The Red Chamber begins with a bastard

Chapter 423 A eloquent tongue
The son is Zhongshan Wolf, and he is mad when he is successful.

The beauty in the golden chamber is as innocent as a flower or willow, but she will die in a single day.

This is the verdict on Jia Yingchun in "Dream of Red Mansions". The "Wolf of Zhongshan" refers to Sun Shaozu, Jia Yingchun's future husband, a beast in human form, ungrateful, and extremely licentious.

According to the description in the original novel, the ancestors of this Sun Shaozu had once attached themselves to the Jia family and received favors from the Jia family. However, this fellow was ungrateful, cruel, arrogant and lewd. All the females in the family were raped by him. Seeing that the Jia family was in decline and power, not only did he not remember the old favors, but he was also extremely cruel and tortured to death Jia Yingchun, whom he had married less than a year ago. It was a pity that such a beautiful girl in the golden boudoir died in a short time!

After that, the Jia family didn't dare to pursue the matter and couldn't even get an explanation. The poor second sister Jia Yingchun died in vain, which was really infuriating. Now that Jia Huan has encountered this, he naturally wants to prevent this tragedy from happening again.

According to the original novel, Jia's mother was not very happy about Yingchun's marriage, and Jia Zheng hated the Sun family even more, so he advised Jia She a few words. It can be seen that Jia's mother and Jia Zheng both knew that Sun Shaozu was a bad person, but Jia She coveted Sun Shaozu's six thousand taels of silver and insisted on marrying Jia Yingchun, which led to the subsequent tragedy.

Now it seems that Jia She has already established contact with Sun Shaozu, but I don't know whether he has received the six thousand taels of silver from him. It must be said that Jia She is a real bastard, greedy by nature. Sun Shaozu in front of him is estimated to be 27 or 28 years old, while the second sister Jia Yingchun is only 16 or 17 years old, at least 10 years older. He actually dared to marry his daughter off, he really doesn't treat his daughter as a human being!

However, after chatting with Sun Shaozu for a few sentences, Jia Huan found that although this man was ugly, he was very eloquent. It could be seen from his words and expressions that he was a very scheming guy, which was in line with the description of "socializing and making expedients" in the original work. No wonder he could get along well in officialdom and make a lot of money. It was normal for a greedy person like Jia She to take a fancy to Sun Shaozu.

In addition, when Jia She introduced Sun Shaozu just now, he called him Commander Sun. Jia Huan just thought that this guy was a commander of the Beijing Camp, which was a senior military officer of the third rank. It was quite impressive that he got this position before he was thirty years old. As a result, after chatting for a while, he found out that Sun Shaozu was a commander in the Five Cities Bingmasi, with a rank of the sixth rank, which was far from enough, and the position was hereditary.

Sun Shaozu and Jia Huan exchanged a few polite words and then left. Jia She stroked his beard and asked proudly, "Brother Huan, what do you think of Sun Shaozu?"

Jia Huan couldn't guess what Jia She was up to, so he answered casually, "Commander Sun is eloquent, but he looks a little creepy. No wonder he hasn't married yet at his age. I'm afraid no girl would like him."

Jia She said disapprovingly: "Huan'er's idea is too naive. As long as a man has ability, he will have no worries about not having a beautiful wife. Appearance cannot be used as money. It's quite like Baoyu. He is not good at studying and making progress, nor can he make money to support his family. He just hangs around in the inner house all day long. What's the use of his good looks?"

This is the truth, and Jia Huan also agrees with it. You don’t have to care about appearance, but you also have to consider the character. You must stay away from trash.

Jia She glanced at Jia Huan and smiled, "Of course, a young man like Huan who is studious and handsome, with both talent and appearance, is naturally favored by women."

Jia Huan was moved. He did not know what Jia She was thinking, as he was belittling Jia Baoyu and praising him at the same time. He said calmly, "Master, you are too kind to praise me. I am ashamed to accept it!"

Seeing that Jia Huan was not surprised by praise or criticism, Jia She could not help but secretly curse him for being a smart kid. Although this kid is young, he is as shrewd as a fox and as steady as an old dog. It is not easy to control him.

"Brother Huan, come in and talk!" Jia She turned and went back to the living room, and Jia Huan followed him in silently.

Jia She's living room was decorated very luxuriously. There was a large four-legged bronze tripod in the middle, and a charcoal fire was burning day and night. There were probably copper pipes under the floor tiles, and hot water was poured in for heating. It was an ancient version of geothermal heating, so even in the cold winter, the whole room was warm as spring and very comfortable.

There is also a lifelike big golden toad with a circle of copper coin-like grooves on its back, on which a circle of sandalwood is burning. The white smoke flows along the grooves like water, and only dissipates after reaching the toad's mouth, filling the room with fragrance, as if it is puffing out clouds and smoke, which is very ornamental.

Tsk tsk, these are just the tip of the iceberg. To maintain such a luxurious life, I wonder how much silver it costs every day. No wonder Jia She and his wife are so greedy. According to the description in the original novel of Dream of Red Mansions, Sun Shaozu once insulted Yingchun, saying that your father owed me six thousand taels of silver, and I took you to pay off the debt.

This should be true. Jia She, the old bastard, lived a life of luxury and debauchery. It was normal for him to borrow money from others when he had no money. Sun Shaozu probably felt that he had lost out by spending six thousand taels of silver to buy a wife. Naturally, he took out his anger on Jia Yingchun whenever he had the chance, and abused her to death. In the end, in less than a year, such a beautiful woman was tortured to death by him.

