The Red Mansions

Chapter 98
At night, Ning Rong's back street was lit up, as bright as day.

More and more people come to eat, watch plays, watch juggling and other fun.

Even many foreigners came to join in the fun.

To put it bluntly, it is mainly because there are still too few entertainment activities for ordinary people in this era.

After the banquet in the evening, Jia Yun was dragged to the same table by Jia Zheng.

Now that he has the reputation of a scholar, he is qualified to sit at the same table with officials.

He used to be white and not from the big house, so he never had dinner at the same table with Jia Zheng and the others because he was not qualified.

But starting today, he's eligible.

And this is also a small change after the identity change.

After dinner, Jia Yun went to the theater with Jia Zheng and others. When the night was getting dark, Laipi Gou suddenly ran to say that the attacker had something to do with him.

When Jia Yun returned to the middle courtyard, she saw Xiren holding dozens of thick account books.

"Is it a gift book? It's a bit too much!" Jia Yun said twice.

Xiren smiled slightly and said, "We have used four rooms to store the gifts, so naturally we have to write a few books for the list of gifts."

Jia Yun looked at Xi Ren dotingly, and said softly, "Thank you for your hard work today."

The hardest ones today are probably Xiren and Laipigou.

These gift books were written by a few stewards sent by Jia's mansion, but Xiren knew the virtues of those servants in Jia's mansion.

So let Laipi Gou be in charge of receiving the congratulatory gifts, and Xiren is in charge of putting them into storage. When he is particularly busy, he will ask Meiren to take care of them for a while, so that others can't do anything.

When Xiren saw Jia Yun's gentle gaze, the tiredness on her body was swept away, and her heart almost melted. She said happily:
"It's not hard, it's for my own family, I'm willing to be so busy every day."

Jia Yun smiled, and she didn't stop being pretentious. Xiren was indeed doing something for her family, so she said, "Okay, let's go back to the study and take a closer look to see how many congratulatory gifts we have received today."

"I want to know too, anyway, there are quite a few." Xiren said with a smile.

As soon as they arrived in the corridor, they met Wang Xifeng leading Lin Daiyu and the others out.

Seeing that Jia Yun was holding a thick gift book, Wang Xifeng smiled and said, "Good guy, you've had a mouthful of oil after just one meal, come on, come on, show your aunt quickly, what's going on today?" How much did you earn?"

Lin Daiyu and Jia Tanchun behind were also curious.

Although the Jia family received a lot of presents when doing business, they had never seen the gift book, let alone know what people were giving in return.

Jia Yun pondered for a moment, then nodded and said, "Okay, I want to know too, let's talk in the study."

So a group of people all rushed into the study, and in order to make the light brighter, Xiren lit a dozen candles as thick as an arm, and the whole study was suddenly brightly lit.

There were quite a lot of people, so Jia Yun didn't go to the desk, and directly took the gift book to the round table and put it down.

At this time, Wang Xifeng said with a smile: "I'm sure, Ningrong and Rong's Second House gave the most gifts, and they were also the most expensive!"

Jia Yun glanced at her and said with a smile, "How about we make a bet, Second Aunt?"

"What bet?" Wang Xifeng asked back.

Jia Yun said: "You said that Ning Rong's second residence gave the most gifts, but I said no, how about it, do you want to take a gamble?"

Wang Xifeng pondered for a moment, then asked with a smile, "Did you accept the gift in private?"

Jia Yun nodded and said: "In addition to the gifts from you, I also privately accepted the gifts from the master and classmates of the academy."

Wang Xifeng gritted her teeth and said, "If you take the two congratulatory gifts aside, Auntie will bet with you!"

Jia Yun smiled and said with certainty: "Is this really true?"

"Really!" Wang Xifeng slashed the iron, and then asked: "But what if you win, and what if you lose?"

Jia Yun thought for a while and said, "If I win, my aunt will give my nephew another handkerchief. If my aunt wins, I will return all the handkerchiefs I took from you before. How about it?"

Qin Keqing clapped her hands suddenly and said, "That's good, it's very interesting!"

Wang Xifeng nodded with a smile and said, "Then I'm sure I'll win today, okay, I promise you!"

Jia Yun nodded, and said, "In this case, let's leave the suspense for the end, start with Bafang first, and look at the gift from Dafang at the end, how about it?"

"Okay, that's the way it is. Otherwise, it would be too boring to know the answer soon." Wang Xifeng nodded.

