After Ruan Shiyi returned home, his mother, Grandma Gui, looked him up and down and said with relief, "Well, you are really becoming a man now. You are going to get married soon and become an adult. You must not be as naughty as before."
"My son knows." Ruan Shiyi is the only son in the family. He has an older sister who has already married. Although his father has never achieved fame, he has a very close relationship with the family, so Ruan Shiyi's family is very wealthy.
After chatting with Grandma Gui for a while, he brought up the matter of the bed-rolling boy: "My son met Sister Mi on the road today. She was playing outside. My son thought she was very cute, so he wanted to let her be the bed-rolling boy. What do you think?"
Grandma Gui knew her son well. Apart from studying, she was a carefree person. Otherwise, she wouldn't have found a niece from her mother's side to marry him, who was a few years older than her son, just to take good care of him.
Therefore, she believed that it was Mi Niang's grandparents who said something, and couldn't help asking: "But what did the old lady in their family say? How can you care about her? She likes to cry all the time, and her old man is also a beggar. Besides, I have already found someone, the niece of Grandma Shu, who is a lucky girl."
Scholars value honesty, and Ruan Shiyi thought of Mi Niang's well-behaved appearance, so he tried to persuade her, "Mother, it wasn't her old lady who told me that, it was Mi Niang who was playing alone there. I found her very cute, and I remembered how prominent Uncle Ding was in the clan. If Mi Niang's grandfather hadn't gambled, Uncle Ding would have won the imperial examination. Just think of it as helping Mi Niang, maybe we can make some friends."
Regardless of Ruan Shiyi's usual childish nature and not caring much about worldly affairs, there are some scholars who are really stupid.
Grandma Gui was also touched by this phrase about making connections. Although the Ruan family had a queen, it was actually of no use. There were only three branches in their family, all of which were in the capital. How could they care about the clan members in Jiangling? They all said that their husbands had a good relationship with their family, but at best they were just in charge of some sacrificial fields, and their lives were better than those of ordinary clan members.
The Great Yong Dynasty ultimately relied on scholars, and the Ruan family hoped that there would be a few scholars in the family. Those foreign relatives and nobles were just rich and idle people. Even if some of them were in charge of military power, this dynasty was based on civil power to support military power, and the Ruan family was not originally based on military power. Most of them were still scholars. If Ruan Jiading could really graduate one day, then today would be a good opportunity.
"In that case, let Mi Niang come. As for the boy, don't interfere. I don't invite ordinary people." Grandma Gui said solemnly.
You should know that the boys on the rolling bed are usually a boy and a girl, which symbolizes the auspiciousness of dragon and phoenix. In the future, the bride will also give birth to a boy and a girl, making up the Chinese character "good".
But boys are more important than girls. After all, nowadays people think that having a son is more important, and a girl is just a embellishment.
Hearing his mother talking about the boy so seriously, Ruan Shiyi asked, "Who is this boy?"
Grandma Gui smiled and said, "He is Madam Zhang's son. What do you think his status is?"
"Madam Zhang, which Madam Zhang?" Ruan Shiyi thought for a moment and then said, "Could it be the wife of Zhang Maoze, the inspector general?"
Grandma Gui nodded: "If it weren't for the prince in the capital, they wouldn't have let his son come. Besides, her father, Master Jian, is the salt transport officer in Huainan."
Ruan Shiyi also admired his mother for her strong background. He said, "It's all thanks to my mother that I was able to hire such a person."
This was just a matter of one word for Ruan Shiyi, but when it came to Mi Niang, the Second Mistress would regard it as a great joyous event.
"Mi Niang, I'll go borrow a piece of red cloth from your aunt Shang Si and make you a nice dress in the next few days, how about that?" Because the family was not well off, Second Aunt Ding hardly interacted with anyone else in the clan except Aunt Shang Si. Of course, she was also afraid that people would say they were taking advantage of the situation.
Now that her daughter is so popular and is even working as a bed-rolling boy, Second Mistress Ding must be so happy.
Mi Niang held her mother and said, "Mom, I have a red coat that I made last year. I will wear that. You just need to iron it for your daughter."
Just kidding, I haven't earned any money yet, and I'm going to get new cloth. Mother said she was borrowing it, so she must have given the money privately. Isn't that a loss?
"That won't do. That coat is old." Mrs. Ding was worried.
