The Second Master of the Red Chamber

The twelfth lunar month of winter, when the New Year is approaching, is relatively leisurely for most people.

Common people, merchants and hawkers also save some time for the New Year.The literati and bureaucrats also began to arrange things that can be thrown into the next year, counting the days and waiting for the longest rest of the year.

But for a manager from a wealthy family like Wang Xifeng, it's the complete opposite.The house rent and land collection in various places are recorded in the treasury, preparations are made for the New Year's Eve festival, New Year's gifts and other matters.

It’s easy to get through the New Year, and it’s an even more exciting New Year.As for Jia Mu, Mrs. Wang and others, they were just happy, and she took care of all the arrangements for welcoming and sending off the guests. There was no need to elaborate on the hard work and trouble involved.

It wasn't until the Chinese New Year, after the eighteenth and ninth day of the first lunar month, that I first saw leisure.

Early that morning, after Wang Xifeng paid his respects to Jia Mu and others, he secretly planned everything without forgetting or neglecting anything, and then went home to rest.

Leaning on the soft couch in Nishijima, he held the big cat he had raised for many years and stroked its soft and thick hair while letting the little maid massage it.

Speaking of which, Wang Xifeng is actually a person with relatively little love, and doesn't really like kittens, puppies, or small animals.The civet cat was just a temporary whim at the time, but over the years, it could barely be regarded as a beloved thing of hers.

Seeing her like this, Ping'er said: "It's rare for Second Grandma to be so free. No wonder Second Master often says that Second Grandma can't take any time off. Thinking about it these days, Second Grandma doesn't need to do many things herself, just leave it to the people below. How can you be so happy without taking a break?"

When Wang Xifeng heard this, she didn't even open her eyelids, she just snorted slightly from her nose.

Ping'er didn't care at all, and turned around to continue wiping the tea sets on the table. Before wiping one of them, Wang Xifeng said: "Your Marquis is a man who doesn't know how to make money. He is the head of the family, and he is the head of the family." The Marquis has his own power, but others see that he is reasonable but weak. When he gives an order, the people below him rush to do it. How can I have a fate like him?

It's not like you don't know how difficult those people below are. Whenever I'm careless, someone will take advantage of me and find fault.The one with bad intentions naturally brought it up to the old lady and his wife, even the timid one could chew three miles on his back! "

Ping'er sighed slightly when she heard the words, she felt that what their second grandma said was right.As a woman, the fact that their Second Mistress was held in high esteem in the Founding Duke's mansion, and held great power, was indeed inseparable from her hard-working spirit.

"Also, you have the nerve to mention your Marquis, for whom do I take care of things at home so wholeheartedly? Isn't it because I'm afraid that he will worry outside, and I don't want to let the little things at home distract him. It's good for him. Since worshiping his ancestors, I came back once when I was visiting, but he left after less than two days, and even after such a long time, I didn’t even send a letter home. He is also a stinky man with no conscience. "

Hearing Wang Xifeng's resentful words, Ping'er smiled inwardly, but couldn't bear to show it, and said: "Second Master is a person who does great things, so he must have forgotten too many things in his hands. If Second Mistress misses Second Master, Why don't you write a letter yourself and let the boy in the family take it to the second master? If the second master sees the letter from the second grandma, he must understand the second grandma's intentions, and he will reply to the second grandma."

"Who missed him? I won't write..."

While the master and servant were chatting, suddenly a trusted servant woman came over and said with a smile: "Second Grandma, Xing'er is back..."

Before she finished speaking, she saw Wang Xifeng sitting up suddenly. The cat in her arms was frightened and jumped off the bed with a "meow~" and ran away. She didn't care, she opened her eyes and said: "Let him come in and answer!"

After a series of actions and words, he regretted showing his appearance, but he had no time to care about it.She waved her hand to let the little girl who was massaging go down, and she put on her padded jacket again, and went out to meet Xing'er in the living room.

Now there are 40 or [-] young servants and chiefs around Jia Lian, but Jia Lian doesn't like to talk about ostentation when he is away from home, and he has his own soldiers. Bring some servants with you.

