Chapter 14 Xie Family Mansion
When we arrived in the hall, everyone from the Xie family was there.
When he woke up in the morning, Xie Yuduo reminded her again.
The Xie family has three generations.
The grandfather of the first generation died early, and the grandmother, Mrs. Wu, led the whole family.
Old Mrs. Wu has two sons. The eldest is my father Xie Yan, and the second is my uncle Xie Ang.
In the eldest house, his mother, Mrs. Lin, died early, and Xie Yan had three children: his eldest sister Xie Yuzhong who married far away in the provincial capital, his own son Xie Yuduo, and his younger sister Xie Yujing who was still young.
In the second house, Uncle Xie Ang and Aunt Feng had a son and a daughter. The eldest brother, Xie Yuming, married Sun Xueyi, the daughter of a wealthy city family. The younger sister, Xie Yujin, was the second of three sisters. She was a bit arrogant and difficult to get along with, so Chen Qi was advised to ignore her.
The second house also has a concubine named Yun who rarely appears in public. She gave birth to a younger brother, Xie Yushuo, who is the youngest child in the family.
Chen Qi remembered them one by one and observed carefully. When her elder sister Xie Yuzhong and third sister Xie Yujing saw Chen Qi coming, they came over to greet her first.
"Second sister-in-law, please sit next to me!" Yu Jing ran over and grabbed Chen Qi's sleeve, her eyes sparkling.
Yu Zhong put his arm around his little sister's shoulders and said, "Yu Jing, let your sister-in-law sit with your second brother. How about we sit together?"
Seeing Yu Jing's slightly disappointed expression, Chen Qi hurriedly smiled and comforted her.
"It's okay. You can sit between me and my older sister, and let your brother sit on the other side, okay?"
Yu Jing immediately cheered.
When Xie Yujin saw Chen Qi and others coming, he just nodded slightly and sat down.
She and Feng were of the same kind, and had been spoiled since childhood. She had always looked down upon relatives from small families, but she had never expected that Chen Qi would actually marry into her family.
I think she is just a little bit more beautiful than others. With her status, we should pay less attention to her to avoid being labeled as poor.
At the dinner table, Chen Qi saw Feng serving dishes to the old lady, and a young woman serving soup beside her. She guessed that it was her cousin Xie Yuming's wife, Sun, but she didn't know why she didn't come to the bridal chamber to meet him yesterday.
Chen Qi also stood up to help her serve the soup.
There was also a woman who looked to be in her thirties, dressed in plain clothes, helping to serve the dishes, but I couldn't remember who she was.
After everything was arranged neatly, everyone sat down, and the woman in plain clothes turned around and left again, not wanting to eat with everyone.
Seeing her looking over there, Yu Zhong whispered, "That's Aunt Yun from my second uncle's room. She's my little cousin Xie Yushu's biological mother and she always eats in the kitchen."
Shen Qi saw that there was indeed a little boy sitting next to the old lady at the table. He looked two years younger than the youngest brother of the Shen family, so she secretly remembered him.
The Xie family was a large family, and the meal on the table was quite rich. For breakfast alone, there were two large plates of steamed cakes, four plates of hot dishes, four plates of side dishes, and two kinds of porridge, one was a soup with egg and tofu, and the other was rice porridge with nuts and sugar.
The Shen family has always only eaten white flour dry food at noon, and only porridge and side dishes for breakfast and dinner. Now Shen Qi had no choice but to adapt to the local customs and follow the crowd.
After breakfast, my father-in-law and second uncle went to visit business friends, and Xie Yuduo and Xie Yuming also wanted to go to the shop to take a look.
Old Mrs. Wu was going to the Buddhist temple to chant sutras, so she asked her elder sister Yu Zhong, her cousin Sun, and her sisters to accompany the new daughter-in-law Shen Qi to visit the house.
The sisters Yu Zhong and Yu Jing naturally obeyed the order. Because the old lady said so, Yu Jin and Sun, the two sisters-in-law from the second house, had no choice but to agree.
The aunt and sister-in-law walked and stopped, and after a long circle, Chen Qi had a general understanding of the layout of the Xie family.
The Xie family has four courtyards in total. The first courtyard is connected to five shops facing the street. It is where the managers and clerks run the shops, work, and rest. There is only a ceremonial gate connecting to the back.
The second courtyard was divided into two wings: one for the master of the house, the other for the storeroom where precious medicinal herbs were stored. The study was where the master checked accounts and entertained guests. Because his father-in-law and second uncle had been less involved in the business in recent years, his eldest brother, Xie Yuming, had been in charge.
