Red Mansion Huacai

Chapter 388 Baoyu's Marriage
Baoyu actually sent Xiren to Jiang Yuhan, which made Daiyu very puzzled. Xiren was quite skillful, and she coaxed Baoyu into infatuation. She was also used to playing the role of a good girl in front of Mrs. Wang, and secretly used means to drive Qianxue and Bihen out of Rongfu. On that day, even Daiyu would jokingly call her "little sister-in-law" when she saw her.

She had already had an affair with Baoyu a long time ago, but unexpectedly, just some time after returning from Jiangnan, Baoyu sent Xiren away!

Daiyu was puzzled and asked a few more questions. Xichun chattered and Tanchun supplemented her, and then she knew the whole story. After sighing, she said to Tanchun and Xichun: "It may be a good place to go!"

Since she married Li Weijian, Li Weijian had always respected her and would consult with her on all important matters. He also entrusted all the affairs of the inner house to Daiyu. In private, he was kind and gentle to her, but also very informal. Perhaps because they had not yet consummated their marriage, the two of them were as sweet as ever.

Because Daiyu felt relieved and had something to focus her thoughts on, she became more and more dependent on Li Weijian, and inevitably she looked down on Baoyu, who was irresponsible.

She said this casually, and Tanchun seemed to be thinking about something. Xichun didn't understand why, so she couldn't help asking, "Why did Sister Lin say that?"

Daiyu smiled and said, "Fourth sister, you might as well think about Jin Chuan'er."

Xichun blinked her eyes when she heard this, and was speechless. She knew in her heart that even if Xiren stayed with Brother Bao, it would not matter, because Brother Bao's wife had not yet married. If she had a personality as strong as Xia Jingui, Xiren might die like You Erjie.

In a blink of an eye, they arrived at the East Corner Gate. Daiyu stopped to say goodbye to Tanchun and Xichun, and then returned home. Not long after, they arrived at the East Road Courtyard, and in a moment, they saw Li Weijian walking slowly towards them in casual clothes.

Seeing his solemn expression, Daiyu hurriedly sent someone to help him wash his hands, and then she undressed him herself, asking, "Has Fourth Brother run into any trouble?"

Li Weijian said with a bitter face: "Everyone else is drunk but I am sober."

Today, Li Weijian attended the court meeting for the first time and reported the harm of opium to the court. However, at this time, the harm of opium to the people was not obvious, and no one in the court believed Li Weijian's empty talk. The censor also impeached him for making a big deal out of nothing.

Not only that, even his mentor Yan Xiyao was skeptical, and later criticized him for doing something unnecessary, saying that the top priority now was to overthrow Jia Yucun.

Li Weijian was full of grievances, but he had no place to vent them. He returned to the government office and sat there for a while, thinking that since he could not use administrative means to ban opium in a short period of time, he might as well use economic means to sanction it, such as imposing high tariffs on it and stopping its flow. Later, he found out from official documents that the Guangzhou prefect had taken measures to destroy opium, which aroused Li Weijian's interest. He carefully read the man's resume and planned to find someone to introduce him to discuss this matter with him.

Daiyu heard Li Weijian's complaints and said, "Since his evil deeds are not obvious, why should you be so anxious now? After all, you have already made your suggestion today. When his evil deeds are revealed tomorrow, the court will remember your words today."

Li Weijian shook his head and smiled, "Sister, you are wrong. Today, I am not even twenty years old, how can I dare to be promoted? This suggestion is just out of public interest."

Daiyu said, "In that case, Fourth Brother, just do it slowly in the future. You should know that you can't eat hot tofu in a hurry."

Li Weijian nodded and couldn't help but glance at Daiyu, thinking to himself that he really shouldn't be impatient.

Daiyu had been with him for a long time, so how could she not know his lewd thoughts? Her pretty face immediately turned red, and she said angrily: "Fourth brother is not serious again!"

Li Weijian laughed twice, took Daiyu's hand and sat down together. Daiyu then talked about the situation in the Jia family today. When she heard that the seven little actors needed to be settled, Li Weijian said, "Sister, you can settle them. First sign a two-year employment contract. If they are suitable, they will stay. If not, they can leave."

Then he heard that Xiren was given to Jiang Yuhan by Baoyu. Li Weijian was stunned for a long time and couldn't help shaking his head.

Daiyu said: "This situation is caused by Xiren herself."

Li Weijian disagreed and said, "It is because Baoyu himself is useless that he was deceived by Xiren for several years without knowing it. Now that he has been exposed, he should be disciplined. How can he just let him go?"

Daiyu frowned and said, "I also feel that what Fourth Brother said is quite inappropriate."

Xiren had already had an affair with Baoyu, and now she was sent to Jiang Yuhan. Although Jiang Yuhan was of humble origin, she had considerable family wealth. How could she like a pair of worn-out shoes given by someone else?

