A Dream of Red Mansions: Zhu Yan drunk

(after Dragon Boat Festival)

It happened that this fall was the period of the three-year township examination. Jia Zheng asked Ren Qiong about the situation of several students and said that they were expected to pass the test. Jia Zheng ordered Lai Da to be some decorations in the house. The four of Lan Jiajun donated to the supervisor, and said to the four of them: "I see you pretending to be reading and writing in front of me all day long, but whoever really works hard will go to the examination room to test this fall." The four of them agreed and went back to work harder.Baoyu also changed his temper, and suddenly felt that the characters in the book were beautiful, and the reasoning of the articles made sense. Holding the book and reading it with a smile, Qiuwen Muskyue and others teased him: "Second Lord, this is going to be Xie Yuan and Xie Yuan." Get married, double happiness comes.Baoyu smiled but did not answer.Du Xiren felt uneasy. He brought tea to ask if he was thirsty, added incense and asked if he was tired, and asked if he was hungry with snacks. Baoyu was annoyed by the question and said, "Don't be so busy. Me, now you are bothering me from studying." Xiren said: "Second Master is proud now, so we don't like us, and I'm afraid we won't be seen in the future." His eye circles are also red.Baoyu Fang felt that what he said just now was really offensive, and he hurriedly comforted Xiren and said: "Don't you know me? I only hope that my sisters and you will never leave me. I have never disliked anyone. It's a pity that the sky fails. It's dead, it's dead, it's scattered." Xiren saw his nonsense again and hurriedly said: "It's good that the second master has a heart, and it's not in vain for us to serve you. Read the book carefully, and I won't bother you." Baoyu looked at it. After a while, I suddenly remembered that Zijuan was packing her luggage. She must have prepared all the medicines that Daiyu often took. She didn't know if she had prepared pills to cool off the heat. My sister is going to deliver the medicine." Then I went to the Xiaoxiang Pavilion.

When I arrived at the Xiaoxiang Pavilion, I gave the medicine to Zijuan. Zijuan said that it was enough, and the old lady also sent some. Baoyu saw that Daiyu was sorting out some poems. I don’t want to read how many poems I have hidden." Daiyu laughed and said, "I wrote them when I was a child, and I accidentally found them when I packed up my things today. Now it seems that they are very incomprehensible and boring." Baoyu took two or three Zhang looked:

on the way

Raise your eyes on strangers,

Contact with the wind and dust.

Lu Yao is tired,

There is no return to the cold and heat.

sail

Egrets fly in the blue sky,

The sun shines on the mountains and rivers.

I think the boat is slow,

And look forward to the far shore.

wrong way

Bamboo forest with deep leaves,

There are many stone paths.

repenting astray,

He hesitated in advance and retreat.

Just looking at it, the parrot outside the window suddenly shouted: "Go back, come back, Hu not return?"Everyone laughed at it and said, "I know how to recite poems." Baoyu said, "You have been away for more than two months, why don't you give it to me to raise it for you." Daiyu agreed and said, "Don't teach it Learn those nonsense." Baoyu said: "Don't worry, I will only teach it to read poems." Just as I was talking, Yinger came to deliver something. It turned out to be a round fan embroidered by Suzhou. Zijuan took it, and Daiyu smiled. Said: "Thank you, Sister Bao, for me." Ying'er came out of the Xiaoxiang Pavilion and broke some flower branches in the Grand View Garden on the way. Leave it to me to weave flower baskets." Wen Xing said with a smile: "Girl has been in a bad mood these days, and it's time to go outside to clean things up again, and you still bring these flowers back." Ying'er pinched Wen Xing's face and said softly He laughed and said, "You really don't have a good mouth. You talk nonsense. Be careful, the girl will annoy you if you hear it. Go!" Then he went into the room and answered Baochai.When Baochai heard Yinger say that it had been delivered, she hummed without looking up, and continued to sit on the couch and work the needle.At that moment, Aunt Xue came over and sat there for a while, seeing no one there, and sighed to Baochai, "I don't know how to end your brother's business, and you have been troubled by repeated incidents." Baochai put down her needle and thread and advised, "Mom, don't say that. How can there be a family who doesn't care about it?" The mother and daughter talked for a while.

