In the middle of April, Jinling has entered the scorching summer, the peony in the imperial garden is in full bloom, and the empress dowager has issued a decree to invite women above the three grades in Beijing to enter the palace to enjoy the flowers.

Today happens to be Du Qianqian's birthday, and the sisters are also invited to have a day of fun, Xu Luzhu is reluctant to enter the palace to join in the fun, with Xiao Yushi and others bringing Mu Caichun, Xu Yunyu and other ladies to come.

During the banquet, there were missing the wives and the ladies of the house, such as Xu Qinglian, Xu Bitao, Mu Ningxue, and Xu Miaojin, Xu Cuiliu, and Mu Qingshuang, which inevitably seemed to be a fly in the ointment.

After a round of drinking, Du Qianqian said: "We have to be lively too, is it possible that without a few of them, we won't be able to make trouble?"

Xu Cuiyun said: "Now that I'm older, how can I still have the strength I had back then?"

"Who says poetry or something? I don't have to laugh at it. Du Qianqian said with a smile, "Since you drink, this dumb wine is too boring to eat, the order is not good, and guessing the boxing is too cheesy, why don't you break a peony flower and play drumming and passing flowers?" It's easy to understand and fair, as long as there are more people, it's interesting, anyway, we don't have a few people today, can you see if it's feasible?"

"You are the birthday star today, do we still have one who doesn't depend?" Brother Xu Lu smiled, and the others also nodded in agreement.

Du Qianqian said: "Okay, tell my Hongwen to go outside to play the drums." By the way, she is no longer with Lanxiang, and she is here to serve me again. ”

Probably because the marriage has been decided, Hongwen and other maids who don't want to marry then ask to stay in the Mu family, and the big guys think so, otherwise it will be intriguing.

I want my wife to point out her henchman to her son, what is the deep meaning is self-evident. In the same way, it can be proved that the girl next to Miss left for no reason, and there is a chance that there will be an article here, but in short, it is not very good.

Seeing that Hongwen went calmly and broke a branch of peony, turned around and came back to sit outside, the little maids brought a flower skin drum full of copper nails.

Xiao Yushi, who was sitting on the side, pondered the last time she took the initiative to say goodbye to the girl here, bypassing Hongwen, who is suitable in all aspects, originally we all thought that she was a dowry for Yu'er, could it be that she was taken by Lanxiang and his father?

This is still Xiao Yushi, who doesn't know that Hongwen has a love affair with the flower farmer in private.

So Xiao Yushi said tentatively: "Why do you just want your Hongwen drum?" It seems that it is difficult to guarantee that it has nothing to do with it. Hehe, and Hongwen, this girl, is very good at making ghosts, let's not follow her girl's way, get drunk, talk nonsense and be laughed at by others. ”

"You shrew." Du Qianqian scolded with a smile: "You are suspicious again, what can this have to do with it?" That's it, you can call whichever you want to play the drums, and I didn't say that it has to be Hongwen. No, you ate more wine and complained that my family deliberately played tricks on you. ”

Xiao Yushi smiled: "It's not necessary, but she is not allowed to look at us, I need to sit far away and play her drums, I can rest assured."

Here, Hongwen smiled when she heard this, got up and moved her seat to the flower garden to show her innocence.

"Okay, don't make trouble with the side branches, listen to me explain the rules." Xu Cuiyun, the eldest, opened his mouth, "Let's start with me, as an official, you have to eat a big glass of façade wine first, and then pass on the flowers, and when the drum stops, whoever spends it in your hand eats a glass of wine, casually reciting an ancient poem, and there must be a flower word in the middle." Count the words to see whose turn it is, who is the commander, and then pass it on by her, if the flower is in the hands of the commander, the commander only reads a poem, and is exempt from drinking and drinking. It's not that I'm partial to the commander, and since I have eaten the façade cup, I can't eat the punishment wine anymore, otherwise the commander will suffer too much. ”

Seeing that no one objected, Du Qianqian ordered Hongwen to start drumming.

Mu Lingxia, who was sitting on the side, opened her eyes wide, watched Hongwen put the drum in front of her, rolled up her sleeves, and pressed the sleeves with a bracelet, revealing her two snow-white arms, and then picked up a pair of drumsticks, first lightly hit them twice on the wooden edge, and then knocked them unhurriedly.

The drum sounded, Mu Lingxia turned his head to look, Xu Cuiyun drank a large glass of wine, showed the bottom of the cup to everyone, handed the peony flower to the people around him, and passed it one by one.

Xu Yu, who was sitting next to her, felt bored, Lan Xiang couldn't hide, and whispered, "Let's play with poetry, shall we?"

I didn't want Mu Lingxia to be fascinated and ignored it, Xu Yu touched his nose helplessly.

