Widow Cui is about 30 years old, with fair skin and a slight frown between her eyebrows, with a bit of melancholy and poignant. She is quite beautiful in appearance, and it can be seen that she must have been a dazzling beauty ten years ago, but the years of bitterness have made her face pale and haggard, but her eyebrows and eyes are still beautiful. She is thin, wearing a moon-white shirt and dress, with a slender waist, standing with her daughter, looking like sisters from a distance, people can't help but feel a trace of pity.

Her face was as white as a piece of paper, and she timidly reached out and pulled her daughter's sleeve: "Man'er......" The Cui family girl ignored it, pulled back her sleeves vigorously, stared at the man in front of her with her eyes, and said coldly: "You take the things!" We don't need it! ”

The man didn't know what to mutter, bent down to pick up the small package, and glanced at Widow Cui again, his face full of unwillingness: "It's not the first time, I know that you have an errand in the house, but you are just a little girl, can you use such a shelf?" When you go in, you don't know who will be cheaper! ”

The Cui girl's face turned red, she reached out to carry the broom by the door, and was about to greet the man, but the Cui widow let out a low cry and wanted to step forward to stop her, but she paused at her feet, but she turned her head and covered her face with a handkerchief and cried in a low voice.

Lu Yougui saw it in the house, and hurriedly turned around to open the door, but was pulled by his wife: "What do you care about other people's affairs?!" Beware of being gossipped! Lu's mother stuffed her son into his hand, threw it at the door, and urged her daughter: "Don't look at it, don't look at it, it's going to rot your eyes!" ”

Chunying was driven away from the window by her, but she still couldn't hide her curiosity, so when she turned around to pack her things, she moved to the side of the kang, propped up a little gap in the window, and secretly looked out.

In the courtyard, the man had been beaten several times, and he was annoyed: "The little prostitute who is doing the same thing as your mother!" Received so many things from me, as soon as I climbed the high branches, I said that I would turn my face! If you have something to do with Ming'er, ask me to come to me again, but don't think that I will pay attention to you again! ”

When the girl of the Cui family heard this, she beat people more and more, and the manager Liu of the north house didn't look like it, opened the door and ran out to grab the broom in her hand, and persuaded: "Enough!" He eats wine and goes crazy, what do you do with his knowledge?! He turned back and scolded the man: "Why don't you go quickly?!" Beware your dad knows! ”

The man was not convinced and wanted to scold again, but when he mentioned the word "father", he immediately became shorter, and secretly looked at the people around him looking at him, and couldn't help but hate and regret it, so he had to throw a cruel sentence at the mother and daughter of the Cui family: "Wait for me!" And he hurried away.

Steward Liu dropped the broom, looked back at Widow Cui, and saw that she was crying breathlessly, he couldn't help but feel pity, and he stopped talking, but finally sighed, turned his head and said to the girl of the Cui family: "Sister Man, I want to save some face for your mother." Otherwise, what will you do when you enter the house and call her? ”

The girl of the Cui family had a white face, her eyes were red, she looked at Steward Liu with tears, and squeezed out a sentence: "Uncle Liu......"

Steward Liu sighed again, and was about to say something to her, but heard his wife's voice behind him: "Boss, it's not too early, we should go out." He looked back and saw that his wife and children were standing behind, their eyes looking back and forth at the Cui family's mother and daughter, and their expressions were a little unkind. He was empty-hearted, casually comforted the girl of the Cui family, and left with his family.

The Cui family girl wiped the tears on her face, raised her head, and faced Chunying's eyes, Chunying hurriedly retracted her head and closed the window, and after a while, she heard the sound of the Cui family's mother and daughter closing the door, and then propped up the window to see, the courtyard was quiet.

Chunying turned her head thoughtfully. It seems that the little girl of the Cui family who is not thinking is in a good situation.

Over there, Mother Lu had already turned to her husband: "See? You don't believe what I said in the past, but now that people have come to the door, it can be seen that I am not lying, and I will say that I am jealous of others for being good-looking! ”

Lu Yougui was a little sneering, but he just forced himself to say stiffly: "It's just a second bastard who got drunk and made trouble." Seeing his wife's angry face, he whispered: "Forget it, it's not easy for her widow to be unemployed." ”

"She did it herself!" Mother Lu glared at him, "If you can't keep it and marry again, no one will stop her." When Cui Da died, his girl was only four or five years old, and Manager Wang personally came to ask if she wanted to arrange someone for her, so that she could help, but she herself refused. Now she is unclear with the nephew of the Wang family, and she is still holding a good woman's shelf all day long, phew, who doesn't know what kind of goods she is?! You don't have to send your things over again, or I'll be done with you!" ”

