Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

Chapter 84: Birthday Gifts Are Cheap (Please collect and read!)

The words her sister-in-law just said were neither hot nor cold, which was not pleasant to the old lady's ears.

An old lady may dislike her own grandson, but she doesn't want outsiders to talk about it and tarnish her own reputation.

But my sister-in-law didn't come to her senses at all, and she continued to nag:
“Although he has a poor background, for a family like ours, background is secondary. Filial piety and courtesy are the most important.

I also heard that he made a mistake and was even exempted from etiquette by the old lady. I felt sad for the old lady when I heard that.

"Mr. Zheng should discipline this troublesome kid. If everyone is as well-behaved as Baoyu, the old lady will have less worries."

After hearing these words, Lady Jia, who was sitting at the table, looked a little cold. Wang Ziteng was such a high official, but his wife was actually a fool!

Mrs. Wang's face also looked bad at this time. She was about to step out to put out the fire and ask her troublesome sister-in-law to shut up quickly.

Wang Xifeng sneered in her heart. Her uncle was a top figure in the Wang family, but he had such a wife.

She is obviously a fool, but she still jumps high and low, as if she is afraid that others don't know how stupid she is.

Mrs. Li, the wife of Marquis Zhongjing, spoke first: "Madam Wang, what you said is a little inaccurate. It is rude for others to give a piece of paper as a birthday gift.

But it doesn’t count when it comes to Cong Ge’er.”

……

Marquis Baoling and Marquis Zhongjing are both nephews of Lady Jia, and their blood relationship is much closer than that of the Wang family.

Mrs. Li, the wife of Marquis Zhongjing, could not help but see the embarrassment on Lady Jia's face and felt a sense of solidarity with the enemy.

The Wang family is a poor family without even a title. If it weren't for the Jia family's connections, how could they have sat on the position of Jiedushi of the Beijing Camp?

This Zhang is just a person from a small family. Her eye sockets are so shallow. Has she forgotten where she came from?

The man in the family suddenly got a high position and he no longer knew how to behave himself, becoming so arrogant and forgetful.

He said such stupid things in such an occasion, embarrassing his aunt.

……

But Zhang still felt that she was a good talker. She thought that the words she used to ridicule Jia Cong were just an attempt to curry favor with Lady Jia. After all, he was just the illegitimate son of a prostitute.

However, she didn't realize that she had offended a lot of people in the hall. Even Mrs. Wang looked at her sister-in-law as if she were a fool.

She was interrupted by Li and seemed a little unhappy: "Madam Hou's words are strange. Is he different from others?"

A flash of contempt flashed across the face of Mrs. Li, the wife of Marquis Zhongjing.

She said, "We women don't know what's going on outside, but I have heard our Lord talk about it a little.

May is the birthday of the retired emperor. Our Lord and other civil and military officials followed the emperor to Chonghua Palace to kowtow to the retired emperor and celebrate his birthday. "

Zhang's face twitched when she heard this. Although her husband's position as the Jiedushi of the Beijing Camp was somewhat glorious, it was a new official position.

The ancestor of the Wang family was only a county earl, and the title was cut off several generations ago.

This family background is very different from that of the historians with two marquises in the same family.

Her husband was a high-ranking official, but he did not have the honor of being personally brought by the emperor to pay birthday greetings to the retired emperor.

But she didn't know that the Shi family's title of Marquis Zhongjing was three times more valuable than the Shi family's hereditary title of Marquis Baoling.

Shi Ding, Marquis of Zhongjing, was originally the third grandson of Shangshu Ling Shi Gong.

Shi Xiangyun's father was the eldest grandson, but because he died early, the title of Marquis Baoling was inherited by Shi Nai, the second grandson of Shangshu Ling Shi Gong.

Marquis Zhongjing was originally just a minor general in the army. Later, because of his meritorious service in helping the current emperor ascend the throne, he was able to be granted the title of Marquis Zhongjing.

The fact that His Majesty conferred the title of Zhongjing on Shi Ding shows how much he commended and trusted Shi Ding.

Shi Ding's title of Marquis Zhongjing was earned by him after fighting through fire and water, and was conferred by the current emperor, so it has more weight than the hereditary title of the Shi family.

If we were to say who among the four families of Jia, Wang, Shi, and Xue is the most favored by the emperor, it would have to be this Marquis Zhongjing Shi Ding. …

Li continued, "When the Marquis was in Chonghua Palace, he accidentally saw a handwritten copy of the Heart Sutra, which was said to be the favorite of the retired emperor.

