The Qingming Festival on the fifth day of March is Tanchun's birthday, and as expected, not only is there no big event, but also because Li Wan, the housekeeper, is much more frugal than Sister Feng was when she was there, so even the scene when welcoming the Spring Festival and getting hairpin is not as good.
The servant was so aggrieved by Tan Chun that he burst into tears. Tan Chun looked away, calmly accepted Yuanchun's gifts and everyone's birthday gifts, kowtowed to Jia Mu and Mrs. Wang, and then ate with the sisters.
I went to the theater and drank wine, and my expression was more lively than usual.
Due to her filial piety, Xichun could not eat wine or watch a show, so she paid her birthday and went back to her room early. When the little girl Lian Huaer saw her coming back, she hurriedly poured tea over.
Did you know it was from the old year? Is it really so difficult in this mansion? Xichun sneered and didn't mind, and asked Lian Hua'er, "When was this tea?"
Lian Hua'er hurriedly replied: "It's the regular tea just sent from the house."
Xichun nodded and said: "These teas are given to you. You go and make the maple dew tea that Sister Lin gave me."
Lotus thanked him and went to make tea again.
Xichun listened to the sound of opera coming from the garden, looked at the coldness of his room, smiled, turned over the Western painting textbook given by Daiyu, and read: Now it is a day of leisure, but the future is uncertain.
How about it.
Daiyu also went to pay her birthday today. She saw Tanchun's uncharacteristic behavior and said to Lin Zhao when she came back: "Third sister seems to be a different person."
Lin Zhao looked calm and said after a long time: "She is a very smart person, how could she not see clearly the current situation of Jia's family? She probably also knew that her marriage was difficult. I never made any move, because she was afraid that I was a scumbag.
The man became discouraged and had no choice but to resign himself to fate."
After hearing this, Daiyu looked at her brother and felt that she really didn't understand: "Brother, as long as he sends in a word, my sister-in-law can recover her mentality, but why don't you do anything?"
Lin Zhao took a deep breath and said: "Ethics are sometimes illusory, but sometimes they can kill people. Baochai and I are about to get married. If there is any involvement with Tanchun at this time, I will just be called
'Feng Liu', but Tan Chun has no choice but to die to clarify his ambition."
"How could it be?" Daiyu exclaimed and asked: "Now our Lin family is cooking under a fierce fire. Even if the second aunt doesn't like our family, the second uncle will always like it. Isn't he thinking about buying the third girl at a good price?
Is it possible that your Uncle Lin’s power and reputation cannot catch the eye of Jia Xuezheng?”
"If he could see clearly, he wouldn't have wasted decades! The Jia family is over. If I don't want Tan Chunxiang to fade away, I can only wait and see what happens. After the second uncle and second aunt are punished by national law, I can talk to her
lover."
Lin Zhao's face became very heavy.
In fact, the real reason is not stated.
Emperor Xiaode has already begun to reach out to the noble family.
Because the concubines of each family were visiting relatives, the financial resources of each established family were greatly consumed. In the past two or three years, they had become accustomed to extravagance and almost couldn't make ends meet.
It can be said that there is only a poor frame left, and it will fall down with a slight push.
Therefore, Emperor Xiaode's move to "eliminate the feudal vassalage" was imminent.
The signal was the financial meeting convened by the emperor in Wenyuan Pavilion the day after he returned.
Before the fall of the Jia family, Emperor Xiaode did not allow Lin Zhao to interfere in the Rongguo Mansion.
And he also believed that Lin Zhao could not only see this clearly, but also tell his parents not to interfere.
Therefore, at this juncture, it would be inappropriate for Lin Zhao to even think about becoming one with Tanchun.
Daiyu sighed and said, "Third sister is really delayed."
Lin Zhaodao: "When you go back to see her, tell her that for the sake of our lifelong happiness, waiting for change is the best attitude."
Daiyu nodded and sighed after a long time.
Although she sympathized with Tanchun, she could not hate the instigator, Emperor Xiaode.
People treat the Lin family well.
Lin Ruhai was first a high-ranking official in the Salt Administration, then the governor of Shandong, and now he is going to Beijing to serve as the Minister of Household Affairs.
His elder brother is now the Commander-in-Chief of the Left Army of the Imperial Guard, a well-known first-class official.
