Uncle Lai in the Red Chamber

Chapter 136
Things went against expectations, when Lai Shangrong made all preparations, invited Xiu Mu, and planned to show off his talent in front of all the golden hairpins.

The reward for disaster relief came unexpectedly.

Leaving aside cement, the work-for-relief policy alone is a big achievement.

Flood control and disaster relief have always been important matters for the imperial court, and no one deliberately ignored them this time.

Lai Shangrong was promoted two levels in a row, directly surpassing Yuan Wai Lang and being promoted to Lang Zhong.

Of course, since the head doctor is still Qin Ye, there is a supplementary professor in front of him, which is roughly equivalent to the "generation" under the modern system.

She had just been promoted to the position of doctor, so it was not easy to ask for leave immediately. Fortunately, Mrs. Wang made up her mind to take advantage of him, so she delayed it for six or seven days.

Fortunately, the winter snow this year came later than in previous years. It has not yet fallen in mid-November.

Otherwise, if the road is slippery in the snow, Jia Mu may not agree to Daiyu and others walking together in the snow.

Li Wan felt uncomfortable because he had not seen Lai Shangrong for a long time. When he learned that he was going to visit the garden to inscribe a plaque, he used the excuse of showing Jia Lan to see him and went with him.

Knowing the discord between Lai Shangrong and Jia Zhen, Jia Zhen was not invited to the scene. Jia's mother told Jia Lian to accompany her, which undoubtedly disrupted Wang Xifeng's plan to accompany her. She did not want to meet Jia Lian, so she pretended to be ill temporarily.

Lai Shangrong met everyone at Rongqing Hall, and Xiangling took the opportunity to deliver Ginseng Yangrong Pills before they all rushed to the Grand View Garden.

The main gate had to wait until the wedding ceremony in Yuanchun before it could be opened wide. Jia Lian, Baoyu, Jia Lan and a group of gold hairpins entered the garden through the corner gate.

The tour of the garden roughly followed the route of the seventeenth chapter of the original book. The inscribed plaque has to wait for Yuanchun's final confirmation, so it is just a record.

Lai Shangrong only played some tricks during the garden tour. Everywhere he went, he would always talk about whose temperament this yard matched.

The subconscious is a very strange thing. When Yuanchun orders everyone to move into the Grand View Garden, they will inevitably think of what Lai Shangrong said today.

As long as it corresponds to the place of residence you choose, there will always be an unspeakable feeling. This is why Lai Shangrong specially invited them to accompany him.

Since he had made a promise to Li Wan and treated Jia Lan as his son, of course he had to take a few more exams.

Jia Lan is indeed up to his standards. Although he doesn't have any amazing answers, he responds in a moderate and orderly manner. His performance at such a young age has already amazed many golden girls.

Li Wan looked at him with eyes that made him want to shed tears.

However, she wanted to avoid suspicion and couldn't move forward. She could only follow behind silently, unlike Tanchun who could ask questions openly.

"Brother Lai! How did you come up with the idea of ​​providing work-for-relief?"

Tanchun was familiar with the Di's newspaper and was familiar with the important affairs of the court. In the past, due to her daughter's family status, she could only read the Di's newspaper and secretly pondered in her heart how she would deal with this.

This time, I had the opportunity to meet the person who made the decree, so I naturally wanted to have a good discussion.

"Everyone is responsible for the rise and fall of the world, let alone my generation of scholars!"

Lai Shangrong expressed his compassion and sighed: "In the past, disaster relief only involved giving out porridge and food. However, this method has many disadvantages. Transporting large quantities of money and food for people to chew, not to mention the losses on the way, is more likely to breed. Corruption.

Moreover, there are many cases of fraudulent claims and repeated receipts of rice grains distributed. However, although victims of work-for-relief relief need to work, they can support themselves and their families through labor. Those who are not short of food have no way to falsely claim the rice grains. "

Tanchun pondered for a moment and said: "There are countless famous officials in the past dynasties, why has no one thought of this method?"

