10

"Sister Xuan'er, here!" Shuang'er shouted to Xiao Qinxuan upstairs, "Sister Hongdou is here!"

Xiao Qinxuan shook her head and smiled bitterly. As long as Shuang'er ran to Sister Hongdou's boudoir, there would be something delicious to eat.

The real name of Hongdou is not Hongdou. Its original name is Xiao Ningzi. As one of the nine top brands in Jinling, it looks like a beautiful country. However, unlike other women who are good at piano, chess, calligraphy, painting, music and dance, Xiao Ningzi is good at cooking and embroidery. If anyone of these girls can live well after leaving Jinling Tower, besides Gongsun Xiaomei, it is Xiao Ningzi, who either opens a small restaurant or a small embroidery room, can be famous with her skills.

Food, color, and nature. In brothels, beauties cook in cooking always make people think a lot. In Lanling City, many people are proud of eating the delicious dishes made by Xiao Ningzi personally. Beauties are on the side, and they can eat delicious foods, and the fragrance of their lips and teeth is a great pleasure. Since brothels only start to welcome guests at night, Xiao Ningzi treats guests with a kitchen, so there are the least guests, only one at a young age, and only three or five at a long time. Despite this, their popularity has not diminished. It is said that the quota for dinner with Xiao Ningzi has been ranked for a few years later, which shows.

As for embroidery, it is a major selling point of Jinling Tower. Every few months, Jinling Tower will hold a small auction. The items included the girls' inks and paintings, and the finale is Xiao Ningzi's embroidery. Xiao Ningzi is skillful and has a needlework that seems to be alive in his hands. The embroidery is vivid in men, women, young and old, flowers, birds, fish and insects are vivid in their embroidery, and the embroidery is magnificent and beautiful in the mountains. Each work can be sold at a sky-high price.

The name of Hongdou is the internal name of Jinling Tower. There are two reasons. First, Xiao Ningzi likes to use red beans as sweets, red bean soup, red bean cake, red bean paste, and red bean soup. She can make any related to red beans. The taste is sweet and praiseworthy. However, only the people in Jinling Tower have good taste, and Xiao Qinxuan also likes it very much. Second, no matter what the theme, there will always be such a place to make Xiao Ningzi's embroidery.

Embroidering a red dot with a bright red embroidery thread is like a red bean. It looks abrupt at first glance, but after looking at it for a long time, it feels natural and integrated. If this red bean is missing, it feels lacking, or rather, it is this red bean that is the finishing touch. Because of this, Xiao Ningzi is also called "Red Bean Embroiderer" outside and is well-known. I even heard that there is a high-ranking young official in the Imperial Capital who likes to collect Xiao Ningzi's embroidery works the most.

After Wen Tingyun left the good sentence "There are red beans in the bones and lovesickness," two women in Jinling Tower were unable to think about food and food. In addition to Yu Xuanji, it was Xiao Ningzi, who likes red beans. Luosha once told Xiao Qinxuan that women who like red beans all pretended to be someone who could not let go of them. The kind of longing that cannot be seen and cannot be recognized by each other. Even if there are thousands of words, the pain that can only be passed by is buried deep in the heart, which is not something that everyone can bear. Xiao Qinxuan can understand but not understand.

When Xiao Qinxuan entered the door, Shuang'er was holding a small bowl and eating iced red bean soup with relish. The Jinling Tower was as warm as spring and there was an ice cellar. Even if it was autumn now, it was not difficult to eat cold drinks. Shuang'er said that the most comfortable thing was that when winter was snowy, sitting by the stove and eating red bean smoothie was a perfect enjoyment.

"Sister Hongdou!" Xiao Qinxuan called sweetly.

Xiao Ningzi smiled slightly, "Xuan'er eats more, my sister has made a lot. You can send some to Sister Rakshasa later!"

No matter when she looks, Xiao Ningzi is always like a fairy walking out of the painting, quiet and peaceful, and peaceful. When her sisters are playing, she sits quietly by the side with a sweet smile. When she is alone, she is either busy in the kitchen or sitting by the bed, drawing patterns, threading needles, and every move is elegant. Xiao Qinxuan thinks that if a butterfly picks up the flower band and pinches the embroidery needle, it should be like this.

