Survive in the world of Red Mansions

"Father, besides Uncle Yao and Grandmother, who will be entertained after the Chinese New Year? It's decided now so that my daughter can arrange it early."

Lin Daiyu took advantage of the time when she came to pay her respects early in the morning, and asked who the Lin family would entertain in the next year.

"In the capital, there are only these two relatives, and there is Mr. Song, besides these, there are a few friends of the same year, but these don't have to be busy in the mansion, and we will hold a banquet in a restaurant outside," Lin Hai thought I will return later.

"So, Dad, do you think we should separate the banquets? The rules of my grandmother's house and Uncle Yao's family are very different. Putting them together, I'm afraid the two families will not be happy. What do you think, Dad?"

Lin Hai heard Sister Lin say this, and thinking of her current age of only 10 years old, he really had to make him look at Sister Lin with admiration.

At the age of 10, who is still in elementary school in modern times and acts like a baby in the arms of grandparents, parents, Lin Daiyu has already managed the internal affairs of the entire Lin family in an orderly manner. From Lin Hai's point of view, this is quite remarkable.

For the New Year banquet, the relationship between the guests and the situation of the two families will also be considered, and the banquet will be held separately.

"Tomorrow, I will ask the housekeeper to inquire about the time of the two banquets, and then determine the specific date for the two banquets. I just moved here and I have to prepare for the New Year. Miss Dai is exhausted. Some things can be directly handed over to the following Let me know if there is anything difficult to solve.”

"Father, don't worry, I have points! Besides, I should take care of these things. I can't let these trivial matters bother my father."

After Lin Daiyu withdrew, after a while, Lin Rui looked at Lin Hai and said, "Father, do you think sister Lin is okay?"

"What's good?" Lin Hai held a book in his hand, and he felt a little baffled when he heard his son say this, so he asked casually.

"I just think that in the original play, Sister Lin is really a girl with the most affection and sex. In her mind, the most important thing is that doomed hopeless love. Will it be because of us that she will be let down in this life?" Maybe you won’t even try the taste of adultery, here are basically blind marriages, and feelings have to be cultivated after marriage.”

Lin Rui didn't know, for Sister Lin, which was more important, a smooth but perhaps dull married life, or a doomed sad but splendid love affair.

"I realized that you really think too much! In the original play, sister Lin got Jia Baoyu's love, but so what? In the end, she just watched Jia Baoyu marry someone else and got such a love. What is the use?

For a woman in this society, when she was in her natal family, she grew up peacefully and pampered. When she grows up, she finds a husband who is well-matched. After marriage, she has children of her own. It is the best, and this is also the best life for most women from aristocratic families.

After Daiyu, is it important to have a passion?According to the education she has received now, she will have an ordinary and stable life like most women from aristocratic families in this society. What's wrong?Even in the future, it will be the same. Are you still planning to find a girl to have a relationship first, and then get married if it feels right? "

"How did you mention me? When did I have this idea? Girls in this society, if they flirt with a man before marriage, they will not have a good reputation. I am not prepared to challenge the entire morality of this society. system."

Lin Hai looked at Lin Rui, a young lady with a little baby fat on her face, but she was talking about the important marriage with a serious face, and couldn't help laughing.

"..." Lin Rui looked at his father who was laughing uncontrollably, even more annoyed.

Starting from the 23rd, the seal of the Yamen is officially entering the rhythm of the Chinese New Year.

According to the information Lin Zhong inquired, Lin Daiyu finally determined the time for the banquet of the two families.On the sixth day of the sixth day, Yao's family didn't have to go to the banquet, and there were no banquet guests in the house. They arranged the banquet for Yao's family on the sixth day and the Rongguo Mansion on the eighth day.When Lin Hai saw Lin Daiyu's arrangement, he couldn't help applauding. The timing was wonderful. When the Yao family was entertained on the sixth day of the lunar new year, the Rongguo Mansion also had a banquet that day, and the guests were some old relatives. With the time difference, it seemed that this arrangement took care of the situation of the two families.

Lin Daiyu was almost ready for other things before, and in the past few days, she specially prepared the banquet for everyone in Tianfu on the [-]th day, and the banquet after the next year.Although only the two families will be entertained in the mansion after the next year, this is also the first official banquet for the Lin family in Beijing. Lin Daiyu has prepared very carefully, lest there be any mistakes, and others will see the jokes of the Lin family.

