old lady in red

As for the matter of attacking the noble, Jia Amnesty didn't mention it.

It is estimated to return to Jinling in mid-July.

The officials who came together for inspection and verification included the Minister of the Household Department, the Zuodu Yushi of the Inspectorate, the governors of Jiangsu, Henan, and Gansu.

Then there is King Beijing, King Zhongjing.

Told the mother to be ready for the reception.

While Shi Mei was happy, she was a little bit depressed. The various forces who came here will become the beneficiaries of Sweet Potato, and the Rong Mansion has expanded its contacts.

From then on, Rong Mansion was also contaminated with many right and wrong.

It is not easy to entertain these bureaucrats who are known as literati. They need to be rich, noble and elegant.Jia Zheng is none other than Jia Zheng to do such elegant things.

Shi Mei recalled Jia Zheng, and invited Du Zongyuan, Jia Shu from the [-]th house, and Jia Dun from the [-]th house to help Jia Zheng.

Clinker, every evening, the Wang family will send someone to invite Jia Zheng.

The trouble made Jia Zheng dare not live in the mansion, and he had to rest in the cemetery room every night on the pretext of studying exercises at night.

Shi Mei also admired Mrs. Wang.

Her face was completely painted, and she still had to work hard to seduce Jia Zheng.

Such repeated harassment by the Wang family fell into the eyes of outsiders, who only said that the Wang family and Jia Zheng were deeply in love with each other.

In Jia Zheng, it was miserable.

For the sake of Rong Mansion's dignity, Shi Mei had no other good solution, but let Nanny Lai continue to give Wang Shi a lot of itching powder, making her feel overwhelmed and miserable every day, which saved Jia Zheng.

Jia Zheng was rescued, and as a result, Wang Jiantian sent a girl and a woman to look for Jia Zhu.

Shi Mei is not willing to meet Wang Shi face to face, she doesn't want to waste any more time talking about a person who refuses to change after repeated admonitions.

And he can't just let it go, and let the Wang family lose face of the Rongfu.After all, the officials who verified the sweet potatoes will arrive in a few days.

It is safest to imprison the Wang family in the family temple, but it is not appropriate.

After all, Shi Mei doesn't want to make her family scandal public.

In that way, the hatred between the Rong Mansion and the Wang family will be inseparable.

Therefore, Shi Mei asked Jin's family to guard the second gate tightly, and beat all the maids and women who tried to sneak into the front yard.

After beating the three women to pieces, the Wang family finally calmed down.

The maids in Wang's house are the sons of the family, and these mothers-in-law and daughter-in-law are all her servants, and if one is lost, one will be lost.

If she resisted to the end, the Rongfu would kill a bunch of servants, but pay a hundred taels of silver.

If you give the servant the reputation of stealing, you don't have to pay for the money.

On July [-]th, Jia Amnesty returned to Jinling with a large group of troops.

Then, the preparations made by the Rong Mansion were in vain.The imperial envoys all lived in the imperial envoy's office in Jinling.

Shi Mei and her family waited for half a day, only to wait until Jia She returned home alone.

Only then did Shi Mei learn that these imperial envoys were trying to avoid suspicion.

Shi Mei said: "Avoid suspicion? You won't see us anymore?"

Jia She said: "No, it's just a matter of business. Tomorrow, the imperial envoys will dig sweet potatoes and weigh them in person.

This time our family is only responsible for escorting, you have to be prepared, this Zhuangzi is afraid that this Zhuangzi will be taken under His Majesty's command and become Huangzhuang!

It's a pity that those farm laborers, I listened to the governors of Henan and Gansu. They all asked His Majesty for their orders. If they want to borrow people from us, can we not obediently offer them up? "

Shi Mei smiled and said: "It's okay, I can train sixty moves, and I can also train six hundred or six thousand.

Besides, we have handed over the technology, and the responsibilities have been completed, and the remaining matters will be handled by the imperial court, and I am not willing to intervene. "

Jia Amnesty couldn't keep up with his mother's train of thought: "You don't care anymore?"

Shi Mei said: "Whatever it is, you and your second brother are the only ones in the Rong Mansion, you are the lord, and your second brother wants to take the imperial examination to be an official, he doesn't know how to grow sweet potatoes.

I will, and I am not an imperial court official.

Moreover, promoting agriculture and mulberry and finding food outlets for the common people are the affairs of the Ministry of Household Affairs. If we intervene again, it will be disgusting. "

Jia Amnesty lost interest: "What about us?"

Shi Mei smiled and said: "Haven't we already achieved our goal, didn't His Majesty say that our Rongguo Mansion is loyal to the country?

