Cheng Qiniang walked out of the house and looked at Mrs. Cheng who had driven away the maid sent by the second master, with a look of aggrievement.
"I can't sleep well because of bug bites..."
Mrs. Cheng Er felt distressed as she watched her daughter transform from a pink and jade girl into a withered and yellow village girl in just a few days.
Don't tell me that my daughter can't sleep well. How can she sleep well?
Her eyes fell on the front, where the door was ajar. The girl had just cleaned up and seemed to be burning the iron to warm the bedding.
"Since your sister isn't at home anyway, why not go to her room and lie down first?" she said.
Cheng Qiniang showed a bit of disgust.
"I don't want to go to that fool's house!" she said.
"Don't be such a fool!" Mrs. Cheng Er shouted in a low voice, "Whether we two can turn over or not depends entirely on her."
She said, pulling Cheng Qiniang and walking over, opening the door to the other half of the room. The room was warm and fragrant.
Mrs. Cheng Er could not help but be stunned for a moment.
"Qingtaixiang!" she couldn't help but say.
It is said that this is the best incense in the world. My family once bought some of it, but Mrs. Cheng later removed it because it was too extravagant and wasteful. She replaced it with something else. Although it was also very good, Mrs. Cheng still felt dissatisfied.
.
Who would want to use a second-rate product after using it well?
I didn't expect this kid to use this.
Cheng Qiniang didn't know this. She only knew that she was about to be smoked to death these days. The aroma here saved her, and she stepped in without any hesitation.
"Mother, I want to sleep here!" she announced immediately.
Mrs. Cheng Er patted her and walked in without saying a word, looking at the room with a bit of surprise.
It was not much bigger than the house they lived in, with bamboo mats hanging on the walls and soft straw mats on the floor. As I watched Mrs. Cheng's expression, she became more and more surprised.
"This is Mr. Wu Shan's painting..." she couldn't help but say, looking at the screen, she couldn't help but reach out and touch it, "...the workmanship..."
"Mother, mother, look at this lantern. It's so beautiful. There are paintings on it..." Cheng Qiniang said, kneeling on the ground and looking at the lanterns.
A thin white paper lantern sits on the carved table, with simple lines outlining a half-opened lotus.
"...Mogan..." She reached out and touched the signature on it.
Mrs. Cheng Er took another breath and sat down on her knees. She picked up the lamp and looked at it in disbelief, her eyes widening.
"It's the lamp of the Mo family in Yanzhou!" she said, "This is the family that pays tribute..."
"My grandfather also has one," Cheng Qiniang said with a curl of her lips as she also recognized where she had seen it.
"Your grandfather treated it like a treasure. Not to mention using it, he couldn't bear to take it out to look at it." Mrs. Cheng Er said, while turning the lamp.
She just took it and used it casually...
What a waste...
There was a clanking sound, and Cheng Qiniang opened the zhazuo case over there again, making a sound.
"Mom, her game is like a backgammon board..." she said with a smile.
As the mother and daughter were watching, there was the sound of footsteps outside the door.
"What are you doing?" Banqin shouted in surprise.
Mrs. Cheng Er hurriedly put down the lamp in her hand with some embarrassment, while Cheng Qiniang pouted and pushed the drawer open with a bang.
"Let's see if we can help." Mrs. Cheng Er said.
"Get out quickly, get out quickly." Banqin said.
Mrs. Cheng Er had also seen this kind of disgusting look on her face, when a low-level servant woman in the family accidentally entered the house and was chased away by the servant woman beside her.
"What are you shouting about? You are just a servant."
Cheng Qiniang shouted that although she was a child, children were more sensitive. Coupled with the events that had happened one after another in the past few days, when she felt the girl's unabashed disgust, she finally couldn't help it anymore.
"I won't leave, I'm going to sleep here!"
Mrs. Cheng Er was not as unscrupulous as a child, so she laughed with her.
"Banqin, you see, Jiao Niang is not at home either, why not let Qi Niang sleep here first." She said, pointing to the couch, "We don't want to sleep on the couch, just sleep on the mat here."
