Old things in the Red Chamber

At this moment, Jia Fang suddenly realized that the Ninth Prince looked at his younger brother and wondered how his head grew.

But Jia Fang believed his words, "So that's the case, but it's not right. It's my fault that I didn't make it clear to my two cousins. My mother asked about princes in their thirties. My sister is in the age of cardamom. This is also true." It's not appropriate."

The Eleventh Prince thought he had got the truth, and patted his cousin on the shoulder, "Why are you still unable to figure it out, since you are asking someone in their 30s, it is obviously not your cousin, but the third girl in your mansion, by the way, we should The one who called her aunt, isn't that brother?"

The Ninth Prince thought about it, maybe what the younger brother said was the truth.

At this time, everyone pays attention to some ethics and morals. The deceased Concubine Jia and her own mother and concubine are both sisters. If the Rongguo Mansion wants to send a girl to the clan to marry someone else, it can only find someone who is the same generation as the father. Among the generations, the older ones are already in their 50s and [-]s, and the younger ones are also in their teens.If the Rongguo Mansion really took a fancy to someone, that would make sense.

In particular, I heard that people in their 30s were the ones who inquired.If the Rongguo Mansion wanted to send the girl to someone else for a sequel, the more the Ninth Prince thought about it, the more he felt that this was the truth.After all, the status of Rongguo Mansion is a bit low. It is not suitable to be the original match, but it is not inappropriate to be the sequel.

It's just that the Ninth Prince has always looked down on Rongguo Mansion, a family that relies on girls to make a fortune.So I told my cousin, "It's not your mother's turn to worry about this matter. I heard that the parents of the three girls are still there. If they have any ideas, let them figure it out."

In the end, he felt that what he said was too serious, so he embellished it a bit, "If you live an uncomfortable life in the future, the third girl can't blame your mother, don't you think so?"

"Big cousin is right. I will tell my mother what you said later."

This matter came to an end temporarily. The Eleventh Prince took Jia Fang back to his palace, and only the Ninth Prince was left in the room for a moment. He recalled the assistant minister he met just now, and his face burned again. I don't know if other girls are round or flat, so it's useless to think about it in a mess.

Besides, the upbringing of such a father and daughter may not be any better.

He comforted himself that he still had to listen to his father when it came to marrying a daughter-in-law. After all, what his parents ordered and what the matchmaker said made sense.

The Ninth Prince didn't notice that his boyish heart was beating. He didn't have much expectations for his future daughter-in-law, and after experiencing the matter of the Seventh Prince picking a wife, he felt that whatever his father gave him Her kindness is more or less a cock wrapped in honey, if you can touch it or not.

After two or three days, Jia Fang went home and talked to her mother about the affairs in the palace.

"I heard the meaning of the two cousins. It seems that they don't want the third aunt to marry into the clan. Don't interfere. What the big cousin said is right. After all, you are a sister-in-law or a cousin, and you are not your own sister-in-law, let alone you. Dear parents, don't worry about it a little bit, so as not to complain in the future."

Wang Xifeng stretched out her finger and tapped on her son's forehead.

"Little heartless, you don't know what I do, and you are still complaining that I can't do things."

Jia Fang asked her vaguely while eating, "What are you doing? Tell your son, and he will do it for you."

Ping'er brought the tea, put it in front of the mother and the son, and praised Jia Fang, "Our brother can take care of grandma's worries now, he really has grown up."

"Why share worries? I just know if I'm full or not, and I don't know anything else."

"Don't believe me, I think you definitely don't want me to know about this matter. If I could know, you would have told me last time, but you made a fool of myself in front of my cousins ​​by asking so much. Forget it, in the end, your meaning is different from what I understand, and it makes me busy and ugly."

"Ping'er, listen, this little thing is starting to blame me now. It's not impossible to tell you, but my son is going to do big things, so I don't have to worry about these trivial things."

"What's the matter? Tell me."