Like Zhao'er, this Xing'er was a follower of Jia Lian since he was a senior official. However, because he was not as clever and energetic as Zhao'er, he was not as favored as Zhao'er.

"My servant Xing'er comes to visit the Second Grandma. May the Second Grandma be blessed with peace and happiness."

"How is your second master away? What did he ask you to come back for?"

"As for Second Grandma, everything is fine with Second Master. Second Master asked his servants to come back, firstly, with a letter, and secondly, because spring is about to begin, Second Master asked his servants to come back to get some lighter clothes."

Xing'er knelt on the bright ground, put his hand into his arms with a smile, squinted at it, took out a letter, and a little maid took it and presented it to Wang Xifeng.

Wang Xifeng took the letter but was not in a hurry to open it. Instead, she looked at Xing'er and said coldly: "If you have anything else in your arms, take it out."

She is so sharp-eyed, and Xing'er's sneaky movements cannot escape her notice.

"Hehe, it's nothing, I brought something for someone else..."

"Stop being so careless and not telling the truth. Let me search it out and I'll give you a discount on your discipline leg."

Wang Xifeng only raised her eyes slightly, but she was so frightened that Xing'er didn't dare to take any chances, "Yes, yes, yes, back to Second Grandma, what Second Master handed over to the servant are two letters. Second Master specially told me, one letter is for Second Grandma." , and the other one is for Miss Lin, I don’t dare to deceive Second Mistress.”

While he was talking, the boy took out another letter from his arms and presented it to him with his head buried in his hands.

Seeing the other letter presented by the maid, Wang Xifeng narrowed her eyes. Although she had a desire to open it and have a look, her reason told her not to cause trouble.Therefore, he snorted coldly and said, "I thought why was there a letter hidden in such a shameful thing? Why, this is what your second master told me, so you can't let me see it?"

"No, no, the second master did not explain. It is the slave who is meddling, the slave should be beaten, the slave should be beaten."

Seeing Xing'er pretending to slap herself from left to right, Wang Xifeng sneered and said to the maid next to her: "Since it was your second master who specially told Miss Lin, Xiaohong, please go to Xiaoxiang Pavilion. Remember, Qian Wan personally handed it into Miss Lin's hands so that no one else could see it, otherwise... humph."

Hearing the obviously dissatisfied words of his mistress and grandma, Xing'er felt very uneasy.Of course, Jia Lian didn't say anything that Wang Xifeng couldn't see, but he had heard people say that women are petty and jealous. If the second mistress knew that the second master had even written a letter to Miss Lin, she would be unhappy, so he just decided not to let it happen. Second Grandma saw it well.Who knows it could be self-defeating.

Although Wang Xifeng was unhappy, she was happy after receiving Jia Lian's letter home, and did not want to get angry with her servant. She asked a few questions about Jia Lian's current situation and said, "You go down first. I will pack up some of your second master's clothes later. Just take it back with you."

After speaking, he waved his hand and let Xing'er go down.

After Xing'er left, Wang Xifeng opened Jia Lian's letter directly. When he saw the familiar Junyi fonts, a smile appeared on Mingyan's face, and then he put aside his other thoughts and concentrated on reading the content of the letter.

Speaking of which, Wang Xifeng's cultural level is very low.This is actually not her fault, just because the Wang family is not like the Jia family, which has the atmosphere for their daughters to read and learn from an early age. Naturally, she did not read too many books since she was a child, and only read "Women's Rules" and "Internal Training" and so on. The book has been roughly read.But looking at her behavior, it's obvious that she didn't take it too seriously.

But she is literate.At least she knows most of the commonly used words. This is also the basic requirement for all ladies. Otherwise, if she marries into her husband's family in the future and can't even understand the roster, how will she manage the family business?

Even in the past few years, because the sisters-in-law in the family, including her husband, are all educated people, she, a person with a very low level of education, hangs out with them all day long, and is often hit.Some good people even teased her for being "too big to read", which was obviously too much.

Knowing her shame and then being brave, she also secretly made up some homework, at least she didn't have to ask others to read anything long like when she first entered the school.She didn't want people to see such a scene again.