."
"Second Madam, how can that be done?" Banqin asked anxiously, "My wife doesn't like others in her house. Even I rarely sleep here at night."
"Who do you think you are?" Cheng Qiniang snorted, "You are just a servant!"
Banqin's face turned red. When it came to speaking, she couldn't compare to Qingmei who followed Mrs. Zhang, nor could she compare to Mrs. Zhang's family's Su Xin.
Looking at the embarrassed girl, Mrs. Cheng Er secretly laughed in her heart.
"Banqin, Qiniang is her sister and she is young, so let her sleep here first. I don't think Jiao Niang will say anything if she is here," she said with a smile.
Banqin bit her lower lip and looked at the mother and daughter in the room for a moment. Without saying a word, she turned around and walked out.
Cheng Qiniang pouted at her back.
"How dare you put on a show in front of me with such a small hoof! I'll slap you again and you'll cry!" She said, lying down, stretching her legs, feet and arms, and letting out a long sigh of comfort, "This is the place where people should live.
."
Mrs. Cheng Er smiled and reached out to touch her head, and continued to look around.
From this point of view, the seemingly simple furnishings in this house are not simple, but they are all made of high-quality things. The Zhou family is so rich, and they are so willing to treat this woman...
"Boil some water and wash it in a while, then you can go to sleep..." She lowered her head and said Cheng Qiniang.
Before he finished speaking, he heard the sound of footsteps outside the door. Banqin left and came back again, followed by Manager Cao and several other entourages.
"You are here just in time, go to my house to get some for me..." Mrs. Cheng Er said as she looked at them.
Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Ban Qin.
"Throw them out!" she said, pointing.
What?
Before Mrs. Cheng Er came to her senses, she saw several attendants stepping in and extending their hands involuntarily.
"What do you want to do! Ah, let go! It's the other way around!"
Screams and yells echoed in the yard.
However, this movement did not attract any onlookers. The children outside the door who seemed to be playing but were actually wary of the surroundings just turned their heads and glanced at it and ignored it.
Mrs. Cheng Er stumbled and was pushed out of the door. Cheng Qiniang fell to the ground immediately after her. She was frightened, angry and embarrassed. She burst into tears. Mrs. Cheng Er couldn't help but cry and stretched out her arms to hug her.
"Where are you injured?" She asked repeatedly, then looked behind her bitterly, "How could you do this?"
Banqin looked at them, her expression still flushed, and she slammed the door without saying a word.
If she can't speak, then she shouldn't speak and just do what she should do.
"Hey, hey!" Mrs. Cheng Er was shocked and quickly stood up and rushed over, "You can't drive us away. We were prevented from entering because of your wife's fault. How can you drive us away? Where do you want us to go?"
"What do you mean my wife harmed you?" Manager Cao frowned and said, "It's not our wife who kicked you out of the house."
"If your wife hadn't asked us to testify, how could I be here today?" Mrs. Cheng Er said angrily.
"Are you going to die if my wife asks you to?" Manager Cao smiled, "After all, if you don't want to, who can force you?"
"It's you who forced me!" Mrs. Cheng Er shouted angrily.
"Why are you being forced?" Manager Cao asked with a smile.
If she doesn't testify, she won't marry...
Manager Cao even smiled.
"Mrs. Cheng, what does it have to do with you if my wife doesn't get married? Could it be that it's hindering your interests? Otherwise, why would you be so anxious?" He said, shaking his head, "In the end, it's only you who is forcing you."
Sure enough, he was very sharp-tongued and unreasonable. No wonder he could make the old man faint in court!
Mrs. Cheng bit her lower lip and tried to rush forward, but Manager Cao's expression darkened.
"Second Madam, you don't think that Mrs. Cheng is the only one who dares to hit you, right?" he said.
Mrs. Cheng Er's face turned pale and she stopped, looking at Cheng Qiniang who was crying on the side, and then looked at the looks from the Nancheng people around her...
"You, you dare!" she said tremblingly.
Manager Cao said nothing and took a step forward. Mrs. Cheng Er screamed, grabbed Cheng Qiniang and ran away.
