Chapter 234 Peeled the orange with delicate hands
Chan Yi covered her mouth and exclaimed, “Does Childe Feng also want to marry my Miss? No way. She seems to hate others mentioning Childe Feng in front of her. And every time people mentioned him, she frowned.”
Shi Liu shook her head and said, “I don’t know exactly, but it seems that Childe Feng doesn’t propose marriage for him, but acts as a matchmaker for one of his friends. The invitation says, ‘I’d like to be a matchmaker for a unique marriage.’ I don’t know who his friend is. Before the marriage is consented, he sends so much bride-price and gives away a lot of copper cash to the footboys that served him, and they all held a basket of it. Everyone said that Third Miss is lucky, and she is chosen by a plutocrat!”
Chan Yi did not look happy, and said anxiously, “Miss is an independent person. She certainly doesn’t want Madam Luo to choose a family for her without her consent. Sister Shi Liu, you stay here and warm yourself first. I’ll see if Miss is awake...” When she turned around, she saw that He Danggui stood silently at the door with a light green coat skirt and a feather cloak. Chan Yi was taken aback. If He Danggui just showed up in silence, Chan Yi would not be so surprised. The reason was…
“Miss! Your face!”
Shi Liu also felt surprised and exclaimed, “Miss! Why are you so white and beautiful all of a sudden?”
He Danggui looked at them and asked, “What did Feng Yang say? Is he the only one to give gifts? Aren’t his friends here?”
Shi Liu shook her head and said, “The gate is surrounded by people. I’m small and can’t see the specific situation clearly. I just vaguely heard someone said that honored guests are coming, and that Third Miss is lucky, and maybe have a better marriage than Second Miss and Fourth Miss.”
Chan Yi hadn’t seen He Danggui for several days. As soon as she saw He Danggui, she immediately held He Danggui’s hands and asked in a low voice, “Miss, why don’t you put on the beauty powder to make yourself ugly? Do you want to go out to see guests since you dress so ceremoniously?”
He Danggui dropped her eyes and raised her lips. The long and dense eyelashes reflected out a touching shadow under her eyes. She said, “Since I was tanned 3 years ago, I’ve been looking forward to becoming white one day, but I still can’t make it. I suffered from excessive internal heat because of improper diet, and a layer of skin was removed. Now I am as white as before, and it’s time to meet guests.”
When Chan Yi saw He Danggui was refreshed, she slightly felt relieved and asked, “So, Miss, do you want to eat something? Shall I cook you a pot of sweet dumplings with sesame filling by the hot spring water? I made a lot of sweet dumplings yesterday.”
He Danggui nodded and said with a smile, “Northern people eat dumplings, and southern people eat sweet dumplings. It is uncomfortable if there are not sweet dumplings in Chinese New Year.”
Then, Chan Yi rushed to the kitchen to cook. After greeting He Danggui, Shi Liu also went to the kitchen to help, only leaving He Danggui alone to play with fire. When He Danggui saw a big orange beside Chan Yi’s pillow, she grabbed it and roasted it on the fire until it was warm. She peeled the orange with her delicate hands and threw the orange peel into the fire one by one. Then she threw the orange flesh into the fire one by one. All of a sudden, the room was full of fragrant orange flavor.
Just a moment later, Chan Yi and Shi Liu came in with 2 big bowls of steaming sweet dumplings. They both said with a smile, “If you eat a bowl of sweet dumplings in the Chinese New Year, you will be happy all the year and your dream will come true. Miss, you grow up one year old. And after eating these, you are 14 years old, a real adult.”
He Danggui, holding a fire hook, poked the orange flesh in the stove and said with a smile, “Then I’ll do the same and return your auspicious words to you. Come on. Let’s have a late New Year’s dinner.”
At the moment, the 3 people set out their dishes and ate hot spring sweet dumplings with a dish of waxberry and a cup of sour flavedo. They were looking forward to the coming year while eating the sweet and glutinous food. With this sweet beginning, the next process and ending would not be bitter. 14 was the beginning of the most beautiful chapter in a woman’s life. When the future of Miss got brighter and brighter, her maids could also benefit a lot.
Chan Yi looked at her Miss, whose face made the room full of splendor, and asked with a smile, “Miss, who is Bai Yang that is going to marry you as his wife? Why haven’t I heard you and Miss Qing talk about this guy?”
