This year's spring, why did it come so late?

A-Niang called my name again, I looked back at her, only to see her eyes red, and the younger brother in her arms, was crying, I ran over a few steps, wanted to reach out to take him, but was grabbed by a strange woman's hand, the greedy look on her face, I have never seen it, she smiled, showing a mouthful of yellow teeth, she looked at my hand "This hand claw is like a shallot, and the waist is also thin A gust of wind can blow." Yes, he is a good seedling for dancing practice. ”

"Aunt Huang, Yingying is not going to be a dancing girl." My mother cried, and my younger brother's voice was louder, almost obliterating her last pity for me.

"Didn't her father teach for a few days when he was alive? With such a good figure, if you don't practice dancing, you sell it to a big family to do rough work, and no one wants it. "Aunt Huang let go of my hand, I finally walked to my mother's side and took my younger brother from her arms, I like this little brother very much, he also likes me, I hold him, he always doesn't cry.

"She, her father confessed before leaving, not to be a dancing girl. Aunt Huang, you are our cousin in charge, our family is related to each other, you are looking for a good family for Yingying, please. With that, my mother pulled me to my knees.

Aunt Huang finally stopped laughing greedily, took out a book from her arms that was about to be turned over, turned to the last few pages, looked carefully, I straightened up and wanted to see the words on it, but unfortunately, I didn't wait for Aunt Huang to hide, I couldn't recognize a word on it.

"Princess Lian lacks an ironing maid. This is a good place to go, sell yourself for twenty-five taels of silver, and get two cents a month. After Aunt Huang finished reading, she looked me up and down again, and continued, "But if you want to be fifteen years old, this girl is too young to miss this good errand." ”

I looked at the expression on my mother's face from expectation, until now the loss, although I can't read, and only thirteen years old, but I also understand, my father died, and I owe a lot of money, even if my mother sells the dance workshop, I can't afford to pay it back, at this time the family is no longer able to open the pot, only, sell me, so that I will not starve to death The three-year-old doll in my arms, I pinched my younger brother's face, and tears have flowed on his face.

"The Chai family, although the Chai family is not a good place to go..."As soon as Aunt Huang mentioned this place, her voice weakened, as if she was extremely reluctant to mention it, but she saw the pity of our orphans and widows, so she continued, "But the Chai family gave thirty taels of silver for selling oneself, and three coins a month. ”

"Thirty taels? So much? "There seems to be a new brilliance in my mother's eyes, thirty taels, it seems that our family's rations for more than a year, there will be a few taels of silver, you can buy something else, the loom that my mother has always wanted, is only two taels of silver.

"This family, although there are not many cases of wounding and killing servants, there are a few a year. But it's all girls who don't do things properly, if this Yingying is clever and honest, such a thing will not happen. How is it? This is currently the most cost-effective deal in our Luoyang City. Aunt Huang looked at my mother and did not urge, but patiently waited for her reply.

After a while, I didn't take anything with me, I was dragged by a tall man who came with Aunt Huang, and left the house that leaked rain everywhere and was no better than the firewood house, I pulled the door frame with all my might, but how could I be the opponent of a tall man, only by him, my feet were already off the ground, there was still strength there, stay here, I shouted twice "Ah Niang, Ah Niang." ”

A-Niang's somewhat wooden face that was tossed because of the suffering flashed a trace of unbearable, she left her younger brother who was really crying and hissed, and chased out, "Good boy, work well, work more, beat and scold you, you will endure, desperately begging for mercy to save your life and live well." ”

To live well, is the last thing my mother said to me before I left home, I was in the yard, I saw my eldest brother, his face was also full of wood, he chased a few steps, but still paused, and shouted my name loudly "Yingying, Yingying." ”

There is an idiom, called Huan Fei Yan thin, in which Zhao Feiyan has a slender posture, a little pointe, can dance in the palm of his hand, and later generations use "Ying Ying a hand" to describe this weak and boneless beauty, this is the origin of my name, it is my father, I thought about it for a long time, and finally decided. And after I arrived at Chai's house, no one called me that anymore.

