The Hairpin of the Red Chamber

With Xia Jingui's consent, Jia Lian helps out at Xia's house.The old servants of the Xia family thought that he was a dandy, and his family was down and dependent on the Xia family. Jia Lian not only didn't care about him, but he also showed a kind of obedience to everything and was not ashamed to ask his subordinates, so he gradually won him over The old servants looked at each other differently and began to teach him some things. Jia Lian was intelligent by nature. Flattery, humility and smallness, coaxed those old servants to praise Jia Lian in the ears of Xia Jingui's mother and daughter.

Seeing that her husband was promising, Xia Jingui was not only self-conscious, but also afraid that Jia Lian would plot against her. After a few times of testing, Jia Lian was only cautious and did not show any dissatisfaction.His concubines had been expelled long ago, and the servants who were close to him all obeyed Xia Jingui's words.

Xia Jingui gradually slacked off, and handed over half of the business at hand to Jia Lian, and he bossed around and dominated the mansion.At first Mrs. Xing liked that she had an idea and was able to help her deal with the second room, but now that she has robbed her of the limelight, she felt dissatisfied.

Baochai secretly paid attention to this side, and seeing Jia Lian gradually getting into the trap, she entrusted Xue Pan to lure Jia Lian to hang out again, but Xue Pan changed his temper completely this time, and refused straight away: "I will never go to those romantic places again. Sister, don’t embarrass me.” He sent someone to ask about Zhang Jing, saying, “My sister can’t do anything, so I’ll just go and talk to my mother.”

Baochai hurriedly told her plan, Xue Pan heard it, and immediately said: "In that case, I will pay the other tens of thousands of silver immediately, and donate the officials quickly, so that I can marry him, and don't delay him." Youth." Baochai was so anxious that she stomped her feet and said, "My foolish brother." Regardless of the suspicion, he sent his mother-in-law home to persuade Xue Pan, and managed to ask someone to talk to Zhang Jing, who also went back and forth. A letter from someone from Lin's mansion was enough to dissuade Xue Pan, but he urged Baochai again.

Baochai couldn't help it. On the one hand, he went to Sister Feng to find out, on the other hand, he asked Daiyu to ask Aunt Fang, and on the other hand, he asked Xue Pan to entrust his old friend to seduce Jia Lian out.

Unexpectedly, not only Xue Pan, but also Jia Lian had changed his temper. He couldn't invite Wang'er after several entreaties. .

It turns out that friendship depends on real gold and silver. In the past, Jia Lian was a nobleman from a noble family, a wealthy son, and naturally there were many people to like. Now that his family has fallen, and he married a businessman and a shrew, his reputation in the Goulan circle has gradually gradually increased. It's not very pleasant to hear, Jia Lian is smart, he has been shut down several times, and knowing what everyone thinks, he stopped thinking and devoted himself to planning business.

Seeing Jia Lian's progress, Baochai was pleasantly surprised, so he simply talked with Tanchun, invited Jia Lian, and vaguely mentioned Yingchun's marriage.

Jia Lian's love for Yingchun is not unusual, but after all, brother and sister's morality lies, and Tanchun entrusted him, so he agreed: "I will talk to the master, it may not be possible."

Tanchun said: "It's great to find an ordinary family. As long as the person is safe, we sisters can make up some dowry for her. It's not too much, not too much. One or two thousand taels is still affordable."

Jia Lian said with a smile: "My sister, who is my father's compatriot, asked you to pay for it. Wouldn't that be a slap in the face? Don't worry, no matter what, she is also my only sister. I will try my best to do it."

Tanchun said: "Uncle is the key to this matter. The most important thing is money. Brother, please be careful."

Jia Lian nodded and said: "I'll save it." All the way out, when he got to the house, he saw Xia Jingui sitting on the kang, and when he saw him, he said angrily: "I'm out of my mind, thinking about who is better?"

Jia Lian said with a smile: "It's not about dating, it's about business. I think next year will be the year of the township examination, and the year after will be Chunwei. Selling our sweet-scented osmanthus to these students is also a good income."

Xia Jingui sneered and said, "How many of those students are there? How many of them can afford the sweet-scented osmanthus that I offer as a tribute? Such an idea of ​​business is thanks to your attention."

Jia Lian said seriously: "Business always makes money, so it's not too little. Besides, we don't have to sell the good osmanthus, so we don't use the name of Osmanthus Xia's family, and save others' eyes."

Seeing that his words made sense, Xia Jingui snorted and said, "You're right, how much will it cost if you do this calculation?"

Jia Lian said: "I want to transplant two pieces, choose the best whole trees and branches to sell, and use the leftovers to make some good-looking No. The next big exam will look almost the same."

Xia Jingui said: "How can there be so many rushing for the exam? Even if everyone buys it, it won't take much?"

