Old things in the Red Chamber

This matter is settled like this, and the matter of choosing a concubine for the Seventh Prince cannot be delayed any longer, the Seventh Prince is already grown up after all.The emperor joked, "When I was your age, your eldest brother was already born."

So when this matter was discussed, Jia Gu followed the principle that one thing more is worse than one thing less.In addition, the place where the two granddaughters went was Beidi, and they were followed by their relatives, so there was nothing to worry about, so they let the granddaughters go out with confidence.

After the two sisters had left, news came out from the palace that during the Mid-Autumn Festival, the wives of each family were asked to bring their girls there.There is no rule on how many people to bring, so families with many girls should prepare outfits for their sisters early.

Some families are not eligible to enter the palace, and even plan to put their own children in the ranks of relatives.When we met again, we were always talking about this matter, "If you can't be a concubine, you can be a concubine at least, or you can be a concubine if you can't."

Therefore, before the Mid-Autumn Festival, the women in the capital are always very busy. They are busy making clothes and training their children in etiquette. They have even given up paying attention to shrews recently.

Seeing that the Mid-Autumn Festival was coming soon, Gu Yun and his wife had no choice but to come back from Gusu.The reason is that the emperor specially sent someone to tell Gu Yun, "If you don't want to come back, don't come back. You have been away from the capital for a few months, and many important things have happened. Come back and deal with it. 12 months a year, how many months did you invite?" fake?"

So Gu Yun took his wife and children and hurried to the capital before the Mid-Autumn Festival.

A few days before the Mid-Autumn Festival, another news came from the palace.

The young sons of the Supreme Emperor and the younger brothers of the emperor also had time to marry their wives.This Mid-Autumn Festival feast is not only for the prince to marry a wife, but also for the prince.

Originally, many families didn't plan to take their children to this muddy water, but after hearing the news, they all became excited.If the heart moves, you will act. The silver shop selling jewelry in the capital is much more popular than in previous years.

With such a good opportunity, Shi Taijun will naturally not let it go.Called Wang Xifeng, "You tidy up Miss Qiao, and I will take her into the palace when the day comes."

There are only two Shi Taijun will take with him, one is Jia Tanchun and the other is Qiaoer.

However, Wang Xifeng was unwilling to entrust her daughter to Shi Taijun, not because of Shi Taijun, but because of Jia Tanchun.

"Old lady, I didn't have time to tell you about this. My aunt came to our house a few days ago and took a fancy to that girl. She took the child to their house in the past two days and sent someone to tell me that during the Mid-Autumn Festival, she Take the child to the palace."

After Shi Taijun heard this, she had nothing to do. She used to like Wang Xifeng very much, but now the distance is far away, and Wang Xifeng doesn't come to her often. The only ones who come to her every day to flatter her are Li Wan and Xue Baochai. Although Xue Baochai is not as good as Wang Xifeng He can speak well, but his ability to observe words and expressions is not low.The coaxing Shi Taijun now feels that it is good to marry such a granddaughter-in-law, and even privately feels that Xue Baochai is all dragged down by her birth, otherwise such a girl will be sent to the palace.

Wang Xifeng went back to her yard, told Ping'er about it, and made Ping'er complain.

"Our old lady is the wife of the Duke. When the seat is arranged, it is in the front, and the uncle and wife are just uncles. When the time comes, the seat will still be behind those marquises."

"You are also stupid. The third girl is old at first glance, and she has entered the palace several times but failed to stay in the palace. Originally, he was a woman given to the emperor. Even if the seventh prince had the audacity, he would not choose her to be the king. Concubine, the Seventh Prince doesn't dare to choose, and no one else dares to intervene. If you want me to say that following her will only get you implicated, just wait and see, this time our three girls entered the palace and returned without success."

The Mid-Autumn Festival banquet was placed in the open space in front of the Queen's Palace. The reason why it was placed in this place was because there were too many people who came.

