The Mighty First Wife of the Red Chamber

Jia Lian came out with his daughter-in-law, but seeing Amber was still there, she couldn't help raising her eyebrows in surprise, and was about to ask, but saw Hu Po holding up a bundle in her hand, and said with a smile: "The old lady thinks that Second Mistress Lian is ill, and I'm afraid It's cold in the hallway, so I specially rewarded this big fur cloak. In the past, Baoyu asked for it when he saw it, but he didn't give it back. It's a pity that his child's house will be ruined. It can be seen that he loves the second grandma."

As he spoke, he shook out a colorfully embroidered woolen cloak, and said boastfully: "This is all made of the most beautiful bunch of colored wool on the top of the wild duck's head. This cloak costs hundreds of dollars." Only the feathers of wild ducks can be woven, how expensive it is!"

Jia Lian thought, don't want your cloak, can you tell my wife to go back to bed and rest?It's a way of buying people's hearts hypocritically, how stupid can't you see it?The old lady is clearly just trying to please people's hearts about the matter she sent Yuanyang to talk about last time. How can she really love her?

But there was no way to say this. Jia Lian took the cloak from Hu Po, and put it on for his daughter-in-law herself, and tied it with a tie. Xia Ye also helped him put on a green lotus velvet squirrel skin cloak, and ordered Ping'er to look after the house. , only brought a second-class maid, Feng Er, to serve her, and followed Hu Po over there.

Walking all the way, the blackness of the cold air invaded the bones, but, holding his hand, Xia Ye felt like carrying a big brazier, and didn't feel the cold at all.

When I arrived at the upper room where Jia Mu lived, I saw Jia Mu sitting majestically on the top, and An'er, who was lying on the ground, shaking her shoulders and crying softly. On the two rows of chairs below, there were Mrs. Xing, the eldest wife, and Mrs. Wang, the second wife. , all with expressionless faces, in the posture of three trials.

Jia Lian bowed to Jia's mother calmly, and Xia Ye followed him in a happy and blessed body, saying together: "Grandson and granddaughter-in-law, please greet the ancestors." Then he said to Mrs. Xing: "Mother." Mrs. Xing gave them this Shouting "Mother" made her heart soften, she had no children all her life, although she got some money by being harsh and frugal, it was not as good as having children, she became in a trance for a while.

When Jia Mu saw that Jia Lian was also here, she first shook her eyebrows in surprise, and then showed a little comforting smile, thinking that in the past few days, people who have listened to her say that Lian'er has been recuperating at home, and every day she is a girl in Feng's clothes. He took care of it, and said that the young couple had gone through this storm, not only did Lian'er put away her previous flirtatious temper, and knew that she loved her daughter-in-law, but during the few days when Feng girl was sick, he even took care of her own injuries, the young couple now There is no estrangement at all, the more you love me, the more I pity you, as if you are going through life in a serious way.Seeing that Feng girl was exposed for giving out money for profit, Lian'er was still accompanying her, which shows that she is a caring and responsible person.What happened to the interest rate money?One is willing to borrow, the other is willing to give, consensual, and did not kill or set fire, it is nothing more than a little poor and does not conform to what people like Jia's family do, it can only be regarded as a slight fault, how can the second daughter-in-law say it so alarmistly? !She is nothing more than using this raft to punish Feng girl!Besides, it is said in the book that people are not sages and sages, no one can make mistakes, and if you know your mistakes in the future, you can correct them, as long as you don't let go of the profit.On the contrary, Lian'er is a man with affection, intention and responsibility, which makes my wife look at her with admiration. It seems that my idea is still good. In the future, I can ask Lian'er to carry more burdens in this house!

Seeing that Jia Lian had also come, Mrs. Wang screamed inwardly, but she kept her stiff smile on her face and said, "Lian'er, you are just too playful. You run out every day and don't care about the family affairs! Feng girl again How can you do it, after all, she is a woman with shallow eyelids, and can't help being tempted by other people's interests to do such a terrible thing, even an aunt like me is embarrassed to talk in front of people!"

Xia Ye suddenly raised her head, stared fiercely at Mrs. Wang, and squeezed out a sentence through her teeth: "You are really my good aunt, today I have learned a lesson!"

