Old things in the Red Chamber

Qian Cheng came in, looked up, there were two brothers sitting in the hall, the one on the left looked fatter, had an inch-long beard, leaned on the chair, looked like an old dude from a distance.The one on the right is very energetic, sitting upright, looks much thinner than the one on the left, and looks more majestic than the one on the left.Knowing that these two are uncles, he quickly knelt down to salute.

In terms of appearance and etiquette alone, there is a man surnamed Zhao in front of him, who is satisfactory at a glance.He was meticulous in his salutes, and he made friends without coming up. When he was asked to sit, his buttocks touched the edge of the chair a little. He was a person who could understand the high eyebrows.

A few gossips were made, and the most important thing was Qian Cheng's mother. Qian Cheng said that he died of illness, how he got sick, how he consulted a doctor for medicine, and how he lost his funeral. He learned that he also had a younger brother. To do business, sell some Sichuan brocade and medicinal materials, and sometimes resell some grain and oil. In Qian Cheng's words, "As long as you make money, you are not afraid of hard work."

After talking for a while, Jia Gu asked him, "I see you are holding the worship box, but who can't you deliver the letter?"

Qian Cheng hurriedly stood up, "Returning to my second uncle, I paid my respects to the Beijing Prince's Mansion a few years ago, and today I am sending invitations on behalf of the prince. Please, the young master of the house, please go outside the city for a spring outing on February [-]th."

Jia Gu read the post, and it turned out that he was imitating Qushui Liushang, learning from famous scholars in the Wei and Jin Dynasties. He wanted to set up a seat and tent on both sides of a river outside the city, and invite scholars to go out in spring.He handed the post to Jia She, and said to Qian Cheng, "Go back and repay the prince, thank you for your kindness, but unfortunately, Xun'er is scheduled to go out on February [-], and go to the racecourse outside the customs of Taipu Temple. At least two months, this matter has passed the clear path between His Majesty and the cabinet, and it cannot be changed, please forgive me, my lord."

When Qian Cheng heard this, he was about to leave. Jia Gu didn't keep him, but told him, "Come often to say hello, and don't be a layman. If you have something to say, come to our house. Your younger brother is here. You take your younger brother and son to visit." .”

Qian Cheng said goodbye again and again, and withdrew.

Jia Amnesty looked at Qian Cheng's back and thought for a while, "Forget it, if he is willing to serve the King of Beijing as his master, the King of Beijing has friendship with our family, so he will definitely take care of him."

Jia Gu didn't say a word, King Beijing was a county king, young and flirtatious, but he had a lot of heart, and ordinary people didn't like him, and now he made this intimate gesture not for the sake of the nine princes who were still in their infancy.

Standing in line is a big taboo, and you have to think twice about what you say and do in the future, so as not to be in someone's eyes, saying that your father and son are recruiting party members, that is really a careless move, and you will lose everything.

Lin Daiyu's birthday is the Flower Festival in February, a few days earlier, and concubine and concubine came out from the palace to enjoy things, and on the day of her birthday, Wang Xifeng brought Tanchun and Xichun Baochai Xiangyun to celebrate her birthday.

In addition to celebrating her birthday, Wang Xifeng also asked Lin Daiyu to move to the Grand View Garden, "I left a yard for my sister, in the Xiaoxiang Pavilion, where there is a yard of green bamboos, and reading during the day is the best."

A few girls chattered about the Grand View Garden. Lin Daiyu visited it once on the day she picked her up. The trees were full of silver flowers, and candles everywhere illuminated the yard like daytime. Even though she took a quick look around, she also felt that the garden was very beautiful. Yes, but after all, it is not my own family, so I declined, "Old lady, you should not resign because of your love, but now my aunt is old and has raised me for the past few years. She has been in love with her from morning to night, and she is reluctant to leave her. Please Go back and tell the old lady that when the weather gets hot, I will live in the old lady's yard for a few days."

