Old things in the Red Chamber

A palace wall separates many secrets. In August, Shi Taijun received two palace gifts on his birthday. One was from the concubine, and the other was from the concubine Jia. Everyone who came to celebrate his birthday was envious , which attracted the Jia family to feel that it was an extraordinary honor.

In October, when the weather turned cold, Concubine Jia gave birth to a son in the palace. The emperor was overjoyed and decreed that Concubine Jia was concubine and would still live in Pixiang Palace.There are four concubines in the palace, and now someone is promoted, many people think that one of the original four concubines should be promoted to the imperial concubine, but the emperor seems to have forgotten this, and did not mention who was promoted, and the palace power was not allocated In the hands of the concubine, everyone got along without embarrassment, but the Ninth Prince, who was born not long ago, made the queen mother rare for a long time.

"There have been no princes born in the palace in the past two years. Now that Xiao Jiu is born, it is also a great joy. You give his mother a promotion, and that's fine. She has made merit in conceiving a prince, and she should be rewarded. But, four What did the concubine say?"

"Of course it's still the fourth concubine, it's enough to have the Jia family on the imperial concubine position."

The Empress Dowager didn't try to guess the emperor's mind, she just needed to be high above her, and naturally she didn't care about the emperor's harem.Hearing this, Fengguo Wuhen will not ask the emperor for titles for anyone.

Concubine and concubine giving birth to a prince is indeed a major event for Rongguo Mansion. First Shi Taijun breathed a sigh of relief, and then Mrs. Wang came to discuss with Shi Taijun, "Why don't concubine and concubine ask for an imperial edict to raise nine princes with concubine. Now the queen No son, the Ninth Prince is naturally the most honorable prince when he comes to the imperial concubine."

Shi Taijun was quite moved.

They found Jia She and Jia Lian, father and son, "The two ladies are girls in our house, whether they are aunts or concubines, they are blood relatives."

Jia Lian thinks this idea is quite good, not to mention, if the Ninth Prince is the adopted son of the noble concubine, he will step on his two elder brothers just because of his identity.His face was full of joy at Shi Taijun's proposal.

"How do you say 'Mei Xiang worships her sons, they are all slaves', what's the matter with the sons of the noble concubine, aren't they all bastards. Since they are all bastards, it doesn't matter who they are raised by." Enough, waved his hands and kicked the two out.

Jia Lian went back to the yard and saw Wang Xifeng hugging her daughter and patting her to sleep. She looked at her strangely for a while.Waiting for the nurse to take her daughter away, she complained to Wang Xifeng and said Jia Amnesty.

Wang Xifeng raised her brows, "Second Lord really can't blame the Eldest Master for this matter, the son was born to the concubine, why should he be raised by the concubine, not to mention, if Ping'er gave birth to a boy, I will raise him every day Come on, see who you will be close to when you grow up." Turning his eyes, he glanced left and right, lowered his voice, "Just look at the third girl and you will know. The third girl sees what Aunt Zhao looks like, even though it is Aunt Zhao. It's a trick, and it's vulgar, but the third girl is a bit too much."

Jia Lian nodded, "It's thanks to the master this time, otherwise, we would have done something stupid. By the way, last time an official from Jiangnan gave me a good inkstone. You asked Ping'er to take care of it. I Greetings to the Elder Master, and take it to Cong'er by the way."

Wang Xifeng was not happy to take out the good things in her hands, but she also knew that sometimes she couldn't argue with the men directly, so she thought about it and said, "I seem to remember that I gave it out when I was going to give it away last time. Not changing an inkstone, or sending a few good lake brushes or good rice paper, no matter what, it is the second master's kindness."

Jia Lian didn't care, "You can figure it out, quickly wrap it up for me, I will find the master now, and the spare master will bury me for being unfriendly brother."

When Jia She went up to the room, Xuan'er's crisp laughter came out, and Jia Lian entered the room carrying a pack of rice paper. Seeing Jia She half hugging the girl from Jia Huan's family, Jia Gu put a put-up actor on the floor. On a copper tray, tap the tray slowly with a mallet, the villain was shaken, and slowly circled with the rhythm, Jia Xuan looked at it, clapped her hands, and smiled happily.

When the two saw Jia Lian coming in, Jia Xuan's nurse came up and took the little girl away, and coaxed her out with a piece of pastry.Jia Amnesty saw Jia Lian, looked at the bag of rice paper in his hand, snorted, and held the teacup a little arrogantly, "I took the things out of some mouse hole, and sold them in front of me, my lord." .”

