Old things in the Red Chamber

From the perspective of the scholarly family, the title will be passed down to the end one day, and the family is eternal.People in the world have always been cautious about choosing the hall name that represents the family. Generally, there are three ways to choose, the first is the place name, then the meritorious service, and finally the auspicious word.The word Rongxi is the second option.

"Once the hall name is selected, it cannot be changed easily. My father has delineated several hall names, and I still hesitate to choose which one to choose."

After the Uncle Qi heard about it, he said he knew it. If Marquis Zhongwu had the mind to choose the hall name, it doesn’t matter sooner or later. I’m afraid he didn’t have the mind to choose the hall name. , his younger sister changed from the clan wife to the young daughter-in-law of the Jia family's collateral line, and the Zhongwuhou Mansion will also be considered by the world as a subsidiary of the Rongguo Mansion.When the time comes, it will be easy for the old lady of the Jia family to intervene in Marquis Zhongwu.

Don't underestimate the power of the clan, sometimes it is above the laws of the court. As the eldest son of the princess, the uncle of the Qi family was born with a title, and now he is also in the officialdom. Shentang is the most notorious for only recognizing the patriarchal clan but not the law.Even if the woman is innocent, the clan elders can tie her up and sink her into the pond regardless of right and wrong if she insults the family tradition.This kind of thing usually happens in the widow's family. The fear is that the widow will remarry and take away the family property, and the patriarchal clan is often for the purpose of seizing the family property of the distant branch. Regardless of the truth, it is all about turning black and white with one mouth, expulsion, sinking, all this is the usual means.And those ignorant villagers still feel that they have maintained the dignity of the family.Even when the police officers came to investigate the matter, they teamed up together and resisted with weapons.Also, relying on the large number of clansmen, wantonly embezzling other people's properties, when people come to ask for an explanation, the clansmen rush up, beat and maim people, and finally say that they have insulted their ancestors, you deserve to be beaten to death.

Among the brothers of the Qi family, the second master Qi, who sat next to Jia Yu, was on duty in the Ministry of Criminal Justice. He also knew that in Jinling, Jiangnan, the Jia clan had a domineering style. When they entered the capital, they always put out a steward to take the blame. In the end, the Jia family members were all as innocent as snow, and they didn't know how to restrain themselves every time. After all, the Jia family had been operating in Beijing for a long time, and their relatives and old friends spread all over the government and the public.

Qi Jingan gave birth to a child, and the two families are relatives, so they have the premise of in-depth communication. The second master Qi also tactfully persuaded Jia Xuan, "Jia Houye is now a close minister of the emperor, and he is very popular with the emperor. Not long ago, he was named Minister of the Ministry of War. , in charge of the Great Seal of the Ministry of War, set a hall name as soon as possible, so that you will not fall behind when communicating with others."

Knowing the kindness of others, Jia Huan thanked him specially, arranged a banquet for the two uncles to eat, and sent them away when it was getting dark.Jia Xuan immediately went to Jia Gu to discuss the hall name.

Not long after Jia Gu came back from the yamen of the Ministry of War, he changed his clothes and asked Jia Gui's uncle when he came and how he entertained him. While he was talking, Jia Xun came to him, and the father and son talked about the hall name. matter.

"I originally thought that we would ask the royal family to give us a hall name after we have made great achievements. Hearing what you said, your Yue's family hoped that we would break up with the Rong Mansion as soon as possible. Your father and I were sent to the Northland when we were young. , Even if you are working as an errand in Wuyang City, and now you have been granted the title of Loyalty Wuhou, there is also a word Wu in it, so let’s go to the hall name Wuyang. In the future, my grandson will report that the family is Wuyang Jia’s.”

Jia Huan also thought it was good, so she stood up, "I will find someone to carve a plaque tomorrow. Let's choose an auspicious day and hang it in the main hall. Do you want to entertain relatives and friends?"

"Please come and have a seat with the ones you have a good relationship with. For the rest, let's forget about it. If you come across a gift, let's prepare a piece of money and return it back. Just don't talk about it."

After Jia Xun finished talking about this matter, he went back to his yard. These few days, when he was rare for his daughter, he didn't see his daughter for a day, so he naturally panicked.

Watching his son go back to his yard, Jia Gu asked Jia Gui, "Has anyone surnamed Jia committed a crime recently?" Kind of a blood relationship.

Jia Gui went out to inquire, and heard about it from a staff member. He invited the staff and went to the main hall in the front yard.

When Jia Gu was a general, he recruited some down-and-out literati and children from poor families to become counselors. Now that they are in Kyoto, these counselors have turned into aides. Those who are officials are vassals near the Hou's mansion, and are taken care of by Jia Gu's father and son. These staff members came from the north and have always been trusted by Jia Gu.

Now there are seven staff members in the mansion, two of them are handicapped and are generally unwilling to go out, only two of them go out with Jia Gu and Jia Xuan every day, the other three like to bring money and lead the servants, Wandering around the capital, meeting some people by chance, treating them to drinks three or four times, deducing the direction of several major events from other people's words, Jia Gu doubled their activity funds several times.

One of the staff members was surnamed Jiang, and now everyone calls him Master Jiang, and when he arrived at the main hall, "Even if Lord Hou doesn't summon Jiang, Jiang will still visit you and the young master tomorrow."

"How to say?"

"I heard today that a foreign official named Jia Hua, nicknamed Shifei, and nicknamed Yucun, was impeached by a local official. The charge was that he allowed his nephew to seek other people's property."

