Trip to Beijing, Part 4
Having successfully driven the troublesome nanny out of the Princess's residence, Lin Lan, who had been confined for many days, stayed in the Princess's room and refused to leave. In the end, she simply brought her own quilt and wanted to squeeze in with her mother to sleep.
The princess kept talking to Lin Lan, recounting many things that had happened in Jinzhou Prefecture, which filled Lin Lan with longing.
She looked at her mother, whose features had completely relaxed and whose brows were no longer furrowed with worry, and said, "So, Mother's recent changes are thanks to Sister Pan'er's guidance?"
The eldest princess nodded: "Don't let her young age and rural background fool you, she actually knows a lot of principles, is insightful and open-minded. Everyone around her is of humble origin but lives a wonderful life, which makes me feel ashamed of myself."
Lin Lan said, "So, Mother has been running around the court these days, ruling from behind the curtain, to help my cousin navigate this situation?"
The eldest princess seemed worried: "Your cousin is of a peaceful nature, and it will not be easy for him to sit on the throne. As Pan'er said, if I can help you stabilize the government and make the people live in peace and prosperity, as your cousin asks, wouldn't that be much more meaningful than me wallowing in sorrow over your father's passing?"
“It’s good that Mother has things she wants to do.” Lin Lan also thought it was appropriate, but not wanting the Princess to worry, she changed the subject: “Will Sister Pan’er be my future sister-in-law?”
Upon hearing this, the eldest princess smiled and said, "That depends on your brother's abilities. Pan'er is a girl who can live well on her own. If she doesn't truly love someone, she would never be willing to be tied to another person for life."
"Does she like my brother?" Lin Lan asked.
"Are you silly?" The princess pinched her daughter's nose. "If you don't like him, can your brother bring him back to the manor as a guest?"
Upon hearing this, Lin Lan excitedly rolled over. Wang Pan'er was far better than those lifeless young ladies her father had chosen, who loved to put down their girlfriends to show off their status.
She sat up slightly, beaming, and said, "That's great! I'd love to have Sister Pan'er as my sister-in-law too."
"Since she likes it, your brother is going to the palace tomorrow, so you can take her with you and your girlfriends to have a good time in the capital."
Lin Lan hesitated for a moment, then asked in a low voice, "Our group has always had a bad reputation. If Sister Pan'er comes with us, I'm afraid it will tarnish her reputation..."
“She doesn’t care about empty reputation,” the eldest princess said. “Besides, I’ve never thought you were bad. You’re just young and don’t know how to handle things. Those men criticize you for your bad reputation only because they can’t get anything out of you. Your sister Pan’er is resourceful and upright, and she’s protective of her own. You should learn from her.”
Lin Lan felt she shouldn't have doubted her mother's approval because of a mere nanny. She felt a pang of resentment and gave a sullen reply.
The eldest princess tapped her forehead: "Alright, we've been making a fuss all day. I'm tired even if you're not. Let's rest."
The eldest princess tucked the blanket around Lin Lan, and the mother and daughter slept soundly together all night.
The next morning, Lin Lan knocked on Wang Pan'er's door: "Sister Pan'er, my brother has gone to the palace, and Mother asked me to take you out for a trip."
Fortunately, Wang Pan'er didn't sleep in when she came to visit. She put down the towel she had washed her face, opened the door, and her eyes lit up instantly.
Dressed in a flowing skirt and with sleeves fluttering in the breeze, the vibrant young girl smiled radiantly.
It's a ritual for young girls to put on all their makeup and go out happily.
Lin Lan followed Wang Pan'er into the guest room and waited for Wang Pan'er to do her makeup.
Wang Pan'er loves looking at young and beautiful men and women, but when it comes to dressing up herself, she gets lazy. She's not good at styling, and she doesn't like waiting for others to help her. No matter how hard she tries, she's never satisfied, so she just lets herself be plain.
In contrast to Lin Lan's ornate and elaborate attire, Wang Pan'er chose her favorite dress from the outfits prepared by the Princess, then took a gold hairpin adorned with pearls and inserted it into her simply styled hair.
Besides the gold hairpin, the only other hair ornament she wore was the Hidden Sword Hairpin given to her by Mu Chuan. The Hidden Sword Hairpin had saved her life, and the sense of security it gave her was incomparable to anything else; she wore it every day without ever taking it off.
Fortunately, the pearls on the hairpin were large enough, lustrous, and perfectly round, making the whole hairstyle simple yet far from shabby.
As soon as she finished dressing, Wang Pan'er was hurriedly led out the door by Lin Lan.
When Lin Lan goes out, she usually hangs out with her girlfriends.