I was led by Aunt Huang through a narrow door into a deep and gorgeous mansion, and I wanted to come here, which was the Chai Wang's Mansion. After entering the door, another strong grandmother grabbed me, she looked at my hands, hair, and finally pinched my arm twice, shook her head, "No, so thin, how can you work?" ”

"Hey, this grandmother, don't underestimate this girl, this girl, although the strength to work is a little worse, but she was serving tea and pouring water in the dance workshop, and the price of eyesight is not said. If you can get your guidance, if there is anything else, Mama, you will definitely be of great benefit. ”

"If you send this girl in with this heart, I advise you to die of this heart, it's all different from the past, the old prince has been bedridden for more than two months, even if you send a fairy in at this time, it's useless." As she spoke, the grandmother pushed Aunt Huang hard.

Aunt Huang stumbled, almost fell to the ground, saw that her abacus had failed, frowned, and then stepped forward with a smile on her face, "Then, then it is cheaper, as long as you take this girl, then it will be five taels cheaper, and it will be thirty-five taels of silver, and it will be reported to the masters, and the extra five taels will be regarded as a small filial piety to you." ”

For the first time, I knew that one of my lives was worth so much that it cost forty taels of silver.

So I stayed at Chai's house smoothly. I don't quite understand why our great saint's surname is Rong, but why there is a prince surnamed Chai. Later, I heard my sisters who lived with me say that when Taizu fought the country, the Chai clan was also one of the troops, and the strength was not weak. Later, he became my great saint, the only king with a foreign surname.

Such a family naturally has large and complex branches. It also has a pivotal position in the DPRK, but all of this has nothing to do with me.

I followed behind Mama Zhang and went into the laundry house. It's like washing clothes for the princess, princess, young master, and the maids around the girl. I get up every day, I have to do laundry, pick up the dry clothes in the afternoon, divide and iron, although it is hard, but every day to eat noodles and steamed buns and japonica rice, as well as vegetables and soup, you can eat enough, I look forward to the spring, but also in the blink of an eye to autumn.

I thought that I would continue to live like this, and when the family was better, when the eldest brother and younger brother could have a chance, they could think of me.

Early this morning, the compound seems to have some great joy, I heard the sound of firecrackers, very loud and far away from me, the laundry people have gone to the front yard to join in the fun, and I as the youngest, the latest to come, naturally there is no such blessing, Mama Zhang pulled me to the well, and I hurried to the front to see the excitement.

I looked at the red lacquered wooden basin that Mama Zhang used exclusively, and there was a glossy garment like a jade piece, and the soapy water bubbled around the clothes. There are embroidery flowers on it, I stretched out my hand to pick it up, looking at this large piece of azaleas, there are white stamens in the powder, a large piece of it, embroidered all over the clothes, I have seen such clothes for the first time, such clothes are not my turn to wash, even the lazy Mama Zhang will never let people touch the clothes in her basin.

So I immediately put my clothes back in the water, went back to my basin that was leaking, and washed my clothes.

The second day was just dawn, the north wind has been blowing recently, the winter in Luoyang City, always comes very early, a north wind, the water for washing clothes is a little cold, I shrank in the quilt, thinking that I don't know when I can send winter clothes.

But before I could finish my thoughts, the door of my room was kicked open from the outside, and my sisters, who were still asleep, screamed, and I watched the angry Mama Zhang lead the two big mammas in.

I recognized the clothes on one of them, the jujube red dress on her body was mixed with silver thread, so it was very shiny, I asked my sister who was good friends with me, which lady's clothes were these, and the sister smiled and said that I had never seen the world, "This is our county lord's nurse, the scarlet grandmother's skirt, her clothes and jewelry, are more decent than the grandmother next to the princess, although our county lord was born to the eldest princess in the first place, and her status is precious." ”

Mama Zhang lifted me up and dragged me off the bed, I was still so weak, and then Mama Zhang kicked me twice, ", I actually washed the girl's dress." ”

"I, slave, slave and maid." I was so scared, I knelt on the ground, I didn't know what to do, the place where Mama Zhang had kicked just now, it hurt hotly, and the tears were already in my eyes, but I forced myself not to cry.

