Yongzheng period

The nobleman Ping'an gave birth to Liugege in Chuxiu Palace and named him 'He'an'.At the same time, Daiyu's nearly five-month pregnancy was hard to hide, and it was impossible for her not to meet any concubines in the harem until before giving birth—Yongzheng simply and generously announced the news.

Concubine Hui is very likely to be pregnant because of the news that her elder brother ruined how many rice papers were written in Yanxi Palace in one day. Baochai was a little anxious. Contacted, while visiting Wu Yachang in the side hall frequently, he was extremely caring, even feeding the medicine himself; the queen mother in the Palace of Compassionate Ning was set up by Yongzheng and Concubine Hui, and made it clear that she was guarding against her behavior. He was so angry that his hands were shaking, and he still had to spend his energy to appease the anxious Wu Ya family; the fourth elder brother was extraordinarily quiet this time. Not enough to watch, only willing to watch from the sidelines.

At the end of September, Yongzheng added the title of Concubine Hui to the "Golden Concubine"; Jin Concubine moved to "Jingren Palace" and became the lord of the first palace; and the nobleman Jin "Concubine" moved to "Yongshou Palace" and became the first palace lord The nobleman Ma Jia was promoted to the "Concubine Concubine" and moved to the "Qixiang Palace" to be the head of the first palace; except for the new head, the rest, including Wu Yachang and the Liu family in Changchun Garden, were all promoted to one level.

After sealing the harem, Wu Ya's family was even more anxious, and even made frequent small moves in private, wanting to send the second daughter of Wu Ya's family to the harem.As a result, within a few days, news spread that the girl from the Wuya family had a private meeting with the uncle of the Ulanara family, which discredited the Wuya family, and there was no further news about entering the palace.

Afterwards, there was no incident, and no one dared to be that kind of person. Yongzheng still had time to go to the Changchun Palace to cultivate feelings with Daiyu and the "mother-in-law". , A thorough investigation of corruption, Su Keji and others were all sacked; in the harem, Yongzheng killed a nanny in the concubine's palace without reason, and the strange thing was that the concubine didn't even intercede for that nanny; At the end of the month, Wang Ziteng finally died of illness on his way back to Beijing.

The death of Wang Ziteng means that the power that covered the clan's coat began to dissipate, and the four princes and eight princes will slowly come to an end.

In mid-December, Mrs. Liu gave birth to the eighth elder brother in the Changchun Garden in a stormy atmosphere.

【53】

The news that the Liu family gave birth to the eighth son was like raindrops falling into the vast ocean, and there was not even a single wave in the palace - what value could a nobleman and prince who was relocated outside the palace have?

In the blink of an eye, it was the eighth year of Yongzheng. After starting writing in February, Yongzheng Fang slowly awarded the decree of Wang Ziteng's posthumous grace to the Wang family - it was just a reward for appearance after death. Wang Ziteng had thought about it before his death. Ask Yinfeng to pave the way for the only son Wang Ren to ask for an official or something.Speaking of which, when the Jia family was able to connect with the prince, it was necessary for the Zhen family and Wang Ziteng to connect with each other.

Wang Ziteng approached Prince Li in private, thinking about his contribution to the princelings in those years, even though the Jia family had offended the second master because of Keqing, but the second master should cherish the relationship with him, Wang Ziteng's master and servant. A love affair.

After listening to Wang Ziteng's request, Yinreng was a little stunned. He deeply felt that when he was still a prince, he was too "cold" to conduct himself in the world by relying on his status.To be honest, when these few families were attached to the prince, only the Zhen family was a grasshopper tied to the same rope with the prince, and the interests of the officialdom were not the same.

Just like the rich man among elder brothers—Jiu elder brother who continuously provided funds for the activities of officials of the Baye Party, the continuous financial support for the prince came from the Zhen family, and the Zhen family even gave the most beloved daughter in the family to the prince as a Side Fujin, in order to deepen the relationship.

And even after the fall of the prince, it was the Zhen family who maintained the secret contact among the direct officials.Compared with the Wang family's behavior of fishing in troubled waters of the prince's party, Jia's sending Jia Yuanchun to be the prince's concubine can be regarded as the word "sincerity".

Therefore, Yinfeng really didn't want to talk to Wang Ziteng anymore. He said a few words in an official tone, expressing that he was very moved by Wang Ziteng's love for his son, and then rejected him without hesitation—just kidding!After the Keqing incident, Yongzheng has been coveting the in-laws of the four major families for a long time, and recently he has made it clear that Wang Ziteng is the appetizer - the time to pick peaches is not far away, and Yinfeng doesn't want to have extra troubles at this time.

By the way, after Wang Ziteng died, the daughters of the Wang family were smarter than the men.Prince Teng had always been very strict in running the family, and Wang Ren only dared to worry about the family property after his father died. As a result, he was severely criticized by his younger sister who was in power at home, and had to go out in desperation to hang out with cronies.Before he could brag about anything, he was taken into the cell of Dali Temple—on the charge of taking advantage of his family's power and giving out profiteering money.

It turned out that after the separation of Jia's family, Jia's mother and the rest of the Ning's family chose to live with the second wife, and the public's money suddenly fell by more than half, and Jia's accounts were even more stretched.

