The Lady of the Red Chamber

Liang Yiheng took a few juniors off the boat from the Yangzhou pier, and there were already members of the same family standing on the pier to meet him.

Yun Qingchi first exchanged greetings with the uncles in the clan, and Liang Yiheng brought Yun Qingxuan up to meet the elders, and introduced Meng Xiuchang and Lin Daiyu along the way.

Lin Ruhai has served as the censor of Yangzhou for many years, and has some sympathy with the major families in Yangzhou.Therefore, all members of the Yun family knew Daiyu.Holding Daiyu's hand, he smiled and praised a few words, "Growing up, the maturity is more and more symbolic" and so on, and said that Meng Xiuchang is also outstanding, a young talent.

After some courtesies, they finally boarded the carriage sent by the Yun family to pick them up.

Before getting into the car, Yun Qingyu inadvertently took a look at the pier.Under the scorching sun, countless workers were carrying bags one by one to a cargo ship.The heavy sacks bent their backs, and the salty sweat gathered on the ground like a waterfall, and was quickly evaporated by the high-temperature stone road.

On the banks of the river and on the cargo ships, there were overseers with swollen faces and haughty expressions holding whips.If you see someone slowing down, you will unceremoniously pump it up until your skin is ripped apart.

"Uncle Ba, which company are they workers? What are they doing?"

Yun Shengran is now the head of the fifth house of the Yun family, and he is the eighth uncle of Yun Qing, Yu Yun Qingxuan and others.He once wanted to obtain fame, but after repeated trials, he set up a school in his hometown as a juren, teaching farm children to read and write, and he was very respected by the people of Yangzhou.

Hearing the words, Yun Shengran followed Yun Qingyu's gaze and frowned, obviously unwilling to be contaminated: "That's a worker from the Zhenjia saltworks."

Yun Qingyu is now extremely sensitive to the arrangement and combination of the words Zhen's family, saltworks, and workers. Hearing Yun Shengran's words, he widened his eyes and looked in that direction.I just feel that those supervisors are the accomplices and lackeys of the Zhen family's crimes.

Liang Yiheng led Yun Qingxuan and Lin Daiyu past Yun Qingyu, calmly: "Second brother, don't be impatient."

Liang Yiheng's understatement instantly made Yun Qingyu's irritation disappear, and he said sullenly: "Yes, sister-in-law."

Yun Qingxuan has almost never been to Yangzhou, but Lin Daiyu grew up in Yangzhou, so there are many little sisters she played with since childhood.

Although the Lin family's house in Yangzhou was often taken care of, Yun Qingxuan felt that it was too far away, so he warmly invited Lin Daiyu to live in Yunfu.The two sisters live in the same yard, sleep together at night, chatting and chatting, which is also very interesting.

Because it was already afternoon when they arrived in Yangzhou, several people visited the elders of the whole clan and chatted for a while. After eating, they went back to their rooms to rest.

Yun Qing was slowly lying on the bed, a little excited for the first time, and really couldn't fall asleep, so she thought about talking to Daiyu: "Cousin, tell me, what did sister-in-law and second brother say after we left that night?"

Lin Daiyu looked at the curtain embroidered with flowers, birds, insects and fish on the top of the bed, put her head on her hand, and shook her head: "It's what my cousin doesn't want us to hear."

Yun Qing sighed slowly, followed Lin Daiyu's gaze and looked up. The two lay side by side, with exactly the same posture, but with different expressions: "It would be great if the princess was here. With the princess' personality, she will definitely pester her." After the sister-in-law has finished telling her, we don't need to make wild guesses here."

Lin Daiyu turned around and looked at Yun Qingsu.Seeing her sighing, inexplicably wanted to laugh: "You, just be content. If it were someone else, we wouldn't even be allowed to listen to the front. It's already very rare for us to know what happened to Miss Wenqiu."

Yun Qingxuan really likes gossip, after all, there was no entertainment in ancient times.And she also wanted to know what the Zhen family did to make Liang Yiheng so resentful and embarrassing, and to make Yun Qingyu disgusted as if seeing a puddle of sewage when seeing the Zhen family.

But Lin Daiyu obviously listened to Liang Yiheng's words very much.Liang Yiheng told them not to let them know, but Lin Daiyu didn't even think about asking about it.Therefore, Yun Qingxuan could only let go of her curiosity, and turned to Lin Daiyu and asked, "Cousin, what do you think of Brother Meng?"

Lin Daiyu's face turned red instantly: "You...why do you ask this?"

