serious man in the red chamber

Chapter 236

Honor Hall

The dinner table has just been removed, and Wang Xifeng, Baochai and Xing Xiuyan are playing cards and laughing with Jiamu.

While joking, the servant girl came in and said, "My aunt is here!"

Before she finished speaking, Aunt Xue walked in.

Seeing Aunt Xue coming in, Wang Xifeng, Baochai and Xing Xiuyan hurriedly stood up to greet her.

Aunt Xue nodded with a smile, walked to Mother Jia and stopped, and smiled apologetically: "I'm late, please forgive me, old lady."

"You have something to do, but there is nothing unforgivable. Please sit down."

Jia's mother hurriedly laughed and said: "My aunt is sitting next to me, watching for me. I have lost money this morning, and the two of them don't know to let me go. It's all because of Feng girl." He pointed at Wang Xifeng with his finger.

Wang Xifeng was counting the money, and after hearing this, she hurriedly put the money down again, and said to Baochai and Xing Xiuyan with a smile: "Look, I won once, and I will suffer for you. It can be seen that I am not here to win Money, just for sending money. How about I ask someone to send more money and put it directly in your money box, it will save trouble." Everyone laughed as they said.

Aunt Xue said with a smile: "It really is Miss Feng, but she is just a naughty child." Then she smiled to Jia Mu and said, "Young girl Feng is filial, but she is busy with serious errands and entertaining, so you can reward her a little." A little money will make her happy."

Mother Jia laughed for a while, and suddenly remembered: "Where's your sister?"

Aunt Xue also suddenly remembered, and replied: "Look at me, I was too busy talking and joking, and forgot about the serious business. Uncle Baochai has returned to Beijing, and now I'm going to Dongfu. Her aunt is talking with her aunt."

Jia Mu: "Oh? Is Wang Ziteng still healthy?"

Aunt Xue: "Please remember, you are recovering well, but your spirit is not good. You need to recuperate well and take a good rest."

Jia Mu nodded, and then said: "Actually, people like us don't need to compete for credit with the people below. Although the official position inherited is not high, the emperor's grace is great. After a few years, the official position will naturally be promoted. I'm going up," he said, casting his eyes at Wang Xifeng, "I know you miss your uncle, so I won't keep you here, go now."

Hearing this, Wang Xifeng stood up quickly and replied: "Aunt Cai said just now that my uncle went to the East Mansion, he must have something important to do, so I won't bother him, I'll go to pay his respects tomorrow."

Mother Jia nodded in satisfaction: "Okay! Bring more good medicines and supplements, and say hello for me."

Wang Xifeng: "Yes."

Suddenly, a rush of footsteps came from outside.

The maids and mothers-in-law haven't responded yet.

Mrs. Xing rushed in, greeted Jia Mu, and said, "Old lady, I've seen you." She looked at Aunt Xue with a smile.

Jia Mu: "Tell me, my aunt is not an outsider."

Mrs. Xing: "Yes." After thinking for a while, she said to Mother Jia: "He is the deputy general of the Yongwei Battalion, named Yang Dayong, from Zhili, his parents died early, and he has no brothers or sisters. He looks good, but he is a little black. In addition, it is a little older, twenty years old this year."

Jia Mu nodded: "The second girl is sixteen years old, and she is not much older."

Mrs. Xing: "Yes."

Aunt Xue's heart was turbulent, and she was stunned. One of the purposes of the prince's coming to Jia's house was to bring up the matter of marriage again.

Seeing that Aunt Xue was in a daze, Mother Jia quickly greeted with a smile, "Madam?"

Aunt Xue came back to her senses and smiled awkwardly: "Old lady, I congratulated you in advance." As she spoke, she raised her eyes to look at Wang Xifeng.

Wang Xifeng turned his gaze aside.

At this moment, a servant girl's report came from outside: "The second wife and uncle are here."

The door curtain was raised, Mrs. Wang and Mrs. Li walked in, first went up to greet Jia Mu, and Mrs. Wang looked at Zhou Rui's house.