Jia Lian also laughed, with a gentle smile, but with a trace of coldness, said: "Isn't it? Ma'am, you are Feng'er's direct aunt, and naturally you are doing everything for Feng'er's good. How can you do it for a lowly maidservant? Rectified my nephew and daughter? However, there is a saying that is good, the world is prosperous, all for profit, and the world is crowded, all for profit. It can be seen that the word benefit is really powerful. Originally, it is a family of flesh and blood. Kissing and kissing, now just for a little profit, just like that black-eyed chicken, wishing to tear each other apart!"

Mrs. Wang's face turned purple at this remark, and she said angrily: "Lian'er, don't talk nonsense! How can I punish Feng girl? I am the wife in charge of the house. When something goes wrong, I only want to take sides. How can I live up to the trust that the old lady entrusted to me in this mansion!"

Jia Lian sneered, and said: "Who wouldn't say these things? Today, the old lady, the eldest wife, and Grandma You from the East Mansion are all here, so I must invite the elders to comment. It's about giving money. , I admit, yes! However, it's not that Feng'er is greedy for money and acts recklessly. In fact, it's because the mansion is so wasted these days, and the total expenses are so small that they still can't collect the rent from the village. I had no choice but to come up with this method because I had no choice but to ask some of my confidantes to do it. Later, the master asked me to take a long trip to Ping'an Prefecture, so I had to entrust Feng'er to take care of the profit. Now that my wife finds out to settle accounts, I have nothing to say, but rely on the punishment of the old lady, the only thing is, Feng'er and I will hand over the errands of the mansion in the future, so that Feng'er's dowry will not be ruined. Send it in vain."

The situation suddenly changed suddenly. Mrs. Wang did not expect that Jia Lian, who has always been a playboy and irresponsible, would risk herself to protect Xifeng. She was stunned for a while, speechless.

The others, Mrs. Xing Youshi, and the servants and servants who were scattered around pricked up their ears for fear of missing an important sentence, all changed their faces. They didn't expect things to develop like this!

Mother Jia frowned when she heard that, instead of scolding Jia Lian, she asked anxiously, "What? Feng'er's dowry is filled in a lot? But is it true? Lian'er, I don't even know." Our mansion has reached this level now! Why are you all hiding it from me?"

In fact, this is Jia Lian's exaggeration, what he just said is also half-truth and half-false. It is said that Jia's mansion is struggling to make ends meet, but it has not reached this point. Wang Xifeng, who was Xia Ye's true self before crossing over, once deliberately pawned it in front of Jia Lian. Two gold collars were given to Eunuch Xia to raise 1000 taels of silver. Firstly, it was to warn him, and secondly, it was to show off his virtuousness of understanding the general situation and taking the overall situation into consideration, but Jia Lian just asked Jia Lian to take it out today to prove that he and his wife are two people. It was because the second wife forced the housekeeper, but she had no money, and it was difficult for a clever woman to make a living without rice, so she pulled out this trick and took the risk.

The more Jia Lian talked, the more he got into the mood, lowered his head, and said in a low voice: "Old ancestor, you have worked hard for the house all your life, how can you worry about the hardship of your family now? Well, it's not because of this scumbag today. The servants made a fuss about this matter..." Jia Lian's eyes shifted to An'er on the ground, and he stared at her with dead eyes, his eyes were so cold that it seemed that snowflakes had been floating for thousands of years, which made An'er shake his shoulders, not at all. Dare to look up.

Jia Lian turned to Jia Mu again, and said slowly and calmly, "Old lady, it's really hard to describe. Of the Zhuangzi managed by our mansion, seven or eight out of ten in the past few years have suffered from such and other disasters and the harvest is not good. At most, it would be nice to be able to collect half of the rent, but the expenses in the mansion are getting bigger and bigger. The millet, rice, chicken, duck, and fish collected by the village are not enough for the people in the mansion to eat, and they have to go outside to another place. Buy. There is another big head. If nothing else, let’s talk about this population. Originally, there were more than [-] slaves in the mansion, and two or three hundred slaves and maidservants were enough. Now, it’s a whole lot more. Double people, most of these extra people stay in the mansion, they have to eat and dress, and they also have to pay monthly money, which one is not a waste? I told my wife before that the family is too large. You can actually cut half of it off. However, the wife said that if there are fewer people to order, there will be no grandeur of the Duke's Mansion. I would rather save some money elsewhere, and keep it, and make my face fat. But, elsewhere How to save money? Also, people often come to the palace now. The grand eunuch Xia Gonggong comes every now and then, and he only cares about me borrowing money when he comes. How can I lend him money? Besides, the money is sure. Pay it back. If I say no, the wife insists on twisting me and saying that we must find a way. We would rather have a shortage in our house than make the empress in the palace feel wronged. Tell me to find a way, and ask me to try to get out of the public account."

