Prequel to the Red Chamber: I Am the Second Wife

Jia Daishan lay dying on the bed in Lixiangyuan. The imperial physician saw Jia Mu and Jia She and Jia Zheng said: "Your Excellency has reached the time when the oil is exhausted and the lamp is dying. The spirit of the past few days has returned to the light. Now I can only rely on ginseng soup to maintain it." If there is anything important, you have to hurry up and say it." Jia's mother burst into tears, and she suppressed her sadness and told Jia She, "Please ask the imperial physician to go out." Jia Amnesty hurriedly asked the imperial physician to go out.

"Master, Zheng'er is here too. Now that your son is here, what do you want to tell me?" Mother Jia looked at her husband lying on the bed, and held his hand.Seeing the sadness on Jiamu's face, Zili was also sad for a while. After all, it was also sad to part after the husband and wife who had known each other for many years.

Jia Zheng and Jia She were kneeling in front of the window, weeping in a low voice, the room was quiet, Zili and Mrs. Xing stood behind, also with sad faces.Jia Daishan, who was lying on the bed, slowly opened his eyes. Jia's mother was busy feeding him ginseng soup with a spoon. Jia Daishan turned his head with difficulty, making a weak and muffled sound.Jia's mother came to her and said, "Just say what the master wants to say, the whole family is here."

Jia Zheng and Jia Amnesty also stopped crying and stared at their father.Jia Daishan struggled to utter a few words: "Jia Mei—" He couldn't speak anymore, but Zili heard Jia Daishan's words clearly, so it turned out that he was thinking about his two concubine daughters.Mother Jia's eyes changed when she heard her husband's words clearly. She stood up expressionlessly and said to Jia Zheng and Jia Amnesty, "Your father is confused. It's not a problem here. I asked someone to carry the soft bed to take the master Send him off to the Rongxi Hall." After his death, Jia Daishan, as the Duke of Rong, would die in the main room anyway.

Looking at his father's appearance, Jia Zheng couldn't help but said, "Father is already like this, if you move it a little bit and there will be some troubles, how about it?"

Mother Jia looked at Jia Zheng coldly, and Jia Zheng immediately swallowed the rest of the words. Jia Amnesty was careless, he stood up from the ground, no longer sad, and patted his younger brother on the shoulder: "Second brother, father It is already hanging in one breath now. It is right to die at the end of life. If you die here, it will be more troublesome to move your spirit. You guys hurry up and lift the soft bed—” When Jia Daishan was about to be carried away in a mess in the room , Mrs. Xing quietly pulled Zi Li and asked in a low voice: "Just now I heard what the old man said about Jia Mei in a daze, who is that?"

Zili and Mrs. Xing are daughters-in-law and it is inconvenient to come forward to serve them. She only stood behind the green gauze cabinet and watched the chaos in the room. Only then did Zili realize that Mrs. Xing was the second wife. She didn't know that Jia Min had two more. The concubine's sister. "It's the eldest aunt and the second aunt. They were married early, and they were already married when I walked in." Mrs. Xing immediately understood that she must be a daughter of a concubine. She must not like her. After a long time of marriage, she seems to be cut off from her mother's family. connect. "Since the old man is talking about it, he should invite them to come back and have a look." Mrs. Xing's voice was very small but was still heard by Jia's mother.Zili lowered his head and felt a sharp gaze looking over him.

Zili sneered inwardly, Mother Jia is definitely not a magnanimous person, how could she let the daughters of her love rival go.Even Jia Min couldn't come back, how could Mother Jia call the two concubines' daughters back.The traces of them in Jia's house have been washed clean, not even a shadow is left, and the two daughters' in-laws' homes are also slightly cold, and they are far away in the south. Goodness can no longer be seen.

"The matter has come to this point, please let my wife express my condolences. The most important thing right now is to write a letter to the third sister. The master loves the third sister the most. Although she is still in Suzhou, my uncle may be able to go to Beijing to report on his work. The master's legacy will also be sent. Go up, Qin Tianjian should also have a lover over here. Please ask your wife to talk about how to arrange the funeral. Ask someone to deliver letters to relatives." Zili supported Jiamu, diverted Jiamu's attention, and took Mrs. Xing from Jiamu rescued from his wrath.

"It's better that you think carefully, my heart is in a mess, so I will do as you said. The master's funeral requires you to be more troublesome as a daughter-in-law. Zhu'er is still in the palace, so ask someone to bring him back. As for Lian'er, tell the nurses to watch over the children and stop scaring them." Mother Jia glanced at Zili approvingly, intending to teach Zili the right to host the funeral.

Zili would not focus on the former, she hurriedly said: "What do I know, I just learned from my wife. I think the eldest sister-in-law is the long-term daughter-in-law after all, and the scheduling of coming and going, and the coming and going of guests have to be done." My sister-in-law is responsible for it alone, and I am a young daughter-in-law, so I just need to follow her orders. After all, we are juniors, so we need my wife to steer us after everything like that.”

"What you said is, make your sister-in-law more troublesome. If there are guests, you come out. I'm old, so I don't care about it." Jiamu wiped the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief and began to cry.

After all, Jia Daishan didn't see the daughters of the two concubines. He closed his eyes not long after he was moved to Rongxi Hall.Qin Tianjian chose a day, Jia Amnesty and Jia Zheng personally restrained their father, the whole family put on filial piety, the gate of Rongguo Mansion was opened, and two rows of filial curtains stretched in from the gate like white dragons.Dutiful sons and dutiful wives knelt in mourning before the coffin, mourners came and went, and the entire street was full of traffic.

