The Heart of the Red Chamber

Just after the Chinese New Year, members of the Xue family arrived in Chang'an, and first of all they dragged their families to visit the Wang family.

I have to say that the beautiful and cute little lolita is always attractive. Even Mrs. Sun and Mrs. Shi don't like Xue Wang's sister-in-law very much. Mrs. Shi felt that her daughter Wang Xifeng was already a rare beauty, but this Xue Baochai was even better. Mrs. Sun suddenly remembered the letter from Mrs. Xue, saying that she was going to send her daughter to the draft. No wonder he was so confident, but it turned out to be based on this.It's a pity that those empresses in the palace are not fools, it's nothing more than a big pick. For a small pick, the more beautiful they are, the easier it is to be brushed off. Even if there are some who stay, they are often forced to do something wrong. An unremarkable job, I don't want them to appear in front of the emperor.Even if you want to borrow your belly to have a baby, you still have to choose a well-controlled one!

Mrs. Sun despised her sister-in-law's knowledge in her heart, but with a smile on her face, she held Xue Baochai's hand: "She is really a beauty, but she can compare to the girls in the family!"

While talking, he took the meeting gift that he had prepared in advance - a pair of emerald bracelets made of Laokeng glass that were full of water: "Good niece, let's wear them for fun!"

Xue Baochai hurriedly thanked her, and Mrs. Shi also sent a red gold hairpin inlaid with red and sapphires, and said with a smile, "Brother Feng, come and greet your sister Xue!"

Wang Xifeng is now old enough, and a few years ago, he also settled for someone else, the eldest grandson of Zhenyuanhou Liu Chuanjia, Liu Zhen, but just last year, Zhenyuanhou's wife was seriously ill. His grandson-in-law is overjoyed, but the Wang family is not easy to mess with.After all, the Marquis of Zhenyuan is old now, and he has a title for nothing, which is actually an honorary support. Liu Zhen's father, Liu Bin, is soft-tempered and doesn't have much talent, but because he is honest, he has now reached the position of the fourth rank, but it's nothing For real power, Liu Chuan also has a vision. He made a decisive decision to let his grandson start studying. First, he donated a supervisory student to Liu Zhen.

Such a family, in the eyes of ordinary people, is already very good, but for the Wang family, which is currently on the rise, there is obviously no pressure. I told the Wang family that Mrs. Hou is not feeling well, and she wants to postpone the wedding, please forgive me.

Not long after talking, Mrs. Zhenyuanhou passed away. So, Liu Zhen wanted to keep filial piety for his grandmother, so the wedding date would naturally have to wait until the filial piety was done.Therefore, although Wang Xifeng is not young in this era, she is still in her boudoir.It was rare to see a cousin who was younger than me at this moment, and I was also happy in my heart. Hearing Mrs. Shi's words, she walked up to meet Xue Baochai, and then chatted on twitter.

Mrs. Sun looked at the two girls talking there with a smile, and then asked a little casually: "I heard that my aunt is planning to stay here when she returns to Chang'an this time?"

Mrs. Xue Wang hurriedly said: "No, I only have this pair of children, and Pan'er's evil has broken my heart. I am a woman, and I don't know how to teach. I have to make my two elder brothers worry about it! As for Bao Chai..." At this point, Xue Wang showed a little self-consciousness: "I want to teach the two sister-in-laws to know that the Xue family has been leading errands in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and has a spot for the draft. Therefore, I thought, send Baochai's participation in the election is a blessing in disguise!"

Mrs. Shi and Mrs. Sun looked at each other, Mrs. Shi squeezed a corner of the handkerchief, and asked tentatively: "Does my aunt know that the talent show hosted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs is actually for the selection of court ladies!"

Mrs. Xue Wang was taken aback, and asked a little stammeringly, "Are you choosing a maid?"

"That's not true!" Mrs. Shi saw that the sister-in-law really didn't know, so she had to elaborate, "The draft is also graded. The aunt probably knows that the emperor chooses concubines, and proposes marriages to the clan princes. But, then It is a general election held every three years, and most of the candidates are the daughters of princes and ministers, and there are very few who can be elected, and most of them will lose the election and go home to marry on their own."

Seeing Mrs. Xue listening attentively, Xue Baochai also pricked up her ears. Mrs. Shi continued: "The other is to select female officials. Female officials serve in the palace and will be distributed to various places in the palace. It is best There is nothing better than being directly assigned to the emperor, and then assigned to the empresses. For example, the eldest daughter of the Rongguo Mansion is like this, and now she is doing female history beside the empress. However, being a female history is actually better than being a court lady. Rank, even the empress in the palace can't be punished, but unless you get grace, you can't leave the palace if you are under the age."

"The worst thing is to choose the maids!" Mrs. Shi sighed softly, "Most of the court ladies in this dynasty come from the common people. If you are lucky, you can leave the palace when you reach the age. If you are less lucky, you can stay in the palace as nuns. Mama is already lucky!" Naturally, there is no need to elaborate on the next words.

Mrs. Xue Wang said in a somewhat embarrassing manner: "I didn't know what the second sister-in-law said before. It's just that I have only one daughter, Baochai. How can I be willing to let her enter the palace to serve others! It's just that I heard the news from the household department. He said that he would choose a servant for the princesses and princesses! I just thought that if Baochai could be selected and become the servant of the princesses and princesses, the marriage would look better in the future!"