He was betrothed to the young, handsome, gentle and humble Prince Heng.
The royal family has been very good to the Lin family.
They just requested this at this juncture and did not want any further communication between Lin Zhao and the girl from Rongguo Mansion.
So Daiyu really couldn't say anything more.
A few days later, news suddenly came out from Jia's house that Baoyu was engaged.
The other girl is not a high-ranking official.
It turned out to be Xia Jingui from the famous imperial merchant Osmanthus Xia family.
It turns out that some time ago, Mrs. Wang took Baoyu to the Wang family in Dong'an County for a banquet, and met the Xia family's mother and daughter who came to the banquet.
So under the manipulation of a thoughtful person, and after a series of "coincidences", Baoyu accepted a purse sent by Xia Jingui.
Coincidentally, all the female relatives of the princes and ministers saw it.
At this point, Mrs. Wang just didn't want to accept it, and there was nothing she could do.
And after she inquired about the situation of Osmanthus Xia's family, she felt very willing.
The Xia family is an imperial merchant family listed in the Ministry of Household Affairs, and is one of the largest families. The family is extremely wealthy. They are a big landowner and rich man in the capital. Not to mention the rest of the land, there are only dozens of hectares of land to grow sweet-scented osmanthus.
All the osmanthus bureaus outside the city of Chang'an belong to the Xia family, and even the bonsais displayed in the palace are tributes from the Xia family, so they are called the "Osmanthus Xia family".
The Osmanthus Xia family has a great reputation. In the city of Chang'an, everyone from the princes to the businessmen knows it. When it comes to the name of the Osmanthus Xia family, both Ning and Rong also know it. The Xia family has a monopoly on the palace.
All the bonsais are displayed in the palace, and the top imperial merchants manage all the osmanthus bureaus in and outside Chang'an. Like the weaving bureau that supplies fabrics to the palace, the osmanthus bureau is an imperial merchant yamen affiliated with Fengchenyuan of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and specializes in supplying fabrics to the palace.
There are three flower bonsai and weaving bureaus, and the Xia family manages all the osmanthus bureaus. All bonsai displays in the palace are monopolized by the Xia family. The Xia family is even more powerful than Jiangning Weaving.
Xia Jingui was born like a flower and a jade, she was a complete beauty, and she was quite literate. Her literary talent was very outstanding among women, both internally and externally.
What's even better is that the Xia family is not only a wealthy family with millions of dollars, but also has no sons. The heir is a grandson. All the family wealth will be given to the daughter as a dowry to the son-in-law's family and passed on to the grandson. Whoever marries
Arriving at Xia Jingui means getting the Xia family's millions of wealth and illustrious family fortune for free.
From this perspective, Xia Jingui's family background and appearance are very perfect and impeccable. At the time of the marriage, the Xia family had no sons, and all the family property belonged to the son-in-law and future grandson. With Xia Jingui bringing a million-dollar dowry,
She must marry into a higher-status family, and the Xia family is already one of the richest families in the household department. Xia Jingui's personal conditions are excellent, so the person who can marry Xia Jingui must be extremely powerful and prominent.
An extremely wealthy and aristocratic home.
After inquiring about this situation, Mrs. Wang did not discuss it with Jia's mother at all. She just gave Jia Zheng a gust of wind when he returned to the capital: The Rongguo Mansion cannot make ends meet. It owes more than one million taels of silver to the Ministry of Revenue, not to mention the public treasury. It's almost a race. If this continues, without huge capital injections, the Rongguo Mansion will fail.
Without the sign of Rongguofu, what else can the second master of Rongguofu do?
Jia Zheng was selected for academic administration and wanted to make a difference, but he was not a second-ranked Jinshi, so he was repeatedly ostracized by local academic officials and became disgraced. He also wanted to save some face.
At this time, the Xia family's millions of assets dazzled his eyes.
So Mrs. Wang immediately sent a message to the palace, and soon asked the virtuous concubine to issue an edict to give Baoyu and Xia Jingui a marriage. There were even four words in the edict: "Golden Jade and Good Marriage".
In the Lin Mansion, Daiyu, Baoqin, Xichun, Miaoyu, Yinglian and others couldn't help being stunned when they heard what Sister Feng said: "It's not that we haven't made a decision after so long, why did it only take a few days? , you suddenly said you were going to get married?"