Jia Lian took an errand to Ping'an Prefecture by himself, and was doing business at home for the past two days. Suddenly, a businessman came to see Jia Lian with an official letter from the prefect of Wenzhou, saying that the magistrate of Tu County under Wenzhou Prefecture was investigated for corruption. This official was recruited by the recommendation of Jia Lian, so some of the embezzled money paid tribute to Jia Lian.Jia Lian had heard a little bit of rumors recently, knowing that most of the matter had something to do with Sister Feng, so he didn't ask her, instead he directly cited the tolerance, and went back and forth to Jia Zheng, saying that he never did this, maybe someone else was doing something wrong in the name of others, hope Master Mingcha.Seeing such a scandal, Jia Zheng ordered Lai Da and others to quickly find out who forged Mingxin.

At that moment, Sister Feng heard the news and came to discuss with Jia Lian. Sister Feng smiled and said, "It was the county magistrate who came to ask for this matter. You were not at home at that time. I thought it was a big deal, so I took care of it for you. Now he is out of luck and is arrested." Check it out, let's just refund the money." Jia Lian sneered and said, "Don't dare to call us the second grandma, the second grandma is so capable, she can't handle anything, why come to discuss with me again." Ping'er was busy on the sidelines She laughed and said: "Don't dare to embarrass the master. Grandma will take care of it. Naturally, the master and wife can't hide it here. I just ask the master to cover it up in front of the old lady." Jia Lian didn't wait for Ping'er to finish speaking, and stood up Said: "You two have done many bad things behind my back, and finally let me top the tank. Now let's go out in a hurry, and settle the accounts carefully when you come back!" After saying that, he slammed the door and left.Seeing that Jia Lian turned ruthless, Sister Feng had to scrape together a few banknotes and begged Mrs. Wang to go and sue Jia Zheng together. Jia Zheng couldn't say anything because Sister Feng was Mrs. Wang's niece. He only ordered Sister Feng to return the stolen money, put her fingerprints on the testimony, and bring the husband who forged the letter as witness, and go back to report to the magistrate.Later, it was found out that Jia Lian had no knowledge of this matter, and there was no suspicion of handling or planning, and Sister Feng had no rank and position, so there was no way to pursue it, so it was settled.

On this day, Jia Lian and Lin Daiyu resigned from Jiamu and went south by boat. Zijuan and Jiamu's house had glass jadeite, a nanny and four women went with Daiyu. Xueyan stayed in Xiaoxiang Pavilion to look after the house.Qiutong and others went with Jia Lian, and they had to whisper in Jia Lian's ear along the way: "If I hadn't begged the Lord to take me out, I'm afraid I won't be able to see him when I go back. I think Second Sister You is the person in my heart, so I don't know." I was tortured to death by my grandma, what else can I do but count on the Lord?" Jia Lian sneered and said, "Huh, I still think their Wang family is so capable, I'm afraid I should stop and live quietly." Qiu Tong said: "On weekdays, I only listen to People say that things in the officialdom are different from time to time, and the Wang family committed a serious crime, so don't call it a burden on our family." Jia Lian couldn't help listening, and Qiu Tong urged Xing'er to tell Jia Lian about Zhang Hua's matter Jia Lian was very annoyed when he heard that Sister Feng planned him in this way behind his back.

In addition, the story of Sister Feng's corruption finally reached Jia Mu's ears, and Jia Mu called her to come over and scolded: "You are really too inconsiderate. Lian Er is right. It seems that I have spoiled you." Weeping in front of her, she didn't care what others said about her, but Jia Mu's two words made her feel ashamed.For a while, Mrs. Wang asked: "Seeing that next month's monthly payment will not be able to support so many people, I don't know who the old lady will arrange when we discussed the reduction of people last time?" Sister Feng stopped her tears and said, "Old Ancestor, leave this matter to me. I will take care of it so that the ancestors can rest assured that they will not cause trouble." Jia's mother also knew that this matter must be blamed on Sister Feng, and said: "When the money is enough, everything is easy to do, and the money is not enough. Everything will be difficult at the time, so you can decide what to do." So Sister Feng came out with Mrs. Wang, and went to discuss it carefully.

Mrs. Wang asked, "Do you have an idea in your heart?" Sister Feng said, "I think there have been more and more servants in the mansion over the years. It used to be that one person did two or three jobs, but now two or three people do the same job." Son, you still push me and tear it off the ground. Even if the Zhuangzi’s life is not good, it’s not good to send it to the Zhuangzi, let alone resell it to others. It’s a loss of face. Why don’t you give them a severance package and let them return to each other? Go home." Mrs. Wang asked: "Where did you get this sum of money?" Sister Feng said: "Madam, don't worry, what happened last month was that I made my wife tired. Get it done." Madam Wang knew that she was determined to use this matter to redeem Jiamu, so she let her go.

