[Red Mansion] Mrs. Lin, the Buddhist family

However, thinking of the order to pay, the magistrate's wife could only ignore the dislike of other people and squeeze in.

Lin's mother had seen a lot of official wives like Mrs. Zhifu, and saw her eyes kept on Zhuzhu, so she immediately understood what she wanted to do.But regardless of the family background conditions in choosing a husband for Zhuzhu, even if Jia Shu chooses a husband for Zhuzhu's "like-mindedness", Lin's mother feels that the prefect's family does not seem to be able to raise a son with a similar temperament to Zhuzhu. people.

It happened that Zhuzhu didn't like to talk, so Lin's mother simply cut off all the words of the magistrate's wife.

When the prefect's wife finally understood that it was impossible for her to please Lin's mother, she chose to leave angrily and helplessly.

The others waited for the prefect's wife to leave, and immediately "informed" Lin's mother——

"Mrs. Hou, don't be fooled by the prefect's wife. That brat of her family looks like a dog on the surface, but secretly he doesn't treat the maid as a human being. As far as I know, the prefect's son In just one or two years, more than ten servant girls have already been beaten to death."

"Also, the eldest son of the prefect's family has long been married, and the prefect's wife probably wants the younger son and Miss Wan... But, this little son is only the second son. He will not be able to inherit the family business in the future, so he is not a good husband. candidate."

"The key point is that the magistrate's wife looks pretty good now, but her eldest daughter-in-law is under her control and can't get ahead at all. When she comes out occasionally, she shrinks and shrinks. The little family is very angry."

……

These people talked in a hurry, and directly told the whole story of the prefect's family.

In addition, the forces in the Huaiyang area were also described in various ways.

Of course, these people said these incidentally when they mentioned their family background when they "sell" their children of the right age to Mother Lin. , Tell Lin Ruhai everything.

After a while, the servants of Zhifu's family carried out the different-colored peony.

At first glance, Zhuzhu felt that she was really beautiful.But she wasn't interested in rare flowers, she just glanced at them briefly, and didn't look at the peonies any more.

When looking away, Zhuzhu noticed an old lady with gray temples sitting beside the prefect's wife, and beside her, two girls with outstanding looks and extraordinary temperament.

She was about the same age as Zhuzhu, she moved and remained still, sitting intimately under the head of the old lady, with her two heads close together talking in a whisper.

Zhuzhu has a quiet temperament, so she kept looking at the girl who was listening quietly most of the time.

The girl seemed to sense that someone was looking at her, and turned her eyes towards Zhuzhu's discovery. Seeing that it was the girl from the Lin family that her grandmother said she needed to be careful with, she was stunned for a moment, and then smiled sweetly and nodded to Zhuzhu.

Zhuzhu rolled her eyes in a circle, and couldn't help but tugged on Mother Lin's sleeve: "Grandmother, look at that girl, my granddaughter thinks she's pretty."

Originally, when they were in the capital, neither Lin Mu nor Jia Shu would force her to come out to the banquet, but when they arrived in Huaiyang, they suddenly did so, and Zhuzhu had natural reasons.

Of course, she knew better that attending these banquets was not just about choosing a marriage partner for herself.

So seeing that girl, Zhuzhu felt that her eyes were closed, so she also reminded Lin's mother to pay attention.

Mother Lin followed Zhuzhu's line of sight and immediately noticed the two little girls.But Mother Lin thought about Pippi's temperament, and instead focused on the more lively girl, she nodded: "It's really a good one."

Although the eyes of the two were scrutinized, it had been a long time, and the two girls were worried, so they told their grandmother about it.

And their grandmother was the old lady of the Zhen family who originally lived in Jinling.

In recent years, the old lady of the Zhen family has been the babysitter of Qisheng Emperor (from infant education to young children, school admission, not a wet nurse), and two more daughters have married into the royal family, and the four families of King Jiashi and Xue have three roots They are all in the capital city, but Jinling has left behind some useless side branches, so the Zhen family can almost be regarded as the dominant family in Jinling, even comparable to the four major families that hold real power, including Jia Shi Wang Xue.

Jia Shiwang's three families and Zhen's family can be regarded as the well water and the river's water, but the royal merchant Xue's family should be careful to avoid the Zhen family.

