[Red Mansions] Dependents

Chapter 49

Although she knew that the storm was coming, she still had to live her life in and out of the palace. Yaxin still lived a two-point and one-line life in the palace, but after Qing and Qingwan had the topic of children, they became closer. Sticking together to discuss parenting scriptures, even Miaoyu is like this. Before Miaoyu came to see Yaxin, she must go to Xichun, but after giving birth, she mostly discusses with Keqing and Qingwan about their respective methods of raising children. There is also interesting stories about my own children. When I am happy, I talk about the children's marriage. One and two are coveting the baby Yuanyuan of Siyan's family. From time to time, I feel that the baby is born early, otherwise It is also a good candidate for a future daughter-in-law. This is a self-produced product with guaranteed quality.

Therefore, due to the inextricable relationship, Yaxin's family, Wei family, Geng family, and Tang family often get together. Then I just let them go, and Doll is also very strategic as the king of children. She takes care of many things and teaches those little ones some truths, but more often she is a little devil. Those little ones are afraid of her, so they are very obedient. .

This time the four families got together again, chatting leisurely and elegantly about the interesting things about the children at home, but they didn’t notice that those children ran out in groups to play, and when they found out, the children had no idea where they had gone , women can't show their heads and look for people all over the street, but men can. As the fathers of the children, they are responsible for looking for people on the street separately. After speaking, Yaxin nodded seriously, and found that there was one child missing. It was Miaoyu's youngest son. Miaoyu also found that her youngest son was gone, so she and Yaxin pulled the doll, and the other pulled Geng Min and asked, "Kun Where is the son?"

When I asked this question, these children burst into tears, and they were too scared to speak. The adults knew that something was wrong, and they felt a little frustrated when the children only cried but did not speak. The tone of their speech was not very good. What's the matter.

Yaxin was also anxious, and took a few deep breaths before saying: "Don't cry, how did I teach you to cry when you are in trouble?" Yaxin's words stopped crying very effectively, Yaxin Xin pulled Wa Wa and asked: "Waah, you can't hide what you did wrong, or you will never be able to solve it. Only by speaking out can you have a chance to make amends. Tell grandma what happened to Kun'er."

Wawa sobbed and said, "Grandma, it's my fault. I lost my brother." Wawa was raised with a strong sense of responsibility since childhood. Although these children didn't say it clearly, Wawa knew that he was responsible for taking care of him. Now Geng Kun is missing Wawa In addition to being afraid, she blamed herself and felt guilty for not taking good care of her younger brother. Seeing that the child was lost, Miaoyu almost passed out.

And Yaxin was a little relieved when she heard that the child was lost and her life was not in danger, but she couldn't delay: "Baby, where did Kun'er get lost? If you take grandma there, even if she is taken away by someone, it's a bright day." Someone saw it, Ran'er, you should wait here with your mother-in-law in this situation, Auntie promises you, she will definitely bring Kun'er back."

But Miaoyu couldn't bear to wait like this: "Auntie, I'll go with you, I'm afraid I'm going to think wildly here, so I can feel at ease when I look for it."

Yaxin thought about it too, and said: "Then let's go, you comfort these children well, don't scold them." After explaining, she and Miaoyu took the doll, and led some people to find someone.

At this time Geng Min stood up and said: "Mother, aunt, I want to go too. This is my fault. If I hadn't led my brother and sister to play outside, my brother would not have disappeared. Sister Qinyi came out to stop us." Yes, we refused, she was with us."

"Since you made a mistake, what you have to do now is to stay with grandma well and let grandma not worry." Miao Yu said to Geng Min.

Geng Min nodded yes, got up and said to Yaxin: "Girl, let's hurry up."

Because of impatience, everyone's pace became faster and faster unconsciously: "Grandma is here. When we got here, I saw the second cousin was still there. Let's walk in this direction until we reach the house in front." I didn’t see my second cousin when I looked back at Mipu.” Because Wawa was very careful along the way and often looked back to count the number of people, the location of Geng Kun’s disappearance was more accurate.

