The Second Master Lian of the Red Chamber

Before Lin Hai was in Beijing, the new censor who inspected salt had already taken office, and all the household belongings in the official house had already been counted and cleared. They were either transported to the ancestral house in Gusu for storage, or transported to the capital by the canal guarded by the old servants. Both the emperor and his majesty praised Lin Hai a lot. It can be said that the government and the public all guessed that Lin Hai had worked hard to picket the salt government for many years, and that he would be promoted when he returned to Beijing.

According to what Zhen Shi, the eldest grandma of Xiaorong in Dongfu, accidentally revealed when she came to say hello to Mother Jia, the palace should be the position of one of Lin Hai's ministers.It was the second day that Zhen's sister entered the palace with her sister-in-law to pay her respects to their aunt, Concubine Zhen. No matter how mature and prudent Jia's mother was, she couldn't help but feel happy thinking about the dignity of the concubine in front of the old sage.

Since the concubine, who has always been calm in her affairs, is willing to ask her niece to pass on this word, it must have been given by the old sage. With the filial piety and respect the sage has shown to the old sage, the son-in-law's seat is almost guaranteed.The more Jia's mother thought about it, the more happy she was for her daughter, and the more she was afraid that her daughter would be separated from her mother's family. Not only did she go to the Pear Fragrance Courtyard with the help of Yuanyang to inspect the decorations inside, and ordered someone to open the storeroom to pick it up. In exchange for the treasure of Taihu stone bonsai left by the old master, he took away a pot of ordinary-looking Maolan in the corner of the yard, and called Jia Lian every day to give him some instructions, and prepared various gifts for his daughter's family. Jia Lian went to Lin's house whenever he was free, and made sure his aunt came back to live with her natal family when she was free.

This time, Jia's mother was very tight-lipped and never confide a word to her sons, daughters-in-law, grandchildren, and Grandma Xiao Rong in the East Mansion has always had no parents-in-law and husband, so it is really only her and her who are involved in this matter. The maids who waited in the house that day knew that others only thought that Jia Mu was partial to her daughter, and even those who had more evil intentions just thought that Jia Mu believed the rumors outside and wanted to bring her children and grandchildren to take advantage of her son-in-law. Never thought of going to the side.

If it wasn't for the big girl Amber next to Jia Mu who listened to her while serving tea, and turned her head to point to the time when Jia Mu delivered the message and said that she would sell it to Wang's daughter-in-law, Jia Lian would never have thought that the emperor would value Uncle Lin so much. Suspicion is so serious.

Matters were prioritized, and Jia Lian explained the meaning to the subordinates, making them understand that he had absolutely no intention of asking Hu Po to serve in his yard. At the same time, he pushed the boat along and walked around Lin's mansion with gifts according to Jia's mother's wishes. At ten, I told my uncle and aunt what I got from the people around Jiamu.

Lin Hai has been in the ups and downs of the officialdom for many years, and he already had doubts in his heart before, and once he confirmed Jia Lian's words, he clarified the turmoil in this promotion.

The Holy Majesty has been on the throne for several years, known as filial piety, friendship and fraternity. The six ministers were all appointed by the emperor before he abdicated. Only the former official minister failed the emperor's grace. The emperor Longyan was furious, so he ordered the emperor to take down his post. In the end, he was sentenced to be copied and executed, and the post of Minister of the Ministry of Officials was also vacated.This time Lin Hai resigned and returned to Beijing, rumors spread that he was here to take over the post of Minister of the Ministry of Officials, the more serious the rumors were, the more twists and turns there would be in this matter.

Rongguo Mansion, which is declining day by day, and Jia Lian, who is only in his weak years, is there anything worth thinking about?Wang Ziteng has already been suppressed, and Lin Hai, as Jia Lian's husband, can't stand alone.However, as far as Lin Hai is concerned, he has experienced life and death in Yangzhou these years. He even almost lost the lives of his wife and children in dangerous situations. It's really not much different from leading the depressed poor Hanlin to study books like the emperor's spies.

Lin Hai really didn't regret the fact that he secretly turned his back on the way the emperor employed people but was suspicious and even watched people die coldly.Now that the Zen throne has been given to His Majesty today, being too greedy for power will only cause turmoil in the court and panic among the people. Courtiers are also human beings, so who really has no selfishness?