Apart from writing couplets and blessing characters, Lin Hai and Lin Rui really can't help much with these chores during the Chinese New Year.

It has been snowing heavily in the capital for several days in a row, and Lin Hai and his son did not go out, and they just nestled in the study and played chess.

Lin Rui thinks he is good at chess, but he still wins less and loses more against Lin Hai. The more he loses, the more he likes to pull Lin Hai to play chess with him. Lin Hai also intends to teach him, and by the way, the two father and son talk together.

"Xiao Rui, our family is going to live in the capital for a long time, and now I want to hire you a new husband, what do you think?" Lin Haibin tapped his fingers on the table and asked his son.

"The former Zhou Tao was very good. The most important thing about this new gentleman is that he should not be too rigid. It is best to dabble in both piano, chess, calligraphy and painting."

"It's not so easy to find a good husband. At first, I thought about Lin Ruhai's husband, Mr. Song, but after thinking about it, I forgot it. Mr. Song is much older than me, so I can take care of you in the future." Space is really limited!"

"Why don't I take the entrance examination earlier, won't the top few in the entrance examination be able to get a tribute student quota, so that I can directly enter the Imperial College with the status of a tribute student, so it doesn't matter whether there is a gentleman or not. "

"So confident in yourself? You have to wait until the next session at the very least. Are you still planning to take the exam next year? It's not suitable for you to be too young, Ruirui! Besides, you are only 12 years old even if you wait until the next session , are still young."

"Just those few books, I read them over and over every day. Since last year, I have picked out a sentence from the Four Books and Five Classics every day, breaking the topic and making a fuss, and I must be able to write new ideas in each article in the fixed format of the eight-legged essay. , It’s really terrible. If you lose this game again, you won’t play today!”

"Hehe, these are the contents of the current imperial examinations. This is not something you and I can change. Not to mention the college exams, even the provincial and general exams will still take these contents in the future. Is there any way? Isn't stereotyped essay like this?"

"..."

"You want to take the college exam early, but so what if you can pass these exams. It sounds good to be a Jinshi in your teens, but are you going to be an official when you are a teenager? These officials are Such a special case will not be allowed to exist."

"In the past, we learned a lot in school, such as Chinese, mathematics, chemistry, physics, etc., so that you will always have new things waiting for you to learn in depth, and will not make you feel boring, but these four books and five classics ..."

"Although the Four Books and Five Classics are only these few books, there are countless annotations in these few books, so learn slowly!

It’s really hard for you just to face these every day. In addition to martial arts in the morning and evening, I will study the Four Books and Five Classics related to the imperial examination in the morning, and pick the ones you are interested in in the afternoon. Besides, our library has a large collection of books. You can read more Look at the biographies, geography of various places, the court-related codes, etc., Ruier, what do you think of this arrangement? "

"Well, let's try first."

"Now you can take advantage of your young age and have the time and energy to learn a lot and you will benefit for life. About Mr. Yao Pei, I asked him to help me pay attention when I saw him last time. I will also look for it on my own. There is no suitable one for you, please come back."

While the two father and son were talking, Lin An from outside came to report that the chief housekeeper, Lin Zhong, had asked to see him.

"I've met you, sir. Here are some information about Rongguo Mansion from this investigation."

Lin Zhong entered the study room, and after meeting Lin Hai and his son, he handed the information in his hand to Lin Hai.

Lin Hai took it over, roughly flipped through it, and then said to Lin Zhong, "Let me read these materials first, and talk about it if there is something I don't understand."

After the chief steward Lin Zhong withdrew, Lin Rui asked curiously: "Father, why did you think of checking the Rong Mansion? How many days have we only been in Beijing, and we have found so many?"

"I didn't start the investigation when I came to Beijing this time. It was done by the group of people we sent over in advance last time. It should have been sorted out and handed over by the housekeeper in the past few days. If you want to stay far away, Rong No matter what you say, the national government is also your maternal ancestral home. Everyone knows that this relationship is there, and there is no way to completely break it off.

