Honglou Xing

Mrs. Wang had a good plan in her heart, and when she turned around, she mentioned to Jia Mu about the construction of the palace.

Mother Jia deliberately glanced at Mrs. Wang, hesitated and said nothing.It was only two days ago that the two rooms ended their quarrel, and it was so easy for her to calm down a bit, and something happened again.Mother Jia has learned a lot this time, but she dare not agree to Mrs. Wang casually.

Mrs. Wang saw that Jiamu was hesitant, and she was a little anxious: "Mother, my concubine's concubine was personally approved by the emperor's pen. Not every concubine who enters the palace has such honors. Look at the most favored concubine Wangui in the palace these years." , even she doesn't have this kind of opportunity. As soon as the empress was canonized, she received special favor from the Holy One, how can we neglect the Holy Grace at will?"

Mother Jia nodded, feeling that what Mrs. Wang said made sense.It is indeed very rare for the eldest granddaughter to enter the palace as a concubine and still have the opportunity to come back.It was the first time for the concubine to visit her relatives back home, and it was the first time she had seen her in this dynasty, and it could be said that she stole the limelight.

Seeing that Jia's mother was moved by it, Mrs. Wang hurriedly said, "Look at this..."

Mother Jia glanced at Mrs. Wang and sighed: "Oh, I'm getting old now. You have to discuss this matter with your sister-in-law. She can take care of the house, so I can't be the master."

Mrs. Wang smiled apologetically: "Mother, look at what you said. Even though the sister-in-law is in charge of this house, it's not up to you in the end. You are the ancestor of our house."

Mrs. Jia's praise was very useful to Mrs. Wang, and she laughed heartily.

At this time, Aunt Xue came with Baochai and brought gifts to congratulate Jiamu and Mrs. Wang.

Mother Jia thanked Aunt Xue with a smile, and politely refused her gift.

Aunt Xue said politely: "If you don't accept it again, I will think that you dislike the things I gave you."

After hearing this, Jia's mother asked someone to collect the things, and said to Aunt Xue with a smile, "you and your second daughter-in-law are sisters and a family. Why be so polite? Just come and see me often in the future. Don't worry." If you don’t bring gifts again, don’t be so polite to us.”

Aunt Xue agreed with a smile, knowing that what Jia's mother said was just a scene, she didn't care too much.Aunt Xue specifically looked at Mrs. Wang and winked at her.Now, Miss Jia is conferring on her concubine to visit her relatives, and the second bedroom is in the limelight. At this time, Mrs. Wang officially proposes marriage.

Mrs. Wang looked at Aunt Xue in embarrassment, then secretly observed Jia Mu's expression, hesitated for a while, and did not speak.

After a while, Mother Jia felt tired.Aunt Xue was dissatisfied and took Mrs. Wang back to discuss it, and then she went out to Lixiangyuan.Baochai had only been out for a while, and she didn't want to go back. Besides, she knew that her aunt and mother had something to say, so it was not convenient for her to be there.Baochai said goodbye to the two with a smile, and went to play with the sisters.Baochai paced to the outside of Tanchun's room, hesitated for a moment, then turned around and went to Rongxitang to look for Daiyu.

Daiyu was in Yingchun's room, discussing painting skills with her, when she suddenly saw Baochai coming, put down her brush with a smile, and asked someone to serve tea to welcome her.

Baochai smiled, thinking that Daiyu had really changed.In the past, when Daiyu went to other girls' houses, she was always cautious, not daring to tell the people in other girls' houses what to do.Now that she was in Yingchun's room, she dared to order Yingchun's maids to work without any politeness, and she was quite anti-customer.

Yingchun was reluctant to put pen to paper and was still immersed in painting.

Baochai didn't see Yingchun greet her, and felt a little unhappy.She smiled awkwardly, approached Yingchun and asked her what to draw.

Daiyu hurriedly said to Baochai, "Come and sit with me quickly. Don't pay attention to her. She is painting on Xing's head. No one pays attention to her."

Baochai looked at Yingchun hesitantly, sat down beside Daiyu with a smile, and asked her why.

Daiyu hooked her lips playfully, and smiled: "How many paintings has she done, but this one is the one she likes the most today, just wait and see."

Baochai wondered, "Is it possible that the painting will be given to someone important?"

