King Xiang of the Red Chamber

Chapter 478 Baochai: Either don’t do it or never do it

Let's talk about Prince Xiang's Mansion. With Lin Daiyu entering the mansion, everyone was talking and laughing and it became more lively.

Among them, Wang Xifeng was the most talkative. Although she didn't have any high-minded words, she also used her own advantages to speak out witty remarks, leading the atmosphere of the scene to always be filled with laughter.

During this period, she also exerted her flattering skills to the extreme and held Baochai up to the sky.

Of course, Baochai was still most concerned about Daiyu. Seeing her frown, he gave her a few more words.

However, this is called treating the symptoms but not the root cause, so Daiyu just forced a smile, her heart still feeling painful and lost.

At this moment, Ying'er came to Baochai's side and reminded: "Princess, Deng An is back!"

"Ok!"

"Everyone, I'm going to go and you guys can chat first!"

"Farewell, Princess!"

Everyone stood up to see each other off, and Baochai, accompanied by the maid, left the pavilion and walked towards the bedroom.

Deng An came back from Jinling this time with the purpose of finding out what happened to the former governor of Suzhou Prefecture.

Although the young master had been punished, the incident caused quite a stir, so Baochai wanted to find out.

She first ordered someone to check the resume of the colleague, including his teacher, fellow villager and the same year. Not to mention that after checking, she actually found something.

This person's tutor was Gao Shuyan, the former bachelor of Zuo Chunfang and the teacher of Prince Zhu Jingyuan.

Two years ago, Zhang Tongzhi was a county magistrate in Hubei Province, but this year he was promoted to a prestigious position in Suzhou Prefecture, and Gao Shuyan's operation was indispensable.

Yes, even though Gao Shuyan has been dismissed from office for a long time, his network of connections in the court is still there. Although he has no influence on the general trend of the court, running a government official is not a big problem.

When Baochai arrived at Yin'an Hall, Deng An was waiting in the hall. No one else was there except Ying'er.

"Kowtow to the empress!"

Sitting on the guest chair, Baochai looked at Deng An who was kneeling in the hall, and asked with a cold expression: "Get up!"

After Deng An got up, Baochai asked: "Going to Suzhou... can you gain something?"

"Reporting to your Majesty, I went to Suzhou Mansion and made some discoveries..."

"The man surnamed Gao visited the Zhang family two months ago and stayed at his house for some time. At least when Uncle Xue had a conflict with the boy from the Zhang family, the man surnamed Gao was still stranded in the Zhang family!"

When Gao Shuyan was mentioned, Deng An couldn't hide the hatred in his expression. After all, when he went to Jinling two years ago, he was often criticized and reprimanded by Gao Shuyan.

Baochai also heard Zhu Jinghong mention this Gao Baoshi, and knew that this man had urged the prince to guard against his own men.

Fortunately, due to the bad things that happened during Jinling's campaign against Japanese invaders, this man, along with some of his key members, were expelled from the court by King Rui and his group.

But as a family of officials, Baochai knew very well that even if these people retired from the court, they would still have extremely powerful influence.

For example, this time, this person can influence the appointment and dismissal of officials, and can make the noble son of the same family publicly point out Zhu Jinghong's misuse of military power.

The presence of such a person is more uncomfortable than the little Suzhou Prefecture. Baochai frowned when he thought of this.

"When Gao was still an official, he was very disrespectful to our prince and often slandered him in front of the prince. I think this person must be causing trouble in this incident!"

Hearing what Deng An said, Baochai said slowly: "It seems that this senior scholar has a lot of opinions about our palace!"

"This old guy is a bad guy. He made Jinling into a mess because of his own incompetence. Seeing the prince clean up the situation, he became jealous and then became hostile... Fortunately, he has read so many books, but he is still a sinister villain! "

Deng An got louder and louder as he scolded her, and quietly examined the princess's expression.

At this time, Baochai's eyes were looking at the throne, and there was nothing there.

"In your opinion, how should this matter be handled?"

Hearing this, Deng An was really surprised. How could a slave like him be qualified to express his opinion?

But since the princess asked, Deng An still replied: "Perhaps we can report it to the Queen and impose sanctions on this vicious person!"

In Deng An's view, the queen loved Zhu Jinghong very much and was definitely willing to vent her anger on her son.

However, Baochai didn't think so. In her opinion, punishing an old-fashioned person like Gao Shuyan would only make him more motivated, and he would then try his best to slander Prince Xiang's Mansion.

It doesn't matter if he scolds Prince Xiang's Mansion, the key is that what he scolds is the most sensitive thing, because Zhu Jinghong is indeed getting involved in military power, and this is precisely the most taboo thing.

Although Zhu Jinghong went to the northwest this time, he was impeached by many people, but the officials who reported it were very tactful, and none of them were as explicit as Gao Shuyan.

Therefore, the existence of people like Gao Shuyan made Baochai feel like a light on his back, and he could not even sleep peacefully.

The matter must be solved from the root... Baochai thought secretly.

Either don't do it, or do it absolutely...