Yaxin made a decisive decision, and from this point, she went to the surrounding shops and passers-by to ask if she saw where the child went.Miaoyu was so anxious that she was about to collapse. At this time, a man carrying firewood and looking like a woodcutter came out of an alley. Seeing a group of them talking about children , came over and said, "Are you looking for a child?"

"Yes, yes, our child got lost here, did the old man see it?" Yaxin heard the woodcutter's question, and hurriedly replied, thinking that someone had finally seen him.

The old woodcutter said: "On the alley I just walked, I turned right and saw a child in the direction of the North City Gate. I saw the child crying. Cursing, thinking that some servants are bullying the little master." The answer given by the old woodcutter made everyone excited, Yaxin quickly took out twelve taels to the woodcutter and said, "Thank you, old man." Then took Then he went in the direction the woodcutter said.

I didn't see anyone along the way, and everyone was afraid that the kidnapper would still hide the person, so it would be difficult to find them. Finally, when the alley was almost at the end, they heard some noises, men and women, but in the end What was exciting was that they heard Geng Kun's voice, several people trotted forward, saw Geng Kun hugging the woman tightly, and the man was pulling Geng Kun, Yaxin understood that the woman was saving Geng Kun, Hurry up and get someone to come forward and take that man down. The man saw someone coming, and it was clearly aimed at him. He didn't care about the child, so he ran away, but with his little ability, he was no match for so many people. Yes, they were quickly caught, and Yaxin sent someone to take them to the yamen. At this time, Miaoyu had already hugged Geng Kun tightly in her arms. The girl stepped in to help."

"I can't, I can't, Madam, I don't dare to accept your gift." It turned out that this woman was also a servant of Jia's family, and she was really Qingwen who was driven away when the Grand View Garden was raided.

Seeing her calling her eldest wife, Yaxin was puzzled, there should be no such person in her house: "You are?"

"It's only natural that my wife doesn't know the servants. The servants, Qingwen, serve in front of the second master Bao. Usually, when they see guests, they are always followed by attackers. The servants basically stay in the second master Bao's room and rarely come out. So do the servants. I met my wife twice at Miss Lin's place, but my wife probably forgot." Qingwen replied.

Yaxin was rather curious. Didn't Qingwen die soon after being kicked out?Why are you talking to yourself here now? "Oh, I remember. I heard from Yu'er that you are a good embroiderer. Later, I heard that you are no longer in the mansion. Why are you here? Thanks to you, this child was able to be found today."

Qingwen felt very ashamed when she was asked such a question, and she said embarrassedly: "The slave girl went home to recover from her illness. Afraid of causing trouble to her brother and sister-in-law, she took the rewards from the mansion and rented a place by herself. Today I came out to find something to do. Yes, I just saw that person hugging a child and felt that it was wrong to come forward and say that this person is my little master, I don’t want that person to be arrogant, if it wasn’t for your wife, Qingwen alone would not be able to help.”

"That being said, without you holding this kidnapper for a while, we really don't know where to find the child." Yaxin has a good feeling for Qingwen, who appeared in the shadow of Daiyu in the original novel, But Qingwen actually has a lot of personal characteristics, and what makes Yaxin sigh and look up to her most is Qingwen's attitude towards her family, she is clearly rejected by her sister-in-law, but she doesn't speak ill of them.Sometimes I have to say that Mother Jia's vision of people is quite good, at least much more accurate than Mrs. Wang and the others. "Didn't you say you were looking for a job? Just right, I'll find one for you as a thank you."

When I was in Rongguo Mansion, everyone thought that being a maid by Baoyu's side was a good job, and Qingwen thought so at first, but once she overheard a chat with a maid beside Yaxin, she realized that there was such a master , I also imagined that I would be so nice if I were Mrs. Zhen's girl, but now... "Qingwen appreciates the wife's kindness, but this time when she is out of the house, Qingwen has thought about not selling herself to the current people."

Yaxin smiled and said: "You can rest assured, I will never let you be my maid just to thank you." Qingwen felt embarrassed when she said this, Yaxin continued: "Our Gao family's I am running the business, and there is a clothing store among them, but there is a lack of skilled embroiderers, and the business is mediocre, how about I ask you to be our head embroiderer?" Who in Jia's mansion doesn't know that Qingwen's female celebrity is good at craftsmanship, In the book, there is "Yong Qingwen's disease mending bird's golden fur". This bird's golden fur has a burnt hole, and the capable menders who take it outside don't know what it is, and they dare not take on this job, but Qingwen takes it. It was mended, which shows the depth of her skills.