It's just that now that the new emperor is on the throne, and has a tense relationship with the Supreme Emperor, he doesn't love the daughter of the Zhen family very much. Although he made the daughter of the Zhen family a noble concubine to appease the ministers of the Supreme Emperor's lineage, he has a lot of criticisms about Zhen Guifei's mother's family, the Zhen family.

In the beginning, the Zhen family was immersed in the dream that the Zhen family's wealth was about to rise to a higher level. In Jinling, there was even an emperor's behavior. He didn't dare to attack the Zhen family.

But after hearing the news, Emperor Chengtian reprimanded everyone in the Zhen family, and even dismissed Zhen Yingjia, the only real power figure in the court, Zhen Yingjia, the former president of the Jinling Provincial Institute of Physical Education, for "reporting a mistake" and staying at home.

Emperor Chengtian's methods were gentle, and he did not confiscate his family like the loyal prince, but all parties exerted force and had a clear attitude, so that within six months after the new emperor came to power, the Zhen family actually began to turn from prosperity to decline.

Zhen Yingjia is not stupid either, she naturally understood Emperor Chengtian's attitude, and immediately ordered the Zhen family members and servants to act carefully, not to be arrogant, not to be caught by others, and sent people to investigate all matters related to the Zhen family, it should be punished Those who should be expelled should be expelled. In the end, nearly half of their wealth was used to settle all the crimes committed by the clansmen in the past, and to pay off the money owed to the court before, so that they would not continue to be imprisoned by Prince Zhongyi (Prince Zhongyi) The "scourge" of chasing after the ass and catching the pigtails.

It's just that since then, the Zhen family, which was originally proud, had to shrink back in order to seek other development.

Seeing that Emperor Qisheng was unreliable, the Zhen family could only find a way to surrender to Emperor Chengtian.

They thought, since the daughter of the Zhen family has been made a noble concubine, it should also mean that Emperor Chengtian did not completely hate the Zhen family?

The Zhen family should still be saved.

That's why they had the whimsical idea of ​​surrendering to Emperor Chengtian who had already secured the throne.

However, in Jiangnan, there is more than enough wealth and wealth, but there are very few dignitaries. Even if the Zhen family wanted to take the lead of others to surrender to Emperor Chengtian, they would have no chance at all.

Under such circumstances, Lin Ruhai, who was handpicked by Emperor Chengtian as the censor to inspect salt, just fell into the eyes of the Zhen family and became an opportunity for the Zhen family to "seek other developments".

Two daughters of the Zhen family married into the royal family, and two of the remaining granddaughters happened to be of marriageable age.

The old lady Zhen set her sights on Lin Xian, the only son of the Lin family.

Because of this, Mrs. Zhen brought the two girls of the Zhen family to Huaiyang two months earlier.

Today, she will come to attend the flower viewing banquet of a little brat magistrate, and she is here for Mother Lin.

Although the old matriarch Zhen lacked a bit of Lin's mother in status, as the mother of a noble concubine, her status as a relative of the emperor was enough to offset this deficiency.

In fact, Mother Lin will lower her status to attend the flower appreciation banquet hosted by the magistrate's wife today, and it is also for Mrs. Zhen.

It was not for the marriage of the two children, but for the sudden visit of Mrs. Zhen to Huaiyang.

Old Madam Zhen nodded to Mother Lin from a distance, and Mother Lin still nodded in response.

While everyone else came forward to admire the peonies, Mrs. Zhen simply came to Mother Lin's side: "This is Mrs. Hou's granddaughter? It really is beautiful, and it makes people forget the world."

Mother Lin smiled and pushed Zhuzhu: "Wan'er, why don't you thank me?"

Zhuzhu got up and saluted, and thanked her.

Mrs. Zhen smiled and waved her hands: "My two granddaughters are about the same age as you, how about going to play with them? I have something to discuss with Mrs. Lin."

Zhuzhu turned her head to look at Lin's mother, and after getting her to nod, she walked to Miss Zhen's family.

After seeing Zhuzhu sitting between the two girls, Mother Lin turned her head to look at Old Madam Zhen who had already sat down with a relaxed expression.

"What does the old lady want from me?"

Old Madam Zhen smiled: "It just so happens that I'm recuperating in Yangzhou these days. I heard that today's flower viewing feast is the first time Mrs. Hou has appeared in Yangzhou for so long. I inevitably want to meet you."

