Chapter 84 Chapter 84 Two Chapters in One
A large ship was sailing on the river. A drizzle began to fall. The window was already ajar. Looking out through the gap, it seemed that the mist had not yet melted away. Suddenly, there was a feeling of mist and flowing jade.
Jinniang has been on the boat for three days now. The adults have adapted to the situation and the children are not sick. She can finally breathe a sigh of relief and sit by the window to relax.
It has been a long time since I had such free time. Jinniang has been working for almost sixteen years and has never had a real rest.
Ah Ying brought over a pot of tea, and soon she put pine nuts, lychees, round-eye nuts, lotus seeds, ginkgo nuts, and hazelnuts on a small plum blossom plate and placed it on the square table. She said with emotion: "Madam, we are busy in the embroidery shop every day. Now that we have some free time, I don't know what to do."
Jinniang smiled and said, "Silly girl, running an embroidery shop is not a long-term solution. Even if I stay in Bianjing, I won't be able to work there for many years."
"Why?" Aying was puzzled.
Jinniang pointed at her eyes and said, "I started working in the embroidery workshop when I was nine years old. It has been sixteen years now. My health is not as good as before. Most embroiderers who have been working for a long time start to have blurred vision around the age of thirty, and cannot see clearly beyond ten feet."
Ah Ying thought of Zhu Xiu Niang, and it seemed to be just like that, people approaching from a distance could not be seen clearly.
She understood, and had to admit that her wife was right, so she said, "I will serve you well in the future and take good care of my health."
Jinniang smiled and said honestly that after she stopped doing needlework every day, her back pain got much better, and even her sleep improved a lot. But she held Ah Ying's hand and said, "You should learn more from Mother Fang. In the future, when you are socializing with the wives of officials, you will be my greatest helper."
"Yeah." Aying nodded heavily.
The master and servant drank a pot of tea, and Jinniang closed the window and went to the couch to read. She was still very satisfied with this passenger ship. It was neither too big nor too small, and the beds inside were complete and clean. It was said that it would only take 20 to 30 days to get from Bian Jing to Pingjiang Army if there was no wind, waves or heavy rain. However, Jinniang specifically asked the person and he was told that it usually took more than two months to get there.
The price was even quite high. Including food and miscellaneous expenses, they would have to spend three hundred strings of cash on this trip.
I have to say it is really expensive, but there is no other way. The child is too young, and taking a boat can reduce the number of transfers. This is also the reason why some officials travel alone, it can save a lot of money.
However, I heard that Miss Zhou Si followed her husband to Fuyang County to serve as the chief clerk. Fuyang County is in Hangzhou and costs more.
If we were to say which one is better, Wu County or Fuyang County, it would definitely be Wu County. In the Song Dynasty, counties were divided into Wangxian, Jin, Shang, Zhong and Xia, except Chi and Ji. Wu County was a Wang county, Fuyang County was a Jin county, and Wu County was the first county of Pingjiang Prefecture.
After reading for a while and eating a few bites of food, it was soon night. Jiang Xian came back from outside, and Jinniang pointed to the iron soup bottle and said, "There is hot water in it for you."
It was inconvenient to wash and brush their teeth during the journey, but fortunately Jinniang's iron soup bottle solved many problems. The couple asked the kitchen to fetch hot water every day, so it was no problem for them to wash and brush their teeth, so they were quite clean.
Jiang Xian took the iron soup bottle behind the screen, cleaned his teeth carefully first, poured out the hot water, added some cold water, washed his body clean, changed into pajamas, and then called Aying to come in and clean up.
Fortunately, the couple didn't need a maid to keep watch at night. After cleaning the room, Aying went back to rest.
They had chartered a boat and there were no outsiders, so everyone felt at ease. Besides, Jiang Xian was an official, so some people did not dare to act rashly.
"Madam, are you asleep?" Jiang Xian asked.
Jinniang yawned: "What's wrong? Are you too tired from the boat ride?"
"No, I'm asking if you're still feeling heartache after spending three hundred strings of cash?" Jiang Xian said.
Jinniang knew he was joking, so she smiled and said, "No, I just didn't expect to spend so much money. Fortunately, we have enough silver."
Jiang Xian hugged his wife and said, "My brother is going to take up his post alone, and my sister-in-law will stay at home, but I hope you can accompany me."
"I also want to be with you, so I have never thought of being separated from you." Jinniang snuggled into his arms, smelled a pleasant scent, and couldn't help but stick to him.
