Old things in the Red Chamber

The hotter the weather, the more things will happen. First, Liu Guiren in the palace gave birth to the tenth prince in May. The emperor was happy and wanted to support his newborn son. The palace, and the female family members of the Xuangu family also came to the palace to visit the new tenth prince.

Lin Daiyu accompanied her sister-in-law, waited for her stepmother at the gate of the palace, and entered the palace together. First, she met the queen mother and queen, but the queen didn't see them, and then went to Liu Guiren's bedroom. Now, Mrs. Liu Gui is just a righteous daughter. Although Mrs. Liu is happy, she is not too caring and can't reach the bottom of her heart.Several of her daughters-in-law thought too much, and felt that since they entered the palace in the name of the daughter of the Liu family, they naturally had to watch over and help the Liu family. One of them said, "Since my sister has given birth to a prince, your Majesty will sooner or later promote my sister." position."

Liu Guiren was happy and thought the same in his heart, but he said, "There is no vacancy in the position of concubine, and I don't expect to be promoted." People can't raise princes and daughters. It's been a few days since the baby was born, and no one in the palace has come to take away the tenth prince. She has the idea of ​​promotion in her heart, thinking that the emperor is caring about me.

Mrs. Liu did not speak, and the daughter-in-law behind her saw that she was not angry, so she became bolder, "Don't say anything else, but the concubine in the Palace of Fragrance, she was promoted from concubine to concubine, is there a vacancy for the position of fourth concubine?" ? In this palace, the emperor has the final say."

Just because the example of Concubine He was in the front, Liu Gui was proud of himself.She is lying on the bed. After giving birth, it will be difficult to take care of her during the confinement period. Mrs. Liu will not let her sit up and chat with her. The current situation is that Mrs. Liu is lying on the bed, and Mrs. Liu is sitting on the edge of the bed. The daughter-in-law stood behind Mrs. Liu.

The palace maid came in to announce, "My lord, Mrs. Cheng Engong has brought her two daughters-in-law."

Mrs. Liu quickly stood up, glanced at Liu Guiren, "I'll go to meet you." She took her daughters-in-law to greet her at the door of the bedroom.

After Mrs. Cheng Engong and Mrs. Liu saw the ceremony, they smiled at each other, held each other's hands and entered the palace, looked at the ten princes, and the whole room was filled with Mrs. Cheng Engong's laughter. Lin Daiyu and her sister-in-law did not know each other. say.

Her sister-in-law is a bit high-spirited, her father is a scholar, and she despises those who don't. As for the female family members in this room, she and Lin Daiyu have read the articles through, and they are serious in-laws of the emperor, so they don't have to please the female family members of the concubine's family. Just sat on the couch on one side, watching other people chatting.

This matter is not a big deal at all, Gu Yu's wife chatted with her husband about it after returning home, "...there is no prince in our family, let alone other things in the future, the empress will have to see the bastard's face The eldest sister is also worried about this matter, but there is nothing to do."

Gu Yu hugged her youngest son, and when she heard the words, she glanced at her, "My fourth brother and I know it well, so we don't need to get involved in it."

His wife was worried, "That's what I said. Once the emperor and the courtiers, I looked at the family today who is arrogant and arrogant. I am only worried that the empress will be wronged in the palace. Even if it is a virtuous concubine and a concubine. The empress came with a respectful face, and when they spoke, there was no respect on their faces, and they forgot that the mistress of the palace is the empress empress, and it seemed inappropriate."

Gu Yu thought for a while, then put his son down, "Look at the children first, I'll visit the fourth child's house, and I'll be back later."

Within half a month, several happy events happened in the palace. First, the fourth and fifth princesses got married.Because it was only two days after the two princesses got married, the married wives seemed to be out of hand. First, those wives who could ride horses were selected. Mrs. Tong and Qi Jing'an were selected together as female officers.Because Mrs. Tong is good at riding, her husband is an important minister, and her son is promising. Although she only has one son and no daughter, she has a complete set of grandchildren. Advantageous.The queen mother specifically ordered her to ride a horse before the princess's chasing carriage and behind the guards to be the female official who cleared the way.

Before that, Mrs. Tong had to make up for etiquette, and Princess Anyang had to talk to her about how to represent the princess and the female relatives of the consort's family.

When the two princesses got married, Mrs. Tong had been busy for more than ten days before and after. The rewards from the palace were handed out. She said she wanted to take care of her granddaughter, but others didn't take it seriously, Lin Daiyu was going to visit her in the Hou Mansion.

