Picturesque Rivers and Mountains in the Red Chamber

Chapter 451 6.22 The Old Lady of the Jia Mansion "Gives Gifts"

Volume VI

6.22 The old lady of Jia Mansion “gives gifts”

The farce that occurred at Chengtian Gate during the Lantern Festival did not cause much turmoil, because all parties in the court deliberately kept the tone low, as if nothing happened; even the final handling opinions were not mentioned during the implementation of the assassination. It is only said that more than a dozen officials headed by Yu Chong committed corruption and ransacked their homes. Otherwise, they would have been "descended by the Holy King" in the morning and been assassinated in the afternoon. How would they have lost face if they told them?
Even for the subsequent processing, the only real implementation was to gather the people to watch the house raid, poison the people to death, and reward coffins for burial. The most painful thing was to sort out the cases, publish the accounts, and even carve stones and set up records. In the end, one was recorded in the Ministry of Punishment, and the other was assigned to the Ministry of Justice. The Ministry of Industry and the two companies kept delaying and never mentioned when it would be done, even when Guo Kai urged.

However, this can be regarded as having an effect. There were a lot of things at the end of the 50th year of Longwu. If the Uizhong Prince Rebellion dealt a heavy blow to Wu Xun, the Lantern Festival assassination farce caused heavy losses to the civil servants. They originally laughed at Wu Xun in all kinds of ways, but now they were slapped in the face. Basically, as much as they laughed happily at the beginning, they were beaten as badly as they were now.

In the next few days, except for the relevant personnel, no one else was known to be out of the shadows, so that there was an obvious meaning of "retaliatory consumption". In just four days, Zhou Yang was There is no idle time, every day there is a treat or a banquet, twice a day and once a lot.

Fortunately, the twentieth day of the first lunar month has always been the last day of the Zhou Dynasty's New Year seal. The custom is to go back to each home, rest, bathe and sleep, and prepare to attend the New Year's meeting tomorrow. However, the situation of the Zhou family is obviously a bit special. At least Zhou Yang already knows that today will definitely Don't even think about resting.

"Palace Judge, what are you singing about? Fairy descending to earth? Why didn't you even post a message beforehand? Don't you know that uninvited guests are not welcome?" In the inner garden, he looked at the group of people filing in with some confusion. Girls, they didn’t even notice that the name was wrong, so all the girls gave him a blank stare.

Li Wan led the team with his maid Suyun, followed by Wang Xifeng, Ping'er, the master and servant, and two young ladies from the younger generation of the Jia family. Yingchun had officially entered the Zhou family, so only Tanchun and Xichun came this time. Coupled with Lin Daiyu, who had just left for two days and was helping Xueyan out of the car, all the golden hairpins in Rongguo Mansion had arrived.

As for what he called Li Wan, which of the girls in the Zhou family couldn't guess it now?But as you might have guessed, direct "exposure" like today is another situation. Not to mention Wang Xifeng teasingly tickling Li Wan's cheek, and Tan Chun and Xichun simply giving an "I don't know" expression. Went to say hello to Yingchun.

"Of course we posted the post, can't we say hello to the second sister?" Xichun rolled her eyes, and dragged Yingchun away with Tanchun.

"Brother Zhou, my younger sister went to talk to younger sister Xiangyun." Lin Daiyu smiled and wished all blessings, then turned around and helped Xueyan to leave.

"Master, there are so many people here today, I'm afraid the sisters in the courtyard can't serve them, so I'm going to help." Su Yun smiled softly, pulled Ping'er and chased them away.

"So, you are just here to explain the situation?" He then looked at the girls who had already established themselves and ran away laughing and joking. Zhou Yang didn't know that they were hiding something from him, so the problem could only lie with the rest of them. "Tell me, if you don't have a good excuse, I'll make your butts bloom."

The two young ladies looked at each other and stepped forward to pull someone into the greenhouse. Then there was "full automatic torture" for more than half an hour. Even though Zhou Yang was prepared to "never accept sugar-coated bullets," the final result was still the same. It’s “They give too much.”

"Master -" Wang Xifeng asked with eighteen plus numbers, "It's not that the Dongfu side really can't bring up anyone on the stage, so that's why they want you to help control the situation."

"Brother Rong is still going?" Zhou Yang sighed lightly, but did not directly agree.

Jia Rong still didn't last long. Even if Jia Zhen was supervised and taken care of by him at the funeral, it was impossible to save him with the medical level of this era. Just the day before yesterday, on the eighteenth night of the first lunar month, he died due to complications caused by wound inflammation. The former heir to the Ningguo Mansion and the last direct descendant of the Ningguo lineage died.

"His funeral is a bit troublesome." Li Wan said softly, "Originally, he was of a lower rank in the mansion, so the master and the eldest master could not come forward. Lan'er and Brother Qiang, who were the same generation as him in the two mansions, could not suppress him. Baoyu really can't help these two seniors, Brother Lian is in charge, if any distinguished guests come to visit, I would like you to help receive them."

To put it simply, Jia Rong is the former heir after all. Although the funeral is not a big deal because of his young age and sudden death, if it is really too shabby, it would be a shame, but he is too young and has nothing to do. In terms of his actual identity, the spirit card could say "Five-Rank Jingying Thousand Households", because he does have a title.

The problem is that the only person in the younger generation of Ningrong's second house who counts is Jia Lian. He really can't support it alone. The only person in the older generation who really has any reputation is Jia She's first-class general, and Jia Zheng's sixth-rank director of the Ministry of Industry also has no one. It's no use, but they are two generations older, so they can't come forward directly this time; they just want to let the news out as Zhou Yang beforehand, so as not to have everyone randomly send people to make up for it, and it will be too ugly if the news spreads.

