Ordinary clear day

Chapter 95
This time they returned to Beijing, the itinerary was much more intensive than when they came here. Apart from taking shelter from the wind and rain or replenishing fresh water, they basically did not stop at the shore overnight. So it only took more than ten days to arrive in Hangzhou, where they changed their passports. land river boat.

Duanning boarded the boat her father was on, and Shuning was a bit bored by herself, so she had to find something to do to pass the time.Because she couldn't play games such as checkers or Jiulianhuan during the mourning period, she had to do needlework.

Mrs. Tong gave her a few pieces of Songjiang cloth newly bought in Hangzhou, and asked her to make two plain clothes for herself: "The clothes you made in recent years are all fresh and tender, so make two plain ones. Wear it." Shuning started to make it, and when the boat entered the capital area, she had already finished two pieces, so she changed into an upper body.

Near the pier, Mrs. Tong summoned her daughter, and quietly gave her a small sachet, white silk, blue tassels, embroidered with only a few cloud patterns, very plain.Tong said: "Tie this on your handkerchief and hold it in your hand so that no one can see it. When you enter the mansion and want to cry, if you can't cry, put it under your eyelids. Or take a sniff under your nose."

Shu Ning was a little confused, so she sniffed the sachet, her nose felt sour, and tears flowed out.She was startled, and hurriedly looked at her mother.Tong said indifferently: "This is a small method of our women's family. You just need to know it yourself. Don't even tell the maids around you."

Shu Ning nodded and breathed a sigh of relief.She was still worried that she would not be able to cry before her death, but now that she had this magic weapon, it was no longer a problem.

When they landed, they were carrying their luggage. Qing Ning and Shun Ning had already received the letter, and they both rode to the pier to welcome them.Having met his uncle and aunt, Qing Ning carefully said: "After Mafa passed away, since I don't know when my third uncle will come back, and the weather is getting hotter every day, I, Ama, decided to go to the funeral first. Please don't be offended by my third uncle."

Zhang Bao was stunned for a moment, and then said: "This is what it should be. How can I make me wait for my son? Eldest brother is too caring."

Qing Ning laughed a little, and saw his younger brother staring at the people who got off the boat, frowned, pulled him and said: "Third Uncle and Three Aunt must have worked hard all the way, let's go back to the house quickly, so that they can get out of the boat sooner." have a rest."

Shun Ning turned around in disappointment, responded, and several people got on their horses and went all the way to Beijing.Because there were too many people at the city gate closest to the wharf, they took a big turn and entered the city from Fucheng gate.

After returning to the mansion, Zhang Baotong took his children and washed his hands before changing clothes, and then went to the mourning hall to cry a lot.

Shu Ning entrusted the blessing of the secret sachet, and she also cried with tears streaming down her face.On the contrary, Duan Ning cried very sadly, thinking that he had been with his grandfather day and night for three years, after all, he had genuine feelings for him.Xianning still didn't understand why his family members were crying, so he howled a few words, and when his mother lovingly wiped his face with a handkerchief, his eyes turned red and he burst into tears.

After a while, Jin Bao and Nala Shi came out, and after a lot of consolation, their family stopped crying, and then, accompanied by Jin Bao and his wife, they went to see the old lady.

On the way, Nala said in a low voice: "Er Niang has been bedridden since Ama passed away. I invited the imperial doctor to see her. She said that she was too sad and worried. She should rest and recuperate. There has been improvement, but who knows It suddenly became heavy again a few days ago, and now I can only lie on the bed, but fortunately my energy is still good."

At this time, they had already walked to the corridor of the main room, and a somewhat unfamiliar maid opened the door curtain, and everyone entered the room.

The old lady was lying on the bed, and Wanning was talking with her.Seeing Zhang Bao and his party come in, Wanning hurriedly got up to greet her.On the contrary, the old lady looked weak when she saw the third son's family coming back. She asked them if they had offered incense to the old man, and heard Zhang Bao greet her a few words. Ning touched his little face, then said he was tired and let them go down.

Zhang Bao took his son and elder brother to the front, and Mrs. Tong and others went back to Huaiyuan to rest accompanied by Mrs. Nala.A group of people were about to leave the main courtyard, but they heard Wang Momo beating and scolding the little girl in the corridor not far away.

Nanny Wang hit her hard with a bamboo stick a few times and scolded: "Little bastard, the old lady wants to eat bird's nest, and you dare to deceive people with inferior products. Have you eaten the guts of a leopard?"

The little girl cried: "I'm wronged, Mama, it's the people in the kitchen who said that the high-quality bird's nests brought by others were eaten up, so they took this to make up for it. This is what the mansion originally kept, it's not a defective product. "

"I said inferior goods are inferior goods! What is the identity of the old lady? How can she eat this kind of thing? The bird's nest was only delivered two days ago, how could it be eaten up so quickly? You must have secretly deducted it!"

