Chapter 114 Chapter 114 Two Chapters in One
"Yes, it was almost lost. I was so worried, but luckily it was recovered in the end." Jinniang was talking about the embroidered portrait with Mrs. Wei.
Mrs. Wei often stayed up late, which caused her to get too excited and faint. Now that she has been resting for these days, she looks in good spirits. She smiled and said, "It's also because your embroidered portrait is too famous."
Jinniang smiled and said, "Actually, this may not be effective. It's just psychological comfort."
Originally she was telling the truth, but Mrs. Wei secretly thought that she was unwilling to lend it again, so she said such things. Forget it, she already had a painting at home, so there was no need to be greedy.
The two talked about the current situation in the prefecture. Jinniang said, "Judge Xia is here. I heard that the new Tongpan has also been appointed and will be here soon."
As a member of the local aristocratic family, Madam Wei often interacted with the families of local officials. She couldn't help but say, "We have to have good relations with these superiors, otherwise if we can't write a good evaluation, it will be in vain."
This was a lesson for her, and Jinniang quickly agreed, "You are right, we dare not treat them badly."
“But we can’t just let it go.” Mrs. Wei said with a smile.
Jinniang nodded.
Wei Sigu came over again. She was sending her daughter and her husband's niece to attend the girls' school. The girls were about six or seven years old and looked excited but a little scared.
Jinniang knew that Madam Wei was busy, so she said goodbye first. Madam Wei asked her confidant to see her out. The confidant had received a pair of gold bracelets from Jinniang before, and now she had a good relationship with Jinniang. She also said, "The two daughters of the Sun family never said they would come, nor did they say they would not come. They kept asking for leave. It's just right that the two girls are here now, and it will be more lively."
"Why doesn't Miss Sun come?" Jinniang asked.
The confidant said: "I don't know about that."
The girl from the Sun family really couldn't come because Sun Shichen wanted shares from two businesses. When it came time to do the work, she was afraid that it would affect her official career, so she refused to go. These traveling merchants are not without means. Naturally, they want to threaten Zhou Si, and he was frightened to death.
However, Sun Shichen was the son of an official after all, and he said, "A few merchants can't cause any big waves, so you don't have to worry. We have done enough to distance ourselves from the matter. We took less than anyone else, so it's okay."
Thursday was finally reassured. This was an unspoken rule. Almost everyone would get some shares, and they didn't get much. This is just like when she was a blogger, advertising was a normal source of income.
However, by the time the matter had calmed down, the eldest and second Miss Sun had already fallen behind in their studies for two or three months, and Mrs. Zhou was inconvenient to go to Daming Mansion, so she asked someone to give up the house and had to give up halfway.
The Daming Prefecture was also waiting for the new Tongpan's wife to come. This new Tongpan's wife was a weird person, and Jinniang felt that she seemed to be of a different kind from them.
If you are not of the same kind, just avoid contact with each other.
But Mrs. Xia came to the house in person at this time, and she came to propose marriage: "Mrs. Jiang, I have something good to discuss with you."
"Oh, what's the matter?" Jinniang looked at her.
Madam Xia smiled and said, "It's like this. Yesterday, I was talking with the wife of the Tongpan, and she happened to mention that she had a nephew who was the son of a big medicinal material merchant in Chuzhou and made a fortune every day. He was about the same age as your sister Yun. When I heard that this was a good news, I rushed over."
"No, no, our daughter is still young." Jinniang shook her head.
Madam Xia pulled her aside and said, "Just take a look first, and then we'll talk."
"Sister Xia, that's not necessary. Our family is in Bian Jing. We will return to Bian Jing sooner or later. My daughter will not marry far away. Thank you for your kindness." Jinniang refused directly.
Madam Xia was still unwilling to give up: "Do you dislike him because he is a merchant? His family is rich, and he can afford a house in Bianjing."
This was a forced sale. Jinniang had no idea what she was doing, so she just said, "Thank you for your kindness. We'll talk about my daughter's matter later."
In this way, Mrs. Xia left.
Ah Ying looked at her back and wrinkled her nose: "What the hell is that?"
"Who knows what she is up to? I don't want to bother with her." Jinniang shook her head.
