The son of the red mansion is unscrupulous

Lin Ruhai was stunned, and then smiled: "Isn't it? When the Supreme Emperor sent people to arrest people last year, they were so aggressive. How many pampered female relatives were driven out of the street. Those female relatives were frightened, humiliated, committed suicide and died of illness. I don’t know how many. How many families have been ruined. Although they have recovered now, it is inevitable to be more cautious in the present. At least in ten years, no one will dare to accept the fate of the present and go through fire and water for him like before.” After that, he took out an envelope from his sleeve.

Jia Lian nodded because of Lin Ruhai's nod, and said, "It's good for them to live in peace. This is the time for us to take the opportunity to revitalize the family business." Opening the letter, he saw Lin Ruhai's stereotyped essay written in small characters on hairpin flowers. With this, the answers to other subjects were not good enough, and he expected to pass Qiu Wei, so he thanked Lin Ruhai repeatedly.

Lin Ruhai refused to do this from the bottom of his heart, and he refused to talk about the test questions, because Jia Lian said that he wanted to take advantage of the "father's kindness and son's filial piety" with the Supreme Emperor to revitalize his family business, so he said to Jia Lian: "Now the children of your clan The discipline is very good. A while ago, your aunt also said that in the past, there were a group of people who only knew how to come to Rongxi Hall to ask An to kowtow for a few taels of silver to go to cockfights, run dogs, catch, eat, drink and listen to operas. Now they either study or do business or take care of themselves. Clan Tian is actually much better than what I saw earlier."

Jia Lian said with a smile, "It's more than enough than the top. You should learn more about how to run a house from your uncle."

Lin Ruhai waved his hand modestly, now that he is living in harmony with the Supreme Emperor, he has no chance to make meritorious service. He is afraid that he, the doctor of Lantai Temple, will be a doctor for a few years, so he said: "I am afraid that your aunt and sister Yu will stay together." I have been in the capital for several years, do you know where there is a suitable house for sale?"

Jia Lian probed, "What does uncle want?"

Lin Ruhai pondered for a while, at least from the outside, he and Jia Lian were out of the current dispute with the Supreme Emperor, it would be okay to get closer at this time, so he said: "Your aunt wants to get closer to the old lady, Sister Yu I'm lonely by myself, and I want to come here often to play with Yingchun and Tanchun."

"On the back street, there is a house that used to be owned by the family. It has mountains, rivers, trees, and all kinds of furniture. There are also men and women who look after the house. It was rented out before, and now my son and uncle want it, so I will change it to a bigger one. The rent of the house has been reduced, and I persuade the renter to change the house." Jia Lian said.

Lin Ruhai nodded after hearing this, and moved in after only a few days.

Fearing that after Jia Yucun recovers, Lin Ruhai will have contacts with that Jia Yucun again, Jia Lian hastily told Lin Ruhai the inside story of the Ningguo Mansion case, and finally said: "Jia Yucun's actions may have offended the Supreme Emperor and Prince Zhongshun. Uncle, since we want to take this opportunity to revitalize our family business, we should stay away from Jiayu Village."

Lin Ruhai didn't know anything about Qin Keqing and Qin Zhong before, but when Jia Lian said it, he was speechless, startled by Jia Zhen's audacity, and now he felt that what Jia Lian said was right, now is the time when everyone, including the present and the Supreme Emperor, is keeping a low profile , why bother with Jia Yucun?

While talking, Quan Xi came in and said with a smile: "Uncle Li and Uncle Xu sent a message saying that they are going to take the exam this year. When the second master prepares the exam materials, he will also prepare a copy for them."

"Understood." Jia Lian smiled, thinking that Li Bizhou and Xu Yuheng are going to take the exam, so this time the list will be lively, so Quan Xi was sent away, and then she glanced at the test questions given by Lin Ruhai, and then put the stereotyped essay He took the paper and burned it, and then he made an article with that topic, asked Lin Ruhai to correct it for him, changed the paper to transcribe it, and then burned the earlier one.

Lin Ruhai looked at him so carefully, he was afraid that people would see clues from the wording, so he took the trouble to correct him, but all the papers used today were burned, and even the final ones, Jia Lian also burned them with fire. .

"I already know how to answer the questions, so it's useless to keep them." Jia Lian laughed.

Lin Ruhai used to be Jia Lian and wanted to memorize it by rote, but now he saw that he only memorized the outline cleverly, originally he was unwilling to talk to him, but now he felt that there was a lot to say, so he heard the sound of clappers on the fourth watch outside. Regardless of his voice, when Xiaoyao'er brought two bowls of silver noodles and six dishes of side dishes, he ate with Jia Lian. After rinsing his mouth, under Jia Lian's chat, he brought up some family matters.

