Double happiness
People are always in high spirits when they are happy. These days, Master Liu even thinks that crows are magpies. First, Liu San recovered from his illness, and then Concubine Fan from Jinlan Courtyard became pregnant.
"Breakfast is delicious today." Mr. Liu was in high spirits and even looked at Madam Qin with a more favorable attitude. He took a few bites of the dishes on the table and gave a few compliments without meaning to anything.
"Today, the eldest lady cooked specially for the master and his mistress. When I saw that it was still dark, the eldest lady started to get busy." Chuanfang was serving on the side.
"Oh? Ruren made it?" Master Liu was a little surprised, but then he flattered her with a happy expression, "It's all thanks to Madam's good teaching. Tell her to stop working and come sit down and eat with us."
As soon as he finished speaking, Liu Ruren walked into Shiliuju and brought the last dish of osmanthus and water chestnut cake with both hands.
Mrs. Qin looked at the table full of dishes and winked at Chuanfang. She picked up a handkerchief to cover her upturned mouth, looked at her daughter with satisfaction, and said with a smile, "Good child, you've been busy so early in the morning. Thank you for your filial piety. Come sit down and eat with us."
Liu Ruren greeted them respectfully before taking her seat. She had always been the most sensible and well-mannered. Although the Liu family was a merchant family, Liu Ruren always bound herself by the rules of aristocratic families, saying she couldn't lose face for her mother and have people gossip about the Liu family behind their backs.
"It's so rare for Mom and Dad to eat with me. I'm so grateful that I'm cooking for you myself to repay your kindness. Once my brother recovers, we'll get together as a family more often."
Liu Ruren's words brought tears to Master Liu's eyes, and he suddenly felt a surge of tenderness. Looking at his daughter, who stood tall and graceful, elegant and graceful, he suddenly wondered if she was old enough to discuss marriage.
"How old is Ru Ren this year?" The loving father smiled.
"Father, I am already in my prime." Liu Ruren lowered his head embarrassedly and covered his blushing face with a handkerchief.
twenty? !
Master Liu angrily slammed the table and glared at Madam Qin, blaming himself, "It was my negligence that delayed my daughter's marriage!"
It's not easy for a girl in her twenties to marry, and finding a good in-law at that age isn't easy. Master Liu sipped a few mouthfuls of porridge with deep sorrow, and thought about it, he blamed Qin. He was usually busy with business, so how could Qin be so completely indifferent to their children's marriages? Seeing Qin calmly chewing the dried bamboo shoots on her dish, he was even more infuriated!
"You make such a big noise when eating bamboo shoots! No one knows the rules as well as your daughter!" Master Liu left the table angrily, leaving the mother and daughter sitting opposite each other as usual.
The mother and daughter ate in silence for a while. In the midst of the silence, Mrs. Qin suddenly asked, "Do you blame your mother for delaying your marriage?"
"The mother had good intentions, and her daughter never felt resentful."
"Then what are you doing today?" Mrs. Qin was puzzled. She had clearly told her daughter her plan a long time ago, so why should she be anxious?
"I am willing to remain single and stay by my mother's side to be filial to her." Liu Ruren lowered her head and bit her lower lip, pausing as if she had made up her mind. "But I have found someone I love, and I hope you will agree to it."
The one you love? Madam Qin snorted coldly and replied, "Chen Wei, right? I think you shouldn't go to school from now on! You've forgotten the rules of a girl!"
Liu Ruren was the only one left in the main hall of Shiliuju, sitting in front of a table full of dishes.
"Neem, take it away."
Walking inside Shiliuju is Qingpu Garden, which was specially built by my mother for Ruren. It was built inside Shiliuju. Looking from above, it looks like a garden within a garden.
The Liu family's house was just like that, with no regard for feng shui or layout, and anyone who came could make a move. Anyway, Master Liu didn't understand, and didn't care.
Otherwise, they would not have tacitly expanded the North Courtyard to "hide filth and evil."
Perhaps in Yulan's mind, she is now the "dirt", feeling guilty like a thief every day, afraid that Haitang and Baofu will find out.
To prevent Madam Qin from noticing, Liu Er now staged a scene where Yulan had offended her master and was punished by sweeping the courtyard. To make it more convincing, he frequently pretended to slam the door and "fluttered his fury," making the North Courtyard servants believe him, and adding to the rumors within the Liu family that Liu Er had a "perverse personality."
