Prequel to the Red Chamber: I Am the Second Wife

Hearing the crying from below, Lao Fang became angry and slapped the gavel hard. The people below suppressed the cry, but the depressive sobbing choked in the throat made people listen to it more deeply. His hairs stood on end.Lao Fang had a bad premonition in his heart, and wanted to end the interrogation indiscriminately, but there was a great master sitting behind him, and it was not his own decision.

Lao Fang could only patiently say, "If you have any grievances, just say it." An old man in ragged clothes and a gray beard stammered about his grievances.It turned out that this old man who looked 67 was not old at all, he was just in his early forties, and he had two hundred acres of fertile land in a village near the capital, and his family lived well.He has two sons who are married, but his youngest daughter is just 14 years old and has not been mentioned yet. He thought that such a young girl should not be wronged, so he wanted to buy more dowry for her daughter.Because of the flood the year before last, a piece of land beside the river in his family was washed away a lot.Mr. Zhang thought that it would be better to sell the land, so as to save the cost of labor to build a dam on the riverside and maintain it. The money from the sale would be used as a dowry for his youngest daughter.

So Mr. Zhang called someone in the middle to explain his plan. As soon as the news spread, someone came to see the place.When Mr. Zhang heard that someone came to see him, he immediately warmly entertained that person. Seeing that the person was covered in silk and satin, he looked like a rich man, but he just sat on the car casually and said he bought it without touching his feet on the ridge.Zhongren and Mr. Zhang were also very happy, and they hurriedly invited him to Zhang's hometown to sit and drink tea and talk about the price.

Unexpectedly, when the man arrived at the Zhang family, he saw the youngest daughter of the Zhang family and suddenly proposed to take the girl of the Zhang family away, and he asked how much money he wanted.The Zhang family is also a wealthy family in Zhuangzi, and they definitely did not sell their daughter.How could Mr. Zhang agree to be so angry that he would not even sell the land.The man turned cold and said: "Go and find out who my family is, don't say that you have to spend money to buy your daughter. Even if you take a penny away, it's your luck to not give it!"

Mr. Zhang is a stubborn person, and immediately said: "You are the king of heaven, I can't rob people, and I won't sell the land either! Get out!"

The popular man left with a humming sound, and the middle-aged man told Mr. Zhang that the identity of the man was originally a member of the Zhen family, and he came to the country to buy a field. "You have caused trouble. When his family members come, the county magistrate will come out and talk to him politely. Do you know that the Zhen family is the queen mother's natal family, and the purpose of buying the land this time is for the eldest daughter of his family to enter the land. I will be the princess in the palace, and prepare a place for their girls. The girls who want to sell your family are also preparing to have someone wait for their girls to enter the palace." The middle-aged man sighed and left.

Mr. Zhang cried in the hall when he said this: "In a few days, some officials said that I owed tax money, what tax money did I owe, and they couldn't help but say that they sold all my land at a discount, and they said it was not enough. In the end, I took my woman away too! My daughter doesn’t know what’s going on now!” As he spoke, Mr. Zhang started to catch his breath from crying, and said while crying, “I spent money to ask someone to find out, who knows Anyone who says my daughter is dead!"

What Lao Fang heard was like sitting on the hot pot, wishing to find something to shut Zhang Lao's mouth. Needless to say, it's all the Zhen family's family bullying others, pretending to be powerful, that girl is not going to serve their family at all Missy.Why would the Zhen family ask someone to buy a country girl casually? It's just that the family fell in love with her girl, so they lied that they took her to be a girl.As a result, the little girl of Zhang's family is a fierce, chicken-flying egg.

Lao Fang secretly called it a bad thing, this Zhen family is really lawless, they are still so domineering and arrogant under the emperor's feet, and the family members in the family don't take good care of them.Glancing at the family members of Jia's family who were still kneeling, he thought that just now Lai Da and the others bowed their heads and ears in a respectful manner. These are the servants from the family.I am also shallow-sighted, so why did I accept their money.Cannibalism is short and soft, what should I do now that I am riding a tiger?At this moment, the sound of teacups being gently placed on the table came from behind the screen, and Lao Fang trembled all over, as the emperor's cronies still had eyes and ears.The emperor was so polite that he asked Eunuch Dai to hear the case.By the way, the girls from the Jia family and the Zhen family have something to run for. It turns out that the emperor is inspecting them.Now that Eunuch Dai has heard it, wouldn't it be like if he continued to cover up, it would appear that he took money from the Zhen family?But if he acted impartially, neither the Jia family nor the Zhen family would be a blank sheet of paper.If the emperor favors the Zhen family, how will it end?

Lao Fang was in a dilemma and didn't know what to do.He could only take out the silk cloth and wipe his forehead: "Leave the court, wait for a trial later!" As he said, Lao Fang stood up, took his robe and went to the back to ask Dai Quan for advice.