Lai Shangrong laughed and said lightly: "It's not necessarily that no one thought of it, but even if they thought of it, they wouldn't be able to achieve the current results when implemented."

"Why is this?"

"After all, the number of people needed to build the dam is limited, and the more people the court hires, the more money and food will be transported, and problems such as loss and corruption will inevitably arise. This time, the cement factory requires a large amount of labor, and private merchants share most of it. Pressure. Although it costs a lot of money to buy cement, building dams already costs money and food, and disaster relief saves a fortune. In fact, the court actually saved a lot of money!"

"I didn't expect that Brother Lai is not only good at making money, but also has such attainments in economics! I heard from my brother that Brother Lai was promoted to two levels this time, and he actually became a doctor?"

Baochai couldn't bear it anymore after hearing this, and stepped forward, guarding Lai Shangrong with Tanchun on the left and right.

"Fame and fame are like floating clouds to me, and money is nothing but an external possession. Whether I get promoted or not is secondary. As long as I can save one more common person, that's good too!"

Lai Shangrong made a full gesture, and Jia Lian also echoed.

"If Brother Lai uses the cement business to make money, he will only be able to make a small fortune!" As they spoke, everyone came to Daoxiang Village. Lai Shangrong pretended to look around, chanting the plaques and couplets he knew by heart, and then As usual, I took Jialan's exam once.

Looking at Lai Shangrong, who was high-spirited and chatting and laughing in front of him, Baoyu only felt very aggrieved.

He made a lot of preparations for this garden trip, but every time he arrived at a place, as soon as an idea came to his mind, Lai Shangrong was the first to say what he was thinking.

The last two sentences were sad, but the title question and the couplet were very suitable for the occasion, and they were indistinguishable from what I was thinking. For a while, I couldn't fault it, so I could only follow me gloomily.

Just looking at Lai Shangrong who was making a big show in front of him, the resentment in his heart became stronger.

Until Xiangling, who was holding Daiyu on her arm, looked at Lai Shangrong with admiration and sighed: "Looking at the scenery in the garden, I also have a lot of thoughts, but I want to speak, but I am short of words. The uncle has been here all the way. , every time I take a look at it, I can recite words and phrases that suit the occasion, it’s really fascinating!”

Daiyu smiled and said: "Your uncle is naturally good!"

These words were meant to make fun of Xiang Ling. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but in Baoyu's ears it was a different story.

Just thinking that Daiyu is like Baochai and Tanchun, when she glanced at Lai Shangrong, she felt suffocated in her chest. He has always been favored by thousands of people and attracted everyone's attention. How has he ever experienced such neglect?
After all, it is the nature of a child. At this moment, he only wants to compete for the limelight, but he is always a little slower.

Then, with a sudden heart, he used his usual trick to take out the jade from his arms.

He yelled: "What kind of crap, you still say 'psychic' and not 'psychic'! Let people take the lead, I'll smash you!"

Shouting, he threw the psychic jade in his hand to the ground.

He had tried this method of breaking jade to attract attention time and time again, and this time was no exception. Except for Lai Shangrong, Qingwen, and Xiang Ling, everyone else quickly surrounded him, urging and pulling.

Of course, although Li Wan could not stand alone and could only follow the others, he could not help but secretly glance at Lai Shangrong.

Although Baoyu didn't say it clearly, everyone could tell that he was expressing dissatisfaction with Lai Shangrong.

After he made such a fuss, everyone no longer wanted to visit the park.

Jia Lian was ordered by Jia Mu to take care of Baoyu and the sisters. He clearly distinguished the priorities, and the sisters were second. The main thing was to take good care of Baoyu, the precious baby.

When something as big as breaking jade happened, Mrs. Jia had no choice but to ask about the reason. She even gave him a few words of reprimand, but he had no choice but to reply.

"I'll take Baoyu back first! Let's follow Shang Rong and visit the remaining places!"

"We won't go shopping anymore!"

Everyone who was chatting and laughing with Lai Shangrong just now refused to stay any longer.

It's not that they all care about Baoyu, but at this time, