Ordinary clear day

Chapter 89 Admiralty
He didn't say anything, but ordered Changgui to go to the female relative's side to confess to Mrs. Tong, and quietly dragged Su Tong out.Changfu followed the Chen family to greet the outside guests, and there were several wives inside to take care of them, so there was no commotion.Although Shu Ning was a little strange, she was only guessing that there might be some urgent business.

Zhang Bao and Su Tong judged that the two hadn't come back until the end of the banquet. Some guests were a little uneasy. Mr. Su knew something was wrong and sent the guests away as if nothing had happened, and asked someone to arrange accommodation for the Chen family.Tong's had already sorted out a small courtyard next to the back office as his residence after the wedding, and passed the night smoothly.

Zhang Bao didn't return until the fourth watch, fell asleep in a hurry, and went out early the next morning.Duanning only heard the news from the yamen servants in the morning. It turned out that the No. [-] heavy prison in the governor's yamen was burned. Two jailers were killed and a few were seriously injured. Most of the prisoners ran away, including members of the Tiandihui.

Both Fuya and Fuya sent everyone to search the city for one night, and the army also sent people to help. By noon, half of the escaped prisoners had been captured, but the people from the Tiandihui were nowhere to be seen.

Based on various clues, Su Tong judged that there was a high possibility that martial arts masters set fires in several places inside and outside the prison, and rescued prisoners who had been tortured and had difficulty walking.The entire government was mobilized, and inns, temples, dwellings, and dilapidated houses were all key search locations, and martial law was also imposed at the city gates.

For the next ten days or so, this cold and solemn atmosphere continued in the city of Guangzhou, and even the surrounding villages and towns were affected.Several children's travel plans were also forced to be cancelled.Shuning concentrates on practicing the newly learned qin song "Good Night Yin" and calligraphy in running script at home, and does some needlework in her free time.Besides studying, Duanning set up a target in the yard to practice archery.

After two typhoons, the weather cleared up again.There was news from outside that the government had captured several felons who escaped. Although they escaped two people, they killed a master of the Heaven and Earth Society who came to save them on the spot.The raids in the city gradually subsided, and life returned to the way it was before.

As Qixi Festival is approaching, several wives of officials have made an appointment to co-organize this year's Seventh Sisters' Meeting, and let the daughters of each family compare their handicrafts.Zhenzhen wrote a post to invite Shuning to her home to discuss what to do.

When Shu Ning received the post, she was playing with a guqin that Huo Comprador had just sent.Although this piano is not very expensive, its timbre is melodious, and it is also a rare quality.I have to say that this Huo Maiban is really a person who is very good at flattering people, 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 she didn't need to borrow hers anymore, but Zhenzhen grabbed her and dragged her inside, saying, "Come on, There's something good for you to see."

Pulled by her, Shu Ning made several turns and walked through several halls before she came to a place that looked like a flower hall, surrounded by guards, but she dared not stop her when she saw Zhen Zhen.

There is a large western clock in the middle of the flower hall, which is eye-catching.The western clock is two meters high, the whole body is gold-plated, and it is divided into three layers.The upper floor is a resplendent and resplendent small room, carved in the shape of vines, inlaid with various gemstones, and a small window is closed.The middle layer is the clock body, the clock face is covered with broken diamonds, the Roman numerals and black gold hands made of black crystals are particularly conspicuous on the white diamond surface.The lower layer is also carved in gold, with plots of characters from four Western mythological stories engraved on the four sides, and the base is made of spade wood, which is polished so that it can be seen.

Shu Ning stared at the window on the upper floor, and asked: "Is there something that will pop out of this window at the hour?" Zhenzhen was surprised: "How do you know? Don't worry about it, it will be fixed soon." Come on, let's take a good look."

As soon as she finished speaking, the bell rang, knocked twice, and then the small window opened automatically, and a bird's nest popped out. Inside were three colorful birds, made of unknown materials, with real feathers stuck to the surface. Opening his mouth to make a call, a cheerful tune sounded inside the big clock. After singing for about a minute, he retracted automatically and closed the window.

What a masterpiece, absolutely the best of its kind in terms of craftsmanship and artistic value.Although I have heard of such exquisite Western clocks in the Qing Palace, Shu Ning is still amazed at such a close viewing.

