He didn't say anything, he just ordered Changgui to go to the female relatives to explain to the Tong family, and quietly pulled Su Tong out.

Changfu followed the Chen family to greet the guests outside, and there were several ladies inside to take care of them, which did not cause a commotion. Although Shuning was a little strange, she was just guessing that she might have urgent business.

Zhang Bao and Su Tongju did not come back until the banquet, some of the guests were a little uneasy, Mr. Su knew that something was wrong, pretended to be fine, sent the guests away, and asked people to arrange accommodation for the Chen family. Tong had already sorted out a small courtyard next to the back office as his newly married residence, and the night was spent smoothly.

Zhang Bao didn't return until the fourth watch, fell asleep in a hurry, and went out early the next morning. Duan Ning only heard the news from the officials in the morning, and it turned out that the No. 1 prison of the governor's yamen was burned, killing two prison officials, and most of the prisoners had escaped, including the people of the Heaven and Earth Society.

Both the Fu Ya and the Fu Ya had been searched in the city for a night, and the army had sent people to help, and by noon, half of the escaped prisoners had been captured, but the people of the Heaven and Earth Society were nowhere to be found. Judging from all kinds of clues and worms, Su Tong's judgment showed that it was very likely that martial arts masters set fire to several places inside and outside the prison and rescued prisoners who had been severely punished and had difficulty walking. The entire government was mobilized, inns, temples, houses, dilapidated houses, etc. were the key search sites, and martial law was also imposed at the city gates. Several children's travel plans were also cancelled. Shuning concentrates on practicing her newly learned qin song "Good Night Introduction" and calligraphy at home, and does some needlework in her spare time. In addition to studying, Duan Ning set up a target in the yard to practice archery.

After two violent storms, the weather cleared up again. News came from outside that the government had captured several felons who had escaped. Although the two escaped, they killed a master of the Heaven and Earth Society who came to save people on the spot. The search in the city gradually subsided, and life returned to its former state.

Tanabata is coming. Several official wives made an appointment to co-organize this year's Seventh Sisters Meeting. Let the daughters of each family compare their crafts. Jinjin writes a post inviting Shuning to her house to discuss what to do.

When Shuning received the post, she was fiddling with a guqin that Huo Comprador had just sent. Although this piano is not very valuable, it has a pleasant sound and is also a rare and excellent product. I have to say. This Huo comprador is really a very pleasing person, and he is very measured.

Shuning arrived at the General's Mansion in the afternoon, and when she saw Zhenzhen, she was about to tell her that she had a piano and didn't need to borrow her anymore, but Zhenzhen grabbed her and dragged her inside, and said, "Come on, there are good things for you to see." ”

Shuning was pulled by her and turned a few corners and passed through several halls. I came to a place that looked like a flower hall, and there were guards on all sides, but I saw Zhenzhen. Don't dare to stop it.

In the middle of the flower hall is a large Western clock, which is eye-catching. The Western clock was two meters high. Gold-plated throughout. It is divided into three layers. On the upper floor is a splendid small house carved in the shape of vines. It is inlaid with various colored gemstones, and a small window is closed. In the middle is the body of the clock, which is covered with broken diamonds, and the black crystals are made of Roman numerals and Ugin hands, which stand out from the white diamond face. The lower layer is also carved in gold, with four characters of Western mythology carved on each side, and the base is made of black walnut, polished to a polished finish.

Shuning stared at the window on the upper floor and asked, "Is it on the hour, something will pop out of this window?" Zhenzhen was surprised: "How do you know?" Don't worry about this for now, it's going to be hourly soon, let's take a good look. ”

As soon as she finished speaking, the bell rang, and struck twice, and then the small window opened automatically, and a bird's nest appeared, and in it were three small colored birds, I don't know what they were made of, and there were real feathers stuck to the surface, and they opened their mouths to call, and a cheerful song sounded inside the bell, and they sang for about a minute before they automatically retracted and closed the window.

It is truly a masterpiece, both in terms of craftsmanship and artistic value, and it is definitely a work that is second to none in the world. Although I have heard that the Qing Palace has such a delicate Western clock, it is still amazing to Shu Ning when I look at it so closely.

Seeing her undisguised admiration, Jinjin said happily, "It's funny, isn't it?" This is a tribute from France, and it will be sent to the capital in a few days. I now pinch the hour every day to look at it, and I can take one more look. Amma always told me not to come, so I slipped over and looked at it myself. Then he turned his head and continued to look at the bell.

