Chapter 2

Sunlight casts mottled shadows on the landscape screen through the window.

The small living room of Ning family is not neglected because of its small size. It is still decorated with exquisite and precious gold and jade dishes, and there is the elegance of the home of poetry and books.

It's a fine day today, and the charcoal fire in the hollowed out stove in the house is also burning vigorously. The noses of two girls in winter clothes are dotted with a shallow layer of sweat, but the warmth is as warm as spring. Instead of making people feel comfortable as before, there is an inexplicable sense of suffocation and anxiety.

Someone raised the curtain and came in, and the winter wind in the yard brought it in. I don't know whether it was the cool wind or someone who cheered the two girls up and hurried forward.

The girl who came in was also carrying a small copper kettle. The girl in the room took it and took the silk pinching enamel tea cups on several cases.

Although this series of actions did not make a sound, it broke the stagnant atmosphere in the room.

"Miss Jun, please have tea." The girl whispered, came over with tea and looked at the man sitting on the chair.

This is a 14-year-old girl with picturesque eyebrows and eyes. She doesn't apply powder and Dai, and doesn't have any Zhu hairpin and gold beads. She is wearing a starched blue fine cloth dress with old hair.

But she didn't look shabby sitting in this luxurious reception hall. Instead, it made people feel like a pure orchid among thousands of flowers.

But when the girl's eyes fell on the table, it was like being stabbed by a bee. She lowered her eyes and her expression became complicated.

There is a white silk on the mahogany table inlaid with emerald, which is particularly conspicuous in red and emerald green.

At this time, an elderly woman by the window under the corridor was also looking at the white silk.

The LiuNing family in the north of Yangcheng not only has more than a dozen Hanlin at home, but also controls nearly half of the coal mines in Zezhou. Therefore, the window of the small waiting room uses not common window paper, but glass from Nanyang.

Only two such glasses can be used in Yangcheng and even Zezhou.

The glass was a little blurred, but the woman could still see the white silk and the girl.

This is not the first time she saw the girl. In fact, the girl came here just two days ago, but she didn't show the white silk at that time.

The girl reached for the tea and ate it. Her eyebrows seemed to wrinkle and she put it down.

It seems to be just a woman's guess.

Through the colorful glass, the facial features are blurred, and it is impossible to see those subtle expressions.

The woman only saw the girl put down her tea cup. The reason why she felt so was because the tea in the house was just Longjing before the rain.

Although the girl wears shabby clothes, she comes from another family in Zezhou that can use glass windows, Fang's ticket number.

Her surname is Jun, and her mother's surname is Fang. She is the eldest lady of the Fang family. Although she married a slightly poor family, people in Zezhou will still talk about her marriage after more than ten years.

In this way, people's young ladies are used to drinking the crude tea of Longjing before the rain. At least the last time she came to the door, the tea held by the girls was Longjing before the Ming Dynasty.

The woman looked at the room, and the girl who put down the tea cup sat up with the beautiful appearance and no impatience. The little girl standing next to her pulled her sleeve with her hand.

"Give me a cup of tea."

The woman heard a soft voice in the house.

The girl immediately brought another cup of tea and handed it to the little girl. The little girl happily took it and drank it at one breath.

"Another drink." The little girl also said.

Instead of the being timid when I visited last time, I felt a little confident and elated.

I think I can frighten them.

A hint of ridicule flashed in the woman's eyes.

"Mother song."

A little girl waved to her at the gate of the hospital and called her silently.

The woman then turned and walked away from the window and went through a corridor into another yard. Under the main porch of the yard stood a group of girls, talking and laughing in a low voice, and laughing from behind the heavy gold thread woven and embroidered curtain.

Seeing the woman coming, the joking girls greeted one after another.

"Mother song."

They said to the inside, two girls put up the curtain, the woman stepped in, the warm fragrance was blowing on her face, and there were many people sitting or standing in the room, but all their eyes and movements revolved around the middle-aged woman in the middle.

The woman is in her forties. She has a beautiful face, long eyebrows and a shallow smile. She is listening to the two women sitting in front of her.

The two women in front of her were younger than her and dressed in general luxury.

In the dongci room, in front of the generous table sat three teenage girls, all dressed in small red coats and yellow skirts, with beautiful looks. Different from the low laughter and excitement outside, they were writing quietly.

Mother song didn't immediately come forward to speak, but took the tea in the girl's hand and handed it to her. She stood beside the woman and listened to them with a smile.

"Sister-in-law, the stage of the winter moon is arranged in front of the earth temple."

"It's bothering my third sister-in-law to invite a troupe. I don't care about it."

"There are a lot of refugees this month, and the war disaster in the north is becoming more and more serious. I'll prepare the porridge."

"The second brother and the second sister-in-law also sent someone back to talk about it."

When the sisters in law spoke, the middle-aged women smiled and nodded.