Mother Lin greeted her with a smile, whether she believed her words or not, Mrs. Zhen didn't know.

After thinking about it, Mrs. Zhen said again, "Miss Jia San is not here?"

Lin's mother was stunned for a moment, and then realized that the old lady Zhen was talking about Jia Shu, with a hesitant expression on her face: "The old lady knows my daughter-in-law?"

Old Madam Zhen laughed: "That's not true. It's just that the Zhen family and the Jia family are old relatives, they have a good relationship with each other, they keep in touch with each other frequently, and they often visit each other during the holidays. It's inevitable that they hear about the situation of the Jia family."

"It's just rare to hear that my old friend's daughter is also in Yangzhou, so I naturally want to meet her."

In other words, she only knew that Jia Shu came from Jia's family, and she had never even met Jia Shu.

Mother Lin was a little speechless.

Although it was surprising that the Zhen family had an old affair with the Jia family, she was quite happy that the Zhen family had nothing to do with their daughter-in-law.

But also because she knew that the little girl who thought she was pretty good before belonged to the Zhen family, Lin's mother's affection for her also plummeted, and she had no intention of considering her as Pippi's wife at all.

Mrs. Zhen didn't know what was going on in Lin's mother's mind, and she thought that she had an old relationship with the Jia family, so she could let Lin's mother take a look.

It's just that when I talked to Lin's mother later, I found that she was tight and didn't want to let go.Even when Mrs. Zhen mentioned her two granddaughters, she didn't show any signs of fancying them.

Mrs. Zhen immediately realized that the wishful thinking in her heart had turned yellow.

After returning home, Mrs. Zhen sighed mournfully, her face was ashen, obviously she had lost all hope.

The two granddaughters approached Mrs. Zhen, and the older one couldn't help asking her, "Mr. Madam, what's the matter with you? Didn't you have a good time with Mrs. Lin at the banquet?"

Mrs. Zhen caressed the head of the granddaughter who was speaking, and sighed: "The Lin family is powerful now. Although it is not as powerful as the Jia family, it is still on the rise, and the future is boundless. If you find a good home, you can also bring some help to the Zhen family, who knows..."

When Miss Zhen heard that she was going to be allocated to Lin Xian, she blushed and didn't know what to do, so she heard Mrs. Zhen's turning point, and her face immediately became ugly.

"Old Madam, but the granddaughter can't get into the eyes of Old Madam Lin?"

Old Madam Zhen looked at Miss Zhen, then at Miss Zhen Er, and shook her head: "My girl, the imperial concubine, can do it all, how can she not be in the eyes of Old Madam Lin? Didn't you realize it before, Mr. Lin?" Taijun has taken a fancy to you, Boss."

"But why..."

"The current situation of the Zhen family, how can someone with a little choice be willing to have anything to do with us?"

Mrs. Zhen felt disappointed when she thought of the bustling scene in the past.

The Zhen family and the Jia family are old, and the previous two generations also married. Originally, her first choice was also the Jia family.Coincidentally, news came from the second girl in the capital that the eldest sons of the eldest and second sons of the Rongguo Mansion followed the Lin family to Jinling to take the exam, and the Zhen family naturally turned their attention to them.

Of course, the Zhen family's first choice must be Jia She's eldest son, Jia Hu.

But at this time, the news that Jia Daishan would not live long reached Jinling.

At the same time, Jia Daishan was in a convulsion. Regardless of the objections of Mrs. Rong Guo and the head of the Jia family, the news that he insisted on separating Jia Zheng and successfully implemented it also spread to Jinling.

Mrs. Zhen and Zhen Yingjia, who are about to have a big fight: "..."

To be honest, even if the Zhen family needs to be careful to survive now, so as not to hinder Emperor Chengtian... No, the most important thing is the eyes of Prince Loyalty, but as a true royal relative who has produced a noble concubine and a side concubine of the prince, the Zhen family still has to pay attention. I really despise Jia Zheng's title of first prize.

Naturally, the eldest son of the first prize winner looked down on him even more.

Since then, the Zhen family has only one choice left.

However, just two months ago, her daughter who married into Prince Zhongyi's mansion said that Jia Hu already had an engagement partner——

As early as Jia Hu's thirteenth birthday, his mother, Mrs. Zhang, took advantage of the opportunity of going home to celebrate her father's birthday, found her younger sister from the same mother, and betrothed her eldest daughter.