Zhou Rui's family hurriedly greeted: "Hurry up, hurry up, bring them all in, bring them all in!"

The maids carrying the boxes and cages and the trays containing the brocade noodle boxes came in from the outside, put them in the house, and then retreated.

Mrs. Li went to the side of the cage and opened the lid: "Old lady, you have taken special care of our Wang family over the years, and there is nothing good to honor you. Some small gifts are our heart."

Mrs. Wang picked up a brocade noodle box, opened the lid, and said, "Old lady, Uncle Baoyu spent a lot of effort to find some western white ginseng from the south, and specially sent it to honor you."

Mother Jia nodded, but did not answer.

Mrs. Wang was stunned for a moment, then opened a few jewelry boxes, which contained various kinds of emerald, gold and jade jewelry, turned her gaze to Mrs. Xing, and said with a smile: "This is for the second girl."

Mrs. Xing kept her eyes on Mother Jia without showing any signs of expression.

Baochai and Xing Xiuyan looked at each other, and then retreated into the back hall.

Mrs. Wang: "What's wrong?"

There was silence.

Mrs. Li couldn't bear it anymore, she looked at Mother Jia, then at Aunt Xue, and suddenly turned her gaze to Wang Xifeng.

Wang Xifeng was so frightened that she hurriedly lowered her head.

Jia Mu smiled and said, "Today, I showed the second girl a family. The other party is a general of the Yongwei Battalion. It's pretty good."

Like a thunderbolt, it rang above Li Shi's head.She was stunned for a long time before she asked Wang Xifeng: "You, didn't you say that you didn't?"

Wang Xifeng smiled wryly, not to mention that Jia Lian had repeatedly ordered him not to tell the story.And Jia Hu was involved behind this incident, how dare she reveal a word!
So when Mrs. Li asked her the day before yesterday, she could only say that she had no plans to tell Yingchun to see her for the time being.

Mrs. Wang hesitated for a moment, and said, "Marriage is a major event in life, and it's good to know the basics."

Mrs. Xing smiled: "That's right. If it weren't for the fact that he walked out of the Liaodong battlefield with Brother Hu, let alone a lieutenant general of the second rank, even a lord of the court, the master and I would definitely not Agreed. Also."

Mother Jia interrupted her, and said flatly: "The third girl's marriage is also decided by her second brother."

Mrs. Li was taken aback, she was expressing her determination, and she turned her gaze to Mrs. Wang.

Mrs. Xing took the opportunity and said: "The daughter of my uncle's family is the same age as Baoyu."

Mrs. Li was shocked by her point of view!
Madam Wang's face immediately became ugly, she first glanced at Madam Xing, then turned her gaze to Aunt Xue.

Aunt Xue lowered her head long ago, as if she would never participate.

Mother Jia's face was not good-looking anymore, she gave Madam Xing a dissatisfied look, and said, "Your master has some serious business for you to do, why are you staying here with me now?!"

After hearing this, Mrs. Xing regretted her slip of the tongue, gritted her teeth, turned around and walked out.

After a moment of silence, Mrs. Wang spoke: "Let's leave these jewelry to Yingchun and the other sisters. Treat it as a New Year gift from Uncle Baoyu."

Li immediately nodded in agreement.

Jia Mu: "Okay! I'll take it for their sisters." Then she said to Yuanyang: "Go! Bring me the 500-year-old ginseng that Miss Lin gave me!"

Yuanyang replied: "Yes." Turning around and walking into the back hall.

After a while, Yuanyang came out holding a jade box, which was transparent, and one could see a shaped ginseng inside.

Mrs. Li stared intently at the mandarin duck and the jade box in her hand.

Jia's mother smiled and said, "I just heard from my aunt that Uncle Baoyu is not in good spirits. He just took it to recuperate."

Li's eyes lit up, she nodded, and saluted to Mother Jia: "Thank you, old lady." As he spoke, he carefully took the jade box.

Mother Jia stood up with a smile on her face: "The house is a mess today, so I won't keep you." Then she said to Mrs. Wang: "Send off my uncle and wife for me."

