Dong Xiaowan was born in Suzhou City "Dong family embroidery village", "Dong family embroidery village" is a well-known Suzhou embroidery village, because the work is done fine, so the business has been booming. The Dong family is a Su embroidery family, to this generation has a history of more than two hundred years, don't look at embroidery belongs to the craft manufacturing industry, but it is very close to the art of painting, so the Dong family also has a bit of a bookish atmosphere.
The hostess Bai is the only daughter of an old Xiucai, who has no ambitions in life, so he has to pass on the full belly to his daughter. Bai gave birth to a thousand gold for the Dong family, in order to send the husband and wife harmony, named Bai, the number Qinglian, the little girl is not only handsome, the brain is also very smart, her parents regard it as the most precious treasure, carefully teach her poetry, calligraphy and painting, needle and thread female red, bent on teaching a talented girl. This was a happy and happy family, but unexpectedly there was an unexpected storm, when Dong Bai was thirteen years old, his father suffered from diarrhea in the summer, the medicine did not work, and he died soon after. This sudden change struck Dong Bai's mother and daughter with a haggard heart, and after taking care of her husband's affairs, Bai Shi was unwilling to continue to live in the old mansion in the city, see things and think of people, and feel sad; so he spent a sum of money to build a secret room on the bank of the Bantang River, took his daughter to live in seclusion, and lived a quiet life away from the world, and the affairs of Xiuzhuang were all entrusted to the guys to take charge. Two years of time unconsciously faded away, and it was the last year of the Ming Dynasty. The imperial court was corrupt, the tyrants were everywhere, and the world was in turmoil. By the ninth year of Chongzhen, the chaos had approached Suzhou, and people could not help but panic, and Bai also planned to close the business of Xiuzhuang and recover the funds in preparation for fleeing at any time. Who knew that when the Xiuzhuang guy settled the account, not only did he not have two silver left, but he owed an account of thousands of silver outside. It is clear that the guys are tricking the ghost from it, and Bai Shi can't grasp it, and he is angry and anxious, and finally falls ill in bed. Her mother fell, Xiuzhuang went bankrupt, debts weighed on her, and the burden of life slammed on fifteen-year-old Dong Bai, who seemed to fall from the clouds into the ice cellar and could not open her eyes for a while. Huge debts can drag on, but the cost of my mother's medical expenses is imminent. Dong Bai, who grew up living in seclusion with his mother, has developed a lonely and proud personality, where he is willing to borrow money from people three times and four times. In a hurry, he made the next move, agreed to the introduction of others, and came to sell art in the painting boat on the banks of the Qinhuai River in Nanjing, changing his name to Xiaowan.
Dong Xiaowan's beautiful appearance and otherworldly temperament made her soon famous in the Qinhuai River. Forced by life, she had to bend over backwards to laugh, but her high temper sometimes came out, offending some vulgar guests, but winning the admiration of some noble people. Dong Xiaowan is self-congratulatory, self-pitying and self-loving, and will never be at the mercy of the guests, so that it affects the mother bustard's income, and the bustard mother naturally sneers at her, Dong Xiaowan is angry, and stomps away from Nanjing and returns to Suzhou. But the mother at home is still lying on the hospital bed, can not do without asking for medical treatment to take medicine, some creditors heard that Dong Xiaowan returned home, but also came to the door to collect debts, Dong Xiaowan can not cope, had to return to the old business, simply sold himself to the brothel in Bantang, selling laughter, accompanying wine, accompanying guests on trips. In Bantang, Dong Xiaowan still holds the original intention of not selling herself, and in order to survive, she has to suppress her share of the qinggao and sell a smile with no practical content to the guests. However, there is a kind of guest, both leisure, leisure, and enough financial resources, you can take a favorite Qinglou woman to visit the mountains and enjoy the natural style. For accompanying guests on trips, Dong Xiaowan is the most interested, although those who can have this elegant move are mostly elderly people, but at that time Dong Xiaowan was intoxicated with the mountains and rivers, and did not feel that the white-haired Yashi had an abomination. Under the beautiful scenery, she is also prone to surging tenderness, and sincerely gives guests a charming smile. Therefore, she was invited by guests to visit Taihu Lake, climb Huangshan Mountain, and boat in West Lake, and once she went, it was ten days and a half months.