Yun Qing slowly moved closer to Lin Daiyu, observing every expression of Lin Daiyu carefully, never letting go of a single bit.

Lin Daiyu felt a little uncomfortable being watched by Yun Qinghu, she backed away, turned around with some guilt, and turned her back to Yun Qinghu: "You haven't slept yet, it's already so late. Doesn't it mean that someone wants me Take you out to play, take you to meet my former friends?"

Yun Qing slowly stretched out his hand and poked Lin Daiyu's back. Seeing that Lin Daiyu refused to move, he poked again: "Cousin, are you shy? There's nothing to be embarrassed about. I used to arrange flowers and drink tea with other noble girls in the capital. Don't everyone often speculate about the future husband?"

Lin Daiyu turned over and pinched Yun Qingxuan's little nose: "Since you want to ask so much, then you should talk about it yourself first."

Yun Qinghuo didn't feel embarrassed at all, lying on her side with her arm pillowed, said: "What can I say? I will definitely marry His Royal Highness in the future. Nowadays, even the princess sometimes teases me in private, saying that she doesn't know if she will cry out in the future. My little cousin is still the little aunt. Hey, there is no suspense at all, it really makes people unable to find any excitement."

That's what he said, but the smile on Yun Qinghu's face couldn't be restrained at all.Obviously very satisfied with Situ Jin, a decathlon talent.

Lin Daiyu nodded and said with a smile: "You are polite at all, but I don't know how many noble girls in the capital envy you in private."

Yun Qing said slowly: "What is there to be envious of? I am lucky. His Royal Highness is gentle and kind, so they feel that my identity has given me a big advantage. But they don't want to think about it. If the King of England Your Highness is fat and stupid, so they must laugh at me behind my back. I can imagine what those people would say if this is the case. What about the eldest daughter of the Duke’s Mansion? What about being smart and beautiful? It's not that you want to marry such an accomplished, ugly piggy."

Yun Qing slowly thought of the many senior sisters in Yuxiu Academy, or those sisters at home who were good classmates, one after another, talking about marriage, some happy, some unfortunate, and sighed deeply: "Speaking of it, we It is common for this kind of family to respect each other as guests, how can there be so much sincerity? Take me and His Highness as an example. In our marriage, the ones who really need to be together are the eldest daughter of Duke Qin’s mansion and His Highness the King of England. It’s just that we happen to have It is my cousin and I who bear this identity. We are childhood sweethearts, and we are in love with each other, which makes this marriage a layer of fantasy and beauty. If His Highness is not so good, and we have never met, what should we do? ? Isn't it just making do with a partner to get by. People are very affectionate in front of people, but it all depends on how you live when you are in the future."

This was the first time someone gave Lin Daiyu such a lecture.Lin Daiyu obviously didn't expect her cousin to be so thoughtful, she was a little stunned for a while, and asked: "Cousin, if... I mean, if you are really with His Royal Highness, it's not so..."

Lin Daiyu struggled for a long time, but still couldn't say those words, so she gave up and said, "Then what should you do?"

Yun Qinghuo thought for a while, and felt a little twisted in her heart for a long time, before she said: "I don't know, but I might go to Yuxiu Academy to be a teacher. Speaking of which, there are many teachers in our academy who are all wives Not to mention that my sister-in-law still goes to Yuxiu Academy from time to time to teach younger generations. Let’s talk about Master Dong who taught us Go. She is Mrs. Jinshan Hou. This Dong Hou is a great person, and there are eighteen concubines in the backyard Mrs. Dong didn't want to stick to the back house, so she joined Yuxiu Academy to teach. Now she doesn't rely on her husband's family, and she still wins countless praises. Even if Master Dong doesn't love Mrs. Dong, he still respects her. In this way, no Is it good too?"

Lin Daiyu nodded thoughtfully.

She had never thought about it like this before, but now Yun Qinghuan's words opened a new door for her.

Yun Qingxuan has a very magical characteristic.No matter how much the topic deviates, she can always find ways to get back to the starting point and return to the question she wanted to ask at the beginning.

Therefore, Lin Daiyu is still thinking about life, and Yun Qingxuan over there has begun to persevere in asking: "Cousin, uncle is also starting to show you. I heard from my mother that my uncle is the most optimistic about the brother of the Meng family. What about you, what do you think about Meng?" What does my brother think?"

After all, along the way, she found that Meng Xiu often paid twice as much attention to Lin Daiyu, and was very attentive.It's just that I didn't write the words 'I like Daiyu' on my face.