When the sun was rising and the morning light came in, Lin Ruhai was about to say goodbye, Jia Lian hurriedly sent his sedan chair out of the mansion gate all the way, and when he was about to go back, he saw Jia Qiang walking over with a drooping head.

"Are you here to invite the tablet of the old Duke of your mansion?" Jia Lian asked.

Jia Qiang's eyes were red, although she didn't mean it when she came here, Jia Lian nodded her head because she looked down upon her, and then said with a smile: "Zongli Qiuri's rent hasn't arrived yet... I think everyone will push the wall down, The heads of the farm did not know how much rent they had withheld; now Jinyiwei sent word that the grandma was not guilty and asked me to pay 200 taels of silver to redeem her. I begged Second Uncle Lian to show mercy and give 200 taels to my son Let grandma go home." Saying this, she was about to kowtow to Jia Lian.

"I'll give you 300 taels of silver. I'll take your eldest daughter back after you bring your grandma home," Jia Lian said.

Jia Qiang kowtowed again in a hurry. Jia Lian saw that there were only two shabby servants around Jia Qiang, so he asked Zhu Long and You Gan to follow him to lead the people. Otherwise, it’s not a problem if people from your clan always come to hang around our door. For example, Grandpa Dai Confucianism and Grandpa Dai Xiu, we don’t know how to respect the elders if they come or not; let them come in Now, people in our sect have complaints again."

"Where does my son dare to control them?" Jia Qiang smiled awkwardly, and seeing an empty sedan chair being carried out from the Rong Mansion, she took the money, sedan chair, and entourage to the east of Ningguo Mansion, and handed over the money at the gatehouse of Ningguo Mansion. , only to see the frail Youshi staggering over with disheveled temple hair.

Jia Qiang hurriedly went up to support Youshi with two steps, and then looked at the deep courtyard of Ningguo Mansion, her eyes were red.

"Let's go, let's go, this mansion has already entered the government office, and you still have the surname Jia You to watch the scenery here?" A guard in brocade clothes in the hall said proudly.

Knowing the current situation, Jia Qiang didn't talk back to him, she supported Youshi and went out, went down the steps, saw that Youshi's legs and feet were weak, she hurriedly helped her into the sedan chair, and then asked people to carry the sedan chair to Jia Zhen to share with her. his yard.

Jia Qiang's small courtyard is in the back porch of Ningguo Mansion, but it is only a small three-way house, because it is the house of the clan, so it is not included in the search.

Now Jia Qiang helped Youshi into the second main room, and several maidservants who had escaped with Jia Qiang immediately helped the disfigured Youshi back to the room with tears in their eyes. middle.

Lying on the bed, Youshi smelled the sour smell on his body, looked at the brocade curtain hanging on the bed, and couldn't help crying. Seeing Jia Qiang standing by the bed, she sighed that she had raised Jia Qiang for a few years. Nian, after taking a sip of warm water, she sat on the bed leaning on the pillow and asked Jia Qiang weakly, "Where is Xichun?"

"Still in Rongguo Mansion, Second Uncle Lian waited for Grandma to settle down, and then sent her here."

"Their family has exhausted their benevolence and righteousness. What's left in the family?"

Jia Qiang choked up and said: "The wall fell down and everyone pushed it. After checking the accounts of the household department, our mansion has a lot of deficits. The Zhuangzi's farmland in the mansion has been used to make up for the deficit, and even the old house in Jinling is gone. What is left now It’s just the houses, fields, and Zhuangzi in the Zongli.”

Youshi swallowed, and comforted Jia Qiang, "With these, the three of us can live."

Jia Qiang sneered and said: "Enough is enough, but some people are clamoring to take the land in the Zongli and merge it into the Rongguo Mansion. Fortunately, Uncle Lian didn't agree, otherwise they all thought that the bad luck of the Ningguo Mansion had nothing to do with them." It doesn't matter. Now a group of people scolded the Ningguo Mansion for causing them trouble, and even said a few words to me when they saw me, and then clamored to elect the richest person in the clan to be the patriarch. We were kicked out, and we don't have any of the land in the house where we live now."

Youshi's eyelids twitched, Jia Qiang was young, she and Aunt Xichun were women, those hungry wolves seized their land and house, drove them out of the clan, and no one interceded for them Thinking about it, she urged Jia Qiang, "Leave me alone, go and fetch your Aunt Xichun right away."

Jia Qiang was stunned, and hurriedly said to Youshi: "Grandma, our place is in a mess, why bother to pick up my aunt? Just ask her to stay there for two more days."

