After returning from the Rongqing Mansion, Sun Yuanqi was a little apprehensive: The three officials he saw today, a deputy prime minister, a minister, and a provincial governor, were all important members of the state and the elite of the elite, but they were either ignorant of current affairs or intrigued. With such a court, why not die?

However, this depression did not bother Sun Yuanqi for long, because Vera told him the good news with a shy smile: "You are going to be a father again!" ”。

Although he was already a father, Sun Yuanqi was still stunned by this sweet joy.

Sun Yuanqi has been an only child for so many years, and when he was a child, he always wanted to have a brother and sister, who could laugh with him when he was happy, cry with him when he was sad, taste the ups and downs of life together, and see the joys and sorrows of the world. But in that) "it is better to have a river of blood than to give birth to more than one)". This dream is destined to be difficult to achieve. When I grow up, I often think in my heart that if conditions permit, I must have two babies in the future.

When I came to the Qing Dynasty, there was neither a cruel national policy of reducing Ding, nor an advanced latex technology, and the size of the family completely depended on the ability and efforts of the husband and wife. This created excellent prerequisites for Sun Yuanqi to realize his dream. Of course, if there are more than five children in the family, it is a bit exaggerated, and two or three is better overall. Although Nianzu has an older brother, he is in a distant foreign country, and it is rare to see each other every year. Now that he has younger siblings, I think his future life will become more colorful.

Hearing that Vera has been pregnant for more than three months, Sun Yuanqi blamed himself a little: during this time, he first went to Dunhuang for an investigation, and when he came back, he was busy with the affairs of the school, and he didn't care about Vera's body at all, and he didn't even know that he was pregnant, and his husband was really incompetent!

Vera, who had an experience, didn't care at all, and still went to the laboratory to do experiments and go to the experimental field to see the growth of the crops. Sun Yuanqi had to ask the old Zhao family to help take care of it on the side.

A few days later, Zuo Gongxian returned to Jingshi University with a pretty woman in her thirties.

When they met for the first time, Sun Yuanqi thought it was Zuo Gongxian's mother1 and secretly sighed in his heart that he had a skill in his face. After listening to Zuo Gongxian's introduction, I realized that this person was his demon mother, that is, his father's second wife. Because it is a major event for the son's marriage, if the parents come in person, it must be the first procedure of the six rites. Finish. For the sake of prudence, the Zuo family first sent this Aunt Shen over to take a look at the situation.

Sun Yuanqi thought about it, this was also reasonable, so he arranged for the two of them to live on campus first.

Through two communications, it was decided to let Aunt Shen and Zhao Jinghui meet at Sun Yuanqi's house. Although this is the meaning, both sides know that the process cannot be so direct, because it does not reflect the subtle beauty of Chinese civilization. According to the prior design arrangement, Aunt Shen first pretended to visit Mrs. Sun Yuan's house, and when talking, Zhao Jinghui came out with tea and pretended to add water to everyone. Finish. In just a few minutes, the success or failure of this marriage was decided, which was somewhat child's play.

But that's the custom, and you can't object to it.

I chose an auspicious day for the zodiac. When the sun was on the third pole, Aunt Zhao, who was dressed up, shook the three-inch golden lotus and walked into the small courtyard of the Sun family.

Although Sun Yuanqi is a matchmaker, and Zuo Gongxian is a man, the protagonist of this lively feast 1 is destined to be a group of women led by Shen Youniang, not to mention that Sun and Zuo are not even qualified to be audiences. Vera now has no problem communicating in Chinese daily, but when it comes to this occasion that reflects traditional Chinese wedding folklore, she can only be reduced to a supporting role in the supporting role. For this reason, Sun Yuanqi had no choice but to invite Yan Fu's wife Zhu Mingli to be the second female lead.

