After Xia Xun listened, she didn't respond. She put down her chopsticks and wiped her mouth, saying:
"The pork ribs are really good. There is no such good pork in Lingnan."
Get up and go.
Qi Yan didn't force him to stay, but said leisurely to his back:
"Your sister-in-law is getting married."
Xia Xun immediately turned around:
"My sister-in-law is getting married? Isn't this nonsense? If my sister-in-law doesn't marry, how can she become my sister-in-law?"
Qi Yan deliberately didn't look at him, and seemed to be casually picking up the dishes on the plate. He didn't mind that those dishes were left by Xia Xun, and put them all into his bowl:
"I'm not talking about marrying your elder brother, I'm saying that she's going to marry a new husband-in-law."
One sentence left Xia Xun behind.
Xia Xun walked back to the table and asked with a little joy:
"Really? Would anyone really want to marry her? I mean... would anyone really want to marry a sinner's wife?"
Qi Yan took out the invitation card from his arms:
"It was sent to the mansion by her future husband-in-law. Take a look."
Xia Xun opened the invitation, skipped the polite words, and quickly located the signature:
—Xiong Qian sincerely presents.
Xia Xun asked: "Who is Xiong Qian? Didn't write an official position? Isn't he an official?"
Qi Yan said no.
Xia Xun said to himself:
"That's right. After all, sister-in-law used to be the daughter-in-law of the Xia family. Those officials and lords would not take the risk of damaging their official careers to marry her."
Qi Yan cleared her throat: "Cough! I'm also an official."
Xia Xun asked back: "So what? You didn't marry her either?"
Qi Yan couldn't talk to him, and turned to say:
"Aren't you curious about the identity of this Xiong Qian?"
He waited for Xia Xun to ask.
Xia Xun looked straight at him, but didn't speak.
Qi Yan quickly conceded defeat:
"I can't resist you, let me tell you. Xiong Qian's ancestral home in Bianzhou is a self-made businessman. The largest wine shop in the capital, Guangning Building, is his property. He is twelve years older than your sister-in-law. He once married a A regular wife with two sons and a daughter, his wife died five years ago, and he did not remarry after a year of filial piety, Xiong Qian is an upright gentleman, so far he doesn’t even have a concubine.”
Xia Xun asked doubtfully:
"How do you know so well?"
Qi Yan said to him:
"If you don't investigate clearly, how dare you marry your sister-in-law to him?"
Xia Xun was taken aback: "You matched them up? Why?"
Qi Yan paused and put down his chopsticks:
"I didn't want to talk about such a heavy matter. Look at you, I insisted on asking. After the news of you and your eldest brother's death came, your sister-in-law fell ill and stayed in bed for more than a year. Her mother's family spent a lot of money. She was poured into it like running water, and she was cured with great difficulty. You know, her natal family is very powerful, and there are many people who came to ask for marriage, but she refused them all. Xia Wen must also be very sad."
Qi Yan took a breath and sighed:
"When I look at her, I always feel that I am looking at myself. I was distracted for a while, and started looking for a mate for her in the capital. Then I fell in love with Xiong Qian. I asked someone to talk about it. At first, the two parties did not agree. Your sister-in-law doesn’t want to remarry, and Xiong Qian misses his dead wife and doesn’t want to remarry. I’m ready to give up, but the matchmaker I’m looking for doesn’t give up. She says she’s paid me a lot of money and she’s determined to make it happen. The matchmaker doesn’t know how to persuade her The two of you actually asked them to meet each other through the gauze curtain, and from then on, the attitude of the two gradually became loose, and today it can be regarded as a formal marriage."
Xia Xun said, "Today?"
Qi Yan nodded:
"Didn't you read the date on the invitation? It's dusk today. If you want, you might as well go to the wedding banquet with me."
Opposite Xiong Qian's mansion, on the second floor of a restaurant, Xia Xun and Qi Yan sat by the fence, overlooking the downstairs.
Xia Xun said strangely:
"You obviously have an invitation, why don't you go in and ask for a wedding wine?"
Qi Yan said lightly:
"I'm afraid your sister-in-law won't want to see me—no, you can't call her that now, it's time to call her Mrs. Xiong."
Xiong Qian welcomed the bride, and the dowry was placed for an entire street. Mrs. Xiong's second wedding was even grander than when she married Xia Wen.
Xia Xun said with emotion:
"My brother will be very happy if he sees it."
Qi Yan asked him:
"Aren't you going to tell her that Xia Wen is still alive?"
Xia Xun said: "No, a brand new life is in front of her eyes, why bother to make her worry about her old friends?"
Qi Yan thought for a while and asked:
"Although I haven't arrived, the gift has been sent in. Where's your gift?"
Xia Xun is confident:
"I'm penniless, and I can't afford any expensive things, so I don't want to be ashamed of cheap things. Presumably the wealthy boss Xiong Qian will give his wife this gift."
Qi Yan questioned:
"I gave you all the purses, what do you want that you can't afford?"
Xia Xun took out the brocade bag given by Qi Yan from his sleeve, and threw it into his arms:
"The medicine has been prescribed, and the rest of the money will be returned to you."
Qi Yan turned around twice, and handed the money bag back to him:
"I have a task for you. You go to buy gifts now, buy whatever is expensive, and you are not allowed to go home until you spend all the money in the bag."
After finishing speaking, without giving him a chance to refuse, he got up and left, hurried downstairs, took Qi Hui into the carriage, the master and servant ran away like thieves, without looking back.
Xia Xun was left sitting alone on the second floor and staring blankly:
"This—what's all this?!"
