Even the blazing heat failed to dampen the liveliness of Zhuque Street. The shops on both sides of the street are lined up in rows, which is eye-catching. Vehicles are constantly passing by. Nobles in silk brocades and passers-by in linen and coarse clothes are either relaxing or busy. Store owners
In the shop, the voices of shopkeepers and waiters greeting customers, and the melodious music of silk, bamboo, sheng and flute interweave into the most prosperous scene in the imperial capital.
Li Yuhua, who was sitting in the Qibao car, felt that her back was wet with sweat, but she still kept her waist straight and did not move at all. She did not want to be looked down upon by the maids and grandmothers in the car, and because of the fear in her heart that she could not express and did not want to admit,
Uneasy or angry, she did not turn her stiff neck, nor did she look out the window at the majesty of the imperial capital that she had never seen before.
She just sat straight all the way to Zhuque Street and Zhuyi Lane, Xu's house.
The summer Su Shahu silk was soaked with sweat and stuck to her back, revealing a small patch of dampness. Aunt Zheng sighed inwardly and whispered in Li Yuhua's ear, "The old lady has been looking forward to the girl for a long time. She should have gone immediately
See the old lady. It’s just that we have come a long way, so why don’t we change clothes first? The eldest girl doesn’t mind. My granddaughter is working in the second girl’s room. How about you go to the second girl’s place to change clothes?”
Although she had been in the car, Li Yuhua's cheeks turned red. She was used to working in the countryside and knew what it was like to have her clothes soaked with sweat. She knew Aunt Zheng's good intentions and said quickly, "I listen to Auntie."
.”
From the car to the sedan in front of the mansion, the sedan was carried all the way into the second gate. Along the way, there were several red gates in the courtyard. Li Yuhua occasionally glanced at the gauze of the sedan window and saw only the neat and solemn blue bricks and black eaves. The sedan took away about a
When I was picking up the incense, I arrived at the second girl’s yard that Aunt Zheng had mentioned.
Aunt Zheng took Li Yuhua on her arm and walked through a black moon gate, bypassed the oil-white screen wall, and saw a square and exquisite small courtyard. In front of the winding corridor, green plantains and emerald bamboos were planted, adding a few touches to the small courtyard.
The woman who was guarding the door came up to greet Aunt Zheng. She glanced at Li Yuhua and said with a smile, "Aunt Li is back. Oh, is she a big girl?"
Five or six girls in red and green clothes came out next, all of them were neat and tidy, some were slightly smaller and had one or two velvet flowers on their hair, and some were larger with silver hairpins and hairpins. Li Yuhua raised his eyes and looked up, wondering.
Which is the second girl who is the owner of this yard? One of them, a girl with a silver hairpin and almond-shaped eyes, called out to Aunt Zheng, "Grandma, you are back."
Aunt Zheng said, "This is the big girl. We are going to see the old lady and lend you your house."
Xiao Qing smiled at Li Yuhua and said, "Greetings, girl, please come with me."
"Sorry to trouble you." Li Yuhua said.
Xiao Qing smiled and said, "This is all the servant's responsibility. The girl is a noble person and it is not easy to use the slave room. Please take a rest in our girl's room."
Seeing that Aunt Zheng did not refuse, Li Yuhua followed her grandfather and grandson up the bluestone steps. Xiao Qing opened the Xiang curtain, and Aunt Zheng asked Li Yuhua to go first. Li Yuhua's feet, which were not used to soft Luo embroidered shoes, stepped lightly.
Enter the most luxurious house I have ever seen in my life.
An indescribable cool fragrance hit her face. With sharp eyes, she noticed that there was a large white porcelain basin placed on the high table in the corner of the room. In the porcelain was a large piece of half-melted ice. Li Yuhua thought to herself, use ice to cool down in summer.
It was not a rare thing, but what she had seen and heard in the county was categorical and could not be taken seriously.
Li Yuhua heard the sound of light footsteps and saw an indescribably beautiful lady coming out of the room. She was covered in silk gauze. The beauty between her eyebrows and eyes was something Li Yuhua had only seen in her life. She was followed by a maid, who was about the same age and dressed as Xiao Qing. Xiao Qing
Qing smiled and stepped forward to report, "Girl, this is the eldest girl. My grandma brought the eldest girl here and wanted to use our room. Please ask the eldest girl to come and change her clothes first, and then go over to say hello to the old lady.
Show respect."
Xu Huiran stopped three steps away from Li Yuhua and wrinkled the tip of her nose without leaving any trace. Li Yuhua understood that the weather was too hot and the car and the sedan were hot. She was sweating a lot, so it must not smell good.
Xu Huiran shook the white butterfly fan in her hand and smiled affectionately, "What do I mean? It's easy. Sister, please come with me and rest for a while. I'll tell them to get some more of my rouge and gouache. You can wash it again."
Face, you need to apply some rouge evenly."
After saying that, he took a step forward without hesitation to hold Li Yuhua's hand and asked Li Yuhua to go over and rest. However, Li Yuhua retracted his hand, took a step back to avoid Xu Huiran's approach, lowered his head cautiously, and whispered, "My hand
It's all sweat, don't dirty the girl's hands."
"Who doesn't sweat in summer?" Xu Huiran generously took Li Yuhua's arm and pulled her into the back room. He ordered the maid to prepare hot water for bathing, and ordered Xiaoqing to bring tea and fruits, and Xiaoliang to pour tea and water.