"Really?" Qingwen couldn't believe that such a good thing happened to her, and asked.

"Of course it's true. If you have nothing to do now, just follow me. I'll take you to the store to talk to the shopkeeper when I don't have much to investigate." Yaxin said.

Qingwen hurriedly said that she was fine now, followed Yaxin and Miaoyu back to the restaurant first.

When she returned to the restaurant, Miao Yuxin calmed down and remembered that she hadn't thanked Qingwen yet: "Qingwen really thanked you this time." Then she said to Geng Kun, "Kun'er, come and thank sister Qingwen." Geng Kun He is also very obedient, and even a small person has a good appearance when he bows.The other little ones were not to be outdone, and took the lead together with the baby to thank Qingwen. If it wasn't for Qingwen, then not only the adults would be sad, but the fear of the children's wounds would never be erased in a lifetime.

After finding the children, Yaxin was still very worried that these children would be affected. Since then, she was afraid of everything, so she told these little ones about this incident, so that they should pay attention to it but not give up eating because of choking.After the meeting, Yaxin asked Keqing and Qingwan to take the children back to the mansion first, and took two maids and Qingwen by her side to go to the clothes shop in a sedan chair.

When they arrived at the shop, Yaxin introduced Qingwen to the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper Jin was a widow. This shop was originally a tailor shop. She and her husband both cut clothes for people, and they were both in the business of ordinary people. But it's not bad. The couple are busy in the store every day. They gave birth to a son shortly after they got married. They live a very happy life, but even ordinary happiness will be envied by others. Small merchants with some money want to buy In their shop, some people were called to make trouble, but it turned out that those people were all street gangsters, and they were not serious, and they beat people to death if they were ruthless.Jin spent money to sue, and after finishing her husband's funeral, she found that she had no money to support the operation of the shop, so she thought about selling the shop and taking her son to her natal family. After hearing this, Yaxin admired Jin very much, so she Decided to buy a shop, hired the Jin family as the shopkeeper, and gave their mother and son a place to settle down. Now almost ten years have passed, and the Jin family's son has a promising future, helping Yaxin manage the affairs of the village in the south of the city.

Jin Shi was still surprised why Yaxin would come to the shop in person, so she heard Yaxin tell her that she had hired a skilled embroiderer. Qingwen walked around the shop, and then asked Qingwen to embroider a pattern for herself to see. She never thought that Qingwen's embroidery work would be so good, and she felt even more satisfied. She, who had always thought that her son should get married, unconsciously started to embroider. A small note.

When Yaxin came out of the clothes shop, she thought that the court lady Xiao Miao hadn't visited her since she left the palace. Today, I happened to drop by the restaurant to have a look. When I arrived at the restaurant, Xiao Miao was very happy to hear that Yaxin came to see her, so I hurriedly went to see her. She ran out of the kitchen, and now she is the number one in the kitchen, and usually dare not leave for too long, but today is different.Seeing Yaxin, Xiao Miao seemed to have endless things to say, and told her things since she left the palace like a running account. The most important thing was that Xiao Miao said that she was engaged, and the wedding date was approaching. Yaxin understood , I knew that the other party was a scholar who had been a scholar, but he stayed in the village as a teacher after failing the exam a few times, and a few years ago, his father passed away and kept the filial piety for three years, so he was so old that he didn't get married. People think that Xiao Miao is a wise man who came out of the palace. Unlike ordinary village women, Xiao Miao sees that he is a scholar, so he is down-to-earth and willing to work, so he agrees.Apart from this matter, Xiaomiao is most happy about her younger brother. Because of the monthly salary of Xiao Miao's work as a cook in a restaurant, the younger brother went to the Yamen of the Ministry of Criminal Justice to find a relationship to be a prison guard, which is considered a lucrative job. Everyone's life is getting better now. Xiao Miao bought a small courtyard house for her family with the money she earned, and the family lived together. This was something they never dared to think about before.

