The first day of September in the fifth year of Longyuan.

Although half a month has passed since the Mid-Autumn Festival, the whole Dali Temple seems to have still not recovered from the slack state. After breakfast this morning, the various rooms were discussing either romance or the Double Ninth Festival.

It wasn't until the officers distributed the summer newspapers they had purchased that all the officials unanimously changed the topic.

"That's what I said."

A Qipin Shishi shook the newspaper in his hand, flicked the headline on the second page, and said proudly: "The matter of Guangyan Gong [Mei Hanlin's character] righteously renunciating, there was no issue in the August 15th issue.

If you catch up, this issue will definitely be worth writing about."

A colleague took a few glances, shook his head and said with a smile: "The Xue family is really unlucky. A while ago, several tabloids tried their best to catch people's stories, and they almost posted the travel plans of Jiao Shun and Miss Xue's family.

Now it has finally calmed down, and this has heated up the summer newspapers again."

"otherwise."

As soon as he finished speaking, someone immediately sang the opposite tune: "For this matter, the emperor personally issued a decree to grant marriage to the Xue family. With such great grace, what else can't be overcome? But the boy from the Xue family refused to comply.

Rao, Dali Temple, the Inspectorate, the Ministry of Rites, the Hanlin Academy, Shuntian Mansion—all the places in the capital that could be complained were referred to him!"

This statement was immediately echoed by many people. Regardless of the difference between the Xue family's first bedroom and the second bedroom, they all despised the Xue family for being so good at getting an advantage.

This is not surprising. Among those who can serve as mid-level officials in Dali Temple, who is not a direct beneficiary of the imperial examination system? You don’t have to ask where your butt is.

While they were discussing, they suddenly heard a commotion in the front yard, as if someone was crying, shouting and acting violently.

Someone who wanted to do something good went out to investigate, and after a while he came back and gloated: "Who do you think is making trouble? It's the descendant of the Xue family!"

Some people wondered: "It's not like he's never been here before, and he hasn't seen such a big commotion?"

"Isn't this just a coincidence?"

The person who was inquiring about the news patted the newspaper and said, "He was working as a bench in the reception room, but for some reason he saw the article in the newspaper, and he went crazy with anger."

Only then did everyone suddenly realize.

Most of them started to gloat over the misfortune, and some of them sympathized with Xue Biao, but they didn't dare to show it because of the general situation.

Just like that, the noise continued in the front yard for a quarter of an hour before the superior officer gave the order to drive the scorpion out.

Everyone just thought that the matter was over, and after a few words they changed the subject.

The one said that King Zhongshun had a quarrel with the King of Nan'an in the street yesterday, and the other said that in order to "promote" bicycles, the emperor deliberately introduced Western breeches in the palace - the tight-fitting children's style.

He also said that a certain well-known chief minister, when he left Beijing at the end of last month, took with him more than a dozen foot-warming maids. There is no need to say more about the others. Everyone who understands understands, and even those who don’t understand don’t understand.

I was talking enthusiastically, but I didn't want to make a fuss again in front of me.

When I went out to inquire about it, I found that the troublemaker was still Xue Biao, but this time he was not complaining about injustice, but wanted to get his luggage back at Dali Temple.

The petty officials who had just been responsible for driving them all expressed in unison that they had not seen Xue Biao's luggage, and Xue Biao insisted that it must have been left in the Yamen.

The conversation went off the rails twice, and the quarrel inevitably started again.

When the officials in the duty room heard about the cause and effect, most of them suspected that it was the minor officials who were causing trouble. After all, this kind of thing has never happened before.

But doubts are doubts, and no stupid young man would stand up to support Xue Biao.

This matter went on for half an hour. As there were more and more people watching outside, Xue Biao was unwilling to let him go. Finally, he was allowed to come in and look for it. As expected, he gained nothing and lost a lot of money.

ridicule.

Xue Biao naturally refused to give up, claiming that the package contained not only more than two thousand taels of silver notes, but also the general ledgers of the stores in the north of the Xue family, as well as the essays and notes he never left behind.

It’s just the former and the latter. If we lose the ledger, we don’t know how much property we will lose.

So after leaving the house, I went to Shuntian Mansion to report the case and request a thorough investigation of the matter. I didn't even wait for the petition to be handed over, and immediately beat the drum of Shuntian Mansion.

Things naturally got serious now.

Various newspapers published articles in the summer edition, and they originally thought of doing a series of reports to stir things up. Now that something like this has happened, how can there be no reason not to increase their efforts?

As a result, I came to the pillow when I was dozing off. Several newspapers had submitted articles. Each article was brilliant and conclusive. Although I was anonymous, it was not difficult to guess from the details that this must be Mei Hanlin's classmate and friend.

done.