Seeing her unabashed admiration, Zhenzhen said happily: "It's very interesting, isn't it? This is a tribute from France, and it will be sent to the capital in a few days. I'm pinching the clock every day now." Come and see, it’s a good thing to have a second look. Ama always told me not to come, so I just slipped over to look at it by myself.” After that, he turned his head and continued to watch the big clock.

She sighed: "It's a pity that I don't understand the characters on it. I heard that they are numbers from foreigners. I, Ama, once thought about changing them to our characters, but the craftsmen were afraid of breaking them, so they dared not do it. "

Shu Ning looked down at the Roman numerals, and said: "Actually, I'm used to seeing them, and it's easy to recognize them. If you want to change the characters and dig out the original characters, it's really easy to damage the clock face. It's better to use a thin layer of gold and silver." Cover the original characters with similar things, and then make a fuss on the thin sheet.”

Zhenzhen nodded: "Several masters also said the same, but Ama decided not to change it in the end. He said that the emperor can recognize these characters, so it's okay."

She paused, and then said: "It would be great if there was a chime clock engraved with our own language. I also have a small one in the upper room of my house. It doesn't even have a number on it, only a few gems for marking. It's a pity that this thing is too expensive , The small one in my house is still given by the emperor, and a random one outside will cost tens of thousands of taels."

Shu Ning thought for a while, then said: "Actually, there are quite a few watchmakers in the West. If we recruit a few, plus our own jewelry craftsmen, we can also make our own chime clocks. Isn't this cheaper than buying them from abroad?" How strong? Besides, we have a chime bell, we can sell it for money, or even sell it back to the west.”

Upon hearing this, Zhenzhen laughed and said, "You have a good abacus. Foreigners trade it for tea and porcelain. It's already a loss, but you still want to grab their jobs." The two girls laughed together.

"I think it's a good idea." A male voice suddenly came from the entrance, and the two of them were startled. Looking back, it was Wu Dan, the host.

Shu Ning hurriedly gave a salute, Wu Dan waved his hand, and said: "Niece Shu Ning, come and play when you have time, the little girl should have a companion." Then she turned her head and put on a straight face to her daughter: "I said earlier that I don't want I always look at this clock, what if I accidentally break it? This is to be improved."

Zhenzhen stuck out her tongue, answered "Got it", and ran away with Shuning, who didn't even have a chance to say goodbye.

When she arrived at Zhenzhen's boudoir, Chun Xing had been waiting there for half a day, and complained to Shu Ning, "Where did the girl go, but it was hard for me to find, if sister Liangzhu didn't bring me in, I would have been at the gate." Stupid standing."

Zhenzhen smiled and said, "Is it my fault that I abducted your girl, shall I apologize to you?"

Chunxing hurriedly said she didn't dare, and said: "Our girl brought some dim sum over here. Sister Liangzhu just asked the kitchen to steam it. Please ask Miss Zhen to try it." Zhenzhen was overjoyed and hurriedly urged people to make tea.

After a while, Liangzhu brought up the dim sum, which were four kinds of Baihua dumplings, a type of Luohanzhai spring rolls with noodles, a type of seaweed rolls, a type of siu mai stuffed with mushrooms, and a bowl of hot and sour cold skin.

Zhenzhen tasted a little of each item, praised it, and pointed to the plate of spring rolls and asked: "Is this shredded carrot and shiitake mushroom inside? Is it vegetarian?" Shuning nodded: "When cooking the stuffing, use It’s peanut oil, it’s for my mother-in-law’s vegetarian meal.”

Zhenzhen pointed to the spring rolls and siu mai and said to Liangzhu: "You take these two to Erniang to taste." Liangzhu smiled and took it away, Zhenzhen turned to Shuning and said, "Don't be angry , My second mother usually likes to eat carrots and mushrooms, but recently she has a bad appetite, I will send it to her to taste, maybe it will make her appetizing."

Shuning pursed her lips and said with a smile: "I'm not angry, you can give it to whoever you like. It's just that you are always stubborn, but you are actually very kind to this second mother."

Zhenzhen smiled slightly and said: "I have a long heart. Although I miss my own mother, I am not a person who does not know what is good or bad. She treats me sincerely, and I will treat her sincerely. It is good for the family to live in harmony, fighting openly and secretly every day. Yes, what do you mean?"

