Chapter 28: Older Sister (Part 1)
Eleventh Sister got off the carriage with Madame, and found herself standing in front of a black-lacquered gate with gray tiles. The coachman, the attendants, and the fine horses that pulled the carriage had all disappeared; only a few women dressed in bright blue jackets and dark green vests were coming forward to greet Madame.
Mrs. Tao intentionally introduced one of the tall and dark-skinned women in her thirties to Madame: "This is from the Li Quan family, specifically in charge of the carriages in the mansion."
"Mrs. Li." The madam smiled politely and nodded towards the woman, while Mrs. Xu had already taken out her purse to give a reward.
Everyone smiled and accepted the red envelopes and thanked the mistress. Then, Tao's mother accompanied the mistress up the steps of the flower-decked gate.
The fifth daughter-in-law and the eleventh daughter-in-law followed slowly behind Madame, listening to Li Mama, who was standing beside them, say with a smile: "Our mistress has been thinking of her aunt every day. Yesterday, she received news that you were coming, and at noon, she ordered me to prepare the carriage..."
As they spoke, they had already entered the gate with hanging flowers and saw three small green curtain cars parked in front of a screen wall.
"Trouble Mrs. Li!" The lady smiled and exchanged a few words with her, then got into the carriage in front, attended by Mrs. Hsu.
"Please get on the carriage too, ladies!" Madam Tao smiled slightly at Wu Niang and Shi Yi Niang, "so that Madame won't be kept waiting."
The fifth daughter and eleventh daughter both smiled and nodded at Mother Tao, then got onto the rickshaw in imitation of the mistress.
In contrast to its plain exterior, the interior is decorated with elegance and luxury.
The carriage curtain is embroidered with a cloud pattern made of five-colored glass beads, and the four corners are hung with large red silk sachets. The azure satin pillow and cushion are embroidered with white plum blossoms...
Miss, this is the layered needle embroidery of Xianyun Pavilion... The original master of Jian Shifu... Dong Qing's eyes widened in shock as she hugged the embroidered piece tightly. She was so excited that she could hardly speak. Next to her, Huipo's face also flashed with astonishment - the embroidered products made by Xianyun Pavilion using layered needle embroidery were as rare and precious as double-sided embroidery, worth a thousand gold coins. Who would have thought that the Xu family used it to decorate their humble green canopy carriage?
The eleventh girl didn't take another look.
She always thought that anything that could be bought with money wasn't truly precious!
Since there were no outsiders, Eleventh Sister lifted up a small gap in the carriage curtains to peek outside without any reserve.
A sturdy woman led out a donkey, quickly harnessed it to the cart, and then gently patted the donkey's neck. The donkey trotted along the winding path lined with cypress and fir trees, onto a green brick road.
The carriage drove for about two cups of tea before turning left and going up a side road.
Both sides were high powder walls, from Shiyi Niang's point of view, it seemed endless.
After a while, she found that every time the carriage traveled a certain distance, it would encounter a four-sided bluestone lamp post standing against the wall.
This kind of lamp post, she had read about it in books before, is usually used in royal palaces or squares - because lighting it requires a large amount of pine oil, and the price of pine oil is not only expensive but also very rare, and it's not something that can be bought with just money. Even if you could buy it, using it year after year would still be an astonishingly huge expense.
Did Xu's family really light up these lamp posts at night as streetlights?
The eleventh girl leaned forward involuntarily, wanting to see if there were any signs of use on the lamp post...
"Miss, don't let the women following the car see it!" Dong Qing reminded her in a low voice.
The green curtain carriage had not only a woman in charge of leading the mule, but also an older woman standing by the window to follow the car - this arrangement was originally intended to allow people inside the car to have something to call for. But everything has its pros and cons, and the person following the car can easily find out if someone inside the car has lifted the curtain to look outside...
Eleventh Girl gazed out of the car window at the bright golden hairpin with a blue gemstone on the head of the sedan chair bearer, and smiled as she lowered the curtain.
Wintergreen felt relieved at the sight of it.
The eleventh girl couldn't help but laugh at her: "A plum blossom pillow has stunned you?"
"Miss, this is not the time for joking." Dong Qing said sternly, "You're not unaware. The eldest sister-in-law is a treasure of the first wife's, to be kept in one's mouth lest it dissolves, and held in one's hands lest it shatters. If you ruin things for the eldest sister-in-law, the first wife..." She stopped herself from continuing.
"I know!" Eleventh Girl hastily promised, "I'll sit quietly and won't move at all!"
Dong Qing couldn't help but reveal a sweet smile.
She knew that as long as Miss agreed to it, she would definitely do it!
Eleventh Girl looked at him but felt a lump in her throat.
The people around her are uneasy about this meeting with Yuan Niang, aren't they? Otherwise, why would they be so worried!
She thought of this and glanced at Amber sitting next to Dong Qing - she hadn't spoken since getting on the car.
Amber's expression looked very calm.
Maybe it's because when everyone is together there are highs and lows, and feelings of depth and shallowness, so she doesn't worry as much as Dong Qing does!
The eleventh girl smiled self-deprecatingly and glanced sideways, only to see the handkerchief that had been crumpled into a ball by Amber.
The monotonous and cold sound of horseshoes made time suddenly stretch out.
It was also unknown how long it took for the horse carriage to turn left and then stop after about half a stick of incense.
We should have arrived at Yuan Niang's residence...
