The Jade of the Red Chamber

Sister Feng was surprised when she saw the old lady who was rapidly losing weight and dejected, and then remembered how kind the old lady was to her when she just married into Jia's family, and her eyes turned red.Seeing that Jia Mu was ignoring others, she pulled the thin and tight mandarin duck standing aside and asked, "What's wrong with the old lady? Have you asked the doctor to look at it? Why are you alone, where are Hu Po and the others?"

In the past, the glamorous, hearty and generous mandarin duck had a small face and couldn't help it any longer, and began to cry.

……

A few months ago, the second house and the first house of the Jia family separated. Jia Huan, the first house and the second house concubine Jia Huan, took Aunt Zhao and sister Tanchun and moved out quickly. This messy house was crowded with too many people. A lot of time and space have been freed. The old lady looked at it at the beginning and she was also pure. Her health improved a lot for a while, and she was even able to go down and walk a few steps in the house by herself.

Although Mother Jia gave away some money, jewelry and clothes, everyone knows that the old lady is the best at living and managing the house. The sum of the money that was given out is only a small amount, but it is just money in the account book. As much as 10 taels.Can Jia Amnesty, Madam Xing and Sister Jia Lianfeng not be greedy for the money? They all complain that Jia's mother is biased. Under Zhenyu's influence, he couldn't help but move out of the second room's group of unclear bills. I'm afraid no one would be able to let go of the money and move out so easily.

Even if You's mother-in-law and daughter-in-law need to rely on Jia's mother to take care of them, they don't have no complaints in their hearts, but they just depend on others and dare not speak out.These two are clumsy and tongue-tied. When Jia Mu separated the house, she clearly stated that the house can still live together, but the daily necessities of food and clothing are different, and the two cannot tell the difference, so she begged Jia Mu to give I bought a small yard with only one entrance in the back street, and after taking advantage of this side, the two mother-in-law and daughter-in-law moved there under Mrs. Wang's unkind eyes.

Youshi is a foolish person. When the Ning Mansion was still there, he never dared to refute Jia Zhen. At most, he dared to use dirty tricks against the girl and aunt behind his back, and Jia Zhen scolded him every time. My son had no idea at all when he left Jiamu's place, he would only cry and sigh, and went to Jiamu's place to get closer to the old lady and Mrs. Wang, but was ridiculed and ridiculed by the increasingly shameless Mrs. Wang Red-eyed Paozi is back.

Hu's family background is not high, but he is quite talented, so he looks down on You's appearance very much. If there are not many brothers and sisters in the family, she would have gone back to her mother's house long ago.At this moment, I had no choice but to appease Youshi first, and then coaxed Youshi back with soft words. The two of them bought a small village in the outer suburbs of the capital with the old servant who had been following the silver trustees. The hometown is very close, and the two women can be considered a bit busy.Living in the capital is too expensive, and the two discussed to sell the small yard and move to live in Zhuangzi after the house in Xiaozhuangzi was repaired.

The two never took Xichun away, and they didn't say anything to Xichun even after discussing the matter of moving away.Xichun watched her sister-in-law, nephew and daughter-in-law move to the back street like this, and saw Brother Huan taking his third sister with him without money, and felt even more uncomfortable, but usually he could still go to Changcui Temple to talk to Miaoyu Xuanli put aside his troubles, but Jia's house was raided, and Qiancui'an was also taken away. Miaoyu and her little master had already gone back to Jiangnan.

Xichun saw that the second wife pointed her nose at her, it wasn't her nose, her eyes were not her eyes, the little girl was very depressed, she would often twist her hair and become an aunt when she got up so hard, but she was young after all, if there were people around who talked about the Buddha and the Tao Influenced by people, it is hard to say that one day I will really go with the green light.But now no one tells her these Buddhist mysteries, no one uses them to enlighten her, Xichun read the Buddhist scriptures by Lao Zhuang for a while, but became more and more irritable, then she simply threw away her hands and just stayed in the room.After going through all these things, Xichun also understood a lot. She was also afraid that her marriage would be sold as a bargaining chip by the old lady, but she was helpless, so she could only comfort herself. Fortunately, she was still young and couldn't go out for the time being.

