[Red House Chai Dai] Salted Pork Knuckle, Crab Rice Wine

Baochai was taken aback for a moment.She originally thought that she was defeated because she offended Mrs. Yuan Chun, but from what Mrs. Wang said, could it be more than that?

That voice had never seen Baochai with a pleasant face, never expected her to lose her temper so vigorously and swiftly, it was very worried that Baochai would really melt the golden lock, and there would be no place to live anymore, finally knew it was afraid, and the tone softened , kept pleading to Baochai.

At this time, because Aunt Xue couldn't help but put the golden lock on Baochai's neck again, it took the opportunity to say: "Now you know? You are destined not to enter the palace. Even if I hurt your heart, if it weren't for your cousin Your Majesty and Aunt have selfish intentions, so why come to this?"

It turned out that no one in the world wanted her to be selected into the palace.It turned out that what she had been looking forward to and planning for so long turned out to be a joke.Thinking of the hard work for the palace election since childhood, thinking of the planning everywhere these days, I just feel that I am ridiculous.

Baochai's face was pale, and she didn't know what it was like.After Mrs. Wang left, Aunt Xue looked back at her again, ordered Ying'er, Qianxue and others to go out, and closed the doors and windows, making sure that no one was listening. Then she took Baochai's hand and said with tears: " Good girl, I've wronged you! Don't blame your second aunt, that's actually what I mean. Your brother is still like this at this age, I'm afraid it won't work, you have to be promising, marry In a good man's family, he is a good brother-in-law, so you can pull him over. If you enter the palace and become a school attendant, it will be an honor in face, but among the families we come and go, which one is willing to look up to you for this? Did your brother notice it? If you married into the Duke's mansion, it would be different. Baoyu is now the old lady's most favored grandson, and even your second brother Lian and Jialan from Sister-in-law Li's family are still in the back row. "

In the final analysis, my mother has raised a daughter, and her daily plan is not only to use this daughter to shine in the family, but also to support her elder brother, but have you ever thought about it for yourself?What's more, is Baoyu really a good match?Not to mention that he hung out with Qin Zhong and others when he was young, nor that Yingying and Yanyan around him, teasing and laughing with the maids all day long, was not serious, nor that he never listened to his advice , and Lin Daiyu are very close, more like a childhood sweetheart.Let’s just talk about Aunt Xue’s expectations for her future son-in-law—whether Baoyu has the ability to support others?

"Mother doesn't know that although the old man is not welcomed by the old lady, Li Lian's second elder brother is considered the eldest grandson of the house, and the title in this mansion will still fall on him. No matter how the second house gets the old lady's favor, Sooner or later, they will have to go out in a separate room. Besides, even if the old lady protects Brother Bao everywhere, after all, she is old, and how long can she protect him? In terms of future, I am afraid that Lan Er in Sister-in-law Li's room He is much more promising than Brother Bao." Baochai collected himself and tried to convince his mother.

Aunt Xue shook her head and said: "Although it is true to say so, do you want to marry your second elder brother Lian? You were kicked out by that Feng Lazi long ago. Lan'er is too young, you are separated by a generation, and your sister-in-law Li Maybe there are other ideas. Baoyu is different, it was your second aunt who took a fancy to you, not us rushing to catch up, wouldn't it be cheaper?"

Baochai knew that Mrs. Wang was so eager to make this marriage because there were two reasons: one was to point Baochai to persuade Baoyu to make progress, and the other was to fear that the old lady would act preemptively and point Lin Daiyu to Jia Baoyu.The latter reason involved Daiyu, she was too embarrassed to go into it, so she only talked about the former reason: "Second Aunt hopes that I can persuade Brother Bao. But you have also noticed my mother in the past few years. Did you listen to what I said? Several times it landed on my face so boring. There is no outsider here, so I simply tell the truth to my mother. In my opinion, even if a husband and wife can’t have a good heart, they should respect each other and raise their eyebrows. Now if it’s hard If you want me and Brother Bao to get together, even if it is a good thing, it will turn into a bad thing!"

Baochai said this very seriously, Aunt Xue couldn't help feeling uneasy when she heard it, her face changed color, but she forced a smile and said: "What do you know about your children? You are still doing well now, and your aunts and cousins ​​often see each other. From childhood to adulthood, each other’s temperaments are known. If you change to another family, at most they will look at you a few times, and then cover them with a red hijab. Only when you become a relative will you know what your husband’s eyebrows and eyes look like. This Isn't the day over?"

