Chapter 36 Section thirty-six

Not long after Xu Shichang and Zai Zhen left the customs, Wang Xiying negotiated with Yang Cuixi's adoptive mother, who was worth twelve thousand taels of silver.In addition, making jewelry, making clothes, buying a house, and buying furniture together cost a total of 20,000 silver to build a golden house for Zaizhen in Tianjin. All this was deliberately kept from Zai Zhen, so when he returned to Tianjin, he was not surprised when he ate Yuan Shikai's dust-cleaning wine at the Beiyang Governor's Yamen and delivered it to the hotel.Because the tables, chairs and bed curtains are all new in style, and the colors are very vulgar, bright red and green, it seems that this kind of arrangement can only be found in the bridal chamber.

"What is this place?" "Why can't Master Zhen even recognize his own small mansion?" Wang Xiying said with a smile. Zai Zhen was blinded for a moment, and when he was chewing on his words, he saw a shadow flashing behind the screen, the face was not seen, and the tail of the braid was raised first, and now he suddenly realized. "So it's Jin'er!" "Master is back!" Jin'er said hello, walked over to take the hat from Zai Zhen's hand, took a special look and said, "Mr. is dark and thin, you know you have worked hard." Zai Zhen wanted to reach out to touch her face, but he withdrew his hand because he was concerned about the presence of guests.Seeing this, Duan Zhigui exchanged glances with Wang Xiying and reached a tacit understanding.

"Zhen Beizi, please rest!" Duan Zhigui said, "I'll come back tomorrow to say hello." "Wait! Xiangyan," Zai Zhen pulled him and said, "Whose idea is this?" "I came up with the idea, but he managed it all by himself." Duan Zhigui pointed to Wang Xiying and said. "Inefficient service!" Wang Xiying smiled and bowed and said, "Please forgive me, sir." Zai Zhen's emotion was completely displayed on his face, he hesitated for a moment, cupped his hands and said: "Take care, everything is tacit." When the guests left, Jin'er opened the curtain of the bedroom, and saw a pair of brightly lit anthurium candles on the mahogany dressing table, and Yang Cuixi in full dress was sitting on the edge of the bed. Seeing Zai Zhen, she stood up slowly, bowed her head, and bowed her head. Said loudly: "Bring the red felt!"

Although his voice was low, Zai Zhen heard it clearly, and knew that he was speaking to Jin'er, so he brought the red felt as a gift, so he felt that it was unnecessary. "Forget it! Forget it!" He said: "I will enter Beijing tomorrow, just kowtow to the prince and Fujin." "In front of the prince and Fujin, it is natural to kowtow, but..." Yang Cuixi's voice was very low, and she said the word "but", without further words.Zai Zhen thought he didn't hear clearly, so he asked, "But what?" "Let's talk about it later!" Yang Cuixi looked around and said, "Jin'er, you'd better bring the red felt."

"No, no!" "Grandpa, don't be too polite. For the first time, let's accept the head of my aunt!" One resignation and one concession, thanks to Jin'er's teasing, the scene was not too awkward, and after the hasty salute, Jin'er spoke again. "Master, you can't take this head for nothing, can you?" "Yes!" Zai Zhen touched his forehead and asked blankly, "What should I do?" Seeing his silly look, Yang Cuixi and Jin'er couldn't help laughing, which made Zai Zhen even more confused. "Master," Jin'er finally said clearly, "Give me a meeting gift!"

"Oh! Oh!" Zai Zhen was reminded, "I didn't know in advance, what should I do if I didn't prepare?" "That's what it means. You don't care what you give, as long as there is such a thing!" There are quite a few small odds and ends hanging on Zai Zhen's body, but gold watches and the like are not suitable for women to wear, or they are a little less polite.After thinking for a while, he took off a diamond ring bought abroad from his little finger, took Yang Cuixi's left hand, and personally put it on her ring finger. Yang Cuixi was overjoyed, the diamond on the ring was as big as a soybean, and it had been cut and polished by a famous craftsman, it was very good at "turning the head", as long as she stretched out her hand, no one would not be dazzling.Yang Cuixi thought about it more than once, if she is alive, if she can wear such a big diamond ring one day, it would be a waste of time.