How could Jinniang and the others know that there are some people in this world who would create trouble out of nothing just to find a sense of existence. When Madam Xia first came to Daming Mansion, Madam Liu and Madam Jin were not meddlesome people, and the two families seemed to have a good relationship, so she had no idea where to start. Now the wife of a Tongpan came. When she met Wei, she saw that Wei was dressed noblely. She heard that her brother from her natal family was the Huainan Transport Commissioner and that her husband's brother was a Jinshi. Therefore, she was interested in marrying Wei, and of course she took the initiative to volunteer.
Therefore, Madam Xia ran to the wife of the Tongpan and sighed, "My dear Madam Shangguan, I have worn out my lips, but they just don't respond. They say they are from Bianjing and despise Chuzhou as a remote place. They also say they are merchants. I don't know what to say."
The judge's wife frowned: "Are you telling the truth?"
"Look at what you said. What benefit can I get from making up a lie?" Mrs. Xia wiped the sweat off her forehead and looked shy again.
The magistrate's wife thought the same thing. Madam Xia looked honest, shy and simple, so she had a lot of opinions about Jinniang.
Madam Liu's husband holds a high position, so Madam Xia dares not offend her. But for Jinniang, the magistrate is a little lower in rank than the judge, but not much, so Madam Xia decided to make trouble.
Of course, another reason was that she came to thank the matchmaker for the money. At that time, the money was very high. The house that the Xia family rented here had only two courtyards, but they saw Jinniang and the others living in a house with three courtyards and a garden, which made them very unhappy. In her opinion, since their official positions were lower than hers, they should live in the same place and have fewer people than her.
If this marriage went through, she would only get money, but Wei didn't give her any face at all and openly looked down on her. She deserved to be targeted by the wife of the magistrate for her ungratefulness.
Jinniang told Jiang Xian about this matter, and the couple both felt that Madam Xia had no sense of propriety. If Madam Xia came in the future, they would find excuses to turn her down.
"I was still thinking about how Judge Xia passed the imperial examination at the age of 23, and is now 43 years old. He has been in the official career for 20 years, but his official rank is only about the same as mine. Now it seems that the reason is really because of his wife." Jiang Xian did not expect Mrs. Xia to act so absurdly.
Jinniang shook her head: "Don't take them too seriously. After so many years of experience, I feel that normal people are a minority in this world, and people with problems are the majority."
Jiang Xian also told a story: "Last time when I was judging a case, a clerk suddenly started talking to himself, which scared me a lot."
"It's scary to hear. You see, people's hearts are really hard to predict. Madam Zhen even stole something." Jinniang used to be like most people. She thought that people with status and wealth would not do things that were too shocking. In fact, she didn't have a very strong filter for everyone.
Speaking of Madam Zhen, Jiang Xian said, "Yes, this is what we call knowing a person's face but not his heart. Fortunately, she is not very courageous. If she is the kind of person who insists on going all the way, we can't do anything to her."
Dou Yuan also thought so. She was a mother-in-law who was a little bad sometimes, but she couldn't stand being scared. She saw that her cousin's Guanyin statue was good, so she sent someone to take it secretly. As for what to do with it, she knew a thing or two. It was not for her sons and grandchildren, but mostly for her own health.
The crying of the child brought her back to her thoughts. Dou Yuan shook her head again. As the mistress, she still had to assign servants: "Send some supplements to Aunt Qi's house for me later."
About 40 days after giving birth, Aunt Qi's daughter-in-law suffered a heavy bleeding.
After sending the servants away, Dou Yuan saw her sister-in-law Zhuang coming over. She stood up quickly and asked, "How come you have time to come here today?"
Among Mrs. Zhen’s three sons, the one who can be relied on in the end is her own husband. Although Zhen Sanlang was also a scholar, he could not bear the hardship of studying and was fond of romantic affairs. This was not obvious when Zhuang came into the family, but after giving birth to a son, his true colors were revealed. He stood very straight and did not even show much respect for his sister-in-law.
Zhuang smiled and said, "Second sister-in-law, I never come to your house for no reason. A few days ago, our family was in chaos and we were all in a mess. Now that our family is finally peaceful, I came here to tell you that I am pregnant again and I feel bitter. My mother-in-law said that I am causing trouble for you. It would be better to find some bricks and build a stove."