Nala frowned, called Wang Momo over, and said, "Where can't you beat and scold the servants? It's in the old lady's courtyard. She is resting, and you beat her until she cried." Yes, is it intentional to prevent the old lady from resting?"

Wang Momo didn't dare to answer, she continued: "My mother's family just sent a few taels of bird's nest over yesterday, you can ask someone to pick it up. According to me, it's not a problem for the old lady to eat this every day, after all, it's not serious. Meals, I will ask the kitchen to make some light rice porridge and side dishes later, you can persuade her to have some."

Wang Momo responded in a low voice, and then she smiled and said to Tong: "Er Niang feels uncomfortable, and her appetite is not good. We are juniors, and we dare not force her to eat. It is really difficult. But these low-level people He's ignorant and makes people worry all day long."

Tong said with a smile: "Thanks to my sister-in-law, otherwise how could the house be so orderly? Speaking of which, we brought back a few pickles from the south, maybe Er Niang would like to try it, and I will ask someone to send it to my sister-in-law later." Come here." Nala smiled and walked away with her.

Shu Ning followed for a while, and turned her head to see that Wang Momo's face turned blue and red, and beat the little girl several times before going to the old lady's room.

After entering Huaiyuan, Ermo had brought someone up to greet Mrs. Tong, saying that the house was tidied up.Tong Shi nodded in satisfaction, and invited Nala Shi into the house for tea.Nala said something was up and would come back later, and then left.

After everyone left, Shu Ning saw that her mother seemed to have something to talk to Second Mama, so she also withdrew.Ermo reported the recent family affairs to Mrs. Tong, and after she finished speaking, she looked around and saw no one passing by outside, then bent down and whispered to Mrs. Tong: "Nowadays, the old lady is in charge of the house. The old lady's house A lot of people have been replaced, and there is not even a useful person around her now, and it is because of this that she is so angry that she is sick again."

Tong shook her head slightly, and said: "Don't worry about it, the elder sister-in-law is better than the old lady in charge of the house. She is still polite to us now, no matter how you say it, she will not interfere in our housework."

Ermo lowered her voice and said: "People are saying that the old lady knew that she had killed the old gentleman, and she felt uneasy. Although she pretended nothing happened in front of outsiders, she was actually suspicious all day long and always lost her temper. Many old people in the mansion are dissatisfied with the old lady because of the old lord's affairs, and feel that she is confused now, so they sided with the old lady instead."

Mrs. Tong looked down at Pazi, and asked, "What do other people say?" Er Mo said, "The people over there in the second room had some gossip, but the second wife is unpopular, the first wife has always had a good reputation in the house, and the fourth wife I don’t care about the matter. I have already got the letter from the outside, and the Elder Master is sure to win the title. If the master of the second bedroom wants to make trouble, there is nothing he can do."

Tong Shi nodded, tired of talking, I'll talk about other things at night, so she leaned on the couch and took a nap.Ermo went out to arrange affairs.Only two quarters of an hour later, when Nala came back, Tong hurriedly got up to greet him and ordered someone to serve tea.

The two sisters-in-law talked about housework for a while, and then Mrs. Tong took a sip of tea and asked slowly: "I heard that when the old man was ill before, the old lady seemed to be instigated by someone and asked a mage to exorcise the evil spirits. In the end, the old man became seriously ill instead. I wonder who did such an ignorant thing?"

Nala sighed, and said: "I knew you would ask this, and the brothers were also full of anger, but the old lady protected him, so I had to spare that man." Tong said in surprise: "How could the old lady Guarding? What is the background of that person?"

"It's the nephew of the old lady's natal family. Do you remember that the son of Uncle Yi, who lives in Hejian, was born in his 50s? He is extremely expensive. He was spoiled since he was a child. In recent years, he has become obsessed with those gods and gods for some reason. Yes, it’s fine if you’re serious about paying homage to the Buddha, but I just like to learn some spells to exorcise evil spirits. Because he looks good and is an only child, the adults in the family are used to him. He came to Beijing last year and has been living in our house for the whole time. The sky is full of chaos. If the old lady was not protecting me, I would have driven him away. My two daughters-in-law and Wan Ning were afraid of him. They lived outside the city for two months. The old man came back after something happened. The old man left Afterwards, the man knew that he had caused trouble, so he fled back to Hejian. The brothers had no choice but to turn a blind eye because of the old lady's face."