Sometimes Yun Qingxuan would sit in the room and watch Lin Daiyu enjoy the scenery and recite poems on the deck from the window on the second floor, while Meng Xiu would often be at the side asking about his health, handing over his cloak and serving tea.If Lin Daiyu hadn't been her cousin, she would have been moved.

Lin Daiyu thought for a while and said, "Brother Meng is fine."

Yun Qinghuo waited for a long time, but there was nothing to say. She opened her eyes wide and asked, "Is it good? Cousin, what do you think of Brother Meng? Do you like Brother Meng?"

Lin Daiyu lowered her eyes and tugged at her quilt: "Orders from parents, words from matchmakers, what right do I have to say that I don't like it?"

Yun Qing slowly squinted her eyes and looked at Lin Daiyu's expression, trying to judge Lin Daiyu's emotions from any clues, and finally suddenly realized, and deliberately said: "Cousin, I think you really don't take the initiative in this kind of thing. If you If you don’t like it, go tell your uncle, he loves you so much, he will definitely not force you.”

Lin Daiyu blushed almost to the point of bleeding from Yun Qingxuan's unscrupulous words, and said: "Huanhua, actually, I don't think Brother Meng is bad."

Yun Qing slowly moved her body up: "That's why I think brother Meng is good."

Lin Daiyu refused to speak, and pulled the quilt to cover half of her face.

Yun Qingxuan probably understood Lin Daiyu's intentions, and laughed very loudly: "Cousin, if Brother Meng knows what you said, he will probably go crazy with joy."

Lin Daiyu stretched out her hand and gave Yun Qing a small slap: "Okay, take it easy, sleep. I'll take you to Qiling Temple to play tomorrow."

Situ Jin, Yun Qingchi, and Li Xiuwen's fleet arrived in Yangzhou a few days earlier.

Accompanied by local officials these days, Yun Qingchi and Li Xiuwen not only inspected their official duties, but also visited various places of interest and scenery.Situ Jin, on the grounds that he was not acclimatized to the environment and was seriously ill, thanked the guests behind closed doors in the mansion, and waited wholeheartedly for the arrival of the genius doctor Fan.

Situ Jin sat in the room, looked at Yun Qingchi, and asked, "Zi Chi, what do you think of the officialdom in Yangzhou?"

Yun Qingchi unceremoniously gave twelve words: "Boys from above to lie from below, a nest of snakes and rats, and gangsters."

Situ Jin shook his head: "In the past, Lord Lin was the censor of the salt patrol, and the Yangzhou salt administration was fairly clear. Afterwards, Lord Lin returned to Beijing and replaced the other confidant of the emperor's brother. His ability is mediocre, but he is also conservative. Now this This person is the second brother's former confidant, which is really convenient for the Zhen family, with such a long hand, he is not afraid of choking himself to death."

For the past few days, Yun Qingchi has accompanied Situ Jin to visit the mountains and rivers on the surface, but secretly investigated in private.Although the time was short, a lot of evidence against the Zhen family was collected.

The Cao family is not an exception. There are even more miserable families than the Cao family. They were all harmed by the Zhen family and had nowhere to ask for help. Home's retribution.

Looking at the bloody tragedies one after another, and the piles of bones lying in the Yucheng River, he only wished that these conscienceless beasts could also have a taste of what it means to be separated from their wives and their families.

only……

Situ Jin looked at the confession files that Yun Qingchi had worked so hard to obtain, and rubbed his temples a little irritably: "Concubine Zhen is very favored in front of the father now, and the father will not let the emperor touch Zhen House's."

Yun Qingchi knocked on the table, but did not speak.

He is clear about this.Unless the Supreme Emperor dies, even serious crimes such as selling smuggled salt may not be able to uproot the Zhen family.

However, if the Zhen family really committed some serious crimes that endangered the imperial power and punished the nine clans, then even the Supreme Emperor could not be saved.

Situ Jin obviously didn't think of a good way to deal with the Zhen family, feeling a little unhappy, looked at the door, and asked, "Hasn't Hanyun come back yet?"

Yun Qingchi took a sip of tea, and said: "Now the Zhen family trusts him very much, they take him to various banquets every day, and they even wanted to give her a concubine Ji a few days ago. But he refused. "

"Concubine Ji?" Situ Jin raised her eyebrows, obviously thinking of Liang Yiheng's letter to them, and sneered: "The concubine Ji of the Zhen family is doing well, but I don't know whose daughter it is."

While speaking, there was a knock on the door.

Situ Jin's personal guard came in and saluted: "Your Highness, my lord, Doctor Fan has arrived."