swear not to be concubine

Chapter 123

Li Nianlan is currently sitting on the big kang facing the window in Aunt Wan's Tongxiang Courtyard, complaining unhappily.

"Didn't the elder sister say that she would try to get those guards who went to Longxing mansion to pick up the poor aunt to kill her when they saw her, and then randomly pulled a aunt over and said that she Didn't they bring a child to Mrs. Jian back then? Why did the guards at the end pick up the poor girl unscathed? They also took the ebony waist card from the mansion, and the bag of Jian Yan The clothes you wore at that time came out? Now it’s all right, father and wife have recognized that Jian Yan is their own daughter. "

Aunt Wan held the entry and exit account book of Zheng Guogong's mansion last month, and was looking at it with her head half down.

Hearing Li Nianlan's complaint, she put down the account book in her hand and looked up at her.

"You're always like this." Although her face was gentle, her tone was reproachful. "You can't hide anything in your heart. Your emotions and anger are only on your face. Who can't see it? Even you In the past, I didn't like Jian Yan any more. It can be seen that she is now the only daughter of the Duke's Mansion, and the Le'an Township Lord personally conferred by the emperor. In the future, you should be more polite when you see her. It's not that I take your elder sister Compared with you, she is better at being a person than you. Even at the beginning, she didn't want to know Jian Yan's life experience, secretly took money to those guards, and only said that no matter what method she used, she would not let Master Jingyuan The truth of the year was revealed. But until the dust of Jian Yan's life was settled, as soon as she heard about it, she rushed over yesterday to congratulate your father and wife, and held Jian Yan's hand again, crying and saying My poor little sister has suffered for so many years, but fortunately, the clouds are finally blooming and the moon is shining. I brought some jewelry and dresses to Jian Yan, saying that this is her wish for being a sister How happy did you make your father? But you, with such a stinky face yesterday, who can't see it? You need to learn a lot from your elder sister in the future. It's just a few good words, up and down What's the cost of a touch of lips? It can make others happy, and you can end up well, so why not do it?"

When Li Nianlan was told by Aunt Wan, she opened her mouth angrily, turned her head and looked out the window, and ignored her at all.

There is a very thick paulownia tree in the yard.It's just that it's still early spring, and the flowering period hasn't arrived yet, but there are some flower buds falling here and there on the black-brown branches.

Aunt Wan sighed in my ears, and then I heard her voice: "I know what you are thinking. You think that Jian Yan was originally just a business girl with such a humble status, but last year that You dared to steal your limelight when you were in Peach Blossom Forest, Xu Shilang gave her a few more high-level glances in your heart, so you never waited to see her in your heart. But now she suddenly became the only heir in the duke's mansion Girl, you are very unhappy to be conferred by the emperor as Lord of Le'an Township, and your status has surpassed you. But now that this is the situation, what can you do? If you can't say it, you can only bear it Forbearance. She is just a woman, no matter what, she is going to get married, but now she occupies a courtyard in the Duke's mansion and assigns a few people to her. Why do you..."

Without saying a word, Li Nianlan suddenly turned her head, gritted her teeth with resentment on her face, and said: "But she lives in the Xinyi Pavilion. At that time, I begged my father like that, and wanted to move to Xinyi I went to live in the Xinyi Pavilion, but my wife stopped me, and my father didn't agree. But now Jianyan lives in the Xinyi Pavilion, and she has five maids around her, but my aunt and I have only Two big maids. With such a humble status, how can she deserve to live in the Xinyi Pavilion? How can she be worthy of five big maids?"

"Shut up." Aunt Wan snorted in a low voice, "You can't speak your mind? Not only is she the only daughter from the Duke's Mansion, but she also has the title of Le'an Township Lord, why isn't she worthy of living in Xinyi Pavilion? Why are you not worthy of five maidservants? Do you know what is the meaning of her identity as Le'an Township Lord? The Township Lord is a patriarchal noble, and never rewarded outsiders. Now she is a member of the Tian family, and she has a salary and a salary. It belongs to the clan Lumi. Even though you are older than her and you are her second sister, if you really want to talk about it, whenever you see her in the future, you have to salute her and call her "Xiangjun."

