Xiao Fei turned her head to look at Qiao Ruolan, with a smile on her face.
When watching the play, all she thought about was what the sister-in-law said last time.
At this time, when Qiao Ruolan asked, Xiao Fei said naturally: "This Lu family is really ridiculous! Marriage is the order of the parents and the words of the matchmaker. She is not filial if she insists on marrying despite her parents; Ten years of bitter cold, I spent the most brilliant years of a woman, and married another wife when she was rich and honorable, which is nothing more than Chen Shimei and others trying to gain fame..."
Qiao Ruolan was dumbfounded and couldn't speak for a moment.
But Xiao Fei became more and more cheerful as she talked, and persuaded with righteous words: "Cousin, this kind of repertoire is usually written by those poor scholars or scholars who are too ambitious. You can just take a look and listen to it, just for fun." That's all, but don't really believe it!"
Thinking of two years ago, there was a daughter of a wealthy businessman in Southern Xinjiang who liked to go to theaters on weekdays, but in the end she eloped with an actor, Xiao Fei felt that her worries were not unreasonable.
The corners of Qiao Ruolan's mouth twitched when she heard it, when did she say she believed it!
But she was not willing to let Xiao Fei gain the upper hand, and retorted: "Sister Fei, what you said is wrong. What is respectable about the Lu family is that she does not dislike the poor and loves the rich, and married General Li when he was in decline. "Later, she stayed in the cold kiln for ten years, and she became a wife of chastity, and she has been a model for women for hundreds of years!"
The quarrel between the two girls has long attracted the attention of the girls on the side, and a girl sitting on Xiao Fei's left can't help but say: "Miss Qiao, I think what Miss Xiao is saying makes sense. Since ancient times, marriages have always paid attention to the orders of parents and the right family, if all the children disobey their parents, what kind of dignity will it be!"
Another girl also said solemnly: "That's right, Lu's chastity is a virtue worthy of praise, but filial piety is the first thing to do, and unfilial piety is a serious crime! Even if she later helped her down-and-out parents and was a martyr, it cannot be said that she What she did was right, I can only say that she realized her mistake later and corrected it!"
On weekdays, when these girls watch operas, they are simply moved by the ups and downs of the lives of the characters in the plays, lamenting all the joys and sorrows of life, but they never link reality with these operas. It's a bit absurd, those famous "Romance of the West Chamber" and "On the Wall" are all stories about boudoir daughters giving and receiving privately, but in fact, no matter how enlightened the folk customs in southern Xinjiang are, they can't tolerate girls' property Hands-on, in some houses with strict rules, it is not uncommon for a bowl of soup to end the life of the girl's family.
When the girls spoke excitedly, their voices raised unconsciously, and the ladies sitting by the veranda also attracted their attention.
Mrs. Qiao looked at Nangong Yue and asked with a smile: "Concubine, I think this Lu family is both chaste and virtuous. When her parents and husband are in decline, she will never leave her. What do you think, concubine?"
Nangong Yue smiled slightly: "Auntie, do you know that there is a Qingmao Academy in Luoyue City?"
Mrs. Qiao was stunned, and she didn't know why Nangong Yue suddenly mentioned Qingmao Academy, so she heard Nangong Yue continue: "This Qingmao Academy is the best academy in Luoyue City. There have been many scholars in the past century, and Juren is even more famous. I don’t know how many. The head of Qingmao Academy is very kind, and every year, ten outstanding poor students Shu Xiu will be exempted. I wonder if my aunt would like to choose a good son-in-law for my cousin?”
You... Mrs. Qiao stared so hard that her eyes bulged forward.
Nangong Yue looked at Mrs. Qiao with a smile that was not a smile, and said: "Don't worry, aunt, those students are excellent, and the head of the academy and all the gentlemen can guarantee it. The cousin married when the male style was weak, and in the future Cousin-in-law's title on the gold list will also remember my cousin's kindness!"
Mrs. Qiao's mouth opened and closed, and she was speechless for a while. Who doesn't know that the imperial examination is one in ten thousand, so what if you win the Juren at a young age, some people who are more than a few years old will not be able to win the Jinshi! Her daughter has a noble background, so there is no need to find a poor scholar to speculate!
Mrs. Qiao took a deep breath, barely suppressed the anger in her heart, and said lightly: "Thank you, Shi Zifei, for worrying about Sister Lan. I already have a plan for Sister Lan's marriage."
Nangong Yue gave her a meaningful look, then looked at the stage again, but smiled and said nothing.
The meaning of that look made the other wives think secretly, and even began to whisper with the neighbors. Mrs. Qiao's face turned green and white, and she felt that everyone was pointing at her.
