Fanfiction 2: There is a beautiful person——Narkissos

Do you still remember the young lady with a veiled hat that Wang Shixiong, who was still a servant, and Uncle Wu met during the Mid-Autumn Festival in the fifth year of Jianyan? Now it is the tenth year of Jianyan.

————THE TEXT————

"There is a beautiful person, as gentle as Qingyang. She has a beautiful figure and a charming smile, and a kind and charming heart."

He Yixi was not her original name, and her surname was not He. Before the third year of Jianyan, her original name was Song Wanru.

Song Wanru was from Bian Jing.

In the peaceful years, the country was prosperous and wealthy. Perhaps the biggest worry of my mother was that my father's salary was too meager and it was not easy to live in Beijing. Song Wanru saw her mother more than once inviting my father to the kitchen after he had a great conversation with his friends, and pointed to the empty rice jar and asked, "There is not enough meat and vegetables, and there is not enough wine. How are you going to entertain the guests?"

Dad would say with a sincere and guilty look on his face: "I have to trouble you to buy some on credit for me."

My mother's family is from Hangzhou, and even when she uses the elegant Henan accent to scold people, it still has a gentle flavor: "Sir, can you bear to see me embarrass myself again?"

"My lady, please take your veil with you," Daddy bowed and promised sincerely, "I will never invite so many guests to our house next month to embarrass you."

Finally, my mother had no choice but to push him away with a smile: "Okay, okay, sir, go ahead. I'll prepare the wine and meat myself. I'm not asking you not to invite people - but can you keep the wine from last night for today? Wouldn't it be fun for sir to drink alone? Whether there are guests or not, there will always be money to spend."

This is true. Daddy's promise was forgotten as soon as he turned his head. Song Wanru often wondered if mother didn't blame daddy because daddy spent more money on her. As soon as the salary was received, daddy would buy mother the latest style of silk, the sheep's head that brother liked to eat, the sweet candies that Song Wanru liked, and of course he would buy a few taels of wine and a few books. But in the end, the food was eaten, the silk disappeared, and only the books bought by daddy could be kept in the box.

Song Wanru wanted to make new clothes, but her mother always wore a few casual clothes, so she was too embarrassed to ask for them, but she often wondered where the silk had gone. Later, when her mother was teaching her to read, she heard her read "Ni he gai jiu pu jin chai" and sighed slightly, saying that it was too ugly.

When she told her brother this, he asked her if she knew what it meant, and she nodded. Her brother, who was much older than her, was surprised and said, "My aunt is so smart, could it be that she borrowed some literary elements from her name? - Can you guess where the word 'Wanru' comes from?"

"There is a beautiful person, as gentle as the sun. We met by chance, and we will be together forever."

"Dad told you about the Three Caos' poems a few days ago. How could it not be "Shan Zai Xing" written by Emperor Wen of Wei?"

Song Wan answered seriously, "Daddy said, 'The birds are crying sadly, how can we bear it?'"

My brother clapped his hands and laughed. He mentioned this to my parents during dinner. My father smiled and said to my mother, "Even if they are a 'poor couple', they won't be 'sad about everything' - Aunt is like you, she has the talent to write poems about snowflakes."

Are there many sorrows for poor couples? Song Wanru had never thought so. She just felt that although her mother could not help complaining, she never really hated her father's extravagance. Her mother would hold up the gorgeous and luxurious silk and say with a smile, "It's too expensive." She would also tease her father who was inevitably ashamed when serving wild vegetables, "You also eat wild vegetables, you must be as virtuous as Yizhi." Her father once avoided the crowd when they were toasting, and watched his first wife racking her brains with the servants in front of the stove to cook the simple vegetables in a unique and novel way. He rarely reflected silently on his frugality and love of charity, but her mother gestured to the hall from a distance and said with a smile, "I want to be like Shan Gong's wife, I wonder if you allow it?"

Daddy sighed in worry: "My wife is worthy of being a duke's wife, but I am not worthy of being Shan Juyuan."

Daddy really failed to become a great man. In the third year of Xuanhe, my maternal grandfather's family in Hangzhou was massacred by Fang La, who burned down the house when he retreated. When the letter reached Bianjing, my mother, who was heartbroken, fell ill in bed and has been plagued by illness ever since.

Dad never drank again and rarely treated guests to meals.

Invite a doctor, consult a doctor, and cook medicine. Mother could no longer use the little money she had as before, and she could no longer weave and embroider to supplement the family income. Gradually, her brother's sheep's head could no longer be eaten, and Song Wan could no longer taste sweet fruits. Daddy was not a prime minister with a purple ribbon and a gold seal, and his salary was not that generous. Soon, Daddy stopped buying books and only insisted on buying cloth to make new clothes for mother, and he no longer allowed mother to pawn it.

This was the first time that Daddy mentioned the pawning, but Mommy slowly said to Daddy, "Use it to buy pens and ink for Dalang and Nannan. Dalang has been using charcoal for a long time. I heard that the official is good at writing and painting, and the words written like this don't look good... Buy some mutton, as we haven't had any oil in the house for a long time."

"Dad," the brother who had been silent all this time finally couldn't help but speak, "It is said that the palace uses 10,000 sheep a year, and the Taiwei Mansion only uses a little from the face to make yokan. Is that true?"

Dad forced a smile and said, "I am just a lowly official, how can I know what's going on in the palace and the prime minister's mansion?"

The elder brother asked angrily, "But it's true that mutton is so expensive! My grandfather was forced to death by his superiors and the people because of the birthday gift, and my uncle's family was wiped out because of Fang La. The officials only care about calligraphy and painting, and the officials in the court only know how to use the name of "Fengheng Yuda" to make money from the people. So what if you pass the exam? Are you helping the tiger to implement a harsh policy?!"

Nine-year-old Song Wanru already understands a lot of things. Daddy talks about being sympathetic to the people and being loyal to the emperor and patriotic, but she thinks her brother is right. Can being sympathetic to the people and being loyal to the emperor and patriotic be compatible? Song Wanru couldn't come up with an answer, but she always remembered her mother's gentle and solemn expression:

"You can say that. Isn't that the purpose of teaching you to read the books of sages? The future needs young people like you to do it. If you young people can think like this, the world will get better and better in the future."

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