The sun was dazzling, and the boat undulated slightly with the ripples of the water. The buzzing sound of tourists could be heard in the distance. Ning Yi and Xiao Chan were sitting on the side of the boat leaning against the lake. In their field of vision, there were still
Ships came from afar, and birds flew together in the sky.
"Okay, what happened?"
After sitting down, the atmosphere between the two was somewhat silent. Xiaochan did not sit upright, but sat sideways on the edge of the chair. This was a somewhat restrictive way of sitting. In an ordinary house, a maid would not dare to sit upright in front of her master.
, is like this, but Xiaochan has already put down those formal respects in front of Ning Yi, and suddenly has such an attitude, perhaps it can only mean that she is thinking about something difficult to decide, judging from the fingers of her hands.
After twisting them together hard, Ning Yi stretched out his hand and held one of her hands in his palm. The palm was white and small. After putting it in Ning Yi's hand, it trembled slightly, but it finally made Xiaochan take a breath.
"Aunt, uncle..."
"Um?"
"Uncle...can you promise me something?"
The girl asked timidly, and her words gradually turned low. Ning Yi smiled slightly: "If you don't tell me something, I don't know if I can do it."
"I, I want my uncle to promise me that if I tell him later...if my uncle doesn't agree, don't tell the young lady, okay..."
"Oh? Can't you tell your lady?"
"It's not..."
Chan'er shook her head softly. One of her hands was held by Ning Yi, and she felt slightly relieved. Then she thought for a while and decided to speak, but her face gradually turned red.
"Uncle, can I... tell the lady, say... tell... tonight, no, or tomorrow night... any day... The uncle and the lady will go out for the night and not live with the lady.
OK……"
What she said was difficult and quite ambiguous, and as a maid, it was really too transgressive to ask the two masters not to live together at night. Ning Yi was slightly stunned, and Xiao Chan should also be aware of this.
Ambiguity, her face was red, white, and anxious for a while. She usually just had a simple and cute smile, but at this time, all kinds of expressions were mixed together. The left hand held by Ning Yi shrank and wanted to withdraw, but
Ning Yi exerted force on her hand and couldn't pull it back, so she touched it with her right hand, lowered her head, and bowed on the chair. Ning Yi could no longer see her face, and only felt that her skin was burning.
When I got up, not only the palms of my hands, but also my originally fair neck were already burning red.
"My uncle just needs to stay with Xiaochan, stay with Xiaochan... My uncle only needs to sleep with Xiaochan for one night."
She finished speaking forcefully and lowered her forehead to Ning Yi's hand. In the shadow of the ship's side, the girl's thin body seemed to be curled up in front of Ning Yi. Ning Yi thought for a while, then sat down a little bit.
, put her forehead on his shoulder, and sighed: "Isn't it okay to wait a few days and pass the door?"
There are ships approaching in the distance of the field of vision. If you look carefully, you may be able to see the situation here, but Ning Yi doesn't care at the moment. Xiaochan shook her head slightly on his shoulder: "No, we can't pass the door..."
After saying this, she moved her body back, stretched out her hand to wipe her eyes, raised her head slightly and showed a forced smile: "Xiaochan thought about it, but it's too late, Xiaochan...Xiaochan and my uncle, uncle, that
After you get married, you can just be the maid of your first marriage, and you don’t need a status, that’s fine too.”
Ning Yi looked at her without saying a word. His concept was different from that of people at this time. Name, status, etc. didn't matter, but for Xiaochan and others, it was impossible. In terms of concept, the waiter
The person you sleep with can be the maid of your eldest brother's wife, or you can be your concubine. With the ceremony, you will have multiple statuses. Even if the concubine's status is not high, what many maids of your eldest brother's wife can only pursue are these titles. For them,
It may have some important symbolic meaning.
Even if Ning Yi can rely on his own influence to make this family as harmonious and... weird as possible, there are always some things that cannot be eliminated for Xiaochan and others. In fact, it is not just the status of concubine, Ning Yi
Being close to Xiaochan, the two of them could have done more things long ago. The reason why Ning Yi did not move forward was because he knew that, at least for Xiaochan, those rituals should be meaningful.
She is just a maid, but she can still have a ceremony. This ceremony may be small, and may only involve a few people in the family, but at least in that ceremony, she can also be valued like an ordinary woman, worship heaven and earth, serve tea, and have
A bridal chamber with flowers and candles. These will be meaningful in her life. Therefore, Ning Yi hopes that these experiences of hers can be complete, but at this time she said that as long as one night is enough, you can imagine her worries.
.
For a moment, she didn't know what to say. Xiaochan looked at him with pleading eyes. She, a maid, couldn't tell the young lady about this matter. She also knew that Ning Yi had status in the family, so she begged Ning Yi to speak out. Okay.
After a long while, he added: "I, I have been thinking about it for a long time..."
She tried her best to calm down and whispered: "Me, Juan'er and I were not originally the maids who followed the young lady. Only sister Xing'er followed the young lady from the beginning. Later, the young lady said that she wanted two people to help. Juan'er and I
We have just arrived with the young lady. We have always helped the young lady with things. If we really cross the border, the family will have a different view. Maybe they will say that Xiaochan is a concubine and it is not good to show her face again. Some of the former Xiaochan
It’s not easy to take care of the things you are in charge of, otherwise you will be said to be restless. I, even if I follow my uncle, I still have to do things with the lady..."