Wang Pan'er listened to her rambling on and on the way.
Lin Lan and her group were isolated within the elite ladies' circles of the capital. The reason for this isolation was their unconventional behavior; they were seen as the epitome of "wicked women" by the scions of noble families. Not only did they disregard the traditional virtues of obedience and submission, but they even attempted to lord it over men, becoming negative role models. Even noble families used them as examples to criticize their daughters.
Admittedly, Lin Lan didn't think being a "virtuous wife and loving mother" was a good thing, and she didn't take those aristocratic families seriously.
However, the actions of these sisters challenged the authority of their father and husband. Wherever they went, they would try to lecture acquaintances they met.
They were always victorious in verbal sparring and fighting, but being disrupted always dampened their spirits for having fun. The small group of seven or eight, fed up with the constant interruptions, decided to set up their own courtyard for their own enjoyment.
And so, Lin Lan led the way through the winding alleyways and pushed open an unremarkable door.
Only by passing through the entrance hall can one glimpse the mysteries within.
What a remarkable example of someone who lives in seclusion amidst the city.
This is a large courtyard with two entrances and two exits. Although it cannot be called a mansion, it is still much larger than that of an ordinary family.
The courtyard has been renovated, with the houses removed, leaving only the kitchen and dining room. The courtyard now occupies about 80-90% of the area, and an octagonal pavilion stands in the middle of the pond.
It was the height of summer, and the lotus flowers in the middle of the pond were in full bloom, a vibrant green, with koi carp playing and frolicking beneath the lotus leaves.
Freshly picked lotus pods were laid out on a stone table in the pavilion, surrounded by five or six lively women, who were having a great time.
One of them was dressed as a man, with a protruding belly, and occasionally touched a non-existent beard.
Lin Lan approached Wang Pan'er and heard her muttering to herself.
"You wretched child, how dare you even mention it? My Shen family has been distinguished for generations, yet we have produced such an arrogant and rebellious daughter as you. With such a lack of discipline and manners, how will you be able to manage the household affairs after you get married?"
"You mocked the Prime Minister's son as a 'good-for-nothing' at the poetry gathering and ridiculed the Vice Minister Wang's son as 'vulgar' at the flower-viewing banquet. With such behavior, you have become infamous in Bianjing. Even poor men are deterred from approaching you. How will you ever get married in the future?"
"You've wasted your time studying the 'Admonitions for Women,' hanging out with those disreputable women all the time. From today onwards, you're not allowed to leave the house!"
One of the sisters laughed and said, "Weren't you grounded? How did you manage to sneak out today?"
The woman was probably imitating her father, but she had a rosy face and a light figure, without any trace of the greasy air of a man. However, her imitation was so lifelike that it made the sisters around her laugh so hard they were doubled over.
She rolled her eyes: "Everyone says I've wasted my time reading the 'Precepts for Women,' so I'd better dig a dog hole to crawl into."
This time, even Wang Pan'er couldn't help but laugh out loud.
Hearing the commotion, the sisters in the pavilion all turned to look.
When new faces arrived, the imitators stopped, and the ones who were eating melon seeds also stopped. They quickly moved two seats aside and beckoned Lin Lan to lead Wang Pan'er into the pavilion.
As soon as Wang Pan'er stepped into the pavilion, she was surrounded by her sisters, who began to ask her questions one after another.
"What are your names, sisters?"
"Which family are you, sisters?"
"Sister, your skin is so smooth and supple, how do you take care of it?"
Some people were so enthusiastic that they even reached out and touched Wang Pan'er's half-down hair, saying, "It's like silk! Sister, your blood and energy are incredibly vigorous!"
Wang Pan'er seemed to have become like Tang Sanzang who had mistakenly entered the Spider Cave, only managing to escape from their barrage of questions when Lin Lan spoke up.
"She was brought back to our house by my brother as a guest, and she was also a benefactor to my mother."
"Whoa!"
The women were in an uproar.
"With your brother's arrogant nature, would he really bring women to visit?"
The girl disguised as a man said, "I've been pursuing your brother for years, but he's always been indifferent to me. Could this lady be your future sister-in-law?"
Lin Lan did not deny it: "My mother said it depends on whether my brother can win over Sister Pan'er."
The girl gave Wang Pan'er a thumbs up: "Amazing! Among all the sisters here, who wouldn't want to win Lin Chuan over? Sister Pan'er, you're so lucky!"
Unexpectedly, Mu Chuan was quite popular. However, men who are good-looking, from good families, and have a straightforward personality are rare, so it's not surprising that girls like him.
Lin Lan was worried that her friends' enthusiasm might frighten Wang Pan'er, so she said, "Alright, let's not talk about my brother. Mother told me to take Pan'er and have some fun in the capital."