"It's not your uncle. If he wasn't your real uncle, my real brother, I wouldn't care about his messy things. When you were not at home, your aunt told me that your uncle was making a lot of trouble at home. Looks like that, so I went over to have a look, who knows where he got an enchanting woman, making the house a mess, your aunt is also a person who can't stand up, I'm afraid your uncle is like a mouse seeing a cat She is afraid of your uncle, but I am not. I said I sold him, but who knows that he is not from the Wang family. After searching around, it turned out that he was from the Jia family, but I went home and checked. People from the Jia family, I heard that they probably belong to some prince in the palace."

Jia Fang stopped eating and thought for a while.Tell Wang Xifeng, "If something goes wrong, there must be a demon. You should pay attention to this matter. Moreover, the death of my uncle and grandfather is unknown. The most suspicious thing is that the government has closed the case hastily. I always feel that this matter is clear. It's kind of weird."

"Son, what do you mean?"

"I always feel that the matter of my uncle and grandfather is unclear, and there must be noble people intervening. It seems that the prince I thought the nobleman found for you should be the same person, but we small families can't afford to provoke them ..."

Before he finished speaking, Wang Xifeng raised her brows and slapped the table fiercely, "Fart, it must be that Uncle knows some secret things about them, and they want to kill people to silence them."

Ping'er hastily persuaded Wang Xifeng, "Keep your voice down, since you know it's something you shouldn't tell anyone, don't shout about it. If you don't mention it, it will bring trouble to the family, but it will hurt your brother and sister."

Wang Xifeng thought it was the same reason, but it was very hard to endure this, and she couldn't eat or sleep well for several nights.Even when dreaming, I can dream that my uncle is covered in blood and standing in front of me.

Usually a person who does not pray to Buddha or God has to go to the temple outside the city to do some water and land rituals for his uncle.I prayed secretly, not only to comfort the dead uncle, but also to comfort myself, "No one in our family can take care of things now, just wait, if you really died unjustly, it will not be too late for a gentleman to take revenge for ten years."

After Jia Fang returned to the palace, she quickly talked to her two cousins ​​about it.

The Ninth Prince thought for a while, "Since someone still dares to show up at your grandfather's house, it must be because they haven't succeeded. I'm afraid it's not that your grandfather knew something, but got something to do with them. Otherwise, how could they die? Woolen cloth."

After speaking, he secretly sent someone to investigate the matter, but his manpower was limited, so he finally entrusted the matter to Jia Gu.

After Jia Gu received the letter from the Ninth Prince, he thought for a while in the room, and said to Mr. Jiang, his adviser, "I thought that Prince Teng was silenced by the emperor, but it seems not. The emperor wanted to kill him. It must be perfect, and no one will be sent to their house in the end, is there something in Wang Ziteng's hands that some people particularly want?"

"If Hou Ye infers a matter, he can only think about it from two aspects? The first prince Teng died, who will benefit the most? Second, what does Wang Ziteng have, or what can he get to bring himself a disaster?"

"Wang Ziteng wants to go back to the capital. People who have stayed in prosperous places naturally don't want to go to remote places. Let alone others, maybe I have this idea myself. But why did he return to the capital so eagerly? Mr. I also know the meaning of what I said, the official that Wang Ziteng came back to serve as is not an important official, and it doesn't make much sense whether he is dead or not, so according to the second point that Mr. Wang said, what does Wang Ziteng have?"

"Master Hou, don't forget that Wang Ziteng went after his death, and his family went from Ningguo Mansion, which means that the people who set up the bridge are from Ningguo Mansion."

Jia Gu suddenly had a flash of inspiration, thinking of Jia Zhen jumping up and down between the capital and other places a few months ago, "Prince Teng has military power."

He stood up and walked around the study several times, "If I think right, then I may be unlucky or something will happen. More than ten years ago, Wang Ziteng firmly controlled the camp outside the capital. The military power inside, now this army is in my hands, and this is the army closest to the capital, if you send troops into the city, big things can be decided.