Mao Peijiang first heard from Fang Yizhi that there was a talented Dong Xiaowan among the Qin Huai jiali. Wu Yingji and Hou Fangyu also praised Xiao Wan. And Xiao Wan, from time to time, was in the gathering of celebrities, listening to people talk about taking the risk of breaking through the frontier, and knew that there was such a high-ranking talent in the Fu Society who was dignified and self-congratulatory. In the autumn of that year, the twenty-nine-year-old ventured to Nanjing to participate in the township examination and made a special trip, but Dong Xiaowan had already gambled and left the Qinhuai River. Later, the township tried to issue a list, and the name of the place was as good as ever, And he was not disappointed. Just secretly lamenting that he was not born at the right time, he packed up his bags and turned to Suzhou to hang out. In Suzhou, while visiting Sheng and exploring you, he inquired about dong Xiaowan's whereabouts, and learned that she was already entertaining guests in Bantang, so he made a special visit with great interest. By coincidence, Dong Xiaowan had already been invited to visit Taihu Lake. After that, he went several times in succession, but he did not have the opportunity to see Dong Xiaowan, until the eve of preparing to leave Suzhou, he came to Bantang without much hope, but he was finally able to meet her. It was a cold night in late autumn, and Dong Xiaowan had just returned from a wine banquet, and was reclining at the head of the bed with a slight drunkenness. Seeing the guests, she wanted to struggle to get up, but she had no choice but to drink and sit up a little shaky. Taking the risk of seeing the situation and persuading her not to be polite, he let the concubine set up a stool at the head of Xiao Wan's bed, and sat down next to her. After introducing himself, Dong Xiaowan praised: "I have heard of the name of the 'Four Princes' for a long time, and I have admired it in my heart for a long time!" There was a look of joy on his face. Mao Peijiang did not expect that a dusty woman was actually very interested in their act of supporting justice, and could not help but be solemn in her respect, carefully looking at Dong Xiaowan, plain clothes and light makeup, eyebrows clear and refreshing, and indeed very different from the ordinary women in the scene, at this time, although drunk and hazy, delicate, but still clear thinking, good conversation, indulging in the current situation, quite insightful. Pity yiren drunk and tired, he sat in less than half an hour and then hurried away, and it was this half-hour conversation that had left a deep impression on Dong Xiaowan.
In the spring of the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, Xiao Wan returned from Huangshan, her mother died, and she was frightened by Tian Hong's robbery of Jiali, and she fell seriously ill and could not come out. By the time of the time of the frontier, Xiao Wan was already dying. Mao Peijiang sympathetically relieved her and told her about the fact that he had eaten the soup of the closed people on several visits, and Dong Xiaowan showed a hint of apology and relief. Seeing that she was sick and weak, she proposed to return early several times, but Dong Xiaowan was diligent in staying, and the two talked until late at night before breaking up. The next day, Mao Peijiang couldn't help but hire a boat to come to Xiao Wan's house again, the two did not agree, but Xiao Wan stood outside the door with a smile and greeted each other, and his illness was half better overnight, and it seemed that he expected that Mao Peijiang would come today. Xiao Wan welcomed The Adventure Frontier into the house, offered tea, took his hand, and said, "This time the prince came, the concubine's illness was healed without medicine, it seems that there must be a fate with the prince, and I hope that the prince will not give up!" She instructed her family to cook wine and drink with Peijiang at the bedside. He made an appointment with Dong Xiaowan, and as soon as the township examination was over, he immediately returned to Suzhou to redeem herself, and then returned to Rugao with him. After the death of Xiao Wan's mother, in the love marriage with Mao Pujiang, Dong Xiaowan took the initiative everywhere, radiating the personality brilliance of yearning for freedom and seeking true feelings; and the hesitation of everything in Mao Pujiang revealed the weakness of a self-centered personality of a big prince.
Mao Peijiang took Xiao Wan back to Suzhou to redeem himself, but unexpectedly encountered trouble again, because Dong Xiaowan's fame in Bantang was too big, no matter how much silver was out, the mother bustard did not want to let go of this cash cow. Just when they were at a loss, Qian Qianyi and Liu Ru came to Suzhou. Liu Ru was a good sister of Dong Xiaowan when he first sold the Qinhuai River, Qian Qianyi also had a deep friendship with her, although he was now exempt from official idleness, but his reputation in the Jiangnan area was very high, and after he came forward to adjust the arrangement, Dong Xiaowan's redemption was solved.
