Sunlight shines through the windows and casts mottled shadows on the landscape screen.
The Ning family's small reception room was not neglected because of its size. It was still decorated with exquisite and precious gold and jade utensils, and its luxury also had the elegance of a family of poets and writers.
The weather was very good today, and the charcoal fire in the hollow stove in the house was burning brightly. The two girls in winter clothes had a light layer of sweat on their noses, but this warm spring weather did not make people feel comfortable as before. Instead, they felt a sense of inexplicable depression and anxiety.
Someone lifted the curtain and walked in, bringing the winter wind from the yard in. It was not known whether it was the cool wind or the new person that cheered up the two girls and they hurried forward.
The person who came in was also a maid, carrying a small copper kettle. The maid in the room took it and then took the filigree enamel teacup on the table beside her.
Although this series of actions did not make any sound, it broke the stagnant atmosphere in the room.
"Miss Jun, please have some tea." The maid spoke softly, came over with a cup of tea, and glanced at the person sitting on the chair.
This was a girl of about fourteen or fifteen years old, with beautiful eyebrows and eyes, no makeup, no red hairpins or gold beads, and she was wearing a starched, old, blue cotton dress.
But she did not look shabby sitting in this luxurious reception hall. Instead, she looked as elegant and graceful as a Su Lan among a bunch of flowers.
However, when the girl's eyes fell on the table, it was as if she was stung by a bee. She lowered her eyes and her expression became complicated.
A piece of white silk was placed on the mahogany table inlaid with jade, which was particularly eye-catching among the red and emerald green.
At this time, an elderly woman by the window in the corridor was also looking at the white silk.
The Liuning family of Beiyangcheng not only had more than a dozen Hanlin scholars in their family, but also controlled nearly half of the coal kilns in Zezhou. Therefore, the windows of this small reception hall were not made of common window paper, but glass from Southeast Asia.
There are only two companies in the entire Yangcheng and even the entire Zezhou that can use this kind of glass.
The glass was a little blurry, but the woman could still see the white silk and the girl's appearance.
This was not the first time she had seen this girl. In fact, the girl had come to her once two days ago, but she did not display the white silk at that time.
The girl reached out to take the tea and took a sip. Her brows seemed to frown and then she let go.
It seemed to be just the woman's guess.
Through the colorful glass, the facial features look blurry, and it is impossible to see those subtle expressions.
The woman only saw the girl put down the teacup. She felt this way because the only tea in the house at that time was Longjing before the rain.
Although the girl was poorly dressed, she was from the only family in Zezhou that could use glass windows, the Fang family bank.
Her surname is Jun and her mother's surname is Fang. She is the eldest daughter of the Fang family. Although she married into a relatively poor family, the grand ceremony of her wedding is still talked about by people in Zezhou more than ten years later.
How could a young lady like this be used to drinking such a coarse tea as the Rainfall Longjing? At least the last time she came to the house, the tea the maids served her was the Mingqian Longjing.
The woman looked inside the room. The girl who put down her teacup sat upright gracefully without any impatience. The little girl standing next to her tugged at her sleeve with her hand.
"Give my girl a cup of tea."
The woman heard soft voices coming from inside the house.
The maid immediately brought another cup of tea to the little girl, who happily took it and drank it in one gulp.
"Another drink." the little girl also said.
He was not as timid as he was the last time he visited. Instead, he was righteous and proud.
Maybe he thought he could shock them.
There was a gleam of mockery in the woman's eyes.
"Mother Song."
At the gate of the courtyard, a little girl waved at her and called her silently.
The woman turned and walked away from the window, passed through a side passage and entered another courtyard. A row of maids were standing in the corridor of the main house in the courtyard, talking and laughing in low voices in red and green. The sound of laughter could also be heard from behind the thick curtain embroidered with gold thread.
Seeing the woman coming, the girls who were chatting and laughing greeted her one after another.
"Mother Song."
They talked inside, and two maids opened the curtains. The woman walked in and had her face sprayed with warm fragrance. There were many people sitting or standing in the room, but all eyes and movements were focused on the middle-aged woman in the middle.
The woman was in her forties, with a beautiful face, long and fine eyebrows, and a faint smile on her face as she listened to the two women sitting in front of her talking.
The two women in front of her were younger than her and were dressed in similarly luxurious attire.
Three girls in their teens were sitting at a large table in the east side room. They were all wearing red jackets and yellow skirts and had pretty faces. Unlike the noisy and bustling room outside, they were quietly writing.
Mother Song did not step forward to speak immediately. Instead, she took the tea from the maid and passed it over. She stood beside the woman and listened to their conversation with a smile on her face.
"Sister-in-law, the stage for the winter month will be set up in front of the land temple."
"Let my third sister-in-law worry about hiring the opera troupe. I won't take care of it."
"There are many refugees this month. The war in the north is getting worse and worse. I'm going to prepare for the porridge distribution."
"My second brother and his wife also sent someone back to tell us about this matter."
The sisters-in-law talked, and the middle-aged women all nodded with smiles.
"Okay, this is a good arrangement. Thank you for your trouble," she said.