Jiang Xian was a little proud. These were the bath beans he picked personally when he left Bian Jing. They really smelled good. Looking at his wife like this, it must be very useful.
The two of them slept soundly all night. When Jinniang got up in the morning, she heard birds chirping and fighting outside the window, so she and Jiang Xian got up. The breakfast is prepared by the boat girl. Since we usually only have two meals a day on the boat, they are both very substantial.
In the morning, I have a bowl of five-flavor meat porridge, a portion of fried white sausage, two pieces of pig pancreas Hu cakes, chestnut cake, milk cake, as well as pickled yellow sprouts, pickled melons, etc. Jinniang, Jiang Xian and their daughter Yunjie'er couldn't finish the food, so they shared some with Aying and Xiqiu.
Mother Fang was eating at a small table nearby, and she was listening to Jinniang and Jiang Xian talking: "I've seen officials always bring some local products to sell when they come to Bianjing from their hometowns. I wonder if we can also bring some local products to Wuxian to sell along the way? This way, at least it can help to cover some of the travel expenses."
Jiang Xian originally thought it was troublesome, but since his wife had spoken, he naturally felt that it made sense. The boatman was also from Liangzhe Road. Jiang Xian talked with them, but he didn't say what he wanted to buy. He just asked what people from Wu County liked.
After asking around, Jiang Xiancai said, "I heard that Pingjiang City is very lively. There are Rice Bridge, Fruit Lane Bridge, Fish Lane Bridge, Silk Lane Bridge, Grain Market Bridge, Medicine Market Street, Bean Powder Lane, Wine Lane, Oil Lane, Embroidery Thread Lane, Felt Lane, Curtain Lane, and Scarf Lane in the city. It may not be worse than Bianjing."
Jinniang had no choice but to give up. Fang Mama, who was standing by, said, "Madam, if you ask me, the people there are not short of money, but they lack respect for the ladies in Bianjing."
Jinniang quickly realized what was said and said with a smile, "In that case, can you and Fang Mama teach me how to be more dignified when you have time?"
Jiang Xian liked this kind of enthusiasm in his wife. Those so-called noble ladies were nothing more than those who were reborn better.
"Jinniang, I will teach you how to play the game of pitching pots. I am very good at it." Jiang Xian said hurriedly.
Mother Fang smiled and said, "I taught you how to play backgammon. I'm not bragging. When my wife was still alive, I often won a few games."
Jinniang said happily: "With your help, I have nothing to fear."
After the boat docked, Jiang Xian asked someone to buy backgammon chess pieces. Jinniang was a serious person. She read books and learned backgammon during the day. In her opinion, the technique of backgammon was a matter of practice, so she could only practice diligently and find the trick herself. After understanding the rules of Shuanglu, he started a round-robin game with Fang's mother, Minzhi, Xiqiu and even Jiang Xian.
Everyone likes Jinniang, who is very diligent and studious. She seldom causes trouble for servants, and always talks about things when there is something to say, and she never humiliates them easily.
"My dear, once the boat docks, we will be able to eat juicy green vegetables." Jinniang smiled and picked up a piece of green vegetables with chopsticks and gave it to her daughter. The child never liked to eat green vegetables.
After eating it, Yunjie wanted to vomit it out, but seeing Jinniang staring at her, she ate it in big mouthfuls.
Ning Ge'er is now ten months old and has eight teeth. He doesn't have to eat porridge all the time. His meals are specially made by Juxiang, which include diced egg buns, a few vegetable leaves, and a small bowl of clear soup noodles cooked with lard.
There was no other way. Ning Ge’er had been constipated before, so after adding lard, the child felt much more relaxed.
Jinniang had observed this when she was taking care of Yunjie'er, so she also had experience when taking care of Ningge'er.
After dinner, the wet nurse took the child back to the room, and Jinniang stood up and started playing the game of tossing pots. First, place the copper pot two and a half arrows away from him, and throw bamboo arrows into the pot mouth. The one who gets 120 arrows first wins. She did this every day after dinner and became a lot thinner. So she loved throwing arrows into the pot even more.
Her best achievement now is to shoot two arrows into the pot.
Jiang Xian instructed from the side: "Your hand should be held firmly, don't let it deviate when you release it, otherwise it will pierce your ears."
Jinniang listened carefully: "Okay, I'll try again."