It was the day when all the yamen were resting. Jia Gu was at home, and Gu Yun accompanied Lin Daiyu back home, talking with Jia Gu and his son in the front yard. Jia Amnesty rushed in.

Jia Xuan and Gu Yun rushed to pay respects and gave him a seat. Jia Amnesty ignored them, grabbed Jia Gu's hand and said, "Quickly borrow a post from you and invite a competent imperial doctor from the imperial hospital." In our house, Lian's daughter-in-law and Baoyu suddenly went berserk. Baoyu found a knife and searched for death in the garden. ..."

"Don't say it," Jia Gu pulled Jia She, "Even if Jia Baoyu is seriously ill, you shouldn't be the one to say it. Otherwise, he will recover in the future, because there are rumors that he has a serious illness, which delays his future. At that time, your old lady will definitely take it out on you. He is foaming at the mouth, which is obviously epilepsy, and you should cover this matter, the less you know, the better."

"Yes, yes." Jia She wiped the sweat off his brow, "But we can't ignore Baoyu. We invited a few doctors, and they all said he was fine. We also invited a few Taoists, and they all said he was a victim. Isn't this impossible?"

"Then what's going on in the mansion next door to you?"

"Oh, at this moment, Xiao Shihou's wife and Wang Ziteng's wife have come to our house. Some people in my family recommended a few Taoist priests, and some people said that Zhang Zhenren should be invited to exorcise... There is chaos, but I think , the child may be sick, as you said, probably epilepsy."

Jia Yu couldn't help but asked, "Is that so? I heard that epilepsy is passed down from generation to generation..." He thought to himself that his father, son, grandson and Jia's family are blood relatives. His father had never suffered from epilepsy, but he was young. , Brother Nan is younger, and it has never happened. If you commit a crime once, there may be a second time... Brother Nan is still young, if it is affected by this... "No, Baoyu's mother is a daughter of the Wang family, Lian's second brother's wife is a daughter of the Wang family, this is a chronic disease of the Wang family..."

This has nothing to do with the old Jia's family, Jia Huan was relieved immediately.

Gu Yun also said, "The symptoms of epilepsy are different from what the old man said just now. Epilepsy occurs when you lie on the ground, foaming at the mouth, and twitching non-stop, but Jia Baoyu can wield a weapon. This is not epilepsy."

Jia She called out immediately, "Could it be that I bumped into a guest?"

Jia Gu thought to himself, if something happened to the Jia family, should Xun'er come to express condolences? After thinking about it for a while, he decided that it would be best not to get too close to the Jia family, so he pulled Jia Amnesty, "I know. You are kind, but it depends on Jia's second child. It is enough for you to visit. In the past few days, I heard that Hefei is going to give birth. You should not go to Jia Baoyu, or you will collide. What happened, let the empress also worry."

"Yes, yes, yes," Jia She mumbled, thinking that it would be best to give birth to a prince in this child, so that the empress would have no worries about food and clothing in the next life, and the Ninth Prince would have more helpers.

Gu Yun looked at Jia She, and said what he was thinking in his mouth, the corners of his mouth twitched a few times, remembering what his brother said to him a few days ago, Gu Yu wanted to put the Gu family on the Ninth Prince, Gu Yun didn't care about this matter. I was thinking, if the concubine He in the palace really gave birth to a son, as long as he respected the queen, then the Gu family could also contribute to the Ninth Prince in future disputes.

There were two patients at home, and Jia Amnesty did not dare to stay outside for a banquet. Jia Gu personally sent him out, and ordered his servants to take care of him. He watched him leave the street and go back in a carriage.

When he returned to the main courtyard to go to the room, the kitchen delivered the table and noodles, and the three of them sat down again. While they were pushing glasses and changing glasses, a woman behind her announced the good news beamingly. "My cousin just ate a few mouthfuls of fish and vomited up. Someone in our family who knew about this felt the pulse and said that my cousin and grandma are happy. My wife and grandma sent me to congratulate my uncle."

Gu Yun was stunned for a long time, the corners of his mouth couldn't hold back, he finally laughed.

In the afternoon, the smile on Gu Yun's face was always there. After taking Lin Daiyu home, he watched with his own eyes clean up the couple's room, and called the kitchen to explain it again.He didn't have many servants, and almost all the servants in this mansion were Lin Daiyu's dowry. Naturally, his heart turned to Lin Daiyu, knowing that she had a young master, 120 points of care in the kitchen, and the housekeepers even lined up The team members came to kowtow, and even a few servants who were not working because they were old came to congratulate them.

Lin Daiyu herself was extremely happy.

