Chapter 1: Go and see Pei Langjun for me, okay?
The spring is gradually deepening, but the remaining chill is like water. A light rain last night added a bit of coolness. Even though the incense burner in the room is emitting warmth, Shen Youran still hugged the quilt and didn't want to get up.
The maids Danruo and Qinghe knocked on the door for the third time, but there was still no response. They had no choice but to come in with warm water for washing. They walked to the rosewood moon-shaped bed, brushed aside the low-hanging brocade curtains, and saw their daughter, who was lying in bed with her brows furrowed. They smiled and called out, "Miss, aren't you going to accompany the eldest daughter to visit the Pei family's eldest son at Hongqiao today? If you don't get up now, it will be too late..."
The eldest daughter, Shen Yunshu, is both talented and beautiful, and has a kind heart. She has been famous in Beijing for only two years.
Half a month ago, the old lady of the Pei family was granted an imperial decree and held a tea party in her mansion to express her gratitude for the emperor's grace.
The old lady of the Pei family took a liking to Shen Yunshu at first sight at the tea party. She wanted her to be her grandson's wife and wanted to match her with her eldest grandson Pei Huaijin. However, at that time, Pei Huaijin was still serving as the Tongzhi of Lingzhou and it would take another half year before he could leave his post and return to Beijing.
The day before yesterday, the Pei family sent another message saying that Pei Huaijin would be returning to Beijing to report on his work soon. Old Madam Pei planned to take advantage of the few days when he was back in Beijing to let him meet Shen Yunshu in advance.
Nowadays, people usually look for their matchmaking partners at a banquet or a gathering. The two people look at each other tacitly across the crowd. If it works out, everyone is happy. If not, they can pretend they have never met before to avoid embarrassment in the future.
However, since the eldest son of the Pei family has been in Beijing these few days, there have been no suitable banquets or gatherings, so the Pei family decided to arrange the meeting on the Hongqiao Bridge at the East Water Gate, and the time was set for three quarters past three in the morning. By then, the sky will be bright and there will be few people on the bridge. At that time, one person will be on the bridge and the other will be under the bridge, and they will look at each other from a distance. After the meeting, it will not be too late for them to return home for breakfast.
It is almost dawn now. The eldest girl should have finished getting dressed, but the third girl who is accompanying her is still lying in bed.
"Girl, please get up quickly..."
Danruo and his daughter grew up together. Although they were master and servant, they were as close as sisters. Seeing that the girl's eyelashes were trembling, she was clearly awake but was too lazy to get up, so he simply sat down beside the bed and helped the girl up.
Qinghe handed over a warm handkerchief soaked in water at the right time. Danruo skillfully wiped the girl's cheeks and forehead, and then saw the thin eyelids under the handkerchief open, revealing eyes like morning dew.
"I'll do it myself." Shen Youran took the handkerchief from Dan Ruo's hand in a daze and wiped it on her face carelessly. Her fair and soft skin was rubbed a little red by her action, and there was a slight pain. Shen Youran finally woke up a little.
Then he got out of bed, yawning, and let the two men help him get dressed.
She was wearing a lake blue plain brocade skirt. The refreshing color brought out Biyu Nianhua's delicate face without stealing the show. After all, today was the eldest sister's home court.
After getting dressed, Shen Youran asked Dan Ruo to comb her hair into a simple bun and pinned a pair of jade hairpins inlaid with pearls. She didn't even put on any makeup and walked out of the room with a plain face.
The courtyard, which had just rained, was filled with a fresh scent. The crabapple flowers, covered with raindrops, were blooming tenderly on the branches. As Shen Youran walked into the courtyard, she met her elder sister who had come to look for her to go out together.
The eldest sister wore a tea-white jacket today, paired with a pale cocoon-yellow chinstrap and a satin skirt draped with golden roses. As she walked, her figure was graceful, the rings and bracelets at her waist jingling. Normally averse to makeup, she applied a touch of powder today, her eyebrows lightly drawn, making her already radiant face even more ethereal.
The two sisters originally looked 50% alike, but now one is wearing red makeup and the other is bare-faced, they don't look that similar anymore.