Later I heard from someone who knew the details that this Heart Sutra was written by Congger himself two years ago and was originally given to Prince Jiashun, who later presented it to the retired emperor.

It is said that the emperor was very fond of Cong'er's calligraphy, and the Heart Sutra he wrote became the emperor's favorite. "

When Li said this, everyone in the room was stunned. It was unexpected that Jia Cong's handwriting was so good that even a supreme figure like the retired emperor liked it.

Although Mrs. Wang, Wang Xifeng and others knew that Jia Cong had a beautiful handwriting, they did not know that there were such amazing allusions in it.

Moreover, this incident happened two years ago, but the people in the mansion knew nothing about it, which made them extremely shocked.

On New Year's Eve that year, Prince Jiashun sent someone to give Jia Cong a New Year's Eve gift. The Jia family vaguely remembered that the eunuch Wang Dong said that Jia Cong sent a Buddhist scripture written by his deputy to Prince Jiashun.

Unexpectedly, the Buddhist scripture was later given to the retired emperor by the prince.

Since this matter happened within the palace, not many outsiders knew about it.

At that time, Li Dekang, the Minister of Works, also happened to know about this matter, so he paid attention to Jia Cong and even specially called Jia Zheng to have a chat, but he did not tell Jia Zheng about this.

So more than two years passed and no one in the Jia family knew about this.

Grandmother Jia also recalled that when she went to the palace to ask the Empress Dowager to plead for Jia She, Empress Dowager Yi Zhang had said at that time: Jia She is not completely useless, at least he raised a good son.

At that time, when Lady Jia heard this, she was always confused and even asked the Queen Mother whether she was talking about Jia Lian. Although she finally knew that she was talking about Jia Cong, she didn't know the reason.

Now, after listening to what his niece-in-law said, he finally solved the case that had been going on for many years. He couldn't help but feel horrified. How many other things had this grandson done that others didn't know about?

When Li said this, Wang Ziteng's wife Zhang felt extremely embarrassed. She felt that everyone in the room was looking at her with mocking eyes, and she wished she could find a hole to crawl into.

When everyone looked at the overly plain and low-key ebony scroll, they would still think that it was a shabby and rude object.

All the birthday gifts given by other young ladies and gentlemen combined are not as valuable as this one. It is a treasure that even the emperor loves.

The girl sitting on the low stool in front of Grandmother Jia said with a smile, "Old lady, can you open the calligraphy that Third Brother Cong gave you and take a look?"

Seeing Lady Jia nod, the girl jumped up from the stool and happily took the scroll from the maid.

He then asked Yuanyang to hold the other end and gently unfold the scroll.

The ancient and elegant calligraphy style fills the paper and makes people want to immerse themselves in it.

It was clearly written at the beginning of the volume: Heart Sutra of Prajnaparamita.

Jia Cong knew that this Heart Sutra did not exist in this world, so there was no reason not to use it more often. It would be just right to copy this Heart Sutra as a gift to the old lady for her birthday.

The girl shouted excitedly, "It really is the Heart Sutra, old lady, this is the same as the one in the hands of the retired emperor!

Moreover, this calligraphy is even better than the Xizhou poem in Tan Yatou's room, and the writing is more skillful and sophisticated."

The girl stared at the calligraphy in her hand, her eyes full of joy and admiration.

Baoyu, who was watching this scene, felt sour and uncomfortable, but what could he do? It was his own fault that he didn't have the ability to do it.

Mrs. Li, the wife of the Marquis of Zhongjing, said with a smile, "Isn't it exactly the same as the treasure in the hands of the retired emperor? The old lady is so lucky. This birthday gift from Cong-ge is really decent."

All the ladies in the hall stood up and looked at the Heart Sutra curiously.

Most of the women who can become housewives of wealthy families have received education and can read and write a few words.

Although none of them knew much about calligraphy, this scroll of calligraphy was created by the same person as the retired emperor's favorite thing, so how could they not take a look at it for fun?

So all kinds of words of praise were thrown to Lady Jia without any payment. Although the old lady was not close to the writer, she felt proud after hearing these words, and the unhappiness that was stirred up by Zhang just now disappeared immediately.

Zhang, who was standing by, felt a burning sensation on her face, as if someone was slapping her left and right.

(End of this chapter)