This is not earned by your ancestors, it is earned by us women.

With His Majesty's evaluation of being loyal to the country, as long as you follow the steps and don't get involved in the affairs of those princes and princes, we can live happily and richly for another hundred years. "

When Jia She heard the words, he immediately thought of his own father's death, and snorted, "Didn't the last time be enough? Mother, just rest assured!"

Shi Mei smiled: "That's good."

But he was laughing in his heart.

What Jia She said sounds good, if it weren't for her credit for planting sweet potatoes, the Rong Mansion would be under Jiang Jue, Jia She's brothers would not be favored, and their heads would be trampled on by Prince Teng Shi Ding Shi Nai. .

Afterwards, Jia Amnesty told Shi Mei the details of his trip to Beijing.

Not only did he go to the Ministry of Officials to sign up for this year's Juejue assessment, but because he got to know the Minister of the Household Department, he checked the debts owed by the mansion by the way.

Jia Daishan borrowed three times, the first time was 20 yuan, the second time was 30 yuan, and the third time it was 50 yuan.

Shi Mei was very surprised: "You only said 88 to elder brother?"

Jia She said: "Brother Jing doesn't have that much friendship with the Ministry of Household Affairs. They only told him the amount owed, and my son saw the original IOU."

Shi Mei said: "Is it all your father's handwriting?"

Jia She shook his head: "My son was about to talk about this, the previous 50 yuan was written by my father.

The last time, although there was father's private seal, the written evidence was not his father's own handwriting.

The son asked about an old storehouse, but he was unwilling to disclose it at the beginning, but his son gave him an opening fee of [-] silver, so he did.

The last payment was made in the winter of four years ago, when Chang Shi of the Prince's Mansion took people to collect the money in person, but my father didn't go in person, they saw the private seal to pay the bill. "

Shi Mei said: "Then who is the 12 that was paid back in advance?"

Jia Amnesty's face turned dark: "That's the problem.

This money was not borrowed by my father, but at the beginning of this year, my father took out 12 yuan to pay off the last 50 yuan in debt.Then, on the first day of the first day, the prince raised troops to force the palace! "

Shi Mei's heart skipped a beat, and she immediately had a guess: "This last sum of money is not for the crown prince to bribe officials, but for those who participated in the uprising to settle down.

Your father probably didn't stop him, so he had no choice but to return the money himself.

Or, the reason why His Majesty is prepared is also the role of your father.Otherwise, even if your father died, he would not be able to escape. "

Jia She was so angry that he beat the case and cursed: "These royal people are really shameless!"

Use his father's name to borrow money to reward heroes.The prince is a favor, but makes his father in debt!

So shameless!

Shi Mei said: "Prince probably thinks that he will succeed. Perhaps, he also promised to let your father enter the Xianliang Temple! It's all about utilitarianism!"

He also told Jia Amnesty: "Remember my words, we must hold our noses against this debt. Besides, we must stay away from those princes and grandchildren from now on. Even the four kings of the counties must keep their distance. They were all princes in the past. arms.

Now, we want to take advantage of this treasure offering opportunity to become the emperor's pure ministers.

I mean, from now on, our Rongfu will no longer stand in line with any prince.

We have stood on the wrong team once, we can't be wrong again! "

Jia She solemnly promised: "Son, write it down, and will never get involved in any royal affairs!"

Shi Mei nodded: "I'm relieved if you have this attitude."

Jia She said at this time: "Speaking of this, there is one more thing my son wants to tell his mother.

This time the son went to the palace to face the saint and met Zhen Yingjia, the nephew of Concubine Zhen's family. He said that his aunt Concubine Zhen was canonized as a noble concubine.Their whole family went to Beijing to attend the canonization ceremony, and even asked their son to say hello to their mother! "

Shi Mei said: "Concubine Zhen? This is a triple jump. Your father was unlucky the year before last, and she took advantage of the east wind to become a concubine. It has only been three years since she became a concubine again? Three years ago, she was able to save her from His Majesty. , What kind of merits have you made? Haven't heard of any movement these days?"

Jia Amnesty wanted to laugh, how could someone force the palace every year?But he held back: "Listen to what Brother Jing said, it was Concubine Zhen who gave birth to a bead, at the age of 38, she finally became pregnant, but was frightened by a small dog raised by the nineteenth prince, fell down and had a miscarriage.

Concubine Zhen suffered a bloody collapse and was almost lost.

At the moment of her life and death, His Majesty canonized her as a noble concubine, thinking that she would die, but no, she came back alive again. "

The nineteenth prince?

Shi Mei thought for a moment, then asked: "Concubine Cheng's son?"