Xiao Qinxuan sat next to Shuang'er, picked up the spoon and took a sip. It was refreshing and delicious, sweet but not greasy, and very delicious.

"Sister Hongdou, tell me the story of the embroiderer and the little scholar again!" Shuang'er put down the spoon and begged Xiao Ningzi, who was quietly embroidering the pattern next to her.

"This girl, I have heard this story dozens of times, why can't I hear enough? I'm tired of telling it!" Xiao Ningzi pretended to be angry.

"Hehe, it sounds nice, and, Sister Xuan'er has never heard of it, Sister Hongdou, just say it again!" Shuang'er stood up from her seat, ran to Xiao Ningzi, and took her hand to act coquettishly.

"Okay, OK, say it again, but this is the last time. I won't say it anymore if you act coquettishly in the future!" Xiao Ningzi said with a smile, "There are still a lot of red bean paste, eat some more! I'll tell you slowly!"

Xiao Ningzi inserted the needle on the embroidery cloth, put the flower bandage into the bamboo basket beside her, cage her hair behind her ears, looked up at the window, and her thoughts seemed to have floated a long time ago.

"A long time ago, there was a little scholar and a little girl named Xi Niang. They were neighbors..."

The young scholar was originally named Li Shutong. His father was a famous scholar. He was admitted to the scholar at the age of 30. He was happy and had a son in the second year. He hoped that his child would be successful. There was a sycamore tree at home, so he named it "Shutong", which was homophonic to "Shutong". He also hoped that he could do some knowledge. So his neighbors called him Xiao Xiucai. However, there were unexpected events in the world. Li Xiucai was seriously ill after a few days of good days, and soon he passed away.

, Left the orphans and widows to depend on each other. The Li family was not wealthy, and when Li Xiucai was sick, he spent a lot of savings and was heavily in debt. Now the orphans and widows have no source of income, and life is even more difficult. However, the mother of the young scholar is a strong person and does not blame others. He relies on grinding tofu to make a living. Not to mention paying off his foreign debt, his income is enough for both mother and son to survive. The young scholar is smart and obedient. Although life is hard, the two are happy.

Besides, the embroiderer was born in a famous local merchant family. He had a wealth of wealth and a hundred acres of fertile land. The embroiderer looked very beautiful, lively and smart, with big eyebrows and big eyes, fair skin, and young, but she had already shown her beauty style. The embroiderer learned embroidery under the guidance of her family. She was skillful and talented. At a young age, she could embroider works that were no less than those of famous masters. As she grew up, her techniques became more proficient, her patterns were beautiful, her colors were quiet, her needlework was flexible, her embroidered craftsmanship was meticulous, her image was vivid, and she had the reputation of "embroidering can produce fragrance, her embroidering birds could listen to sound, her embroidering tigers could run, and her embroidering people could convey their spirits". In addition, her appearance became more and more moving. Although she was raised in the deep boudoir, she was famous.

Not far from Xiu Niang's backyard, passing through a rarely visited alley is Xiao Xiucai's home. The embroidered lady grew up in the courtyard of the deep mansion and never left the gate. One day she found the side door of the backyard. She walked to the door like a devil and opened the door, but she stood at the door and couldn't move forward. The little scholar happened to play by the side and found the frowning girl. The girl looked very beautiful and looked much better than the Yadan next door. She attracted the little scholar at that time. Seeing that the little girl was hesitant, she went up to talk. She didn't expect the little girl to be shy, so she hid back to the door again. The little scholar leaned over and found that the little girl's cheeks were flushed and looked very cute. This was the first time they met.