Besides, Sister Feng knew that the matter of layoffs must be straightforward, otherwise it would be difficult for people with relatives to stir up trouble and all of them came to intercede. Because Jia Lian was not at home, she went back to Mrs. Jia Zhengwang and took the housekeeper outside. Lai Da, Lin Zhixiao, Zhou Rui, etc., as well as the housekeepers and wives of Lai everyone, Lin Zhixiao's family, Zhou Rui's family, etc., all called and arranged: "Starting from the old lady, we cut two little girls everywhere, and the old lady Cut two, the boy cuts two, and you all cut out the lazy, sneaky, and slippery ones on weekdays. All the needleworkers inside are cut off, and these jobs are done by girls everywhere. The gardeners are all cut off, the work is done by women from all over the place, the grooms and bearers are all cut off, and the work is done by the boys, and the girls on Shiban take care of theirs. The godmothers are all laid off, and the errands of the young monks, Taoist priests and Jia Qin in the family temple are all laid off, let them go wandering and find other temples by themselves. The rest of the work is clearly explained, and you will bring me here within three days , take the deed, and receive the severance pay, and after three days, the severance pay will be gone." Everyone here agreed to go.

For a while, Sister Feng's place was silent, those who came to intercede gossip, those who didn't want to go knelt and begged, complaining why they were single-handed and they didn't judge others. After three or five days, more than half of them were finally sent away. At night, Sister Feng couldn't hold on anymore, her face was pale, and she said to Ping'er, "Go and invite a doctor. I'm so bored." On the bed, I went to the outside to ask for a doctor, and when I came back, I took a letter in my hand and said to Sister Feng: "Wang'er just went back and forth, and the letter written by the second master half a month ago just arrived today. When we arrived in Ping'an Prefecture, this one is for grandma." Sister Feng took the letter and opened it to read, but found that there was only a letter of divorce in the envelope, and after a rough look at it, although the words were not complete, Jia Lian's signature and fingerprints were not. Seeing it clearly, Sister Feng was annoyed and hated at once, two lines of hot tears rolled down, and she tore up the letter and threw it on the ground with two hisses, feeling that the world was spinning before her eyes.

Ping'er was going to fetch the medicine and came in when she suddenly saw Sister Feng fainted on the edge of the bed. She hurried over to help her up and call her. , anxious Ping'er flustered.When the doctor came over, he took a look at his face, tried it on his wrist, opened his eyelids again, and said to Ping'er and others, "Grandma is no longer useful." I couldn't help but lay beside my side and wept bitterly.For a while, Mother Jia and others came over, and she became more and more pitiful when she saw it, and sighed: "After all, this child is too strong, so he doesn't make a sound, and he is so strong." Seeing the torn divorce letter, he couldn't help sighing, Baoyu also stood aside and wiped away tears for Sister Feng.

Yuanyang and Li Wan supported Jia Mu, and called Baoyu to come out. Ping'er and others were dressing Sister Feng inside. Suddenly Jia Zheng and Jia Zhen came over in a hurry. An urgent military report at 25 miles, Ping'an Prefecture rebelled, [-] officials including the Jiedu envoy died in the city, and Jia Lian's name was on the list." Jia's mother asked anxiously, "Can you see clearly?" Jia Zhen said: "There is no doubt that there is no one with the same name." Baoyu hurriedly knelt in front of Jia Zhen and asked, "Where is Sister Lin?" Jia Zhen said, "The family members are still missing." Back and forth, the words "missing and missing" are reversed.Everyone in the room was weeping for a long time. Jia Zheng saw that Jia's mother was old and couldn't bear it, so he hurriedly asked her to go back, asked the doctor to check the pulse, and prescribed two more soothing prescriptions.

