Uncle Lai in the Red Chamber

Chapter 118
Modern people have misunderstandings about the confiscation of homes in ancient times. They believe that confiscation of homes means beheading.

In fact, this is not the case. In the original book Red Mansions, before the Zhen family in Jiangnan ransacked their house, they came to Jia's house to hide their property. If their lives were lost, what's the point of having money?

In fact, a house raid is just a search of family property. Of course, it will also be accompanied by some punishments such as exile and selling, depending on the crime. As long as it is not accompanied by crimes such as capital punishment or genocide, hiding property is a routine operation of these wealthy families.

Moreover, in ancient times, filial piety was emphasized. In addition to the crime of killing clan members, even if their homes and temples were used to worship ancestors, they were not included in the search.

That's why in the original book Red Mansion, Qin Keqing asked Wang Xifeng in a dream to persuade her to buy more land for her ancestors, and even set up a private school there. She also said that even if she was guilty, all things could be brought into the official family, but not even officials could be allowed into this sacrificial property.Then it fell into decline, and its descendants went home to study and work in agriculture. They also had a setback, but the sacrifices could be continued forever.

This is actually the prerequisite for Jia Lan and others to succeed in their studies after the Jia family ransacked their homes.

Of course, hiding property or hiding it for others is a crime. In order to avoid being exposed, Lai Shangrong certainly cannot accept money from Qin Ye. Otherwise, even if he confesses to the emperor in a secret book, there is no guarantee that he will not be liquidated in the future. After all, Ban Jun Like accompanying a tiger.

This is also the biggest variable in the feudal monarchy system. Even those moral gentlemen will inevitably be jealous of the emperor, and they will even hesitate to defile themselves.

However, Lai Shangrong is not feared by anyone at this time, and self-destruction is out of the question.

Moreover, even if he commits suicide, he does not intend to start with money. It is more appropriate to start with his lifestyle. This kind of thing is tantamount to extinguishing oneself from a clean stream, and the effect of losing reputation is better and the sequelae are smaller.

Thinking of this, Lai Shangrong told the coachman Hu Sidao: "Don't go back in a hurry, go to Rongguo Mansion first!"

Although they had talked a lot with Qin Ye, the Qin family was not far from the State Administration Bureau and Ningrong Street after all, and both of them had just tasted it, so it was not too late at this time.

In order to avoid reconciliation between Jia Lian and Sister Feng, the fire should be started sooner rather than later.

The carriage arrived at Rong Mansion. Before getting off the carriage, Lai Shangrong took a mirror from his bag and put it in his arms before Shi Shiran came to the meeting hall.

Only by giving up can you gain. In order to avoid being too deliberate, Lai Shangrong planned to give Jia Lian a mirror as a late concubine gift.

But when he got to the conference hall, he didn't see Jia Lian.

After asking, I found out that he had gone back to the study room.

"Go and ask Brother Lian if anything is okay. Something happened a few days ago, and he never had time to send the concubine's gift. If it's inconvenient, I'll come back another day!"

Throwing a piece of silver to the boy guarding the door, he sat in the hall and drank tea.

After a while, the boy came back and said mysteriously: "Second Master said he would be here in a minute!"

Lai Shangrong tentatively said, "If something happens to Brother Lian, I'll come back another day!"

The young man got the money, and he didn't hide it. He whispered in Lai Shangrong's ear: "The second master just took the Bao family back before the uncle came. I just reported it, and the second master asked me to let the uncle wait a little longer."

Gee!
Domestic flowers are not as fragrant as wild flowers. This sentence is vividly reflected in Jia Lian. Not to mention Wang Xifeng, even Qiutong is ten times stronger than the ones from Bao's family. However, just a few days after Jia Lian took the concubine, he became the same as the ones from Bao's family. Hanged.

Lai Shangrong had a plan and didn't mind waiting a little longer, so he patiently looked through the account books of Grand View Garden in the hall.

It's just that Jia Lian waited a little longer, and it was obvious that his words were untrue.

After a while, Jia Lian stepped in refreshed.

"Brother Lai is too polite, I don't know..."

Jia Lian got straight to the point as soon as he came up. If Lai Shangrong hadn't said it was a congratulatory gift, he might not have been willing to take the time to see him.