The news that Yulan offended Liu Er was confirmed.
Although Yulan felt that this plan was extremely inappropriate, she could not think of a better solution. She began to pretend to be sad and sigh every day, looking depressed and unlucky.
"What do you think happened to Sister Yulan? Did she offend the Second Young Master?" Bao Fu asked Haitang secretly.
Haitang rushed to the door with her fists clenched and a face full of anger. She was sent by the Madam, so she was not afraid of anything, let alone this illegitimate child of unknown identity.
Bao Fu watched her rush in fiercely and then slowly back out. Then he said expressionlessly, "Nothing, everything is normal."
As usual? Bao Fu felt that everyone in this courtyard had gone crazy.
Yulan took a handful of melon seeds from the plate and gathered them in her palm. She cracked them while turning a page in her storybook, occasionally stealing a glance at Liu Er who was writing. "I don't think this is a long-term solution."
After a long silence, Liu Er replied, "...soon."
"What's coming soon?"
"The family split is coming soon."
After Liu Er finished writing a page, he drew a picture of Yulan in the corner, cracking melon seeds and sitting with her legs crossed. A foot, holding an embroidered shoe, peeped out from under her skirt, bouncing up and down with a lively movement.
"Divide the family?" Yulan was puzzled. Why did they suddenly say they wanted to split up the family? Was Master Liu dying?
Liu Er didn't reply. He decided not to tell Yulan about his plan, lest she worry. He gently peeled the melon seed shell from the corner of Yulan's mouth, cupped her face, and gave her a light kiss.
"Don't think about it, everything will work out in time."
Although Yulan didn't resist, she didn't like this kind of inappropriate physical contact. Every time Liu Er kissed her, her mother who died in vain and the poor women in the brothel would always appear in her mind.
She turned her head away and stopped looking at Liu Er. A nameless anger rose in her heart, but she couldn't take it out on Liu Er, so she could only continue to pick up the notebook and pretend.
Liu Er looked at the storybook with a puzzled look on his face, even wanting to burn it. He asked, "Is it really that good? Where did you get it?"
"Sister Melia gave it to me to pass the time."
Melia had a lot of storybooks, and the girls in the house would secretly ask her to borrow them when they wanted to read them. I wonder where she got so many storybooks?
However, no matter how many notebooks there were, they were now burned by Mrs. Qin.
"It was these filthy creatures who taught the young lady to disobey her parents! They violated ethical principles and moral principles! They broke the rules!" Aunt Qingfang repeated Madam Qin's words as she circled around the bitter chinaberry tree, scolding everyone in Qingpu Garden. "I'm sparing you this physical pain simply because you've served the young lady since you were a child. Do you acknowledge your guilt?"
Kulian knelt on the ground with her head lowered, and whispered: "I know my crime, and I will never dare to do it again."
The fire in Qingpu Garden burned the storybooks and also severed Liu Ruren's thoughts of her mother. She calmly watched the ashes blow away by the wind and calmly comforted Kulian: "It has nothing to do with you. Mother blames me."
"Blame me..." she repeated in a low voice.
The storybooks always told of poor scholars and noble ladies; those stories were old-fashioned and tacky, yet they were repeated time and again. She had always been looking for fun, and in this house, before Shen Ju'an arrived, she had done nothing but take care of Liu Sanbian for her mother.
It seems that in addition to sharing the burden for my mother, I also have to relieve my father's worries.
Apart from that, she is useless.
The kites of the fourth and fifth sisters landed in Qingpu Garden, and Melia azedarach returned them. Liu Ruren sat in the house, watching the two half-grown children from afar, still innocent and naive, standing at the garden gate, not understanding what had trapped them for a lifetime.
Liu Ruren's name comes from the Chinese character "Ren" (tenacious) in the Chinese idiom "Pu Cao Ren Ru Si" (cattail grass is as tough as silk). It was given by my grandmother when she was still alive, hoping that the girls of the Liu family would be tough, independent, and not easily broken.