Dai Quan was tilting his feet up and holding a teacup and slowly blowing the tea leaves on the water. Seeing Lao Fang's sweat, he looked at him eagerly. He is a man with [-] minds. Listen Lao Fang's interrogation had already guessed it in his heart.The old Fang took money from others, but he didn't expect the emperor to send someone to watch him, so he couldn't make ends meet.

"I have long said that you are serving the emperor's errands. Don't stretch out your hands. If you stretch out your hands, you will be caught. It's a pity that you all rely on your own study for a few years to despise us who serve others. We have never studied, and we are still incomplete. I’m a handicapped person. It’s all deaf to my words. What happened today? Lao Fang, you are also an old trial case. I see things are obvious, why did you hesitate then?” Dai Quan said sarcasticly , completely ignored Lao Fang who was about to cry.

Lao Fang's knees softened and he knelt down with a thud: "Grandpa Dai, help me, the villain is so delusional that he took money from others to show me the way. Now I beg Grandpa Dai to show me the way, I will definitely end up Grass title ring to repay you old man!"

Dai Quan shook his robe, stood up and said to Lao Fang, "I'm not a tiger that can eat you. Get up, get up, get up and talk. I'm asking you to tell the truth."

"Yes. The little one dare not hide it."

"Okay, whose money did you take or both. What else did they say when they gave the money?" Dai Quan stared into Lao Fang's eyes with a serious expression, not allowing him to dodge.

"Yes, after receiving the money from the Zhen family, there was no one from the Jia family. The people from the Zhen family came through my wife and brother. They said that the Queen Mother was behind the Zhen family, and that the eldest daughter of their family was going to be a princess. It made me want to settle this case indiscriminately. He also said that those people are thugs, and their family bought the land with Jia's family. If there is any mistake that cannot be covered up, just push it on their family. I dare not lie These words are true, they gave me 1000 taels of silver and said they would give me another 5000 taels after the work is done. A villain dare not lie." Lao Fang kowtowed to Dai Quan and sold the Zhen family completely.

Jia Zheng was walking back and forth in the room like an ant on a hot pot, and the servants stood by the side with breathless concentration, fearing that Jia Zheng would be used as a scapegoat for getting caught up in the fire.A sound of footsteps broke the silence, and Lai Da and Wu Qing ran in sweaty.

Jia Zheng stared at the big butler and Wu Qing kneeling on the ground, and asked coldly, "How is it?"

"If you go back to the master, the case of our family should be fine. The servants explained the matter clearly, but the people from the Zhen family did not come, and the few in the hall were cheated by the Zhen family. Having said that, when we left the hall, the judge who tried the case personally came out and sent us out, saying to reassure the master that it was originally a small dispute. One person's responsibility is enough. I also asked the young man to tell the master that everything is at ease, the Holy Majesty has his own verdict. When I came out, I seemed to see Eunuch Dai's carriage outside. He should be hiding behind during the trial. I have heard everything. Wu Qing has registered at the yamen now, saying that he cannot leave the capital." Lai Dawei looked at Jia Zheng's face carefully and said about today's interrogation.

The stone in Jia Zheng's heart was put down, and he waved his hand: "You guys go down, this matter is done well, after the case is settled, Wu Qing, you can take your mother back to your hometown." Wu Qing hurriedly kowtowed and thanked , followed Lai Da.

The censor impeached the Zhen family and the Jia family for bullying others, and the turmoil of the fish and meat people passed away. The result of the interrogation in Dali Temple was that the two families were greedy, so the matter of forced buying and selling has nothing to do with the head of the Zhen family and Jia family.A few domineering servants of the Zhen family and the Jia family were held in front of the gate of the nine-door admiral's yamen and severely beaten, and the land they forcibly bought was returned to the original owner.

In a blink of an eye, the Double Ninth Festival was approaching, and Jia Mu looked at the grandchildren's granddaughter Cheng Huan, and she also became interested. They set up wine in the garden and everyone enjoyed the red leaves, smelled sweet-scented osmanthus, and ate crabs.

Jia Min brought Daiyu and his concubine's son over to join in the fun. Mother Jia looked at Baoyu and Daiyu beside her and said with a smile, "I've always wanted to have a family reunion. Fortunately, thanks to the blessing of our ancestors, today's people can be regarded as orderly." As she spoke, Jia Mu picked up the wine glass and said to the people present, please have a drink first.

Everyone just toasted and finished together, the banquet started, Zili stood up to peel crabs for Jiamu, Madam Xing was busy taking the jug from the girl's hand and pouring wine.Mother Jia smiled and said, "You are all going to be mother-in-laws. You are all old and you don't have to behave. I like to peel and eat by myself." Only then did Zili and Mrs. Xing sit down.

Jia Min went to Zili with the jug and poured her a glass of wine.Zili was a little flattered, when did this sister-in-law change her sex?In the past, she was a coquettish guest in an unmarried girl's house, and Zili was the daughter-in-law who came in, so naturally she had to serve her sister-in-law.Jia Min also took Zili's care for granted, without any special thanks at all.Now that she is a real guest, how do you pour her wine?A feeling of a weasel wishing a chicken a new year rose in Zili's heart.