eyed beauty who pulled it over, and An Jin continued to greet her with a smile on her face, thinking that it shouldn't be Ruan's concubine, right? This is bigger than Cai Lanhui.

At this time, the Zhao family, who was sitting at the head of the Ruan family, suddenly interjected: "Jin'er, this cousin Lance is raised in your aunt's name. When you see the ceremony, come to your mother's place. ”

As he spoke, he took the opportunity to pull An Jin to her side, first took her hand and checked it from head to toe, and An Jin remembered that he hadn't returned home since he had an accident in the palace last time, and I was afraid that even if Zhao listened to Ruan Anzheng's reassurance, he was still very worried.

An Jin smiled and let Zhao check, Zhao saw that she did not look sick at all, and her hands were white and flawless, not even a small scar mark, which was completely relieved.

The old lady looked at Zhao's nervous appearance and said with a smile: "You were always worried before, but now that you see Sister Jin'er, you can always rest assured." Then he turned his head sideways and explained to the third old lady: "Old sister, you don't know, my granddaughter is naughty, and she accidentally fell at the banquet of the ninth princess last time, but her mother is worried and thinks about it every day." If you want me to say, there are imperial doctors in this palace to take care of, and there are concubines to take care of them, where do you need her to worry. ”

The third old lady tugged at the corners of her mouth and said, "Yes, I don't have to worry." But there were no more words.

At this time, Ruan Antong, who was beside the old lady, interjected and asked An Jin: "Seventh sister, is it fun in the palace?" I heard that the Nine Princes hosted the Chrysanthemum Birthday Banquet, and many of those chrysanthemums had never been seen in Kyoto. If it weren't for the fact that after the birthday banquet hosted by the Nine Princes, they were all given to His Majesty, and His Majesty was given to the provinces, everyone still didn't know. He added, "My grandmother got two pots of purple chrysanthemum!" She looked at An Jin, her eyes were shining, and she looked happy.

Seeing that everyone's eyes were looking at her, An Jin said with a smile: "It's good-looking, the Ninth Princess's family is a Jiangnan family, and those flowers are said to have been specially transported from Jiangnan." I can't say anything, I just think it's good-looking. He looked at his aunt Ruan and said, "My aunt has been in Jiangnan for many years, so she must know this, so why don't you ask your aunt to tell us about it, and let us gain knowledge." I see that the styles of jewelry worn by my cousins are also very different from ours, especially small and exquisite, but the latest style in Jiangnan? "Jiangnan commerce is prosperous, and there are many literati and ink writers, big families, the most happy to enjoy pleasure, jewelry, clothing, furniture and furnishings are full of tricks, exquisite and ingenious.

The old marquis is destined to develop on the road of civil officials, and he married the Ruan family to Cai Yuan, a second-class jinshi from the south of the Yangtze River, and later Cai Yuan returned to his hometown Jiangzhou, and went for more than ten years, all the way from the prefect of the seventh grade to the prefect of the fourth grade, which is naturally indispensable for the Ruan family's foil operation.

Ruan Shi was a little embarrassed, and said: "Because of the humid climate in Jiangnan, there are indeed many kinds of flowers, but I have never liked these, and I can't say anything famous." ”

At this time, the little girl named Lance next to her smiled: "Mother is busy with housework, less attention to these, said that my aunt's family is a famous local florist, there are thousands of acres of flower garden, planted a lot of rare varieties, like what six spice chrysanthemum, white burr, peony chrysanthemum, wrinkled ball, peach drunk, sky white, green beauty, and so on are all of the highest quality, if it is my grandmother, Sister Tong likes, I will send a message to my aunt when I turn around, let my family send some to my grandmother and Sister Tong to enjoy." ”

Who knew that as soon as she said this, the old lady's face immediately darkened, and the faces of everyone in the hall also looked like they were constipated, only Ruan Antong didn't seem to hear anything, and she listened with a little interest.

The little girl didn't know that she had made a mistake, but she saw that the old lady's face was dark, although she was used to being casual at home on weekdays, she was also a little frightened, and she hurriedly leaned towards Ruan, Ruan Shi hurriedly said to the old lady: "Mother, Lance is still young, and I am also less educated on weekdays, don't blame my mother." The old lady snorted at this time, but no longer gave Cai Lansi a look.

only patted Ruan Antong's hand and said: "It's just some tricks, if you like it, you can find a merchant to send it, you don't have to intersect with the merchant, and you have fallen into your own identity." Cai Lansi's face changed rapidly, she lowered her head, a trace of humiliation and resentment slid through, and then she didn't say anything again.

