Chapter 23 Step 2
After a while, Yin Fengyu suddenly saw a row of small, low houses in the corner outside the high wall. She pointed at them with some confusion and asked, "Madam Zhou, what are those small houses used for?"
Madam Zhou touched Yin Fengyu's head and explained: "That's where the servants live. Only the first-class and second-class servants can live with the masters in their courtyards. Their food, clothing and daily expenses are much better than those of the servants. Some of the capable ones even live better than the concubine.
Sixth Miss, within this 10-meter-high wall, there are also rows of small houses where the maids live. Men and women were not allowed to touch each other, and this high wall also separated the servants and maids. ”
Yin Fengyu nodded in confusion, looking at the rows of houses that were a bit shabby but very clean and tidy, and said, "It's really pitiful to live there. Then, Madam, will there be no servants in the inner house of the new mansion in the future?"
Madam Zhou said: "There must be servants in the inner house, otherwise who would do the work of fetching water and chopping wood? Can we, the old women, do it? But there are very few servants in the inner house. Most of them are concentrated in the kitchen and the rooms of the aunts. For example, there will be no ignorant servants around the Sixth and Seventh Misses.
This is also Madam’s request, for the sake of the reputation of the Sixth and Seventh Misses…”
As they were talking, Yin Fengyu and Yin Ziniu followed the footsteps of Madam Zhou and Xiaolan, stepped over the high threshold of the vermilion gate, and walked inside.
Just as Madam Zhou said, in the corners of the 10-meter-high blue brick wall, there were some low small rooms, where many third-class maids dressed in black or gray were packing their clothes.
Yin Fengyu retracted his gaze and looked at the bluestone avenue in front of him. On both sides of the bluestone avenue were very regularly distributed courtyards. The courtyards were made of blue bricks and black tiles, and had both one and two floors.
Yin Fengyu estimated that there were about a dozen such courtyards. Each large courtyard is dotted with more than a dozen small courtyards. Some flowers and plants, as well as some tall trees, were planted in the empty space of the yard. The entire complex is spectacular.
But despite the spectacular scene, Yin Fengyu felt very depressed. The high wall was like a cage, like a tomb, imprisoning the woman's life.
At this moment, Yin Fengyu couldn't help but think of a movie she had watched before, Raise the Red Lantern, which was filmed in Qiao's Compound. It is also one of the best works directed by Zhang Yimou.
The heroine Songlian is also a college student. After her family fell into poverty and her father died, she was arranged by her stepmother to become a concubine of a 50-year-old man. At that time, Songlian had also received new-style education and looked forward to a bright future.
However, influenced by the people around her and persecuted by feudal ethics, Songlian gradually became obsessed with hanging red lanterns and massaging her feet. Gradually, he became like the people in the large mansions, obsessed with house fighting, and all kinds of dirty and filthy things followed.
The red lanterns and the foot-pounding were like sex and poison, making people intoxicated and sinking deep into their bones. Can't forget, can't quit, can't escape.
At the end of the movie, the first wife firmly sits on the throne as the first wife, watching the fight between two tigers.
The second wife was a smiling tiger. She fought the third wife Meishan to death. The fourth wife Songlian went crazy, but history is like a cycle, and the mansion welcomed a new enemy, the fifth concubine.
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