The son of the red mansion is unscrupulous

Today's Lai Da is very different from the majestic old days when everyone called him Grandpa Lai. He has silver hair, his face is so thin that only a layer of skin remains, but his body is still strong.

When Lai Da entered the study, it was like entering his own home. He took off his shoes on the bed in the study, took the bowl from Hu Jingzhi, and gulped it down.

"Grandpa Lai, have you ever been seen?" Hu Jingzhi asked cautiously.

General Lai threw the bowl into Hu Jingzhi's hand, and said, "It's your luck that you live in the east of Rongguo Mansion now, and it's not in vain for your mother to entrust you to me on her deathbed."

Hu Jingzhi laughed and said: "It's all thanks to Grandpa Lai. Without Grandpa Lai, I came from a remote village. How would I know what to say when I met a duke and duke? If it wasn't for Grandpa Lai, how could I talk to Nan'an Palace, Beijing Palace, Prince Zhongshun's mansion can speak for itself."

"Take it and use it. The people next door are full of snobbish eyes. They just want to praise their masters, but when they meet those servants, they have to spend money hard." Lai Da said, and took a The bulging money bag was thrown on the bed.

Hu Jingzhi didn't dare to take it, and sure enough, Lai Da took out an IOU from his pocket, "Come and press your fingerprint."

Hu Jingzhi's hand trembled, when he was in his hometown, his family was quite rich, but now the family's wealth is exhausted, all because of Lai Da.

"Why, are you afraid that I won't be able to press the debt?" Lai Da raised his eyebrows.

There was no turning back when he opened the bow, and Hu Jingzhi was so heartbroken that he took his hand and pressed his fingerprint on the IOU. After he pressed his fingerprint, he stared at the bright red mark in a daze, hurriedly put away the IOU, and asked respectfully, "Lai Grandpa, what should we do now? For some reason, Lord Zhongshun trusts Jia Lian very much, and he is always on guard against me. There is also the marriage of the young girl Yingchun next door, and now there is no further details."

Lai Da sat cross-legged on the bed and muttered: "You must be too eager to separate the prince and Jia Lian, making the prince suspicious. You must know that haste makes waste."

Hu Jingzhi was flustered, and hurriedly asked: "Then how should I make up for it now?"

Lai Da sneered and said, "I don't believe that the lord didn't suspect Jia Lian at the beginning, how did Jia Lian make up for it, you just follow the gourd and paint the ladle."

Hu Jingzhi was stunned.

Seeing that he didn't understand, Lai Da said, "It is said that Jia Lian had a conflict with King Beijing in front of Zhou's house. After this incident, Prince Zhongshun treated him differently."

Hu Jingzhi's face was a little pale, and he murmured: "The matter of slandering the princess of the Nan'an Palace was done behind the scenes, are you going to confront the King of Beijing now?"

Lai Da shook his head: "Not only do you want to contradict the King of Beijing, but you also contradict the Ji family."

"Why is this?"

Lai Da said: "Nowadays, people inside and outside the capital are staring at the harem, waiting to be canonized as a new queen. Prince Zhongshun must have plans. You are now close to the Ji family. In the eyes of Prince Zhongshun, you have someone else. The Ji family has been offended, so be careful to test Prince Zhongshun's mind and act according to his mind."

Hu Jingzhi nodded repeatedly after hearing this, and then asked again: "I don't know how to contradict the king of Beijing?"

Lai laughed loudly and said: "The old lady next door has only one daughter, and that daughter only left a granddaughter. If you stand up for that granddaughter, go and scold the Beijing Palace for being unkind and bullying the fatherless and weak girl, the old lady must like you; and It's not good for Beijing Prince's Mansion to embarrass you, a student without fame, or you will become angry from embarrassment and really want to withdraw from the marriage."

"Isn't the old lady next door doing nothing?"

Lai Da sneered and said: "You have never been a parent, and you don't know how to walk a thousand miles away. The old lady is worried about this sentence. Even if the old lady doesn't care about it, she will admire you a little bit in her heart. After doing this, I will go to see you again See Mr. Jia Er's son-in-law Chen Yejun, who was very close to Jia Lian before, but suddenly turned his back on him one day, there must be something inside, you feel ashamed by buying Mr. Jia's yard, and go to Mr. Chen's house to visit. "

Hu Jingzhi was convinced when he heard that, seeing Lai Da go to touch his stomach, he knew he was hungry, so he went to the kitchen to heat up the leftovers, and served Lai Da like a filial father, after dinner, he asked Lai Da to sleep on the bed. Leaning on the outer couch.