Lu Yougui said reluctantly: "She can't let go of her daughter, so she refuses to live a good life by herself." Cui Da got along well with us that day, so he should take care of his daughter. ”

"Still taking care of it?" Lu's mother sneered, "Now my own daughter is almost unable to be saved, let's take care of it!" Seeing that her husband's face was not good-looking, she reluctantly said: "The Cui family girl also has a serious errand now, and we don't need to do much in the future, so you don't have to worry about it." I know you get along with Cui Da, but his daughter-in-law has a bad reputation, beware of others arranging you too, how can I meet a few children at that time?! ”

Lu Yougui stiffened by what she said, and nodded reluctantly. Mother Lu turned around with a smile on her face and went to the suitcase, found two half-worn white silk jackets, and threw one of the smaller ones to Chunying: "Put it away, change it when you go out tonight." ”

Chunying hurriedly caught it, feeling a little strange in her heart. Isn't it taboo to wear white clothes for the New Year? However, the material and workmanship of the clothes are very good, and there is a very elegant and delicate plum blossom embroidery at the neckline, and there are several small places on the cuffs and armpits that can be seen traces of modification. She asked, "Mother, is this what you did?" ”

"This is the clothes that Mrs. Gu didn't wear before, and I was rewarded before I got married, and I changed your clothes to a smaller one. Come over here and try some silk flowers. While answering her daughter's question absentmindedly, Lu's mother dug out a small wooden box from the bottom of the suitcase, put it on the table and opened it, and there were more than a dozen bright and delicate silk flowers or pile yarn flowers on one side, and gold and silver jewelry on the other. Chun Ying curiously leaned over and counted more than a dozen silver hairpins, four or five of which were inlaid with jade or coral, and a few gold, four pairs of gold and silver bracelets, five or six pairs of earrings, one of which was a pair of pearls the size of a small fingernail, exuding a warm and soft light, inlaid on a base twisted of gold wire.

Chunying was secretly surprised, isn't this family very poor? Why does mom have so much jewelry?!

Mother Lu picked up the pair of pearl pendants, looked at them again and again, sighed, and put them down. When Lu Yougui saw it, he asked, "Is it the pair that Mrs. Gu rewarded?" Why don't you put it on? ”

"Forget it, if I fall off the road, I'll die of distress." Lu's mother took a few gold and silver hairpins and a pair of gold bracelets, but skipped the ones inlaid with jade corals and replaced them with a pair of earrings. She combed her hair again, inserted a few hairpins, added two big red yarn flowers, looked left and right, and was still a little dissatisfied: "It's a pity that it's all gilded, how good would it be if it was real gold?" As he spoke, he glanced at his husband, but Lu Yougui didn't know if he hadn't heard it, so he coaxed his son hard.

Chun Ying was still staring at those jewelry, thinking that even if it wasn't real gold, it was worth a lot, right? Suddenly, a pink silk flower came out from the side: "Take it and try it." ”

She took the silk flower, looked in the mirror, and stuck it in the middle of the hair ring to tie the red headband, always feeling a little weird. She asked her mother, "What are we doing here?" Are you dressed up to see the lights? ”

Mother Lu glanced at her with a smile: "Fool, of course it's a hundred diseases!" ”

After some explanation from her mother, Chunying finally figured out that this "walking a hundred diseases" actually means that a group of women go for a walk hand in hand to cross the bridge, and married women will also touch the copper nails on the city gate to pray for a boy. Before and after the Lantern Festival, from the eighth day of the first lunar month to the seventeenth and eighteenth day, there are people who go. If the sons of the Hou Mansion did not have serious errands or did not work properly, the Lantern Festival and reward money given by the lords of the mansion could not be turned, so they went out for a walk on the night of the fifteenth.

As soon as it got dark, Mother Lu couldn't wait to urge Chunying to get dressed, and critically changed her into a pink gauze flower in the style of a spring peach, and the family went out together. When passing in front of Cui's house, Chunying vaguely heard a woman crying inside, and her feet slowed down, and the old lady had already glared at her, so she had to follow quickly.

This is the first time Chunying has walked out of the courtyard after crossing, and it feels very fresh. Outside the gate is a road a foot wide, and there are many courtyard gates on both sides, and lights shine through the doors. It was dark on the right and I couldn't see what it was, but on the left it was brightly lit. The Lu family and his wife walked to the left with a smile, and Chunying followed behind, carefully inquiring about the situation on the street.

It turns out that this is the back street of the Hou Mansion of Qingguo, half of the courtyard on the street is the servants of the Hou Mansion, and the other half is not an outsider, it is the family of the masters of the Hou Mansion, but they have a large number of people, rich and poor, some people are not as good as the servants, they can only rely on the Hou Mansion to fight the autumn breeze, barely survive, sometimes in order to see the master of the house, and even have to laugh and please the decent domestic servants.