The money she had taken from her cousin, Madam Wu, amounted to one or two taels of silver, which was saved for her husband. Her husband would need to find a student on the government stipend to act as a guarantor for the next year's imperial examination. Not to mention much else, at least one or two taels of silver would be needed.
But husbands are important, and daughters are important too.
It was not easy for her daughter to be liked by others, and she couldn't let her daughter be laughed at by others.
Unexpectedly, in the evening, Grandma Gui sent someone around to bring a little red jacket with delicate plum blossoms embroidered on the outside, which was extremely beautiful. Grandma Ding even gave the visitor a reward.
The man knew that Second Madam Ding lived in poverty, but even so, she was still so polite, so he couldn't help but say a few words: "Originally, the girl was chosen to be the niece of Grandma Shu, and you know Grandma Shu, she has always been visiting our grandmother. But our grandmother always knows who is her family, and it goes without saying that Second Master Ding treated our Young Master very well."
Second Madam Ding showed a slight smile on her face, and was obviously very pleased. You know, although they are all members of the Ruan family, they are also divided into different classes. If the one at the top of the pagoda is the lineage of Duke Bohai in Beijing, and the most powerful one in the hometown is the lineage of the clan leader, then the next one is Ruan Jiagui, the husband of Grandma Gui.
He was in charge of the clan's sacrificial fields and shops. His family was very wealthy and he had very good relations with his clan.
Mi Niang heard the name of Grandma Shu, and she couldn't help but ask, "Is it the Grandma Shu by the bamboo forest?"
The servant was surprised and said, "Miss Mi'er is really smart. She is the grandmother of the bamboo forest."
It seemed that Second Madam Ding also knew about this, and she hurriedly said, "I heard that her niece is a lucky girl."
The servant nodded, "That's right. Grandma Shu's maiden name is Zhou. Her sister-in-law gave birth to five sons before she gave birth to this old lady. She loved her like crazy. Later, Grandma Shu married for a few years but still had no children. Guess what, she took this Miss Zhou home and she gave birth to twins last year. Not only that, Grandpa Shu used to have only a few acres of thin land, and lived a little better than the countryside. Now, his son has a big customer for his bamboo field, and he sold that small field for nearly two hundred taels. So, everyone says that Miss Zhou is a very lucky girl. What's more, her name is Zhou Furou."
Zhou Furou? Mi Niang thought to herself, it really is her. She first met Zhou Furou on the way to Beijing. She never thought she would be at Ruan's house so early.
On the other hand, Grandma Shu did not expect that her niece would be squeezed out. She asked Grandma Gui unwillingly: "Sister-in-law Gui, I told my sister-in-law that they sent the child here early. This..."
Grandma Gui pushed the blame onto her son: "I wanted your niece to come. She is a blessed child, but my 11th son used to have a good relationship with Sister Mi's father. Isn't that something we can do? But don't worry. I have some cakes from Tianxiangzhai. You can take them back for Sister Fu to eat."
Although Zhou Furou is blessed, she is just a farmer's daughter. Although Mi Niang is living a hard life now, her father is a scholar and her status is different.
Almost everyone thinks so now. Therefore, even though the people in the clan dislike Old Master Ruan and Old Madam Ruan, and secretly despise and ridicule Second Madam Ding, they dare not quarrel with them. What if Ruan Jiading really achieves fame?
Mi Niang saw that the second wife also said the same thing: "No matter how lucky she is, she is just a farmer's daughter. Your father is a student now. If he marries a scholar next year, you will be the daughter of a scholar. It's different after all."
But Mi Niang smiled bitterly in her heart. Zhou Furou was really blessed. She would marry the son of Marquis Jinxiang in the future and be treated as a sister by Queen Ruan. On the contrary, she had lost both her parents and was helpless. Her life was much worse than Zhou Furou's.
At that time, she and Zhou Furou were sent to Queen Nguyen by the Nguyen clan and started as female officials. Queen Nguyen inexplicably favored Zhou Furou from the beginning. It was obvious that Zhou Furou treated the queen more attentively and even made plans for the queen, but she was still not as good as Zhou Furou.
Even Zhou Furou's marriage was arranged by the Empress with all her heart. She was clearly working for the Empress, but was framed by Concubine Cui, but the Empress turned a blind eye.
This was also the main reason why she later fell out with Queen Nguyen.
Thinking of this, Mi Niang snorted coldly. What blessing and luck? Those who offended blessing would be retaliated against. She, Ruan Mi Niang, always believed that man could conquer nature. Look, didn't Ruan Shiyi choose herself this time?
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