"Hah!" Mu Lingxia clapped her hands and smiled.

Xu Hao hurriedly looked over, and it turned out that the flower passed around, and it happened to be in Du Qianqian's hand, and the drum beat stopped immediately.

Xiao Yushi smiled and said, "Good, good!" As the saying goes, the practice is self-defeating, a little good, the first one is your turn. ”

Du Qianqian also smiled: "You laugh at me for being punished, but you don't know that I can't wait to be punished for this, which shows that I asked Hongwen to beat the drum, not intentionally." It can also show my heart, and I am selfless. ”

"Oops!" Xu Luzhu smiled speechlessly and shook his head again and again, "That's it, you can quickly say the flowers." It's just a little game, and what do you say about public and private, but don't laugh at our stomachs. ”

"Hidaka's flower ghost." Du Qianqian said with a smile.

On this side, Mu Lingxia watched with great interest as the elders beat the drum and pass the flowers.

Mu Caichun suddenly said to Xu Yu: "Yesterday in the upper room, I heard the wives say that after the second brother got married, all the maids should be screened again, those who should be released should be released, those who should be married, and then carefully select a group of new people to come in, plus the original old man, who must be handsome and well-behaved, and the name must be restarted."

Xu Yu asked in surprise, "Why is this?"

"It seems that the current name is messed up, so people can't tell which room it is." Mu Caichun said with a smile.

"Oh." Xu Yu frowned, sat dumbfounded, and suddenly stood up and left without looking back.

Seeing this, Mu Caichun was speechless and said, "It turns out that he is really a little crazy?"

"Sister, what are you doing to him about this? I knew he couldn't stand it. Mu Lingxia complained.

"What, you're distressed?" Mu Caichun asked with a smile.

Mu Lingxia's face turned red, and she said unhappily: "You come again, I will ignore you."

No one knows where Xu Yu went? Before I knew it, it was evening, and the banquet was dispersed. Xiao Yushi said before leaving: "It seems that she is indispensable by your side, Hongwen is a girl with good looks and a clever person, and she will be blessed in the future." Hongwen is eighteen years old this year, right? It's a pity that I will stay for two years at most, and I can't dominate others anymore and not marry. ”

"Isn't it?" Zhiqing guessed Xiao Yushi's intentions, and cooperated: "We also talked about her when we gossiped before, it's good, it's good, it's not as tricky as people, and she is a little self-controlled, she has a high ambition in everything, and likes to compete for the first place in everything, so we are worried that she will marry with Lanxiang, which will cause trouble."

Unexpectedly, these words were heard by a relative and wife of the Mu family, and he interjected: "It would be a pity if Hongwen's girl was married to a small family." For example, if a flower falls in the dung heap, according to me, it is better to take the house for the master. ”

As soon as these words came out, Xiao Yushi and Zhiqing immediately glanced at each other, and for a while they couldn't guess whether these words were meant by their relatives' own wives or for Du Qianqian?

Of course, the father wants to take his daughter's personal maid, although it is not good-looking and does not conform to the etiquette, but what is it in a wealthy family with so many bullshit? It is very different when it comes to officials and literati.

The two shook their heads slightly, unwilling to explore further, making people think that they were intentionally meddling.

Du Qianqian smiled and said: "It seems that you all think Hongwen is good, and you want to persuade me to collect the house for my master." To tell you the truth, Hongwen first grew up next to me, and it seems that she is missing an arm without her, and I thought about receiving it earlier. But I have some ideas, because Hongwen has a strong mouth and a fast tongue, she refuses to let people do anything, she doesn't dare to be too presumptuous in front of me, she is afraid that the aunts at home will be angry with her behind my back, and I gave her to Lanxiang, otherwise I will wait until you come to persuade me today?"

Xiao Yushi suddenly put her mind at ease and said with a smile: "That's right, let's think of it together."

It turned out that this relative's wife was Hongwen's distant aunt, and she was sent in with the intention of being an aunt, and later Hongwen followed Mu Lanxiang, and it was naturally better to be the aunt of the young master of the Xu family, but who knew that she had soaked in the soup again.

The relative's wife said, "Don't believe her nonsense, because you say that she is right." In fact, she is not good at saying it directly, so she borrowed this big truth to hide people's eyes. If you think about it, after all, it's not very good to spread the word, and you will probably secretly change your name and take over the house. How dare Hongwen bully her aunt? With her, the lady of the main room, pressing, how can Hongwen really have three heads and six arms?"

"Then let's go." Xiao Yushi didn't say much when she saw this, and pulled Zhiqing into the car.

That night, after the aunt surnamed Shen of the Mu family waited for Mu Ang to sleep, she quietly walked out alone. When she entered the upper room, she saw her lady sitting alone under the lamp, she gently poured a cup of tea, sent it over, and whispered with a smile: "What do the wives and grandmothers say during the day?"