"There is no need for the Queen to punish her. Such a dishonest, treacherous and evil villain, I'm afraid God will not tolerate him!"

Looking at Deng An, Baochai said with a ruthless face: "Maybe one day, he will be choked to death, drowned, or fell to death..."

"dont you agree?"

Deng An's mind was spinning rapidly. He was thinking about the meaning of the princess's words. At this moment, he just felt frightened.

Could it be that the princess meant...

Although he had guessed a few things, Deng An just felt that it was too crazy, and he was afraid that he had misunderstood it.

"The princess means..."

Baochai stood up and walked towards the desk on the main table, saying, "I don't have any meaning. If I do, it's your meaning!"

Picking up a small knife on the desk, it was the ornament that Zhu Jinghong placed on it. Baochai pulled it out gently, revealing the cold light in the sheath.

Deng An's mind was spinning at this moment. He finally figured out what was going on and replied, "Yes... it's what the slaves meant!"

After clearing his thoughts, Deng An continued: "That man surnamed Gao harmed our prince secretly. The slaves were really angry, so they tried to take revenge!"

Pulling out the knife completely, Baochai played with it and asked, "How do you plan to retaliate?"

Although he guessed the princess's thoughts correctly, Deng An couldn't be happy at all at this moment, because this job finally fell on him.

But once you get involved in something like this, there is no possibility of quitting.

Deng An had no doubt that if he intervened to shirk the matter, the princess would order the guards to silence her, and then find someone else to handle the matter.

At this critical moment, even his status as the general manager of the palace was not enough to save his life.

Therefore, Deng An had no other choice but to plan this matter honestly.

"When I was in Suzhou, I heard that people surnamed Gao loved to swim in lakes, so they could easily drown in the water!" Deng An replied.

Putting the knife into its sheath, Baochai put it back in its original position, then turned to look at Deng An, and said calmly: "Then pick a few confidants and go and send Bachelor Gao a ride!"

"Yes!"

"Deng An, I heard that you brought your family to the capital and now they are settling in Nancheng?"

Hearing this, Deng An's head trembled, and then he bent his waist and replied: "It is true!"

"The palace will take good care of them, you can go about your work with peace of mind!" Baochai said with a slight smile, looking particularly kind.

"Remember, be sure to leave no traces!"

Deng An immediately knelt down and kowtowed: "Even if I die, I will never cause trouble to the palace!"

Even though Gao Shuyan has been dismissed from office, he is still a top-notch Jinshi, a leader among the elite civil servants. To murder him is to make an enemy of all the scholars in the world. Therefore, this matter cannot have any connection with Prince Xiang's Mansion, so Baochai threatened Deng An's family.

Tonight is Deng An's preparation time. He has to leave early tomorrow morning, so Baochai directly asks him to leave and prepare.

Time is pressed very hard, but the key is that it doesn't matter if it's not tight. The man named Gao is still traveling around. Who knows how many inappropriate words he will say.

After Deng An left, Baochai told Yinger again: "Go and tell Xiao Linzi to let him...!"

Baochai made an explanation to Ying'er, and the general idea was to let this "Xiao Linzi" take a few guards to secretly follow Deng An to Jinling.

If Deng An didn't do things cleanly, he would silence them all.

Of course, all this is Ying'er's arrangement and has nothing to do with her as the princess.

The name of the small forest that Baochai pointed out was Jiang Lin. He was a close eunuch of the Yin'an Palace and was under the command of the great eunuch Yu Hai.

Yu Hai led a group of people to leave with Zhu Jinghong, and Jiang Lin was one of the few left.

It was not because he was not excellent, but because he was thorough and reliable. Zhu Jinghong was afraid that Baochai would be left unavailable, so he kept him here.

Jiang Lin's family was extremely poor, and he had to go to the palace without enough food. Now that he was better off working as an errand in Prince Xiang's Mansion, he took his mother and nephew to the capital.

Although this man was taciturn, he was very kind to his family. Every time Xiu Mu never fooled around with other eunuchs, he chose to go home to serve his mother.

Such a person is indeed reliable... Baochai thought.

After Ying'er left, Baochai walked behind the desk and wrote a letter to Zhu Jinghong.

But in the letter, it was about trivial matters as before, but it was written in a different way, which meant that it was an acknowledgment letter.

Regarding "encrypted communication", Zhu Jinghong was also well prepared and used specific characters to communicate.

For example, Baochai was spreading eloquently on a few pieces of paper, and the really useful words were connected together in one sentence.

"The person behind the scenes is Gao Shuyan, who still makes false claims that you are trying to gain military power. I have ordered people to get rid of you!"

After folding the letter and putting it into the envelope, Baochai sighed and muttered in a low voice: "Amitabha... good, good, good!"

This sentence seems a bit ironic at this time.

Her prayers were somewhat similar to those of the Queen. The latter, Princess Jing, helped Zhu Xianming execute countless people before and after the Donghuamen Incident.

In comparison, Baochai's little tricks really pale in comparison to her mother-in-law who eats fast and chants Buddha's name.

After clearing up her mood, Baochai got up and returned to the back garden. At this time, everyone was laughing and joking, and she quickly got into it.

