Xue Baochai, the belly of the Red Chamber

Xue Baochai and Meng Shihan arrived in Yangzhou.

Without any rest time, the two of them started to get busy. Needless to say, Meng Shihan was busy dealing with officials in the same place, building relationships and familiarizing himself with his business.As for Xue Baochai, although she was only a woman in the inner house, she was not much more relaxed than Meng Shihan.

You must know that although women are not allowed to be official, they also have their own social circles.Know that sometimes pillow wind is more important than anything else.

What Xue Baochai has to do now is to break into the circle of noble ladies in Yangzhou City as soon as possible and expand his network.This is very beneficial to both himself and Meng Shihan.In addition to this, Xue Baochai has one more thing to be busy with, which is to take over the private property of Emperor Zhengde here.

It was at this time that Xue Baochai realized that it was not easy for Emperor Zhengde as the emperor.

Although it is said that it is a peaceful and prosperous age, it is precisely because of this that it seems a bit tragic when this generation competes for the throne.And the deceased emperor was not a frugal person, especially in his later years, he liked to enjoy luxury. In addition, there was a flood in Yongzhou two years ago, which emptied the national treasury a lot.

And the small treasury of Emperor Zhengde she manages is said to be his private money, but most of it is still subsidized by Emperor Zhengde to the state treasury.Especially the army is a place that spends a lot of money. You must know how difficult it is to support an army. Not to mention other things, it costs a lot of money every year just to eat, drink, and sleep.What's more, on the other side of the border, although the neighboring Qianxiang country is a small country, it is not honest, and they have to fight every now and then.Although Emperor Zhengde wanted to annihilate them in one fell swoop, but in the past two years, the Supreme Emperor disagreed, so he put it aside, and now he is busy cleaning up some of the power left by the Supreme Emperor.In the past one or two years, I am afraid that we will start to clean up Qianxiang Country.

Because he intends to take down the Qianxiang country in one fell swoop, the supplies from the army are about to be prepared without a trace.This requires money to cooperate.With this item alone, nearly half of the money in Emperor Zhengde's small private treasury was filled in.

It is precisely because he takes from the people and uses them for the people that she puts her heart into helping out here, not in a perfunctory way.

The husband and wife were busy with their own affairs, and they didn't relax a little until half a year after they came to Yangzhou.It's the end of the year now.

"Baochai, did you receive a letter from your mother?" The one who can call Meng Shihan his mother is naturally not the Liu family, but Xue Baochai's mother, Aunt Xue.

The letter sent by Aunt Xue was more than a dozen pages thick, and it was all about some things that the parents didn't understand. Among them, there were concerns about Xue Baochai's body and life, and whether she had a body and so on.Although they are all common things, they made Xue Baochai feel a little bit heartbroken, so he replied with a smile: "Yes. They are all short-sighted things for some parents, and it's not a big deal." His tone paused, "The most important thing is That is to say, at the second moment of Xu time on the eighth day of October, my sister-in-law Fang gave birth to a white and fat son. It is said that the baby was born with a foot that weighed eight catties. For this reason, my sister-in-law suffered a lot. After the doctor felt the pulse It is said that it will not be easy to get pregnant again in the past two years."

"Brother has a son, which is a good thing. Counting it now, the full moon should have passed. Although the time has passed, I still want to congratulate and prepare more medicinal materials and things for children to go back." Meng Shihan was listening When Xue Pan got his son, he unexpectedly glanced at Xue Baochai's stomach.

Regarding the issue of the child, he and Xue Baochai had reached a consensus when they first got married, and it would take two years at night.One reason is that the couple is a bit busy, some things are dangerous, and they are a bit overwhelmed.The second reason is that Xue Baochai is not too old at present, and he is only 17 years old now. Both Xue Baochai and Meng Shihan are people who know some medical skills.Knowing that it is not good for the mother to have a child too early, so I made the decision to have a child for two years at night.

It's just that now that Xue Pan has a fat son, he still has a little envy in his heart.

Xue Baochai said lightly: "Naturally, I have ordered Yunjuan and Lianqiao to prepare. They will be delivered in two days. By the way, the eldest sister in the family also sent a letter back, saying yes The wedding date between her and Mr. Zhou has also been set, which will be in the golden autumn of the next year. Do you still ask us if we have time to go there? "

"I don't have much time here. You also know that the emperor intends to clear the Qianxiang Kingdom. First of all, we have to keep up with the food and grass. Next year, I will be a little busy here. I don't have much time. But the eldest sister is married, and you are a sister-in-law. If you have time, you can go back." Meng Shihan replied after pondering for a while.

Xue Baochai nodded, "Well, if that's the case, I'll reply to my elder sister according to this. In addition, there are a lot of silk in Jiangnan, so I can buy more for my elder sister." She still likes Meng Xue very much. After all, this girl is not only She has nothing to do with them, she has a more generous personality, she is not stupid, and she has a smart aunt.More contact with siblings is of course beneficial and harmless.

Meng Shihan smiled and said: "Well, the eldest sister is a lovely person. It's okay to prepare more, so that she won't be looked down upon when she marries into the Zhou family." Although there are no close people in the Zhou family But face effort still needs to be done.

Xue Baochai nodded, naturally making people prepare not to mention it.

Mengjia Jingxinju

"Miss, you are here, come in quickly. Auntie has been waiting for you here for a long time, and the almond snacks you prepared for her are cold." A raw and beautiful maid in apricot-colored clothes picked Lifting the curtain, Yu Mengxue said with a smile, but the tone sounded a bit unkind.