Originally, he wanted to build a small kitchen by himself. Once the small kitchen was built, he would have to hire a new cook and buy things separately. Besides, his eldest sister-in-law didn't have any, and he didn't have any either. If his third brother's wife wanted to build it by herself, that would be against the rules.
It doesn't matter if she breaks the rules, people will blame her then.
Dou Yuan said in a friendly manner, "Sister-in-law, do you want to build a small kitchen by yourself? I have no objection, but I am the housekeeper now, and I am afraid that I will disobey my aunt's wishes. If you build it, what will my sister-in-law say?"
"If my second sister-in-law doesn't take care of the family, I won't tell you. My mother-in-law has agreed to everything." Zhuang thought to herself, I gave birth to a son, and my eldest sister-in-law is just a widow. Her brother caused such a disaster. If it were her, she would have killed herself long ago. How can someone like her be compared with me?
Dou Yuan remained unmoved: "Yes, you have said it many times. You want to build a small kitchen and you are pregnant. This is a big deal for our family. I agree with it 100%. But I have to sort this out, so that you won't find me to argue with me later."
How could Zhuang be a match for Dou Yuan? When Dou Yuan found Madam Zhen and talked about the small kitchen, she even said that she wanted to call all the sisters-in-law over to avoid any grudges between them. Madam Zhen immediately said that it was not necessary.
Naturally, the matter came to nothing.
Dou Yuan brought her daughter to Jinniang's house to play. Due to the cold weather, Jinniang did not do needlework. She was asking someone to make tea and serve fruit when she heard Dou Yuan finish talking about the dispute with Zhuang.
"She is making a fuss. She thinks she has given birth to a son and now she is pregnant again, so naturally she wants to be the emperor." Jinniang knows exactly what this person is thinking.
Women, it's better to vent some of your troubles. After listening to Jinniang's words on her behalf, Dou Yuan felt much better. But when she heard Jinniang talking about Madam Xia's activities, she said, "Cousin, don't listen to her. We should go to Bianjing to find our sister Yun'er's appearance and personality in the future."
Jinniang smiled and said, "I thought so too, but Madam Xia came to my house to make trouble and also tried to sow discord between me and the wife of the Tongpan. A middleman told me this, so I have to find a way to resolve it."
Dou Yuan suggested: "It's not that difficult actually. You can be on good terms with Han Zhongshu's wife and ask her to be the middleman so that both parties can make peace."
"Well, what you said makes sense." Jinniang didn't like Madam Xia. She and Madam Xia would never get along, but there was still room for maneuver with the Tongpan.
So, Jinniang and Jiang Xian discussed it and went to Han Zhongshu's residence first, asking Madam Liu to help them. She couldn't help but say, "This Madam Xia pestered me and said a lot of nonsense. I don't dislike anyone. Firstly, my sister is still young, less than thirteen years old, and I will never arrange a marriage for her. Besides, even if we arrange a marriage, we will not let my daughter marry far away."
Madam Liu understood immediately and was very angry: "It's really too abrupt for someone to talk about a merchant without any reason. Don't worry, I will help you to mediate this matter."
"That's great if you say so." Jinniang naturally presented several fashionable satins of different colors.
After leaving Han Zhongshu's house, Jinniang and Fang Mama got on the carriage together. Fang Mama said, "Madam, do you think this Madam Liu will help us get out of this?"
Jinniang shook her head: "I'm just pretending. If she accepts my gift, we just need to keep it to ourselves. Besides, the Tongpan and the Judge are both new here, and they won't bully people at any time."
"Are you really not worried?" Fang's mother was still worried. For an official to be promoted, he had to take care of everything from top to bottom. That's what it meant. The inspection is conducted every three years, and what is needed is the evaluation by the superiors.
Jinniang said, "We can't just give them away randomly. If we give them now, their appetite will be pampered by next year, and they will ask for more. Now I'll ask Madam Liu to mediate. If everyone is close, then that's fine. If they are determined to make things difficult, I'll discuss countermeasures with my husband."
It is also said that Madam Liu had agreed to Jinniang's request, so she was naturally willing to do this favor. Not to mention the long-standing relationship between Han Xiao and Jiang Xian, Jiang Xian's mother is also a relative of hers, and even Wei Jinniang and the local Wei family are also a family.