Daiyu's eyes were bent into crescents, and she said to Baochai, "As expected of Miss Xue, she is smart. That painting will be used to honor the old lady of the Qiu family in the future. My aunt asked about it a few days ago, and sister Yingchun got married on the second day Today is the birthday of her old lady, although it is not a whole birthday, but it is only appropriate to prepare a birthday gift."

Baochai suddenly realized, nodded and smiled, "It's thanks to the thoughtfulness of the eldest lady."

"That's right, she's closer than my own mother." Daiyu sighed with emotion.

Baochai was taken aback, not knowing whether Daiyu was speaking for herself or Yingchun.Looking at Daiyu again, Baochai was slightly surprised to see her calm and joyful face.

Daiyu didn't speak any more, she quietly fiddled with the melon seeds on the plate, peeling them off one by one with her hands in a bored manner.After a long while, she raised her head and asked Baochai, "Are you here?"

Baochai smiled: "There's nothing wrong, but I'm just passing by to see you."

Daiyu blinked playfully: "Passing by? Then you didn't come to see us on purpose? Got it, are you here to see Sister Tanchun?"

Baochai nodded awkwardly.

"That's just right, I have a box of snacks for her right now, and I have a box for you too, but it's convenient for you to pick up this box when you come back later." After Daiyu said, she called for someone to come, and opened the box for you. Baochai has a look.

Baochai saw that in the exquisite sandalwood box, there were eight exquisite pastries of different styles, the skins were translucent, and the colors were different.As soon as the box was opened, just by smelling the tangy aroma, one knew that this snack was rare.

"Father is staying in Beijing as a scholar in the Hall of Martial Arts. When I went to thank you this morning, the emperor happened to have some snacks at the empress dowager's place. The empress dowager probably saw that my father had a good eye and said that he had worked hard as an official, so she specially rewarded him with a few treats." Here comes a box of snacks. Each box has a different taste, there is no duplicate, and they are all delicious. You can also take a box back and try it. But if you eat this thing on the same day, it will not taste the same overnight."

"It's so easy for the emperor to reward you, we don't have the nerve to eat it." Baochai felt a little uncomfortable, no matter how tempting the dessert was, she wanted to refuse it.

"Several boxes, how can I finish eating? Besides, good things should not be enjoyed alone. Don't be too polite, let's talk about sisters Tanchun and Xichun, and I have to trouble my sister to bring them there when I go. It's just that you are on the way, so I will I'm lazy, so I won't ask anyone to go." Daiyu said sharply.

Baochai observed Daiyu carefully, wondering if she did it on purpose.Just now she was just perfunctory, but this Daiyu asked her to bring something to Tanchun.This time she didn't want to go to Tanchun's place, and she had to.

Seeing that it was getting late, Baochai decided to leave anyway.When she got up, Yingchun put down his pen and came over with a smile to apologize to her.

Baochai couldn't care about such things face to face, and smiled and told Yingchun not to be polite.

Yingchun was really rude, and turned to Daiyu and said, "I just said that Sister Bao has always been a generous person. She didn't bother with me about these things. I dared to continue writing just now. If it were someone else, it would probably be like this." I can’t finish a painting. The mood of painting is different before and after, and the painting is not artistic enough, so I have to repaint again.”

Baochai felt even more uncomfortable after hearing Yingchun's words.What do you mean she is a generous person?Generous people will be neglected?No matter how uncomfortable he felt, Baochai couldn't get angry at someone else's house.She suppressed the unhappiness in her heart, smiled and said politely to Yingchun: "It doesn't matter to me. It's important that my sister is busy with her own affairs. It's no wonder that my sister is so caring. Anyone who wants to marry someone they don't know well will feel uncomfortable." Worry?"

Yingchun frowned slightly, not liking Baochai's words.She also didn't want to argue with outsiders, so she smiled awkwardly and said nothing.

"I guess it's not too early when I come back, so I don't want to bother you any more, so I might as well take both boxes."

Daiyu nodded.So Baochai took two boxes of things and left.

After leaving the Rongxi Hall, Baochai looked up at the big sun in the afternoon sky and frowned.She took two steps in the direction of Tanchun's residence, stopped suddenly, put her hand on her forehead and said to the maid beside her, "I suddenly feel unwell, so I won't go to the third girl's place. You can send this box to me." In the past, go back and report to Miss Lin."

