I was very scared in the dream, afraid that my mother would sell me.
If a girl enters a brothel, her life is ruined. Not only will she not be able to find a good husband, but she will also not be able to have children in the future.
This was said by my cousin. In her eyes full of contempt, it was as if my elder sister and I were also prostitutes.
I was very angry and began to feel resentful towards Yingbao. I also hated my cousin from my aunt's family even more.
Afterwards, my family bought a small yard in the county town and lived in it with our family of five.
Life in the county town was not good. My eldest sister and I took care of all the housework. I sighed more than once that it would be great if my third sister were still here. She would have been responsible for doing the laundry in winter.
The eldest sister didn't say anything, but she didn't refute either.
Later, the eldest sister got married to the fisherman.
The fisherman was dark and thin, but he was very kind to my eldest sister. He would go to the city every few days just to bring fish to our family. That was why my mother did not object to this marriage.
After my eldest sister got married, she followed the fishermen to fish on the river, but every once in a while she would go to the city to deliver the fish to her parents' home.
My mother was naturally overjoyed and sometimes even sent the fish that my eldest sister brought back to my aunt's house.
Since my eldest sister got married, all the housework fell on me. I was very depressed, but there was nothing I could do.
Later, I got to know a lot of young ladies and often slipped out of the house early in the morning and did not come back until the afternoon.
My mother scolded me first but she never hit me because the neighbors would hear it and she was afraid that someone would tell my father’s teachers and friends.
A few years later, my father finally passed the imperial examination and became a scholar.
That day, the house was very lively and neighbors came to congratulate us.
The father who passed the imperial examination was preparing to go to the county school, but the teachers of the county school would first examine the moral character of the student and his family. Once anyone with bad morals was discovered, the child would not be allowed to enter the county school within three generations.
After discussion, my parents spent eighty taels to redeem my third sister.
It is said that the head of the class gave this price because my father is a scholar and my uncle is a captain.
A Niang was very angry. After taking the third sister back, she kept pointing at her and scolding her, calling her a money-losing thing, a disaster star, and a cheap whore.
The third sister was not willing to be outdone and cursed back.
A'niang had never suffered such an injustice before, so she immediately took a stick and beat her.
But the third sister was already thirteen or fourteen years old, tall and pretty, and very agile. She snatched the stick from A Niang's hand and threw it over the courtyard wall.
A'niang was so angry that she sat on the ground and cried loudly.
Seeing this, Xu Bao rushed forward to fight with the third sister, but was kicked to the ground and slapped several times by the third sister.
Seeing this, of course I couldn't just stand by and watch, so I rushed over to help her. However, I couldn't beat her and she pinned me to the ground and beat me instead.
A few days passed, and no matter what we did, we couldn't get rid of her.
My mother was furious and refused to give her any food. But while we were eating, she rushed in, snatched the wooden barrel containing rice, poured all the vegetables into the barrel, then climbed onto the roof and sat there, eating all the food mouthful by mouthful.
It was such a big bucket of rice and two plates of vegetables, but she ate it all by herself.
During that period, the family was often in chaos, and my mother even regretted bringing her back.
Finally, A'niang gave up and stopped paying attention to her, but would still assign her work.
I originally thought that my third sister would refuse, but she took the wooden basin to the river without saying a word and washed until the meal was ready.
A'niang didn't want to give her food, so she quickly cooked while she was out, and quietly brought the food into the house. But the third sister seemed to be able to predict the future. She jumped in from the other side of the courtyard wall, kicked the door open, snatched the food and ran away.
After a few times, A Niang was afraid of spending money to repair the door again, so she had to give up the idea.
Once, a distinguished guest came to the house and wanted to watch the Hu Xuan dance. Somehow, my parents persuaded my third sister to dance.
The nobleman liked it very much and rewarded her with a very valuable jade pendant.
My mother was jealous and asked Xu Bao and me to bring the jade pendant to her.
The third sister naturally refused and had a fight with us. She also rushed into A Niang's room, chopped open A Niang's wooden box with an axe, and snatched the jade pendant back.
My mother was very angry and cried to my father.
However, her father told her to be patient, saying that the nobleman liked her third sister and he wanted to send her to the provincial capital. He also asked her mother to be nice to her third sister, as she might need his help in the future.
Later, the third sister was drugged by A Niang and sent to a large ship to the capital city.
I continued to dream.
In the dream, my father became a clerk in the Governor's Office in the prefectural city, and our family naturally followed him to the prefectural city.