Looking at the mother and daughter staggering away, Manager Cao clapped his hands.
"Let's take a walk, I'm still busy." He said.
Here, Mrs. Cheng Er took hold of the crying Cheng Qiniang. After several hesitations, she still stood in front of the corner door and opened the door.
"Second Madam..." the maid who opened the door called in surprise.
Mrs. Cheng Er raised her sleeves to cover her face and ignored them, and rushed in. No maid really stopped her, they just watched her go in.
Mrs. Cheng Er stepped into the courtyard. The maid in the house was coaxing Brother Xi to play. When she saw Mrs. Cheng Er, she was all shocked. She seemed happy but also seemed a little embarrassed whether she should be happy or not.
Mr. Cheng Er came out after hearing the sound, and looked at Mrs. Cheng Er with a downcast face.
"Come back..." he shouted.
Before he finished speaking, a servant girl in the room had an idea and stretched out her hand to pinch Brother Xi's butt hard.
The heartbreaking cries of children suddenly rang out in the house.
Mrs. Cheng Er was so happy that she hid her face and called out to my son. Then she rushed towards him and burst into tears.
The servants and women also cried with them, saying, Madam, you are back, Brother Xi doesn't even have a good meal, you see Brother Xi misses his mother so much.
"I'll leave after I take one more look at Brother Xi. You guys, please treat him well..." Mrs. Cheng cried, hugging Brother Xi and twisting it secretly.
Brother Xi cried even more painfully, so Mrs. Cheng tried to let go, but the servants cried and kowtowed to stop him.
Mr. Cheng Er, who was beside him, was so anxious and confused from crying that he sighed heavily.
"Okay, now that the matter is over, don't we have to make it difficult for anyone to survive?" he said.
Mrs. Cheng Er was overjoyed and hugged Brother Xi and cried loudly.
It took a while for the yard to become quiet, and after washing for an hour, Mrs. Cheng felt like a human being. She put on clean and warm clothes, sat in the room, took the hand stove and the tea bowl, and sighed softly.
.
"Go and apologize to your elder brother and sister-in-law and admit your mistake." Mr. Cheng Er said with a face on the side.
"Why should I admit my mistake? It's not our fault." Mrs. Cheng Er said.
Mr. Cheng Er stood up angrily again.
"You still said it wasn't your fault. If it hadn't been your idea, how could we have done the disobedient thing of testifying against my elder brother!" he shouted.
Mrs. Cheng Er glanced at him calmly.
"Then if he hadn't snatched my daughter's dowry and kicked her out, my daughter wouldn't have sued him." She said, "Obviously it was his fault in the first place, so why should he blame us?"
Is this so?
Master Cheng Er looked startled.
"As the saying goes, rabbits bite people when they are anxious. They are just trying to live a good life by occupying my daughter's dowry. They also force my daughter to do this. They have not been grateful to us for their blessings. Now that they have suffered, do they blame us? Yes.
Don't think about it, what have we done from beginning to end?" Mrs. Cheng Er sighed and said, "If you want to say it's wrong, it means that you are the father of that fool and I am her cheap stepmother."
Master Cheng Er slowly sat down, holding the tea bowl and thinking deeply.
A smile appeared on Mrs. Cheng's lips. She drank tea slowly and looked at the room. She used to think that her room was well decorated, but now she felt a little awkward no matter how she looked at it. All that appeared in front of her eyes were Cheng Jiaoniang's.
That shabby little house.
"Let me tell you, do you know what is in that girl's room?" She put down the tea bowl, moved towards Mr. Cheng Er, and raised her eyebrows.
………………………………….
The couple were talking in private here, while Cheng Jiaoniang and others had left Lujiao Mountain and entered a town.
The snow has stopped, the snow on the road has been cleared, and there are more pedestrians on the street.
"Madam, look at this, you're doing really well."
Two women turned around from a lantern shop, holding up a horse lantern and laughing.
Cheng Jiaoniang, who was walking on foot without taking a car, smiled slightly under her hood and nodded.
"Buy it," she said.
