The Eighteenth Century of Xuyang in the Red Chamber

On the twentieth day of the first lunar month of the Kuichou year, in the capital, Zuodu Censor Linfu.

The study room where Dilong was lit was warm, but Lin Ruhai's heart was icy cold.

Lan Jihe died, and the document reported by the Ministry of Criminal Justice said that he committed suicide, but Lin Ruhai didn't believe it!Lan Jihe had clearly pleaded not guilty even though he was tortured the day before, so how could he commit suicide suddenly after suffering so many crimes?He was tortured so much that he couldn't even lift his hands. How could he have the strength to hang himself by hanging a rope from the beam of the house!And the salt merchant who testified that Lan Ji and the bribery, the confession of several times is also different, obviously full of loopholes.This case was full of inadequacies from the beginning to the end. Anyone with a discerning eye could see that Lan Jihe was framed.

But so what?The presiding judge was Zhou Haihua, the servant of the Ministry of Justice who was promoted at the beginning of the year. He is Zhou Meiren's elder brother. The emperor trusted him very much, and he swore that Lan Jihe was guilty; and Lan Jihe?That day in Beijing, there was only one stunned head, who didn't give anyone face. He was famous for twisting and rushing, and contradicted the emperor several times. Otherwise, how could he have the nickname "Lan Tietou"?The emperor had been tired of him for a long time, but he couldn't do a single step wrong, and he couldn't find any faults, so he sent him to Yangzhou, out of sight and out of mind.Now that someone has caught him by the pigtails, the emperor wishes Lan Tietou would never appear in front of him again in his life, so why would he be interested in studying whether he really committed suicide in fear of crime!

Lin Ruhai once petitioned the emperor to retry the case, but the emperor just said "the evidence is convincing and there is no need for another trial" and refuted it.If it was placed seven or eight years ago, Lin Ruhai would definitely appear on the table again, but seeing the irritability on the emperor's face, he still endured it.

After returning from the Metropolitan Procuratorate, Lin Ruhai sat in the study in a daze.The emperor has become more and more mischievous these days.That day when Zhou Haihua was a county magistrate, his evaluation was terrible, not to mention that he loves money like his life and is famous for his revenge. Who doesn't know what kind of guy he is?Such a person has been allowed to skip so many levels in three years, and now he has directly skipped the level and become the servant of the Ministry of Punishment!Mr. Li, Shangshu of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, is not young, and he has only been an official for a couple of years. Could it be that the emperor wants Zhou Haihua, a villain, to be a Shangshu?

Distraught, stood up and paced in the study, Lin Ruhai was extremely anxious, but at this time someone came to report that the second master of the Jia family was coming, and Lin Ruhai was puzzled when he heard Jia Baoyu's name, how did this little ancestor think of coming here? up?

Jia Baoyu had a very hard time for more than a year, and he was finally managed by his father to live in the government school that Mr. Ge was in charge of.Of course, the whole process was very cheating—Lin Ruhai never expected that Jia Zheng could really get his son to go to that school!No one knows better than Lin Ruhai how much Baoyu is favored at home, so his opinion that day was really just an opinion, thinking that even if he can't go out to live in school, as long as Jia Baoyu can go to school outside, what will happen if he doesn't study? It would be nice to see more hard-working children from poor families living their lives!Who knew that the performance of the second master Jia Zheng and Jia was really awesome this time, and he actually got the job done.

Jia Zheng has always been strict with his children, but because he has nowhere to start, it's no wonder he didn't work hard when he finally found a way!Of course, as soon as this opinion was put forward, it was unanimously opposed by Mrs. Jia and Mrs. Wang, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. There is no need to find reasons. There is a family education at home. You are so full that you send your son outside to suffer?During the period, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were mixed with all kinds of mourning and reminiscence of Jia Zhu who died young, saying that Jia Zheng wanted to force the second child to death?While talking, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law cried together.

