There are less than ten people in the entire courtyard, including a nun who takes care of the accounts, two maids who serve her, three servants, and a cook who is responsible for cooking.
Mammy is the wife's maid. She is very loyal. She usually only teaches the servants and manages the accounts honestly. She never puts on airs in front of the lady just because she is close to her mother.
Tong Yan basically has the final say in the entire courtyard.
After the meal, Tangju was worried that she would accumulate food and suggested that she go for a walk. It was not that cold outside after noon, so Tong Yan put on a cloak to keep out the wind and went to the yard.
There is a two-story attic on the left side of the yard. Looking down from there, the view is quite broad.
Below the attic is a 67-meter-long river with willow trees planted on the side. A little further away, there is a bridge on the river. Pedestrians come and go, and you can vaguely see the tail end of the busy city.
Sometimes when the young lady in this family is seriously ill and cannot go out, she will come here to sit and kill time.
When you go up to the attic and look out into the distance, you feel like you are in a picture of Along the River During the Qingming Festival.
The attic is divided into an inner room and an outer room. The outer room is used for viewing the scenery and enjoying the cool air. It is empty on three sides and only has a waist-high fence. The inner room is a place for resting.
From the memory of the body, she found common sense about this era. The dogmas that restrained women were similar to the ancient times in her impression. The whole thing was still open. For example, women could go out at will, unmarried men and women could go out together, and it was very common for couples to divorce and get married separately.
Women here generally get married at the age of fifteen or sixteen, but it is not uncommon for women to marry at the age of seventeen or eighteen.
Tong Yan looked at her current appearance, at least sixteen or seventeen years old, and was a little worried that her cheap parents would suddenly arrange a marriage for her, ending this new free life.
When she goes to Kyoto this year, if they ask her to get married, why not just use her poor health to shirk it?
She thought it was feasible. It seemed that she had talked about this before, but she had been putting it off because her health was not well.
As soon as they sat down at the attic, Hongyou brought hot tea and snacks, and also brought two books from the room and put them aside.
This habit should have been left by the original owner. Tong Yan picked up a book and flipped through it. It turned out to be an autobiography written by a poet who loved to travel. The book didn't have many folds, so this book was just for her.
Is it a show-off?
The other one was a storybook, a common story about a rich girl and a scholar. Tong Yan glanced at the beginning and lost interest.
In the past, she had read 180 novels, not to mention 200, and she was already familiar with all kinds of routines. A shy scholar, in front of a group of affectionate, dedicated and sinister bosses, would have long been a loser.
It's no longer popular.
After putting down the book, he put one hand on the fence and looked across the river.
On the shore, there were rested college students rushing home. Some of them were unwilling to walk, so they spent some money to rent a boat and took the waterway back.
The two scholars on the boat seemed to be talking about something, and their laughter immediately attracted her attention.
"Look at that little beggar over there. Do you have a steamed bun that you didn't eat this morning? Throw it over and see if he picks it up and eats it."
The white steamed buns were thrown over and rolled into the puddle of sewage at the feet of the little beggar.
"Little beggar, pick up the steamed buns and eat them quickly. Do you know what hard work means? I kindly give it to you, so don't waste the food!" The scholar who suggested throwing the steamed buns shouted to the little beggar.
The little beggar just glanced at the steamed bun at his feet, picked it up slowly, and then looked up at the scholar on the boat.
"That's right, eat quickly. I'll give you a steamed bun out of kindness. Look at the people around here wearing silk and satin. Who is willing to give you a bite to eat? The world is really declining. The wealthy families are freezing to death on the road where wine and meat are smelly.
bone."
The tone is fake, and he is obviously giving and teasing, and he is still claiming to be a noble person here.
Tong Yan silently rolled his eyes while drinking tea, and his eyes fell on the little beggar, wanting to see his reaction.
The little beggar looked away, his expression not as ecstatic as other beggars when they got food.
He raised his other hand, broke off the dirty parts of the steamed buns, threw them into the river to feed the fish, and put a small clean piece in his mouth.
This move made the scholar very angry, and he scolded, "Is there anyone who wastes food like you? You, a dirty beggar, have no right to dislike dirty steamed buns! You really don't deserve to eat a mouthful of food!"
The little beggar didn't respond to his yelling. He stared at the ripples caused by the boat's advancement, completely ignoring the scholar.
The scholar became even more angry. He turned around and tried to grab the bamboo pole used by the boatman to punt the boat, intending to swing the bamboo pole to the other side and hit someone to vent his anger.
"You ungrateful beggar, let me teach you a lesson. Old man, give me the bamboo pole and let me go!"
The boatman said solemnly, "I can't give you this. What will happen if the boat sinks after a while?"
The scholar immediately started to grab it, and the hull of the boat shook due to the force. The boatman and his companions hurriedly advised him, "The boat is going to capsize, so we can't grab it!"
"Forget it, why are you arguing with a beggar? You and I don't know how to swim, and the boat will capsize in a while!"
The bookish man couldn't help but said, "Just give me the pole, and I can't do anything else!"
The boat on the river was swaying, and the beggar seemed to have noticed something bad, so he packed up his things and left the river.
The scholar below even shouted to him, "Stop! If you can, don't run away!"
Tong Yan looked at the sky and suddenly said, "This tea is cold and doesn't taste good."
Then he accidentally poured it onto the ground, and by chance it fell on the angry scholar's head.
The scholar who was drenched with tea made a move, then looked up at the attic and cursed, "Which unscrupulous person above poured water indiscriminately, didn't you see anyone down there?"
After Tong Yan splashed the water, he immediately shrank inside and hid, planning to pretend not to hear.
However, the scholar kept scolding, and Hongyou next to him became unhappy. Her delicate and frail young lady and wife had no time to pamper her, so how could she be scolded by such a rude scholar.
Then he stepped over to the edge of the fence, stretched out his head and yelled back, "You are so rude, my lady just accidentally knocked over a cup of tea. Why are you arguing endlessly? You just wet your clothes.
Is there anyone like you who yells in the street?"
As soon as he heard that the person in the attic was a young lady, the scholar's attitude changed completely. He restrained his gaffe and apologized in a stern manner, "Young man, I was rude just now. I offended you. Please forgive me, young lady and maid."
.”
After he straightened up, he kept glancing into the attic and continued, "Can your lady please step out so that the young lady can apologize in person?"
Hongyou made a slightly contemptuous sound, obviously seeing his drunkenness. "Miss has left due to physical discomfort. Please apologize directly to the slave, and I will definitely bring it to you."
After she finished speaking, she looked at Tong Yan uneasily. After all, she had overstepped her master and directly helped her make a decision. Strictly speaking, she was reluctantly guilty of the following.
Tong Yan smiled kindly at her, then stood up and prepared to go back to the room. After all, she was now 'unwell' and had left.
When I reached the stairs and was about to go downstairs, I inadvertently glanced towards the other side and met an indifferent look.
She was slightly startled to see that it was the little beggar. She thought that this man had already gone far away.
The little beggar looked at her for a few moments, then withdrew his gaze and disappeared into the street.
Tong Yan also retracted his gaze and looked at the stairs, slowly descending the steps. The exchange of looks just now was just a coincidental collision, not worth worrying about.
But, why did she feel that those eyes were familiar...