Uncle Lai in the Red Chamber

Chapter 357

Because Zicuckoo penetrated him midway, he was delayed a lot of time. Seeing that the time for the banquet was coming, but Lai Shangrong was missing, there was also a commotion in Rongqing Hall.

Mother Jia looked at Mrs. Wang who was standing next to her and asked: "Didn't I bring Shang Rong over as soon as we agreed to start the banquet? Why didn't we see anyone?"

Mrs. Wang was troubled. She was worried that Lai Shangrong would be interfered with by her son. She was unhappy and left without saying goodbye. However, it was difficult to speak out about the details.

He had to cover it up and said: "I just mentioned it to Shang Rong earlier. When Baoyu passed by, he made an excuse and walked away."

Speaking of lifting his mouth, he didn't know what he thought of, and wiped his lips involuntarily, his head drooped, and his face was full of spring.

"In front of Baoyu, my daughter-in-law didn't want to go into details. She just assumed that he came back here after leaving. Unexpectedly, he disappeared without a trace. Could it be an excuse... Or maybe after dinner, my daughter-in-law would go to Lai's house. ?”

Although Lai Shangrong agreed to help say hello, at this moment, he could only direct his finger elsewhere.

Jia's mother looked at Jia Baoyu and complained: "You child, your mother and Shang Rong have important matters to discuss, why do you insist on making trouble!"

Since Lai Shangrong left with an excuse, it seemed that it was inconvenient to help. There were plenty of opportunities, and there was no need to rush around in front of so many relatives and family members.

Therefore, he did not respond to Mrs. Wang and only complained to Jia Baoyu.

The old lady and mother who loved him the most complained about him one after another, and it was because of Lai Shangrong. Jia Baoyu had never suffered such injustice.

Relying on the presence of relatives and friends, he immediately swung his arms like a rattle and shouted: "Forget it! Forget it! This family can't tolerate me, for a slave..."

"Shut up!" As soon as I said this, I saw Jia Mu and Mrs. Wang yelling sharply.

Jia Baoyu trembled, looked at the two men who were speaking harshly, and hurriedly swallowed the rest of his words.

Although his words were not spoken, the word "slave" was finally shouted out. Everyone sitting here was a human spirit, who could guess the rest?
Li Wan and Wang Xifeng looked at each other and looked at Jia Baoyu with a playful expression.

From the dialogue and attitudes between Jia Mu and Mrs. Wang, it is not difficult to see that the Rong Mansion is looking for Lai Shangrong for something. Of course they don't know the specifics, but the financial situation of the Rong Mansion is clear, so they think it is related to the state-owned company. of shares.

Compared with Rongfu, they have a closer relationship with Lai Shangrong. Even if Rongfu cannot make ends meet, it will not affect the two of them.

Both of them made up their mind to repeat Jia Baoyu's words to Lai Shangrong word for word when they requested something from each other.

One is to gain power for himself, and the other is for his son Jialan, but the two have reached the same goal by different routes.

Lin Daiyu and Xue Baoqin looked at Jia Baoyu with indignation. They had a marriage contract with Lai Shangrong and only had to go through the last formalities. Of course they felt the same way.

Naturally, Jia Mu and Mrs. Wang saw their expressions. Different from Jia Mu's worries, Mrs. Wang was only thinking about how to apologize, but she forgot to speak.

Seeing this, Jia's mother had no choice but to come forward and said with a smile: "After all, they are relatives. Brothers Bai Bao have always been careless and arrogant. Don't tell Shang Rong about this, so as not to damage the relationship between the two families."

After all, Jia's mother is a grandmother, and Lin Daiyu doesn't want to be troublesome.

While nodding in agreement to Jia Mu, he choked and said: "Brother Lai is indeed from a bad background, but he earned it all by himself, unlike some people who only know how to live in a nest!"

Xue Baochai on the side looked at this scene with a complicated expression. After all, the news of the golden marriage was out there. On the one hand, he was furious, but on the other hand, he was very happy for his decision.

In Yingchun, he is as transparent as a human being, as if it has nothing to do with him.

Only Tanchun had worries written on his face. Firstly, since he took over the power of the family, he couldn't help but worry about the situation of the family. Secondly, although he was not born from the same mother, Jia Baoyu is her brother after all. If Lai Shangrong hated the house and Jiwu, it would affect If you follow your own plan, the gain will outweigh the loss. Thinking of this, I can't help but look at Mrs. Wang.

He secretly wondered whether he should be his biological mother and his aunt's mother, so as not to be implicated by Jia Baoyu.

Just when everyone was having their own thoughts, the maid outside exclaimed: "Uncle Lai is here!"

This shout was like the sound of nature. Mother Jia and Mrs. Wang breathed a long sigh of relief, looked at each other and said happily: "Please come in quickly!"

Due to Mrs. Wang's previous guidance, Jia's mother preconceived the idea that Lai Shangrong returned home without any excuse, so of course he acquiesced in the favor.

Mrs. Wang believed that Lai Shangrong did it for her own sake and was not angry with Jia Baoyu.

