Chapter 136 Chapter 136 Two Chapters in One
After coming out of the old house, both mother and daughter breathed a sigh of relief.
Yun Jie'er was young and energetic after all, so she couldn't help but say, "This grandmother keeps saying that she is going to die, and that she is alone and has no status. It makes people very angry. Doesn't my father give the title to his own mother, so why does he give the title to her?" "She is not competing with your biological grandmother. She wants to wait for your father to get promoted next time so that he can help her ask for an imperial decree. I am just practicing Tai Chi with her." Jin Niang said with a smile.
Yun Jie'er was very puzzled: "Why didn't she just wait? When she came in, Dad and you had already moved out. We usually give her generous gifts on festivals and festivals, and you still think it's not enough?"
Jinniang said to her daughter, "Didn't you notice? Whenever we do something, few people come to help. When it comes to grabbing the credit, everyone rushes to do it. But that's how the world is. Whether you like this person or not, you have to live under the same roof, unless you have the ability to start your own business, just like me and your father. We rely on ourselves and won't be controlled by others. Whatever she says, I won't agree on your father's behalf, so she can't achieve her goal, and she can't do anything to us."
Sister Yun sighed: "Mom, I don't want to get married anymore."
"Okay, it's good for you to stay at home. You can bring Wei Qilang back." Jinniang smiled at her.
I also heard Jinniang say to her daughter, "Look at your cousin from the Dou family. She used to live across from us in Daming Prefecture. Her sister-in-law gave birth to two sons, and she bullied her for not having a son. She was so arrogant. Otherwise, people always say that you should not be a woman in life, because your happiness and sorrow will be determined by others for a hundred years."
Sister Yun leaned on Jinniang and said, "What you said is really discouraging."
"If you lower your expectations for anything, you will be pleasantly surprised. If you have too high expectations, you will be more likely to be disappointed." Jinniang patted her daughter's hand to comfort her.
When the mother and daughter returned home, Jinniang briefly mentioned the matter to Jiang Xian. Jiang Xian hugged Jinniang and said, "I didn't expect she was still a fan of officials."
Jinniang looked at her husband and said, "Anyway, I just said a few words in a muffled manner. It doesn't seem like she's in any serious trouble. The flesh on her chin is almost hanging on her neck."
Zheng wanted to make trouble, but Jinniang and the others didn't live with her at all, and she was not Jiang Xian's biological mother. It was already good enough for her to send someone to send some supplements and visit him a few times. Jiang Yan and his wife in the clan praised them for being filial everywhere.
During the Mid-Autumn Festival, Jiang Xian took Master Jiang Liu over, and Ning Ge'er also came back. During the year in the provincial school, he studied very hard in order to be selected into the Imperial College, and he wrote poems and essays in class. Master Jiang Liu held his grandson's hand and said to Jiang Xian and Jin Niang, "You two must raise this child well and not restrict him."
Jiang Xian also laughed and said, "Dad, could it be that our Ning Ge'er was born with a special appearance?"
Of course he was very proud of his eldest son, who was born into wealth but was very able to endure hardships. However, the older he got, the more eccentric his personality became. However, he did not treat people differently, but treated everyone equally.
He is very opinionated and even his father cannot take away his ambition.
Such a person becomes an official not for the sake of being an official. He may become a high-ranking official in the future, and his father may be left behind. However, the child is still young and we cannot praise him too much.
Master Jiang Liu said, "I have my reasons for saying this."
After the Mid-Autumn Festival, the rent from Luoyang arrived. Jinniang put the two hundred and seventy taels in the west ear room. The money they had saved before was placed in the cellar under the main courtyard. This cellar was originally used to store gold and silver, and only the couple knew the secret passage underneath.
When the Double Ninth Festival came, Jiang Xian found a teacher for his second son Ding Ge'er. The child was just three years old this year, and was about the same age as his brother when he started to learn.
As usual, Jinniang set aside the west wing for the child to use as a study. The teacher she invited this time was an elderly scholar with a humorous temperament, not one of those serious old men. Jiang Xian is really good at doing things. At least he doesn't let the children reject studying.
On the first day after school, Ding Ge'er came back with a school bag as big as a rooster on his back. His big eyelashes were stained with tears, and he immediately threw himself into Jin Niang's arms and said, "Mother."
"Why is my little son so spoiled?" Jinniang held him and sat him on her lap.
Ding Ge'er laughed like a white dumpling: "Mother, all the stories about the Hundred Family Names that the teacher has told are the ones you have told."