After Xiao Wan married into the Door of the Mao Family, she got along with the Mao family in great harmony. Ma Gongren (Peijiang's mother) and Su Yuanfang (Peijiang's wife) especially like Xiao Wan, and Xiao Wan is also very respectful and obedient. In their leisure time, Xiao Wan and Peijiang often sit in the study of the painting garden, splashing ink, enjoying flowers and tea, commenting on landscapes and rivers, and identifying gold stones. When Xiao Wan first entered the impostor's house, he saw Dong Qichang imitate Zhong Qichang's "Moon Endowment" written for the purpose of breaking through the frontier, and he liked it very much and copied it with his intention. Then I looked around for Zhong Xuan's writings. Later, I felt that Zhong Xuan's font was slightly thinner, and saw that his "Rong Yuan Table" referred to Guan Yu, whom she admired, as a thief general, so he abolished the bell post and changed to Cao E's stele, a few thousand words a day, from a good omission. Xiao Wan once wrote xiaokai fan noodles for relatives and friends for Pujiang, and also registered the use of chai rice oil and salt and silver money for Su Yuanfang. Xiao Wan's painting of the small bush of cold trees, the pen and ink are very moving. At the age of 15, her work "Color Butterfly Diagram" is now in the collection of wuxi museum, with her inscription, and after Rugao, she maintained a special love for painting, showing and playing with new long scrolls or old collections at home. Later, on the way to escape, he still bundled up the collection of calligraphy and paintings and took them with him. The most heartbreaking thing about Xiao Wan is to live a romantic and beautiful and emotional life in a trivial daily life. Xiao Wan is indifferent by nature and does not like fat and sweet food. Using a small pot of mustard tea to warm the rice, accompanied by one or two plates of water vegetables and soy sauce, it was her meal. He prefers sweets, seafood and smoked food. The food xiaowan made for him was clean and delicious, and there were many kinds of tricks. She not only added an appropriate amount of salt and sour plums in the middle to flavor, but also picked the first colored and fragrant flower buds, and melted the flower juice into the perfume. The flower dew produced in this way sprays the nose in the mouth, which is rare in the world. One of the most delicious is begonia dew. Begonias have no fragrance, and Xiao Wan's begonia dew is the only one that dews gels fragrant hair. After drinking, use a white porcelain cup to hold dozens of kinds of flower dew, not to mention tasting with your mouth, the five colors floating alone, the strange fragrance overflowing, it is enough to quench thirst and quench the salt.
Just a year after the quiet and harmonious family life, Li Zicheng attacked Beijing, the Qing soldiers went south, the Qing army was raging, the risk of the family was poisoned, and the family property was lost. Xiao Wan fled south with her husband. After the war, the impostor family returned to their homeland after the disaster, lacking rice and firewood, and life became very difficult, thanks to Dong Xiaowan's meticulous calculations, he barely managed to maintain the life of the whole family. At this juncture, he fell ill, diarrhea and malaria, torturing him into inhuman form. The onset of malaria, cold and heat, coupled with diarrhea and abdominal pain, has hardly achieved peace for a moment. In order to take care of him, Dong Xiaowan spread a broken grass mat on the edge of the bed as his bed, as long as her husband had a noise, she immediately got up to look at it, and when the cold trembled, she held her husband tightly in her arms; when she was hot and irritable, she exposed him to the bath; the abdominal pain was rubbed for him; the diarrhea was untied for him, and she never looked tired. After more than five months of tossing and turning, The condition of Mao Pujiang finally improved, and Dong Xiaowan was already as thin as a bone, as if he had also been seriously ill. Shortly after the days were settled, He was sick twice: once because of the stomach disease, the blood was not entered, and Dong Xiaowan boiled medicine and decoction in the sweltering heat, and waited closely for sixty days and nights next to the pillow; the second time was gangrene on his back, the pain was unbearable, and he could not lie on his back, Dong Xiaowan hugged her husband night and night, let him sleep on his body, and sat and slept for a hundred days.
In the difficult life, the diet is difficult to eat, Dong Xiaowan's body is already weak, coupled with the pain of taking care of her husband's illness three times in a row, after she recovered from the disease, she fell ill. Due to the extreme deficiency of physical fitness, the impostors invited famous doctors to diagnose and treat them in many ways, and it was difficult to achieve results in the end. In the first month of the eighth year of Shunzhi, Dong Xiaowan, who had been a virtuous concubine and good wife in the Impostor family for nine years, finally closed her tired eyes, and in the mourning of the Impostor family, she walked so peacefully.