Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 22 He who has his own responsibility in the world

Jia Lian turned around and had no choice but to look back. After all, this old man must not be offended.

"How much...what do you want to talk about?" He almost said, "How many dollars do you want to talk about?"

"Mr. Zhang has left, but the mountain chief has not left. Did you know?" The old man's eyes were indeed vicious. He could see that among the freshmen in the academy, Jia Lian was the most special one. This specialness was not about birth, but maturity.

When it comes to clearing debts, someone has to take the lead. Li Qing and Zhang Ting'en judged from their past experiences that if they want to achieve results this time, they must increase their efforts and do not hesitate to be evil. The result is that the person responsible for clearing the debt will be unlucky afterwards. The best result is that he will be transferred from the capital and may never come back for the rest of his life.

Things must be done, and one can only be sacrificed to save the other.

Zhang Ting'en chose to sacrifice. The traditional scholar-bureaucrat Tianxi took Tianxi as his own duty and did it knowingly that it was impossible. This was vividly demonstrated in him. As for Li Qing, at least he was the one who would take over once Zhang Tingen fell.

"Thank you!" Jia Lian smiled and cupped his hands, and he understood what he meant.

The old man couldn't help but smile and said, "Dong Rongguo has a good grandson."

Jia Lian heard another meaning in this sentence. Is this old man related to Jia Daishan? At least it's a familiar relationship.

This old man, it's not easy!

Back in the classroom, Master Fang was waiting for Jia Lian and said in front of all the students: "From now on, you don't need to take the arithmetic class. When you go back to the arithmetic class, go directly to the office to find me."

The other students looked at Jia Lian with something wrong. There are people who are envious, there are people who are jealous, and there are people who hate it to the core.

Jia Lian was no longer in the mood to compete with these new students. After thanking the gentleman, he sat down as if no one else was around.

Jia Lian, whose thoughts were entirely on Li Qing and Zhang Ting'en, was definitely moved, but it was difficult to make changes.

The power of one person is too small, not to mention that he is still a child. He wants to change this era and use an egg to hit a stone.

It's better for me to be alone. The cost of doing this is too high.

It doesn’t hurt to do something if you get a chance in the future. It's better not to touch the kind of thing that sets the trend of a generation.

Jia Lian, be careful and don't act like a leader.

Convincing himself silently, Jia Lian turned his mind from the world back to Jia's family and back to himself.

After completing his psychological construction, Jia Lian regained his composure, and I just lived my life.

Another day passed. When I walked out of the academy gate, Changsui Xiaoan had already come forward to take the schoolbag. There are also two big-bodied family generals, and the battle has been very restrained. Normally, when a dandy of this level goes out, why can't he have seven or eight followers?

The choice of walking back instead of taking a car was very confusing to the servants, and Jia Lian never explained it.

This is a cannibalistic world. It's OK to be easy-going to your servants, but you can't coddle them.

When he returned to Dongkua Courtyard, the housekeeper came to invite him to the main hall. Jia Lian followed him and found Jia She sitting on a chair in a daze.

Jia Lian stepped forward to greet him. Jia She looked at him feebly and said, "I'm back!"

After Jia Lian responded, Jia She regained some of his energy and said, "Your marriage has been decided. Today the prince is hosting a banquet for all the generals in the capital. Do you want to come with me and get to know a few more people?"

Jia Lian didn't understand what he meant, so he hesitated and asked in a low voice: "What's the significance of this?"

Jia She had a look of surprise on his face, "This question is superfluous" written on his face, but he still managed to explain patiently: "Your grandfather's family, Shuanggongjiedi, was in the capital camp, and most of the generals in the army were old friends. Now there is a rebellion in the Western Region. Your Majesty appointed Wang Ziteng as the governor of the counter-rebellion. He went out to the right to sit in command. Wang Ziteng went up to report and mobilized 100,000 troops from the capital to suppress the rebellion. Most of the leading generals were under the command of the second Duke of Jia Mansion in the past."

This... sounds fine. Tell Jia Lian directly that this arrangement has a deeper meaning.

"Father is also going to fight in the Western Regions?" Jia Lian made an insinuation. After hearing this, Jia She sneered and said, "I am an empty-headed general. How can I get any military power? Forget it, you don't understand even after I tell you. Go back to study."

Jia She dismissed Jia Lian with a half-hearted wave of his hand. A first-grade general has a title but does not actually hold military power.

Judging from the fact that the Yuanchun family visit in the novel depleted the Jia family's wealth, the purpose of this deployment of troops to quell the rebellion is likely to be to further hollow out the Jia family. Thinking of this, Jia Lian couldn't help but sneer. The Supreme Emperor and Emperor Chenghui thought too highly of the Jia family. How much trouble can a bunch of rotten heirs make?