As far as you and Daiyu are concerned, it is better to have a family that has not settled down slowly than one that has been ransacked. Of course, the final result may be that the Jia family still cannot escape the fate of ransacking.I asked people to check these, and I was also thinking about whether I should mention it to Mrs. Jia. If the Jia family is still like this after mentioning it, the Lin family will stay away from Rongguo Mansion in the future.

I did a quick search just now, this time it was the people below who checked in such a short period of time, and found so many of them, taking up lawsuits, lending usury, the stewards of the mansion relying on the power of the Rong Mansion, and forcibly occupying fertile land, similar incidents above There are many, not to mention other crimes, just the above, it is not too unjust for the Jia family to be ransacked in the end. "

Lin Rui took the information in his hand, flipped through it for a while, and said: "The master of Rongguo Mansion is very poor. Look at the following stewards, all of them are very rich. This high-quality paddy field usually costs about 10 to 30 yuan. One mu of silver, this family is only given 100 taels for the [-] mu of high-quality paddy fields, so grab it!"

Lin Rui turned the page to read it, and pointed it to Lin Hai, "This monopoly lawsuit is about guarding the Zhang family in Chang'an. It killed two people for thousands of taels of silver, but maybe Wang Xifeng didn't realize it at all."

"You can read it slowly when you have time. This time, when I first came here, I asked Lin Zhong to find a shop in the outer city, where the daily vegetables and ingredients of various prefectures gather, and open a small restaurant connected to the inn. Do you know why? ?”

"Why? It's not for collecting information, is it? But it should be more appropriate to collect information by opening some high-end restaurants or brothels, right?"

"Indeed, but it is obviously inappropriate for us to open high-end restaurants and brothels in the capital. It is too eye-catching, and it is taboo from the higher-ups. In the outer city, there are all kinds of people from all walks of life. Let the people below open it." Even a small restaurant is not eye-catching. You should be able to understand why it is opened in the place where the managers of various prefectures buy it.

Those who do shopping, big and small, are in charge, and they know more or less about the affairs of the government.These stewards can more or less earn some money in normal times. It is normal to go to a nearby small restaurant to rest, have a cup of tea and chat with other stewards while shopping. It is normal for them to relax.These people basically know a little about things in their own mansion and other mansions, and there will always be people who are more open-mouthed, so they can communicate with each other and satisfy their gossip psychology.

I just asked them to collect the information from the managers of these purchases. If they collected more and sorted them out, they might be able to get useful information from them. "

"In the capital city, not to mention the emperor, there are too many princely mansions, noble families, etc., and they each have relevant manpower. It is really necessary to be careful in collecting information. Opening such a small restaurant in the outer city like Dad said is not a problem. It is indeed a good choice to avoid the attention of those people."

In a world full of snow, it was the first New Year's Eve after the Lin family entered Beijing this time.

Lin Hai and his branch were all single seedlings for several generations, and there were no side branches. When they worshiped their ancestors on their thirtieth year, Lin Hai brought Lin Rui, father and son, to worship their ancestors.

After the ancestor worship was completed, the New Year's Eve banquet was also held early.Many fire plates were lit around the main hall of the Lin Mansion, making people feel warm as soon as they entered the main hall.The New Year's Eve banquet in the evening was held here, separated by a screen, and the men and women were seated at separate tables. There were few masters in the Lin family, so several important stewards were called on Thirty Nights.Lin Hai, father and son, Lin Xu who lives here, two housekeepers and others set up a table, and Lin An and several other stewards set up a table; Lin Daiyu, Mr. Qiu, and Nanny Li set up a table for the ladies, four Auntie set up a table with Lin Rui and the big maids that Lin Daiyu needed.

With the participation of these people, the Lin family's New Year's Eve was a little more lively.After the banquet is withdrawn, everyone should get together to watch the New Year's Eve, but Lin Hai thought about it. Many of these servants have their own small families, so don't stop them from reunion gardens, so after sitting for a while, the New Year's Eve money Send it down.

Of course, there are not many people who can let Lin Hai and the others distribute the New Year's money by themselves, that is, some housekeepers, decent maids around them, and so on.Most of the servants in the mansion went directly to the butler to receive the red envelopes for the Chinese New Year.

Lin Rui and Lin Daiyu waited until the time was almost up, and kowtowed to their husbands and masters to pay New Year's greetings, and also received a red envelope.After those who have their own small families left, the others moved to the wing room, gathered together to laugh, chat and watch the year.