The Hairpin of the Red Chamber

Jia Lian is a man, it's okay if he doesn't care about everything, but if he does, he does it very properly. In the past, when Daiyu went south, Jia Mu was the first one to think of him, because he was doing things safely.He agreed to Baoyu, and he got up early the next day, took Wang'er, wandered carefully the road that Zhang Sixi had traveled, and pretended to be a passing businessman, and at night he was at Orion's house in the wild forest. stay overnight.

Baoyu got Wang'er to come back in the afternoon to report that Jia Lian would not return at night, and then he was worried about Jia Lian's safety. After thinking about it, he called Li Gui and asked him to take two or three strong servants and pretend to be passers-by. Going to stay at the same house, just after giving orders to this end, Wang Cheng and several high-ranking officials over there came together, bowed to each other when they met, and shouted: "Master."

Baoyu quickly helped Wang Cheng up and said with a smile, "Did Wang Dianshi come here for money and food?"

Wang Cheng was stunned, and laughed more and more: "The master has thought of this too?" Juren, a ten-year-old boy, thought to himself that this person was young and proud, and he might be too sharp to listen to people's words. Moreover, the children of such aristocratic families must have close people with them, and they might not be willing to use them as subordinates, so they saved a few. The idea of ​​deliberately making things difficult is to teach Baoyu to know how powerful these people are, and he will never be able to leave himself in the future. Unexpectedly, Baoyu has clan brothers and a few masters to help him, so he took care of the affairs when he first came. It already has a look.

Wang Cheng saw that Baoyu was not of the easy-going generation, and was afraid that he would gain a foothold and that people like himself would have no place to stand. Therefore, he chose a few extremely difficult matters about money and food, and came to tell Baoyu.

Baoyu was clever by nature, and got a few pointers from Baochai. When he saw the expressions of these people again, he knew the truth. After hearing Wang Cheng's words, he smiled slightly and said, "I wanted to talk to Wang Dianshi about this, but I didn't expect you If you come by yourself, you won’t have to make another trip. I don’t know how much land is in the county, how much is there, what is the annual tax, and whether there is any arrears?”

When Wang Cheng saw that he asked himself back, he couldn't help but feel a little anti-customer. After thinking about it, he said slowly: "The taxation of Dingkou in Changzhou was once in charge of a master Liu from Changzhou County. Later, he left due to illness. , and met Xi County again, and now the land in Dingkou has not been settled yet."

Baoyu immediately grumbled and said, "It's time to collect the summer tax. We don't even have the number of households. How can we collect it? Wang Dianshi has been acting as a representative of the county government for so long. Didn't these aspects be considered?"

Wang Cheng was startled, and he didn't dare to trust him. He cupped his hands and said, "Since I took office, I have been handing over and counting with the Changzhou County. .”

Baoyu laughed and said, "If Wang Dianshi is too busy alone, my family has some old tents that have accumulated over the years, and I can help to count them."

Wang Cheng didn't expect that he, a son of a noble family, would bring an old tent with him, he was startled for a while, and declined: "These are the duties of the subordinates, I dare not bother the master's servants."

Baoyu raised his eyebrows and said, "Cai Dian Shi said that time is short. Is it too late now?"

Wang Cheng said awkwardly: "The deadline is tight, but since it's a business, the subordinates should do their best."

Baoyu nodded and said: "Since that's the case, Dianshi has to worry about money and food. My Mr. Zhong is also busy with business. In the future, he will take care of all the accounts in my yamen. If Wang Dianshi is too busy, just call Mr. Zhong for help." .”

Wang Cheng said again and again: "If it is then, I will naturally trouble the master. Dare I ask what else the master wants?"

Baoyu said with a smile: "There are two other things, which are not major matters. The first one is that in addition to the registered household registration, the county will also list all the households that owe taxes and overdue over the years. I want to go and visit them one by one. See if it is intentional tax evasion, or if there is nothing you can do. If there is nothing you can do, I will naturally sue the court for exemption. If you intend to evade taxes, then don’t blame the country’s ruthless laws. The second thing, I think the weather is hot these days, and everyone has worked hard on errands. Fees for pens, soups, and water are distributed according to the number of headmen and servants, and this matter is left to Dianshi and everyone to worry about."

Wang Cheng listened to him, he was clearly old and sophisticated, and couldn't be compared with the previous two days, he smiled bitterly in his heart, even his face could not help showing a bit of despondency, his mouth was only promises.

When this group of people left, Baoyu laughed and called, "Mingyan!"

Mingyan came out quickly and said, "Second Lord, do you need me?"

Baoyu said, "Have you got everything I asked you to buy?"

Ming Yan smiled and said: "Second Master ordered, when did the servant fail to do it? The table is ready, we just wait for Second Master and grandma."