Meng Xue glanced at her indifferently, "Are you the new Lianxiang next to my aunt?" She is really a maid who doesn't wink at all, how could she question and condemn her, thinking that she is the maid next to my aunt, she dare not punish her.

Lianxiang smiled and said: "It's the servant girl. It's the wife who saw that Qiaoyun who was next to my aunt got married and left, and was short of manpower. She specially transferred the servant girl to serve my aunt." When she said this, her chin slightly raised, and she brought a smile on her face. Two points of arrogance.

Without raising her eyebrows, Meng Xue said to He Lan, the big maid behind her, calmly, "He Lan, slap your mouth." Although she said that she was always a good-tempered person at home, a good temper does not mean that they have no temper.

"Big girl, I'm my wife's person, you can't..." Before she could finish her sentence, she saw Helan take a quick step, stretched out her hand, and gave Lianxiang two powerful slaps.

Meng Xue looked at Lianxiang coldly, she really deserved to be a girl trained by her wife, no matter how big or small, she didn't even have the most basic rules and winks.Then he turned around and told Helan, "Helan, let someone send this girl to Mother Liu, saying that she is unruly and let her watch and deal with it." Mother Liu is a woman who trains maids in the inner courtyard.

He Lan replied, but went ahead without mentioning it.

Lianxiang said she was asking for love at the beginning, but before she could say anything, Helan blocked her mouth with a veil.He was dragged by the arms by two maidservants, unable to move, and finally had to be pulled down.

"The eldest girl is here." Aunt Li said with a smile when she saw Meng Xue.

Meng Xue nodded with a smile, and then told Aunt Li what happened at the door.

Aunt Li didn't express anything about this, in fact, she didn't like Lianxiang very much, she liked to play tricks, and she would offend others, but it was only a few days before she was called by Mrs. Liu.If she was not good, she just opened her mouth to dismiss her. Now that Meng Xue spoke, it saved her time.

Soon the mother and daughter talked about this, and when it came to Meng Shihan and Xue Baochai, Aunt Li knew that Meng Shihan would not come back, but Xue Baochai would, so she was not disappointed.He even nodded with some satisfaction, just looked at Meng Xue's slightly disappointed little face, smiled and said, "Miss, you don't have to be so disappointed. As long as the young mistress is willing to come back, it has already shown the young master's attitude." Auntie knows that you are counting on the Eldest Young Master to support you in your heart, but the girl also thinks carefully that the Eldest Young Master is an official outside without a decree and cannot come back without authorization. You don’t have to be disappointed or complain here. The meaning of the Eldest Grandma’s return and the Eldest Young Master’s return is Same."

When Meng Xue heard Aunt Li's words, she was in a depressed mood that she couldn't come back because of Meng Shihan, but now she got better, but she also showed a shy and guilty expression on her face, and her tone was a bit embarrassed, "Auntie What I’m saying is, it’s because I’ve lost my mind for a while, and I’m thinking something wrong.”

Aunt Li smiled and said: "You are young, so you will inevitably think more. It doesn't matter." Although my daughter is smart, she is still young, only 16 years old, so she will naturally think more.As long as it is corrected slowly, not to mention that the Zhou family where the daughter is going to marry has no parents in the house, although there are advantages, there are also disadvantages.Although it is said that there is no need to worry about the mother-in-law, as soon as she enters the house, she will be the head of the house, but without an elder to teach, the daughter will inevitably have some hardships in the future.

"My aunt taught that." Meng Xue nodded.

Aunt Li asked again: "By the way, did the wife or the master say what the girl's dowry should be like?" In fact, it seems that the Meng family has its own rules for the marriage of the concubines.For example, Meng Shihan, as the only male of the Meng family, is also the legitimate son, and the marriage was personally bestowed by the current emperor. Naturally, how grand and grand is his marriage?But like a girl's family, the most important thing is the dowry.

According to the rules of the Meng family, the dowry silver of a prostitute is 1 taels. As for how much the mother can subsidize, it will be discussed in private.As for the concubine, it is only half of that of the concubine, 5000 taels.In fact, it is because the Meng family has a stronger family background that they dare to do this. Otherwise, if they were transferred to other families, perhaps the daughter of the prostitute would only have 5000 taels.

Although Meng Xue is said to be the eldest daughter of the Meng family, she is a concubine after all, so her status is naturally inferior.It's not as if the fourth and fifth girls are prostitutes.It's just that Master Meng still dotes on this daughter because of the word "Long", and Meng Shihan is the most special to Meng Xue among all the younger sisters.She is an aunt, although she has saved some body money, but it is limited after all, and there are even fewer who can subsidize Meng Xue.

Therefore, Aunt Li naturally wanted Meng Xue's dowry to be as large as possible, and it would be even better if it could be done as a legitimate daughter.

Meng Xue was naturally concerned about this, and thought for a while and said, "Neither the father nor the wife has spoken yet. But I don't have to worry about my aunt here. The worst thing is to go with Gongzhong. Although it can't be considered rich, But it’s not bad.” 5000 taels of silver is enough to make a good dowry.What's more, Mr. Zhou no longer has any parents. He is also an only son, and has only one elder sister, who was married a few years ago.Naturally, there are not many requirements for her dowry.

Although she also hoped that her dowry would be as large as possible, she was not as worried as Aunt Li.

Aunt Li looked at Meng Xue with a big heart. Although she sighed in her heart, she unconsciously showed a smile on her face.