"I don't want to salute her." Li Nianlan's voice suddenly increased by two points, and her beautiful face was a bit distorted, "Even if she is a village lord now? But that can't change her identity as a merchant girl at bottom. .Such a lowly person, why can he pass me? Do you want me to salute her? She deserves it too? "

Aunt Wan was so angry that the veins on her forehead were twitching violently, she couldn't help but stretched out her hand to caress her forehead.

But at this time Li Nianlan had already got up and got off the kang, turned around and angrily opened the curtain and walked out of the room.

"Lan'er." Aunt Wan hurriedly called, but Li Nianlan's footsteps were hurried, she had already gone far away, and only the multicolored flower curtain in front of her was still dangling back and forth.

Aunt Wan stared at the curtain in a daze for a while, then sighed a long time, turned her head helplessly, and said to Aunt Liu who was standing by the side: "If she doesn't know how to restrain her arrogant temper, something will happen sooner or later." .”

Aunt Wan was originally the daughter of the county magistrate, and she can be regarded as Xiaojiabiyu.At that time, Zheng Guogong had just taken the title of Uncle Ning Yuan, and he met Aunt Wan by chance, and liked her docile temperament, so he took her as his concubine.Afterwards, she was able to live up to expectations. First, she gave birth to the eldest daughter Li Nianyi, and later gave birth to a pair of twins. Li Nianlan and the eldest son Li Jing had gained a firm foothold in the duke's mansion.Later, because of the loss of her daughter, Nie Qingniang was in poor health and had no energy to preside over Zhongfu, so Zheng Guogong asked her to take over the affairs of the Duke's mansion.In addition, when Li Nianyi grows up, she will become King Ning's concubine in one fell swoop, and she is considered to have a pivotal position in the Duke's mansion.

But Li Nianlan has always been her heart disease.

This kid is really too arrogant.Another person who can't speak his head, and has a temperament that shows his emotions and anger on his face, so he is easy to cause trouble.What's more, Jian Yan suddenly came again...

Thinking of this, Aunt Wan felt her head ache a little.

Mrs. Liu is her confidant, and she is used to watching words and demeanor over the years.So she hurriedly approached her, stretched out her hands to press her temples on both sides, and at the same time persuaded in a warm voice: "Don't worry about my aunt. The master likes our girl's bold and lively temperament."

Aunt Wan snorted lightly.

The strength of Mrs. Liu's hand was neither light nor heavy, and she felt very comfortable when pressed.So she closed her eyes, and only said: "Grandpa Guo himself has a mighty and strong temperament, so naturally he likes children with such a temperament."

"That's not it." Mrs. Liu hurriedly continued, "Our second girl and the eldest young master are both outgoing and lively, and they are very energetic when they look at them. They are extraordinarily energetic like the sun just rising in the early morning. It's not like the second Young master, although he is a prince, he behaves timidly, and dare not even raise his head to look at people when he sees people talking. For this, how many times has the Duke scolded him? It is the newcomer Girl, I have looked at her coldly for the past two days, she is also quiet and docile, and I think she will definitely not be liked by the Duke."

"What do you know?" Aunt Wan sighed, "Although this girl looks calm and docile on the surface, I'm afraid she's very thoughtful on the inside, she's like her beauty lamp. It's much harder to fool a mother who doesn't know the mundane things in the world of fireworks."

"Forgive her for having ideas, but after all, she has only grown up in a merchant's family these years, so how much knowledge can she have?" Aunt Liu said indifferently, "Aunt and grandma don't need to grow up with other people's ambitions. Destroy your own prestige. It's just a little girl who hasn't reached the age of Ji, and her vision and experience are there, so how can she be so powerful?"

