Prequel to the Red Chamber: I Am the Second Wife

"It's no good, there's a knock on the cloud panel on the second door, it's Master Zhen from the East Mansion who's gone!" Zili was awakened by the noise outside, she struggled to get up, but was hugged tightly by Jia Zheng.She kicked Jia Zheng hard, and managed to break free from his arms.Looking at the traces left by her madness, Zili's mind was in a mess. What time did she do such nonsense!

Pushing Jia Zheng hard, Zili whispered in Jia Zheng's ear, "Get up quickly! Something happened over there. Jia Zhen is dead!"

How could Jia Zheng come out of Wenrouxiang? He half-closed his eyes and stretched out his hand to pull Zili back into his arms: "Who died? What does it have to do with me!"

An angry Zili bit Jia Zheng's shoulder, telling you to pretend to be crazy and coax me to get on the pirate ship in a daze!No, it was a thief's bed.The stabbing pain on his shoulders finally brought back Jia Zheng's rationality, he finally came to his senses, and stretched out his hand to caress Zili's back: "I heard, he did his own crimes and couldn't live, did he just die like this according to his temperament?" ??

Zili was also taken aback, that's right, Jia Zhen has always been ruthless, how can she be caught so easily and die casually.She kicked Jia Zheng: "If you have the time to think about it, why don't you just go and have a look." As she spoke, she picked up her clothes and asked someone to come in to wait on her and get up. Mother Jia was alarmed, people from Mother Jia's side and people from Jia Amnesty's side came to ask about the situation, Madam Xing sent someone to ask if Zili could pass.Jia Zheng put on his clothes and was about to go out. He pondered and said to Zili, "Go quickly to the old lady's side and comfort her first. I'll go over and have a look! The old man over there is still outside the city. Please let me know. Don't go to the women's house first, wait until tomorrow day."

Zili knew that Jia Zheng didn't want to make her tired, so she took a tender look at her husband standing at the door, and said worriedly, "What about the fourth girl? She's such a poor girl. I'll go and see the old lady first." Ask Zhou Rui's family to go and see the fourth girl." Jia Zheng thought about how many accidents Xichun had encountered at a young age, although Jia Zhen, as an older brother, might as well not have one, but after all, they are relatives in name.If Jia Jing still doesn't care about world affairs, Xichun's life will be fiddled with by others from now on.

"You keep her for a while, we can't let her go. If there is anything, we still have to speak out." Jia Zheng expressed his attitude and would protect Xichun's rights and interests from being harmed.

Jia Zheng and his wife moved separately, Zili arrived at Jiamu's side, and saw that the house was in a mess outside, Yuanyang was comforting Jiamu, seeing Zili coming, Yuanyang was obviously relieved: "Second wife is here, today The old lady finally rested, and heard this. She almost didn't startle the old lady. Just now she shouted that her heart was beating hard, but now she has just calmed down. Second wife, don't say anything to the old lady all at once. Be careful and scare her again." Zili nodded, seeing that Yuanyang was only wearing a coat and hadn't had time to put on the cotton coat inside, he reached out to touch Yuanyang's hand and said, "I'll serve the old lady, hurry up while you can." Put on your clothes. Although it's not very cold, who will serve the old lady when you're freezing? There can't be any troubles at this critical time." Yuanyang thanked Zili gratefully and went to get dressed.

Zili went into Jiamu's bedroom, and Jiamu was leaning on the bed with her eyes closed, not knowing what to think.Hearing the sound of footsteps, Mother Jia slowly opened her eyes: "The ancestor's family business is about to fail!"

Mother Jia seems to be ten years older, all the white hair on her head is loose, and she looks haggard and tired. Thinking of Mother Jia's high spirits every day, Zili also feels a little sad.She came to Jiamu and sighed: "It's because we are unfilial, and the old lady is worried. The master has already gone there. If we can pass safely, at least our family can survive." Zili tucked Jiamu up. Quilt, sitting on a chair by the window.

"You are all good. If the ancestors want to blame, blame me! In fact, I am not afraid of any hard life. An old woman, what blessings have I not enjoyed? Even if I close my eyes and die now, I have no regrets. But What are you going to do? Zheng'er and you have worked so hard for half of your life, pulling your child to grow up, and this happened just when you were looking forward to it. Poor Baoyu is still a child. What can Yuan girl do in the palace! And Zhu'er , I just became a father—" Mother Jia cried sadly.She was worried that the emperor would anger the entire Jia family, and that the family fortunes earned by Rong Guogong and Ning Guogong would be lost.

