Lai Dagong stood beside Jia Zheng with his waist bowed respectfully, his voice was moderate, his tone was extremely sincere, and his expression was extremely submissive.
.
Jia Zheng hates talking about money.
So vulgar! So vulgar! So vulgar!
Originally, he arrived at the ministry early today and wanted to go home as soon as he nodded. He only wanted to return to the small study room of Mengpo Zhai and talk about romantic and elegant things with his disciples.
Who would have expected that just as Jia Zheng was about to walk to the gate of the Yamen of the Ministry of Industry, he would be invited back by the governor's clerk - the Minister of Industry called everyone for a meeting.
This kind of official meeting is the most boring. After all, isn’t it all about the Ministry of Industry’s insufficient budget? There is a lack of money to build palaces, a lack of money to build royal tombs, a lack of money to build rivers, and water conservancy projects. Money, money, money, money
He kept talking and annoyed Jia Zheng to death.
We stayed up until almost noon, and everyone said a lot of nice nonsense. In the end, we couldn't decide what to say. Because the Lord Minister had a reception at noon and business for the rest of the day, we finally let everyone disperse.
Go.
When Jia Zheng returned to the house, he first went to say hello to his mother. Jia's mother was talking to her granddaughters, so she only let Yuanyang come out and say no, and Jia Zheng went straight to Aunt Zhao's house.
Listening to Aunt Zhao chatting about random things, although it was not elegant enough, it still made Jia Zheng feel a lot more relaxed both physically and mentally.
However, Aunt Zhao also talked about the old lady's treatment of her mother-in-law gambling at night. As soon as Jia Zheng heard the word "money", he suddenly felt tacky and frowned fiercely.
When Aunt Zhao saw her, she immediately stopped talking. The topic changed to the matter of listening to the God-rewarding Opera on the Ghost Festival. Jia Zhengcai raised his eyebrows again and said with relief:
"When it comes to listening to operas, it's still the melodious and melodious Shuimo accent from the south. I know you're impatient to listen to it. It's because you don't understand..."
Aunt Zhao knew in her heart that Jia Zheng loved to show off his knowledge in front of her, so she listened to him patiently while deliberately saying stupid things in village dialect.
Only in this way will Jia Zheng dislike her and love her at the same time.
.
The two of them were talking animatedly when the butler Lai Da arrived.
After all, Jia Zheng was the head of the Rongguo Mansion, so even though he was tired of worldly affairs, he had no choice but to call him in.
As a result, as soon as Lai Da came in, he greeted Jia Zheng and then talked about "money".
.
Jia Zhengqiang listened patiently, but his mind was already far away.
Why can’t you avoid these common people?
Are you going to let people live?
When I go home, I can talk about elegance with a group of Qingke literati. I can talk about calligraphy and painting with Zhan Guang, who is good at painting exquisite balconies, and Cheng Rixing, who is good at meticulous ladies. I can talk about calligraphy and painting with Shan Pinren and Bu Guxiu, who are good at music and music.
Regarding music theory, although neither of them has actually put pen to paper or actually played the piano, as a literati, you don't have to do it, just talk, and talking will be elegant.
Once this metaphysical thing is put into practice, you have to have real talent and practical knowledge, which will be difficult.
I regret that I cannot live like a scholar like Su Dongpo. He read thousands of books and traveled thousands of miles. His exports were splendid articles and splashes of ink were gorgeous paintings. He was a scholar and refined scholar in his dealings. He acted smartly and sang and drank gracefully. Although he was unrestrained,
But everyone admires his noble sentiments,
Jia Zheng dreamed that he could find a place that was elegant and refined, where he could study on moonlit nights, make tea and play the harp in a place where vanilla was everywhere. All he thought and did every day were chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry and song, which was elegant and special.
Elegance, what a free and elegant life that is.
How come you are so tacky with "money, money, money" every day?
Annoying, really annoying.
.
"Master, now that things have come to this, this is still a solution. Why do we have to let the queen's provincial residence be built quickly?"
"Ah? Oh, that's the truth."