The development of things here is not at all what Lin Ruhai expected, but the follow-up is out of the script.Jia Zheng's enthusiasm was once again poured with cold water, but this time he was really sad. When the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law had cried enough, he knelt down in front of the old lady and burst into tears. Behavior, after enumerating Baoyu's deeds, he began to talk about other people's children: why the four sons of Xu Shilang's family have their own careers, and why the brother-in-law's nephew is already famous for both calligraphy and painting at only sixteen, and finally he brought out his niece as a master. Comparison: "When I was nine years old, I read the Four Books and Five Classics several times! But what about Baoyu? When my brother-in-law came over last year, he could even get the allusions wrong in college. He was studying at home. He was clearly just messing around. ..."

Jia Zheng's eloquence is really not good, and his words about his son have never carried much weight. After all, he is filial. As long as his mother is really annoyed, he will definitely give in. This time is no exception. My wife has given up hope, but I feel uncomfortable, it's my fault for not being a godfather!I really want to discipline my son well, but what should I do if I can't intervene?So crying like this is really pure venting.Who knew that this venting would be serious, Jia Zheng is not young anymore, he was sad, he was very blocked, and he was too excited, and he knelt on the ground for too long, and finally waited for the old lady to ask someone to help him up At that moment, he swung his legs and lowered his head, and passed away!

This frightened the whole family. Jia Zheng's health has always been good, unlike his brother who was too drunk and emptied his body. , so Mrs. Jia really regarded him as the backbone.Old son, eldest grandson, old lady, lifeblood, these old sayings definitely have a very good basis. When Jia Zheng fell like this, the old lady almost fainted immediately, and the son jumped up and pinched him again. It was back again; Mrs. Wang was also impatient. It is true that her son has a heart, but her husband is also an old companion, and he also cried. Fortunately, Li Wan came in time, and it was easy to get the old lady and Mrs. Wang away. Persuaded, the whole family hurriedly carried Jia Zheng back to the room, invited the imperial physician, Jia Zheng woke up before the imperial physician came, but he just stared blankly, couldn't lift his hands, and didn't care about others, just died Staring at Baoyu who was accompanying the bedside, she kept crying.

In fact, Jia Zheng didn’t have a big problem, it’s just that he was so angry that he couldn’t move all of a sudden. Many people can’t move their hands and feet when they are too excited, but his appearance like this is really scary. Everyone really thought he was paralyzed by qi. up!After all, Baoyu is a filial child. He knows why his father and grandmother are arguing today. After all, is it because of him?No matter how much he messed up, he couldn't help but make his father angry. When he saw his father crying, he knelt down beside the bed and cried, "My son is unfilial. It's all his fault. Father, don't be angry. I'll go to school tomorrow, I'll study hard, don't cry, don't cry..." Baoyu cried and wiped his father's tears, and after a while the imperial doctor came and checked the pulse, and said there was nothing serious, just a moment of shortness of breath It's all about attacking his heart, he won't be really paralyzed, but after all, he is not too young, so it's better not to make him angry in the future.Another injection was given to Jia Zheng, and sure enough he was able to move again after a while.

After the imperial doctor was sent away, no one dared to fight against Jia Zheng anymore, and the old lady didn't even mention it.What a joke, the grandson going to school is just a bit harder than living at home. If he really paralyzed his son because of this, it would be useless to take no matter how many regret medicines he took.

So half a month later, Baoyu was sent to the official school in Dongcheng.Jia Zheng remembered Lin Ruhai's words, and all the shrewd servants around Baoyu were not used, but Li Gui, a decent manservant, followed him. If it is tight, Baoyu will not allow him to skip classes, and he will not be allowed to play outside the school, and he will not be allowed to come back until the holiday.

It stands to reason that being sent to boarding school Baoyu should be miserable, yes, this child is sad when he thinks of leaving home to live in school, he can't see his grandma, mother, sisters, and even the girls in the house. It takes one day in ten days to see each other, and nine days of squatting in the school before being released. This is not a human life at all!But don't forget one thing, Baoyu guy is a face controler!To be honest, this is really a cheating hobby, but the current situation has played a very good role.

