Mrs. Xing of the Red Chamber

For the sake of her son and daughter, Xue Wang gritted her teeth and ruthlessly agreed:

"Okay, I'll ask someone to bring the silver here. Elder sister, you must remember to say good things for Pan'er and Baochai in front of the empress! Try to let them have a better future."

Mrs. Wang saw that Xue Wang had asked someone to go back to pick up the bank notes, so she said happily:

"Sister, don't worry, sister, I will definitely praise your achievements in front of the empress, so that the empress will remember your goodness. If the empress becomes prosperous in the future, it will be even more beneficial to you."

Only then did Wang Xue sit there happily and picked up the tea on the table, took a sip, and then continued to talk to Mrs. Wang about the relatives of the other courtyard, caring about how to build the other courtyard, what kind of stone and trees to use, When will it be built and so on.

When the person sent by Wang Xue came back and handed the box containing the silver note to her respectfully, Mrs. Wang pretended to sit there drinking tea calmly and watched Wang Xue open the box and count it again. After finding out it was right.

Xue Wang held the box, looked at Mrs. Wang, and confirmed again:

"Sister, you really can't lie to me, right? My sister is living on such a small amount of money now, so don't let me down!"

Seeing that the money was about to be obtained, Mrs. Wang could not allow Mrs. Xue to escape, and said in a very convincing tone:

"Sister, don't you still believe me, sister? We have been sisters for so many years. Whenever I fail to do what I promised you, this time will be no exception.

Just rest assured, I will remember all your silver for you!Our Rongguo Mansion has the empress as a backer, and it will only become more and more prosperous in the future, and it will be a little money like you, or something.

As long as our mother is well, our Rongguo Mansion will be fine, as long as we are all well, then there will be a lot of people scrambling to give us money, then it will depend on whether we are happy or not, if it is not because of you or me For my sister's sake, how could I be the first to think of you? Just rest assured! "

Mrs. Xue heard the same reasoning from Mrs. Wang. Although his family is still an imperial merchant, he still has a merchant name after all. If Chai marries into the Rongguo Mansion to be the second wife of Bao, then her life will be worth it.

After hearing Mrs. Wang's reassurance, Wang Xue paused for a moment, then put the box she was carrying on the table, pushed it towards Mrs. Wang, and said:

"Well, it's not that I don't believe my sister. It's not about such a large sum of money. I always feel a little nervous. Sister, look at the amount of the bank note, right?"

Mrs. Wang opened the box in front of her and looked at it before saying:

"It's not counting. I believe that my sister, you are a person, and you will not lie to me about these things."

Seeing such a large stack of banknotes in the box, Mrs. Wang nodded in satisfaction, thinking that the 35 taels of silver should be worth it for a while.

As for the remaining silver, Mrs. Wang is not in a hurry, waiting for the 35 taels of silver to be almost used up, since she can persuade her silly sister to pay the first and second silver.

Naturally, it can be said that she gave out the money for the third and fourth time, and now the money is temporarily placed with her, and when it is needed, let her continue to give out the money!

Mrs. Wang was making wishful thinking in her heart, while continuing to talk to Xue Wang about the marriage of the two families, she praised Xue Baochai, saying:

"Hey, why hasn't Baochai come to the mansion to play with her sisters and Baoyu these days? What are you doing at home?"

Xue Wang wanted to sigh a little and said:

"Isn't it because Pan'er doesn't live up to expectations, he knows how to eat, drink and have fun all day long, and doesn't do any business at all. No one reads the account books sent from home and from the shop. I am a woman who doesn't know a lot of characters. I don't care about these things. Goodbye.

Baochai, who can only be tired, is in charge of whether the accounts at home and the accounts in the shop are correct, and no one can take advantage of the loopholes.When Baochai finishes her work for a while, she can often go to the mansion to play with Baoyu and the others. "

It's just a housekeeper at home, and by the way, checking the account books in the shop, these things are not out of the ordinary, so Madam Wang said with a smile:

"Baochai is still a sensible girl, she's not like me. Only Baoyu, a baby bump, knows how to make me angry. How can she compare to Baochai!"

Seeing Mrs. Wang's praise of Baochai, Mrs. Xue immediately said:

Baochai has been sensible since she was a child, and she has never asked me to worry about it. In the future, when Baochai marries in and becomes Baoyu's daughter-in-law, Baochai will be considered your sister's daughter, and you will still worry about only Baoyu. ?

If there is anything, you just tell her to do it. Baochai is not a person who can't bear hardships. When the time comes, sister, you will have someone who will be filial to you all the time. "

Mrs. Wang also likes Xue Baochai, a relatively stable girl, otherwise Mrs. Wang would not agree no matter how much money is given to her—letting her son marry a niece who gave her more money.

Mrs. Wang and Mrs. Xue Wang continued to chat for a few rounds, and found that it was almost time, so they asked people to serve the meal first, and sent people to the old lady and Jia Zheng to say:

'I won't have lunch with them today, I want to spend more time with my sister Xue Wangshi, if there is anything, I can just send someone over to inform me. '

Normally, Mrs. Wang didn't go to have lunch and dinner with Jia Mu, Jia Zheng and the others every day. She said so at this time, just to show how much she valued Mrs. Xue, and to leave a good impression for future generations. You can continue to open your mouth to her very easily.

After lunch, Mrs. Wang chatted with Mrs. Xue for a while and took a walk in the garden. Seeing that it was almost time to go back, Mrs. Wang asked someone to send Mrs. Xue back and invited her to come back when she was free. , you can go to the mansion to accompany yourself, let Baoyu and Baochai take the opportunity to learn more, and deepen the relationship between each other.