Wang Xifeng failed to take over Lin Daiyu, Jia Baoyu was the most disappointed, but soon after moving to the garden, he found that the garden was full of girls, from sisters to girls serving everywhere, there are countless beautiful women, attracting Baoyu's poems became popular, and he wrote a lot of boudoir grievance poems, which were inscribed on fans and written on handkerchiefs. They were taken out of the garden, and other people looked at Baoyu's poems and praised them extremely.Baoyu does have a bit of spirituality in his poems, and he is not afraid of being judged by others. In the spring of the capital, there are many people who go out of the city to play. Most of them are literati and poets. My bosom friend, I invited him to participate in the spring outing. From February to the end of April, Baoyu was a guest of each family's spring outing. He was busy. Today he went to the east's house for a banquet, and tomorrow he caught up with the west's poetry meeting. Zhuang, writing poems and appreciating operas is a happy life for others, but for Baoyu, he met many good women at the banquet, with various skills and styles, which attracted Baoyu to linger.

Seeing that Baoyu associates with famous people, Jia Zheng is quite proud that he no longer associates with those dudes who have nothing to do to drink and have fun.There is a feeling that Baoyu has grown up.

It's May, another year at the beginning of summer, Lin Daiyu has been filial piety for two years, and in a few months, she will be able to perform filial piety, not only Jia Gu and the Lin family's servants, but even Shi Taijun is worried about her life Big things are coming.

Speaking of children's affairs, Rongguo Mansion was somewhat gloomy. It turned out that on the first day of the Lunar New Year this year, Shi Taijun entered the palace with heavy makeup, and went to congratulate the noble concubine after the court congratulations.

Jia Yuanchun's birthday is the first day of the Lunar New Year, so Mrs. Wang naturally followed her around. After dismissing irrelevant people, when it came to Baoyu's marriage, Shi Taijun took a fancy to Lin Daiyu. The reason was relatively simple. After three years, Jia Gu and his wife have raised her for a few years, so they naturally love her. At that time, Baoyu and Jia Gu can be husbands and sons-in-law if they can't be uncles and nephews.

Mrs. Wang was not happy. Although she didn't say it clearly, she just expressed that she didn't want Baoyu's future heirs to inherit other people's surnames. In addition, "Sister Lin's body is weak, which is not good for her heirs."

Originally, the noble concubine was invited to come forward to make peace, but the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law disagreed, and the matter was settled at that time. The noble concubine naturally turned to her mother in her heart, and gave the gift at the Dragon Boat Festival in May. Baoyu and Baochai were the same.Shi Taijun naturally knew what his granddaughter meant, and when he was disappointed, he treated Xiangyun doubly well and kept Xiangyun in the Grand View Garden, spending time with Baoyu every day.

The fighting between their mother-in-law and daughter-in-law can be felt by the maids in the garden, especially the maids in Jia Baoyu's garden, who are very concerned about who will be the second grandma Bao in the future.

Among them, Jia Baoyu's big maid, Xiren, is the one who scratches her heart the most.

There are now sixteen maidservants in Jia Baoyu's courtyard, and they are also divided into factions. Among them, Xiren can suppress most of the people in the courtyard.Having nothing to do, she just thought that at the beginning of this year, when she was taken home, Baoyu chased after her. After returning, her heart was tied to Baoyu, and she never wanted to let her brother redeem herself.

I only embroidered a few stitches in the embroidery work in my hand, and I couldn't help comparing the girls from several relatives' families.Miss Bao's personality is nothing to say, she has always been a virtuous and generous person.Miss Lin is only petty, and she and Baoyu can quarrel once every three to five days. If they become husband and wife, the two of them will get annoyed and get better, and when they get better, they will get annoyed again, and it will be these waiters who will be in trouble.Miss Smith, Xiren also served her back then, and they all said she had a cheerful and open temper, but Xiren felt that she was just a bunch of childish, and could not persuade Baoyu to make progress, and only cared about playing with him... In the long run, it is still Bao girl is better.

While in a trance, Jia Baoyu returned to the yard, and yelled to find clothes as soon as he entered the door, "There is a poetry meeting in the Beijing Palace, I was invited, and bring me the big clothes I used to meet the guests."

The girls in the yard started to move at once, some were carrying clothes, some were looking for shoes, some were busy combing Baoyu's hair, some were checking the purse handkerchiefs, and prepared rewards for the boys on the second door to hold. , and let him pretend to take some elixir to remove the heat, fearing that Jia Baoyu would be exposed to the sun, so he found a soft hat and bamboo hat to come out.Busily seeing off the young master, the yard became quiet, the little maids hid, the big maids got up, Xiren sat down again.He thought carefully about the things Baoyu had brought just now, and put them aside when he saw that there was nothing missing, thinking that it would be better to go out and talk to Miss Bao than to doze off in the yard.