Mrs. Wang and Mrs. Li: "Yes!" After answering, they turned and walked out.

Watching them walk out the door, Mother Jia sat down slowly, and said to Aunt Xue and Wang Xifeng, "Sit down, sit down." Then she turned her head and shouted to the back hall, "Are you still coming out?"

Baochai and Xing Xiuyan: "Yes." After answering, they hurried out.

Jia Mu said to Yuanyang again, "Bring me all the jewelry boxes."

Yuanyang understood, covered her mouth and smiled, turned around and took the jewelry boxes, placed them beside Jiamu, and opened the lids.

Mother Jia pointed to the jewelry inside: "After losing the jewelry inside, let's rest."

Ningguo Mansion

outside study

I haven't seen him for more than a month, but Wang Ziteng has become a completely different person. His shiny black hair is now half white, and he has lost a lot of weight. His cheeks and eye sockets are sunken, and he is as thin as the wind. To be able to blow it down, the most important thing is to lose energy.

Putting down the letter in his hand, Jia Hu couldn't help but glanced at Wang Ziteng's left arm, and asked, "What are your plans?"

Wang Ziteng: "Take care of yourself first, and then think of a solution after the wind has passed."

Hearing what he said so lightly, Jia Hu's eyes showed a trace of melancholy or pity, which he couldn't tell.

Wang Ziteng stretched out his right hand to hold the bowl cover and put it on the table, then slowly took a few sips of the tea bowl to his mouth, put it down, then pinched the bowl cover to cover the tea bowl, slowly raised his head, looked at Jia Hu smiled lightly: "Do you think I'm pitiful?"

Jia Hu nodded.

Wang Ziteng smiled happily: "You haven't changed, you are still so straightforward. But this character is not good and offends others."

Jia Hu smiled: "Separate people!"

Wang Ziteng could only nod his head.

Jia Hu: "When will you enter the palace?"

Wang Ziteng smiled wryly, but did not answer.

Jia Hu didn't want to ask any more questions, so he changed the subject and got to the point: "It stands to reason that a small Chongwen gatekeeper is not worth spending such a large amount of capital to win over as the King of Yizhong County. Does Wang Ren have anything else?" Things are hiding from you?"

Wang Ziteng was stunned, then shook his head: "Probably not, although the kid Ren'er has suffered from many bad habits in Jinling, he is not enough to deceive me, maybe the Duke of Yizhong still has a backup. "

Jia Hu hesitated for a moment, then said: "This matter is not that simple. In my opinion, you should go to the palace and report this matter to His Majesty. It's okay if nothing happens. If something serious happens, at least you won't be implicated. "

Wang Ziteng was startled, and stared at Jia Hu closely with questioning eyes.

Jia Hu's eyes flashed: "Don't forget, there are a lot of ammunition stored in the Chongwenmen camp."

The prince stood up abruptly: "You, what do you mean?"

Jia Hu: "Back then, Shui Rong could get explosives from Shenji Camp, and Yizhong County King could also get ammunition from Chongwenmen Camp."

Wang Ziteng nodded.

Jia Hu went on to say: "Don't forget, this is the capital city, and the Yizhong County Prince's Mansion has been under the supervision of the Criminal Division. Can this matter be hidden from the palace? To tell you the truth, the Yizhong County King not only colluded with the White Lotus Sect , Caobang, and Shuirong, and they even had contacts with the Manchus."

Wang Ziteng was startled, and looked at Jia Hu in disbelief.

Jia Hu laughed and said, "What? Is this amazing? There are even more ridiculous things. If it doesn't come out in the future, it's the good luck of the Great Zhou Dynasty. If it comes out." Sneered, he stopped talking.

Wang Ziteng was shocked when he heard the words, he was silent on the surface, but he was shocked in his heart. Even though he was in the south, he still heard about a few major events, such as: the Supreme Emperor dispatched troops to besiege the Shuntian government office, besieged the chief minister of the cabinet, and the cabinet Several high-ranking officials such as a scholar and a minister of the Ministry of Justice; the Supreme Emperor ordered people to assassinate the eldest son of Mei Changwen, the left deputy capital of the Metropolitan Procuratorate in order to blame Yongweiying; the sudden fall of Xuzhou City was also related to him; and the fiasco that he personally experienced , behind which there is also the figure of the Supreme Emperor.