In the early morning of the next day, Hu Jingzhi was in no hurry to visit Jiamu. He left snacks and tea in the study, then locked the door of the study and wandered around the city. In the evening, he bought food and wine and went to Xiaohuazhi Lane. Went to Chen Yejun's house, exchanged a few words with Chen Yejun, saw that Chen Yejun was going to see off the guests, so he walked out of the door with a humble face, thinking that just now Chen Yejun's eyes were complicated, and the words in his mouth seemed to say that he was afraid of Jia Lian's refusal Seeing the guests, he thought to himself that what Lai Da said was true, that Chen Yejun must have something unknown with Jia Lian.

So even though Hu Jingzhi left, he still sent someone to send a piece of calligraphy and painting that he made to ask Chen Yejun for advice in the morning of the second day. Standing on the street, he asked about the marriage between King Jing of Beijing and Lin Daiyu.

Sitting in the sedan chair, King Bei Jing wondered why Hu Jingzhi was so different and asked such a straightforward question, so he ordered his servants to tell him, "This matter has nothing to do with you."

When Hu Jingzhi heard this, he immediately said with a slap in the face: "I admire Master Lin's character, and I most envy Master Lin and Mrs. Lin's deep love. Earlier I heard that Master Lin and Mrs. Lin were not good, so I said to others: 'Thank you With the Prince of Beijing, even though the Lin family and his wife are gone, Miss Lin will not be offended. I can trust the character of the Prince of Beijing. Who knows that just now I heard that the Prince of Beijing entered the palace to withdraw from the Queen Mother. I, Hu Jingzhi, don’t believe in the prince. I will do such ruthless and unjust things, now I will ask the prince, has the Nan'an Palace divorced the marriage? If it really does, it will be considered that I have blind eyes and mistrusted the prince."

There is a saying that a gentleman breaks off friendship and does not spit out bad words.Although the King of Beijing never broke up with Hu Jingzhi, he has long since ceased contact with Hu Jingzhi. At this time, he heard him act outrightly and arrogantly in public, and when he was going to expose his abandonment of the Meng family, he realized why the villain would Become a villain yourself?So he only asked people to lift up the sedan chair, ignored Hu Jingzhi, and only thought in his heart: I have comforted Dowager Bei Jing for the past few days, is it possible that Dowager is carrying him into the palace again?

Hu Jingzhi chased after King Beijing's sedan chair and asked several times. Seeing that he and his party ignored him, he said to the others: "It seems that the King of Beijing County has fled. I'm afraid that King Beijing has already met with Lan. The girl from Dr. Lin’s family in Taisi retired.”

When the people around heard this, they were afraid of power and refused to answer. They just thought in their hearts that this person was really righteous and willing to fight for a fatherless woman.

Hu Jingzhi offended the King of Beijing on one side, and on the other side he accepted the appointment of Ji Jiaerlang to go to the private room of the restaurant to have a drink.

While pushing the cups and changing the cups, Hu Jingzhi slowly led the conversation to the harem, and said, "Second Master Lian of the Rongguo Mansion said that the Zhen family seems to be in trouble."

Ji Jiaerlang also knew that the Zhen family was just a grasshopper after autumn, so they all laughed awkwardly when they heard it, and complained that Jia Lian took pleasure in other's misfortunes.

Hu Jingzhi said in a nonchalant manner: "Perhaps the one who will be the empress is a girl from the Xue family. If the Lord did not confer titles on her for a few years, I'm afraid she will be the queen."

This sentence set Ji Jiaerlang's heart on fire.

So one of them couldn't bear it and said, "She is a merchant's daughter, is she worthy?"

"You can't say that, Mr. Xue is a rare person who possesses both loyalty and filial piety, and is brave and good at fighting." Hu Jingzhi boasted.

One of them sneered and said: "It's really a rare person. He made his wife run so hard that she didn't even dare to enter the door. When she returned to Beijing and got a reward, she still relied on the mansion of General Shenwu and dared not go home."

"You look down on Uncle Xue?" Hu Jingzhi said with a sneer.

The man didn't like Hu Jingzhi boasting about Xue's family while eating the wine from Ji's family, so he said, "You think highly of others, but they may not necessarily think highly of you, otherwise why don't you see others invite you to drink?"