Lai Shangrong took out the mirror from his arms, handed it over and said with a smile: "Last time Hui Wenlong gave him a piece of glass for his birthday. Naturally, we can't favor one thing over another. This mirror was just produced by the State-owned Company!" Jia Lian took the mirror and looked at it carefully for a long time, with wrinkles on his face. He smiled and said, "This mirror is much more expensive than Wenlong's, isn't it? How embarrassing!"

He said he was embarrassed, but he put the mirror in his arms.

Lai Shangrong waved his hand and said: "Hey! Wenlong is not a whole year old. We have birthdays every year. Brother Lian cannot accept concubines every year. Naturally, these gifts must show some differences!"

Jia Lian gave a thumbs up and said, "Shangrong, you should be more open-minded in your work!"

Then he said half-jokingly: "How can the old man be as good as the new man! They are all your sisters-in-law. If brothers take concubines in the future, don't favor one over the other!"

"Good talk! Good talk!"

Lai Shangrong asked knowingly: "Didn't I hear last time that my brother had taken Qiutong home? Why did he move back to the study room again?"

"Hey! Don't mention it!" Jia Lian shook his head and said, "That Yasha Xing deliberately made a mess in the room, and even pretended that he couldn't wrong Qiutong, and even dragged Qiutong to sleep with her. If it wasn't for Qiutong You are kind and righteous, and you can’t bear to see me come back alone, I’m afraid that my work will be in vain again!”

"Oh? Are you planning to live in the outer study all the time? This is the outer courtyard after all, and it will be inconvenient for people to come and go. If this continues, won't you have wronged Sister-in-law Qiutong?"

He pondered for a moment and then said: "Since my sister-in-law is affectionate and righteous, brothers must not let my sister-in-law feel cold! Besides, if the Eldest Master finds out, I'm afraid he will also blame the second brother Lian!"

Jia Lian said bitterly: "Tomorrow I will go back and keep an eye on them to see who of them dares to cause trouble!"

Lai Shangrong shook his head and said: "Brother Lian, why bother to embarrass this servant? Even if they don't dare to disobey you, they will have to be disobedient to both parties. They certainly don't dare to resent you and sister-in-law, but they can't help but vent their anger on Sister-in-law Qiutong. They will have to be sneaky when serving in the future. !”

"That's what brother said! But is it possible that I have to deal with it myself?"

"Hey! How can this happen?" Lai Shangrong pretended to sigh and said: "Originally, I gave this mirror to my brother as a gift, and I thought you would give it to your sister-in-law to ease the relationship. Now it seems like this is a sign of peace. The enemy is weak."

"Give it to her? I'm afraid you really think I'm afraid of her! I'll give this to Qiutong later and see what she can do!"

"Alas! It's better to dissolve enemies than to make enemies! If my sister-in-law finds out that Qiu Tong has been using her and she hasn't, a lot of things will happen!"

Then he sighed: "That's it! Tomorrow when I go to the old lady's place to give mirrors to the sisters, I will give one more to my sister-in-law. This will save her from using this in the future and complaining about you in front of the old lady!"

"Brother, you are quite interesting, but this will cost you money again!"

Lai Shangrong sighed: "Hey! I'm going too far to say this. I can't bear to see you in trouble, brother. Besides, I can only help you temporarily. From now on, when the two sisters-in-law are under the same roof, they will inevitably have to compete with each other. Then there will be more It's hard for you!"

"Oh! That's not true! Brother, that's why I didn't move back in a hurry."

Lai Shangrong originally thought that with a little guidance, Jia Lian would be able to set up an outhouse as in the original novel, but he didn't expect that after chatting for a long time, he didn't get the idea at all.

So he said straightforwardly: "Brother, have you never thought about buying a house outside? In the future, if the two sister-in-laws don't meet, naturally there will be less trouble."

"To be honest, brother, I have also thought about this. Living in the mansion, all the supplies are provided by officials. If you move out, you will inevitably have more servants."

"Hey! What's the point of this? The state-owned glass factory is about to issue shares. Brother, you are the eldest son of Rong Mansion. As long as you bring some body and soul in the name of the manor, I will do it for you! "

Jia Lian is a concubine of the Rong Mansion. As long as he invests in shares in the name of the Rong Mansion, even if he is discovered, the spoils will be distributed unevenly within the Rong Mansion.

Outsiders would not think that he was killing two birds with one stone by not taking care of the Jia family.

(End of this chapter)