Old things in the Red Chamber

After marching on the water for half a month, Jia Huan personally escorted a group of criminals back to the capital.

Because he was carrying the emperor's messenger, Jia Xun went to see the emperor after he watched the man go to prison.

Speaking of which, the emperor and Jia Xun haven't seen each other for four or five years.About the current situation and trend of Jiangnan, the two talked for a day.I had lunch with the emperor in the middle, and it was already dark when Jia Xun returned home. The eunuchs sent him out of the palace with lanterns in front, and met four or five princes by chance within a few steps.

First, I met the Ninth Prince, who was very affectionate after seeing Jia Xuan. The relationship between the two families was already unusual, so they didn't see each other when they spoke.

"My brother-in-law is back. I'll talk to my brother-in-law in a few days. I heard that Jiangnan is a place with beautiful mountains and rivers. There are outstanding people. I think my brother-in-law also met a lot of people and saw a lot of things in Jiangnan." Then he took a step forward, A little shyly talked about another thing with Jia Xuan, "Father and Queen want to find me a beautiful and virtuous concubine, but I have never been out of the palace, so I don't know the style of the families selected by the father. How about it?" Then he lowered his head, talked about the candidates, and eagerly took Jia Huan's hand, "If my brother-in-law is not busy, please help me find out."

This is a serious matter. The Ninth Prince's maternal ancestral family and his own father are twin brothers. Although they are not in the same clan now, the blood relationship is here. My family has invested a lot of energy in the Ninth Prince. When encountering such a thing at this time, Jia Huan naturally wouldn't shirk it.

"Don't worry, there is news for your cousin to enter the palace."

This side just separated from the Ninth Prince, and met the Tenth Prince within a few steps.

There is not much difference in age between the tenth prince and the ninth prince, both of them are handsome young men.

The ten princes were polite when they met, and first asked the eunuchs around him to help Jia Xun up, "Lord Jia has worked hard all the way, and I heard a good news a few days ago, I heard that Lord Jia Hou will be promoted to Duke soon. Alright, let me congratulate Master Jia first."

Jia Huan hurriedly thanked the Tenth Prince respectfully for telling him the good news.

Then I met the fifteenth prince and the seventeenth prince who just put on airs.

When leaving the palace, Jia Xuan also said to the people around him, "It is said that there are no children in the palace. This sentence is true. In just a few short steps, several people greeted me with greetings, which scared me. In a cold sweat."

The long followers around laughed, meeting a few princes would not make Jia Xun really break out in a cold sweat, Jia Xun just said so, and they just smiled.

When the carriage entered the house, after seeing her son, Mrs. Tong couldn't control the tears in her eyes any longer. She hugged her son's head and cried for a while, "Your father told me a few days ago that you were poisoned. To be honest, there is nothing wrong with it, right?"

When Mrs. Tong said this, Jia Gu was also listening. He looked up and down just now and found that there was nothing wrong with his son, but he was just watching from the outside and didn't know what was going on inside. Yes, so I don't feel at ease in my heart. When my son comes back, it is necessary to invite someone to feel his pulse.

The Hou Mansion is full of tenderness, and when father and son meet in the prison, it is inevitable to hug each other and cry.

When Jia Baoyu and Jia Huan returned to the capital, they were thrown directly into the prison. The two brothers were not abused when they were on the boat.

The most unbearable thing for their brothers was that their father suddenly aged a lot, his face was haggard, his hair was unkempt, he was too thin to hold up his clothes, he looked disfigured sitting there, and he didn't even have a good skin on his body. He was tortured.

Although usually meeting a father and son is like a mouse meeting a cat, at this moment Jia Baoyu was also so sad that he burst into tears.

When things got to this point, it was useless to talk too much. Apart from the two sons kneeling in front of him and crying for a while, Jia Zheng didn't want to say anything.

And just a few days ago, the women were finally taken away. It is not known where they were detained, but they will not have a good life in the future.Jia Zheng took a breath, and pulled Jia Baoyu up, "On the day when there was an accident at home, your daughter-in-law didn't come with the wives, she presumably hid, counting with her fingers, if there is no accident at home, you It's time for the daughter-in-law to give birth to the child. At this time, she will either die or the mother and child will be safe."

From the bottom of his heart, Jia Zheng hoped that his daughter-in-law would give birth to a grandson so that he could leave a bloodline for his family.

After Jia Huan heard about it, he quickly told Jia Zheng about his third sister.

"On the day the Zhen family rebelled, the third sister also disappeared. We searched for two days but couldn't find it. Later, big brother Xun escorted us to the police. When we just got off the boat, we asked him, and he said that the third sister was still not found."

In other words, those who are still outside are all female relatives, the old lady at home, Xue Baochai whose life and death are unpredictable, and Jia Tanchun who is missing.

Jia Zheng and Jia Lan are imprisoned in this cell, and Jia Baoyu and Jia Huan are now stuffed in. Jia Zheng dare not say some things in front of his children and grandchildren, for fear that they will fight again in order to survive. .