Talking about He Danggui’s husband candidate was one of the most favorite topics for Chan Yi, Huai Hua and Bo He. Every time when He Danggui and Liao Qing’er mentioned one childe, who Chan Yi and others knew, they would talk about this topic for a whole day.
Usually, the 2 maids who were most close to their miss were the persons who were most concerned about the miss’s marriage, because the person the miss married was basically the husband of the 2 maids. This was an unwritten rule, especially popular in the south in recent years. The maids as a part of the miss’s dowry were equivalent to waiting-maids.
In the early years, before this rule came into being, many of the maids accompanying the miss to her husband’s home often had secret affection for her handsome husband, but they were afraid that the miss would be angry. Therefore, most of the maids were afraid to show their feelings and hid in their hearts. The open-minded miss would let it go and share her husband with them, which indirectly suppressed the concubines below. But most newly married ladies couldn’t understand this. If they found that their maid had a sign of liking her husband, they would immediately find a footboy to marry her and reduced a rival for themselves.
This was the case when Madam Luo married into Luo’s Mansion with Mammy Tang followed. Mammy Tang fell in love with Madam Luo’s husband Luo Duzhong, which made Madam Luo feel uncomfortable, so she began to find a spouse for Mammy Tang. However, their friendship was more than a master-servant relationship and more like sisters, so they didn’t fall out because of a man. However, Mammy Tang had a little meaning of “One who has been the oceans thinks nothing of mere rivers”, and resolutely refused to find an ordinary man to marry. Since she was born to be a humble servant, she would be lonely all her life and look up to the happy marriage between her miss and her miss’s husband.
When Dong Xinlan married Luo Baiqian, she also brought some close maids with her. At that time, the custom that the maids as a part of the miss’s dowry were equivalent to waiting-maids had spread. But Dong Xinlan was a possessive woman. When she saw that Qin, one of her maids, had eye contact with Luo Baiqian twice, she immediately felt the threat. So, she threatened Qin with her several relatives in Dong’s Family and forced Qin to jump into the lotus pond. It also immediately scared other maids, so they didn’t dare to have any fantasy for Luo Baiqian.
As for He Danggui, Chan Yi was a silly elder sister who didn’t have such thoughts at all and was only enthusiastic about the miss’s marriage, but Huai Hua was different. 3 years ago, when Huai Hua was 17 years old, He Danggui found a good footboy for her. But she thought about it for 2 days and didn’t response. In the days after that, He Danggui recommended several good husband candidates for her. Many of them were people that He Danggui had the impression that they would have a bright future, but she refused all of them.
Until last year, when He Danggui was 13 years old, Huai Hua showed great enthusiasm for He Danggui’s marriage affairs. She asked about the childes who were nice to He Danggui, and then reported to He Danggui in details. As a result, He Danggui gradually found out what was on Huai Hua’s mind. Huai Hua didn’t get married until she was 20 years old. She hoped to accompany He Danggui as the maid of dowry, so that she could be a waiting-maid.
At that time, although He Danggui had not put the discussion of marriage on the agenda, she felt uncomfortable when she thought that someone was waiting for her before a bass was caught. In her previous life, she got married in a hurry, and there was no maid of her dowry. So, she had never had such experience. Now, when she knew Huai Hua’s situation, she began to understand why Madam Luo and Mammy Tang couldn’t share the same husband even if they had such a strong relationship.
It was because in the eyes of women, no matter they were affectionate or indifferent, all the women who shared their husbands with them were enemies. No matter they were close as sisters or real sisters, as long as they were involved in such a relationship, they won’t be sisters any longer. This was a strange circle that no one could break away from. Even He Danggui, who had accumulated the wisdom and experience of life for 2 lives, was not sure that whether she would have the cruel idea like Dong Xinlan and strangle all threats in the cradle after getting married.
Huai Hua was pure and good in nature. Since she came out of Shui Shang Temple and followed He Danggui, she had been working hard as the maid. She had been through in good and bad, and had never made any mistakes or betrayed He Danggui. Huai Hua was such a loyal and hardworking girl, but she emerged with an idea to marry He Danggui’s husband as a waiting-maid and then became a concubine in the future. It was not Huai Hua’s fault, but it was that environment had affected her mate choice. As the saying went, “Better be the head of a dog than the tail of a lion.” It meant that when choosing a job, being a poor lady’s main maid was more promising than being a rich lady’s common maid, because they would have different marriages in the future.