The maid nodded and went away, and Baochai took the rest back to the room.The remaining box of snacks was placed on the table by the servant girl.

Seeing this, Baochai frowned and said sharply, "Take it out!"

The little maid shivered, and hurriedly took the things outside and put them outside.

Aunt Xue came out from the side hall after chatting with Mrs. Wang, and saw the little maid holding a box.Aunt Xue asked what it was with a smile, and the little maid said it was a gift from Miss Lin.

Aunt Xue and Mrs. Wang looked at each other, then smiled and asked someone to open the box.A fresh fragrance hits the face, which is quite appetizing.Aunt Xue looked at it with a smile, and saw that these dim sums were really delicate.She first gave in to Mrs. Wang, but Mrs. Wang wanted to refuse, but she couldn't resist the delicious snack, and there were no outsiders around, so she reached out and took a piece into her mouth.Aunt Xue also picked up a piece, tasted it, and narrowed her eyes.

"It tastes good, as expected of something in the palace." Aunt Xue praised.

Mrs. Wang ate the whole piece non-stop, wiped her mouth, "It was nothing more than that."

Aunt Xue smiled, did not refute Mrs. Wang, and turned to Mrs. Wang: "You have to take care of what I told you just now,"

Mrs. Wang nodded and said goodbye.

Aunt Xue sent Mrs. Wang away, but Baochai still didn't come out, and she felt strange.In the past, Baochai was always polite when visiting the family, but now he didn't show up, probably because he was in a bad mood or not in good health.Aunt Xue turned to the back room and saw Baochai lying on the kang, her back trembling from time to time.Aunt Xue was terrified, and hurried to pull Baochai up, and she saw that her face was full of tears.

Aunt Xue's heart ached, she hurriedly pulled Baochai into her arms, and asked her what was wrong while wiping her tears.

"Mom, why do we bother to come back and be willing to be angry? Isn't it nice to live in the old house with the eldest brother?" Xue Baochai cried so hard that a handkerchief couldn't wipe her tears away.

"Good boy, what's the matter with you?" Seeing that Baochai bowed her head and refused to speak, Aunt Xue turned to ask the accompanying maids.The servant girl then told how Miss Bao went to see Daiyu today.

Aunt Xue was upset when she heard that, she first scolded Yingchun and said: "How can she treat guests like that? When guests go to see her now, she keeps silent and concentrates on painting? This girl Lin is also interesting, The dignified daughter of the Lin family, is there no one around? Do you want our maid to deliver something?"

Aunt Xue's words reached Baochai's heart, and Baochai was very moved. Fortunately, there is still a mother who understands her in this world.When she got excited, she cried even harder, and plunged into Aunt Xue's arms.After a while, Xue Baochai recovered.After she stopped crying, she smiled embarrassedly at her mother, apologizing for her gaffe.

"Silly boy, you have been wronged. If you don't tell me, who will you tell?" Aunt Xue sighed, and reached out to smooth Li Baochai's messy sideburns. "I'm really worried about Rong Mansion's current state."

Baochai understood what Aunt Xue was talking about, sat up straight, and said to Aunt Xue: "Mother, look at it coldly, Auntie's place is not as good as it used to be, even the place where I live has been moved to—"

"Hush, don't talk nonsense." Aunt Xue patted the back of her daughter's hand and said, "It's really going to die then, and I also have thoughts of giving up. But since your eldest cousin became a concubine in the palace, everything is different Think about it. Where can we find such a family? Let’s not talk about it, Baoyu is a good-natured boy, and he will definitely not dislike our family background, let alone bully you.”

"What's wrong with our background? The imperial merchants want a dwarf? They are short of money, why don't they just come here and beg us?" Baochai said angrily.

Aunt Xue sighed: "Mother thought the same as you when she was young. Oh, I won't mention it. Sooner or later, you will understand how important birth is. Your elder brother is worthless. I don't count on him anymore. It's you, smart. Smart, you shouldn't be wronged. As long as you can marry into an official family, and he will become an official in the future, and you become his wife, you will be able to survive."

"Can I still count on him to become an official?" Baochai sneered and raised her eyebrows. These days, she had seen and heard how Baoyu missed Daiyu.She had long been disappointed, but she still had to hold back her temper and smiled at everyone.

Aunt Xue sighed again, and hurriedly hugged her daughter into her arms: "Wait a little longer, your aunt has already promised me, it will be soon."