She sighed: "It's a pity that I don't recognize the characters on it, I heard that it is a foreigner's number, and my Ama once thought of replacing it with our local script, but the craftsmen are afraid of breaking it, so they don't dare to do it." ”

Shu Ning looked down at the Roman numerals, and said: "Actually, if you are used to seeing it, it is still easy to recognize, if you want to change the words and dig out the original words, it is indeed easy to damage the clock face, it is better to cover the original words with a layer of gold and silver sheets and other things, and then make a fuss on the sheets." Zhenzhen nodded: "A few masters also said the same, but Ama finally decided not to change it, he said that the emperor recognized these words, so it's okay." ”

She paused, and then said, "It would be nice if there was a chiming bell engraved with our native language, and there is also a small one in the upper room of my house, and there are no numbers on it, only a few gems to mark it." It's a pity that this thing is too expensive, the small one in my house is still a royal gift, and a random one outside costs tens of thousands of taels. ”

Shuning thought for a while, and then said: "Actually, there are a lot of Western watchmakers, recruit a few, plus our own jewelry craftsmen, we can also make our chiming clocks, isn't this better than buying from abroad at a high price?" Besides, we have our own chiming bells, which can also be sold for money, or even sold back to the West. Zhenzhen smiled when she heard this: "You are so good at this abacus, people and foreigners use it to exchange it for tea and porcelain, but you want to rob other people's jobs." The two girls burst into laughter.

"I think it's a good idea." A male voice suddenly came from the entrance, and the two were startled, and when they looked back, it was the male host, Wu Dan. Shuning hurriedly gave a salute, Wu Dan waved his hand, and said, "Shuning's niece has time to come and play often, and the little girl has a companion." Then he turned his head and made a face at his daughter: "I said a long time ago that you should not always come to see this clock." What should I do if I accidentally break it? This is to be entered. ”

Zhenzhen stuck out her little tongue and responded, "I know Xingqi Muyu Town Sodu", and then pulled Shuning and ran away. Shuning didn't even have a chance to say goodbye.

When she arrived at Zhenzhen's boudoir, Chun Xing had been waiting there for a long time. complained to Shuning: "Where did the girl go, but I was easy to find, if it wasn't for Sister Liangzhu to bring me in, I would have to stand stupidly at the gate." Zhenzhen smiled: "This is my no, I kidnapped your girl." Shall I forgive you my sins? Chun Xing hurriedly said that she didn't dare, and said: "Our girl brought a few snacks over, Sister Liangzhu just called the kitchen to steam, please Miss Zhen to try it." "Zhenzhen is overjoyed, busy urging people to make tea.

Liangzhu sent the dim sum after a while, which were four kinds of baihua dumplings, a powdered Luohan Zhai spring roll, a seaweed roll, a mushroom-stuffed siu mai and a bowl of sour and hot cold skin. Zhenzhen tasted a little bit of everything, praised it, and pointed to the plate of spring rolls and asked, "This is shredded carrots and shredded mushrooms, right?" Is vegan? Shuning nodded: "Peanut oil is used when cooking the filling." It is to prepare the land for my mother to eat fasting. ”

Zhenzhen pointed to the spring rolls and siu mai and said to Liangzhu: "You send these two to Erniang to taste." Liangzhu smiled and took it, and Zhenzhen turned to Shuning and said, "Don't be angry, my second mother likes to eat carrots and mushrooms the most on weekdays." Recently, I haven't had a good appetite, so I sent it to her to try it. Maybe it's a little appetizing. ”

Shuning pursed her lips and smiled, "I'm not angry. Give to whoever you love to give what you give. It's just that you have a hard mouth on weekdays. In fact, it's also very good for this second mother. Zhenzhen smiled slightly: "The heart is long, although I miss my biological mother, but I am not a person who does not know what to do, she treats me sincerely, I will treat her sincerely, the family lives in harmony, and fights every day, what's the point?" ”

Shu Ning nodded, and suddenly remembered: "I haven't said hello to the second lady yet." Zhenzhen said: "I'll just say it for you, she is lying down to recuperate, I want to see you, and I have to get up and dress and comb my hair, but I am tired of her, you come on a daily basis, don't worry." ”

The two talked for a while, discussing what to do when the seventh sister met. Shuning had already thought about making a pair of embroidered screens, Zhenzhen was not good at female redness, so she decided to use small beads to string a beauty, and immediately called a deputy steward named Bian Cai and asked him to buy small glass beads of various colors.

