Daiyu's wife in the Red Chamber

The four women sent by Mrs. Zhang did not go to Mrs. Wang's mansion first. When Jia Zheng received the letter, Zhang's family sent someone to Rongguo Mansion to pay their respects first. Ming said: "Twelve bolts of makeup satin, twelve bolts of python satin, twelve bolts of plain satin, twelve bolts of variegated satin, twelve bolts of palace silk, and ten bolts of palace gauze. Two bolts, twelve bolts of royal silk, twelve bolts of silk, twelve bolts of brocade, twelve bolts of silk, and four gold and silver necklaces each.

Thinking of the visits to Zhen's family in the past few years, the aunt and sister-in-law hurriedly rewarded the gift giver with the best rewards after watching them, and prepared the ruler with ease. After returning to Mrs. Wang, I saw the presents. The gold and silver collar was either dotted with emerald feathers, or inlaid with pearls, or inlaid with precious stones. The beads were as big as longan seeds.

Seeing that each of these eight necklaces was no less than 500 taels, and a single bead was worth hundreds of years, Mrs. Wang took it away. At this moment, someone announced: "Four women from Zhangfu came to pay their respects to Madam."

It could be heard that the person was paying her respects to herself, and Mrs. Wang hurriedly ordered someone to bring it in.

The oldest of these four people is about 50 years old, and the youngest is about 30 years old. Headed by the elderly, they are ordinary in appearance, resembling Mrs. Zhang, and their clothes and hairpins are very rich. It's down.

Please be safe, Mrs. Wang ordered someone to take four feet and step over.

The four hurriedly thanked each other, and when Tanchun and Baochai sisters who were talking with Mrs. Wang in the room were seated, both of them took their seats, their faces were full of humility, and they looked very docile.

Mrs. Wang liked it more and more, secretly praised them for their generosity and rules, and asked with a smile: "You are far away in Ping'an Prefecture, and it is inconvenient to travel. Why do you want to come to Beijing now? Are your masters and wives all in Beijing? We actually I didn't get any news, if I knew it earlier, I should have sent someone to meet me, so I could prepare to clean up the dust for you masters and wives."

The leading woman replied: "My lord and wife only sent us to Beijing to give gifts to the mansion, but I am guarding Ping'an Prefecture. I dare not leave my post without purpose. This time, I really have something important to ask for."

Mrs. Wang was about to ask what was the matter, when Li Wan suddenly said, "Madam, I just remembered something, I'll go down to cook first."

Seeing Li Wan's words, Baochai and Tanchun also stood up, and said with a smile: "No, the elder sister-in-law also asked me and the third younger sister to help. The wife is busy, so we will go there first."

Mrs. Wang nodded her head in agreement, and when they went down, she asked what was the important matter. The woman in charge immediately blushed and said, "In terms of relatives and friendship, apart from the family, there is no other family in the capital. , Our wife begged County Lord Jingxiao for a long time before she realized that she worshiped the wrong Buddha, and the real Buddha is here, so she hurriedly sent us over to apologize to my wife first."

When she heard that it was related to Daiyu, Mrs. Wang couldn't help being a little surprised, so she hurriedly asked for details.Although she didn't have much affection for Daiyu in the past, the brother-sister relationship between Daiyu and Baoyu overwhelms everyone these years. Both Wei Ruolan and her are respectable, and Mrs. Wang has resolved many old grievances.

The leading woman was waiting for her to ask, and hurriedly spit out Mrs. Zhang's bitterness.

After finishing speaking, she continued: "Our wife was really annoyed when she heard that the county magistrate Jingxiao said she was helpless, thinking that she deliberately refused to help, but after thinking about it after going back, she felt that the county magistrate Jingxiao was right, the county magistrate is young and inexperienced How can it be better than my wife who is well-informed and capable? I hope that my wife will help me a little while watching our wife's love for daughters. I don't want anything else, but I just want my aunt to be safe."

Mrs. Wang pondered for a moment, first thinking about the fact that Zhen's family was raided in August, which was full of uproar in the capital, and then thinking about the friendship between her family and other places, she said: "Poor parents in the world, your wife is like this, I feel the same way, it would be nice to keep your aunt safe." Not difficult."

The leading woman was overjoyed, hurriedly stood up and thanked her again and again, saying: "Our wife has made it as she wished, and I will definitely thank you when I turn back."

