Zhong Niangzi Wanfu

Chapter 1

一
In the late spring of the 18th year of Longyu, the early cicadas on the elm tree in front of the Zhongfu gate in Wuding City yelled loudly, and the servants in front of the mansion impatiently tapped on the branches with sticky sticks.

"The You family came today. It doesn't look like they are here to propose marriage. Is it true that they are here to break off the engagement with the second girl, as the rumors say?" A boy wiped his sweat and glanced towards the door of the house.

"Who can tell clearly about the master's family? But seeing that the eldest lady's face was not so kind when she came out to greet the guests, I'd better be more careful in what I do these two days." Another servant sighed.

In the main hall of the Zhong Mansion, two women in brocade clothes were sitting in the main hall, sipping tea, with deliberate smiles on their faces.

"Now that my mother-in-law has just passed away, we should plan the children's marriage in the long term." The woman in purple took a sip of tea and said with a faint smile. She was none other than Mrs. Wang, the current head of the You family.

"I have remembered Madam Wang's words. However, I have prepared some small gifts for Madam to take back to express the Zhong family's condolences. Please don't take it personally." The woman in green clothes nodded slightly. She was the matron of the Zhong family. Yue family.

"Please make it clear when you go back, madam. It's not that my Zhong family's daughter has bad conduct, but that your family has worries about the future, so the two families canceled the marriage."

Wang frowned slightly, but still responded with a smile.

"Then I won't see you off." Yue Shi got up and gave the order to evict the guest.

After Madam Wang left, Chanjuan, the first-class female envoy from the Yue Family Courtyard, came in a hurry: "Madam, someone from Anshou Hall came to report that the old lady heard about Madam Wang coming to break off the engagement. She was so anxious that she fainted."

"Hurry up and invite the doctor." Mrs. Yue rubbed her forehead and sent Chanjuan away, got up and went to Anshou Hall.

On the way, Mrs. Yue glanced at Mother Liu next to her: "Where is the second girl?"

"The second girl went to the fields and hasn't come back yet, so she probably doesn't know what happened today." Mother Liu replied carefully.

When Mrs. Yue heard this, she got angry and said: "How can the Zhong family's land be taken care of by a girl with a second wife? She worries about these unattainable things all day long, and she doesn't even know that her marriage is gone!"

"Madam, please calm down. After all, the marriage was finalized from the beginning. Who knew that the old lady of the You family would suddenly pass away." Liu's mother advised.

"You mother-in-law, please stop trying to frustrate me for that girl." Mrs. Yue glared at Liu's mother and scolded, "The You family is a wealthy family in Danzhou, and they are related to the royal family. The Zhong family can only be regarded as a decent family. .”

"The marriage of the second girl was decided based on the handkerchief between the mother-in-law and the old lady of the You family. Now that the old lady of the You family has passed away, Mrs. Wang, the head of the family, is proud and arrogant, and the third brother of the You family has become a scholar. Once they are appointed officials, it will be a matter of time before they regret their marriage."

"I just see that the second girl is not doing anything right all the time. She has made people worry-free since she was a child!"

When the Yue family arrived at Anshou Hall, they met the second wife of Xiyuan, the Chu family.

Mrs. Chu's eyes turned red when she saw her sister-in-law, Mrs. Yue: "Sister-in-law, Lai'er, she..."

After all, she is a sister-in-law under the same roof. Mrs. Yue softened her tone and said, "You are weak and have to take care of Brother Nan. Go back to the west courtyard first. Leave all the affairs of mother-in-law and the second girl to me."

"But after the engagement was annulled this time, it will be difficult for us to get married again in the future." Mrs. Chu was confused.

"I told Mrs. Wang that the second girl is not to blame for the divorce between the two families. The Zhong family's daughter is still fine." Mrs. Yue said in a friendly voice, frowning.

