Wishing You Eternal Happiness

The white mist in the bath gradually faded and the air became cooler.

Sandalwood had already looked at Jia Fu several times. She shrank down and immersed in the camphor bath barrel. The freshly washed half-tide blue silk was loosely tied to the side of her neck with a hairpin, her forehead leaned against the wall of the barrel, her eyes closed, her eyelashes closed. Hang down, as if sleeping in the past.

She was afraid that Jia Fu would be cold, and could not help but urge softly: "Little lady, wake up."

Gaffer opened his eyes slowly, and stood up while leaning on the wet wall of the barrel.

The snowy skin is greasy, the jade skin is dazzling, and there are dots of crystal water droplets on it, and the figure is like a Guerlain budding.

Sandalwood wrapped Jiafu's body and shoulders with a soft large scarf, and Lilac handed over the pre-prepared clothes. Gaffer dried her body, put on her clothes, and went out. A few rough women came in to clean up. One of them was a woman named Wang. Not long after she arrived, she smelled the aroma of the bath soup and couldn't help asking: "What kind of incense does the little lady use every day? It smells so good. My granddaughter will marry next month. I will go back and buy some makeup for her."

Sandalwood is friendly and replied with a smile: "Mother Wang, this is called Jiepu Luoxiang, also called frozen dragon brain. It was shipped from South Tianzhu. I heard the little lady say that it was originally not worth a lot of money there, but Transported to us across the oceans in Haiti will cost you one or two silvers per dollar."

The Wang's wife was startled, and slapped her tongue: "My mother! This is too expensive, where can I afford it! Add this to the little lady's bath every day. After a month, how much money will it cost? This is not a wash. Fragrant soup, it's actually money soup!"

The other woman laughed "chickingly": "Pharaoh, you just say this to yourself. Don't talk nonsense when you go out, so as not to make people laugh. Who is the owner? No matter how expensive the spice is, it is the owner. Here, it’s just Tukela. Don’t say a dollar and a tael, even ten taels of silver, the little lady needs to use it, but it’s just an order."

Quanzhou's sea trade is prosperous. There are countless ships coming and going in and out of the ports outside Nanxunmen and Tumen every day, such as Champa, Siam and Sulu, as far as Dashi, Ma Lin, Bicang, and foreign countries. There are many kinds of goods, and spices are one of them. The Zhen family is a wealthy Quanzhou, with one of the best fleets. No matter how precious the spice is, there is nothing rare in the Zhen family. Although this woman's words are a little boastful, it is not wrong.

The lady Wang nodded like a chicken pecking rice, and smiled chastely: "Yes, yes, it's because I didn't know what to say and said the wrong thing..." She stretched her neck and smelled the scent, and Fang Heren carried out the water together.

When the sandalwood came out, Jiafu opened the spice box, took a jade spoon and picked a spoonful, knowing that she was going to add it to the crested censer, and hurried up to uncover the lid for her.

"I can do this. Little lady be careful, in case it gets hot."

Gaffer threw the spices into the furnace. The spices touched the fire and made a pleasant, slightly sizzling sound, accompanied by a curling green smoke. She bent down slightly, raised her hand, fanned the cigarette in her direction a few times, then closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. In a sigh of relief.

Sandalwood looked at her, feeling a little puzzled.

The little lady didn’t like to smoke incense in her room, she only planted flowers, but she didn’t know why. After returning from Xishan Temple that day, she suddenly changed her preferences. Not only did she smoke the frozen borneol in her room, she even took a bath in the fragrant soup. Also add mashed powder.

That's it. Sandalwood has been in Zhen's house for many years, and following the little lady, he knows the types and pros and cons of some spices. Frozen borneol is naturally top-grade, with a light and gentle fragrance, sweet aftertaste, and expensive, but it is not the top class among the fatty spices of the same category. The top one is Ambergris. Because the appearance and color of the two spices are similar, and the smell is similar, non-experts cannot tell them apart, so profiteers often sell frozen borneol as ambergris.

Although ambergris is scarce, the Zhen family is not without storage. Now that the little lady uses incense instead, why not take ambergris and use this slightly frozen borneol?

Sandalwood couldn't help asking.

Gaffer stared at the blue smoke rising from the phoenix mouth, and said lightly: "Ambergris is an imperial tribute incense, I don't use it."

Sandalwood suddenly said: "The little lady is still thoughtful."

"If you go out tomorrow, remember to bring it with you. I also want to smoke the frozen borneol for a longer period of time. Don't make any mistakes."

Sandalwood smiled and said, "Don't worry, little lady, I have everything ready, you can't go wrong."

"Madam is here!"

Jiafu turned her head and saw her mother Meng and Mother Liu next to her arrived, with a smile on her face, and greeted her.

Mrs. Meng took her daughter to sit on the edge of the bed: "How is your body? Can you sleep in a trance?"

The ninth day is the third anniversary of Gaffer’s father. That day, she accompanied her grandmother Hu, mother Madame Meng and her brother Zhen Yaoting to Xishan Temple to do Daxiang rituals. She stayed in the temple for the night, and she and Madame Meng slept in the same room. Early the next morning, Madam Meng woke up and found her daughter in tears. She was startled and asked her why. She shook her head and kept holding her, crying and laughing. Madam Meng was scared and suspicious. She bumped into something unclean outside the temple, went to ask for the magic water, took her home the same day, she was still in a daze, and it was only a few days before she recovered.

Jiafu said: "My daughter is already fine. Mother don't have to worry about it."

Mrs. Meng looked at her daughter, and saw her smiling, her complexion was really good, and she embraced her lovingly: "The moment your father is gone, it will be three years in a blink of an eye. Your brother is naughty and disobedient, and you will be caring for your mother. Tomorrow Just..."