Shen Youran's beautiful eyes were sleepy. She took her elder sister's arm and leaned against her, sniffing her sister's pleasant fragrance. She said coquettishly, "I got up so early today, and I need to catch up on some sleep when I get back. Can I skip the calligraphy and needlework practice this morning?"
"No." Shen Yunshu looked at her sister who was clinging to her with a doting yet helpless look, and gave her earnest advice, "If this marriage is successful, I won't have much time left in the mansion to discipline you. You're sixteen years old now. Girls your age have already started learning to manage accounts and the household. Unlike you, who are not good at any of the arts, including music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, and can't even do needlework, and you always want to shirk your responsibilities..."
"But I have mediocre talent, and it's hard to carve a rotten tree. These things are too difficult for me."
"Who said you were a piece of rotten wood? It's just that your mother wasn't around when you were young, and your father neglected to discipline you, so you became like this. If you can't correct yourself, you will suffer when you get married in the future..."
Shen Youran didn't care: "Daddy is the Minister of Revenue, as long as I don't marry high, who dares to make me suffer?"
Shen Yunshu raised her hand and poked her forehead, telling her to stand up straighter: "Don't think that you'll be alright if you marry someone of lower status. The women in the backyard have plenty of ways to torture the bride..."
Shen Youran groaned and straightened up: "Then why don't I just not get married?"
"A daughter is sought after by hundreds of families. Daddy's status is there, how can you just refuse to marry her?" Shen Yunshu looked at her sister, who looked somewhat like her, except that her eyes and eyebrows were still shrouded in childishness, and sighed, "But I have already told Daddy that your future marriage will only be approved after I pass the test. With Mom gone, I, as the eldest sister, should always worry more about you..."
Twelve years ago, my parents got divorced, and my mother took my two sisters back to her hometown in Xunzhou. My father chased after them but failed to save the marriage. After the divorce, Shen Yunshu followed her mother to settle in Xunzhou City, while Shen Youran followed my father back to the capital.
The two sisters were separated for ten years. Shen Yunshu returned to the capital two years ago and found that her sister, who was two years younger than her, was spoiled by her father and his second wife, Wei, and had a bad reputation in the capital.
At that time, the Changxing Marquis's Mansion sent a matchmaker to propose marriage for their grandson Lin Wulang. Due to the family background of the Changxing Marquis's Mansion, my father and Wei wanted to agree to the marriage. However, Shen Yunshu temporarily stopped my father and then asked someone to inquire about it. It was found out that although Lin Wulang looked handsome and handsome, he actually had a beautiful concubine by his side and doted on her very much. He was just waiting for him to marry a wife so that he could make the concubine a noble one.
After much deliberation, the Marquis of Changxing Mansion decided to move on from Mrs. Wulang to the third young lady of the Shangshu Mansion, Shen Youran.
At that time, Shen Youran was fourteen years old. She was as beautiful as a lotus flower in its first bloom, but she had no knowledge of poetry or books. She was innocent and brainless, with a completely innocent and naive appearance.
If she enters the mansion like this, won't she be at the mercy of others once the door to the backyard is closed?
Shen Yunshu took advantage of her father's debt to herself and her mother and persuaded her father to politely decline the proposal from the Changxing Marquisate. She then stayed in the Shangshu Mansion and devoted herself to teaching Shen Youran.
This teaching lasted for two years. Now Shen Youran has improved a lot compared to two years ago, but he is still far from what Shen Yunshu expected.
Shen Yunshu wanted to stay in the mansion for a while longer to teach her sister, but she had spent a lot of time choosing this marriage with the Pei family. Besides, she was already in her twenties, and if she delayed any further, she was afraid that she would never have such a good marriage again in the future.
Thinking about these things in her heart, Shen Yunshu took her sister's hand and walked slowly towards the gate of the mansion.
When the two sisters arrived at the door, Mother Li, who was with their stepmother Wei, was already waiting by the carriage.
Upon seeing them, Madam Li bowed slightly and said politely, "Miss, Third Miss, Madam originally wanted to accompany Miss, but Brother Xu was a little unwell last night, so Madam had to stay in the room to take care of the young master, and specially asked this old servant to come and accompany him..."