, asked Li Yuhua to rest and eat, and asked Li Yuhua if the journey was going well.
The two talked politely, and when the maid said they were ready, Xu Huiran asked Xiaoqing to serve Li Yuhua to bathe, leaving Aunt Zheng to talk in front of her. Xu Huiran wiped the sweat on her hands with a ropa and asked, "This is it."
Big sister?"
"yes."
Xu Huiran pinched her fingers, thinking of the roughness when she held Li Yuhua's hand just now. It was thicker than the hands of the third-class maids in her courtyard, and Li Yuhua's dark skin, ordinary facial features, and the gold hairpin that couldn't hide her hair.
Village atmosphere. Xu Huiran sighed, "It's so pitiful."
"Who says it's not the case? I thought it would be more disrespectful to see the old lady, so I took the liberty to come over and disturb the girl's lunch break."
"It's not that I don't know, I never go to bed at noon, for fear of sleeping too much and losing the night. If you have something to do, just come over, not to mention it's my eldest sister's business." Xu Huiran handed the lychee to Grandma Zheng, "I know
Grandma is always considerate, but there are probably no suitable clothes outside. My eldest sister is similar in stature to me, so she is only one year older than me. I still have a few summer shirts that I haven’t put on yet, so I asked Xiao Qing to pack them
Come on, let me dress my eldest sister first."
"I'm going to thank you for the eldest." Aunt Zheng was surprised and happy, and she quickly stood up and thanked the second girl.
Xu Huiran pulled her to sit down, took a concubine and slowly peeled it off. The juice of the lychee stained her fingertips. Xu Huiran wiped it away with the handkerchief, leaving a trace of light red on the snow-white silk handkerchief. Xu Huiran's voice was
Indescribably lazy and delicate, "This is a natural separation. My eldest sister and I are biological sisters. This is not what we should be."
Aunt Zheng smiled and said, "That's what the girl said."
Xu Huiran held Concubine Smile in her mouth, and a rich sweet fragrance reached her heart. She narrowed her eyes comfortably, looked out the window at the sky, and curved her lips in a smile.
Li Yuhua was not used to having people serve her in bathing. She always felt indescribably shy when the maids carefully applied the balm and balm on her body that she could not name.
Her face turned red and she lowered her head, and she whispered to the two maids, "Just help me apply it on my back. I will do the rest myself."
Yunyan put the ointment box on the low table beside him and asked softly, "I'll come in and help the girl get dressed later."
"I know how to put on my clothes. Sister Yunyan, you and Sister Xiaoqing can go and have a rest. I'll go out when I'm done."
Yunyan was the maid who went to pick up Li Yuhua with Grandma Zheng. She was originally the maid who served Mrs. Xu, and she was always considerate in her work. Due to her background, Li Yuhua had not been able to wear layers of light clothes before.
Li Yuhua didn't understand how to wear clothes made of gauze soft silk, such as knee-length trousers, small clothes, silk belts, silk ribbons, jade pendants, gauze clothes, and silk shawls. Along the way, Grandma Zheng Yunyan also
I bought some clothes for Li Yuhua to wear. Li Yuhua said very little, but he was a very well-informed person. She already understood things like clothes and jewelry.
After Li Yuhua gave the order, Yun Yan went out with Xiao Qing.
Li Yuhua looked at the re-closed door, reached out and picked up the white jade ointment box, and only dug out a small piece. This was the second girl's thing, and she would not use it wantonly. Therefore, it was only the wrist and ankle.
After applying some paint on her neck, Li Yuhua put on a gauze dress. After finishing her clothes, Li Yuhua left the bathroom and used the second girl's mirror to comb her hair again.
After her hair was combed, Li Yuhua didn't waste any time. She stood up and looked at Aunt Zheng. Aunt Zheng understood what she meant and smiled and said to Xu Huiran, "I disturbed the second girl today. I will take Miss Li to pay my respects to the old lady."
.”
Li Yuhua thanked the second girl softly, still with lingering restraint, "Thank you very much for today."
Xu Huiran held Li Yuhua's hand and said affectionately, "Sister, don't be so polite. We are not outsiders. Grandma has been looking forward to my sister for a long time. If she doesn't mind, I will send her there together."
Li Yuhua lowered his eyes, covering up all the emotions in his eyes, and said repeatedly, "Thank you."
Xu Huiran wanted to get close to her, but seeing Li Yuhua's dull face, Xu Huiran didn't mind and took Li Yuhua to Mrs. Hu's Shoudetang.
Li Yuhua had heard about the residence of the Vice Minister of the Xu family on the road. In the countryside, she had only heard of the county magistrate. A little further away, she had heard her friends talk about the state official. What kind of official was the Vice Minister? She was not
What she did know was that the neat and elegant green bricks and gray tiles in this mansion were enough to open her eyes. When she first arrived in this wealthy mansion, Li Yuhua lowered her head and stared at the blue bricks under her feet. No one knew what she was thinking.
The maid held an oil-paper umbrella to protect her from the sun, still sweating lightly due to the heat, but when she entered the old lady's courtyard, she suddenly felt a sense of coolness, whether it was the wind blowing from somewhere or the towering ginkgo trees in the courtyard.
Li Yuhua couldn't help but look up from the summer heat covered by the large swathes of shade. The fragments of sunlight among the leaves fell on her body, and an unknown bird flew out of the trees with a long song and flew away in the sky.