Jia She said: "It's him. He's only five years old this year. He's an old man of His Majesty. It's strange to say that the little Jingba raised by everyone's children is born to like fine dogs, but His Majesty loves this son. I was so tight. I actually agreed. That’s why I got into trouble!”

old man!

Although Concubine Zhen's child is lost, it proves that His Majesty is still majestic.

A 60-year-old can still make a woman pregnant, no wonder it is so exciting.

Jia She suddenly lowered his voice at this moment: "I heard from Brother Jing that the daughter of the Zhen family who was a concubine in the abolished prince's mansion died suddenly. First, the Zhen family went to Beijing to celebrate, and second, His Majesty gave them the grace to quietly bury the deceased." Daughter in the sanctuary."

Shi Mei's heart skipped a beat: "How did you know about it?"

Jia She said: "The Zhen family visited the Ning Mansion in Beijing, it should be the Zhen family who said it themselves."

He said again: "Brother Jing's grandson has a name, Brother Rong, he is half a year old, and his son is still being hugged, and he looks good! It's just that Brother Jing can't see Zhen'er, so he always scolds him!"

Shi Mei nodded: "You Jing eldest brother is working in the Ministry of Rites, but your son has such a scandal, how can he keep his face on his face, it's strange if his heart is good."

Jia She said: "Brother Jing has resigned from the Ministry of Officials, and now he holds a vain position as a general in the Ministry of War. He only receives his salary and does nothing. Apart from going to the Ministry of War all day long, he just stays at home and co-writes poems and odes with ordinary literati."

Shi Mei was very surprised: "Why haven't you heard of it?"

Jia She said: "Brother Jing only said that he has no face, sister-in-law Jing is sick every three days, brother Zhen's daughter-in-law is not a capable head of the family, and now Brother Jing is actually taking care of the middle class of the Ning Mansion."

Shi Mei said: "This is the serious consequence of not marrying a good wife. Speaking of this, I think of something, what is Wang Ziteng's status in the capital now?"

Jia She said: "He is doing very well now, His Majesty has him everywhere, inspecting the capital, inspecting warehouses, everywhere. He has become a favorite.

My son ran into him several times when he went back, but he was very enthusiastic and said that he would serve wine to welcome his son. I was afraid that drinking would cause trouble, so I declined. "

Shi Mei said: "This is a little troublesome, your second brother can't live with his wife anymore, and I want to divorce my wife, so I stopped it because I had to talk about it. When you return to Beijing, discuss it with the Wang family."

Jia Shedao was surprised: "Second brother has always been patient, how come he can't bear it all of a sudden?"

Shi Mei then told about Wang's betrayal of Rongfu news: "Just when I discussed with your brothers about the night of going to Beijing to celebrate your birthday, your second brother told Wang, and he wrote a letter to Wang Ziteng and said I am going to use the Wang Pigeon Whistle to let Wang Ziteng donate sweet potatoes ahead of you. I was afraid of delaying your trip, so I suppressed it and didn't tell you!"

"It's really hard to guard against house thieves. It's really impossible to keep this food that is eaten inside and out!"

However, Jia She is more reliable than Jia Zheng, and said: "At this time, you can let the Wang family hang out, but you can't overturn with the Wang family. The timing is wrong. We have to wait until the title of our mansion is settled. At that time, whatever the second brother can do Hugh, let's just take a break, and find him another good one. The second younger brother's talent, the younger brother's girl is not just looking for!"

Shi Mei said: "Your second brother is fine, but what about Zhu'er, such a smart and well-behaved child, I really can't bear to get Zhu'er involved!"

Jia She said: "What's the matter, the second brother divorced her, Zhu'er is still a legitimate son, at worst I'll just support him to start a family and start a business, counting his daughter-in-law, it's nothing more than two pairs of chopsticks.

This time the son went back and released all those treacherous people who were eating and waiting to die. The mother's room was not moved, and the servants who had defected to grandparents left the most this time.

They have saved enough money in their hands, and they leave with big bags and small bags.

Now there are less than a hundred servants in the mansion, and half of the houses in the back streets are vacant. "

Shi Mei was surprised: "There are so many more?"

Jia She said: "The main reason is that there are more children, and there are about fifty people who can really work as errands.

You can rest assured that all those left behind are young and strong.Such a big mansion would not be successful without popularity! "

Shi Mei is right when she thinks about it, the house is too big, the popularity is not enough, and it is easy to provoke non-human beings!

Shi Mei said again: "How will the Ministry of Rites respond to the matter of asking you to submit a booklet to repair the gate?"

