Chapter 1 Spring in the Green Building

In the first year of heaven, in March in the south of the Yangtze River, the cherry blossoms in Hangzhou fell, and the pale pink petals fluttered one after another, making the whole city immersed in hazy romance. The children on the lakeside smiled sweetly, chasing the cherry blossom petals floating around, some children reached out and grabbed it, but the strength was too great, and their small palm force was enough for the cherry blossom petals to push farther, and then they could only pout their mouths in disappointment, and then grab a few more times unconvinced, some children grabbed the petals and ran to their mothers in the palm of their palms, sharing their happiness of getting the petals with their mothers. The cherry blossoms fluttered on the vendor's goods, and the vendor did not complain at all, but felt that the cherry blossoms had decorated their goods more exquisitely, and even the shouting sound was particularly spiritual, and even the seller of steamed buns did not think that the cherry blossoms would stain his white goods, but felt that a few more pinks in the middle of this white mass would make the steamed buns sell better. Children and businessmen still want to be vassals and elegant in this sea of flowers, how can there be fewer literati and artists. Those sons who are a little inky naturally gather on the second floor of the restaurant to drink and enjoy the flowers, and those who read hard gather on the riverside to chant poems.

People were immersed in their romantic amusements and fantasies, and at this moment a very luxurious carriage was approaching the road, drawn by four horses, and on the seat in front of the canopy sat a horseman who was in charge of the horse, and beside him was placed the stepping stool for getting into the carriage. Behind the groom, the body of the white light curtain tent was supported by four gilded columns, surrounded by a gilded fence, and the four pillars on the roof of the carriage were also gilded, and passers-by could faintly see two girls sitting inside, one wearing a light pink gauze skirt like cherry blossoms, covering her face with a veil and sitting on the main seat, and the other in a blue dress.

The girl sitting on the throne gently lifted the curtain with her slender fingers, and quietly watched everything active on the street, and inadvertently, a cherry blossom petal fell on her hand as if she had seen through her mind. The girl in pink carefully placed the petals in her palm, looked at it with a sympathetic look, and sighed softly. The girl in Tsing Yi on the side noticed it and asked:

"Miss, what's the matter?"

The woman in pink looked at the petals in her hand with a smile, and replied gloomily:

"'Like duckweed, wherever you go, you will make your home.'" If it falls in my hands, you can feel the warmth in my hands, and if it falls on this street, it can only be trampled on by people and run over by cars. You say, did I fall into the hands of warmth, or did I fall on the street? ”

The woman in Tsing Yi looked at her young lady blankly, not knowing what the young lady meant, and replied after a moment:

"The girl will never let the young lady fall on the street, even if the young lady wants to fall, the girl will immediately lie down under the young lady and catch the young lady. Mom said that my duty was to keep the young lady unscathed. ”

This woman in Tsing Yi has no name and no surname, she doesn't know what her name is, she only knows that she has gone from one person to another, and finally to the current employer, the employer thinks she is not good-looking, so he only asks her to be a little maid, and does not give her a name, only calls her "girl". The girl is a heartless girl, since she followed her young lady two years ago, she can be fed and clothed, she feels extremely happy, and there is only one hope in her heart, that is, to be full.

The woman in pink looked at the extremely serious eyes of this heartless little girl, and she didn't say anything, she smiled faintly, but her eyes were full of sorrow.

When the master and servant were thinking about each other, a powerful spring breeze blew outside the carriage, lifting the curtain of the carriage, and among the people who watched the excitement outside the carriage, someone saw this woman, although the veil covered her face, but could not hide the soul-stirring look between her eyebrows, especially the tearful eyes full of sorrow, but also hooked the passers-by who were close to her and saw it really. I don't know who exclaimed her prosperous face, the people around looked over, there were more and more pedestrians on the road, and the boys who admired the flowers in the attic heard the noise on the road, and they all looked towards the noise. It's just that the wind has stopped, and the curtain on the carriage has slowly returned to its place, and these sons who heard the sound have not been able to see the faces they want to see, leaving only a trace of indescribable regret in their hearts.

Just this glance made people start to talk about whose daughter the girl was, and even the curious son followed behind the carriage to see which house the girl had entered.