Zili was busy comforting Jia's mother: "Don't worry, old lady, it should be fine to listen to the meaning of what the old man said, but from now on we will have to behave with our tails between our legs. In fact, this is also good. Our family's reputation used to be great. It’s a little too much. All the children in the clan only want to be safe, rich and honored. Who cares about the hard work of their ancestors and go out to earn fame by themselves. I only hope that they will get better from now on.”

After hearing Zili's words, Jia's mother calmed down a little, and she let out a long sigh: "Forget it, I just hope that I can live a peaceful life in the future. I have seen you all so happy all these years, and I think you are all good. I didn't think about anything else. If I had known this, I should have told you to pay more attention to family affairs." Jia Mu and Zili's mother-in-law and daughter-in-law criticized each other and self-criticized.After a while Mrs. Xing also came, and seeing that Zili was already in front of Jia Mu with embarrassment on her face, and she was a daughter-in-law, Mrs. Xiang didn't seem to care much. "The second wife is here early. I came here when I got the news, but I was thinking about Lian'er's daughter-in-law, so I went to see how she is doing first. Don't scare her!" Mrs. Xing used Wang Xifeng as a shield, saying that she was I was worried that my daughter-in-law was late, but it wasn't that she didn't take Jiamu to heart.

"What's wrong with Brother Feng? Our family's affairs are still up and down. The last time Zhu'er's daughter-in-law gave birth was worrying. Why is it still so unsatisfactory this time!" Jia Mu sighed, thinking about the family's one after another Something happened, and his brows were furrowed together.

The Ning Mansion was already in chaos, and You Shi had long since lost her mind. She couldn't even cry, she just sat there in a daze, her eyes staring straight and unfocused.Jia Zheng and Jia She had nothing to say when they looked at Youshi's appearance, they came out with the comfort of the two pretending to be comforted, and saw Jia Zhu calling the servants to put Jia Zhen's body on the board, and stopped in the main hall On the morning, Jia Lian came in in a hurry and saw his father and uncle busy calling, "Father, second uncle, the imperial physician has been invited." Jia Amnesty was a little confused: "Why do you still invite the imperial physician? Shouldn't it be reported? I see this The matter is not simple, a good person will disappear all of a sudden, you should call a foreman to do an autopsy!"

Jia Zheng tugged Jia Amnesty's sleeve, and hurriedly said to Jia Lian: "You are doing very well. People have good fortune and misfortune. He usually looks healthy, but things are unpredictable. I heard that these days he has been saying that he is tired. Panic, I'm afraid I didn't notice some illness. It's a pity, I'm in my prime." Saying this, Jia Zheng dragged his brother away.Jia Zhu had already settled down, and walked over with sweat on his head: "I have sealed up the study, father and uncle want to go and have a look?"

"What's so good about that place? Our family is really unlucky!" Jia Amnesty got rid of Jia Zheng's hand, breathing heavily angrily, Jia Zhu and Jia Zheng looked at each other, touched their noses and stood aside, waiting for Jia Zheng to speak . "It doesn't matter why the nephew is gone. It is said that he died of a sudden illness. Isn't the family's affairs too chaotic? He yelled at the yamen and waited for the nephew to come over for an autopsy. Maybe something will be found out!" Jia Zheng also You are welcome, flicking his sleeves and said to his son: "Let's go and have a look." He said and took Jia Zhu away.Jia Amnesty stood there and lost his temper for a long time before trying to understand Jia Zheng's meaning. His face turned red and then turned pale, and he murmured to himself, "You're all right, is there anything you can't say properly? Why are you playing charades with me?" He stood there and didn't know whether to follow him to have a look, or simply go back to sleep.

In the study, Jia Zheng looked at the things that were taken out of Jia Zhen's secret letter, and his face became paler and paler. There were not only the correspondence between Jia Zhen and those "ambitious" friends, but also some things of Jia Jing in the past. It turned out that Jia Jing was from the same line. He has always been on two boats. When the first emperor died, Jia Jing had a relationship with the king of Wei. Later, he saw that the grandson was very popular, but the king of Wei was thousands of miles away. He simply defected and drew a line with the king of Wei. He also arranged for a noble concubine to deceive Wei Wang's mother and son.

"It turns out that's the case. I used to be puzzled. I understand that at that time, Uncle Jing here was working hard as a minister of the bodyguard. How could he be thrown aside by the emperor in a lukewarm manner. The emperor would never like this. The kind of person who is always on the go. In fact, if Master Jing had kept his own place at the beginning, why would he worry about not having an official to do it now. But the momentary greed hurt himself and Brother Zhen. Father, I checked the body of Brother Zhen, and there was no injury , the leftover tea he drank before he died was still there. I asked what I had for dinner, and I personally checked that there was no trace of poisoning. I looked at Big Brother Zhen as if he was scared to death. His eyes were wide open. Big ones, with deep marks drawn by fingers on the ground." Jia Zhu talked about the cause of Jia Zhen's death.

