Chapter 112 Chapter 112 Two Chapters Combined into One
After finishing the embroidery of the Guanyin, Jinniang rested for half a month and then started to make clothes for her husband and children again. In the past few years, she almost always took the cloth and asked tailors outside to make clothes for her. But the tailor would not embroider for you, and it was expensive to find an embroiderer, so Jinniang prepared to embroider a set of clothes for each of them.
First, I made a royal blue round-necked robe with a peony pattern for Jiang Xian, and a dark red double-breasted shirt inside. The cuffs and collar were embroidered with plum, bamboo and parrots, and the middle was matched with the same silk band as the double-breasted shirt.
Jinniang showed the design to Jiang Xian, who pointed at himself and said, "Is this really me?"
"Of course, isn't this painting of you?" Jinniang said without blushing.
Although Jiang Xian often looked in the mirror and was struck by his own handsomeness, when he looked at himself in Jinniang's photo album, he couldn't help but laugh and said, "Madam, this is me ten years ago, right?"
Jinniang looked at her husband and immediately shook her head: "You are even more handsome now, so handsome that even I can't help myself."
Jiang Xian hugged his wife, held her earlobe in his mouth, and said incoherently: "My dear, I will always be yours."
"Yeah." Even though they had been married for ten years, Jinniang still felt a little embarrassed.
Not to mention that the couple had spent some time together in the daytime, and Jinniang was lying on the couch reading after getting dressed. She said, "They asked us to cook for no reason. You know me. I hardly cook. I don't want to go."
Jiang Xian stretched and said lazily, "It would be bad if you didn't go. If she doesn't recognize you, it's okay if you don't go. But we have a good relationship. If you don't go, she will think you are doing it on purpose."
"Then what should I do? Should I really learn how to cook? My parents asked me to learn how to cook, but I'm too lazy to learn. Why should I learn it for her?" Jinniang curled her lips.
This is his little girl. Jiang Xian heard her say this and coaxed her: "I will teach you how to cook a dish. I will teach you, okay? It's very simple. You don't know that this Madam Liu has a reason. Her husband Han Xiao often can't eat. It's really difficult for him to eat. So she must be thinking about which mistress is a good cook. She can ask for the recipe."
Jinniang noticed that his tone was inexplicably doting, and she felt that she was indeed a little emotional: "Well, I'll learn, isn't it okay for me to learn? But you have to teach me."
"Don't worry, I have a rough idea of what Han Qillang likes to eat. I still remember that you once asked me to deliver food to the Han family, and Han Xiao ate a few more mouthfuls of rice for the first time in his life. I think he was looking at the appearance of the food. Then I will teach you how to make an orange jade dish. You don't even need to turn on the fire. Mash the Yongxue pear and orange, add vinegar, salt, and sauce, and have it as a side dish when drinking." Jiang Xian knew that his wife was afraid of fire, so he said this.
What is a master of fooling around? He is still talking so seriously. Jinniang really likes her husband so much that she stood up and hugged his neck and said, "I like my husband the most in the world."
Jiang Xian touched his wife's head and said, "I told you that no matter what happens to you, I will help you with everything, big or small."
In an instant, I don’t know why this person who I usually feel is very “little brother” now seems to have become very reliable.
The couple stayed together for half a day. In the afternoon, Yun Jie'er and Ning Ge'er came back and they separated. Sister Yun came back with a box of snacks, smiling: "Mom, this is from Aunt Ruyan."
Jinniang said in public that Ruyan was her adopted relative, so Yunjie also called Ruyan "Aunt".
"Didn't I tell you not to take things without permission?" Jinniang was afraid that her daughter would get used to taking things and wouldn't be able to stop in the future. All corruption starts from small things.
Sister Yun smiled and said, "Don't worry, I'll secretly put the money on the counter and run away."
Jinniang nodded: "This is my good baby."
Sister Yun said, "Mother, I heard that the young master of the Sun family has a cough, and the sisters of the Sun family have returned to Guantao with their mother. Our teacher said today that we will not have polo lessons for the time being, saying that we don't have enough people."
