Corrupt official in the Red Chamber

Chapter 51 Trivia
Looking at Xue Baochai's appearance, Jia Rui laughed a little.

The Xue Baochai he knew was not like this.

Xue Baochai's own boudoir was decorated very simply, with just a few books, a coffee table and other items. Even the bed curtains were made of green gauze, and the bedding was also very simple.

This is completely different from his brother Xue Pan's style.

"Why do you like this thing? Haven't you always been very simple? Why do you want this luxury?"

Xue Baochai looked up at Jia Rui, and then said nonchalantly, "These are originally from the rich family of high officials. Do you think I have such rich and casual makeup from head to toe? But seven or eight years ago, I also came here like this. Now One moment is not as good as one moment, so I have saved everything I should have.”

Jia Rui was stunned for a moment after hearing Xue Baochai's words, and then he understood in his heart that these were Xue Baochai's words from the bottom of his heart.

And I'm afraid I can only say this to my husband, the closest person to me. Even my brothers and mother can't say this depressing words.

It seems that it's not that Xue Baochai doesn't like luxury and prosperity, but that these things are no longer available at home, so she has to pretend to be simple.

When I read A Dream of Red Mansions, Xue Baochai was belittled several times in the book intentionally or unintentionally. Among them, her supplies were really simple, which was completely different from the other girls in the atom, so I thought she had a lot of scheming.

Now it seems that some people still don't understand this "Concubine Yang".

Xue Baochai's girlish nature is actually dedicated to this family. Secondly, it is also related to Xue Baochai's temperament of "following her time". When Xue's family declined, she was frugal everywhere, not focusing on dressing up and adorning. In its heyday, Baochai was still in the circle of upper-class aristocrats, so Baochai might pay more attention to dressing and decoration in order to blend into the new environment.

This is really an outstanding peony.

After thinking of this, Jia Rui stepped forward, gently stopped Xue Baochai's shoulder, and whispered in her ear:

"You don't have to be so tired in the future. With me supporting you outside, you only need to be filial to your grandparents, and you can do whatever else you want."

After hearing this, Xue Baochai was stunned for a moment, and then I sighed softly and said, "I also want to live like the girls in Rongguo Mansion, but our family doesn't take advantage of this."

It turned out that Xue Baochai thought that although Jia Rui was already a third-rank official, he had only been an official for a few months and had not yet earned a million dollars in furniture, so he should be frugal as usual now.

"It seems that our Grandma Xue still doesn't know our family well?"

After talking, Jia Rui walked to the desk, took out the account book that Mrs. Wang had given to Xue Baochai, and placed it in front of Xue Baochai.

"Grandma, if you look at the account books, you will know our family fortune."

Xue Baochai sat down at the table calmly, brought over the ledger, and flipped through it page by page.

As the account book turned over page by page, Xue Baochai's mood was still so calm, because the records in the account book were similar to what she imagined.

At this time, Xue Baochai had already made some plans for the future of the family.

The dowry I brought this time, although the gold and silver are not much, but there are four or five Zhuangzi, and these Zhuangzi also have an income of about a thousand taels a year, plus the original two Zhuangzi in the family. Every month, there are about one hundred taels of income.

In this way, the family will be able to live more comfortably, without having to be as frugal as before.

Just when Xue Baochai was thinking this, the account book had already been turned to the back.

At this time, Xue Baochai's eyes suddenly froze, because three thousand taels of credit appeared inexplicably on the account book.

Then this kind of inexplicable income increased, and even the shadow of the farm appeared in it.

Seeing this, Xue Baochai seemed to understand something.

It seems that it is better to be an official. Her husband Jia Rui has only been an official for a few months, and she has so much income, which is beyond her imagination.

Later, there were even records of tens of thousands of taels.

Adding up all these pieces of silver, there are nearly [-] vehicles in cash in the Fuchu.

After reading the ledger, Xue Bao let out a long breath, then raised his head and said with a smile to Jia Rui:

"I thought I was going to have a hard time, but I didn't expect that I would enjoy the blessings as soon as I came here."

When Xue Baochai said this, although he was smiling, there was a hint of bitterness in his tone.

Because, she couldn't help but think of her natal family.

My natal family made my brother toss about it, and now it can't make ends meet, and the money in the treasury is also decreasing day by day.

What's more terrible is that the relationship with the palace has also begun to become estranged. If it continues like this, after a few years, their Xue family will probably have to rely on others to live their lives based on the faces of those eunuchs.

If people are happy, they will get rid of a few. If they are not happy, let alone make money, I am afraid that even the old man will have to pay for it.

Jia Rui did not hear the bitterness in Xue Baochai's words. He gently held Xue Baochai's hand and said:
"I know that you are a transparent girl. From now on, all the family affairs will be entrusted to you."

"That's natural. Men should naturally work hard outside and honor their ancestors. Leave the affairs of the inner house to me."

Xue Baochai also complied without hesitation.

The husband and wife looked at each other, smiled, and said nothing.

On that day, Xue Baochai took on the responsibility of being the grandmother of the house, and began to direct the servants and maidservants in the house to perform their duties.

Don't mention it, Xue Baochai does have management skills. With her troubles, even though the Jia Rui family's house is small now, the situation inside is completely new.

In the past, when Mrs. Wang was in charge of the house, although she was very diligent in maintaining things, she was old and couldn't keep up with her energy after all, so many things were done carelessly.

But now that Xue Baochai is in charge of the family, it's different. She just glanced at it, and the minds of those servants are clear.

However, Xue Baochai was not as strong as Wang Xifeng, but began to use his own means to split up these family members, or to assign positions. In less than half a day, all the maids and servants of Jia Rui's family were in awe of Xue Baochai.

When it was time for dinner in the evening, Mrs. Wang praised Xue Baochai very much.

It was obvious from her tone that she was satisfied with Xue Baochai.

Jia Rui, who was sitting next to Xue Baochai, was also proud. Although he did not handle the matter, the one sitting next to him was his wife.

Jia Dairu, who was in the middle, coughed at the end of dinner.

The others immediately stopped chatting and turned their attention to Jia Dairu.

"Ningguo Mansion sent people here today."

Jia Rui was stunned for a moment, their family didn't have much contact with Ningguo Mansion, and they only met Jia Zhen yesterday, why did they send someone over today?
"Is something wrong?"

Jia Rui felt a little tired. He thought that Jia Zhen sent someone because he had something to settle.

"Isn't it the New Year's Eve soon? The ancestor worship is coming soon, and the patriarch said that this year, I will be the roll call for the ancestor worship."

When he said this, Jia Dairu's tone was very uplifting.

Although he had a higher seniority in the past, he had always been regarded as a translucent figure on important occasions such as ancestor worship.

But now the patriarch actually asked him to be the roll call, this position is second only to the presiding over the ancestor worship, how can Jia Dairu not be excited.

Jia Rui and Xue Baochai looked at each other, then nodded tacitly, and finally the couple pursed their lips and smiled, saying nothing.

"Since the patriarch asked you to take the roll call, just go and do it." Jia Rui knew that Mr. Jia Dairu was suffering from vanity, so he did not explain the reason.

In fact, there is no need to explain. After all, Jia Dairu has lived to such an advanced age, even if he is blinded by the prosperity for a while, he will soon wake up.

(End of this chapter)