The queen took the unmarried princesses in the palace to accept the worship of the wives.It took most of the day for everyone to speak a few words to them, and the queen had no impression of what the girl looked like.

After finishing this process, I was so tired that my back hurt, and I needed someone to support me when I was wearing a dress, let alone sitting for most of the day.The queen planned to go back to the bedroom and lie down for a while before talking.

Princess Changsha is relatively introverted, so she returned to the palace with the queen.Rubbing the queen's shoulders and talking about it, "My daughter doesn't remember any of the girls, but everyone has black eyebrows, red lips, round faces, square faces, and long faces. I can't even remember. I don't know what kind of woman Seventh Brother can pick out to be his wife."

The queen just smiled lightly.

At night, all the people who entered the palace dispersed, and the palace finally became quiet.

Concubine Xian cautiously came to the queen, watched the queen lying on the couch with her eyes widened, she chatted a few gossips, and then praised the queen's natal family.

The queen waited for him for a while but didn't see him getting to the point, so she opened her eyes and said impatiently, "Lao Qi has a crush on someone's girl, you just say, the emperor has already allowed him, and I don't care if I say no." You don't have to come to me and coax me."

The queen thought that Concubine Xian didn't like the girl picked out by the Seventh Prince, but in fact, Concubine Xian was very satisfied with the girl picked out by the Seventh Prince.

"You have seen this girl before. She is the most generous person. I usually like it like something. I didn't expect to have a fate with her. Do you remember the princess of Dongping Wang's family?"

"she?"

It is a rule that only the daughter born to the princess can be named princess.Because the only girl who was born on the same day was that one, when the Princess of Dongping Palace was mentioned, the Queen immediately remembered who it was.

I carefully recalled the girl's appearance in my mind.It is true that she looks beautiful, young people only like colors, and they can't walk around when they see beautiful girls.The queen felt that this person was really chosen by the Seventh Prince himself.

"Since it's his family's girl, I'll remember it here, and I will naturally tell the emperor when he comes back."

Concubine Xian bid farewell and left, the queen thought for a while, sighed, and waited for the emperor to come back.

The emperor's interest is relatively high today, and he looks very happy.After arriving in the queen's palace, he sat down and drank a cup of tea, then asked the queen, "Did Lao Qi tell you about the regulations?"

"Speaking of which, that kid fell in love with the daughter of Dongping Wang's family."

The emperor was surprised at first, then paused again, and finally said to the queen with a smile, "He found a great old man for himself. King Dongping is usually honest, if he keeps being honest, he is willing to become a rich man, naturally Can protect the whole family."

The queen didn't quite agree with his words, "How can Lao Qi think so much, he just sees that his daughter is good-looking, so he won't think so deeply."

"What if you don't want to go further? A simple mind...a simple mind has the blessing of a simple mind, but how does this kind of blessing compare with the great blessing."

"If our family is safe and sound, I would rather have the blessing of being safe than the great blessing that I have now."

When she said this, she spoke harshly, and the emperor knew that she was angry at a glance, so he quickly put down the cup and took the queen's hand, "I'm just talking, why should you be angry, this daughter-in-law is chosen by him. Yes, in the future, we will live like a fish drinking water, knowing how warm and cold we are, so we can't help, let's forget about him. Since he has such intentions, I will call the King of Dongping County tomorrow to have a good discussion with the two. happy event."

The queen thought for a while, and asked the emperor, "He, the elder brother, made such a start. Will his younger brother follow suit in the future?"

"Of course, I just said, no matter what kind of wife they want to marry, even if they are farmers on the side of the road, as long as they are good people, they have no objection, and I have no objection. The same sentence, the day Life is one's own, like a fish drinking water, knowing whether it is warm or not."

Not long after the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Ministry of Officials issued an official document to recruit Prince Teng to return to Beijing.

Sure enough, there is no good position. Compared with the previous nine admirals, the position of Ma Bujun commander is insignificant.

However, the capital is prosperous, and it is better to be in the capital than outside, plus he has connections and means, so he doesn't worry about the day he doesn't go up again.