It is possible that Xiren will be in a miserable situation in the future, and even Jiang Yuhan and Baoyu will become strangers from now on.

But what does this have to do with Li Weijian? He put the matter aside and talked to Daiyu about his happiness and worries. The happiness was that the Imperial Hospital and the Academy of Practice led by Li Weijian worked together to test 3,000 death row prisoners and finally verified the reliability of cowpox.

Daiyu was immediately overjoyed and said, "Amitabha, Fourth Brother's action can be regarded as bringing Buddha to thousands of families. I wonder how many people will benefit in the future."

Li Weijian smiled and said, "I'll go talk to Qiufang later so that she won't miss Xiao Lian'er too much."

Last winter, Xiao Lian'er had chickenpox, and Fu Qiufang was extremely nervous. After Xiao Lian'er got better, she kept Xiao Lian'er at home to prevent him from contracting smallpox outside. Now that the cowpox has been cured, I think Fu Qiufang will be very happy.

After talking about this, Li Weijian mentioned that the border between Toungoo and Dashun was not peaceful. One reason was that Toungoo changed dynasties and the new dynasty was quite aggressive. All the taxes were collected from the chieftains in Dashun. In the first few years, because of the great enemy of Dzungar, local officials generally adopted a policy of appeasement, but if there was a conflict, they would only keep things quiet, so Toungoo became more and more rampant.

Secondly, the Prince of Nan'an coveted what General Yue Zhongqi had gained in Sindhu, and seeing that the four kings and eight officials were becoming less powerful than the others in the Five Armies, he became determined to make progress, and over the past few months, he had colluded with his former subordinates and repeatedly provoked border conflicts. A few days ago, he even asked to go south to supervise the border troops.

Third, Namubang was the homeland of China before the Ming Dynasty. In recent years, it has been bullied by Toungoo and has been sending envoys to Beijing repeatedly, begging for the status of a vassal state and seeking protection from the Dashun Heavenly Army.

The combination of these three factors, coupled with the fact that Dashun was now full of martial virtue, had taken over all the Western Regions of the Han and Tang dynasties, and even occupied a lot of land in Sindhu. The small Toungoo was wiped out in the blink of an eye, because from the saint to the officials in the court, no one cared about this matter.

During this period, an imperial censor made a slanderous statement, saying that the rice in Toungoo was harvested three times a year and could feed tens of millions of people. As soon as this statement came out, all the ministers, whether from the new party or the old party, shouted to teach that tiny country a lesson.

The meaning behind this is self-evident: land annexation is strictly prohibited in Dashun. Once the matter of flying and sending letters is discovered, even gods cannot save it. Naturally, the land outside the territory is not restricted.

Although the land of Sindhu was fertile, it was too far away from Dashun, and how could it compare to Toungoo which was right in front of us?
But Li Weijian was worried. The Dashun Jingying, needless to say, had become an elite division after repeated reforms. The northern border troops had fought many battles with the quasi-thieves in recent years, and their military preparations had never been relaxed. On the contrary, the border troops in the southern provinces were relaxed in their military preparations, and they might suffer losses if they were careless.

Li Weijian was just talking when Qianxue suddenly came back and said, "Master, there's a letter from outside. Please take a look at it."

Li Weijian took the note and saw that it was written: Respectfully received by the young master Wu Shangxian.

Wu Shangxian? Li Weijian had a vague impression of this person's name, but couldn't remember what it was for a while. After a long while, he suddenly realized that it was him!
However, Jia Yun, who was in charge of the sugar business in Guangxi, mentioned in his letters a few years ago that there was a man named Wu Shangxian who mined silver in the mountains of Yunnan and Myanmar. He gathered a group of more than 40,000 people and had no less than 20,000 private soldiers. Every year, he paid more than 11,000 taels of tax to Dashun.

The mining tax of Dashun was inherited from the previous Ming Dynasty, which was about 20%. Of course, this was only on the surface, and there were also local levies in private. If you get along well with the locals, you can get by with 10%, let alone 20%; if you don't get along well, you may have to pay 60% of the mining tax.

The silver mine was located between Yunnan and Burma. On the surface, it was under the control of Dashun, but in reality, the new dynasty Toungoo also collected taxes here. Wu Shangxian wanted to offend neither of them, so he sent as much to Toungoo as he did to Dashun. So Jia Yun estimated that the silver mine's annual income was probably at least one million taels, so he encouraged Li Weijian to collect the money into the imperial court.

Jia Yun had good intentions, but Li Weijian was focused on promoting the industrial revolution, so why would he care about such a small amount of money? Moreover, since Dashun had switched to the gold standard, the silver was not that important. Once the gold standard was established, Li Weijian would then plan to introduce paper money. By then, the price of silver would drop further, and a million taels would not be worth the current 500,000. How could it be worth Li Weijian's efforts?
So Li Weijian just laughed it off at the time, and wrote back to Jia Yun saying that he had no such intention.