Jia Lian said with a smile: "You are wrong here. You think that merchants want to attract scholars, they must have a good reputation, and they must also decorate. People in the city buy sweet-scented osmanthus flowers when they see scholars. Naturally, they also want to follow suit. , and those big girls and daughter-in-laws in the city can also give a sweet-scented osmanthus flower when they meet a young man who is studying. After calculating the price rises and falls one by one, Xia Jingui nodded when he saw that he was thinking carefully, and said: "Then I will leave this matter to you, and whatever it costs, I will take it from the warehouse."

Jia Lian said: "I still have an idea, why don't we find some talented and famous scholars and invite them to buy our things. For those who want to win, wait until they win, and then ask them to say a good word or two for us in front of people, and we will naturally have no worries about selling them in the future."

Xia Jingui said: "Since they are famous and able to be officials, how can they be willing to speak for us merchants?"

Jia Lian said with a smile: "Being an official is nothing more than money. If you spend more money, someone will agree."

Xia Jingui was silent for a moment before saying, "How much do you think it will cost?"

Jia Lian said: "Not much, just five or six thousand silver, it won't work. You just want to comfort me for my hard work these past few months, okay?"

Xia Jingui sneered and said, "You've only been doing your job for the past few months. What's the hard work?" Even though he said so, one is happy that Jia Lian has learned a lot recently and made her happy; If he could do something, he procrastinated and approved four thousand silver, but refused to ask Jia Lian to take it directly. He was only allowed to go out to see the goods and asked the housekeeper to take the money to manage.

However, the housekeeper can intervene in the matter of buying and selling saplings, but Jia Lian still has to personally handle the business of dealing with people and giving and receiving gifts.

Jia Lian shut down five hundred today, and three hundred tomorrow, all in pieces. He took thousands of silver in total, and arranged for a dozen or so famous scholars. Xia Jingui did not doubt that they had names, but he did not know these people Most of them are either Xue Pan's classmate or Baoyu's classmate. They are entrusted with helping, at most they only eat a meal and drink a few times. When he was about to be a filial piety, Jia Lian was asked to save five thousand silver. Jia Lian secretly found a scholar who lived in the suburbs of Beijing. He had no parents or brothers. A matchmaker—that is, the matchmaker he used to date—goes to fight.

The scholar heard that she was the niece of General Jia in Beijing, and he didn't have to pay the dowry himself. He suspected that Yingchun had a hidden disease that should not be told to others, so he hesitated. The sister-in-law repeatedly persecuted her, and her brother sympathized with her sister, so he would rather pay for it himself and let her marry into a lower family, as long as she can be the master of the family and not have to suffer from those dirty things. She grew up with her grandmother, who is the elder of the house Fengjun, you are well-educated. Besides, even if you marry a village girl, you still have to spend a few taels of money. Now you don’t spend a penny, and you are a young lady for nothing. That is, if you are still married to the Hou Mansion, you will be able to achieve great success, and you will not suffer any losses. Why not do such a worthless business?"

The scholar listened to the truth, so he agreed to the marriage. Jia Amnesty was looking around when he suddenly saw someone who was willing to offer money to propose a marriage, and asked about his family background, age and appearance. So he hastily arranged the dowry and married Yingchun.

Baoyu was intelligent by nature, and was taught by a famous teacher, strict father, and had an excellent career.Originally, because of his filial piety, he missed the scientific examination, and had to wait a few more years to take the exam. But this time, he contracted an illness during his study and politics trip, and missed the trip. When Baoyu came to the filial piety, he happened to be in Beijing, and Baoyu could barely pass After passing the scientific examination, the good news came back, and the whole family celebrated.Mrs. Wang wanted to ask Baoyu and Daiyu to live in the same room again, but Baoyu said that she was going to prepare for Qiu Wei. After reporting to Jia Zheng, she still only lived in the front yard.

Jia Zheng himself hadn't passed his filial piety yet, so he was happy to live in the same courtyard with his son, teaching him how to improve every day, and Daiyu lived in the garden again, facing Baochai day and night. .

Baochai was in the prime of youth and angry, and after holding it back for a long time, in her heart and eyes, the fire was already burning, but she was afraid that Daiyu's knot would not be solved, so she forcibly endured it, and refused to speak first.

Although Daiyu felt ashamed of Jia Mu, after all, her love was with Baochai, and she made a promise of a century-old alliance earlier, so she put aside the famous guard of etiquette and etiquette, and all she could think about was how to do it. Staying with Baochai, who knows that after being filial for a long time, Baochai has not seen Baochai taking the initiative to tease herself as before, and I am inevitably worried in my heart, not knowing what Baochai means.

The two were suspicious of each other. When they met, they both felt that there was something in the other's words, and they were both people with sharp minds. The more they thought about it, the more suspicious they became. After losing his body, he fell on the bed again after a short time, and fell ill for a while.