But Wang Pan'er adapted well to this group of lively girls.
They were easygoing, open, and honest, with no ill intentions. They simply possessed a "self" that shouldn't exist in this era, and were thus strangled by the resistance against the rules.
After Lin Lan revealed that Wang Pan'er came from a peasant background and had opened several shops in Jinzhou Prefecture on her own, the sisters' attitude towards her changed from curiosity to fawning over her.
Although all these young ladies wanted to take Mu Chuan in as a wife, marriage was never their first choice in life. They were unwilling to be subservient to others, and they knew that the world was unfair, that the powerful preyed on the weak, and that men preyed on women. They also knew that family resources were tilted towards male offspring, and that even noble ladies were nothing more than tools for family exploitation or power grabs.
The girl, dressed as a man today, said, "My father just said that I am no longer able to manage the household affairs after I get married. I think the ownership of these household affairs is not mine, so what's the point of managing them? If I'm going to manage them, they should be properties under my name."
Other girls chimed in, "Exactly! Helping them manage their household, helping them take concubines for pleasure, and even raising their children—all for a reputation of being virtuous and respectable, are they crazy?"
"If you ask me, most men are no longer useful after the age of twenty-five. It would be better to choose a man you like and have a daughter to inherit the family business."
Some people were uneasy about such a suggestion: "However, it is always inconvenient for women in this world."
The young woman quickly stopped her sister: "Don't think like that. They even use lame excuses to forbid us from enjoying the finest food, making us weak and without ambition, so they can confine us to the inner quarters and use us. Think about it, children are born from our wombs, and daughters are born of our bloodline. If a son is born to inherit the family business, what if the wife doesn't live a virtuous life? Wouldn't that extinguish the family line? And the continuation of the family line is a small matter; what would truly be heartbreaking is if they stole the family business you worked so hard to build."
"Yun Jiao, you're right. I was narrow-minded."
Wang Pan'er realized that Shen Yunjiao, the girl disguised as a man, was probably the backbone of this group of girls.
She refuted her friend's dangerous remarks, then grabbed Wang Pan'er and said, "Women can't enter officialdom; if they want to support themselves, they can only go into business. We have no experience in business and dare not act rashly, for fear of being cheated or losing our already meager monthly allowance. Sister Pan'er, how did you manage to open so many shops from scratch? Please save us poor, starving folks!"
"Tsk tsk tsk!" Lin Lan pulled away Shen Yunjiao's arm. "What kind of behavior is it to hug my future sister-in-law while dressed as a man? If you want to talk, put your pig's trotters back and speak properly!"
Wang Pan'er was unfamiliar with the capital and dared not presume to know more. However, she was reluctant to keep anything from these spirited girls and asked about the situation in the capital.
According to the sisters, the people of the capital were not living in peace and prosperity as Wang Pan'er had imagined.
In this land where every inch is precious, taxes are heavy, prices are high, and powerful families have deeply entrenched themselves and eroded the lives of ordinary people, leaving them still suffering immensely.
Although Wang Pan'er had the successful example of Shanhe Medicinal Cuisine Restaurant, she knew that adapting to local conditions was crucial; she couldn't simply copy that approach to gain traction in the capital. After pondering for a while, she said, "As far as I know, you sisters aren't accepted by the mainstream aristocratic families in the capital. Doing business with the powerful and wealthy will likely lead to setbacks everywhere. As for doing business with the common people, you've been well-off since childhood, so you might not be able to accurately grasp their needs immediately. I think you could start by choosing a business that interests you from your own unassuming shops, learning from the managers, and broadening your horizons. The cost of a small shop shouldn't be a problem for you. I have a younger sister..."
Wang Pan'er spoke eloquently, and shared Wang Xiaoyao's experience in building the Thousand Machines and Myriad Responses Pavilion with her sisters.
Everyone exclaimed in amazement: "A role model for us all! No wonder Brother Lin Chuan is so fond of you. We should go to Jinzhou Prefecture to see this amazing young lady when we have time. Not only is she doing very well herself, but she has also saved so many women from hardship."
Wang Pan'er smiled and asked, "Can you get permission from your elders to travel far away?"
The young girl was instantly deflated again, and she quickly tried to comfort herself, saying, "Next time I come to Beijing, I'll bring my sister and the other girls along for some fun."
After promising her girlfriends that she would visit small shops together to learn from their experiences, Wang Pan'er became the most sought-after girl among them.
They spent four or five days eating, drinking, and having fun, completely forgetting about home, living a life that made others envious.
The jealous men finally couldn't stand it any longer and complained to the prince consort.
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