There is a home in the depths of the white clouds

The weather is getting cooler, and the northern geese return to the south.

Mrs. Wu's birthday is here.

Last year Wu Youwei didn't come here, and he didn't catch up, but this year he caught up.

But being filial, he couldn't get out, so Wu Youwei took the money and asked Xiao Xiao to go out and buy a silver hairpin. The gold one was too expensive, so he couldn't bear it.

Just inlay another pearl, that's enough. He can't afford it and doesn't want to buy one that is too expensive. He knows how the old lady treats him.

Xiaoxiao went out for a long time, and bought a pair of unique silver hairpins from the place where he carved jade pendants. It was a pair of pearls wrapped in silver. The pearls were not big, but there were many!

At least a dozen of them, silver wrapped with pearls, formed into a plum blossom, very simple yet elegant.

It is also quite big, so I bought it when I was young, and spent a total of twenty silver cars.

"So cheap?" Wu Youwei gave Xiao Ke 50 taels of silver.

"Of course it's cheap. These two pairs of hairpins don't look big, they really don't weigh much." Xiaoxiao also whispered: "There is also a pair of gold ones inlaid with red treasures. I don't want the small ones. I can't wear them because my family is a filial piety." This thing."

Wu Youwei smiled: "Well, you are right, but, pearls are not cheap, right?"

"It's quite cheap. These pearls and silver are worth ten taels, and the remaining ten taels of silver are the craftsmanship of my master." Xiaoxiao touched the pearls on the top and said: "This is the pearl. I heard that our Daming got the Buddha Bless you, and Buddha pearls!" "Precious balls... yes!" Wu Youwei immediately remembered after saying this.

He once had a classmate who was a southerner and was very stingy. After graduation, this guy went back to set up a pearl farm.

Later, he checked it out. It is said that in the Southern Song Dynasty, Ye Jinyang of Huzhou cultivated the "Buddha Elephant Pearl" with shells from the pleated crown clam.

Bamboo Buddha statue pearls are inlaid with natural bamboo carvings and Buddha statue pearls. After being handed by the master, it seems to be natural, and each one is unique.

It was not until the Ming Dynasty that the culture of special pearls, namely "Buddha pearls", came into being again.

The principle is that the soft body of the pearl oyster itself has lesions, or cannot excrete invading foreign objects (such as sand, etc.), due to its own physiological function, it will secrete nacre to wrap the lesion or foreign objects, and form crystals after a certain period of time These crystals are called natural pearls.

According to the physiological function of pearl oysters that can secrete nacre to form pearls, people in the Ming Dynasty implanted small cell pieces (or: bead nucleus + small cell pieces) in the body of pearl oysters. The pearls cultivated after a certain period of time are called cultured pearls. pearl.

Special pearls are micro-carved pearl nuclei to look like Buddha statues, and cultured pearls are cultivated to look like Buddha statues.

Known as "Buddha Pearl".

In the past, pearls were expensive because they were collected artificially from the sea. Although pearls are also expensive now, they are not so expensive that ordinary people can't afford them.

Besides, this pearl looks like an ordinary thing that cannot be more ordinary. It is not the expensive "Dongzhu" nowadays, and those things are all tributes.

After shopping, Wu Youwei asked Jasmine to go to the second room to inquire, what will the second room give?He wanted to follow suit and collect some birthday presents to send over.

On the day of the old lady's birthday, the whole family kowtows to the old lady together to celebrate her birthday, and presents birthday gifts one by one.

This pair of silver hairpins are especially made of shiny silver, and the shiny silver against the pearls is really eye-catching.

It's just that Mrs. Wu doesn't like it. It's cheap at first glance, okay?

In addition to the pair of silver hairpins, Wu Youwei also made a similar set as a gift from his second wife, Wu Mengshi. In fact, it was not much, two bolts of brocade, two bolts of satin, and silver hairpins were all in order. work!

The wife of the second room gave her a set of pearl face masks given to her by others. It looks good, but it is not expensive.