Every day, Zili just cried in mourning in front of the coffin on time, and entertained the female family members who came and went. Jiamu said that she was too sad, so she didn't come out to see people very often. one side.Mrs. Xing is busy arranging to entertain guests every day, doing things, etc., so busy that her feet don't touch the ground, but the big things are only when Jia's mother has to speak. Zili watched Mrs. Xing deal with the affairs coldly, and was surprised to find that Mrs. Xing In fact, he is not as dull and stubborn as he imagined, on the contrary, he is quite capable of managing his own affairs.In fact, if you think about it carefully, Mrs. Xing is indeed a bit capable. Her parents died early, and as the eldest sister, she brought her younger siblings to maintain a family life. She has to deal with those relatives, keep the family property, arrange marriage with her younger sister, and send them off to marry.It's completely the attitude of the head of the family. Although the Jia family is more prominent and wealthy than the Xing family, Mrs. Xing is experienced and can get started quickly.I just don’t know how she ended up becoming the greedy, cowardly, disgusting Mrs. Xing

Jia Daishan's funeral was over decently, and Jia Zheng's son Qingqiu Dingyou went home, and every day he either read books or chatted with Mr. Zhou and Mr. Shan, and he immediately relaxed.Apart from paying respects to Mother Jia every day, Zili devotes herself to living her own life.Instead of teaching Yuan Chun how to do needlework, taking Yuan Chun by his side to learn how to handle housework, making clothes for Jia Zhu, and making novelty snacks for his family.

Mrs. Xing was wary of Zili at first, but she only focused on living her own life when Zili came back. She neither favored Mother Jia nor pointed fingers at her housekeeper. Instead, she treated her very well. Respect, I didn't treat Mrs. Xing slowly just because she was a sequel.Seeing that Zili didn't want to compete with her, Mrs. Xing let go of her guard, and instead became more affectionate with Zili.Mother Jia originally preferred to call Zili the housekeeper, but unfortunately Zili was not very enthusiastic, so she couldn't mention it.

The days passed day by day, and in a blink of an eye the three-year mourning period was about to expire.This day Zili was in the room pointing Yuan Chun to check the accounts, when he saw Jia Mu's girl coming over: "Second Madam, the old lady asked the Second Madam to come over." Zili heard this and asked, "What's the matter?"

"The old lady saw the sweet-scented osmanthus blooming in the yard and wanted to enjoy the flowers in the garden tomorrow. She said that it was boring because the public had made a banquet. Why don't everyone join in and make their own special dishes and put them together, which would be more lively and interesting." The madam asked the second wife to go over and discuss." Zili smiled and said, "The old lady is very interested, of course I'm going to join in." Saying this, Zili changed his clothes and brought Yuan Chun over.

Seeing the arrival of Zili's mother and daughter, Jia's mother smiled and said, "You have also worked hard for the past few years. Now that you are filial piety, you should be relaxed. I want to take you to relax."

"The old lady is still in a good mood. I was thinking of setting up a few tables of wine while the sweet-scented osmanthus was good. I invited the sister-in-law over there to sit for a day. I was just stumbled by the trivial matters in front of me, but the old lady brought it up first. I'm out Food and drink for the day!" Zili boldly said that he would serve food and wine.

Mrs. Xing hurriedly smiled and said: "I have a troupe of small actors. Yesterday the master said that there is a troupe of good actors in the capital. We are also happy to call them."

Jiamu said with a smile: "Since it's your master who agrees, then it's fine. He can do other things, and he only cares about watching the theater and drinking. According to me, he is not a young man, even though he has a title But it should be a decent official position." Speaking of Jia Mu's long sigh, the scene suddenly turned cold.

Zili pretended not to hear, and sat there with her head bowed silently. Mrs. Xing's face turned red and white, and she was so embarrassed that she couldn't say a word for a long time.Mother Jia ignored Mrs. Xing's embarrassment, she turned to look at Yuan Chun and said, "What is Yuan girl doing these days?" Yuan Chun smiled and said, "I was locked up by my mother in the room to learn needlework and calculation. I can't go out for a walk, it's so boring."

Mother Jia waved to Yuan Chun and asked her to sit beside her: "This is the serious business. From now on, when you marry, you better not be picky about your in-laws." The two were joking and talking, but the two daughters-in-law were still on the sidelines.Seeing Mrs. Xing's face turning red and white, Zili couldn't bear to leave or stay.Instead of admonishing Jia She, Jia's mother is blaming her daughter-in-law. Doesn't Mrs. Xing want Jia She to be an official and stop spending time and drinking?It is clear that he spoils the child but puts the responsibility on others.

"Her father found a husband for Yuanchun. He said he was a very good one. He was a student of Mr. Wang. I think girls don't want to be the number one in the examination, but girls from people like us can't be blind or blind. You should tell her to understand the truth and not make people laugh." Zili's words continued, and Jia's mother nodded again and again: "Very well, our family can't be like a small family, the girls have to be knowledgeable about books and etiquette. It's just that you are now The place where you live is too narrow. Back then, you were a young couple with a small population, so you lived there closer to me. Now that Yuanchun and Zhuer are both grown up, it’s inconvenient to live in a crowded place. There are many people who come to visit every day , I said it would be better to ask you to move to Rongxi Hall, where it is spacious and convenient for guests. You have packed your things, I think the first day of next month is an auspicious day, so you can move there."