Chapter 28 Sister (Part 1)

Eleventh Lady followed the First Lady down from the carriage and found herself standing in front of a black-painted gray-tiled gate with hanging flowers. The coachman, the accompanying guards, and the horses pulling the carriage were all gone. Only a few women wearing bright blue blouses and green vests were coming forward to pay their respects to the First Lady.

Mother Tao deliberately introduced a tall, dark-skinned woman in her thirties to the first wife: "This woman is from the Li family, and she is in charge of the carriages in the mansion."

"Mother Li." The eldest wife smiled politely and nodded to the woman. Mother Xu had already taken out her purse to reward her.

Everyone took the purses with a smile and thanked the eldest lady for the gift. Mother Tao then accompanied the eldest lady up the steps of the Chuihua Gate.

Wu Niang and Shiyi Niang followed the eldest wife at a leisurely pace. They heard Aunt Li, who was accompanying them, saying with a smile, "...Our mistress has been talking about your wife every day. Yesterday, she received a letter saying that you were coming, so she told us servants to prepare the carriage at noon..."

As they were talking, they had already entered the hanging flower gate and saw three small oil trucks with green curtains parked in front of a wall painting in front of them. They were used for transportation in the inner courtyard.

"Thank you for your concern, Madam Li!" The eldest wife smiled and exchanged a few words with her, then Madam Xu helped her get on the carriage parked in the front.

"Please get on the cart, ladies!" Mother Tao looked at Wu Niang and Shiyi Niang and smiled slightly, "So that Madam won't have to wait anxiously." Wu Niang and Shiyi Niang both smiled and nodded to Mother Tao, then followed the eldest lady's example and got on the small oil cart.

Compared with the plain exterior, the interior of the car is exquisitely and luxuriously decorated.

The carriage curtains were hung with embroidered ribbons embroidered with colorful glass beads in the shape of clouds, and red gilded sachets were hung at the four corners. The bright blue brocade pillows and cushions were embroidered with moon-white plum blossoms...

Dong Qing stared at it with her eyes wide open, hugging the pillow in her arms: "Miss, it's the stacking needle embroidery of Xianling Pavilion... Master Jian's former boss..." She was so excited that she couldn't speak. Amber, who was sitting next to her, was also shocked. The embroidery made by Xianling Pavilion with stacking needles was as valuable as the double-sided embroidery. Who would have thought that the Xu family would use it to decorate the green curtained small oil car for transportation...

Eleventh Lady didn't even glance at it.

She has always believed that anything that can be bought with money is not truly valuable!

Because there were no outsiders around, Eleventh Lady unscrupulously opened the curtain a little and peeked out.

A sturdy woman pulled out a tamed mule, swiftly harnessed it to the cart, and then gently patted the mule's neck. The mule then went around the shadow of the wall and onto a green brick path with lush pines and cypresses on both sides.

The carriage traveled for about two cups of tea, then turned left and went up a narrow alley.

There were tall white walls on both sides, and from Eleventh Lady's perspective, it felt like there was no end.

After a while she realized that every time the carriage traveled a certain distance it would encounter a square bluestone lamppost leaning against the wall.

She had read about this kind of lamppost in a book. It was usually used in royal palaces or squares because it required a lot of pine oil to light it. Pine oil was not only expensive, but also very rare. It was not something you could buy with money. Even if you could buy it, using it for many years would be a staggering expense.

Did the Xu family really light up these lamp posts at night to use as street lights?

Eleventh Lady couldn't help but lean forward, wanting to see if there were any signs of use on the lamppost...

"Miss, don't let the old women following the car see it!" Dong Qing reminded her in a low voice.

In addition to a woman in charge of the nagging, there was also an elderly woman standing by the window following the car - this arrangement was originally to allow the people in the car to be called out if something happened. But everything has its pros and cons, and the people following the car could easily find out whether the people in the car lifted the curtain and looked out...

Eleventh Lady looked out the window at the red gold hairpin inlaid with tourmaline stones clearly visible on the coachman's head, and smiled as she lowered the curtain.

Holly breathed a sigh of relief when she saw this.

Eleventh Lady couldn't help but laugh at her: "Are you shocked by a plum blossom pillow?"

"Miss, this is not the time to joke." Dong Qing said angrily, "You know that the eldest aunt is a treasure to the eldest wife. If you hold her in your mouth, she will melt. If you hold her in your hand, she will drop. If you ruin the eldest aunt's business, the eldest wife..." She hesitated to speak.

"I know!" Eleventh Lady assured quickly, "I'll just sit there and stay still!"

Holly couldn't help but smile sweetly.

She knew that as long as the lady promised, she would definitely do it!

Eleventh Lady looked at it but felt sad.

The people around her must be very uneasy about this meeting with Yuanniang? Otherwise, why would they be so worried?

Thinking of this, she glanced at Amber who was sitting next to Holly - she hadn't spoken since she got on the bus.

Amber's expression looked calm.

Maybe it's because the time they spend together varies, and the feelings they have for each other vary, so she doesn't worry about gains and losses like Dongqing!

Eleventh Lady smiled self-deprecatingly, and when she glanced, she saw the handkerchief crumpled into a ball by Amber.

The monotonous and cold sound of horse hooves made time suddenly stretch out.

I don't know how long it took, but the carriage turned left and stopped after about half an incense stick of time.

We should have arrived at Yuanniang's residence...

As Eleventh Lady was thinking, the maid who followed the carriage said softly through the curtain of the car window: "My dear lady, we are here!"