After being enlightened by Yun Jie'er and Ning Ge'er, Jin Niang this time started teaching Ding Ge'er according to the orthodox ancient teaching methods, which was definitely not wild fox Zen.
"Well, did the teacher assign any homework today?" Jinniang asked.
Ding Ge'er nodded.
Jinniang said softly, "Then let our baby remember what his homework is every day, okay?"
Ding Ge'er was smiling.
After a while, Yunjie came over again and helped her brother with his homework. They had dinner together after Dingge'er finished.
A month later, Ding'er no longer cried when going to school, and Jinniang was relieved. She happened to have embroidered another quilt for her daughter, and she packed it and put it in a cotton bag and sealed it.
Porcelain was delivered. This was Ding kiln porcelain that Jinniang ordered for her daughter. There were white glazed lotus-petal bowls, white glazed pouring pots, white glazed five-legged incense burners, white glazed carved washbasins, white glazed lotus-patterned long vases, and white glazed porcelain pillows...
She looked at the bottom and saw the word "Jiang" engraved on it, and nodded slightly.
Often after these utensils arrive at the husband's family's home, if they are taken out and used together, it is hard to tell who they are, but by carving a word underneath, everyone will know who they belong to.
These also need to be reviewed by Yun Jie'er. She cannot be confused and only know the dowry list but know nothing about the items in the dowry.
Just as Yun Jie'er was coming over, Zhou Sanniang arrived, and Jin Niang hurriedly stood up to greet her. Now that Jiang Fang was highly valued by Shen Shangzheng, Zhou Sanniang's status also rose with the tide.
When Mrs. Zhou saw the box she had not yet covered, she couldn't help but praise it, "What a beautiful glaze."
"It was precisely because of the good glaze that I found someone I knew well and took a year to order it." Jinniang smiled and had it carried away, and then asked someone to serve the tea.
Mrs. Zhou San said, "I just went to Nanxunfang to visit her. Mrs. Zheng is taking good care of her. She said you guys send her a pig's trotter every day."
"Like cures like. We don't live close to each other now, and we can't go there every day. This is the only way we can do it." Jinniang said.
Madam Zhou San said that no matter what, Jinniang's actions were impeccable, but she always came to Jinniang to say something every time she went to the old house. Isn't this just a face-saving effort? Everyone is the same.
The two chatted for a few words, then Mrs. Zhou San left and went to Mrs. Zhou Si's place.
After the sisters met, Zhou Sanniang still felt like reminding her younger sister: "Today I went to Jin Liangqiao Jinniang's home, and they were preparing their dowry. The top-quality white glaze from Ding kiln would be great. You should also hurry up and decide, because the child will be of marriageable age next year."
Mrs. Zhou Si said, "It's not that I haven't helped to look at it, but it's always not satisfactory."
"You guys have to hurry up. By the way, how much dowry do you plan to give to your eldest lady?" Mrs. Zhou San thought to herself that she did have some connections and could introduce one or two.
Zhou Si's wife thought that the harvest from the two fields had been delivered, and there were 280 strings of cash in total. With her husband's salary and some gray income, it was almost 300 strings of cash now. At that time, girls were married at the age of 18 or 19, and there were still about three or four years left. She estimated a number and said, "I want to prepare 1,000 strings of cash for you, and give you the 100 acres of farmland that I brought as a dowry."
After all, there is still Second Aunt, and she can't give all to First Aunt. First Aunt has quite a few members of the Sun Family to add to her dowry.
One thousand strings of cash is actually not a small amount. It cannot be compared with the Zhou family. The Zhou family has been high-ranking officials for generations and is good at business. The Sun family is an ordinary official family. It is already very good that Zhou Si's wife and her family can buy a house in Bian Jing. The two daughters can only take this much.
When Mrs. Zhou San heard this, she thought that she had so much money, so she couldn't help but smile and said, "That's good, that's not bad."
"I think so too. After all, I have two daughters and the age difference between them is not that big." In fact, Mrs. Zhou Si was already starting to get anxious, because two daughters meant two thousand strings of cash.
Mrs. Zhou Si didn't understand their situation very well, because Jiang Fang was adopted and was the only son of that family. He had been an official for a long time and held a higher position, so she had enough money and thought Zhou Si was about the same as them.
Of course, the most urgent priority is my daughter's marriage. Her husband did not hold a high official position, so she asked Mrs. Zhou San to arrange it for her. After all, her third brother-in-law was now a staunch supporter of Shen's participation in politics.