Hu Jingzhi wanted to cause trouble, so he dropped the glass.

Ji Jiaerlang saw that he was a commoner and dared to put on airs in front of them, so he refused to pay any more attention to him, so he got up and wanted to leave.

Hu Jingzhi was not willing to let go of this opportunity, so he took aim at the violent one, grabbed his arm, and forced him to admit that Xue Pan was a rare genius in the world.

The man saw that Hu Jingzhi had forgotten his identity, so he pushed him without saying a word. During the pushing and pushing, he rolled onto the wine table, stained his clothes, and beat each other.

Hu Jingzhi was outnumbered, and he was afraid that he would really damage Ji Jiaerlang, so he only dared to scratch but did not hammer or kick him. He was injured all over his body, and only after Ji Jiaerlang had left did he dare to go downstairs slowly.

When I got downstairs, I saw the restaurant waiter standing on the street talking to Feng Ziying, Liu Xianglian, and Xue Pan who were riding tall horses about the restaurant, so he bowed his hands to the three of them.

Hu Jingzhi secretly thought that Xue Pan must have admired him very much, but Xue Pan saw him coming out with a bruised nose and swollen face, but complained sullenly, "We are a small family and dare not meddle in the affairs of the superiors. Sister pulled out to make the rafters of the head?"

Hu Jingzhi was stunned at first, and then said shamelessly: "I got offended by acting on a whim."

"Let's go." Feng Ziying said, and led Liu Xianglian and Xue Pan to go.

Hu Jingzhi was puzzled, so he deliberately rode his horse through the crowded street to Ningrong Street, returned to the mansion, entered the house, still did not allow anyone to follow, and went into the study room with the window firmly blocked by the curtain, looking Seeing the old god Lai reading a book on the ground, he raised the curtain to look out vigilantly, and asked humbly: "Grandpa Lai, you said before that the Xue family uncle is a fool. When I saw you today, why did you tell me again?" Is it different?" So he explained today's events in detail.

Lai Da sat on the bed and listened, and said: "That's because there are Liu Xianglian and Feng Ziying next to me. Well, you don't need to pay attention to the Xue family. It is said that Chen Yejun had a close relationship with Xue Pan and Feng Ziying before. And the four of them went back to Beijing to rescue him, and the three of them were rewarded. The next time you see Chen Yejun, you will talk about how Feng Ziying, Xue Pan, and Liu Xianglian are in the limelight. I opened my mouth to you."

Hu Jingzhi kept these words in his heart, and ordered Qin Xian's family to go to the next door to tell him that his cheek was injured in case he would be impolite and see you after the injury healed.So he recuperated at home for two consecutive days, and on the third day he heard that Prince Zhongshun had an invitation, so he went to Prince Zhongshun.

I still saw Lord Zhongshun in that little step back, as expected, as Lai Da said, this time Lord Zhongshun treats him differently than before.

I saw Prince Zhongshun brandishing a long sword, and after the sweat stopped, he said to Hu Jingzhi: "Next time I see the Ji family, bear with it if you can. The sixth princes are going to marry a girl from the Zhen family. The future of the family is limited."

Hu Jingzhi accepted Prince Zhongshun's sword, and said: "I am not that reckless, but because I heard his respect for the Xue family from the words of the second brother Lian, and I heard from the prince, so I can't see the Ji family. Insolent."

Prince Zhongshun was about to get the handkerchief, and saw that Hu Jingzhi had handed it over, so he wiped his sweat with the handkerchief, and asked, "Then why did you have a conflict with the King of Beijing on the street?"

Hu Jingzhi smiled and said impatiently: "Because Nan'an Prince's Mansion retired, for a while, I only felt that Miss Lin and Miss Lin were the same people in the end of the world, and also felt that the Wang's Mansion was really bullying people." , So he remained silent again.

Prince Zhongshun didn't completely believe that Hu Jingzhi was fighting for Lin Daiyu because he was "the same person who has fallen into the world", but he also thought that if this person was willing to offend the King of Beijing and the Ji family to please him, he would be considered a smart and knowledgeable person. So he asked, "What do you think of the lawsuit involving Wu's housekeeper forcing Stone Nerve to death?"

"This matter can't be trivialized, I'm afraid it will involve the Zhou family's previous murder case." Hu Jingzhi said.