Jinniang is always grateful for other people's advice. In fact, life's circumstances are constantly changing. If you always stay in the same environment, you will easily lose your fighting spirit.
But Jiang Xian felt that Jinniang was too official. When he was teaching her, she really treated herself as a student and learned from him very humbly. She didn't use her status as a wife to act like a spoiled child at all. She was quite an unusual person.
After playing the pot for an hour, Jinniang went to the couch to read a book, took a nap, and asked Fang's mother to come in and play backgammon with her.
She practiced like this every day and made rapid progress in about half a month, and it seemed that the days passed very quickly. Just when the boat docked for supplies, they heard that Sun Shichen and Zhou Si wanted them to take a ride. It turned out that the boat they hired was leaking, and it would take at least ten days or half a month to wait for a boat here, which was not easy, so they asked Jiang Xian for help.
Jiang Xian subconsciously looked at Jinniang, who said, "There is still some space on our passenger ship, but we'll have to trouble them to squeeze in. Also, ask someone to ask the boatman if the food is enough for so many people, and how much it will cost if they add these people. If it's not much, we'll just pay for it, and they'll owe us a favor. If it's more, I'm afraid they'll have to pay for it themselves."
"Okay, I'll go tell her right away." Jiang Xian felt that Jinniang was very thoughtful.
He immediately went out and said to Sun Shichen with a smile: "My boat is not big. If you are in a hurry, I am afraid I will have to trouble you to squeeze in."
Sun Shichen's boat was leaking and his luggage was all wet, so he stayed in a nearby inn for a few days. Although it didn't cost much money, they still had to rush to take up their post, and their luggage was too much, so they couldn't find a big ship. Fortunately, they met an acquaintance.
"That's great, Brother Shushi, thank you for your help." Sun Shichen was very happy.
Jiang Xian asked again how many people his family brought with them. He didn't know until he asked. He was shocked to find out that they brought more than twenty people. He hurriedly called the boatman over and said, "This is a friend of mine. I met them by chance. They brought more than 20 people with them. Is the food you have stored enough? If not, you need to get more."
The boatman said in embarrassment: "Captain Jiang, this... there are more than 20 people. I'm afraid we won't have enough food on the boat. Besides, there are only a few empty rooms."
In fact, they were politely declining. I don't know if Sun Shichen didn't understand or was pretending not to understand. He quickly replied, "It's not difficult for you. My family brought a few cooks with us. You just need to prepare the food yourself."
Since he had no objection, Jiang Xian could only say, "Thank you for your hard work, Brother Sun."
How could Sun Shichen say anything? As for money, he never even thought about giving it. After all, it was Jiang Xian who chartered the boat, and even if he didn't take them with him, they would have to take it anyway. Besides, it would be too stingy to tell others about such a small amount of money.
Several empty rooms on the west side were given to the Sun family to live in. Sun Shichen naturally didn't have to worry about this. He was drinking with Jiang Xian in the dining room.
On Zhou Si's day, however, Madam Jinniang had her bedding put away, the money locked up, and meals arranged, so she had someone prepare a few gifts and personally bring them to Jinniang.
First there was a piece of moon-white gauze, then a piece of white cooked silk from Zizhou, a piece of white flowered silk from Zizhou, a piece of hemlock silk from Pengzhou, and a piece of lotus silk from Langzhou. There were also two boxes of dragon and phoenix tea, two boxes of exquisite noodles and a box of Suhexiang pills.
Jinniang smiled and said, "You are too polite. I just want to give you a ride."
"We have a lot of people, so we are sorry to bother you." Mrs. Zhou Si knew that the boat she hired was not big, but she still wanted to take her family along, so she had to prepare a water gift.
Jinniang was puzzled: "Why don't you hire servants when you get to the place?"
Mrs. Zhou Si said, "This official cannot buy slaves from his territory, so we brought everyone with us."
Jinniang was not a daughter of an official, so naturally she didn't know all this. She thought she had made a mistake and that the servants had not brought enough. It is true that knowing the world well is a source of knowledge, and she still has a lot to learn.
"You guys are really thoughtful." Jinniang praised sincerely.
Mrs. Zhou Si saw that Jinniang looked in good spirits and looked quite dignified. However, it was obvious that she was born a maid after all, and didn't know much about official social interactions. She didn't even know that officials could not buy slaves in their jurisdiction.
The two chatted for a few words, and Zhou Si Niang even discovered that Jin Niang didn't even know that the county lieutenant was going to live in the county government office? Only those who were exiled or oppressed might have to rent a house outside.
