On the first day of the first lunar month, during the fifth watch, Jia Mu, Mrs. Xing, Mrs. Wang and You Shi each made up according to their grades, and put all the deacons into the palace to congratulate and wish the spring and autumn.

Originally, on the first day of the new year, the women in Beijing had to enter the palace to congratulate, but this rule was abolished during the Yankang Dynasty, and now only the wives of the emperor's relatives, nobles and first- and second-class officials enter the palace to worship, so Daiyu does not need to enter the palace to congratulate.

After the internal and external wives saluted the queen mother and queen in shifts, the queen mother and queen each summoned several women and then gave a banquet.

After the banquet was completed, Mother Jia and Mrs. Wang went to congratulate Concubine Jia on her thousand autumns.

Jia Yuanchun bid farewell to the Queen Mother and the Empress, and met Jia's mother and the four people in Fengzao Palace.

After a while, Yuan Chun ordered someone to invite Mrs. Xing and You Shi to the side hall for tea, leaving Jia Mu and Mrs. Wang alone to speak, during which Jia Mu stuffed five thousand taels of silver tickets into Yuan Chun's hands, Yuan Chun quietly put them away, and then remembered that his younger brother Baoyu would be sixteen years old, so he asked about his marriage.

Mrs. Wang's expression was shocked, and without waiting for Mother Jia to speak, she said: "Speaking of which, Baoyu should have been married a long time ago, and I just wanted to ask Niang Niang to be the master?" ”

"Is there a candidate in the heart of the pleasant?" Jia Yuanchun asked, she also knows a little about things at home, the old lady supports Shi Xiangyun, and the second wife supports Xue Baochai.

"It's Miss Bao, my cousin." Mrs. Wang hurriedly replied, although she didn't care about Baochai for ten minutes now, she owed the Xue family more than 200,000 taels of silver, and Baochai was easier to handle, so she still insisted on choosing Baochai as her daughter-in-law.

Jia Mu glanced at Mrs. Wang and asked quietly, "What do you think?" ”

She only used Xiangyun as a tool to block Baochai, so she didn't mention Xiangyun's name.

When Mrs. Wang heard Mother Jia's question, she looked at Yuan Chun expectantly, wanting Yuan Chun to make the decision for her.

"I think Sister Xue is very good, Sister Shi is a little harder in the end, if she is with Baoyu, I am afraid that it will be unfavorable to Baoyu." Jia Yuanchun was silent for a moment and said, now that he is in a difficult situation in the palace, he needs a lot of money to envelop the palace maids and eunuchs in the palace, and the situation in the palace is not good, and the money sent in is decreasing day by day, so he needs to rely on the financial resources of the Xue family.

Second, the Xue family is an imperial businessman, and there are some ways in the palace. Although the three historians are said to be a double candidate, they no longer have any real power, and they are not in Beijing, and they are inferior to Jiafu in terms of money, and they are of limited help to Baoyu and themselves. And compared with the two, Baochai's temperament is more outstanding, so he values Baochai more.

Mother Jia was silent when she heard this, she didn't expect that Yuanchun, who had been raised under her knees since she was a child, would face Mrs. Wang, thinking that she had shown her attitude during the Dragon Boat Festival last year, and Yuanchun would change, but she didn't want to be like this, and she felt a little lost.

Jia Yuanchun saw that his grandmother's face was unhappy, and hurriedly explained: "Although the mansion still maintains the face of the Guogong Mansion now, it is not a long-term solution after all. ”

Jia's mother naturally understood what her granddaughter meant, now the Jia family's money is tight, if Baoyu marries Baochai, it can also relieve the economic pressure in the house, and sighed helplessly: "The Xue family is immoral, if Baoyu marries her, it may affect the reputation of the mother." ”

Jia Yuanchun suddenly woke up like an initiation, and remembered the reason why Xue Baochai was defeated, that is, the word immorality, and now he is named a virtuous concubine, if Baoyu marries a woman who is unvirtuous, I am afraid that it will affect his reputation as his grandmother said, and he will be attacked, and he looked at his grandmother gratefully and said: "Grandmother is still thoughtful, I owe this matter to me." ”

"But we still owe the Xue family's silver!" Mrs. Wang saw that Yuan Chun was persuaded by the old lady, and suddenly became anxious.

