The Second Master of the Red Chamber

Chapter 635
Baochai did not go back to the Grand View Garden that night, but stayed with her mother at home.

But Aunt Xue barely slept all night because she missed Xue Pan.Early the next morning, I packed up in a hurry and went to Rongguo Mansion again. I didn't return until noon.

Seeing Aunt Xue's haggard face, Baochai signaled the servant to serve the meal, helped Aunt Xue into the house, and asked, "Is there any news from Auntie?"

Aunt Xue shook her head, "Your uncle and aunt haven't replied yet, but your sister Feng said that your second brother Lian already knew about the affairs in Beijing. He also said that he had someone contact his colleagues in the Ministry of Justice. He thought he would be there as soon as there was news. It will be uploaded right back.”

After hearing this, Baochai thought to herself: Although Tianjin Wei is not far from Beijing, it still takes a day to travel by horseback.And Jia Lian actually already knew about the Ministry of Punishment's intervention. Thinking that Wang Xifeng said last night that she had sent someone to deliver a letter to Tianjin Wei overnight, he was not deceiving them perfunctorily.

Everyone says that Wang Xifeng is mean and cold, but in fact, according to Baochai, Wang Xifeng is actually more sincere to the relatives around him than most people.This is actually the reason why their sisters in the Grand View Garden like her so much.

She doesn't seem to be afraid that Xue Pan's matter will implicate Jia Lian!
This is even more rare when compared to the situation last night when Mrs. Wang was obviously worried that Yuanchun would be implicated by them.

"Since Brother Lian said this, I think with his ability, Brother Lian will definitely know about any new developments on his side. In my opinion, Brother Lian made such a big mistake this time. He wants to be like It's impossible to escape unscathed like last time.

For our current plan, what we have to think about is not how to help our brother get away with the crime, but how to save his life. "

Aunt Xue nodded repeatedly when she heard the words: "You are right, he is a criminal who has never been afraid of anything since he was a child, and he finally got into a big trouble! Now I don't expect to be able to get him off the hook. As long as I can save his life, no matter what Whatever I do, even if it means spending all my wealth to make up for his mistakes, I am willing to..."

Baochai sighed inwardly after hearing this.My mother would always feel extremely regretful after something happened to her brother. However, even if she wanted to teach her brother a lesson, she would never bear it or give up.

This had been like this since her father was alive, and she was used to it.

Aunt Xue, mother and daughter, are both sensible and law-abiding people. Although they are nobles, they never do anything to rely on power or do anything to bully others.

Now that Xue Pan was killed at the feet of the emperor, they all knew that they could not escape the blame. The only thing they wanted was to rely on the power of the Jia, Wang and other families to save Xue Pan's life and not pay for the life of their enemy Pan.

In their opinion, there is still hope.After all, it's not uncommon for this kind of thing to happen among aristocratic families, and it's rare for people to actually make a fight to the death.

However, many things do not depend on human will, and even what we are afraid of will happen.

It was evening, Aunt Xue had just returned from the Wang family, and dropped into Rongguo Mansion to see if there was any new news here.There is no way, their Xue family is in decline, and even though they still have some old friends and relatives in the capital, few people give them much respect anymore, especially in such important matters.

As soon as she entered Rongguo Mansion, she keenly noticed something was wrong and felt inexplicably panicked.This panic reached its peak when he saw his sister, Mrs. Wang.

Mrs. Wang looked pitiful, but she didn't make too many mistakes with her.

"The news I just received is that Pan'er's case has gone through preliminary trial and investigation by the Ministry of Punishment..."

"What's the result?"

Seeing Aunt Xue's pale face, Mrs. Wang couldn't bear it, but she still said bluntly: "If I say yes, I probably want Queen Qiu to behead her..."

"!!"

……

Aunt Xue didn't know how she got back to Xue's house. When she woke up, she only saw her daughter sitting by the bed, feeding her gruel.