Shuning nodded, and suddenly remembered: "I haven't paid my respects to the second lady yet." Zhenzhen said, "I'll tell you for you, she is lying down to rest, and she has to get up and comb her hair when she wants to see you. It's tiring for her. It's okay if you come here on weekdays."

The two talked for a while, discussing what Seventh Sister would do during the meeting.Shu Ning had long thought about making an embroidered screen, but Zhen Zhen was not good at female celebrities, so she decided to use small beads to string a beauty, and immediately called a deputy manager named Bian Cai, and asked him to buy various colored glass beads.

Unexpectedly, after Bian Cai listened to the order, he said: "Young lady wants to win prizes at the Seventh Sisters' Meeting. I don't understand this. If the beads I buy are not suitable for use, I will miss the girl's business. I know a jewelry shop. The glass beads sold are the best and most complete in the city in terms of color, shape, texture, and size, and it takes only a quarter of an hour to get there by carriage. It’s still early in the day, why don’t you pick them yourself?”

After Zhenzhen heard the truth, she immediately prepared to leave, and Shuning also went to help her.When they went out to the gate, they bumped into Chongli and Duanning coming in from the outside.When Chongli heard that his sister was going to the street, he frowned and wanted to go with her, but Zhenzhen reluctantly agreed.Duanning naturally also walked together.

As expected, the shop had a complete range of glass beads, Shu Ning helped to pick them out for a while, and found that Bian Cai had a better vision, so she stopped talking.Chongli and Duanning were wandering around the store boredly, 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 their goods, and they thought their carriage was in the way and asked them to move away.The coachman had been serving Wudan's house for many years, so he started scolding him when he had never been so angry.

After Chongli asked clearly, he reprimanded: "What's the big deal? You're making trouble here all the time. You just need to stop in front. We can still walk in these two steps."

The coachman responded without hesitation, and the people in the neighboring shop saw that Chongli was extraordinary, and his side had the upper hand again, so they didn't want to be troublesome, so they made a set and went.

When Chongli returned to the store, Shuning and Duanning had already discussed to buy a pair of fragrant wood hairpins as a birthday present for Xiao Liu.Since Xiao Liu entered the door, she has been keeping herself safe. Tong Shi treats her very well, and even the brothers and sisters of Duanning Shuning also respect this nominal concubine very much.

Zhenzhen quickly finished picking out the beads. Shuning saw that although there were beads of various colors in the bead box, the most were golden ones, so she was a little surprised. Could it be that she wanted to be a golden beauty?Zhenzhen put on a mysterious look and said, "You will know when the time comes." Shuning had no choice but to suppress her doubts.

The four of them took two servants with them, and they walked out of the store towards the carriage.All of a sudden, a carriage came head-on, the horse was frightened, the people in the carriage shouted loudly, and pedestrians along the way ran away one after another.Shu Ning was separated from the crowd by several passers-by, retreated to a side alley, anxiously raised her feet to look for her brother and friends, but heard several sounds behind her.

She felt a little hairy, holding her breath and turned around to look, only to see a person lying on the ground.This alley was originally a dead end, no one came, and all kinds of sundries were piled up on the ground. The eaves of the houses on both sides blocked the sunlight, making the place look dim.The man had disheveled hair, was dressed in tatters, bowed his head, and had wounds on his hands and feet, with a few threads of blood oozing out.

Hearing the sound, the man raised his head to look, and lowered his head again indifferently, but suddenly stopped, raised his head to look again, shook a few times, and retreated to a more corner.

Shu Ning looked a little strange, did this person know her?Then he took two steps forward carefully, and suddenly remembered that the person's exposed face just now, although black and blue everywhere, could not hide the original delicate features, it was clearly the "beauty" actress Zhao Changchun!

Isn't he with the people from Tiandihui?How could it be reduced to this point?Shu Ning somewhat hated the fright and hurt she suffered that day, but when she thought of how he had pleaded for her father, she felt that he was a good person, and it is really pitiful that he has fallen to this point.

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

She is not a saint, so she doesn't want to do unnecessary things, so if she is lucky, she might be able to last for a while if she is lucky, but what happens to him in the future depends on his luck.After all, he was just a passerby to her.

She had already seen her brother and Zhenzhen brothers and sisters, so she put aside this chance meeting and ran towards them, waving her handkerchief.

(End of this chapter)