At this moment, the sound of gongs and drums, the sound of sanxian, and the sound of flute on the other side of the stage stopped, and after the opera was sung, the actors on the stage stepped off the stage one by one.
Nangong Yue glanced at the clepsydra. Although it was only a 40-fold play, more than half an hour had passed before she knew it.
Nangong Yue looked around, the wives present were usually in charge of the family's middle class, and it was rare to go out to a banquet or watch a play to relax, but those young girls might not be able to sit still.
Nangong Yue pondered for a while, then smiled and suggested: "Sister Fei, why don't you take a look around the garden with a few girls. The Mingxiang Pavilion on the other side of the lake is also a quiet and elegant place. You young girls can also go there Let's chat and relax there."
Mrs. Tian was a little funny in her heart, in fact, the concubine Shizi is not very old, and she is not yet old enough, but she is a bit old-fashioned when she speaks at the moment.
Xiao Fei stood up, blessed and said: "Sister-in-law is right." With Xiao Fei's temperament, she can naturally sit still, but today she is the master, and she must always show the demeanor of the master, helping sister-in-law to entertain guests is.
Hearing this, several little girls next to her couldn't suppress their excitement. They couldn't sit still for a long time, but they were afraid that this was the Zhennan Prince's Mansion, so they didn't dare to act rashly.
The girls stood up in twos and threes, each of them looked like a bird about to be released from the cage, which made the ladies laugh.
A delicate voice suddenly sounded: "Cousin Fei, it's rare that all the ladies are here today, why don't you have fun with Dou Hua?"
Everyone followed the sound and saw a little girl in a brocade green rose tight-fitting skirt looking innocently at Xiao Fei. It was Du Xinmin, the daughter of Du Liancheng.
Du Xinmin seemed innocent, but there was a bit of provocation in his eyes. She had always been on good terms with Qiao Ruolan, but she didn't have much affection for this cold-tempered cousin, especially when she saw that Xiao Fei was obedient to Nangong Yue's orders, she felt a little contemptuous of her. Recalling that day when Xiao Fei refused to fight with Qiao Ruolan in Huanxi Pavilion, she felt that Xiao Fei was afraid of Qiao Ruolan's talent.
This time, Xiao Fei must make a fool of herself!
Xiao Fei didn't have those twists and turns in her heart. Du Xinmin said it was a fighting painting, and she regarded it as an ordinary fighting painting. She nodded and said, "Cousin Min's suggestion is good, then let's go to Mingxiang Pavilion to play fighting painting." Alright." As she spoke, she looked around at the girls and said, "You girls can do whatever you want."
Nangong Yue glanced at Du Xinmin lightly, and said with a light smile: "Since you want to fight for paintings, then let's judge the leader, and I will make a big splash."
No matter whether this thing is valuable or not, it will always be glorious to say it in the future. The little girls' eyes lit up and they whispered to each other with great interest. Those who hadn't planned to participate in the event also became a bit interested, and several girls stood up and followed Xiao Fei downstairs.
After the young girls retreated, the second floor was quite empty for a while, but soon, the actors on the stage came on stage again and sang "Drunk Beating the Golden Branches" again, this time singing the most lively part of the play. A play. Seeing the "cowardly and cowardly" son-in-law raise his fist and hit the princess... The wives were all amused, and the second floor burst into bursts of hearty laughter from time to time.
The play was folded and folded... About half an hour later, a servant girl brought paintings one after another.
The maids spread those paintings neatly on the large tables, and several wives couldn't help but look in the direction of the paintings frequently, whispering to each other from time to time...
After the Yizhe opera was finished, Nangong Yue simply ordered Madam Lu to stop the troupe from singing for the time being, then stood up and invited the wives beside her to enjoy the painting.
There are already a dozen or so paintings on the big table at the moment, and the paintings that have been drawn in the past half an hour are naturally not meticulous paintings, but mostly freehand paintings of landscapes, mixed with a few freehand paintings of flowers and birds. , are all vertical brush strokes, ink colors flying.
These paintings are all anonymous, there is no signature, and no poem is mentioned, so after looking around for the first time, most wives really can't tell which one is painted by their daughter or granddaughter.
At this time, Thrush came up holding a mahogany tray, on which were placed dozens of colorful silk flowers, which immediately attracted the attention of all the ladies.
Nangong Yue nodded to Huamei, and Huamei and a few maidservants distributed the silk flowers to the wives. All the wives secretly observed those silk flowers, and saw that these dozens of flowers were all different colors, each flower was bright and delicate, and the materials were exquisite. It seemed that it was made by the concubine's own maid or a sewing room.