Jinniang had also heard about it and said that Zhou Si's wife was solely responsible for accompanying her two daughters in their studies and left her son at home. To be honest, no matter how attentive Ma Yangniang was, Jinniang would keep the children around her, because the servants only regarded serving as a job. Jinniang herself had been a maid and did business. If she put herself in their shoes, she would definitely think that a mother would be more attentive and considerate.
Young children are more prone to illness and need more care from adults.
But this was someone else's arrangement, so she didn't comment on it. She just said, "Since you're not playing polo, bring your veil back and wash it."
The mother and daughter chatted for a while about family matters and soon set the table for dinner. After the meal, Jiang Xian took Jinniang to the kitchen.
Juxiang was drinking mutton soup. This was one of the benefits of being a cook: she could drink the soup while her master was eating. Seeing Jiang Xian and Jin Niang coming in, he quickly put it under the cupboard and wiped his mouth casually: "Madam, Sir, do you have anything to tell me?"
Normally, these two people rarely set foot in the kitchen. Could it be that they came to catch her cheating? I swear to God, she is the one who has always been the most frugal when buying groceries and never makes excessive claims when reporting expenses.
But Jiang Xian cleared his throat and said, "My wife is going to cook. Bring out some oranges and pears."
Juxiang quickly ran to the well and pulled up the basket, then took out the fruits swiftly. It was difficult to store them in the hot weather. She felt guilty for eating secretly, but she didn't know that Jinniang didn't pay any attention to her. She saw Jiang Xian peeling the skin easily with a knife and demonstrating it to Jinniang.
Seeing that he added the sauces so casually, Jinniang hurriedly wrote down with a pen: "Wait, you were too fast just now, I didn't see how many spoonfuls of vinegar you put in?"
"Just put a little bit. I never count the number of spoons. It mainly depends on how much food there is." Jiang Xian said.
Jinniang had no choice but to say, "Okay, I'll just make it according to the amount you're making now. When I learn how to do it, I'll be able to do it with ease."
The lady's words were so cute that Jiang Xian couldn't help laughing until his face hurt: "Cook once every ten years?"
He once heard his mother-in-law say that when his wife was losing weight, she cooked for herself, but after losing weight, she never went into the kitchen and immediately hired servants.
When Jinniang heard him digging into her secrets, she slapped him and said, "Really? You always tell the truth."
"Hahaha." Jiang Xian laughed out loud.
After making the food notes, Jinniang went to the kitchen alone the next day to replicate it twice, and only breathed a sigh of relief after she succeeded.
Unexpectedly, Mrs. Wei asked her to come over for something again. Jinniang didn't understand why, so she quickly asked Fan Si to prepare a car to take her there. The current division of labor at home is that Liu Doer is in charge of Jiang Xian's affairs. He is responsible for writing official documents and even dealing with external affairs. Chen Xiaolang helps Jinniang with housework, and Fan Si is now responsible for Jinniang's travel.
When Jinniang arrived, the person who came to greet her was Mrs. Wei's confidant. The first thing he said when he saw Jinniang was, "Third Aunt, I'm so glad you can come."
"What's the matter? Why are you in such a hurry?" Jinniang was confused.
The confidant said, "I don't know why our wife refused to eat or drink this morning. She called a doctor and said that she was bewildered. The fourth aunt invited a few Taoist priests to chant outside, but there was no improvement."
Jinniang thought how could a person be like this for no reason, chanting scriptures and praying to Buddha were all superstitions. She was a person who became bolder when faced with big things, so she just walked in calmly. The confidant followed behind and said that this third aunt who had joined the clan halfway was quite calm when faced with problems.
At this time, Mrs. Wei was lying on the bed, surrounded by several of her sisters-in-law from the clan. Jinniang was familiar with them. Although she was not the real aunt of the Wei family, she was a wife of high status because of her husband, who was the magistrate of the prefecture. As an official's wife, she was naturally extraordinary here.
Jinniang put her hand under her nose and saw that she was still breathing. She couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief: "She is still breathing. It must be a sudden fainting."
It was probably because Jinniang had written a story about a doctor when she was writing scripts in her previous life. She had looked up a lot of information and even had a screenwriter friend who did the same. It seemed that there was such a thing as vasovagal syncope. Although she didn't dare to be absolutely sure, she thought it should be fine.
