Yonglong 7th year
As soon as the young emperor of Dayong took power, he began to purge the ministers and their cronies who had abused their power. At the same time, he encouraged the development of agriculture and mulberry and commerce, and all the abandoned things were ready to be revived.
But these turbulent court affairs had nothing to do with Second Madam Ding. Second Madam Ding was only twenty-four or twenty-five years old, slender, with a long bun. Her skin was as white as paper, and she wore a duck egg blue double-breasted Pipa shirt, which made her look a little whiter than the people around her.
However, the Pipa shirt worn by Mrs. Ding Er was green with a hint of white, and it was obvious that it had been washed several times.
The woman standing next to her was wearing a rouge-colored flowered dress, which was particularly dazzling. The two of them walked and talked side by side under the corridor, followed by several maids and old women.
"I heard that your Ping'er caused trouble again. It's a good thing it happened to you. You can tolerate it." Grandma Shang Si sighed.
At the same time, he couldn't help but feel deep sympathy for Mrs. Ding.
Second Madam Ding had no support from her natal family and her life was miserable. Her husband had to go out to study, and her parents-in-law were biased. Fortunately, Grandma Ding could tolerate such a sister-in-law.
Grandma Shang Si was the wife of Ruan Jiashang, and Grandma Ding Er was the wife of Ruan Jiading. They both married into the Ruan family in the same year. Although they married into different families, they always had a good relationship.
Mrs. Ding Er smiled bitterly, "It was all for those few mouths to feed. A few days ago, I took some embroidery work out to sell and earned some money. I bought some cotton to make a cotton coat for our master and asked someone to deliver it. I still had a few coins left, so I bought a stick of maltose for Mi Niang to sweeten her mouth. She became unhappy. While I was out, she rummaged around in my room, put her hands on her hips and tried to quarrel with me. Unfortunately, the matchmaker brought the man's family to our house. Speaking of which, it's all my fault."
Grandma Shang Si looked relieved: "She deserves it. I heard that the two families had such intentions when your old master was still alive. The man's father is a teacher in Xingping Prefecture and his family is wealthy. She lost this marriage, let's see how proud she is."
The Ruan family was a prominent family in Jiangling. They had three dukes in four generations, and the current empress was also from the Ruan family. However, this family had some very powerful officials, and some of the side branches and relatives did not live a happy life. This was the case with Second Grandma Ding's family. Especially since the family had to support a scholar, they lived a very difficult life.
"Fourth sister-in-law, stop criticizing me. Why didn't you go to Jiangnan with Fourth Brother Shang this time? He is doing business outside, and someone needs to take care of him." Second Madam Ding was also very concerned about Fourth Madam Shang. This businessman was faced with many temptations outside. If he had a mistress, he would not have time to take care of his family. Not to mention, Fourth Madam Shang only had a son by her side now, and he was sick. She didn't know if she could raise him.
Grandma Shang's eyes flashed with sadness, but she was very strong-willed and didn't want others to see her weakness, so she said nonchalantly: "I'm used to Jiangling. I like spicy food, but I'm not used to sweet food."
Anyone with a discerning eye would know that it was an excuse, and Mrs. Ding did not ask any more questions. After all, every family has its own problems. The two were about to say something else when a plump little girl came running from the side of the corridor. She had a bun on her head, a goose-yellow skirt, and a pair of eyes like black grapes, which made anyone who looked at her feel soft-hearted.
Mrs. Ding, who had just smiled helplessly, suddenly smiled like a flower. She didn't care about her frail body and picked up the little girl. She smiled and said, "My little honey, are you waiting for your mother impatiently?"
Mi Niang tilted her head and hid in the arms of Second Lady Ding and said, "I'm hungry, mother."
"Okay, I'll go back now. I just got some yeast from your fourth aunt. How about I go back and make your favorite fermented glutinous rice wine?" As a little girl, she was not greedy for anything except food.
After saying that, he smiled apologetically at Grandma Shang Si, who waved her hands to indicate that she didn't care.
