Uncle Lai in the Red Chamber

Chapter 202
After seeing Jia Zhen off, Lai Shangrong returned to the backyard with joy.

Just then, I met Second Sister You walking towards me.

Seeing Lai Shangrong's happy and thoughtful face, Second Sister You stepped forward to hold his arm, and said tentatively: "Master! Is there something big going on when my brother-in-law comes to you? My sister has been crying since she saw him when she went back."

Lai Shangrong sneered: "What big thing can it be? It's just borrowing money. He has to spit out all the money he has made in the Ministry of Industry over the years!"

Second Sister You smiled and said, "Could this be the opportunity that I have been waiting for?"

"Jie Jie Jie!" Lai Shangrong said with a devilish smile: "This is much better than originally expected!"

Indeed, if the emperor hadn't thoroughly investigated the corruption case, he wouldn't have known that Jia Zhen still had more than one hundred thousand taels of silver. If Qin Ye came to the door as planned, he might not only fail to fulfill his wish, but would even startle the snake.

"Then the uncle lent him money?"

Lai Shangrong snorted coldly: "What's the rush? I'm afraid that if he wants to eat in the future, he will have to point to our family for charity!"

This is not a lie. Although there are not many serious masters in Ningguo Mansion, there are many servants. Only in Zhuangzi in the north, a year's rent may not even be enough to pay monthly wages.

Youdao is to help the urgent but not the poor. Lai Shangrong just wanted to wait until then to talk to Jia Zhen about Qin Keqing's affairs.

As the two were talking, they heard someone shouting from behind.

"Uncle Lai! I invite you to come over for dinner!"

Lai Shangrong turned around and saw that it was Caixia, the maid next to Mrs. Wang. Jin Chuan was originally responsible for this kind of messenger, but now that she was driven home, she had to be replaced.

"You go back first, I'll go change into casual clothes and go!"

Full of doubts, I took Sister You back to the main house in the backyard.

Second Sister You whispered something in his ear while changing Lai Shangrong's clothes.

I saw the corners of Lai Shangrong's mouth raised, smiling rather lewdly.

After getting dressed, she slapped Second Sister You on the face as she was getting taller.

He said happily: "Not bad! Now I can draw inferences from one example and think of some new tricks. I'll wait for you tonight, sir!"

As he walked out the door, he happened to bump into the jade bracelet.

"uncle!"

"Why are you back? Is sister You okay?"

Knowing that it was mostly because of Jin Chuan, she had to take Yu Chuan back to the house.

When he came into the house, Yuchai fell to his knees with a plop and begged: "Uncle! You must save my sister! The second wife probably misunderstood!"

Lai Shangrong secretly wondered, wasn't he just flirting with Baoyu?What else could this misunderstand?
He said, "What's the misunderstanding? Get up and talk!"

"At first, my sister refused to say anything, but I just told my maidservant today, the second wife... The second wife is probably afraid of making a joke in the East Mansion, so she chased my sister away, but it's all Baoyu..."

Then Baoyu took Jia Zhengjia's gold necklace and explained it to Lai Shangrong with all his hands and feet.

"It turned out that the second wife had been saying that she would give her sister to Baoyu, and a few days ago she said that the second master wanted to take her as his concubine. It was a hot day and my sister was in a daze, so Baoyu came up to do something, and the second wife happened to see her."

Is Jia Zheng going to take a gold necklace as a concubine?

Lai Shangrong suddenly understood. He originally thought that Baoyu was beaten because of the red sweat scarf, but now I think it was probably mainly because of the golden necklace.

At first he was a little surprised that Baoyu and Pan posted sesame seeds again, but he didn't see any extreme reaction from Jia Zheng.

Looking back now, when Jia Zheng sent the chief historian of Prince Zhongshun out, he only asked Baoyu to wait and ask him if he had anything to say when he came back.

But on the way back, I heard from Jia Huan that Jin Chuan jumped into a well because Baoyu attempted to rape him, and he almost beat Baoyu to death when he returned.

This was against my aunt's intentions, and Jia Zheng was not Jia Amnesty. With his character, it was reasonable and reasonable to hit him so hard.