Jia Gu also held a cup of tea and looked at Jia Lian with a smile.Jia Lian took a look and knew that Jia She was in a good mood and only said he hated himself, so he quickly handed the paper to the woman who was standing in the house and asked her to hold it in front of Jia She, "This is the best rice paper my son got in the outer city. It’s for Brother Cong’er.”

Jia She snorted.

Jia Lian didn't have a seat in front of the two of them, so she would stand and talk with her, "It's a happy event for your mother to give birth, but it's also our wish to make some small quilts, quilts and clothes for it."

Jia Gu didn't speak, just drinking tea with a teacup, Jia She gave Jia Lian a sideways look, "Hmph, can you think of this? It's not your wife who coaxed you to come here."

"It was thought of by my son. The empress in the palace is the sister of the son's direct relative, and the Ninth Prince is the nephew of the son's direct relative..."

"Lian'er, the ninth prince's uncle's surname is Gu." Jia Gu reminded him.

Jia Amnesty's mood turned dark in an instant, he put down the teacup, sighed, and said to Jia Lian, "Tell your wife, don't worry about it, even if we get in, His Royal Highness may not be able to use it. After thinking about it, "Let your wife stop you."

Jia Lian looked at it and agreed.There is nothing more to say between father and son.

Jia Gu also put down the teacup, "I'm here today not only to congratulate my elder brother, but Lian'er is also here. Come on, please come up with Uncle Wang."

The idlers in the room were cleared out, and a few sturdy men came in with two huge sacks.One of them was thrown directly on the ground, and the person inside groaned a few times in pain.

"Yesterday, Xuan'er drank with the second master of Princess Anyang's family, and met the fourth master of the Gu family," he turned to explain to Jia She, "it's the younger brother of the queen's own, the one who broke up with his stepmother, the one from Shuntian Mansion. Fu Yin, the uncle of the country that the emperor rewarded the courtyard a few days ago."

Jia She nodded, feeling that he and the Fourth Master Gu shared the same illness and sympathy. The queen's own mother died early, and there was a sister and brother on top, and a younger brother on the bottom. Later, her father married another, and this one was married later, because of a good family background. He can speak well, and his stomach is also competitive, and now he has three sons, and the family has more sons, and the living is not happy. In order to fight for a courtyard, Fourth Master Gu and his stepmother were jealous, no matter who persuaded him, the lawsuit went to the imperial court .Hearing that his father and stepmother jointly made a move, this fourth master moved out in anger, and was scolded by half of the civil servants of the imperial court.

Jia She felt that if he was younger, he would follow the example of Fourth Master Gu and move out himself, so that he would not be disgusted by his mother's kindness and filial piety every day.

"The old brother went on to say, what happened next?"

"Later, officials from the Shuntian Mansion came to him, saying that they found that there were people lending money in the capital, and it was a usury loan. It didn't kill people, but it almost made people die. The reason is that a man in a family was born I was sick and borrowed money to see a doctor. Although I was cured, I owed a lot of money. The debt collectors came to the door all day long, and they took a fancy to the woman of the family, saying that it was a dewy couple. Free of interest for one month, otherwise, they immediately dragged their children to pay off the debt. The family had no choice, so the woman married Cui debtor for half a year one after another, causing neighbors to gossip A bunch of them made the children of this family stare all the time. A few days ago, the eldest son of this family couldn't take it anymore, so he took a knife and wounded those Cui debts in the middle of the night. That's right, the one who stayed at their house overnight was Several people, it is said that the woman who was tormenting the grandchildren almost died that night. Someone reported to the official, and Shuntian Mansion accepted the complaint, signed a note, and sent people to arrest these reminders. There is something about Uncle Wang, is it Uncle Wang?"

When Jia Lian heard this, he immediately untied the sack, and inside was Wang Xifeng's companion, Laiwang.Angrily kicked the sack.

"People gave it to you, but didn't wipe your butt for you. You can handle it yourself. If you continue to do this kind of outrageous thing, such as giving birth to a child without an asshole, you can continue to do it. If you are summoned by Shuntian Mansion, don't I count on your father to save you, he is a common man himself, if he can't save you, I will just watch and not talk, and don't care about your mess."