Jia Lian's letter is quite long. Although it seems that she is caring for her and the whole text is very popular, there are still a few places where she can't read it smoothly.I wanted to ask Ping'er next to me, but I thought Ping'er was worse than her, so I gave up.

Ping'er saw that Wang Xifeng had not spoken since she read the letter, but had a smile on her face and occasionally sneered. It was obvious that the second master had written something in the letter to make the second grandma happy, so when Sister Feng saw the end, she laughed. Asked: "What did the second master say to the second grandma? I see that the second grandma is happy."

"What can I do, just ask about the situation at home, and..."

Wang Xifeng put the letter away and prepared to read it carefully when she had free time.

"And your second master said that today is Bao girl's birthday. Their family traveled thousands of miles to Beijing. They trusted and valued us so that Bao girl lived in our mansion. They told me not to belittle others. What happened to Lin girl's birthday in previous years? This should still be the case today. Huh, do you still need him to explain these things to me?
He also asked me to say hello to Bao girl on his behalf..."

Wang Xifeng spoke in a lower voice.From this incident, she heard that Jia Lian would not return to Beijing in a short time. Otherwise, given his temperament, he would probably rush back to celebrate Baochai's birthday today.

He has always loved these sisters.

Ping'er obviously heard the meaning and didn't know what to say.After all, Wang Xifeng was not a worried person, so she quickly smiled and said: "Now that it's all said and done, you should go to the kitchen and have a look first, so that they can be more prepared today. But the old lady said, she I want to celebrate Bao girl's birthday myself."

After sending Ping'er away, Wang Xifeng thought for a while and sent someone to the west wing to call Xiang Ling and asked her to write a letter to Jia Lian that was full of family trivia, but read as a loving letter.

……

Xue family.

Baochai returned home early in the morning. She is a very filial person.It is said that a child's birthday is a day of suffering for the mother, so although today is her birthday, the first thing she does is go home to visit Aunt Xue.

The mother and daughter sat in the room and talked for a while, when they heard the noise in the yard outside - Xue Pan was about to go out.

"Today is your sister's birthday. If you don't say you are at peace at home, what are you going to do?"

Before Xue Pan went out, he came to say hello to Aunt Xue. As soon as he walked in, he was scolded by Aunt Xue. He was not happy about it.

"Mom, are you still being unreasonable? It's my sister's birthday and you're going to go to that house to have wine and watch a movie. Do you want me to stay home alone?"

Aunt Xue was at a loss for words.Regardless of whether the Jia family is out of face or out of love for Baochai, since they have proposed to celebrate Baochai's birthday, they have no reason to refuse.

They all know that Xue Pan has always been disliked by the Jia family because of his vulgar behavior and evil deeds. Naturally, they will not bring Xue Pan to the Jia family.

Based on this calculation, Xue Pan's words are not unreasonable.

Seeing that Aunt Xue knew she was in the wrong, Xue Pan became even more aggressive: "It's my sister's birthday, and I, as the brother, can't toast her with a glass of wine in person. I'm already very unhappy. Am I still not allowed to have fun outside? I've already invited Feng Ziying. , Sun Shaozu and the others are having a drink in Jinxiangyuan today, it’s fine if my mother doesn’t stop me, but if she still stops me, I have to talk to you!”

Aunt Xue had already compromised, but when she heard this, she suddenly became angry again, "Asshole, how can you just tell someone else's birthday about your sister? Why don't you wait there, you bastard... who is this Sun Shaozu?"

Xue Pantian's family hangs out all day long, and Aunt Xue is a little worried, fearing that he will cause trouble by becoming acquainted with bandits.She knew Feng Ziying and others, but now that a strange name suddenly came out of her son's mouth, she was naturally more concerned.

Xue Pan didn't care about Aunt Xue's scolding: "Oh, don't worry, the people I invite today are all my good brothers, no outsiders."

After saying that, Xue Pan didn't bother to explain to Aunt Xue. He bowed casually and ran away with a twist of his butt.

Aunt Xue couldn't call her, so she beat her chest and stamped her feet in vain. (End of chapter)