Pingyang Fu of the Red Chamber

Chapter 391 Who should I go to the capital to seek refuge with?
night,
The wind and snow are getting stronger,
Soon, the sound of horse hooves gradually became quieter, and the figures of the retreating soldiers disappeared into the night. The old housekeeper was also very anxious, so he quickly closed the side door and got off the bolt.

He also repeatedly checked whether the door was closed, because after hearing the news that Luo Yunhou was leaving with his troops, he couldn't help but feel uneasy. He wrapped himself in his coat and walked to the backyard with a lantern.

The back room and the main room,

Xue Pan sat on the kang, holding cakes in his hand and putting them into his mouth, humming a tune. Three oil lamps were lit in front of him. Aunt Xue and Xue Baochai took writing brushes and calculated the properties and the amount after the sale. It took several days to calculate the silver, including a lot of inventory goods, before straightening out the accounts. Unexpectedly, after selling all the miscellaneous items, there was still nearly 200 million silver in cash. This shows that the Xue family's wealth is astonishing.

Xue Pan was lying there bored. He had eaten half of the plate of pastries. He was obviously full of food. He took the tea and took a sip, then sat up and said,
"Mom, sister, you have been thinking about it for so many days, why are you still thinking about those things? Didn't it mean that all the stores and inventory were packaged and sold? Didn't those shopkeepers cheat?"

"You are an unlucky one. You have nothing to do every day. You are all busy for your mother and your sister. If you don't care about us, your sister and I will beg outside."

Aunt Xue gritted her teeth angrily when she saw her son's laziness. Xue Pan remained silent and Xue Baochai persuaded him;
"Mom, don't pay attention to him. The accounts are almost finished. Even if there is a discrepancy, it does not exceed 1 taels of silver. Why do you think that President Su Jinkai Su is so kind? He bought all the properties without asking. Those Did the shopkeeper later spit out all the stolen money?"

Aunt Xue sighed and said angrily;
"How could he be so kind? It was the Hou Mansion that asked him to do it. The old lady said that we should give away all the unused properties. Those shopkeepers can only bully us orphans and widowed mothers, but they can bully the Hou Mansion, Su When Jin Kai arrived, he immediately arrested all the shopkeepers.

Although I don’t know where they took the people, I heard the next day that the shopkeepers and the stewards had sent all the greedy money to the Su Mansion. A few days ago, Su Jinkai sent someone to send those banknotes to Su Mansion. Even our Xue family looks down upon this little bit of money. "

While Aunt Xue was still sighing, Xue Pan heard that someone was giving money and he immediately answered,

"Mom, if you don't like these scattered pieces of silver, why not keep them for your son? He is very rare."

After hearing this, Aunt Xue cursed angrily;
"You are still thinking about this money. Do you know that the Xue family's shops and businesses are all gone, leaving only a few villages and old houses, a caravan and a family, and all the money is here. If not, where will our Xue family go from here?"

"Brother, can you say a few words less? These days, my mother is out in public paying bills and talking about making a living. You don't help me, and I can't see you every day. You..."

Xue Baochai came over with a handkerchief to wipe Aunt Xue's tears, and also complained that her brother couldn't speak. Xue Pan was speechless for a moment, and said anxiously,
"Look, what are you so anxious about? The business in the house is not for sale, and has been stolen by the shopkeepers. Besides, my sister has joined the Marquis Mansion to become a wife. Our original plan was to go to the capital to join the Rongguo Mansion. , isn’t there another way now, we can just find the Hou Mansion.”

Xue Pan muttered angrily, picked up the tea bowl and took a big sip. Aunt Xue Pan was still angry, but after hearing her son's dirty words, her eyes lit up, she was right.

The Marquis Mansion has settled the Xue family's property in Jinling City, and they are not yet ready to capture it in the capital. Although the Jia family in Rongguo Mansion is the Duke's Mansion, and his sister and niece are both there, how can he be close to his own daughter? Aunt Xue secretly made up her mind to seek refuge in the Hou's Mansion. When she arrived in the capital, she would go to the Hou's Mansion to see the old lady. How could she make a living for her family? As the saying goes, it is better to rely on others than to rely on oneself. It is better to enjoy the shade under the big tree.

"This sounds pretty cool. You can't be so idle when you get to the capital. At least you can give your sister a front. I haven't seen the wives and concubines of the Marquis. None of them are fuel-efficient lamps. They are all stunningly beautiful. You My sister doesn't have any advantage. If you don't live up to expectations, how will your sister live in the future?"

Aunt Xue is really worried about Xue Baochai's future life. The intrigues in the deep house compound are not so easy to deal with. But with the Wang family sister here, although it is better, there are some methods that she has to guard against. As a woman, she has no confidence. She thought, The eyes become red.

Xue Pan saw it and nodded in agreement.

"Mom, my son knows that he will definitely take good care of the family when he arrives in the capital, so as not to embarrass his sister. If that doesn't work, we can go find his uncle and find him an official position."

"You're the only one left in the Xue family who suffered a thousand cuts. You can't be that Qiu Ba. You should take care of the family business and earn some money."

Xue Baochai put down his account book and got up to comfort his mother.
"Brother, please stop talking. We still need to think carefully about where we are going. Although we are seeking refuge in the Marquis' Mansion, where to live, should we go back to our old house or go to the Duke's Mansion?"

"Well, I did write to the Jia family, saying that I wanted to go to the house, and my sister agreed. Now it's hard to handle it."

"If there's anything that can't be done, let's just leave."