Jia Baoyu entered the Beijing Prince's Mansion, and indeed participated in a small poetry meeting. He chanted to a bowl of lotus with good quality, and everyone praised each other. Seeing that it was getting late, others let the Palace His servants sent him away, leaving Baoyu alone. Beijing Jing Wang Shuirong is a very handsome young man in his 20s, tall and handsome, with elegant manners. Every time he talks, he laughs before he speaks. He doesn't put on airs and has a great reputation.

He stretched out his hand and took Baoyu to a yard, and said as he walked, "Does Baoyu know why you are the only one left?"

"My lord, please clear up my doubts." Jia Baoyu not only likes beautiful girls, but also beautiful young people. Shui Rong is the one he admires in his heart. The two of them walked into a yard holding hands, and Shui Rong said, "I There is a steward in the mansion, not a servant, but a foreign steward, I only found out a few days ago that he is your cousin, the son of your second aunt's wife, today I introduce you to each other."

Qian Cheng was waiting in the house, saw Shui Rong dragged a person in, said a few words in the yard, and when he was coming this way, he stood up, went out quickly, and bowed to the two people.

Shui Rong helped Qian Cheng up, "Please, Mr. Qian, who is this? This is Mr. Baoyu, his cousin."

Baoyu hurriedly bowed his hands and bowed, Qian Cheng saluted faster than him, and the two bowed and bowed to each other in the yard for a while, which made Shui Rong laugh heartily, and led them to drink.

During the dinner, when talking about cousins, Jia Baoyu found out that the three concubine aunts had left him three cousins, and he was overjoyed, "I thought I only had sister Lin as a cousin."

Although Qian Cheng has also heard about this cousin who lost her parents at a young age, she has never seen it, and she doesn't have much kinship. He heard that she is now raised in the Zhongwuhou Mansion, and she thinks it is quite appropriate. At least there is a place to shelter from the wind. Yu was better than his brothers who came out to ask for a living, so he didn't speak or answer, and only listened to King Jing of Beijing and Baoyu.

Baoyu praised this cousin again and again, drank some wine, and thought that the king of Beijing is a family friend, and the other party is elegant, so he had no scruples on his lips, took out the poems written by his cousin, and commented on it with the king of Beijing After a while, although Qian Cheng felt that it was inappropriate, but now that he recognized the king of Beijing as the master, he naturally held the idea of ​​each being the master, and seeing the dedication of the king of Beijing, he did not intend to stop him.

For Baoyu, this matter was not a big deal. As expected, the King of Beijing Jing did not publicize Miss Lin's talent, but invited Jia Xun to dinner several times. The two daughters were full of fatherly love and had nowhere to put it. They went home early, and while the weather was not too hot, they took their daughters to fly a kite, ride a horse and brandish a small wooden knife to fight and kill.I pushed and pushed the invitation to King Beijing, and when I really couldn't push it away, I got stuck and didn't sit for a moment, the servants at home rushed to find him, either the Hou Ye was drunk and looking for the uncle, or the Hou Ye just now Wudao twisted, anyway, every time something happened.

The slippery behavior made it impossible for King Beijing Jing to have a heart-to-heart talk with him.

The King of Beijing Jing gave up his plan to get acquainted with Jia Yu, and begged his own mother, the old concubine. When Shi Taijun celebrated his birthday in August, the old concubine of the Beijing Palace came to celebrate her birthday in person, saying that she wanted to see the Duke For the girls in the mansion, Shi Taijun asked Tanchun and Xichun to be called over. Both girls are good, especially Tanchun, who is pretty and charming. The old concubine is very satisfied with this girl, but she raised her own That wicked person who loves the Lin family just fell in love with a girl from the Lin family, and I don't know where he heard the bastard words, saying that the girl is talented and good-tempered, and she is as beautiful as a fairy.The concubine was not happy, but she still wanted to see her.

"I heard that there are still a few girls in your residence, why don't you come and meet them?"