Mrs. Wang said: "It doesn't matter if we thank you very much or not. The friendship between our two families is not important. Why do we care about these extraneous things? Our family has a lot of things, and these are the most important things. I am doing it for your wife's motherly heart."

The woman in the lead stopped saying yes, and praised Mrs. Wang for her kindness and kindness. Before she could say anything, Mrs. Wang continued: "Some things must be said first, and this is not something that can be done in a short while. I remember that your aunt married to Jinling, and lived with the old lady and her friends in the hometown of Jinling. Now they are transferred to Beijing to punish crimes. After calculation, your aunt and Zhen's family members are all on the way. They have not arrived in Beijing. I can find out and understand before making a move.”

The woman smiled and said: "Should be, should be, otherwise we would come here in a hurry after we got the news, just want to wait for my aunt to arrive in the capital, and take her home immediately, so as not to suffer from those setbacks again. We My aunt was spoiled and spoiled since she was a child, and she couldn't stand the slightest wind. Who would have thought that she would suffer such hardships, and she didn't know how she would endure hardships on the road."

When they said this, the four women all had red eyes, couldn't help but shed tears, and were afraid of being laughed at, they hurriedly took out their handkerchiefs to wipe away their tears, and apologized to Mrs. Wang: "I made my wife laugh. "

Mrs. Wang said: "How can you laugh at me? This is your true temperament."

The four women felt relieved, and hurriedly praised Mrs. Wang for her generosity and kindness. Now that they had received Mrs. Wang's promise, they were relieved, and they talked with Mrs. Wang for a while. Came here and said that he had something to discuss with his wife."

Mrs. Wang was about to speak, and the four of them got up to say goodbye. When they saw Sister Feng, they hurriedly said hello. Sister Feng stopped and asked which family she was from. Jumping, thinking to herself, as expected in Daiyu's letter, the Zhang family not only repaired the book for Jia Zheng, but also sent someone to find Mrs. Wang.

Sister Feng's personality is quite in the footsteps of Mrs. Wang, but she is young, so she is a little bit more flamboyant, while Mrs. Wang is over fifty years old, and her children are not around, so she tends to be more compassionate and kind. , the others remain the same.

After the four women left, Sister Feng asked, "Auntie, the Zhang family has not come to Beijing yet, why are you here?"

Mrs. Wang thought that there was nothing to hide about this matter, so if she didn't say anything at this time, it would still be known to people when she did it in the future, so she told Sister Feng exactly what the Zhang family asked, and naturally she didn't mention that Zhang was saved. There are words such as thank you in Houzhang's family.

Sister Feng stamped her feet and said, "My aunt, when Aunt Yue took the belongings of the Zhen family, she thought I was an alarmist? When the matter of the Zhen family is settled, we can do anything to help them afterwards, just buy a house and land for them. No one can find out what is wrong, but we have to say that our family is kind and did not make trouble, but at this time, intervening and influencing the court's judgment, wouldn't it be infuriated?"

As she spoke, she secretly decided that apart from her own father, Mrs. Wang has no other way to go. No other family dares to get involved in this matter. If Mrs. Wang insists on going her own way, she must tell her mother and persuade her father not to intervene.

Although Mrs. Wang is the aunt of the Wang family's direct relatives, she herself is the direct relatives. Parents naturally understand which is more important.

Mrs. Wang didn't take it seriously, she said: "What are you afraid of? When did our illustrious Feng Lazi be so timid. Besides, I didn't say anything about the judgment of the court. I vaguely remember that the judgment of the Zhen family came down early. It is to send Zhen Yingjia and other principal criminals to Beijing to punish the crime, and the rest of the family members and slaves are all sold on the spot. Probably because when the decree was issued, someone suggested that no one in the Jiangnan area would dare to buy Zhen's family members as slaves, so the sage added a sentence the next day. , together with Zhen’s family members, were escorted to Beijing, and the slaves were sold locally.”

After hearing the words, Sister Feng thought about what she had learned from Jia Lian, and said, "It is true that it was not stated in the mansion newspaper. Later, our second master found out that Mrs. Zhen and the third girl were in the capital, and the rest, Mrs. It has passed away, and there are 16 people left in the family, including Master Zhen, a total of [-] people, all of whom are on their way to the capital. How can Auntie save Miss Zhang's family?"