But it's unreasonable to say this, sir, think about it, Wang Ziteng has been away from this army for so long, if he orders them, do you think the army will listen this time? "

"Then there is something that the army absolutely obeys this time, even apart from you, they absolutely obey."

The two looked at each other, and Mr. Jiang said, "Shangfang's sword, imperial decree and military talisman. One of the three should be the military talisman."

What Mr. Jiang said was very firm, but Jia Gu couldn't believe it.He himself is the leader of the soldiers, so he naturally knows how carefully the soldiers' talismans are stored, even if the soldiers' talismans are stolen, within a short day, there will inevitably be a big move in the court, and he, the head of the military department, will definitely know this terrible news.

"If it's a soldier talisman, sir, the soldier talisman is stored in the hands of the emperor. The emperor attaches great importance to military power. Do you think he didn't find anything missing? I'm afraid someone will go around the place where he keeps the soldier talisman. Arouse his suspicion, let alone lose an object."

"Shangfang's sword and imperial decree will not come out of the palace. Even if they come out, the emperor will definitely notice. There is only a soldier talisman, and a small sleeve in the sleeve. As long as you don't say it, others will not know. I'm afraid what Wang Ziteng has is like this." thing.

And Lord Hou, from my inference, he has already succeeded. "

"Why do you say that, sir?"

"I want to get something, but I can't get it for a long time, and I can't give up. What should I do? Naturally, I will send people again, whether it is by stealing, cheating or even robbing, I have to get the thing. Now the Wang family is calm. , what do you say?"

"According to my husband, Jia Lian's daughter-in-law went to make trouble that day, which just gave Jin Chan a chance to get out of his shell."

"exactly."

He obviously didn't want to be involved in this matter, but in the end he was still involved in this matter.After Jia Gu found out about this incident, he invited his elder brother here, but he didn't dare to tell him what happened, for fear of frightening the old dandy, so he only discussed with him how to buy some land and expand the family business.

"You also know that there are a lot of people who sell Zhuangzi recently. They are all veterans of the Supreme Emperor. On the one hand, they are specially made for His Majesty to see, and on the other hand, they really have no money. But no matter what, if there is Zhuangzi and land, we will sell it. , first get the benefits in your hands and then talk about it."

Jia Amnesty agreed with his statement very much, and thought about how much money he still had in his hand, thinking that when he died, he would also leave some family property to his son and grandson.

While the two were talking, a young man outside the door came in to make an announcement.

"The cousin and grandma brought the two young masters of the family to the house."

It was Lin Daiyu who came, and the woman behind brought her two sons to the front yard to meet Jia Gu and Jia She.

Jia Gu hugged their second child and talked to Gu Xin.

"What is your father doing at home recently?"

Gu Xin stood on the ground, "My father and uncle have discussed buying some land in the past few days."

"Look, everyone is selling now, I guess the land will not be cheap."

Those who sell always feel that the selling price is cheap, and those who buy always feel that the buying price is expensive.During this process of entering and exiting, the first- and second-class families in the entire capital almost fell into madness.

The purpose of Lin Daiyu's coming to the Hou's Mansion this time is also very simple.She still has a lot of money in her hand. For some far-sighted families, this is the opportunity to buy a large piece of land at this time.It is a long-term care for future generations.Because the Hou Mansion has always given her the impression that the money is not in hand, today I came here to ask my aunt if she wants to buy some land. If it is because the money is not in hand, she can help.

Tong Ren was very moved. She held many land deeds in her hand, but only a small part belonged to her own family, and most of them belonged to others under her own name.

"Good boy, let me tell you the truth. Don't look at me. I have a box of contracts, but none of them belong to our family. They were bought for several nobles in the palace. They belong to your uncle's family and my mother's family. I want to buy some property for my own family, but your uncle is a brainless person, and he wants to save face. He can't bear to ask relatives and friends to borrow money. I don't say anything about him. Since you said so, let's borrow a sum first. Give the money to aunt, and I will find a way to pay you back when the time comes."