Here Mrs. Wang came back to Sister Feng again, and Ping'er went up to ask about the coffin. Mrs. Wang wiped her eyes with a handkerchief and said, "The family can't find any money now, and Miss Feng still has a lot of body. It's always safe, the coffin and the money for the funeral will come out here first, and you can make an account with me when you're done." Ping'er said: "My wife doesn't know, there is not much money left for the second grandma. " Mrs. Wang doubted: "I don't think so, please explain in detail." Ping'er said: "First, my uncle's house was confiscated, and many of the ones stored there were also confiscated. My wife knows about this. Then It’s just that more than half of the money that was put on interest has not been recovered. The daughter-in-law of Wang who was hanged last time is because of this incident. To subsidize the family, there are hundreds of taels of silver left in total. I persuaded the second grandma, she only said that she was afraid that people would laugh at her even more if they knew that she had no money, and would not take her seriously. The wife said that she only tried to hold her face outside." After hearing this, Mrs. Wang sighed for a long time: "I believe this, but if I only say it, how many people in the family will believe it?" Ping'er saw this, because Fengjie Jia Lian All dead, I have already become infatuated, so I don't need to worry too much, so I said to Mrs. Wang: "Madam, don't worry, if you allow me to be something in the second grandmother's house, I can take care of the funeral." Mrs. Wang had no choice but to say: "Since that's the case, you can make a list and read it with me tomorrow."

The next day Ping'er went back to Mrs. Wang, and ordered half of the decorations in Sister Feng's house to be pawned. He bought two fir coffins and parked them in Lixiangyuan. for funeral expenses.Even so, there are still housekeepers and wives who follow Ping'er wherever he goes, or ask her for short money here, or ask her for short money there.Fortunately, Youshi and Li Wan came to take care of her in Lixiangyuan. Li Wan said to Youshi quietly: "Poor Ping'er is only left alone. I want to ask the old lady to tell her to follow me, but Feng girl has been here for a few years. I have made a lot of troubles with money, and I am afraid that people will say that I have plans for it." Youshi said: "Don't worry, after a while, I will help you go back to the old lady and the second lady." As he was speaking, he saw Several old women took Ping'er to the garden again.

When entering the garden, the women led Ping'er to look around, only to see that the fruits on the tree were picked to a small number, the lotus leaves in the pool were pulled up to pieces, and the flowers on the branches were plucked. The pinching was sparse, and the old women complained: "The women who were laid off two days ago took advantage of our carelessness and left to ruin the garden like this. We don't even have extra income this year, but even supply the above We can’t even make up the whole set, so it’s good for the girl to judge us.” Ping’er persuaded each of them with their heads downcast, “If you stay and they leave, you will naturally have resentment in your heart, so don’t bother with them. These flowers, leaves and fruits are easy to grow due to wind, water, rain and dew, and the loss is only a few dozen pieces of silver." Then he took off the two shrimp whisker bracelets on his hands, and handed them to the women: "These two Just take the bracelet and pawn it, which is enough to compensate you." The old ladies hurriedly said: "How can we make the girl wait for nothing, we will pay for this year's work." Ping'er said: "I am not with you. You are welcome, I have carried this bracelet for a long time, and now I don't want to take it anymore, take it." Seeing her saying this, the women all laughed and said: "Young lady is kind and kind." Fang took it and thanked her a lot 's gone.Here, Ping'er was not in a hurry to get out of the garden. He walked forward a few steps and came to the Qinfang Bridge. He saw the clear stream under the bridge carrying petals flowing slowly, and a few fishes chasing and swimming in it.

In addition, Baoyu had nightmares again and again in the past two nights, and every time he woke up from the dream, Xiren Sheyue and others had no choice but to persuade him gently: "No news is good news. Don't think wildly and worry the old ladies and wives." Thinking of the worst outcome, he also comforted himself in his heart: the news about the raging war is not so accurate, maybe Brother Lian and Sister Lin are all right.So I just stayed in the garden, not listening to or looking at anything outside, just pretending that nothing happened.At this moment, I was sitting on a rock in a daze when I heard a commotion in front of me. A little girl ran over and shouted, "Sister Ping'er drowned to death." Drenched all over, she was placed under the peach blossom tree, and she was exhausted. Baoyu thought of Ping'er's usual life, and thought of her and Daiyu's loneliness, so she couldn't help crying while holding the tree.All of a sudden Li Wanyou and the girls and women rushed over. When they thought of her usual good life and saw her die as a martyr, they couldn't help sighing and weeping for her. After sobbing for a long time, they took a bamboo frame to hold her. She was carried to Pear Fragrance Court.When Jia's mother, Jia Zheng and Mrs. Wang heard about it, they praised her for her loyalty, so they ordered Ping'er to be buried in another coffin first.Coincidentally, there was a decree to make a decree to make statistics on the family members of the officials who died in the city, and Jia's mansion reported Ping'er and his martyrdom.