So Jia Yun took the gift book that recorded the gifts given by the clansman at Bafang, and looked at the cover. There were two books in total. It seemed that many people came to give the book.

Jia Yun looked through it carefully, and found that most of the people gave copper coins, at least fifty cash, mostly one or two hundred cash, and the most was a consistent coin.

Only a very small number of them are bacon or chicken, duck and geese, and those who send these will also have some rice noodles.

Wang Xifeng and Lin Daiyu stood behind Jia Yun, one on the left and one on the right. Every time he turned a page, they could see the records on it clearly, after all, the calligraphy was quite large.

After Jia Yun finished reading, Wang Xifeng smiled and said, "Don't count on the eighth room, hurry up and look at the seventh room."

Next, the seven, six, and five houses are all similar to the eight houses. It should be that everyone has a custom in gift giving, but in fact it is no different from gift giving in later generations.

After arriving at the fourth room, a few people gave ten taels of silver. Jia Yun knew that the family had a handicraft, and the living conditions were better, so they gave more.

The key is that they are more familiar with Jia Yun. Last year, the old house was renovated, and those family members went to work.

After reading Sifang's gift book, Wang Xifeng said, "Although there are not many gifts from each family, there are many Jia family members. The gifts from the Wufang clan that I saw just now are already over 50 taels of silver. .”

Jia Yun shook her head and said, "These properties are not collected in vain, and they will be returned twice as much in the future."

If his identity has not changed, he will naturally return as much as others send.

But if the tide rises and the boat rises, and his status becomes more and more valuable, then the return gift will naturally be doubled, otherwise others will gossip.

Lin Daiyu interrupted suddenly: "It turns out that everyone's family conditions are not very good!"

"It can be seen from the amount of gifts they gave that nearly half of them only gave one hundred coins. To put it bluntly, this one hundred coins cannot buy food for three days of banquets."

How about Lin Daiyu's intelligence? She sees things from a unique perspective, and she can see the essence through phenomena, which is an ability that many people do not have.

Jia Yun tilted her head and said with a smile: "Aunt Lin is right, but the running water mats on the street today are actually prepared according to the standards of the Jia family, if I were to do it myself, the mats would be much worse. "

As he said that, he gave Wang Xifeng a meaningful look, and said, "This is actually a way for the Jia family to win over the Jia family members. It's just borrowing my name, Second Aunt, right?"

Wang Xifeng nodded and said, "What's so strange about this? Jia's house is upright, and they pay for their own money to treat everyone to a good meal. Brother Yun, you don't have to agree! Stop talking nonsense, and hurry up to see your third wife."

Jia Yun nodded, and took Sanfang's gift book, opened it and looked through it.

As soon as she opened it, Jia Yun smiled and said, "After all, they are members of the same clan, and the distinction between distance and distance will be immediately distinguished."

Throughout the article, even if the Sanfang people are poor here, none of them are less than three hundred cash, and the most give ten taels of silver, and there are quite a few households.

Wang Xifeng nodded and said: "It seems that you, Sanfang, are really trying to sell everything in order to save your face!"

Jia Yun shook her head and smiled, "Don't worry, I won't treat them badly."

Next, look at the second room.

The second-family members of Jia's family in Beijing have always liked to engage in crooked ways, stealing chickens and dogs, gambling and stealing, blocking roads and robbery, and doing everything.

The only thing is that they don't make mistakes in their own family, which is exactly the saying that rabbits don't eat grass beside their nests.

Because these people's families follow the evil way, the poor die poor, and the rich die rich, and one or two of them can be reflected when hanging the ceremony.

Some people gave fifty taels, some gave five hundred taels, some gave ten taels of silver, and some gave up to 50 taels of silver.

Jia Yun took a closer look, and found that there were six second-family families who gave 50 taels of silver, which was a great deal.

Wang Xifeng squinted and said, "The money is all dirty money!"

"Why dirty money?" Lin Daiyu wondered.

Wang Xifeng pursed her lips and said, "It's not the right way!"

Jia Yun looked at Wang Xifeng and asked, "If there is a business that can earn you 1000 taels of silver a day, would you do it?"

"Why don't you do it? I'm stupid to have trouble with Yinzi!" Wang Xifeng replied very simply.

Jia Yun choked for a moment, and said angrily, "Then you just had the nerve to speak out against others just now?"

Wang Xifeng snorted, and said angrily: "They don't take me to make money, so of course I can blame them."