She stopped.

Tomorrow, Jiafu will go north to the capital with Madam Meng and her brother Zhen Yaoting.

The Zhen family's trip to the north was obviously to celebrate the birthday of Mrs. Pei of the Weiguo Mansion, but in fact, it was for the marriage of Jia Fu and the son of the Guogong Mansion, Pei Xiuzhi.

The marriage was negotiated a year ago, only waiting for Jia Fu to be fulfilled. Although it is a continuation, there is already a five-year-old stepson waiting there, but no matter how rich the Zhen family is, the father who died will only have the fame of a talent. It is already a great climb for her to marry into the government and become the wife of the son. It took a lot of setbacks in the middle of the marriage to be successful.

For the Zhen family, the daughter has a home. This is a great thing. Mrs. Meng is very happy, but thinking of the long distance between Beijing and Quanzhou after her daughter is married, it may not be easy for the mother and daughter to see each other again. The door is high and the courtyard is deep, and her family is not as good as her family, and she is worried that she will find it difficult to gain a foothold in the future. After worrying about this worry about that, tears loomed in the corners of my eyes.

Madam Liu hurriedly picked up good words to persuade: "The little lady is not married to another family, and the Guogong Mansion is well-known. The sons of the world have outstanding appearance and are among the dragons and phoenixes. The second wife and your wife on the side are still sisters, and they are both a family. Once the little lady passed by, she was the second wife of the National Palace. I don't know how much luck there will be in the future. What can the wife worry about?"

Mrs. Meng was persuaded, turned to smile, wiped the corners of her eyes, and took her daughter's hand and said: "It's my mother who has been thinking too much. Let's go, don't ask your grandmother to wait for a long time."

…

Jiafu's grandmother, Hu, is the backbone of the Zhen family. She is shrewd and tough. She does not lose to the man. She used to look forward to her son getting fame and fame. After the death of her husband, in order not to let him get distracted, she took care of her family business all by herself. Gaffer's father was sloppy and open-minded, and he was not very interested in fame and fame. After passing the exams, he failed many attempts. When he was in his thirties, he simply gave up fame and took over his ancestry. I don't want to think that three years ago, when Jiafu was thirteen years old, he went to sea with the fleet and unfortunately died in wind and waves. The sorrow of the white-haired person of the Hu family to the black-haired person can be imagined, but the old woman carried it over, and instead pinned her hopes on Jia Fu's brother Zhen Yaoting. He is two years older than Gave. He is eighteen this year. He treats his sister very well, but unfortunately he didn’t grow up very much. He didn’t even talk about his studies. He didn’t care about business at home. He spent the whole day hanging around outside. He has already taken the light by now, and no one has come back. .

Gaffer followed her mother to the grandmother's room. The old lady had thick eyebrows and wide foreheads, and her face was stern. Jia Fu didn't kiss her, and she was even a little afraid of her in the past. Even Madam Meng was in front of her and she didn't dare to speak. Take her daughter to greet her.

The old lady asked about the preparations for going north tomorrow, and Mrs. Meng hurriedly responded: "Don’t worry, I personally prepared the birthday gift for the old lady of the country, and the gift for the Song family. All of them have been checked and they have been on the ship. The house is also in order, so I can live in it in the past."

When Jiafu entered Beijing this time, he would not return to Quanzhou anymore, and stayed there to wait for the marriage. In order to facilitate the subsequent wedding arrangements, the Zhen family deliberately set up a house in the capital.

The old lady asked a few more questions, and Mrs. Meng answered one by one, very thorough, and there was nothing wrong with the old lady. The old lady was satisfied and said: "When you go to Beijing, don't count the money, just use what you should use. Pei's family is the highest. , It’s just that the door is bigger, and those invisible difficulties may not be less than ours. Moreover, now the palace has changed, and the Pei family is not as beautiful as it used to be. His family is willing to do this kind of marriage, but it is not Afu. People are our money and the way to get money."

Mrs. Meng said: "Don't worry, mother-in-law knows."

The old lady's stern face finally showed a slight smile: "You too have a hard life. Married to my Zhen's family. Like me, you stayed as a widow at a young age. Fortunately, there are still a pair of children who are looking forward to. Afu is now married. Okay, you will be able to follow along and enjoy yourself in the future."

Mrs. Meng was born in a family of officials. When her father was sent to Fujian as an official, she made a big mistake. It was only through the help of the Zhen family's grandfather that she overcame the difficulties. To express her gratitude, she married a daughter to the Zhen family. Originally, the relationship between the two families was good, but with the death of Lord Meng and the grandfather of the Zhen family, the son of the Meng family was in a recession and he held his own identity, and refused to take the initiative to get close to the Zhen family. But after Mrs. Meng got married, she had a very good relationship with her husband. At this moment, the old lady's words brought out sadness again. Her eyes were red, but she didn't dare to cry. She just smiled and said, "My mother said that, I think so too. of."

The old lady nodded, turned to Gaffer who had been silent beside her, and called her.

Knowing that she had something to say, Gaffer knelt on a mat in front of her: "Grandma, please give me an order."

"Filial piety is the foundation of a hundred things. What is the situation in our family, you know in your heart. Although people are expensive to support themselves, it is always a good thing for you to marry into Pei's family. I will leave sooner or later, and leave this family business to your brother." , In the future, if you get ahead in Pei’s house, you will inevitably have to help him a little bit. Did you write down what grandmother said?"

Jia Fu said: "Granddaughter remembered." The attitude is very respectful.

The old lady looked at her with some rare warmth in her eyes and nodded and said: "Get up, go back and rest early, get your energy up, and go on the road tomorrow morning."