After drinking for two consecutive days, Shen Rui got up a little late the next day. By the time he finished washing up, Liu Ya had already taken the food box from the big kitchen, her face was pale and she was in a daze.
"What's going on?" Dong Xi took the suitcase and asked with concern: "The mother-in-law over there in the kitchen is giving you a hard time?"
Liu Ya shook her head and said with a white face: "I heard that the orchids in the study were hit at dawn and were being dragged out just now."
Dong Dong was shocked when he heard this. What was the reason for his madness this early in the morning? He didn't say anything and even kicked people out. This shows that it is not a trivial matter.
The name Lancao sounded familiar to Shen Rui. After thinking about it for a moment, he remembered which one it was. It was the one who had bullied Liu Ya in Lao An's yard, and later served him for more than a month. He was pretty in appearance but had a bad temper. A little frivolous, he seemed to be interested in Shen Jin at the time, but later he went to work in the study for some reason.
After Shen Rui returned to Shen's house, he met Orchid Grass once. She was still dressed as a girl, but her brows were gone and her breasts were high, which was obviously the figure of a woman. Shen Rui also despised Shen Juren's eyes at that time. This Orchid Grass bully She flirted with others, and flirted with Shen Jin. She was frivolous and vulgar. Shen Juren's eyesight when picking out women was really not good.
Got hit at dawn?
Thinking of Zheng's outburst in the study last night, Shen Juren finally defended himself more and more silently. The orchid grass was probably caused by Shen Juren's anger.
Shen Rui just listened for a moment and saw that Liu Ya was not happy, but a little worried. He knew that she was afraid because she heard about the beating, so he comforted him: "What does he care about what he does outside? Look at how many people I have beaten. The board must be a place where orchid grass is prohibited. Don't worry, as long as I'm here, I won't let the board hit you again."
Liu Ya nodded vigorously, and some color finally returned to her face.
Because today is the birthday of Amitabha Buddha, there is a big temple fair in Nancheng. Shen Rui has already agreed with Shen Jue to go to the temple fair in the afternoon. Dongxi gave Shen Rui a new purse, which contained several banknotes, two taels of silver each, and five. There were two pieces of silver each, and one with ten taels. He also took two pieces of broken silver and two coins and put them into a blue cloth purse. This one was brought by Liucheng.
"If you don't go into the Buddhist hall, that's fine. If my second brother does, don't forget to offer incense." Dong Xi said while hanging a purse for Shen Rui.
Nowadays, the incense in temples is not for free. This is the same as it was five hundred years ago. After putting on the incense, no matter how much it is, you have to give up some money for the sesame oil. It is just different from the straightforward price tags in later generations. This is At that time, even if a poor family member only gave him a penny, the master and novice monk in the temple could still be as warm as spring. The so-called "life of all living beings" is nothing more than this, which is why the number of believers in poor families has not decreased.
Shen Rui glanced at Liu Ya, who was still in a daze next to her, and glanced at her feet.
No wonder she was frightened and frightened when she heard the slap on the board. When a twelve-year-old girl had her legs broken, how could she not have fear engraved in her bones?
"The aunt next door and Sister Fu are going to offer incense today, and there should be a lot of people there with them. If you bring Liu Ya, you can follow along and have a look at the excitement." Shen Rui said to Dong Xi.
There was no mention of Dong Xi and Liu Ya going out on their own. Even though they were maids, they had been kept in the house for the past few years. They were handsome, gentle, and young. No one could protect them when they went out. So he was teased by local gangsters.
Dong Xi was moved after hearing this. Liu Ya was beside her and her eyes lit up.
However, thinking that if both of them went out, only Xiao Tao and Xiao Xing would be left in the yard, Dong Xi felt uneasy and hesitated: "Why don't you let Liu Ya take Xiao Tao and leave the maid?" Looking at the yard?”
Shen Rui laughed and said: "What is valuable in this house that you are afraid of being touched? You only need to lock the money box. Even if someone has dirty hands and feet, they will not dare to pick the lock." At this point, I thought of winter. Hi, Liu Ya also has jewelry and hairpin rings, so she said: "If it's your thing, lock it up and don't let anyone take the opportunity to touch it.
Dong Xi mentioned looking at the yard, but she was afraid that the little girls would not be able to control them, so they let people in from outside.
Whether it's the maids at Lao'an's house or the maids in the study, Shen Rui should stay away from them. The Zhang sisters are here in the former. If they bring some of their daughter's things and hide them in, they won't be able to tell the scene clearly in the future. "The maids in the study at the back, even if they have no status, are mostly employed by Shen Juren, and Shen Rui, who is his son, should avoid suspicion."
Unexpectedly, Shen Rui directly regarded everyone else as thieves, so Dong Xi did not dare to answer the question.
Liu Ya was speechless at the side: "It's not like that, right?"
Shen Rui also thought of this incident temporarily, but when he thought about it carefully, he found that it was almost the same.
It has been half a month since I came back, and both Zhang Lao'an and Shen Juren will come to check his background. This is what Zhang Laoan means to win over Liu Ya, but if he can't get anything useful, he will probably take the next step. Shen Juren Here, the small betrothal gift is enough, and then it is time to prepare the betrothal gift.
Although the marriage custom in Songjiang requires a heavy dowry, the betrothal gift cannot be omitted.
Under normal circumstances, the two families communicate secretly so that the man knows how much the woman's dowry is. The man's betrothal gift is prepared at 50% of the woman's dowry. If the man makes a face to the woman, there is also an additional betrothal gift. The woman is kind and benevolent. People will also adjust the dowry appropriately according to the extra betrothal gift.
In this case, there is a clever way, which is to use famine loans to prepare betrothal gifts, and then earn a substantial dowry.