Mrs. Tong was even more surprised: "That person did such a thing, even if he is the only child of his mother's family, how can the old lady protect him?" Her natal family, and the mage she hired herself, if she doesn’t protect her, wouldn’t it be slapping her face? It’s because of this that it’s difficult for the brothers to do anything.”

Tong sighed: "Why is the old lady so confused? Even if we juniors don't speak up, if outsiders know about it, what face do we have? Even the servants at home may gossip."

"There are even more outrageous things. Her old man is probably old, and she is too sad, and her temper is getting weirder. We all have to coax her, and she still has troubles from time to time. A few days ago, an old sister came to Look at her, she asked a girl in front of her second younger sibling to help her comb her hair, but for some reason she suddenly lost her temper and beat that girl to death." Nala said with a sigh.

Tong Shi was taken aback, but Nala continued: "The bad thing is that the girl is not our slave, but someone from the rouge shop of the second younger sibling. Because of her dexterity, she is very good at combing hair and dressing up, so she was specially transferred to serve her." That’s right. They’re decent ordinary people. They’re all gone, and the family members are clamoring to sue the officials. The second couple talked about it and paid a lot of money to appease them.”

"Is that girl called Chuan'er?"

"Have you met the third younger sibling? The second younger sibling spoils her. If it wasn't for her normal appearance, she might have already opened her face. Because of this matter, the second younger sibling was so angry that she didn't come to say hello to the old lady for a few days." .”

"What a pity. That Chuan'er is indeed dexterous and clever. How could he offend the old lady?"

"Who knows? Her old man's temper is becoming more and more weird. We can't guess her mind casually. Maybe Chuan'er accidentally said the wrong thing?"

The two sisters-in-law took a sip of tea and stopped talking about this useless girl.

Nala's eyes rolled, and he said again: "Because the old lady's temper is unpredictable, our master is afraid that something will happen to her and let outsiders gossip about our family, so let her rest in the room and take care of family affairs." , we will do it for her, so as not to tire her any more. If there are any outsiders, we will push her away. In fact, they are all old lords. Everyone knows that she is sad and understands that she is sick. Even if she does not If you are willing to meet people, you won’t blame her. Why bother to hold on? You’re exhausting yourself. She doesn’t want to cherish herself, and as children, we don’t want to see her exhausted.”

Tong lowered her head to drink tea, and said after a while: "The old man is getting older, after all, he is not as energetic as before. We are juniors, so we can help and share as much as we can. It's just that I'm not familiar with the affairs of the house. Please ask sister-in-law to be more tired, it's not that I'm lazy on purpose, don't take offense to sister-in-law."

Nala smiled: "How could it be? This is my responsibility as the eldest daughter-in-law, but it is difficult for me to manage such a big mess by myself. The second sibling is sick, and the fourth sibling has always been ignorant. The third siblings are helping me a lot."

Tong Shi and her looked at each other with a smile, and held up the tea bowls respectively.

At this time, Ermo came in and asked Mrs. Tong for instructions: "That Aunt Liu, I put her in the west side room, I don't know if it's appropriate?" Mrs. Tong said, "It's okay, you should pay attention to get her some better ones." She just recovered from her illness two days ago, so don't catch a cold again." Er Mo led the order and went down.

Nala thoughtfully said to Tong: "This Aunt Liu is the girl who abandoned the concubine of the fourth sibling's natal family? You treat her well."

Tong said with a slight smile: "Aunt Liu is very kind. After a long time, my sister-in-law must also like her. Her sister married another man in Guangdong. She is a general manager, but now she is a decent wife."

Nala smiled: "That's good luck, I think there will be more luck in the future. When the old lady knew that the third brother had accepted this Aunt Liu, she was also angry and said that a widow gave birth to a son again, and she made it for our family. The concubine is too disrespectful, because of this, she ignored the fourth sibling for several months, and the fourth sibling simply went back to her mother's house."

"I made the decision based on her horoscope. She just entered the door, and our master was promoted to the magistrate. It can be seen that it is really auspicious. Speaking of which, when I greeted you just now, did you see what the old lady said?"

"Ever since you brought those big boxes back years ago, the old lady is no longer angry with you. Instead, she thinks that the third brother is an official outside, and it's not good to have no concubine around him. Since everyone has entered the door, she I don't need to say much. The jewelry you sent back, except for Wanning, she used the rest to make a full face for herself. I planned to wear it to meet people during the Dragon Boat Festival, but the old man went out again thing."

Nala took another sip of tea, looked at the sky and said: "It's getting late, the third brother and sister have worked hard all the way, let's take a good rest, and then go see other people during dinner." After saying that, he got up and left.

Mrs. Tong didn't return to her room until she was sent outside the hospital. She leaned back on the couch and looked at the place where she had been away for several years, and sighed slightly.

(End of this chapter)