Dreams come true, but it's hard to believe. She looked at the diamond ring, then at Zai Zhen, and asked unconsciously, "Master, am I dreaming?" "What is this?" As soon as Zai Zhen said the words, he remembered that his tone was almost contemptuous. He was afraid of hurting the beauty's heart, so he held her hand tightly and said, "This ring is only a little over seven carats. When will I buy it for you again?" A big one." "I don't even know what it's like to be older?" She turned a hand that was so white and bullying Saixue twice, looked at the diamond ring shining with crystal light and said, "Just this 'turning head', even a blind man will Open your eyes and see."

Just as Zai Zhen was about to answer, he felt a shadow flickering in front of his eyes. Then he realized that Jin'er was there, and hurriedly called to her, "Jin'er, don't go, I have something to reward you." "Yes!" Jin'er stood still, with a smile on his face. Zai Zhen was in a dilemma, he couldn't think of anything that could be used as a reward for a while, so he asked with a slightly embarrassed smile: "What do you want?" "I don't want anything, as long as the uncle gives me a piece of paper." "A piece of paper!" Zai Zhen was stunned, "What kind of paper?"

"Deed paper." "It's her contract of prostitution." Yang Cuixi knew that Zai Zhen was also very attached to Jin'er, so he just used this to drive her away and sell a favor, so he said calmly, "Jin'er has a husband's family... .” It turned out that Jin'er was a girl hired by Wang Xiying's family, just to serve people well, so she was sent here to greet Zai Zhen at that time.When it came time for the two kings to make a plan to build a golden house for Zaizhen, they accepted the intention and recruited Jin'er as the help of the green leaves.Jin'er has a husband's family, so naturally she didn't want to. Wang Xiying entrusted someone to negotiate, threatened and lured her, and after a lot of effort, she was able to exchange two thousand silver for a contract of prostitution with the fingerprints of Jin'er's parents, which now exists in Yang Cuixi's hands. It can be regarded as one of her dowry.

Two thousand silver is a trivial matter in Zaizhen, but a lark has been put into a cage, and it is a bit reluctant to let it fly away.Seeing this scene, Yang Cuixi deliberately said: "Master, I think so, let Jin'er match my sister!" Upon hearing this, Zai Zhen knew that others had seen through his mind, so he hastily concealed himself and said, "No, no! I don't have such great fortune." "I'm telling the truth!" Yang Cuixi deliberately nailed down another sentence. "My words are not false." "Master, if this is the case, then it is equivalent to rewarding Jin'er with two thousand silver."

"It's not about two thousand silver. Don't you know where her deed is?" "I'm here." Yang Cuixi blurted out, and immediately opened the dressing table to draw a bucket, took out a piece of deed paper with still fresh ink on it, and handed it to Zai Zhen. "Okay!" Zai Zhen had no choice but to laugh at himself and said, "This can be regarded as a meritorious deed." As he said that, he burned Jin'er's deed paper with a candle. This seems to be a bit unpleasant, but the loss is only a momentary thing, because Yang Cuixi understands that he feels lost at this time, so she tries to be coquettish, frowns and smiles lightly, and has endless surplus everywhere, which makes Zai Zhen's heart hot. , I have never been so excited, lingering all night, I didn't see him show up until the afternoon of the next day. There must be some excitement that night, except for Yuan Shikai and Xu Shichang, almost all the officials in Tianjin officialdom who could talk to "Zhen Beizi" were present, and Duan Zhigui even specially asked his wife to greet Yang Cuixi.Some officials and gentry who have a particularly close relationship with Zai Zhen have also been notified by Duan Zhigui separately that they might as well bring their female relatives to congratulate them.So there are five banquets in the hall, and there are two tables of guests inside. They all wear heavy makeup, but no one can compare to Yang Cuixi's color, and everyone is surrounded by pearls, but no one can compare to Yang Cuixi's seven-carat diamond ring. Dazzling.Not only did Yang Cuixi feel like a dream all the time, Zai Zhen was also so proud that he got drunk and spoke incoherently, hugging Duan Zhigui and shouting: "Second brother!"