La segunda señorita Song elige marido

Chapter 1 Monk

In early spring in the north, the cold wind lashes against the ground, chilling you to the bone.

Madam Su sat on the large kang (heated brick bed) by the window in her usual living quarters, with her three beautiful daughters embroidering, sewing shoe soles, and mending clothes—a scene of perfect harmony. The room was filled with the delicate fragrance of newly opened daffodils, and sunlight streamed in through the window lattice, illuminating the wisps of dust rising in the air.

Madam Su looked at the eldest daughter, Zhenyuan, with her oval face, beautiful eyes that seemed to hold autumn water, and willow-leaf eyebrows curved like a crescent moon—an indescribably stunning beauty. Then she looked at the fourth daughter, Zhenyi, with her innocent and childlike face, her eyes filled with unspoken affection, and even her furrowed brows exuding an indescribable charm.

The third daughter, Zhenxiu, was embroidering the uppers of shoes, on which were two simple-looking gourds. Seeing Madam Su looking at this one and then that one, her smile spreading across her face, she pouted and said, "Mother, you're looking at them all day long. Could you possibly find a handsome husband for my eldest sister and fourth sister?"

Before Madam Su could speak, Fourth Miss Zhenyi pursed her lips and kicked her leg, which landed squarely on Zhenxiu's calf. She wasn't wearing socks, and her slightly long toenails grazed the soft flesh of Zhenxiu's calf. She pretended to slap Zhenxiu and said, "You're so annoying!"

Although Zhenyuan did not respond, her previous calm demeanor had vanished, and her brows were gradually furrowing. Seeing this, Madam Su glared at Zhenxiu and said, "Can't you speak properly? If you can't, go back to your room."

Zhenxiu shifted her position closer to the kang (heated brick bed), rubbed the needle in her hair, and pouted, saying, "Why? Being pretty means I get to sit on a warm kang, but I have to make things on that cold bed without a charcoal stove?"

Su glared at her and said, "Then don't speak. Nobody will think you're mute."

Zhenxiu snorted coldly and glared at Zhenyi, secretly remembering the humiliation she had suffered at Zhenyi's hands earlier, and said nothing more.

Seeing that Zhenyuan was still frowning, Madam Su comforted her, saying, "We will be able to go to the capital in May. With your looks and character, and being the granddaughter of the Gongzheng family, why would you worry about not finding a good husband?"

Zhenyi leaned close to Su's shoulder and nestled into her arms, humming as she twisted her body, "Why isn't May here yet? Once my elder sister finds a good husband in the capital, I'll first go to the gold shop to buy a nice outfit to keep, and then go to the silk shop to have some nice clothes made, so that I can have the demeanor of a young lady from a prominent family, just like Zhenyu."

Before Madam Su could speak, Zhenxiu sneered, "How dare you call her Zhenyu? She is a legitimate daughter of the principal wife. When we arrive in the capital, you will have to kowtow and pay your respects to her first."

Zhenyi glared at Zhenxiu and said, "I'm only saying this on our own kang (heated brick bed). Once we get to the capital, I'll naturally know more about etiquette than you do."

As the group was chatting, they suddenly heard hurried footsteps outside, and a girl of about fifteen or sixteen years old lifted the curtain and stepped in. She glanced at the kang (a heated brick bed), her wheat-colored face brightening as she glared at them. "It's springtime outside, and you're all still stuck inside? Haven't you been cooped up all winter?" she said.

Zhenyi, the youngest, still had two buns on her head. She climbed out of Su's arms, tidied her hair, and smiled, "Second sister came back really early today. It seems you didn't meet your lover today."

Second Miss Zhenshu looked at the several young ladies of the Song family, who were as white and round as steamed buns on the kang (heated brick bed). Zhenyi was the youngest, and also the most skilled at flattery and veiled speech. She sat down on the edge of the kang angrily and said, "Didn't you say that foot binding was too hard and that I should go and pick some alfalfa that hadn't sprouted yet to improve your appetite? Ah Xiang and I spent half a day picking alfalfa. And now you're so clever with your words."

Zhenyi covered her mouth and laughed, "If that's really the case, then thank you very much, Second Sister. But dare you say you didn't go to see Tong Qisheng?"

Zhenshu glared at her and said, "Don't try to act innocent after getting the benefit."

Zhenxiu interjected, "Second Sister is the kind of person who does great things quietly. She wouldn't let you know about trivial matters. Even if she does something, she wouldn't let anyone know. For example, last night in her sleep, she was still..."

Zhenshu picked up a ball of silk thread from the sewing basket and threw it at him, shouting, "Zhenxiu, shut up!"

Zhenshu and Zhenxiu shared a room. In the middle of the night, she might say something in her dream that Zhenxiu could hear.

Zhenxiu took the thread and said, "Hmph, I won't shut up. You called out Tong Qisheng's name countless times in your dreams last night..."

Snap!

A crisp slap rang out, and Zhenxiu, covering her face with tears streaming down her face, stammered, "Mother, why are you hitting your daughter like this?"

Seeing that the girls had all fallen silent in fear, Madam Su sat up straight and said, "You have no manners and no restraint. Zhenshu is your third sister. She is still unmarried and has not yet been betrothed. You are slandering her like this. Even though you are in your own house, walls have ears. If this gets out, how will she ever get married?"