Fortunately, Madam Xia and Madam Tongpan were two stupid people, otherwise it would be difficult for her to show her kindness.
Madam Liu quickly called the magistrate's wife over. The magistrate's wife was much more shrewd than Madam Xia. Madam Liu said, "The Jiang Tui family is an old friend of ours. How do you get along?"
The wife of the magistrate was still unaware of this. When she heard this, she said, "They get along very well, very well."
"Well, that's good. I won't say more. His wife is from the local wealthy Wei family. Although the old husband of the Wei family is gone, young Master Wei is still a third-rank transport envoy. We all work as officials in Daming Prefecture, and we have to deal with big families like the Wei family, the Zhen family, and the Zhang family. We can't afford to offend any of these people." Madam Liu raised her hand, indicating that she should have tea.
The wife of the magistrate was terrified when she heard this, and blamed Xia Huazi for messing around and offending people.
After knocking for a while, Madam Liu laughed and said, "Look, you've forgotten what I said. Madam Wei still has a few rolls of top-quality brocade. I'll give them to you on her behalf. You'll get to know each other better when you get to know each other better."
The wife of the Tongpan responded hesitantly.
After the matter was resolved, although the wife of the Tongpan was still on good terms with Madam Xia, she still behaved normally towards Jinniang.
This was the result Jinniang wanted. As for Madam Xia, Jinniang was listening to Lan's complaints: "I accompanied her to visit the entire Daming Mansion, but she thought everything was too expensive. In the end, we came back hungry and didn't buy anything."
"Just ignore her in the future. You may not know that the clerks and servants under Judge Xia are all complaining about her." Jinniang blew the tea and shook her head.
Lan pouted and said, "It's really hard for us wives of officials."
Jinniang also agreed with this statement. As she held a low official position, she was always afraid of offending this person or that person. The Lan family was even more miserable than her. Of course, Jinniang and the others had also survived like this in Wu County, so it was really a rare opportunity to meet a Madam Shangguan who was as good as Madam Qian.
The two complained for a few words, but Mrs. Xia was unaware of this. She thought she was in good company with the magistrate's wife, but she never expected that at the Wei family's party, the magistrate's wife took the initiative to greet Jinniang, and Jinniang also took her to talk to Mrs. Wei. Only Mrs. Xia was left alone, and no one paid any attention to her.
Madam Xia came over to Jinniang's table again, smiling, but Jinniang would not sincerely accept her. She only spoke to Madam Liu and the wife of the magistrate. Lan was also there to join in the fun, but they ignored her.
This is her own fault. Originally, everyone was living in peace, but if you cause trouble, I am not afraid. She was able to make peace with the magistrate, which showed that the magistrate still had some respect for her. But Madam Xia was unreasonable.
The villain fears power but not virtue. This can be seen from the way Madam Bao treated Madam Tian back then.
After the meeting, Jinniang returned home, only to hear that Madam Xia had caught up with her. Jinniang wanted to go home, but she asked someone to stop the carriage at the gate of Zhen's house. When she got off the carriage, she was surprised and asked, "Why are you here? I was going to Zhen's house now."
Madam Xia smiled and said, "I must have something to ask you."
"I have already made an appointment with the Zhen family. I'm sorry." Jinniang said and left.
As long as you talk to her, you will be framed. Today, the wife of the Tongpan has spoken to her about this Madam Xia, who is really afraid of chaos in the world.
Mrs. Xia walked back, and the more she thought about it, the more she felt something was wrong. This trick had always worked in the past, and no one had resisted. Why did it fail this time?
She didn't know that Jinniang hadn't been in Daming Prefecture for two years in vain, and how could she survive without some means?
But the next day, when Madam Xia was about to come over again, she heard the doorman say that Han Zhongshu and his wife were coming over for dinner. Only then did she realize that the prefect had such a good relationship with the Jiang family. If the Jiang family said anything in front of the prefect, she would be finished.
However, Jinniang was not lenient. She was complaining to Madam Liu, "I wonder if Judge Xia was asked to take over a case that was obviously full of mistakes. The clerks below have filed complaints one after another. How could my husband sign a document on this?"