He waved his hand to signal Jia Lian to go down.

When Jia Lian left with Laiwang and a sack of account books, Jia Amnesty looked at his back, "Tell me, old brother, will he stop?"

Jia Gu shook his head.

Jia Amnesty walked around the hall a few times, "I see, he's a coward. If he's not as messed up as I am, he will naturally stop."

Jia Gu took the child home at night, and heard from the porter that the uncle was receiving guests in the front yard today. After asking, it turned out that it was his new friend, the fourth master of the Gu family, the serious uncle of the country.

Jia Gu didn't take it seriously either, and carried his granddaughter back to the backyard.

Jia Xuan is now a monkey, just at the age of wilting, insisting on walking down by herself, and waddling to the backyard, she saw Lin Daiyu sitting beside Madam Tong embroidering, lying on her skirt happily, Lin Daiyu put down the embroidered bandage and picked up the little guy. Jia Xuan took out a dead bug from her purse and gave it to her. Lin Daiyu was so scared that she almost threw her away.

Lin Daiyu was the only one who was frightened when the room was full. The big girl beside her, Caiping, calmly picked up the worm and threw it out, and advised Lin Daiyu, "Girl, the worm will die in autumn, so there is nothing to be afraid of."

Lin Daiyu was so frightened that she couldn't recover, she was hugged by Madam Tong and rubbed her back for a long time, Jia Xuan had no choice but to go to the kang and stand facing the wall in a grievance.

Stretching her belly, with a sky-high braid, she looked back at Lin Daiyu crying after a while. Lin Daiyu and Mrs. Tong wanted to laugh, but Mrs. Tong made up her mind to teach the little girl a lesson and not let Lin Daiyu teach her. To intercede, it is necessary to let her have a long memory.

At the end of October, Qi Jingan gave birth to a chubby little girl, and Jia Huan's second daughter was born.

Qi Jing'an was well taken care of during her pregnancy, and she didn't feel tired after giving birth. When she heard that she was a daughter, she felt sad for a while, and regained her mood to prepare for her third child.When Mrs. Tong brought the baby in and placed it beside her, Qi Jing'an asked, "What name did Master Hou and his wife give Er Niuniu?"

"I don't know yet, Master Hou means to let you husband and wife look at the two names."

Qi Jingan hugged her daughter, looked down, "Or call her Furong."

The girl's name is basically called at home, and the job of naming is usually directly decided by the mother. If a son must involve the child's father, the difference between men and women is like this. Lin Daiyu sighed and sighed for a long time when she found out. .

The grandfather was very happy to have a new member in the family. Jia Gu thought about when to move his second granddaughter out of his son's yard, but the father had mixed feelings.

When Jia Xun returned to the yard and saw her second daughter, although she was disappointed, she happily hugged her and teased her for a while. She felt a little urgent in her heart, but it is not something that can be achieved by one’s own urgency. , he didn't want his wife to know his feelings, so he said a few words to Qi Jing'an through the window, nothing more than Fu Rong's body is strong and she has worked hard.

During the past few years between husband and wife, Qi Jing'an also knew his temper, knew that he was not happy, but there was nothing he could do, and he was afraid that he would quarrel with the girls at home during his confinement, toss and turn, and couldn't fall asleep no matter what.

Jia Huan has always felt that her family is weak, and she is looking forward to having a son. How do you say that?He has been with his father since he was a child, and he also hoped that he would take his son by his side to teach him when he was young. If he had a son in middle age, his father would be old at that time, and he would not have the energy to discipline him, and the child would easily go astray. Another thing is that the population is thin, which is not a sign of family prosperity.

He didn't have many friends in the capital, and when he entered the officialdom, he naturally had to walk on thin ice. The only ones he could talk to were his second uncle and his new friend, Fourth Master Gu.This kind of trouble about wanting a son, of course, can't be told to the second master of the Qi family. After all, he is Qi Jing'an's elder brother, and the uncle of his two niuniu, so he dragged fourth master Gu to drink a few glasses of wine, and Jia Huan was cautious. , The mouth is also strict, pretending that there are not so many things in the yamen recently, and they are bored, and invite Gu Siye to drink.

"Jingzhi is boring, but I am not. Shuntian Mansion is busy. If it is cold today, Shuntian Mansion is investigating beggars in the city. In previous winters, twenty or thirty of them would freeze to death. I don't know what will happen this year."