Baoyu frowned and said, "Did you invite Sister Bao?"

Mingyan said in a daze: "Master still wants to call you Miss Bao? Grandma is here too, so why not?"

Baoyu said, "What is Luo Po? Go and invite Sister Bao."

Seeing that he was angry, Mingyan stuck out her tongue, slumped to the second door, begged the woman on the door, and said: "Mother, please inform me that our second master invites Miss Bao to go to the front."

The women at the gate laughed and said, "Didn't Miss Bao go to the front with his wife early? Why do you want to call me?" One person said with a cigarette: "Boy Ming, who is this Miss Bao?" What's the reason, the master can't do without her? You tell me, I will keep all the delicious food in the kitchen for you in the future."

Mingyan chuckled, and said, "Didn't the master just tell you when you came here? This is our grandma's friend, and also our master's aunt and cousin."

The woman beat him and said: "You little bastard, don't try to coax me, when my old lady was working in the county government office, you didn't even know where you were!"

Ming Yan sneered and said: "Since my mother is so powerful, I already know Miss Bao's background, why bother to ask me?" She cupped her hands and said, "I still have to go to the front to work, mothers can do their own thing first." Running all the way to the front hall, I saw Baochai and Daiyu coming out of the hall talking and laughing. Knowing that the banquet would not disperse for a while, I found a few hoe medicines and went to the side to enjoy myself.

Baoyu waited in the front hall for a while, and when he saw Baochai and Daiyu coming together, he rushed up to meet him and said with a smile, "Mingyan is such a fast runner, I thought you two would come later."

Baochai laughed and said, "Do you think we will come after two meetings, or Dai'er will come after a meeting?"

Baoyu said, "Sister Bao, what do you say?"

Daiyu sneered and said: "Didn't you specially ask Mingyan and Zijuan to pass on the message, and you only need to invite me for the roll call, not Sister Bao? Why are you pretending to be stupid now?"

Baoyu stomped his feet and said: "God damn dog slave! I said you were together for two o'clock, why did he just tell the hairpin? It turned out that he made his own decision. See if I don't beat him! - Sister Bao, forgive me , this matter is not out of my own will, I beg sister Bao to forgive me."

Before Baochai could answer, Daiyu squinted her eyes and said, "It turns out that this is only Mingyan's idea, so you only put two bowls and chopsticks here, is that also his idea?"

Baoyu looked down, only to see that there were only two sets of bowls and chopsticks. He clearly knew that Mingyan had done a good thing, but he couldn't argue with it, so he had to apologize repeatedly. : "That's all, you don't want to be like this, so that people can see it, what do you look like?"

Baochai ordered Ying'er to serve another set of bowls and chopsticks, and let Baoyu sit down. Seeing that she didn't care about it, Baoyu felt at ease, and said with a smile, "Sister Bao, I really told you that Wang Guo really wants to get money and food." This matter came to make things difficult for me, so I left it to him, and in the name of rewarding him, asked him to draw up a detailed list of personnel affairs in the yamen."

Baochai laughed and said, "That's exactly what you should do. You are his superior. No matter how hard he refuses to accept you, he can't disobey you in the open. No matter what difficulties he throws, you just leave it to him. Just don't force Mrs. tight."

Baoyu smiled and said, "I understand." Then he asked Daiyu, "Xiaoer, why do you want to spread out my family history?"

Daiyu said: "These people below are bullying and fearing hard. Hearing that you have a prominent family background and someone in the family is helping you, before trying to deceive you, you have to weigh it first. Besides, even if you don't say anything, people who are interested will naturally be able to find out. It's not as good as us Propagate it by yourself, let them see the situation clearly, and they will not act rashly—they have lived here for several generations, if they really want to make trouble, I'm afraid it will be a little tricky."

Baoyu sighed: "Speaking of which, you were raised in a boudoir since you were a child. Why do you know more about the outside world than I do? Every time I hear you talk about these political affairs of my family and country, I feel that I have lived for nothing."

Baochai glanced at Daiyu with a smile, and said, "Then you don't have to belittle yourself—it's just a pity that you met Dai'er, a talented woman who was not born in the world, so you look clumsy. In fact, you are much better than those mediocre people in the world. , can be regarded as a show of the moment."

When Daiyu heard her praise herself, she lowered her head and smiled, and said softly, "I can't compare to you. You are smart and beautiful, and you are much better than me."

Baochai also bowed her head and smiled, "It's better for you to eat more food than to praise me many times." She kept her hand in hand, and immediately put a bowl full of vegetables in her bowl, and there were many big meats in it that Daiyu hated. Daiyu couldn't hold back the smile on her face, she stretched out her foot from under her skirt and kicked her lightly.