All these incidents, one after another of the emperor's evil deeds against the military, if it is really spread, I really don't know what kind of storms it will cause!
Perhaps, everyone will stand on the top of the mountain and watch the boat capsize.
Jia Hu: "Be it public or private, I cannot marry my sister to Wang Ren."

With that said, Jia Hu stood up, and handed the letter from King Yizhong to Wang Ren and the gift list beside it to Wang Ziteng.

Wang Ziteng: "I understand."

Jia Hu took a deep look at him, and said with a smile, "Wang Ren is useless. Why don't you marry more concubines and work hard, maybe you can have a son of your own."

Wang Ziteng was startled, thought for a moment, and then said: "I will seriously consider your suggestion."

But Jia Hu shook his head, walked to the window and stopped, and said: "I would like to advise you, raising a son for others will not end well, not to mention far away, just take Dorgon, a Manchu Tartar, who is also a relative. Nephew, what he sent was still Jiangshan, so what happened, not only was the bamboo basket fetching water in vain, but he was also dug up and flogged the corpse."

Paused, "In the past, you were a first-class Zhongrui Bo, with an army of [-] to [-], but now you are just a white man bearing the title of aristocrat. Do you think Wang Ren will still respect you as before?"

Prince Tengrao had been in the officialdom for decades, and was also shocked by Jia Hu's words at this time, maybe Wang Ren really had something to hide from him.

Jia Hu looked into the distance, and then said: "One more word, if His Majesty asks you about your future plans, don't say that you can still fight on the battlefield. Honestly choose a position in the Six Departments, maybe the Metropolitan Procuratorate is also good. .”

Wang Ziteng hesitated for a moment and asked, "Why help me?"

Jia Hu turned around slowly and looked at him: "Compared to the Shijia brothers, you are easier to control."

Wang Ziteng nodded, and asked again: "Why does Wang Ren have to die?"

Jia Hu smiled and said, "It's just that he doesn't like it."

Wang Ziteng: "Farewell." After speaking, he went straight out.

Watching him go out, Jia Hu also went out, a gust of cold wind blew, the tip of his nose felt cold, he raised his head, snowflakes curled up in the air, another winter snow came
It was snowing heavily, and the sky was full of snow.

The banquet was over, and a group of women stood at the door of the backyard of Ning'an Hall, eyes full of reluctance and gratitude, all looking at Lin Daiyu standing in the courtyard, an elderly woman shouted: "It's cold, Ma'am, please go back to the house."

Everyone shouted together: "Madam, please go back to the house!"

Ever since they knew that it was Lin Daiyu who took care of each family during the days when they were in the Yongwei Camp, they called Lin Daiyu their wife one after another, and Lin Daiyu just smiled at this.

Lin Daiyu understood that they would not leave unless she entered the house, so she could only say to Lin Zhixiao's family, "Ms. Lin will see you off for me." After speaking, she shook her hand at everyone, turned and walked into the main room.

Watching Lin Daiyu enter the room, Lin Zhixiao's family hurried out and greeted: "Please, generals and wives!" After saying this, he gave up his hands and walked with everyone to the second gate, saying: "My ladies and gentlemen. Young master has already arranged to get into the carriage, Miss Lin also prepared some gifts and put them in the carriage. They were not expensive gifts, but two boxes of homemade pastries, which tasted pretty good, and our fourth young lady likes to eat them the most.

There are also a few emergency medicines: there are plum blossom tongue pills, purple gold ingots, and life-saving pills, each of which is wrapped in a prescription, as well as gold sore medicine, blood circulation and blood stasis medicine.

Ms. Lin said that people like us must prepare medicine. By the way, this is called being prepared.Miss Lin also said that in the future, if you need to move around frequently, you can come to Ningguo Mansion to look for her if you have anything to do."

(End of this chapter)