Pingyang Fu of the Red Chamber

Chapter 24
The Zhen family in Jinling finished their discussions, and the other families were not idle either.

The Xue family, the local snake in Jinling, did not go to the capital with them back then, but the whole clan stayed in Jinling. The owner of the Xue family, as an imperial merchant, also inherited Ziwei Sheren's platoon, and has been doing errands for the imperial palace and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. , but except for the ancestors who were Ziwei Sheren, no one has been doing it since then, only the Emperor Shang has been kept, and it is gradually in danger.

Since the big house Mrs. Xue died of illness, the business of the Xue family has been declining year by year, especially the main line of business routes outside the customs that supported the Xue family's source of income. After the arrival of the Jurchens, the business routes were directly destroyed and a large number of goods were blocked.

The eldest son of the big house, Xue Pan, who is called the "dumb overlord" by Jinling City, is even more ignorant. The old relatives of the Wang family are very powerful, and they don't know what to do. During this period of time, Mrs. Xue is very worried.

Just after breakfast, the porter of Xue's mansion came over to pass on the news, this time he received a letter from Wang's family in the capital.

Mrs. Xue wanted to call Xue Baochai into the house to discuss;
"Baochai, come on, take a look. This is a letter from the Wang family in the capital. You said that after so many years, the Wang family has not written any family letter to me. It is strange today."

Xue Baochai thought of her elder brother, fearing that it wasn't about the lawsuit of beating someone to death, so she said hastily;
"Mother, don't worry, just take a look. I'm afraid it's not about brother's lawsuit?"

"Oh, open it quickly, doesn't it mean that it has been resolved, the sentence is over! Why is there still something to do?"

Xue Baochai quickly opened the envelope, took out the letter paper and read it.

"Don't read it, just read it out, and I'll listen to it too, what's going on?"

Mrs. Xue saw her daughter open the envelope and read it by herself, but she didn't make a sound, she was so anxious.

"Mother, it's not our brother's business. The Wang family asked us to inquire about a distant relative of the Wang family, a Jinling woman named Wang Shihan. The main thing is to ask her if she has any family members or houses here. It's very important. My brother's business is fundamental I didn't mention it."

Xue Baochai skimmed through the letter roughly, briefly stated the meaning of the letter, and repeatedly mentioned a woman named Wang Shihan, a distant relative of the Wang family. Looking at Mrs. Xue, she was still a little worried about her brother. said;

"Mother, brother's matter is fine. It has been settled long ago. This letter looks very important. It was written by uncle himself."

When Mrs. Xue heard her daughter say that Pan'er was fine, she came back to her senses and let out a sigh of relief.

"Who did you just talk about? A distant relative of the Wang family, why don't I know, the two households of the head of the Wang family are both in the capital, where are there other women?"

"Mother, it should be from the other ten houses of the Wang family in Jinling, not the main family. It should have been very famous back then, otherwise she would not have been mentioned."

"Oh, this, let me think about it, who is that?"

Mrs. Xue still forgot the name.

"Mother, it's Wang Shihan."

Xue Baochai said it again patiently.

"Hey, it sounds familiar, there really is such a person, wait a minute, let me think about it, Wang Shihan, Wang Shihan."

Mrs. Xue was thinking about it, Xue Pan just came back from the outside, pushed the door open, sat in carelessly, saw the teacup on the table, picked it up and "gumbled" and finished.

"Hey, my son, where did you come from, you look so thirsty, have another bowl."

As soon as Mrs. Xue saw her son coming back from outside panting, she put aside her thoughts and helped pour tea directly.

"Oh, brother, next time you come in, you have to knock on the door, okay, I'm talking to my mother!"

As soon as Xue Pan saw that his sister was getting angry, he immediately apologized, changed the subject and agreed;
"Okay, didn't I forget, next time, definitely, definitely, oh yes, mother, I saw you rambling about when I entered the room?"

Seeing her son asking herself, Mrs. Xue remembered the business and said;
"This is not a letter from your uncle from the capital, saying that he is looking for a distant relative of the Wang family, named Wang Shihan."

"Oh, I know. This isn't when I was a child, mother, you kept talking about Aunt Wang, she was from the tenth room of the Wang family in Jinling. It's been more than ten years, why do you think of looking for her? I remember, mother, you said that your aunt went away Northeast. Hey! When it comes to Northeast, do you know? It’s a big deal.”