Women worked for a few years, but marriage was a lifelong event. Women from poor families had no choice but to find the men who were also poor. In the future, they would have a group of poor children who would continue to do poor jobs and serve the rich and noble. However, if a poor woman could be the main maid of a miss who could marry well, it was equal that she would have a good marriage. No matter the miss married an excellent young childe as a wife or concubine, the maid as a part of the miss’s dowry could live well as long as the miss found favor in the childe’s eyes. After 3 or 5 years, as long as the maid was lucky, she could give birth to a child and be a concubine. At that time, she became half a master. The children she gave birth to were real masters. They were born to be served by others.
He Danggui guessed that Huai Hua should think like this. This idea was not so excessive and selfish, but He Danggui felt uncomfortable from the bottom of her heart. Even if she was going to marry her personal enemy Zhu Quan, not her lover, she would not like the feeling of sharing her husband with her maid. After several years’ being together, Chan Yi, Huai Hua and Bo He were like her folks, relatives, friends and comrades in arms. How warm and sweet this relationship was. She really didn’t want to make this relationship go bad.
Therefore, as soon as she heard that Sister Zhenzhu was pregnant, she immediately asked Huai Hua to take care of Sister Zhenzhu. Then she gradually turned short-term work into long-term work, sending Huai Hua to Sister Zhenzhu naturally.
At the beginning, Huai Hua went to Lu’s Mansion to take care of Sister Zhenzhu just because of her missing and friendship for Sister Zhenzhu. She just treated the job as visiting relatives, and planned to leave after the period of confinement in childbirth. But during the period of serving Sister Zhenzhu, she moved and envied Sister Zhenzhu when watching Governor Lu’s taking good care of Sister Zhenzhu. Then she got new ideas.
Since Huai Hua’s ultimate goal was to be a waiting-maid, it was better to follow Sister Zhenzhu than Miss He Danggui. Miss He was still young, so she would wait another year or more to get married. After 1 or 2 years, she would be more beautiful. But Huai Hua was 2 years older than Miss He, and her beauty would fade. Even if the beauty didn’t fade, comparing with Miss He, her light would be dimmer than the firefly under the bright moon. And although Miss He was young, she gave people the feeling of unfathomable. When Huai Hua stood with Miss He and fought against Second Mistress Luo and others, Miss He was Huai Hua’s most reassuring support and the pronoun of “invincibility”. But one day, if Huai Hua wanted to share Miss He’s husband, could the powerful He Danggui adopt her?
Sister Zhenzhu was different. She was tolerant and gentle. She treated Huai Hua well. In addition, Huai Hua was more than 10 years younger than the Sister Zhenzhu. She had a natural advantage. When the Sister Zhenzhu gave birth to this baby, her youth would almost come to an end. How could Governor Lu, an excellent man under 30 years old, live a lifetime with only Sister Zhenzhu and one child? If the child was a girl, wouldn’t the family line be carried on?
Governor Lu and Sister Zhenzhu were deeply attached to each other. He probably won’t take the initiative to bring up the issue of concubine, but Sister Zhenzhu must not have the heart to let her husband have no offspring in the family, right? At that time, the continuation of family line would be put on the agenda. Instead of looking for someone outside, it was better to choose someone who was clear. Now Huai Hua was in her twenties, which was the best age to have children...
After such a consideration, Huai Hua no longer thought about going back to Luo’s Mansion, but took Lu’s Mansion as her new home. She lived in peace, took Sister Zhenzhu as her new master, and served her wholeheartedly. Finally, she also regarded Governor Lu as her future husband. Although she strictly abided by the etiquette and didn’t mean to take her husband while the Sister Zhenzhu was pregnant, but after all, there was love in her eyes and eyebrows. When she handed something and touched Governor Lu’s fingers occasionally, her cheeks would turn red.
In the past 30 years, Zhenzhu had read all kinds of things in the world. She was such a transparent person. Several times after the same situation, the bottom of her heart was already clear and cold.
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