Having said this, he raised his head and looked at Ning Yi: "Uncle, don't think too much. I like your uncle very much, but... but... Xiaochan can take care of it anyway. She can also help the lady and serve the uncle. It doesn't matter.
..." Her voice lowered, and then returned to normal, "Also, there are Juan'er and Sister Xing'er. We are all maids. If I follow my uncle, my status will be different in the future, and we may not be able to get along with each other.
We were so good before... I have a very good relationship with Juan'er, and I regard Sister Xing'er as my own sister, and I don't want to be alienated..."
At this point, the courage in her heart finally ran out, and Ning Yi organized her speech: "I... won't talk nonsense to your lady, but with her shrewdness, if I say so, I will deal with it as you think.
Do you think she would never have imagined that this was your idea? Or would she have never imagined how you thought about it? "
"Well?"
"Think about it, what will happen to your lady after I tell you this?"
"Unexpectedly..."
"She may find you and pretend to lose her temper, but in the end there is still a result..." Ning Yi played with her delicate fingers, "Some things are determined by this era, but for me, I do... like you very much,
I don't want to let you go, Xiaochan..." He clasped his hands together and wrapped the girl's palms in them, "You only want one thing for your whole life. Do you want to get married?"
Xiaochan obviously didn't understand some of Ning Yi's words, but she just blushed slightly: "Xiaochan, Xiaochan is originally the uncle and the young lady, and it doesn't matter whether she gets married or not... But I don't want to let that happen.
The lady is unhappy..."
"Now that you've said that, just let me and your lady handle it, okay?" Ning Yi smiled and made a decision without answering the second half of Xiaochan's sentence. Xiaochan was stunned for a moment, and then he also nodded.
Nodding, showing a shy smile. Many things may not have a perfect solution. At this time, Ning Yi was just a little moved, but he may not have specific ideas. Of course, some things may not actually need to be truly solved. In fact, it made Xiaochan feel that she had a backbone.
That's enough.
In my last life, I was in such a circle and reached the top. In the surrounding environment, wives were rarer than mistresses. One-night stands were often more practical than love. Money and power could not bring about true feelings. On the contrary, the more materialistic desires,
Everything around him becomes more distorted. After experiencing too much, he will become tired and yearn for innocent things, but it does not mean that he will completely idealize these things.
Su Tan'er's sudden mood and Xiao Chan's endearing compromise are all part of this innocence. The distress between the two is part of this era. At this time when there is no concept of monogamy,
In fact, it's not that serious.
Ning Yi took over the matter and comforted her with a few words. Xiaochan, who believed in Ning Yi, became more cheerful. At this time, she recalled that she had just begged Ning Yi to sleep with her for one night, and she felt shy again and said a few words: "
The clouds in the sky are like fish scales, how strange it is" and other gossips, and ran away in a hurry. Ning Yi wanted to take her off the boat to watch a group of talented people reciting poems, but naturally he couldn't find her at this time.
After wasting this time, in fact, everyone who is going to arrive today has basically arrived. Xiaoyingzhou itself is a long and narrow circular island. Although it is also a beautiful water garden at this time, it is not as large as that of later generations. The island
There was no place where a large number of people could gather. Although it was a poetry meeting, because there were so many people, people were walking around in the forest and enjoying the scenery. It seemed to be somewhat similar to an outing.
However, of course there are still poetry gatherings. At this time, boats of all sizes are parked on the shore almost in a row. The real poetry gatherings are not held on the shore in the first place, but on several large ships parked on the shore.
"It's still too hot at the beginning of autumn. It's not a common practice to hold a poetry gathering at this time. It's a precedent set by Xiong Ruming, who was the prefect here a few years ago. At that time, disasters were everywhere. The autumn harvest had not yet started here in Hangzhou, but all kinds of supplies were available.
The bottom line - of course, that is to say, in fact the problem is not big. Magistrate Xiong invited many people to come to the island to play, and asked the big families to provide some supplies, and asked the talented people to write some poems and write about the community.
In the spirit of the difficult times, we invited Qian Xiwen, Qian Gong, Mu Bo, Chang Mu Gong, Chang Yuan and Chang Gong to help strengthen the momentum. Now Chang Gong has passed away, but the poetry meeting at the beginning of autumn has been preserved. If not, they
A gathering of literati would not invite so many businessmen to build momentum."
It was almost time. Luo Tian, who had been strolling for a while, also arrived on the boat, preparing to pick up his wife to formally attend the meeting. When he casually mentioned the origin of the Beginning of Autumn Poetry Meeting, Ning Yi thought for a while: "I'm afraid it won't be very harmonious.
?”
"There were once noble people who wrote poems to satirize the shameless businessmen, but there were also people who would refute the events of that year. At that time, those who were considered wealthy contributed money and exerted force, and gained a good reputation for everyone. And please
Those who came here have a background in poetry to some extent, just like Zhuo Jing, she was also a talented woman with some reputation back then, ha... In fact, the Beginning of Autumn Poetry Fair is not as utilitarian as it was in the past. Visiting the garden, writing poems, until evening, this
There will be a banquet carefully prepared by the chef of Fuqinglou. At night, some water lanterns are put up to pray for blessings. It is quite lively..."
After Luo Tian said this, he led his wife away. When Juan'er was putting away the tea bowl and fruit plate, Su Tan'er pulled Ning Yi aside and said softly: "I just saw that Chan'er's eyes were red. Did she say something to you?"
?”
Ning Yi relayed Chan'er's request to her. Su Tan'er was silent for a moment, resting her forehead on Ning Yi's shoulder without speaking.