Well, a creature like the emperor is difficult to fathom using common sense.

If you think about it this way, these generals from the Beijing camp will probably be guarding the northwest border for a long time. The soldiers can come back, but the generals cannot.

To be precise, this is another suppression of the four princes and eight princes. The current emperor's purpose of using Wang Ziteng must be for military power. For the sake of his personal future, Wang Ziteng chose to rely on the current Emperor Chenghui and help the emperor deal with these old relatives and friends. Interestingly, in the end, Wang Ziteng also fell into a trap.

The essence of imperial power is cruelty, and any potential threat will be dealt with cruelly.

Therefore, the root cause of Wang Ziteng's capture was the expansion of the force with him as the core, rather than any random reasons.

Jia She is a bad person. He is not completely stupid. He is extremely greedy and has no clue. He is still immersed in the glory of the Jia family in the past decades and does stupid things that are no different from the past.

I don’t know how he was persuaded by Wang Ziteng to give the Jia family’s business relationship to Wang Ziteng.

The elders have no hope at all, so the people around them must be well-trained, especially Wang Xifeng. This woman is too shrewd, lives a luxurious life, is greedy, and dares to make any money.

Thinking of this, Jia Lian asked Guixiang to polish the ink and write a letter to Wang Xifeng.

Well, Wang Xifeng is still young now and still worth saving. If she can't resist the marriage issue, then she should find ways to change her. Wang Xifeng probably couldn't listen to the serious preaching of the Eight Classics. Jia Lian thought about it again and again. Well, he could make a comic strip. ,

I used to read comic books a lot when I was a kid in my last life. I also liked to copy and draw for fun. This skill can be picked up.

What story should I write as a script? Since it is written for little girls, it must be written in the manner of a talented scholar and a beautiful lady.

Well, the protagonist comes from an honorable family. The girl is a childhood sweetheart and a good match. After marriage, the heroine is mean to her family, leaves a mark on her wallet and sues others. She is bold and violates the law for the sake of money. After the male protagonist's repeated admonitions failed, the woman finally had a concubine that the male protagonist liked beaten to death and secretly buried her. This matter was found out by the censor, who impeached the male protagonist for being lax in his conduct. The male protagonist paid the price of being dismissed from office, and the female protagonist was demoted to a commoner and exiled a thousand miles.

The male protagonist decided to give up the luxurious life in Beijing and accompanied the female protagonist to the exile. The female protagonist felt that she had harmed the male protagonist and bit her tongue and committed suicide in prison before being exiled. The male protagonist misses his deceased wife excessively and dies of illness a month later. He hangs out in the underworld and reunites with the female protagonist. The female protagonist is tortured in the underworld. The male protagonist resolves the female protagonist’s sins with his personal virtues. After the couple meet and reincarnate, they will be husband and wife again in the next life... ….

Well, let’s write this first, and see if we can keep it as a couple’s condom in the next life. Taken together, Wang Xifeng has done many things. The follow-up articles will have to wait for her to make up for it. If they don't meet expectations, they will be deleted. Hum!
  At first, Jia Lian was not very confident that he could paint well. When he picked up the brush, he realized that the skills he learned in his youth were still there and had improved. I couldn't stop painting this one, and I painted sixteen scenes in one night. The story tells about the heroine beating her concubine to death, and the hero being impeached, so I cut the story decisively.

The main reason is that it's getting late, I won't be able to get up tomorrow if I don't sleep, and I haven't had time to do the homework assigned by the teacher yet. I will explain to the teacher tomorrow that something has delayed me and see if I can delay handing in the homework.

After a meeting outside the city, a handsome young man lived in Wang Xifeng's heart. After learning that the marriage was going through the normal process, all I thought about every day was that this time would pass quickly so that I could be with my sweetheart every day.

Wang Xifeng was also interested in studying, and specially hired a female tutor to learn how to read and write. The requirements are not high, just master some common words and be able to read letters.

This morning, while having breakfast, someone came from outside to report a letter, and Jia Lian asked someone to deliver a letter.

Wang Xifeng was about to go out as soon as she lost her chopsticks, but Ping'er held her tightly and said, "Auntie, you are a lady of our family. There is no need to rush this matter. Go see this servant in person and let others know how you behave."

Only then did Wang Xifeng react and coughed: "Yes, I understand." The blush on her face became intense as she spoke, and the breakfast in front of her was not attractive at all. After waiting for a minute, he slowly calmed down. When he saw that Ping'er was still waiting, he said anxiously: "Go get the letter."

Ping'er held back her laughter and said, "My aunt didn't say anything. How dare I, a little maid, act rashly?"

"Hmph, you can only talk about others, but you will also be his in the future. Go quickly, don't just stand there stupidly."