Later, the young scholar often ran there, sometimes they could meet, sometimes they could not. After seeing each other more times, the two became familiar with each other and knew each other's names. Because few people came to that alley, this place was a big slap, which became a secret place for two children to meet. The embroidered lady was inconvenient to go out, and most of the time it was a young scholar sitting at the door to chat with her. This chat took many years. The young scholar grew up to be handsome and elegant, humble and gentleman, and the embroidered lady became a sank fish and geese, and the moon was shy of the flowers. The best time of a relationship was that you didn't say or I didn't say, but both of them knew that each other had their own hearts. This was the same as the embroidered lady, and the same was the young scholar. If you were to be a talented man and beautiful woman novel, there would be such a description, the male and female protagonists, and a pair of heaven was created, but reality was more cruel than the novel.

The embroidered lady was at the age of getting married, and the person who proposed to marry broke through the threshold of her family. The embroidered lady was anxious and refused to follow her. However, the matchmaker had to listen to her parents' orders. She quickly chose a good match for the embroidered lady and had already set a wedding date. She would come to the house to marry soon.

The young scholar read a lot of books, was full of knowledge and talent. It happened to be the annual National College admissions exam. The young scholar had to take a try. The day of parting was approaching, and it happened that the time for the embroidery girl to get married. The young scholar was studying hard, turning a blind eye to the matter outside the window. Such a big incident in the embroidery girl's marriage spread all over the city, and he didn't even know it. Occasionally, when he was tired of studying, he would sit at the door of the backyard of the embroidery girl's house, and he would talk there whether the embroidery girl was present or not.

The first evening before the young scholar left, the day before the embroidered woman got married, the young scholar came here again, and his original intention was to say goodbye to the embroidered woman. The door was still locked, but unlike the past, he posted the word "happy". The young scholar was not sure, so he shook his head and smiled bitterly, sat on the steps, leaned back, and wanted to lean against the door, but he didn't expect that the lean was empty and fell down, his back hit the threshold, grinning in pain, and a "puff" sound was heard in his ear, "Who is it if it's not the embroidered woman?"

"Little scholar, what are you doing?" The little scholar lay on the ground, looking up at his embroidered lady with a bright dress, holding a plate, smiling at his embroiderer.

"Well, look at the stars!" The little scholar smashed his mouth, pierced his hands behind his head, crossed his legs, looking very enjoyable.

The embroidered lady looked up and saw that the sunset was just right and the sky was burning red. There were no stars. She lowered her head and said coquettishly, "Liar!"

"My good embroidery lady, I really won't lie to you. I'm falling all over my eyes!" said the little scholar with a smile.

"Get up quickly!" The embroidered lady turned her head, blushing, "No shame, what's yours!"

"Haha!" The little scholar got up from the ground and patted the dust. "What delicious food did the embroiderer make?"

"Your favorite red bean soup! Sit down and eat it!"

The two were still as before, one was sitting inside the door and the other was outside the door. The little scholar was holding the red bean soup, eating it deliciously, smiling, and the embroidered woman didn't speak. She watched quietly, helping the little scholar wipe her mouth from time to time, like a young couple, loving and sweet.

"Embroidered lady, is there something happy about your family?" The little scholar put down the bowl, leaned against the door, looked up at the word happy on the door and asked.

The embroidered lady wanted to help Xiao Xiucai wipe her mouth again, but she didn't want to hear his question. Her hands froze in the air, her expression was dim and her eyes were blurred.

When the little scholar saw the embroiderer's behavior strange, he was shocked and looked anxious, and he hurriedly asked.

The embroidered lady knew that she was wrong, so she quickly turned her head and wiped her tears, turned around and forced a smile, "Sister is going to get married, I am quite reluctant to leave as a sister!"

"It turns out that the embroiderer has a sister, I don't even know!" The little scholar touched his head, feeling a little embarrassed.

"What else do you know besides studying?" The embroidered lady's tone was a little heavy, and she was shocked when she said that. She bit her lip and covered her mouth, feeling a little uneasy.

"Embroidered lady...what is wrong with you..." The little scholar was worried.

"It's okay. You'll be traveling far tomorrow. You won't be able to see each other for a long time. I feel reluctant to leave you and can't help but lose your composure!" The embroidered lady hurriedly changed the topic, "Have you packed your luggage?"

"Well, my mother has already helped me clean up. I will take a boat to the Imperial Capital before dawn tomorrow!" said the little scholar.