You Shi said weakly: "When you go to pick up people, kowtow to the old lady and your second uncle Lian a few more times. The people of our family are like a group of wild dogs circling around the Rongguo Mansion, shaking again and again. The tail was drooling again, and if he got anxious, he might bite him. The Rongguo Mansion was also shocked when he saw it, and he was even more afraid that if he didn't pay attention, the picker would go outside and use the name of the Rongguo Mansion to deceive him because of his surname. They would also like to support someone to be the patriarch and lead the dogs away so that they can't see them. You go and say something nice, the old lady and Lian'er will help you. With their support, who would dare to make trouble?"

Jia Qiang nodded repeatedly with tears in her eyes, and seeing Youshi's stomach growling, she backed out, wiped her tears with her sleeves outside, and then went to the front yard, where she saw a few disciples in the Zongli who were shameless from a distance. Surrounding Zhu Long and You Gan flatteringly, with a sneer in his heart, he said to Zhu Long and You Gan: "Grandma loves Auntie so much, she told me to pick her up right away."

Zhu Long and You Gan also refused to stay here for a long time, they wanted to follow Jia Qiang back home, so they agreed and followed Jia Qiang out of the courtyard.

Jia Qiang got on the horse, and immediately several disciples hugged the horse's head and laughed, "Let's go pick up Auntie too."

"How can so many people be needed to pick her up as a child?" Jia Qiang sneered, holding the horse's belly, and heard those children muttering in their ears, "It's at this point, how dare you scold us?" Zhu Long and You Gan went to Rongguo Mansion.

Dozens of times before, he was not allowed to enter the Rongguo mansion, but this time he was allowed to come in because he had to pick up Xichun.

After Jia Qiang entered the door, she first followed the people to Rongqing hall, entered Jia's mother's room, and immediately knelt down and kowtowed.

Jia's mother didn't know Jia Lian's mind, so she just asked a woman to follow Jia Qiang to send Xichun back, but the others did not dare to agree.

Jia Qiang took Xichun with her, and went to see Jia Lian in the Jinghuan Zhai Hall. Hearing that Jia Lian had fallen asleep, she felt that Youshi had guessed wrong, so she was a little discouraged. She sent Xichun back, stood in front of Youshi's gate, and listened. Said that Youshi was asleep too, and didn't dare to disturb her, so he had to wander around outside Youshi's room door like a headless chicken. When he heard that Xichun was crying again for some reason, he couldn't help but cursed upsetly.

"Brother Qiang, the masters are here." The little Yaoer at the door said while running.

"What's the reason?" Jia Qiang asked hurriedly, there were few servants in his yard, anyone could come here.

Xiaoyao'er panted and said: "I heard from them that the country cannot live without a master for a day, and the elders and elders are not virtuous, and they are imprisoned, and they almost implicate the whole family. Now I invite Brother Qiang to discuss the choice of the patriarch. .”

Jia Qiang frowned. They Ningguo Mansion had the most acres of land in the Zongli, but now they are the weakest. This group of people said it was a discussion, but in fact it was Sima Zhao's heart to take away their family's land.

I don't want to go, but everyone has already arrived at the house, and if I don't go, I can't do it. I can only bite the bullet and go there. When I got to the front yard, I saw hundreds of people in the clan waiting in front of them according to their seniority and order of teeth. hall.

Just then Jia Qiang forced a smile at Jia Dairu and Jia Daixiu who were sitting on the porch, and then heard several seniors in Zongli complain that running for Jia Jing and Jia Zhen almost broke their fortunes.

Jia Qiang could only say grateful words, knowing in her heart that these people were using money to please the people of the Rongguo Mansion, why did they ever run for the Ningguo Mansion?

Jia Daixiu suddenly said: "Brother Zhen has no heirs left now, his land in the Zongli should belong to the Zongli according to the national law and family regulations..."

"Grandfather Dai Xiu is going to steal the land of our orphans and widows?" A soft sneer came out from the slanted ground.

Because a bunch of men were discussing matters, a woman suddenly made a voice, and everyone couldn't help but look over. Looking over, they saw You Shi wearing a very ill-fitting gown, although the gown was made of high-quality brocade, But because it didn't fit well, You Shi looked even more shabby.

"Grandma." Jia Qiang rushed to support her.

Jia Daixiu came out when he saw Youshi leading Xichun, thinking that their aunt and sister-in-law had enjoyed such a happy life for so many years, now they still want to pretend to be pitiful and domineering?He also sneered and said: "Who is going to rob? We were almost implicated so that our families were scattered. Could it be that we have been implicated for no reason and can't we complain? Seek some justice?"

"Your justice is to drive us out of Zongli's house? To take our land?" You Shi was so angry that he almost fainted.

Dozens of people just echoed Jia Daixiu and didn't care about Youshi. They only heard them say: "Grandma Zhen doesn't have a son and a half daughter. She is not from our Jia family. What right does she have to interfere with our Jia family?" Family matter? Brother Qiang went earlier, and he doesn’t have much land in the Zongli. According to me, isn’t Jia Zhen’s land all ours?”