She also knew that this Second Mistress loved her daughter dearly.
The little girl nestled in her mother's arms, and seemed to still smell the fragrance of soapberries. She looked at her own white and tender hands, feeling a little dazed, and suddenly pinched herself, feeling pain.
Mrs. Ding Er thought it was funny: "Mi Niang, you pinch yourself every now and then these days, what's wrong?" Thinking of this, she restrained her smile and asked the good mother-in-law who followed behind her: "Could it be that Ping'er deliberately led Mi Niang astray these days?"
The good mother-in-law said hurriedly, "Ms. Ping'er has not dared to leave her room for the past few days because her marriage has not been completed. How could she dare to harm our Mi Niang?"
Hearing this, Second Madam Ding kissed the fat girl and said, "If anyone bullies you, you must tell mother."
She felt that her daughter had a nice scent and soft flesh, and that it was never too much to love her.
Only then did Mi Niang realize that what she had been dreaming about was not a dream, but that she had really returned to the time when she was six years old. For the past three days, she had always felt that she was dreaming.
When she woke up that day, her mother was holding her and crying silently. At the door was her young aunt Ruan Ping'er, who was standing with her hands on her hips and scolding her mother. As far as she could remember, her aunt was not like this. She was not that arrogant. Every time she went back to her mother's home, she came back to beg for money.
Later... later... she went to Beijing and had no impression of her aunt Ruan Ping'er at all.
Even in Mi Niang's impression, her mother has always been a weak person, but when she looked at this matter from an adult's perspective, she saw a lot of mysteries.
Ruan Ping'er was always rude and bullied her two brothers and their wives. Mi Niang's mother suffered a lot from her anger. She even often took advantage of Second Lady Ding's absence to come in and rummage through the drawers.
Not to mention bullying Mi Niang, which happened frequently, especially when Daddy came back from the academy and Mom was selling embroidery, or occasionally buying a hair rope for her, it would be snatched away by Ruan Ping'er.
If Ruan Ping'er had a good marriage, given her vain character, the dowry would drain the entire family's bankruptcies.
The most valuable thing in the family now is the ancestral house. It was renovated when the great-grandfather was alive. Later, the grandfather lost all his belongings in gambling and almost lost the ancestral house. In the end, her father sold the 100 acres of land that the great-grandfather left for him to study and paid off the gambling debt for her grandfather.
The grandparents had repeatedly wanted to sell the ancestral home and move to the provincial capital, and Ruan Ping'er's marriage gave them an opportunity to sell the ancestral home.
She thought that her mother, who had always been weak, could take advantage of the conflict and make Ruan Ping'er's engagement terminated by the man. Not only did she avenge her daughter and herself, but she also left the family business, which made Mi Niang look at her with new eyes. Her mother died when she was eight years old in her previous life. When her mother died, she was not very sensible and did not understand her mother very well. But now that she was reborn, she found that her mother was actually weak on the outside, but strategic on the inside, which was different from what she imagined.
But how could such a strategic mother suddenly commit suicide because of a few rumors?
While I was thinking about it, I heard Second Mistress Ding say with a smile: "Mi Niang, I'll take you into the house and let Hao Po go fry the glutinous rice cakes, okay?"
The family was poor, with only three servants, two of the grandparents, and a good mother-in-law who worked back and forth between the first and second rooms. But because Second Madam Ding had a good temper, knew how to cook, and even took care of the children by herself, and never blamed or scolded the servants, Good Mother-in-law liked Second Madam Ding more and often went to the second room.
This is also the ability of the second wife.
The room was very simple, but Mi Niang felt very comfortable. When Aunt Ding put her on the bed, she rolled over. Aunt Ding poked her daughter's belly and said, "Little fat pig."
"Miss Mi is not a little fat pig."
It is such a wonderful time when daddy and mommy are still alive, and she is still the little sweet girl that daddy and mommy hold in their hands.
In this life, your daughter must protect you well, Mi Niang said in her heart.
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