Zheng Haizhu actually met the girl from Fireworks and Willow Lane because of her mistress who wanted to make a breakthrough in the subject of embroidery.
After Han Ximeng saw Japanese Ukiyo-e pictures, he had the idea to imitate Tang Yin's painting of Shu operas and embroider the beauties of Jiangnan.
However, Han Ximeng tried drawing more than ten line drawings in the embroidery sample book, but was always dissatisfied, so he sent Zheng Haizhu to go out more often under the pretext of purchasing to observe real people.
Near the Yue River in Songjiang Prefecture, there are many Goulan teahouses, brothels and restaurants, and it is called Little Qinhuai.
Even in the daytime, while standing in a pickle workshop or sewing shop, Zheng Haizhu could see many warblers and swallows walking across the waterside bridge.
One time, Zheng Haizhu came out of a Xiangzi shop selling yellow mud snails and saw a petite girl in a red coat and skirt, accompanied by a woman, standing in front of a stall writing family letters.
, grabbing a green-skinned boy and holding on to him.
Zheng Haizhu stepped forward and heard it, and it turned out that Qingpi wanted to waste five cents of money on books.
The stall owner was a thin, down-and-out middle-aged man with a stern look on his face, and he calmly said forget it.
But the girl and the mother-in-law refused to let him go, and the girl was even more aggressive. She immediately reached into the kid's lapel to take out his trousers, which made the onlookers laugh and boo.
At this moment, the green-skinned boy's companions rushed over and surrounded the two women who stood up for their righteousness.
Seeing that the girl in red and her mother-in-law were about to be beaten, the people around them were waiting as if they were just watching a good show.
Are all these men dead? Zheng Haizhu's anger suddenly surged up.
She got out of the crowd and shouted sternly: "I am the Zheng family of Han Mansion. I received a reward from the government office for helping the imperial court suppress bandits. If you make mistakes today, I will definitely go to the government office to recommend Mr. Huang."
Sue you!"
Among the onlookers, some people who were familiar with the hot news in the city recognized Zheng Haizhu and gave him a few words of support. After the villains believed that Zheng Haizhu did have some friendship with the government officials, their arrogance was really low.
After a few minutes, the leader let out a rough grunt, threw down a few gold-backed copper coins, greeted the people around, and left cursing.
The girl in red and others thanked Zheng Haizhu profusely.
After some conversation, Zheng Haizhu learned that the woman in red was called Ru Liier, and she was a steward from the nearby Qingfeng Tower. The accompanying woman's surname was Fan, and the down-and-out middle-aged man sitting in the stall was Fan.
My mother-in-law used to serve as a benefactor to a red herdsman. The benefactor was originally a low-ranking official of the eighth rank. He was deposed as a commoner due to dereliction of duty, his property was also destroyed, and he was so poor that he had to make a living by writing letters for others.
Granny Fan's old boss died of tuberculosis a few years ago, but Granny Fan remembered the kindness of the middle-aged scribe and sometimes secretly gave him two pancakes from the brothel and told Ru Liier why.
Today, when the master and the servant saw that he was being bullied, they stepped forward.
Zheng Haizhu traveled through this world and mustered up the courage to venture out. She brought her nephew from southern Fujian to Jiangnan. Along the way, she met many people at the bottom who were struggling to make ends meet. Even without Han Ximeng's influence, she, a modern woman, would not have been able to survive.
We will not define prostitutes as lowly people in a shallow and naive manner.
What's more, Ru Liier's chivalry is better than many grown men who just sit back and watch.
That day, Zheng Haizhu was the host and invited Ru Liier and Granny Fan to the restaurant. They had a pleasant chat.
Master and servant Ru Liier didn't expect that the rumored somewhat unusual out-of-town girl from the Han family didn't even care much about the divide between good and bad.
Zheng Haizhu gained even more. In this dynasty that suppressed and restricted women, she knew that she had to do this. She came into contact with Ru Liier, who was in the mud, but her spirit was heading towards the clarity of Taoism.
woman.
After going back and forth like this, the two of them became friends.
At this moment, Ru Liier's pretty face was full of anxiety.
"Sister Zheng, to make a long story short, I accompanied a guest on a mountain hike today. I originally wanted to get rid of the guest halfway, and made an appointment with my best friend Mr. Ruan to escape. I didn't expect that Mr. Ruan hadn't arrived yet, and it seemed that the brothel had caught wind.
Just now, Mr. Turtle came to the back mountain with the nurse, and they were getting closer and closer. Fortunately, I saw my sister eating here with the grandmothers, so I came in and begged my sister to hide..."