Prince Zhongshun walked to the porch and sat down, pondered for a while, and then asked: "According to your opinion, the mastermind behind the murder of the Zhou family and the murder of the Wu family is the same person?"

Hu Jingzhi knew that Lai Da was responsible for the Wu family's case, so he just pretended to be confused and said, "Look at it now, it's the same person. This person is probably the one who benefited after Zhou and Wu. I thought It's the empress, the unborn empress is gone, now it looks like it's the Ji family."

"The Ji family—it depends on his family's ability to turn the tide and help the Zhen family back up again." Prince Zhongshun narrowed his eyes and said with a sneer.

Suddenly, the Chief Historian of the palace said, "My lord, my concubine is gone."

Prince Zhongshun sighed and closed his eyes, thinking that it was just the right time for the princess to die, and he would withdraw to whoever is the queen in the harem, "...take this king's words, and use the power of the palace to bury the princess generously."

"Yes."

"Is there anything Jingzhi can do for you?" Hu Jingzhi asked hastily, hating that the concubine is gone now, but it's not easy to ask Prince Zhongshun to be his matchmaker again.

Prince Zhongshun sadly shook his head and waved his hands.

Seeing this, Hu Jingzhi said, "My lord, please take care of yourself." So he withdrew again, and after getting on his horse, he didn't go home for dinner, and went to Xiaohuazhi Lane before the meal time. Bored, Junbai wanted to see off the guests again, so he pointed to his face and sighed, "Oh, I'm just unlucky. I was seduced by a little widow earlier, and I was going to make a break with her, but she was pregnant. I don't know if her unclear child is mine or not, so she was scolded by poking her spine for being a heartless person; she just became the son-in-law of Nan'an Prince's Mansion, but was divorced; before the exam, she fell off the horse abruptly; When I went to Eunuch Dai, there was an accident in the House of Internal Affairs, Master Xu dared not use it; it was so easy to get along with the Ji family, but yesterday I ate two too many drinks and fought with the Ji family again, but today I heard Prince Zhongshun say Zhou The two mothers of the family and the Wu family are afraid that they will suffer disaster, and the mother of the Ji family has a lot to do; I am on good terms with Prince Zhongshun, and I listened to the instigation of Prince Zhongshun's family to offend Prince Zhongshun to please Prince Zhongshun. Now, the concubine of Prince Zhongshun's mansion is gone, and the prince doesn't care about my affairs anymore, hey! I'm afraid I'll have to go home and farm the land in my life." Then he sighed three or four times.

He was also a person with bad luck, Chen Yejun felt sorry for Hu Jingzhi when he heard what he said, he was going to see off the guests, but at this moment he couldn't help himself, so he asked Yuan Chun to bring food and wine, and asked Hu Jingzhi to stay for dinner .

Hu Jingzhi sat at the dining table, and told about his misfortune in detail. Seeing that Chen Yejun was moved by what he heard, but he never said a word, he couldn't help but feel a little discouraged. After leaving the study, he told Chen Yejun again.

Lai laughed and said: "The more he refuses to speak, the bigger things he hides. You just pretend to be a sympathetic and seek him out to talk, and he will always open his mouth."

"Yes." Hu Jingzhi called Grandpa Lai to agree to come down, and humbly asked Lai Da how to speak when he met Jia's mother, and how to speak if he was lucky enough to bump into Jia's grandma or a girl. After preparing everything, he waited until the beginning of August On the day of Sanjia's mother's birthday, she paid a formal visit to Rongguo Mansion.

Hu Jingzhi entered the Rongguo Mansion for the first time, and after entering, he wondered which year the Rongguo Mansion that Lai Dakou said was not inferior to the king's mansion was from the old Huangli. After a stick of incense, he followed the boy inward.Go along the Chaoshou veranda, and when you reach the main entrance, report your name through the curtain, and ask the girl by the door to deliver the gift.

I just heard a very respectable woman inside the door say: "The old lady said, thank you brother Hu, because there is no wine today, so I won't let you eat wine. When the second master Lian is free, ask him to talk to you. "

"Yes." Hu Jingzhi had heard Lai Da talk about the way the Jia family behaved, so although he didn't see Jia's mother, he didn't feel disappointed. He just thought about sending the gift in. If Jia's mother saw it, she would definitely keep him, so Just back away slowly.

Sure enough, before he could walk down the steps, a round-faced girl came out from behind the curtain and said, "Mr. Hu, please stay. The old lady invites Mr. Hu to come in and talk."

