King Xiang of the Red Chamber

Chapter 434 The Wrath of the Princess

"Why are you so negligent? You just believe what some women say. You have to check before reasoning!"

"Besides, Jia Yun has followed the Thirteenth Master's path and is now very popular with the prince. How can she offend him so easily!" Jia Lian reprimanded him as if he hated iron.

This time, Wang Xifeng did not scold him, but asked: "How should we deal with it?"

"The fifth sister-in-law will be here soon. Just say that you came to see her specifically to find out the situation, and then vent your anger on her behalf!"

"That's all it takes!"

Immediately afterwards, Jia Lian said: "I know Yun'er. He is always cautious in doing things and will never do anything without reason. You have to find out about this matter!"

"If someone stirs up trouble, you will punish them severely. This will establish rules and increase your prestige. Isn't it the best of both worlds?"

"It's my fault. The second master thought too carefully. Just do what the second master wants!" Wang Xifeng stepped forward and took Jia Lian's arm.

Perhaps because of being selected into the Dragon Guard, Jia Lian is no longer as dissolute as before. He has more or less the majesty of a family head, and Wang Xifeng has become less aggressive.

"What? I've apologized to you, and you're still not happy? It was an unintentional mistake!"

Unexpectedly, Jia Lian sighed and said, "I'm not angry with you. I'm just sorry that Jia Yun was so lucky that he was allowed to follow the Thirteenth Master's path!"

"So what?" Wang Xifeng disagreed.

"So what? This year, another group of Dragon Guards will be released. It is said that those who trained with the Thirteenth Master will be released into the pro-army!"

It is common practice to upgrade one level to another level. The key is that if one is promoted to the bodyguards and soldiers, the road ahead will be much easier.

"Then what?" Wang Xifeng still didn't understand.

"You don't understand even if I tell you!" Jia Lian didn't want to say any more.

After a few breaths of silence, Jia Lian suddenly had a flash of inspiration and said: "Girl Feng... now that the Xue family sister has become the princess, you can also move around more!"

There is no other way. If you want to succeed in the Dragon Guards and avoid detours in the officialdom, it is a good deal to follow Zhu Jinghong's path.

Wang Xifeng held her forehead and said: "My ancestors have mentioned this before, saying that they should go to Prince Xiang's Mansion more often, so that they can reminisce with the princess and see more of the world!"

"now it's right!"

The two chatted for a while, and then Mrs. Bu came to Wang Xifeng's courtyard. At this moment, she was obviously extremely worried.

Jia Yun originally wanted to come together, but Bu was afraid that he would be impulsive, so he asked her to wait at home.

Mrs. Bu was already ready to explain, but Wang Xifeng personally greeted her and then warmly greeted her.

The two chatted for a long time before Wang Xifeng got to the point and asked about what happened in the afternoon.

After Mrs. Bu finished speaking, Wang Xifeng immediately ordered that girls who disobeyed discipline would be severely punished, and once again comforted Ms. Bu not to take it personally.

In fact, after understanding the situation with Mr. Bu, Wang Xifeng also knew that the matter was not simple, so as Jia Lian said, he wanted to use this matter to establish his authority.

And Wang Xifeng's journey as a housekeeper officially started from this incident.

On the fourteenth day of the first lunar month of the 12th year of Orthodoxy, the Lantern Festival has come again.

As in the past, a lantern festival will be held in the capital today, and the emperor will ascend the city tower to receive worship from all the people as he did last year.

The imperial court has its own rules, but at this moment, the palace of Prince Xiang is also preparing for the Shangyuan Festival.

In the attic in the back garden of the palace, the maids had already prepared a banquet, just waiting for Zhu Jinghong and others to arrive.

Under the loft, there are more than 20 musicians who will provide live performances.

At the entrance of the garden, Zhu Jinghong and Baochai were walking slowly.

Baochai was naturally alongside him, Yang Jingting was a little behind, and then Keqing and Yinglian followed behind.

"The poem that sister Ting composed yesterday is really a rare and beautiful line, especially the line about residual lotus..."

Listening to Baochai's praise of herself, Yang Jingting also smiled, and then said: "Sister Baochai, please stop praising me, it's just a few nonsense words!"

"When it comes to talent and learning, Sister Bao is far superior. She is excellent in poetry, prose and painting. It is enough for Sister Bao to be the number one scholar!"

"Look what you said, it's just a matter of reading a few more books..."

Throughout the whole process, Zhu Jinghong didn't say a word because he couldn't get a word in.

As for Keqing and Yinglian, they were walking behind each other arm in arm, chatting about the scenery in the garden.

"Prince, please say something!" Baochai tugged on Zhu Jinghong's sleeve.

Walking forward slowly, Zhu Jinghong said calmly: "You are all learned people, and you talk about beautiful articles. I am a rough man... I only know how to bow, horse, ride and shoot!"

Baochai replied: "I like bowing, horse riding, and shooting... I really like these three sisters. Whenever you invite her to your house, there will be someone to chat with you!"

"What's wrong with her?" Zhu Jinghong didn't want to continue this topic.