Jia Zhengfang just sat upright with a serious face. In fact, he was so distracted that he didn't hear what Lai Da said at all. At this time, he just answered smoothly and casually.
"Uncle Zhen didn't dare to tell the master what he was saying, so the younger one dared to tell the master for him and asked the master to make a decision."
Lai Da has been following Jia Zheng for decades and has a thorough understanding of Jia Zheng's temperament. He just glanced at Jia Zheng's eyes and knew that the master was already thinking about something irrelevant. So he took the opportunity to quickly say everything he wanted to say. At this time, seeing that Jia Zheng had understood, Lai Dada stopped talking about the business and respectfully asked Jia Zheng to make the final decision.
Sure enough, as he expected, Jia Zheng had a serious look on his face, waved his hands and said:
"In that case, let's do as you say.
We must remember the great grace of God and the kindness of our ancestors. We are loyal heirs. We must not act in a flamboyant manner, do not act in a big way, do not be arrogant, and must not betray our ancestors and forget our roots.
You must work diligently, take appropriate measures, implement thoroughly, unite closely, have unified ideas, overcome all difficulties, and persevere..."
When Lai Da heard "I will do as you say," he knew that his goal today had been achieved.
All that's left is to act submissive and listen to Jia Zheng telling some stereotypes with a straight face. Then Lai Da can kowtow and go out, and then rush to Jia Zhen to say this, and the big deal will be eighty percent.
.
Sure enough, Jia Zheng kept talking for half a cup of tea before he finished the lesson.
When Lai Dajian was about to kowtow and go out, Jia Zheng suddenly asked:
"By the way, why did Zhen'er tell you something, but you didn't tell Lian Er?"
Lai Da took the opportunity and said:
"Second Master Lian has been promoted to the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture. He is very busy with official affairs, and now he can't take care of the affairs of our house. It seems..."
As expected, Jia Zheng immediately asked:
"What does it look like? Tell me quickly, a gentleman is open-minded, is there anything he is hiding that cannot be said?"
Lai Da took two more steps forward, approached Jia Zheng, and said with a worried look on his face:
"I heard that Second Master Lian is now prosperous, so he kept trying to persuade the First Master to take back the title property given to the Second Fang.
Recently, because Second Grandma Lian is having her confinement period, Miss Third and Miss Bao are in charge of the affairs of the back house, so Second Master Lian has gone into battle on his own, only running to the old lady every day and trying to make her happy, just to lead the way for the eldest master." Jia Zheng knew that Jia Mu had always favored him, so he didn't care much about Lai Da's words. He only asked one thing:
"What are these words?
The title of 'Miss San' is correct, instead of 'Miss Xue', what is the title of 'Miss Bao'?
Our ladies always live deep in their boudoirs and never appear in public. Their boudoir names are just the names of the inner maids, and they must be very obscure outside. How did it spread to the outside world?
What etiquette is this?!
Do you still want the family tradition of my Jia family?!
Do you still need the face of your ancestors?!"
The more he talked, the angrier he became. Jia Zheng slapped his hands on the table several times, with an angry look on his face.
Lai Da didn't expect that Jia Zheng suddenly got angry over this trivial matter, and hurriedly knelt down and replied:
"Master, don't be angry, it's not that our Jia family doesn't abide by etiquette.
When this sister from Aunt Xue’s family came to our house, she ordered the whole family to call her ‘Miss Bao’.
When we saw that it was my wife’s order, we just thought that this was the etiquette of the Xue family, so we had no choice but to obey it, so we kept calling it that way.”
"Scholars, farmers, industry and commerce, indeed 'business' makes sense in the end." Jia Zheng frowned and said, "The "Book of Rites" says: 'Men and women are not known to each other unless they have a matchmaker.' This is not a bad thing. There is no marriage contract.
There was no matchmaker, so she knew the name first!
When the names of these boudoir daughters spread out and they are gossiped about by shameless villains, where can I put the face of my Jia family?!"
Lai Dazheng was about to persuade him again when he suddenly heard Yu Chuan'er's timid voice coming from outside the door: