CHAPTER XV

Looking at the thirteen girls who were gesturing their hands and feet, the fifth wife, Yao's eyes, couldn't help but shake slightly.

In a trance, she seemed to see herself many years ago, holding a carefully embroidered handkerchief to please her stepmother, but was sent away by her stepmother with a perfunctory face......

Mrs. Fifth blinked, and the little figure that had been bent on pleasing people many years ago, but had been repeatedly rejected, suddenly disappeared, and what sat in front of her was only the little girl who eagerly described the appearance of the screen in her imagination.

-- This child has been away from home since he was a child, and he was not close to anyone in the family, but now he was sent back by the old lady to "recuperate", and he was somewhat frightened in his heart, so he did everything he could to please himself......

Suddenly, Mrs. Five's heart was sour, I don't know if it was for the child in front of her, or for the self in her memory.

"It's interesting to hear you say," said the fifth lady, laughing, "since you have a serious use, give it to you." ”

"Really?"

Shanniang's eyes lit up, and the whole person suddenly crossed the small table in the center of the couch, and a small face came to Mrs., which made Mrs. laugh and stretched out her hand to flick the tip of her nose, "I just passed the time to embroider and play, you can find a serious place for them, it's not like I've wasted things in vain." ”

"It must be pretty!" Shan Niang said, "Just thinking about it, I can imagine what it will be like to make it." When the time comes, the wife will come to see it, and it will definitely not be bad...... Ah," she said, looking at her wife, leaning in, "or else, she will also give me the ink and bamboo picture." I thought of using it to make a table screen, with Nanzhu as the frame, the base does not use wood carving, only use bamboo to weave fresh patterns, and then brush a layer of black lacquer - white silk bottom, black frame, it must look very elegant. ”

Mrs. Fifth tilted her head and imagined it for a moment, and said with a smile: "It does sound good." Well, here you go. ”

Shanniang cheered, and her hand lying on the couch suddenly crossed over and pressed on Yao's hand, "Thank you!" ”

This "mother" not only embarrassed Yao's family, but also embarrassed Shanniang herself. She has never called anyone this name in two lives...... Xu is because Yao's eyes were too gentle when he looked at her just now, Xu was she pretending to be tender and slipping her hand here, but somehow, she called this "mother" to rush out......

Perhaps, she lost her mother since she was a child, and she has always wanted to have a mother in her heart......

This "mother" made the originally harmonious atmosphere of the room quiet.

Shanniang was stunned and didn't react, but she saw Yao's backhand patted her hand twice, as if she hadn't heard the sound of "mother", and said with a smile: "You just came back, and the family didn't have time to clean up the house for you. ”

Yao patted Shanniang's hand again, turned her head and asked Minglan Minglan, the maid who had been standing by the door, "This month's monthly money has been paid early, right?" The girl just came back, can I make up for it? ”

At this time, Ma's mother heard that Shanniang came to find his wife, so she followed her uneasily, and she had been listening outside for a long time. Seeing that his wife asked, he took the opportunity to lift the curtain and came in, and said, "The girl just came back last night, and she is busy tidying up the girl's yard today, and she hasn't been busy for a while." But don't worry, my wife, I'll send someone to the girl's house when I get back. It's just that the girl now has only one nurse and two second-class girls around her, and the other is a useless little girl, so I'm afraid I have to buy some more manpower. I think the cuiyu in the wife's house is good, she is a careful one, so it is better to give it to the girl. ”

- Okay, I just folded in a cuiqiao, and now I want to stuff another cui feather!

Shanniang turned her head and glanced at Mama with a smile. This Ma's mother assigned the maid in the wife's house so casually in front of her wife, to put it bluntly, she just deliberately asked Shanniang to see how decent she was in front of her wife.

"Mom, don't say that, how dare I use my sister in my wife's house? It's too disrespectful to this wife," Shanniang secretly stabbed Ma's mother, turned around and smiled at the fifth wife: "Besides, I don't need it." My yard is not big, and I am afraid of trouble, and I don't look good when there are too many people. ”

Ma's mother frowned and said, "Even if the girl wants to save trouble, there must be rules." Although the family is not as pompous as the old lady, according to the rules, there should be a first-class big girl around the girl. ”

Get! Shan Niang originally thought that she was secretly sarcastic, and she didn't know if this mallet horse could understand it, but who knew that people would stab back in the blink of an eye - but unfortunately, she was not taboo at all about the fact that she was "kicked out" of the West Garden.

According to the rules of the Hou family, regardless of the mothers around the girls, only the maid must be matched with a first-class and two second-class, as well as a number of third-class (the specific number depends on the status of the girl in the family).

Of course, this is only a rule for the girls in the Hou family's houses, but the girls in the West Garden are not subject to this rule. For example, the seven girls from the big house had three first-class maids and eight second-class maids in front of them. Even when Shanniang was in the West Garden before, there were two first-class and six second-class maids in front of her. It's just that at the beginning of the year, before Shanniang had that "dream", her other big girl, Chu Xue, had a double calculation and resigned from the West Garden in anger. The first snow is not a simple one, and when he left, he calculated the double yuan, although the double element cleverness escaped the calculation, and the other two second-class maids under the name of Shan Niang, who usually follow the double yuan, fell into the plan and moved out of the West Garden "due to illness". Because Shanniang wanted to go home at that time, she didn't add more people to her side.