"Auntie is also for the good of the children!" Mrs. Sun said softly, "Parents, which one is not for the sake of the children! However, I have never heard of any precedents in this dynasty before. When I turn around, my sister-in-law will ask your elder brother what happened It’s just an aunt, even if it’s for the princess and princess, it will take a few years to study, how long will it take to go home and marry, the girl’s family has delayed her life, and the marriage is limited no matter how good it is!” What Madam Sun didn’t say was , I'm afraid that it will be delayed until the princess comes out, and it will be even more troublesome if the accompanying student will become a dowry at that time. Is it possible that a good girl will have to be a concubine for a son-in-law or a county horse?Moreover, the prince's companion is easy to talk about. Every day, he leaves home early in the morning to go to the gate of the palace, waits for the prince to go to the palace school together, and then goes home by himself after school. .

Mrs. Sun said so, Xue Wang also hesitated.Even if it is serving as a servant to the princess and princess, in the final analysis, it is still serving others. The average princess and princess of this dynasty gets married relatively late. Seventeen or eighteen years old is considered young, and some people drag it into their early twenties. Baochai is now in his teens. It's three, if the girl can't settle down before she reaches Jiji, the marriage negotiation will have to drop to a lower level in the future.

Seeing that Mrs. Xue had hesitated, Mrs. Sun accepted it as soon as she saw it, lest her sister-in-law feel that she simply didn't like her family, so she simply changed the topic.

In the study, Wang Ziteng and Wang Ren were talking to Xue Pan.Anyway, at first glance, Xue Pan was actually well-born, tall and strong, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, his face was dignified, if not delicate, and his manners were not rude.

However, after talking for a while, Wang Ziteng, who was originally in a peaceful mood, was almost unable to hold back his anger.

The conversation between the elder and the younger was actually just those words. Wang Ziteng first exchanged a few casual greetings, and then asked, "What books are Pan'er reading now?"

Xue Pan was immediately dumbfounded. Since his father died, he didn't seem to have touched books very much, of course, with the exception of erotic pictures and legends.

Wang Ziteng didn't think too much, just said: "These four books are the classics of sages, and it is not too much to read for a lifetime. You can just say a few words and listen to them!"

Sitting there, Xue Pan felt that countless nails had been drilled out of his buttocks. He groaned for a long time before stammering: "That fair lady, good gentleman, good..."

Wang Ziteng's face turned dark all of a sudden: "Is this the Four Books? This is the Book of Songs!" Seeing Xue Pan's terrified expression, Wang Ziteng managed to calm down and asked, "Since you have read the Book of Songs, you should memorize the first chapter!"

Xue Pan was complaining in his heart, the sentence he said just now was when he usually went out with a group of dandies in Jinling to molest the women on the street, and those dandies talked about it a lot, so he remembered it. As for the opening chapter of the Book of Songs, how could he remember it? !

Wang Ren saw that Xue Pan was almost scratching his head, so he had to remind him from the side: "Didn't my cousin remember the sentence just now, just start from the beginning!"

"Ah, from the beginning..." Xue Pan was at a loss, and Wang Ren sighed in his heart. He didn't know what to say. The "Book of Songs" these days is the content of elementary school, which is equivalent to teaching kindergarten children in later generations: "Goose goose Goose..." Same thing, I can't even remember this, I really can't help it.

Wang Ziteng originally thought that his nephew was coming for the first time, so he wanted to teach him in a nice voice, so that he should take care of himself in the future and not idle around. Anyway, he is also the head of the Xue family, and he must act like a head of the family. Seeing that, Wang Ziteng suddenly felt furious. If Xue Pan wasn't his son, he would have smashed the cup in his hand on Xue Pan's head. Even so, Wang Ziteng still had a gloomy face and said, "Okay!" I won’t go back and read it again! However, Pan’er, you are not too young, you should know something by now, especially this Chang’an City is at the foot of the emperor, the most benevolent place, it is a peddler on the side of the road, say no Surely you can get involved with any prince or minister! When you arrive in Chang'an, just be honest with me and read a few more books. I don't ask you to have any fame, but don't let people call me Wang's nephew. I can’t memorize even a single book of poetry, I can’t afford to lose this man!”

Wang Ziteng had been in a high position for a long time, when he got angry, Xue Pan shuddered, stood up quickly, bowed his head to listen to the training, it was still early spring, and he was sweating profusely.

Seeing this, Wang Ziteng also felt uninterested, waved his hands, and said, "That's all, you follow your cousin, first go to your second uncle, and then go to the backyard to meet your two aunts!"

Hearing this, Xue Pan seemed to be pardoned, and before Wang Ren could say anything, he hurriedly said, "The nephew will retire first!" As he spoke, he almost trotted out of the study.

Wang Ren had no choice but to leave quickly with Wang Ziteng, followed him, and went out the door. He saw Xue Pan standing at the corner wiping his cold sweat with his sleeve, and then heaved a sigh of relief. Seeing Wang Ren come out, he smiled awkwardly: "Ren Cousin! Then let's go to Second Uncle's place!"

Naturally, Wang Zisheng and Xue Pan had nothing to say, they just said a few polite words, everything is their relatives, if there is any embarrassment, just ask him, it will make Xue Pan feel better.