The red building is so arrogant

Chapter 491 The Rise of the Tide [Part [-]]

The fifth day of September.

Before dawn, the Jiao family's mule cart appeared at Caishikou, only a hundred steps away from the execution platform.

Yawning, Jiao Shun opened the curtains, looked at the dark mass in the distance, took out his pocket watch to check the time, then retreated calmly, preparing to seize the time and go back to sleep.

After experiencing the bombardment on the second day of September, Jiao, who was drained, fell into a state of exhaustion.

In addition, in the past two days, I have been arguing with the Ministry of Households and the Ministry of Officials over the reconstruction of the engineering college and the number of "professors". That is to say, Jiao Shun's body is tough and he needs to change into a big turban that doesn't work. It's already exhausted and the lights are dry.

To be honest, Jiao Shun really wanted to sleep at home all day if it wasn't for today being the key point of the second phase of the small composition project.

After all, tonight, I will play a trick with Aunt Zhao.

Hey~
It's strange that scholars say 'cultivate the body, govern the family, govern the country and the world'. If you don't cultivate your body well, you can't even deal with a dozen women, so how can you deal with the 72 concubines of the Sixth Court of Sangong?

Just as he was dreaming, Jia Baoyu rubbed his hands and climbed onto the car, seeing Jiao Shun leaning on the pillow with his eyes closed, he couldn't help but enviously said: "Brother Jiao really has seen the world, so he can sleep peacefully at this moment. "

Jiao Shun slightly raised his eyelids and glanced at him, and said weakly, "What's the matter with you, I'm just overworked recently, and I really can't lift my spirits."

To put it bluntly, it wasn't your mother and your sister-in-law's fault!
There is an old saying, "It's not that one family does not enter the same family." It originally said that there will always be similarities between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, but Jiao Shun never imagined that both mother-in-law and daughter-in-law put their skills on this.

Speaking of...

Like Jiao Shun, Wang Xifeng was also shocked. According to Ping'er, she even doubted her life after returning home.

"Brother Jiao."

Jiao Shun's wandering thoughts were interrupted by Jia Baoyu again, and he asked, "When do you think this matter will be settled?"

"If it is fast, it will take five or six days, and if it is slow, it will be about ten days."

Jiao Shun casually estimated a date. He was quite impatient with Jia Baoyu a while ago, but now that his status is different, he is naturally more tolerant.

Jia Baoyu let out an 'oh', and wanted to get out of the car a little sullenly.

Jiao Shun hastily reminded: "Don't run around, it will be daybreak soon, and people will catch you sneaking around here, and it will inevitably cause trouble."

Jia Baoyu let out another listless 'oh', then sat in the corner of the mule cart obediently, staring blankly.

Jiao Shun raised his head and glanced at him again, wondering if this kid has been drained too?

tsk~
It's strange that Mrs. Wang will value Xiren because of her pity.

Jiao Shun teased inwardly, then sat up straight and leaned against Baoyu—as a new father, he naturally couldn't just sit idly by and ignore the adolescent child.

Of course, apart from this mentality of being a new father, Jiao Shun was also worried, for fear that Mrs. Wang's actions that day might have some hidden schemes.

So in the past few days, whenever he has free time, he will 'tie' Baoyu to his side, so that Mrs. Wang can be afraid of it.

"cough~"

Jiao Shun cleared his throat, and asked with a smile: "Why do I see that you are not in high spirits? Could it be that it is worthless to post that essay on the execution platform?"

Jia Baoyu shook his head and sighed with a melancholy face: "I just don't want Xue Er...Brother Xue and Sister Baoqin to leave Beijing so soon."

After a pause, he lowered his head and added weakly: "I know that I betrayed Sister Lin, so I hope she can live happily——I haven't seen Sister Baoqin smile for a long time before she moved into the Xiaoxiang Pavilion. So happy."

That's because you are the biggest factor that makes sister Lin unhappy. It's no wonder she is happy when she sees you.

Jiao Shun complained inwardly, but said in his mouth: "Don't worry, isn't your sister Xing still here? Besides, in the past half a year, Miss Lin's body has become much healthier, and less than one person has been ill in total. moon."

It is definitely not a good sign for ordinary people to be sick for half a year and last for nearly a month, but for Lin Daiyu who is sick for a quarter a year, it is a remarkable improvement.

