The Sixth Miss of the Marquis' Mansion opened her mouth wide and stared at Zhu Ping'an in amazement, as if she was a tiger cub that had just left the nest and was frightened by a fat marmot passing by!
Why are all the bumpkins so rude
So scary! The baby is scared to death!
It was not until she heard her fifth sister telling the bumpkin not to joke that the sixth lady of the Marquis's Mansion came to her senses. It turned out to be a joke, but it was also very rude. The bumpkin was really rude, too rude. She had no good feelings for the bumpkin fifth brother-in-law in front of her. As long as she thought about the poor and arrogant fifth sister actually marrying such a bumpkin fifth brother-in-law, she felt a little... excited.
A bumpkin is a bumpkin. No matter how nice his clothes are, they can't hide the smell of dirt on him.
The Sixth Young Lady of the Marquis' Mansion covered her mouth with her delicate hands and rolled her eyes at Zhu Ping'an with disgust and contempt.
Bumpkin, despise it~~
Zhu Pingan, who was here, curled his lips slightly after hearing Li Shu's coquettish words, put away his casualness, stood up straight, leaned forward slightly, and bowed to the Sixth Miss of the Marquisate who was rolling her eyes at him in a standard way, speaking with a smile, as if he was the best gentleman:
"I am Zhu Ping'an from Xiahe Village. Nice to meet the Sixth Miss. If my joke just now offended you, please forgive me."
The Sixth Miss of the Marquis's Mansion, who was halfway through rolling her eyes, opened her mouth again.
What's going on? How did the bumpkin suddenly become a well-mannered gentleman? ! The man in front of me doesn't even have the aura of a bumpkin. He is simply a "gentleman, gentle as jade".
This drastic change in style made the Sixth Miss of the Marquis's Mansion, who was rolling her eyes, stop abruptly, almost getting a cramp. She returned the greeting hastily, saying "Brother-in-law, you're too kind."
Of course, in addition to the Sixth Miss of the Marquis' Mansion, many people in front of the Marquis' Mansion were also surprised.
"Fifth sister, you must be exhausted after coming all the way here. Let's let Fifth Sister and the others go into the mansion to rest for a while and reminisce about the past. Wouldn't that be better?"
At this moment, a soft female voice interrupted the temporary silence.
The one who was speaking was the fourth daughter of the Marquis's Mansion. She had long beads on her head, and was wearing a purple-black cloak embroidered with sables, a crimson palace silk jacket, and a white gauze skirt embroidered with light-colored hibiscus and painted with green water ripples.
She looks pretty good, but she has a morbid aura, like Lin Daiyu in Dream of the Red Chamber.
"Look at what Fourth Sister said, it seems as if we deliberately didn't let Fifth Sister enter the mansion." Upon hearing this, the Third Miss of the Marquis' Mansion had a coquettish smile on her lips and glanced at the Fourth Miss of the Marquis' Mansion and said.
"Hehe, Third Sister is probably overthinking it. Everyone in our house knows that Third Sister is the most considerate of her sisters." The Fourth Miss of the Marquis' Mansion looked at the Third Miss weakly and explained.
"You know whether you think too much or not." The third young lady of the Marquis's Mansion raised her eyebrows. Her voice was a little sharp.
"Okay, let's go into the mansion and let Fifth Sister have some rest."
The second young lady of the Marquis's Mansion was the eldest daughter of the eldest son, and the oldest unmarried girl in the Marquis's Mansion, so her words carried more weight. After she spoke, the third young lady and the fourth young lady no longer wanted to continue the previous topic.
After standing in front of the Marquis's mansion for so long, I can finally enter.
Zhu Ping'an followed the crowd into the mansion from the corner gate. Only after entering did he realize that the gate of the mansion was actually low-key. The interior of the mansion was even more magnificent, far better than what he saw at the entrance.