Jia Yun had nothing to say, no wonder Wang Xifeng would put ushers, to put it bluntly, she was a lawless master.

Sighing, Jia Yun took the gift book of the big house and opened it, among which Ningguo Mansion gave 200 taels of silver, and some other goods, such as cloth and so on.

Rongguo Mansion also sent 200 taels of silver, plus goods.

Wang Xifeng roughly estimated the number of those cloth and other things, and then said: "Both mansions are purchased at 500 taels of silver, plus gifts from other people, the big house will be 300 taels."

Jia Yun nodded, she had no objection, and then looked at the last gift book on the table, which was the registration list of gifts given by people with foreign surnames.

Lin Daiyu covered her mouth and smiled, before Jia Yun could get it, she took it first.

She opened it and glanced at it, then smiled at Wang Xifeng and said, "Sister-in-law Lian, you lost!"

Wang Xifeng frowned, and said in surprise: "Is there really anyone who gave more gifts than our family?"

She was skeptical, took the gift book from Lin Daiyu, opened it, read it, gritted her teeth and cursed: "This man Xue is ruining my good deeds again!"

It turned out that Xue Pan was the first one to register, and he directly gave 1000 taels of silver as a congratulatory gift, which was quite arrogant.

Jia Yun smiled and said, "I knew Big Brother Xue wouldn't let me down, haha, Second Aunt, the winner or loser is decided, give me the handkerchief!"

Lin Daiyu and other girls covered their mouths and laughed when they saw Wang Xifeng was deflated.

"Here you are!" Wang Xifeng threw her handkerchief on Jia Yun's face, and said angrily, "Damn it, the last few times, every time I see you, I have to throw away the handkerchief. Take it!"

Jia Yun picked up the handkerchief and put it in front of her nose, sniffed it, and said, "Well, it is indeed the handkerchief used by the second aunt, it smells so good!"

Wang Xifeng said angrily: "Hmph, depending on how proud you are, I will always find a chance to deal with you!"

With that said, he turned and left.

Ping'er smiled and spread his hands to Jia Yun, and then left.

Jia Tanchun said with a smile: "Scholar nephew, you should study hard, and try to come back from the exam next time. I have a good face as an aunt. Maybe I will give you another gift when I am happy! Hee hee ..."

After speaking, he walked away with a smile on his face.

Jia Yun was speechless, seeing Lin Daiyu also opened her mouth, and quickly said, "Aunt Cousin, you are a cousin!"

"Hmph, the cousin is also an aunt, so I can still call you nephew!" Lin Daiyu snorted softly, covered her mouth with a smile, and walked out.

Jia Yingchun and Jia Xichun didn't say anything, they just kept laughing and followed them out with the maids in the house.

Xiren asked with a smile: "Brother Yun, isn't Second Mistress Lian angry?"

"Don't worry, she's not angry like this." Jia Yun replied with a smile.

After the two of them put the gift book away, they went to several rooms where gifts were piled up to check. Among them, the cloth, food and other materials sent by Guangjia's mansion occupied a room exclusively.

There was also a room full of chickens, ducks and geese, and because it was night, it was not as non-stop as during the day.

"Pick a few of them and throw them to Kuayuaner to raise and lay eggs. Tell Aunt Miao to kill the others tomorrow. It's not a problem to lock them up here," Jia Yun ordered.

Xiren nodded and said, "You can take care of it again. In May, Miss Bao will come to the house. These are all needed for the banquet."

"Don't, it stinks to death if there are too many animals in the house!" Jia Yun shook her head.

Xiren said helplessly: "Okay, I'll tell Aunt Miao tomorrow, and the maid from Jia's mansion will help me kill it."

The next day.

Qin Keqing followed Jia Rong early in the morning, and when she arrived at the back house, she told Jia Yun one thing.

"Don't you think it's strange, my father-in-law wanted my slave to cook tremella soup for him last night, but he said that my slave's house smells bad, hee hee, when I woke up this morning, he also told my slave's family not to have morning and evening sleep! "

Qin Keqing was very happy. She had been worried that Jia Zhen would do something wrong to her, but now it was resolved like this.

The stone hanging in her heart fell to the ground, her spirit was extremely excited and relaxed, and her face was radiant.

Today, Jia Yun didn't hang out with her in the guest room, but took her to the attic in the garden next door. The two of them showed off their charms to the fullest, and finally refused to give up until they were exhausted.