So after Wang Ziteng received the transfer order, he generously rewarded the person who came, and then sent the people in the family to pack up and return to Beijing together.

After the Mid-Autumn Festival, the weather gradually turned cooler, traveling during the day and staying in hotels at night, especially at this time, staying outside is not as convenient as staying at home.

One night, Wang Ziteng brought people to live in the inn, but the inn was full of people, and everyone had similar positions. According to the first-come, first-come basis, Wang Ziteng had no room to live in.However, everyone is in the officialdom, and in line with the idea of ​​making friends with one person, someone still vacated a room for him.

Wang Ziteng brought the bedroll himself, and asked the servants at home to make it for him, and fell asleep in the room, but he woke up from the cold in the middle of the night. He sat up and looked outside the window. It was raining lightly.

It is said that there is an autumn rain and a cold one. After this autumn rain, Wang Ziteng began to cough and have a fever.

During the trip these years, sick people abound, especially when the seasons change, but a military attache who returned to Beijing as an official, with a large number of family members and a lot of wealth, encountered such trivial things as cough and fever. I didn't take it seriously when I was sick, and after four or five days, I felt that my cough was worse than usual, so I hurried to find a doctor.

Of course, the doctor found in a small place cannot compare with the imperial doctor in the capital.However, the medicine prescribed was also suitable for the symptoms. After drinking it for a few days, the symptoms of coughing were relieved a lot. Because he was in a hurry, Wang Ziteng didn't bring enough medicine. When he arrived at the next place, he sent someone to take the medicine according to the prescription, but he drank it in one bowl. Go down, never get up that night.

When the news reached the capital, the four major families were shocked. They were obviously poisoned to death.

Wang Ziteng has no son, only a nephew, who is not yet a weapon, so it seems unreliable to rely on him to trace the cause of death.

Before Wang Ziteng's body entered the capital, Wang Xifeng's elder brother, Wang Ren, began to spoil the family's property, making Wang Ziteng's wife very angry.

However, after all, he is not his own son, and he cannot be counted on.Wang Ziteng's wife believed that her husband must have enemies.When he was about to return to the capital, someone stumbled everywhere, but now he was killed on the way back to the capital. This is clearly a mortal enemy.

But she dared not tell the two women this reasoning.I was particularly worried that someone would attack the mother and daughter again, packed up their things, disposed of the property of the husband and wife, distributed it to the two daughters, and took the money to the daughter.

Speaking of which, Wang Ziteng's death hit his wife the hardest, but his two younger sisters.

Because Shuntian Mansion specially sent government servants to investigate the matter, the case was muddled from the beginning to the end.Finally, the servant who made the medicine was arrested, and he was charged with a grudge, saying that he had killed his master.

The government's handling was muddled, and the four major families sent many people to find out the reason.Because Xia Jingui yelled at home every day, "...don't do bad things and don't be afraid of ghosts knocking on the door...", Mrs. Xue was afraid that the case where Xue Pan beat someone to death killed her brother, so she frightened herself half to death. I dare not tell my daughter and sister.I can't sleep at night, I can't eat well during the day, and I'm getting old very fast.

After Wang Ziteng died, Wang Ren became unscrupulous and out of control. In the early years, because he was Wang Ziteng's nephew and the only male in the Wang family, many people held him. Now after Wang Ziteng's death, , No one cares about him anymore.

If he wanted to go back to the days when the stars were holding the moon, he had to spend a lot of money and let many people who were greedy for money surround him and flatter him.So Wang Ren began to sell his ancestral property in less than two or three months.

This made the married women of Wang's family not understand. When Wang Xifeng was angry, she told Jia Lian, "Our Wang's family has more silver than your Jia's if you sweep the ground."

But now that the Jia family's airs are still holding on, why did the Wang family fall first.

When Wang Xifeng was aggressive, he dared to come to torture his elder brother. Faced with his younger sister's accusation, Wang Ren pushed everything to his aunt.