Mrs. Chu responded, feeling that she really couldn't be of much help in Anshou Tang, so she went back to Xiyuan with Mrs. Yue after seeing a doctor.

Mrs. Yue served the soup with her, and then breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the old lady sleeping peacefully. She sat down in the main room of Anshou Hall and took a sip of tea with confidence.

Suddenly a girl broke into the hall, frightening everyone in the hall.

The girl has a childish face but is still elegant. She wears a yellow shirt with Ruyi cloud pattern embroidered with chrysanthemums and a warm white gold skirt with rabbit patterns. Her three thousand black hair is slightly gathered into a standard single bun, with a few small cyan flower hairpins in her hair. , his eyes were clear but the corners of his eyes were red.

Xu Shi ran away in a hurry, the girl panted slightly, her body was also trembling slightly, and reluctantly bowed to Yue Shi: "Auntie, makeup... Zhuangan. Grandma, she, she,"

"Your grandmother is fine. She has taken medicine and gone to sleep." Mrs. Yue glanced at Zhong Lan, but caught a glimpse of her muddy skirt. The suppressed anger instantly filled her heart, and she took Zhong Lan back to her without any explanation. In the courtyard.

"Second girl, do you know your mistake?" Yue Shi sat down in the middle hall, frowning and asked.

Zhong Lan was stunned: "I don't know what my niece did wrong. Please tell me."

"Don't you think there is no one in the Zhong family? You are expected to have a daughter to take care of the land! Not to mention music, chess, calligraphy and painting, you don't even know anything about women's red, embroidery, tea ordering and housekeeping. Why would the You family want a girl like you? Be a wife?" Mrs. Yue threw a cup of tea at Zhong Lan's feet.

The expensive tea cup fell to pieces when it hit the ground, and some of the warm tea splashed onto Zhong Lan's feet.

Zhong Lan was stunned for a moment, and the corners of his eyes became redder: "The ancestors of the Zhong family originally started from a farm. When my grandfather passed away, he warned not to forget the inheritance of our ancestors..."

"There are scholars, farmers, industrialists and merchants in this world. Can the Zhong family have a good future just by farming?" Mrs. Yue slapped her palm on the pear wood table and exclaimed, "When your eldest sister married into the Yangqu family, the whole Danzhou looked down upon Zhong. Mansion?"

"The Zhong family is a farmer and landlord. I have worked hard for many years to make the Zhong family get better and shed some of the stupidity brought by the soil. Why did you become such a bastard?" The more Yue said, the angrier he became. Her exquisite makeup made her look more attractive. The whole person becomes sharper.

"The eldest sister is indeed both talented and virtuous, and her marriage into the Qu family was also very popular. The niece does not bring honor to the family like the eldest sister." Zhong Lan's body was trembling slightly. When he just entered the door, he heard the words of the servants and maids in the house. After talking about the You family's breakup of engagement today, he naturally heard that Yue was sarcastic about him, and he felt more and more aggrieved.

"My eldest aunt has looked down on the Zhong family since she married into the Zhong family. After my grandfather passed away and my grandmother gave you the key to the family, you have regarded the entire Zhong family as your own, asking everyone to follow aunt's instructions. I act as I think. Not to mention my parents, even my grandmother and uncle no longer interfere with family affairs."

"Niece has no right to interfere with the affairs of the public, but since ancient times, the marriage of a daughter has been ordered by the parents and the matchmaker. Since the eldest aunt thinks that the niece cannot hold up the wall, the niece will not bother the eldest aunt to discipline her!"

"You, get the hell out of here!" Yue Shi yelled, clutching his chest.

Zhong Lan wiped the corners of his eyes, turned and left.

two

Thinking that the old lady's urgency was caused by her own marriage, Zhong Yan returned to An Shoutang to take care of her.

Not long after, the old man woke up, and seeing Zhong Yan, he had nothing but words of reassurance to her.

