The Second Master of the Red Chamber

Jia Zheng was anxious to see Jia Lian, naturally because he knew that Jia Lian had led troops to arrest a whole family of children.

Jia Zheng is a pure scholar, with his own nobility and integrity, he is not a flatterer, but, as a son who grew up in the Duke's mansion, his awe of the imperial power and the royal family has been accumulated all his life.

This is very easy to understand. For the Duke's Mansion, anything that can pose a fatal threat to it has something to do with the word "Emperor".

Therefore, when he knew that Jia Lian had violated the regulations and arrested a group of clan children, especially among those clan children, there were even several sons of the prince, he was almost shocked.Hearing that Jia Lian had returned to the mansion, he quickly sent someone to pass it on.

Jia Lian could understand Jia Zheng's timidity, so he patiently explained the situation at the time, saying that he had to do it.

After Jia Zheng heard this, he sighed, "Even so, you should have given it when the Zongren Mansion blocked the street. We are under the jurisdiction of the Zongren Mansion for the rest of our lives. You will offend him this time. I'm afraid it will bring disaster to my Jia family."

Jia Zheng's words came from the heart, but he also knew that Jia Lian's ideas were more righteous than his now, and he was afraid that Jia Lian would not listen to his advice, so his tone was very calm, as if a father and son were discussing and considering the future of the family.

Jia Zheng was so afraid of the clan mansion, but Jia Lian didn't think so.

Leaving aside the fact that the Clan Mansion is an institution that works for the Emperor, as long as he does not lose his trust in front of the Emperor, the Clan Mansion will not dare to trouble him!In other words, it is still unknown what the future structure of the clan mansion will be.

Based on Jia Lian's judgment, since Princess Zhaoyang chose the Clan Mansion as the first stop to step into the center of power, she would not easily withdraw.

Although Jia Lian didn't simply think that Princess Zhaoyang could completely defeat King Zhongshun once she entered the clan's mansion, but with the identity of Princess Zhaoyang, the Queen Mother behind her, and her own secret financial support.At least, it was not so easy for King Zhongshun to squeeze Princess Zhaoyang out.

As long as Princess Zhaoyang stays in the clan's mansion for a day, even if King Zhongshun wants to wear small shoes for Jia's mansion, it's not that simple.

Therefore, Jia Lian was not afraid of the clan mansion at all from the bottom of his heart, let alone any loyal king.If possible, he even wants to control the clan mansion in his own hands...

Jia Lian would not say these things in detail to Jia Zheng. In order to reassure him and prevent him from being verbose, Jia Lian said directly, "Second Uncle, do you know where I got my lunch?"

Jia Zheng didn't understand why Jia Lian said that suddenly, he said in his heart that he was either in the back office of Bing Ma Si, or in the kitchen of Shenji Camp, and there was food in a restaurant outside, but how does this have anything to do with what they said?
"Where did you have your lunch?"

"Daming Palace, side hall of Yangxin Hall, imperial dining room."

Jia Lian looked at Jia Zheng and said sternly, "I mean, second uncle understands? My nephew's actions today are all based on loyalty to the emperor, so His Majesty's Sacred Heart approves, so he can give food to my nephew. So, second uncle Don't worry about me, as the second uncle would have chosen the same way from the position of the nephew."

Jia Zheng was speechless and could only look at Jia Lian with complicated eyes mixed with envy.

The emperor's gift of food is definitely an expression of love and trust.Thinking that Jia Zheng had been an official for more than ten years, except that he could barely sit in the square every year when Emperor Ningkang entertained hundreds of officials, why had he ever had imperial meals in the Daming Palace?
It was still the Hall of Mental Cultivation, he naturally knew that it was the place where the emperor used to rest and rest.If it is not a person who is very close and trustworthy, how can the emperor let him go to such a forbidden place?

Although he was extremely envious, Jia Zheng still tried to tell himself.As a civil servant, he should put integrity and strength of character as the most important thing, as long as he is dedicated to the public, not the holy family Youlong.

……

Rongqingtang, a rare visitor came today.

Grandma Liu, a countryman, brought her grandson Ban'er and a large cart of fresh fruits and vegetables to visit Sister Feng to express her support for their family that winter.

Originally, this was just a trivial matter. Even the reason why Sister Feng helped Grandma Liu and gave her 30 taels of silver was not out of good intentions, but to save face for a distant relative.

Speaking of distant relatives, but I have to talk about the inner reasons.It turns out that Grandma Liu is not a distant relative of the Jia family, nor even a relative of the Wang family.

It's just because she has a daughter who married a son-in-law named Gou'er. That Wang Gou'er was a minor official in his ancestors, and he happened to be acquainted with the Jinling Wang family who was his predecessor.Because the two families are both surnamed Wang, Wang Gou'er had the intention to get married in his ancestors, so he recognized a relative.

Later, the Wang family moved back to Beijing and flourished day by day, but Wang Gou'er's family quickly declined and became ordinary people, and the two families cut off contact.

Grandma Liu had no children, only one daughter. After her wife died, her daughter and son-in-law took her to take care of her.