Unfortunately, the old lady's age was short-lived. At the age of twelve, Liu Ruren returned to Shiliuju, living in the Qingpu Garden specially built for her by Madam Qin. Perhaps because she had grown up without her mother, her mother only had eyes for the frail Liu San. She tried to gain some attention from her mother by caring for Liu San, but her mother only responded with indifference. Her memories of Qingpu Garden are filled with the lingering aroma of medicinal herbs and the lingering fragrance of sandalwood.
Maybe she expected too much, blame her for being too greedy, blame her for being too angry, blame her for being too foolish... blame her...
Master Liu got a tip from the county magistrate: the magistrate was an old acquaintance of Qizhou's Governor, Lu Da, who was a relative of the emperor's uncle and, according to rumors, had a widower son whose wife had recently died. Master Liu begged the county magistrate to act as a matchmaker, and the magistrate, a straightforward man, agreed after three rounds of drinks.
Who would have thought that the matchmaking would actually be arranged by the County Magistrate? Master Liu was overjoyed. Who wouldn't want to be related to the royal family? It would be a great honor to tell others about it later.
Coincidentally, just when Mr. Liu was about to inform Mrs. Qin, Mrs. Qin also had some good news and was about to discuss it with him.
The couple exchanged pleasantries for a while, and in the end it was Mrs. Qin who spoke first.
Mrs. Xiong from the Yang family came to discuss marriage with her, saying that during the last chrysanthemum viewing banquet, her third daughter had fallen in love with Liu Er. However, considering Liu Er's background, she only considered allowing Liu Er to marry into the family. I wonder what Mr. Liu thinks?
Liu San was now in good health, and Master Liu naturally felt that there was a successor. Although marrying into the Liu family would be detrimental to the Liu family's reputation, he was still an illegitimate child, and finding a daughter from a respectable family would be difficult. Furthermore, the Yang family was one of the wealthiest families in Fengcheng. The eldest son of the Yang family had passed the imperial examination the previous year and now held an official position that afforded him an audience with the Emperor. Master Liu naturally nodded enthusiastically, smiling from ear to ear.
People are in high spirits when they are happy. How could their children's marriages go so smoothly? Master Liu drank two large bowls of tea in a row.
The one who served the tea was Aunt Qingfang's goddaughter Hua Xiu. With the lady's permission, she specially served the aged Longjing tea, which Mr. Liu hated the most.
But Master Liu not only drank two large bowls of tea in a row, but also praised Hua Xiu's tea art, which made Hua Xiu very angry. However, she was also a true disciple of Shiliuju, and never showed off. She thanked the master and left politely.
Then Mr. Liu talked about Lu Da, the governor of Qizhou.
Before she could finish her words, Madam Qin interrupted, "Qizhou?"
"It is Lu Da, Lord Lu, the disciple of the uncle of the emperor in Qizhou." Master Liu said this with great pride, even happier than when he won the cockfighting bet, as if he was already as proud as a royal relative.
"Qizhou is 1,500 miles away! I don't agree!"
Mrs. Qin was firm in her attitude, but Mr. Liu refused to buy it. He just cursed, "What a woman's opinion!" and left in anger.
He was humiliated by Mrs. Qin and hid in the vanilla garden again.
"You are the most caring one in the backyard." Master Liu lay in Aunt Xiang's arms, his fingers entwined with her hair.
"Madam is a woman in the inner chambers, so naturally she doesn't understand the interests of you men outside. I think these two marriages are both made in heaven."
"Of course! If Ruqing wasn't still young, I would have arranged this marriage with Governor Lu for our daughter!" Mr. Liu became more and more excited as he spoke. He tried to sit up several times, but was hugged by Concubine Xiang and gently held in her arms.
She glanced at him seductively, raised her eyebrows lightly, and said disdainfully in her heart: Ruqing is the fourth girl, and her daughter is the fifth one in the family, named Ruyan.
"The eldest girl is Madam's biological daughter, so naturally she has to listen to Madam."
Concubine Xiang's words hit the nail on the head for the men, provoking Master Liu into uncontrollable rage. He cursed, "Do you really think I'm dead? It's not her turn to make decisions about the Liu family's affairs!"
"Of course, my lord!"
"Just wait and see, both marriages will be successful!"
"Of course. I would like to congratulate you on your double happiness."
Concubine Xiang's waist softened, and she half-knelt on the bed, performing a crooked salute. This made Master Liu extremely happy, and he praised her, "You are sensible. Having such a beautiful concubine is a double joy."
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