With the words Jia Lian handed over, Lin Hai did not act rashly, and occasionally did the opposite. The Lin family's house is also full of guests every day. Min had to pretend to be sick from the wind and cold to escape the many banquets.When she was ill, Lin Hai also used the excuse that the children were young and had no one to discipline him, so he closed the door and thanked guests with peace of mind. He just talked with his wife at home and taught them how to practice calligraphy and painting. Jia Lian, who Mu Shi came to serve his aunt and teacher's mother, burst into laughter secretly, and pretended to bring many good plasters and sweet snacks to the younger brother, which made Lin Zhang very grateful.

This dragged on for nearly two months, and finally there was news in the palace. The emperor personally went to the Qinzheng Hall where the Holy Majesty handles official affairs, and saw that the Holy Majesty wrote down the decree to appoint Lin Hai as Minister of the Ministry of Officials, and sealed it with a seal. It was settled.

The whole family burned incense and knelt to welcome the imperial decree. Only then did Jia Min heave a sigh of relief, and his bones began to "heal" slowly. The Lin family finally began to socialize with people in Beijing, accepting the snowflakes of posts one by one, or declining them in return. , or choose a day to visit, Jia Min also asked Lin Hai to accompany her and her children to Rongguo Mansion to pay her respects to Jiamu after booking the day of the first banquet.

Because of the ups and downs in Lin Hai's official career, Jia Min's return to Ning has been delayed again and again, and the second wife of King Xing has said so many bitter words about hating others and laughing at others behind her back. It's not sweet, and now it's finally settled. Naturally, people are in good spirits on happy occasions, and they look much healthier.

On the day when Jia Min's family came to visit, Jia's mother got up before dawn and carefully selected from the dozen or so clothes that Yuanyang helped her pick out at noon yesterday. The rosin-colored silk and satin clothes that Jia Min sent during the New Year's Eve, together with the green jade-inlaid rosin-crane patterns on the forehead, and the red treasure-encrusted hairpins that both mother and daughter had, made their faces radiant. They waited in the upper room and used an extra goose oil roll for breakfast. Anxious Yuanyang hurriedly ordered people to move the sweet and greasy snacks to a place where Jiamu would not easily look at them when Jiamu was not paying attention. Hot tea is served for digestion.

When the sedan chair of the Lin family was carried to the side door of Rongguo Mansion, the second wife of Xing Wang was already serving Jia Mu diligently, and the two brothers Jia Amnesty and Jia Zheng also straightened their clothes and sat on the left and right sides of Jia Mu's lower head.In the younger generation, apart from Jia Lian who was waiting at the gate as his disciple, and Li Wan who was a widow and took his only son Jia Lan to avoid him, he also sat under the heads of the two lords, and even Jia Baoyu guarded his old man in an orderly manner. Sitting down, he didn't act coquettishly in Jia Mu's arms.

As soon as she heard that the aunt's family had arrived, Mother Jia couldn't hold back her motherly heart. Regardless of the dissuasion of her son and daughter-in-law, she got up and supported the mandarin duck and was about to wait for her daughter's family outside the Chuihua Gate. Also followed.The group of people was about to stand still, and when they saw Jia Min and his party slowly coming in a small sedan chair, Jia's mother couldn't help crying.

When Jia Min was young, he left Beijing with his husband to go to work. When he came back, his youth was fading away and his sons and daughters were married. He already sighed with emotion. When he first saw the teary-eyed mother, he couldn't bear it, sobbing "Ma'am" Just about to get off the sedan chair, before the servant woman who carried the sedan chair stopped, she strode quickly to Jia Mu's body. The mother and daughter held hands and cried together.

The old lady and the aunts were all in tears, from the two wives of King Xing to the girls and women who surrounded them, they all started to sob after a moment of stupefaction, rubbing their eyes with veils with sincerity, and it seemed that no drop was shed The masters and young masters who were crying and the Lin family father and son were extremely unhuman.Lin Hai stared at Jia Lian for a moment, Jia Lian didn't know what to do, he was beside Jia Min with a sad expression on his face, it was Lin Zhang who was young and pleasing, and persuaded his kind mother and sister, everyone was relieved and stopped crying .

Mother Jia wiped her tears with a handkerchief, and at the same time, she hugged Dai Yulin and Zhang's sister and brother one by one into her arms, caressing them affectionately, and the more she looked at them, the happier she was: "This is Yu'er and Zhang'er, they are really neat and tidy." The appearance. We girls sit at home and watch the sky, only feel that our brothers and sisters are rare in the world, and we talk about it all day long, but this time it is even worse!"

