The Hairpin of the Red Chamber

Seeing Jia Lian going out, Baochai said to Baoyu, "Since the petitioner is here to sue you, it is necessary to send some yamen servants to have a look outside. Let's divide our troops into two groups. We will investigate slowly on the surface, and call Lian's second brother carefully in secret." Investigate."

Baoyu said, "Then I ask Wang Cheng to go?"

Baochai shook her head and said, "In normal times, he is naturally the best, but now there are more important things to rely on him for."

Baoyu asked curiously, "What is it?"

Baochai said: "Now is the time to collect the summer tax. There is not enough money and food. You, the county magistrate, will be implicated. If you make a bad mess, your superiors will beat you. Don't you know?"

When Baoyu heard the word "banzi", he was frightened out of his wits, and quickly said: "Jiangnan is rich, and these subordinate officials have been working here for a long time. If you leave the tax collection to them, there shouldn't be any mistakes?"

Baochai said with a smile: "It can be seen that you are an idiot. Do you know why Changzhou was divided into two counties this time?"

Baoyu said: "It is said that there are too many people and too many taxes-ah, I understand."

Seeing that he was not too stupid, Baochai nodded and smiled and said, "Jiangnan has always been the place with the heaviest taxation in the world. There is a lot of food and the government is complicated. The officials and people are accustomed to resisting taxes, and the population is really too large. It is after the analysis of the county. , your county is enough to be the head of a county in other provinces, let alone taxes. Most magistrates in the south of the Yangtze River in the past dynasties failed to die well, and it was also because of this tax."

Baoyu said worryingly: "I thought it was a good job to come here, but it turned out to be a big hard job! No wonder those people don't care about me. I can't be an official for long. Who would take me back?" thing?"

Baochai said: "Do you think that Uncle Lin and your father have worked so hard to put you here just to make you lose your job? You underestimate them too."

Baoyu hurriedly said: "Sister Bao must have an idea when you say that. Tell me quickly." He quickly picked up a cup of tea from the side to offer to Baochai, but was cut off by Daiyu. She personally brought the tea to Baochai, who took it with a smile. She wasn't thirsty at first, but because of Daiyu's kindness, she finally took a sip and said, "This year, I was rich and powerful, and I was determined to be a holy master. I didn't do it earlier. The big move is just because the time of enthronement is still short, and the father is still alive, so he dare not act lightly, for fear of hurting the country's foundation. Now that Haiyan and Heqing have more than enough national strength, it is time to do something. And Jiangnan is the world The crown of taxation is also a place with a prosperous literary style and a dense population. No matter what you do, you must stabilize the hearts of the people in the south of the Yangtze River. Maybe there will be tax reductions and exemptions in the south of the Yangtze River—analyzing counties and governing is just to calm the chaos and calm the people, this is one of them.”

Baoyu cupped his hands and said, "I would like to hear more about it."

Baochai is Yixing Trentfei, and when he gave advice on Jiangshan, he didn't hold back, took a sip of tea, and said: "There are many places in Suzhou that have made meritorious deeds - the taxes and taxes in this place have always been bad debts, and they are not handled well. I can only say that the people here are dangerous, and I won’t blame you too much. If you do it well, it will be a great achievement. Water transportation is becoming more and more important in China, and the south of the Yangtze River is the busiest place for water transportation. If the water affairs are done well, there is no need to go through the magistrate. The water bandits in Taihu Lake were rampant in [-]—don’t panic, the water bandits can’t hit you—it’s a credit to get rid of the water bandits. If you can’t even do this, there are still Zhen’s and Lin’s and Jia’s families here. There are so many relatives and old friends here, there are many merchants here, and the style of writing is prosperous, so you can hang out with these local scholars and merchants a lot, drinking, reciting poems, making money, and staying up until you leave office, you will not be able to gain both fame and fortune .”

Baoyu's face changed when he heard this, and he sighed: "I never knew that there are so many ways to be a county magistrate. My father-in-law and father really worked hard for me."

Daiyu said: "Since you know their good intentions, you should do your job in a down-to-earth manner, and do everything for the herdsmen's security, and don't think about those things that make children love each other."

Baoyu said: "Where do I think about those children's love again?"

Daiyu said: "You sighed and sighed along the way, and when you saw someone who was more handsome, you had to take a look, isn't it just to find Liu Xianglian?"

Baoyu blushed and said, "I've given up on that a long time ago. Don't talk nonsense. In the future, I will marry a wife and have children. No, concubines and children will honor my ancestors."

Daiyu said: "If it's someone else, it's fine for you to have a concubine and have children. Liu Xianglian's temper, if you really do this, I'm afraid he will never see you again for the rest of his life. You have to think about it."

Baochai took her by the hand and said, "Dai'er, Baoyu has long made up his mind not to mention these short and long matters of love. Don't tease him."

Daiyu stuck out her tongue, and said: "I just want to remind him for the sake of being a child. After all, there is only one Liu Xianglian in the world."

Baoyu smiled bitterly and said, "No matter how there is only one, we have come to the present field. What's the use of talking about it?"

Seeing his gloomy complexion, Baochai persuaded him, "It's getting late, you should go to rest early, and you will open the Yamen Shengtang tomorrow. You can't do it with a pale face."