Mrs. Wang glanced at her, slowly twirling the Buddhist beads in her hands, and said gracefully: "The members of the Zhen family must be enslaved by officials. Only high-ranking officials and dignitaries can buy them. I will take a few more money." Didn't buying the Zhang family save her? Although our family has nothing else to do, it is easy to buy the Zhang family, and other families will always give our family this face." As early as when the women of the Zhang family begged, Mrs. Wang thought of this point. To save the Zhang family, it is not necessary to help her get rid of the crime. The saint has already become ruthless and wants to punish the Zhen family severely.

Sister Feng couldn't help being dumbfounded, she was immediately filled with admiration, and at the same time her heart shuddered, fortunately she backed away early, otherwise she would definitely be played around by this aunt, don't think she doesn't get angry easily, but whenever she gets angry, there are always many people involved.

I never thought Mrs. Wang had such a plan. Sister Feng thought about what Mrs. Wang said just now, and it was not unreasonable. Even if the Zhang family knew about it, there was nothing they could do. After all, those women begged Mrs. Wang to save Zhang. To get out of the sea of ​​suffering, Mrs. Wang replied that it was not difficult to be safe, and she didn't say that she would save Zhang's crime and return to her natal family innocently.

She suddenly thought of something, and said: "My aunt's plan is good. She not only repays the old love, but also makes a contribution to benevolence. What if the imperial court doesn't sell the female family members of the Zhen family, but rewards each family after entering the officialdom?" Officials and family members are not the only ones who end up being sold. All official slaves who enter the government are often rewarded to other high-ranking officials and noble families.

Mrs. Wang was startled, she was only thinking of her own strategy before, but she didn't think of it here, frowned, and said after a long time: "It doesn't matter, no matter who the reward is given to, with our family's decency, we can spend some money to buy it." It is not impossible. Besides, as you said, it is not sure whether it is a sale or a reward, maybe it will only be sold on the street. However, we have to think of a way to get the court to reward Miss Zhang's family. After all, we have to spend some time thinking about going to another house. As for the Ministry of Internal Affairs, I am not afraid of anything, and with a little planning, it is not uncommon for the Ministry of Internal Affairs to assign slaves to various families."

Sister Feng sighed: "Although my aunt thinks well, but everything is not according to our wishes. I advise my aunt not to get involved in this matter. It would be great if you can buy Miss Zhang's family as you wish, but if it is difficult to do, you will offend me. Zhang's family. That Zhang's family is so powerful in Ping'an Prefecture, we don't know how many troubles we have to cause."

Mrs. Wang waved her hand and said, "What are you afraid of? I'll talk about it later, I have my own reasons."

After coming out of Mrs. Wang, Sister Feng said to Jia Lian who was holding her son and feeding the birds when she got home: "I only know today what it means to be wise and stupid, but someone like me is an idiot. It's strange that the second wife likes Bao girl so much, she is smart." Unrevealed master."

Jia Lian wondered, "Didn't you go to the second wife to talk about something, why did you just talk about it when you came back?"

Sister Feng pulled him into the house and explained in detail. Jia Lian smiled and said, "Go with the second wife, as long as you don't accuse our family of any crimes. I just hope it's a sale rather than a reward. Our family is not as good as it used to be. How can it be so bad?" Such a decent reward? I didn't expect the second wife to come up with such an idea. The money and things were collected, and people rescued them without trouble. Even if it wasn't what the Zhang family wanted, after all, they did their best, and outsiders couldn't make a mistake. Come, I'm afraid the second wife will be generous."

Sister Feng wondered, "Where did you say that?"

Jia Lian said: "If you only buy Zhang's family, what do outsiders think? It is necessary to buy everyone in the Zhen family, so that people can be impeccable. Who is the official price for such a delicate and precious master and grandma like the Zhen family?" It’s not too low, how can the second wife spend less money? The male and female servants of the Zhen family are sold in Jinling, except for young boys and girls, the rest are at least 50 taels, and the high is hundreds of taels, let alone the master?"

But Sister Feng laughed and said, "Not necessarily, the house is tight, Baoyu is not yet married, and the third girl has to spend money to be elected. Do you think the second wife is willing to spend such a large sum of money to buy everyone in the Zhen family? On the contrary, I think that with the second wife's thoughts, If it is sold, it must be managed by someone first, and the rest of the Zhen family will be sold first. When she sends people to arrive, only Zhang's, or one or two more people can be bought. If it is given to others as slaves, the second wife will definitely find a way Bought it as a gift to Zhang’s family, it’s a pity that the latter has spent more time.”