Xue Pan held his belly and replied carelessly, which made Aunt Xue complain again. Xue Baochai thought for a moment.
"Mom, since we sent the letter, we still need to go to Jia's house, but the old house still needs to be repaired, so we have to make some plans in advance."

"My son, you are right, let's do it."

While the people in the house were talking, the old housekeeper came to the backyard with a lantern. Seeing that the main house was still lit in the wind and snow, he staggered over despite the wind and snow.

Arriving at the door of the house,

Just shout in a low voice;
"Madam, I have something to report!"

The people in the house were just surprised, it was already night, what else could be done, Aunt Xue asked;
"What's the matter, Uncle Zhong?"

"Go back to my wife, there's a letter from the Marquis Mansion, and I'm here to report it."

The three people in the room were startled. Xue Baochai hurriedly walked to the door, opened the door, and saw Uncle Zhong covered with snowflakes, and said hurriedly;
"Uncle Zhong, come in quickly and warm yourself up."

"Miss Xie."

Uncle Zhong swept the snow off his body with his sleeves outside the door. After shaking off the snow, he walked in, closed the door behind him, bowed respectfully to Xue Pan, and said,

"I have seen the young master."

Xue Pan was not lying down either. He sat up and nodded.
"Uncle Zhong, what happened?" "Back to the young master, just now the guards of the Hou Mansion sent a message, asking the Xue family to tidy up tomorrow and prepare to go to Beijing. The guard camp left a building and a boat waiting there."

Uncle Zhong repeated what he said, and Aunt Xue looked happy, which was regarded as a direct invitation.
Xue Pan was even more excited, and someone gave him a pillow when he fell asleep. Only Xue Baochai felt something strange and asked;

"Uncle Zhong, why are you in such a hurry? It's still snowing?"

When mother and son heard Xue Baochai's question, they also felt strange and looked over in confusion. Uncle Zhong's face was also puzzled.

continued;

"This old slave also asked about this. The personal guard said that tonight, the Marquis returned to the capital with his army overnight. Looking at the time, he may have left?"

Aunt Xue's heart suddenly stopped, why was it so sudden and without any warning?

"Uncle Zhong, then you didn't ask what happened and you had to leave in such a hurry?"

"The guard didn't say anything, he just rode away after saying that."

Uncle Zhong shook his head and looked at the guards, who were walking in a hurry.

Aunt Xue was stunned. Could it be that something happened in the capital, or maybe it was in Jinling? She thought about it for a moment, looked at her daughter, and asked,

"Baochai, what do you think?"

"Mom, since the Marquis Mansion has made arrangements, let's just do as we are told. No one dares to touch the Marquis' tiger whiskers yet, but since we have said so, we must leave quickly."

Although Xue Baochai felt something was wrong, he couldn't go anywhere with the money. He could just keep these belongings here and pack them away slowly.

Aunt Xue and Xue Pan thought for a while and felt it made sense. They stopped asking questions and just stood up and said;

"Then you still need to bring some things. Uncle Zhong, let's go, get the servants and maids up, and pack your luggage, Xue Pan. You also go and prepare the carriage frame. When the things are ready, move them on the carriage. We will leave early tomorrow morning. Just leave a steward here to watch over the old house."

"Got it, Mom."

The two of them took Uncle Zhong out of the house and went to the front yard to call for someone. Xue Baochai also looked at his brother and mother helplessly, but deep down he was still worried about Marquis Luo Yun. It was snowing so heavily and he left so late. There must be a reason to go.

The mighty capital, the majestic interior,
In the study room of Yangxin Hall, Emperor Wu Zhou Shihong stood behind a large writing desk, holding a pen and writing the four characters "Sun, Moon, Qiankun".

Accompanying her was naturally Queen Jiang Yuqing, looking kindly at the study room. Within ten steps in front of the desk in the main hall, three richly dressed teenagers were kneeling there in fear, with uneasy expressions on their faces.

"I heard that the three of you had a cockfight in the Imperial Academy and beat up many members of the clan? In particular, you beat King Zhongshun's third son to tears. Is this true?"

Emperor Wu did not raise his head in an understatement, and his casual words made the three of them shrink their shoulders. The older Jin King Zhou Ding hurriedly replied;

"Reporting to my father, I hit him first, but the boy scolded my third brother first. I was so angry that I pushed him twice. Who knew that he was not convinced and wanted to come over and beat him? The son-in-law had no choice but to call his second brother and fight him back together. Unexpectedly, the boy was acting rogue, so he just rolled on the ground and cried, causing the master to come."

Emperor Wu Zhou Shihong changed a piece of rice paper, picked up his pen again and wrote, "Be calm and focused."

Complete in one go, majestic.

"Well, the Imperial College is a holy place for Dawu scholars, and it is also the face of the imperial court. It is a place where you read the books of sages. Now it has become a place where you hang out and play with your dogs."

King Jin saw that his words of avoiding the important and taking the easy were not effective, so he winked at the second oldest king of Wei, Zhou Chong, and the third oldest king of Chu, Zhou Long. The king of Chu also shook his head, not knowing what to do, and the king of Wei, Zhou Chong, knelt on the ground and shouted;

"Father, do you think you are right? That villain should be beaten. Not only should he be beaten, but he should be beaten lightly."

"Father, what my second brother said is absolutely true. This person's words are extremely arrogant, and I cannot calm down his anger without fighting him."

The third child didn't give up when he saw it, and echoed his words.

"Father, I think that some people can be respected, and some people only know their mistakes after suffering physical and flesh pain, so teaching him a lesson is really a reminder to him."

Seeing that the three of them were more eloquent than the other, Emperor Wu's eyes flashed and he stopped waving the brush in his hand.

(End of this chapter)