Du Qianqian glanced up at her, frowned, and said, "I already said no, what are you asking at this time?"

Shen said: "Needless to say, not only can the master not agree, but he is also worried that Hongwen is bullying us behind his back, this is the grace of the wife, and she takes care of us." But just like Mrs. Li said, if there is a wife pressing her, is she so afraid of Hongwen? What my wife is worried about is that she is secretly provoking, and once she is not well prepared, she will cause trouble!"

"Hmm." Du Qianqian's brows furrowed, and she nodded with a smile: "You can understand my worries, so why are you here?"

Shen smiled and said, "It's not my sister who is trivial, so I'm here to ask my wife." I don't think Hongwen is a person who doesn't understand, Mrs. is bent on promoting her, adding a warm bed girl to the master, and becoming an aunt is just around the corner, how decent? She knows how to be grateful. And the wife is so wise, does she dare to make her heart's eyes? As for bullying us, it's just a joke. My sister shared half of the burden for his wife as soon as Hongwen came back, and although I have been in the house for many years, I am indeed inferior to her in this regard. Once Ming'er goes out, does she still have to worry about family affairs alone? We don't feel at ease when we look at it.

If you say that you learn her to take care of housework, you are not afraid of your wife's jokes, I am from a small family, and I can't learn it when I am old. And have the courage to say to his wife, now that one has fallen out of favor more or less, I have not been able to catch it since I added Sen'er, if I can take Hongwen into the room, she can serve the old lady's affairs, and I can take care of the children wholeheartedly, wouldn't it kill two birds with one stone? And on the master's side, there is a wife who is the master, and the master will probably not object. ”

Du Qianqian was surprised when she heard this, because her status was as stable as Mount Tai, so she rarely thought about the concubine. For a main house like Du Qianqian, since her husband already has a concubine, as she gets older, it doesn't matter if there is one more or less.

In ancient times, the biggest responsibility of the main house was to manage the whole family, which was the same as the queen, and it was the most effective means to give her husband Zhang Luona's concubine, otherwise with the current extravagance, the wife and concubine could not keep the man's heart, and spent all day long drinking and talking?

Of course, the concubine has to be well measured, the selection of concubines must have an age difference, to ensure the freshness of the husband, and the second is that the candidate is best controlled, and the other concubines must be divided and disintegrated. Unless that's what it's all about.

There are also a lot of other considerations, the ancient big family is a miniature version of the inner palace, too complicated, but everything is the same, to put it bluntly, this qiē is because this is a feudal society with male supremacy.

For Du Qianqian, Mu Ang is not a flowery man, he has accepted a total of several concubines over the years, one died of illness in Yunnan, the other died of dystocia, and now there is only one wife and two concubines left.

She mainly felt too tired, and when Lan Xiang got married, she wanted someone to help share it.

So the loyal Hongwen is undoubtedly the best candidate, but Du Qianqian didn't think so back then.

Now Zhenqing, who first followed Mu Ang, is no longer as beautiful as she was back then, and Mu Ang occasionally enters her room, but because Zhenqing has a relationship with Xu Hao, he is also extremely respectful to Du Qianqian, so it belongs to a special existence in Mu Mansion.

Zhenqing has a son, who does not fight or grab anything, and lives happily in his yard all the year round.

Aunt Shen is twenty-six years old this year, from an ordinary family, very eye-catching but illiterate, and after giving birth to a son, she is also very satisfied with the current rich life. Du Qianqian was indeed worried that Hongwen was too strong and unforgiving, so she was angry with her behind her back.

Du Qianqian groaned for a while, and said slowly: "Are you really willing?" Or did you say it against your heart, seeing Hongwen is my person? Don't accept her, you can't regret it in the future, and then run to me to complain, I don't care at that time! Anyway, you are thinking about it in your heart, don't be persuaded by outsiders, pretend to be so generous, and finally lift a stone to hit yourself in the foot. ”

"How dare I?" Aunt Shen smiled and explained: "I have been committed for a long time, but I really see that you are too tired, seeing that the eldest lady is about to leave the cabinet, after this day?" It's not that I've seen a few grandmothers talk about it today, and it's hard for me to say it, in short, even if Hongwen really bullies me in the future, I don't have to complain, Mrs. just rest assured. ”

The problem is that the more she says this, the more Du Qianqian feels that it is inappropriate, and she is very assertive, after so many years of the main house, the means are clever, otherwise why is the inner house so quiet?

It was Du Qianqian who said lightly: "It's late at night, you go to sleep." I have the right thing to do. ”

"Yes." Aunt Shen didn't dare to say any more, and turned around and left honestly.

Looking at her back, Du Qianqian frowned and thought, this is the first time that she can't see through it. (To be continued......)