Sure enough, Aunt Zheng hadn't been carrying the letter for half a day, and Yuan Jie's carriage stopped at the gate of Weifu. It's just that because she is not popular, there is no one to greet her. The old lady, Wei Dongshu, and the people in You's room didn't show up at all, Yuan Xi followed Yuan Yue to the West Market to hang out, only Aunt Zheng waited at the door with the maid in the room.

Be cautious. This is the first thing Aunt Zheng said when she saw Yuan Jie, not for anything else, just for those guests who came from the house with heads and faces. In Aunt Zheng's eyes, her little daughter is very good, even if she can't marry the children of the eunuchs, she has to marry a rich and powerful party. Therefore, an opportunity for performance like the New Year's dinner must not be missed.

"Are you ready for their gifts?" Aunt Zheng stopped Yuan Jie in her arms.

Yuan Jie patted the small package in her hand, it was all inside. Aunt Zheng said with a smile: "When the New Year's dinner comes, you will give these things to the old lady and the aunts, remember to say a few more auspicious words, they love to listen." ”

Aunt Zheng looked at Yuan Jie all over again: "This dress is old, and the little face is a lot richer, and sure enough, my mother's good daughter will not starve when she travels all over the world." ”

How could she starve? In the first few days, she did suffer a sin, because it was forbidden to eat meat in the Buddhist temple, and she also ate coarse tea and light rice for a few days, and later found that the temple had several porters who specialized in water supply, so she gave them silver taels and asked them to bring snacks and braised meat when they went up the mountain next time. The dozens of taels of silver that Yuan Xi subsidized were a lot of money, and they were all sent into the pockets of several porters.

Aunt Zheng said with a smile: "Hurry up and take a bath, my mother has prepared new clothes for you, and during the New Year's dinner, we will also have a showy appearance." ”

Because of catching up with the old lady's birthday, the Wei Mansion attaches great importance to this New Year's dinner, and with the second son Cheng Zhen personally handling it, it must be extremely luxurious. This is a master who is not afraid of spending money and effort, and has already had every inscription in the garden replaced and repainted it with gold paint. The lantern wine was also ordered early, and someone was asked to purchase six baskets of hairy crabs from Yangcheng Lake, and they were sent over non-stop on the right day. Every day, there are small carts to carry the cages and bring back the live pigs, cattle, sheep, deer and lambs.

You is also very willing to spend money, in the day, I saw that the small house in Yuanjia's house was busy inside and out, and the head of the jewelry was bought in a basket to the house, often going out early in the morning, and it was dark before seeing it back.

The people who came and went made Ling'er panic, and she also carried the silver out to procure, but as soon as she bought it back, she was rewarded by Yuan Xi. Once or twice, Ling'er stopped spending the unjust money.

On Chinese New Year's Eve, as soon as the sky was bright, the kitchen in the garden had already begun to prepare for dinner, the gurgling water under the steaming drawer sounded, dozens of mothers-in-law were busy in an orderly manner, and the maids with single-tube cups and plates also got up early to listen to the party. You Shi has ordered the sprinkling and sweeping in the house to be completed before dawn.

Yuan Xi slept until the third pole of the sun before waking up leisurely, the daylight had already penetrated the jade-colored curtain, and the sky was clear outside. Yuan Xixi turned over and got down, and put a pair of light pink colorful butterfly crested shoes on his feet on the side of the bed.

Ling'er handed over a warm and wet handkerchief to wipe his face with Yuan Xi, and mixed the rose juice into the boiling water, Yuan Xi leaned over, and the steam rolled on his face, hot and humid.

"Second Miss, the clothes have been prepared, and the master specially sent a message to ask you to dress more gorgeously, so I picked this one. As she spoke, Ling Er picked up a magenta dark cotton skirt from the hanger, the top was pink, the green calyx embroidered on the neckline looked delicate and cute, and a layer of light yarn as thin as cicada wings floated, and the cloak was the color of watermelon tourmaline, and the little gold thread embroidered on it was still shining in the sun.

Two bent ice flower hibiscus jade bracelets, two small silver sideburns, and a little cinnabar-colored flower. Thinly applied powder, it looks a little cold.

Ling'er circled around Yuan Xi three times, tilted her head and smiled: "Sheng is dressed without makeup, and only with a fair face like you, Miss, can you dare to dress up like this." I heard the maid in the eldest lady's room say that all the jewelry of the eldest lady today is made of gold and jade. Even the fourth lady is dressed very brightly, will we be too perfunctory like this?"

What is there to be perfunctory, today is not meant to steal the limelight.

Yuan Xi pointed to the box of various perfumes that Ling'er had bought on the table, "Bring this." ”

Ling'er thought that Yuan Xi would finally be able to take care of his personal image, but before he could be happy, Yuan Xi had already walked out of the room. Ling Er pursed her lips, she carefully selected so many flavors of fragrance, it turned out that she was going to give it to others, and it was a group of outsiders who didn't have much friendship.

The ladies of the family are all sitting in the warm pavilion in the old lady's room, and a few of them are afraid of the cold, and they are still holding the soup woman in their hands.

When Yuan Xi entered the door, he saw Yuan Jie working hard to give away the peace charms she brought from the temple one by one. Seeing Yuanxi coming in, she also happily took one for Yuanxi: "Third sister, this is what Ronghuaan begged for, it can drive away evil spirits and eliminate disasters." ”

Although the thing is yellow and clear, it is not a valuable object, and it is known that it is brass with a flip of the weight, and then a few Buddhist scripture characters carved by the sister-in-law of the temple. The sisters-in-law of Ronghua Nunnery made this to get more incense money, not that there is anything unusual about this thing.

