Pingyang Fu of the Red Chamber

Chapter 418 The second wife’s caution
Get up early the next morning,

In the attic,

Zhang Jinyu still got up earlier, changed his clothes, looked at Li Wan who was still sleeping soundly, covered him with a quilt, and walked out of the house.

The eldest maid Suyun forced her eyelids open and came out yawning.
"Master Hou, you have to go back."

"Well, you lead the way first. After I leave, you come back and bolt the courtyard door. Come back and have a good sleep. When your young lady wakes up, you can take good care of her!"

"Yes, Lord Marquis, I understand."

Seeing the girl Su Yun's response, Zhang Jinyu didn't stop talking nonsense. She came out of the attic with her own soldiers who had not slept all night. Seeing that there was no one around, she followed Su Yun out of the yard and onto the path, ready to go back to the house. Change clothes.

Walking in the courtyard of Jia's house, he seemed to have a ghost in his heart along the way. He led his soldiers around the road, and the wind blew under his feet. After a while, he arrived not far from the gate of Jia's house.

Zhang Jinyu said to Suyun who was leading the way;

"Suyun, that's it. You go back first and don't let anyone see you. I can just leave on my own."

"Yes, Lord Marquis, please slow down."

Suyun also knew that it would be inappropriate to send him off again, so he said goodbye and left immediately.

Zhang Jinyu touched his clothes, looked at the tired soldiers, and ordered,
"Let's go. When we get back, you have a good meal and then rest. There is no need to talk too much about last night."

The guards around him remained silent and just bowed their hands. The leading deputy nodded in response.

"Take the order, Lord Marquis, brothers understand."

"Walk."

Zhang Jinyu walked to the side door of Jia's house in a swagger. Under the puzzled eyes of the concierge and the boy, he untied the horse in the courtyard, got on the horse and left Jia's house, patted the horse and left, leaving behind him the boy and the boy who were still looking at each other. stewardship,

A boy asked in confusion,

"Steward, why did Marquis Luo Yun and the others leave? Is it because they didn't come back last night?"

The steward was also suspicious, but he had been staying here to confirm that Marquis Luo Yun had definitely not gone out last night, but he dared to say anything casually, and the master had no objection, not to mention they were all slaves. He immediately changed his face and scolded;
"You want to die, what nonsense are you talking about? I don't know anything about what happened today, and I didn't see anything. If I say you saw it, think about it for yourselves."

Then the concierge boy who was stunned without even having a haircut turned around and went back to wash up. But the boy who just spoke had a pale face and knew that some things were fatal, so he nodded immediately.

"Yes, yes, sir, you are right. I was confused just now. What I said was that meat was added to the meal this morning. I just said the wrong thing."

Soon the morning will pass by in the blink of an eye,

in the morning,

Lin Daiyu had a good sleep last night, probably because she returned to her mother's former residence and was comforted by Lang Jun's words last night. The nightmares and fears she had in Jiangnan no longer disappeared, and the dullness she had felt in the past few days was gone.

Got up,
Putting on his big coat, he watched the little girls Zicuckoo and Xueyan busy in the house. They threw away all the curtains and cloth curtains they had, and found a table from nowhere, which they brought back from Yangzhou. of some books.

The little girl was sorting out the books and the Four Treasures of the Study, and wiped them carefully with a brocade cloth. However, there were still a lot of rouge and sachets placed in the corner of the table. She asked curiously,
"Xueyan, where did the rouge and sachet on the table come from?"

"Yeah, the lady is up,"

Xueyan hurried over and helped Lin Daiyu change. Zijuan also came over, took the fox fur shawl and replied;

"Miss, in the early morning, the three young ladies in the house sent servants to bring them to the young lady. The servants took them and put them on the table. The second young lady gave the sachet to welcome the spring, and the third young lady gave the rouge to the young lady. The youngest Miss Xichun gave me sweet-scented osmanthus cake."

"It's because of their thoughtfulness that they put the things away. Then the Marquis brought something. Take a look and give them something, one for each of them."

Naturally, Lin Daiyu couldn't get them for nothing. She had come and gone, and seeing what she had given to them could be regarded as her own gift in return. However, Zijuan was a little embarrassed.