"Well, that's a good arrangement. You've bothered." She said everything.

The eldest lady of the Ning family is kind and charitable. She is filial to her father-in-law and respects her sister-in-law. Everyone inside and outside praised her.

With these words, the doctor turned to look at mother song.

"See someone?" She asked.

This endless sentence stopped the voice in the room.

Song's mother answered yes.

"Sister in law, why is the young lady of your family here again? Isn't she gone?" The woman nearby, Mrs. Ning San, asked hurriedly.

Mrs. Ning smiled and put down the teacup.

"I didn't go. I found an inn in the street and played a trick of suicide. Now I come to the door again." She said.

Suicide?

Mrs. Ning three and Mrs. four looked at each other.

"This is too much. Don't the Fang family care?"

"Or the Fang family did it on purpose."

They frowned and said angrily.

Mrs. Ning shook her head.

"Not on purpose, or there is any difficulty." She said.

The two siblings smiled.

"My sister-in-law always guesses others with kindness." They sighed.

A girl who had been listening to this side all the time suddenly turned her head.

"Mother, it's not unusual for Jun Zhenzhen to do such a thing. She's also domineering in the Fang family. The eldest lady of the Fang family just said her, so she made a fuss to kill herself and went to the government to sue her aunt for abuse." She exclaimed.

This surprised everyone in the room.

"Yan Yan." Mrs. Ning frowned and said that talking about other people's rights and wrongs behind their backs is not the good conduct that a lady of a family should have.

This is Ning Yunyan, the eldest daughter of Mrs. Ning and the 17th generation of the Ning family.

"Big aunt, big aunt, really, really, she holds herself as an official lady, especially despises her maternal grandparents and dislikes them as merchants."

"I also know that I have seen her laugh at her cousin with others at the banquet. Her cousin left the banquet crying."

The other two girls also followed.

When the three girls chirped, Mrs. Ning's gentle voice couldn't be suppressed, and the room became chaotic.

Miss Jun has been famous since she came to Yangcheng for half a year. Everyone knows that this reputation is not a good reputation.

"The Fang family is a merchant, just vulgar." Mrs. Ning frowned and said, "at least Miss Jun's father is also a parent official who is a scholar. How can he raise such a daughter?"

It's OK to raise such a daughter. Other people's daughters have nothing to do with their Ning family, but it's just that the daughter of the jun family shouted to have an engagement with their Ning family.

"Is this engagement true?" Mrs. Ning couldn't help asking, "does she really have an engagement with our family zhao'er? Did the old man decide? The old man didn't say such a big thing before he died."

Mrs. Ning sighed and looked helpless.

"I asked my mother. My mother said that the old man and the old man of the jun family are on the same side." She said, "fifteen years ago, the old man resigned from his office and traveled around. He fell ill when he passed Runan. He was diagnosed and prescribed medicine by the old doctor Jun who came back from the visit. The old man was very grateful. When he heard that the old doctor Jun's son had just married, he said he wanted to marry him. Zhao'er was only three years old at that time."

Thank you very much. Just say it.

The two ladies in the room immediately understood the meaning of these eight words.

"Since the old man of your family is a doctor, isn't it natural to see a doctor?" Mrs. Ning said, "the old man is grateful for his unscrupulous words. Doesn't the old doctor know the duty of a doctor?"

It seems that he is also a man who is bent on climbing the dragon and attaching the Phoenix. Otherwise, he will really agree to this marriage without considering his identity.

"Maybe the old man was coerced at that time." Mrs. Ning Si shook her head and said.

Otherwise, the old man never said such a big thing as betrothing the eldest son of the eldest house.

"My father didn't mention it. I don't know what's going on." Mrs. Ning said, adding an emphasis on this sentence, "the old lady insisted that there was no such thing, and I couldn't help it. When someone asked in front of me first, I explained tactfully, but it seems that the young lady of your family doesn't listen at all. The old lady is in poor health, and I dare not let her go. The young lady of your family is young and has lost relatives. It's pathetic, and I don't dare to be rude to her..."

"Mother." Ning Yunyan, who had stopped writing for a long time, immediately shouted, "she is poor, but the ten brothers are not poor. Should the ten brothers be unlucky? Her parents were not killed by us. Why should we take the life event of the ten brothers to compensate her?"

"Yes, yes, but even the emperor praised Tianzong's talent. How can he be dragged down by such a vulgar and ignorant person as Jun Zhenzhen." The other two girls immediately matched.

The house is in a mess again.

Mrs. Ning seemed to have a headache after the noise. She reached out and pinched her forehead helplessly.

"But you can't watch the young lady of your family kill herself in front of you." She said.

"She threw Bai Ling on the table now and made clear the threat." Mother song interrupted, "last time I hung myself in the inn, I might hang myself in front of our house now."

"She dares!" Mrs. Ning raised her eyebrows and said.