Because the family was too poor to open the pot that winter, I thought of this relative.Wang Gou'er couldn't help begging for mercy, and it happened that his mother-in-law, Grandma Liu, had also seen Mrs. Wang, who was the second lady of the Wang family, so she urged Grandma Liu to bring her grandson to visit Mrs. Wang.

As for why they didn't go to ask the Wang family, but came to ask Mrs. Wang, it was because they knew that at that time, the old man of the Wang family had gone to patrol the border and was not in Beijing.

As for Mrs. Wang, when she heard that such a poor relative whom she hadn't contacted for many years came to visit, she vaguely guessed what she wanted, so she didn't bother to see her, and left it to Sister Feng to deal with it.

Firstly, Sister Feng didn't know the specific details of the two families, and secondly, in order to show off her wealth, she invited grandma Liu and grandson to dinner, gave some money, and then sent them back.

Originally, I thought this matter would just go away, but Grandma Liu is a person who understands "reciprocity".Perhaps her family had a good harvest this year, so she specially picked the first batch of fresh melons and fruits, and sent them to Beijing in a donkey cart to honor them.

Unexpectedly, in recent days, Jia's mother has been a little sad because of the old sister.

In the end, Nanny Lai did not choose to go to the second son's home for the elderly, but chose to follow the eldest son to the north.

He did this not because he didn't like his second son, but because of his precious grandson!
There is no way, Lai Shangrong is very unwilling to go north with his father for his own fame.He wants to stay at his second uncle's house with his grandmother, so that he can continue to take the scientific examination next year.

But Nanny Lai, Lai Da and the others realized that since Jia Lian ordered Lai Shangrong to go north with his parents to fulfill his filial piety, if they dared to disobey, it would be tantamount to angering Jia Lian again.

At the first time, with Jia's mother's kindness, Jia Lian was kind.If they don't know how to be interesting and continue to stand in front of them as an eyesore, I'm afraid that Second Master Lian will deal with them again, but it will only be a matter of a moment.

The Lai family was even worried that if they didn't take Lai Shangrong away, let alone his career was hopeless, they were afraid that he might not be able to keep his fame!
This is quite possible.As long as Jia Lian is interested, and only needs a letter with his son's teacher or academic official to announce that the Lai family has embezzled the huge amount of property of the Mo family, then these people will respond to Jia Lian's favor and cut off the money. Lai Shangrong has a reputation as a scholar.

If that's the case, it's really over.Therefore, in order to save Lai Shangrong from being lucky, Nanny Lai simply put aside her old bones and followed Lai Da to the north.

Although it was the Lai family who let down the master's family first, Mother Jia still felt somewhat uncomfortable about letting the old sisters go to suffer in the northern cold land.

Just when I heard that a relative from the Wang family came to visit, and he was also an old man in his 70s, Jia Mu suddenly became interested and ordered to bring him to meet.

When I saw it, I met my eyes.

It turned out that although Grandma Liu was born and bred in the country, she was quite knowledgeable, and she was not stupid or short-sighted.

Knowing the dignity of Jia's mother, he intends to please her.Because it is completely different from the flattering words and speaking methods of wives and daughter-in-laws in other mansions, Jiamu often makes Jiamu laugh and feel very happy.

Seeing that Grandma Liu could make Jia's mother happy, everyone in Jia's house also changed their feelings towards Grandma Liu and laughed at each other.Therefore, Rongqingtang was full of laughter all afternoon.

Even when it was time for the banquet, Mother Jia ordered a table with Grandma Liu and her grandson alone.

It can also be seen from this point that Jia's family still dislikes Grandma Liu's vulgarity.Because usually Jia Mu and all the granddaughters eat together, but today they changed the table specially.

There is a table for Jia Mu, Yingchun and others, and a table for Grandma Liu and Ban'er.

But Grandma Liu didn't know that this was special care for her, or she didn't care if she knew it.She only swallowed a few mouthfuls of saliva secretly when she saw the various dishes that she hadn't seen that were gradually put on the table.

Opening his grandson's unruly paws, he bowed and smiled at Jiamu, who was at the top, and waited for Jiamu's order to eat.

Suddenly I heard the announcement from the maid outside: "Second Master Lian has arrived."

With just one sentence, the hall was instantly quiet.Everyone looked towards the door of the room, even the masters and ladies who had already sat up stood up in unison, bowing down to greet them.

Grandma Liu wondered, what kind of person this is, why did these noble people feel so respectful!

Thinking about it, he couldn't help but also pulled the grandson beside him to stand up, and got out of the stool to greet him.

When Jia Lian came out of Jia Zheng's outer study, it was already dark.Thinking that Jiamu's place might be a bit lively today, so I came here to have a look.

As soon as he entered Jiamu's dining room, Jia Lian's eyes subconsciously swept across Liu's grandparents, who were completely different from other people in the hall in terms of clothing and appearance, and then went up to greet Jiamu.

Jia Mu said: "I don't come early or late, I choose to eat. I can tell you that I don't have any preparations for you today."

"What the ancestor said, the grandson didn't come here to eat. Thinking that Feng girl would not go home for half a day, she must be detained by the ancestor, so I said that after paying my respects to the ancestor, I will let her go back for dinner.

