The Hairpin of the Red Chamber

The author has something to say: Time to follow Chapter 187

On the first day when Xue's servants were imprisoned, they were taken by Baoyu for interrogation.Baoyu is kind-hearted and familiar with them, so he is not very scary, but a black-faced master next to Baoyu has a cold face from the beginning to the end. Scolding and intimidating, there were a few other slaves holding splints, torture stools, water and fire sticks, etc. and staring at the side. The women were so frightened that they didn't need to study carefully, and they explained everything they knew like peas in a bamboo tube. It's clear, but they are not personal servants after all, and many things can't be explained clearly. Baoyu asked around, but to no avail. Because she was Aunt Xue's accompanying room, she was especially trusted in Xue's family. She thought to herself that even Baoyu would not dare to do anything to her in the face of his wife, so she deliberately put on a loyal servant appearance, and asked Seeing that she was putting on airs, Baoyu simply separated her from the others and guarded her. Those who did the trick were given food and clothing according to their quotas, but Liu Si's family was locked in a big prison.

The Liu Si family said they were born slaves, but in fact they were pampered and spoiled, no lower than the middle class, and suddenly they were sent to prison, where they were not used to eating and living, and there were a few vicious Zaolis guarding them, yelling and threatening at every turn, Skimping on diet is really miserable.

Baochai asked those family members first, and kept Liu Si's family. After counting the time, she was taken to the back office, and she sat down on the first chair under the main room, and called this Liu Si's family knelt at the door.

Baochai was not in a hurry to ask questions, first she read the book for a while, sipped some tea, and then asked about going out for a while, seeing that the members of Liu Si's family were kneeling numbly, and they had already quietly moved their legs underneath, slightly With a smile, he closed the book, put it on his knees, and said slowly: "The boy who asked my brother to come and trick me away from the county government first, and then you take me back, is a good idea. My mother is determined not to think about it Come up with such a method, but I don’t know who came up with it?”

Liu Si's family said in a rough voice: "Miss, you are asking the wrong person. Our family has so many relatives and friends in Beijing. Whoever came up with an idea, the wife heard it and turned to tell us. Do we know who said it? Besides, as slaves, we only know how to do what our wife tells us, so we don’t care who came up with this idea? The girl really wants to know, so just ask your wife.”

Baochai said with a smile, "Sister Liu said she didn't know about the affairs of our mansion. That would be a joke."

Liu Si's family snorted and turned their heads away without speaking.

Seeing her stubbornness, Baochai smiled slightly and said, "Sister Liu is mother's companion. In our house, even my brother and I would be courteous when we see her. Now I am asking you to kneel here. I am ashamed to say it. It's a pity that I can't compare to being at home now, and now I'm not in charge here, Sister Liu will take care of it."

Liu Si's family glanced at her, swallowed the words again, and just stared at Baochai.

But Baochai didn't even look at her, and called Ying'er and said, "Send someone to invite Wang Dianshi, and just say that there is a question here, but some people refuse to say it."

Ying'er repeated it vividly, and then asked: "Do you want to ask someone to bring those things?"

Baochai nodded and said, "Bring them all." Turning his head and smiling at Liu Si's family, he said, "If you don't come outside, you don't know that being a county magistrate is so important, and even interrogating has a special internal review job. There are also many unheard of methods of torture, such as nail-board rolling, hydrangea throwing, grooming, etc. I used to think that they could only be seen in books, but who knows that there are people who understand these things in this small place? .”

Those of Liu Si's family only knew what "Rolling Nailboard" was, so they trembled all over in fright, but bit the bullet and said: "Girl, I'm my wife's companion."

Baochai smiled lightly, twirled the pages of the book with her fingers, blew off the dust that never existed on it, and said slowly: "I know you are my wife's companion, so I specially asked our county magistrate for favors, but the country's law Ruthless, what can I do?"

She is obviously a gentle lady in the boudoir, but when she said this, she revealed a bit of indifference and meanness. She blinked her eyelids, smiled slyly like an innocent girl, and added: "Mum, have you ever heard someone say 'Under the Three Trees? , why can’t you ask for it’? This is talking about the means of the yamen.”