In addition to Xing Xiuyan's care, maybe Jiao Shun is right, Lin Daiyu has a temperament of deep affection, as the saying goes, "the heart is wide and the body is fat, the love is deep and the life is not long", the more thoughtful the person, the healthier the body It is easy to go wrong, and now sister Lin has completely cut off the thought of the former alliance between wood and stone, which is equivalent to removing the biggest root cause of the disease.

Hearing this, Jia Baoyu was a little excited, nodded and said: "I asked Zijuan in private, and she said the same thing."

Speaking of this, he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. He had tried various methods before, but he still couldn't see Sister Lin's health getting better, but why did Sister Lin become healthy after two sessions of no contact?

Could it be that……

Are the two destined to be each other's catastrophe?
Thinking of this, the mental head he just raised collapsed visibly with the naked eye, and the degree of depression became more serious.

tsk~
This Wen Qing disease is difficult to deal with!

Jiao Shun really couldn't empathize with him, so he simply lay down again, raised his fingers and knocked on the car a few times.

"uncle?"

Immediately, Ni Er's respectful voice came from outside.

Jiao Shun had previously tried to flatter him as an official, but Ni Er knew that he was not the type, and he didn't want to be bound by those restrictions, so after much deliberation, he still declined.

So Jiao took the next best thing by the way, saying that he would recruit his 11-year-old son to study engineering, and promised that he would have a future in four or five years.

Ni Er seemed to be overjoyed by this, and became more respectful and well-behaved since then.

Jiao Shun ordered: "It's almost time, let's start."

"Little man understands!"

After Ni Er took the order, he immediately contacted the two confidantes who were ambushing on the execution platform with a secret signal. The two immediately stepped forward and removed a few wooden boards used to cover the essays from both sides of the execution platform, and put the red-backed sunspots The banner hung in the middle, and then disappeared into the darkness before dawn without looking back.

Not long after, Caishikou gradually became bustling—the vendors who deliver and sell vegetables all go to another street, so the surrounding area is relatively sparsely populated.

The abnormal situation in front of the execution platform quickly aroused the attention of passers-by.

Some literate people stepped forward to read the banner, and someone exclaimed: "Could this be something that Xue's family lost?!"

After these few days of fermentation, the Xue family lost their account books in Dali Temple and had to offer a reward of 3000 taels of silver. I dare not say that everyone knows about it, but at least one out of every five people in the capital has heard of it .

Immediately, there was a lot of discussion and pointing, so the rest of the passers-by who didn't know what to do, also suddenly realized.

Those who are more curious about the contents of the essays lean forward to read silently or recite while shaking their heads.

"what?"

An aunt with a vegetable basket was discussing with her companions about the 3000 taels of silver, when she overheard someone read a few words, she wondered, "What is this, why do I understand it?"

She doesn't know a few big characters, let alone understand the articles written by scholars, they all sound like heavenly scriptures, it's rare to meet someone who can understand more than half of them today, so she unconsciously pricked up her ears .

Hearing what she said, the companion also listened to a few words curiously, and then asked in the same surprise: "Is this really written by a scholar?"

"You can't be considered a serious scholar."

Because it is not uncommon to have such doubts, a scholar replied impatiently: "The Xue family is an imperial merchant, and they are in business—but these essays are written casually, and there is no need to quote classics."

In fact, the explanation behind is purely superfluous, and everyone was relieved when they heard that it was written by a businessman.

As time went by, more and more passers-by gathered here.

The people in the back couldn't get in, so they read the one in the front to everyone. As a result, some people with good deeds shook their heads and read aloud in front of the execution platform, which further promoted the gathering of people.

According to the tone set by Jiao Shun, this essay edited by Xue Baochai has the qualifications of a popular article in later generations, and on the premise of being as close as possible to the vernacular, it truly achieves both elegance and vulgarity.

In addition, what is described is mainly the universal family affection and filial piety, which naturally arouses great empathy.

Therefore, every time I read about the Mei family retiring, it will trigger countless indignation and abuse.

It was so noisy until around [nine o'clock in the morning] at Si time, when I saw a few young students pushing forward, without saying a word, they started to tear up the essays.

As a result, as soon as two or three articles were torn down, they were stopped by the onlookers.

Facing the people's questioning, they shouted loudly: "These things are all made up, please don't be fooled by this——Mei Hanlin did it for righteousness..."

"What nonsense?!"

However, before they finished shouting, someone retorted: "Is it made up because of the harmony between the brothers and sisters, or is it made up by the petty official who collects the bills and makes people bully him? Then it can't be made up when people honor their parents?!"

A scholar hurriedly corrected: "We mean that he smeared Mei Hanlin, now who doesn't know that Mei Hanlin is Daodekai..."