This Zhu Mingli is a woman who grew up in the city and is educated. Although he was not proficient in writing, he occasionally made a typo, which was a rarity at the time. In 1900, the Tianjin Naval Academy was destroyed by artillery fire in the boxing chaos, and Yan Fu fled to Shanghai in a hurry, where he became acquainted with Zhu Mingli. The reason why Yan Fu became attached to Zhu Mingli is said to be because of his famous translation of "The Theory of Heavenly Evolution". It is rumored that after reading the masterpiece, Zhu was 1 admired, and finally got married and became Yan Fu's third wife. For this reason, the poet Huang Zunxian also wrote a poem to commemorate this incident: "A volume of Shenghua "Theory of Heavenly Evolution", which is a continuation of the string glue by fate. Interpreting the yarn to sit in the tent and talk about the name and reason, it is better than scratching the back of a Magu. ”。

Because of the common language, the relationship between the two is extremely deep, and after marriage, she will handle all the affairs of the Yan family. And Zhu is also a strong woman, when she was in Shanghai1, she not only took care of her family, but even ran a small rickshaw shop1 with 30 rickshaws! Therefore, it is most appropriate for a dexterous person like her to preside over the scene.

Vera and Zhu Mingli also dressed up to welcome Shen Yi into the house with a smile. In view of Sun Yuanqi's absence, the specific events were recounted by Vera during lunch time:

After Mrs. Zuo sat down, she first expressed surprise at the simplicity of the house, and then deduced that Principal Sun had many fine virtues such as diligence and thrift, peace and happiness. Immediately, she showed a strong interest in the combination of Chinese and Western furniture in the room, and carefully inquired about the original place and price of each piece of furniture, believing that Mrs. Sun could buy such high-quality furniture at such a suitable price, which fully demonstrated her ability to be good at running a house. It is hoped that in the future, the two can cooperate and exchange their excellent experience in many fields such as shopping, housekeeping, saving money, makeup, childbirth, etc., and actively improve the ability and charm of women in the family.

Immediately afterwards, Mrs. Zuo had a cordial and friendly meeting with Mrs. Yan. They carefully recalled famous attractions and hotels such as Shanghai's Yu Garden, Chenglong Temple, and Green Wave Corridor, and conducted rigorous and meticulous discussions on the details, such as which steamed bun shop has a larger amount of crab roe soup dumplings, which Yinlou has more exquisite bracelet carvings, and which fat powder shop has a more delicate gouache color. As evidence, in addition to citing the testimony of relatives and friends, they also took out the accessories on their bodies from time to time as physical evidence.

At this time, Jing Hui, who was neatly groomed and dressed in new clothes and pants, walked out with a tea tray and walked out gracefully, filling the three ladies, including herself, with an elegant posture, and then bowed to leave. The whole process was very perfect, and during the period, she even politely asked how her health was recently, and at the same time said that she was willing to come over to help her when she was not in good health in the next few months, which fully demonstrated the great feelings of a young woman who is gentle and virtuous and caring for others.

Subsequently, the three of them discussed the famous types of tea in China, the advantages and disadvantages of drinking water in various places, and the requirements of tea bowl styles for tea. After the topic ended, Mrs. Zuo realized that she seemed to have missed an important matter and needed to return to her apartment immediately to deal with it. When the retention failed, he and Mrs. Yan politely sent her out of the door.

At the time of parting, Mrs. Zuo also repeatedly warmly invited herself and Mrs. Yan to visit Zuo's house when conditions permitted.

According to Vera's description, it seems that the guests and hosts are happy and the blind date goes smoothly. But Sun Yuanqi always felt unsteady in his heart, as if something was wrong.

As for why, I couldn't say it for a while.

Sure enough, in the afternoon, I saw Zuo Gongxian walk into the principal's office with a depressed face, and sit in the corner quietly.

Seeing his stinky face, Sun Yuanqi felt "groaning" in his heart. After a while, he hurriedly asked, "Zhizhong, what's wrong?" What did your aunt say? ”。

Zuo Gong first raised his head to look at Sun Yuanqi, then lowered his head and didn't say a word for a long time. If there were packs of cigarettes, he would be smoking them one after the other: if there were bottles of wine, he would be pouring them one after the other.

