Red Mansions Become Baochai

Thinking of what he saw at Xue's house, he hurriedly told Mrs. Wang.

I heard that everyone in Xue's house is busy

Let's say that Zheng Hua's family happened to enter the main hall in Xue's house that day, and their eyes skipped the Duobaoge with all kinds of gold and jade Western ornaments, and fell on the big red sandalwood table in front of the east window.

I saw Baochai, the eldest daughter of the Xue family, standing at the table, watching his brother Xue Pan write big characters.The Zheng Hua family was curious for a moment, and stopped by the side to take a look.It turned out that Baochai was not watching, but guiding Xue Pan!The elder brother who learned was very naughty, but the younger sister who taught was very patient, correcting Xue Pan's mistakes over and over again.

Zheng Hua's family had served Yuan Chun in the early years, and he remembered that before the eldest lady of the Jia family entered the palace, she was in Mrs. Wang's room every day, so she taught her younger brother Baoyu carefully.Because although Baochai is a young girl, she does not show any timidity when teaching her brother, and she speaks books clearly and logically, as if she is very knowledgeable.

I inquired with the servants and maids around for a while.Everyone in the Xue residence said that the eldest young master Xue Pan was a bit playful, but the eldest lady Baochai was the smartest, and the youngest followed the master to learn and read. Now he is not yet six years old, and he already has several books in his stomach. A thousand characters are included, and when it comes to talent and knowledge, the young masters older than her are not as good as her.

Zheng Hua's family told Mrs. Wang in detail, and Mrs. Wang started to have some activities in her heart.She has always felt that her daughter, Yuan Chun, is the most extraordinary. It would be very rare for this niece to have half of Yuan Chun's benefits.Thinking of something else, he asked again: "I heard people say that the brother-in-law of the Xue family is very capable. In the past two years, the business of the Xue family has become more and more prosperous. Every year, dozens of shops have been opened, making a lot of money every day. You go What is his house like?"

The Zheng Hua family thought for a while before answering: "I haven't personally seen how the Xue family's business is going, so I don't dare to talk nonsense to my wife. It's just that when I went there, I happened to meet the second master of his family coming home. The Jinling City Wu Yaya parked more than a dozen large ebony cargo ships by the outer pier, full of all kinds of foreign goods he bought from Haiyanzi. There were also a dozen carriages as gifts for his family. Mrs. Xue rewarded me casually A silver comb from a Western court, and a glass bottle of toilet water from the Farashi Kingdom."

Zhou Rui's family was listening, and heard that Zheng Hua's family referred to "France" as "Falahi", and was about to say something to make fun of her. Just like this.Seeing that Mrs. Wang didn't understand the joke, she suppressed her laughter and swallowed what she wanted to say.

At that time, foreign goods were rare items, and a small piece was worth tens or even hundreds of taels of silver. If you have money, you may not be able to buy it in Beijing.The Xue family has a dozen or so boats worth of foreign goods, and their wealth is evident.

Mrs. Wang heard from Zheng Hua's family again: "When I returned to our mansion, I made a cargo ship for the Xue family's own use. I saw that the decoration was more magnificent than that of the official ship. Along the way, those stewards dealt with the water transport department. The officials want to flatter them. Besides, the food and clothing expenses of his servants and servants are no worse than ours, and everyone always wears a silk and leather robe."

When Zhou Rui's family heard it, it was not bad. Although she had one or two leather jackets, they were given to her by Mrs. Wang because she thought they were bad.For the shameless maids in other houses, it would be nice to have a few cotton-padded jackets to wear in the cold winter months.

When Mrs. Wang heard that the Xue family was so rich, she liked Baochai even more.Then he asked Zheng Hua's family in detail about Baochai's appearance and temperament.

At this moment, Zheng Hua's family also sensed Mrs. Wang's intentions, and replied cautiously: "Miss Xue's family has a good appearance, like a pile of snow, and she behaves very elegantly at a young age, she is a bit of a lady." appearance."

Mrs. Wang thought about it, her younger sister and brother-in-law are all good-looking, so naturally Baochai will not be any worse.The Xue family is so rich that outsiders say that his family has millions of dollars.The brother-in-law loves his daughter so much, so her share of the dowry must be indispensable.

Baoyu is her second son, not to mention that the title of the family is the head of the family, even if it is her turn in the future, there will still be Pearl on top.If Baochai married Jia's family, he could bring a dowry worth hundreds of thousands, which would be enough for Baoyu to last him a lifetime.Mrs. Wang thought about it for a while, and felt that this matter could definitely be done.Without discussing with her husband and mother-in-law, she asked someone to write a letter and sent it to Xue's house.

Unexpectedly, everyone heard Mrs. Xue's teasing of her daughter, and Baochai was not the only one who was worried.Aunt He and Gu Yunzhen's mother and son were a little unhappy.Miss Liu remembered what her brother and sister-in-law had asked her to do, so she hurriedly got up and went back to listen to Yuxuan talk to Xue Shen.

Mrs. Liu searched around but found no one, but her maid Basho replied that Xue Shen was with Big Yu.I walked over quickly to see that my husband was gesticulating happily, telling the chef at home how to cook the big sturgeon.Busily dragged him into the back room to talk privately.

