Chapter 51 Show Girl
Grandma took Mengxi's hand and walked into the yard together. Mengxi looked around and found that the layout of the old man's yard was similar to Xiaoxiang Courtyard, with three main rooms and three side rooms on the east and west sides. The only difference was that there was a circle of potted flowers of peonies of various colors around the central courtyard. It was probably because the old man loved peonies. Looking up, she saw a huge plaque hanging above the main room with three large golden characters "Chenxi Garden" inscribed on it.
Seeing the Dawn Garden, Mengxi remembered that the Third Master had mentioned that he lived in the Sunset Garden. It was in contrast with the Dawn Garden. Why was the Second Master's courtyard different? She asked casually:
"I heard from Third Master that his garden is called Sunset Garden, which is the exact opposite of the name of my eldest brother's garden. Were they both named by the eldest master?"
"No, the gardens in this mansion originally had no names. The eldest master assigned them to each master, and each master named them according to his own preferences. When the third master was given a garden, he was still young. Seeing that the eldest master's garden was called Chenxi, he insisted on naming his own garden Xizhao, saying that it just matched the eldest master's, representing the morning and evening, the beginning and the end of the Xiao Mansion. For this, he was scolded by the eldest master, who said he had a bad mouth and talked nonsense. How come he was the last? Who knows, the Xiao Mansion may have a fourth master someday! Haha, you know what, for so many years, the Xiao Mansion really hasn't had any male offspring, let alone a fourth master, there hasn't even been a young master. The old lady has been anxious in recent years, and has been busy arranging concubines for the masters. Look, even the third master has two concubines."
The grandmother laughed as she spoke, but Mengxi felt as if her laughter was particularly helpless.
The two of them walked in hand in hand, turned around a huge golden nanmu carved pine, bamboo and cypress screen, and sat down in the main hall. The maid had already served tea, and the eldest grandmother said:
"Second Madam, you came at an unfortunate time. The eldest master was called by the eldest master to discuss matters in the study outside today, so he was not in the garden."
After the grandmother finished speaking, she turned around and instructed the maid:
"Go and invite a few aunts over, and tell them that the Second Madam is here, and ask them to come and pay their respects."
After a while, Xiao Qing's two concubines, Aunt Sun and Aunt Zhao, came to the main hall with the help of their maids and paid their respects to the Second Madam. Seeing that each of the two concubines was as beautiful as a flower, Mengxi could not help but sigh at the boundless fortune of men in ancient times, who could keep the beauties they liked around them so openly, and as the legal wife, she did not even dare to feel jealous. As a modern person, she felt a hint of resentment inadvertently revealed by the two beautiful concubines and the First Madam in front of her, which made her hate the feudal system of men having three wives and four concubines, and she wanted to smash it with her own hands.
The two concubines talked for a while, and then Zhang ordered them to go back. After the concubines left, Mengxi remembered the purpose of this visit, so he ordered someone to present the gift to the eldest grandmother:
"Brother, my sister-in-law is leaving tomorrow. I don't know what she likes on a daily basis. I wanted to make a set of clothes for her, but I was afraid that she would look down on my needlework, so I asked someone to bring two pieces of cloud cotton over. You can make it yourself. I just came in and don't understand these rules. Please don't laugh at me." As he said this, he laughed first.
Zhang carefully examined the Yunmian and Duan inkstones sent by Mengxi. They were both top-quality items and obviously made with great care. They were many times better than the things sent by the Second Master's courtyard in the past. She thought this must be the Second Mistress's idea. She also saw that she had been calling her sister-in-law since she entered the door, and was not calling her Grandmother as she did at the Old Lady's place. She thought that she really wanted to get close to her, and she also felt like getting close to the Second Mistress. She saw that the Second Mistress had someone open the scroll and gestured, saying: "I brought it here specially when I went to the south. It's called Hundred Birds."
"Sister-in-law, look quickly. This painting is the Phoenix Painting that my master painted a few days ago. It is the authentic work of Zhang Dezhong, the prime minister of the previous dynasty. Second Master once heard Grand Master mention this painting and yearned for it very much. So, he asked me to send it to you."
Zhang usually went in and out of the officialdom with Xiao Qing, so she had some experience. She had heard the master mention this painting of birds paying homage to the phoenix more than once, and she knew how precious it was. When she saw the second wife sending it to her today, she went forward to examine it carefully for a while. She just thought it was beautiful, but she couldn't say how beautiful it was. She just watched for fun. But thinking that the master would dance with joy when he saw this painting later, she laughed happily, took Mengxi's hand and said:
"How can I let Second Master and Second Madam spend so much money?"
"We are brothers, it seems distant for sister-in-law to say this." Mengxi smiled and gently patted Zhang's hand.
Zhang saw Second Madam's smiling face, showing a friendly and kind expression, not at all her usual indifference. She remembered that Baozhu had come to deliver something in the morning and mentioned the matter of her cousin. She thought it would be a good idea to remind her to be on guard, lest she knew nothing and was bullied. So she said casually:
"The old lady's birthday is in a little over two months, but my uncle is on a mission outside the capital, and he's on leave for such a long time. I'm afraid we won't be able to come back to celebrate her birthday. I hope my sister can show her respect to her on behalf of my sister-in-law."
"Old Lady's birthday?"
"Sister, you may not know this as you just came in, but the old lady's birthday is on the eighth day of the eighth month. I heard from Baozhu, who is beside the first wife, that the cousin is planning to come to the mansion to celebrate the old lady's birthday in the next few days."
"Who is the cousin? I heard my aunt Wang mention her this morning, but I don't know who she is from?"
"How would you know all this when you just got married, my sister? This cousin is the daughter of the eldest lady's elder sister. Her name is Zhang Xiu, she is fifteen years old, and her father is the current censor Zhang Chong. She is smart and clever, and is the favorite of the eldest lady. Every year, the eldest lady invites the cousin to live in the house for some time. The cousin has a very close relationship with the second master. A few days ago, the second master got married, and I heard that the cousin was also engaged, and was taken back to the house by her aunt to get married. But today, I heard from Baozhu who is beside the eldest lady that for some reason, the cousin refused to get married, and censor Zhang had no choice but to return the betrothal gift. When the eldest lady heard about it, she was heartbroken. Now, the old lady's birthday is coming soon, so she arranged to bring her over, firstly to relax, and secondly to celebrate the old lady's birthday." As she spoke, she glanced at the second wife meaningfully.
When Mengxi heard this and saw the look in the grandmother's eyes, how could she not understand? No wonder the Second Master hated her so much, and the First Madam regarded her as a thorn in her side. It turned out that there was a childhood sweetheart named Xiu. Xiu only said that she liked palace satin, and he gave her all his money. She was the one who broke up the couple. Thinking of this, she didn't want to talk about this topic anymore. Who the Second Master liked or married had nothing to do with her, so she said:
"These past two days, I've seen you and the eldest master discussing matters in the outer study. Is this something that happened during your tenure?"
"No, it's about the second master . I vaguely heard from the eldest master the other day that the second master has already secured the crown prince Shangguan Honghui. The opportunity for the second master to be sent out was the crown prince's trick. He just kept it a secret from the old lady and the eldest master. Seeing that he couldn't hide it anymore, he wrote to the letter a few days ago to tell them about it. The old lady was almost sick with anger. She said she would not recognize this second son."
"It's a good thing that the Second Master is favored by the Crown Prince. Why is the old lady like this? My sister is stupid and I really can't figure it out."