Just listen to Baochai say: "It's easy for you to hide yourself far away. I come to the palace every day to say hello, and Sheng'er always pesters me and says she wants to come to the house as a guest. Now I'm almost embarrassed to talk to her!"

"Uh... let's talk about it some time later!"

While they were talking, they arrived at the attic and then went upstairs to sit down together.

As a big family, they could only get together briefly at noon, but in the evening they had to go to the palace to accompany the emperor and empress and participate in the lantern festival held tonight.

"By the way, find a time in the next two days to summon the wives of the royal officials. On the one hand, we will have a chat with them, and on the other hand, we will ask them what difficulties they have at home!"

Baochai nodded. His words summed up the meaning, which was to win people's hearts.

"Ladies? Besides Wang Changshi's wife, are there anyone else?"

Strictly speaking, Wang Pei'an is the only subordinate official in the palace.

"Please invite all the ladies who are guarding the General Banner of the Hundred Households!"

"Understood!"

It goes without saying how important the guards are, but Baochai was a little surprised that Zhu Jinghong put them on the same level as Wang Pei'an.

The next second, Zhu Jinghong put vegetables into Yang Jingting's bowl and said at the same time: "Girl Ting, come and eat this, it should suit your taste!"

Just such a small gesture made Yang Jingting feel sweet and felt that it would be good to live like this.

"Thank you, my lord!"

Seeing this scene, Baochai's heart was as calm as an ancient well, thinking about when to summon the official's wife.

However, Keqing and Yinglian sat at a small table alone and were not qualified to participate in the dinner.

The family banquet only lasted for half an hour and ended with the eunuch's instructions. In addition to calling Zhu Jinghong and Baochai into the palace, the queen also did not forget her own niece.

The three of them all changed into formal clothes, and then rode a carriage into the palace. Baochai and Yang Jingting talked a lot along the way, and Zhu Jinghong rarely interrupted.

After entering Kunning Palace, he was chatting with the queen. Unsurprisingly, Zhu Yunsheng appeared again and pestered Zhu Jinghong to leave the palace to play.

During this period, both Xiangyun and Daiyu took leave of absence from the palace, which made her dormitory much deserted and her life was extremely boring.

There was no other way, Zhu Jinghong could only agree to take him out of the palace in a few days. Anyway, it would be a day if he could delay it.

At night, the three brothers Zhu Jinghong accompanied the emperor and climbed onto the tower of Daming Gate again. The lights tonight were still particularly brilliant.

Today, the Supreme Emperor also ascended the tower here to accept the worship of all people in the world, and once again proved the emperor's status as a filial son.

In Zhu Jinghong's view, if the old man acted for a few more years, he might feel filial to him.

………………

The 12th year of Orthodoxy, the eighteenth day of the first lunar month.

At the east side entrance of Prince Xiang's Mansion, several women with embarrassed faces were standing outside the door, waiting for the call.

These people are the wives of the palace officials. Baochai chose today to summon them. For this reason, she specially turned away other visitors.

There were a total of nine people present, and among them, Mrs. Wang Xu was undoubtedly the calmest, simply because her husband was Wang Pei'an.Everyone waited outside for more than ten minutes before a eunuch trotted out and spread the word that the princess wanted to summon them.

Good guy, these people were already nervous, but they became even more nervous after hearing these words.

Except for Wang Xu, a fifth-grade imperial concubine, the other wives of the general banner of hundreds of households are basically just ordinary women. To put it simply, they have never seen much of the world.

The prince and his concubine were a being that they could not look up to. They could even be said to be from two different worlds. How could they not be nervous when meeting these people at this moment.

Of course, there are different levels of nervousness. Some people just feel uncomfortable. In more serious cases, they have dry mouth and tongue. The most serious one is that they can't even walk steadily.

It's funny, of course, but it's also very true.

Fortunately, people can adjust themselves. After these women comforted and encouraged each other, they finally returned to normal on the surface.

Soon everyone was led outside the Tongxin Hall, where Princess Baochai was quietly painting with a pen.

"Princess Qi, everyone has arrived and is waiting outside the palace!"

"Well...please enter the main hall!"

"Yes!"

After giving these instructions, Baochai put down his pen and picked up the painting. The picture above depicts the family banquet two days ago.

Hearing the movement in the main hall outside, she put the drawing paper back on the table and walked out.

Today she was dressed more elegantly and looked relatively approachable.

In the main hall, although all the women had stood still, most of them were still a little panicked, so much so that beads of sweat appeared on their foreheads.

Regardless of anything else, the wealth and wealth in the palace made them look so shabby that they didn't even have the courage to look up.

"The princess is here!"

Hearing the girl's shouts, everyone present paid homage.

"Get up, don't be restrained!" Baochai's voice was particularly gentle.

At this time, everyone stood up one after another, but still did not dare to look at Baochai.

After sitting down, Baochai spoke again: "You all raise your heads. I came here to talk to you today. What's going on with your heads down? I don't know... you think I, the princess, want to eat people!"

With Baochai's words, everyone present raised their heads slightly, and then looked at Baochai with a smile on his face.

It turns out that the princess is so kind and kind... At this time, everyone had the same idea.