"Come on!"

Someone said: "If he has the guts, why doesn't he go to provoke the Jiao Jijiu from the Ministry of Industry, who bullies the orphans and widows, and has the face to brag about himself-I'm sorry, the real mother is not a thing!"

"That's right, I see that it also said that when the surname Mei was not admitted to Jinshi, he received a lot of favors from others, but now he tricked her into the capital for the sake of fame, and retired with great fanfare during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Isn't that true? What is ingratitude?"

"I think it's better than a beast!"

"Yeah, yeah! If it's really for the sake of righteousness, why did you trick him all the way to the capital to withdraw the marriage?"

"The mother of the petty official is still sick, but he has the face to say 'righteousness'!"

Several scholars were thrown into confusion by the scolding, and went to argue loudly: "Everyone, don't be deceived by traitors, the fact that Mei Hanlin received favors from Xue's family is clearly nothing but a nonsense..."

"But what kind of essay is this? Didn't someone write it for me? Why is he fooling himself?"

"Yeah, I heard that this thing was stolen by people from Dali Temple, and it was posted here in exchange for silver!"

"Could it be that thief made it up for the Xue family?"

"This……"

Several scholars were being stunned speechless, and suddenly saw the crowd parted again, a few gentlemen were in front, followed by the victim Xue Biao.

Because he was always showing his face opposite Shuntian Mansion these days, more than one person present recognized him, and immediately revealed Xue Biao's identity.

When the few scholars saw that the master had arrived, they looked at each other, and one of them gritted his teeth and came out, showing the torn essay and asked: "Mr. Yan Gong [Mei Hanlin character] ungrateful?!"

Because he had just been harassed just now, although he tried his best to put on a posture of righteous indignation, no matter how he looked at it, he was strong on the outside but on the inside.

But Xue Biao only gritted his teeth and spit out eight words: "Right and wrong, you have your own opinion."

Then with a big wave of his hand, several servants of the Xue family immediately stepped forward to tear off all the essays and banners and put them away.

Seeing this, the scholar asked subconsciously: "Are you trying to destroy the evidence?"

As he spoke, he hurriedly put the essay in his hand into his bosom.

But Xue Biao didn't bother to look at him again, and went directly to the execution platform, rushed around and cupped his hands and said, "Xue has received the evidence, and I will deliver the 3000 taels of silver to the designated place tonight. Just send the account book to any shop under my name."

As soon as the words fell, there was an unstoppable uproar from the audience.

Although I already knew about the reward offered by the Xue family, but listening to others, how could it be as shocking as hearing the parties express their opinions in public?
Xue Biao and the others calmed down a little, then rushed around and said: "If that person is not here, I would like to ask all the folks and elders to spread the word on Xue's behalf."

Saying that, he gave a deep salute, stepped down from the stage, and walked away.

This came and went like the wind, but left a deep impression on everyone in the audience.

Those few scholars looked at me and looked at you, but in the end they had no choice but to run away in desperation amidst the ridicule and abuse of the crowd.

As expected, this matter quickly spread within the capital.

What's more, a person with good deeds re-wrote the essay silently—because he could only transcribe it from memory, several versions were made, and they couldn't agree with each other.

And for those who have read and heard this essay, and asked about the whole story, nine out of ten will sympathize with Xue's family, and are not ashamed of Mei Hanlin's actions.

Mei Hanlin and his fans wanted to refute it at first, but soon someone discovered that some of the content in the essay could be mutually confirmed with the newspaper article just released.

For example, the newspaper said that Mei Hanlin studied hard since he was a child, and his family was very difficult. It didn't get better until a certain period of time, and then he immediately started helping his classmates.

In addition, his behavior of daring to cut off from the Xue family for the sake of righteousness is enough to prove that his wealth cannot be promiscuous, his poverty cannot be moved, his might cannot be subdued, he can be called a real man!
However, in the essay, it was just mentioned that at that time, it was the previous head of the Xue family who saw that Mei Hanlin was talented, and offered money to support him.

As a result, the echoed narratives in the newspaper suddenly became different...

However, these contents are rumored to be said by Mei Hanlin's relatives and friends.

And the editor of the General Administration Department jumped out to admit the matter, not only the time and place, but also the signature of the parties involved, so there is no room for sophistry.

As a result, the voices condemning Mei Hanlin became louder and louder than ever!
In just a few days, Mei Hanlin, who was originally praised by Shilin as a moral model, became the target of everyone in the capital...

(End of this chapter)