serious man in the red chamber

Chapter 215
This year’s Beijing is the opposite of last year. Before the winter solstice, there was a lot of heavy snowfall, and there was only a few light snowfalls in the next 20 days. This made the cabinet panic.

Early this morning, it was snowing heavily inside and outside the city of Beijing, and it was snowing all over the sky. The coming year was bound to be a bumper harvest year.

It was already the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, and the closer it was to the New Year's Eve, both inside and outside the Ningrong and Rong mansions were busy.

On the Ningguo Mansion side, the ancestral hall was opened, and Jia Daixiu asked the servants to clean it, pack up the offering vessels, invite the gods, and clean the upper room for the portraits of the ancestors to be hung.

At this time, the meeting hall of Ningguo Mansion was very lively. Lin Daiyu and Youshi had just had dinner, and the Nan'an County Prince's Mansion brought New Year's gifts, and they were asking the wives in charge to count them. They had to choose a few of the expensive gifts and send them to Jia Mu, Jia Amnesty, and Jia Zheng.

Let people send the sorted things to Jia Mu and others, and some silk, satin and silk to Aunt Zhou, Aunt Zhao and others.

Taking the jewelry box from Lin Daiyu and opening it, it was a pair of crystal clear jade bracelets. Tanchun smiled: "Thank you, Sister Lin." He took out one and put it on his hand, and looked at the light from the window, "Hey, Sister Lin, the annual gift you gave to the Li family this year is still the standard of last year?"

Lin Daiyu handed a beaded jade hairpin to Xing Xiuyan, "Yes, what's the matter?"

Tan Chun: "I heard that this year, the wife gave [-]% more annual gifts to Li's house, which is the same standard as my uncle's family."

Hearing this, Lin Daiyu smiled. Many things happened in the capital these days. First, the imperial court and the Manchus reached an agreement on the prisoners of war. She didn't know the details. She only heard that many people in North Korea would starve to death in the coming year.

There was another major event. The emperor decreed to clean up the government. Except for the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Households and the Ministry of Officials, officials in several other yamen were fined, demoted, and even lost their black hats. The most serious one was the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

During this turmoil, only one person was promoted. Li Wan's father, Li Shouzhong, was promoted to the second-rank Zuodu Censor. Now there is no censor in the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and Li Shouzhong, the chief constitution, is the main hall of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

At the beginning of the month when Li Shouzhong was promoted to Zuodu Yushi's banquet, Madam Wang personally took Li Wan, Baoyu and Jia Lan to Li's mansion, and presented a great gift.

Through this incident, Lin Daiyu has completely seen Mrs. Wang, and she only has immediate interests in her eyes.

At this time, Youshi came over and asked Lin Daiyu, "Should we wait for the second uncle to come back to receive the reward for the Spring Festival, or should I send Rong'er to Guanglu Temple to collect it?"

Lin Daiyu thought for a while: "Let's wait and see."

Tanchun continued: "This year is different from previous years, and I definitely need my second brother to pick it up in person."

Yushi nodded.

At this moment, firecrackers sounded on Ningrong Street.

Youshi: "Why set off firecrackers at this time?"

Baochai and Yingchun were flipping through the fabrics, and when they heard Youshi's words, they came over and said with a smile: "Yesterday, the second master wrote an inscription about asking your mother to visit her relatives. I think it's an order from the palace."

As soon as this remark came out, not only Tanchun, but even Lin Daiyu were startled, and they all looked at Baochai.

Youshi asked again: "Why didn't you hear the second wife talk about this?"

Baochai understood, glanced at You Shi, then turned to Lin Daiyu: "I heard about this in my aunt's room early in the morning. I think it was the evening when the second master came back yesterday, and my aunt also heard about it after she went back."

Just as I was talking, Lin Zhixiao's family came in from the outside, and said with a smile: "It's a happy event, the palace has a decree, and the emperor has allowed our young lady to go home to visit her relatives on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month!"

As soon as the words were finished, Zhou Rui's family hurried in and said to Youshi: "Grandma, madam, please go to the old lady's room to discuss the matter of your mother's visit."

Youshi didn't speak, but turned to look at Lin Daiyu.

Lin Daiyu smiled slightly: "Sister-in-law, go, there is nothing to be busy here."

You Shi turned to Zhou Rui's family and said, "Let's go." Then he walked straight out the door.

Zhou Rui's family immediately burst into laughter: "Don't bother the girls." After speaking, he turned and walked out in a hurry.

There was silence.

Lin Daiyu: "What's the matter?" His eyes swept to everyone.

Tanchun lowered his head, Baochai and Xing Xiuyan looked at each other, then also lowered their heads.

At this time, Yingchun came over and asked, "Why are Fourth Sister and Sister Yun missing?"

Lin Daiyu said with a smile: "The two of them lived here last night. I heard that they didn't go to bed until midnight. They are still sleeping now."

When everyone heard this, they all laughed and said, "What a lazy girl, bring the two of them quickly."

Lin Daiyu smiled: "Let them make trouble, it's only a few days."

Baochai laughed and said, "The two of them won't be in the same place anymore. If they do, how many stories will arise. Second elder brother should take good care of them when he comes back."

Just as he was talking, he saw Xichun standing outside the door blinking his eyes and looking this way.

As soon as Lin Daiyu turned around, Xichun might as well, so she didn't dodge, so she walked in and said cheekily: "My dear sister, I haven't eaten yet."

Lin Daiyu raised her hand and tapped her forehead, and said with a smile: "You stay in bed by yourself, it's none of my business, you only think of me now? It's too late."

Hearing this, Xichun hugged Lin Daiyu's arm coquettishly, "Oh! Why are you doing this, my brother asked you to take care of me, I don't care, I'm hungry."

Lin Daiyu couldn't catch her breath from laughing, suddenly, she felt someone behind her, she turned her head quickly, and saw Jia Hu standing outside the door wearing an official hat and red auspicious uniform, tears streaming down her face, and she called out "Second Brother" in an aggrieved tone, only to find that Jia Hu had two pendants under her ears, and after a closer look, it was Xiang Yun standing there wearing Jia Hu's official uniform.

Everyone couldn't help laughing, Yingchun stepped forward and pulled Xiangyun over, and said with a smile: "At first glance, I really look like my second brother."

Baochai reached out and pinched Xiangyun's cheek, and said with a smile, "it looks good to be a man." She spoke with her face looking at Xiangyun, but glanced at Lin Daiyu.

Lin Daiyu blushed with shame, wishing she could find a crack in the ground and get in.

It was snowing all over the sky, the snow on the ground was very thick, and there was a vast expanse of whiteness everywhere.

In the vast snow curtain, a team of cavalry and carriages marched hard on the snow-covered official road.

Jia Yun took the lead and led more than thirty riders in front.

In the middle are a dozen large vehicles.

Lin San led ten soldiers to guard Jia Hu and followed closely behind the carriage.

In the end, there were hundreds of cavalrymen, all with tense faces, their eyes still wide open in the snowstorm, paying attention to the surrounding situation.

The Beijing city tower in the snow is far away.

(End of this chapter)