Nangong Yue explained with a smile on the side: "Girls are fighting for paintings, ladies and gentlemen, why don't you help judge together, whichever painting you think is good, put down a silk flower, whichever painting has more silk flowers, whoever is the leader, How do the ladies feel?"
When Nangong Yue made such a proposal, the wives' eyes lit up when they heard it, and they agreed with each other:
"It's a good idea, Crown Princess!"
"Let's join in the fun together!"
"Oh, I saw that these girls are all very good at drawing, and I didn't know which one to choose..."
"..."
In fact, Nangong Yue is the concubine of the world, the highest status among all the people, and she is from a family of scholars. Even if she alone has the final say on the leader of the fighting painting today, others take it for granted. Nangong Yue let everyone participate together, which is lively Let's have fun, everyone. However, she was so careful at such a young age that many wives were thoughtful, and sighed again in their hearts: You are indeed the princess of the imperial seal!
The ladies held silk flowers of various colors and commented on the paintings.
Nangong Yue sat aside and drank tea. She looked around just now, and she already knew in her mind which pictures might be the leader.
After the ladies looked at the painting again, they saw that Mrs. Qiao was the first to make a move, decisively throwing the yellow silk flower in her hand to a landscape painting, followed by two or three other ladies also throwing the silk flower. gave that painting.
Que'er immediately lowered her voice and whispered in Nangong Yue's ear...
Nangong Yue curled her lips slightly, and there was no rule that mothers could not throw silk flowers to their daughters. Furthermore, Qiao Ruolan was indeed talented.
After the ladies looked around for two more times, they all cast silk flowers one after another... After that, Que'er and Huamei went to count the silk flowers.
It turned out that it was really a coincidence that there were ten silk flowers in both paintings.
The maids quickly removed all the other paintings, leaving only a freehand painting of landscapes and a freehand painting of peonies in bright colors.
"Concubine Shizi," Mrs. Tian suggested with a smile, "Why don't you choose the final leader?"
This proposal couldn't be more appropriate, and immediately attracted the response of all the female guests, and Mrs. Qiao's complexion froze for a moment, and she did not object.
"Then I'll be disrespectful." Nangong Yue stood up calmly and walked to the two paintings.
I saw the landscape freehand painting on the left with clean brush and ink to depict the surging river, emerald peaks and ridges, and clouds and smoke. Moreover, the layout of the painting is dense and dense, and the ink color is appropriate. It seems that the charm is superb.
And the freehand painting of peonies on the right uses both ink and color. The delicate and beautiful peonies are bright in color, but not gaudy. The whole painting has an elegant atmosphere, which is refreshing.
These two paintings are indeed quite good, and it is no wonder that they can stand out among the excellent works.
Thrush held a tray and presented a purple silk flower to Nangong Yue. Nangong Yue twisted the silk flower and put it on the freehand peony painting...
Mrs. Qiao's pupils shrank, and she almost blurted out the questioning words, but she still managed to hold back her senses.
Finally, another lady who chose the landscape painting asked in a puzzled way: "My concubine, I don't know what is so good about this painting of peonies? In my opinion, this painting of landscapes is more magnificent than this painting of peonies." Much more atmospheric."
During the conversation, Xiao Fei, Qiao Ruolan and other girls also filed up the stairs to the second floor, just in time to hear the lady's words, and all looked at Nangong Yue, wanting to see how she would answer .
Nangong Yue smiled faintly, and said: "I chose this peony painting because firstly, the drawing skills of this painting are really extraordinary, and secondly, because the painting of peony is so lifelike, the artist must have seen it with his own eyes. out!"
Nangong Yue didn't comment on the landscape painting anymore, but the implication was already obvious, meaning that this landscape painting was not seen by the painter with his own eyes, but imagined or copied
The ladies looked at each other, and soon someone thought of something, suddenly realized something and whispered to the person beside him, and occasionally heard words like Fuchun Mountain floating out...
Nangong Yue's eyes flicked past Qiao Ruolan's disheveled face. Although Qiao Ruolan's painting skills are extraordinary, her painting is just a patchwork of landscapes from "Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains". What spirituality.
Nangong Yue raised her voice and said, "I don't know which girl painted this picture of peonies?"
As soon as the words fell, a crisp voice said: "It's Miss Hua!"
For a moment, everyone's eyes were focused on a girl with a crimson purple double-breasted satin gown with a stand-up collar. Nangong Yue also remembered this Hua girl, so she smiled at her. This little girl is really interesting, and the city gate painted in Huanxi Pavilion back then is also very interesting.