This girl is getting more and more stupid, and she doesn't know how to go home when it's time for dinner. "

As Jia Lian said, he deliberately raised his eyebrows at Sister Feng who was standing next to Jia Mu, which made the others secretly happy.We all know that Lian's second master and Lian's second grandma may sing the oboe again to please Jia's mother.

Unexpectedly, Sister Feng just gave Jia Lian a blank look, and didn't say anything to echo or refute.

The others were greatly disappointed.On the other hand, Grandma Liu looked at Jia Lian more and more at this time, and said to herself that it was Sister Feng's man. With such a physique and appearance, he was born with a strange physique and appearance, and at first glance he was born noble!
Perhaps it was Jia Lian's words that reminded Jia's mother. Jia's mother looked around and waited for Mrs. Wang: "I don't need you to serve me here. You all go back to eat."

"Yes."

Mrs. Xing, Mrs. Wang and Li Wan saluted, and Jia Lian was about to greet her "silly daughter-in-law" to go, but Jia's mother said, "If you like it, sit down and have dinner with your sisters. If you don't like it, just leave it alone. Don't come." It’s time to say I’m biased.”

Jia's mother's food standard is the highest in the entire Jia's mansion.To show their filial piety, Jia Zheng and others weaved a large basket of dishes from all over the world, and let Jia Mu take turns ordering every day. When Jia Mu was too lazy to order, Mrs. Wang and Sister Feng would do it for her.

Anyway, there are no less than ten dishes for the two main meals at noon and evening.

This is one of the reasons why the masters and sons of the Rongguo Mansion are proud of being given food by Jia Mu, and the slaves are proud of being able to get leftovers from Jia Mu.

Although Jia Lian was not like this, he was really not in a hurry to leave, so he responded to Jia's mother and turned around and sat down.

He also greeted Sister Feng to sit down too.

Sister Feng didn't appreciate it. I thought Jia Lian really came to ask her to go home for dinner out of kindness, but he turned around and sat down by himself.

With a snort, he wanted to leave in a fit of anger.

Jia Mu said, "Young girl Feng, sit down too."

Sister Feng didn't leave immediately, or didn't leave. After all, she reacted quickly. She thanked Jia Mu with a smile, turned around and sat beside Yingchun, far away from Jia Lian.

At this time, Jia's mother thought of Grandma Liu and introduced a word to Jia Lian.Faced with greetings from the humble and restrained Grandma Liu, Jia Lian just sat on the table and nodded, telling her not to be polite.

In this day and age, people with too many identities and statuses would appear hypocritical if they were polite.

However, after dinner, Jia Lian's gaze still involuntarily fixed on Ban'er next to Grandma Liu.

I saw that the boy was thin and dark-skinned.The appearance and facial features were not ugly at first, they were considered average, but the attitude of baring teeth and claws on the table, gobbling and voraciously, was very eye-catching, and even Jia Lian frowned.

Sure enough, he is still a layman.

How can such a foolish boy be worthy of his smart, well-behaved and beautiful baby girl!
There is no chance left for this kid.

After dinner, Sister Feng was ordered to arrange a residence for Grandma Liu, grandparents and grandchildren, while Jia Lian sent Yingchun and others back to the Grand View Garden.

Along the way, Yingchun and the others were still talking about Grandma Liu, talking about how funny she was and so on.

While listening, Jia Lian approached Daiyu and talked to her.

Daiyu asked, "Are you free tomorrow?"

"Is something wrong?"

"fine……"

After a while, Daiyu replied: "The old lady is happy today, and she will invite everyone to visit the garden tomorrow. Will you come?"

"I didn't want to go..."

Looking at Daiyu with a frown, she turned her head and said immediately: "But since Sister Lin invited me, I will naturally come, and I will come when I find time."

Daiyu turned her head to look at Jia Lian, the corners of her mouth twitched, she wanted to say something but in the end she blushed, she hurriedly lowered her head and took two steps forward.

"Second brother Lian, don't you want to practice martial arts at this time of day?"

Tanchun keenly observed that Jia Lian "annoyed" Daiyu, and because of this, he passed Sister Feng's nursery at this time. Jia Lian had no intention of stopping, so he laughed and made a way out.

"It's okay, it's not too late to send you off."

Tanchun giggled, "There are so many of us, you give this one away and that one too, and you don't know when you come back after turning around. It's still the 'you' in Lian's second brother's mouth, originally referring to sister Lin Alone? If that's the case, the younger sister is not sensible."

When Jia Lian heard the words, he looked up at Tanchun.Among the three sisters, only the third girl was more lively, and occasionally dared to make fun of him.

Yingchun and the others snickered when they heard the words, but Daiyu hurried forward, pretending not to hear.

Jia Baoyu also felt that what Tanchun said was funny and he was smiling, but just smiling was unnatural, so he turned to look at the night.

In the end, Yingchun was considerate, "Brother, go get busy first if you have something to do. You don't need to see us off. After we had dinner, we probably want to get together and talk..."

Jia Lian nodded, glanced at the sisters in front of him and Zijuan and other maids, then turned and entered the courtyard.