The son of the red mansion is unscrupulous

When Jia Lian entered the courtyard of the outer study, he saw Wu Tianyou standing under the pomegranate tree looking at the bright red fruits.

After exchanging pleasantries, Jia Lian stretched out his hand to invite Wu Tianyou to speak into the room. After Wu Tianyou took his seat, seeing his happy face, he said, "Master Wu is really refreshed on happy occasions."

Ever since Concubine Wu visited relatives, there have been countless people who have flattered and flattered the Wu family.So, why isn't Wu Tianyou refreshed?What's more, now that the empress is gone, Concubine Wu Gui is becoming more and more important in the harem—the only thing that doesn't go well is that there is still Concubine Wu Gui.

Wu Tianyou picked up the teacup and took a sip of water, said with a smile: "Speaking of good things, this good thing needs your help to make it happen."

"What's the matter?" Jia Lian asked with a smile.

Wu Tianyou pondered and said, "Why do you need to ask questions knowingly?"

Jia Lian said in embarrassment: "Master Wu, to tell you the truth, I often communicate with Mr. Zhou's family, so I really don't like what happened this time..."

"Could it be that you think the Zhou family can suppress our Wu family in terms of power?" Wu Tianyou grimaced.

Jia Lian hurriedly said, "Of course not."

While talking, Jin Cai suddenly said outside: "Second Master, Brother Lan was arrested by Uncle Xu."

Jia Lian was startled, and quickly asked, "Why?" After getting up, he stood by the door and opened the curtain to look at Jincai, secretly thinking that today is really troubled.

Jin Cai hurriedly said: "Brother Lan just went out to visit a friend, but on the way, he suddenly heard someone say 'this is the one', so he was surrounded by the yamen servants, and he was arrested immediately. It is said that there is a family named Shi in the city. , Nicknamed Stone Nervous, there are more than [-] authentic ancient fans of Xiangfei, palm bamboo, elk, and Yuzhu hidden in his house. People want to buy from him all the year round, but he refuses to sell. One day, the house was attacked by thieves. Unexpectedly, the thief didn't expect the stone nerd to be at home, so he hacked him to death, and swept away all the twenty fans. When Mr. Xu investigated the case, he watched Lan Geer take one of the polygonatum odoratum and went out, and took Lan Geer away. My brother caught it."

When Jia Lian heard this, he immediately asked, "Where did Brother Lan get the fan?" Hearing a cough behind him, he immediately went to see Wu Tianyou.

Wu Tianyou's face was swollen, and he asked tentatively, "Is it a fan with a picture of spring water begonias?"

Jin Cai hurriedly said: "Although I didn't see the fan, it's probably true."

Seeing Jia Lian looking at him, Wu Tianyou said awkwardly: "I just saw that Lang Geer seemed to like that fan very much, so I just gave it to Lang Geer."

"Are you afraid that the fan was meant for me?" Jia Lian asked.

Wu Tianyou nodded with his eyes open.

"Where did the master get the fan?" Jia Lian asked.

Wu Tianyou said: "Because people said that your master likes these, so I specially found them for you."

"Where did you find it specially?"

Wu Tianyou coughed again, and said, "I heard that a family named Shi hid many fans, so I sent the housekeeper to buy them. After the housekeeper went, he bought the fan in just one day. If it wasn't for you, the housekeeper, to say , I don’t know what happened to the surnamed Shi.”

After hearing this, Jin Cai hurriedly asked Wu Tianyou if he bought the fan on a certain day, and when he saw that Wu Tianyou really got the fan on the day the stone nerd had an accident, he said, "Master Wu, I'm afraid it was a good thing done by your housekeeper." .”

"Stop talking nonsense, how can there be such servants in my house who don't care about human life?" Wu Tianyou didn't like Jin Cai's words very much, and immediately squinted at him.

Jia Lian hesitated, then asked again: "Does the master know a man surnamed Hao?"