Each newspaper is a literati, so they are naturally happy to open the door to them. Even if there are some flaws in them, they turn a blind eye and ignore them.

There was a commotion outside, but inside the Rongguo Mansion it was a different scene.

Although Wang Xifeng's birthday celebration was far less grand than Jia Mu's, as the saying goes, the county magistrate is not as good as the current manager. What's more, Wang Xifeng has always been strict and harsh, so she naturally put a lot of effort into everything, lest she find any mistakes.

However, Wang Xifeng's thoughts were not on this. She had received a message from the Xing family early in the morning, and she had basically determined that it was Jia She who had leaked the secret.

As for the reason...

It seems that he has restrained himself due to illness recently, so he had to vent his anger through gambling. As a result, he owed a bunch of foreign debt in the past ten days and had to pay for it. As for the long-term gains, he naturally couldn't care about it.

So after roughly finishing the important housework in the morning, Wang Xifeng hurried to the Qingtang thatched cottage. Firstly, she wanted to report the progress of the investigation to Mrs. Wang, and secondly, she also wanted to urge Mrs. Wang to make up her mind as soon as possible, measure the material resources of the Rong Mansion, and marry Jiao.

Happy.

In this way, she would be able to fall into his trap.

Unexpectedly, after arriving at Qingtang Thatched Cottage, they unexpectedly missed it. Caixia, who stayed at home due to unwellness, said that it seemed that Uncle Xue's marriage had made progress, so the wife and Aunt Xue drove Jian Cong back to her parents' home.

This caught Wang Xifeng a little off guard.

As he walked to the front yard angrily, he accidentally bumped into Lin Zhixiao's family. He took her to a quiet place and reported to her in a low voice: "Let someone inquire about the matter between the master, the old lady, and the Jiao family."

, but what does godmother mean?"

Wang Xifeng was stunned for a moment and wondered: "What kind of inquiry? Who wants to inquire?"

"I knew it wasn't what you meant!"

Lin Zhixiao's family slapped their thighs: "I don't know who made the announcement. They are asking about these things secretly in many places!"

Although she didn't say it explicitly, the only ones who could bypass Wang Xifeng and investigate their master were the Lai and Lin families.

Since Lin Zhixiao's family is here to make a debut, it can only be...

But Wang Xifeng was still a little puzzled and said inexplicably: "Why is he checking all this?"

"this……"

Lin Zhixiao's family had obviously done enough homework. They pretended to think about it for a while, and then said: "I heard that the Lai family wanted to follow Uncle Jiao's path and get his eldest son to be an official in the Ministry of Industry. At the beginning, the two families

But how can Uncle Jiao, who has a big grudge, be willing to comply with his empty words?"

Wang Xifeng nodded suddenly, and Danfeng's eyes unconsciously overflowed with evil spirits.

In her opinion, Lai Da must have heard some rumors, so he wanted to take advantage of Jiao Shun's hand, so as to find a future for his son.

To put it into perspective, that thing actually came out of nowhere.

The scary thing is that I didn’t pull out the carrot and had to dig out the mud first!

The Lai family is deeply entrenched in the Rongguo Mansion, and their hands and eyes are all over the place. If they accidentally discover the affair between themselves and Jiao Shun...

No!

This disaster must be eliminated!

She sent Lin Zhixiao's family, but the more she thought about it, the more uneasy she felt, so she returned home and hurriedly told Ping'er what had happened, and then sent her to Jiao's family to ask for advice.

Unexpectedly, Ping'er went to Jiao's house, but failed.

After a quick glance, it turned out that he had taken Xing Xiuyan with him to the garden to keep an appointment.

Today was the highlight of the little composition project, and Jiao Shun could still control it, but all the warblers and swallows in the garden were inevitably flustered and short of breath, so they specially invited him to do the Dinghai Shenzhen.

Ping'er had no choice but to find the garden in a hurry again.

Not caring about any taboos, he directly invited Jiao Shun out from the Champs Elysees and found a quiet place to talk about the matter in detail.

Jiao Shun frowned even after hearing this.

He originally wanted to entice the Lai family to spend more money, and then to stop them, causing the Lai family to lose their wives and soldiers.

Who would have thought that Lai Da secretly had two plans!

"What Second Grandma means..."

Seeing that Jiao Shun was silent, Ping'er whispered again: "It's best to get rid of it once and for all!"

Tsk~

This is easy to say, but how easy is it to completely eradicate the Lai family?

After all, Jiao Shun is an outsider. To achieve this, everyone in the Rongguo Mansion must take the initiative.

However, four generations of their family have been in power in the Rongguo Mansion, and they have many handles under their hands. They can just pay it off in normal times. If it comes to a life-or-death situation, who knows what will be revealed?