But even though Mrs. Liu said so, Aunt Wan still felt that Jian Yan was extremely difficult to deal with when she thought of Jian Yan's calm and sharp gaze when she turned around to look at her that day in the pavilion.

Originally, it was Nie Qingniang who had been in poor health for the past few years, so it was her turn to take care of all the affairs in Zheng Guogong's inner house. This matter, the body is gradually recovering, how can it not take back the power of steward again?

It is because she has been in charge of the government's mansion these years, from Nie Qingniang, Li Xin, Aunt Jin, Aunt Zhen, etc. in the mansion, down to the monthly money of the maids, servants and servants, to buy chalk, ink, rice, etc. Every penny of Yingzhiwu is passed from his own hands, so if a sum of money is dropped at random, it is not money?Then there is the monthly allowance, there are two or three hundred servants in the Duke's mansion, how much is the monthly allowance of those servants alone?Randomly postponed the monthly payment for half a month and a month, and took it out to lend usury, so how much money is it?But now, if Nie Qingniang's health recovers because of Jian Yan's return, and she takes away her right to be a housekeeper, then she will have no money to pay.

As soon as Aunt Wan thought of this, she felt a little restless.

After thinking about it, she asked Mrs. Liu to help her change her dress and comb her hair again, then she took Mrs. Huan and two maids and went out to the Xinyi Pavilion.

The reason why Xinyi Pavilion is named Xinyi Pavilion is because there are four purple magnolias planted in this courtyard, which are arranged on both sides of Qingshiyong Road.At present, it is the magnolia flowering period, and the trees are full of lavender flowers. At a glance, the flowers are blooming like a brocade, and the clouds are steaming and rosy, which is extremely spectacular.

Apart from this, the windows of the five main rooms on the front of Xinyiwu are all inlaid with double-layer glass-glass is a rare thing, and ordinary wealthy people don't use it.It is a family of meritorious service, at most there is a glass bowl, a glass lamp and the like, rarely like this Xinyi Pavilion, which uses a whole large piece of glass to inlay the windows-compared to other people in the duke's mansion. As far as the windows in the courtyard are only covered with Korean paper or gauze, the lighting in the main house of Xinyiwu is really not so good, so this is why Li Nianlan has always been greedy for Xinyi Pavilion.

When Aunt Wan brought Aunt Liu and her maid into the gate of Xinyi Pavilion, she saw the maid inside was busy.Mother Wei stood aside and directed.

Nie Qingniang has recently found her daughter whom she has been thinking of all the time, and she feels very sorry for her daughter who has suffered so much after being away from her for so many years, so she wishes to give her all the best things in the world.

"...The pink and purple crocodile tent should be matched with the white jade tent hook carved with gourds and gourds. And this pair of pastel vases with hundreds of bats and clouds are placed on the long table over there."

Mother Wei ordered the little maids to do their work more quickly, saying that the yard must be cleaned up today so that the girl can move in, while she was talking to Jian Yan and asking her, now The placement of various utensils in this room is appropriate.

Jian Yan smiled softly at this, but said in a gentle voice: "Naturally Wei Wei's vision is better than mine, I trust you."

Before he had finished speaking, the little maid Qing'er came up to announce that it was Aunt Wan who had come.

When Jian Yan heard this, she turned around and looked over.Mammy Wei immediately turned around and looked over.

The azure vase-patterned satin cape and tooth-colored long skirt, against the gentle smile on Aunt Wan's face, looked very elegant and quiet.

But today it was windy, Jian Yan could see where the wind passed by sharply, and the corners of her tooth-colored skirt were blown up, and she was wearing garnet red pants.

Jian Yan slightly turned her head away, pretending she didn't see it.

But Nanny Wei seemed to dislike seeing Aunt Wan.At that moment, her face was sullen, and she asked extremely bluntly: "Why is Aunt Wan here?"

What's rare is that after hearing Mammy Wei's blunt question, the gentle smile on Aunt Wan's face didn't fade at all.

