Uncle Lai in the Red Chamber

Chapter 371 Jia Zheng's Illness
In the end, the two pairs of sisters-in-law, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law in Rong Mansion couldn't resist Lai Shangrong. That night, they were divided into two groups according to their seniority, and they were all assigned the appearance and form of dogs.

Lai Shangrong, on the other hand, did not feel annoyed at all about shooting himself in the foot, but instead enjoyed it.

But with the end of the Spring Festival and the Lantern Festival, Lai Shangrong ushered in the morning court again, and Rong Mansion returned to peace.

Lai Shangrong in the Jinluan Hall was standing weakly with his eyes closed, recalling the beauty of last night.

Then Emperor Zhenglong on the dragon throne shouted loudly: "What a disease! This Jia Zheng can't even do his academic and political duties, and the quality of his corpse meal has reached this level!"

There was a ghost in his heart, and when he suddenly heard Jia Zheng's name, Lai Shangrong was trembling.

Fortunately, everyone's eyes were focused on Emperor Zhenglong, but no one noticed his strange movements. However, at this time, he had no intention of thinking about it and was busy listening.

Ma Mingyuan, the director of the Literary Selection Department of the Ministry of Personnel, came out and said: "Your Majesty, calm down! All colleagues in Guangdong reported the report according to the facts, but Jia Zheng's condition was not very good. He said in the report, so he also sent someone to explain it to the ministers. The reason!"

"What disease is not good to be stated in the memorial, but it needs to be explained in private?"

"It seems...it seems to be a symptom of lingering in Qinlou and Chuguan!"

When Lai Shangrong heard Ma Mingyuan's description, he immediately thought of the Western businessman holding Jia Zheng's letter last summer.

I thought secretly, could it be syphilis?

During the medieval European voyages, when they discovered the New World of America, they also brought back syphilis.

His understanding of syphilis was not due to his own needs, nor was it because he happened to have a friend around him who needed his help to inquire.

But at a certain gathering, a turtle friend enthusiastically told about a certain artist in modern Europe who had the idea of ​​dedicating himself to art and resolutely took the initiative to spread the infection.

He would not comment on this behavior, but his willingness to devote himself to art made him awe-inspiring. With reverence and memory, he searched for relevant information.

It was then that he learned that in previous Hong Kong dramas, the wigs worn by judges who were thought to be superior were actually products designed to cover up the sequelae of syphilis, and there were even silver noses and the like.

I admire him, but Lai Shangrong can't avoid this disease. He doesn't have the spirit of those artists to take the initiative to contract the disease, so he can't help but worry about his own safety.

Mrs. Wang and Aunt Zhao are Jia Zheng's wives and concubines. It's fine if he doesn't come back. Once he comes back, who can guarantee that he won't be infected?
In fact, Jia Zheng's illness was closely related to Lai Shangrong, not that he instigated anyone to do anything.

As a scholar, Jia Zheng would not normally have anything to do with Western merchants.

But it happened that he was Lai Shangrong's former boss, and the State-owned Enterprise Department was in charge of foreign trade business. Guangdong's business was developed, which made him flourish.

Although Lai Shangrong did not sell out Jia Zheng's face and help the Western Yi businessmen who asked him, a Western Yi man did not have that much energy in Daxia, and the local officials turned a blind eye to him because he was sick.

Whether it succeeds or fails, the silver coin promotion plan spread to Guangdong through Di Bao, causing a huge wave of waves.

As Lai Shangrong's old boss, Jia Zheng must have also suffered a lot. In addition, he was originally not good at socializing and socializing, and his popularity was not very good, which is why he was impeached today.

Although the Great Xia Dynasty did not explicitly prohibit officials from visiting the Qin Tower and Chu Hall, there were unwritten regulations in this regard for noble positions such as censorship and academic administration.

Therefore, Ma Mingyuan seems to be defending Jia Zheng, but in fact he is adding insult to injury.