Mama Scarlet glanced at me lightly, and then said coldly, "I don't care if it's you or not, but the girl's clothes are torn, and someone has to be buried with her." If there is anything wrong with the girl's entry into the palace today, you, your old son, will have to die. Pull her out, give her ten lashes, and put her in the firewood room, and wait for me to come back from the palace, and she will be in the hair. ”

Mama Zhang still has a good conscience, so she pleaded in a low voice, "Mama, this girl is so thin, I'm afraid that ten whips will destroy everyone..."

"Then you go for her. Since you blame her for the dirty, don't care if she lives or dies. You old thing, I don't settle accounts with you, don't you kneel down and kowtow to thank you, and dare to plead? "I was stunned, it turned out that this mama in beautiful clothes knew that I didn't do it, but why did she let me bear it?

"Yes, it's a small one who has no sense of proportion, come on, drag her down." As she spoke, the two of them stood outside, and the rough grandmother pulled me out, and then I felt that the world was spinning, and I was hung and tied to a tree.

Mama Scarlet looked at me, her eyes were cold, and then she said to the mother-in-law who was holding the whip on one side, "Enough is enough." ”

"Slow, slow..."There was a timid voice, running towards me, the scarlet mother turned around, frowned, I also recognize the clothes on this little girl's body, she is the new little girl next to the county lord, "Mama, the girl is up, she is looking for you, and let the little one come to you, and spread the word, don't fight, don't hit people." If you beat someone, you will see that the blood is unlucky. ”

After listening with a straight face, Mama Scarlet looked up at me hanging from the tree and said, "Today, you are lucky." Shut her up in the woodroom. With that, she walked away.

I thought I was saved, but I didn't expect that the next three days would be the beginning of my suffering. I stayed in a firewood room full of cobwebs and hard stubble of wood for three whole days, with my hands tied.

The feeling of being forgotten, there is not a single sound outside, this mansion is so big, I can't hear any sound when it's so big.

Until, once again in the morning, I heard the sound of firecrackers louder than that day, and the crowd of people, I don't know where it came from, but still poured in, and after a day of excitement, it got dark, and everything was quiet again, and the door that I had seen so many times finally opened.

Scarlet Mama changed into a skirt that was also mixed with silver thread, stood in front of me, I was dragged up, a thick bowl with a gap was placed in my mouth, and then before I could react, the water poured into my mouth and nose, and when I reacted, it was already cold sugar water, it had seen the bottom, I don't know how much I drank in, I coughed, but I already had strength in my body.

The scarlet mother said, "The girl said that she would kick you out." It's just that the girl doesn't know, after buying you, our palace is out of forty taels of silver. Your old son and mother have already added this money to the hole in your family, and there is no money to redeem you for a long time. So, you can't go. "Mama Scarlet's voice, I always remember, she has always been so cold and indifferent.

"Mama, Mama, please, please, I don't, I'm wronged, I, I..."

"It's useless for you to cry. I will send you to the Zhuangzi of our palace, where the grandmother is better than Mama Zhang, and will not rely on your head what you have not done. At the same time, they are worse than her, and if they don't like you, they will beat you to death. But as long as you don't get killed, you have to work for the Chai family. With that, Mama Scarlet turned around and prepared to leave.

"Mama, Mama, I know, I know how to get rid of Mama Zhang. She, when she bought me, actually accepted a bribe of five taels of silver from my cousin and grandmother. ”

"Do you think I don't know she took bribes? But you don't have proof. With that, Mama Scarlet continued to move forward.

"I have, I can be a witness. And, and my cousin and grandmother, there is also a book, although I don't know how to read, but she will write down every transaction she makes, she, her book, is the evidence that Mama Zhang accepted bribes. ”