Wu Tianyou hurriedly asked again: "Why did you ask him? He brought tens of thousands of wealth to my house the year before last, and was willing to send it to the house to be a housekeeper. I asked him why, and he said that he saw our mother The future is limitless, and I am thinking about the seventh-rank official in front of the prime minister, so I came to rely on him. Seeing that he is doing things safely, speaking very generously and decently, and being polite and proper when dealing with various families, he is retained——fan, that is He got it."

Jia Lian sneered and said: "That man was Lai Da, the housekeeper of our house, who emptied our house and saved millions of dollars for their Lai family; I sent him away, and the prince of the capital pleaded for him Such a person, isn't he smart and capable?"

Wu Tianyou became tongue-tied for a while, and when Jia Lian said that he was going to arrest the official Lai Dajian, he hurriedly said, "No, it's just a small lawsuit. Wait for me to write a post to suppress this lawsuit. It's time to When the empress wants to compete with the Wu family, she must not involve our empress in it."

Jia Lian thought that since Lai Da came, he definitely came prepared, so he said: "This case is unusual, it is burglary and murder, why did we ask our little brother to be involved in this lawsuit at a young age? The future is ruined."

Wu Tianyou hurriedly said, "It's your uncle who is judging the case, so what's the matter?"

"If uncle is involved, the relationship will become even bigger. Master Wu, don't be confused. Maybe this case is a stumbling block set by the Zhou family for the Wu family." Jia Lian said solemnly.

Wu Tianyou didn't believe it after all, but felt that the Wu family is cooking oil like a fire, and it is enough to make some trivial matters go away, so he said with a cold face: "Listen to me, tell your uncle to suppress this lawsuit and let him out. That's enough, don't involve our mother-in-law."

"Unless Mr. Wu himself recognizes that the fan was a gift from Mr. Wu, otherwise..." Jia Lian couldn't help but threaten.

Wu Tianyou said with a stern face: "You are making a fuss too much."

Just as he was talking, he suddenly saw Zhao Tianliang coming over and said, "Second Master Lian, Uncle Xu brought people to search the house."

Jia Lian frowned and looked at Wu Tianyou.

Wu Tianyou was silent at first, and then said after a while: "The person here is your brother-in-law, what are you afraid of?" Seeing Jia Lian's silence, he immediately became annoyed: "You are so heartless and unjust, you want to watch the dirty water Splash it on our mother?"

Jia Lian said with a smile: "I don't know whether the water is dirty or not. It's just that this time, it's because Mr. Wu accidentally took the gangsters and hid them in the mansion. Mr. Wu, so many brothers in Mr. Zhou's mansion died for no reason. Well, he blamed you for this unprovoked lawsuit, and everyone is stabbing you in the back, but you never asked about it; now that another calamity is coming, if you don't pursue it, you are afraid that you have stepped into the trap of others step by step. Don’t forget, blocking dirty water is equivalent to splashing it on someone else.”

Wu Tianyou, who was so focused on making big things into small things, was moved by the words, so he mulled over his head and agreed, so he went out with Jia Lian to meet Xu Yuheng. People wait to tell Xu Yuheng.

After hearing this, Xu Yuheng said with a smile: "Since this is the case, Brother Lang can take it back to Rongguo Mansion when he turns around. Shi Wuzi has a lot of fans, and I'm afraid that Lai Da will not have time to send them all out, so why don't you go to him now?" Then do a search."

Wu Tianyou hurriedly agreed, and went to his home with Jia Lian and Xu Yuheng. After entering the house, he went straight to the servant's room. After entering Lai's house, he saw the young woman married to Lai's wife in a daze. Standing at the door and asking: "Master, what happened?"

"Where's Lai Da?" Wu Tianyou asked.

The woman asked confusedly: "Who is Lai Da?"

"Where is Hao Da?" Wu Tianyou asked again.