However, Li Weijian had a deep impression on Wu Shangxian. Born as a miner, he was elected as a mine owner within a few years. In a few more years, he built up a huge business and had 20,000 private soldiers. He was a powerful figure!

If he could be used by Li Weijian, he might be able to expand the territory for the Han people by thousands of miles.

After Li Weijian thought about it, he said to Qianxue, "Ask Haiping to write back and ask him to come to your house in three days."

Xixue agreed, and Daiyu did not ask about official business, and hurriedly urged Li Weijian to go and congratulate Fu Qiufang. The next day, Rongguo Mansion welcomed male guests, and Li Weijian naturally went to congratulate. He just gave a gift and said some auspicious words, and then listened to operas, drank wine and had fun for half a day.

On that day, Jiang Yuhan excitedly sent a sedan chair to pick up Xiren. When they arrived at the Rosewood Castle, the maids and servants all called Xiren "Grandma". Jiang Yuhan was extremely tender and obedient. At night, he saw a scarlet handkerchief tied around Xiren's waist. It was his own thing. Today, it met its old owner. Jiang Yuhan also showed Xiren the pine flower green handkerchief that Baoyu had given him. Then the two of them laughed and played.

Xiren felt relieved when she saw that although Zitan Castle was not as good as Rongguo Mansion, it had maids and servants, and Jiang Yuhan was no less handsome than Baoyu.

Thinking of the saying "marry a chicken, follow the chicken; marry a dog, follow the dog", she decided to live a good life with him.

Unexpectedly, after a night, Jiang Yuhan's face changed when he woke up in the morning. He glanced at Xiren coldly and said, "Are you trying to humiliate me, Baoyu?"

Xiren stammered, "Could it be that Master Bao has never told...the Master?"

"Bullshit! I thought he came with you just to annoy you, but who would have thought he was used!"

At that moment, Jiang Yuhan no longer had a good look on his face. As he turned away, all the new and old hatreds in his heart surged up in his mind, and he hated Baoyu to death!

Xiren was in a state of panic. The next day, she could not find Jiang Yuhan. Not only that, but even the maids and servants who were sent to her were withdrawn. When she heard that Jiang Yuhan had brought a prostitute from the capital, Xiren burst into tears. She had been scheming for several years, but lost everything in one careless move. Now she had no control over everything and was despised by Jiang Yuhan. She was afraid that her life would be worse than death.

............................................................

But on this day, Baoyu heard that Kuiguan, Aiguan and others had all gone to Daiyu's silk shop, and he immediately smiled and praised Daiyu for her kindness. He wanted to go talk to Daiyu, which frightened Sheyue so much that she tried to persuade her to stop. He also heard that it was his third sister Tanchun who made the suggestion, so he wanted to go talk to Tanchun again.

It was difficult for Musk Moon to stop them, so she packed up with Baoyu. Just as they were about to go out, Little Magpie came looking for them.

"Master Bao, the master and mistress are looking for Master Bao to question him."

Baoyu frowned immediately, thinking that it must be about going to the Jintai Academy, so he said perfunctorily: "You can go back, I already know."

Xiao Que winked and smiled, "Second Master, if you continue to cram for the exam now, it may be too late. The master wants to test your studies."

After saying that, he stuck out his tongue and ran away.

Baoyu was extremely reluctant, but he had no choice but to go to Lady Wang's courtyard. When he got there, Jia Zheng was talking to Lady Wang. Seeing Baoyu coming in hesitantly, he asked him to sit down and listen.

After talking about family matters, Jia Zheng saw Baoyu's ashamed look, and he was immediately furious. He scolded him, "I have been calling you for a long time, and now you come here with a dejected look. Why don't you sit down calmly?

All day long, you don't read your family books or study the scriptures, and you just play and frolic with the maids! You are such an unworthy evildoer, I really don't expect you to achieve fame and honor, but it's hard for you to make a living by writing eight-part essays, and you won't laugh until your future is ruined."

Baoyu was scolded so much that he could only look down at his toes. Mrs. Wang, who was standing by, said to him, "You should go to the Jintai Academy tomorrow. Don't hang around at home anymore."

Jia Zheng was immediately annoyed and said, "Speaking of the word 'school', even I am ashamed. Thinking of the past years makes me feel sad! What about Mingyan helping the master to make trouble in the school, the Xue family children being jealous, and the whole thing of spreading smoke signals? How shameful!

Now you are still studying hard in Qixianzhai. If you meet those children who are not making progress in the academy, they will learn to be good by following good people or to be bad by following witches. Send two maids to supervise and accompany you every day, which is better than pretending to deceive people in the school!"

