As the New Year is getting closer and closer, the New Year's atmosphere in Taiyuan City is getting stronger and stronger, beating rice cakes, sticking peach charms, standing poles and hanging flags, every household is drinking and slaughtering Su wine, and the married daughter also has to go back to her parents' house to visit relatives. ’

Approaching the New Year, there are more entertainment for guests to eat, this afternoon, the palace of the king of Chu is full of lights, lively and abnormal, the carriage in front of the gate comes and goes, hundreds of guards maintain order, guide the vehicle.

Today is the day when the princess of Chu feasts guests, it is a festival for women, and the wives and daughters of officials above the seventh rank in Taiyuan City received invitations two days ago.

Although the invitation card is clearly written, everyone is invited to come in plain clothes, and there is no need to dress up, but the nature of women makes them still wear heavy makeup, gold and silver, and the luxury that has risen in the last month or two has made many officials' families more concerned about this opportunity to show off their glitz.

Soon after noon, all kinds of gorgeous carriages came to the palace of the king of Chu, some of the carriages were inlaid with gold and silver, some of the carriages were made of fine pear wood, and some were tied with silk and satin, which were luxurious and rich, and the wives and daughters of the poor officials in the family simply did not come to the hospital, so as not to be laughed at.

A group of brightly dressed ladies got off the carriage and walked to the house, their hair was combed in a high bun, the pearl and green streamer, Fu Fan Shi Zhu, Fang Xin was full of body, most of them were wearing long skirts, red silk and emerald silk, fairy robes fluttering, young and beautiful daughters followed by them, one by one floating cui liudan, rich and beautiful, there were nearly 1,000 female guests who came to the banquet, and the front and back of the lobby were very lively.

Today's banquet place is located in the Xuanwu Hall of the Chu Palace, which is a huge hall that can accommodate 3,000 people to dine at the same time, and it is also the main hall of the Chu Palace.

The women are full of interest in the palace of the king of Chu, and they like to learn about the life of the palace of the king of Chu from the subtleties, such as what lichen is used, whether it is the legendary Persian carpet, such as whether the pillars in the main hall are made of agarwood. If so, can you take some home with you, etc.

But the situation before them disappointed the women, there were no Persian carpets, not even carpets. It's just cleaned up very cleanly, there are 500 wooden couches in the main hall, two sheepskins are spread on the couch, and there is no agarwood, the pillars have faded because of age, and the lacquer shell has peeled off in large pieces, which looks very old and mottled.

There are already many female guests gathered in the main hall. The noble lady headed by Su Wei is Su Wei's new wife Ye Shi, no one knows her origin, only that she is deeply favored by Su Wei, but her wife is just a title, the official does not recognize it, to put it bluntly, she is actually a concubine who enjoys the treatment of a lady.

Ye is quite charming and fair-skinned. He is only in his early twenties, his hair is combed to welcome the Tang Dynasty, and his hair is decorated with all kinds of gold beads and jade. Pearlescent, dazzling in the light, she wears a tight-fitting satin undergarment, a brocade around her shoulders, a wide and folded long skirt tied around her waist, covered with a cloud-like silk dress, and her arms and finger rings, all of which are excellent treasures, and she looks particularly rich and enchanting in a group of noble ladies, and Ye is also the initiator of this luxury competition. Her hair accessories and dresses were particularly eye-catching, and her slightly disdainful voice could be heard from afar, "Such a big hall, don't you even have lichens?" This wooden couch is also old, and I don't know where I borrowed it, but it was padded with sheepskin. Our house is treated with Ruixia red embroidered carpet, a blanket costs a thousand taels of silk, you see, look! ”

Ye's heart carefully found that the tableware on the table was engraved with 'Baiyunju'" Her shrill voice shouted, "Even the tableware is borrowed, this is the tableware of Baiyunju Wine Store, I said how it is a little familiar." ”

The women were talking, mixed with Ye's somewhat sarcastic laughter, "The Chu Palace's Mansion is a little too shabby!" ”

The women also found that there were no musicians, no dancing girls, and no groups of charming maids to serve, only a few dozen servants who were busy like bees, setting dishes and plates, and all of them were dressed in cloth clothes, and they were not gray, which was in stark contrast to the flowery ladies.