Mrs. Zhou San immediately agreed: "Okay, I'll take a look for you."
It is said that Mrs. Zhou was also quick and quickly found a family. Jinniang also recognized this family. It was the illegitimate son of Mrs. Meng across the street, and the son of the deceased Mrs. Huang. Doctor Meng’s official position was two levels higher than Sun Shichen’s, and Mrs. Meng was a royal relative. The Meng family was very wealthy and lived in a large courtyard with five entrances.
Sun Shichen and Mrs. Zhou Si both felt that this marriage was not a good one, because Meng Sanlang was born out of wedlock, and although he was educated, he was still...
Miss Sun privately asked Mrs. Zhou San: "Aunt San, how is Meng Sanlang's knowledge?"
Mrs. Zhou San said, "He is quite knowledgeable. You may not know that among the three sons of the Meng family, the eldest son Meng married the daughter of the Lin family, the relatives of Shen Canzheng. The second and third sons are both educated. We only mentioned this because we saw that the third son Meng is good at studying."
Even Jinniang knew that Concubine Qiao was pregnant, so her future was probably limitless, not to mention a shrewd man like Jiang Fang.
Furthermore, Zhou Sanniang herself was born out of wedlock, and she knew very well that the situation of a concubine's daughter was not as good as that of a legitimate daughter, so she studied harder.
"Then I do." Miss Sun thought to herself that if she continued to look at him like this, she would soon be fifteen years old. She didn't know how long it would take. Didn’t the daughter of the Wang family also marry the illegitimate son of the Wei family? The distinction between a legitimate son and an illegitimate son is determined by academic performance. If a son is good at studying, he is the son of a concubine and will be treated like the ancestor of the family. If he is incompetent, what does it matter if he is the son of a legitimate wife?
Mrs. Zhou opened her eyes in surprise. She didn't expect her niece to be so decisive.
Because Sun Shichen's father had retired, Sun Shichen's official position seemed high to ordinary people, but to put it bluntly, it would be difficult for him to marry into a wealthy family. Madam Sun's dowry was only one thousand strings of cash, which was very difficult.
Not to mention others, let's just talk about the reasons why Jiang Xian's daughter was able to marry into the family. First, they were related by marriage, and second, Jiang Xian had a very good career. After returning from the Liao Kingdom, he was appointed as the Secretary of the Central Secretariat, and now he was going to be appointed as the fourth-rank Baohedian Attendant.
At the end of the year, Jinniang received an imperial edict appointing Jiang Xian as the attendant of Baohe Hall.
Meanwhile, Meng Sanlang, the youngest son of the Meng family across the street, was also engaged. His wife turned out to be Miss Sun, the daughter of Mrs. Zhou Si. Mrs. Meng didn't know that the Sun family and Jin Niang knew each other, and she said to Jin Niang, "This marriage was arranged by our master. The girl's aunt is the wife of Jiang Fang, the deputy minister of Tianzhang Pavilion, and her father is also an upright person among the upright people. It's a good marriage."
Madam Meng felt that if a concubine's son married the daughter of a minor official, the dowry would be mediocre, and since it would not be better than her own son's, she let him do as he pleased.
Jinniang thought that Lord Meng was a fifth-rank official, and Sun Shichen was a sixth-rank official, two levels lower. Although Meng Sanlang was a bastard's son, a bastard's son in a civil servant's family would be a treasure in the family as long as he could pass the imperial examination. The son-in-law that the Li family next door found comes from a family of minor officials.
Besides, the Meng family is not an ordinary official family. Madam Meng is a royal relative and her family is wealthy, which is not bad.
Mother Fang sat below Jin Niang and knew about Lady Zhou Si's two daughters. She said, "I remember that the eldest daughter of her family is about the same age as our sister Yun. They are both of marriageable age. Why did they only get married now?"
"I don't know about that." Jinniang shook her head.
Miss Sun was the one who agreed to this marriage. Although Mrs. Zhou Si blamed her daughter for being short-sighted, she had traveled through time from the modern era and knew that there was no difference between a legitimate and a illegitimate man, but there was a difference between relatives.
"Mrs. Meng is not Meng Sanlang's biological mother. She will not be loyal to her son. Besides, with your conditions, you can find someone better in the future." Mrs. Zhou Si felt that her daughter had married down.