Amber replied "I know", then she opened the curtain and saw that the maid who followed the carriage had put the footstool in place. She stepped on the footstool and got out of the carriage, then turned around and helped Eleventh Lady get out of the carriage.

They stopped in front of a rough door with ballast steps. A stone lion as tall as a person was standing by the doorstep in a naive manner. The slightly anxious figure of the eldest wife disappeared at the door with the help of Mother Xu.

Eleventh Lady was secretly surprised, and felt that she was being a little overconfident.

After all, they haven't seen each other for more than ten years...

As soon as the thought flashed through her mind, sweat broke out on her back.

Since she missed her mother so much, why didn’t Yuanniang go to the second gate to greet her mother? Can we understand that her body was so weak that if she went to the second gate to greet her mother, there would be very bad consequences... So, she couldn’t...

Thinking of this, Eleventh Lady's gaze fell on the gravel-like steps.

It was built diagonally to the eaves of the door... If the high threshold was lowered, a carriage could drive straight in from outside the door...

She saw Wu Niang taking Ziwei and Ziyuan into the Manzi Gate, so she calmed down and followed them in with Dongqing and Amber.

There was a hall in front of them, with corridors on the left and right leading to the hall. The courtyard was paved with bluestone square bricks. At the entrance of the hall and at the four corners of the corridors, there were maids wearing beautiful blue blouses and green vests, all standing with their hands hanging down, holding their breath. When they saw Wu Niang and Shiyi Niang, the maids all bent their knees and bowed.

Eleventh Lady followed Fifth Lady into the hall from the corridor on the right.

The west hall was furnished with a central hall, a long table, an armchair, a tea table and other black lacquer furniture, making it a place for entertaining guests. However, the middle and the east side were empty.

After leaving the hall, they did not see the eldest wife and her group. They were facing another courtyard. Facing them was a main house with five rooms and side rooms, and on both sides were three side rooms with side rooms, connected by a corridor to form a circular corridor. The courtyard was paved with blue bricks and a small pine tree as tall as a person was planted at each corner.

Seeing Wu Niang and Shiyi Niang coming out of the hall, the maids wearing bright blue padded jackets and official green bodices all knelt down and bowed to them under the eaves of the main house.

Eleventh Lady heard Fifth Lady sigh softly, and she looked very disappointed.

Is he feeling grateful to himself or to Yuanniang?

"My dear daughter-in-law, this way!" Mother Tao may have noticed that they did not follow, so she turned around to look for them, and waved to them from the side room of the main house.

The two of them hurriedly walked over from the corridor on the right.

"The madam lives in the back yard." Mother Tao explained to them with a smile, and then led them into the third yard through the black lacquered corner door next to the ear room.

The third courtyard is the same as the second courtyard, with five main rooms with side rooms, three side rooms with side rooms, and a cross-shaped path paved with green bricks. However, in the northwest corner is a rockery made of Taihu stones, and in the southeast corner are a few holly trees. Compared with the coldness of the previous courtyard, this courtyard feels much more lively.

Wu Niang and Shiyi Niang followed Mother Tao from the right corridor to the door of the main house. The little maid standing by had already lifted the curtain affectionately, and when she saw them approaching, she called out "Miss relative" with a smile on her face.

Wu Niang and Shiyi Niang both smiled and nodded at the little maid, then went into the main room.

The floor was paved with mirror-like golden bricks, the dustboard was painted with bright colors, and there were three-pointed five-goat-horn palace lanterns hanging. In the middle hall was a picture of Guanyin sitting down, and in the middle of the long table was a three-legged incense burner with enamel and enamel, from which the smell of sandalwood was wafting. On the left side of the long table was a foot-high rosewood-based mutton-fat jade Buddha's hand, and on the right was a Ru kiln sky-blue glazed flower vase.

Eleventh Lady was stunned.

Looking east again. The rosewood floor-standing shade is hung with a beautiful blue curtain. In the middle of the secondary room stands a treasure chest, which contains a copper, enamel, jade inlaid flower basket, a blue and white porcelain plum vase, a Qishou Changchun white stone bonsai, a purple flower glass vase with a green background...

Looking west, there are twelve red sandalwood lattices inlaid with ivory and glass. The middle four are open, and you can see a red sandalwood-framed ivory-inlaid screen with five hundred arhats separating the west secondary room and the west side room.

Eleventh Lady couldn't help but hold her breath.

It’s really... luxurious!

If it was just luxury, she wouldn't be surprised, but the problem was that it formed a sharp contrast with the simple blue bricks and gray tiles she saw along the way.

Especially the rosewood lattice fan inlaid with ivory flowers and reflected glass. The red-gold peony flowers floated in the royal blue glass, and the dazzling color was so dazzling that it could almost suffocate people.

Thinking of this, she couldn't help but glance at Wu Niang.

Wu Niang still had a decent smile on her face, but it was a little forced; her posture was still straight, but it was a little stiff... It looked like she had suffered a small blow!

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(The chapter you see is Zhizhi's fourth draft. No wonder some people say "You never know how long the author stays between two lines"... So please forgive me, sisters, there will be no updates in the next few days. I hope to summarize the lessons learned from the first two novels and try my best to write a work without too many flaws! Please understand Zhizhi's decision. Thank you!

Again: Because of the power outage in the past two days, I had very few opportunities to be online. Although I saw the comments in the comment section, I did not reply in time, sorry! )