Chapter 258: Getting Married (Part 1)
On March 14th, the night was hazy.
Ping'er came out of the room carrying a half-basin of warm water and absentmindedly splashed it. Unexpectedly, someone in the darkness cried out "Aiya".
"Who? Who's there?!"
Ping'er was startled and quickly took the copper basin to protect herself.
But a timid figure appeared from under the porch and said awkwardly, "Sister Ping'er, it's me."
"Second girl?!"
Ping'er looked carefully, and who else could it be but Jia Yingchun, who was about to get married?
She hastily put down the copper basin, walked over and said, "It's so dark here, why did you come here by yourself? You didn't even pick up a lantern!"
Jia Yingchun lowered her head slightly to hide the panic on her face, and said, "It's only a few steps away, there's no need to trouble others. Sister Ping'er, is my sister-in-law in there?"
When Ping'er saw her like this, she knew that it was probably Siqi who was causing trouble again, so she wanted to give Jia Yingchun some advice, warning her not to be caught by a maid.
But on the one hand, her own identity was awkward, neither master nor servant; secondly, Jia Yingchun was about to get married, and by then the Sun family would make the decision for her.
So Ping Er hesitated for a moment, then pretended to be confused, stepped aside to make way, and said with a smile: "Second Miss, just go in, our grandmother has been waiting in the hall for a long time."
Upon hearing this, Jia Yingchun took a few steps inside, but then hesitated again. She turned back and asked in a low voice, "Is my sister-in-law not angry that I'm so late?"
It turned out that after dinner today, Wang Xifeng sent someone to ask her to come over in the evening to "chat about family matters."
After receiving the greeting, Jia Yingchun originally wanted to call Siqi to leave immediately, but when she listened, she found out that Siqi had gone out before dinner and had not been seen since.
This was not a rare thing. After all, ever since that day when she was rejected for confessing her feelings, Siqi had been wandering around all day.
But this time it was different, because another senior maid, Xiu Ju, discovered that not only was Siqi missing, but even a considerable amount of clothes and jewelry in Siqi's room were missing.
When Jia Yingchun received her report and thought about what she had said that day, she was almost frightened to death. After she finally recovered, she hurriedly urged the maids and old women to search everywhere.
However, after everyone around her had left, she remembered that Feng Jieer had asked her to come over to talk in the evening. She couldn't find a spare lantern, so she had to rush over in the dark.
Although they are sisters-in-law, Jia Yingchun has always been afraid of Wang Xifeng, so she was very nervous when she was a little late.
Ping'er knew, however, that Wang Xifeng had called the second girl over today because she had a "request" from her. Since she had a request, she would not care about these trivial matters.
So she smiled and said, "Look at what the second young lady said. You are now a bride-to-be , and everyone in the mansion has to serve you carefully. Our grandmother can be angry with anyone else, but not with you."
As he spoke, he gently pushed Jia Yingchun on the back and said, "Come in quickly, there are some good things waiting for you!"
Jia Yingchun heaved a sigh of relief when she heard her speak so easily. Just as she was about to lift the curtain and go in, Ping'er suddenly stopped her and asked in a low voice, "By the way, Second Miss, have you heard any news about the Sun family? I heard that the second master of the Sun family was injured in Jinmen Mansion?"
Jia Yingchun was quite surprised to hear her suddenly ask about this matter, but she always preferred to keep out of trouble, so she did not ask further questions and just shook her head and said, "I only know that Sun Lieutenant General rushed to Tianjin in a hurry, and I don't know anything else."
“I see.”
Ping'er tried her best to conceal her uneasiness and disappointment, let go of Jia Yingchun's arm, watched her walk into the living room, and could not help but put her palms together and silently chanted "Amitabha, Buddha bless you" a few times.
Not to mention Ping'er in the courtyard, how worried she was about Sun Shaozong's safety.
But when Jia Yingchun entered the flower hall, she saw Wang Xifeng leaning lazily on the couch, wearing a loose purple skirt with gold edges, and a pair of naked feet stepping on the maid's legs . Her whole body seemed to have entered summer early, and a charcoal red fox fur shawl was draped over her lower abdomen, which revealed a bit of restlessness in the coolness.
Seeing Jia Yingchun coming in from outside, Wang Xifeng immediately put her two long legs on the ground and said in a half-seriously and half-false way, "Ping'er is really getting more and more ignorant - our bride is here, why don't you ask me to go out and greet her!"