Xue Pan got excited when he said this, and did another bowl of tea ceremony;
"I heard from the garrison son of Jinling in the restaurant that after the Northeast Jurchen came, the young garrison general named Zhang Jinyu in Pingyang County was amazing. He fought against the Jurchen Khan Huang Jitai. Hundreds of thousands of troops fought for three days and three nights. Now This General Zhang was conferred the title of Marquis by the imperial court, and with Luoyun Jiedu envoy, he holds nearly 30 troops, my God."

Xue Baochai was also very surprised after hearing it. It was hard to imagine what it would be like to fight against tens of thousands of people.

On the other hand, Mrs. Xue's eyes widened in shock when she heard the garrison general of Pingyang County, and suddenly remembered that she came to bid farewell to her stunning woman back then.

The daughter of the tenth house of the Wang family, a talented girl like a fairy who lived in the royal residence on the east side of Jinghu Lake in Jinling, made a sensation in the entire Jinling City when she showed up at that time.

"I remembered, and I know who it is. How is it possible, she, her son is a marquis?"

"Mother, please speak clearly!"

Xue Baochai still didn't know why, who his mother and brother were talking about.

"Hey, my girl, listen to me, you were not born when your aunt Wang left, and your brother was still young at that time, my God, Pan'er, are you right? Real Power Marquis, this is not a joke, this great military was controlled by nobles like them when the country was founded, this is weird!"

Xue Pan became anxious when he heard his mother questioning him.

"Mother, I didn't lie to you. Now everyone knows about it, especially the garrison general. That garrison son has been talked about by his father every day for the past few days. It is impossible to make mistakes. Mother, do you know something? ?”

Mrs. Xue heard Xue Pan's explanation, and the sudden letter from the Wang family in the capital, so she knew that this matter was exactly what she thought.

He explained to his daughter Xue Baochai;

"Baochai, if I'm not mistaken, the mother of the Hou Ye your brother mentioned just now may be Wang Shihan. No wonder the Wang family wrote to ask her about it. You are not an easy aunt Wang! The last head of the Wang family's tenth house back then After her death, she was the only young lady left, but she sold all her family property and went north alone, and I remember marrying the garrison general of Pingyang County."

"Pfft."

Xue Pan squirted out the tea directly, scaring the mother and daughter to hide aside.

"Mother, no way! Did you remember wrongly?"

"You karma, look where you sprayed, there is no one in the right shape."

Mrs. Xue scolded angrily.

"Mother, you are serious, so is the mother of Lord Hou really her?"

Xue Baochai was careless after hearing this, but the Northeast Commercial Line can be saved.

"You girl, why are you in a hurry? What's the matter with you?"

"Mother, our Xue family has two main business lines, one in the northeast and one in the south of the Yangtze River. What do you think, do you remember any tokens you had back then?"

"Yes! Mom, think about it quickly."

Xue Pan also echoed at the side. Although he was messing around outside, he also knew his lifeline business route, so he was a little anxious.

"You two, what's the rush? Why did you go so early! Besides, it's been more than ten years, and not many people in Jinling City know about her going to the northeast."

"Let me think about it, that's right! Back then, she mortgaged a village outside the city to me. She said the mortgage was actually sold. It seemed that she gave it to me for 3 taels of silver. I asked her where she was going, and she told me I said outside the customs, so I gave her an extra 1 taels of silver for her to practice, and after she thanked her, she left overnight, and it was still raining heavily that day."

Mrs. Xue did remember that Wang Shihan brought two little girls to mortgage the Zhuangzi at that time, and even more remembered that the leader of Jia's side house forced him to do small things.

Um!Trouble seems, this matter was not reported to the capital at that time.

"By the way, there is one more thing, I almost forgot, she was forced to leave back then, not by herself."

Xue Baochai and Xue Pan were also taken aback, no way, there are still people in Jinling persecuting members of the Wang family.

"Mother, don't talk nonsense, there are still people in Jinling persecuting members of the Wang family?"

Xue Baochai also reminded her mother to be careful.

Madam Xue did sneer and did not speak.

Xue Baochai and Xue Pan looked at each other in blank dismay, this matter is troublesome, if it is really not done well, it will be a feud.

(End of this chapter)