She came forward gracefully, first saluted Jian Yan, called the township lord, and then said softly with a smile: "I came here to ask the girl, is there any place in this courtyard?" Is there anything missing? If there is something missing, just tell me. Or if there are maids and servants in this courtyard who are disobedient, the girl can tell me, but don’t be polite to me, just hold back and say nothing. It must be that those servant girls climbed onto the girl's head."

Jian Yan smiled slightly.

On the surface, Aunt Wan's words were polite, and she was extremely concerned about her.But the inside is nothing more than to tell her that Aunt Wan is in charge of the family in the Duke's mansion now, and her status in the Duke's mansion is not low, so that I can't underestimate her.As for the last sentence, isn't it just beating Mother Wei?

It's only been a few days since I came to the Duke's mansion?This Aunt Wan couldn't wait to jump out and say such words to her, she was a little too impatient.

But Jian Yan just pretended that she didn't understand, smiled and didn't speak.

On the other hand, Mother Wei said sternly from the side: "Aunt Wan's words are wrong. Our girl is the only girl born in the Duke's mansion, and the whole Duke's mansion is her home. She can't do anything she wants." Get it by yourself? The servant girl is not good, she won’t take out her identity as a girl to talk about them? Why don’t you have to say something to Aunt Wan? It's just that the slave's status is a little bit higher. It's really not worth it for a girl to tell your aunt about such a thing."

After a pause, she continued to ask intentionally: "Aunt Wan, do you think this makes sense?"

Mammy Wei is not forgiving.And she has always looked down on Aunt Wan the most. She thinks she is sweet-faced and evil-hearted, and she speaks and acts like a needle. The Duke of the country likes her, but she doesn't.

Aunt Wan's heart started beating wildly, only irritated by Mammy Wei's words, and her arms were a little weak.But what is rare is that the smile on her face is always there.

"I'm just worried that the girl is new here and that she won't get used to it, so I rushed over to ask a question, which made Madam Wei careless." Aunt Wan's voice was soft and soft, which only made people feel spring breeze. Comfortable as if brushing against your face, "Girl, don't worry too much."

Nanny Wei snorted softly, turned her head and ignored her.

But Aunt Wan didn't pay any attention to Wei Mama, she just looked at Jian Yan.

She didn't intend to please Wei Nanny at first—of course she also knew that it was useless to please Wei Nanny, it was just to humiliate herself—so the most important thing now is to take advantage of Jian Yan's arrival in this country. Mansion, let her leave a good impression on herself.And at the same time, let Jian Yan know that although Aunt Wan is just an aunt, her status in the Duke's mansion is not low, so Jian Yan can't belittle her.

But in fact, Jian Yan is not interested in these.

So what about the turbulent undercurrent in the Duke's Mansion?After all, she just wanted to fight against Zhou Yuanzheng by claiming the name of a daughter from the Duke's Mansion.And in a few more days, Xu Zhongxuan will come to propose marriage, and then she will marry Xu Zhongxuan and leave here.This Aunt Wan really didn't have to come here in such a hurry to say something like this to her, in order to show her own status in the Duke's mansion.

So Jian Yan just nodded at the moment, with a slight smile on her face, and said lightly: "Please trouble Aunt Wan to miss you."

After that, she had nothing to say to Aunt Wan.And Mother Wei at the side naturally had nothing to say to Aunt Wan.

Seeing this, Aunt Wan had no choice but to say a few casual words, then turned around and left with Aunt Liu and the two maidservants.

After seeing her out of the courtyard, Nanny Wei said to Jian Yan: "Girl, don't look at this Aunt Wan who looks gentle and docile on the face, but in fact she is the most cannibalistic. You You have to be careful in the future, and you must not fall into her way."

Jian Yan smiled and said, "Nurse Wei, don't worry, I know it well."

