Not to mention the thirty-six sets of jewelry head ornaments, there are a hundred bracelets alone, made of gold, silver, jade, coral, pearls, agarwood, and sandalwood.
In addition to fabrics, jewelry, leather, etc., there are also furniture, including a bed, a vertical cabinet, a wooden table, a large piano table, a small piano table, a three-drawer table, an eight-immortal table...
Jiang Changning also saw a piece of Fairy Mountain carved from mutton-fat jade, a pair of crane and deer screens carved from mutton-fat jade, a pair of ancient bronze unicorns, and a piece of jadeite lotus leaf... Each piece is very valuable.
"Uncle Nan, where did you get all these good things?" Jiang Changning was very curious about how Jiang Nan bought such a generous dowry.
"As soon as the girl was born, the master and the mistress started saving a dowry for her. Later, when the master and the mistress passed away, I, the old servant, helped to save it," Jiang Nan explained.
Thinking of his loving father and mother, Jiang Changning's eyes moistened. After a moment of silence, he asked, "Uncle Nan, is this against the rules?"
"It won't exceed the rules. I have already found out everything. The girl is a county lady and she is marrying a prince. According to etiquette, she should have 360 dowries. As long as there is no five-clawed dragon pattern on it, anything else is fine."
"Uncle Nan, I'm the concubine who took over. According to the rules, the amount of my dowry cannot exceed that of the previous concubine." Jiang Changning reminded him.
Jiang Nan's face darkened. He had forgotten about this matter and said sullenly, "Then find a way to push the things in the last two loads to the front, so that there will be 358 loads of dowry."
It's just two less lifts, what difference does it make
"Uncle Nan, the meat is in the buns, not in the folds, so there's no need to lift it so much." Jiang Changning didn't want to compete with Princess Park, nor did she like to show off like that. She would rather make a fortune quietly.
"Girl, everyone in the world has a pair of snobbish eyes. The dowry must be displayed for everyone to see. It can't be too shabby." Jiang Nan advised.
Jiang Changning was a concubine, and her status was one level lower than that of the first concubine. If the dowry was too little, the girl would be looked down upon.
Jiang Nan insisted that the dowry must be 358 pieces, and refused to reduce any item on the list.
Jiang Changning couldn't persuade him, and being grateful for his kindness, he had to listen to him.
The dowry could be carried by two, four or eight people. Jiang Nan prepared large boxes that could be carried by eight people and were half a person's height.
It took two full days just to carry the dowry into the house, attracting many passers-by to watch.
Fang Ju brought a few maids with her. Just by clicking on the boxes, her eyes turned black. She ran to Jiang Changning and said, "Miss, Miss, look at my eyes. They are all radish-like."
Jiang Changning smiled, "You've worked hard. Let Madam Cui cook a fish and you can eat the fish eyes to replenish your body."
"Two fish eyes." Fangju said, holding up two fingers.
Xiulan chuckled and said, "What's so delicious about fish eyes? Only you like to eat them. Don't worry, we won't snatch them from you."
Fangju was thinking about food, so she ignored her and went out happily to find Madam Cui.
Jiang Nan was afraid that some thieves would come and scare Jiang Changning, so he sent a few people to patrol near the house.
A few days later, a wealthy matchmaker went to the Zhou family to see Miao. After she explained the situation, she took out the porcelain bottle hidden in her sleeve pocket and handed it to Miao, "Mrs. Zhou, this is the medicine."
Miao's face turned pale, "Speak to my master about this later."
"Okay." The matchmaker replied.
Miao asked her maid to invite the Zhou brothers and Luo over. As soon as the three of them entered the house, she said, "Something big has happened."
"What happened?" All three of them were shocked by her.
"A few days ago, a woman came to our house and gave me one thousand taels of silver and a bottle of medicated oil, and asked me to do one thing, that is, when combing the hair of Princess Chun'an, put the medicated oil on her head. Then the princess will become drowsy and will not be able to complete the ceremony." Mrs. Quan repeated what she had just told Miao.
Before getting married, women in this dynasty would ask a Quanfu lady to comb their hair. Neither Wu nor Zou could be considered a Quanfu lady, and Jiang Changning didn't want to ask them either.
As for Mrs. Quanfu of the same clan, she is the only one left in Jiang Changning's generation since Jiang Changning's grandfather passed down the line.
Old Master Jiang had three brothers and two sisters, but his two half-brothers died of illness without leaving any offspring.
My youngest half-brother was kidnapped by a kidnapper. We have been looking for him for years but still can’t find him. Now his whereabouts are unknown and we don’t know whether he is alive or dead.
Of the two sisters, Mrs. Zhuang is the biological sister, and the other is a half-sister who married a minor military officer. They have had little contact since the death of Mr. Jiang.
There is no close Mrs. Quanfu among the same clan, and even if there is, it is not convenient to bring her all the way from Hangzhou to Beijing.
At the beginning of September, Jiang Changning asked Miao to invite the best matchmaker in Beijing to act as Quanfu's matchmaker, who was this Quan.
"Although the old woman didn't have much experience, she knew that this was not something that could be done, so she pretended to agree, and then followed her and watched her enter the big government office in the alley."
"Are you sure?" Zhou Chengxin asked in a deep voice.
"Yes, I saw her go in through the corner door. I was afraid I was wrong, so I waited there for a few days. I saw her three times and it was real. Then I came to tell the masters and mistresses about it." Mrs. Quan laughed dryly. "I was a little scared and didn't dare to ask about her identity."
"It's a good thing you didn't go to ask. If you had asked, you would be dead by now." Zhou Shouxin said coldly.
Mrs. Quan had a bitter face. She knew that once she was involved in the dirty affairs of the mansion, there would be no way to end it peacefully.
"We will investigate this matter. You will live here temporarily. I will send people to protect your family. But if you lie, you know the consequences." Zhou Chengxin said seriously.
"If I lie, God will punish me with lightning." Mrs. Quan swore.
Zhou Chengxin also believed that Mrs. Quan would not lie, "Second Brother, take her down and get the job done."
After Zhou Shouxin took Mrs. Quan away, Miao asked, "Should I tell the young lady about this?"
"We just need to do it. There's no need to tell the girl." Zhou Chengxin didn't want Jiang Changning to be troubled after getting married.
"Brother, I think it's better to tell the girl about this." Luo disagreed, "It's lucky this time that the matter was exposed in advance. What if it happens again? We need to let the girl be alert."
"What my sister-in-law said is right. The girl married into the palace and became the princess. She must have often gone to the palace. The Song family has a noble concubine in the palace. The girl doesn't know how vicious the Song family is, so she will be fooled." Miao echoed.
"Such a secretive method can only be used by a woman. My sister-in-law and I can't help the girl for the time being. We can only ask her to be careful." Luo added.
Zhou Chengxin listened to what the two said and felt that it made sense. "You two can go over to see the girl later and tell her about this. And by the way, ask her how to deal with this matter."
Miao and Luo changed their clothes and went to Jiang's house in a carriage.
(End of this chapter)