While everyone was talking and laughing at Yan Yan, someone from outside came to report, saying that someone from Rongguo Mansion came to deliver a message.

Wang Xifeng wanted to go out, but Baochai told her not to bother and just let someone come in to deliver the message.

It was Xiaohong who was sent by Rongguo Mansion. Because of her outstanding abilities, she was deeply trusted by Wang Xifeng.

But this time she came not to tell about Baoyu's beating. Instead, Jia Mu and Mrs. Wang made up other reasons to let Wang Xifeng and Tanchun go back.

After all, looking at Jia Baoyu like this, he might not be able to survive, so Jia's mother tried her best to ask Wang Xifeng and others to go back so that they could see their brothers one last time.

The reason why Ping'er and others were not allowed to come was not only because Xiaohong was reliable enough in doing things, but also because she didn't know the inside story, so she wouldn't be found out for lying.

That's right, after Jia She in the mansion asked about the situation, he knew that the matter involved a lot, so he chose to block the news and only told his family that Jia Baoyu fell while riding a horse.

Jia She knew much better than his mother that the Rongguo Mansion could not afford the consequences of insulting the princess, especially if it was Zhu Jinghong's princess who was scolded.

So on the one hand, he tried his best to control the news, and at the same time, he had to discuss with his brother and ask the princess to try her best to suppress the matter.

As for holding Zhu Jingchun accountable, that is something Jia Jiabao never dares to think about.

Let's talk about Lin Hongyu being brought into the palace, which is more majestic and profound than the Rongguo Palace.

Being scrutinized by the guards wearing armor and swords along the way, and being led into the heavily guarded gate of the mansion, Lin Hongyu was somewhat shocked.

After all, she is just a little girl.

After being led into the back garden of the palace and in front of a group of nobles, Lin Hongyu knelt down to pay homage.

Seeing that Lin Hongyu was about to kowtow one by one, and would be delayed for a long time, Baochai said: "Get up... quickly tell your grandma what to do, so that we can continue to punish her with wine!"

"Thank you, Princess!"

After Lin Hongyu saluted, Fang stood up and looked at Wang Xifeng, but he seemed hesitant to speak.

Although what she wanted to say was insignificant, it was Wang Xifeng's private matter after all, so she was asking whether she should say it in public.

"If you have anything to say, please tell me quickly!" Wang Xifeng urged.

"Second Grandma, Third Grandma in the back porch sent someone to tell her that Fourth Grandma had occupied the land in Second Aunt's house. When she went to ask for it, Fourth Second Aunt took her and Third Aunt and scolded her. Fourth Grandma was very angry..."

Good guy, as soon as Lin Hongyu opened her mouth, there were more than a dozen grandmas. Everyone at the scene was shocked when they heard it. Even Baochai, who was so quick-witted, almost didn't understand.

So after Lin Hongyu finished speaking, Yang Jingting on the side could not help but sigh: "This girl... my grandparents talked so much that it made me dizzy!"

At this time Zhen Qin also nodded. She fainted when she heard the fifth "grandma", and the rest was like listening to a book from heaven.

Of course, the Rongguofu family has a great business and many relatives, so there would be such trouble.

Although it sounds complicated, as the person in charge of the family, Wang Xifeng easily understood this dispute.

This involves the grievances of several families, and it is a long-standing conflict. It is difficult to explain it clearly at once.

"Replying to my wife, it's just a trivial matter at home. This girl can't distinguish the importance...that's why she comes and says these disappointing things!"

"When I go back, I will definitely punish her!"

This was actually what Wang Xifeng was thinking. She was really dissatisfied with Xiaohong at this moment because the trivial things she said were really inappropriate.

Lin Hongyu is also a very smart person. Seeing that Wang Xifeng's eyes were wrong, she knew that she had made this person unhappy today.

"You are lucky to have such a smart girl. If it is too late to give me the baby, you would have to punish her. You really don't know how to cherish it!"

This was what Baochai said. She admired this girl Xiaohong very much. After all, not everyone could speak clearly and calmly like a tongue twister.

Seeing that Baochai liked Xiaohong, Wang Xifeng immediately said: "Since the princess likes her, I will give this girl to the princess!"

At Baochai's level, it can be said that she lacks everything. It is really difficult to be creative when giving her gifts.

Nowadays, it is rare to find something that I have, but it is still something Baochai values. Even Wang Xifeng can easily give it away, because there is no shortage of maids in Rongguo Mansion.

"Are you really willing to give up?" Baochai answered.

Wang Xifeng herself did not expect that Baochai would really answer the call.

But she reacted quickly and immediately replied: "As long as it is my wife's property, I can take it directly if you like!"

The longer Baochai stays in the position of princess, the more she realizes how important talents are. Now she is in urgent need of people who can do things.

Therefore, when Wang Xifeng was willing to give her away, she really wanted to keep this smart girl.

"That depends on whether the girl is willing or not!" Baochai glanced at Lin Hongyu.

At this moment she just felt lucky for her proposal.

"Since Mrs. Jia has called you back to cook, you'd better go back."

(End of this chapter)