"There's no rush to pay back the money, but don't you discuss it with your uncle?"

"This kind of thing is a good thing. You don't need to discuss it with him. Even if he doesn't like it, he can do anything to me."

Madam Tong's domineering appearance made Lin Daiyu very envious.She just remembered that there were many rumors in the capital that Mrs. Tong was so domineering at home, and even Jia Hou didn't dare to speak loudly at home, making people dare not go east and west, making dogs dare not beat chickens...

So that afternoon Mrs. Tong and Lin Daiyu ate Sanqingdi together, which only stunned Jia Gu for a moment.

"How much did it cost? Send it to others tomorrow."

Mrs. Tong looked at the land deed in her hand, and occasionally glanced sideways at Jia Gu, "Stop pretending to be stingy? If you want me to say that the money can't be paid back immediately, let's pay it back slowly in three or five times, and we won't lose our niece." Even if you don’t have money, you can continue to pretend to be a cheapskate, so why not do two things with one stone?”

After thinking about it, Jia Gu could only follow this method. He took off his clothes and went to bed, when he heard Mrs. Tong whispering aside.

"Sure enough, the stolen gong can't be beaten, obviously our family has a lot of money..."

"Can you shut up?"

Madam Tong saw that he was angry, "Got it, got it, don't be angry, Lord Hou, it's all because I can't speak."

Jia Gu gave her a hard look, lay down and continued to sleep.

Madam Tong put away her things, sat on the edge of the bed and pushed Jia Gu, "You should take some time out of the city to take a look these two days."

"Let the housekeeper see."

"No, you have to go and see it yourself, let the farmers know who is the master, and besides, can someone who doesn't know how to farm the land be called Lord Hou? When it was time, you took your son and grandson to the fields to cultivate..."

"Spare me my old bones."

"Did you listen to me? I will go outside the city in the past two days."

"Deling, go to sleep, I'll go the day after tomorrow."

Two days later, Mrs. Tong took her granddaughter to a birthday party for an elderly woman.I drove Jia Gu out of the city early in the morning, and at noon I talked to a few acquainted wives, "My eyes are twitching violently, and I can't feel quiet in my heart. What's wrong?"

All the wives present here were also the wives of Jiangmen. They all looked at each other and felt that this was not a good omen.

But I can't say these words, so I try to comfort Mrs. Tong in different ways.

Mrs. Tong felt more and more unable to sit still, "Could it be that something happened to my darling son?"

The more she thought about it, the more she felt that there was such a possibility, and for the first time, she began to feel flustered.

Just when he was at a loss, Jia Gui's family rushed over with a very bad look on his face, and Madam Tong thumped in her heart.

"What are you doing here when you're not at home?"

"Madam, please go home, our master was stabbed on the road."

Mrs. Tong was at a loss, but stood up forcefully, forced a smile on her face, and led the maid and granddaughter to say goodbye to the master's house.

Ignore other people's eyebrow-eye lawsuits and discussions in private.Mrs. Tong quickly sat in the carriage, but at this moment she was able to calm down and ask Jia Gui's family how this happened.

"When our master brought people back from outside the city, he met a mother and son begging on the side of the road. The mother and son happened to be sitting in the middle of the road. Seeing how pitiful they were, Lord Hou asked someone to give us the food we brought. They, the damned mother and son, wanted to go to thank Lord Hou, and immediately knelt down in front of the horse. Who would have thought that the two of them had a gun on their backs, they were too close, and the force of the gun was very strong. Master Hou At that time, he blocked it, and the guards around him blocked it for him. Originally, they were aiming at Lord Hou's throat. After being blocked twice, the bow and arrow missed. The force was too great, and one pierced into the heart of Lord Hou. Zili."

"Is it serious?"

"There was a lot of blood, and the people who followed knew a little bit of medical skills, so it was... not very good."