As she said that, Mother Jia did not forget to smile and look at Jia Lian and Baoyu who were on the side. Mrs. Wang smiled dignifiedly and generously, but she never answered the words. On the contrary, Mrs. Xing, who has always been dull, answered with a smile, and even praised Dai Sister and brother Yu talked, and their words also had the demeanor of a big family wife, which attracted a glance of approval from Jia She.

It's a pity that Mrs. Xing's mother-in-law, Jia Mu, who she wants to please the most, can't take care of her at the moment.Just now, Jia's mother said that Daiyu's sister and brother were inferior to all the children in the house, but in her heart she wanted to let Jia Min and his wife take a good look at Baoyu, so their eyes just passed by Jia Lian, and they mainly focused on Baoyu. Who would have thought that this glance made a mistake.

Baoyu has been demented since she was a child, and she likes to play with good-looking girls. These mothers of Jia knew it well, so today they specially asked Jia Amnesty and Jia Zheng to wait by her side, so that Jia Zheng could deter Baoyu for a while. , so as not to displease the son-in-law regardless of the importance of Baoyu.This arrangement could not have been more appropriate, but Jia's mother never thought that Baoyu was so demented at the moment that she was stunned when she looked at Daiyu, and almost everyone saw her stupefied appearance.

Jia Mu's heart sank, but she still wanted to make amends, so she took the initiative to put her arms around Daiyu and let everyone in. Jia Min and his wife, who were already a little annoyed in their hearts, still entered the house with their brothers and sisters-in-law cheerfully for her sake. Jia Min shook her head slightly to Daiyu, who was showing embarrassment, when Mother Jia turned around, and comforted her daughter.

As soon as the elders turned around, Jia Lian quietly walked behind Jia Baoyu, who was still a little dazed, and slapped Jia Baoyu's back hard, ignoring the anxious look on the face of Xi Ren, who was dedicated to protecting the master, and slapped him hard. Reeling, he winked at him against the sound of gasping, his peach blossom eyes behind the light were full of concern, and he sneered endlessly in his heart.

Only then did Jia Baoyu come back to his senses, he smiled at Jia Lian embarrassedly, waved his hand to let Xiren, who was anxious to see if he was okay, back down first, then started to catch up with him, walking quietly Between Mrs. Wang and Tanchun, she occasionally peeked at Daiyu in Jiamu's arms.

After entering the house, everyone naturally had to greet each other one by one and met each other. Grandmothers, uncles and aunts had to give greetings, and uncles and aunts had to give gifts to nephews and nieces. After chatting and laughing for a while, only Jia Lian was empty-handed. Min had a good joke, but it was Lin Zhang who took pity on him and stuffed a piece of steatite heraldry material from Jia Mu, which made everyone laugh.

Jia's mother smiled happily, but her eyes were a little scrutinized. She put her arms around Lin Zhang and said with a smile: "You monkey, you can borrow flowers from your grandmother to present Buddha. But you gave your second brother Lian's coat of arms. Your Baoyu My elder brother can only watch helplessly, what a pity, Brother Zhang, tell us how we can survive?"

As Jia's mother said, she tapped Baoyu, who was sitting under her parents in a dignified posture, with her fingers.Jia Baoyu found out that Lin's cousin followed the old lady's movements and looked over, showing a very intimate look. Lin Zhang blinked and then slowly laughed.

Jia Min felt her heart skip a beat when she saw the little demon king smiling like this, but before she could speak, Lin Zhang smiled and replied: "Grandmother gave things to Brother Zhang because of her kindness, not the objects themselves. Grandmother's I already know how to love Brother Zhang, but the second elder brother Lian couldn't even receive a gift, which is very pitiful. Brother Zhang thought that he would not suffer from widowhood but unevenness, so he gave the same to the second elder brother. As the saying goes, there is Kong Rong in ancient times. Let Li, Zhang'er is sending stones today."

Lin Zhang made a mess of nonsense, and dared to talk about the ancient sages. Jia Zheng heard the veins on his forehead, but because Lin Hai was beside him and the old god was listening with a smile on his face, he resisted not opening his mouth and could only use his eyes Keep hinting at sister and brother-in-law.

