Taoyao Order

Chapter 7
On the 25th of the first lunar month, the sky is bright and the warm winter sun warms people's hearts. The light snow that fell on the ground yesterday began to melt. Water gurgled everywhere in Hangzhou. The snow on the eaves turned into water, reflecting the bright sunshine. Ding The bells dropped.

Taoyao got up very early and put on the new clothes that her mother had specially prepared for her at home. She wore an engraved silk gold and silver Ruyi moire satin dress, paired with a pleated pleat of water mist and green grass. skirt, and a cloak of thick brocade inlaid with ermine skin.The head is simply combed into a bun, with a cloud and phoenix Ruyi pattern inserted diagonally, dotted with purple jade, and tassels sprinkled on the blue silk, fresh, graceful, and elegant.

The boy had already prepared some small gifts to send to the Chu family. After all, it was his first visit, and it was always a bad idea to be empty-handed. Taoyao's mother had prepared these things at home.

The young man from Taoyao's family drove a carriage to Chen's house to pick up Shao early in the morning, and the two of them went to Chu's house in Ping'an Lane together.

With a smile on his face, Mr. Shao repeatedly praised Taoyao for her beautiful clothes and exquisite makeup, and reassured her not to be nervous and just follow her for a while.

Taoyao just wanted to change the topic and asked how Taoyu was doing, saying that she would go back from Chu's house later and visit Taoyu.

Shao just said that everything was fine, and the delivery date was probably within a few days.

The two people were talking, but in just two quarters of an hour they had arrived at Ping'an Lane.

The sunshine outside was just right. The boy from the Tao family got off the carriage as ordered by Shao. He went over to tell the boys at the door of the Chu family that it was the matchmaker Shao who led the young lady from the Tao family to visit the old lady from the Chu family. .

The two young men who were leaning against the door and talking with hands behind their hands heard this and one of them said, "Miss, please go sit down and have a rest first. We'll go in and make a call."

As he said that, the two boys lowered the threshold and let the carriage in. One went in to announce the situation, and the other led Taoyao and Shao who got off the carriage into the back room.

Shao frowned and pulled Taoyao: "What is the rule? You are a young lady, how can you get off the car in the outer courtyard and let me sit down? I'll go down and take a look. You wait in the carriage for a while. Get off the bus when you get to the Chuihua Gate."

Tao Yao looked at Shao who was so particular and couldn't help but laugh a little and comforted her: "It's okay. You see, the reverse seat is only two feet away from the Chuihua Gate. They must have thought it was too cold. There is a stove in the reverse seat. There is hot tea, and we can warm ourselves up when we go in, in case I get cold in the carriage."

Mr. Shao said forcefully: "That's not okay. The reverse seat is where young men, women, and mothers stay. You are a young lady, so you can't do it. This is the rule! When your father left, he repeatedly said that the marriage is done. It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t work, just let me protect you and not let you suffer any injustice.”

Seeing that she insisted on doing this, Tao Yao had nothing to say.I just think it's a bit of a fuss. Taoyao has been in Hangzhou for so many years and has seen that the rules in the north and the south are originally different. Especially in Taoyuan County, which is adjacent to Qufu County and can be regarded as the hometown of Confucius and Mencius. The rules are naturally different than those in other places. All bigger.

Tao Yao waited in the carriage for a short time when she heard footsteps outside, as if someone was coming.

"Is she the young lady from the Tao family?" The visitor from outside raised his hands and asked toward the carriage.

Shao opened the curtain and got out of the carriage, but held Tao Yao down and asked her to wait in the carriage.

When Mr. Shao got off the carriage, he saw that the person who came was wearing a blue cloth robe and a purple rat skin cotton mandarin. He didn't look like the master of the family, but dressed like a housekeeper, but he only looked at this little housekeeper. Her dress also reflects the wealth of Chu's house.The steward bowed slightly to Mr. Shao and said, "I am the steward of the Chu family. My surname is Bai."

Mr. Shao also bowed slightly and said, "Well done, Mr. Bai. The old lady called me over last time to ask Miss Tao's family, and asked me to bring her to sit here when she has time. It's still in the first month, even if it's New Year's Day, Since the weather is fine, I will bring the young lady to pay a visit to the old lady."

The housekeeper looked at Mr. Shao and said, "It's no coincidence. It's been cold these days. The old lady has caught a cold and is ill. The doctor said she can't see guests."

Mr. Shao didn't like the arrogant look in the housekeeper's eyes, but after hearing what he said, he still couldn't help but sigh: "The old lady is sick? Oh, you're celebrating the New Year, why are you sick? Where's the wife? Let's go and help the wife. The same goes for saying hello."

Tao Yao came dressed up, so she couldn't go in vain today.

The housekeeper was puzzled: "So it's an unlucky time for you to come. The cloth store in Panyu had some matters that I had to take care of myself. No, I took my wife to Panyu together a few days ago."

"Ah?" Mr. Shao was surprised, and then asked, "When can you come back?"

The steward said: "How can we know this? We have to settle the matter over there before we can come back."

Mr. Shao felt displeased when he saw that the housekeeper had nothing to do with him. How humiliating was it for his daughter's family to be rejected the first time they came to see her?

Shao wanted to fight for it again and said nicely: "Guanshi Bai, look at our girl coming all the way from Shandong, so let us go and see the old lady. She is ill. We can just visit her and won't disturb her too much." of."

Housekeeper Bai looked at this arrogant woman, but frowned and said, "Mrs. Shao, I told you that our old lady is sick and won't see guests."

Mr. Shao frowned when he heard the disrespectful address from Manager Bai: "Our lady is here, have you reported back to your old lady? Is this your old lady's intention or yours? If the old lady doesn't say goodbye either, Us, let’s go then! Your butler can decide everything, have you asked your master?”

Butler Bai got angry when he heard Shao's rude words: "The old lady is sick and has already ordered not to see guests. Where are you distinguished guests? You are just a poor woman from the countryside. Come on. Going back to the old lady to see you is already giving you face! I didn't invite you today, so I came here uninvited, licked my face and sent it inside, and was blocked by others. If I didn't leave quickly, I still had the face to make trouble here!"

When Mrs. Shao heard this, she suddenly became angry. She couldn't help but said: "You are just a slave in my family. My son-in-law is a scholar. Even your young master is just a student in my son-in-law's library. Your old lady has to pay for it." I don’t care about you! Who do you think you are? You are yelling at me here!"

There was a lot of commotion here, with the clatter of horse hooves. Deep in the alley, a young man on horseback walked in from the corner door of the front yard. He was dressed in a moon-white robe, and the collar and cuffs were embroidered with silver piping with moiré patterns on the waist. There is a wide-brimmed blue auspicious cloud belt tied around his waist, and a white jade exquisite waist pendant hanging on it. His black hair is tied up and he wears a small silver crown inlaid with jade. The white jade on the silver crown is crystal clear and moist, which further highlights his youthful heroic spirit.

(End of this chapter)