"Well, that's good. It's not easy for your aunt to pull you up. You will be fed with shit and urine. If you don't get it, it will take more than half a year. If you get it, it will take many years. Let's have a good meal with your aunt!" The embroidered lady said softly.

"Yeah! I can!" the little scholar nodded and suddenly frowned, "Hey, embroiderer, it's not right, what does it mean to 'feed one handful of shit and one handful of urine'! You've learned bad things!"

"Haha!" The embroidered lady laughed, and the last ray of sunset shone over, and the embroidered lady became more and more beautiful, and the little scholar was a little crazy about it.

"Where, I'll give it to you!" said the embroiderer.

"What?" The little scholar saw a piece of white cloth in front of him, and then came to his senses. He looked closely and found that it was a handkerchief.

The little scholar took it over, took it with the warmth of the embroiderer and the body fragrance of the embroiderer. When he opened it, he saw the pattern of a little boy and a little girl playing under the acacia tree. The two children were innocent and childlike, with vivid appearances, and each expression and movement was vivid. Looking at it, it seemed that you could hear the laughter and joy of the two children, and you couldn't help but feel happy. It was the scene of "a man riding a bamboo horse and playing with green plums around the bed", and the two little girls had no guesses.

"This is!" The little scholar reached out and touched the soapberry on the pattern. It was a ripe and exploded soapberry. The fruit should be bright green, but it was made of bright red silk thread, as if it was blood.

"I like it, you can take care of it!" The embroidered lady pouted and hid her hand behind her back, preventing the little scholar from seeing her fingers covered in scars.

"Well, I like it very much! It's like a red bean, just like the one I gave you for the first time!" The little scholar gently rubbed it, as if he stroked his lover's face, and his thoughts seemed to return to that rainy day.

"Well, it's quite like it! Someone doesn't hold an umbrella on a rainy day, and it's like a chicken that's falling from the soup. It's really unreasonable!" The embroidered lady said disdainfully with her hands in her chest, tilted her mouth.

"Haha! It's quite unreasonable!" The little scholar touched his head.

"Tong'er! I'm going home for dinner!" A woman's voice came from a distance.

"Hey, mom, come now!" the little scholar replied loudly.

The little scholar turned his head, held the handkerchief tightly in his hand, and smiled helplessly at the embroiderer, "My mother told me to go back for dinner!"

The embroidered lady opened her mouth several times, but she didn't make any sound. She had to close her eyes, take a deep breath, and then opened her eyes for a moment and said, "Well, go quickly!"

"Well, embroiderer, then I'm leaving! Say sorry to your sister for me and you can't attend her wedding!" said the little scholar, a little regretful.

"Well, I can talk!" the embroidered lady said with a smile.

"Then I...really left!" The little scholar was reluctant to leave, wanted to turn around, remembered something, and said, "Maybe... I can't see you for a long time, you... need to take care of yourself..."

"Yeah!" The embroidered lady sighed, "I won't go to give you my family tomorrow. You... take care of yourself, and the journey is smooth..."

"Well! OK, then... I'll leave!" Although the little scholar was reluctant to leave, he turned around and left.

Halfway through, his heart was depressed, as if he was about to explode, the little scholar turned around suddenly, never thinking that a warm body would crash into his arms, his waist was tightly wrapped around him, and his breath was filled with a faint fragrance.

The embroidered lady stepped out of that threshold for the first time! The little scholar was surprised!

"Embroidery...Embroiderer..." The little scholar was at a loss and didn't know what to do.

"I just can't bear to leave you, afraid that I will never see you again..." The embroidered lady in her arms whimpered a little.

"Ahem! Wouldn't I come back?" The little scholar blushed and raised his hands in the air. He didn't know where to put them. His eyes were the black hair of the embroidered girl and her beautiful back waist. The little scholar swallowed, and his courage became bigger. His breathing was rapid, and his hands gently wrapped around him. He could feel that the moment he wrapped his hands around, the embroidered girl's body suddenly stiffened, and then softened. The hands on the little scholar's waist were tighter.