If the Jia family is the pinnacle of noble military generals, then the Zhang Taifu family with the identity of the prince and grand tutor is the pinnacle of civil servants.

Originally, it was very easy for the emperor to be jealous of such a family getting married.But Mrs. Zhang was not stupid, and Jia Daishan was watching from the sidelines, so the final candidate for marriage was the daughter of Mrs. Zhang's younger sister.

Since Zhang's younger sister is not the eldest daughter, although she married into a very good family, it is still not as good as the Jia family.And after seizing the throne, the opposing family also fell down.

But because of the Zhang family, he was not liquidated and could still survive.

In terms of family background, this girl and Jia Hu are naturally not in the same family, but in terms of education and knowledge...

The other party was raised by his grandmother, that is, Zhang's mother, since he was a child. His talents, learning and conduct can completely refer to Zhang's.

Jia Daishan was more satisfied with this girl than Zhang's daughter-in-law, who was not inferior to Zhang's in talent and appearance, but her status was much lower than that of Jia's family.

Therefore, Jia Hu's marriage had no room for Zhen Jiaxiao to think about.

It was also at this time that the Zhen family turned their attention to the Lin family, who had never dealt with each other before, and only had a bit of in-law relationship.

Although the Lin family and Lin Xian are not as good as Jia Hu, they are more than enough than Jia Zhu!

Who knows, they pick and choose the marriage partner of the Zhen family, and they don't like people who are not first-class, but the Lin family also needs to carefully choose the partner that their children will spend their lives with in the future.

As for the Zhen family, they were not included in the Lin family's selection from the very beginning.

The old lady Zhen missed the glory of the Zhen family more and more, and became more and more worried about the current situation.

No matter how nice the concubine and side concubine sounded, they were still concubines. To maintain a glamorous appearance, in addition to the love and pity of the husband, they also needed the support of the family.In the past, the Zhen family could gain benefits by relying on their status as relatives of the emperor, and most of these benefits went into the hands of these two daughters, and the Zhen family could also gain benefits by relying on these two identities.

However, now, Emperor Chengtian has cut off the channels for the Zhen family to obtain benefits.

What's more, now who doesn't know that Prince Zhongyi suddenly changed his gender, changed his previous style of respecting his first wife but doting on his concubines, and now only favors Prince Zhongyi and his concubine.

Not only that, but the belly of Prince Zhongyi was also up to the mark, and she gave birth to three sons in succession for Prince Zhongyi.

In the beginning, although Prince Loyalty favored the concubine alone, he would not abstain from sexual desires during the concubine's pregnancy, and would still dote on concubines. Although the number of times was small, it was not that no one conceived a child by relying on these few favors. .

However, when Princess Zhongyi was pregnant with her second concubine, a pregnant concubine took the opportunity to drug her food, but was accidentally eaten by Prince Zhongyi's son, and was almost rescued. After that, Prince Zhongyi never touched his concubine again. room.

The side concubine of Prince Zhongyi from Zhen's family has also become one of the concubines of Prince Zhongyi who has been a widow at such a young age.

The side concubine of the Zhen family is better than others in that she seized the opportunity and raised a daughter by her side.

Princess Zhongyi is a truly virtuous person. For the sake of the princess, she treats the side concubine very well. I don't feel resentment, and naturally I am doing well.

And the noble concubine of the Zhen family...

Outsiders don't know, but don't the Zhen family know?Although the status of the imperial concubine has been rising steadily, most of this is because of the face of Emperor Qisheng, and she has not been favored very much.

After Emperor Qisheng abdicated, Emperor Chengtian didn't even visit her palace once.

Zhen Guifei was struggling in the palace.

For the Zhen family, the glory of having two imperial concubines has now become a burden.

It was also for the sake of her two daughters that Mrs. Zhen gave up her old face and ran to Huaiyang, trying to marry the Lin family.

But now...

-

Mother Lin returned home, and told Lin Ruhai everything she had collected at the banquet, about the distribution of power in Jiangnan's officialdom, and also told Jia Shu that the old lady of the Zhen family had come to visit her today, and at the same time, she also told her the purpose of coming to Huaiyang. .