Let's talk about the funeral in Jia's house these few days, and Jia Huan wandering around in the Lixiangyuan. He heard Qiaojie crying for his mother every day, but the nurse couldn't coax her, so he went to Qiaojie's ear and whispered: "Your mother is afraid." Someone asked her for money and hid, so she hid in the alley outside the door, don't let anyone see you later, and she will come to see you when you go by yourself." Sister Qiao was so ignorant of her age that she believed it was true. Stopped crying.Jia Huan was secretly happy, and went back to the house to find a mask with green face and fangs to scare Qiaojie, not wanting to forget about it after being called away by Aunt Zhao.After a while, sister Qiao sneaked out of the street while her nurse was not paying attention. She really came to the alley, but she didn't see her mother.It happened that Jia Qin was standing at the entrance of the alley, secretly cursing Sister Feng for laying off his errand, and waiting for words if she died. He picked it up, covered his mouth and stuffed it into his carriage, took a rope inside and tied it up randomly, jumped into the carriage, hit the horse and ran away, Sister Qiao was crying in the carriage, Jia Qin drove the carriage even more Hurry up, after a while, you have already turned to the main street.

It so happened that Grandma Liu just heard about Sister Jia Lianfeng today, and sighed, "It's such a pity for such a young couple, grandpa and grandma." Early in the morning, she asked Ban'er to go to the city with her to mourn the funeral.Because the family is well-off now, they bought a carriage last year. Ban'er, who was in his teens, was nimble, and drove his grandmother to the gate of Jia's mansion. Grandma Liu got out of the car and said that she didn't see the white cloth curtain. The gatekeeper told her: "Go to Lixiangyuan, the gate is over there." Grandma Liu was about to get into the car again, when she suddenly saw a car rushing by in front of her, a child's shoe fell from the car, and she looked at it. The strange eyes were familiar, and she heard the crying of a child in the car, picked it up and said, "Isn't this the shoe I made for Miss Qiao last time?" , hurriedly said: "Ban'er, hurry up and catch up with that car, and see if there is Miss Qiao in the car." After hearing this, Ban'er immediately turned around and drove after him.

In addition, the nurse in Lixiangyuan turned around and disappeared, and she hurriedly searched inside and outside the house, but she still couldn't find it.Everyone was busy searching everywhere, Du Xiaohong thought, if she would find it sooner or later in the Tibetan house, she was afraid that it would be bad if she slipped out of the house, so she hurriedly ran to the street, looking around at the door, when she saw Grandma Liu holding a coin Sister's little shoes came, and hurried over to ask, Grandma Liu hurriedly told about picking up the shoes just now, Xiaohong was in a hurry to find someone, when she suddenly saw Jia Yun riding a horse, leading two young men to buy candles When the paper was tied back, she hurriedly said to him, "Second Master Yun, Miss Qiao was abducted by a car, and Ban'er drove the car and chased her from Zhengmen Street." Jia Yun hurriedly turned her horse's head and chased after her On a street, I saw two carriages in front of me galloping down the street one after the other, whipped and pedaled, the fast horse meteor jumped in front of the first carriage, only heard a few long neighs, the carriages and horses were forced to stop.Jia Yun cupped her hands and said with a smile: "It turned out to be Uncle Qin who collided."Jia Qin was getting angry and shouted: "Get out of the way, I have something urgent." The back panel had already got out of the car and picked up Qiao Jie from the front car. Jia Yun saw it and said with a smile: "Let's go back and explain clearly to the mansion. Let's go to work again." Then he dragged Jia Qin onto the horse and told him to go back on the board, but Zhou Rui and his boys came to catch him on the way.

Going back to see Sister Qiao was just frightened and nothing serious, so everyone was relieved.Jia Qin was tied up and handed over to the patriarch Jia Zhen, beaten with forty sticks, and went home to lie in bed for more than half a year.When Jia's mother learned of this, she said to Grandma Liu, "Sure enough, this sister is destined to be with you. I will ask her to respect you in the future." I cried a lot before and stayed for two days before going back.A few days later, Sister Feng and Hepinger moved to Tiekan Temple. Jia Lian's body was destroyed in the war, leaving only his clothes.The coffins of the three people stopped at one place, and Baoyu went up to incense one by one. Next to Jia Lian's tablet was Ping'er tablet, on which Jia Lian's wife was engraved with a five-rank imperial gift to Hao's family, and then Sister Feng was engraved with a first-rank imperial order. .

This work comes from Jinjiang Literature City. Welcome to www.jjwxc.net to read more good works