For the next two days, Jia Yun's family lived in quarrels.

To be honest, that is to say, Jia Amnesty and Jia Zhen and the others like to make a big show, but Jia Yun herself really doesn't like it.

In the past few days, his relationship with Qin Keqing has grown by leaps and bounds, and he has become acquainted with Lin Daiyu and Jia Tanchun a lot.

Not to mention the relationship with Wang Xifeng, when Jia Yun occasionally hugged her, she would just roll her eyes at most, and she didn't know what was going on in her heart.

After the three-day feast and various celebrations were over, Jia Yun finally breathed a sigh of relief.

In the next few days, Jia Yun went to several gatherings led by the county magistrate. He was the head of the case this year, but it was convenient to deal with the same year, knew many people, and attended several poetry meetings by the way.

He hasn't written any poems, and he has never encountered a plot that pretends to be slapped in the face. Most of them get along with each other in the same year. If this kind of incense is managed well, it can benefit for life.

The surface of the frozen pool is green,
The day's flower shoots began to break red.

March in Yangchun is a beautiful season, everything is in the bud, and everything is in hope.

All things are awakened by the spring breeze, the spring water is born, the spring forest is blooming, play, enjoy spring, enjoy flowers...

On the eighth day of March, Jia Yun was finally free.

Originally, I said I was going to buy a servant girl, but I haven't bought it until now.

After eating in the morning, Xiren heard Jia Yun say that he was going to buy maids, so he said: "You can buy both big and small maids, and buy another three or four rough and rough ones. From now on, there will be people on night watch. Boy..."

Jia Yun answered, "Let's hire a clansman, my boy. If you know the basics, you can use them with confidence."

Laipigou now has a new name: Jia Ming.

From now on, Jia Ming will be Jia Yun's servant full-time, and the coachman can pick people from the clan.

The more difficult thing to find is a housekeeper, who needs to be able to read, communicate, and various etiquettes. People also need to know the basics and be a little shrewd. The requirements are a bit high.

Xiren said with a slight smile: "It is true that the butler must be searched carefully. This is the facade of the mansion. From now on, many external matters will be entrusted to him. He must have both ability and character, and he must not be sloppy."

"As for the management of the maid, you can leave it to me for the time being, Brother Yun. After Miss Bao passes through the door, I believe she will have a charter, so you don't have to worry about the inner house."

After pondering for a while, Jia Yun said: "The housekeeper may not be easy to find for the time being, it seems that we have to let it go for a while, and go buy the maid and rough envoy first."

Then, he took Xiren on a bullock cart to Renshi.

The reason why Xiren was brought along was because she had stayed in Jia's mansion, and she had been taking care of the little maids in Jia Baoyu's courtyard before, and she had some means to train the maids.

Although maidservants are at the bottom of society, they are also maidservants, and their rank and status are also very strict.

There are many factors that affect the price of a maid, including age, appearance, and skills.

Maids who are of the right age, good-looking and have skills can fetch a good price.

The age limit is generally 13 years old. Those who are too young are only a few taels to ten taels of silver due to limited physical strength and experience.

Between thirteen and 20 years old, maids with better conditions can be sold for 50 taels of silver.

The lowest-ranked maids are called rough envoy maids, who do all the dirty work, such as washing and chopping firewood, sweeping the courtyard and cooking.

Most of these maids are thick-bodied and dull-minded, and generally there is not much room for improvement.

The best ones are the personal maids, they surround and serve the master, and many other servants have to look at their faces.

For example, Xiren, Meiren, Ping'er, and Yuanyang, they are all top maids, both in appearance and ability, they are all outstanding.

The best way out for a maid is to be the male master's concubine. If she has one and a half daughters, she can change her household registration to a commoner and become a concubine.

But more concubines were sold to brothels after falling out of favor, and their fate was miserable.

After arriving in Renshi, Jia Yun and Xiren didn't wander around, but went directly to a reputable and relatively large dental shop.

Generally speaking, the slaves sold by large dental shops are relatively formal, and the records of the eight generations of ancestors are relatively clear. This is to prevent close relatives from getting married, and the government is also stricter in this regard.

And some small human traffickers don't care about the ins and outs of slaves.

Sometimes, after numerous changes of hands, the slave's surname could be lost.

For example, some little maids left their parents when they were very young, and they didn't know what their last name was, so that the people who bought them had to throw a sieve to determine whether the slaves were related to them.

It's kind of absurd.

(End of this chapter)