Yaxin was quite relieved to hear this, women really don't want anything, just safety.

Besides, the kidnapper, when he saw that he was taken directly across the magistrate's yamen and directly to the Ministry of Justice, he knew that he had offended a big shot this time, and when he saw that the people in the Ministry of Criminal Justice were about to execute punishment, he blurted out in a hurry: "I am from the Palace of Zhongshun. "

Mr. Liao, Minister of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, hurriedly asked people to stop, and interrogated the kidnappers. He knew that the kidnappers were not a single person who committed the crime, but also a small group. He said that one person found seven or eight kidnappers, and gave them a sum of money to help him. Looking for children, as long as they are boys with sound limbs, they didn’t dare to be so arrogant. They would wander around the nearby villages when they came to the city to look for them. By chance, one of them saw the person who hired them in the city. After inquiring, they found out that this person was the steward of Prince Zhongshun's mansion. They thought that with the support of Prince Zhongshun's mansion, they wouldn't be so afraid. They were more courageous and often wandered around the city to see if there was a chance to strike.According to the abductors, the children they abducted were locked in a hut in the western suburbs. Now there are about a dozen children there, ranging from three to ten years old. They also live there on weekdays. Every time I go out to look for goods, there will be a guard left behind.

After hearing this, Master Liao hurriedly ordered people to go to the room mentioned by the kidnapper to save people, and wiped out the kidnappers, while he secretly entered the palace and talked about it with Huangfu Hanyang. How can an official who has been working for more than ten years not smell the slightest smell.

Huangfu Hanyang didn't want to startle the enemy, and let the Ministry of Criminal Justice treat it like a normal child abduction case. He claimed that he was severely sentenced because he offended the Geng family and Zishi's family, and he must not reveal half of the matter related to the Zhongshun Palace. In other words, otherwise there will be severe punishment, and they will secretly send people to find out how many people like King Zhongshun have abducted boys like this. If they find out, they will sabotage secretly. Wait until the Supreme Emperor died, but he didn't expect King Zhongshun to have such precise movements now, what is the abducted child doing?With the financial support of the Xue family and the Jiangnan Zhen family, King Zhongshun will not be short of this money, so he can only support the dead, an elite team that will not betray him.

Huangfu Hanyang didn't dare to hide the truth from the Supreme Emperor. After dismissing Mr. Liao, he went to tell the Supreme Emperor about this matter. The Supreme Emperor also came out of this kind of war for the throne. He always knew that his other sons were not reconciled but But he has no strength, so he can only do things with peace of mind, but King Zhongshun is different. His mother and concubine is Zhen Taifei, and Zhen Taifei's natal family is Jiangnan Zhen's family. It can be said that he is the emperor of the earth. At the beginning, he sent Lin Ruhai to Yangzhou to inspect the salt censor, which meant to investigate the Zhen family. Hanyang didn't dare to act rashly, which gave King Zhongshun the capital to be arrogant.The Supreme Emperor had abdicated for a long time, and his heart was not as cold as when he was the emperor. He sighed and said: "Now you are the emperor, you can do it yourself. If possible, save your brother's life."

Huangfu Hanyang understood that the Supreme Emperor completely ignored this matter, but seeing his own father's appearance, he didn't want his father to be unable to fulfill even the last little request, so he said: "Father, don't worry." Listen After all, the Supreme Emperor waved his hand to let Huangfu Hanyang go down.

When Huangfu Hanyang was very depressed, he walked to a remote place without looking at the road, but it should be said that life really does not exist at all times and places. Coincidence, here is thinking about King Zhongshun, and there is Yuanchun Talking to Concubine Zhen, although Huangfu Hanyang was far away and didn't hear what they said, but seeing their intimate behavior, he knew that it was not as simple as meeting by chance. If it wasn't for something, how could he meet by chance in such a remote place? And Yuan Chun has never been familiar with Concubine Zhen, and it is impossible to get so close without some contact.Not to mention whether what Huangfu Hanyang guessed was true or not, but because of this incident, Huangfu Hanyang thought about how to solve the problem of King Zhongshun. Not big, then we have to start with funds, cut off the source of income, but nothing can be done, and the source of income of King Zhongshun is nothing more than the family of his relatives, the Jia family and the Xue family who have been drawn in because of Xue Pan. Now that the Xue family doesn't care about them, let's start with the other two families, but it's time to think about which one to copy first.