Jia Yuanchun hurriedly reassured: "Yiren doesn't need to be nervous, this matter still needs to be considered in the long run, but you can find a way to delay it for a while." As for Baoyu, I will pay attention to choosing a good marriage for him. ”

Mother Jia nodded in response, now that Yuanchun has rejected the marriage between Baoyu and the Xue family, there is no need to fight Xiangyun and Baochai in the ring anymore.

Although Mrs. Wang was unwilling, she didn't dare to say it anymore, so she could only think of another way.

At this time, the little eunuch came in to urge, so Jia Mu and Mrs. Wang bid farewell to Yuanchun, went out of the palace gate, and went to Ningfu to worship their ancestors, and then returned to Rongfu to receive gifts.

After Jia's mother came back, she decided that she would not be able to come to the New Year's Festival for relatives and friends, or gossip with Aunt Xue, or play with Baoyu, Baoqin, Baochai, Tanchun and others, very complacent.

Mrs. Wang and Sister Feng were busy inviting people to eat New Year's wine every day, and the upper courtyard on the east side was full of drama wine, and there was an endless stream of relatives and friends, and it took seven or eight days to finish.

Wang Xifeng was busy these days, on the eighth day of the new year, her body couldn't support it, she fainted once, she still supported herself, and she was bedridden in two days, unable to govern.

When everyone in Jiafu heard this, they all came to visit, and Jia's mother also instructed her to rest and stop worrying about the affairs of the house.

Mrs. Wang was helpless, so she had to take care of all the things at home alone, but without Sister Feng, she suddenly felt like she had lost her arm, and everything was not going well, especially the money was even more difficult.

Wang Xifeng was lying on the bed, her face was sallow, and she explained that there was no money in the public middle school a few years ago, and she barely survived this New Year's festival by making up the dowry, and said that the silver for the purchase of New Year's goods was somewhat dragged and not finished.

Mrs. Wang saw that she was weak to speak, and the room was full of soup and medicine, and she was worried that something would happen to her again, which would affect her reputation, and said that she did not care about her body, and hurriedly held her down, comforted her a few words, and left helplessly.

Wang Xifeng saw her leave and motioned for Ping'er to go out to check.

Not long after, Ping'er came back and said that the second wife had left the hospital.

Wang Xifeng heard this and tore off the Jinpa on her head, sneering, it turned out that she had planned all this years ago, and saw that her dowry had been all recovered, and there was a lot more, so she deliberately concealed the fact that there was no money in the public school, and only arranged the things before the Lantern Festival, and then pretended to be sick and temporarily retreated, and threw this problem to Mrs. Wang.

As soon as the public middle school really ran out of money, it was difficult for the Qiao woman to cook without rice, and she didn't want to continue to make up for this bottomless pit. Second, hand over this mess to Mrs. Wang to see how she solves this problem. Third, take the opportunity to take the opportunity to show your ability and importance. Fourth, I want to take care of my body and concentrate on the affairs of my children.

Mrs. Wang believed in Sister Feng, so she handed over all the things to Sister Feng to do, and now seeing that Sister Feng had left such a big mess, she was busy demolishing the east wall and making up the west wall, but it became more and more unsustainable, and she was exhausted and poor in spirit in a few days, so she found Li Kun, and whenever there was a major event, she advocated it herself, and the rest of the trivial matters should be temporarily ordered to assist Li Kun.

Li Kun adhered to Lu Jing's advice, did not come out of anything, tried to reduce his sense of existence in the Jia family, and tried not to get involved in the affairs of Mrs. Wang, Wang Xifeng and others, so he didn't say much about everything, and only let a few stewards handle it according to the old practice.

