Daiyu of the Red Chamber

Chapter 218

I would like to thank Qianyi Yirenyan for the reward and encouragement, and thank Longzu Qingfeng and Wenwen 1975 for their monthly support!thanks
————————————————————————————

Jia Amnesty took Mrs. Xing, Brother Chun, Qiao, and Aunt Juan away with Brother Cong, and the entire East Courtyard seemed cold and lonely.Fortunately, at this time Wang Xifeng needed to rest in peace, so she didn't feel much about it.Every day, Li Ping'er and An'er circled around Wang Xifeng, while Jia Lian had already returned to the Imperial College to continue his studies.

After Daiyu learned that Wang Xifeng was pregnant, she sent Aunt Sun or Aunt Tang to visit more than once.Wang Xifeng's energy improved a lot because of this, but Luohong didn't stop.

Now that Huang Jiyun is a senior scholar, he is too busy, not to mention Daiyu, even Jia Lian is too embarrassed to ask him to take Wang Xifeng's pulse.Fortunately, after half a month of pattering, the replacement of two imperial physicians finally stopped Luohong, and the fetal image gradually stabilized.

After Jia Amnesty left, Xue Pan took Aunt Xue and Xue Baochai to bid farewell to Mrs. Jia and Mrs. Wang, and moved back to Xue's mansion, which had already been packed.Although Mrs. Wang was extremely displeased, Mrs. Jia was very happy.After pretending to stay for a while, seeing that the Xue family was really determined to leave, she even ordered someone to take a set of heads from her collection and give them to Xue Baochai.

On the third day after moving, Xue Baochai's mother and daughter went to Daiyu's Zhuangzi outside the city under the escort of Xue Pan.For their arrival, Daiyu was very surprised, but received Aunt Xue, mother and daughter in the main hall of the inner courtyard without losing the courtesy.

As for Xue Pan, he was naturally brought by Lin De to wander around the village. It is really inconvenient for Daiyu to receive male guests. Fortunately, Xue Pan is very sensible now and has not done anything absurd rashly.

Xue Baochai's sense of Daiyu is actually extremely complicated.Being in contact with Wang Xifeng these days, I can be regarded as knowing that the eldest son of Jia's family can have the current situation, thanks to Daiyu's help.I was even more envious, jealous and admired for Daiyu in my heart.

Daiyu didn't think too much about it, after all, she felt extremely sorry for Baochai in her previous life.But when they first met, Baochai treated her in various ways, which also made Daiyu unwilling to have a close friendship with her.Therefore, the reception is not enthusiastic, but it is polite, and people can't fault it.When Xue Baochai's mother and daughter were leaving, Daiyu also gave away a jar of Baihua wine.

The Baihua Niang and Baiguo Niang are now well-known in the capital, but it is a pity that Daiyu and her maids brewed them by themselves, even if they are rich in gold, they cannot be obtained in the market. After Xue Pan heard about it, he went home and murmured This time, Xue Baochai was also extremely curious.I don't want Daiyu to give it to herself today as a gift.

In the days that followed, although Xue's family had moved away, Mrs. Wang seemed to have lost her support, but Mrs. Wang still held the power of the Jia family in her hands again.Even for the sake of the virtuous concubine Yuanchun, Mrs. Jia would not want to conflict with her.

Although Wang Xifeng was unwilling, Jia She and his party took away 3 taels of gold from the town house before leaving.So far, Madam Wang and Madam Jia have not known about this matter, and they do not know how Madam Wang ordered someone to check the warehouse, but they did not find it.Fortunately, the key to the warehouse has been handed over to Mrs. Wang, but Wang Xifeng did not dare to make too much publicity.

Everything in the capital was very peaceful, and after the visits of the brides and daughters, all the houses were even more joyous than in previous years.But this peaceful and joyful atmosphere was shattered after an urgent report from the southeast.

The fifteenth day of the first lunar month is the day when the concubines of the various palaces return to the province. In the capital, even those without a concubine at home are celebrating the Lantern Festival in a lively manner. Tiger-like Japanese pirates even found the shadow of Qianxiang Kingdom behind these Japanese pirates.

There are more than 3000 people in Seventeen Villages, two towns along the coast, and none of them survived.The guarding officers and soldiers were defeated and defeated all the way, and only a few people survived by luck.

When the emperor saw this urgent report, he immediately remembered the conversation at Daiyu Zhuangzi years ago, and even more the piece that Daiyu played. At this moment, he just answered the sentence: "Hold your sighs, let alone speechless, full of blood and tears." Orbital?
The emperor felt even more angry in his heart, and hurriedly heard that the Seventh Prince, Prince Yi, had a discussion with Huang Jiyun, a scholar and crown prince.

At this time, it is nothing more than a trivial matter to the wealthy families in the capital, and to the ordinary people living in the capital, it is just a tragedy that happened thousands of miles away, and it only adds a little bit of leisure time. It's just for talking.