She said, "It's not appropriate to have too many people in this ward. I'll stay here first. If he still can't wake up after another hour, I'll ask Xun Medical Clinic to come and give him acupuncture. Guiying, go get the salt and water from the kitchen."
Once she wakes up, just give her some more electrolytes.
Seeing that she was confident, everyone withdrew first. Jinniang did not allow anyone to move her easily. She looked at the doctor's diagnosis and it was fainting, which was almost the same thing.
It is true that wealth and honor are sought in danger. If anything happens to Mrs. Wei, the Wei family will probably put the blame on her. However, since Mrs. Wei woke up, she would have made a contribution.
Thinking of this, she said to A-Ying, "Bring my hand-embroidered lotus-shaped Guanyin here to keep it under control."
This Guanyin statue also adds a halo to itself. This ordinary Guanyin statue costs about fifty strings of coins, but if it has some halo blessing, people who don’t know about it may be willing to buy it for two hundred strings of coins.
If she returns to her old business one day in the future, she can live a worry-free life just by selling Guanyin statues.
After A Ying left, Wei Qilang ran in. Jin Niang was very surprised to see him: "Why is Qilang here? My dear child, your mother is just sleeping. Go study first."
"Third aunt, I sneaked in. Is my mother okay?" Wei Qilang was very worried.
Jinniang knew that Madam Wei doted on her youngest son. Qilang's eldest brother had already married and followed Lord Wei in office, but Qilang could not stand the fatigue of traveling by boat, so Madam Wei had always stayed with her youngest son in her hometown.
The mother and son naturally have a very deep relationship, and it is no wonder that Wei Qilang is worried about his mother.
"It's okay, just study hard, I'll be here to watch over you, aren't you worried?" Jinniang said with a smile.
After saying that, seeing Wei Qilang still standing there in such a silly manner, she felt a little sorry for him: "Good boy, why don't you bring paper and pen, and we can copy the scriptures for your mother together, okay?"
He didn't need to get these things himself. He just gave an order and someone would bring them to him soon. Jinniang then copied the scriptures with him. The two of them would talk about some topics from time to time. Jinniang was the kind of person who could chat with a dog on the street if she wanted to. And because she had two children, she could also chat with Wei Qilang.
"Does that mean you have to have a midnight snack after reading every day?"
Wei Qilang nodded: "Yes."
"So what do you like to eat?"
"I love eating plum blossom soup cakes, but I can only eat them in winter."
Jinniang smiled and said, "This plum blossom soup cake is appetizing, regulates qi, and clears lung heat. If it is made well, it is also very good for the body." After she said that, she thought to herself, this child is quite good at eating. Plum blossom soup cake is not just about putting plum blossoms in the soup directly. It is quite complicated. Generally, the plum blossoms are washed and chopped, and then sandalwood juice is used to boil the juice. The juice is then mixed with plum blossom powder and flour to make wonton skins. Then a plum blossom-shaped mold is used to chisel out plum blossom-shaped slices on the skin. Finally, the plum blossom-shaped slices are put into the boiled chicken soup.
The two talked for a while, and then lowered their heads to copy scriptures. After an hour, Mrs. Wei woke up slowly, and Jinniang hurriedly had someone feed her salt water. Seeing that she was still very weak, she didn't allow anyone to move her and just asked for another doctor.
When Mrs. Wei woke up, she saw Jinniang sitting next to her. Then she saw Wei Qilang was also there, and she felt a little relieved. But Jinniang did not take any credit for it. When the doctor said there was nothing wrong and she just needed to rest, she left with her embroidered statue of Guanyin on a lotus platform.
It was her confidant who told her that it was all thanks to Jinniang that she was in charge of the situation. Of course, this confidant also accepted a pair of gold bracelets weighing two taels from Jinniang privately, and spared no effort to praise her: "We were all panicked. The Eighth Madam in the next room asked if we should prepare funeral supplies. It was the Third Aunt who checked your breathing and invited her Lotus Platform Guanyin to come over. She asked us to bring salt water and personally copy the scriptures here with the Seventh Young Master. We thought it was just a bluff, but we didn't expect you to really wake up."
"In that case, we really have to rely on her," said Mrs. Wei.
The confidant laughed and said, "That's right."