There are usually two special terms for ancient Chinese architecture. One is called "jian" and the other is called "jin". The horizontally open one is called "jian", three, five, seven, and the vertically extended one is called "jin". One jin, two jin, three jin. In fact, in the capital, especially in the inner city, there are strict regulations on the construction of mansions. What kind of official position has three rooms, what kind has five rooms, and what kind has seven rooms. And they are all odd numbers three, five, seven, nine, eleven...
However, over time, the rules have been ignored, and no one cares about them unless they are near the imperial palace.
For example, the Linhuai Marquis Mansion is extremely large, with courtyards layered one after another, houses lined up in an orderly manner, steep roofs and flying eaves, carved beams and painted buildings, ceremonial gates, ear rooms, halls, rockery pavilions and towers. Although Zhu Ping'an has a good memory, he could not tell exactly how many courtyards and rooms there are in the Linhuai Marquis Mansion.
The literal meaning of the saying "Once you enter the mansion, it feels like entering the sea" is also valid. There are so many buildings, just like the sea.
Besides being large, the life inside the mansion was also extremely luxurious. There were carved beams and painted buildings, verandas and side rooms on both sides, birds and flowers were raised, and koi of various colors swam. There were servants, nannies, and maids coming and going constantly, probably more than a hundred people.
After entering the Marquis' Mansion, it took a long time to reach the guest room. This was the place arranged for Zhu Ping'an by the Marquis' Mansion. This place still belonged to the front yard, and the guest room arranged for Zhu Ping'an was a small independent courtyard.
Li Shu directed the accompanying maid to place the daily necessities and writing brushes, inkstones, etc. prepared for Zhu Ping'an in the guest room. In the Ming Dynasty, it was quite particular. If you were not married, your fiancé could only be treated as a guest and live in the front yard. You were not allowed to step into the back yard at will.
Li Shu watched the maid finish arranging Zhu Ping'an's guest room before she got up and left. Zhu Ping'an sent them to the Chuihua Gate, stopped, bowed and watched them leave.
The hanging flower gate of the marquis's mansion is dignified, gorgeous and extremely exquisite. From the outside, it looks like an extremely gorgeous brick and wood structure gatehouse.
Because its eaves columns do not touch the ground but hang under the eaves, they are called hanging columns. There is a hanging bead underneath, which is usually painted in the form of petals, so it is called a hanging flower gate.
The hanging flower gate is a gate inside the courtyard of ancient Han Chinese residential buildings. It is a very exquisite gate in the quadrangle courtyard. It is the boundary between the inner and outer houses (front yard) and the only passage. The front yard and the inner yard are separated by the hanging flower gate and the courtyard wall. The outer yard is mostly used to receive guests, while the inner yard is where the family lives and lives. Outsiders are generally not allowed to enter and leave at will. Even the male servants of the family must abide by this rule.
In ancient times, people often said, "Don't go out of the main gate, and don't step through the second gate." The "second gate" refers to this hanging flower gate.
"If you need anything, send someone to call me."
Zhu Ping'an knew these rules, so he stopped in front of the hanging flower gate, said something lightly to Li Shu, and then bowed and watched them leave.
He didn't even want to enter the inner courtyard. The bumpkin actually knew this, which disappointed the young ladies from the Marquis's Mansion who were waiting to laugh at him.
Li Shu and others entered the hanging flower gate and continued to walk along the corridor inside. In the middle was the hall. The hall is what people often call the courtyard. There was a screen made of fine marble at the entrance. A poem by Li Bai was engraved on the marble and placed in the middle of the courtyard.
Because of the marble cover, Zhu Ping'an couldn't see behind him. He only saw Li Shu and others disappear in the blink of an eye.
If the hanging flower gate is the first barrier of the inner courtyard, then this marble screen is the second, and I believe there will be a third.
However, Zhu Ping'an had no interest in exploring. After watching Li Shu and the others disappear into the backyard, he returned to his guest room. (To be continued.)