Zizhu took Yan Shuyu with her, the more remote she went, the house became more and more low and simple, from time to time you could see the smiling maids walking together, the old mother-in-law sat at the door basking in the sun, and there were even a few young maids, bare-chested chopping wood, obviously to the people's residence.

Zizhu finally led Yan Shuyu to stop, pointed to a simple room, and said, "This is what I specially vacated for you, it was my own residence, all the beds in it have been replaced with new ones, there is only one bed, and the two girls you brought have to make bunks on the floor." ”

Yan Shuyu went in to take a look and saw that her luggage had already been placed on the table. Zizhu explained and left. Yan Shuyu looked around, and saw that although the bed was a newly replaced brocade quilt and a good bamboo mat, it was a loess wall, a water of old furniture, and the people living around were even more vulgar maids, where was there half of the shadow of the noble lady and noble girl she wanted to meet.

At this moment, a group of maids walked by outside and passed by the door where Yan Qingge lived.

The extraordinarily clear mockery entered through the window: "I've seen people eating and drinking, but I've never seen people invited, so I really want to come to the princess's mansion?" What a long insight! ”

"You be quiet, in the end, it is a guest on the Zhuangzi, be careful to spread it to the ears of the master, and eat a board for nothing."

The voices of the maids became farther and farther away, but Yan Shuyu in the room had weak feet and sat down on the ground. The discussion was like the last straw, completely crushing the mountain in Yan Shuyu's heart, she muttered and gritted her teeth, and a sharp and almost inaudible scolding voice burst out of her throat: "Yan Qingge, one day, I will also let you taste the taste of today!" ”

After lunch, Yan Qingge and Ling Xiao went back to their residence.

At noon, the princess said that she had a horse smell on her body, and she said that she had to change her clothes.

In the hot afternoon, Ling Xiao's mother He Shi rested at home, and Yan Qingge went to visit her. Like Ling Xiao, she is a lively personality who loves to talk and laugh, and she said a few words to the two of them, and said: "Ling Xiao, you take Qingge to the next door to play with Sister Ning, you haven't seen each other for several years, and you won't communicate again, but you're going to be rusty." ”

Ling Xiao smiled and nodded: "I went to look for her in the morning, but unfortunately I didn't pounce." I'll take Qingge with me. ”

The two children walked out, and Ling Xiao introduced Yan Qingge: "Sister Ning's name is Ning Minzhi, her father is Ning Chenglin, she is three years older than me, and she has the best temperament, I used to play with her when I was a child." It's a pity that a few years ago, she kept filial piety for her grandparents at home, and she didn't come out for five years in a row. After a pause, she whispered: "My mother said that this time Sister Ning's family also brought a concubine, as if she wanted to say goodbye to that concubine." Let's not know when we see it. ”

Yan Qingge nodded, in the first few days, there were all female relatives coming and going in this village, but on the last night, there will be a lotus banquet, and some aristocratic teenagers are invited to attend, but the number is not much, in fact, it is a small blind date banquet, everyone knows it.

Who expected that when he arrived at the place, Ning Minzhi was still not there, Ling Xiao was a little embarrassed, and muttered in his mouth: "How old is Zhuangzi, Sister Ning is no matter how much she enjoys playing, she should have had enough, and she wants to go out at noon." ”

She went back to be coquettish with He's family, He thought about it for a while, and wondered: "I haven't heard that anyone from the Wei family came to this lotus appreciation party, how could your sister Ning run away and disappear." ”

"Who knows." Ling Xiao threw himself on the chair: "Why don't I go to the lake with Qingge to pick lotus flowers, it's boring to be idle." ”

Yan Qingge said: "You don't look at the sun outside, you will bask for an hour at this time, but you are afraid that you will have to retract the skin." It's better to stay honest, I brought a pair of chess, let's play double-back. ”

Ling Xiao immediately became happy, Yan Qingge shouted Ruyi to bring the Go over, and the two of them played back and forth in the living room, Ling Xiao didn't play well, and called He Shi to come over to give her a move, the three of them talked and laughed, and most of the day passed in a blink of an eye.

When it wasn't so sunny outside, Ruyi suddenly walked in and whispered, "Eldest Miss, Second Miss came to visit you." ”

Yan Qingge nodded, put down the chess pieces in his hand, and said, "Call her in." ”

Yan Shuyu came uninvited today, this thing is really embarrassing, fortunately, the princess gave Yan Qingge face, so she didn't throw Yan Shuyu out with her luggage. Now Yan Shuyu is embarrassed to come to Yan Qingge, Yan Qingge wants to see how thick-skinned this sister is.

Yan Shuyu came in, saluted He's and Ling Xiao and Yan Qingge in a proper manner, saw the chessboard on their table, stood aside, and said: "Disturb Mrs. and sisters Yaxing, I have nothing to do, find the eldest sister to sit down, you can continue to play, don't worry about me, it's also great for me to watch you play." ”

Yan Qingge listened to her sore words, so he really didn't care about her and continued to play chess with Ling Xiao, but there was someone staring at him, and he always felt wrong, and Ling Xiao felt the same way as her, and after a while, he threw the chess pieces and stopped playing.

She went out with Ling Xiao to wash her hands, and when she came back, she saw that there was a lot of excitement in the house, and there were three more people.