King Zhongshun also got the news that all the abductees he hired were arrested by the Ministry of Criminal Justice. He was still worried for a while, but later he heard that it was because those blind people wanted to abduct the grandson of the Geng family, and they were taken as an official. Then they were sent directly to the Ministry of Punishment. Seeing the pressure from Shang Geng's family, the Ministry of Punishment was so active in sweeping up these gangsters, and he was relieved. Seeing that Huangfu Hanyang didn't mention this matter for several days, he was completely relieved.

Just when King Zhongshun was about to seize the time to speed up the pace of child abduction, a message came from the palace that Concubine Zhen had passed away. At that time, King Zhongshun was awakened by the housekeeper in his sleep, and he couldn't remember anything for a while. , hurriedly put on the filial piety clothes prepared by the housekeeper and entered the palace. His son came in a hurry later.

When they arrived, many court ladies and eunuchs were already crying. King Zhongshun went to see his mother and concubine, and suddenly felt sad. Although he didn't cry loudly, his eyes were already red. His mother and concubine lay there peacefully in silence. Later, King Zhongshun also suspected that his mother and concubine had been secretly killed by Huangfu Hanyang. The concubine had been ill for several days due to the cold, but she didn't say anything because she was afraid that she would be worried. Unexpectedly, she didn't get over it like this. King Zhongshun was sad and didn't think about it.

Because of the death of the concubine, the whole country mourns, all officials are not allowed to get married within a year, and they are not allowed to indulge in singing, dancing and lewd music.This is nothing to many people, but it is difficult for the kind of people who hang out in the entertainment field all day long. They can only do it secretly. Everyone knows it well, as long as everyone knows it without shouting People also turn a blind eye.

However, there are some people who can't keep a low profile. Jia Zhen and Jia Lian went to have a drink with Huajiu together. The two actually got drunk and got into a fight in the brothel, while Baoyu, who was listening to the opera on the other side, came to see what happened It was also involved, and after a while, the two groups were captured by the officials on the spot. During the national mourning period, other than this matter, don't think about it. It's okay to go to Ningguo Mansion. The absence of Jia Zhen has no effect on Yaxin and the others. It has nothing to do with the You family, the Rongguo Mansion is in trouble, their precious eggs are locked up, this is a bigger matter than anything else, except for Wang Xifeng, everyone has no Jia Lian, just thinking about making arrangements Baoyu finds some to come out, but Baoyu can't stand the pain, even if he can't get out, he has to be taken care of by the jailers, and he sends some delicious food to the prison every day. It was Baoyu who was favored, but Jia Lian was still the eldest son and grandson, but the old lady didn't even ask a question, and she couldn't think of anything except Baoyu.

Jia's mansion went to the yamen to inquire and learned that the emperor already knew about it, and he said that he must be locked up for half a year before he can be released, and that he can only eat vegetarian food for the concubine during the six months in prison. These rich kids eat big fish and big meat every day, and drink good wine. How can they bear a meal without fish, but they can only do this if they don’t want to be locked up for a longer time. At least the cells where the three of them are locked up It was clean, and every day the prison meals were delivered from home, so Yaxin, who was expecting these three people to be taught a lesson after they came out, was once again disappointed. These three people didn't feel that there was anything wrong with them at all, oh, No, they were wrong. The mistake was that no one could hide them well, otherwise they wouldn't have been arrested.