The Wei family is a wealthy family in the city, and has some connections with the Chen family, so we are staying at the Wei family.
However, I was a little surprised that the person in charge of the Wei family's household affairs was a concubine.
Later I learned that the mistress of the Wei family had died of illness a few years earlier, and her only son was taken to his uncle's house and did not return to the Wei family until he grew up.
Since the Wei family is related to the Xiao family in the Governor's Mansion, I often see the seventh son of the Wei family going to the Governor's Mansion to look for the young master of the Xiao family.
He was very proud and ignored me at first.
Later, when he found out that my father worked in the Governor's Office, he finally looked at me in the eye.
Once, I followed Wei Qi to the Governor's Mansion to find my father. By chance, I saw my third sister in a silk gauze dress. She was so beautiful that it was no exaggeration to say that she was a fairy concubine. I almost didn't recognize her.
Wei Zhan also stared at her and walked over to talk to her.
At first, the third sister was polite to him, but when she saw me, she turned away disdainfully.
On the way, she met several officers from the Governor's Office. They greeted her and whistled at her, but the third sister ignored them and walked away.
I was so surprised. Wasn't the third sister a concubine of the governor's mansion? Why could she freely enter and leave the inner and outer courtyards, and even show disdain to those high-ranking generals? Those generals didn't seem angry at all, and kept watching her walk into the Moon Gate.
I know that the gate is where the governor lives. No one is allowed to enter. Even the Seventh Master of Wei has to be allowed to enter after being authorized.
But the third sister just walked in like that, with no one leading her.
So I went home and told my parents about it.
Mother slammed the table and cursed: "Since she is so favored, why didn't she say a word for your father? After all, we raised her, but she turned out to be an ungrateful person. If we had known, we would not have sent her to the Governor's Mansion. She is useless at all."
Dad was silent for a long time, and suddenly said to me: "A Zhao, do you want to enter the Governor's Mansion?"
I was stunned.
Dad continued, "If you want to go, Dad will help you."
I thought of that heroic governor and my face turned red immediately.
My mother also said, "A Zhao, you are not young anymore. If I didn't want to find you a rich man, I wouldn't have waited until now to find you one. The governor is of noble status, not too old, and doesn't have a wife yet. If you can win his favor and have a child, you will be the mistress of the governor's mansion."
I was moved.
A few days later, my mother invited a makeup lady to teach me how to put on makeup.
After I finished putting on my makeup and put on a brightly colored dress, I looked at myself in the mirror and found that I was 80% similar to my third sister.
I was puzzled: "Why do you draw me like this?"
Ah Niang smiled and said, "It's more beautiful this way."
I admit this.
Because my face shape is like my father, but my skin is like my mother, a little dark and yellow, not as fair and tender as my third sister. My eyes are also like my mother, those narrow and long eyes, not as dark and lively as my third sister's.
Our body shapes are also similar. I have sloping shoulders and a slender waist, but my third sister's body is straight and she stands there like a green bamboo.
That evening, my father took me to the Governor's Mansion to attend a banquet.
The hall was filled with military generals, as well as some staff and officials from the Governor's Office.
The governor was sitting at the top, holding a wine cup. He was stunned when he saw me.
Dad quickly stepped forward and introduced that this was his second daughter, who wanted to sing a song for the governor.
The governor agreed, but he kept staring at me, making my hands tremble.
Finally, I took out the xun and played a piece of music called "Changsheng Dian".
The governor asked me to come closer and looked at me for a long time before he asked, "Are you and Chen Ying sisters?"
I nodded.
"Want to come into my house?" he asked.
I nodded again.
The governor took a sip from the wine cup and said, "In that case, you can stay."
So I entered the back house of the Governor's Mansion.
That night, I served the governor.
During that period, he doted on me very much and often summoned me for sex, but after each visit he would have someone bring me a bowl of medicine to drink.
I didn’t understand it at first and thought it was a tonic, but later I found out that it was a medicine to prevent pregnancy.
But even so, I thought I was very favored, so I bravely talked to him about my father.
The governor was also very straightforward and immediately signed a letter of appointment, appointing my father as the magistrate of a large county.
I was very proud and did very well in the mansion because the servants and maids all flattered me.
I suddenly thought of my third sister, so I asked someone to call her over.
The third sister came. She had no makeup on her face, and she looked as beautiful as a fairy in her gauze dress.
In my heart, I was secretly jealous of her good looks and always picked out the best features of her parents.