Jia's mother is the head of the Jia family. In the original book of the Red Chamber, she said that she has both good fortune and longevity, and has enjoyed all the glory and wealth in the world.She has a full house of sons, daughters-in-law, grandsons, granddaughters, great-granddaughters, and great-granddaughters-in-law to honor her; countless maids, mothers-in-law, and servants serve her.In particular, Wang Xifeng, the granddaughter-in-law of the head of the family, tried every means to be filial to her and cater to her, so that Jia's mother could enjoy herself to the fullest.Jiamu's 28th birthday is on the third day of the eighth month. From the [-]th of July, the Rong and Ning prefectures hold a feast together until the fifth day of the eighth month, a full seven days.Lively and luxurious, it is not compared to the previous family celebrations, showing the honor of this Mrs. Tai.

Jiamu's living standard is also as close as possible to the word "ostentation": for example, Jiamu eats crabs, and after eating, she has to wash her hands with "mung bean noodles smoked with chrysanthemum leaves, osmanthus stamens"; For the next meal, see how Cao Xueqin wrote "Ms. Li holds the meal, Xifeng puts the chopsticks, and Mrs. Wang enters the soup. Mother Jia sits alone on the couch in front of her, with four empty chairs on both sides... the maid next to her is obsessed with dust whisks, rinsing bowls, and towels." .Li and Feng stood beside the case and gave way. Although there were many daughters-in-law and maids serving outside, they didn't even hear a cough."

Mrs. Jia's diet is so grand, it's still what Sister-in-law Liu said hit the nail on the head: "The old lady's meal is prepared in the big kitchen, and all the vegetables and vegetables in the world are written on the water plate, and they are eaten every day. It is good to eat for a month."

And Jia Zheng treated Jia's mother very "foolishly and filially"-when Mrs. Wang wanted to cut down the frugality of the servants, he was still "the old lady can't cut it down".

If things go on like this, the financial situation of the Jia Mansion will no longer be sustainable.This profit money has become an important source of income for Mrs. Wang--while maintaining the huge expenses of Jia's family to make up for the deficit, there is even surplus profit.

But Wang Ren was greedy for profit, Mrs. Wang intentionally mentioned this "fast way to get money" in front of him--Wang Ren hurriedly became the "representative".

Wang Ren went to prison, and the Queen Mother fell ill immediately and passed out.While Wang Xiaomei was busy dealing with the family property and land, she took over and managed the servants; while seeking medical advice for the Queen Mother everywhere, she only wished that her brother, who had implicated her family, died immediately.

*

Not to mention the decline of the Wang family, Mrs. Wang and Aunt Xue were both stunned when they found out about this incident.The Xue family is fine, the noble young master in the palace gave birth to an elder brother; Xue Pan learned a lesson from the Xia family, and he has settled down a lot; Bao Qin married the son of Jingzhong Mei Hanlin; his brother Xue Bian has already made up his job. It is a very bright future to marry Xing Xiuyan as his wife.

However, Mother Jia felt uneasy. First, the Ning Mansion was copied, and then the Wang family, the biggest backer, collapsed.Mother Jia already sensed that the building was about to collapse.

As mentioned above, close in-laws among clans is another manifestation of forming a party for selfish interests: the four families are all connected and related, one loss is all loss, the other is prosperity, and they all support and cover up.Because of this, there is a history of "Jia is not false, and white jade is used as a horse for Tang Jin. A Fang Palace, three hundred miles away, cannot accommodate a history of Jinling. There is a lack of white jade beds in the East China Sea. The Dragon King came to invite the King of Jinling. There is a lot of "snow" in a good year. Pearls Like earth and gold like iron."

This kind of in-law relationship is like Jia's mother was originally a lady from the Shi family who married Jia Daishan, one of the two daughters of the Wang family married Jia Zheng, and the other married to the Xue family; Jia Lian's generation also had Wang Xifeng married.Because of Jia's mother, the commanding height of the Jia family's power, historians are vaguely excluded from the in-law relationship of the four major families.

However, as the elder with the highest seniority, Jia's mother still has a great influence on historians.

After Baochai entered the palace and became favored, Baoyu's marriage was put on hold again and again. Baoyu was already in his 20s this year and had made no achievements. However, Jiamu and Mrs. Wang still treated him like a spoiled guest.After Jia's mansion laid off many servants, Mrs. Wang took the initiative to clear out all those playful and inappropriate maids in Baoyu's room.

Don't look at Baoyu's usual "sister is long" and "sister is short", treat these "sisters" like glue, tender and affectionate.When Mrs. Wang was really angry, Baoyu had no idea what to do. She just stayed in her room and turned a deaf ear to what was going on outside the window.For this matter, Baoyu also suffered from dementia for several days, only saying that he "regrets the beginning", and said a lot of nonsense about "too illusory".It only made Jia's family restless.

Mother Jia was in a hurry, and Fang thought about the matter of "Chongxi". She changed her mind a few days ago and went to Xiangyun's aunt to discuss whether to mention it, but the candidate was Shi Yiyun, the daughter of the historian.

In Jiamu's view, although Xiangyun is closer to Baoyu, Jiamu likes her temper more.But this kind of liking is based on loving the grandniece who lost her father, but it is extremely unqualified to be the mistress of the Jia family.What's more, this time it was for Baoyu's joy. Xiangyun's parents died when he was young, and he was not favored by historians.

But Jia's mother is against Xiang