The second daughter-in-law actually forced her nephew to fabricate money from her father-in-law!Jia Lian hadn't finished speaking, and Jia's mother had already swept Mrs. Wang with her cold eyes several times, scratching like a knife.

Mrs. Wang's complexion was blue and white. She wanted to argue, but she couldn't, because the truth was true.

In fact, Mrs. Wang had known for a long time that Xifeng used the gift money from the mansion to white wolf and give away money for profit. She just pretended not to know. Feng Yatou, a silly girl who loves to play tricks and has a strong heart and is unwilling to be laughed at, can do it, but she is happy to continue pretending to be a good person and a Bodhisattva.Later, it was also because she was anxious for a while, Feng girl didn't listen to her greetings, and didn't care about the house, and by the way, she didn't even let the profit money go, which caused her to lose a lot of money, and she couldn't sleep well at night because of her heartache. Thinking of singing a bad face today, when Feng girl is in trouble, she will come out to intercede for her, sing a red face and come back, so that Feng girl will appreciate her kindness and continue to obey her orders and serve her as a slave. Unexpectedly, Jia Lian suddenly She ran over and intervened. Not only was Feng girl staying out of the way, but she was so tired that she was stared at by the old lady hatefully, and the eyes of everyone in the hall were also very complicated, especially Mrs. Xing. Seeing the triumphant expression of covering her mouth with a veil, she almost jumped out and said, "Second daughter-in-law, you caught an eagle and got pecked in the eye by an eagle, right? You deserve it!"

Mrs. Wang is so embarrassing, she wished there was a gap in the ground so that she could slip in.

However, as soon as Jia Lian opened the chatterbox, the bitterness poured out endlessly, "But, Mr. Xia said one thousand and two thousand, but how can I get it? Feng'er knows my difficulties, understands me, and puts her in the box. The gold collar at the bottom was pawned to fill the hole, why don’t I feel grateful? I asked my daughter-in-law to pawn the jewelry once or twice to fill it. I came up with such a tactic out of necessity. I also know that this is a scumbag that can't get on the stage. However, I was also forced into a last resort. The old lady really wanted to punish me, so she punished me, and it has nothing to do with Feng'er! I'm still sick, I can't bear to toss about it!"

When Jia Lian said this, the servants and servants who were still angry were at a loss. They didn't know that the economy of the mansion was so stretched!This group of people was jealous of Lian's second master and Lian's second grandmother in charge of the huge Jia's mansion, they didn't know how much money they made, but they didn't expect that they were actually chime made by Coptis chinensis, bright on the outside and bitter on the inside!

Jia Lian seemed to know what these people were thinking, and said loudly: "It's wrong to give out profiteering money. Everyone should get the monthly money earlier, but it often takes more than ten days to get it. Tell everyone to wait." Impatient, I, Jia Lian, am sorry for everyone, but if you don’t come up with this clever trick, and you can’t move around in the big tent, you may not get the monthly money directly. Everyone weighs it in and gets it later Is monthly money better, or simply not being able to get it?" Jia Lian said that the crime of lending money for profit has become the merit of his young couple who have worked hard for the family regardless of personal gains or losses. The gazes of the servants were filled with admiration and respect.

By the way, when Jia Lian was talking, Xia Ye kept looking at him, with a spark of admiration and admiration in his eyes that had never been seen in two lifetimes: I remember when I first saw this man, I thought he was frivolous and disdainful as a husband. Later, he recuperated in the mansion, he seemed to be a different person, he would act coquettishly and playfully to please her from time to time, even though Xia Ye was tempted by his peach blossom eyes, he didn't completely convince her at this moment...