The carriage walked along the West Lake for most of the circle and turned into an alley. In front of a red gate, the carriage stopped, and the boys who were quietly following behind saw a woman in Tsing Yi walking down first, obviously, this was not the object they were expecting. The woman in green jumped out of the carriage and put the carriage stool on the ground, and then the woman in pink inside slowly got up, and people could see the grace of the woman in pink through the curtain. The woman in pink lifted the curtain and walked out, handed a hand to the woman in Tsing Yi, and with the support of the woman in Tsing Yi, she got off the carriage elegantly, her movements were coherent and unpretentious, and her body was light and dignified. In the eyes of outsiders, this is the behavior of a famous lady, so these sons who quietly followed behind watched the girl enter the courtyard, and rubbed their eyes carefully to confirm again, until they were surprised to find that they were not mistaken, they confirmed that this was the back door of the Spring Pavilion.

"This fairy-like woman was actually born in a green building?" A son couldn't help but wonder.

None of these sons believed that what they saw was true. So, curious, they came to the front door of Chunmange and wanted to see what was going on-

This Chun Mange is the largest green building in the south of the Yangtze River, there are all kinds of women in it, and the people who come here for recreation go up to the dignitaries and nobles, down to the ordinary civilians. The proprietress of Chunmankaku is not an idle person, it is said that she has a strong background, and she has been able to run this place for so long because of her indescribable relationship. There are three gates from the main gate of her Chunman Pavilion, one gate only for dignitaries and wealthy merchants, one gate for literati and talents, and one door for ordinary people. Naturally, the girls behind these three doors will also be different. The girls in this first door were able to speak, and the merchants had to leave a lot of silver here for their amusement; The girl in the second door is elegant, and she can come with poetry and songs, and can sing poems against the guests, and play the piano and sing; The girls in the third door are happy with the wine, and the girls here naturally have little literary and eloquent talents, and only need to accompany the guests to get some fixed remuneration. Don't look at the three doors of the Spring Pavilion, the two little guys who watch the door are sharp-eyed, and they have never led the guests to the wrong door. After all, they have a shrewd boss - Nine Mama.

There is a wall at the main entrance of Manchun Pavilion that is specially vacated for hanging cards, and there are three names of the top girls in the door on the wall. The first girl in the first door is engraved with a yellow name, the first girl inside the second door is engraved with a red name, and the first girl in the third door is engraved with a wooden name.

The boys who wanted to find out the identity of the girl in pink stared at the yellow sign several times, and even discussed the girls they had heard and seen of the yellow brand, and finally they came to the conclusion that the girl with the name on the yellow sign was not the girl they saw, because the temperament did not match, the eyes did not match, the figure did not match, and the demeanor did not match - in fact, it was because they couldn't believe that the woman in pink was born in a green building. In the end, they even looked at the top names of the red and wooden cards very unconvinced, and in the end they did not come to a conclusion.

In the backyard of the Manchun Pavilion, the woman in pink walked through the corridor and came to a small courtyard under the guidance of the little maid, the woman in pink raised her eyes and carefully looked at the scenery around the courtyard, this is the quiet residence she wants, there are many pavilions and pavilions around, but she can see the lights, she can't hear the hustle and bustle, the small courtyard she is about to live in enters from an arch, and there are two words hanging on the arch - listen to the rain. This is what she wrote casually when Jiu's mother asked her for the name of the hospital. But now it seemed that the rain was about to fall in her heart. She didn't want the life to come, but she had to face it. The woman in pink looked at the arch and was stunned for a moment, but she still followed the little girl who led the way into the arch. Inside the arch is a simple small courtyard, with a small garden on the left, and a round stone table and stone bench on the right, and a bamboo and rattan swing next to the stone table and stone bench.

The woman in pink entered the room in front of her under the guidance of the little maid, this is her living room, on the right side of the living room is a desk and a bookshelf, on the desk are neatly placed some of the four treasures of the study that she will use, and the bookshelf is full of subsets of scriptures and histories that she usually reads; The left side of the parlor was covered by a thick red curtain, and the woman in pink opened the curtain and saw that there was a carved wooden bed with a dressing table next to the bed, on which her usual rouge powder was already placed. Everything was so well prepared, she knew that as soon as she came here today, Mother Nine would never plan to let her go back to the yard where she had lived for fifteen years, and from now on, this would be her home.

Just as he was looking at everything in front of him, he heard the girl respectfully greet:

"Nine Mother!"

The woman in pink quietly turned around when she heard the voice, and respectfully greeted:

"Nine Mother!"

"Ning'er, from now on, this is your home, no matter where I once kept you, you should understand that after all, you have to return here, and you can only belong here."

