The Second Master of the Red Chamber

Chapter 40
On the second day, after Jia Lian visited the last two family residences, he packed his bags and set off for Yangzhou on the third day.

Two days later, when he arrived outside Yangzhou City, Jia Lian did not enter the city, but went to the pier to prepare the ships.

This time when he returned to Yangzhou, he didn't plan to waste any more time, but returned to Beijing immediately.

There were two boats sent by Jia's mansion, and neither was too big. Jia Lian calculated the number of people and found that it was a bit crowded, so he ordered to rent two more small passenger boats.

One is for Jia Yucun alone, and the other is used to disperse the staff of Jia's mansion to make everyone's journey more comfortable.

After arranging the affairs on board properly, especially checking that there was nothing wrong with Daiyu's cabin, Jia Lian was going to go back to pick up Daiyu.

As for Xiangling, put it on the boat first.The little girl was weak and couldn't stand the long journey, so when she came back from Nanjing, Jia Lian specially hired a carriage for her, which was why it took a lot of time.

Back at the Lin Mansion, Jia Lian first came to ask Lin Ruhai to resign.

"I'm leaving tomorrow, so urgent?" Lin Ruhai was a little surprised when he heard Jia Lian explain that he was leaving for Beijing tomorrow.

"If my uncle still wants to stay with Sister Lin for one more day, then it's okay to leave at a later date."

Hearing what Jia Lian said, Lin Ruhai could see that Jia Lian was eager to return to Beijing, and then thought that Jia Lian's trip to the south of the Yangtze River had taken almost three months, so he felt relieved.

"Forget it, it doesn't matter if it's early or late. Since you have decided to return tomorrow, then tomorrow."

Lin Ruhai said with a sigh.When Jia Lian and the others left, they took their daughter away. This time, his place became more and more deserted.

Jia Lian also saw that Lin Ruhai's condition was not very good. After hesitating for a while, he couldn't help persuading him: "My uncle is acting in charge of the salt administration for the imperial court, and he has a heavy responsibility, but my nephew still wants to persuade my uncle. Don't work too hard. You should also focus on your body.

How sad would sister Lin be if my uncle broke his body from overwork?So even if uncle doesn't think about himself, he should think more about sister Lin. "

Naturally, Lin Ruhai could also see Jia Lian's concern, and this concern was undisguisedly real. He felt a little comforted in his heart for a moment, so he smiled and said, "You don't have to worry too much about me. I still know my body. It's not that serious. Oops. Besides, as you said, '********', I'm only six feet tall, so it doesn't matter."

Seeing that Lin Ruhai responded to him with what he said, Jia Lian didn't know how to persuade him.

Could it be that he told Lin Ruhai that you don't have much time left to live, and that in two years at most, you have to report to Lord Yan?
He didn't reply for a while, but Lin Ruhai laughed instead: "You are from a famous family, and you are still young, so you should plan to serve the country. It is important to act as an agent of the family business at home and honor your elders, but it is not the first thing that a good man should consider.

Now that the imperial court is in the midst of employing people, after you return to Beijing, you should pay more attention to your official career and government affairs. "

Although Lin Ruhai felt that it was a pity that a person like Jia Lian only stayed at home as a housekeeper, after all, he was just a nephew of his wife's family, so it was not easy to reprimand him too much, so he just mentioned it lightly.

He also didn't tell Jia Lian that he had mentioned him intentionally in the Memorial of Thanksgiving to the emperor, and he could be regarded as a support within his ability as an elder.

But he just created a possible opportunity. Whether he can seize it and make a bright future depends on Jia Lian himself.

……

The mighty Shenjing, the majestic Forbidden City.

In the depths of the imperial palace, Emperor Ningkang, who was nearly fifty years old, stood behind the large dragon table, holding a pen and waving a brush.

In front of him, ten steps away in the main hall, a luxuriously dressed young man was kneeling there timidly, with a shy and uneasy expression.

"I heard that you were fighting cocks outside the martial arts arena, and you beat Prince Duan?"