Madam Wei glanced at the confidant and said, "I have been with her for the past two years and I have seen that she is a person who will not come forward for good things, but at critical moments, she is more reliable than the real relatives of the family."
Although the confidant spoke well of Jinniang, he was afraid that Madam Wei would doubt him, so he hurriedly asked, "Do you think Third Aunt wants to marry into our family?"
Madam Wei shook her head. "I asked her tentatively about Yun Jie'er's marriage. She said that arranged marriages for children are not reliable. It would be better to wait until my daughter grows up and see what her personality is like before choosing a suitable match."
The confidant remained silent, and listened to Madam Wei say, "In fact, the Jiang family has two Jinshi, and Jiang Xian is still so young, has a very good reputation as an official, is very talented, and has a very wealthy family."
…
After Jinniang came back, she mentioned this to Jiang Xian and said hurriedly, "Madam Wei and Madam Wu are relatives. It would be great if the eldest master of the Wu family recommended you."
"My lady is really far-sighted." Jiang Xian couldn't help but admire Jinniang. She didn't seem to be able to get along well with others right away like others, but she could always find the right opportunity over time.
But then again, if the lady didn’t know how to embroider the Guanyin statue, or if she had money, she wouldn’t be able to do it so smoothly in one go.
As for Mrs. Wei, after she recovered, Jinniang went to visit her again to keep an appointment with Madam Liu.
Madam Liu saw that Madam Ji and Jinniang both nodded slightly. After a while of playing, Jinniang didn't need to start the fire, as she had already prepared everything. She just waited by the side to talk: "I'm not very good at cooking, so I just made some side dishes. Please don't blame me, Madam."
"What are you talking about? You are just joking." Mrs. Liu said.
Jinniang thought that although they had a good relationship for a while, now that her husband was in a high position, she had to be careful with her words, so she smiled and said, "I really envy you. Your knife skills are so good. I'm afraid I will never be able to learn how to cook lychee white kidneys in my lifetime."
Hearing Jinniang's flattery, Madam Liu only smiled slightly. A girl from a wealthy family like her would act reservedly and people wouldn't know whether she was annoying or not.
Mrs. Ji worked hard to make a pot of chicken soup. She put countless wild ginseng in it. She didn't care whether others liked it or not. She just wanted it to be expensive.
However, the scallion-fried rabbit made by the Lan family is quite impressive.
Lan was the daughter of a nobleman, with an extraordinary family background and a straightforward personality. When Madam Qian was around, both of them were under her command. Now that Lan has won the favor of Madam Liu, Jinniang is also happy for her.
Soon, Lan became Madam Liu's guest of honor. Jinniang knew that Jiang Xian and Han Xiao had a good relationship, so she didn't have to follow the lady's route and just had to look presentable.
Often, the ladies’ socializing was to promote interactions among the men in the family, but if the men were already familiar with each other, Jinniang would be lazy.
Sure enough, on the Double Ninth Festival, Han Xiao invited Jiang Xian to climb the mountain together. The two of them traveled incognito. Jinniang happened to put new clothes on him and said, "Do you want to carry a poetry bag? You scholars always compose poems on a whim."
"Madam, I want to carry the poetry bag you gave me before." Jiang Xian liked the poetry bag made by Jinniang very much.
Jinniang smiled and said, "Okay, I'll help you pack it. There are also snacks, handkerchiefs, and purses. Just let the servants take them."
Jiang Xian naturally said good.
As for Jinniang, she played on the swings with her children in Linglong Pavilion and did not go out. When she was tired of playing, she and her brother played backgammon or chess, and Jinniang rested on the couch.
Most of the time, their family's days are quiet yet lively. If someone who is too careless and too lively suddenly comes, the family won't be able to bear it.
Unexpectedly, she heard that Madam Liu had come to the house. Jinniang hurried out to greet her, only to see two boys and a girl standing beside Madam Liu. Jinniang had heard that Han Xiao had been married for several years but had no children, and that Madam Liu had been married for three years but had no children either, so Han Xiao took two concubines. The eldest son was born to the concubine, the second son was born to Madam Liu, and the little daughter was also born to the concubine.
But Jinniang still admired Madam Liu for this. On the surface, she treated all the children equally, which was much better than Madam Ji. There were countless troubles in the Ji family due to the conflicts between the wives and concubines.