Mother Jia moved Xichun to live in her own yard, and gave Baoyu the larger yard, fearing that he would be wronged, so she changed the name of the yard to "Yihong Courtyard".Mrs. Wang finally occupied the small courtyard. She had no ink in her stomach, and she wanted to restore her dignity, so she forced Jia Baoyu to name the courtyard "Ruxi Hall", and the nonsense offended the maidservants. The children all laughed.

After over 80 years of wind and rain, Mother Jia is naturally a calculating person. She knows in her heart that her biggest reliance is the money in her hand, so no matter how flattering Mrs. Wang is or how sweet she is, she never reveals half of the money to her. .

But after all, she is old, and she doesn't care about the trivial matters of shopping. She originally wanted to leave it to Zhu's daughter-in-law, but Li Wan insisted on refusing to do it, and she didn't touch her hands at all. , Except for taking Jia Lan to the school, she would hide in the house all day without showing a single face.

Mother Jia had no choice but to leave it to Mrs. Wang, who exploited some of it. She also closed her eyes and pretended not to know, but seeing Zijuan's belly getting bigger every day, she was anxious about Jia Baoyu's marriage. up.It should be said that Jia Baoyu is not very old, but it is not uncommon for ordinary people's young masters to marry at the age of eleven or twelve. Jia's mother is worried that it will delay for a while, and when the child born by Zijuan is older, Baoyu will not be able to say goodbye. After all, whose girl is married and willing to face the eldest son who already knows something, it's better when she is young, at least she can handle it and teach her to get close.

When it comes to Jia Baoyu's marriage, the first thing Jia's mother and Mrs. Wang think of is Baochai.Originally, Jia's mother was trying to plot the property of Xue's family, but now the people in the second room are not good at managing it. Ordinary men are not bad, and they are even more excited. I also heard that the big idiot Xue has become better now, and he and his brothers can support half the sky of the Xue family. Satisfied, with a capable brother-in-law, it is even more appropriate for Baoyu to marry Baochai!

After discussing it here, Mother Jia sent a useful woman to ask for Aunt Xue's message. , the old lady is old, isn't she a ready-made grandma? Second, Baoyu is growing up now, and studying hard. With his intelligence, he can hope to have a wife and shade in the future; third, a skinny camel is bigger than a horse. Although Jia's mansion is now dilapidated, the old lady's private property has not been confiscated, so there must be a few hundred thousand taels of wasted money. Second grandma's?Besides, the betrothal gifts are no worse than those of those from aristocratic families.He beat the side drum again and said that Baochai has reached the age of Ji, and he is not young enough to be seen by others. There are relatives in Jia's house, and there is a good fortune. Can Bao girl be wronged when she marries?

I don't know what Aunt Xue was thinking, but she was a little moved. After chatting with the old woman for a long time, Baochai listened to it in the inner room, and she was 1 unwilling. She didn't know what kind of temper Baoyu had. Well, to say something disrespectful, "The country is easy to change, and the nature is hard to change." It is really unreliable to think that he will study and become an official.Besides, the old woman said so much, why didn't Baoyu let the girl in the house get pregnant without marrying a wife?Xue Baochai was anxious and distressed, longing for her brother to come back and drive the woman out. During this period of time, she also saw clearly that her brother did not want to marry into the Jia family by himself.

However, Xue Pan and Leng Erlang went to Zhili to buy goods a few days ago, and they will return in a few days, and for some reason, after Xue Pan came out of the prison and recovered from his injuries, he was even more reluctant to stay home, and stayed outside all day long. He is busy with work, and stays directly in the shop when he is busy. He doesn't listen to what Aunt Xue said to him. Seeing that he is busy with serious business, Aunt Xue said it a few times.

In the evening, Aunt Xue looked at Baochai with a smile, and talked with her daughter for a long time.