But it was not like this in Rongguo Mansion. The first day was fine, but on the second day, two Shihou and Wang Ziteng came to see Jia Baoyu in person. Seeing that he had been sleeping all the time, his face was pale and the corners of his mouth were blue, they felt bad.When they left, the three of them had worried looks on their faces.

Mrs. Wang cried several times guarding Jia Baoyu, patting his body and crying, "If you leave, who will leave me?"

Jia Zhu's widow, Li Wan, took a few glances at Mrs. Wang, and quickly lowered her head quietly. Not only did she feel sad, Jia Zhu left, leaving Jia Lan behind. Thinking of Jia Lan now, her mother-in-law doesn't care, the master thought of it and invited to ask, the other days are as transparent, thinking of the love between husband and wife when Jia Zhu was here, and now leaving the orphan and widow mother, not only the sadness comes from it, oh I cried.

She was crying so much that she caught Mrs. Wang's eyes that day, stared at her bitterly, and reprimanded her a few times, "What's the funeral, my son is not dead yet."

Li Wan was so frightened that he quickly wiped away his tears, not daring to raise his head, and carefully shrank himself, fearing that his mother-in-law would be angry again.

It was like this for a few days in a row, the Jia family was gloomy, and the concubine in the palace gave birth to eleven princes after a day and a night of labor pains.The emperor still gave her natal family a visit from the palace.This time, the Gu family was not recruited into the palace, so two groups of eunuchs who passed the decree left the palace, one team came to Zhongwuhou Mansion, and the other team went to Rongguo Mansion.

Seeing that it was an eunuch, the Rongguo Mansion hurriedly opened the middle door, and the masters of the Jia family changed their clothes in disorder, set up an incense table, and received the order in fear.The eunuchs looked at their house, the eyes of the masters were all red and swollen, and the atmosphere in the mansion was too gloomy, so they didn't stay soon, and left after passing the order.

After seeing off the eunuchs, Jia Zheng went to Mrs. Wang's courtyard. Ever since Jia Baoyu fell ill, Mrs. Wang, Shi Taijun and Mrs. Xue were guarding Mrs. Wang day and night in Mrs. Wang's upper room. Shi Taijun was old and kept guard for a long time. She couldn't take it anymore and fell asleep. Mrs. Wang felt desolate. Mrs. Xue cried with her.The mother, son, and husband discussed for a while. Because Shi Taijun was weak, Mrs. Wang wanted to guard Jia Baoyu, and Wang Xifeng fell down by herself. She had no choice but to invite Youshi and Mrs. Xing, who were next door, into the palace together.

When it came time to enter the palace, I first went to visit the Empress Dowager's Palace. Mrs. Tong arrived early with Qi Jing'an and was talking with the Queen Mother. When the Queen Mother heard the eunuch's biography, she thought for a while and said to Mrs. Tong, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, "Go too, let's go!" I didn’t come to my wife’s house when I was young, and I happened to take the Ninth Prince with me. I was afraid that her mother and concubine would scare him by giving birth, so I brought him to my place to raise him for a few days, like a monkey every day, rambunctious. Jump, there are a few parrots raised in this palace, they were almost pulled out by him and turned bald."

With disgust in his mouth and a smile on his face, it can be seen that although this kid is making a fuss, the Queen Mother is not really annoyed.After a while, the Ninth Prince ran back from the back of the bedroom, first greeted the Queen of Heaven, then asked Mrs. Tong and Qi Jing how they were, and then took their hands and followed them back.

As usual, I went to ask questions in front of the Queen's Palace, but was blocked back to go to the imperial concubine's place. Jia Yuanchun had no time to talk to them, because just now, Mrs. Xing and You Shi, who were blocked by the queen mother and queen, went directly to the imperial concubine's palace. We've talked about the matter with Wang Xifeng, but Concubine Jia left them to talk.

The fourth concubine would not see them as usual, Madam Tong and Qi Jing'an went directly to Pixiang Hall.

Jia Yingchun was in good spirits, seeing them struggling and thinking about it, she was pushed down on the bed by Madam Tong, after the Ninth Prince greeted his mother and concubine, he lay on the side of the cradle to watch his younger brother, and was finally taken away by the foster mother.

Seeing that it was time for lunch, Concubine He arranged for a banquet and invited aunt and sister-in-law to have lunch, and Mrs. Xing and You Shi just arrived there.

Seeing Li, she didn't say a word, and the maid brought them together for lunch.Mrs. Xing and Youshi felt uncomfortable in various ways.Especially after dinner, Mrs. Xing and You Shi completely became the background board when they came to Concubine He.