Seeing that Li Kun was so soft, the people of the Jia family didn't take her seriously, and they were even more arrogant and arrogant, bullying their superiors and subordinates, and acting recklessly.

Mrs. Wang ordered Tanchun to contract Li Kun to manage it together, but she only said that after a month, Sister Feng had recovered her body and was still handed over to her.

Seeing that Gongzhong was really unsustainable, and that Sister Feng arranged it so properly and luxuriously on the Shangyuan Festival last year, and she couldn't save too much money this year, so she went to the Xue family to borrow money, wanting to arrange it decently.

Mrs. Wang came to Xue's house, took all the maids, and gossiped a little, so she mentioned the matter of borrowing money with Aunt Xue and Xue Baochai.

Aunt Xue and Xue Baochai were silent when they heard this, now the Jia family has owed the Xue family more than 250,000 taels of silver, looking at the current situation of the Jia family, I am afraid that it will be difficult to pay it back, so they all bowed their heads and thought about how to refuse.

Seeing that neither of them spoke, and had the intention of refusing, Mrs. Wang said to Baochai: "A few days ago, I entered the palace to congratulate Niangniang Qianqiu, and Niangniang specially asked about Baoyu's marriage, and I told Niangniang about you and Baoyu, and Niangniang had already nodded and answered. ”

Baochai saw that what Mrs. Wang said this time did not seem to be false, she was shocked, and couldn't help but be secretly anxious, with Lu Jing as a comparison, she had already stopped thinking about marrying Baoyu, but she didn't know how to refuse.

Aunt Xue didn't answer, Mrs. Wang said this more than ten times, every time she came to borrow money, she said it once, but none of them came true.

Mrs. Wang saw that this trick did not work, and thought that Sister Feng could not be a director, so she had a plan, and said to Baochai: "Now Sister Feng can't be a director, and there is no one in the family who can take care of things, your sister-in-law and the third girl can barely maintain, just in time for the festival, there are many things in the garden, and I have no time, your brothers and sisters are young, you are a proper person, just work hard for me for two days, take care of it, you should be familiar with the affairs of the house in advance, and take over the Feng girl in the future." ”

Xue Baochai was worried about the marriage of the concubine, and listened to let her take care of the garden, and there was a hint in her words, so she hurriedly refused: "Thank you aunt for your trust, it's just that Baochai is young, I'm afraid I can't take on this heavy responsibility, and I hope my aunt will forgive me." ”

Mrs. Wang smiled: "It's okay, Feng girl usually has a mistake!" I know all the old women in the garden who sleep during the day, fight cards at night, and eat and drink when they have time. You just look around, and if I have something I can't think of, you can tell me, don't wait for the old lady to ask, I don't have anything to say. If those people don't do something right, you just have to say, if they don't listen, you can come back to me and don't make a big deal. ”

Xue Baochai refused again and again, Mrs. Wang persuaded again and again, and Aunt Xue also persuaded Baochai to agree.

Xue Baochai was helpless, so he had to nod and agree to take care of the garden for Mrs. Wang temporarily.

Aunt Xue was overjoyed when she saw that Mrs. Wang valued Baochai so much, gritted her teeth and lent her 20,000 taels of silver.

After Mrs. Wang left, Aunt Xue asked: "Daughter, your aunt asked you to take care of the garden, why do you still want to refuse, if you marry Baoyu in the future, you will always take over the affairs of the Jia family, and it is good to familiarize yourself with it in advance." ”

Xue Baochai saw that his mother still had the intention of marrying Baoyu, and he couldn't help but feel gloomy, so he had to say frankly: "Baoyu is getting more and more nonsense now, he can't stand up when he is so old, and those maids in his yard don't look like they make trouble every day, and he doesn't care about it." ”

Aunt Xue heard her dissatisfaction with Baoyu, shook her head, and persuaded a few more words, seeing that her daughter's mind was really not on Baoyu, she couldn't help but sigh secretly, worried about her daughter's marriage.

The mother and daughter talked again, and because their minds were not in the same place, the conversation was not very speculative, so they went back to their rooms to rest.