"Jia Jing and Jia Zhen are not people who can take care of the affairs of the clan. The top beam is not straight and the bottom beam is crooked. Brother Qiang is also a man who only knows how to drink and mess around. According to me, the patriarch should be called the respected uncle. .”

"What I'm talking about is that Uncle Min is a decent person and extremely responsible. It's best to ask him to do it."

"..."

Everyone has already called Jia Jing and Jia Zhen by their first names regardless of sympathy.Youshi's eyes were red with anxiety, Jia Qiang complained again and again, Youshi had no children, Jia Rong was in prison, they didn't even have the right to interject a word.

Everyone talked more and more vigorously, but Jia Dairu was silent, Jia Daixiu had already urged everyone to drive the three of them out of the courtyard.

"There is no one with any affection at all! Fortunately, you came to Ningguo Mansion to pay your respects in the past, and I often lent you money!" You Shi said through gritted teeth.

Jia Qiang saw that Youshi was weak, and Xichun was so frightened by this scene that she burst into tears. She couldn't help but wish in her heart that whoever it was, would come and speak justice for them.

"It's a meeting, it's so lively."

When the sound of heaven came, You Shi and Jia Qiang looked over immediately, and saw that the Jia Lian they had been thinking about had finally arrived, they breathed a sigh of relief, and waited for Jia Lian to speak with bated breath.

Jia Lian walked slowly with arms folded. Seeing that only Youshi and Jia Qiang were left to depend on each other, he pointed behind him and smiled at Jia Qiang: "Brother Qiang has really grown up. He just became the patriarch and started to leave." Let’s get up. I think you must be arguing with Jiao Da to get back the ancestral tablet. No, I personally came and brought it to you.”

Everyone looked around, and they saw Jiao Da respectfully holding the tablet of the old Duke.

"Second Uncle Lian," a cursive smile approached Jia Lian, "You don't know, we just elected him..."

"So you are going to do something big?" Jia Lian was taken aback, and hurriedly instructed Cao Zhijian to hand over the trays of silk and satin, head jewelry, paper, ink, brushes and inkstones to the young men of the Ning Mansion, "the old lady said, Brother Qiang is benevolent, since he wants to join the elder brother Zhenzhen's family, let him fulfill his wish. It's just that you have a lot of things to do in your clan at the moment, so everything should be kept simple, so let's do the big ceremony of Jianzhen simply."

"Cultivated?" Jia Daixiu was stunned.

Others also talked about it.

"The steamed pigs, chickens, ducks, and incense burners for ancestor worship are all ready, so let's use this front hall as the ancestral hall. Brother Qiang, hurry up to offer incense to the ancestors, and kowtow to your mother." Jiao Da said with a wrinkled face, seeing Jia Daixiu and the others spit when they quarreled with Youshi and Jia Qiang, but now they are confronted with Jia Lian, and they can't say a word, and they don't even dare to pick on the flawed Jianzheng.I sigh in my heart that this is the cold world, the eldest house in my own clan has lost power, it is not as useful as a foreigner talking.

Jia Daixiu and others did not know that Jia Qiang recognized You as his mother, Jia Zhen's land in the clan would belong to Jia Qiang, and everyone was anxious, but no one had the courage to stand up and say that Jia Lian was not from their clan. Don't you have the right to meddle in their affairs?

Since she didn't have the guts, she looked at each other and could only watch Jia Qiang knelt and kowtowed to Youshi in the simple front hall and called her mother.

"Okay, this ceremony is over, and I won't delay Brother Qiang's patriarch's meeting. Go ahead, I'll hurry back and talk to my ancestors." Jia Lian smiled, and then led her entourage out again. .

After walking a little further, seeing Jia Qiang chasing after him, he stood on his horse and waited for him.

"Thank you, Second Uncle Lian, otherwise we might not even have a place to stay. It's just that my son is incompetent, and I need to ask Second Uncle Lian to advise me about the affairs of the clan in the future." Jia Qiang said with emotion.

Jia Lian said: "Since you are the patriarch, you should pay more attention to it. Restrain the children of the clan not to cause trouble. The old lady is getting older and weaker. The daughters-in-law of your clan don't have to pay her respects every day. gone."

Jia Qiang's face blushed, seeing that You's expectations were correct, the Rongguo Mansion family would not care about their family's life and death, but they were afraid that their family would cause trouble for them relying on their family for decades Only then did he intervene at the right time, and hurriedly agreed: "Second Uncle Lian, don't worry, the son will definitely restrain them from disturbing the old lady and the master's rest, and don't ask them to make trouble for Second Uncle outside."

Seeing that Jia Qiang was very interesting, Jia Lian rode away with satisfaction.