Zheng Haizhu looked serious: "Master Ruan, is he the person you said you wanted to redeem your life some time ago?"
"Exactly, originally if I had survived for more than half a year, I would have saved enough money to redeem myself, but he is eager to take me to Beijing, so we are ready to escape..."
Ru Liier was still mumbling, but Xu Huizhen, who was hiding behind Zheng Haizhu, suddenly said: "This young master wants to take you away, but he has to spend your money, which is not honorable. It is even more wrong to encourage you to run away when the money is not enough.
"
Zheng Haizhu turned around and looked at Xu Huizhen in surprise.
Xu Huizhen was still as serious as a young adult: "Miss Zheng, I roughly know what you mean. In the Ci'en Hall opened by my family, there are also people like this girl who come to pray and tell their stories.
Sadness and difficulty…”
Ru Liier interrupted her and said: "Miss, it turns out that you are the owner of Ci'en Hall, so you should understand that one of the teachings of your foreign religion is not to bear false witness, that is, not to judge things you don't know.
Those of us who work in this industry are completely different from those who voluntarily work for long-term employment in aristocratic families and receive monthly wages. When we fall into the pit of fire, we are not allowed to do so. When we want to escape from the pit of fire, we are blackmailed and made things difficult. You, a wealthy young lady, don’t know.
The truth is, I only use the perspective of a buyer and seller to abide by the contract to judge whether Mr. Ruan and I are decent or not, and whether we are doing the right thing or not. This is basically just standing up and talking without pain."
After Xu Huizhen pursed her lips and listened, she tilted her head to think for a moment, then nodded seriously and said, "Well, what you said makes sense."
In this short round, Zheng Haizhu had decided to help Ru Liier, but felt that Xu Guangqi's granddaughter was also there, which would be a bit difficult to handle.
Unexpectedly, Xu Huizhen seemed to be convinced by Ru Liier's rebuttal, and she simply pointed to a large wooden box under the bamboo couch in the study and said: "Then you can hide there, you are small, we will cover you with a scroll. Even if those male servants can
Entering the Heming Tower, I am a female member of the Xu family, and I am painting here with Sister Zheng. They are not government servants, so they dare not make any mistakes. At most, they can only watch from outside the door. "
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! After hearing this, Zheng Haizhu and Ru Liier both felt that this was the most reasonable solution in a desperate situation.
They hurriedly dragged out the wooden box, and Ru Li'er bowed and huddled in. Zheng Haizhu deliberately found a few blue silk scrolls and covered them with the same color as Ru Li'er's cloth. Then he and Xu Huizhen pressed the wooden box hard.
Push the box in and find a few round stools scattered around to block the light.
Zheng Haizhu and Xu Huizhen still returned to the table, mixing colors and drawing lines while listening to what was going on outside.
Sure enough, not long after, a noisy man's voice came.
Zheng Haizhu held the pen and walked to the door. He happened to see Cuiliu, the personal maid of the Gu family's eldest grandmother, also walking from the flower hall where the banquet was held to the courtyard. With a somewhat cold and arrogant air, she asked the shopkeeper of Heminglou what was going on.
Qingfenglou, where Ru Liier prostituted herself, was a famous brothel in Fucheng. When the shopkeeper of Heminglou heard that Qingfenglou was searching the mountains and villages for people, he did not dare to refuse bluntly, so he had to bow to him.
Cuiliu complains.
Cuiliu didn't get angry with the shopkeeper. She just stared at the people behind the shopkeeper and said, "Inside are the grandmothers and ladies of the Gu family and the Dong family, and Mr. Huang's wife. Do you think it's decent to bother you here?"
The leader of Qingfeng Tower, Mr. Turtle, appears to be a vicious, cunning and ruthless character at first glance.
But when he heard that it was really the noble women in the city having a banquet, he was afraid of their husbands' families after all, so he hurriedly lowered his voice and said: "Sister, don't be surprised. We only went into the empty rooms to take a look. The place where the ladies are drinking must be
It’s avoided.”
Cuiliu waved her hands impatiently and stopped responding to the other party. She stood at the door of the flower hall with her arms folded and watched as Mr. Gui arranged for his men to search several spare rooms in Heming Building.
At this moment, another young man rushed in from outside the hospital. He was around 20 years old, with a long face, fair complexion, handsome eyebrows, and a straight robe with fine rhombus patterns.
He was clearly a handsome and noble young man, but he was holding a ball of water-red clothes in his hand, which vaguely revealed bright embroidery and the folds of a horse-faced skirt. It looked like a woman's skirt, which made him look quite strange.