After a while, he said in a hoarse voice: "I don't agree with ............."

"Why doesn't your aunt agree?". Sun Yuanqi was quite puzzled: Zhao Jinghui is a good girl, and it is no problem to match Zuo Gongxian, but Ye Hui disagrees?

Zuo Gongxian held his head and shrunk in the chair: "She said, she is a maid............"

Sun Yuanqi suddenly thought that in Vera's description, Zhao Jinghui used to be "very polite". Ask how she is doing and say yes. Come and "help" when you are not feeling well...... This, it can't be that little Nizi did it on purpose, right?

is preparing to refute Shen Youniang's "fallacy". , Zuo Gongxian said: "She also said that 1 she is a Tianzu ..............."

Since the Song Dynasty and the Song Dynasty, women in China have had the bad habit of binding their feet, and it was not until the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China that it was banned nationwide. These wrapped feet are called "Golden Lotus...", "Little Feet". : And the natural feet that have not been entangled are called "heavenly feet......

Generally speaking, only Han girls will bind their feet, but not all Han women will bind their feet. Most of the foot-bound people are rich ladies who live in the middle and upper classes, because they don't have to work and have girls to serve them, they can bind their feet from a young age. Some girls whose families are poor but are ready to marry a good family, as well as girls from families who are studying, will also bind their feet. And the daughters of poor people's families, because they have to work every day on the stove by the well, in the fields and mountains, and the road is not smooth, how can they work? So the feet can't be wrapped at all, and most of them are heavenly feet. At that time, whether a girl's family was rich or not, whether she was educated or not, you could tell by looking at her feet.

Lao Zhao's family was the first to farm in Shandong, and in addition to coaxing her two younger brothers, Jinghui also had to cook and go to the fields, how could she have kung fu to bind her feet? By the time she arrived in Beijing and lived in the same courtyard with Sun Yuanqi, she was already in her teens, long past the age of binding her feet. In the era of foot binding, women began to bind their feet from the age of four or five, and it was not until adulthood that the bones were shaped and the cloth was removed. There are also those who are entangled for life, and they will not be removed until old age.

As the saying goes, "A pair of small feet, a tank of tears." ”。 Foot binding is very harmful to women, and when Rong Xu changed the law, Kang Youwei once played "Please Ban Women from Binding Their Feet", which described:

The breastfeeding is gone, the mane is not dry, the muscles are not long, the joints are not strong, and the weak feet are forbidden, strict and wrapped, the three-foot cloth, the seven-foot belt, the fingers are bent, the bones are broken, the fist is a Gu pot, the thunder is in the sky, the virgin is bitter, and the Dandan cries: or add medicine, smoke day and night, narrow socks and small shoes, stay at night, make sure to bend but not stretch, slender but not strong, hold the bed up, and walk on the wall.

When Sun Yuanqi first moved to the Houhai Mansion given by the boss, Jing Yi, the daughter of the Zheng family, was five or six years old, and she was pink and white, and she was the most cute. In the customs of the Qing Dynasty, this is the best age for foot binding, and the old Zheng family just started to bind her feet, and the painful little Lori burst into tears, crying out for the sky and grabbing the ground. When Sun Yuanqi heard about it, he severely stopped this kind of behavior of harming young girls. In Lao Zheng's view, Sun Yuanqi is the master's family, and the whole family is his slave. Since the master's family spoke, he naturally had to obey, so Jing Yi was able to escape. Now the three girls Jing Hui, Jing Yi, and Jing Yao are all Tianzu.

Hearing Aunt Shen's pickiness, Sun Yuanqi became speechless: the persecuted not only took their own tragedy as glory, but also used their own tragedy as a standard to persecute others! Isn't this kind of person scolding for the tiger? (To be continued.)