Chapter 44 Chapter 44 Two chapters merged into one
Donghua called out the names of the successful candidates, and there were not many who were chosen as husbands. However, Jinniang's business also came. The owner of Jinxiu Pavilion sent someone to her house to say that someone had brought material and asked her to make a wedding dress. Of course, the wages she got were 13 strings of cash.
You get what you pay for. It would probably be difficult to make an intricate and exquisite wedding dress at this price. Jinniang got the bride's address and went to her house to take measurements.
The bride is the daughter of a minor official in the Dali Temple, but her family is very poor. Jinniang already knows that the social custom is to pursue wealth regardless of family background. The phenomenon of buying and selling marriages was very serious in the Song Dynasty. She heard that a newly-appointed Jinshi was chosen as a son-in-law by a wealthy businessman, and the bride's dowry alone was 5,000 strings of cash, not including other money.
Even daughters of royal families used their status as royal branches and jade leaves to marry into wealthy merchants in exchange for huge financial resources. The wealthy merchant "Mao Zi Tian Jia" in Kaifeng boasted that he had bought ten county ladies and that he could marry one for five thousand strings of cash.
In the case of this bride, her father was only a minor official and her dowry was not rich, so she married a poor student who had failed the imperial examination. Jinniang accidentally saw the list of betrothal gifts, which was also very meager.
But seeing that the bride was shy, Jinniang decided to help her design a nice one even though she had little money. She abandoned the traditional big-sleeved shirt and chose a jacket style for the wedding dress. The material the bride brought was quite good, with a scarlet peony pattern, so the only thing she could work on was the collar.
She designed the collar into the shape of a December flower, with the edges crocus-like patterns sewed on with gold thread.
Because she had to be busy at the Wenxiu Academy during the day, the wedding dress was made at night. She finally had a ten-day break but stayed at home to make it. She couldn't even go to her favorite bathing hot spring.
By the time the dress was almost finished, it was Qingming Festival. After her parents finished their business in the morning, they asked her to go out for an outing in the afternoon.
Luo Yu'e also said: "No matter how much money you make, your own affairs cannot be completely unimportant."
"What important thing?" Jinniang was still a little confused.
Luo Yu'e smiled and said, "During the Qingming Festival, men and women all go out for an outing, so it's okay for you to go. Although mother won't force you, you will be seventeen soon. Even if it's not for marriage, you can still get to know more people."
Jinniang didn't know what her mother was thinking, so she immediately said, "You must have chosen someone. Tell me quickly, or I won't go."
Luo Yu'e said, "There is a flower seller opposite our shop. She is a widow who raised a son. She is a very generous person. She has three rooms near Daxingmen. She spent a total of 700 strings of cash on them. Now she still has 200 strings of cash left to pay. Her son works as a patrol soldier in the Watchtower of Kaifeng Prefecture."
Patrol soldiers were similar to modern firefighters. In the streets and alleys of the capital, there was a house for military patrols every three hundred steps or so. There were usually five patrol soldiers in the house, who were responsible for night patrols and arresting criminals. 【1】
Jinniang nodded secretly. This marriage was a good one. She was tired from sewing this month, so she agreed. Seeing that her daughter agreed, Luo Yu'e asked Jinniang to dress up.
She had just made herself an orange jacket last spring, but had hardly worn it, so she chose a gardenia yellow one-piece tube top to match with a pleated skirt and tied a curly knot at the waist. However, she was still strong and muscular, and she wore her hair in a hanging bun to cover up the flesh on both sides, with peony silk flowers pinned in her hair.
She put some lip balm on her lips and powdered her face. When she stood up, even Luo Yu'e was a little surprised: "Jinniang, you don't usually dress up, but once you do, you still look very beautiful."
"Mom, you are looking at your own daughter, so you think everything about her is good. My daughter is so fat now that her facial features are not clear. She is as fat as a rattan ball." Jinniang is very clear about what she looks like.
Most people in Jingchu have pale complexions, and very few have deep facial features. And when they are so fat, their facial features are almost blurred.
After getting dressed, Luo Yu'e took Jinniang out on a donkey cart. When they arrived at a place where the mother and daughter were, Jinniang followed the Zhou family out again. A large group of people were walking together. Luo Yu'e quietly pointed at a tall young man and said, "Look, that's him."
