Jia Zheng through the Red Mansions

The next day, Jia Zheng and Jia Zhu had breakfast, and bought some beef and dry food for emergencies, and asked Xiaoer to hire a carriage. The driver didn't want to go to Suzhou when he heard that, but Jia Zheng gave it to him later. Only then did they agree.

The carriage is not as refined and comfortable as the one prepared by the Rongguo Mansion, but this time there is no servant girl accompanying her, and the coachman is very talkative. The father and son chatted with the coachman while driving, which was more interesting than when they came here. On the way, Jia Zheng heard a lot of customs and folklore that he didn't know before from the coachman, and he felt it was an eye-opener.

The same is true for Jia Zhu. Although the coachman is a rough man who doesn't understand the principles, what he said is what the common people think, which is far from what Jia Zhu thought about before. Zhu's heart changed even more, and he wanted to understand what Jia Zheng said that night, and felt that he had underestimated his father in the past.

Seeing Jia Zhu's more and more adoring eyes, Jia Zheng felt a little embarrassed. This was not his insight. He was a layman. Books are despised, but he is the only one who is interested in reading them. He read almost all the popular books like "How to Be a XX" at that time, and what he said was nothing more than these superficial things. That's all.

Jia Zheng was not in a hurry along the way, and took a day off to take Jia Zhu for a stroll when he arrived at a slightly bustling town or a famous historical city. I was not in a hurry, and followed him around, buying some small gadgets with local characteristics for my wife and children as souvenirs.

In this way, it took four months to travel from Luoyang to Suzhou. At this time, the weather had turned cold and the coachman was wearing thick clothes, but Jia Zheng and his son's belongings were all in the hands of the young lady. On the way, I rushed to make two pieces, which looked rough but very cold.

At the end of September, Jia Zheng and his son finally arrived at the Suzhou Lin Mansion and asked the concierge to go in to report. Not long after, the middle door opened wide, and a middle-aged man came out to welcome him. Jia Zheng looked at this man, only to see that he was also about [-] years old. , there is no brocade robe on his body, but his simple attire does not reduce his demeanor at all, and his face is refined, he is Lin Ruhai if he thinks about it!

"My uncle is here. Min'er has already read it until my ears hurt." Lin Ruhai also had a happy expression when he saw Jia Zheng, and when he saw Jia Zhu next to Jia Zheng, he couldn't help but said with a smile: "This is the Zhu Er, you really have an extraordinary appearance, and you will have great fortune in the future!"

Hearing someone praise Jia Zhu, Jia Zheng's eyes were full of smiles, and he said "Where is that?" After being modest, Lin Ruhai led Jia Zheng and Jia Zhu into the mansion, and arranged a meeting for them. The courtyard had been tidied up a long time ago. Jia Zheng and his son went back to their respective rooms. Seeing the clothes they were wearing, the servants quickly took out the tidied clothes and prepared hot bath water. Lin Ruhai also ordered The servants cooked two bowls of ginger soup for the two of them to drive away the cold.

Jia Zheng asked his mother-in-law to fill another bowl of ginger soup, and took some more silver to give to the coachman. The coachman drove the carriage away with gratitude, and Jia Zheng went back to his room with peace of mind and soaked himself in the wooden barrel. After taking a comfortable bath in the bed, he fell on the bed and took a nap. In the evening, Lin Ruhai hosted a banquet for the two of them.

At the banquet, Jia Zheng met Jia Min. Jia Zheng was very curious about this woman who gave birth to Daiyu's character, and she was indeed so when she saw her today. Although she was the mother of a daughter, she didn't look like The other wives are so fat and bloated, but they have an indescribable temperament.

The siblings haven't seen each other for more than ten years, but Jia Min has no feeling of unfamiliarity with Jia Zheng. Presumably, the original version and Jia Min's sister are also brothers and sisters. Zheng fainted a while ago. Today, when I met Jia Zheng and asked him, I saw that he really didn't remember anything. After dinner, he pulled Jia Zheng to talk to him about the old stories of the two brothers and sisters. Fortunately, I heard about my father when he was young.

After hearing Jia Min's words, Jia Zheng realized that this pedantic original was also a mischievous master who was unwilling to be lonely when he was young, and was often scolded by his father. I can't believe that when Jia Zheng was young, he actually climbed a tree to dig out a bird's nest!

The more Jia Min talked, the happier she became. It was already late at night. Lin Ruhai couldn't sit still in the room, so she came to the main room in person. Seeing his wife talking happily, she couldn't help smiling indulgently, and then walked in. .

"It's late at night, let's go to rest first, uncle and Zhu'er will leave tomorrow, so if you have anything to say, we can talk about it tomorrow, okay?"

Jia Min nodded and followed Lin Ruhai back to the house. Jia Zheng and Jia Zhu also went back to their yard.

In the next few days, Jia Zheng completed all the original version of his youth experience. Jia Zheng was afraid that his temperament was far from the original version, which would attract suspicion. Fortunately, Jia Mu and others were not suspicious. From Jia Min's words, I realized that the original person's temperament was quite different from when he was young when he was middle-aged. On the contrary, he was quite similar to the original when he was young. No wonder Mrs. Jia Muwang and the others didn't suspect it.