In terms of appearance, the average level of scholars is definitely higher than that of ordinary people.After all, the imperial examination has strict requirements on appearance. If you look ugly, you should find another way as soon as possible, so don't count on the imperial examination.Otherwise, how did Zhong Kui become Zhenzhai Zhenjun?You thought he was willing to be the one, but it was because he was so ugly that he was rejected from the imperial examination, so he committed suicide angrily.Even a rough guy like Ada Ling is only black and strong, and his facial features are definitely correct.If you look like a deer-headed mouse, just stop studying. There is no way to go through the imperial examination.

Baoyu originally went to the official school reluctantly, but who knew that he went to the class to see, and was shocked, there are so many beautiful boys!Although most of them are dressed in simple clothes, they are serious children who are studying, and their looks are not bad, not to mention that their overall temperament is more than one grade higher than those of the Jia family who eat and drink... Baoyu has the most I was stunned, and just now I felt that this school was good.

What made him even more excited was that Xu Mo came to him after class.Xu Mo was already a scholar at this time, so of course it was impossible to be in the same class as Jia Baoyu. The school was divided into three classes. The lowest class was Baoyu’s class, where children who were not even qualified as children’s students could study; This level mainly teaches subjects for Confucian children to test for talent;Some of the Juren went to the Academy to study, and after all, it was a matter of fact, and a large part of the Juren with good backgrounds went to the Imperial College, and of course there were also self-study at home or with their masters.

Xu Mo met Jia Baoyu once at Lin Ruhai's house. Jia Baoyu is a face-controller, so he felt very kind when he saw Xu Mo for the first time. When I was in school, I made a special trip to see him.

Although Xu Mo worshiped Lin Ruhai as a teacher, Lin Ruhai still had to go to work. How could he teach him all day long, so Xu Mo still studied in the government school honestly, and only went to the teacher's house every afternoon to ask for advice. Learning, of course, he usually stays at Lin Ruhai's house for a day on holidays.Of course, he is now a scholar, and there is no need for his family to deliberately temper him, so he does not need to live in school every day, and he does not come to class every day. Knowing that he was in this school, but Xu Mo heard about it, and even though there was no class he wanted to attend that day, he still came here specially.

Surrounded by a group of good-looking ladies, another super-beautiful boy came to visit him. Baoyu didn't know where to throw away the frustration that Baoyu had accumulated because he was going to school these days. Delicious - this is definitely hungry, because he didn't eat snacks all morning, how can he spend an hour at home with his mouth idle.

The dormitory conditions are not bad, but definitely not good either.The school still gives preferential treatment to the children of these rich and noble families. At least they live in a single room, but it is really a single room, but it is a little more than one zhang square, and it is full of two narrow beds and a cabinet. When the table goes in, the servants have to live in the same room, which is really heaven and earth compared to Baoyu's house.But with the glittering Xu Mo as his neighbor Baoyu, it really doesn't matter anything!He thought to himself, the fourth brother of the Xu family, who is as talented as the world, doesn't think this place is rough, so what can I do with something like a mud pig and a dog?He didn't even have a word of complaint, he just watched Li Gui and him pack their luggage honestly.

Xu Mo was very surprised: "Such a pampered child has no complaints in such a place, he is really better than other honorable children." He didn't hear Baoyu's inner monologue, otherwise he would have to vent... The divine thinking of the waiter Shen Ying is beyond the comprehension of ordinary people.

Anyway, Jia Baoyu obediently lived in the official school.In fact, most of the time, being poor is purely out of habit. Jia Baoyu has nothing to do at home all day long, picking and choosing, drinking tea and studying which dishes are outstanding.Now the school has a tight schedule all day long, and it is strictly forbidden to bring snacks to class. Growing teenagers are the most likely to be hungry, so Baoyu can swallow even the ordinary meals that he cooks, and he still eats a lot!Xu Mo is the most gentle person, and he is afraid that he will not adapt, so he came to eat with him for a few days, and introduced him to the school. Mo also knew this, so he always took care of him when he could, which made Baoyu more and more overjoyed.