Jinniang looked over and saw that the young man had a handsome appearance and looked very energetic, and she nodded in agreement in her heart.
When he saw his mother, Lady Lou, again, although she was a widow, she was not depressed at all. She looked very young and spoke very thoughtfully. At this moment, she was saying to Luo Yu'e, "Is this your daughter? She is so blessed to have been born like this."
Jinniang saw that Lady Lou obviously felt that she was not what she expected. After all, her mother Luo Yu'e was indeed very beautiful with the delicate, fair complexion of a southerner, but she was not like this.
Obviously Luo Yu'e knew this, so she had to raise her daughter's status. This was not the time to be modest: "Yes, not only is she blessed, but without her we would not be able to come to Bianjing. Now she works in the Wenxiu Courtyard, specializing in making clothes for the nobles. With such a good skill, she will never starve no matter where she is."
After she said that, Madam Lou became more willing. Her family was well off, and there were many daughters of minor officials who wanted to marry her son.
However, when she heard Luo Yu'e repeatedly mention her daughter, saying that she was capable, well-educated and well-mannered, and that it has always been the custom to marry a virtuous wife, Madam Lou was of course 70% willing.
The two families even had a hometown relationship. The Lou family was from Xiangyang Prefecture in the southwest of Beijing, and the Wei family was from Jiangling Prefecture in the north of Jinghu. During the Three Kingdoms period, Xiangyang was still the seat of Jingzhou Prefecture, and exchanges between Jing and Xiang were very common.
In ancient times, there was no hope for love. My parents have been in contact with the lady from the Lou family for more than half a year. There is nothing wrong with her character. The man also has a job and is pretty good-looking.
However, since there were no servants in this marriage, Madam Lou did not continue talking about this, probably because the other party did not like her. Luo Yu'e didn't blame her daughter, she just said, "Her family is very picky, the man has been talking about marriage for several years but nothing has happened."
"Mom, don't say that. When we criticize others, others also criticize your daughter. Don't take it to heart. Good things take time. Your daughter should just go back to painting." Jinniang comforted her mother.
Luo Yu'e secretly made up her mind to mobilize all her strength to find a good marriage for her daughter.
After the Qingming Festival, Zou Yue'e was in high spirits. She went out for an outing. She told Jinniang that it was her family who helped her arrange a marriage.
"How is it?" Jinniang asked.
Zou Yue'e smiled and shook her head: "I don't know either."
Jinniang covered her mouth and smiled: "It seems that good things are coming."
In Zou Yue'e, Jinniang also saw the plight of older women in the Song Dynasty. If some men deliberately remained unmarried at an older age, it was in order to marry into a wealthy family. But those like Zou Yue'e who did not have much dowry could only take their chances.
Now Zou Yue'e has met the right person, and Jinniang is happy for her.
But she didn't expect that they would be engaged the next month after just knowing each other for three days. Jinniang was surprised: "Is it so soon that they can get engaged?"
When she was in Zhou's house, she saw that the eldest daughter and the second young master had been planning their engagement for a long time. Even if ordinary families were not as complicated as those of officials, it would not have been possible for it to happen so quickly.
Zou Yue'e looked relaxed, which was unusual. "There are three children in my family, plus my parents, so there are five of us. My brother is an apprentice somewhere else. If he comes back, he has to sleep in my parents' room by putting two benches together. If I could leave earlier, I would have to rent a house, but it wouldn't be like this."
"That's great." Jinniang was very happy for her.
Zou Yue'e added: "Our wedding date is set a few days before the winter solstice. If you are free, come then."
"Sure." Jinniang responded.
Wen Shuhui then said, "Jinniang, don't always congratulate others. You have to take care of your own affairs as well."
Jinniang laughed and said, "If you meet a good man, you should start a family first; if you meet a noble man, you should start a career first. As for me, I just let everything go with fate."
Now at home, even her parents have begun to live according to her wishes, and her younger brother has gradually made progress in his studies. He even got the first place in the exam for the first time. With the love of her parents and siblings, her career is more successful than others, so she doesn't have any big worries except that she hasn't got married yet.