But for the Annan Palace, it was a rare opportunity. The four kings with different surnames in the southeast, the north, and the west, the Dongping County King handed over his military power early, and he was a wealthy idler attached to the royal family. The Xining King and the Beijing King were also dead.Now he is the only one who holds the military power in the Nan'an Palace, but seeing that he is also in danger, the King of Nan'an can't help but ignore the old concubine's dissuasion and write a letter to ask for orders.

As for King Nan'an's plan, the emperor naturally saw it in his eyes, but he did not reject King Nan'an's request, and even ordered him to lead his soldiers to the southeast within three days to recover the lost land.Speaking of this, the emperor was about to spit out: expelling the Japanese pirates, but abruptly changed it to annihilating the enemy pirates!

The king of Nan'an County thought to himself: The Japanese pirates are not like the bandits and rebels. They also want to occupy land and become kings. If they evacuate their supplies, they will naturally withdraw from the town.When I arrive no matter what, those Japanese pirates have already run away without a trace, where are they going to annihilate them?As for regaining lost ground?I'm afraid that when I arrive, I'll just take people into the city.

So he didn't care about the emperor's tone and expression, and happily took the order and left.Not waiting for three days, on the second day, the king of Nan'an County led five hundred soldiers and rode south to the southeast.

The emperor sneered even more in his heart, if it wasn't for the sake of looking at the Daming Palace, how could the emperor keep these people until now?At this time, the southeast incident happened, and the emperor deeply believed what Daiyu said that day.Urgently recruited Prince Yi and Huang Jiyun to discuss how to get the courtiers to donate money to build a new navy.

In the early morning of the next day, the emperor described the tragedies in the southeast coast in a deep voice, and even Prince Yi took the lead in donating money and materials to help the people in the southeast coast rebuild their homes, but there were very few responders.

Sitting on the high golden palace, the emperor looked at the dark and silent courtiers below, suddenly became angry, and thought to himself: Could it be that I really raised a group of rice worms?It's not as far-reaching as a little girl's thinking!Then his complexion became more and more ugly.

Seeing the emperor's ugly face, some courtiers weighed the pros and cons, and followed Prince Yi's advice.I don't want this behavior to make the emperor furious!
The emperor squinted his eyes, looked at the courtiers below, and said in a calm tone as best as he could: "You all love the people with fists and fists, and I thank you for the homeless people in the southeast coast, who have no clothes and no food to eat." Already!"

All the ministers in the court are human beings. When they heard this, they naturally wanted to show themselves in front of the emperor. For example, the father of Concubine Shuhui was one of them.Unexpectedly, the emperor had just finished speaking, and before these people could open their mouths, he suddenly said coldly: "Of course! For those who wear silk and satin, eat delicacies from mountains and seas, but are in arrears with the Ministry of Household money..."

When the emperor said this, there was already a burst of cold air all over his body, forcing the courtiers below to stand below with their heads bowed, not daring to breathe.Especially those whose families are still in arrears with the Ministry of Households, have a very bad premonition.

Of course, although the Jia family still owed several 10 taels of silver, they didn't think there was anything wrong because there was no one in the court.Even in Madam Wang's opinion, she is already the emperor's mother-in-law, so who can do anything to her?
Unexpectedly, the emperor sneered and said, "Since we have the ability to carry out large-scale construction projects, we don't want to waste the money from the Ministry of Accounts. We order that the money owed be returned within three days! As for the other people who were in arrears before, they are still paying according to the rules. it is good."

The emperor's words stirred up a thousand waves of waves for a moment. Naturally, some of the courtiers below were happy and some were sad, and a large part of them were greatly relieved. The emperor's request was not to kill everyone.

But at this time, Concubine Shuhui's father once again stood up for fear of chaos in the world and asked for donations for the people in the southeast.Naturally, the emperor would not refuse.The other ministers, regardless of whether they owed silver or not, all rushed to respond at this time. When the dynasty was dispersed, although the effect was not as good as expected, they actually raised more than 10 yuan. Of course, Concubine Shuhui's father donated [-] taels of silver. .

Although the Jia family got the news that night, no one cared about it except Jia Lian.Mrs. Jia only gave some instructions to Mrs. Wang, and then ignored her.

The next day Mrs. Wang learned that Concubine Shuhui's natal family had donated [-] silver, but her heart immediately became turbulent. If she couldn't come up with the silver, wouldn't Yuan Chun be overwhelmed by that Concubine Shuhui Wu in the palace?Mrs. Wang was immediately dissatisfied with this, but Aunt Xue's family had already moved away, and she didn't have that much money for the time being.

After much deliberation, Mrs. Wang thought of getting some money from Wang Xifeng. After all, as the first daughter of the Wang family, there is still a lot of dowry money.In Madam Wang's view, the arrears of the household money should have been returned by the big house, and she had even paid back a lot for the big house.