Jia She said: "Zhezi was retained by His Majesty, and there was no result for my son before he left."

Shi Mei said: "That's also good, after you return to Beijing to attack the prince, you can submit a booklet and ask for an order!"

Jia She said: "Although my father is gone, you are still a high-ranking order, Mrs. Duke, it is justified if this gate building is not repaired."

Shi Mei said: "Whether the door is tall or short, I only need a bed of eight feet square, I sleep everywhere, why don't I be upright, but have to be shy?

The pillars of the family are gone, but our spines cannot be bent.We should work hard to get what is right for us, and even if you bow your knees to what is not right for us, they won't necessarily give it to you! "

Seeing his mother's serious face, Jia Amnesty bowed to her without telling her, "My son has learned the lesson."

Shi Mei said: "Have you set the time for tomorrow?"

Jia She said: "Since the time has been set for excavation, we estimate that Maozheng will wake up and go to Zhoujia Village to wait!"

Shi Mei said: "Tomorrow, you will take Zheng'er, Zhuer and Lian'er to the imperial envoy Xingyuan to wait. Together with the imperial envoys, I will go to Zhoujia Village with your wife and your fourth younger sister."

Jia Amnesty hurriedly asked, "Is everything in Zhoujia Village in order?"

Shi Mei said: "No problem, since June, Jia Mei has stepped up night patrols, for fear of someone stealing.

There are too many refugees this year. Our porridge shed outside the city can only last half a day with two thousand catties of rice a day.

Fortunately, the historians, the Yang family, the Wang family, the Xue family, the Zhou family, and the Luo family all joined in.

Otherwise, our family alone would not be able to sustain it for a long time.

It's been less than two months, and the grain in the warehouse for the past two years is almost empty.I have sent people to the Eastern Province to raise food.First help first.The promised porridge in March cannot be abandoned halfway. "

Jia She said: "The yamen of Futai is really thick-skinned, saying that the victims of the disaster do not belong to the Jinling Mansion and cannot open warehouses to release food. They even pushed all the disaster relief to the people, and they have no political achievements. In addition to driving the victims, he What else have you done besides empty promises?

Not a single thing.

If he set up a porridge shed, the pressure on our family's porridge shed will naturally be relieved. "

Shi Mei said: "Forget it, being an official or not being an official is a class, and those who are officials must be supported by political achievements. We must understand that we can afford tens of thousands of catties of rice. The right should be to form a good relationship with him.

The magistrate is also not bad, calling on government officials to donate a year's salary to maintain order and not allow grain merchants on the street to drive up prices.Also, at his own expense, he sent a plaque of charity to each of our disaster relief families.Chicken wing wood, not bad! "

Seeing that his mother said that the clouds were calm and the wind was light, Jia She didn't seem to care about the loss, so he stopped slandering the Jinling Mansion.

The mother and son told some anecdotes about Kyoto, and Shi Mei sent Jia She back: "Go back and rest early, you have to get up early tomorrow, and tell your wife that you don't need to come over to say hello at night."

In the evening, Jia Zhu and Jia Lian returned to Rongqing Hall after school.

Shimei prepared three sets of Confucian robes embroidered with bamboo branches in azure color, and dressed them up for her grandchildren one by one.

Jia Zhu, Jia Lian, and Jia Cong all took one shot, with the same Confucian robe and the same Confucian scarf.Holding a small folding fan with landscape patterns.

Shi Mei waved her hand: "Take a few steps!"

The three of them bowed in unison and saluted: "Follow my grandmother's instruction!"

Then, the three of them raised their heads and chests up, and walked square steps with a swaying, dignified appearance.

The three of them had black eyes like jade, red lips and white teeth, and picturesque eyebrows.

Shi Mei couldn't love her, so she asked Jia Min with a smile, "See how I dress up your nephews, do they look good?"

Looking at the three handsome nephews, Jia Min also panicked in love: "This is how lucky the Shui family is to have such a group of handsome little scholars?"

Then, put Yuan Chun in a lady's skirt and tie her head up, and Yuan Chun quit.

Arms folded, mouth flattened, unwilling to change clothes.

Shi Mei couldn't help being puzzled: "What's the matter, didn't Yuan'er say that he liked rose red when he was choosing materials that day? Why don't you like rose red today? It doesn't matter, there is also a set of loquat yellow that is also good."

Yuan Chun Bianzui was very wronged: "No!"

Seeing her staring at Jia Cong, Jia Min had an epiphany: "Whatever Yuaner wants, tell aunt!"

Yuan Chun pointed at Jia Cong: "Why does Cong'er have a Confucian robe? I'm a few months older than him?"