After Mrs. Wang agreed to Aunt Xue, she didn't know what to do in her heart. She was so annoyed that she had to go to Mrs. Xing to discuss the construction of the palace now.

Mrs. Xing is checking Jia Lian's accounts. The inferior jade/artifacts he bought from Yangzhou with all his resources have not been sold for more than half a year.Jia Lian didn't understand this matter very much, felt aggrieved, but there was nothing he could do when the time limit came, so he kowtowed to Xing to apologize for his mistake.

Xing looked at Jia Lian's current appearance, she was much thinner, and her attitude was more honest and serious than before.Xing knew that he was really anxious, and learned a lesson after he really suffered a loss.The Xing family is already content with today's effect. At least 5000 taels of silver can be put in, and they can get something back instead of wasting it for nothing.

"Do you know what your problem is?"

Jia Lian shook his head puzzled.

"You didn't touch the right door. The things you got are not good enough. Rich people can't afford them, but they don't look down on them; poor people rarely have spare money to buy them. Those who can afford them don't buy them. Buy them." If you don’t want to buy it, who can you sell it to?”

Jia Lian suddenly realized, and looked at Xing with admiration: "What madam said is very true. I was really obsessed with ghosts. I saw that my wife can make money with this method, so I was tempted. I thought that as long as I followed you, I would also make money. In case Unexpectedly, the most important thing was neglected. The son is unfilial, and the 5000 taels of silver given by the wife and the master were wasted. Now the money is all spent on these unsalable jade/ware. The son is unfilial, unfilial... "After that, Jia Lian burst into tears and kowtowed to Xing Shi non-stop.

Xing waited for Jia Lian to cry enough before calling him up. "Okay, you'll have a long memory. As for the contract, you know it, it doesn't matter if you have it or not."

After saying that, Mrs. Xing took her son Can from the nurse.

Jia Lian stared blankly at Brother Can, nodded resignedly and said, "What the wife said is true!"

"It's not good for you to stay idle at home. Later, I will arrange for you to take care of things. You man can also handle things when you are outside. I don't tell you to run for nothing. Every time I finish my work, I will share the profits with you. I will save [-]% for you, and when you marry a wife in the future, the money will be used to buy a Zhuangzi shop, and then handed over to your husband and wife to take care of it." Xing said.

Hearing this, Jia Lian's legs softened, and he knelt down again, and kowtowed excitedly to Mrs. Xing to thank her.He thought that after this incident, the Xing family would really give up on him as he said at the beginning.She never expected that not only did she not be too harsh on herself, but she also properly arranged for his future.couple?Does the Xing family still want to marry her a wife?

Jia Lian's mind was blank, and she stared blankly at Xing.

Xing's eyes suddenly became serious: "Tell me, did you have any tricks outside a few days ago?"

Jia Lian shivered in fright, and quickly bowed his head and lay on the ground.

Xing knocked on the table with her fingers, and Jia Lian's body trembled.

After a long silence in the room, Fang Xing said slowly: "In the past few months, I saw that your face was flushed and you were getting fatter. It seems that your life is going well?"

"Son... my son doesn't dare!" Jia Lian stammered.

Xing narrowed his eyes.

Jia Lian raised his head slightly, secretly observed Xing's face, and trembled in his heart.His eyeballs rolled around cunningly, and finally kowtowed in recognition: "The son has raised the outer room."

"Which family's girl?" Xing asked coldly.

Jia Lian blushed and stammered, "It's Dongfu Zhen's sister-in-law's half-sister, Second Sister You."

Xing fell silent for a while, calmly accepted the status quo, and turned to Jia Lian, "Accordingly, she should know that you are in the filial piety period?" Seeing Jia Lian nodding, Xing continued, "If that's the case, you'd rather be You raised her as the second room, so it can be seen that she is not a well-behaved girl. I don't care how you two met or got together. Now you have to deal with it. I don't want to hear what's going on outside when I say kiss to you Gossip. Give her more money and settle down."

Jia Lian frowned, hesitated, and looked at Xing with pleading eyes.

Xing sneered and looked at Jia Lian: "Why, do you want to marry her?"

Jia Lian hurriedly shrunk his neck: "My son dare not!"

"Don't pretend that I really don't know anything. You, the second wife, are not the only man you've been with. You don't have to be afraid of a low birth, but this style is too... I will never let her in!" Xing said coldly.