In the dead of night, Jia Zheng pushed Jia Baoyu awake and wrote quietly in the palm of his hand, "Jia Gu promised me to save you out, and when you get out, you will honor the old lady and hide your name after you send the old lady back to the west. Bitten for my father." A few princes, they will never let you go, you have to take care of yourself."

Jia Baoyu thought blankly for a while, then wrote in his father's palm with his backhand, "My son respects the master and is willing to go on the road with the master. Let Lan'er go out."

Speaking of which, Jia Lan was indeed able to survive all this better than Jia Baoyu. Jia Baoyu was a bit cowardly, and he didn't have much skills to make a living after he went out.But Jia Lan is different. Jia Lan has a serious desire for survival. He wants to stand out, he wants to become a master, and give him the chance to survive.

On one side is the grandson, on the other is the son. The grandson is left by the eldest son. From the perspective of etiquette, Jia Lan is more qualified to inherit the clan than Jia Baoyu.

So Jia Zheng didn't sleep well that night, hesitating between choosing a son or a grandson.

But the reality didn't give him too long to hesitate. Xue Pan, who returned to the capital with Jia Baoyu and the others, got the result after two days of trial that Qiuhou asked to kill.

According to the law of the country, every time a death sentence is imposed, the entire crime must be handed over to the Ministry of Criminal Justice and the emperor. When this law was first formulated, it was worried that someone would misjudge life and death.

However, the matter of Xue Pan did not go through too long a discussion. It is obvious that this person participated in the rebellion.

However, the Ministry of Criminal Justice still found something unusual in this case file.

"Xue Pan, a native of Jinling, used to fight with a son named Feng in the street, resulting in death. After the case was judged by the chief judge of Jinling, the conclusion of the case was that Xue Pan was murdered by a wronged soul."

People in the Criminal Department denounced the case as nonsense.

"If he was killed by an unjust soul, then who is waiting for the execution outside now? Entrusting life and death to ghosts and gods is clearly taking advantage of others and trying to escape death for others."

"Who was the chief official of Jinling at that time?"

"Jia Hua, named Yucun."

"Re-read the case file again. I will ask the adults to sign the sea arrest document, and then ask the adults to go to the Ministry of Officials to issue the document and arrest Jia Hua."

Let’s not mention how to arrest Jia Hua, but let Mrs. Xue know about the case of Xue Pan’s death penalty, and she fainted immediately.

After fainting, Mrs. Xue woke up, remembered a law, and struggled to see the prison boss.

Although the weather is cold now, there is no proper place for female prisoners in the prison. The family members of prisoners are usually escorted to dilapidated temples and surrounded by officers and soldiers.But the cell bosses and prison guards who manage the female prisoners on a daily basis are all women.

The head of the prison is an elderly woman who heard the news that Mrs. Xue had passed out. When she came to visit, Mrs. Xue grabbed her hand, "I heard that the imperial court can't bear the heart of a man with only one son to die without leaving a blood. Before the execution, the family members are allowed to send their female relatives into the same room. Although my son is involved in the conspiracy, he is not the mastermind. Even if he is asked to be executed, it will not harm the whole family. Please forgive me and let my daughter-in-law go in to serve me Son, bring her back when she is pregnant."

After the prison boss heard about it, he just asked Mrs. Xue to wait, and she asked other adults if they agreed to do so. Mrs. Xue sent the prison boss away with gratitude, and was ridden by her daughter-in-law as soon as she turned around. His face was scratched and his hair scattered.

After hearing Aunt Xue's plan, Xia Jingui gritted her teeth angrily. She originally planned to wait for Xue Pan to die and ask her mother to redeem herself with money so that she could marry another family.Save the life of the family members of such criminals.But who knew that the old godly woman would have her own idea, she couldn't help it now, because she was young and strong and Mrs. Xue didn't pay attention, she immediately pushed the person down, got on the horse and gave a beating to vent her anger before speaking.

Mrs. Xue was pressed and beaten by her, so don't rush to call for help. Who knew that at this time, the cell boss happened to come in from the outside and heard Mrs. Xue talking about Xia Jingui's past, "You are a poisonous woman. You poisoned Xiangling to death. Now Now he looks at me again, and wants to put me to death..."

The head of the cell asked them to separate their mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, and first said to Mrs. Xue, "There was a law in the imperial court that allowed the families of death row prisoners to send their female relatives to share the same room. This law was used, but this law was abolished more than ten years ago."

He looked at Xia Jingui again, and saw that this woman was rebellious, and after beating her mother-in-law, she was extremely airy. Not only did she sigh a shrew in her heart, thinking about her mother-in-law saying that she poisoned someone to death, I don't know what happened. True or false.

He didn't stay any longer, turned his head and was about to go out, Xia Jingui grinned at Mrs. Xue, laughing at her wishful thinking was once again in vain.But Mrs. Xue suddenly broke the pot at this time, and stepped forward to grab the prisoner's skirt, "My lord, my lord, please listen to me, I have a life lawsuit and I want my lord to redress."