Xu Ge'er is the second child of his stepmother Wei. He is only five years old this year. He gave birth to a girl before, named Yu Mian, who is seven years old this year.
The year Wei came into the family, Shen Youran was already eight years old, old enough to remember things. They were not related by blood, and Wei only doted on Shen Youran, not loved her. She gave Shen Youran everything she wanted, but she could not give her the heartfelt motherly love.
As for Shen Yunshu, Wei had never done her any favors in raising her. It was just that Shen Yunshu did not change her surname, and the two of them were nominally stepmother and stepdaughter. Therefore, there was no need for Wei to accompany her to meet her husband. Sending Mother Li over was already a face-saving measure.
Shen Yunshu didn't care about these things and said to Madam Li, "Mom is the most capable person around Madam. Since Fifth Brother is not feeling well, Mom will go back and help Madam take care of Fifth Brother. It's enough for me to have Third Sister accompany me."
The eldest girl's voice was clear and gentle, and if you listened carefully, you could hear a hint of the soft Wu dialect from Muzhou. However, Madam Li also knew that this eldest girl only looked delicate, but was actually very opinionated. Since she said so, Madam Li did not say anything more: "Yes, then this old servant will not go there. I will wait for good news from the eldest girl in the mansion."
Shen Yunshu nodded to her, took the dressing box for touch-up from the maid Tinglan, and pulled Shen Youran into the carriage.
The carriage rumbled along, the compartment swaying slightly. Shen Youran lay on the elder sister's lap to catch up on his sleep, when suddenly something soft and warm touched his cheek, followed by a fragrance exactly the same as that on the elder sister.
Shen Youran opened her eyes and saw rouge on her sister's fingertips. She smiled and said to her, "This is the rouge I asked someone to buy from Sanchunzhai yesterday. They said it's made of coral. No other place has this kind of rouge..."
Shen Youran looked at the blush on her sister's cheeks from the rouge, which was similar to the color on her lips, and asked, "Did you use this rouge on your lips, too?"
"Yeah, does it look good?"
"nice."
Shen Yunshu helped her up and applied some on her cheeks and lips: "It looks good on you too. You look much better than before..."
After applying the rouge, Shen Youran leaned on her sister's shoulder again. She was not annoyed when she was scolded by her sister for "sitting in an unruly manner". After all, leaning on her sister was more comfortable than sitting alone.
Not long after, she noticed that her elder sister scratched her cheeks from time to time and pursed her lips frequently. At first, she thought that she was secretly nervous about meeting her husband, but then she gradually felt that something was wrong.
"Big sister, why are your cheeks suddenly so red?" Shen Youran raised her face and leaned closer to take a closer look. "It looks like there's a rash."
Then he looked at the other person's lips and said, "Sister, your lips seem to be swollen too."
"Really?" Shen Yunshu hurriedly took out a palm-sized bronze mirror from her dressing table and looked at herself. Sure enough, she saw a rash on both sides of her cheeks and her lips were red and swollen.
No wonder she felt itchy and tingling after putting on makeup. She thought it was because she hadn't worn makeup for a long time and was not used to it. Now it seems that the box of coral rouge was not suitable for her skin and caused a rash.
"Hurry, wipe off the rouge." Shen Yunshu took the handkerchief and wiped the rouge off Shen Youran's face first.
Shen Youran also realized that there was something wrong with the rouge, so she quickly took out a handkerchief and wiped it on her sister's face: "Don't worry about the rouge on my face, your face is the most important..."
The two sisters were busy, but Shen Yunshu had been wearing rouge for too long. Even though she had wiped it off, the rash was still getting worse, and her lips were swollen...
Shen Youran immediately became anxious: "Sister, you still have to meet Pei's eldest son later, what should we do?"
Shen Yunshu looked at herself in the mirror again and again, her brows furrowed.
Then she looked at Shen Youran, whose face remained unchanged, and assumed that the rouge would not affect her skin. Suddenly, an idea came to her mind: "Good sister, I will put makeup on you, and you can pretend to be me and go see Pei Langjun for me, okay?"
The author has something to say:
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