By this time, their mentality gradually calmed down, and then Baochai motioned for them to sit down.

Just this moment made everyone nervous again, because this courtesy was too much.

But under Baochai's strong request, everyone had to sit down with great anxiety, and then listened to Baochai say some caring words.

Baochai asked about everything from daily necessities, including food, rice, oil, and salt to support for the elderly and the young, making everyone present deeply feel the palace's concern.

Among them, the one whom Baochai paid the most courtesy was Wang Pei'an's wife, Mrs. Xu.

"You are from out of town, and you have to buy everything for your home. The official salary in the capital is very thin...your family is much more difficult than theirs!"

"Thank you for remembering me, your Majesty. My wife and her family are taken care of by the palace, and their life is now very good!"

Wang Xu talked eloquently: "We still have a balance of 30 taels of silver from the royal palace on New Year's Eve last year, and our family still receives a salary from the court..."

"Did the palace reward you with 30 taels on New Year's Eve?" Baochai suddenly asked.

She is very sensitive to numbers, so she gave Wang Pei'an's family a reward of 100 taels, which was her special order.

"Yes...the royal palace has given many rewards in the past few months. Not only has my wife and my family become much better off, they even have a surplus!" Mrs. Wang Xu showed a sincere and grateful smile.

Following Wang Pei'an as an official everywhere, she has not had a comfortable life for more than ten years.

She originally thought that the high prices in the capital would make her life more difficult. When she first came here, she asked her neighbors to see if she could find some laundry and mending work to supplement the family income. This was how she had been here all these years.

Unexpectedly, after settling in, the palace would give me rewards every year and festival. Not only could I have food and drink, but I could also make new clothes, which made my life much better than before.

"You guys are doing well, and the prince and I are relieved!" Baochai smiled.

Next, she chatted with everyone for a while before letting everyone leave.

Before leaving, Baochai ordered everyone to give two pieces of brocade cloth, and asked everyone to be grateful again.

After these people left, Baochai asked Ying'er: "Send someone to check the accounts in the treasury. Is the reward given to Wang Changshi's family that day 100 taels?"

"Yes!"

Baochai has always been aware of the messy activities in the house and has the idea of ​​​​rectifying them.

But because she had not been canonized before, and the Chinese New Year was coming soon, she suppressed the idea of ​​​​rectifying the family tradition for the time being. After all, harmony was still the main focus during this important period.

However, what happened today made Baochai have an attack.

Now that the Lantern Festival has passed, it is a matter of course to sort out the mess in the house.

About ten minutes later, a maid came to report that the treasury records did indeed exclude the corresponding amount of silver.

Baochai could predict this, and the silver in the treasury would only be more, and there would be no possibility of a few taels less.

In other words, the 100 taels of silver awarded to Wang Pei'an left the treasury, but he only received 30 taels, and the remaining 70 taels disappeared.

Picking up the tea cup, Baochai said slowly: "Order the servants who received the silver coins that day and distributed the silver coins that day to be brought outside the palace!"

"Yes!" Ying'er replied.

Having been with Baochai for so long, she certainly knew her girl very well. The current situation seemed calm on the surface, but in fact she was already furious.

Naturally, Ying'er does not need to do these things herself. She passes the message to the maid on duty in the palace, who will directly pass it on to the eunuch on duty outside the palace, and then passes it to Deng An, who is in charge of the matter, and then Deng An Hold those in charge accountable.

A royal palace involves hundreds of eunuchs and maids, and the procedures are so complicated.

Unfortunately, Deng An was not at home today, but was ordered to inspect Zhuangzi below.

This huge palace naturally has many properties. In addition to being in charge of affairs in the palace, Deng An and Zhang Ping'an are now responsible for inspections.

Of course, it doesn't mean that Deng An can't handle the matter without him. After all, there are several eunuchs in charge under him.

But what's even more unfortunate is that Chen Chong, who is in charge of this matter, is not here either.

Finally, Ding Liping, the eunuch supervisor of Sasu, accepted the order and ordered people to retrieve Chen Chong. At the same time, he screened out the eunuchs who distributed the silver that day.

A total of six people were responsible for this matter. Less than two moments after Baochai gave the order, they were taken outside Tongxin Hall.

Several people knelt on the spot, not knowing what happened. After waiting for a while, they saw a female official walking out.

When the visitor came closer, someone asked: "Aunt Dong, I don't know why the slaves came here."

This person is Dong Fang, one of the four female officials in the palace, and the eunuchs in the palace all call her Aunt Dong.

"How many of you will distribute the silver reward on New Year's Eve?"

Several young eunuchs looked at each other, and one of them replied: "Report it to aunt, that's right!"

Dong Fang snorted coldly, and then asked: "Who forwarded the silver reward to Wang Changshi?"

Hearing this, the few young eunuchs all tensed up, and then they all looked at the No. 2 eunuch on the left, who was the one who gave the silver to Wang Pei'an.

"Reply to my aunt, this is a gift from my slave!"

"How many did you give?"

"100 taels!"

"Really? But Mrs. Wang Changshi said that they only received 30 taels!" Dong Fang's tone became harsh.

(End of this chapter)