The woman said with a smile, "Hao Da is out on business." Seeing a yamen servant following her, she smiled and asked, "Master, what's the matter?"

"What's the matter? You'll find out later." Wu Tianyou sneered, stretched out his hand to tear off the curtain hanging on the door, and led the people in. After entering, he saw that the room was empty, and led the people in People rummaged into the cabinet.After such a rummage, I found a bag, and when I opened it, there was a fan inside.

"Take this woman away, and then arrest Lai Da." Xu Yuheng said.

The woman got anxious and said: "I don't know who Lai Da is, why arrest me? Besides, I don't look at the monk's face and the Buddha's face. I come from Nan'an Palace, why arrest me? Do you know our family Hao Da?" What is the relationship with Nan'an Palace?"

As soon as he heard that it was from Nan'an Palace, Wu Tianyou's face blushed to the point of bleeding, he sneered again and again, wondering who was harming him, and even told him to offend Nan'an Palace as well.

"Hurry up and take it away." Xu Yuheng said impatiently, and cupped his hands at Wu Tianyou again, "Master Wu, I'm sorry for disturbing you."

Wu Tianyou cupped his fists perfunctorily.

Jia Lian came out together with Xu Yuheng, and went to the Yamen to bring the frightened Jia Lan back home. Seeing that Jia Lan was so frightened on the way, he said: "You will gain wisdom if you eat something. Give it to your mother for safekeeping, and take your own things out."

"Uncle, nephew knows it's wrong." Jia Lan burst into tears as soon as he opened his mouth.

Jia Lian looked at him twice, returned home, comforted Li Wan, and went to the Dakuan courtyard, went directly to the back building and sat in the flower shed downstairs. Sure enough, when he was carving peach pits with a small drill, Xu Qingheng came over.

"Tell Yingchun that after the filial piety is done, I will take care of her affairs." Jia Lian said.

Xu Qingheng sat down opposite Jia Lian, and just felt that the branches of the tree were in the way, so he stretched out his hand and pushed aside the flowering branches behind him, and then said: "I heard that Lai Da, the housekeeper from the previous mansion, suddenly appeared?"

Jia Lian said: "Exactly. I don't know how such a lifeless thing dares to come back?" After finishing speaking, Xu Qingheng looked up at her when he didn't see Xu Qingheng speaking.

"I have."

Jia Lian tilted the drill in his hand and poked it on his thumb, and blood beads fell out.

Xu Qingheng hurriedly wrapped his fingers with a veil, seeing that he was neither happy nor embarrassed, he smiled and said, "I'm lying to you."

"Can't you use other methods to cheat?" Jia Lian laughed.

Xu Qingheng sighed and said, "It's so boring."

"What's the point?"

"I wanted to see you happy and embarrassed, but you only pricked your finger, and there is nothing else."

Jia Lian said with a smile: "You want me to poke your heart so that you feel better?" Seeing Xu Qingheng squeezed over to sit on the same chair with him, she said: "Two days later, when Lai Da is caught, we will take him with him." The dog went to play in the country."

Xu Qingheng sneered and said: "I'm afraid it will take two days, and you will forget." After a pause, he asked again, "Did our family offend Nan'an Palace?"

"Because I hid Hu Jingzhi's child before, I offended him once." Jia Lian said.

Xu Qingheng shook his head and said: "I'm afraid it's more than that. My sister-in-law said that when they were guests that day, they were prejudiced against Concubine Nan'an. The concubine seems to have a prejudice against our family."

Jia Lian said: "The county king doesn't show up often, and the old prince went to the south to fight again. Who can offend an old concubine like her?"

Xu Qingheng lay on Jia Lian's body, and said seriously: "Sister-in-law said, there are rumors that the princess is a hermaphrodite, and it is said that you spread the word."

Jia Lian folded her fingers, leaned back on Xu Qingheng's body, and said with a smile: "It seems that someone has come prepared." As he smelled the fragrance of Xu Qingheng's body, he sniffed at her.