Miss Sun said, "Even if I marry someone of a lower status, I won't regret it. Mother, I'll get married soon. You should also meet my second sister soon. My cousin from the Zhou family is also a gifted girl, so what? My uncle has been demoted, and I don't know what will happen in the future."
As the saying goes, prepare for a rainy day. As long as the Meng family are royal relatives, some things will not happen to them. Even if you don't participate in party struggles, no one will target you.
Mrs. Zhou Si did not expect her daughter to think so far ahead. She just thought that her daughter worried too much, so she chose a bastard to marry. But her daughter insisted, so she agreed.
Although the Meng family was betrothing their concubine's son, they still followed the rules. Although not as much as Meng Dalang and Meng Erlang, it was still generous. Madam Meng even told Jinniang that she would give 500 strings of cash when it came time to give the betrothal gift.
Five hundred strings of cash was the amount given by officials, and Mrs. Jiang Liu gave it to herself according to the standard of five hundred strings of cash.
However, discussing marriage is not a one-time thing, so Jinniang gave up after hearing about it.
In the early spring of the following year, Manager Yao and Village Head Fan went to the capital together. In this way, Jinniang also saved up a fortune. The two of them knew that Jiang Xian had been promoted again, so they stayed to kowtow. Jinniang asked Ding Ge'er's husband to help check the account books. Since there was no conflict of interest, what he said was true.
Jinniang thought that the land in Luoyang was originally given to her daughter, and she would give her a shop when she got married. In this way, she would have an annual income of six or seven hundred strings of cash, which was not a small amount.
My daughter's dowry is only 500 strings of cash away, or 5,000 strings of cash. I have to save it until next year.
She must finish embroidering the rest by the end of this year, as she will have to spend a whole year embroidering her daughter's wedding dress next year.
After seeing Jinniang's wedding dress, Sister Pianyun tried it on and wanted to wear it. In fact, she didn't want her mother to bother her anymore. Those embroidered pieces took up too much of her mother's effort, so her mother was not as leisurely as in previous years. Besides, her mother's wedding dress had only been worn once and was still brand new.
Jinniang didn't agree at all: "It will take another year or two. Oh, by the way, I asked Manager Yao to bring some celadon and secret color porcelain from Yue Kiln, which are all makeup boxes."
Sister Yun came over to take a look and really couldn’t let it go.
However, Jinniang did not forget to tell her the price, not to make her feel guilty, but to prevent her from squandering the money. Many people, who had saved up their money with great difficulty at home, would squander it madly when they got out. She didn't like her children always thinking that money came from the wind, so she would tell them.
It took two years to make the six wedding quilts. Jinniang only embroidered a jasmine gauze tent herself and bought a gilded tent. However, Yunjie embroidered two tents herself and finished the chair cover and table curtains with Minzhi. Now Jinniang starts to embroider door curtains. The weather is warm in early spring, which is a good time to do embroidery. Jinniang embroiders four pictures of flowers for the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter. This year she embroiders door curtains and veils.
Minzhi only made some oil rubbings, purses, fan covers, and small shoe uppers. Yunjie embroidered pillowcases herself and made shoes and socks for the Wei family.
As for the purses, headscarves, sweat towels, powder puffs, and oil rubbings given as rewards to the Wei family's servants, Qingrong was asked to make them. Qingrong has already completed them in the past two years.
While these tasks were being done, Mrs. Meng heard from Mrs. Li that Jinniang's embroidered Guanyin statue was very beautiful, and she also wanted to buy one for her second daughter. It happened that Jinniang had earned 200 strings of cash.
She took out 20 strings of cash and gave 10 strings of cash to Minzhi first, as an extra reward for her labor. She also gave 5 strings of cash to Qingrong, who waved her hand quickly, "You gave me that reward at the end of last year."
"Take it, it's my personal property." Jinniang said with a smile.
If there was another five strings of cash, Jinniang would give her servants an extra meal, a roast chicken for each of them.
All five members of the Luo family went to work. They brought back five roast chickens. Hutou was almost full. He rubbed his stomach and said, "I will definitely want to run away when I see a chicken in the future. My wife is really mean. Two chickens are enough for our family."
He was beaten up by his grandparents, parents and others one by one.
Mother Luo said, "Leave one for me to eat later when I go to work."
My wife is not allowed to drink alcohol when she is on night duty. She is only given hot water to drink, some basil drink, and a roast chicken. She is in good health and would like to come first next time.