There was not much struggle for power among the embroiderers in the Wenxiu Yuan. The environment was much better than that of the Zhou family, and everyone joked around. Third Sister Xu was asking Zou Yue'e, "Although the engagement is hasty, the three golds are a must. Otherwise, when you get married, people will say you went there for nothing. Especially the mother-in-law. You didn't want the betrothal gift for the sake of her family, but she blames you for being unwanted."
The Song Dynasty also had "three golds", but these "three golds" were different from those of modern times. They referred to gold bracelets, gold bangles, and gold shawl pendants.
There are some people like this in this world. If you are righteous and understand the big picture, they will think you are weak and can be bullied.
Zou Yue'e just shook her head: "That's something that only rich people have. We don't have that."
Third Sister Xu smiled and said, "I heard that there is a kind of alchemy recently that can exchange small coins for gold."
Jinniang listened to a lot of gossip about the family, and when she got off work, she realized that the so-called mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, and sisters-in-law were really complicated and difficult to sort out. If these people made things difficult for her, she would definitely give them a good beating.
When I was going home, I saw my third aunt coming over. She used to be unkempt, but today she was wearing gold on her hands and ears, and she was talking excitedly, "Now they can really turn stones into gold. I picked up a stone and it turned into gold. I wanted him to do it again, but he wanted to practice. This is not possible. We have to spend money to buy a place for alchemy and get some medicine. We are thinking of you for such a good thing, aren't we?"
Although Wei Xiong and Luo Yu'e may not be very knowledgeable, they are very cautious in investing money. Wei Xiong waved his hand and said, "There are not so many good things in the world. Even if there are good things, they will not fall on my head."
"If it's not real, what do you think this is?" Third Aunt spread her hands.
Her mother also said quickly: "Let's not get involved in this matter. We don't have the money to do this. If we had money, we wouldn't ask her third uncle to borrow money."
The third aunt left in a huff. Jinniang gave her parents a thumbs up and said, "Mom and Dad, I'm really worried that you guys are going to try some kind of alchemy. It sounds fake."
"I'll go and persuade your third uncle later. He doesn't seem to be reliable." Wei Xiong stood up immediately.
Jinniang said, "Third Uncle may be hard to persuade."
Third Uncle's family does not own any property, is reluctant to spend on food and drink, and has only cash in their hands. They always want to make money easily and think that getting up early and going to bed late is too tiring. Jinniang also sighed and was not optimistic that Wei Xiong could persuade them.
Later, it turned out to be true. When Wei Xiong came back, he said, "Your Third Uncle looked at me sideways like that and said he was already on board. I was fooled."
"Okay, you and mother should think about returning the twenty strings of cash to him first. If he makes money, it would be icing on the cake if we give it to him. If he loses money, we can use the money for his daily expenses." Jin Niang said.
The scams in ancient times were also hard to guard against, such as mixing fish paste into oil, injecting water into pork, selling wormwood instead of chrysanthemums, and replacing puffer fish with fake clams.
Her mother always scolds them every time she buys vegetables, saying that none of the pork sellers are good.
After returning to the room, Jinniang began to do needlework. So far this year, except for the money she made from embroidered clothes at the beginning of the year, her business was average afterwards. It's almost August now, and I've only earned fifty strings of cash, which is far less than last year.
She was very clear that her career had reached a bottleneck. When she was at the Zhou family, she was at her most creative and inspired. At the Wenxiu Academy, the more she learned about embroidery techniques and rules, the more she restrained herself. She began to look for fashionable styles and lost her initial interest.
She had to balance the relationship between the two, Jinniang thought so, and she went out to find her mother to accompany her. In the evening, they went to a street near Panlou. The vendors here sold imitation headdresses, hats, combs, and collar brushes. The mother and daughter ate some snacks while shopping.
Suddenly, a vendor said, "My collar is exactly the same as the one sold in the ghost market."
Ghost market?
Jinniang hurried over and asked, "Uncle, what does the ghost market mean?"
The vendor laughed and said, "You don't know this. The ghost market lights up at 5 a.m. every day and the market closes at daybreak. Clothes, paintings, garlands, collars, everything is sold in the ghost market."
Jinniang was very envious. She always felt that as the saying goes, one cannot reach a thousand miles without taking small steps and a river is formed by the accumulation of small streams. No matter what, she must look more at others so that she can make more progress.