Jia Lian thought of the connections of Jia Zheng and his wife, and said with deep conviction: "I heard that grandma said that, there is some truth. I heard that Mrs. Zhang was born with a beautiful face, unlike his mother. There are not a few people who are watching secretly. If you don't trust someone Be careful, you will definitely not be able to buy it.”

At the same time, Jia Lian smiled again and said, "Besides, who can be sure that it is sold on the street after entering the official?"

Sister Feng said: "I'm afraid it's not that after becoming an official as a slave and selling it on the street, the second wife used her means to control this matter in private. According to our family's line, it's not very difficult for the court to reconsider this matter. Otherwise, wouldn't the Zhang family Will you ask the second wife?"

Jia Lian chuckled and said, "It's not the same as before. Didn't you hear what the second wife meant? She said that our family can control her, but she didn't have such a plan. I guess the second wife knew that this matter was hot, so she didn't dare to take it lightly. What you do. Just wait and see, when you get to the front, whether you become an official and a slave, betrothed or sold, the second wife will definitely not interfere in the judgment of the court."

Unexpectedly, Emperor Changtai learned about this, smiled and said to the queen: "From the queen's point of view, when Zhen's family comes to Beijing, should I issue an order to sell their family members to officials, or reward them as slaves to the families of high-ranking officials and dignitaries?" ?”

The queen said with emotion: "I really didn't expect the concubine Xiande's mother to have such deep thoughts. The little Wang secretly said that she is very wise and stupid, which is really good. Whether it is a sale or a reward depends on your Majesty's intentions. Selling it will bring you both money and money." Ku, the reward will make this Wang Yiren spend some effort to fulfill the Zhang family's request."

Emperor Changtai grinned, and said: "Didn't the Zhang family beg to be in front of Jingxiao, and they made faces in front of Jingxiao? Let's see that girl grow up so big, how has she ever been wronged like this? According to me, just directly Rewards and slaves."

After pondering for a moment, he said: "The Zhang family rewards the County Lord Jingxiao and asks the Zhang family to beg her to go."

The Queen couldn't help laughing and said: "Your Majesty is very thoughtful. I saw that it was a good idea. I rewarded the Zhang family to Miss Lin, and she was not allowed to sell it to others. Since the Zhang family is at the place of Miss Lin, the Zhang family has to give Lin girl ten cents." In order to save her daughter from working hard, Yilin girl and Wei Ruolan may take the opportunity to do something. I remember that the wife of the Zhang family has only one daughter, and she has always loved her very much. For this daughter, Zhang Is there anything Madam can't do? Madam Zhang seems to know a lot of secrets."

Emperor Changtai clapped his hands and said, "That's right, I didn't think of this, I just wanted to make Jingxiao vent her anger. The gangsters in Ping'an Prefecture have not come out yet, and Wei Ruolan has nowhere to start, so I have to investigate secretly. What kind of clues did I get here, but the Zhang family made a contribution. Besides, I hate the Rongguo Mansion deeply, and I don’t want to let them get what they want.”

The queen smiled and said nothing, and waited until Emperor Changtai finished complaining, and then said: "Stop talking about this, when will you order the woman to enter the palace? Wu Guifei and Zhou Guiren asked me two or three times, and I only said that the emperor is not well now. If you are in the mood to do this, put it aside for now."

Recruiting concubines and other things should have been screened for the first two times, but now there is no movement. Why is there no hurry when there are women to be selected?

Emperor Changtai sneered, and said: "Don't worry, this was originally the intention of the Supreme Emperor. The Supreme Emperor said earlier that the list of selected women must be reviewed by his old sage. Now that the old sage is moving, it will naturally be delayed. Wait until the old sage is well. .”

After hearing this, the queen hurriedly obeyed the order, and ordered the concubine Wu to wait, and the Emperor Changtai outside also issued an order, explaining the reason for the delay.

Hearing this kind of news, all the officials and eunuchs who have women candidates for election, such as Jia Zheng and Mrs. Wang, are disappointed in their hearts, but they can't express it on the surface. They can only secretly hope that the Supreme Emperor will recover soon, so as not to delay the youth of their own daughters.Unexpectedly, the Taishanghuang is getting old after all, and has been lingering since August, and it hasn't improved until October.