Seeing her waking up, Baochai looked happy and said, "Mom, wake up. Eat something. The doctor said you have eaten too little in the past two days and have lost your energy and blood..."

Aunt Xue seemed not to have heard Baochai's words. She suddenly grabbed Baochai's hand, sat up and asked in surprise, "Where is your brother?"

Baochai's face also turned pale, with tears in his eyes, "Auntie said that regarding my brother's matter, the enemy did ask Prince Zhongshun for help. With Prince Zhongshun involved in the matter, the people in the Ministry of Punishment did not dare to show favoritism. She just sent someone to tell us this. The news said that we still have three days. In three days, the trial will be officially opened. By then..."

Aunt Xue was dizzy for a while. When she first woke up, she was still hoping that she was just dreaming.But Baochai's words made her clearly understand that this was not a dream, her only precious son was going to die, and his head was missing!

The heart-wrenching pain prevented her from hearing clearly what Baochai said.

It wasn't until a while later that she realized, "What did you just say?"

Baochai repeated her words, and saw Aunt Xue immediately turned over and went to bed, "Yes, yes, we still have time, there are still three days..."

"Where is mom going?"

"Go to the Wang family, go to the Wang family, find your uncle, and ask your uncle to save your brother..." Aunt Xue murmured to herself nervously with tears on her face.

Baochai felt distressed after seeing it, but had to interrupt her rationally, and forced her back to the couch, crying: "It's too late! It's too late...Beijing is thousands of miles away from the border, and now I'm afraid my uncle hasn't arrived yet." After receiving the news, where would my mother go to find him?!"

"It's too late... But it doesn't matter. There is also Lian'er, your second brother Lian, he is in Tianjin Wei. Tianjin Wei is not far away, let's go find him now! Yes, we are going to Tianjin Wei now!"

Aunt Xue cried, like a drowning person trying her best to grab the last straw.

Baochai suddenly lost her voice and hugged Aunt Xue: "Mom, don't be like this. Auntie is right, everyone has his own destiny, maybe my brother is destined to have this disaster. From now on, I will let my daughter come to you. Let’s retire and die.”

Baochai is more rational than Aunt Xue, or maybe she sees the world clearly.She knew that even if her brother had to pay for his life, it would not be considered unjust.The most important thing is that there is no other way. Even the closest aunt has given up on her brother and asked them to make plans in advance. Who can help them in this situation, and who is willing to help them?
Therefore, there is no need to force her. From now on, she will just take better care of her mother.

Aunt Xue held her daughter's body and listened to her crying, her expression finally calmed down.

She patted her daughter on the shoulder and said, "Okay girl, I know you are a good boy." Facing Baochai's face, which was still bright and beautiful even with a few tears, Aunt Xue actually smiled: "Now is not the time to cry. , have you forgotten what the Feng family said yesterday? Your second brother Lian is not only a marquis, but also a close minister of the emperor. As long as he can return to Beijing, your brother can still be saved, right? "

Baochai wiped her tears and looked at Aunt Xue in a daze.In fact, she didn't understand this truth. As long as Jia Lian could rush back to Beijing, with his reputation and ability, he might be sure to save his brother's life.

However, what virtue and ability can they have to let Jia Lian rush back to Beijing to save people?After all, the closest relationship between Jia Lian and Xue Jialun is just her cousin-in-law.

He also has the emperor's mission on his shoulders.

Another point was that he understood that Jia Lian probably had no intention of returning to Beijing to deal with such nonsense.He knew the news yesterday and came back early.

"Even so, why does mother think that second brother Lian is willing to come back to take part in this case? After all, it is a fact that my brother was drunk and beat someone to death, and he should be compensated even if he is killed. Isn't it unreasonable for mother to come to her door like this?"

"You have to give it a try..."

Baochai found Aunt Xue staring at her, and her gaze frightened her secretly.

Aunt Xue didn't understand what Baochai was thinking.Under such circumstances, even her biological aunt would not try her best to help her...