"The retribution of the natural law is not good. Do you still want to die after committing crimes in your life? The imperial physician has ordered it? This thing cannot be burned. You seal it up and hand it to Dai Quan. Go now!" Jia Zheng asked Jia Zhu to take the evidence Handing it over to Dai Quan is actually handing it over to the emperor.When Jia Zheng first saw those things, his first thought was to burn them with a fire, but she calmed down quickly, and she couldn't do that!If it was set on fire, it would be dead without evidence, and the emperor would definitely think that Jia Zheng was worried about something shady and afraid of being seen.Jia Zhen was dead anyway, and the things he did did not involve him anyway. As for whether it would involve other members of the Jia family, Jia Zheng didn't care much.

The Jia family is a big family that has been proud for a hundred years and has a large population. Who can control whom?I can only do my best to protect my family.As for other people, they can only see what God wants.Jia Zheng quickly made up his mind to kill the fellow Taoist and not the poor, and immediately made up his mind to hand over all the evidence.Jia Zhu also had the same idea as his father, and he immediately agreed and left with the secret letter in his arms.

Hearing Jia Zhu's footsteps go away, Jia Zheng calmed down a little. He was about to leave this gloomy study when suddenly the candlelight flickered. The bright flame just now suddenly became dying, and everything was cast in a dark shadow .Jia Zheng shivered in fright, a chill rose from the bottom of his feet, Jia Zheng raised his eyes and saw the birthday characters in Ning Guogong's handwriting on the wall, and his heart became more and more uneasy.Jia Zheng swallowed foam, cupped his hands towards the big characters, and bowed to it solemnly: "The ancestors are above, and Zheng is responsible for the emperor's grace. Think about it. I hope that the ancestors in the sky will not be angry and resentful when things happen this time, and I will definitely settle down with Ronger and the fourth girl so that they will not be wronged."

It seemed that the ancestors had heard Jia Zheng's assurance, and the cold air in the room disappeared without a trace. Jia Zheng felt that vitality was injected into his body again, and the blood flowed again.Jia Zheng didn't dare to stay here anymore and hurriedly opened the door to go out.Over there, Jia Amnesty had come to his senses, and was instructing the chief steward of the East Mansion on how to arrange Jia Zhen's funeral.Thinking of something, Jia Zheng frowned and asked, "Where is Rong'er? I haven't seen where he is for a long time!" The father died, but the son never disappeared.Now Jia Rong is the only male in the East Mansion, and he needs to be involved in many things.

"Here, someone has been sent to look for it. The second master should take a rest in the flower hall first." Lai Sheng hesitated, and asked Jia Zheng and Jia She to sit in the flower hall.At this time, the news of Jia Zhen's sudden death had spread, and many members of the Jia family came.

"That's right, why haven't I seen him for a long time since I came here! This is his father who is dead, how can there be such a son. You ask someone to look for it? Where else can he go if he is not sleeping at home? Don't worry about that child Rong'er Yes, that’s right, this happened to me at a young age. I think we’d better go and see Rong’er. Don’t be harsh on my second brother, it’s very hard to think about my nephew and grandson.” Jia Amnesty grasped the loopholes in Lai Sheng’s words , Asked about Jia Rong's whereabouts.

Jia Zheng snorted coldly, and frowned tightly. Jia Rong must have been sleeping outside in the flowers and willows, and he was still in the mood to be drunk outside after such a big incident happened at home!Jia Zheng's face became darker when he thought of this, and he said to Lai Sheng fiercely: "Of course you know where he is, find him for me immediately. If you don't see Jia Rong before dawn, you all stay with me." Go to the ancestral hall on your knees!"

Seeing that Jia Zheng was very angry, Jia Lian volunteered to take someone to look for him.Jia Zheng said to Jia Amnesty with a tired face, "I don't know what evil I did to give birth to these unfaithful and unfilial things!"

Jia Zheng stayed in the Ning Mansion to take charge of the overall situation. He sat in the flower hall, listening to the lukewarm words of those clansmen, thinking about what to do next.The Ning Mansion is over, first Qin Keqing and now Jia Zhen.I don't know how the emperor will deal with it——

"It's no good, Second Master Lian and Uncle Xiao Rong are fighting!" A cry of surprise pulled Jia Zheng out of his thoughts.Why did Jia Lian fight Jia Rong?