The only ones that are valuable are a set of white jade hair masks given by Wu Jun;

Among the grandchildren, Wu Ying was the only one who gave him a portrait of Guanyin painted by himself, and the face of Guanyin vaguely had the shadow of Mrs. Wu.

But I like Mrs. Wu so much!

Immediately, she was hung up in the Buddhist hall in the back room, and she was required to offer incense and chant sutras every day.

Wu Qianer gave her a plain forehead wipe made by herself; Wu Peier gave her her own "Shou" lettering; Wu Yier, Wu Youer and Wu Lier were too young to give anything.

After the birthday gift was delivered and a reunion dinner was had, they went back separately.

Wu Youwei was walking on the road, feeling really cold, his clothes were thin, when he went out, Xiao Xiao was waiting for him, and when he saw him, he smiled: "Master, Xiao Xiao brought a cape!"

When speaking, he quickly handed it to Wu Youwei.

Wu Youwei didn't need anyone to wait on him, so he put it on himself: "Fortunately, I still think about it, it's getting colder and colder these days.

"It's late autumn, isn't it!" Xiao Xiao himself was dressed warmly: "It was frosty yesterday!"

"Go, let's go back!" Wu Youwei walked in front, followed by Xiaoxiao, followed by Ah San and Ah Si.

After the end of autumn, there was a frost and snow, and it became cold immediately in Jingzhong. The water basin was placed outside, and it was frozen.

On this day, it was one year since Mr. Wu passed away, and the family was going to pay a memorial service.

The food that the old man liked to eat was prepared at home, prepared in advance and put into food boxes, four bottles of liquor, some snacks, fruits, tea and so on.

There are also prepared paper money, burnt paper, and incense candles to worship the burnt objects, and the carts and carts are also fully prepared.

On this day, I finally set off and went to my ancestral grave.

Because there was no coffin to follow this time, and there was no need to stop in time to thank the families who paid homage by the roadside, so I walked very quickly and arrived at the place in a day.

It was still the housekeeper's brother who entertained everyone.

On the second day, when the sky was bright, the whole family got up, dressed neatly, put on sackcloth and filial piety, and brought the servants and maids down, and went to the ancestral graveyard in the back mountain in unison.

It's only been a year, and there are people who specialize in guarding the cemetery, so it's not too barren, but there are still some things left for the owner's family, that is, there are some withered grass and weeds around the tomb.

Wu Jun, Wu Maid, and Wu Ying, the three men, personally took a shovel to clean up the dead branches, rotten leaves, weeds and other things around the tomb, and trained good men for the tomb. Wu Youwei also left a drainage channel, although it was very shallow, but for As far as the denominator is concerned, it is enough.Mrs. Wu spread a large sheet of white paper on the altar in front of the tombstone, and Mrs. Wu placed the food, liquor and other sacrifices she brought, and there was also a boiled chicken inside, which was a young rooster cooked in boiling water.Mrs. Wu acted like a widow, personally burning incense and burning paper, and the juniors behind stood vigorously. After Wu Youwei and the three returned to the team, they bowed down in unison.After commemorating Mrs. Wu, the other ancestors could not be left behind, so Wu Jun took Wu Ying and Wu Maid to tidy up the graves of the ancestors.In fact, people usually clean it up, but they just need to fill in a few shovels and pull out one or two "left" stalks that have withered and yellowed.After tidying up, the sun had already set in the west, and paper was burned on the graves one by one, and a group of people went back, leaving a grave mound alone, standing there silently.Stayed here for one night at the ancestral hall and ancestral tomb, and set off for the capital the next day.

It was also at night. After bathing and changing, all the masters had a simple dinner and then rested.

The next day, breakfast was nothing special, but lunch at noon was different, there was a plate of white meat!

"What's going on?" Wu Youwei asked Xiao Xiao drooling.

Xiao Xiao, the person who brought him food, didn't go anywhere. He drooled and looked at the plate of meat and said: "It's given by the kitchen. Today, I will kill the pig and give the big guys some oil and water. Every house owner has such a dish." dish."

"Really? Someone lied to us, right?" Wu Youwei wiped his saliva.