This year, Xie Yuduo returned home, and his elder brother was happy to have some free time, so he handed over most of the things to him, waiting for him to go out again next time before he took over.
After passing the alley leading to the second courtyard, there is another hanging flower gate. The third courtyard is the inner residence, which is divided into two courtyards, east and west.
To the east is the courtyard of the eldest son's family, and to the west is the courtyard of the second uncle's family. Each has a small door connecting to the front and back courtyards.
The two courtyards have the same layout. The main house of the three large rooms in the middle is where the elders live, and there is a small ear room on each side.
There are three side rooms on the east and west sides, which are the living quarters of the family's children, and are connected by a circle of corridors.
The fourth courtyard is the residence of old lady Wu. In addition to her living room, there is also a hall for the family to eat.
There is a small garden on the right, with some flowers, vegetables and fruits, and a swing.
The left side was used as a kitchen and servants' quarters, with a stable in the corner and a door next to it facing the back street, making it convenient for the family to buy sweet water and vegetables.
This four-courtyard house was originally purchased by Xie Yuduo's grandfather, and was later continuously renovated and expanded, with the front and back facing the street.
There are only a handful of houses of this size in Pingshan County.
However, compared with the business scale of my grandfather's generation, the Xie family can be considered to have fallen on hard times. Among the merchants in Pingshan County, they are not as good as the top ones, but better than the bottom ones.
The aunts and sisters-in-law walked around, and everyone was talking and laughing, but Xie Yujin was already impatient. She didn't even look down on her own sister-in-law, let alone this cousin from the countryside.
As they reached the corridor between the east and west courtyards, Xie Yujin said, "I got up early today and I'm sweating. I feel very tired. I need to go take a rest."
She didn't wait for anyone to speak and went back like a weak willow in the wind.
Sun didn't leave immediately, but said a few polite words. Chen Qi felt that she probably didn't mean anything, so she stayed with her for a few more words and let her go.
The Yu Zhong sisters and Shen Qi naturally walked east and returned to the East Courtyard.
Yu Jing was most familiar with this courtyard, and he took Chen Qi for a careful tour.
The three main rooms in the middle of the east courtyard are naturally my father Xie Yan's rooms.
The west wing was used as a small study. My father would read books and practice calligraphy here on weekdays, and he would also often discuss store matters with his son here.
The east wing is used as a small kitchen. It is rarely used for cooking, but is just for boiling water and washing on weekdays.
The west wing also has three rooms. It used to be the residence of the eldest daughter Yu Zhong and the third daughter Yu Jing. Now, only Yu Jing and a little maid Chun Liu live there.
Yu Zhong came back recently and also lived in the Yujing Room.
The east wing is the new home of Xie Yuduo and Chen Qi.
In the past, Xie Yuduo was not often at home, and the east wing had been vacant for a long time. It has been carefully renovated recently and naturally looks brand new.
In the middle of the yard is a cross-shaped corridor paved with blue bricks, with a pomegranate tree and a golden osmanthus tree planted on it.
There are also potted flowers such as crabapples and hostas in the corridor, and a few banana trees with broad branches and leaves are planted by the window, which is quiet and elegant.
Xiao Yujing particularly likes her sister-in-law and even pulls Chen Qi to talk. Yu Zhong is an experienced person and knows that she must have had a restless sleep last night and needs to take a good rest today.
"My dear sister, you have walked such a long way. If you are not tired, I am tired too. Come back with me first and let your sister-in-law go back to her room to rest for a while."
Chen Qi naturally understood the elder sister's good intentions and nodded gratefully at her.
Yu Zhong smiled and told Chen Qi to rest assured, then coaxed Yu Jing back to the west wing.
Back to the east wing, there was a small hall in the middle of the room, with a high round table, embroidered stools, tea sets and fruit plates, which was usually used for couples to sit facing each other.
The room on the left is the couple's bedroom, where there is the gold-painted and colorful step-out bed that Chen Qi brought as a dowry, draped with tasseled curtains with precious elephant patterns, and a red-painted and gold-painted mirror table by the window.
There are several cabinets and boxes against the wall in the right side of the room, which are used to store clothes for all seasons and bedding for spring and winter. Next to the window is a bathroom separated by a screen, which is convenient for the young couple to wash.
Chen Qi didn't sleep well last night. After getting up early this morning, she went out for a walk for half a day, so she was inevitably sleepy. She closed the door, leaned on the pillow and fell asleep.
She only intended to take a short nap, but unexpectedly she had a sweet dream. She didn't know how long it had been. When she woke up, she vaguely saw a familiar figure in front of the bed.
She was stunned for a long time before she realized that this was her husband whom she had just met yesterday.
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