"It's in broad daylight." Xu Qingheng chuckled, put his arms around Jia Lian's neck again, and said with a smile, "I'll show you something fun." As he spoke, he called out to the dog.

After shouting, I saw a big yellow dog and two pugs running over.

"Mother." Xu Qingheng said.

After the sound, a pug narrowed its eyes and purred.

"This can be regarded as a son who has become a man, and he has to treat guests with wine." Jia Lian smiled, and took the snacks on the table and threw them to the puppy.

That puppy seemed to be smarter than the others, after eating the snack, it immediately rubbed its neck against Xu Qingheng's feet.

While picking up the dog, Xu Qingheng suddenly remembered something, and said: "When you went to Zhou's house, someone next door came to clean it. It is said that the yard has been sold to Hu Jingzhi?" Xu Qingheng asked.

Jia Lian nodded.

Xu Qingheng said suspiciously: "If you want to buy it, there is always a way to buy it, why did you ask the garden to be sold to someone else?"

Jia Lian stroked the dog's head with his hand, and said with a smile, "It's still useful for me to keep him."

Xu Qingheng was silent for a while, and then asked: "Then what should I give to congratulate Hu Jingzhi on his housewarming?"

"Two pots of bright peonies blooming in the garden are enough."

"It is said that Hu Jingzhi bought Jin Chuan and Yu Chuan's family. I really can't see that he is said to be a child of a poor family. After a few years in Beijing, he can buy the courtyard on the east corner of Rongguo Mansion, and he can also buy a family. My servant." Xu Qingheng sighed, seeing that Jia Lian didn't seem surprised by this matter, he asked, "Tell me, why did Hu Jingzhi buy the second master's and second wife's servants?"

"Who knows." Jia Lian said perfunctorily, seeing that the sky had changed and raindrops were falling again, so he and Xu Qingheng went into the room to talk.

Before I knew it, it was June, and there was no news of Lai Da who was wanted by the Yamen, so Jia Lian and Xu Qingheng also stayed in the mansion.Because I heard that Hu Jingcun also came to help when Hu Jingzhi next door moved, so Jia Lian ordered Lin Zhixiao to carry two pots of peonies that were in good bloom, and entered the east garden through the east black oil gate.

I saw that Hu Jingzhi was very shabby, there was only Jin Chuan's family, a man, a woman and a little girl, and Hu Jingzhi didn't have much luggage, and he didn't buy many flowers and plants. He talked with Hu Jingcun, and he already knew that he was empty, so he said with a smile: "It's just that there are two servants in my family who want to be released, so why don't I send them to you? A housekeeper is a bit discordant."

Hu Jingzhi didn't have the money to buy another person, and he was afraid that Jia Lian would put his eyes and ears on him, so he hurriedly said: "To tell you the truth, I already gave up everything I had when I bought this yard, and I don't have any spare money to buy anything else. "

"It's not about buying or giving away. It's enough to give each of them half a penny every month. I have known Jingcun for many years. Since you are connected with his family, you are no outsider. Besides, you are right next to my house." I live there, and there is no one extra in the family. When the guests see each other, if they are eccentric, they will inevitably say that our Rongguo mansion is stinky. If they don't know the details, they will say that our Rongguo mansion is worse than every year You can't even send two more people to take care of a small courtyard at home." As Jia Lian said, he sent Lin Zhixiao home to bring Qin Xian's family and Siqi's parents.

Hu Jingzhi still declined politely, so Hu Jingcun persuaded him: "Leave him alone, you don't know that Lian's second brother is always generous, so don't embarrass him."

Hu Jingzhi also heard that Jia Lian had sent someone home to bring more flowers and plants, so he hurriedly said: "I'm really ashamed, the house is not well-furnished, and you two can only sit and talk in the yard when you two come to visit."