Jinniang felt that by talking with Mrs. Zhou Si, she could also fill in the gaps.
Therefore, when I talked about this with Jiang Xian at night, Jiang Xian laughed and said, "I forgot that most of the officials in Bianjing live outside. After all, there are too many government offices and too many officials."
"Well, so the son of an official is called Yanei, is that what it means?" Jinniang's background is not as good as others, so she needs to make more progress than others.
Jiang Xian pinched Jinniang's face and said, "That's what I mean."
On the other side, the maid next to Lady Zhou Si was even more excited than her. Dan Li couldn't help but say, "Just now, Lady Jin saw you and didn't even stand up to greet you."
Mrs. Zhou Si shook her head: "Now that her status has changed, you can't be so reckless."
To be honest, as long as they don't hurt others, it doesn't matter if they counterattack, not to mention that they are still on someone else's boat. It was out of kindness that they were given a ride.
After she said this, although the people below were upset, they did not dare to make trouble.
It’s just that the people from the Sun family always eat later than the people from the Jiang family, which is another contradiction. After all, this boat was hired by the Jiang family. The boatman had to ensure that the Jiang family's meals were well prepared before he could give the stove to the Sun family to cook.
So every day, the Jiang family would almost finish their meal, but the Sun family had not yet eaten their rice, and this caused conflicts.
Jinniang had just played two games of backgammon when she said to Jiang Xian, "I saw the next big ferry. Let's ask the boatman to stay for a few more days. Otherwise, if we continue to stay like this, there will definitely be trouble."
Originally, Jinniang thought that the Sun family would give some travel expenses. It was not that she was stingy, but there were so many people in the Sun family that it became very noisy. The cloth that Zhou Si Niang sent, Jin Niang actually had similar ones. They were given by Jiang Zhuangyuan’s wife, Song Niang. She also had a copy, and even the box of Suhexiang was exactly the same.
Although it is very valuable, it is only worth twenty strings of coins at most, which seems to be careless.
Jiang Xian also found it very inconvenient. With so many people around, it was noisy and far from the peaceful and quiet life they had as a family before.
Therefore, he said, "My lady shouldn't have agreed to it in the first place."
"Then you can just refuse directly. Why are you looking at me again? I'm just concerned about my reputation. But I was just saying that in anger. I've been used to a quiet life these years, so I don't want to get involved in any trouble. In fact, they are all trivial matters." Jinniang said with a smile.
Jiang Xian also knew that it was difficult to refuse because of their in-law relationship.
This is what it’s like to be an official. You have to cherish your reputation.
Fortunately, Zhou Si's wife also felt it was inconvenient, so she said to her husband: "Let's go to the next ferry. If there is a boat going to Hangzhou, we can just charter it."
"Yeah." Sun Shichen was hungry several times in the past few days, but he didn't know what to say. After all, this was a boat hired by the Jiang family.
The couple were not treated as guests of honor. In fact, Sun Shichen knew very well that he and Jiang Xian had competed openly and secretly with Mr. Huang and Mr. Jiang, and Jiang Xian won later and was selected as an official as the eighth in the first class. His academic reputation was far higher than his. If he did not have connections in the court, he would never have been immediately assigned to be an official in such a prosperous place as Liangzhe Road.
As long as he has connections above him and has gained a few years of experience, he can go back to work as an official in Beijing.
When both sides were dissatisfied, he happened to see his relatives on the boat. His brother married the daughter of a Caizhou porcelain merchant, and this happened to be a boat carrying porcelain to Liangzhe Road. His brother's brother-in-law was personally escorting the boat to Jiangnan West Road, and naturally passed through Hangzhou.
The Sun family all left in a hurry, leaving the ground in a mess, which naturally had to be cleaned up by the boatman, causing him to complain a lot.
Jinniang asked Minzhi and Chen Xiaolang to help clean up a bit, and she felt a little better.
Jiang Xian said: "There are quite a few pirates following this cargo ship. They are really brave. They rented a leaky boat before, but now they dare to take the cargo ship casually."
Jinniang was worried about the noise caused by the crowds in the past few days, but now she can finally calm down and read a book. She also thought that it was fortunate that she heard from Zhou Siniang that she had to bring the servants there in advance, so she didn't mind it, as they were just some passers-by anyway. The boat was calm and we soon arrived in Yangzhou.