Obviously, the Jia family began to realize that the Ningrong Second Mansion was now in serious decline, and they urgently needed a chance to pull things together. They no longer had the ability to do so, so they thought of the only person close to them, Zhou Yang, who is the acting commander-in-chief of the Shenji Battalion. It was enough to ensure "reliability", but the Jia family also understood that there was no reason for others to pay so much, so they directly used the "beauty trick".Of course, there are not without other problems here——

"Our ancestors asked us to come and say hello first. We want to see your place." Li Wan said softly.

"Palace judge, did your old lady agree?" Compared with this, Zhou Yang wanted to know another question, that is, his relationship with Li Wan was exposed.

"Even if you want to raise a younger brother or sister for Lan'er, I'm up to you, anyway, it's just to live with His Royal Highness Yongchang for a year or so." Li Wan smiled softly, and leaned gently on Ailang's chest, "However, this time I also I just want to say, whether you are willing to accept it all depends on your mind. Even if my ancestors are dissatisfied, they don’t dare to do anything to me."

"The problem is, my surname is Zhou, not Jia. Even if I am here in the West Mansion, I still have a relationship with my second sister, over there in the East Mansion." Zhou Yang couldn't understand the old lady's way of thinking.

"Fourth sister is here this time. If you want, just let her stay." Wang Xifeng snorted coldly, "It's really cheap for you, a cruel and short-lived person. Now that the news has not been disclosed, other sisters may not know; also, I am When I come here this time, I don’t plan to take Ping’er back again, so you can do whatever you want.”

"Where are you here? What's going on?" Zhou Yang was still very surprised. It was not difficult for Li Wan to understand that a widow didn't matter, and it was reasonable to give it out in exchange for favors. Wang Xifeng, the third-generation hostess of Rongguo Mansion, had a completely different view; Furthermore, it is said that the relationship between the two has not been exposed, so why did the old lady of the Jia family "send" her as well when "giving gifts"? Is it possible that the female members of the Jia family still have this "use"?
"After Lian Er came back, he only had a quarrel with me in the mansion. Since then, he has not stayed in the mansion again. You have also been to his residence outside." Wang Xifeng sighed quietly and looked at someone with a resentful face. "I don't know what went wrong, but if there are no accidents, he should have guessed it."

"Uh" Zhou Yang was a little dumbfounded.

No wonder since Jia Lian came back, he has been estranged from himself. The two of them haven't met a few times so far, and he always has a hard-to-explain expression when they meet occasionally; as for guessing the problem, it should be from Ping'er, Wang Xifeng This is the only personal maid left around me. Ordinarily, she should not be given away to anyone else, but she is still given to a man - so it is not "given" like this, right?

"Zi Yang, you can guess what our ancestors are thinking. It depends on whether you are willing or not." Li Wan said with a smile, "It would be best if you are willing. I don't know what conditions I will get from Feng Yatou. If I am willing in the future, , you don’t have to go back to the house; as for the fourth sister, Brother Qiang has also sent word that everything will be arranged by the ancestors."

"I just gave it away for nothing, and I got nothing." Wang Xifeng said angrily.

Not to mention the issue of "female family members giving gifts", in fact, the Jia family's approach of "stirring up trouble" is not without clues. In the original work, when the old lady of the Jia family had her [-]th birthday, the Jia family took the opportunity to start it, but ended up feeling lonely. , most of the gifts were not received, and the four kings only came to the north and south. Princess Nan'an and Princess Beijing still sat down for a while and left without even eating.

"What are the specific responsibilities?" Zhou Yang thought for a while and decided to ask. He didn't want to get too involved with the Jia family. The main reason was that the Jia family couldn't support them, and they always did countless things. "Second brother Lian should be in charge of the outside, while Feng Lazi supports the inside?"

"You still have the face to talk about it?" Wang Xifeng looked at him contemptuously, "Brother Rong is gone, it's good for you to bully someone else's wife, not to mention your own benefit, and ask you to come forward to control the place and still push and shov like this "You call me 'Brother Lian' nicely, but when you talk about me, I don't see you being polite."

"I saw Qing's wedding dress with my own eyes, and I helped her put it away." Zhou Yang glanced sideways at a certain hottie, making her almost breathless, "Okay, the fourth sister doesn't have to go back from now on. , it would be too lonely to leave the third sister alone, why not come together? Anyway, the yard is not small, and the three sisters live in a more spacious place than your house; by the way, Yuanchun will also come here in the future."

Li Wan, Wang Xifeng:.
"I really underestimate your face." Wang Xifeng was so angry that she was trembling a little, "Rongguo Mansion is the majestic palace of the Duke of Rongguo. Even a concubine can't let you behave like this, right? Also, Sister Yuanchun is in the palace, you After all, there is some basis for bragging!"

"Yes or no, you will know after His Majesty's enthronement ceremony. I don't need to explain anything to you." Zhou Yang was too lazy to quarrel with her. He turned to look at Li Wan and said, "What about you, do you want to live here? Anyway, you have to live in your own house. The sisters are all here, so it will be more lively in the future; it doesn't matter if you don't like this place, there is room for Rong'er as well."

"Don't worry, Lan'er is still in the house over there after all. If I go too far, I'm afraid it won't be easy for me to talk to you in terms of face." Li Wan smiled and shook his head, "I will help you with the matters concerning the third and fourth sisters. Make it clear, since you made such a condition, you must have agreed?"

"It's just this once, it won't happen next time." Zhou Yang nodded, "Also, Feng Lazi, you don't have to think too much, I will make it clear to Brother Lian."

(End of this chapter)