"What are you afraid of? If there is tea, it doesn't matter if it's new tea or old tea. If you cook it and drink it in a porcelain bowl, can't you say something clever?" Hu Jingcun said, leading Hu Jingzhi and Jia Lian to talk into the study instead.

Jia Lian entered the study and saw that the study was empty, with only some books placed along the corner, so he sent people back to the house to bring some old furniture.

In this way, the east garden is full of life with household objects, flowers and plants, and servants coming and going.

The three of them were sitting in the study room drinking tea with coarse porcelain tea bowls, when they heard a woman outside scolding: "You little hoof is clumsy, carefully dropped something."

Without waiting for anyone to ask, Hu Jingzhi first said: "This is the servant who took care of me since I was a child. Although she is a bit vulgar, I can't bear to dismiss her because of my friendship for many years."

"It's still you who value love and righteousness." Hu Jing Cun sighed.

Hu Jingzhi smiled, and asked Jia Lian tentatively: "Second Brother Lian has seen the prince recently? If you see the prince, you should persuade him. Although you should be more pure-hearted and ascetic, but too much obsession with cultivating the Tao will also hurt your health."

Jia Lian said with a smile: "There is a lawsuit in the mansion for no reason, and I have been shutting myself at home. It is difficult to see the prince's face."

Hu Jingzhi nodded, but wondered suspiciously in his heart, why did he become more and more loyal to the prince?

Hu Jingcun was sitting opposite Jia Lian, and when Jia Lian and Hu Jingzhi were talking, he held his glass and sneered and said, "It's ridiculous to say that, although the queen died disgracefully, she has been married to the emperor for decades. Forcing others to straighten the concubine?"

"You must not say that." Hu Jingzhi waved his hands hastily.

Hu Jingcun said: "Why can't you say that? Look at the headless lawsuits of the Wu family and Zhou family. What is the name of that Taoist priest? The Wu family also complained that the Zhou family planned to coax a black-hearted slave into his house, bringing unreasonable disasters to the Wu family, and some people said that Lai Da was sent to the capital by the old prince of Nan'an. So the Nan'an Palace was also involved. According to me, the Zhou and Wu families are fighting with each other, and it is not known who wins in the end."

Jia Lian said with a smile: "According to me, the Ji family should have benefited, but the sixth prince was betrothed to a girl from the Zhen family." After finishing speaking, she shook her head again and again.

Hu Jingzhi hurriedly said, "Is the Zhen family not good?"

Jia Lian laughed and said, "There are some things you don't know."

When Hu Jingzhi wanted to ask, he felt that he was not very close to Jia Lian, so he secretly thought that the Rongguo Mansion hadn't collapsed yet, so he knew a lot about it.

While talking leisurely here, I saw Qin Xian's family and Siqi's family coming to kowtow.

When Hu Jingzhi saw the two families, he told them to go to the upper and lower rooms of the mansion to settle down, and ordered the Hu family to assign them errands, and then he continued to talk to Jia Lian and Hu Jingcun in the study.

Unexpectedly, the two Qin Xian brothers felt that they came out of Rongguo Mansion, and seeing that the Hu family was full of village slang, they looked down on her very much, and saw that she could not clearly assign errands, so the two decided to make their own decisions. .

Qin Xian was feeding the horses in the stables in the front yard, when he suddenly saw a man who claimed to be Nan'an Prince's Mansion coming to the door, he rushed to meet Hu's brother before him.

Someone from Nan'an Prince's Mansion dropped a gold-sprinkling Dahong Geng Tie, and left without saying a word.

Qin Xian was confused, and hurriedly went to the study room attentively, and when he got outside the study room, he said: "Master, Nan'an Palace has sent something." After speaking, he opened the curtain and went in, and handed the Geng post to Hu Jingzhi to see .

Hu Jingzhi looked at it, and tightly pursed his lips without saying a word.

Hu Jingcun hurriedly asked: "What is it?"