In fact, it wasn’t that Jia Baoyu didn’t want to hug his father for a few days and wait for his father’s health to find a way to escape home at the beginning... But this is the tragedy of Yan Kong, how could he be willing to part with the classmates of these beautiful boys and girls!The girls in the family, even if they are not there, they will not fly away, and they can still see each other when they go home. As for the sisters in the family, they may not see each other every day!But if he doesn't go to school anymore, these classmates, especially this fourth brother of the Xu family with a very good personality, will be rare to see.So he worried about gains and losses for two months. Although the school life was really monotonous and the conditions were really simple, he was still reluctant to leave.

Jia Baoyu is actually the smartest. At the beginning, he was really reluctant to leave because of his facial control, but after staying for a long time, he gradually discovered the difference between the students here and the students in the family school.

In fact, Baoyu was not considered popular when he first arrived at the school.He was well-born, gentle-tempered, and had always been popular in his own family and in the social circle of his honorable son, but this was not in his family, nor was it the circle of that dude.Which of the children in government schools doesn't want to take the imperial examination route?Those who come to school are either the children of the scholarly family, or the children of the civil servants, and some are the children of ordinary families who have high hopes at home.And, ahem, children are different from adults, their minds are simpler, and a sweet potato falls into a pile of potatoes, how awkward it is!

Sweet potatoes and potatoes are both dug out of the soil, and they are both big pieces, but one is the root and the other is the stem, it is definitely not the same thing.Jia Baoyu, who is a noble son, is really different from everyone else.He was wearing a bright red baby outfit, with ornaments all over his head and body, and his boots were full of embroidery. This look was almost short of writing "Dude" on his forehead!Fortunately, his baby face is very cute, coupled with his good personality, he has no temper at all, so after a few days, the Tudou classmates who didn't want to see him at first accepted the existence of his sweet potato.

However, there is still a little friction.

One day, Baoyu accidentally knocked over the inkstone of a classmate in the back row, and splashed a bunch of words he had written. He hurriedly apologized, but the classmate just slapped his face and didn't make a sound, and ignored him for the next two days. he.Baoyu felt aggrieved, and he didn't do it on purpose. He saw that the word was just a Tang poem, not the teacher's homework, so why was he so recalcitrant?Feeling so depressed, I secretly complained to Xu Mo about my grievances.

Xu Mo knew what was going on as soon as he heard it, so he asked him: "Is the Tao Jing you mentioned called Tao Silang by everyone?" Baoyu said yes.

Xu Mo sighed: "That's no wonder! You've made him suffer, it's no wonder he's not angry." Seeing Baoyu's confused face, it was inconvenient to say that there were so many people in the dining hall, so he dragged him back to his room Talk to him.

It turns out that Tao Silang was originally a son of an official family, but his grandfather who was a sixth-rank official died ten years ago. Fortunately, the family still has some wealth. His father is very shrewd and capable, and his uncle was also selected by Juren Well, the two brothers are not separated, and they have a very good relationship. A dozen or so children from the two families get together and live a good life.Who knew that a fire broke out in the west of the city a few years ago, and it happened to burn down his house!There is no bank in this year, all the property is in the house, what's worse, it was night when the fire started, his grandmother, father, uncle, aunt and nine brothers and sisters were sleeping at home that day, the fire started from Entering from the direction of the gate, the alley at the gate was blocked by the cars pulled out by the neighbors who ran to other places to save the property. The whole family was blocked in the yard and could not get out. One of them was burned to death without pulling it. In the blink of an eye, only Tao Dalang, Tao Silang and Tao Xiaomei, who followed their mother back to their natal home that day, were left in the whole family.A family of four orphans and widowed mothers, no matter how hard it is, with the help of neighbors, they collected the melted gold and silver from the ruins and built a small house on the original site to survive. Relying on dozens of acres of land in the countryside to collect rent, and Mrs. Tao doing needlework.Fortunately, the three of their sisters are very sensible. Dalang was admitted as a scholar early, and he copied books every day and was the breadwinner for others. Shiro also read well, and he also learned from his elder brother while studying. While copying books for bookstores, writing letters for others to make money.