After that, the old lady's face has been bad, although Ruan Antong is laughing and funny, and others are also echoing, but in the end she has lost interest. After talking for a while, he said to An Jin, "Sister Jin has just come back, and before she has settled well, she was pulled here, and she must be tired, so why don't you go back and rest first, and then come to your grandmother for dinner to eat." ”

An Jin hurriedly got up and promised to bow to everyone and leave.

At this time, Zhao also got up and said: "Mother, my daughter-in-law has been out for a long time, and her body is also slightly unwell, and she also complained to her mother, let her daughter-in-law retreat first, and then talk to her aunt, brother and sister and sister later." ”

The old lady waved her hand, and said with some interest: "You all step down, eldest daughter-in-law, Sister Tan, Sister Zheng, Sister Mei, you want to be a director, all step down." Sister Shu, Sister Tong, you can take a few cousins and cousins to play in the garden, and I will talk to your third uncle and grandmother. ”

And they all stood up and bowed down.

Zhao walked out of the old lady's yard with the support of Ruan Antan and Ruan Anji, while Ruan Anmei took An Jin's hand and walked all the way and whispered all the way.

"Seventh sister." As soon as he left the old lady's yard and entered the back garden, An Jin heard Ruan Antong's crisp voice. An Jin turned around, but saw Ruan Antong and Ruan Anshu leading a group of girls to follow.

Ruan Antong walked quickly to An Jin, and said with a smile: "Seventh sister, I didn't have time to talk to you properly just now, I'll look for you after lunch, I have a lot of things to tell you, and I also brought some gifts to you, and the others also have them, all of them have been given, and the seventh sister is left." ”

An Jin nodded and thanked him, and then Ruan Anshu also stepped forward and said softly to An Jin: "Seventh sister, you haven't been at home for a long time, my sisters miss you very much, my sister and the embroidery girl learned some new stitches a while ago, so I embroidered a small embroidery screen and a bijia for my sister, but I haven't seen my sister for a few months, and I don't know if the bijia fits, why don't I go to my sister before dinner and bring it to my sister to try?" My sister has a good rest first. ”

An Jin raised her eyebrows in surprise, although she and Ruan Anshu have similar personalities, they basically have no contact, except for when they greet the old lady every day, they rarely meet each other.

Ruan Anmei next to her saw that An Jin didn't make a sound, probably afraid that An Jin's refusal would hurt Ruan Anshu, so she smiled and said: "Jin'er, you don't know, Sister Shu's embroidery skills are becoming more and more outstanding, these days I am busy helping my mother housekeeping, and most of the pictures of hundreds of sons and thousands of grandchildren that I originally said I would embroider with Sister Shu were embroidered by Sister Shu." ”

An Jin looked at Ruan Anmei and said that Ruan Anshu's tone was very intimate, knowing that after Ruan Anshu took a inkstone for Ruan Anmei during the Huangzhuang Qiqiao Festival last time, the relationship between the two was much better.

An Jin smiled: "It's really good to be able to see the embroidery of the sixth sister, but the sixth sister doesn't have to work too hard, they are all a family, why be so polite." ”

Ruan Anshu breathed a sigh of relief, pursed her lips and smiled: "It's just a piece of heart to be a sister, and it's best if my sister can like it." Then I'll come back to my sister when I'm here. After speaking, he saluted the Zhao family, who turned back after hearing the sound, and Ruan Antan, who was supporting the Zhao family, and Ruan Anzheng, then turned around and took the cousins and cousins to the garden.

Zhao didn't care much, only frowned and said: "Jin'er, then you go back to the room to tidy up the things in the room first, and then rest for a while, if you feel unwell, send someone to confess to the old lady, and you won't use it for dinner." An Jin hurriedly responded, Ruan Antan nodded at An Jin's gentle smile, and then turned around and helped Zhao to the direction of the second room with Ruan Anzhen.

An Jin returned to the courtyard, in fact, there was nothing to take care of, a few big girls were capable, and the yard had already been cleaned up, and the gifts brought back from the palace were also divided into categories. I asked about the accommodation arrangements of Caiqing, and they were all proper and very satisfied.

But thinking of the extra cousins and cousins in the family, he ordered Qi Hong to follow the gifts of several sisters, and prepared small jewelry for a few people.

An Jin thought of her aunt Ruan Shi and her Cai Lansi, who was supposed to be a concubine, so she called Qi Hong and asked, "What's the matter with that Cai Lansi?" Do you have any inquiries about my aunt's family? ”