At this time, Aunt Xue had already left the capital with Xue Pan, so Baochai had nothing to worry about. For Baoyu to be imprisoned, she just expressed her concern in front of Jia Mu and Mrs. Wang. What should she do or what should she do? Ever since she married Baoyu, she has understood that her position in Baoyu's heart may not be as good as that of Xiren. Baoyu listens to Xiren's words very much. Let Baoyu study hard, and Baoyu will lose his temper with her and then go to Xiren, stay there for a whole day, and then stay directly at Xiren's place, and the couple will gradually separate because of studying. Now, Baochai also knows that the Rongguo Mansion will collapse sooner or later, so why bother with this mansion.On the contrary, Baochai looked at the movement in the mansion with a look of hopeful expression on his face. When he saw that Sister Feng was busy going in and out of Jia Lian, she secretly felt that she was not worthy of her. I feel lucky, fortunately I didn't fall too deep, I saw all this clearly when I only had a good impression of Baoyu, and pulled myself out early, now Baochai thinks about her situation and feels that she is very similar to Yaxin's situation, Only one son is missing. If the Jia family is still the same as it was ten years ago, and I have a son who is not favored by my husband, I will definitely be able to live a better life than Yaxin. Unfortunately, the Jia family is at the end of the road now.

At that time, Baochai also understood why Yaxin always ignored her when she went to court to curry favor with Yaxin in various names, but sometimes she always felt that there was something in her eyes when she looked at him.Only in today's state did she know what kind of look it was, it was sympathy, it was pity.Perhaps she had already expected the ending of today, whether it was the Jia family or herself.Baochai thought to herself, and it was only then that Baochai realized that the smartest person in the house was not the old lady, but sister-in-law Zhen.

In the gloomy atmosphere, there was a happy event in the royal family. The queen gave birth, and a princess was born two hours later. The two elder brothers, Ming Rui and Ming Lu, are very fond of this younger sister. When the adults are considering the name of the child, the two brothers have already chosen the child's baby name, and they are called An An.The implication of this baby name is also good. The queen mother also likes it, so she decided on it.

Every day when Yaxin enters the palace, these two brothers pester her about how her younger sister is, and then they ask many questions, mostly about how to take care of children, which makes Yaxin feel funny for a while.

When Lin Ruhai saw Yaxin, she saw Yaxin smiling ecstatically, and asked curiously, "What are you thinking? Is it so funny?"

Yaxin came back to her senses: "Brother is here. I didn't think about it, it's about Rui'er and Lu'er. For the sake of the little princess, they both know how to take care of children better than those women in the boudoir. They pester me every day. Asking questions."

"You, be careful to teach the child badly. But I just wanted to tell you something. Before I entered the palace, the Tang family sent someone to say that Yu'er was born, and I wanted you to go and see her. It's been so long since I married her. I almost forgot about me as an old father, except for going back home, I went home twice, a daughter who is really married becomes someone else's family." Lin Ruhai said aggrievedly, but after thinking about it, she knew that this newly married daughter It's not good to go back to your mother's house often.

Yaxin was stunned for a while, then smiled and said: "But really? I didn't expect that even Yu'er is going to be a mother, and I really have to be old. After a few days, when I have free time, I will hand over the greeting card. Go see Yu'er."

"That's right, we are really going to grow old when our children get married and have children." Ya Xin felt desolate and lonely after hearing this. This was the first time she felt that Lin Ruhai was so lonely.

Yaxin also thought that her sons were all married, and when Jia's family was ruined and Xichun got married, she would have nothing to do, and the children should be left to their parents to worry about, and only her son was left. This responsibility, when the prince becomes an adult, I will really step down. At that time, can I really just stay at home and have fun with my grandchildren, and then enjoy the rest of my life and wait to die?

Ya Xin thought about this question very seriously, and when she saw Lin Ruhai looking at her, she felt embarrassed and lost her mind again, so she asked, "Brother, why are you thinking about not being an official in the future?"

Lin Ruhai was stunned, she didn't expect Yaxin to ask such a question, and replied: "I really never thought about it, I never thought about when I will resign from office, maybe I will die of old age."

"That's so boring, I think, I have never been out of the capital in my life, if I resign and I still have the energy and interest, I will travel all over the country and see what beautiful scenery under the sky I live in , so as not to delay this long life, and go back to the capital to return to the roots when you are bored or are about to die." Yaxin fantasized, and even she herself thought it was a good idea, but she could really consider it.

Lin Ruhai also regarded it as a fairy tale, and said jokingly: "Then sister, remember to invite me, and the elder brother will accompany you."

"Then it's settled." Yaxin said, sighing in her heart: Since there is no other possibility, let's retire together. Is this a platonic love that cannot be told?