As he spoke, the pair of snow-white feet that looked like a pair of lotus flowers just hovered on the shoes, without actually standing up to greet him.
However, Jia Yingchun did not dare to find fault with her. She smiled shyly and said, "Sister-in-law is teasing me again," and then she said nothing more.
Wang Xifeng knew her personality and knew that she was not someone who would take the initiative. If she waited for her to bring up the topic, it would probably take forever.
So he waved warmly and said, "Come quickly, come quickly, sit down and talk."
After Jia Yingchun sat down on the couch obediently, she took up one of Jia Yingchun 's arms and stroked her soft little hand, praising her with a sound of "tsk tsk". "It was so hard for our family to raise such a precious child, but she was sold to the Sun family so early. They are willing to give her up, but I, as her sister-in-law, am really reluctant to do so."
"Sister-in-law...sister-in-law, what are you talking about?"
Jia Yingchun was used to being a nobody, so she was not used to her enthusiasm. She smiled awkwardly and said, "Sister-in-law is really precious. I... How can I compare with sister-in-law?"
It was just a casual remark at first, but later on, it really made me sad.
After all, she had seen with her own eyes the magnificent scene when Wang Xifeng got married. But now that it was her turn to get married, even if she changed all her dowry into loose copper coins, it would probably not be comparable in weight.
As for the other objects, they are even more pitiful.
Thinking of this, no matter how much she tried to hide it, her face couldn't help showing some loneliness and embarrassment.
Wang Xifeng was very good at observing people's expressions. How could she not guess what she was thinking? She immediately sighed and said, "Alas, I don't know what the master and his wife are thinking. They haven't bought a few decent dowries for my sister yet."
As she spoke, she secretly winked at the little maid who was massaging her legs, and the little maid immediately retreated quietly.
After the maid left, Wang Xifeng put her arm around Jia Yingchun's waist and said sternly, "But don't let this make you look down on yourself. I'll give you a dowry that's guaranteed to be more valuable than all the other people's belongings combined!"
After hearing this, Jia Yingchun felt puzzled and half-believing and half-doubting - it was not uncommon for a sister-in-law to give some dowry to her younger sister-in-law, but she didn't believe from the bottom of her heart that Wang Xifeng would be so generous as to buy herself some expensive items.
But Jia Yingchun didn't dare to show it, and just pretended to be curious and asked, "What kind of dowry will my sister-in-law give me?"
"A way to make money, a big way to make money!"
Wang Xifeng said proudly: "I heard that Sun Canjiang has three good qualities in his life. One is lust..."
At this point, she pinched Jia Yingchun's tender little face and said jokingly, "This one, you naturally have it, sister."
Then he continued, "As for his second favorite, it is his addiction to alcohol - my sister has always been considerate, and I believe she will not ruin the mood of Admiral Sun."
"Just this last one, okay..."
Wang Xifeng kept the question in suspense, hoping to draw Jia Yingchun to further questioning. However, after waiting for a long while, she saw that Jia Yingchun was just waiting blankly, with no intention of asking further questions at all.
She secretly flirted with the blind man, but she could only continue to say: "His last good thing is greed for money!"
In fact, Sun Shaozu's other bad habit was "greed for power", but in order to bring out her own plan, Wang Xifeng had no choice but to change it for Sun Shaozu.
Then Wang Xifeng said solemnly: "In my opinion, this one is the most important! Just imagine, if you can control the financial power of the Sun family like I do, would you still be afraid of not being able to gain a foothold in the Sun family in the future?"
If it were any other woman, she would have been moved by now.
Jia Yingchun was silent for a while, but then she said awkwardly: "How can I be compared with my sister-in-law? No way, absolutely not!"
This cowardly girl!
Wang Xifeng was so depressed that she even doubted whether she had chosen the wrong person to go with her.
But thinking of Sun Shaozong's "cunningness", how could she feel at ease if there was no one who could check and balance him?
So he could only grit his teeth and say, "Don't worry about this. If there is anything you can't do, I will naturally teach you step by step. You just need to remember my instructions and don't make any mistakes!"
No matter how simply she put it, it was still a "trouble" for Jia Yingchun.
But Jia Yingchun was not someone who would refuse anyone, so after hesitating for a long time, she was finally persuaded by Wang Xifeng's "plan to make a fortune".