The girls all lowered their heads and remained silent upon hearing this. Madam Su continued, “It turns out that because we’ve always stayed in Caijiasi Village, I haven’t taught you any manners, and you sisters have been able to address each other as you please. But things are different now. We’ll be going to the capital in May, and then the order of seniority among you sisters will naturally follow the Song family’s order. I’ve said it countless times: Zhenshu is third, Zhenyi is sixth, and Zhenxiu, you are fourth. Since that’s the order, from now on you must address each other according to the Song family’s order, but you always refuse to listen…”

Zhenxiu got up, picked up Xiupin, and got off the kang (heated brick bed). Then she turned around and said, "If we're talking about calling each other by the wrong names, then we're all at fault. Why are you only hitting me?"

Madam Su angrily pointed at Zhenxiu and said, "How dare you slander your third sister like this, and you still don't know you're wrong?"

Zhenxiu flicked her sleeve and said, "Who in Caijia Temple doesn't know that she and Tong Qisheng have been entangled since childhood? It's just that you wanted to keep her in this village to take care of you in your old age and see you off in your final days, so you deliberately let her get entangled with Tong Qisheng. Am I wrong?"

Enraged, Su jumped up to hit her, but Zhenxiu covered her head and ran out of the house, heading towards her own room.

Instead of getting angry, Zhenshu laughed and stopped Su Shi, saying, "Mother, why do you care about her? She's making it hard for you to run fast. You might fall down while chasing her."

Furious, Madam Su sat back down on the kang (a heated brick bed), craning her neck and calling out, "Aunt Cai! Aunt Cai!"

Zhen Shu said, "Mother Cai is in the kitchen preparing dinner for Zhen Yi by blanching alfalfa. If you need anything, just ask me."

Su clutched her chest and said, "This Cai Mama is getting lazier and lazier. She can't even boil some hot water. I'm so angry that I feel chest tightness and need a bowl of hot tea."

Zhenshu said, "Alright, I'll make it for you. Just don't complain again tomorrow that you drank tea and didn't sleep all night."

Zhenshu stepped out of the room and saw that the window lattice of the lower room on the west side was open, and the window was about to move. She knew that Zhenxiu must be peeking at the outside world from behind the curtain. She ignored it and went to the kitchen on the east side to boil water and make tea. After she made the tea and served it to Su, she made another cup and took it to the main room in the outer courtyard for her father, Song Anrong, who was reading in the study.

Song Anrong was the second son of Song Shihong, a craftsman who had gone to the capital. The male members of the Song family rarely lived long lives; Song Shihong died at the age of fifty. His wife, Zhong, then arranged for the division of the family property, sending the remaining two sons away from the capital. One was assigned to Huixian County—this was Song Anrong—and the other to Wenxian County—Song Anyuan, the third son. Because the eldest son had died young and there were no male heirs, the family had no one to perform ancestral rites. Therefore, the fourth son, Song Angu, was left in the capital to perform ancestral rites on behalf of his elder brother during the four seasonal festivals.

Zhenshu brought tea into the room and saw her father reading in the evening light by the west window. She tiptoed over, reached out and snatched the book from his hands, giggling, "Father has hidden another good book and is reading it all by himself."

She placed the tea tray on the table, noticed the book titled "Qingping Shantang Tales," and looked up with a smile, asking, "Why don't I see this book before? Did Uncle Zhao send it over again yesterday?"

The refined old man, Song Anrong, turned around and saw that it was his daughter. He smiled indulgently and said, "Logically speaking, these books should not be read by a child like you."

Zhenshu picked up a chair and sat down, spreading the book on her lap and glancing at it. Seeing her father standing beside her, looking like he wanted to snatch it back, she quickly protected the book, saying, "How can I still be called a child? Axiang's older sister is only sixteen this year, and she already had a chubby little boy when she went back to her parents' home yesterday."

Song Anrong said, "I wish you would never grow up, and could you always be my innocent and carefree little daughter?"

Zhenshu closed the book, stood up, and said, "You have four daughters, haven't you loved them enough?"

Song Anrong smiled without saying a word, and went to drink the tea.

Zhenshu left the house, humming a tune as she carried the book to her small west room where she shared with Zhenxiu. As soon as she pushed open the door, she saw Zhenxiu suddenly trying to hide something in her arms. She pretended not to see it, put the book in a large box at the corner of her bed, locked it, and then went to the kitchen to help Cai's mother cook.

Seeing that she had left, Zhenxiu took out a piece of embroidery from her bosom and said coldly to herself, "Look at how proper she looks on the surface, yet she brings home some lewd and obscene songs from outside."

After dinner, Su Shi, Zhenyuan, Zhenyi and the others embroidered flowers on the heated kang. Zhenxiu, having angered Su Shi with her rude remarks, did not dare to go into the main room. She asked Zhenshu for a hot water bottle and warmed the bed with it, then sat on the bed embroidering.

Zhenshu and Cai Mama heated the kang (a heated brick bed) for Su Shi, and then went to the outer courtyard to heat the kang for her father, Song Anrong. They also boiled hot water and served the whole family until they had washed up before rubbing their hands together and entering the small west room.

As Zhenxiu watched her undress and get into bed, she suddenly exclaimed, "Quickly get me a spittoon; I can't hold my pee right now."

Zhenshu glared at her and said, "You didn't call out when I was outside, but now that I've taken off my c

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