Aunt Xue felt that Jia Baoyu's marriage was a good one, and she was indeed moved by the woman's words. Although what the woman said must have exaggerated a lot, there was a saying that was right. Aunt Xue knew in her heart that Baochai was as good as Ji She's already an old girl at sixteen. In the early years, there were people who came to say goodbye, but now there is no one. If she stays here, it will be really difficult to get married.

Aunt Xue persuaded Baochai: "Although Jia's family is in ruins now, Baoyu was born with jade. It is a good fortune. We are relatives. I gave you to their family. I am relieved to see it."

Seeing that Baochai bowed her head and said nothing, Aunt Xue said again: "My son, why don't I know your thoughts? I blame my mother for delaying you by thinking about the wealth and power of the Duke's Mansion a few years ago. Even if you marry into the clan of the Marquis Mansion with your looks and talents, it is acceptable. Although it is not obvious now, but without the signboard of the imperial merchant, our family has become an ordinary merchant after all. Those high-ranking families will look down on you. You...you , you are not young anymore, alas, what crime did our mother and daughter do, my good girl..." Saying this, she began to cry.

Baochai hurriedly comforted her, but she felt self-pity in her heart. She remembered the poem she wrote with the Jia sisters when she was young, "A good wind sends me to Qingyun by force", and the sisters laughed at her, "Our family has a mother." Come on, will Sister Bao be a princess in the future too?" Her heart hurt like a knife, her eyes were sore, and the tears couldn't stop.

Aunt Xue wiped her tears, held Baochai's hand and said, "Speaking of which, I also watched Baoyu grow up, and that child is the most gentle and considerate. Everyone else is getting better, and you two have something to say, if it happens, wouldn’t it be a beautiful thing?” Thinking of Zijuan and her belly, Aunt Xue’s eyes flashed sharply: “As for his Zijuan Tongfang, my son doesn’t have to worry about it. You are the master and she is the servant. As long as you win over Baoyu, you can make that annoying thing disappear without anyone noticing. Think about it, how many times did your father still suffer when you were young? The favorite concubine Ji, but what happened to those people later?"

These words are really blunt, Rao Baochai has always been more mature and generous than girls from other families, so she is made to bow her head by these words, I don't know why.Aunt Xue knew that she was reckless when she said it, and it was over when she told the girls who hadn't left home, but Aunt Xue knew more about the affairs of the back house than Baochai, because she said: "My son, don't think that mother is blunt. , as a woman, you have to learn these things, that man is not flamboyant, and there aren't many vixens in the house?"

It is said that the mother and daughter thought of Daiyu at the same time, not for anything else, but because of the marriage with the Lin family, the Xi family's custom of "only those who have no children for forty years will consider the Natong room" has been passed down. There was an uproar in the capital city, how many people were disdainful on the surface but appraised their son-in-law in their hearts, and privately envied the ladies and wives all over the city.

Xue Baochai recalled the time when she went to Lin's mansion and saw Lin Daiyu being held and pampered by the Lin family like a pearl in the palm of her hand, her mouth was filled with bitterness. It's broken, how can I compare with myself, seeing that Baoyu cares about her, I still want to fight, and put eye drops on her in private in front of Xiangyun, the lady of the Hou's mansion.Now that I think about it, I'm afraid I've never set my eyes on the Jia family, never looked at Jia Baoyu, just like the music box that was a rare thing for foreigners when I was a treasure. Miss Lin's house has a few boxes that are better than that, and my brother has a white jade hairpin. I was so ashamed that I wanted to find a crack to get in.

Aunt Xue curled her lips sourly and said: "It's lucky for Lin girl to find such a good family. She looks so frail and unlucky, it's thanks to her father who is a high-ranking official!" She sighed: "If Back then when I knew that this old man of the Lin family was so promising and valued so much by Mr. Lin, I shouldn't have thought that he was an adopted son and looked down on him, or else this was a good marriage." After all, it's up to Baochai.

Baochai blushed, and now thinking of the appearance of the elder brother of the Lin family, he was no worse than Baoyu, but... Baochai's eyes dimmed again, what's the use of thinking about it now.