Needless to say, the kitchen was filled with the aroma of oranges. There was a roast chicken, a glass of wine, and the two maids presented them with magnolia slices, fried bacon, sweet and sour fish, and pickled radish to go with the wine. It was a very refreshing meal.
Not to mention the men at the doorman's office. Some of them are married, but the single ones usually just eat a few pieces of meat to satisfy their hunger. This whole chicken is simply too delicious.
So when Jiang Xian came back from outside, the air was filled with the aroma of roast chicken, and he walked back quickly.
I saw Dingge's servant Liu Quan, who was about six or seven years old, eating chicken legs in the corridor.
"What's going on today? Why are we all eating chicken at home? Is it a good day?"
Jinniang smiled and said, "I sold a Guanyin statue today, so I will treat everyone in the mansion to a roast chicken."
Jiang Xian sat down and held out his hand: "Where's mine?"
"You want it too?" Jinniang was speechless. You don't want to eat chicken, duck, fish and meat every day, and now you are craving this.
Jiang Xian, however, was extremely greedy and kept pestering Jinniang for one. Jinniang was speechless and sent Hutou out to buy one. Hutou was drunk when he heard that. He couldn't even smell roast chicken and was already sick from eating it.
…
It was also said that the Meng family first sent a draft invitation to the Sun family, and Zhou Si's wife had also been a married woman, so she knew these steps, but when the engagement came, the woman would have to pay a sum of money.
Especially when the girl's family brings back the betrothal gift, all the silks and satins in the house have to be taken out. Although my daughter's needlework is not bad, she cannot embroider so many by herself. The shoes, socks, and handkerchiefs have to be made in pairs, so she has to find an embroiderer, and the labor fee will cost more than ten strings of coins.
Of course, money had to be given to the matchmaker and the lucky woman, which cost another fifty strings of cash.
Of course, what worried Mrs. Zhou Si more was the one thousand strings of cash written on the dowry. Fortunately, the Meng family sent five hundred strings of cash as a dowry, so her family only needed to collect five hundred strings of cash, which reduced a lot of her pressure.
The wedding date was also set later. Although Meng Sanlang was born out of wedlock, the gifts given by the Meng family were not shabby. Not only did they give him gold bracelets, gold pendants, but they also gave him two sets of gold-plated clothes, two sets of brocade clothes, and a silver-gilt crown.
Mrs. Zhou said to her daughter, "I have a crown in my dowry. I will let you take it as a dowry when the time comes."
A pure gold crown costs one or two hundred strings of cash, which is not cheap.
Miss Sun smiled and said, "Thank you, mother."
Treating the other party's dowry as part of her own dowry also reduced the pressure on her family to prepare the dowry, and Miss Sun also breathed a sigh of relief.
By the time the Meng family paid the dowry, it was already June. Jinniang had finished embroidering the hanging curtains and veil, and she could finally breathe a sigh of relief. It just so happened that Ning Ge'er passed the exam and was admitted to the upper class, and Jiang Xian's salary was also taken back. Since he was now a fourth-rank official, his salary for half a year was almost four hundred strings of cash.
She also asked a tailor to come and make summer clothes for the four members of her family, five sets for each person to change into.
The new clothes were made by several tailors in a few days, so Jinniang could wear them on her birthday. Wei Qilang even came specially to give her a birthday gift. Wei Qilang had grown very tall in the past few years, and they had to look up at him when they spoke to him.
"Aunt, I heard that Ning'er was admitted to Shangshe." Wei Qilang sat down.
Jinniang smiled and said, "That's right. I've been in the prefectural school for almost two years. I finally passed the exam from the outer dormitory to the middle dormitory. This year I moved to the upper dormitory. I'm so happy. But the pressure is also great. It's said that there are so many talented people here."
Wei Qilang smiled and said, "It's just that your nephew wants to take you back home. Today is the day to celebrate your aunt's birthday. I'm afraid we won't see each other again until next year."
Jinniang looked at him and said, "You young people should also go out and try your luck. However, the human relationships out there are also very complicated. You must not be deceived."
Wei Qilang looked panicked and anxious: "Aunt is the most knowledgeable person I have ever met. Please share your experience with me. I am afraid of being tricked by others."
"Okay." Jinniang said.
Jiang Xian on the side glanced at the son-in-law in front of him, and snorted in his heart, this kid is really cunning, and he is pretending very well. He is not afraid of being tricked by others, he guesses that others are pretty good at tricking him.
Fortunately, my wife is kind-hearted.
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