The question without even raising his head made the young man shrug his shoulders even more, but he had no choice but to hasten to reply: "Reporting to Father Emperor, I didn't make the first move, but the one who scolded me first. However, after only pushing him twice, who knew he was playing a rogue, he just rolled on the ground..."

"The martial arts arena built by our ancestors was originally specially used for you to fight cocks." Emperor Ningkang snorted.

Seeing that the strategy of avoiding the most important and taking the lightest was not achieved, the young man was completely persuaded, bowed his head and said: "I know my mistake, please punish me."

There was no response for a while, and when the boy looked up, he heard Emperor Ningkang say again: "I heard that you have a chicken from Siam, and you named him General Shenwei, is there such a thing?"

"It's just for fun, don't take it seriously..."

"How dare you!"

Emperor Ningkang finally showed an angry look on his face, and he put one hand on the case, making a loud noise.

"Since the establishment of my dynasty, countless people have been granted the title of 'Shenwei General'. Among them, some are meritorious for founding the country, and some are famous generals. No., but also indulge others to spread it everywhere, where is the face of these people, and where is the face of the court?"

Seeing that Emperor Ningkang was angry, the young man quickly defended: "Father calm down, I didn't mean to humiliate the hero, I didn't investigate for a while, I will change it after I go back."

"No need!"

Emperor Ningkang waved his hand coldly and shouted: "Dai Quan."

"The old slave is here."

"You lead a group of imperial guards to the fourth prince's mansion, and watch that beast beheaded with your own eyes."

Hearing that Emperor Ningkang was going to kill his mighty general, the fourth prince was completely anxious, and knelt up to beg for mercy, trying to save his beloved general's life.

Only a cold snort came in exchange.

Seeing that Dai Quan had exited the hall, the Fourth Prince sat on the ground in despair.

"come over!"

The fourth prince stepped forward as ordered, but still did not dare to look directly at Emperor Ningkang.

"After you go back, write an essay on this topic and hand it over to me in three days. Let's go down."

Seeing that Emperor Ningkang handed him an imperial pen, the fourth prince didn't even think about it, and hurriedly took it.

Seeing that Emperor Ningkang had sat down and no longer paid any attention to his intentions, he could only leave dejectedly.

Leaving the main hall, the fourth prince wanted to go back to the mansion quickly, maybe in time to save his general's life, after all, he looked back at the majestic palace and gave up this thought that might completely anger his father.

"Ask me to write some policy theory again, I know that I am most annoyed by writing this..."

Muttering in his mouth, he still unfolded the topic given to him by the emperor, only to see the seven words in a flying style above:
Gou Li's family and country are born and died.

What's the meaning?The fourth prince said that he didn't understand much.

……

On the vast Grand Canal, two large, two small and four fast boats sailed forward like breaking through the ice and waves.

Standing on the deck, Jia Lian looked at the broad river, felt the stability under his feet, and said in his heart, it really is comfortable to take a boat.

The last time he went down to Yangzhou from the capital, even though he was fully equipped, his inner thighs were almost bald.If he really wants to come here again, he really has to think about it.

Suddenly feeling a faint fragrance coming from around her, Jia Lian turned her head and took a look, and it was indeed the little girl Daiyu who came out wearing a big cloak.Behind her is the dumb girl Xueyan.

Jia Lian smiled slightly, turned her head and continued to admire the scenery along the coast.

Seeing Jia Lian ignoring her, Daiyu pouted imperceptibly, and stood beside Jia Lian, also looking into the distance.

After a while, he finally took the initiative to speak: "Why isn't Lian's second brother teaching Xiangling to write in the house?"

"My own level is too poor, I'm sorry to mislead my disciples."

"laugh."

The short and straightforward words made Daiyu burst out laughing, then hurriedly covered her mouth and went to see Jia Lian, fearing that he would be angry.

"Don't hold back, just laugh if you want to."

Daiyu really smiled brighter.

The last time she rarely went to Jia Lian's room to see him, she happened to see Jia Lian teaching Xiangling how to read.