The couple talked for a long time, but Baochai finally did not respond directly to Aunt Xue, but Aunt Xue thought to herself, "Even so, she is a daughter's family, and she has always been a filial and courteous person. In the future, if I agree, she will have nothing to say." Yes." Xiangling came to serve Aunt Xue and Baochai to sleep, Aunt Xue was still thinking about how much dowry silver the Jia family wanted.Mrs. Wang borrowed so much money from her back then, so she naturally remembered it. Because of the proposal of the Jia family who moved her heart this time, she also heard the old lady's words about how many 10 taels of silver. With this marriage, it would be good for the Jia family to return some money.

Baochai didn't know this, but she felt that her mother was too soft-hearted. She was a girl, and she didn't want to say much. She thought that she would send a letter to her brother early in the morning, asking him to come back and be her abbot.

The two mothers have different thoughts, this is the same bed with different dreams.

When Xue Pan received a letter from his sister outside, he was anxious and angry, and blamed Aunt Xue for being confused. Although he was cold-hearted about what his sister did, he still felt distressed.

Seeing his appearance, Liu Xianglian comforted her and said, "Auntie will have to wait until you go back to make a decision. Don't worry, I'll just take care of the things here. Go back immediately and explain clearly to Auntie." She sneered again: "I He once said that in the two mansions, only the stone lions in front of the door were clean, and it would be more appropriate to let Baoyu fall on it. He looked like a glorious figure, but he was soft and had no responsibility at all. For more than a year, the Jia family has not seen him give a half-nod to so many things, and the things that even the parents can't take care of are not the things that the girl entrusts to rely on for life."

Hearing this, Xue Pan was moved. He remembered what his sister had said, and felt a little ashamed. He held Leng Erlang's hand, and was speechless.

Liu Xianglian patted him and said with a smile: "What are you doing in a daze, go quickly!"

Baochai breathed a sigh of relief when Xue Pan came back, but Aunt Xue couldn't make up her mind, thinking about Baoyu's fortune and the money in the old lady's hands.

Seeing it, Xue Pan felt even more uncomfortable. With red eyes, he said ruthlessly: "Mom is confused! You said my case was already closed, why was I dragged out and sent to prison?"

This time Aunt Xue and Xue Baochai both heard his subtext. Aunt Xue stared at Xue Pan with trembling lips, and asked in surprise, "This is...? Pan'er, don't you make a mistake?"

Xue Pan's eyes were full of tears, and the calm men roared with tears, "How could there be a mistake? On the day Erlang tried his best to rescue me, he told me that there might be someone helping me in secret, otherwise it would be up to his ability It was impossible to rescue me like this. At first I thought it was Jia’s family who was my aunt, but my uncle called me in secretly, and then I realized that it was my uncle who saved me. I was puzzled and asked my uncle who caused me, but my uncle hesitated It took me a long time to find out that the Jia family did it! It turned out that the Jia family saw that we wanted to stay away, so the old lady and aunt resorted to this method, and the person who came to sue me was found by someone close to the old lady! Mom, you say, Do you still agree to such a marriage? If you marry into their family, your sister will stay at home for the rest of your life!"

Aunt Xue was dumbstruck for a long time, and when she heard Xue Pan's last sentence of tears, she called people to go back to Jia's house, and even threw the gifts brought by the woman the day before yesterday into Mrs. Wang's face!If Xue Pan hadn't pulled her, she would have gone to Jia's house to ask for justice.

Xue Pan wiped his face, sighed and said: "Mom, don't bother, because what happened is our reputation. You don't know it at home, but Jia Baoyu's reputation in the capital is so bad that he didn't even send his father into exile. It doesn't matter what the mother suffers. Jia's family has not been completed like this, and the maid was pregnant during the filial piety period. If it weren't for no one willing to talk to him, he would not be able to get through this alone. Now even ordinary people don't want their daughters to marry. Let alone my sister."