Then he felt that it was natural. Although he came back disappointed, from his own perspective, Jia Baoyu was considered half of his son, so how could he get angry with him because of such a trivial matter.

Lai Shangrong didn't know what happened in the hall. He knew that he was late, so he confessed: "Just now I went to enjoy the scenery in the garden, but I was so engrossed that I forgot the time." "It's okay! It's okay! Just come here ." Jia Mu smiled and said: "It's our own family, so there's no need to avoid it. Why don't we just eat it inside?"

However, he still couldn't lose face and arranged Lai Shangrong to sit at a table with Lin Daiyu and other peers.

In order to prevent Jia Baoyu from causing trouble again, he was detained at the main table, sandwiched between himself and Mrs. Wang.

Seeing Lai Shangrong being pulled to the table like a star holding the moon, Jia Baoyu looked envious.

Among the people at the table, Lin Daiyu and Xue Baoqin had a concubine agreement, while Xue Baochai and Tan Chun coveted the position of concubine, so Lai Shangrong naturally felt at home.

He frequently drank with everyone, and even Yingchun followed the crowd and gave him a toast.

After drinking for three rounds, Tanchun suddenly stood up and said, "I don't know how expensive firewood, rice, oil and salt are. Recently, I took care of my second sister-in-law's worries, and then I realized that the expenses in the house were so high. I thought about how big the garden is in our house. A broken lotus leaf or a withered grass root are all valuable.

It would be better to select a few honest mothers among all the old mothers in the garden who know the affairs of the garden, and send them to take care of the garden. They don't have to pay rent and taxes, and just ask them what they can contribute to the garden in a year.

Firstly, there is a dedicated person to repair the garden, and the flowers and trees will last year after year, so there is no need to rush around temporarily; secondly, there will be no need to ruin things and waste things in vain; thirdly, old mothers can also take advantage of this to make up for it, so that their years will not be wasted. Working hard in the garden all day long can also save the labor costs of gardeners, mountain craftsmen, cleaners, etc.It is not impossible to use this excess to make up for the deficiency. "

Having said this, he paused, looked at Lai Shangrong and said, "Brother Lai is well versed in economics. Please give me some pointers to see if there are any omissions in this method."

Since she wanted to have a second house, her ability to manage the household was naturally a plus. She thought for a long time before she came up with such a way to increase revenue and reduce expenditure. She kept it in her heart, waiting for the opportunity to show it off in front of Lai Shangrong.

Before Lai Shangrong could speak, Xue Baochai quickly interjected: "It's really a dandy's talk. Although you are a rich lady, I didn't know about it, but you are all educated and literate, but you didn't see Master Zhu's article "Don't Give Up on Yourself". ?”

She was already on guard against Tanchun, but when she heard her show off her abilities as a business owner in front of Lai Shangrong, she suddenly felt wary and quickly spoke to suppress him.

Tan Chun frowned and responded calmly: "Although I have seen it, it is just encouraging people to encourage themselves, and it is just empty words. Is it true?"

Baochai said: "Zhu Zi has all the empty words? That's true in every sentence. You have only been dealing with current affairs for two days, and you are so greedy for profit that you think Zhu Zi is vain. When you go out to see the pros and cons of major events, you become more and more concerned about them. Confucius was also deceived!"

……

……

The two of them were facing each other, going back and forth, and for a moment they were facing each other as if no one was watching.

At first, Lai Shangrong only thought that the two were having a normal academic exchange, and he came back to his senses as he listened.

The two women were jealous of each other, and it was Tan Chun and Xue Baochai who were on the main list. Lai Shangrong didn't feel complacent.

However, the jealous scene in front of him made him, who was originally not interested in the two of them being together, even more determined.

He has many wives and concubines, and many affairs outside the home. How can he settle down in the future if his family is uneasy?

It's just that when Tanchun was over, he asked Aunt Zhao to take care of the two bedrooms. Xue Baochai was devoted to being a concubine, so why was he so serious about his ability to run the household?
Did you guess wrong?

With this idea, Lai Shangrong was also secretly wary, but he couldn't figure out why Xue Baochai thought that he would not eat everything and dare to use himself as bait.

He was thinking hard, and he didn't care that Lin Daiyu beside him also frowned deeply. Looking at the two people who were fighting each other, he shook his head unconsciously.

If Xue Baoqin pointed out the conditions for Lai Shangrong to have a second wife, she would not have thought too much, but now she had to examine their purpose.

As the principal wife of the eldest son who was already engaged, a blind person could see that the two of them wanted to outdo each other, not to mention Lin Daiyu, who was more interested in love than Gan.

But this kind of stubbornness to overwhelm others is indeed something she doesn't want to see.

Putting themselves in the position of the two of them, they might want to overwhelm themselves after entering the door.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help turning his eyes to the side, Yingchun with a dazed face that had nothing to do with him.

I don’t know why, but an idea suddenly came to me. If I had a second wife like my second sister, I would be able to save myself a lot of troubles in the future, right?

(End of this chapter)