Jia Lian nodded, hurriedly apologized to the Xing family, and then resigned peacefully.

Only then did Xing breathe a sigh of relief, and then someone reported that Mrs. Wang had come to find him.She expected nothing good, and sure enough, Mrs. Wang got straight to the point when she came and talked about the construction of the palace.

The Xing family firmly disagreed: "How can the family pay for the construction of this palace? If the imperial court allows you to build a palace for the empress, someone from the Ministry of Industry will come to inspect it, and then transfer the money."

Mrs. Wang frowned: "But the imperial decree didn't elaborate on these things. Once the emperor forgets about his daily affairs, we can't even make any preparations. When the time comes when the empress comes to visit our relatives, the people around me will see how shabby our mansion is, and say something in front of the holy majesty. None of us can bear the guilt."

"Your Majesty only stays for one day to visit relatives, and you have to rush back to the palace before dusk. Just for a short while, son, why do you build a palace specially? Besides, I heard the master mention that now Kuyin is in short supply, and the Holy One is worried. What about Yinzi, at such a critical moment, can you deliberately ask people to build a palace that can only be used for half a day?" Xing's words were sharp and reasonable, forcing Mrs. Wang to have nowhere to go, and nothing to say.

"So, it's better for my brothers and sisters to abandon the idea of ​​this palace early. Besides, our mansion was built by imperial edict. It was built with the emperor's will at the beginning. It is magnificent. How can it be considered 'shabby'? You say we are shabby. , doesn’t it mean that Emperor Taizu is shabby, let’s see who dares!” Xing sternly said.

Mrs. Wang trembled in fright, her face blushed, she frowned and said, "If you can't do it, you can't do it. Why is my sister-in-law like this? It's fine, I'm fine, let's go."

As soon as Mrs. Wang left, Jia Amnesty came out of the side room and carried her son into the back room.

"When did you come back?" Xing looked at Jia Amnesty in surprise.

"Well," Jia Amnesty held Brother Can's little hand, teasing him, and recalled, "It seems to be when the younger siblings said that our mansion is shabby."

"Heh—" Mrs. Xing sneered helplessly when he heard Mrs. Wang mentioned again.

Jia She smiled and gathered his son to the top of his head, and staggered to Xing. "Can'er, come and see, this is your mother's angry appearance. Remember, you must be obedient in the future, and your mother is not allowed to show such an expression, you know?"

Xing laughed at Jia Amnesty's boredom, got up and stretched out his hand, "Give it to me quickly, be careful not to miss him."

Jia Amnesty hugged Brother Can in his arms and smiled.Brother Can spit out a mouthful of saliva and laughed toothlessly.

Mrs. Wang was suffocated, and just returned to the house when she was called by Jia Mu again.

With a sad face, Jia's mother said to Mrs. Wang: "Just now son-in-law Lin came to say goodbye to me."

Mrs. Wang felt relieved, and said with surprise on her face, "This is..."

"Boss has already found a place for him. Now that the official position has been settled, he is a foreigner, so it is inconvenient to live in the mansion for a long time. It is fine for him to leave. I want to keep Miss Lin, but he insists on taking Miss Lin away." " Mother Jia said angrily.

Mrs. Wang was even happier when she heard this, and persuaded Jia's mother, "Madam Lin likes to be by her father's side."

Jia's mother frowned: "He doesn't have any female relatives in his family. Who will teach my granddaughter?" Jia's mother looked at Mrs. Wang, paused, and said, "I thought about it, and the matter of Baoyu and Lin girl should also be settled. Come down, what do you think?"

Mrs. Wang has not been going well in the past few days, and today's palace affairs have been hindered, so she has long been suffocating in her chest.Besides, she just promised her younger sister to guarantee Baoyu and Baochai's marriage today, but at this moment Jiamu is talking about Baoyu and Daiyu.As long as Madam Wang thinks of the arrogant face of her sister-in-law Jia Min back then, and Daiyu who is almost identical to Jia Min now, she will feel extremely depressed.

New hatred and old hatred, coupled with unhealed old illness.

Under Jia Mu's gaze, Mrs. Wang shook her body.Suddenly, a mouthful of resentment rushed to her chest, and Mrs. Wang spurted out a mouthful of blood, rolled her eyes and passed out.