Mrs. Liu said urgently: "There is a big event at home, why are you still thinking about eating fish?" Xue Shen said with a smile: "What's the big deal? Could it be that you have another one?"

Mrs. Liu thumped him on the shoulder and said, "Seeing that I'm in such a hurry, you still have the heart to make fun of it." He hurriedly said, "The Jia family has already written a letter to propose marriage, and the niece Baochai is about to be settled."

Xue Shen was half-believing and half-doubting: "Chai'er will only turn six years old, and child marriage is not popular nowadays. Even if his family proposes marriage, my brother may not be willing to accept it."

Mrs. Liu was walking around in the room. Hearing what her husband said, Fang sat down and said, "Why don't you agree? Then the second wife of the Jia family is the elder sister of my sister-in-law. If the uncle refuses to answer, the sister-in-law will definitely be soft-hearted. Ask him."

After thinking for a while, he stood up abruptly and said: "We promised my brother and sister-in-law at my house that day that we would marry Baochai for our nephew Wen Tao, but now the Jia family has taken the lead, how can I explain to my brother?"

After finishing talking, I went to find Xue Ke, walked a few steps and turned back and said: "No, uncle is the most respectful of rules. I may not listen to him even if I go to find him." He laughed and pushed Xue Shen and said: "You should go, what you said , Uncle will most likely answer our side."

Xue Shen sat down, drank tea leisurely and said, "I won't go, and I advise you not to shave your head and make a fuss about it. The elder brother has his own ideas about the marriage of children, and the Jia family will definitely not agree. It's too early for the Liu family to say so." morning."

Mrs. Liu sat down angrily and said, "I heard that the Jia family is very rich. But now my brother is a general judge in Xuzhou Prefecture, Sichuan Province, and his performance is excellent every year. He will definitely be promoted in the next year. He is very worthy of his family background." Let’s get over it. In terms of characters, Wen Tao of my family was born well and is a gentle child, only a few months older than Chai’er, how can he not be worthy?”

Seeing her getting angry seriously, Xue Shen stopped laughing, and said, "It's too early to say what is worthy or not. I usually see my elder brother's actions, he doesn't think much about his family status—"

"Then what do you value?" Mrs. Liu rushed to ask without waiting for him to finish speaking.

Xue Shen continued: "The eldest sister who was married to the Shi family that year disappeared, and the eldest brother went to the funeral and came back and took me to drink. He said a lot of things from his heart—"

Mrs. Liu patiently listened to his ramblings, and quickly cut it off: "What does elder brother value, you have been rambling on and on for a long time and you can't come up with an idea."

Xue Shen felt a little sad when he thought of his elder sister.He picked up the tea bowl, took a sip and swallowed it for a while, then opened his mouth and said: "The elder brother said that the elder sister is purely tired. The family members of the Shi family, as the granddaughter-in-law, serve the mother-in-law at the top, and the mother-in-law at the bottom. Take care of aunt and nephew. There can be no mistakes at all. I heard from my sister's maid that two months before my sister died, she was so tired that she had a miscarriage. A five-month-old brother passed away. From this incident When I got up, my eldest brother said that marrying a daughter to a high family is not necessarily a good way to feel sorry for her daughter. A high family status means big rules and many things. Life is still like ours, and it is better to live lightly if you can. "

After hearing this, Mrs. Liu brushed her hair, her face was no longer worried, she looked radiant, and said with a smile: "Uncle is really sensible, that's right. Why should I give my daughter, who is as precious as jewels, to those old wives of high-ranking families?" Rusty. I think the Jia family will be shut down this time."

After thinking about it for a while, he turned his head and asked, "After talking for a long time, you still didn't say what uncle valued for his daughter's marriage. I almost fell for it and was fooled by you."

Xue Shen took a sip and felt that the tea was cold, so he called someone in to change the tea.Basho hurriedly lifted the curtain and came in from the outside, and poured the residual tea into the gold enamel bowl on the side.Then he took down the kettle from the white clay stove on the brazier next to it, made Liu'an tea with an old purple clay pot, and brought it to the table.Looking at his face, he saw that his husband and wife were still talking, so he quickly saluted and quietly retreated out.

Xue Shen continued: "Brother Jia's family won't answer. It's not because of his family status. Big brother has been to his house several times in Beijing, and when he came back, he told me that Jia's family was very unruly and never treated his family well. I like it very much."

Mrs. Liu hurriedly asked with a smile: "This Jia family is also a hereditary noble in Chang'an Jingli. Why does uncle say that his family doesn't follow the rules, but come and listen to me."

Xue Shen squinted, seeing his wife laughing like a flower, couldn't help but stepped forward and hugged Liu's slender waist, and said with a smile: "You don't care about his family's unruly house, now your husband and I want to be unruly."

Liu blushed with embarrassment, slapped Xue Shen's hand away, turned around and stood up and said, "It's bright and sunny, you should be more sensible. Let the children see it, put your face there." Said and went out all the way.

Xue Shen let out a sigh of relief, with a bitter face, he thought to himself, this moment is really safe and sound, and told him to confuse him again.The next time the wife thought about it again and forced him to find her eldest brother to propose marriage to her natal nephew, what would she do?

Besides, Baochai was waiting in the house, but Mrs. Xue did not come out.My heart was going up and down, I couldn't sit still.I want to be confused with my mother, always