"Probably not, I have seen Sister Shaoyao also carrying a food box, and there are two plates of white meat in it!" Now that Xiaoxiao has read the book, she has some spiritual energy, and she is no longer stupid.

"Then what are you waiting for? Let's eat! Let's eat!" Wu Youwei quickly greeted him: "Where's yours?"

"Just a little bit of mine. I'll eat it early." Xiaoxiao scratched his head in embarrassment. The first time he got it, he couldn't hold it back. He ate it all in a small bowl.

"Then eat it with me!" Wu Youwei picked up several pieces of pork belly for him with chopsticks: "It will take a long time for us to eat this dipping sauce. Eat less, or you will have diarrhea."

"Oh, thank you, little master!" The little face immediately burst into laughter.

What the little master eats is different from his. His is a bowl of lean meat without much oil and water. What the master eats is pork belly, which is lean but not dry, fat but not greasy, served with soy sauce and mashed garlic.

Wu Youwei was also greedy, and finally got some meat, but he didn't dare to eat more, and he didn't dare to let Xiao Xiao eat more, the two of them were half and half, although they were not full, they barely ate well.

There are also some other dishes, enough to fill your stomach.

Before Xiaoxiao went to the kitchen at noon the next day, Wu Youwei told him: "If you still have white meat, remember to ask for lean meat or pork belly. You don't need big pieces of fat meat!"

"Why is that?" Xiaoxiao didn't understand, who doesn't like meat!

Eat meat instead of fat, eat lean meat?

"How long has it been since we ate meat? It was alright yesterday. When you go today, you must ask for lean meat. Show it to the second room, especially for Master Qiong's meals. Just give me some lean meat. Wait." After ten days and half a month, I will eat pork belly and wait for another month, and I won't have diarrhea after eating fatty meat." When Wu Youwei said this, Jasmine was also there, and when Xiaoxiao left, Jasmine hurried Fushen also ran out.Wu Youwei nodded secretly, this trick is not bad, there are some things that you don't need to say, I will take care of them for you.

The second room heard the gossip from Jasmine, and sure enough, they also ate lean meat during lunch, never fatty meat.

Moreover, the kitchen will not send fat meat to the second room. The fat meat is given to the first room. The ones on the second room are the same as the little master's. They are all pork belly, but there is more lean meat and less fat.

The steward of the second room went to the kitchen in the afternoon and told them that because Young Master Qiong had a bad appetite, they only ordered a stewed eggplant with minced lean meat, and a meat dish was enough, and a cold fungus and dried tofu for vegetarian dishes.

The people in the kitchen have been a little guilty since they were knocked down by Xiaoxiao last year and neglected the room. Later, the second room came with many educated officials and wives from the Hanlin family, and they became even more guilty.

So even if the old lady and madam didn't say anything, they changed it themselves.

Although they cannot be treated equally, at least they will no longer be as negligent as yesterday, which is an accident.

Now with such a request from Erfang, everyone is dumbfounded: "No fat?"

"No!" The second room manager gritted his teeth: "As long as it is lean meat, it can be made into pies, and buns are also fine."

After all, don’t want big pieces of fat meat, even slices of fat meat, you need minced meat, and it has to be lean minced meat.

He said so, but the kitchen didn't dare to go up like this, the kitchen is in charge of the family's child, so he hurried to report to his wife... It's not that the little ones are negligent, but the second room just said so..."

"A dog's belly can't hold two taels of sesame oil!" Wu Sun's lips curled up: "Since you have said so, you should do as you want, save the best meat, and give it to the young master and the eldest lady."

"Mother, mother, meat!" Wu You'er, who was already three years old, pulled her mother's sleeve to ask for meat.

"Okay, okay, eat at night, my daughter can eat as much as she wants!" Mrs. Wu Sun is now the housekeeper's wife, so she naturally looks towards her child.

The steward of the kitchen had no choice but to go back in despair, but the little master also came to eat white meat, but lean meat, a little fat is enough, but the skin of the meat cannot be cut off!