Afraid that Aunt Xue would do something stupid, she said again: "I will pay attention to my younger sister's marriage. Anyway, I have a lot of people outside. If there is a suitable one, I will ask my mother to see it. As for the Jia family, let's just pretend that we don't have such relatives." See Aunt Xue wanted to refute, knowing that she felt sorry for the borrowed money, she simply said: "Don't say that our family borrows money without an IOU, even if we have an IOU to return the money, we can't keep the money. Our Xue family also borrowed money from the national treasury in the early years. It is because our Xue family was mistakenly copied, and the account book of the aunt's private treasury recorded a lot of money that she "borrowed" from our family. I tried my best, and my family was not released, otherwise, even if I escaped the previous lawsuit, I would not escape the punishment of exile."

Aunt Xue dared not speak any more after saying this, and stared blankly at Xue Pan's back as he turned and went out.

The matter of Xue's family is completely messed up, Xue Pan ordered people to bring back all the gifts, he knew what was going on inside and outside the words, and although he didn't want to tear his face, the two families were not good-looking, but the relationship between the relatives was divided. That's it!In the future, nothing about the Jia family will have anything to do with the Xue family. If any rumors about "good luck" are spread that will harm the reputation of the girl from the Xue family, don't blame him for being a villain. An extraordinary bastard, he went to the big prison and came out with half his life, and now he wants to open it even more.

Having said this, even though the angry mother of Jia was welling up, she didn't dare to do anything. Now that the Jia family is old and weak, they can't afford to provoke such a muddleheaded person.

Mother Jia was flustered with anger, cursing Xue's family in her mouth and heart, and now a junior who can't get on the stage dares to throw face at her.With a sigh of relief in her chest, she couldn't move up or down, so Jia's mother called Jia Baoyu, and told him to study hard and strive for success, so that in the future she would become famous. No girl from a good family can marry her, and she doesn't even look down on those from lowly merchants. It's Bao girl.

Jia Baoyu originally heard that the old lady and his mother were going to marry Sister Bao for him. Although he yearned for Daiyu more in his heart, he spent more time with Sister Bao, and to be honest, they had a deeper bond. Thinking of Sister Bao With the string of red coral beads on her snow-white arms, Baoyu felt a little hot in her heart, and she didn't say anything, but she was looking forward to it.

Now when she heard the old lady tell him to study hard, but she didn't want Sister Bao anymore, Baoyu felt uncomfortable, so she went out after a few words.

Mother Jia didn't give up, and asked someone to tell the good girls in the capital, first they were girls from low-level official families, and later they didn't stick to official girls, as long as they were good-looking girls from rich and gentry families. But after all, none of the family was willing, and later they couldn’t hire matchmakers even after spending a hundred and ten taels of silver. No matter how many people there are, they dare not say kiss for Jia Baoyu who has such a bad reputation. If it is done, it will be a one-shot deal.

Jia Mu was furious, and said straightly that "a dog's eyes see people as inferior", but she couldn't get out of this tone, so she asked Baoyu to study hard every day, and when she took the exam next year, she vowed to make those people regret it.This is too much to say, especially Jia Baoyu's impatient words. Jia Baoyu, who was still worried about the old lady before, frowned secretly when he heard it, and often left without saying a few words.

Jia's mother had doubted whether Baoyu had listened to her before, but she asked Xiren, Sheyue and others to ask carefully, and they all said that the second master worked hard and was late every day.Mother Jia felt relieved, and asked someone to stew good supplements for him every day, and gave him another 200 taels of silver every month.

One thing happened in the middle, but because of Xiren's "smartness", Jia's mother was more convinced that Baoyu worked hard.

I don't know what Qingwen, the big maid in Baoyu's room, saw that day. She ran all the way to Jia Mu, crying and begging the old lady to let her out. Jia Mu gave Baoyu this girl, and she always valued her appearance and craftsmanship , I couldn't help being a little surprised when I heard this, and quickly asked what happened.Qingwen squeaked, her face flushed with embarrassment, but she couldn't say anything, and Jia's mother became impatient, and she became suspicious, and asked the woman next to her to quietly go and see what happened in Baoyu's room.