He brought Daiyu to see it again, and saw that although the baby girl was young, she was very loving and loved. She didn't cry when she saw strangers, but just stared at them curiously. Jia Zheng always liked children. When I saw it, I loved it even more.

Jia Zhu also followed Lin Ruhai to hear a lot of things about the officialdom and how to maintain a good balance between colleagues and doing things for the people. What Jia Zhu said made Jia Zhu admire him, and thinking about those so-called talented people in Luoyang, Jia Zhu blushed like something, and thought to himself that it is fortunate that he traveled with his father this time, otherwise he would really be a frog in the bottom of the well!

Similarly, Lin Ruhai is also very satisfied with Jia Zhu. He also knows the situation of the Jia family. He thought that the child might be a dandy, but he didn't expect that after meeting him, he turned out to be an unpolished jade, and fell in love with him. The heart of talent, and also the nephew of his beloved wife, was even more interested, and immediately asked Jia Zhu if he had passed the test.

Jia Zhu blushed even more when she heard that, and shook her head, "In the college entrance examination, I was lucky enough to enter the top two and took the provincial examination, but failed. Now I'm just a scholar, and I didn't pass the examination."

Lin Ruhai nodded: "You're still young, it's pretty good to be a scholar." After finishing speaking, he wrote a few letters of recommendation for Jia Zhu, and asked Jia Zhu to visit them one by one after returning to Beijing. , and asked Jia Zhu to write a few articles for him to read.

Jia Zheng and his son were very comfortable in the Lin family in Suzhou, until a letter came from the capital that day. It turned out that it was Jia's mother who wrote to urge them to go home. Now it is the end of October.

Although Jia Zheng and his son wanted to stay for a few more days, they would not be able to return to the capital until December at the earliest. At that time, the New Year was coming soon, and the family had to worship their ancestors, and they had to go on the first day of the second lunar month. Qingxu Guan prayed for the Jia family, and Jia Zheng, Jia Zhu and his son would go back no matter what.

Lin Ruhai also knew that he couldn't be retained, so he decided to hold a banquet for Jia Zheng and his son the next day to practice it. It happened that because of Daiyu's birth, there were countless people who came and went to the Lin House to give gifts through various pretexts. Annoyed by these people so much, I thought about throwing a banquet and bringing Daiyu out for the guests to meet, but I didn't mind giving gifts.

That night, Jia Zheng went to Lin Ruhai's study alone to look for him. Jia Zheng hesitated for a long time these days. He knew Jia Min's final ending, and while getting along with this sister these days, Jia Zheng became more and more intimate. Unable to bear it, at this time, he asked in a roundabout way whether Jia Min gave birth to Daiyu in a dangerous way.

After hearing this, Lin Ruhai sighed, and then told about the situation that day.

On the twelfth day of February, the servant girl serving Jia Min hurried into Lin Ruhai's study, saying that his wife was about to give birth, and Mrs. Wen had been invited to the house for many days. Pacing up and down outside the room, watching basins of clear water being brought in, turning into basins of bloody water coming out, coupled with the fact that Jia Min's cry inside gradually weakened, Lin Ruhai's heart ached. They are about to jump out.

Just when everyone was sweating anxiously, only heard a baby cry, Lin Ruhai breathed a sigh of relief, and fell to the ground unsteadily.

"Congratulations, master, it's a girl." Wen Po came out and congratulated, Lin Ruhai saw the door opened, stood up from the ground and rushed into the room, went straight to Jia Min's bed, seeing Jia Min's pale face covered with Sweating, lying on the bed weakly looking at himself, Lin Ruhai tightly held Jia Min's hand, opened his mouth, but said nothing.

"Come and show me the baby." Jia Min held Lin Ruhai's hand and said with a smile.

Granny Wen carried the child over wisely. At this time, the child was already wrapped in the swaddling clothes that had been prepared. Lin Ruhai took the child from Granny Wen. Jia Min tried to support himself weakly, but finally leaned against Lin Ruhai's body weakly. On the shoulder, looking at the child staring at her with wide eyes, Jia Min was both happy and a little disappointed. She and Lin Ruhai had only had flesh and blood for more than ten years. She naturally liked it from the bottom of her heart, but it was a pity that it was not a boy. Thinking that he was the only one in Lin Ruhai's lineage, but he had only given birth to a daughter for him so far, Jia Min felt very uncomfortable.

Jia Zheng nodded immediately after hearing Lin Ruhai's words. Lin Ruhai knew his wife so well, how could he not feel his wife's regret for having a daughter? It seemed that he could get straight to the point.

Just when I was about to speak, I saw the butler talk about the banquet tomorrow. It turns out that the Lin family is also a well-known family in Suzhou. At this time, Lin Ruhai and his wife had a middle-aged daughter, and those who came to give gifts to celebrate were rejected. At that time, they received posts about the banquet in the Lin Mansion tomorrow, and they all replied that they would definitely be there, and some who hadn't received the post also posted to ask if they could come to the mansion. The housekeeper couldn't make up his mind and hurried to find Lin Ruhai.

Seeing that Lin Ruhai was busy with affairs, Jia Zheng had no choice but to take back the words for the time being, and it would not be too late to say it before he left tomorrow!