Mother Fang did mention someone: "My dear, there is a cousin of yours who married and moved to Yangzhou. I remember when she was still in her boudoir, she accidentally fell into the water one year, and it was our Sixth Madam who had someone rescue her."
Jiang Xian therefore wrote a letter and asked an idle man at the ferry to deliver it. Unexpectedly, Jiang Xian's cousin was very welcoming and directly sent someone to pick up Jinniang and her husband in a sedan chair and carriage.
Jinniang prepared a gift, first two jars of Yaoquan, a famous wine served at banquets in Kaifeng Prefecture, and asked Juxiang to make her best chrysanthemum duck skewers, which were placed in a crabapple flower food box. There was also a collar she embroidered herself, two boxes of gauze flowers that she was about to wear, and two pieces of large flowered silk.
This gift is neither too thin nor too expensive, and is just right for a meeting with the in-laws.
Jiang Xian didn't have a deep impression of this cousin, but he saw that the people who were sent to pick them up were very respectful all the way, and the exterior decorations of the carriage and sedan were very gorgeous, and it was obvious that much thought was put into them.
At this time, Fang's mother came into play. When she saw the maid sent by Jiang Xian's cousin, Madam Dou, she hurried forward and shouted, "Are you Yunluo?"
"Sister Shaoyao." It has been a long time since anyone called Mother Lan by this name, and she felt very emotional when she spoke about it.
After Fang's mother finished reminiscing about the past with her, she introduced Jinniang: "This is the eldest lady of our Sixteenth Young Master's family. She is very filial. I heard that when Eighth Aunt was at her parents' home, she loved to eat chrysanthemum duck skewers, so she specially asked someone to prepare some."
Jinniang smiled and nodded to Mother Lan.
Mother Lan smiled and said, "Just now I saw that Mr. Sixteen was a young man who passed the imperial examination, and his wife is also outstanding in appearance and character. They are truly a perfect match."
Mrs. Jiang's eighth aunt lived in Yangzhou City. As she walked along, she only felt the hustle and bustle of the city. As the saying goes, if you have a fortune of one hundred thousand taels, you can ride a crane to Yangzhou. There is also the saying that if you go to Yangzhou in March with fireworks, you can see all kinds of wealth and luxury.
Pulling my thoughts back, I heard Madam Fang asking about the eighth aunt's wife, Madam Dou's situation, while Madam Lan was saying, "Our wife has given birth to a son and a daughter. The son is seventeen and still studying, and the daughter is twelve. They are both outstanding."
"That's great, we'll have both a son and a daughter." Fang's mother chimed in.
Mother Lan sighed, "It would be great if that were the case. Our wife is honest and virtuous, and she has no ulterior motives. The master is also a playboy, and he has several concubines at home, making a mess all the time."
This is someone else's family affair, and Jinniang cannot interfere, but Madam Dou is definitely not so miserable. If she was so miserable, would she still entertain guests in such a grand manner?
Obviously, Jiang Xian also noticed that the people of the Dou family looked at him with a hint of expectation. This kind of look usually meant that they had encountered something. If he were to say, he was just visiting as a relative and did not want to get involved in any trouble.
The carriage traveled for more than an hour before arriving at the Dou family. The Dou family lived in the inner city of Yangzhou City, and it was impossible to see inside from the outside. Originally, Jiang Xian was supposed to meet the uncle of the Dou family, and Jinniang was supposed to meet Madam Dou, but they had almost never met each other, so Mother Lan took the family of four to meet Madam Dou first.
Jinniang and Jiang Xian walked side by side. She whispered, "Your aunt may have run into some trouble and wants to ask you for support. Be careful."
"Madam, have you noticed it too?" Jiang Xian deliberately looked a little "scared".
Jinniang looked at him and said with a smile: "Since you are going to be a county lieutenant, if there is really something, you can use it to practice. Otherwise, it is useless for you to read those books on solving cases every day. It just so happens that we have too few servants at home, so I can hire a few from Yangzhou. We can each do our own things, isn't it the best of both worlds?"
"No, I still want my wife to be by my side." Jiang Xian blinked.
Jinniang comforted him again: "Don't worry, I will definitely be by your side to protect you."
Jiang Xian actually just wanted to act coquettishly, but every time, even if it was a joke, his wife cared about him so much and stood by him through thick and thin, he really didn't know what to say.
Mother Lan, who was leading the way, was talking to the people around her: "Shiliu Lang and his wife are really in love."
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