But she really didn't dare to go to the ghost market alone in the middle of the night.
Luo Yu'e smiled and said, "Wouldn't it be nice if we take a break from the stall in a few days and the whole family goes together?"
"Mom..." Jinniang knew that Dad's waist was in so much pain last time that he struggled to do business.
There was no other way. It was extremely difficult to gain a foothold in Bian Jing. The skills they learned were limited, and they had to live closer to their brother's school so that they could take care of him. They could only sell three or four hundred coins a day, earning about two hundred coins. Five or six strings of cash a month had to be used to pay rent, their brother's books and papers, and family expenses, leaving not much.
Luo Yu'e stopped him and said, "Why would a family bring this up? Our store is slowly getting on the right track, and I'll be satisfied if I can make a few dozen guan a year."
"Okay, then I would like to thank you, Mom and Dad. I will invite you to Huixian Restaurant in a few days." Jinniang was very happy.
Luo Yu'e said hurriedly: "Why go to such an expensive wine shop? Let's just go to the tea shop."
"Then let's go to Xu's gourd soup restaurant on Panlou Street, and then go to the nearby tile house to play after eating." Jinniang suggested.
This was settled. After Jinniang and her mother had looked at the new things here, they went back. On the other hand, Feng Sheng also asked Rongniang to go out and play.
"Mid-Autumn Festival is coming soon. The streets are bustling now. Why don't we take the kids out to play?"
Rong Niang was still frightened by what happened last time. She immediately shook her head and said, "It's better to stay at home."
Feng Sheng was puzzled: "What's wrong with you?"
After thinking for a long time, he sighed, "But it's because of what happened last time. There was nothing we could do last time. Someone near your second uncle was robbed of his gold and silver treasures and almost got hurt. Now I've bought two more servants, so this won't happen again in the future."
Rong Niang looked at him and said, "We both have a good life now, why do you have to work so hard?"
"How can I not work hard? Any good house costs more than two thousand taels, and we have two sons, so we should each have a yard. We have seven or eight servants now, and there is also a carriage. We have to buy a house with at least three entrances and a small garden. You love to take care of flowers and plants the most." Feng Sheng said with a smile.
Rong Niang looked at him as if he were a fool: "Are you crazy? Although you have several hundred taels a year now, our daily expenses are not small. A house with three entrances will cost at least five thousand taels. We will have to go without food and drink for at least ten years."
She felt the pressure was too great.
Feng Sheng, however, felt more pleased, "This way, we can hold our heads high."
"You really are..." Rong Niang felt a lot of pressure in an instant.
Jinniang went to the ghost market with her parents and naturally gained a lot, so she launched a set of clothes named after chrysanthemum in September.
The jacket is made of Tianshui blue silk with a green collar embroidered with chrysanthemums. This time it is a wide-sleeved jacket, so the cuffs are also embroidered with chrysanthemums. It is matched with a gold-sprinkled skirt underneath, and the hem of the skirt is made of a layer of chrysanthemum lace. The chrysanthemums she embroidered are what the Wenxiu Academy has been embroidering recently. They are incomparable to those found outside. However, she also combined the details of the Jinxiu Pavilion to make them more real, and made the knot tied around the waist into a chrysanthemum pattern.
On the Double Ninth Festival, this set of clothes was divided into twenty strings of coins for the first time.
After the Double Ninth Festival, Zou Yue'e got married ahead of schedule. She was beaming with joy every day and secretly said to Jinniang, "It's really good to be married."
Jinniang felt a little embarrassed when she saw her lustful face.
Seeing Zou Yue'e like this, Meng Li'niang also began to feel amorous. Before the end of the month, she was ready to return home from Wenxiu Courtyard to prepare for her marriage. Jinniang advised: "You earn a lot of money here every month, why don't you do it?"
Meng Li Niang smiled and said, "He said that when I marry him, he will find me another job that is not as hard as here. Besides, the wedding needs to be prepared. I have already talked to Gu Xiutou and she agreed."
Since Gu Xiutou had agreed, Jinniang didn't say much, and only said: "Then I wish you peace and everything will be fine in the future."
After working in several places, Jinniang felt that her emotions had become much less sensitive apart from her family. It is true that people have different friends at different stages of their lives.