Unexpectedly, Bian Cai listened to the instructions, but said: "The girl is going to earn a lot of money at the Seventh Sister Meeting, and the slave doesn't understand this, if the beads bought back are not suitable, it will be a mistake for the girl." The slave knew that there was a jewelry shop that sold glass beads, in terms of color, shape, texture, size, and size, they were the best and most complete in the city, and it took only two quarters of an hour to go by carriage. If it's still early today, why don't you pick it up yourself? ”

Zhenzhen listened to the reason, and immediately prepared to leave, and Shuning also went to help the eyes. When he went out to the gate, he happened to bump into Chongli and Duanning coming in from outside. Chongli heard that his sister was going to the street, frowned, and wanted to go with him, but Zhenzhen had no choice but to respond. Duanning naturally walked along.

The glass beads in that shop were really complete, and Shuning helped pick them for a while, and found that Bian Cai's vision was better, so he didn't speak more. Chongli and Duanning were bored wandering around the store, when they suddenly heard a commotion from the carriage at the door, Chongli frowned, and went out to ask what was going on.

It turned out that the shop next door was about to unload, and they thought their carriage was in the way and asked them to move away. The coachman had been waiting at Wudan's house for many years, and where he had been so angry, he scolded others. After Chongli asked clearly, he reprimanded: "What's the big deal? It's also a non-stop mess here, you just have to stop in front, these two steps, we can still walk. ”

The coachman went in a hurry, and the people in the neighboring shops saw that Chongli was extraordinary, and that he had the upper hand, and he did not want to do much, so he made a series and went.

When Chongli returned to the store, Shuning and Duanning had already discussed buying a pair of fragrant hairpins and giving them to Xiao Liu as a birthday gift. Since Xiao Liu entered the door, she has always been quiet and self-contained, the Tong family has been very good to her, and even the Duanning Shuning brothers and sisters also respect this nominal concubine very much.

Zhenzhen quickly finished picking out the beads, and Shuning was a little surprised when she saw that although there were all kinds of beads in the box containing the beads, they were golden at most, could it be that she wanted to be a golden beauty? Zhenzhen put on a mysterious look and said, "You'll know when the time comes." Shuning had no choice but to suppress the doubts in her heart.

The four of them took two servants and walked in the direction of the carriage after leaving the store. Caught up, a carriage came on, the horse was frightened, the people on the carriage shouted loudly, and the pedestrians along the way avoided one after another. Shuning was separated from everyone by a few pedestrians, retreated to a small alley next to her, and hurriedly picked up her feet to find her brother and friend, but heard a few sounds behind her.

She felt a little furious in her heart, and turned around to look at it with her breath, but saw a person lying on the ground. This alley was a dead end, no one came, and there were all kinds of miscellaneous items piled up on the ground, and the eaves of the houses on both sides blocked the sunlight, making it seem dimly lit. The man was disheveled, dressed in tatters, with his head bowed, and his hands and feet were covered with wounds, oozing a few strands of blood.

When the man heard the noise, he looked up, and lowered his head again without care, but suddenly stopped, looked up again, shook a few times, and retreated to a more corner.

Shuning looked a little strange, could it be that this person knew herself? took two steps forward cautiously, and suddenly remembered that the face of the person just now, although it was dark and green, could not hide the original beautiful eyebrows, and it was clearly the "beauty" actor.

Isn't he with the people of the Heaven and Earth Society? How did it get to this point? Shuning had some resentment for the fright and hurt he suffered that day, but thinking that he had helped his father intercede, and felt that he was a good person, and now he has fallen to this point, which is really pitiful.

Her mind was in chaos, but time did not allow her to think too much, she could already hear the voice of her brother and Chun Xing calling for herself, gritted her teeth, she quickly pulled out her purse from her sleeve, took out two pieces of broken silver and a dozen copper coins, took a few steps forward and put them on the ground, and said in a low voice: "You can do it yourself." He hurried away, ignoring the low choking sound coming from behind him.

She is not a saint, she doesn't want to do superfluous things, give him a little money, if he is lucky, maybe he can survive for a while, but what happens to him in the future depends on his creation. After all, he was just a passerby to her.

She had already seen her brother and brother and sister, so she put the encounter aside and ran towards them with a handkerchief.