Xia Xun had never bought anything for a woman, so she couldn't think of anything else except rouge and gouache.
After walking back and forth twice on the busiest street in central Beijing, he still couldn't figure it out.
When he passed a jewelry shop, he suddenly remembered the person Qi Yan had mentioned. That person was named Rao Bi, a well-known embroiderer in Jinghua. Xia Xun wanted to find her, and maybe he could buy a flower crown from her. hairpin.
He went into the jewelry store and asked the boss how he could find her.
When the boss heard that he was looking for Rao Bi, he waved to him again and again:
"It's not that I don't want to tell you, Raobi, although she is a good embroiderer, she has the most weird temper! She opened an embroidery workshop, and almost all the embroidery she sells is made by the embroiderers she taught. She doesn't do it easily! Moreover, she has a fierce and tricky personality. Even if a customer brings Jin Qianliang to the door, if she doesn't like that person, she will not only drive him out, but sometimes scold him bloody Even if you don’t buy our jewelry, son, don’t go to her to get scolded!”
Xia Xun smiled kindly:
"I don't have a thousand pieces of gold, but I'm also the least afraid of being scolded. Please tell me, the shopkeeper, how should her embroidery workshop go?"
Raobi's embroidery workshop is called Raobi Garden. The several-storey small building is intricately decorated, with carved beams and painted columns. It looks more luxurious than Xiong Qian's mansion.
Xia Xun walked in, stopped the first Xiunu she met, and asked her where Raobi was.
Xiunu looked at him worriedly, then raised her eyes to look upstairs, a clear female voice came from the direction she was looking.
The woman's voice was clear and beautiful, but her speech was very fast. She was talking about something, and from the tone of her voice, it could be heard that she was probably swearing.
The embroidered girl said to Xia Xun:
"Is the son here to ask for Mrs. Raobi's embroidery? The young lady persuaded the son to forget it. I don't know a rich businessman got married today. The servant brought a box of gold ingots and sent them directly to the lady's embroidery room. He insisted that the lady make a bead flower. Madam shouldn’t, the servants threw away the gold and ran away, making Madam so angry that they are swearing at people right now! Don’t make trouble! Try again another day!”
As soon as Xia Xun heard it, he knew it was someone sent by Xiong Qian. In order for his sister-in-law to be able to wear the bead flowers around Bi, he decided to give it a try:
"It's okay, even if I can't get any embroidery, I'll be satisfied if I can meet the famous Mrs. Raobi."
He bypassed Xiu Nu and walked up the stairs slowly.
Along the way, the embroidered women who passed by him were all silent.
Xia Xun thought, it seems that Raobi has a high prestige, and when she loses her temper, everyone in the building will be emboldened.
As he went up the stairs, Raobi's voice became clearer and clearer. She was eloquent, she didn't swear a single word of swearing, but she could swear terribly, making people feel so ashamed that they wanted to run away.
Xia Xun didn't even dare to think about what Raobi would say to scold him when he went up in a while.
After walking the stairs, the door of Raobi's room was at the end of the corridor. Xia Xun suddenly became a little nervous. He took a deep breath and approached slowly.
Rao Bi spoke standard Mandarin, and Xia Xun guessed that she might be a native of the capital.
In fact, if he had inquired more just now, he would have known that Rao Bi is not from Beijing, she is not even from the Central Plains, she has a high nose and deep eyes, a standard barbarian appearance.
A customer once joked that she was more beautiful than the orchid in the restaurant, but she picked up the scissors and drove her downstairs.
The guest ran away, but next time, he still came to her with a gift.
The guest's meaning was very clear, and he wanted to marry her as his wife.
It's not that Raobi doesn't understand, she doesn't like secrets the most in her life, so she just let out the word, saying that she will never marry anyone, and she will guard this embroidery building for the rest of her life, and if anyone chases after her again, she will become a monk Be a nun.
Raobi is twenty-three this year, just the right age at that time, her eyes are watery and glowing with brown green light, everyone says that the name Raobi is a perfect match for her.
These are well known to the world.
What the world doesn't know is that many years ago, she didn't have the courage she has now.
At that time, she was working as a maid in a family, and she was so timid that she would hide behind her master's back and cry when encountering minor or minor matters.
Later, when her master was in trouble and died in another country, she ran out and became an embroidery girl.
Her name was not Raobi in those years, she had another name at that time.
her name is—
"... Shao... Bo?"
Xia Xun stood outside the door, unable to believe her eyes.
In the room, Shaobo named Raobi was wearing a luxurious brocade suit, several pearl hairpins on his head, ruby earrings rippling with crystal light, a little flower between his eyebrows, and his lips were as red as pomegranates.
She has long since lost the embarrassment she had when she was a maid, she is a mature and beautiful woman with a dignified and self-sufficient manner.
There are a few little maids serving in her room, and in the corridor behind Xia Xun, there are still a few embroidery girls waiting. They are worried that Xia Xun's appearance will anger her even more, so they are all waiting outside the door, waiting for Shao Bo's order If they do, they will swarm up and drive Xia Xun out.
In Raobiyuan, Shaobo is the absolute center of power, everyone's happiness and anger will be affected by her.
No one has ever seen her look weak, she is always unruly and ostentatious, no matter whether she is in the sky or in the earth, she will always be at the forefront.
But at this moment, the girls inside and outside the room all opened their eyes wide in surprise and stared at her dumbfounded.
This strong and accustomed woman knelt softly on the ground, clutching the cushion on the floor, facing Xia Xun's direction, crying like a child.