The eleventh girl thought for a moment, and the old woman in the carriage said in a gentle voice through the curtain of the window: "Miss, we've arrived!"
Amber responded with a "got it", then got off the carriage, saw that the old woman following the car had already put down the footstool, she stepped on the footstool and got off the carriage, then turned around to help Eleventh Lady get off the carriage.
They stopped in front of a barbarian-style gate with a stone lion standing at the entrance, and Mrs. Xie's slightly anxious figure had already disappeared into the doorway with the support of her mother-in-law.
The eleventh girl was secretly surprised and felt a little startled.
After all, it's been more than ten years since they last saw each other...
She was already drenched in sweat at the thought of it.
Since her thoughts were so strong, why didn't Yuanniang go to the second gate to welcome her mother... Can it be understood that her body was already weak and if she went to the second gate to welcome her mother, there would be very bad consequences... So, she couldn't...
At this thought, Shiyi's gaze fell on the rugged stone steps.
Diagonally cut down to the eaves... If there was a high threshold, the carriage could drive straight in from outside the gate...
She saw Wu Niang lead Ziwei and Ziyun into the Manzi Gate, so she gathered her emotions and followed them in with Dongqing and Hupo.
Directly in front was a vestibule, with corridors on either side leading to the vestibule. The courtyard was paved with green stone bricks. At the entrance of the vestibule and at the four corners of the corridor, there were maids wearing bright blue jackets and dark green vests, standing silently with their hands hanging down. When they saw Fifth Wife and Eleventh Wife, the maids all bent their knees and paid their respects.
Eleventh Sister followed Fifth Sister into the reception hall through the corridor on the right side of the house.
The west hall is furnished with black lacquer furniture such as a central table, a long table, a taishi chair and a tea table, which are arranged into a reception area. The middle and east sides are empty with nothing placed there.
Out of the hall, she didn't see Mrs. Xue and her entourage. They were facing another courtyard. In front of them was a five-room main house with ear rooms on both sides, connected by a winding corridor to form a circular long corridor in the shape of a Chinese character for "return". The yard was paved with green brick roads in the shape of a cross, and each corner had a small pine tree as tall as a person.
Wu Niang and Shi Yi Niang came out of the corridor, and under the eaves of the main house, those maids in bright blue jackets and official green vests knelt down to pay their respects to the two.
Eleventh girl heard Fifth girl softly sighing - with a very melancholic look.
Is it nostalgia for myself or nostalgia for my mother?
"Miss Qīn's family, over here!" Táo Māma might have found that they were not following, so she turned her head to look for them, standing in front of the main house's wing room and waving at them.
The two of them hurriedly walked past from the right side of the corridor.
"The lady lives in the backyard." Mother Tao explained with a smile, then led them through the black lacquered corner door beside the ear house into the third courtyard.
The third courtyard is the same as the second one, with a five-bay main house and three-bay wing houses, all paved with green bricks in a crisscross pattern. The only difference is that there is a fake hill made of Taihu stones in the northwest corner, and several evergreen trees are planted in the southeast corner. Compared to the previous courtyard's simplicity, this one feels more lively.
The Fifth and Eleventh Young Ladies followed Old Mother Tao from the corridor on the right to the front of the main hall, where a little maid had already lifted the curtain with great enthusiasm, and when she saw them approaching, she smiled and called out "Miss".
The fifth daughter and the eleventh daughter both smiled at the little maid and nodded, entering the main house.
The ground is paved with smooth golden bricks, and the ceiling is painted with bright colored decorations, hanging lanterns in the shape of sheep's horns. In the middle hall, there is a painting of Guanyin sitting on a lotus flower, and on the long table in front of it, there is an incense burner made of cloisonné, emitting a faint scent of sandalwood. On the left side of the table, there is a purple sandalwood pedestal with a sheep fat jade Buddha's hand, and on the right side, there is a Ru kiln celadon vase.
The eleventh daughter was shocked.
Looking further east, the purple sandalwood floor-to-ceiling canopy was hung with azure curtains. In the center of the room stood a multi-tiered shelf, displaying copper filigree inlaid with green jade flower baskets, blue and white porcelain plum vases, longevity peony white stone basins, and green glass bottles with purple flowers...
Looking west, there are twelve purple sandalwood inlaid with ivory flower glass doors, with the middle four open, and you can see a purple sandalwood edge inlaid with five hundred arhats screen separating the western secondary room and the western slightly room.
The eleventh girl held her breath.
It's really too... luxurious!
If it were merely luxurious, she wouldn't be surprised; the problem is that this forms a stark contrast with the simple grey-tiled and blue-bricked buildings she saw along the way.
Especially the purple sandalwood inlaid with ivory flower glass window. The sapphire blue glass floats with crimson peony flowers, that kind of dazzling color, can simply make people suffocate.
She couldn't help but glance at Wu Niang.
Wu Niang's face still wore a suitable smile, only that the smile was somewhat forced; her posture was still straight, only that the straightness was somewhat stiff... It seemed like she had suffered a small blow!
This chapter is already the fourth draft of Qiuqiu's work. No wonder someone said "you never know how long an author has lingered between two lines"... So please forgive me, sisters, for not updating in the next few days. I hope to summarize the experience and lessons from the previous two books and try my best to write a new book without major flaws! Thank you all for understanding Qiuqiu's decision.
Again: Due to the power outage in the past two days, there were few opportunities to go online. Although I saw the comments in the comment section, I didn't reply in time, sorry! Will improve promptly O(∩_∩)O）