Based on this incident alone, it would be difficult for everyone in the Rongguo Mansion to reach a unified opinion.

In particular, Jiao Shun and Jia Zheng have turned against each other now, and it is extremely difficult to succeed in trying to provoke them.

but……

If we change our thinking, this matter may not be unsolvable.

Jiao Shun had an idea in his mind, which was to take advantage of the situation and take advantage of the fact that the Lai family was bent on seeking official positions. He would simply imitate the old story of his own family's deregistration and split up the entire Lai family.

This way, it won't be a dead end.

However, the specifics of how to implement it are still lacking for the time being, and it requires careful consideration before making a decision.

So Jiao said by the way: "Let me think about it, won't she celebrate her birthday tomorrow? Then we will find a chance to meet in person..."

Halfway through the sentence, he suddenly changed his words: "Forget it, it's better not to take any risks at this juncture. Just ask her to wait for my news."

Ping'er naturally had nothing to say.

After Jiao Shun watched her leave, he returned to the Champs Elysees.

Just because there are things hidden in my heart, I am not as good at dancing and eloquent words as I was just now.

When the girls saw this, they all became a little uneasy.

After exchanging glances with each other, Shi Xiangyun took the initiative to inquire: "Brother Jiao, but, something went wrong outside?"

"Um?"

Jiao Shun was stunned for a moment, then he quickly smiled and said: "It's not that, it's my sister-in-law who has other tasks - just don't worry, I've been with Brother Xue for two special drills, and besides, he's also a

A shrewd person who has seen the world will never make any mistakes."

The girls breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing that he was absent-minded, they did not disturb him any more. For a while, the Champs Elysees became quiet.

Because Xue Baoqin and Jiao Shun had a very pleasant conversation just now, Lin Daiyu unconsciously thought of the "concurrent" thing again, and she was stunned for a moment.

Shi Xiangyun and Xing Xiuyan came together, biting their ears and not knowing what they were communicating.

Xue Baochai was a little absent-minded from the beginning, and his mind was full of his brother's marriage. After settling with Baoyu, this was the only top priority for the Xue family. If these two matters were settled, the Xue family would

No more worries.

only……

When Xianggui thought this way, instead of feeling satisfied, she felt a little empty.

Xue Baoqin, who was rarely alone, looked at Jiao Shun furtively and put his hands into his sleeves from time to time, with hope in his eyes but uneasiness hidden on his face.

She knew in her heart that she and Jiao Shun were destined to be destined for each other, and the best way to deal with it was to pretend as if nothing had happened and then forget about each other.

But she doesn't have that kind of temperament.

After thinking about it for the past two days, I sewed a sachet with my own hands, thinking of replacing it with something else so that they could be thinking about each other.

However, this is almost the same as showing off one's feelings. Even though Bao Qin is a bold and free-spirited person, he can't help but feel his palms sweating when he touches the door.

…………

at the same time.

Mrs. Wang and Aunt Xue were traveling in the same car. They were supposed to discuss Xue Pan's marriage first, but because of the previous incident, they both didn't know how to speak.

One lowered his head and the other silently counted the beads.

In the end, it was Mrs. Wang who spoke first: "Have you thought about that clearly?"

"this……"

Aunt Xue hesitated, neither nodding nor shaking her head, wishing she could bury her face in two mountains.

"Alas~"

Mrs. Wang's reaction to her sister was not surprising. If she had a decisive temper, she would have been living with Jiao Shun for a long time. How could she delay it until now?

But without this big bargaining chip, what could he do to win over Jiao Shun?

You can't...

Thinking of the confused dream last night, Mrs. Wang couldn't help but feel her face getting hot. Fortunately, Aunt Xue didn't dare to raise her head, otherwise how could she cover this small space?

In a panic, she quickly changed the subject: "You have seen the Xia family's mother and daughter, but you don't know if you saw anything?"

Aunt Xue secretly breathed a sigh of relief when her sister took the initiative to change the topic, but then she wondered: "What did you see?"

"Why is her family in such a hurry to get married?"

Seeing her confused look, Mrs. Wang had no choice but to clarify her words: "They say it's a good marriage that fell from the sky, but what is Wenlong's reputation... Not only did the Xia family take the initiative to contact us, but now they are urging us to make it before the end of the year."

When it comes to getting married, I always feel like there's something fishy about it."

"Baochai was also suspicious of this."

Aunt Xue hurriedly explained: "But I have already met her. She is a very well-educated and sensible girl. She is well-mannered and well-spoken, and her appearance and figure are not outstanding. She must be an orphan and a widowed mother, and she is anxious to find someone to rely on."

maybe."
Chapter completed!