The sixth lady of the Hou Mansion opened her mouth and stared at Zhu Ping'an in shock, as if she was frightened by a tiger cub that had just left its nest, or by a passing fat woodchuck!
Why are all the country bumpkins so rude?
very scary! I am so surprised!
It wasn't until the fifth sister told the bumpkin to stop joking that the sixth lady of the Hou Mansion came back to her senses. It turned out to be a joke, but it was also very rude. The country bumpkin was really rude, so rude. He had no good impression of the country bumpkin fifth brother-in-law in front of him. Just thinking about it, the poor and arrogant fifth sister is actually going to marry such a country bumpkin fifth brother-in-law, and I feel a little...excited.
A country bumpkin is a country bumpkin. Even if he wears the best clothes, he can't hide the smell of dirt all over his body.
The sixth lady of the Hou Mansion covered her mouth with her slender hands and rolled her eyes at Zhu Pingan with disgust and contempt.
Country bumpkins, despise them~~
After Zhu Ping'an listened to Li Shu's coquettish words, he slightly raised the corners of his lips, put away his casualness, stood up straight, leaned his upper body slightly forward, and looked at the sixth lady of the Hou Mansion who rolled her eyes at him. He bowed his hands in a standard salute and spoke with a smile, as if he preferred the best young master:
"Zhu Ping'an of Xiahe Village has met Miss Six. If his joking remarks just now are offensive, I hope Miss Six will understand them."
The sixth lady of the Hou Mansion, who was halfway rolling her eyes, once again opened her mouth.
What's the situation? Why did the country bumpkin suddenly turn into a polite young man? ! The man in front of me still has a bit of a country bumpkin vibe to him. He has the feeling of "a humble gentleman, as gentle as jade".
This drastic change in the style of painting made the sixth lady of the Hou Mansion roll her eyes so hard that she suddenly paused, so that she even had cramps. She responded with a hasty greeting and said in her small mouth, "Brother-in-law, you are serious." ".
Of course, in addition to the sixth lady of the Hou Mansion, there were also many people in front of the Hou Mansion who were surprised.
"Fifth sister. You must be exhausted from coming so far. Wouldn't it be better if we let the fifth sister and the others go into the house to rest for a while and reminisce about old times."
At this time. A soft female voice interrupted the temporary silence.
The speaker was the fourth young lady of the Hou Mansion. She had a long string of beads hanging from her head. She was wearing a purple-ink embroidered mink cloak, a crimson palace silk jacket, and a white plain gauze skirt. Embroidered with light-colored hibiscus and painted with green water ripples.
She looks pretty good, but she feels sickly, like Sister Lin in Dream of Red Mansions.
"Look at what the fourth sister said, it seems that we deliberately prevented the fifth sister from entering the house." Hearing this, the third young lady of the Hou Mansion said with a delicate smile on her lips, and glanced at the fourth young lady of the Hou Mansion.
"Ahem, I'm afraid the third sister is overthinking. Who in our family doesn't know that the third sister is the most considerate sister." The fourth young lady of the Hou Mansion looked at the third young lady weakly and explained.
"You don't think too much, you know it in your heart." The third lady of the Hou Mansion raised her eyebrows. The voice was a bit high-pitched.
"Okay, let's go into the house and let Fifth Sister rest."
The second young lady of the Hou family is the eldest daughter of the eldest family member, and the eldest among the married women in the Hou family, so her words are quite weighty. After she spoke, the third lady and the fourth lady no longer had any further thoughts on the topic.
After standing in front of the Hou Mansion for so long, I can finally enter the house.
Zhu Ping'an followed everyone into the Hou Mansion from the corner door. After entering the Hou Mansion, he realized that the gate of the Hou Mansion was low-key. The inside of the Hou Mansion was even more magnificent, far better than what he saw at the door.