This made the ladies feel very stunned, is this the maid and servant woman of the Chu Palace? actually wore cloth clothes, you must know that the maids and servants of Su Xiangguo's Mansion and Wang Xiangguo's Mansion were all dressed in Qiluo.

"Mrs. Jia!"

Cheng Biting Jin's wife Xiang Shi walked a little cautiously, she wore a narrow sleeved wide long skirt, combed the popular high bun, and had more than a dozen jeweled hairpins on her head, although she was deceived by her cousin of a few hundred taels of silver and half of the jewelry, and suffered heavy losses, but her husband was very competitive, and Feihu County made great achievements in the first battle, received rich rewards, and made up for her losses.

This month's wind of competition for luxury also blew to the Cheng family, Xiang made himself a dozen good silk skirts in one go, and bought more than 20 pieces of valuable jewelry, but she is relatively stingy, in addition to being extravagant to herself, more than a dozen maids and servants in the family did not enjoy the benefits brought by this luxury wind, only her two personal maids each got an old silver jewelry that she eliminated.

Xiang Shi is three months pregnant, although the lower abdomen has not yet bulged, but her reaction is relatively large, and the movement is a little faster, she will feel chest tightness and uncomfortable, so she walks carefully, Qianqian walks carefully, and many ladies who don't know the truth are still secretly pointing behind, praising her for her steps and Nana.

She walked up to Qin Qiong's wife Jia Shi and grabbed her arm, "Mrs. Jia come with me, I'll show you something interesting." ”

Qin Qiong's wife Jia is thirty-seven or eighteen years old, she has become a grandmother, her daughter is only one year younger than Xiang's, she is dressed very plainly, wearing a silver hairpin, a little powder on her face, wearing a slightly old long skirt, although it is a satin long skirt, but the style is very old, it can be seen that she is a little old, and her dress is a little out of place among the bejeweled ladies.

Mrs. Jia was born in a small merchant family, knowledgeable, simple by nature, not accustomed to extravagance and waste, in the last month or so in the backyard of Taiyuan officialdom suddenly blew this extravagant wind made her very disgusted, she wrote to tell her husband, Qin Qiong told Yang Yuanqing about it, so there is today's banquet.

Perhaps because Qin Qiong and Cheng Yanjin have a very good relationship, Mrs. Jia also takes special care of Cheng Bitingjin's wife Xiang, and Xiang comes to chat with Mrs. Jia almost every once in a while.

Jia Shi was very disgusted with this Ye family, the golden cui on her head was vulgar like an upstart, she was about to walk away, when she heard Xiang Shi calling herself, she turned around and asked with a smile, "What's the matter?" ”

Mrs. Jia glanced at Xiang's stomach with concern again, and asked in a low voice, "Does it matter?" ”

"It's okay today, the little guy in the belly is angry. Didn't mess with me. ”

Xiang smiled and pulled Mrs. Jia out, "I'll show you something, it's really surprising." ”

She took Mrs. Jia to the front yard, where a carriage was parked. A large group of ladies were pointing around the carriage, and Mrs. Jia slowly stepped forward, she was also a little strange in her heart, the carriage was very ordinary, without any decoration, except for a little wider, there was no difference between the carriage of the rental car dealership.

There is nothing strange about the carriage itself. Mrs. Jia was surprised that such a slightly shabby carriage actually appeared in the Chu Palace.

Xiang Shi opened the door, glanced at it, and turned back and said, "It's easier in the carriage!" ”

All the ladies rushed forward, and looked inside, only a lichen and a small table were laid inside, and nothing else, let alone the decoration on the wall of the car.

"Whose carriage is this. Actually placed in the main courtyard? The ladies all asked curiously.