The news in the officialdom is what Lin Ruhai urgently needs to know, but he can't get it quickly when dealing with his colleagues.

But Lin Ruhai didn't pay attention to these forces at all: "Zhuzhu is still young, why did mother start looking for marriage for her? My son plans to keep Zhuzhu at home for a few more years."

Lin's mother was stunned for a moment, and immediately couldn't laugh or cry: "Zhuzhu is already sixteen, if you all said that you would keep her at home for two years, with luck, she would be pregnant at this age."

Jia Shu just smiled, knowing what Lin's mother was telling the truth, and he didn't think there was anything wrong with Lin's mother's choice of a husband-in-law for Zhuzhu——

Now that time is running short, if the candidate is selected, you can slowly investigate, if not, just change another candidate.

On the contrary, it was Lin Ruhai who couldn't accept it: "Zhuzhu is still young."

Mother Lin glanced at him: "Your mother married your father when I was sixteen."

Lin Ruhai just shut up and didn't speak any more.But the disapproval between his brows and eyes really made people feel happy.

Jia Shu couldn't help laughing: "What are you doing? I was engaged to you when I was sixteen."

But Zhuzhu also joined in the fun at this time: "Is that so? Then should I get engaged as soon as possible? Otherwise, it seems that when I get married, I will be much older than when my mother got married."

Lin Ruhai looked at Lin's mother, then at Jia Shu, and finally his eyes fell on Zhuzhu.After confirming that the three women in the family were all on the same front, he had no choice but to shake his sleeves and leave indignantly.

You are only 16 years old, why do you need to get engaged so early?

Looking at Lin Ruhai's back, the three women of the Lin family were silent for a moment, then covered their mouths and laughed.

Jia Shu moved closer to Zhuzhu: "Your father is reluctant to part with you hahaha..."

There was a smile in Zhuzhu's eyes. Hearing this, he tilted his head and thought for a while, then sighed pretentiously: "But there is no way, Daddy can't support me forever."

Jia Shu couldn't help laughing: "I guess your father really wants to support you for the rest of his life."

Mother Lin laughed louder: "Don't worry about your father, he just has nothing to do."

When writing the letter that day, Jia Shu couldn't help but write this matter in the letter, and sent the servants of the Lin family to his hometown in Gusu and handed it over to Pippi.

After Pippi saw it, he looked helpless: "What's the matter? Finding a son-in-law for my sister will solve everything? Anyway, my sister has never thought about getting married. That's why, if you have to marry, marry someone who is not at all. A man who doesn't know the details and his true temperament might as well find a husband for his sister."

Pippi thought so, and wrote it in the letter back to Jia Shu.

Of course, he knew the temperament of the three elders in the family very well, and he didn't dare to resort to such thoughts in the letter to Lin Mu and Lin Ruhai.

Seeing Pippi smiling happily, Tian Meng, Pippi's accompanying reader, couldn't help asking him: "Master Xian, what did you write in the letter, but what happened at home? Why are you smiling so heartily?"

Pippi smiled and waved his hands: "Nothing."

It so happened that at this time, a friend that Pippi met after arriving in Gusu came to ask him to go out to participate in the poetry meeting. Because there were very famous talents in the south of the Yangtze River participating, after Pippi changed his clothes, he took Tian Meng to go with the friend up.

-

Pippi had a wild temper when she was young, and after many years of training in the palace, she didn't know what was going on inside, but she was able to smile on her face no matter what happened, and her actions often made people feel like they were bathed in spring breeze.

People who don't know his true character often think that he is just like his father, a real gentleman like jade.

Some classmates even think that he is better than blue.

However, what is the truth? Those who are also the prince's companions are always sued by the master's parents, so that the prince's companions who are beaten every three days and every five days have something to say.

Pippi has always used a smile as his own mask, and Jia Shu has never said it is bad—compared to Lin Ruhai, Pippi is more willing to listen to Jia Shu, a mother who is more like a friend to the child, so he has not seen it for a long time. thought about changing.

But he never expected that someone would think that he had a good temper and that he was handsome and talented, so they would regard him as a son-in-law, and even without knowing his identity, someone would come to match him.

Pippi: "..."

He was still laughing at his sister a few days ago, why did he fall into a more exaggerated and funny situation than his sister in a blink of an eye?