Baoyu was speechless, bowed his head and turned all the way out.

As soon as Baochai waited for him to leave, he poked Daiyu's face and said, "You are always good to others. How come you can't control your own mouth when you meet Baoyu? Telling him these things will not only annoy him for a while, but also make him angry." What is the use?"

Daiyu said: "I think the two of us are already together. If Baoyu is so busy for us, he should have a good result."

Baochai stomped anxiously and said: "Ancestor, he is the court official, the lifeblood of the Jia family, and the future son of successor. He and Liu Xianglian are like us, so there will be no good results!"

Daiyu said in disbelief: "People say that if you do good deeds, you will be rewarded. Whatever you do, you will be rewarded. That's why I want to help people connect and build bridges. I want to accumulate the evil spirits of the two of us. It's like the south wind. Sheng, it's hard to say that they can really be together!"

Baochai said: "Nonsense, you put the two of them together, and it would be good if our crimes are not recorded in the hall of Yan Luo, and we still accumulate Yin virtue!" As soon as he said this, he immediately regretted it. At that time, as expected, her eyes were already red, and she sobbed: "I knew it, you always think that the two of us are not on the right path, don't you? You always feel that being with me is against the sky, right? You play it from the bottom of your heart You don't believe that two women should be together, but you are lucky enough to be with me, you feel very guilty in your heart, and feel that you are sorry for the ancestors of Xue Lin's family, right?"

Baochai hurriedly said: "How can I think so? It's just that people in the world slander us so much. It's fine for us two women to hide in the back house. Many people pay attention to Baoyu's movements. How can he compare with us?" , speaking softly and coaxing her in every possible way, but Daiyu just didn't listen, and pushed her away and said: "If you are with me and always feel against the sky, then let's separate as soon as possible, so as not to get deeper and deeper, and everyone will be sad !"

Baochai sighed, "You and I have been intertwined for a long time. There is me in you, and you in me. We are inseparable from each other. Where did it get deeper and deeper?"

Daiyu sobbed and said, "Silk and hemp are intertwined, and if you cut them quickly, they will be broken. What can't be separated? You can't even play the analogy so badly. You must be very tired, and you don't even want to be perfunctory." !"

Baochai turned around in a hurry and said: "My ancestor, my little aunt, my good Dai'er, you are not a petty person, why are you picking these words with me again at this time? I wait Don’t you know your heart? I just hate that I don’t have a knife now, otherwise I will show you my heart, and you will know how sincere I am to you!” Seeing that Daiyu was still crying, she clapped her hands and said : "If you still don't believe me, then I'll go out and tell everyone that I'm with you, Baoyu or anyone else, it has nothing to do with us, no matter what kind of world he is, what ethics, he's great for us Flee into the deep mountains and never go back to the capital again, okay?" As she said, she pretended to rush out, but Daiyu hurriedly grabbed her and said, "You die by yourself, don't drag me down!" Although she said so, her tears burst into tears. But gradually it stopped, holding Baochai's hand tightly with both hands, lest Baochai really go out.

When Baochai saw that Daiyu had stopped crying, she stopped, took her into her arms, and comforted her softly, "It's not like you don't know, I hate you crying the most. When you cry, my heart is in turmoil. Maybe you just get dizzy and do something shocking, so don't cry, okay?"

Seeing her anxious expression, Daiyu said sweetly in her heart, "I know you say that, but you actually despise me."

Baochai didn't know she was joking, thought she was still angry, and hurriedly said: "God, sorry, if I dislike you even a little bit, tell me to marry a shabby hukou with pus and sores, and my life will be worse than the previous life. Never see you."

Daiyu glanced at her and said, "You despise me, how can it be punishment if you never see me again?"

Baochai said: "Then tell me, I will swear whatever punishment you say."

Daiyu said slowly: "In Suzhou, the people's conditions are dangerous, and what we say is naturally not a good thing. How can you be worthy of you, Miss Xue? You should go to your Baoyu and ask him to teach you how to coax girls. Make some painless oaths."

At this moment Baochai knew that Daiyu was teasing her, but she also said seriously, "I am the one who speaks out, and I will never blame the local people based on my own opinion."

Daiyu saw that she treated her casually with such seriousness, and her heart became more and more sweet. Seeing that she was sweating from anxiety, she wiped her with her handkerchief. Baochai smelled her body. There is a faint scent of tea, and seeing how gentle and considerate she is, I couldn't help holding her hand and said with a smile: "Actually, I really like Suzhou. Before I came here, I inquired about a lot of things about Suzhou. Suzhou is rich in products. There is also a supple, gentle and delicate Suzhou girl like you, who speaks Wu dialect so softly that it almost kills people's souls. Compared to someone like me, I don't know where—I probably It was because of this that I was so jealous that I said that."

What she said made Daiyu's face turn red, she threw the handkerchief on her body, and spat lightly: "You who talk nonsense, you are not serious!" Although it was a rebuke, the tone of Wu's tone was so soft, but it was soft. Penetrating to the bone, full of coquettishness, seduced Baochai so much that she fell to the ground crispy.