Because the Xinyi Pavilion has not been cleaned up in the past few days, and Nie Qingniang has just met Jian Yan's mother and daughter, so Jian Yan has been living in Nie Qingniang's Ya'an residence for the past few days.And through these few days of getting along with each other, Wei Mama can somewhat see that although Jian Yan is a person who smiles when she sees people and speaks softly, she is actually a very smart person on the inside. If she has an idea, she may be able to see Aunt Wan's tricks.

So Mammy Wei nodded and said, "The old slave can rest assured."

After a pause, she said again: "Girl, the house is being cleaned up here. There is a lot of dust. It's not good for you to keep watching here. Why don't you take Tingfeng, Tingmei and April to visit the garden? The winter jasmine, camellia and cherry blossoms in the garden are blooming just right now. When you come back from viewing the flowers, the yard should be tidied up."

Tingfeng and Tingmei are the maidservants allocated to her by Nie Qingniang, and there are two others named Tingtong and Tinghe.Thinking that Si Yue was brought here by Jian Yan, and that their master and servant had a good relationship, Nie Qingniang promoted Si Yue as a maid.

Jian Yan thought about it for a while, then said goodbye to Madam Wei, and took Si Yue and the others to stroll in the garden.

Staying by Mammy Wei's side, she was somewhat stressed.Especially when she was by Nie Qingniang's side, she felt more pressured.

Nie Qingniang was so kind to her that she didn't even know how to fight back.

Although her body is that of the daughter Nie Qingniang unfortunately lost at that time, her inner core is not.There is no way for her to treat Nie Qingniang as her own mother right now, not to mention that the reason why she rushed to reveal her background earlier was actually because of impure motives.

So in the past few days, her heart is full of guilt and deep guilt towards Nie Qingniang.Just now Aunt Cai Wan specially came over to say something like that, if she kept keeping aloof and caused disaster to Nie Qingniang, I would really feel sorry for her.

So Jian Yan finally turned around and came back, walked to Wei Nanny, leaned over, and said in a slightly lowered voice: "Wei Nanny, I was thinking in my heart that my mother took my body these days I came out to buy so many clothes and jewelry for me, and I also used my body to decorate my house. Of course, it was because I loved and cared for me. I knew it in my heart. But these fell into the eyes of others. I just feel that the extravagance is too extravagant. So, can Madam Wei persuade her mother about this after she goes back? And this extravagance is too extravagant, if it falls into the eyes of someone who cares, she will use such a thing to mess with her father What are you talking about. So if Madam Wei is free, can you make a list and show it to my father, and just say that it's because my mother loves me so much, so she took out her body and gave it to me It was purchased without using a penny of the company's money. In this way, even if someone wants to use this matter to make trouble, we can stop the trouble first, so as not to give mother a bad reputation , don’t you think so?”

When Mother Wei heard this, she only looked at Jian Yan in shock.

She didn't expect Jian Yan to be so thoughtful at such a young age.

"Girl," she said emotionally after a while, "in the past, this old slave was always worried that his wife and the son were both weak-tempered, and that this old slave was also getting old. Who knows that he will be here tomorrow? Wait until the old slave has two legs Once kicked, according to the temperament of the wife and the son, even if there are the names of the wife and the son, they will still be bullied. But now the old slave is not afraid, there is a girl here, Who dares to bully them."

Speaking of this, the circles of her eyes turned red.

Jian Yan couldn't help comforting her, and then she took Si Yue and a group of maids out of the courtyard to the garden.

After Li Nianlan left Tongxiangyuan angrily, she turned around and ran to Yuxueyuan, her own courtyard.

Speaking of which, Yuxueyuan is not bad in this Duke's mansion.There are plantain crabapples in front of the house, and a large pear tree behind the house.When the flowers bloom, looking under the moon, isn't it just like jade and snow?
It was fine in the past, but today after learning that Jian Yan actually lived in the Xinyi Pavilion that she had been thinking about but failed to obtain, Li Nianlan felt a surge of anger in her heart.

She came back angrily all the way.The little maid who came to open the door opened a little slower, and she had already slapped her down with a slap in the face.After entering the house, she continued to pick things up, beating and scolding all the little maids.