Hearing that Jia Zheng was actually infected with this disease, Emperor Zhenglong slapped the armrest of the dragon chair and shouted angrily: "Absurd! Ridiculous! What's the point of being an academic and political scholar but can't lead by example? Jia Zheng misbehaved and spread my will." , he will be dismissed from his academic and political post immediately, and the Department of Literature and Selection will immediately send people to Guangdong to take over!"

Just as Emperor Zhenglong gave an order, Xia Shouzhong trotted in from outside in a hurry.

"Your Majesty! Concubine..." "Retire!" Emperor Zhenglong asked as he got up to leave the court, "Have the people from the Jiangnan Zhen family come?"

Xia Shouzhong said cautiously: "A lady and a girl have come and are now in the Daming Palace."

"Hmph!" Emperor Zhenglong snorted coldly and suddenly flicked the sleeves of his dragon robe.

For elderly people, summer and winter are the most difficult seasons. The same is true for Emperor Zhenglong's biological mother, Concubine Zhen. Since last winter, Concubine Zhen has been ill.

The emperor also sent people to Jiangnan early in the morning to issue an order, ordering the Zhen family to rush to the capital to visit and talk about family ties.

But I never expected that, perhaps because it was freezing cold and it coincided with the New Year, the Zhen family did not make any fanfare and only sent a wife, a girl, and two female relatives to Beijing.

Feeling that the emperor's majesty was offended, Emperor Zhenglong naturally couldn't look good.

After going to the Daming Palace to check on the condition of his biological mother, Princess Zhen, Emperor Zhenglong was still angry, so he returned to the imperial study and dug out a stack of documents in the corner.

The top memorial was clearly written with the words "Chen Lin Ruhai's last writing".

The Zhen family has many roots in the south of the Yangtze River, and there are many officials coming and going. There are many cases of people selling their official positions and colluding with each other. Otherwise, how could they maintain their existence? They would spend even more extravagantly than the Jia family.

And the salt industry has huge profits, so why would the Zhen family let this piece of fat go without taking a bite?

Miaoyu's father's case is actually not unrelated to the Zhen family.

The so-called [-]/[-] split, others take [-]%, and the remaining [-]/[-]% is divided. Most of the corrupt money falls into the pockets of the Zhen family.

If there was no entanglement of interests, and Miaoyu's father was not a high-ranking official, how could he take her in and out of Zhen's house?
However, the Supreme Emperor had not delegated power at that time, and Emperor Zhenglong was not born from the Empress Dowager, so it was naturally impossible for him to cut off his arm and then conduct a thorough investigation of his mother's family.

Lin Ruhai also knew the stakes involved, and Miaoyu's father's case was eventually dropped, so he had this consideration in mind.

After all, once we dig deeper into the whereabouts of the dirty silver, the Zhen family will inevitably be involved.

However, although he did not delve into the entanglement of interests, he still reported the truth to the emperor.

Emperor Zhenglong also kept silent.

Even when Lai Shangrong was investigating the case, he hid the part involving the Zhen family.

Originally, Emperor Zhenglong only kept this matter in his mind and planned to wait until Concubine Zhen was a thousand years old before deciding on the situation.

But when the Zhen family was ordered to go to Beijing, they only sent two female relatives to come.

This not only violated the emperor's taboo, but also brought back memories from the past, so when he came back from Daming Palace, he immediately dug up Lin Ruhai's secret information.

While looking through Lin Ruhai's secret papers, deepening his resentment towards the Zhen family, he ordered the accompanying eunuch to summon Jin Yiwei's commander, Qi Ning, to the palace to meet His Majesty.

Lin Ruhai was in charge of his own affairs. At first he was just handling the case of Miaoyu's father, which involved the Zhen family.

Nowadays, although Lin Ruhai has secretly revealed the truth, there is no proof. After all, the Zhen family has taken over four times and has a lot of ties with the Supreme Emperor.

In order to complete the work, it is natural to search for evidence again.

(End of this chapter)