Picturesque Rivers and Mountains in the Red Chamber

Chapter 65 2.42 Little Sister’s Family Trip
Volume Two

2.42 Little sister’s trip to home
The Li family's old house is not close to Rongguo Mansion, but Zhou Yang let go of his hard-earned horse and set off first. It only took a little more than a stick of incense to arrive. As for the gifts and carriage, Li Hu drove them Then he followed and all he had to do was hand over the gift slip.

He looked up at the sun, which was still far to the south, and then glanced at the crowds of people and horses at the door. The scene seemed lively and prosperous, but it made him realize again the fact that Rongguo Mansion was in serious decline. .

This big banquet is a typical "family banquet", similar to visiting relatives during festivals in modern society, except that the Jia family arranges all relatives, clan members, and even close friends of disciples on one day, so that it can It saves trouble and can also show the prosperity of the family. This is not the patent of Rongguo Mansion. In fact, all families are similar, but they are staggered in time.

"Each of the Four Kings and Eight Gongs' families were so polite that no one could receive gifts. They only arranged for people to deliver the festival gifts. The carriages bearing the flags of the Wuxun families all entered the east side gate and unloaded their goods before leaving; the west side gate should be the eight gates of the capital. It is a pity that no one from the Fang clan has come to the fore. They are clearly living in Fenrun in the house. There are no relatives to speak of, let alone disciples and old friends. I, Wu Jieyuan, am already at the top of the rankings. ." Looking at the scene in front of him, Zhou Yang murmured a few words to himself and shook his head helplessly. He really didn't even have the interest to jump in line.

"But Xie Yuangong is here?" Just as the tall sweaty horse "looking down" around, thinking about something, Zhou Yang suddenly heard a greeting in his ear, and saw a rather handsome young man galloping towards him. Come, kneel down neatly in front of him, "Xiao Xing'er, on the order of my second master, I came to the door to greet you."

"But what's the arrangement of Second Brother Lian?" Zhou Yang smiled, waved his hand to signal him to get up, and threw half a tael of broken silver in front of Xing'er's eyes, "The relationship is good, is there someone inside to arrange a guide? Okay, I'll do it right away. Go over, wait here for a while, and a nine-foot-tall man will drive a carriage over in a while. It's my little wish, you can make arrangements with it."

Although he has a small amount of wealth now, he really can't say it's that good. The things he sent this time were mainly seafood and the like that the second room of the Xue family gave him when he returned from Miyako Island, with some snacks as well. Fruits and other things to support the occasion, but the purpose of Rongguo Mansion inviting him was not for gifts, so no one probably cared.

"Little one understands, it's good for Xie Yuangong to go!" Picking up the broken silver happily, Xing'er's tone became more respectful, "After entering the door, Long'er will guide Xie Yuangong over, and the young one will wait here."

Being led all the way into the mansion, Zhou Yang naturally handed over the sweaty horse to the slave who led the horse. While walking with Long'er, he did not forget to look around and compare it with the mansion in his memory. After half a stick of incense, Just arrived, the journey can be said to be very cumbersome.

Go through the front yard, bypass the main courtyard, take the road between the main courtyard and Jia Shedong Cross-courtyard, turn east at the end to bypass Madam Wang's Courtyard, and walk along the road between Madam Wang's Courtyard and the east wall of Rongguo Mansion. At the end, you will find a rather luxurious place. In the courtyard, I saw Jia Lian greeted at the door.

"Hahaha, it's too late for my dear brother Ziyang!" Seeing Zhou Yang coming, Jia Lian came over with a smile and waved his hand with a "please" gesture. "Please take a seat in the courtyard. Many brothers have already come. , everyone get close."

"Thank you, Brother Lian!" Zhou Yang smiled and bowed his hands, remembering Su Yun's explanation when he arrived. The male guests' main seats for this banquet were in the Jia Mansion's VIP Guest Room, while the female guests' main seats were arranged in In the front yard of Jia Mu's courtyard, as for the clan members and relatives, they will all have an open-air banquet in the front yard and let them finish their meal and get out.

After entering the hospital, I realized that he had arrived not too early. He was already over 20 years old. The younger generation was sitting in the courtyard, bragging and talking about various topics. As for the main house of the courtyard, it was the older generation. The place where people with status, such as Jia She, Jia Zheng, and Wang Ziteng, were sitting, and then they were pulled by Jia Lian to make them familiar.

"Come on, come on, brother Zhou, this is Wang Ren, the eldest brother of the Wang family!" A young man who looked like Ben San had an arrogant expression, and he didn't know where he got his confidence.

"These are brothers Shi Gang and Shi Luo, the second wife of the Shi family." The two handsome young men returned the greeting with a smile.

"This is the Shi Chun and Shi Shao brothers from the third room of the Shi family." The two were obviously very different, and their dandy aura was too noticeable.

"This is."

With Jia Lian's introduction, Zhou Yang became more and more aware of the decline of Rongguo Mansion. Whether it was the younger generation of each family or the so-called "disciples and old friends", most of them were white and fooled around in their own name. He was the one with the highest status in the courtyard, and the second most important person was Jia Zheng's disciple Fu Shi.
"Second Brother Lian, since I'm here, I should pay a visit to Uncle She. I wonder if he has time today?" When visiting a friend, he must go to meet his parents.

"This -" Jia Lian looked embarrassed, obviously having something to hide, "Father accidentally caught the cold. It's really inconvenient to see guests these two days. Please forgive me, Brother Ziyang!"