Jingzhi is Jia Xuan's character.Yunming is Gu Siye's character.

"You don't need Yun Ming to go to this kind of thing in person. You and I share the two or two small wines equally, so we have the right to warm our bodies."

Jia Huan took the jug, poured a glass of warm wine for Fourth Master Gu, and poured a glass for himself, the two toasted and clinked their glasses, and each finished.

At the beginning, the two of them talked about the affairs of the court, and then they talked nonsense, and then the topic changed, and they talked about the gardens built by various families.

"In the past few days, the officer in charge of the Yellow Book of Household Registration in Shuntian Prefecture came to me and said that the natal family of the palace family members bought a lot of opera actors and wanted to be enslaved. An opera troupe, from teachers to handymen, some families can More than 100 people are raised, and there can be 50 or 4 opera actors alone. The concubines only watch one or two operas, and they will be used by their natal family in the end. Taking this opportunity to raise opera actors openly, I heard that the Rongguo Mansion buys small operas When the man came back, he spent [-] taels of silver."

Jia Huan picked up a chopstick dish, "I don't know about that. There are not many families in this capital who don't know the origin of our two prefectures. To be honest, we are blood relatives, but my father can't have a genealogy, and they are not allowed by their old lady." I like it, but now there are two serious families, each living in its own way. But your family has been quiet now, is it true that you don't repair the garden?"

"What garden do you want to build? The empress wants to leave the palace, but she doesn't come to our house. She wants to be a nun. Now even the emperor has given up on her. It's just that no one treats her badly. In our family, brothers Five, the eldest brother is honest, but the next three younger brothers have had wings with our brothers since childhood. Now my father has the title of Duke Cheng'en. It is reasonable to say that it will be my eldest brother's title in a hundred years, but the stepmother and younger brothers want to snatch it. , my eldest brother took his sister-in-law and nephew out, and he hid. But my stepmother thought I was a stumbling block, and wished my father would drive me out of the house. If this is the case at home, who wants to take my sister back to visit relatives. The emperor also said However, if you want to meet, you can hand over the sign and enter the palace at any time, but the queen doesn't want to meet. My eldest sister handed the sign to the palace ten or eight times a month, and I can only meet once or twice, or even not. to her."

Every family has scriptures that are difficult to recite. After hearing what he said, Jia Xun felt that the depression in his heart was relieved a lot. At least he was still young, and sooner or later he would have a son. Discord between brothers is the root of prodigal family. The family is like this, both brothers are capable, but the father is eccentric, the stepmother is eyeing, the next three younger brothers grow up as if urged to order, and the family background is weak, so Fourth Master Gu struggles to support it.The son is not very smart, it is best to be a compatriot of the same mother...

Jia Huan, who was in a much better mood, went home at night, and was overjoyed at the birth of Er Niuniu in her heart, and planned to see Er Niuniu first before going to dinner.At this time, Jia Gui stopped him at the door.

"Master, Lai Da, the chief steward of Rongguo Mansion, is here."

"Why?"

"It sounds like you want to borrow money."

"Borrow money?"

"Well, the meaning behind the words is that in a few days, the Ninth Prince will be full moon, so I ask relatives and friends to lend some money to the Ninth Prince as a full moon gift."

Jia Huan laughed angrily at this remark, "Then there will be a hundred-day gift on the [-]th day, and a first-year gift on the first birthday...Combined with the blood of the Long Live Lord, it will become their family's name for making money."

Jia Gui didn't answer, but his expression said so.

"Just say that our family is poor, and tomorrow I will pawn something on Qianmen Street and give it to them." These words are shabby, and Jia Xuan suddenly understood his own father's behavior of pretending to be poor at this moment.

"Master, I'm afraid it won't make people disgusting to say so, what if they really wait for us to take money as things?"

"You just picked up the gold utensils that we couldn't use at home, looked at the gold utensils with holes, and carried them to pawn them in a big way. If you meet someone on the road and ask, you should tell the truth. It's best to make a fuss. While the Ninth Prince is young, first Cut off the matter of people accumulating wealth in his name. If the emperor hadn't had an outburst in the future, it would be unreasonable, after all, the Rongguo Mansion is his mother's family."