"Miss, I'm afraid the things are too expensive to reciprocate. The boxes that the Marquis brought into the house were either made of silk, silver, or precious medicinal materials, but there were no ordinary things."

Hearing Zijuan's words, Lin Daiyu also felt that it was inappropriate. The return gift was too heavy for fear of hurting her feelings. In a moment of embarrassment, the little girl Xueyan ran over and whispered,
"Miss, there is some incense paper from Yangzhou in the book box, which you can give as a gift."

"There are many?"

Lin Daiyu's face looked happy, but she had forgotten that incense paper was extremely famous in Jiangnan and was a must-have for literati and poets. On the Qinhuai River, at every poetry meeting, people would write messages on the incense paper, fold it into paper boats, and put it in River, causing Jiangnan incense paper to be expensive.

"It's a small half box."

"Take it out and send it to the three ladies,"

"Yes, ma'am."

Bisha cabinet,
Jia Baoyu got up lazily. He originally wanted to go to the small courtyard in the west to see how Lin Daiyu was doing.
I never thought that after washing up, I would be dragged to a side room to have a meal by the attacking girl.

Baoyu was impatient and flicked his sleeves.
"We can eat later. I want to go west to see Sister Lin. I won't be delayed for long."

Xiren still didn't understand what Second Master Bao was thinking, but it was so easy to go to the west. Not to mention right and wrong, she was an authentic Madam of the Hou Mansion, so he comforted her, "Second Master Bao, Miss Lin, the master of the West, I have just arrived, and I still need to settle down and rest. I'm afraid you won't be in good shape if you go. Besides, Enke is coming soon, and my wife has to send someone to check on me every day. Today, I wrote a letter of recommendation to you and handed it over. We went up to take the list, so Second Master, you cannot be absent from the school master's side, and you will have to review the Four Books when you come back."

Jia Baoyu's face darkened, but he forgot about this, reluctantly. The Jia family had its own family history, and his father also asked someone to bring a message to his husband. During this time, he repeatedly reviewed the Four Books. However, before, Baoyu usually just stayed in the house because of his status. I worked on this for half a day, and after school in the afternoon, I just hung out and killed time. Although I read the four books, I was not good at it, and some of them were not remembered well. Reviewing would disturb my time to memorize it again, but I did not dare to tell this matter. Upset.

"I know, I know. Let's go have a meal first. You should go quickly and eat together."

"Second Master still cares about people,"

Xiren's face lit up and he praised her, which made Baoyu feel better. The sisters in the courtyard were very considerate, but she felt that there were a few maids around her.

Just when Jia Baoyu went to the west wing to have dinner,

In the east room of Rongxi Hall, the second wife folded the letter and ordered housekeeper Zhou Rui to prepare the letter of guarantee for Jia Baoyu's household registration from Master Jia Zheng and send it to the Yili Room of Shuntian Mansion for registration.

"Don't be careless about this matter. Leave it over there and get the directory sticker and hand it over to me personally,"

Butler Zhou Rui carefully took the letter and put it into his arms, and replied cautiously;
"Madam, don't worry. I know what to do. I'll take him with me now. I won't delay Second Master Bao's affairs."

"Go and come back quickly, be careful on the road."

The second wife nodded and urged. Housekeeper Zhou Rui was so anxious that he ran out of the house with his servant. The wind blew under his feet, which made Jia Zheng, who had just walked in, take a few more glances and asked in surprise,
"What is he going to do again? In such a hurry!"

When the second wife saw Jia Zheng coming back, she stood up to greet him and explained,

"It's nothing. Today, I asked him to register Baoyu's name at the ceremony room of Shuntian Mansion and fill in his place of birth. He used the recommendation letter from the Ministry of Industry, not the one from Rongguo Mansion."

When Jia Zheng heard that it was about the imperial examination, Lao Huai was delighted and sighed with emotion.

"Baoyu has grown up, and he is able to take the scientific examination. It coincides with Enke. The emperor's favor is so great, it is extremely rare. I think he has figured it out."

"Yes, you used to scold him all the time, but now you are enlightened. I send people to see Baoyu every day, but I really work hard and study hard, which makes people feel sad."

