Cai Wei sighed in her heart, but she still accepted the things, and gave the mother-in-law who sent the things 200 yuan as a reward. Turning around, she asked her nurse to take a silver ticket of twenty taels to find a way out of the house, and went to pick and sell some fine incense and candle offerings to come back, and ordered Xiangcheng to take two ingots of silver to the kitchen to ask for a few fruits first.

Mama Du saw that Xiangcheng took the only two ingots of silver left in the box and was about to go out, so she hurriedly said: "In the first month of the old year, didn't the girl get a few "auspicious" gold and silver bills? It's better to use those few bills out, so that someone will see that the girl will be two or three taels of silver as soon as she makes a move, and then you have to chew your tongue and not say anything, I am afraid that you will be worried about us again. ”

Cai Wei nodded and said: "In the end, Mama is careful, although we have so much silver on hand, but we should also 'not expose our wealth', and it is excellent to use those gold and silver bills." After speaking, he suddenly smiled and said: "This year, your girl is not allowed to go out to meet foreign guests, but I don't know how much money I have earned for the New Year?" ”

Everyone heard her pitiful, but there was a little smile in their eyes, so they all smiled and said, "How old is the girl, do you still care about this?" ”

When it was ready, that night, Cai Wei ordered her maids to move all the sacrificial items to a room in the westernmost part of the back room. Although there are only two entrances to the Qiutang Courtyard, there are also a few back cover rooms behind the main house, which are not inhabited because they are somewhat dilapidated. Cai Wei had already told her aunt first, and temporarily used the westernmost room to worship her father, and Aunt Zhao also agreed.

So all day on the 17th, Cai Wei locked herself in that room to perform a great auspicious sacrifice for her deceased father. Although the sacrifice was over, she still did not want to go, and still knelt in front of her father's tablet until the third watch of the night, until the two grandmothers persuaded her: "The girl should also go and rest, if she is burned, how can the spirit of the lord in heaven be at ease." Cai Wei just got up.

When she turned around, she accidentally caught a glimpse of a figure standing outside the back window, and she couldn't help but be stunned, and when she hurriedly turned back to take a closer look, the black shadow outside the window had disappeared. It made her wonder if there was really a shadow there, or if she was blinded by the mistake?

"What's wrong with the girl, but after kneeling for a long time, her legs are sore?" Seeing that she suddenly stood still, Mama Guo hurriedly asked.

Mama Du saw Cai Wei staring at the back window with good eyes, and also asked, "What is the girl looking at, but what is she seeing?" ”

Cai Wei turned around at this time, "I didn't see anything, maybe I've been kneeling for a long time, I'm a little dazzled, the two grandmothers have also been tired with me for a day, let's go back to the house and rest quickly!" ”

If it hadn't happened the next day, Cai Wei might have really thought that the figure in the back window was just her own eyes.

The next morning, she opened the dressing box, and when she was about to comb her hair in the mirror, she suddenly found that there was a white purse inside, although it was made of high-quality white silk, but the style was very simple, and there was no embroidery, and the most strange thing was that there were three words written crookedly on it: "New Year's money".

Cai Wei opened it and saw that it contained a pair of gold bills in the style of "pen ingot Ruyi", and she suddenly remembered that the day before yesterday she had lamented that she had collected a lot of money for the New Year, but it was only a day later, and she sent money to her?

Her maids are all trustworthy, not to mention the two grandmothers, could it be that the wall has ears and has been overheard?

She thought of the figure she saw last night, and somehow, she vaguely felt that this bag of New Year's money seemed to be related to that figure? But if it was really that person, who was that person, and why did he give her this purse of New Year's money? Did you hear her emotion and did it intentionally, or did it ......

Cai Wei thought about it so much that her head hurt, but she still didn't come up with a reason, she thought about the people in this mansion one by one, and didn't find out who was the most likely person to give her the New Year's money. Although she first thought of the brothers Yi Ming and Yi Rui, how could the two of them get to this Qiu Tang Courtyard lightly, and she also heard from Mrs. Wu that Yi Ming had already made a marriage, and their cousins had rarely seen each other in the past two years, even if he had treated her very well before, he should not have any other thoughts at this time.

So who threw this money into his purse, and put it in his dressing box?

She had examined it carefully, but nothing was missing from the house, and she had asked Basho and Loquat, who had stayed in the house the night before, if anyone had been there that night, and she said no. It's just that she was sleepy for a while in the two nights, and both of them fell asleep, and they slept for half an hour before waking up, so they didn't know if anyone had been here.

After thinking about it, Cai Wei still quietly told Mama Du about it, but she knew that Mama Du was completely different from her, and she was worried that someone else deliberately put these two gold bills in their house, wanting to frame the blame. Cai Wei also thought deeply when she heard this, and the two discussed a few more words, for the sake of safety, this purse could no longer be left in their house.

So Mama Du took the purse, quietly walked to the high wall separating the back garden from the outside of the house, and violently threw the purse and the two gold ingots inside to the outside of the courtyard wall.

Ten days passed, but it was calm, and nothing came to them.

On the first day of the second month, the fourth room sent someone to Qiutang Courtyard to send them monthly money and daily necessities. Cai Wei saw that in the pile of things, there was a small round box of blue and white porcelain that she had never seen before, so she asked.

The mother-in-law who sent the things replied: "This is the new peach blossom jade powder of the Spring Rouge this year, or the grandmother said that the rouge of this house is excellent, without a little bit of Hu powder and the like, all made of high-quality rice flour and various colored fragrant flowers." As long as he uses his family's powder, even a person with an ordinary appearance can immediately become a very outstanding beauty, so the real noble people in Beijing use his family's rouge powder to persuade the fourth wife to change the family's rouge for the girls. It's just that this good thing is expensive, and this box of peach blossom jade powder can buy the kind of three or four boxes that the girls used before! ”

For a while, the mother-in-law went, and the two little girls, Loquat and Basho, were busy surrounding Cai Wei, one serving her tea, and the other pinching her shoulders, and they were so busy.

Seeing that the two of her were so attentive, Cai Wei smiled and said, "Serve me so hard, but what do you think about me here?" ”

The two girls glanced at each other, their mouths were quick, and they said with a smile: "Good girl, you really can't escape the girl's eyes." The two of us are thinking, the horizontal girl never uses these fat powder, they are all rewarded for us, the last time the girl rewarded the two sisters with the fragrance powder, they haven't used it yet, why don't you reward us two small ones with peach blossom powder this time, right? ”

Xiangcheng and Gantang listened to it on the side, and scolded with a smile: "Two little hooves of ghosts and spirits, so anxious to ask the girl, but I'm afraid that the two of us can't rob the big one and your little one, it's just a little more expensive, what a rare thing!" ”

Basho hurriedly smiled: "Sisters are born beautiful, but they don't need these fragrant powders, they are also more beautiful than peach blossoms, and their faces are delicate, so naturally these vulgar powders are not rare, but it is better to give us two ugly ones, so that we can also be beautiful!" ”

Saying this, everyone in the room laughed in unison, Cai Wei laughed enough, and said: "Banana girl, this little mouth today, can't you eat honey?" The mouth is so sweet, if you don't give her this powder, won't you eat so much honey in vain! ”

Suddenly, the two little girls happily held the box of peach blossom powder and went to the mirror to smear the powder, each looked at the mirror for a long time without saying anything, and asked them one by one how beautiful they were compared to before, and they made trouble for a long time.

I don't want to be happy and sad on the second day.