You Wan and You Wan looked at the broken copper and iron in their hands with disdain, and said with a smile: "What's the use of this, it's not a valuable thing." Fourth sister, do you believe what the gods and ghosts say?"

The two of them may not believe in gods and ghosts, but they just look down on Yuan Jie's gift, and it is no wonder that Yuan Jie's gift is really not enough to care.

The old lady's face was a little more gloomy, and Yuan Jie was so choked by the two of them that she couldn't speak, so she could only stand aside stupidly.

Although she didn't plan to have a deep friendship with Yuan Jie, but after all, she was her own sister, and she made a big red face, isn't it also a shame for the Wei family? Yuan Xi raised her eyes to look at Yuan Jia, but she didn't think so, threw Yuan Jie's gift aside, and poured incense powder on her face.

Yuan Xi smiled: "Sister Wan, you don't know anything about this. Buddhism abstains from desire and greed, and does not value yellow and white things, this peace charm is originally a wish for peace, so it is not limited to what materials. The fourth sister gave you this, originally hoping that her sister would be safe and happy, not to give her sister money to spend money. ”

This is sharper than a knife, what kind of gold and silver are you looking forward to using for a peace charm, could it be that you came to the Wei family to ask for money? You Wan's face was swollen and red, but she couldn't reply, so she could only say yes.

The old lady's face gradually softened, the four girls gave a little chicken ribs, and the two girls of the You family were too faceless, but Yuan Xi said that the old lady was overjoyed.

Yuan Xi put the peace charm into his purse and said with a smile: "Fourth sister, I haven't seen you for a long time, and I also brought you a gift." ”

Ling'er opened the box, and inside was a small porcelain vase with azure glaze after the rain, and when she pulled out the cork, there was a strong aroma in the warm pavilion, and You Wan You Huan also threw the peace charm aside and came up: "If I'm not mistaken, this should be the fragrance dew made by Tianyifang, right?"

You Wan smelled bottle after bottle, which bottle felt good, and was embarrassed to take it all, carrying a bottle of roses and a bottle of gardenia incense was reluctant to put it down: "Sister Yuanxi, these two bottles belong to me?"

The people in this room except for Yuan Xi happened to have one bottle per person, and she accounted for two bottles by herself, so naturally there was no one person. Yuan Yue smiled: "Sister Wan likes it, my bottle will be given to my sister." ”

You Wan doesn't care, just get the fragrance she likes. But the old lady is not very happy, this girl's temperament is a little similar to Yuan Jie, she doesn't even like Yuan Jie, can she still marry such a girl and enter the door to be her granddaughter-in-law?

Yuan Xi also said: "If my sister likes it, I will take it, and I will buy it and give it to my second sister." ”

Yuan Yue said in a low voice: "Eat more and occupy more, and commit a grandmother's taboo." ”

The most annoying thing about the old lady is those who don't understand the rules, if she is happy, you can give you any gold, silver and jade, but if you want to ask for it from her, it is impossible.

The old lady still had a smile on her face, but she was not so happy in her heart. Aunt You took the candied fruit and sat down next to the old lady and said, "Old lady, you see how harmoniously their sisters get along, if these two girls in our family can marry into our house, their sisters will be able to be companions." ”

The old lady glanced at her sideways, didn't say anything, just silently ate the preserves.

Aunt Zheng saw that her baby daughter was laughed at by the two girls of the You family, and she was not happy, and she said this in front of the old lady. Aunt Zheng smiled and held a bell of tea and said, "Old lady, don't just eat that sweet, beware of sore throat, drink tea to moisten your throat." ”

The old lady turned around to drink tea, but put Aunt You aside, You Nahan, this reaction was a bit abnormal, obviously deliberately ignoring herself.

Aunt Zheng took advantage of the situation to talk to the old lady about the jokes of the world, and the old lady was not interested, but she just borrowed her mouth to make You Shi retreat.

If it was something else, You Shizhun wouldn't ask more, but after all, this was the life of his two nieces, and it was also about his status in the mansion, so she had to ask. You Shi stepped forward and said with a smile: "What kind of joke did Sister Zheng say, don't just let the old lady laugh alone, tell me about it?"

Aunt Zheng looked at her and said with a smile: "Sister, there is a joke in Chengdemen Hutong, do you know? There is a peddler's daughter who has reached the age of marriage, so she asks around how old the prince in the palace is, can he be his son-in-law, do you think it's funny? He thinks that his daughter is something, and she is also worthy of marrying the emperor's son." ”

The old lady smiled but said nothing.

You Shi smiled away, Zheng Shi's slut dared to sarcastically mock himself by relying on the old lady's power, and it was clear that the girl of his You family was not worthy of the young master of the Wei Mansion. You Shi said calmly: "What is this, I have heard a more ridiculous incident." ”

Zheng was puzzled: "What is it?"

You Shi beckoned at her: "You come here, I'll tell you." ”

Zheng stepped forward and listened to You Shi whispering in her ear word by word: "There was a cheap maid who washed her feet and climbed onto the master's bed, and she put up her aunt's score." Sister, do you think she's even more ridiculous?"