Shi Taijun asked Xue Baochai, Shi Xiangyun and Lin Daiyu to come to see the guests together. Lin Daiyu was wearing a blue dress and white jade jewelry on her head. His brows frowned.

Looking at the weak bones, it doesn't seem to be conducive to fertility.Just this one, the position of a side concubine promised to go out made the old dowager feel a pity.But there is no way out, that wicked person just likes the bells, the palace is full of beauties with paper lanterns like this.The old concubine asked to give rewards to the three girls. Among the three girls, Baochai liked her the most. The old man always had a special affection for plump women, after all, they were easy to bear.

When everyone was seated, the old concubine pulled Shi Taijun and told her son that she wanted to be a side concubine, and she also pointed out that she had a crush on Lin Daiyu.

Shi Taijun's heart was full of thoughts, and he made up his mind to bring disaster to the east. In the end, he had no choice but to sigh, "To tell you the truth, this child's married servant can't be a housekeeper, and my evil, loyal Marquis Jiagu, holds this girl in my hand." As for the marriage, Aunt Lin entrusted Miss Lin to him when he left, and said that she would choose one of Miss Lin's sons to adopt to the Lin family."

The old concubine's face drooped, and she knew that this matter could not be done today.Then they changed their smiling faces, and the two of them went out to dinner together, and no one mentioned it again.

As soon as the female guest here was sent away, Shi Taijun hurried to find Jia Huan over there, and Yuanyang came back after running around and said, "Uncle Xie sat down for a while and then went back."

Shi Taijun asked Jia She to come in, Jia She was five or six times drunk, and hiccupped when he came, and then he said hello honestly, "What's the old lady's order?"

"Come here, you just go to Jia Gu and ask him how he plans to marry Lin Yatou. Why is the concubine of the Beijing Palace looking for me today and wants to be a side concubine for the Beijing King? It's perfect."

Jia Amnesty heard this, and immediately went to look for Jia Gu in a carriage. The two discussed it.It is said that the water soluble, when entertaining guests, let concubine Ji come out to accompany guests, what the hell.Although the side concubine is more noble than the concubine Ji, but I heard that he has already died a side concubine, maybe he just wants his niece to fill in the gap.

"Don't worry, when I die, I will adopt the child to the Lin family. Otherwise, if they don't get married, their palace will definitely not let their children succeed. There is no need to talk about this matter."

"But old brother, if he let out some rumors, who would dare to marry his niece."

"Then try my Marquis' Mansion and his Prince's Mansion. You must not shrink back in this kind of thing. It's not shameful to back down with the emperor. When the emperor gets angry, our family is over. He's a king of the opposite sex. Hmph, I won't let it go." In the eyes."

"Old brother, what if he is willing to adopt his son?"

Jia Gu got stuck all of a sudden, and walked around the hall a few times, "I can't let my niece marry him, he's not a good match. At that time, I directly rejected him, without saying too much, just saying that our niece is not lucky."

Here, Jia Gu also told Madam Tong, "If the concubine or concubine in the Beijing Palace wants to talk to you, just say, let me handle this matter, you won't be able to be a family."

Mrs. Tong thought for a while, and then said to him, "I fell in love with someone a few years ago. The one who used to hang out with Xuan'er, the adult named Gu Yun, just died before the wife. After all, there are some shortcomings. I didn't follow him." you say."

Seeing Jia Gu sitting on the couch and starting to take off his boots and wash his feet, Mrs. Tong hurried to the door to bring water and put it at his feet, "I heard from Xun'er that the fourth master of the Gu family is capable. What do you think?" ?”

"If you have the ability, you have the ability. Anyone who can stir up the situation in the capital is capable. Not to mention, the King of Beijing Jing, who has a large group of concubines, is also capable. Otherwise, he wouldn't stare at Yu'er for half a year. Yes, as soon as I find an opportunity, I want to make friends with Xie'er. You said that we didn't have it when we first came to Beijing, why didn't people come to our house to make friends with?"

"So, you don't think Fourth Master Gu is too suitable."

"It's not up to us to say whether it's suitable or not. Fate is a matter between two people. Sleep."