Moreover, this Li family is a scholarly family, and generations of descendants have paid attention to "everything is inferior, only the reading is high", a few children are ruined, and they can't pull their faces to please the master of the Hou Mansion, and they don't want to see the faces of the servants of the Hou Mansion, so they have to find a way out.

When Chunying heard this, she had a new understanding of the environment she was in, and when she was thinking about the use of this information for herself, she suddenly heard her mother shouting happily: "Purple fish? Is it a purple fish?! ”

Looking up, I saw that not far ahead, among the several daughters-in-law who gathered together to laugh, there was a woman in her thirties who was dressed in purple and turned his face, and he was also surprised: "Red carp!" Oops, it's been a long time! ”

Mother Lu left her husband and children and ran to the other party, and the daughter-in-law named "Ziyu" also held her hand excitedly: "It's been four or five years since the last time we met, how are you doing?" ”

"Okay, I'm fine." Mother Lu wiped her tears, "How early and late will you come back?" Why didn't you send a letter? ”

"I just arrived yesterday, my man sent the filial piety of the village to the courtesy, and kowtowed to the elders by the way, I just met my relatives today, and I haven't had time to look for you." Ziyu looked Lu's mother up and down, and there were tears in her eyes, "Why did you lose a lot of weight?" ”

A daughter-in-law next to her asked curiously: "Sister-in-law Lu, are you acquaintances with Sister-in-law Lu?" ”

"Acquaintances, of course." Ziyu smiled, "When we were young, we were on an errand in the same place, but we only got married later and separated." She looked behind Lu's mother: "That's your second daughter, right?" You gave birth to another boy? What about Brother Xia? ”

"No, it's because I have nothing to do with him." Mother Lu smiled reluctantly, "What about your kid?" Why didn't you bring it? ”

Ziyu's eyes were red: "It's in the village." How could Brother Xia ......" Mother Lu couldn't help but want to cry.

Lu Yougui was ten steps away from her, and when he saw this, he hurriedly said, "What are you crying about? Under the big festival, carefully seen by the housekeeper's lady! ”

Lu's mother collected her tears, ordered Chunying to come over to see the gift, and hugged her son over to show her old friends, and then asked: "Since you are back, you are naturally the leader?" ”

"I can't even recognize the way, it's Sister-in-law Yu's leader." Ziyu turned around and smiled at the other daughter-in-law, "Let's just follow her." ”

The daughter-in-law smiled on Yujia's face: "Just leave it to me!" I know where the lights are the best, and I also know the delicious and cheap Lantern Festival stalls, let's go and see the lights first! ”

As soon as she beckoned, a large group of people gathered around her, there were twenty or thirty of them, which startled Chunying. These people, old and young, men and women, all followed the back of Yu's house in a bustling manner, heading west. Chunying followed the crowd and listened to their discussions, saying that today she was going to the lamp market on Beibei Street outside Dong'anmen. A teenager walking beside her had been there before, talking about the chic lantern styles in the lamp market, what jade rabbit lanterns, dragon and phoenix lanterns, hundred flower lanterns, bee butterfly lanterns, tiger head lanterns, and horse lanterns...... The words were foaming at the mouth, bluffing the children around them for a moment. Chun Ying carefully avoided the range of his saliva and unconsciously reached the edge of the line.

Suddenly, a cart rushed over, and the owner was still shouting: "Get out of the way!" Seeing that she was about to collide, Chun Ying hurriedly avoided it, and when the cart passed, the team had already left her more than ten meters away. She saw from a distance that her father was holding her younger brother and listening to the young man talk about the lanterns, and her mother was holding Ziyu's hand and chatting, but she didn't notice herself, sighed, and was about to catch up, but a drunken person rushed out of the restaurant on the side of the road and hit her.

She jumped to the side and saw that the person was a young man, drunk, squinting at her leisurely, and said with a smile: "Little girl, pour another glass of wine for the master...... "The hand still touched her, Chun Ying hurriedly avoided it.

Two more men rushed out of the restaurant and pulled the man back, one of them with a two-handful beard arched his hand towards Chunying: "Little girl, are you okay?" My friend drank too much for a while, and I hope it doesn't scare you. ”

Chunying took advantage of the light from the restaurant to see that the man was handsome, but he looked very old. But she still couldn't help muttering in her heart, this person looks at least twenty or thirty years old, why is his skin so fair and tender, just compared to the little girl of the Cui family?

(Sorry for the late update!) >_<）