Poor Jia Zheng is full of good intentions, how could he know that Lin Hai is still annoyed at the matter of Jia Baoyu's behavior and no one to discipline him, and he doesn't bother to pay attention to Lin Zhang's nonsense, but Jia Min listened to this little ancestor and said only these words , Still silently praying to Buddha.

Jia Min's Buddha hadn't finished chanting, Lin Zhang, who had just closed his mouth with a face full of color, looked at Jia's benevolent mother, and suddenly added: "Besides, I'm a younger brother, so I shouldn't be sent away Brothers give gifts, of course they give whichever one is pleasing to the eye. Brother Baoyu is sad, so he just asks people who like him to ask for gifts. People just love him."

As if he couldn't see the drastic changes in the faces of the people in the room, Lin Zhang was so excited that he almost slapped himself. He didn't forget to show a pure and well-behaved smile to the shy and flushed Jia Baoyu, and scraped his cheeks with his fingers, annoyed. Jia Min's eyes darkened, and he wished he could get up immediately and grab Lin Zhang, so that Lin Hai could beat this evil person so that he couldn't get out of bed for three days.

Everyone in the room was silent for a while, but it was Lin Hai who closed the teacup, and called the only son who suddenly became a little shy and did not dare to look at his father, and spoke to the two uncles in a gentle and gentle manner, suggesting that they go to the study together Drink tea and talk, so that the female relatives can talk about themselves.

Lin Hai opened his mouth, whether it was Jia Amnesty with a smile on his face or Jia Zheng with a sullen face, they all abided by the way of hospitality and nodded in agreement. Lin Hai took Lin Zhang and saluted and left with them. Jia Lian, as an adult man, naturally also retreated together. Next, pour tea and water for the elders in the past.

As soon as they left, Jia Baoyu, who stayed with the sisters, had red eyes, and the pain of Jia Mu's heart was broken. Regardless of Daiyu still sitting beside her, she called Baoyu over and hugged her in her arms. After caressing him, he wanted to comfort him with a few words, but he was afraid that Jia Min would be overwhelmed and miss the good deeds of the two Yu'er, so he looked at Jia Min and sighed.

Although Jia Min disliked Jia Baoyu and Meng Lang, she also knew what Zhang Geer said before was extremely rude and it was not pleasant to say it out, so it would be better to call Daiyu back to her side right now, so she planned to give Fang Hao an inkstone to him for a while. To make up for it, and then use the time of changing clothes to get someone to add something to Jia Lan from the extra gifts.

But before she could speak, Jia Baoyu, who had finally got her wish and sat with Daiyu, said with a smile across Jiamu: "I have met this younger sister before."

Hearing Baoyu say such stupid things, Jia's mother smiled and replied without waiting for Jia Min to speak: "Okay, okay, now that you have eyes, you will be more harmonious. You are dear aunts and cousins, and you feel familiar. Righteousness.”

Jia's mother beamed happily, but Mrs. Wang's face was downcast below.She hated Shi Xiangyun very much before, because she felt that she was an orphan girl whose parents died, and every time she came back, she just took Baoyu to accompany her to eat and eat, being stubborn, ignorant and disgusting, but she didn't expect that this girl from the Lin family was more powerful than Shi Xiangyun. In just a little while, how much ugliness has been lost by hooking Baoyu.

Mrs. Wang looked at Daiyu with unkind eyes. Of course, Jia Min, a mother, would not be unaware of it. She raised her eyebrows and looked back coldly. By the way, she called Daiyu to her side.

Although I saw Jia Baoyu for the first time today, Jia Min has heard about this nephew from the housekeeper's wife who returned to her mother's house to give gifts over the years. The man who is an official is mediocre, and he is very displeased in his heart, only to feel that he is a slutty dandy again.Therefore, even if Jia Mu wrote about Hua'er in her letter, she never let go of her promise of marriage.

It's just that Jia Baoyu is her natal nephew after all, and he is still young. Jia Min feels that he is not too unbearable, and he has not yet had any real dirty thoughts in his heart. It's a direct translation of Jia's mother's meaning.But Mrs. Wang's appearance seems to be that a good girl in her family has done something wrong, how can Jia Min bear it.

Feeling that her daughter's expression was wrong, Jia's mother couldn't help scolding Mrs. Wang for being an ignorant and foolish woman, but she couldn't stop the granddaughter who threw herself into her mother's arms like a suckling swallow into the forest, so she cleared her throat and was about to say what Jia Lian had prepared Lixiangyuan wants to stay with Jia Min's mother and daughter for a few days.At that time, I will meet more times, and I will always find an opportunity to make up for it.