And the reason why Ma's mother is so enthusiastic about stuffing people around her is obviously not afraid of wronging her.

Shanniang looked back and smiled: "Rules are always dead, but people are alive." My yard is so big, no matter how many people there are, there is no place to stand. Since my mother has a heart, it is better to give the share of the first-class maid to my two second-class girls, I am afraid that they will serve me more wholeheartedly than I have two first-class girls. ”

Mother Fang originally accompanied Shanniang over, and at this time, she also followed Mother Ma into the house, so she smiled and quipped: "The girl is so calculating." ”

Shanniang smiled and turned her head, and said to her wife: "I have also thought about the people I want to use in my yard, my nurse is the same, I don't want first-class maids, just give that share to my two second-class girls." As for the other girl, Lu'an, let's mention the third class," she looked at Mama Ma and Fang's mother, "In addition, it is enough to add two more rough mothers-in-law and two little maids to my yard." No matter how much I do, I don't even have a place to stand there. ”

Shanniang deliberately laughed easily, but Ma's mother deliberately kept a straight face and did not cooperate, but there was a Fang mother next to her who was funny, but she didn't let the atmosphere go cold.

The fifth wife, Yao, sat on the side and watched quietly, but she was secretly surprised in her heart. She originally thought that Shanniang came over to flatter her, but now she looks coldly, but it doesn't look like it.

A few people gossiped a few words about Shanniang's yard, and they heard someone outside report that the girls in the second room, the third room and the fourth room next door heard that the thirteenth girl had returned, and sent her mother-in-law to say hello.

Shanniang turned around, just in time to see Yao's frowning brows, knowing that she was impatient to entertain these things, so she stood up and smiled: "Since you came to see me, it's not good to ask your wife to bother, and my wife is busy with my wife, so I'll go and take a look." ”

Yao Shi couldn't wait for this, and hurriedly smiled: "Okay, you can go." ”

Shanniang bowed and retreated, and when she walked to the door, Yao suddenly said, "If you are interested in embroidery, just come over when you have time tomorrow." ”

When Yao said this, he actually thought of himself back then. It's not so much that she is showing closeness to Shanniang, but rather that she wants to make up for the neglect she was left out back then.

Who knew that Shanniang waved her hand at her and smiled: "Mrs., spare me quickly, I'm too lazy." But my wife, who embroiders in the embroidery room all day long, and her eyes can't bear it, so let my wife go to my yard and sit when she has time. Looking out from my floor, I can see the Luomei River. ”

This tone is not like talking to the elders, but more like inviting a friend of the same generation.

*・*・*

The thirteenth girl went out, and Minglan Minglan, the maid who had been hiding herself in the shadow by the door, came over, poured a cup of tea for his wife, and then went to the embroidery frame to sort out the silk thread.

It was the fifth wife, Yao, who rarely returned to the embroidery frame immediately, but still held her cheeks and sat on the edge of the couch silently meditating.

Minglan put the silk threads that Yao took out just now one by one, and when she turned around and saw that her wife still hadn't come, she called out in surprise: "Mrs? ”

Among Yao's four dowry maids, only Minglan made it clear that she was unwilling to wait for her lord and was unwilling to marry, so she followed her wife like this.

Yao came back to his senses from his trance and asked Minglan suspiciously: "You say, what kind of person is the eldest girl in our family?" ”

Minglan thought about it for a while, and told his wife about the second master going to make trouble with the eldest girl this morning, but she didn't add any comment.

Yao Shi lowered his eyes and thought for a while, sighed, and said, "I really don't know how to look at people, and I think she is a pitiful, but she is also a powerful ......."

Minglan straightened the silk thread and said without raising her head: "Pitiful or powerful, what does Mrs. care about her?" Everyone's life is lived by themselves, it doesn't matter if it's good or not, let's just live our own lives behind closed doors. ”

Yao was sullen and sighed again, "It's the same." It's just that I feel a sense of loss in my heart.

*・*・*

Let's say that the more declining the family, the more emphasis is placed on the noble lintel of one's own home. Although this Hou family has long lost the title, they are bent on claiming to be a famous family, and they regard the cumbersome etiquette rules more than anything else. Everyone knows that Shanniang is not really sick, and now I heard that she came home to "recuperate", and the sisters in each room also had to write a condolence post by hand, and then sent a proper mother to come to greet in person, which is in line with the etiquette rules that everyone should have.

Yesterday, it was late when Shan Niang arrived home, and when she quietly came to the door to inquire about the news, and then went home to inform the master, the girls in each room were seriously sending their mother-in-law to send a persistent post to say hello, and it was already the dawn of the west.

Shanniang, the "patient", naturally didn't need to go to see the mother-in-law who came to greet her in person - she sent the eight-faced exquisite Mother Fang to deal with it, but those replies needed to be written by her own hand before they could be considered a matter of etiquette.

Although she complained again and again, Shanniang had to write replies one by one patiently, and by the time everything was done, it was already dark. There was nothing to say about this night.