After sending Mrs. Xue away, Mrs. Wang asked someone to check whether the banknotes received were correct. After confirming that they were correct, Mrs. Wang looked at the banknote box placed there, and asked someone to put the box away first. up.

The next day, someone called Jia Lian over. Mrs. Wang asked about the construction of the other courtyard. Now that the ditches and rockery in the other courtyard have been built, more than half of the project has been completed. The rest is It is necessary to perfect the details, such as the transplantation of vegetation, the adjustment of the height of the road, the construction of the pavilion, etc.

Mrs. Wang listened to the progress of these projects reported by Jia Lian, and knowing that the completion of the construction of the farewell courtyard was not far away, she said to Jia Lian:

"Well, that's right, but Lian'er, you should pay more attention to the quality of those projects that are not good enough, such as the rocks on the rockery, the stepping stones in the pond, etc. The placement is not firm, but you must not let people feel confused. If you don't mind, you will step on the air or step on it."

Jia Lian nodded and said:

"Second Aunt, you are right. I will send someone to check these dangerous places again later, and make sure that there is no trace of danger. You must know that we, the masters, will mainly visit the garden in the future. If there is danger , It’s not good to hurt us or something.”

Mrs. Wang saw that Jia Lian could listen to her opinion, so she nodded in satisfaction and asked:

"Do we have any silver left now? How much money is there?"

Jia Lian this morning, as soon as he received a call from Zhou Rui's family saying that the second wife was looking for him, he knew it was because of the silver. People come to look for her, and I will come to her in a few days.

Jia Lian was a little embarrassed and said:

"There is still money left. Our mansion has been dragging the wages of those merchants and those gardening workers. It seems that we owe more than 20 taels. It has been delayed for more than a month now. If we get If I don’t give them money, I’m afraid I won’t be able to suppress them.”

Jia Lian pretended to be very embarrassed and looked at Mrs. Wang's face. In fact, the situation was not as serious as Jia Lian said, but so much money passed through his hands. If he didn't take the opportunity to put some money into his pocket, he would not be Jia Lian.

The last time I went to the south of the Yangtze River, I thought I could make a small fortune, but who knew that I got myself into it instead. I didn't get any money. In the end, in order to make up for my own mistakes, Lin Ruhai found out about the plan of Jia's house--destroying the house. Lost so much silver;

In order to make up for his mistakes, he almost emptied his entire family to make up a sum that would satisfy the second wife for the construction of another courtyard.

Now Jia Lian himself is very short of money. He has no money—even if he wants to drink a flower wine. , and put it in his pocket.

Jia Lian also knew that it was best not to let anyone know about this matter, not even his wife—Wang Xifeng, who didn’t know that she was only thinking about her aunt. Pocket, then she must make everyone know about it!

Just because Jia Lian kicked back part of the money himself, only a small part of the money from those merchants and workers was distributed. If it hadn't been for the promise to pay them the balance immediately this month, they would have come to make trouble.

Therefore, Jia Lian wanted Mrs. Wang to get the silver back as soon as possible, otherwise it would be bad if there was a trouble.

Mrs. Wang was a little surprised and said:

"Didn't you say last time that you still have more than 30 taels of silver left in your hand? Why are you using up all of them now, but owe them more than 20 taels of silver?"

Jia Lian had already been prepared for Mrs. Wang's question, but she was afraid that when she found out that she had taken money in private, Jia Lian had done a perfect job on the books.

Hearing Mrs. Wang's question, Jia Lian said very calmly:

"Didn't I always send those ledgers to you, Second Aunt, for you to check? You can't suspect that my nephew did something wrong with it! Nephew, I did my best to build another courtyard. That's all, you can't wrong your nephew again!"

Jia Lian said that if Mrs. Wang dared to wrong herself for embezzling the money, she would quit doing such thankless things.

Mrs. Wang kept people watching Jia Lian's movements, but they didn't find anything he did. Mrs. Wang also looked at the account book, and asked a special account book gentleman to check it, and found nothing wrong.

If Jia Lian doesn't want to take care of the affairs of Xiu Bieyuan, then who will take care of it? Mrs. Wang can only say comfortingly:

"Where are you thinking, Lian'er? I don't suspect that you embezzle money privately. I'm just a little surprised to see how quickly the money is spent."

Jia Lian softened his face this time, looked at Mrs. Wang and asked:

"I don't know if you called your nephew over today, second aunt, but do you have any good news for your nephew?"

Mrs. Wang asked someone to take out the box containing the bank notes, and said:

"Well, here is the 35 taels of silver I borrowed from Xue's family. You can take it and pay back the owed silver. You can use the remaining 15 taels of silver first. I will think about the part that is not enough. Find a way to borrow it!"

Jia Lian took the box from Jin Chuan's hand, counted the number, and confirmed that it was 35 taels of silver bills. Then he closed the box and said to Mrs. Wang:

"After repaying the debt, there is only 15 taels of silver left. It doesn't seem like it will last for a long time?"

Mrs. Wang also knew that 15 taels of silver would not take much time, but it would be difficult for her younger sister to come up with more silver all of a sudden, so she could only divide it into two or three times, and slowly dig out Xue's money from her. Only when the money comes out.

Mrs. Wang said with a sullen face:

"Use it first. For those that are not enough for the time being, you can discuss with those merchants. We have already paid back the money this time. It will definitely be okay to delay the payment for a while next time. Don't worry--I will pay for the part of the money that is not enough. Continue to find a way to borrow it back as soon as possible.”