Jia Gui went to the side hall, Lai Da was still waiting, Jia Xuan went straight back to the backyard, washed his hands and changed into regular clothes, hugged the little girl around a few times, looked eagerly at the nurse. Thinking that Er Niuniu is too young, but the big girl is solid, she can play with her in her arms, and as soon as she turned around, she went to Mrs. Tong's upper room.

Jiagui's family is talking in front of Mrs. Tong and Lin Daiyu, "Rongguo Mansion means that they want to borrow money from the cousin girl. I said that this time the Xue family took 2 taels of silver, and they didn't ask Miss Lin to take more. 2 taels."

Jia Xuan patted her little hands to imitate her tongue, "2 taels".

Jia Xun listened outside the door, her brows furrowed, and she felt that this family was going too far. The Lin family now only had one orphan girl, and the gifts from other families and the Lin family were thicker than in previous years. The intention was to take care of the orphan girl and not give People leave something to talk about, and they usually stick to their sense of proportion. When they really need money, they will not ask the orphan to borrow money, because they are afraid of getting a reputation of encroaching on the orphan's family wealth, or making a fortune.Jia Xun is thinking about borrowing money right now. Does Jia Zheng know? If he knew, Jia Zheng, who has always been a good character, would not borrow money from the Lin family. Very different.

In the house, Mrs. Tong said to Jia Gui's family, "Tell the women in Rongguo Mansion that everything in the Lin family is Miss Lin's dowry, even a needle is listed on the list. Uncle asked, our family can't explain."

After Jia Gui's family heard this, they prepared to go ahead to deal with the women from Rongguo Mansion.As soon as the curtain was lifted, he saw Jia Xuan standing outside the door, so he quickly knelt down and saluted, "Master, go in quickly, it's cold outside now."

Madam Tong also called out when she heard it, "Xu'er come in." Jia Xuan called out childishly, "Come in, Daddy."

Jia Huan smiled and picked up the curtain to go in, because Lin Daiyu was shy when Madam Tong mentioned "dowry" just now.

Jia Xun hugged the eldest daughter, threw her up and down a few times, and Jia Xuan hugged him like a monkey. Jia Xun felt a bit of family happiness, and instead of sitting down, she walked around the room with her daughter in her arms. Don't forget to talk to Mrs. Tong.

"Although it is said that the filial piety is three years, it is actually 27 months, a little more than two years, and now it is time to start seeing my cousin."

"Your father and I also remember this, but Dai'er is different from girls in other families. Master Lin's request is to let a adoptive boy go to the Lin family, and inherit their Lin family's incense. He only wears one, and many people don't like it." willing."

"I don't like those people who don't like it. If nothing else, it's my cousin's talent. Those mediocre talents are not good enough for her." After thinking about it, he handed his daughter to the nanny, "Good Xuan'er, Let someone hold you and greet your mother, and then see the little sister."

When there were only two mothers and children left in the room, Jia Xuan sat next to Madam Tong, "I have a good candidate, but the reputation is not very good, and I have married once. It is Gu Yun, whose name is Yunming, who is 22 this year. The daughter-in-law in front of him has been dead for three years. No child left, and now there is no one around, just because he quarreled with his father a few times, and people said he didn't respect the elderly. He has his own mansion, so he doesn't need to marry another daughter-in-law See what his parents mean. The emperor has a clear decree for them to separate the family. If the cousin marries, she can manage the house herself, and has nothing to do with Cheng'en Gongfu." The more I think about it, the more I think this idea is good.

Mrs. Tong didn't think so, "22 is a bit old, and your sister is still young. If you quarrel with your own father, you must be a tough-tempered person. How can such a person get along with your sister? There is no one around, son, Could it be that there is something wrong with his body, or else, he should leave it to the queen when he gets married. Did he have a pregnancy letter when his wife was gone? If there is one thing that is better, it is that you don’t need your sister to marry and set the rules. Oh, let me tell you, I've never seen such an unreasonable person. Who in the Northland tosses the daughter-in-law to set the rules, and there are servants who don't do it but order the daughter-in-law. I don't know if I have a mental illness. I think I'm out of my mind because I didn't let your daughter-in-law come to me to set the rules."

"This is mother, you are generous. Come on, my son will squeeze your shoulders for your daughter-in-law. The job of serving you should be done by your son. It's because Xuan'er's mother doesn't have much strength in her hands. How can I squeeze your shoulders and beat you?" Back, do you think so? I just said that, I think Gu Yunna is really a rare figure in Kyoto based on his ability and knowledge."