"It's okay, I'll see you next time, little brother." Although Zhou Yang was very curious, he also knew that it was not the right time to ask. He smiled and said politely and sat down at Jia Lian's greeting.

The meal was meaningless, except that when Jia Zheng led Wang Ziteng, Shi Nai, and Shi Ding over, he got up and saluted and greeted a few clichés, and he and the gang were always discussing which building they were eating. Hello girl, what kind of restaurants do you have? The dandies with good taste really have nothing to say. Although there are a few who also look impatient, Zhou Yang doesn't bother to talk to him because he doesn't understand the situation.He only greeted each other with Fu Shi and made a toast, then he only cared about drinking and eating, and then followed Jia Lian to the main room to toast the older generation, and was then shown by two empty barrel viscounts and a prince Tengxiu who was a fifth-rank official and a fourth-rank official. With a look on his face, his already bad mood became more and more impatient. After eating indiscriminately, he went to Jialian Courtyard to rest at Long'er's invitation, or to wait for the party to end and go home.

"Second Brother Lian, Second Brother Lian!" When he was reading a copy of "Jin Ping Mei" with the cover of "Zhu Xi's Annotations" to relieve his boredom, there was a sudden noise in the yard. Before he could ask about the situation, he saw a man who looked like The rather cute little lady rushed into the study room with four dazzling little girls, "Where are the wedding candies? We want to eat wedding candies - huh? Who are you?"

"Who are you?" Really not interested in talking nonsense with a few little carrots, Zhou Yang stood up and asked seriously, "Your father never taught you that when you enter another house, you must at least knock on the door and say hello first, and ask for permission. Do you want to enter after agreeing?"

"You-" Xiao Zhengtai was obviously stunned. He didn't expect anyone to question him.

"Who are you? Why are you sitting in Brother Lian's study?" The four little girls were obviously startled, but one of them stood up bravely, pointed at Zhou Yang and asked, "We are at home, When you enter your brother's room, you will apologize to Brother Lian even if you are wrong. Why do you reprimand us?"

"Oh?" Zhou Yang's heart moved. He just saw the young lady dressed in red and green, and three little girls with the same clothing style but different ages and heights, plus the last girl in purple-red background and black dot pattern women's clothing. He had vaguely guessed their identities, "You're right, I apologize, but I don't have wedding candy. Can I tell you a story to apologize?"

"Who wants you to tell a story?" Shota muttered, but did not dare to speak loudly. However, after confirming that the three younger ones among the four lolita showed obvious interest, he stopped talking.

"It seems we have a deal." Zhou Yang smiled softly, ignored the red and green young lady, turned to the four big and small lolita and smiled, "But before we start, why don't we introduce each other, my name is Zhou Yang , this year Wu Jieyuan was invited by Brother Lian to a banquet at his residence today, who are you?"

"It turns out to be brother of the Zhou family. I heard my sister-in-law mention it the day before yesterday that Jin Kewu Jieyuan is the best member of the family." The eyes of the little girl who had just asked the question brightened up, and she ignored Zhengtai's whispered "Lumo, Zhuowu" Such nonsense, he happily came forward to say hello, "The third sister in my family, these are the second sister and the fourth sister, and a sister from the Shi family, who has met Brother Zhou!"

"I have met four sisters!" Zhou Yang looked at the standard Wanfu gift from the fourth elementary school and returned the gift with a smile. "Since they are my own sisters, there is nothing to say. I will tell a story to apologize. This story happened in In the West, there is a girl with excellent skin who is called 'Snow White'"

He is not good at coaxing children, but he also knows the tricks. As long as he can give him something that arouses interest, he can easily make them forget their dissatisfaction, especially when they have been growing up in the inner courtyard for a long time and know almost nothing. The situation was so bad that when Jia Lian entered, he saw Zhou Yang sitting in the middle, surrounded by five eager little things.

"Brother Ziyang, what are you..." Looking at the "feeding scene" in front of him dumbfounded, Jia Lian said that he didn't understand, "How could we meet here?"

"Second brother Lian also said that he promised us wedding candies but didn't keep his word!" Mr. Hong Hong Lv Lu immediately expressed his dissatisfaction, "He even put this filthy thing here. It didn't scare the four sisters."

"Second brother Lian, your study is nice." Zhou Yang smiled and shook the "Zhu Zi's Annotations" in his hand, which made Jia Lian look embarrassed, "The four sisters are also very good. I was happy to see you just now, so I told them about it. It’s a story, you just happened to be here, why don’t you arrange it.”

"Thank you, dear brother Ziyang. My second uncle has already gone to Rongxi Hall with three uncles to serve tea. If you want to relax, you might as well go sit in the garden. Unfortunately, the others have drank a lot, so I'm afraid there is no one to accompany me." Jia Lian smiled. Said with cupped hands.

"It's okay!" Zhou Yang waved his hand to the four lolita and went out to signal Xing'er to lead the way.

"Thank you, Brother Zhou, for the story!" All four lolita, led by Tan Chun, bowed and performed the Wanfu ceremony. Zhou Yang naturally smiled in return and left.

"Okay, come here, I'll find some candies for you right now -" As he was about to leave the yard, he faintly heard Jia Lian greeting him behind him.

Zhou Yang looked back with a strange expression before striding out of the yard. He had never paid any attention to the phoenix egg just now, and he didn't even ask for his name. Interestingly, Jia Lian didn't pay any attention either.

(End of this chapter)