"Besides," Aunt Xue paused, and said with a serious expression, "Now your dowry is all in Jia's house. If you don't marry into their house, why don't you wait for someone outside to hire you? When the time comes, where will you find the dowry?" ?”

Baochai was shocked when he heard this.Her dowry had already been fixed by her father when he was alive, because his father loved her so much, it was as much as 10 taels.Even if the business is depleted later, it should be 10,000+ taels when converted into less.Some of them are shops, some are gold and silver jewelry, antique utensils, and there is not much cash at all.Yes, she knew that Jia's family had spent a lot of money on building the provincial hospital, but no matter how much they spent, they couldn't spend on the pavement and antique utensils, right?

Aunt Xue saw that Baochai was stunned, as if she had read her thoughts, and hurriedly explained: "At that time, you were only thinking about the palace selection, so you didn't know the reason here. When the garden was built last year, Brother Rong from the East Mansion Responsible for making gold and silver utensils, I borrowed several skilled hands from our house to help. At that time, your brother also went there often. Seeing that Brother Rong was worried that there would not be enough gold and silver utensils for display, your brother was also kind, so he came back to discuss with me. You borrowed some useful things from your dowry. Besides, gold and silver things are valuable things after all, so it is not difficult to rush to build them, but the antique furnishings are difficult. Your brother picked out some antiques from home , took them together."

Although Aunt Xue's words were vague, but by this time, Baochai had fully understood that her elder brother Xue Pan was a soft-skinned person, and the Xue family was always used to using power to suppress others. Since Jia Rong's words showed embarrassment Meaning, how could he stand by and watch, so that others would secretly laugh at First Young Master Xue for putting on airs on weekdays, but when the real thing came to an end, he couldn't come up with real money.After discussing this with Aunt Xue when I came back, it is understandable that Aunt Xue cherishes her son and holds the dowry for the time being.

Thinking of this, Baochai sighed and said, "Fortunately, it's just borrowed. It's not difficult to ask for it back when the time comes."

Aunt Xue smiled wryly and said: "It's not so simple. I heard from your second aunt a few days ago that the empress intended to let you sisters live in the garden together. Naturally, the decorations here must be placed, otherwise, what would it be? What's more, besides Besides, those shops..."

Baochai was startled and puzzled when he heard the words: "What happened to those shops? Could it be that the Jia family still needs to borrow the shops?"

Aunt Xue sighed heavily and said: "That's not true. It's just that Uncle Feng said that the business is not easy to do now, and advised your brother to accept it as soon as it is good, and he took it away. Therefore, he sold all the shops in various places. The transfer of the transfer is all discounted in cash. I don’t know how it was spent, but all the sevens and eights are gone.”

Baochai almost gasped: her brother would do such a thing!Everyone knows that businessmen are the most profitable, and often get several times or even dozens of times the profit. Therefore, when her father was alive, he recruited a lot of people and focused on expanding the business, so that the Xue family could become a millionaire.Unexpectedly, Xue Pan's generation would do the opposite, selling an old hen that can only lay golden eggs to others at a low price. Such a prodigal, it is simply amazing.

Aunt Xue still wholeheartedly protected her son: "I can't blame your brother for this. Your second aunt also talked to me a few months ago, saying that although the garden was completed, there were many places in the palace that needed to be taken care of. You are determined to choose the palace, and you still need to rely on the strength of your second aunt's family, how can you refuse? Besides, your second aunt said that your younger sister Lin also paid tens of thousands of taels of silver, how can our family lag behind? Just go back and forth like this. It's a lot of money."

"Today's work is beautiful, and we have come to this point. Things have come to this, you and Baoyu are a match made in heaven. Your second aunt still doesn't dislike you, why do you refuse? If you don't marry the Jia family, who will you marry? If you can’t get the dowry, can the in-law’s family still treat you respectfully? I’ve said everything I need to say, so think about it.” Aunt Xue sighed deeply, closed the door and walked out.

For the next few days, Baochai stayed behind closed doors, silent, ate and slept every day, trying to digest this series of jaw-dropping and unbelievable news.

These few days, she naturally didn't have the heart to wear the golden lock, so she ordered someone to put it aside and keep it far away, out of sight and out of mind.

Perhaps it was for this reason that she was dreaming every day, and she was groggy in her dreams, as if she had experienced a lifetime.Eventually she came to her senses.She remembered, she remembered everything.