As soon as Ling Xiao saw the girl who was the oldest and had snow muscles and willow eyebrows, he hurried over and said with a smile: "Sister Ning, I looked for you twice, but you are not there." ”

Ning Minzhi said with a smile: "I just heard that my family said that you were looking for me, so I came to see you." Ling Xiao has grown so fast over the years, I almost dare not recognize it. ”

Behind her stood two girls who looked a little similar to her, both of whom were about fifteen or sixteen years old, Ning Minzhi pulled them out and said, "This is my fourth sister and fifth sister, the fourth sister Ning Minlan, and the fifth sister Ning Mincai, who came with me." ”

Ling Xiao bowed her head to them slightly, even if she said hello, she introduced Yan Qingge to Ning Minzhi, pulled two friends, and went to the side to talk.

Ning Minzhi is about eighteen years old, and she has already made a marriage with the second son of the Wei family, but there has been a mourning in the family a few years ago, and she can't get married because of her filial piety, so she has been delayed until now. She speaks and does things, she is very mature, and Ling Xiao is not of the same age at all. It is also thanks to her good temper that she can listen to Ling Xiao with a smile on her face and keep saying those childish words, and occasionally help Ling Xiao cut her hair, like an elder.

Here, Yan Shuyu was sitting with Ning Minlan and Ning Mincai, chatting.

Yan Shuyu thought that the three of them were concubines and would definitely be able to find common topics, but they found that Ning Minlan and Ning Mincai were simply reincarnated with a saw-mouthed gourd, and every word that came out of their mouths was decent and polite, and they praised the mother-in-law at home at every turn, how good the sister-in-law was, and the low-eyed appearance made Yan Shuyu look down on her.

Yan Qingge watched coldly, and Yan Shuyu's love was all in sight. It's ridiculous that she is treated as someone else's concubine. The two concubines of the Ning family, whose marriage is in the hands of the master's mother, dare to say half a bad word about their mother-in-law, and some will suffer in the future. Yan Shuyu is ambitious herself, and she can be like her when she is others.

Ling Xiao loves to move, and as she spoke, she danced with her hands and said, "Sister Minzhi, Sister Qingge, seeing that it's not hot outside, let's go out for a walk and take a look at the lotus flowers, okay?" ”

Ning Minzhi said: "Okay, I'll go back and change my clothes, this skirt is too long, I'm afraid that it will be dragged into the water later." ”

Yan Qingge was also wearing a long skirt, and it was definitely not okay to walk next to the lotus field, so he went back to clean up.

She picked up a narrow-sleeved smoke-chested skirt and put it on, and wore a bean-green dark veil shawl in the crook of her arm. The hair is not combed and hangs, but a falling horse bun is tied at the back of the head, fixed with a gold ring, and a thin bangs are bent in front of the forehead, but it is clean and neat.

Ling Xiao's clothes and hair are all neat and neat, but they are still the same.

When she was about to leave, Ning Minzhi's two sisters-in-law were also there, and Yan Shuyu followed with a shy face. Everyone else is wearing clothes that are easy to walk, only she lives far away, and she is afraid that she will not be able to keep up with the change of skirt, so she drags the gauze skirt over her feet.

Because of the lotus appreciation party, the idle people on this village were cleared, and the guests were strictly forbidden to walk around the place where they lived.

A few of them, plus the maid, marched towards the lotus field.

The lotus field of the princess's family is huge, and ten acres of land are dug into a connected pond, connecting the Bashui that passes around Beijing, attracting living water for irrigation, and all the lotus roots are planted. Ten acres of lotus pond, no less than a small lake, plus the lakeside in order to fix the pond bank, not far away also planted a weeping willow, the scenery is even more pleasant.

As far as the eye can see, the eyes are full of green lotus leaves and pink or white lotus flowers, and occasionally you can see two bright red lotus flowers, the water surface is fragrant and refreshing.

When she arrived at the embankment, she didn't gain a firm foothold, so Yan Shuyu pretended to be a beautiful place, my little sister has a proposal, such a good scenery, let's make a poem!" ”

Upon hearing this proposal, everyone's faces showed strange looks.

This is just a lotus appreciation party, so that everyone can have fun and go on a blind date, and it is not a lotus poetry party, who will suddenly have a nerve to compose poems.

Not every noble girl likes to read, for example, Ling Xiao, although she has also learned to compose poetry, she is not good at it, and the poems she makes can only be regarded as limerick poems. Yan Shuyu suddenly said that if she writes poetry and praise, wouldn't it be a loss of face for those who didn't make it, or those who didn't do it well.

Ning Minzhi said gently: "It's okay, our Ning family's daughters are not good at this, but it delayed my sister's good interest." ”

Yan Shuyu didn't hear that she was looking for Ling Xiao, who had a bad face, to look down the stairs, she was bent on behaving and said with a coquettish face: "I haven't read many books, but I just saw this beautiful scenery, and I felt something, and I didn't vomit or feel unhappy." ”

Yan Qingge also said: "Sister Ning has no poems in her stomach, and I don't have poems in my stomach." Sister don't mess around, let's take a good look at the lotus. ”

Ling Xiao hurriedly raised his hands and said, "I don't have poetry either!" ”

Yan Shuyu didn't hear what others said, but when she heard Yan Qingge say that there was no poetry in her stomach, Yan Shuyu was like adding fuel to the fire, she slammed and said loudly: "All sisters are older than me, and they will only be humble." I'll read out the poem in my heart first, and I'll give my sisters a lead. ”