From a legal point of view, the dowry is a woman's private property, and her husband's family has no right to interfere with it. But when living at home, how can the husband and wife divide it so clearly?
Regardless of whether Shen Juren wanted to look good or for the "benefits" after the face, he would prepare a lot of this betrothal gift. The income from Shen Jin's share of the industry is in his hands, and the remaining share of Shen Rui's can be put aside. It was weird in the past.
I'm afraid Shen Li had already seen clearly that Shen Ju was a human being, so he acted like "borrowing money".
When Shen Rui thought of this, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart. This Shen Juren is really not a smart man. He lost the watermelon and picked up the sesame seeds. With Sun's great kindness to Shen Li, as long as Shen Juren shows more respect for his wife and legitimate son, he can get it With Shen Li's favor, Wufang will get closer to him. But he turned a good situation into what it is now, and everyone is disgusted and defensive.
At the Zheng family, Uncle Zheng has been promoted to the sixth rank of general judge. To the Shen family, the sixth rank official is nothing, but to the family of Sifang, the weight is unclear. If Shen Juren does not If he covets his step-wife's dowry and helps the Zheng family to stand upright, then Uncle Zheng will definitely take away the fourth wife for the sake of his sister and nephew.
Shen Juren had a hard time thinking about it, but he had a high vision. He just felt that with the Shen family as his back, a sixth-grade official was not taken seriously. And because the Zheng family had been in decline in his early years, Uncle Zheng had to be taken care of by the Shen family. There is no room to raise your voice in front of the Shen family.
When they arrived at Zuxue, Shen Rui sent the coachman back so that he would not come to pick him up in the afternoon, and asked Liu Cheng to give him a piece of silver.
The coachman was honest and refused to ask for anything. He only said that he was afraid of being punished by the eldest lady. He took Shen Rui to and from him for half a month. He was previously Guo's coachman. After getting a new carriage, he became Shen Rui's special coachman, and his life was better than before. Not to mention the heavy weight, there are also fewer opportunities to reward money. Anyone else would have been dissatisfied, but this person is honest and still drives the car honestly.
Shen Rui said: "There is a temple fair today, so take this to buy snacks for Ermao."
This coachman had two sons. The eldest was the boy next to Shen Quan, and the second was a little boy with a runny nose. Shen Rui met them once and asked Dong Xi to make two snacks for the coachman to take back.
When the coachman refused again, Shen Rui waved his hand, turned around and took Liu Cheng into the clan school.
The rules of the servants represent the quality of the master; it is not without reason that Wufang is prosperous.
Comparing the four-bedroom apartment with the fifth-bedroom apartment, they are just scum. Zhang Laoan and Shen Juren seem to be strict, and they often punish the servants with a slap on the stick, but the servants are lazy and slippery, bullying the superiors and hiding the inferiors, fighting against the power of others, and doing nothing. , worthy of being called "Diao Nu".
Entering the school, Shen Rui looked around and found that Shen Jue was not there. He was late when the bell was about to ring.
When the class break came, everyone gathered together in twos and threes, talking about going to the temple fair in the afternoon.
Shen Jue, on the other hand, was still sitting in his seat with his chin tilted, not knowing what he was thinking. Shen Huan was there to get him to talk, but he was also powerless and couldn't talk to him.
Seeing this, Shen Rui was a little worried and stepped forward and said, "Brother Jue, what's wrong? But you feel uncomfortable?"
Shen Jue has been talking about the temple fair for some time. When they left yesterday, they also emphasized this matter and asked Shen Rui not to bring refreshments today, but to take him to the temple fair to eat delicious food. The wilting person today is really not like him. Shen Jue.
Shen Jue glanced at him, yawned and said, "I don't have anything on me. I didn't get a good rest last night. I just feel my head is heavy. I'll just relax for a while."
Shen Rui saw that the corners of his eyes were blue, and he looked like he had not rested well, but for some reason, he felt that Shen Jue's look just now seemed to have deep meaning.
But in full view of everyone, Shen Jue didn't say anything, and Shen Rui couldn't ask further questions, so he just kept it in his mind.
When the second period of class was over and lunch break came, the students were full of excitement and went to the temple fair in groups of twos and threes.
Shen Huan had already taken over the task at home and wanted to take his younger brother from Mengtong class out to play, so he said goodbye to Shen Jue and Shen Rui and went to the west wing to pick up his younger brother.
Shen Jue sat down for a class and regained some energy, no longer as sluggish as he looked before.
After getting on the carriage, Shen Jue glanced at Shen Rui resentfully and said, "It's all Brother Rui. I was so tired after walking yesterday that I couldn't close my eyes until the fourth watch."
When Shen Rui heard this, he couldn't help but laugh: "Where do you start talking about this? Weren't we fine when we separated yesterday?"
Shen Jue yawned and said, "Because of you, not only me, but also my parents are not living well."
Shen Rui was confused after hearing this, but Shen Jue had no reason to make fun of his parents, so he frowned and thought for a while, and said, "Is it because my master wants to remarry? Is the eldest uncle unhappy?"
"Children can be taught." Shen Jue nodded and said, "This is the first time I saw my mother get angry, and I was really shocked. My father is the same, why should he get involved in your family's affairs? Just like my mother said , she has always been on good terms with Aunt Yuan. If Uncle Yuan gets married outside, she, as an aunt, can still protect you and make decisions for you and prevent you from being bullied. But if Uncle Yuan gets married, he will get married. Right or wrong, she has to avoid suspicion, and she can't tell anyone who is helping."
Speaking of this, Shen Jue also showed surprise: "I never expected that the He family would come up with such an idea, and that the marriage between the two families would be settled so quickly. I originally thought they were interested in your eldest brother, and the eldest brother has a cousin. , he is about the same age as your eldest brother..."