Although Jia Amnesty is not here, Jia Lian and Wang Xifeng are here!Although Mrs. Wang also knew that it was impossible for Jia Lian and his wife to come up with 30 taels of silver, but if they could get more than 10 taels, Mrs. Wang would be very satisfied.Therefore, Mrs. Wang made up her mind that no matter what, Wang Xifeng had to come up with a sum of money.

But Wang Xifeng never thought that Mrs. Wang would come to her to pay back the money she owed. After all, when Jia Lian came back to talk about it, Mrs. Jia and Mrs. Wang were somewhat indifferent.The husband and wife thought, no matter what, if Mrs. Wang really ignored it, the two of them would have to pay back part of the money owed by the household department.

Before, Wang Xifeng had torn face with Mrs. Wang because of loan sharks. Although she was able to repair a lot because of the Chen family, there were some things that could no longer be concealed.

When Mrs. Wang proposed that the two houses owed half of the money owed by the mansion, Wang Xifeng sneered in her heart, but frowned slightly on her face and said: "Master is a Yunqi Captain, and he only pays a few hundred taels of silver a year. The silver was also handed over to the mansion. Now the second aunt let us pay half of it... Could it be that the second aunt wants to separate the family?"

As soon as Mrs. Wang said a word, she was choked to death by Wang Xifeng. Unexpectedly, Wang Xifeng continued: "If this is the case, I have to invite the master back and tell the old lady. Now the second aunt told me about this matter, but I It’s also impossible to do.”

Finally, Mrs. Wang couldn't help but angrily scolded: "When did I say the family is separated? Could it be that your wife has already thought about this day?"

Since Mrs. Wang said so, Wang Xifeng would not fall into her trap, so she smiled and said: "Look at what Second Aunt said, we still understand the reason why elders don't separate families. It's just that I am not a woman in this matter after all. If you can make the decision, why not wait for the master to come back and write a letter to the master, begging the master to come back and discuss?"

Mrs. Wang heard what Wang Xifeng said, frowned and pondered for a moment, and said: "Now the sage has issued a simile, and the owed money must be returned within three days. Today is the second day, and it is too late to write a letter now."

Speaking of this, Mrs. Wang paused for a moment, and then continued unwillingly: "You have also been a family member for a while, and you should know that the money in Xiudaguanyuan Mansion has been almost emptied, but now you can't get it out. That's a lot. I thought we'd collect some and pay it back to the household department. I think we've tried our best. For the sake of the empress, the Holy Majesty won't blame too much."

Wang Xifeng sneered in his heart when he heard it, but he showed a look of contemplation on his face, and finally called Ping'er very embarrassed, and ordered: "Go and get my silver box."

When Madam Wang heard her order Ping'er, she wondered in her heart: Could it be that Ping'er in her room is like a mandarin duck in the old lady's room?

Just when I thought of this, I heard Wang Xifeng say very tiredly: "Master and wife don't have much money when they take office. Knowing the hardships in the house, they have never withdrawn from the public like the second master when he took office. Besides, he brought his brother with him. My sister and son went together, and my dowry is almost calculated. Now I don’t have much in hand.”

Just as he was talking, Ping'er came over with a rosewood box.Mrs. Wang saw that Wang Xifeng took out a small key from under the pillow and unlocked the lock above, and only then did she dispel her doubts.Looking at Wang Xifeng now really doesn't look like prevaricating himself.

Unexpectedly, Wang Xifeng took out a stack of bank notes from the box, and counted them carefully. Mrs. Wang could see clearly that there were more than 3000 taels.But Wang Xifeng thought about it but only took out [-] taels and handed it to herself. Mrs. Wang suddenly said angrily: "It's difficult for the house now, do you still want to hide something?"

Seeing this, Wang Xifeng lost face immediately, and immediately locked the banknote in her hand back into the box, and then said coldly: "In the end, this is my dowry, no matter how much I owe, I shouldn't have come to pay it back." .My master and I still have to live. Just the pen, ink, paper and inkstone of the master is a huge expense. The regular silver in the house is not enough, so I have to make up for it."

After Wang Xifeng finished speaking, she looked at Mrs. Wang and said, "Furthermore, the future in my stomach will cost money."

Mrs. Wang was angry, but she couldn't think of a rebuttal for a while, so she finally said angrily: "3000 taels is 3000 taels! I have to think of ways to get it together." After speaking, she wanted to take the 3000 taels of silver and left.

Mrs. Wang thought to herself: Something is better than nothing, there will always be a day when you will spit it out!Unexpectedly, Wang Xifeng asked Ping'er to send a pen and ink, and wrote a receipt of 3000 taels by hand, and Mrs. Wang had to sign it before giving the bank note.

(End of this chapter)