In fact, Mrs. Wang is already doing well.She has also been to Wang's house twice in the past two days. Although her sister-in-law seems to be very concerned about her son's affairs and speaks beautifully, in fact, she can even feel some schadenfreude from her tone!
She and Baochai explained: "Don't worry, your second brother Lian, like your second sister-in-law Lian, is a sincere and kind-hearted person. As long as we sincerely ask him, he will definitely be willing to help us."

"Mother……"

Aunt Xue seemed to have made up her mind. She immediately ordered someone to prepare the car and asked the maid to fetch water to wash her face.This surprised Baochai, "Mom, even if we ask Brother Lian for help, we have to wait until tomorrow. At this hour, I'm afraid the city gate has already been closed."

"It concerns your brother's life, sooner rather than later!"

Although Aunt Xue believed that Jia Lian could do things that others could not do, she also knew that time was urgent. If it was too late, even if Jia Lian was a god, he would not be able to save her son's life.

As for the city gate being closed... In fact, the city gate has been closed to the public only for the common people.For the privileged noble class, it is not difficult to enter and exit the city at night as long as the city is not closed to arrest traitors.

The easiest thing is to stuff money.

Moreover, aren't the officers and soldiers of the Xicheng Guards members of the Xicheng Army and Horses Division? They are expected to not embarrass her Xue family.

When Baochai saw that Aunt Xue had made up her mind, she couldn't say anything more.Although she felt that this matter was not safe, for example, if Jia Mu and others from Rongguo Mansion knew that they had gone to find Jia Lian, they would probably think that the Xue family was too ignorant, and even Wang Xifeng would be secretly dissatisfied.

But she also knew that her mother made this decision entirely for her bastard brother, so she sighed secretly and prepared to go back and clean up.

"You don't have to follow."

When Baochai was saying goodbye, Aunt Xue suddenly said, "Your brother is still in the prison of the Ministry of Punishment, and the family cannot be left without someone to take care of it. Good boy, before I come back, everything in the family will be left to you. Remember, you must protect me." Okay, brother, wait until mother comes back."

Aunt Xue stepped forward and wiped the wet tears on Baochai's face, turned around and walked out.

……

Aunt Xue left Beijing overnight and did not take many people with her.

Although she was already prepared to overcome difficulties because of her eagerness to save her son, she still underestimated the bumps and fatigue along the way.

Riding a horse-drawn carriage and driving all the way, we arrived at Tianjin Wei in the afternoon of the next day, and after asking, we found Jia Lian's office.

When Jia Lian went to Tianjin to build seaports and build warships, he could barely be considered an imperial envoy, but he did not have as much authority as the last time he went to Jiangnan.

Therefore, there are also Xingyuan.Of course, this building was originally an office for the officers and soldiers of the Tianjin Guards Navy, and was specially vacated for him, so it was not extravagant.

The slave of the Rongguo Mansion who was guarding the carriage house never expected Aunt Xue to come, so he hurried forward to greet her.

"Where's your second master?"

"Second Master is inspecting the shipyard."

"When are you coming back?"

"I don't know. The second master has been busy lately. Many times he doesn't return to his home until evening."

Aunt Xue looked disappointed for a moment. She didn't care about her career, so she got back into the carriage and went to the shipyard to find someone.

Laiwang stopped him quickly: "Is the concubine here because of Uncle Xue's affairs? Our second master has known about Uncle Xue's affairs for a long time. He even sent his servants back on a special trip and brought many letters to the ministers in the court. They are all asking for their help.

But my concubine has come so far, so she might as well rest in the camp first.The shipyard has long been set up as a military jurisdiction, and my concubine could not enter even if she went there.Let's do this. The concubine will rest here first, and I will send someone to inform the second master. I think the second master will come back when he knows that the concubine is here. "

With that said, Wang'er asked someone to call his wife to arrange a place for Aunt Xue and her party. He had no intention of letting Aunt Xue go on a rampage in Tianjin Wei.When Aunt Xue saw this, she could barely restrain her impatience and waited in the cabin.

(End of this chapter)