Miss Hua was a little shy, but still nodded slightly to everyone generously.
Baihui came over with a red sandalwood box, which was exquisitely made, with intricate patterns carved on it, making people secretly guess what was inside.
Nangong Yue signaled Baihui to open the box, and there was a set of bejeweled South Sea beads in the box. With just one glance, many sharp-eyed wives present could tell that these were authentic South Sea pearls, and they were of the highest grade. They can almost imagine that under the light, the pearls on these beads, hairpins, earrings and other accessories will emit a moving luster like the bright moon!
This pair of Nanzhu face is not only valuable, but also a gift from the concubine, even if it is used as a dowry in the future, it will also have a long face.
Mrs. Hua couldn't help showing joy, and looked at her daughter lovingly.
Miss Hua stepped forward gracefully, thanked Nangong Yue with a blessed body, and took the box respectfully with both hands.
Many girls surrounded her, congratulating her repeatedly.
From the back of the crowd, Du Xinmin looked at Miss Hua for a while, and Xiao Fei for a while, and her face was not very good-looking. She proposed a painting fight today in the hope that Qiao Ruolan would win and save Xiao Fei's face. Who would have thought that Xiao Fei would not accept the move at all!
When she was fighting painting in Mingxiang Pavilion just now, she tried to encourage Xiao Fei to participate in the painting painting, but Xiao Fei looked at her strangely and said: "Cousin, I am the master, how can I compete with the guests for my sister-in-law's place?" What about Caitou?" Xiao Fei's eyes of "you are too ignorant" at that time made Du Xinmin's face pale with anger, but she was speechless and speechless.
Du Xinmin had to admit that her cousin Fei had really changed! It was not so easy to be fooled...
At this moment, a little servant girl came up the stairs, walked up to Nangong Yue quickly, and said in a fussy voice: "My concubine, eldest girl, Mrs. Fang San is here and wants to see you..." Those who come are not good, and those who are kind do not come."
Although the little maid didn't say the second half of the sentence, Nangong Yue had already understood it.
Everyone present heard it too, the banquet was over half, and it was about to end, it was extremely unexpected for Mrs. Fang San to appear at this time.
If she is late after accepting the post, then she will be late, so it is better not to come and come to apologize on another day; but if she does not receive the post at all, or accepts the post but cannot excuse, then Running here in a hurry now, naturally has other plans.
Those ladies all looked at each other in blank dismay, and they really didn't want to leave or stay.
Xiao Fei frowned, but Nangong Yue raised her eyebrows slightly, and said with a half-smile, "Go and invite Third Aunt here." Mrs. Fang San probably came prepared, even if she didn't invite her, she would Will do whatever it takes to make this happen.
After a while, I heard the sound of footsteps going upstairs "dumping".
Mrs. Fang San, who was dressed in apricot-yellow plain makeup, took a fourteen-five-year-old girl with a beautiful appearance to the second floor. She looked around arrogantly, and then her eyes fell on Nangong Yue, holding her head high. walked over.
As soon as she came up, she said angrily: "Concubine Shizi, I always thought you were virtuous and virtuous, but I didn't expect you to be so unfilial! Your mother-in-law is seriously ill and bedridden. It's fine if you don't stay by the couch to wait on the sickness, concubine Shizi. What's the point of holding a banquet here!"
"Sister-in-law." Mrs. Qiao said with a puzzled face, "What happened to my sister-in-law?"
Mrs. Fang San sighed and said: "Hey, sister-in-law, you don't know something. I just went to see my fourth aunt's grandmother. She was so sick that she couldn't get up. It's really pitiful. But her daughter-in-law actually Still throwing a big banquet here, chatting and laughing happily." As she spoke, she said angrily, "Concubine Shizi, do you still have the word 'filial piety' in your heart?"
Mrs. Qiao became angry all of a sudden, and asked Nangong Yue: "Concubine Shizi, how could you do this?!... When Sister Cailan asked about your mother-in-law, you were still making excuses, which is really chilling." !Even if you are the princess or concubine, you should do your duty as a daughter-in-law!"
Nangong Yue looked at them calmly.
The two of them sang and played with each other tacitly, it would be a pity not to be on the stage!
After that incident, Nangong Yue still felt that Mrs. Qiao would not come to the banquet, but unexpectedly, Qiao's mansion replied the day before yesterday. Nangong Yue would not naively think that a person with a strong desire for control like Mrs. Qiao would put down her face and make peace with herself.
It turned out to be the song that came out.
Heh, this has been a miscarriage, and that person is still unwilling to settle down.