Mrs. Tong suffered from insomnia again, but Jia Gu still fell asleep. The next day, Mrs. Tong fell asleep and he left again.

However, after the weather warmed up, there was a severe drought around Gyeonggi. Seeing that the crops in some places were about to fail, even the homes of the rich and powerful, with canals and wells, still couldn't stop the reduction in production. The household department scratched their heads anxiously.

The governor of Zhili submitted a form, asking for a reduction or exemption of this year's tax. Afterwards, the papers of officials from various provinces requesting tax reduction and exemption flew to the emperor's desk like snowflakes.

In any year of natural disasters, man-made disasters are always inseparable. Even if there are no man-made disasters, a few scapegoats must be introduced to calm the anger of the people.

The emperor immediately dismissed the position of the chief assistant of the cabinet. Starting from the cabinet, officials were checked from the top up. The serious ones were corrupt, and the light ones were ineffective. More than 100 officials were dismissed at once.A lot of vacancies suddenly appeared in the yamen, which attracted some people who were in short supply to seek camp everywhere.

Among them is Zhao Qi, who came to Zhongwuhou's mansion to pay a visit to him a few years ago, and asked him to dig around and get a fifth-rank official in the household department.

These have little to do with Jia Gu and Jia Xun. Both of them are chief officials. Generally, as long as Jia Xun does not make mistakes, nothing will happen. It is hard to say about Jia Gu. The six ministers take turns to ask for rain, and the Minister of Rites goes On that day, dark clouds gathered in the sky, and it seemed that it was going to rain, but after a while, the dark clouds cleared and the sky became clear, which made the emperor furious, thinking that the Shangshu was slack, and the sky did not want to rain.But the next day, the Minister of the Ministry of Officials went, chanted and beat, cried and begged and kowtowed non-stop. There were really dark clouds in the sky, and it rained heavily.

The emperor dismissed the Minister of Rites on the second day of rain, calling him "old and useless".

After two months of tossing, at the beginning of June, the heavy rain eased the drought, but the place where the production should be reduced was still reduced, and the harvest that should be cut off was cut off. The emperor finally approved the paper and agreed to reduce or exempt taxes in various places as appropriate.

The Hubu Shangshu's face was like that of a donkey, and the departments and departments of the Hubu didn't dare to speak loudly.

Although the atmosphere in the household department yamen is tense, for Zhao Qi, the new Huzhou Silang official, he has had a happy life recently.First, the real shortage was filled, and then one of his cousins, a salt merchant surnamed Hu, came to the capital. The salt merchant surnamed Hu was the son of his biological mother's cousins.Speaking of him, they are aunts and cousins. Of course, he is a descendant of a concubine, and he is a descendant of a concubine.But now speaking, as a scholar, farmer, businessman, he has become an official lord, and his cousin is still a salt merchant, so naturally he should support himself.

Sure enough, within a few days, his cousin Hu Menghao hosted a banquet for him. Naturally, there were other people during the banquet, but because he was a cousin, he took the top seat.Jade plates of delicacies, silver jugs of fine wine, and a few well-known girls in Beijing, sitting at the side playing and singing, making noise until midnight, with two beauties as companions, Zhao Qi felt that a man should be like this.

On the second day, the two cousins ​​sat opposite each other. When talking about what Zhao Qi had seen and heard in Beijing this year, Zhao Qi inevitably complained. Said it was from the family of the aunt in front, and said that the aunt had no children, and everyone else came to seek relatives.Then I went to Zhongwuhou's mansion, "It is said that the people in that mansion don't put on airs. After I went there and said a few words, Zhongwuhou kicked me out, blaming me for not being filial to the former wife. When Han Chuang was studying hard, the whole family was counting on me to become famous in one fell swoop, the world knows,..." rambling on.

Since Hu Menghao took over his father's family business, he is now in his thirties. He has seen many people and experienced many things. In addition, he has known his cousin's virtue since he was a child. Naturally, he has a few words for Zhao Qi. points to distinguish.

Holding a porridge bowl, he asked him, "Did you see Marquis Zhongwu?"

"See, very arrogant."

Hu Menghao nodded, thinking in his heart, he came here for the sake of being an official in the next three years. To all places in the capital, he naturally needs to understand the nature of the head of each family. You can also have a number in your heart.