"Jia Yucun." Jia Gu leaned on the chair, "Although this person's surname is Jia, he has nothing to do with our father and son. Why is Mr. Jiang coming to look for me tomorrow?"

"My lord, his surname is Jia. A few years ago, he joined the Rongguo Mansion. He claimed to have a close relationship with General Jia, your elder brother. During official banquets, he also liked to make friends with the Jia family. General Jia was able to confide his heart to heart. Soon after you returned to Kyoto, this man did not mention General Jia Enhou, but only General Jia. Some people thought he had a close relationship with you. The bad thing is that his name is Jia Hua. There was a deceased master in Ningguo Mansion called Jia Daihua. Jia Daihua used to be the Minister of Guards, and his surname was also Jia. It has been passed down from generation to generation. , to seize other people's property."

It was a mess, and it took Jia Gu a while to realize that such a nonsense thing happened to him.

Jia Gu felt that people were sitting at home, and the disaster came from the sky, "I...meaning I was a general in the past, so General Jia is me, because one of my uncles and his name are only one letter apart, and he also served as a guard. Minister, so I became Jia Yucun?"

"It's a rumor, it's like this. Although Jia Yucun is a clown, but the young master went to Jinling last year, he still needs to be cautious."

"I'll leave this matter to Mr. Jiang." Jia Gu stood up and sent him out.

The mother-in-law who invited Jia Gu back to have dinner in the backyard had been waiting for a long time. Jia Gu went directly to Mrs. Tong’s room, accompanied Mrs. Tong, Jia Yingchun and Lin Daiyu to dinner, and watched the children leave. Only then did I tell Mrs. Tong this nonsense.

"I was wronged. I provoked someone, which bastard calculated me like this." This time it was Jia Gu's turn to sit cross-legged on the bed under the quilt, muttering bitterly.

"Master," Mrs. Tong sat beside him, "What about the emperor...what's the name of that word... I know the details, and I won't wrong you."

"Ma'am, don't you understand? This matter is not about whether the emperor will wrong me, but who took the risk. If there is a poisonous snake staring at me, I will not feel at ease when I sleep."

Now that May has just entered, the weather has started to heat up, and the Dragon Boat Festival is just around the corner, and it's time for foreign officials to send ice tributes to Beijing.

Foreign officials, especially the officials in frontiers, went to various high schools in Beijing all the year round to pay some ice respect and carbon respect. The filial piety of three festivals and two longevity is the main source of income for poor Beijing officials.

Mrs. Wang has been in a very good mood in the past year. The Rongguo Mansion has not received this kind of filial piety from the officialdom for nearly ten years.Since the concubine in the palace became a concubine, the officials released today finally remembered the Rongguo Mansion, and all kinds of filial piety flew over like a snowflake. Now the concierges have added more than 30, so I am afraid that they will be neglected. The big man, and he can change someone by carrying gifts at ordinary times, and the Rongguo Mansion has returned to the high gate again.

The gift lists outside the door came in one after another, and they were handed directly to Mrs. Wang. Seeing the gifts flowing into the treasury like flowing water, Wang Xifeng's heart was burning hot.

Although the eyes are warm-hearted and enthusiastic, but this matter has not passed through my own hands, even if I want to earn some private money, I have to save it little by little in the future, like a mouse collecting food, so the right to the housekeeper is becoming more and more serious. more important.

Wang Xifeng saw that the treasury was locked, and then went to Mrs. Wang's room. There were three people sitting with her, namely Jia Tanchun and Xue Baochai, and the other was Jia Baoyu's registered godmother Ma Daopo.

Wang Xifeng always had a warm and cold face. When she saw Ma Daopo, she smiled and complained to her, "Why haven't you been here for so long? After all, she is a god-in-law in our family, so we have to see her often."

Ma Daopo stood up as soon as Wang Xifeng entered the door, squatted down to greet her, and then explained with a smile, "It turned out that there were a few Fa conferences a few days ago, and a few fellow Taoists came to sit and discuss the Tao. Said, I also ran to the mansion diligently. A few days ago, in order to pray for Baoyu, the engraved "Huang Ting Jing" has been scattered. Today, I will tell my wife and grandma that the Dragon Boat Festival needs to be lit. Come to ask my wife to show me. How many lamps should be lit? How much lamp oil should be used?"

People say that there are three aunts and six wives, and Taoist nuns are one of them.Taoist aunts and nuns often come and go to various high-ranking families, and they have always been despised by those families with strict family traditions. These people are not for promoting Taoism or Buddhism, but for money.In this industry, the competition is very fierce, just like Rongguo Mansion, besides Dao Po, there are also nuns.Even if they are also nuns, but not from the same nunnery, they still have to be judged. Therefore, these people secretly do some heresy.Just like this Ma Daopo, who is said to be able to understand ghosts and gods, often goes to the rich family, goes to the east house to talk about the right and wrong of the west family, and talks about the grievances and grievances of the east family in the west house.As long as you give money, even if it is against your conscience, you will do it.

The purpose of her visit today is not for sesame oil money. Although sesame oil money has made her earn a lot of money, compared with begging a noble concubine for a son, the reward for begging for a son will be more.

Ma Daopo looked at the kind-hearted Mrs. Wang and the enthusiastic and pungent Wang Xifeng, and listened to Jia Tanchun talking about the amount of sesame oil used to light the lamps last year, with an unusually sincere smile.