She was about to mention Jia Lian's hard work, but Jia Baoyu, who was anxiously watching the new sister who monopolized the world's spiritual energy walk away, scratched his ears and asked loudly, "Sister Lin, do you have any jade?"

Daiyu is intelligent and transparent by nature, even though she is still young and doesn't know about marriage, she can clearly see the eyebrow-eye lawsuit between mother, grandmother and second aunt just now, and knows that Laoshizibao's second elder brother has no rules but calls mother Embarrassed by her, I was very annoyed in my heart, and immediately retorted after hearing this endless words: "How can I have such a rare treasure?"

Daiyu just felt that this cousin didn't know what was going on, and she didn't want to have anything to do with him, but everyone in the Rongguo Mansion turned pale with fright, and a few clever girls quickly surrounded her, but it was still a step too late, Jia Baoyu was already gone He tore off the psychic gem hanging from his neck and threw it on the ground, wailing loudly.

"What a thing, you can't choose the level of a person, and you are talking about psychic or not! There are no older sisters at home, and now there is no such a fairy-like younger sister. I only have one, so I know it is not a good thing! I don't want it either. This is useless!"

Jia Baoyu was heartbroken, and Xi Ren, who was standing beside the other maids with low brows and eyes, hurried over, but Hu Po took the first step, picked up the psychic gem, and held it with her own hands, making her heart beat wildly Jia Mu looked over, and Xiren turned to Baoyu to comfort her back.

Trembling, Jia Mu looked carefully and groped, and finally breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that the psychic jade was intact. She hugged Baoyu who was being led by the attacker, and slapped hard, cursing: "You evil! If things don’t go your way, it’s easy to beat and scold people, so why bother to lose your life! Your sister is naughty with you, coaxing you to say that you don’t have jade, and you get angry without even asking! If you don’t believe me, just ask your aunt, does your sister Lin have jade? "

The whole room was chaotic and noisy around Jia Baoyu, when the maids came and went, some people squeezed into Daiyu, Jia Min's face was already sinking, and her slender arms hugged her dazed and anxious daughter tightly, fearing that she would be afraid in her heart.At this moment, Mother Jia brought the words to her, and she looked carefully at Jia Baoyu's innocent and ignorant eyes for a while, and then smiled politely: "In a family like us, which girl doesn't have a few good jade pendants?" What about Yu’er Zhanger and the others, they all have everything, they just wear it on their bodies from time to time.”

As she said that, Jia Min ignored the unconcealed sadness and disappointment on Mother Jia's face, lowered her head and patted Daiyu's thin back comfortingly, signaling Daiyu not to worry, and continued: "My wife also knows that my master just received the order. I'm going to take up a job in a few days to repay the grace of God. I just came from Yangzhou. There are still many things inappropriate in the house, so I don't want to disturb my wife and sister-in-law for too long. I see it's not too early , why don't you ask someone to go ahead and tell my master, we girls will go back now."

Jia Baoyu was still waiting for an answer from his aunt, and asked Sister Lin what his jade looked like. She didn't want Sister Lin to go home, so she became anxious immediately, and wanted to ask her aunt to ask the old lady to let them keep Sister Lin. .It's a pity that Jia's mother is absolutely afraid to let him talk today, so she quickly diverted the conversation, saying that she didn't agree with Jia Min, so she went back and decided to stay with the family for lunch.

Jiamu's much older face was full of sadness, and Jia Min also had a feeling of admiration for her mother for more than ten years in her heart, and it was difficult to insist on it in front of Jiamu.It happened that Jia Lian came back and told Jia Baoyu to go to the study outside for several masters. Jia Mu hurriedly asked Baoyu to go with Jia Lian, and casually pointed out some housework to send Mrs. Wang away, so that Jia Min's mother and daughter were kept. We had a meal together happily.

When Mrs. Wang came back from doing the housework, the maids had already offered tea to rinse their mouths after the meal, Yuanyang and the others hurriedly set up a separate table beside them, and respectfully and docilely invited her to the table.

It's a pity that before Mrs. Wang could move her chopsticks, a little girl ran in like a gust of wind, with a panicked expression on her face: "Baoyu fell into the lotus pond!"