A few days after entering October, all members of the Zhen family were escorted to Beijing.

The women of Zhang's family always paid attention, and on the same day, they sent the generous gift prepared by Mrs. Zhang to Rongguo Mansion and handed it over to Mrs. Wang, together with 5000 taels of silver for handling and use.

A few days later, Zhen Yingjia was punished for dozens of crimes and sentenced to death. All males over 16 years old were exiled in northern Xinjiang. Males under 16 years old, regardless of whether they were married or not, were confiscated together with the remaining 15 female relatives. As slaves, several young ladies who had not left the cabinet were sent to the House of Internal Affairs to do laundry and other things, and the rest were rewarded by various families, such as women and children.

According to the preface, Emperor Changtai rewarded the Zhang family to Daiyu, and Zhen Baoyu to Rongguo Mansion, because he remembered Zhen Baoyu and Jia Baoyu's appearance, and rewarded Mrs. Zhen and her eldest daughter-in-law to the Zhenjia family. There is no need to say more about Zhongshun Wangfu who has complaints.

Among them, Zhen Baoyu is one year younger than Jia Baoyu, who is less than 16 years old this year. Together with his mother, sister, wife and sister-in-law, he was enslaved by the government as a slave.

Not to mention how surprised Jia Baoyu was when he saw Zhen Baoyu, and how Jia's mother personally arranged for Zhen Baoyu with tears in her eyes, telling him not to be afraid, just stay at ease, and not to arrange errands for him, but said that Zhang's family sent him When the male and female servants heard this letter, they were like a thunderbolt. The Zhang family also had an old house in the capital, where they lived with the male servants who gave the gifts. When they learned that their aunt and uncle had ended up like this, they looked at each other, which was completely unexpected. In the middle of the day, I was busy looking for Mrs. Wang again.

Mrs. Wang sighed, and said: "I've already made arrangements for the top and bottom, and I'm waiting for the rescue lady to come out. I also secretly asked someone to make a suggestion to save the female family members from being sold. Unprepared." The trustee's proposal to exempt the Zhen family's daughters from being sold was nothing but a proposal to sell them at a price, but Emperor Changtai insisted on going his own way, so she failed to do so.

Speaking of this, Mrs. Wang secretly hated that if she sold it on the street, she would have fulfilled her wish a long time ago.

The woman in the lead was very dissatisfied when she heard this, and said: "We failed to save our aunt from the sea of ​​suffering, and now she is sent as a slave. How can we explain it when we go back?" Thinking of Mrs. Zhang's ruthless temper, the four of them couldn't help but flinch.

Mrs. Wang hurriedly comforted her and said: "It doesn't have to be like this. Our lord's niece, the county magistrate Jingxiao, is in Ping'an Prefecture. Since the court gave her the lady of the mansion as a slave, there is no one in the capital, so she must be sent to Ping'an Prefecture. Mother The daughters will meet naturally. I will write a letter and send it to the county magistrate Jingxiao to explain the friendship between our two families, and I will definitely not wrong the lady in the house."

The matter has come to this point, the woman in charge can only accept it, and decides to push all the matter to Mrs. Wang. As for the rest, I have to wait until I return to Ping'an Prefecture to report to Ming Zhang Kuang and Mrs. Zhang. Fortunately, they can be on the way when they return to Ping'an Prefecture. It is better to find Miss Ying, and she will live under the eyes of my wife in the future, than to be assigned to another family.

Leaving Rongguo Mansion with Mrs. Wang's letter, and arriving home within a cup of tea, I heard that the old servant of the Wei family's gatekeeper did not dare to make decisions without authorization, and ordered two young servants to send Mrs. Zhang to Ping'an Prefecture. Daiyu and Wei Ruolan were offended, and several women hurriedly followed up with the accompanying male servants, spending a lot of money along the way, preparing carriages for the two servants, arranging food, clothing and lodging, and flattery in every possible way. , finally took care of Zhang's safe arrival in Ping'an Prefecture.

At this time, it has entered November, and it is snowing, the snow is difficult to melt, and the road is very difficult to walk. After walking for more than half a month, they entered the boundary of Ping'an Prefecture. Shi all things.

Daiyu had gotten the news early, but before it happened, she heard that Mrs. Zhang had arrived.