Xiangling was originally a Mengtong who couldn't read a single word, and she could teach reasoning at Jia Lian's level, but she found out at a glance that Jia Lian had written a word wrong, and a few strokes were missing. This made Jia Lian very embarrassed, and decided immediately I will never be a teacher again.

Therefore, this is also the reason why she asked this question on purpose and Jia Lian responded this way on purpose.

After all, Daiyu was too delicate, and the wind in the river was gloomy and cold. She smiled and was blown again, and suddenly felt that it was a little harder to breathe, and her little face turned red.

Seeing this, Jia Lian turned around and tied the collar of her cloak tighter on her chest.

This is a very common move, but because he is much taller than Daiyu, now he is bowed, his face is very close to Daiyu, and his hands are closer to Daiyu's chest, in these two or three moves, This made Daiyu feel ashamed, and hurriedly took a step back.

Jia Lian was stunned for a moment, looking at Daiyu's delicate apple-like face and her shy way of bowing her head, she felt that God was really unfair, Daiyu was so beautiful at this age, so what will happen in the future?
It's no wonder that Jia Erbao, who is full of fraternal love in the world, can be overwhelmed.

He turned his head and persuaded: "Since my sister can't stand the wind, don't stand here, go back to the house and rest."

But it was obvious that Daiyu had a childish temper. If Jia Lian hadn't said that, she might have gone back to the house. Now that Jia Lian said that, it seemed like she was so weak!

Instead of going away, he stood beside Jia Lian and asked, "Second brother Lian said last time that he would tell me when he was going to the capital. Now that he is almost there, the second brother should tell my sisters at home about their relatives. Personality like it."

In fact, Daiyu doesn't really care about this. What she pursues is that she gets closer to whoever is good, and on the contrary, she doesn't get close to him.So from the very beginning, she never thought about who she would curry favor with when she arrived in the capital, which naturally included the three sisters of Jia's mansion.

Besides, even if she wanted to inquire about these things, she could actually ask Zhou Rui's family and others.

The reason why I only asked Jia Lian was because there were only these topics between her and Jia Lian.

Jia Lian said, "Okay, since you insist on asking, I'll just talk to you briefly.

Let's talk about your youngest fourth sister first, her name is Xichun, she is a quiet and lovely cute girl.

And your third younger sister, named Tanchun, is the most intelligent and generous person, and the age closest to you.

Finally, let’s talk about your two second sisters.Your sophomore sister, named Yingchun, is the most gentle and demure person, she is also my own younger sister, you are not allowed to bully her in the future. "

Jia Lian's words made Daiyu frowned, and before she could respond to Jia Lian's teasing, she asked curiously: "Aren't there only three sisters in your family, the fourth sister Xichun, and the third sister Tanchun, this is already two sisters. Now, how come there are two second sisters?
Tell me, who is the other? "

Jia Lian said: "Why not, your little second sister... I won't tell you the name, anyway, you will know it when you get home. You can just call him Sister Bao or Sister Yu, it's up to you, she is here The family is also the second, and she is younger than your sister Yingchun, so it is naturally your second sister, you just remember."

Daiyu immediately looked at Jia Lian with dissatisfaction, she was very sure that Jia Lian was playing tricks.

When my mother was alive, she had told her about the situation in Jia's mansion, so it was not easy for Jia Lian to deceive her.

The hateful thing is that no matter how Ren stared at him, Jia Lian just laughed and said nothing.

It was Zhou Rui's family who passed by who just heard it, so he smiled and said, "Miss Lin, don't listen to what our second master said. There are no two second girls. He is talking about the second master Bao in our family. His baby name is Baoyu, and he is also a girl. Where is my cousin?"

When Daiyu heard this, she still didn't understand that Jia Lian was teasing her. She frowned and looked at Jia Lian for a long time, and finally said unhappily, "Second brother Lian, you are really annoying."

After finishing speaking, he returned to the cabin angrily.

Jia Lian looked at Daiyu's angry figure with a smile, and asked secretly, was he wrong?
Jia Baoyu was originally a woman.

Women and women cannot be together, this is the yin and yang principle of heaven and earth.

(End of this chapter)