"Yes." Hu Jingzhi respectfully agreed, so he hurriedly looked inward without squinting.

After entering the room, after Hu Jingzhi saluted, he vaguely heard the sound of sobbing on the couch, and then he looked up, and saw Jia Mu holding a picture scroll with both hands tearfully through a curtain of coral beads.

"Did you draw this painting? This water pavilion is exactly the same as the previous water pavilion in our house." Jia Mu said with emotion, and then she turned to Yingchun, Miaoyu, Xing Yanyan and Li Wan who were sitting next to her. Wen Wen and Li Qi pointed to their foreheads and said, "When I was at home, I kowtowed on the edge of the water pavilion at home. The big dimple on the top of my temples is the broken one."

After Jiamu said this, the civil servants and others really went to look at Jiamu's forehead. Seeing that Jiamu was old and could not see any scars, they laughed and said: "The old lady remembered wrongly, where is there a scar?" .”

The eloquent Daiyu, the quick-witted Fangguan and Douguan all followed Wang Xifeng to Qianxiang Country, and the remaining Miaoyu, Xing Xiyan, Li Wen, and Li Qi were more indifferent than each other, so everyone just listened respectfully. Mother Jia spoke, but no one responded, so the room became cold for a while.

Mother Jia was a little embarrassed, and suddenly wanted to count on Li Wen and Miao Yu to tease her, but it would be better to expect the sun to come out from the west, so she coughed, feeling a little displeased.

Hu Jingzhi thought to herself that Mother Jia really spent money to pay for her sins. Why did she keep a group of such indifferent girls by her side, so she lowered her head and looked at the Qiluo skirts all over the room, and said, "This painting is Drawn by the juniors."

"Where have you seen this pavilion?" Jia Mu asked again.

Hu Jingzhi smiled and said: "I am ashamed to say that I have never seen it before. When the younger generation was born, there was only a widowed mother left in the family. According to my mother, my family was originally a servant of a very famous family in Jinling City. He was released by the master."

"Jinling? Your surname is Hu?" Mother Jia recalled again and again. She didn't quite remember that there was a servant surnamed Hu in the family, and she suspected that she was old and remembered it wrong.

Hu Jingzhi hurriedly said: "It should be Jinling. In the early years, my mother took me to pay respects to Osmanthus Xia's family. I heard the wife of the Xia family once said that my grandfather had helped the Xia family make love in Jinling. Then it should be Jinling."

"Osmanthus Xia's family?" Jia Mu frowned, thought for a long time, and said with a smile: "But the Osmanthus Xia's family that supplies sweet-scented osmanthus inside and outside Chang'an City? We haven't seen each other for many years."

Hu Jingzhi smiled and said: "It's their family. Their master passed away early, and there is no man in the family to set up a family. There is only a girl's family left. The situation is getting worse every year."

Mother Jia sighed, recalling those old relationships, she thought to herself that there were still a few families left from those family friends in the early years, and with a glance, she saw that Miaoyu had already gone to the east green cupboard, Yingchun, Although Xing Yanyan, Li Wen, and Li Qi were all smiling, they were trying their best to hold on, so they asked Hu Jingzhi, "Do you know anything else?" Fearing that Hu Jingzhi didn't know what she was asking, he shook his hands. picture scroll.

Hu Jingzhi smiled and said: "Mother is afraid that I have been in the mountain village for a long time, and I have not seen the world when I go out, and I will make people laugh, and she told me other things to let me know. It is said that the master of our ancestors had a group of real daughters, that is really honorable." Even the golden branches and jade leaves are comparable. It is said that after birth, those daughters of the daughters are all made by the artisans raised by their own families. Unlike the current daughters, who feel comfortable wearing the materials used in the palace, they are not woven by themselves. Not wearing it."

Jia Mu laughed and said, "This is just a rumor. It's not that we don't wear outside materials, but we weave all kinds of high-quality materials. If we want to wear other people's materials, I don't know where to find them." See Hu Jingzhi actually knew something about her childhood, so he dismissed the boring Yingchun and the others and asked Hu Jingzhi to come in and talk.

Hu Jingzhi sniffed the fragrance and saw that all the ladies had retreated. He sat under Jia Mu's left hand and told Jia Mu what he had heard from Lai Dachu about the four big families in Jinling and other famous families.