After Meng Li'niang left, Zou Yue'e got married and talked to other married women, but she interacted less with Jinniang than before.
Jinniang became more and more devoted to embroidery. She started to break down the patterns that she had previously thought were extremely complicated, and it turned out that no one in the entire flower and bird room could embroider faster and better than her.
When she returned home, she found the door was locked. She opened the lock, went in, and locked the door. She didn't understand why her parents were not at home today. Fortunately, there were two Hu cakes in the kitchen. Jinniang took them and ate them to fill her stomach. It was not until the evening that her parents came back with Yang Ge'er, and Jinniang went to greet them.
"What's wrong? Did something happen?" Jinniang asked.
Dad said with a dejected look on his face, "Your third uncle and aunt have quit their business, leaving your grandma and your cousins at home. Your mother and I went to take a look, and I think your third uncle must have been cheated. They just didn't believe me. Your aunt's family even came all the way from Jiangling to do some alchemy together."
Jinniang also thought it was a scam, but she was puzzled and asked, "Why didn't Third Uncle go and lobby Big Brother-in-law?"
I only heard my mother sneer: "Your third sister's wife is very smart, how could she believe them? I think your third uncle knows that there is something wrong with this alchemy, but he wants to get his money back, so he wants to get others to join."
Feng Sheng was indeed smart. He knew at first glance that this was a scam, but he would not try to persuade him like Wei Xiong did. In his opinion, this was because Wei Lao San was greedy and had nothing to do with others. Besides, no one could persuade him to change his mind about such things.
He thought so and told Rong Niang frankly, but the more Rong Niang listened, the more frightened she became. She is a person who always values family affection. She treats all relatives who come from her hometown in the same way and never looks down on others.
But my husband is not such a person. In fact, he doesn’t love anyone except himself.
Thinking of this, Rong Niang wanted to go out, but where to go? She has no maternal family, her second uncle's family doesn't have much contact with her, and her third aunt is a confused person, so she can only stay at home.
While she was holding it in, Jinniang was quite popular in the Wenxiu Academy. Although she could not embroider with different colors on both sides, her needlework was excellent and she was always the fastest to make clothes.
Take September for example. She was even transferred by Gu Xiutou to the top class that specialized in making robes for officials. Her monthly salary was 300 coins more than that of the others who came in with her.
Gu Xiutou also encouraged her, "If you do well, the government may reward you."
"Actually, my skills are not that good, but the embroidery head has been promoting me." Jinniang really thought so.
Gu Xiutou waved her hands: "You can't say that. Although you are not taught by a famous embroidery master, you are very intelligent. You were originally good at Shu embroidery, but now you have learned Xiang embroidery and Su embroidery. Given time, you will definitely be able to make a name for yourself. If you can make 300 pieces while others can make 100 pieces, I still have to rely on you. Although you rejected me last time, I admire you even more."
Jinniang was puzzled: "But I didn't do anything?"
Gu Xiutou smiled bitterly: "In fact, even you can see that my hope is slim, but my family always uses this to tie me down, and I still deceive myself."
She made big promises for others, and others also made big promises for her, which wasted her youth.
Seeing her like this, Jinniang didn't need to play tricks with a smart person, so she told the truth: "Once you enter the palace, it's like entering a deep sea. You are young, your embroidery skills are outstanding, and you are fair and just. If you go out, you will have a lot to do. Why do you need something like a flower in the water or the moon in the mirror?"
Gu Xiutou pursed his lips and smiled, "I think so too, so I'm ready to go back and take over the family business. I can't let my brothers and sisters take advantage of my absence and encroach on it."
"That would be great." Jinniang wished sincerely.
Gu Xiutou glanced at her and said, "When I leave, the position of Xiutou will be vacant. I plan to let you take over temporarily. But Gu Xiutou thinks you are too young, so you can leave later in the next few days."
Seeing that Jinniang was still hesitant, she asked, "You don't want to?"
Jinniang immediately said seriously: "What are you talking about, Xiutou? I am more than willing to do so!"
The monthly allowance for an embroidered head is six to eight strings of cash. Jinniang originally wanted to go back early today because her mother had told her that a man was coming to see her, but now, Jinniang gritted her teeth and decided to stay for a while.
Women! Career is the most important thing, and children’s love affairs are ultimately trivial matters.
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