Her full name is "Ding Ning", and she has been bought by Jiu's mother since she was three years old to raise by her side. Of course, she is not the only one who raises a child raised by the ninth mother, and the ninth mother will buy and raise the beautiful little girl in the hands of the traffickers, raise it in another house she bought herself, and go to the Spring Mange Pavilion to serve the guests when she is raised. At the beginning, Mother Nine took a fancy to Ding Ning's talking eyes and the lovely strength between her eyebrows in the hands of traffickers, so she bought Ding Ning and named her.

Although it is a child, it can't be eaten and drunk in vain, and Mother Nine asked Ding Ning to do some simple things while waiting for her to grow up. When Ding Ning was five years old, when he was mopping the floor, he was mopping the floor while chanting the poems that the old man taught another girl the day before, and the chanting was quite tasteful, and it happened to be heard by the ninth mother, and the ninth mother took the test again to test what she also heard, and this test found that the child could remember most of the poems that the husband said, and the simple poems could also say their own understanding. As she listened, Mother Nine was as happy as if she had picked up a treasure.

Since then, Ding Ning no longer has to work like a little girl, she began to have her own room, a special gentleman to teach her to recite poetry and make a pair, a special gentleman to teach her to play the piano and sing, and a special mother to teach her etiquette. It wasn't until Ding Ning was twelve years old that Mother Nine brought Ding Ning to Chunmange and let Ding Ning watch it in the corridor on the top floor of Chunmange for two hours, and Ding Ning understood what her old mother who had been taking care of her did. Ding Ning was so scared that she didn't eat or drink for several days, she heard her older sisters say that she would be taken to the Qinglou by Mother Nine to serve men, but she didn't expect that she would feel so disgusting when she really saw this scene. The love here is not the "Book of Songs" she reads, and the behavior pattern here is not the difference between her understanding of love and that of men and women.

Later, Mother Nine talked to Ding Ning a few more times, making her slowly begin to accept reality and fantasy, elegance and worldliness again. Immediately afterwards, Mother Nine would order someone to take Ding Ning to Chunman Pavilion for two hours every month to understand the world behind the three gates, month after month, in the blink of an eye, Ding Ning was fifteen years old, and Mother Nine didn't want her to hide anymore.

After staying under Mother Nine for a long time, Ding Ning certainly knew that she had come to the Spring Pavilion today for a mission. Nine's mother is ready to ask her to pick up guests. Ding Ning wants to pick up customers, it is impossible for her to give her body to any unworthy man. No matter how much she cooperated with Mother Nine on the surface, she insisted on what she was sure in her heart, which was told to her in the book - "Pu Wei is like silk, and the rock has no transfer". The book told her that to be a single-minded person, she should "have no edges in the mountains, exhaust the rivers, thunder and tremors in winter, rain and snow in summer, and the heaven and earth are together, but dare to be with the king." Zhuo Wenjun's "Baitou Yin" in "I wish to have one heart, and the white head is not separated." It is what she is looking forward to, and what she wants to stick to for herself. In this dusty place, she knew that she couldn't get a single person, let alone keep her clean body, she wanted to leave the last inch of pure land for herself in this chaotic place, so Ding Ning must negotiate with Mother Nine.

Ding Ning wanted to talk to Mother Nine, but she also knew that she must not be the first to speak, so Mother Nine would feel that she was panicking, and with Mother Nine's temperament, she would be given more conditions, so she was waiting, waiting for Mother Nine to speak.

Ding Ning smiled quietly and thanked Mother Jiu and said:

"Mother Nine bothered, there are things I am used to using in my daily life in the room, and some books are still moved from the old house for Ning'er."

Seeing Ding Ning's natural posture, Mother Nine rolled her eyes and answered:

"Ning'er has been by my side since she was three years old, and I think Ning'er is my daughter, so naturally I don't want you to change places and not adapt to it. I hope Ning'er can get used to it. ”

"I saw that even the bedding was brought from the old house, and I think my mother knew that I didn't like to use new bedding." Ding Ning's tone was full of warm gratitude.

"I still remember when Ning'er was five years old, she moved from the lower room to the young lady's room, covered the newly bought quilt and couldn't sleep, so she quietly ran back to the lower room to sleep, so that the people in the yard would be easy to find for a while!" Mother Nine said, her eyes full of smiles.

Seeing that Ding Ning had also maintained a satisfied and accepting smile for a while, Mother Nine felt that her education arrangements over the years had been successful, and she decided to start talking to Ding Ning about picking up customers.