"I'm sure she's the one who took charge of the lawsuit." Madam Liu knows everything about this kind of thing.
Jinniang shook her head: "I don't know about that. With the inspector above and the prefect below, how could anyone dare to do that? I can't figure it out."
During this meal, the men ate at one table and the women ate at a table next to them. Han Xiao originally had no appetite, but when he saw Jinniang eating a large piece of braised pork, he actually regained his appetite.
Probably for this reason, every time Han Xiao came to the Jiang family, he ate very well, and Madam Liu was also willing to come. Moreover, after dinner, the two of them could paint flowers together. She used to love painting flowers when she was in the boudoir, and she never thought that Jinniang was not only good at making clothes, but also good at painting.
One day, Zhen Erlang came back, and Jinniang introduced Dou Yuan to Madam Liu. It would have been better if they hadn't met each other. Once they met, the two families arranged a marriage for the children.
Luo Jie'er proposed to marry Han Xiao's eldest son, so Dou Yuan naturally asked Jin Niang to be the bride.
Jinniang asked seriously, "How come your two families decided on a marriage so quickly?"
"Cousin, I tell you the truth, this Han Zhongshu is the prefect of Daming Prefecture at a young age, and his father-in-law is Liu Jixiang. Although my father-in-law is still an official, it is good enough for him to retire as a third-rank official at this age. Besides, the eldest brother of the Han family is handsome, and Madam Liu is very virtuous. We have to settle down early. If the Zhen family falls on hard times in the future, with such a good marriage, my sister Luo will sooner or later become an official's wife." In Dou Yuan's view, even if the eldest brother of the Han family fails in his studies, he can still be an official through imperial favor.
She also advised Jinniang: "Cousin, although Yunjie is still young, you can still look for her first. You can't wait until that time when a good boy suddenly appears."
Jinniang suddenly remembered a saying: good men are usually not available in the marriage market.
The first snow of winter fell, and Luo Da came at this time. In addition to bringing the rent money, he also brought Jiang Yan's letter. These letters were addressed to Jiang Xian, so Jinniang didn't open them yet. It was just that the money sent this year was less.
Luo Da sighed, "The money house at Jinliang Bridge didn't last. It was rented out to a hair flower and wig seller for two months, and they only offered 28 strings of cash. Also, the silk shop owner at your place transferred it to his cousin, and he only offered 20 strings of cash. So the total is only 576 taels. Now, with the rent for the 200 acres of the farm, it's only 176 strings of cash, so we only have a little over 700 strings left."
Jinniang thought that it seemed necessary to buy more properties. She didn't expect that Bianjing only sent this much money this year. She was not too disappointed, but just said, "Thank you for your trouble."
Luo Da didn't dare to be as willful as he had been in previous years. After all, there was really less money this year.
However, she did bring good news. Jiang Xian looked at Jiang Yan's letter and said to Jinniang, "My eldest brother said that Xuan'er is marrying into the Wu family and has recommended me to the Wu family and Prime Minister Jixian. If nothing unexpected happens, I may be transferred back to Beijing." "That's great." Jinniang said.
She also discussed with Jiang Xian to let Luo Da bring some things back as a holiday gift for Jiang Yan, and Jiang Xian naturally agreed.
However, when the couple looked at the silver sent from Bian Jing this year, they felt that it was too little. Fortunately, Tafang sent 1,200 taels, and Wuxian sent 800 taels in installments. Only then did Jinniang breathe a sigh of relief.
"Wife, if we go back, will we be able to afford a big house?" Jiang Xian was most worried about this, especially when he saw his wife frowning.
After all, Han Xiao and he were good friends at the local level and they would not give him a bad review. Once he had smoothed out the relationship with the higher-ups, he had nothing to worry about. The only thing he was worried about was this matter.
Jinniang calculated in her mind that it was almost eight thousand eight hundred taels. If she sold this house in the future, it would be almost nine thousand taels, which would be enough.
But she said to Jiang Xian: "Don't think so far ahead, wait until the dust settles."
Although Jiang Yan is a good person, a typical example of gentleness, courtesy, frugality and modesty, there is the precedent of Madam Wu. You have to know that the daughter-in-law of Prime Minister Jixian is Xu's cousin. Would Xu be willing?
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