The members of Liu Si's family trembled, and when they were still stubborn, Yingertong reported outside: "Wang Dianshi brought some officials here." After that, they heard footsteps and the sound of sticks touching the ground. Standing still at the door, someone said: "Miss Xue, I have brought all the people in the punishment room, and I promise to have a letter tonight."

Baochai smiled and said, "Excuse me." Then he got up and made a gesture of leaving. Seeing that Baochai really tore his face and wanted to punish her, Liu Si's family knew the pros and cons, so they knelt on the ground and cried, "Girl, spare me! Damn the old servant who has been deceived by lard! Girl, just ask whatever you want, the old servant will definitely tell you if he knows!" Weeping and kowtowing, Baochai waited for her to kowtow, and Fang said: "Then I will ask What are you, answer one by one, if the answer is not good, I will ask Wang Dianshi to come in." The outsiders didn't know if they heard her, so they slammed water and fire sticks, and Liu Si's family was scared to death. As if shaking chaff and kowtowing in response, Baochai asked those few words one by one, and after getting the letter, he pretended to deliver the letter to the Qianya, and released these people under the guise of Baoyu. He crawled out of Suzhou, ate and slept all the way, traveled day and night, and rushed back to the capital in a dozen days.Seeing Aunt Xue naturally cried a lot. Aunt Xue was shocked when she heard Baoyu supporting her daughter like this. Apart from worries, she was also a little bit secretly happy. After listening to these people's rumors, that Shoutong especially said: "We only saw Second Grandma Bao, whose face was as pale as a tuberculosis ghost, sitting motionless in the car, and suddenly yelled out like a ghost, scaring us so much. When I entered Suzhou, I heard people outside saying that the King of Hades is going to arrest her so that our girl can take her place, I didn't believe it at the time, but now that I think about it, it's true!"

When Aunt Xue heard it, she scolded him, and immediately ordered him to be locked up. What he said was not allowed to be circulated outside, but she turned her head and immediately called Xue Pan to discuss it: "Our family and your sister Lin's family are already enemies. From now on, you are still determined to marry Zhang Jing!"

Xue Pan felt as if someone had poured a basin of snow water on a cold day. He was cold from head to toe. He didn't care about complaining about Baochai, so he held his mother's hand and said, "I don't care, I just want to marry Ah Jing! If you marry If I don't get her, I'd rather shave my hair and become a monk!" He used to be just a fool, but this time he knew it was serious, so he got angry, and the quarrel became more violent, and he took the scissors for a while and said he wanted to cut his hair. He will ask people to look for swords and say that he wants to kill himself, so that Aunt Xue can't stop her. Seeing that the trouble is getting worse, she has to stop him and say, "If you really want to marry her, it's not impossible, it's just that you have to get married." She's willing to do it."

As soon as Xue Pan heard that there was something to think about, he stopped making trouble and listened to what Aunt Xue said. There should be a way, and I will ask her to discuss it later."

Xue Pan was better now, and said in his mouth: "Then I will go and invite her." Without waiting for Aunt Xue's consent, he went out like a gust of wind, and immediately forced the boys to lead the horses, and rode them all the way to Jia's mansion. , and didn't ask anyone to report, just rushed in all the way, scaring the maidservant to avoid it.

Xue Pan rushed all the way to Rongxi Hall, met Mrs. Wang, saluted in a hurry, pulled her sleeves and said: "Mom is not feeling well, I beg my aunt to help her!"

Mrs. Wang was bluffed out of her wits by his words, she hurriedly asked someone to prepare a car, and followed Xue Pan back home, just like Xue Pan entered Jia's mansion, all the way into the inner courtyard, met Aunt Xue, only then did she know that she was cheated by Xue Pan However, when Aunt Xue mentioned Daiyu's body, she became very concerned again, and asked urgently, "What's the matter? The family letter said it was all right, so why did you suddenly say it's not good?" She was suspicious again. The matter has something to do with Baochai, but Baochai and Daiyu know that she has always been in their eyes, and Liu Si's family said that they should bring Baochai back when they come to Japan, but Daiyu came forward to stop it. On the one hand, the lady suspected that Chai and Dai were so good, on the other hand, she was worried that Baoyu would have no heirs, and thought that she should buy two good people to serve Baoyu.