But if this is the case, the original idea of ​​asking for Jin Chuan may not work.

This seems to be not much different from Aunt Zhao, Jia Zhengyao. "The second master wants to take your sister as a concubine, but does anyone else know?"

"Only the second wife knows."

"What did your sister say? Do you still want to go back?"

"How dare she go back? After this misunderstanding, how can the second wife give her good things to eat when she goes back? I did as the master ordered and asked her to come to our house!"

"Is your sister willing to come over?"

"After this happened, the second master will definitely not take her as his concubine. She has given up on Baoyu. You don't know, master. Baoyu said before that he wanted to beg her from the second wife, but he ran away as soon as the second wife woke up. It’s gone!”

Lai Shangrong told Yuchai: "Okay! Stay with your sister and tell her not to do stupid things, and wait at home with peace of mind. It's getting late now, let Hu Si take you back!"

What Yuchuan said was right. If something like this happened, Jia Zheng would not be able to avoid it due to his character, and he would never take Jinchuan as his concubine again.

It seems that the only option is to follow the old path of the original work and let Jia Zheng know about Baoyu's evil intentions.

At that time, not only will there be more room for maneuver, but you will also be able to take the opportunity to retaliate against Jia Baoyu, getting the best of both worlds.

However, Jin Chuan did not jump into the well as in the original work, so he could only use Aunt Zhao and Jia Huan.

Thinking of this, I can't help but wonder why Jia Zheng invited me.

Could it be that Jia Zheng is also involved in a corruption case?

No, Jia Zhen's words may not be trustworthy, but Qin Ye, as the manager, cannot be wrong.

Seeing Jia Zheng with a happy face, Lai Shangrong knew that he had guessed correctly.

"Uncle Shi asked me to come, but what are your instructions?"

When he asked, Jia Zheng looked embarrassed.

Lai Shangrong secretly speculated, could it be that he knew what Baoyu had done and that the jade bracelet was coming home, and he was afraid that the matter would be exposed, just like Aunt Zhao did that time, so he asked to be merciful?
Unexpectedly, Jia Zheng asked: "Does my nephew know about the case of the Camp and Repair Department?"

He went to the Ministry of Personnel today to seek release, and only heard about this from others.

Different from the emperor's perspective, instead of being ashamed, he was quite proud of it.

Knowing the scale of the case from the side, I am even more complacent about being able to get out of the mud in the big dyeing vat of the Ministry of Construction and Maintenance.

He just wanted to pretend to be aloof and inconvenient to show off outside, so he invited Lai Shangrong to show his integrity in front of him.

Of course, the ultimate goal is to reach Tianting through Lai Shangrong's relationship.

Lai Shangrong didn't know what he meant and asked tentatively: "It has nothing to do with Uncle Shi, right?"

Jia Zheng immediately said with a serious face: "How is it possible? It means that I don't know about it, otherwise it would be a righteous killing of relatives, and I would have to report it to the emperor!"

Then he said angrily: "Brother Jing doesn't even know how to take care of Brother Zhen, so he keeps doing these messy things!"

"Uncle Shi is worthy of being a role model for our generation. He is indeed upright and upright."

Lai Shangrong couldn't understand Jia Zheng's mind, but he was flattering on purpose, not out of sympathy.

But he knows very well that once a person loses his spirit, he will become decadent, even give up on himself, and change his mind.

If it pops up, as long as you can live a decent life, even if there is a little green thought on your head.

Wouldn't that allow Jia Baoyu to escape?
"Hahaha!" Jia Zheng said with a long smile, stroking his beard: "Shang Rong, please sit down quickly and have a few drinks with me!"

Lai Shangrong had a lot of social activities in his previous life, and he was always good at flattering people. This meal was a great time for both host and guest.

Of course, most of the time it was Jia Zheng who was talking, nothing more than telling how upright he was, how upright he was, and how cool his sleeves were.

At the end, he did not forget to hint that Lai Shangrong should show off to the emperor, so that he could stay away from dirty places like the Ministry of Works and go to noble yamen such as academic administration.

(End of this chapter)