"How can you say it, as if we are useless," Mrs. Mu said with some displeasure: "Hongshang doesn't understand the fashionable things of the young ladies in Beijing, and it's not because we detain her, but we can only play with a group of bald boys." Speaking of which, they are all dragged down by their families. What's wrong with the female red, that's the icing on the cake, the needlework in the girls' house of our people is managed by their own maids, and the more complex self-owned needlework room, even if they get married, who will sew shoes and tailors by hand? The wife of a big family, where does she have the time to do this? You've been married for almost 20 years, but you just have to make a belt for your husband occasionally, a forehead kerchief for your mother-in-law, and a purse for your daughter. If you don't do these things, no one will say you're bad. ”

Duchess An Guo was beaten by her mother-in-law, but she didn't dare to talk back, lowered her head and hurriedly admitted her mistake. It just so happened that the second, third, and fourth ladies happened to come over to greet the old lady, and as soon as they walked to the door, they heard the old lady counting the Duchess of the country.

The second lady stood outside the door and said with a smile: "I said that my mother was biased, but my mother still didn't recognize it." My sister-in-law and I have been married in front and back for almost 20 years, and the men in the family take turns guarding the side, and there are no clothes, shoes and socks sewn by our concubine herself in the things that I brought to the north. The sister-in-law, the housewife, is the most worried, and among the things that she brought to the border before the holiday, there are also plain robes that the sister-in-law personally tailored. ”

The third lady didn't wait for the maid to open the curtain, and directly picked out the bamboo curtain for the second sister-in-law and her younger siblings to enter the house, and said with a smile as she came in: "But the sister-in-law urged Hongshang to learn needlework again, and my mother was distressed?" ”

Old Madam Mu beckoned them to sit down, and replied with a smile: "Seeing that the sky says that I am biased, where did I say it wrong?" Even if you don't know how to sew robes for your husbands and sons, all of you are good. ”

When Mrs. Mu spoke, several concubines laughed, and Duchess An Guo opened her mouth and told a few concubines about Mu Hongsheng's receipt of the festival.

The wife of Mu Chengfang, the second lord of the Anguo Mansion, was born in the Jinling family, and the Liu family is a big family of Zhong Ming Dingshi. But although these two generations of the Liu family have a difficult career, the Liu family is still a big family in the end, a family of poetry and rites, and the seventeen two-list jinshi in the family are all counted as famous families in the entire Great Zhou Dynasty.

The second old man Mu Chengfang was not born to Mrs. Mu, but he grew up under her knees, and Mrs. Liu was also seen by Mrs. Mu herself. Mrs. Liu's father is a two-list jinshi, but after winning the jinshi, he has been a Cheng Zhilang, leading the six grades of Lu, and two years later, he was selected to be repaired by Hanlin to be filled, which is six years, and he has not made up a decent job.

Five years after Mrs. Liu married into the Anguo Mansion, Liu Xiushu, who had no hope of making up for it, simply resigned and returned to his hometown, and Mrs. Liu's maiden family moved back to Jinling.

Mrs. Mu's third daughter-in-law and fourth daughter-in-law are also similar to Mrs. Liu, and the third master, Mu Chengxin's wife, was born in the Li family in Longxi, and is the niece of Mrs. Mu's family, a serious family. It's just that Mrs. Li's father is in charge of general affairs at home, and she didn't go to school again after taking the exam, Mrs. Li is not favored in the clan, and among several cousins of the same generation, she is inconspicuous and not liked by Mrs. Li.

At that time, the head of the Anguo Mansion was Mrs. Mu, and she thought through the idea of choosing a third daughter-in-law in her family, and the Li family naturally couldn't ask for it.

It's just that everyone in the Great Zhou Dynasty knows that the Mu family is the border of the country, and the generations are generals, and it is good that there is no war in the country, once something happens, it must be the Mu family leading the army to stand at the forefront of the entire Great Zhou Dynasty, and the men of the Mu family can hardly escape the fate of the horse leather shroud. Marrying into such a family, the family is high, but the probability of being a widow is also high.

The Li family is a famous family, and even if the girls don't marry into the Anguo Mansion, they will marry well, so although the Li family is willing to marry with the Anguo Mansion, it is also a question who to marry. And the third lady married in voluntarily back then, and she went to Mrs. Li Jiatai herself and asked for a family affair from the Anguo Mansion for herself. She married into the capital from Longxi, and over the years since she married in, she has not been diligent with her mother's family, and those cousins have rarely been in contact.

The fourth lady Qu is the daughter of the military general's family, her father is the old department of Anguogong, her father and brother died in battle, she grew up in Qingzhou with her uncle and aunt, and married into the capital at the age of seventeen. Her family background is much worse than that of her own concubines, and she has not received a strict upbringing of noble daughters like the women of the big family, and when she marries in, the dowry is also shabby. But after marrying into the Anguo Mansion for so many years, no one has given her a look because of the dowry. Several concubines are all kind people, living in a big mansion, for more than ten years, bumps and bumps are not nothing, but they are already good.

Under the Dragon Boat Festival, the four of them sat together to drink tea with Mrs. Mu and discuss the affairs of the family together, but it was like an ordinary official family in Beijing, and it was very lively.

For the matter of the Gu family's etiquette, the concubines and the mother-in-law discussed it together, and in the end, the fourth lady, who was born in a military general's family and has always been unwell-versed in human feelings, said the truth: "I actually don't understand what my mother and sister-in-law are worried about, but I think that all family festivals are prepared in advance, the Gu family is, and so is our family." The Gu family suddenly sent a boxing gift that was twice as valuable, and they didn't think about saying hello in advance, so they naturally knew that we weren't prepared. Let me say, it's good for my sister-in-law to take it steadily, and you don't have to worry about it. There are so many festivals that need to be given gifts throughout the year, and next time you will double it back. ”

"That's right." Old Madam Mu and Duchess An Guo laughed together: "It's that we think it's complicated." ”

"The fourth brother and sister are straight," the third lady Li also laughed: "This straight character also has the benefits of a straight character." Some things are better than changing forever. ”

"The sister-in-law who gave the return gift to Miss Gu doesn't have to bother," the second lady Liu smiled and said: "Before the Dragon Boat Festival, my mother's family came from Jinling and brought a lot of things. Among them, there is a plain silk fan with a black gold edging plum handle, which is very exquisite. My mother's letter mentioned that this kind of plain dough fan is the most popular in Jinling at the moment, and the ladies bought it, painted flowers, birds, and insects by themselves, or gave it away, which was elegant and beautiful. But sister-in-law, you know, our girl only has red clothes, and she doesn't like this, so I put away this box fan casually, isn't it just right to take it out and use it now? ”

"That's just right!" Old Madam Mu smiled and nodded: "It's not good for our family to be red, but the characters are quite stylish, call her back later, let her write a few words on the fan casually, and send them to the Miss Gu family." The Dragon Boat Festival gift fan is a custom handed down from ancient times, and the Gu family can't find fault with this return gift. ”