The second wife still feels distressed every time she thinks of Baoyu studying hard, but when she thinks of Jia Lian inheriting the title, even though he does not have much ability, he will have a worry-free life. He also married his own niece, who is also an expert housekeeper. If the family is divided in the future, they will be able to live next to each other. Life is really not the same as Baolinghou Mansion. You can be clean without going too much.

Although my second wife has a huge property in the Duke's Palace, if Baoyu does not have fame, I am afraid that the second wife will have no future in the future. When relying on the master alone is exhausted, relying on the Wang family, the second wife wants to come. After so many years of arrogance to her brother Wang Zi However, I have doubts about whether the Wang family is really the place to rely on.

Jia Zheng was really happy. He sat down and poured a bowl of tea. Drinking the tea felt more delicious.
"As long as that traitor is motivated, Enke should be better this year than last year, but the preliminary exam is the same. It's good to let him have a try, but why don't you use the guarantee of Rongguo Mansion and use our Ministry of Works? What are the recommended quotas?”

Jia Zheng was a little puzzled. If you use the name of the Rongguo government as a guarantor, you don't need to review it and you can take the exam directly. If you use the recommendation of your own civil service department, you still need a lot of reviews and fill in the directory, which is quite troublesome.

The second wife smiled and said,

"Master, it makes sense for me to do this. Baoyu is referring to it for the first time, but the master of the house knows that with the recommendation letter from the master, Enke took the exam, it doesn't matter whether it succeeds or not, if it is done in the name of the Duke's Mansion Guaranteed, Baoyu's participation in Enke will be known to those who are interested. No matter what, Baoyu may be under greater pressure and it will only increase his worries."

Jia Zheng put down his tea bowl and thought about it carefully. He felt that he was right. It would be good if he could take the exam. He really didn't expect Baoyu to pass this year, and it was not so easy to pass the Tongsheng exam.
"Let's do it this way. Madam has thought carefully about it."

Outside the Hou Mansion,
Zhang Jinyu returned to the mansion with his soldiers. Looking from a distance, he could see that the motorcade in front of the door had not dispersed. People were coming in and out from time to time. It seemed that they were the purchasing manager of the mansion.

Coming closer,

Seeing that it was still Aunt Xue's property, Zhang Jinyu was a little confused. Could it be that the Xue family's mother and daughter didn't go back last night? With doubts, she came to the door and got off her horse. When the concierge saw the Marquis coming back, he hurriedly came to say hello.

"The little one greets Master Hou."

"Get up, the Xue family didn't go back last night?"

"Returning to the Marquis, I didn't go back. Last night, General Ning came back with Mr. Xue family. His hair was disheveled as if he had been beaten. The mistress of the Xue family cried hard. It was late at night, so the old lady arranged for them to stay temporarily and rest. One night, I don’t know what happened inside.”

The concierge did not dare to hide anything and eagerly told what happened yesterday. At this time, Ning Bian, who was on patrol, came over with his bodyguards.

"See you, Lord Marquis. Lord Marquis, I have something to say."

"Well, you go back home first so you can have a good meal and then rest. I'll give you two days of rest."

"Thank you, Lord!"

Zhang Jinyu knew that this was not the place to talk, so she turned around and asked the guards from last night to go back and rest first, and then rushed to Dongyun Tower with Ningbian and others.

on the path,
Zhang Jinyu saw Ning Bian next to him, who seemed to have something on his mind, so he guessed that it was about rescuing Xue Pan yesterday, and asked,
"But something happened yesterday at the Bingma Division? Wasn't the man rescued?"

"The Marquis is wise, and this is indeed the case. However, Mr. Xue was not taken out of the prison by the general. He was released by the Army and Horses Division. However, when he came out, Mr. Xue suffered some physical and physical pain. General Xue will remain in the prison for a long time." He was concerned and sent people to explore the Wu family, and accidentally discovered something unusual about the Wu family."

"Oh, it's unusual for you to say it. What happened to the Wu family?"

Zhang Jinyu stopped and turned around to ask with interest.

　I went to play with my children today. The little author didn’t write today. I will update later tomorrow and I won’t be able to finish it!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)