The old woman went and came back and said: "Second Master Bao is working hard in the study, Xiren and Sheyue are doing needlework in the outer room, and the rest are talking and doing work in the corridor." Jia Mu nodded and breathed a sigh of relief, but she also I don't want to think about why only Xiren and Sheyue are doing needlework in the outer room. Is it normal for the big maid to bring the little girl to do the work?

After listening to the report, Jia's mother felt that Qingwen had done something wrong herself, and it was difficult to say, and she grew up after looking at her. After all, this enchanting appearance was not as good as the honest and docile Xiren and others by Baoyu's side, so she felt kind. , not intending to find her fault, and ordered her brother to come and take her away.

If it is said that Lin Zhenyu's encounter changed the fate of many people, Qingwen's brother and sister-in-law are one of them.Previously, Jia Lian didn't get involved with Second Sister You, Qiu Tong, etc., and she behaved decently again. Naturally, she was the treasure in the eyes of many servants with long-hearted hearts. Qingwen's sister-in-law and many girls were the most "lovely" among them, but they suffered from no chance. One time, I finally met Jia Lian, and all these girls ignored Jia Lian in the garden and entangled them like winking eyes. Ping'er, who was chasing Jia Lian out to deliver things, saw it. Although Jia Lian didn't bother, this matter was caught Sister Feng found out, but when all these girls were having fun with the concierge old Li Tou, someone caught them and all the mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law in the garden saw them.

Qingwen's elder brother is a drunkard fool, named Wu Gui, honest and timid, and no one promised him a kiss after that.Because Qingwen helped him from time to time, it was only my sister who obeyed.Qingwen begged for help when people from Jia's mansion went out, but her brother has now left his citizenship and is doing odd jobs outside to make ends meet.Jia Mu sent someone to call him, and he heard that it was his sister's intention. He didn't say anything but thanked Jia Mu for her kindness.

Later, when all the flowers were gone, I heard that Qingwen, relying on her own good embroidery work, and her brother set up a small shop in the county not far from the capital, and they only took care of the men of the country gentry and landlords in the county. She was doing well, and later, she married a farmer with fields in the village below, and gave birth to a fat boy the next year, and her mother-in-law's family treated her very well.

But these are things for later.Now Jiamu asked Wu Gui to lead Qingwen back home, feeling worried, and called Xiren to ask questions, Xiren pretended to be embarrassed and said that Qingwen saw Zijuan as an aunt, so she was jealous, so she was studying in Baoyu When he was teasing him, he was reprimanded by Baoyu, and he couldn't bear the shame, so he came to ask the old lady to let him go.

When Jia Mu heard the words, she thought that it was a good thing to let the hoof out, otherwise Baoyu would have been damaged, and she believed in Baoyu's words of studying hard.

But soon Mother Jia knew what it was like to be struck by lightning on a sunny day. It was a good day, and she thought that Baoyu had lost a lot of weight recently, so she found an old ginseng from her body and asked to cut a few pieces to go with it. Baoyu made soup for other good things, and when the servants brought them up, she wanted to go and see her precious grandson working hard on a whim.They asked Yuanyang to support her, and Hu Po took the soup bowl and took two or three maids to the "Yihong Courtyard" next door.

After entering the courtyard, she found that the courtyard was quiet, as if there was no one there. Yuanyang became suspicious, but Jia's mother thought that Baoyu thought the noise was affecting his study, so she asked people to leave. She didn't care, and went straight to the study. It was not until Baoyu was found that there was only one little girl with a pale face.

Then Jia Mu became suspicious, and went straight to the main room of Yihong Courtyard. The door was closed tightly, but the inside was not plugged in. When Jia Mu entered, she smelled a musky smell, her face sank immediately, and her men were desperate. Grabbing the mandarin ducks and rushing straight into the inner room, the voice from inside made the maids flush with embarrassment. Jiamu tore off the curtain, and her head exploded suddenly—it turned out that there was really precious jade inside, and there were red strips inside. The three of them—Xi Ren and She Yue were so frightened that they couldn't move. They rolled out of bed and knelt on the ground with their clothes in their arms when they heard Jia Mu yelling loudly.