Thinking of this, Jia Huan became even more displeased with Jia She, but the latter was completely unaware of it and "kindly" invited Jia Huan to sit down, but Jia Huan politely declined and remained standing.

Seeing this, Jia She thought that Jia Huan respected him and was very satisfied. He stroked his beard and said, "Brother Huan, I heard from Lin Zhixiao that you refused to move Aunt Zhao's grave?"

Jia Huan nodded and said, "I have already explained this to you, Master." Jia She's eyes flickered and he said with a smile, "Don't be nervous, Brother Huan. Your uncle is not blaming you. Your aunt died a pitiful death. Your mother did go too far in this matter. It is normal for you to feel resentful."

"Master, you can see clearly that Huan'er actually has no grudge against Madam. The reason why she is unwilling to move Madam back to the Jia family's ancestral tomb is simply because she does not want to disturb her rest. Moreover, the place where Madam rests is close to the mountains and the water, which is a good place for Feng Shui. If she were to move the tomb rashly, it might ruin the Feng Shui and affect Huan'er's future career in the imperial examination. So after thinking it over again and again, she finally decided not to move the tomb. It is not because she is resentful of Madam as Master thinks!"

Jia Huan explained with a look of trepidation on his face, but in his heart he was cursing Jia She, the old bastard, for trying to set a trap for him, but it wasn't that easy!

It is true that Jia Huan did harbor resentment towards his biological mother, Lady Wang, but he could only hide this deep in his heart and could never say it openly. If he admitted in front of Jia She that he had resentment towards Lady Wang, it would be like stretching his neck for Jia She to strangle. How could he do such a stupid thing?

Seeing that Jia Huan was not fooled, Jia She was greatly disappointed and glanced at Jia Huan coldly, as if to say, "You keep pretending, kid. Do you think I can't see through you?"

Jia Huan also gave Jia She a cold look, as if to say, "So what if you figured it out? If I don't admit it, what can you do to me?"

Jia She was so angry that his teeth itched. He coughed and said, "So that's how it is. It was my uncle who was too suspicious. By the way, Huan'er, you have also moved to the garden now. How do you feel about it?"

Seeing that Jia Huan was not fooled, Jia She had no choice but to change the subject. Jia Huan naturally countered the move and nodded, "Not bad!"

Jia She sneered and said, "In order to build this villa for the imperial visit, the two governments invested no less than hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, and yet yours is only just passable?"

Jia Huan pretended to be surprised and said, "How could such a waste be made?"

Jia She snorted coldly and said, "Brother Huan, you don't know how expensive firewood and rice are until you run the household. You younger generations usually live in luxury, so how can you know the difficulties of running a household? Forget about other things. There are hundreds of people in Rongguo Mansion, and the daily food and clothing expenses are a huge expense. Now it's only bright on the outside, but it's already seriously in deficit inside, and it's barely maintaining its dignity by borrowing from here and there."

Seeing Jia Huan's "shocked" look, Jia She continued to add fuel to the fire, "Well, if this continues, I'm afraid we won't be able to pay the monthly allowance."

Jia Huan frowned and said, "It's not that serious. As the saying goes, even a rotten boat can still be repaired. Our Jia family is a wealthy family with a lot of farms under the names of the two mansions. How could we be in such a difficult situation?"

Jia She sneered, "Only those farms are worth a bit of money, but the rent collected each year is only a few thousand taels, not enough to cover the expenses of the mansion for half a year. Moreover, the mansion still owes a foreign debt of 50,000 or 60,000 silver coins from the construction of the garden two years ago. How can we pay it back?"

"What should we do? How about selling the farm in our mansion?" Jia Huan pretended to be stupid.

Jia She was just picking up the teacup to moisten his throat and continuing to "appeal to the truth and explain the reason" to Jia Huan, but unexpectedly Jia Huan suddenly said this, and he choked on the wine and started coughing violently.

"Ahem, Huan'er... You can say this in front of your uncle, but if your father hears it, just wait and see how he will punish you. You are so audacious that you can say such a thing. This is a rebellious and ruinous act. As a child of the Jia family, how can you do such a thing?"

Jia Huan said in a panic, "Huan'er just spoke without thinking, Master, please don't spread it."

Jia She sighed and said, "Brother Huan, you are smart all your life, but you are foolish for a moment. If you can bring back all the inheritance of the Lin family this time, our Jia family's predicament can be easily solved. Not only can we make up for the deficit, but we can even have a surplus."

Here it comes, the old fox finally showed his tail. After saying so much, he still wants the Lin family's inheritance. Jia Huan sneered in his heart and frowned, "Master, this is wrong. As the saying goes, a gentleman loves money but gets it in a proper way. The Lin family's inheritance belongs to Sister Lin. How can our Jia family take it for ourselves?"

Jia She rebuked him, "You are so pedantic. The Lin family has already died out. What is the use of so much silver for an orphan like Lin? Even if you give it to her, she won't be able to keep it. Rather than giving it to others, it is better to benefit her mother's uncle's family. What's more, Lin is living in our house now. She has no shortage of food, shelter and daily necessities. When she chooses a husband in the future, we can prepare a generous dowry for her to marry off."

(End of this chapter)