"Embroidered lady!" the little scholar called softly.

"Yes!" the embroidered lady in her arms whispered softly.

"When I come back, I will marry you. It's great to wait for me!" said the little scholar gently.

The embroidered woman looked up in disbelief, her eyes were blurred, her pear blossoms were raining, and her tears were falling down, which scared the little scholar even more panicked.

"Embroidered lady, don't scare me, what's wrong with you!" the little scholar said anxiously.

"No!" The embroidered lady shook her head desperately, "I am happy to hear you say you want to marry me!"

"That should be laughing!" The little scholar used the handkerchief to wipe away the embroider's tears.

"Yeah!" As he said that, he tiptoed to kiss the little scholar's lips, like a dragonfly, and was about to leave as soon as he touched it. He left a sentence, broke free from the little scholar's arms, and turned around and ran back to the yard, closing the door.

"I'm waiting for you!"

The little scholar touched his lips, as if he was still as warm as an embroiderer, and he was unconsciously happy.

"Tong'er, it's time to eat!" The little scholar's mother called out again. The little scholar hid his handkerchief in his arms, confirmed it again and then responded and walked out of the alley.

The next day, the little scholar left by boat.

"What then?" Xiao Qinxuan asked, remembering the embroiderer and the little scholar in her heart, wanting to know if they have lovers to finally get married. Last time I heard the monsters and nonsense at Wuyun Shrine. Although they were talking nonsense, some things were true. The wealthy families pay the most attention to being equal. The little scholar and the embroiderer were not aligned with each other, so they would definitely not be accepted by the world.

"Then!" Xiao Ningzi looked at the two little girls who were staring at her eyes and said with a smile, "The embroidered lady was forced to push the marriage because she was dead. After such a fuss, no one dared to marry her, and stayed at home to embroider her all day long. The young scholar lived up to expectations and won the championship in one fell swoop. He was admitted to the National Academy with the first place in the whole subject. He was even accepted as a disciple by the priest Liu Nanru. He received the true teachings of Mr. Liu. He entered the court as an official in just two years and rose to prominence. Later, he returned to his hometown and married the embroidered lady. The two of them were in the same position, respected each other as guests, lived a happy life, and had a daughter under his knees, which was as beautiful as an embroidered lady."

"Wow, it's so good! We're almost crying!" Shuang'er and Xiao Qinxuan both wiped their tears.

"Well, that's OK!" Xiao Ningzi clapped her hands and said, "Where is the story? After listening to it, Xuan'er will send some red bean paste to Sister Luosha later!"

Xiao Qinxuan and Shuang'er chatted and went out.

"Well, this story is so good, I never get tired of listening!" Shuang'er rubbed his eyes again, as if the tears had not yet been wiped dry. "Why didn't Sister Xuan'er say anything? You have been like this since the beginning!"

"Well, Sister Shuang'er, have you heard this story many times?" Xiao Qinxuan asked.

"Well, yes, I can almost recite it, but it's not as good as Sister Hongdou said!" Shuang'er said.

"Well, that's the case, I always feel that the ending of this story is a bit strange, but I can't say it!" Xiao Qinxuan frowned. The story Xiao Ningzi said was a sad tone from beginning to end, and it should be a tragedy. It's good that the ending was very happy, but it was too hasty. It seemed that there were many stories that were not told later, and they were forced to be inserted into it, which felt a bit inappropriate.

"Maybe it's an illusion. Everyone is happy. The senior sisters and their families have the most sad novels. I cry every time I read them, so I still like Sister Hongdou to tell stories!" Shuang'er said with a smile.

"Maybe! But I seem to have heard of that 'Li Shutong' somewhere, um, 'Liu Shutong', 'National College', 'Liu Nanru', if the third brother was there, he might have known it!"

That night, the sad moonlight entered the window frame, and the gentle and beautiful man leaned against the edge of the window. Xiao Ningzi and her clothes were sleeping, her face was covered with tears, and she held a delicate dice in her hand, with a hollowed-out red bean in the middle.

(End of this chapter)
Chapter completed!