Ping'er just went out. The person who came to deliver the letter was Changsui Xiaoan. When he saw Ping'er, he quickly lowered his head and spoke. Ping'er secretly thought, this is a man who knows the rules. Anyone who doesn't know the rules will be punished by Jia Lian.

Xiao An was about to leave after handing over the letter, but Ping'er stopped him and gave him ten cents. This was quite unexpected, so Xiao An quickly thanked and left.

Ping'er came back to see Wang Xifeng and told him what happened, without mentioning the money for running errands.

The letter was a paper package. Wang Xifeng asked Ping'er to get some scissors to open it. At first glance, it was a frame-by-frame picture with text.

Wang Xifeng, who had just learned the language, naturally couldn't read the text, but he could understand the pictures, so he asked Ping'er to invite the female teacher.

When the female gentleman saw the comic strip, he was amazed and said: "This kind of thought is rare. Miss Wang has found a good marriage."

Wang Xifeng felt so sweet that she asked the female teacher to read the text with a smile on her face.

"The man comes riding a bamboo horse and goes around the bed to play with green plums." The first picture shows two little dolls playing together.

Seeing that the broken chapter was gone, before Wang Xifeng could get anxious, the female teacher became anxious first. After flipping through it for a few times with no follow-up, she stamped her feet and said, "Why is it broken here? It makes me feel like a cat is scratching my head."

Ping'er beside him also sighed softly, suppressing his inner emotions and not showing them. Wang Xifeng naturally turned around anxiously and said: "Brother Lian, why don't you finish it and send it to us together? This is annoying. Can’t get up or down.”

Ping'er spoke in time: "Second Master Lian is studying at Qingyun Academy. He is very busy with his studies on weekdays. This is a painting I took the time to do. I don't know how many nights I stayed up for this painting."

Wang Xifeng felt guilty when she heard this. Brother Lian was troubled by his thoughts, but I complained to him.

Thinking of this, I wrung my handkerchiefs in my hands, and a picture of fighting at night by midnight appeared in my mind. The protagonist was Jia Lian.

"There is another letter here!" Wang Xifeng came back to her senses after the female gentleman said it, and said quickly: "Read it!"

"Xifeng, seeing each other is like meeting each other. I can only write to you after I know that the marriage has been decided..."

If the marriage is not settled, what Jia Lian did was to take advantage of the reputation of a bad person. If Wang Xifeng secretly received the letter, it would be a secret exchange, which was a serious crime in ancient times. Parents have the final say in their children's marriage, so they have no room for choice. It’s not that there aren’t enlightened parents, it’s just that there are so few.

The letter of more than 100 words was read quickly. There was nothing special about it, and there were no cheesy words. Just talking about the current situation, Jia Lian would definitely not say that when he wrote this paragraph, he had Fang Hongjian in his mind.

That is to say, the honorable family does not have as many bad rules as the literati family, and they can still meet face to face in private. When most ladies go on a blind date, they usually just peek, with the girl hiding behind a screen, or letting her personal maid come and see what the guy looks like.

This trend emerged after Neo-Confucianism was established as a prominent school in the early Ming Dynasty. Before that, even in the Southern Song Dynasty, the trend was not so exaggeratedly conservative. Jia Lian had a misunderstanding here. He thought that he could meet Wang Xifeng in advance, which showed that the atmosphere was not that bad.

I never thought that when it came to the so-called ladies in literati families, they really just couldn't get out of the door or take any steps forward. It was an era when it was considered risqué to show any sleeves, let alone anything below the neck. Interestingly, in Europe during the Tong period, women could not show their arms, legs and feet, and this was determined by law, but they could reveal half of their faces.

At this time, Wang Xifeng regretted that she could not reply in person, but she had to reply. After thinking about it, she took a hand-embroidered sachet and asked Ping'er to come and respond in the form of a oral message. At the same time, she also wrote the word "Xifeng" and brought it with her, which meant to tell Jia Lian that she was already learning to write and could write her own name.

Jia Lian was told by Master Fang because he didn't hand in his homework on time, saying that being diligent is better than playing hard.

After saying that, he also strictly required that the homework must be made up, and emphasized that the county examination will start in two months, so don't enter the examination room to find out that you have not read the book well. Jia Lian was not a rebellious young man, so he was naturally not allergic to such words. He accepted the criticism with a correct attitude, saying that he would never make similar mistakes again in the future.

When school was over, Xiao An talked about delivering the letter, but Jia Lian didn't say anything. This matter was not of high importance to him and it was not something he was particularly anxious about. Wang Xifeng's transformation will take time and step by step. See her response before deciding on the next step.

After returning home, Guixiang came forward and continued: "Second Master, Miss Ping'er next to Miss Wang is here."

Is it normal? Jia Lian was delighted after hearing this. This smart and pretty maid was Jia Lian's favorite character in Dream of Red Mansions.

(End of this chapter)