Speaking of this, Xu Mo sighed: "Tao Dalang and I are classmates. He is nineteen years old, but he has said that he has not considered marriage in the past few years, and he will mention it after he is admitted to Juren. He told me in private that he actually wanted to wait for his younger brother to also be admitted to the scholar Besides, he will feel more at ease when he gets married, and the boy will not be in a hurry. Besides, they both have to take the exam and the grade of the younger sister can be higher! The two brothers are busy in the dark, thinking about saving a pen for the younger sister before she gets married. Good dowry. The pile of poems you ruined for Tao Silang was probably prepared by him to be bound into a collection and sold to bookstores. Those things probably took him several days of work. The Tao brothers usually only use The worst paper and ink can be sold in bookstores, but you can’t be careless about the materials. They bought them specially, and all of a sudden, a few days of work was wasted, and the cost was also folded in. You said, this is what you said casually. Is it okay to apologize?"

Baoyu had been obsessed with hearing it for a long time, and couldn't help saying: "Hateful, hateful! I made a big mistake, no wonder Tao Jing annoyed me!" Standing up again, he stomped his feet again and again: "I am like a mud pig mangy dog, but born Enjoying blessings in a wealthy family; but such transparent brothers and sisters have to suffer so much, God is really unfair, really unfair!"

Xu Mo has known Baoyu for a while, and has long been immune to his strange remarks. He knows that he really thinks so, and doesn't think his tone is exaggerated, but he shakes his head and corrects Baoyu's opinion: "Life is not satisfactory. Nine times out of ten! You think they are suffering, but don’t you know that suffering is actually wealth? It’s vulgar to say that you can be a master if you endure hardships, but it’s not unreasonable. If you can live a rich life, you can also endure it. Living in poverty, growing up like this since childhood, what will be difficult for them in the future! The younger sister of the Tao family is only 11 years old this year, but she is just the same age as you, but there are already many serious and good people asking for marriage. The family is not rich now, it's not because she has two good brothers!"

Speaking of which, Xu Mo's words are already very targeted: "Brother Bao, I know you look down on scholars who are dedicated to taking the imperial examination. But do you know that not everyone is born in a rich nest like you and doesn't need anything?" Don’t worry! Who doesn’t have parents and brothers? A man, even if he doesn’t live in this world for his own fame and wealth, he always thinks about his family. My father lost his father when he was young. Difficult, let alone the imperial examination to become an official! The first thing he thought of when he became a servant was to give my aunt a command, so as not to be bullied by others in his hometown... You said, if he didn't go to the imperial examination, he wouldn't go As an official, how can I repay my aunt's kindness? And the Tao brothers, their family was ruined, leaving only orphans and widows. They don't study, don't take scientific examinations, and I'm afraid it's hard to live a decent life! What's more, A person with good moral character will also be a good official, and this will benefit the people. If innocent people do not become officials, and let those messy people corrupt the country, it will be really bad! You mentioned the scientific research the other day. Officer, you are talking about the words of those national thieves, do you think you are right now?"

Baoyu was dumbfounded a long time ago. It's not that he didn't understand some things, but that no one told him how to think and see.His mother and grandmother just pampered him blindly, but his father hoped that his son would become a dragon, but he always only knew how to reprimand him... Growing up so big, it was the first time someone broke up with him like this, crushed and made sense, but every word was on point!He has never been a fool, so why can't he figure out such a simple truth when it comes to this matter.

Those who are close to Zhu are red and those who are close to ink are black. These days, he has seen a lot of life that is completely different from the decadent atmosphere of Rongguo Mansion, and he has already shaken some of his past views, but Xu Mo's words completely destroyed His original attitude towards life.

If Xu Yang, the butterfly's wings, hadn't flapped, Jia Baoyu would have made acquaintance with Qin Zhong very soon.But now, he didn't know Qin Zhong who made him obsessed with his appearance, but Xu Mo who taught him the principles of life like his elder brother. Many things are really different.

The butterfly's wings finally fanned Jia Baoyu's fate from the original track.