Hu Jingzhi tied the Geng invitation letter on the couch, and said with a smile: "The marriage with Nan'an Prince's Mansion is in vain."

"...Could it be that this matter is related to what Lian's second brother said about the princess of Nan'an Palace?" Hu Jingcun asked hesitantly.

Hu Jingzhi smiled calmly and said: "Originally they were so high-ranking, I couldn't afford to climb high. It's just that they are soft-spoken and they are men. Although they don't like it, they can't retreat first. Now that they are yellow, it's good to be free."

Jia Lian put his hand heavily on Hu Jingcun's shoulder, "I stay at home as a filial piety, and I haven't gone out for a long time. When did I mention the princess of Nan'an Palace?"

Hu Jingcun said embarrassingly: "It is said that Lian's second brother said something wrong after drinking."

Jia Lian sneered, and shook Hu Jingcun's shoulder again, "Follow my family to talk."

Hu Jingcun admired Jia Lian very much, and felt ashamed because he said something wrong, so he got up and followed him.

After the person left, Hu Jingzhi let out a sigh of relief, took a look at the Geng Tie from the shelf, and threw it on the table casually, wishing that the Nan'an Palace would return his Geng Tie, because he couldn't get married, and neither could anyone else. Don't want to marry.

Suddenly he heard someone lift the curtain with a clatter, Hu Jingzhi turned around and saw it was Mrs. Hu, and scolded: "Didn't you hear that women are not allowed to go out of the second door? What are you doing in the front yard?"

Mrs. Hu smiled shyly, and before Mrs. Hu could speak, Qin Xian's family said outside the door: "My lord, Er Ye Lian sent a lot of things over, but my lord didn't reply, so I wrote a calligraphy and a picture and framed them and sent them back; besides, There are old ladies, grandmas, and girls in the house next door. I should also buy some snacks for the elderly and young women—the younger ones can also make some dim sum. I got the materials and went home and made them for the next door, otherwise I just bought things from outside, and the next door would definitely refuse to eat them if they thought they were dirty."

Hu Jingzhi said: "You are very thoughtful, so just follow your words." Seeing that there was no movement outside the door, he woke up after a while, and immediately touched his body, found 20 taels of silver, and gave Qin ten taels of silver. Notable.

After waiting for Qin Xian's family to leave, Mrs. Hu said anxiously: "My lord shouldn't give you that much, just a sling of money is enough."

"Is the next door willing to eat something worth a penny?" Hu Jingzhi said with a sneer.

Mrs. Hu hurriedly said: "I have to mend and mend the clothes I was wearing before I bought a new one for my grandfather, and now the money is gone - and they said that they came from everyone, all of them are thieves with bright eyes, scrambling to buy a new one for me." Showing courtesy to the Lord."

"Get out quickly, take my words, just say that if you don't sweep a house, how can you sweep the world? In the future, let me clean this study room by myself, and no one is allowed to come in." Hu Jingzhi knew that Hu's family was jealous of Qin Xian's family's good workmanship. Something happened, so I kicked her out, and sat in a daze in the room, and took out the IOUs in "The Analects of Confucius" one by one to look at them. I secretly went to Beijing for a few years, but I owed a lot while looking at the scenery. Seventy to eighty thousand debts, how can I afford it in the future?

In distress, before I knew it was dusk, I saw the two brothers of the Qin family coming and going, and the Hu brothers and sisters were squeezed out within half a day, so that one washed clothes in the back yard and the other went to sweep the stables in the front yard.

After one watch, Hu Jingzhi sent the Qin family brothers back to rest, and stood in the front yard with his hands behind his back, looking at the deep courtyard next door, and then looked up at the crescent moon in the sky. Seeing that crescent moon was blood red, his heart trembled. Trembling, when he heard someone gently knocking on the door, he went to open the door himself, and tiptoely invited that person into the study.

This person turned out to be Lai Da.