At this time, a little maid stepped forward to salute, "Ladies, the princess invites everyone to enter the main hall." ”

A lady asked her, gesturing to the carriage. "Whose carriage is this in the palace, and why is it parked here?"

"Back to ladies and gentlemen, this is the carriage of my princess."

The front yard was quiet all of a sudden, and all the ladies looked at each other, such a shabby carriage turned out to be Princess Chu's carriage, which was incredible.

"No, it won't!"

Xiang asked with some disbelief: "Is this really the princess's carriage?" ”

The little maid said seriously: "The princess said that there are still many poor people in the world who can't afford to eat, and there are still many children who die of hunger, so she should restrain herself and the palace and strive to be simple." There can be no arrogance, this is what the princess said to us. ”

"Well said!" Mrs. Jia couldn't help but applaud, the courtyard was very quiet, and many ladies lowered their heads in shame.

The maid said, "Come with me!" The princess invited everyone into the palace. ”

Everyone followed the maid into the main hall, and the hall was already quiet, and the ladies all took their seats. At this time, a guard shouted: "Princess Chu has arrived!" ”

Listening to a burst of footsteps, Princess Pei Minqiu of Chu walked into the hall from the main entrance under the embrace of a group of maids, she was smiling, her posture was as bright as the autumn moon, her hair was combed back into a bun, and there was no gorgeous jewelry on her head, only a simple hosta was passed through, and her face was thinly powdered, what was surprising was that she was wearing a white fine linen short shirt, tied with a long skirt, which was also woven with fine linen, which was obviously a little rough, and there was no difference between a dress and a housewife of a poor family. But the graceful and atmospheric demeanor between her gestures was incomparable to that of any lady in the seat, and she nodded to the ladies one by one, and walked calmly to the top of the hall.

There was a slight commotion in the hall, and the dignified Princess Chu was dressed so simply, and some smart ladies faintly guessed that this was Princess Chu who wanted to set an example and stop the recent trend of competition and luxury in the backyard of officialdom.

Pei Minqiu walked up to the hall, glanced at everyone, and said apologetically with a smile: "Please come to the banquet today, the hospitality is not good, please bear with me!" ”

The hall was still quiet, no one dared to speak much, everyone had a great deal of shame on their faces, and the princess's cloth dress and her jewels formed a strong contrast.

Pei Minqiu raised his glass and said to the ladies: "The world is far from being unified, the common people have not been blessed, the soldiers are fighting bloodily for the country in the front, this cold and freezing time, before the banquet, I make a suggestion, each of us donates one hundred pairs of shoes and socks to the front-line soldiers, in order to do our best to comfort the army." ”

At this time, more than a dozen maids walked in with a large plate, with shoes and socks on the plate, Pei Minqiu smiled again: "These shoes and socks are made by me and my family, including my dress, which is also made by me by hand-spinning and weaving, I am not asking everyone to spin and weave like me, you can also buy it, it is not expensive, this is just a little bit of our heart, if everyone donates a hundred pairs of shoes and socks, then 100,000 soldiers can feel the support and warmth of the rear." ”

Ye Shi bit her lip tightly, and she couldn't help asking, "May I ask the princess, did you just say that your clothes were made of your own hand-spun and woven cloth, is it true?" ”

Pei Minqiu smiled and nodded, "If Mrs. Ye doesn't believe it, I can demonstrate!" ”

She turned around and instructed the maid a few words, the maid went down, and in a moment, more than a dozen servants carried a spinning wheel and a loom up and placed them on the main hall, Pei Minqiu walked to the loom and sat down, sorted out the thread, and she skillfully operated the loom, 'Click! Click! The sound of a machine sounded in the hall, and a fine linen white cloth gradually weaved into her hands......

The next day, the gorgeous carriages inlaid with gold and silver were no longer visible on the streets of Taiyuan City, and the vehicles that drove out of the officials' mansions became simple and simple ordinary carriages.