The eldest lady of the Ning family was kind and charitable. She was filial to her parents-in-law and respected her sisters-in-law. Everyone inside and outside praised her.
After saying this, the doctor turned and looked at Mother Song.
"Did you see anyone?" she asked.
This incoherent sentence stopped all conversations in the room.
Mother Song replied yes.
"Sister-in-law, why is the young lady from the Jun family here again? Didn't she leave?" Madam Ning San, the woman next to her, asked hurriedly.
Madam Ning smiled and put down the teacup.
"No, he found an inn on the street, staged a suicide plot, and now he's here again," she said.
Commit suicide?
Madam Ning San and Madam Ning Si looked at each other.
"This is too much. Don't the Fang family care?"
"Or maybe the Fang family did it on purpose."
They frowned and spoke angrily.
Madam Ning shook her head.
"I wouldn't do it on purpose, or because it's difficult," she said.
The two younger siblings laughed.
"Sister-in-law always assumes good intentions of others," they sighed.
A girl who had been listening to the conversation in the east room suddenly turned her head.
"Mother, it's not surprising that Jun Zhenzhen did this. She was also domineering in the Fang family. The eldest lady of the Fang family just said something to her, but she threatened to commit suicide and even went to the government to sue her aunt for abuse." She said loudly.
This made everyone in the room look surprised.
"Yanyan." Madam Ning frowned and said, talking about others behind their backs is not a good character for a lady from a noble family.
This is Ning Yunyan, the eldest daughter of Madam Ning and the seventeenth child in the Ning family.
"Aunt, aunt, really, really, she is proud of her status as a lady from an official family, and she especially looks down on her grandmother's family, and despises them for being merchants."
"I know that too. I saw her laughing at her cousin at a banquet with others, and her cousin left the table in tears."
The other two girls also hurriedly followed suit.
The three girls started chattering, and Madam Ning's gentle voice could no longer be suppressed, and the room became a mess.
Miss Jun has only been in Yangcheng for half a year but she is already famous and well-known to everyone. This reputation is not a good one.
"The Fang family is a business family, so it's OK if they are crude." Madam Ning San frowned and said, "Miss Jun's father was a scholar and a local official, so how could he raise such a daughter?"
It's useless to raise such a daughter. Other people's daughters have nothing to do with their Ning family, but the daughter of the Jun family just came and shouted that she had an engagement with their Ning family.
"Is this engagement real?" Madam Ning Si couldn't help asking, "Does she really have an engagement with our Zhao'er? Or was it arranged by the old lady? The old lady never mentioned such a big thing when she was alive."
Madam Ning sighed, looking helpless.
"I asked my mother, and she said that the old lady and the old lady of the Jun family only met once." She said, "Fifteen years ago, the old lady resigned from her official position and traveled around. When she passed through Runan, she fell ill. Doctor Jun, who was passing by and had just returned from a medical consultation, diagnosed her and prescribed medicine to relieve her symptoms. The old lady was very grateful, and when she heard that Doctor Jun's son had just gotten married, she said she wanted to marry him. At that time, Zhao'er was only three years old."
Thank you very much, just say it casually.
The two ladies in the room immediately understood the meaning of these eight words.
"Since the old lady of the Jun family is a doctor, isn't it natural for her to treat patients?" Madam Ning San said, "The old lady is so grateful that she can't help but say it. Doesn't that mean that old Doctor Jun doesn't know the duty of a doctor?"
It seems that she is a person who is bent on marrying up to a rich and powerful person, otherwise she would not have considered her own status and would have really agreed to this marriage.
"Maybe the old man was threatened at that time." Madam Ning Si shook her head and said.
Otherwise, why did the old lady never tell us about such an important matter as arranging a marriage for the eldest grandson in the eldest son's family?
"Father never mentioned it, so I don't know what happened." Madam Ning said, emphasizing this sentence, "The old lady insisted that it didn't happen, and I couldn't do anything. When the Fang family came to ask about it, I explained it tactfully, but it seemed that the young lady of the Jun family didn't listen at all. The old lady was not in good health, so I didn't dare to make trouble in front of her. The young lady of the Jun family was young and had lost her relatives, so pitiful, I didn't dare to force her..."
"Mother." Ning Yunyan, who had stopped writing and stood up to listen, shouted immediately, "She is pitiful, but Tenth Brother is not. Should Tenth Brother be unlucky? Her parents were not killed by us. Why should we use Tenth Brother's lifelong affairs to compensate her?"
"Yes, yes, Brother Ten is a man of extraordinary talent even the emperor praised him for. How could he be dragged down by a vulgar and ignorant person like Jun Zhenzhen?" The other two girls immediately agreed.
The house was in chaos again.
Madam Ning seemed to have a headache because of the noise. She pinched her forehead helplessly.
"But we can't just watch the young lady of the Jun family commit suicide before our eyes," she said.
"She has thrown the white silk on the table now, showing her threat." Mother Song interrupted, "Last time she hanged herself in the guest inn, now she might hang herself at the door of our house."
"She dares!" Madam Ning San said with raised eyebrows.