Zhong Lan understood that his grandmother was originally a temperless person, but now that the old lady of the You family was gone, the road to rely on her grandmother to change the You family's mind was blocked.

After taking good care of her for several days, Zhong Lan did not return to her home until the old lady recovered.

Unexpectedly, before Zhonglan had time to calm down and carefully consider breaking off the engagement, a letter came from Sanlang Youjia.

The peach blossoms were in full bloom in front of the court, and Zhong Lan was leaning on the case in front of the window, reading the last letter of Saburo Youjia over and over again with red eyes.

The marriage between You Zhong and his family had been finalized long ago. Zhong Lan was convinced that she would marry him and he would treat her well, so she thought she was considerate of him with a clear conscience.

He took the provincial examination three years ago. Zhong Lan, who knew nothing about embroidery, embroidered for three days and three nights and pricked his hands with blood before making a soft cushion for him to make him feel more comfortable during the examination.He also said that he would come to marry her after being conferred an official title.

He had done well in writing since he was a child, so he naturally won the imperial examination. He went to the county school to study in great glory. In the spring of the next year, he entered the royal capital and passed the Jinshi examination, and was awarded the official position of Wuding County Lieutenant.

Zhong Lan originally thought she was one step closer to him, but the You family kept delaying the wedding until the old lady of the You family passed away and dismissed her with the sentence "break off the engagement."

It was really embarrassing, she should have known better.

Zhong Lan put down the word "Chang Jue" that he had read countless times and wiped the tears from his cheeks.

"Zhonglan!" An anxious clear voice came from the front of the court.

Wearing a moon-white shirt with a lotus pattern and a peach cloud gauze skirt, with hibiscus silk flowers just right on her bun, a girl with pretty features quickly walked into the courtyard and saw Zhong Lan in front of the window. , stepped forward anxiously.

Zhong Lan knew who it was, so he rubbed his eyes, took a deep breath and forced a smile: "Why is the great beauty Wen here?"

The visitor is none other than Wen Shu, the eldest girl of the Wen family in Yong'an, Danzhou.

Wen Shu reached out from the window and took Zhong Lan's hand: "My aunt is blind and misjudged that shameless bastard You Hanting!"

Zhong Lan's mother Chu and Wen Shu's mother Zheng had a close friendship since childhood, and so did the two girls.

Wen's family was a merchant, and her family donated money to the government to get a casual job. Wen Shu had not been restrained by many rules since she was a child, and her temperament was more lively than ordinary boudoir girls.

Zhong Lan laughed when he heard this, but his eyes became redder and redder.

"It's not worth it for someone like him." Wen Shu said solemnly, "Do you think he broke off the engagement with you because of pressure from his family?"

"When our Wen family guys were delivering goods to the Wuding County Government, they overheard that it was your County Magistrate Lu of Wuding City who saw that he had some talents and wanted to marry his daughter to him."

"And he saw that the Lu family had a brother-in-law relationship with Yu Shuizhou, the magistrate of Danzhou, which was infinitely more helpful to him than the Zhong family, so he used that ridiculous reason to break off the engagement and focus on trying to become a dragon and a phoenix!"

Zhong Lan was frightened. He stared at the letter on the case and said in disbelief: "But he said,"

"Did he say that he wants to be in as many embarrassments as possible?" Wen Shu sneered, "Wake up, Zhong Lan. He has already exchanged tokens with that girl from the Lu family, and is waiting for the engagement!"

Zhong Lan was at a loss for a moment, frozen on the spot, opening his mouth to speak but not knowing what to say.The You family, a wealthy family in Danzhou, canceled the marriage with the Zhong family and became engaged to the Lu family. It asked the people of Danzhou how to treat themselves and how they could not hear the harsh sound of gongs and drums.

Wen Shu saw this and sighed: "Come back to Yong'an with me to stay for a while. I have already told Aunt Chu."

The peach blossoms were rustling in front of the court, blurring the eyes of the girl by the window.

(End of this chapter)