Architecture in ancient China usually has two proper nouns. One is called "Jian" and the other is called "Jin". Those that open horizontally are called "Jian", three, five, and seven rooms, and those that extend vertically back are called "Jin". One step in, two steps in, three steps in. In fact, in the capital, especially in the inner city, there are strict regulations on palace buildings. What kind of official positions have three rooms, what kind have five rooms, and what kind have seven rooms. And they are all odd numbers three, five, seven, nine, eleven...
However, over time, the rules have been ignored, and as long as they are not near the palace, no one cares about them.
For example, the Linhuai Marquis Mansion is very large in size, with courtyards in and out, rows of buildings, steep ridges and cornices, carved beams and painted buildings, ceremonial gates, transepts, halls, and rockery pavilions. Although Zhu Ping'an has a good memory, he can't tell. There are as many buildings as there are in the Linhuai Marquis Mansion in the Qing Dynasty.
As soon as Hou Men entered, it was as deep as the sea. The literal meaning of this sentence is also feasible. There are too many buildings, just like the sea.
In addition to being large, the life in the Hou Mansion is extremely luxurious. There are carved beams and painted buildings, verandahs and rooms on both sides of the mountain, with birds, flowers and grass, and various koi carp swimming around. Servants, old ladies and maids are constantly coming and going, probably there are hundreds of people.
After entering the Hou Mansion and walking for a long time, we arrived at the guest room. This is the place arranged by the Hou Mansion for Zhu Pingan. This is still the front yard. The guest room arranged for Zhu Pingan is a small independent courtyard.
Li Shu directed the accompanying maids to place the daily necessities, pens, inks, paper and inkstones that had been prepared for Zhu Ping'an in advance in the guest room. In the Ming Dynasty, things were quite particular. Without getting married, the fiancé could only be treated as a guest. He lived in the front yard and was never allowed to set foot in the backyard at will.
Li Shu watched the maid arrange Zhu Pingan's guest room before getting up and leaving. Zhu Pingan sent them to the hanging flower door, stopped, and watched them leave.
The hanging flower gate of the Hou Mansion is dignified and gorgeous, and extremely exquisite. From the outside, it looks like an extremely gorgeous gatehouse with a brick and wood structure.
Because the eaves column does not touch the ground but hangs under the eaves, it is called a vertical column. There is a hanging bead under it, which is usually painted in the form of petals, so it is called the hanging flower gate.
The hanging flower door is the door inside the courtyard of ancient Han folk residential buildings. It is a very particular door in the courtyard. It is the dividing line and the only passage between the inner house and the outer house (front yard). The front yard and the inner yard are separated by hanging flower doors and courtyard walls. The outer courtyard is mostly used to receive guests, while the inner courtyard is where the family lives and lives. Outsiders are generally not allowed to come in and out at will. Even the male servants of the family must comply with this rule.
In ancient times, people often said, "If you don't go out through the main door, you can't step forward through the second door." The "two doors" refer to the hanging flower door.
"If anything happens, send someone to call me."
Zhu Ping'an still knew these rules, so he stopped in front of the Chuihua Gate, said a few words to Li Shu, and then watched them leave.
Without entering the inner courtyard, the country bumpkin actually understood this, which disappointed the ladies in the Hou Mansion who were waiting to see his joke.
Li Shu and others entered the Weeping Flower Gate and continued walking along the hand corridor inside. In the middle was the entrance hall. The entrance hall is also known as the courtyard. A barrier made of fine marble was placed at the entrance. A poem by Li Bai was engraved on the marble and placed in the middle of the courtyard.
Because of this marble cover, Zhu Ping'an could not see behind, and only saw Li Shu and others disappearing in the blink of an eye.
If the hanging flower door is the first barrier in the inner courtyard, then this marble screen is the second barrier, and I believe there will be a third barrier.
However, Zhu Ping'an was not interested in exploring. After watching Li Shu and others disappear into the backyard, he returned to his guest room. (To be continued.)