But even if she is as beautiful as a fairy, what does it matter? She is still not favored by the governor. For so many days, I have never seen her enter the governor's bedroom.
"Come here and help me massage my back." I leaned against the couch and told her.
The third sister really came over and sat opposite me. She ate some fruit from the small table and asked, "Are you itching for trouble?"
I got angry, sat up suddenly, knocked the fruit out of her hand, and angrily said, "You really don't know the rules, you just eat other people's food casually. Did I let you eat it?"
The third sister stood up and clapped her hands, which scared me.
But she didn't hit me. She just laughed contemptuously and turned away.
I was very angry and asked my maid to stop her, but she was too timid to step forward.
In the evening, when the governor summoned me again, I exaggerated the rudeness of my third sister and told him about it, and acted coquettishly, asking him to punish her.
But when the governor heard this, he immediately got off me and asked a maid to come in and take me out.
I was confused and didn't know what I had done to anger the governor.
After that, the governor never summoned me again, nor did he send me anything.
I was so angry but also very curious about what was going on, so I ran to my third sister's yard to find her and ask her what was going on.
As a result, they met the governor outside the yard. He was talking to the third sister and reached out to pull her.
The third sister slapped his hand away, turned back to the yard, and closed the door.
I was shocked and quickly hid behind a tree, fearing that the governor would be furious and I would be implicated.
However, the governor stood at the door for a while, turned around and walked away, walked to my big tree and took a glance at it.
I dared not breathe, and waited until the governor disappeared from sight before I came out from behind the tree and ran quickly back to my room.
Two days later, the Governor's Mansion held another banquet, and we concubines were called to attend the banquet to accompany the guests.
After a few drinks, the generals and officers forgot themselves and started flirting with us, but the governor didn't care and let everyone have fun.
It was only then that I realized that the concubines in the Governor's Mansion did not only serve the Governor alone, but were also playthings for entertaining guests.
But what about the third sister
I looked around and saw her sitting among a group of dancers, looking at everyone coldly.
At this time, a general said to the governor: "General, I want to marry Miss Chen Ying."
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone in the room fell silent.
Then everyone looked at the Grand Commander.
The Grand Commander smiled and said, "I cannot agree to that."
An adviser beside him immediately said with a smile: "The general only has this one dancer who is proficient in Huxuan dance. General Feng, please don't make things difficult for the general."
Everyone laughed.
Someone else said, "We all want Miss Chen Ying. General Feng, you have to get in line."
General Feng blushed, but soon he hugged his concubine and said, "Then I will ask the general for her."
The governor agreed and sent ten rolls of silk and some gold and silver to the concubine.
Just as I was wondering, the general asked my third sister to dance again.
So I saw my third sister perform the Hu Xuan dance for the first time.
Her body was like a celestial bird, dancing non-stop to the beat of the drums. She danced for a whole hour without the governor calling for a stop.
I saw that my third sister’s head and face were covered in sweat, and her clothes were stuck to her body.
Suddenly she fell down and seemed to have fainted.
While everyone was stunned, a young general rushed forward, picked her up, strode out of the hall and called for the court doctor.
The banquet was over, and no one was in the mood to drink, so they followed out of the hall to see what was going on.
I glanced at the governor and found that he looked very unhappy. I guess he was angry with my third sister.
For a long time, the Governor's Mansion did not hold any banquets. The big banquets that usually took place every month had not been held for four whole months.
I didn't see the third sister either. I heard that she injured her foot and has been recuperating.
During these few months, the governor did not summon concubines, but the number of concubines increased.
One day, I finally met my third sister. She seemed to have gained some weight, her skin was plump and smooth, and she looked better.
She saw that I still had the same face that was not a face and nose that was not a nose, which made me very angry.
That day, Wei Qi came to the Governor's Mansion, and he and the young master of the Xiao family somehow ran to the courtyard where the concubine was, and happened to meet me.
I saw the young master of the Xiao family was playing with a whip in his hand, hitting the flowers and plants from time to time. He rolled his eyes and led them to the yard of my third sister.
Everyone in the mansion knew that this young master was very domineering and moody, and would whip people if they were not careful.
People with a bad temper like the third sister are likely to cause dissatisfaction.
Let the young master of the Xiao family and Wei Qi deal with her. Even if the governor is unhappy, these two are his relatives. Can he help outsiders deal with his own family
I watched Wei Qi and the young master of the Xiao family walk into my third sister's yard, and listened to the noise with great pleasure.