"She sold all the money and fields in the house and distributed them to her two girls. She didn't leave me three walnuts and two dates at all. I had no choice but to sell the fields in other courtyards in the house."

These words can fool Mrs. Wang and Mrs. Xue, but not Wang Xifeng.

Wang Xifeng spit on her brother's face, "Fuck you, whose money is not Zhuangzi's yard and fields. Even if my aunt sold the ancestral property, why didn't you yell when you took over, why are you saying this now?".

Wang Ren and his sister had a big quarrel, and the siblings broke up because of the quarrel. When Wang Ren came to the door again, Wang Xifeng ignored him.

Plus now that Jia Lian is not at home, Jia She spends more time in the Hou's mansion than in his own home.So their mansion looked very depressed, compared with Rongguo Mansion, it was much shabby.

Wang Ren was also unwilling to come to Wang Xifeng's side, instead he went to see Mrs. Wang many times.How could Mrs. Wang have so much money for him to squander, Mrs. Xue couldn't even touch the edge of the money.Once the two sisters got together, they urged Wang Ren to find Wang Ziteng's wife.

"How can a married girl ask for things from her natal family? Sister Luan and the others really don't know the rules. You just go to your two sisters' house and get back your uncle's things. You are the only man in our family. If they If you still want your natal family, you must be obedient."

When Wang Ren thought about it, it was true. As soon as he left the gate of Rongguo Mansion, he met Jia Zhen who was guarding the gate.

After Jia Zhen saw Wang Ren, she enthusiastically invited him to her home for a drink, "It just so happens that we have a few noble people in our family to introduce you today, and with the help of noble people in the future, our elder brothers can also make great achievements."

Wang Ren thought to himself, he could do the job of finding two girls anytime.But to get to know a noble person, you have to seize the opportunity.

He thanked Jia Zhen very happily.The two walked shoulder to shoulder and went to Ningguo Mansion next door.It was found that the main courtyard of Ningguo Mansion really sat a very noble young man.

"This is Lord Cheng."

Wang Ren thought to himself, isn't the Prince of Loyalty a child?How did you become a son-in-law?

Suddenly thought, how can I give to my nephew what my father left me?

Immediately knowing the identity of the person in front of him, he knelt down and kowtowed, as if he recognized his identity.

As far as Wang Ren was concerned, he had only heard of Corporal Wang Lixian in Beijing, and he had heard these words from Jia Baoyu.But now he really saw what it means to be a corporal.

When Lord Cheng was talking to them, he saw Wang Ren drooling at his maidservant.Immediately, he rewarded this beautiful maid to Wang Ren, and heard that Wang Ren was short of money recently, so he allocated 5000 taels of silver to Wang Ren to spend first.

The atmosphere among the few people was very good. When talking about Wang Ren's life recently, the young and handsome Prince Cheng said, "You still don't have a capable housekeeper in your family. If you want to have a good housekeeper, you must either marry a good housekeeper, or I need to find a capable and smart person, otherwise, I will lend you my own for two months, and when you find someone, let him return to me."

After Wang Ren heard this, he was urged by Jia Zhen to thank him immediately. When he went back, he was surrounded by two servants, a man and a woman.

Drunk as he left, his new maid waited on him in the carriage.

When Wang Ren reached into her clothes and kneaded them, the maid asked, "I heard that there is a mold of a tiger amulet at home, sir, is it true?"

Wang Ren's head was hot right now, and he didn't know what he said.He said to the maid in a daze, "Who said that? I haven't heard of it. Come on, beauty, the uncle loves you."

He was talking drunkenly, and the two servants who were driving outside looked at each other after hearing it.The man turned his head to the side of the woman, "My lord wants to find the things no matter what."

The woman nodded.After knocking on the car door a few times, the melodious sounds inside suddenly stopped.

The two of them looked back to see that the original servants of the Wang family were walking behind the carriage.I breathed a sigh of relief, and thought to save this guy's life before I got the things.