So when Guo Danqin came in, what he saw was a room full of maids kneeling.

Guo Danqin used to come to play with her when she was free.So at the moment she smiled and asked, "Sister Lan, what's wrong? Even if the servant girl did something wrong, she wouldn't be so angry with herself."

Seeing her coming, Li Nianlan ordered a group of maidservants kneeling on the ground to stand up, and then asked angrily: "Why don't you come to me these days to be stubborn?"

"Isn't this what happened to your duke's mansion these days?" Guo Danqin sat down in the chair and said with a smile, "I just thought that your duke's mansion would definitely be I'm very busy, so I didn't bother you."

"Bah." Hearing this, Li Nianlan took a sharp mouthful and cursed, "What kind of pearl? What kind of pearl is she worthy of? The eyeballs of a dead fish are more or less the same."

After scolding, she said to Guo Danqin indignantly, how people in the Duke's mansion these days revolve around Jian Yan, how Nie Qingniang let Jian Yan live in the Xinyi Pavilion, and let her use five big maids , How to buy jewelry for her, make jewelry for her, and make sixteen spring clothes for her all at once.

"...My aunt said that this year is no different from previous years, and I can no longer spend money loosely, so this year I only made two sets of spring clothes and two pieces of jewelry at random. But she actually made sixteen spring clothes in one go. The madam didn't think it was enough, and said that she would pick up good cloth and make it for her. Besides, you didn't see the jewelry. When I went to pay my respects to the madam that day, I saw six rosewood pieces on the table. The gold-painted box, when I opened it, it was full of jewels, all kinds of fashionable jewelry. Madam still thought it was too little, and said to Madam Wei, she remembered that she still had a box of high-quality rubies, so that Madam Wei I found it and went out to give Jian Yan a set of red gold and gem-studded Leisi Dielianhua's head. Speaking of which, I am also the daughter of the Duke's Mansion, and I was standing by the side at the time. What about a set of masks?"

——Nie Qingniang was originally Wu Dinghou's daughter. When she married Zheng Guogong, who was only the second son, she brought a generous dowry.

Guo Danqin also said a few words in agreement, and Li Nianlan felt that the aggrieved anger in her heart had subsided a lot.

After the two drank tea for a while and ate a few cakes, Li Nianlan said again: "The cherry blossoms are just in bloom at this time, I will go with you to the garden to see the cherry blossoms for a while."

Guo Danqin often came to Guogong's mansion to play with Li Nianlan, and she clapped her hands and smiled immediately: "That's good. I came to you today to enjoy the cherry blossoms. No one in the capital knows that you are in Zheng Guogong's mansion. The cherry blossoms here are famous for their abundance and beauty. There is also a hill next to it, with an octagonal gazebo on it, hung with a pink veil, and sitting inside to enjoy the cherry blossoms. The trees are full of bloom, like clouds and clouds. When the wind blows over, the pink and white cherry blossom petals are flying all over the sky, and the veil is also floating, it is really like heaven and earth. So according to me, there is no garden in the whole capital that can surpass your house go."

Li Nianlan immediately felt better after receiving such a compliment from her.

So she ordered her maidservant Ling Xue and Ao Shuang to bring tea and a box to put in the pavilion over there, while she was talking with Guo Danqin while slowly walking towards the go there.

But when they walked up slowly along the steps carved out of the mountain, they saw Lingxue and Aoshuang standing there with tea and a storage box, with embarrassed expressions on their faces.

Li Nianlan looked into the pavilion.Looking at it, she just felt so angry that her face changed color.

But Jian Yan was sitting on a stone stool in the pavilion, with her right hand resting on her cheek, looking at the cherry blossoms below with a carefree expression.And on the stone table in front of her were teacups with pastel flowers and butterflies and cloisonné enamel plum blossom-style storage boxes containing various pastries and candied fruit.

Naturally, the teacup and storage box on the stone table belonged to Jian Yan, not to her Li Nianlan.

(End of this chapter)