Immediately, an entourage came forward to pay the money. The two women didn't know how to laugh, so they had to put it away and put it in the car that was following behind. There was already almost half a car full of things in the car, including food, drink and fun.
Everything is available.
"Next time you and I should stop boasting! You can buy whatever you praise. How can you afford such a waste of food and shelter?" Xiniang said.
"But if you look at it stupidly, my wife said she doesn't look like she's going shopping..." Sanniang said with a sad face.
"Ladies, hurry up and leave."
The attendant over there greeted.
The two women hurriedly responded, warning each other to follow.
Cheng Jiaoniang was standing in front of a calligraphy and painting stall. The stall owner was an old scholar, wearing a shabby green shirt. He was pacing back and forth to keep warm with his hands folded. When he saw Cheng Jiaoniang and others, they stopped and greeted him warmly.
Cheng Jiaoniang looked at them one by one. The two women did not understand this, but they had an instinctive awe and admiration for the calligraphy and painting scholars.
"Madam, is your painting good?" they asked.
Cheng Jiaoniang smiled slightly.
"Not good," she said.
The old scholar smiled bitterly when he heard this.
"What you said is really rude, Madam," he said.
"You're so polite, what's in it for you?" Cheng Jiaoniang asked.
The old scholar was startled.
"At least I'm happy with it," he said.
"Then you set up a stall here just to please your heart." Cheng Jiaoniang nodded and said.
How could it be! He was so stuffed and stuffed that he was here in the freezing cold listening to nice words!
The old scholar blushed and wanted to open his mouth but didn't know what to say. He held it in for a moment and laughed.
"Yes, my lady is right." He said with a wry smile, and Cheng Jiaoniang bowed her hands in a salute.
"But these words are fine. Sanniang, you can take them back and show them to the children." Cheng Jiaoniang said.
The old scholar immediately smiled and looked at the two women who waved their hands to refuse, then handed over the calligraphy and painting in front of him.
"Let's see, let's see, enlightenment is still possible," he said.
The two women hesitated for a moment, watching Cheng Jiaoniang look at the calligraphy and paintings hanging on the side with great interest.
"Don't be a spoiler," a woman reminded in a low voice.
The woman no longer hesitated, and the two of them lowered their heads, chatted and laughed, and really made their choice.
"Madam, if you want something that not only pleases you, but also has certain conditions." The old scholar folded his hands and hesitated for a moment and said to Cheng Jiaoniang, "If you want to be diligent in doing things, you must first be independent. Although I sell calligraphy and painting, I am not selling calligraphy and painting.
."
Yes and no, this is a roundabout way of saying it.
Cheng Jiaoniang nodded and smiled slightly.
"You're right," she said.
As soon as he finished speaking, he heard shouting coming from somewhere.
"Divination, divination, seeking good luck and avoiding bad luck, each hexagram only costs a penny."
His voice was hoarse and he coughed twice from time to time.
Cheng Jiaoniang looked slightly startled.
The old scholar cheered, stretched out his hand to pick up the calligraphy and painting, and pointed to the back.
"Just like this divination person, in fact he does not just do divination for the sake of divination..."
After lifting up the calligraphy and painting, I saw through the bamboo pole frame a young man standing with his arms crossed under a tree behind him. There was a low table in front of him and a flag standing next to him, fluttering in the wind.
The iron mouth breaks straight.
"Cheng Ping."
The young man who was shivering, stamping his feet to keep warm and shouting suddenly heard his name being called, couldn't help but sigh, and subconsciously looked up.
The calligraphy and painting shelf made of bamboo poles was lifted up, and a beautiful young lady looked at him. Before he could praise the young lady's beauty, he saw the young lady stretched out her hand and pulled open the calligraphy and painting in front of him.
The bamboo shelf strode towards him amidst the old scholar's screams and scattered paintings and calligraphy.
What a... fierce... female warrior!
Cheng Ping was so frightened that he couldn't help but shrink back.
***************************
First update, the plot is being adjusted in the future. It took me two days to write 3,000 words, please forgive me. (To be continued)