After welcoming the guests in, Jinniang asked Yunjieer to take her brothers and sisters to the backyard to play, and asked someone to serve tea and fruit. Then she smiled and said, "My husband left early this morning. I was still thinking about how to spend the time. I never thought that such a distinguished guest would come to visit."
Madam Liu scolded: "Why are you being so polite? We are relatives and old acquaintances. You were just being polite to others."
Seeing how affectionate Madam Liu was, Jinniang also reminisced with her: "I wonder how our relatives in Tokyo are doing? We have been away from home for many years and don't know about this."
Since the Jiang brothers both passed the imperial examinations, the Jiang family has become more prosperous. Madam Liu said with a smile, "Your sister-in-law has given birth to another little girl. When we came here, the family was holding a one-year-old ceremony. Even Xuan'er has been engaged. The person he is engaged to is a family surnamed Wu who is in charge of the imperial court's Privy Council."
"So it's her house?" Jinniang thought what a coincidence.
Madam Liu smiled and said, "Why, do you recognize him?"
Jinniang said, "The daughter-in-law of the previous mansion lord was surnamed Wu. We have some dealings with each other, so I was wondering if it was her family. I didn't expect it to be true."
"That's really a coincidence. By the way, I heard that the Ji family's term of office is about to end?" Madam Liu quickly changed the subject.
Jinniang nodded: "This year should be the third year that the Ji family has been in Daming Mansion. I guess the term of office is about to end. There are several vacancies in our mansion. I wonder if the judge has appointed one?"
Madam Liu knows all about this: "Yes, I am talking to you about this today. The new judge is surnamed Xia. He was originally a student of my father. He is okay, but his wife is a famous rouge tiger. They always make a lot of trouble. People say that if there is a female mosquito around, she would want to slap it to death. The original surname Xia had a bright future, but I heard that Shangguan sent a pair of pretty girls to him, but his wife beat their heads and broke them. The two families became enemies, and because of this, he was not promoted smoothly."
"We won't send any women to her, so it should be okay, right?" Jinniang said.
Madam Liu waved her hand and said, "That's not what I meant. This daughter-in-law loves to stir up trouble. She likes to argue over everything and spread rumors everywhere. I'm afraid that when she comes, there will be some misunderstanding between us, so I'm talking to you about it."
Jinniang's face was full of gratitude: "Thank you for telling me this, otherwise I would be afraid of offending someone, and then our good relationship would be ruined."
"That's what I said too." Madam Liu breathed a sigh of relief.
But her fundamental purpose of coming here was not this, but after talking about other things, she asked an irrelevant question: "I heard that your Wei family's main home is in Daming Prefecture?"
Jinniang was still wondering why she wanted to be friends with the Wei family today. It turned out that it was because of her relationship with the Wei family. She said calmly, "Yes, although we are distant relatives, we have become relatives when we meet. We are just relatives. But they are from a high family, and we are from a poor family. It is not easy for us to marry into such a high family."
Madam Liu smiled and said, "Since we are a family, there must be some affection between us. If you say you are marrying above your station, that would be too much."
"You're right." Jinniang agreed.
Mrs. Liu saw that Jinniang always treated herself as the wife of a subordinate and was very polite to her, which made her feel a little meaningless. But Jinniang thought that if she really treated Madam Liu as an equal in every way, after two or three times she would make her feel that she was overconfident and they might even turn against each other. So this distance was just right.
The two of them said a few perfunctory words and then left. When Judge Xia took office with his family, Judge Ji was transferred to Xiazhou District to serve as the prefect.
Jinniang and Madam Ji have never had a good relationship, so naturally she was not planning to carry it out. However, Madam Zhou Si had a good relationship with Madam Ji because of Old Madam Wang, so she still had to send the gift.
Madam Ji looked unhappy. She didn't have a high EQ to begin with. When she saw Mrs. Zhou, she complained, "We are the magistrate of Daming Prefecture, but we are going to be the governor of a lower state. How can we come back in the future..."
Mrs. Thursday didn't know what to say to comfort her.
Jinniang thought that Madam Wu seemed kind and generous, and had a very good reputation, but she didn't expect that she would give someone the most brutal blow. It is true that a gentleman's revenge is never too late.
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