Concubine He also sighed in her heart, and after asking what happened at home, she said to Mrs. Xing, "In this case, I still need to ask the old lady and wife to take care of it. Baoyu is born with jade. Maybe it is the stars in the sky. Will die and become auspicious."

Mrs. Xing and Mrs. You were obsequious, and they also murmured in their hearts, but it was not because of the patients at home, but to Mrs. Tong, thinking that we are the serious family, but you are sitting here so grandiosely.

Mrs. Tong also murmured in her heart, thinking that Rongguo Mansion has done so well that people don't know what to say. Both Mrs. Xing and Mrs. You are people who have never given birth. Let them enter the palace to greet a pregnant woman. There is no topic, whether to turn around to deal with it or to sincerely condolences to the pregnant woman.

In short, people on both sides look down on each other.

Going home at night, Shi Taijun came out of Mrs. Wang's yard and met Mrs. Xing and Youshi.

"The noble concubine in the palace knew that Baoyu was ill, and she was very anxious, so she said, let's make a marriage arrangement for Baoyu." Mrs. Xing is a senior, so Youshi hid behind her and didn't speak. He didn't talk too much about the things he ordered. Anyway, it was Rong Mansion's affairs, and Ning Guo Mansion should not interfere.

Shi Taijun held the Buddhist beads, paused, and asked Mrs. Xing, "Whose girl do you think is a good wife?"

Mrs. Xing looked carefully at Shi Taijun, "Miss Bao of the Xue family."

Shi Taijun's heart was as cold as ice and snow, but after thinking about it, the empress had never seen Xiangyun and Baochai, and she just listened to what Wang said.Even though she comforted herself so much, she also knew in her heart that the empress in the palace was willing to listen to her own mother after all.Thinking that I have spent so much energy in raising the imperial concubine, in the end, maybe people will dislike me as a useless and stubborn old woman.

She changed the subject, "Where is the concubine, how do you look? Are you in good spirits? Are you in good health? Have you seen the eleventh prince? By the way, have you seen the ninth prince?"

Only now did Youshi raise his head, and smiled Mimi, "I saw it, I saw it, the Ninth Prince saw it, he was very handsome, he heard that he was favored, and the servants around him just followed him, not daring to control him, and his body was also strong , I have strength in my two calves when I run.”

She mentioned the Ninth Prince, and Madam Xing said the Eleventh Prince, "It will be a little wrinkled, but it will open up in a few days, white and fat, and there are ten fleshy nests when the little hands stick out. Look at the look of the empress. It's okay, it looks plumper than when I was at home."

Shi Taijun's heart moved, and he asked them, "Does your mother know that Baoyu is ill?"

Mrs. You stopped talking, then lowered her head, Madam Xing had no choice but to bite the bullet and answer, "Ask, my mother said, Baoyu is a lucky person, born with jade, is a very lucky person, and will be lucky if he dies." .”

Finally, the dark clouds cleared in Shi Taijun's heart, and the sky was clear. "The empress is also very lucky. Now she is the only one who has raised two princes in the palace. Not to mention the current dynasty, even the emperor's harem, there are not many empresses who have such a blessing." .Our Baoyu is indeed a very lucky person."

Mrs. Wang quickly understood what the concubine said, and she thought it was a good idea, so she went to discuss it with Jia Zheng, but Jia Zheng was a little hesitant.Baoyu is now unconscious. It's fine if he gets better, but if he doesn't, he's sorry for the Xue family.It's not that Jia Zheng has conscience or benevolence in his heart, but that he won't do things that offend others.Wang Ziteng is the current appearance of Baoyu, and he will definitely weigh it in his heart. For the Wang family, further deepening the relationship with the Jia family is optional. There is another Wang Xifeng in front of him. If Wang Xifeng is gone, Even if Baoyu was alive, he would still be sick, unable to become an official, and unable to support the family. It would be better for Xue Baochai to fill in Jia Lian's house, or the Xue family and the Wang family would find another marriage.

To mention this matter to the Shi family, the two brothers of the Shi family want to save face and will not let their niece make people happy. After all, Shi Xiangyun is the only flesh and blood left by their elder brother.

In just a few days, the two people who were lying on the bed didn't stick their teeth, and they all looked like they were exhaling more air and less inhaling. Jia Zheng was hesitant, and he didn't follow Mrs. Wang's wishes to congratulate Baoyu. He couldn't be rescued, so he simply hid in the front yard and didn't care about it.

He let go, and the rest of the Jia family also avoided without a trace, only Jia Amnesty went to seek medical advice, and invited Taoist monks.Make decoction at home all day long.