Baoyu hurriedly agreed. Mrs. Wang then said, "You go now. I have something to say to your father."

As soon as Baoyu left, Mrs. Wang frowned and said in a low voice, "Master, Baoyu is old enough now. Although he is still immature, it is time for him to get married. As the saying goes, one must start a family and establish a career. Although he is not very capable now, maybe he will become more mature if he has a wife to take care of him."

Jia Zheng snorted coldly and did not comment. He was already extremely disappointed with Baoyu.

Mrs. Wang tried again, "Yesterday, seeing that the old lady was in a good mood, I tried to ask her, and she just said that it was up to us to decide." After a pause, she continued, "At first, the old lady wanted to help Daiyu and Baoyu get together, but--"

Although she said she was helpless, in fact, Mrs. Wang was very happy. She hated Jia Min to begin with, so how could she like Daiyu? When Daiyu married Li Weijian, Mrs. Wang chanted Buddhist mantras repeatedly when she heard about it, hoping that Daiyu would marry far away and stop causing trouble to her precious son.

The wooden and stone alliance is a thing of the past. Lady Wang has met Aunt Xue again these days. Because of Xue Pan's conviction, the Xue family's prestige has fallen again. At first, Aunt Xue looked down on Baoyu, but now she thinks that Baochai is marrying Baoyu up.

In addition, Mrs. Wang really admired Baochai, so at this moment she suggested: "The story of the golden and jade match was so detailed that even though it was just a joke, it would be a good story if it came true."

Jia Zheng frowned and said, "Don't mention it! You used a jade to deceive the old lady, and the Xue family followed suit and used a gold lock of unknown origin to fool people. That would be fine, but when something happened at home, the mother and daughter of the Xue family moved out of the house. How can such a family be considered a good family if they are so indecisive?"

After this scolding, Mrs. Wang was speechless.

Jia Zheng paused, and then said, "Although Baochai is good, her family background is not a good match for her. No matter what, my Jia family cannot marry into the family of a criminal. You don't have to rush this matter. I have already found a family. How can their appearance and character not be better than Baochai's?"

Mrs. Wang hurriedly asked whose family it was.

Jia Zheng said, "Mr. Chang has a beautiful and tender daughter, Miaoyu, whose appearance and character are beyond reproach. When her ancestors led the army and made great achievements, her grandfather was a colleague of ours who shared life and death, and the old lady and her grandmother were also close friends.

That year, the old lady had a strange dream. She dreamed of dragonflies flying all over the house. When she woke up, she was seriously ill. She invited a Taoist priest from Lu'an to serve tea and interpret the dream, but the Taoist priest only spoke nonsense. Thanks to his grandmother, she came and explained what the dream meant, which made the old lady feel relieved. Unexpectedly, his grandparents passed away, and we moved to the capital. The two families had not had any contact for many years.

Since she lives here with us, is an old friend of ours, and is the daughter of an official family, I am afraid that Baoyu is not worthy of her."

Mrs. Wang thought of Miaoyu's situation and was immediately annoyed. Daiyu's pretentiousness was annoying, but Miaoyu was even worse. She was a person who looked down on others! With such a character, how could she be a good match? I'm afraid she's not even worthy of carrying Baochai's shoes!

Mrs. Wang did not dare to say much at this moment, because she had been reprimanded by Concubine Wu in the imperial edict before, and now she was guilty. If she went against Jia Zheng's wishes, she was afraid that she would be sent back to the Wang family with a letter of divorce.

She was determined to find a way to drive Miaoyu away, but she said, "I think that child is very good, but she may not agree."

Jia Zheng said, "When Baoyu was at home, he often visited the Rongcui Temple. Now that he has been away for only a short time, he still visits from time to time. I guess Baoyu must have some thoughts in his mind. Miaoyu is a noble person, and she only likes to see Baoyu, which shows that this is not difficult."

Mrs. Wang was extremely worried and quickly changed the subject, saying, "It's hard to explain this matter in a few words. Forget it, we'll talk about it later!"

Jia Zheng thought about it and agreed. Mrs. Wang went to visit Jia's mother, and Jia Zheng stayed alone in the room to take a nap. When he woke up and saw that it was still early, he thought Miaoyu and Baoyu were more suitable, so he found Xiuluan and asked her to take a message to Miaoyu to test the waters.

Xiu Luan was immediately embarrassed when she heard this. She stammered for a long time and said, "Master, you don't know that Miaoyu is a strange person with a lonely personality. If I go there, I'm afraid I won't be able to communicate well with her because I'm not good at speaking. She will get angry and chase me away. Wouldn't that be embarrassing? I've seen the fourth young lady go to her place and talk about Zen and chess together. Why don't you ask the fourth young lady to go over and talk to her?"

"There is such a thing?" Jia Zheng said happily, "Go and find Xichun quickly."

(End of this chapter)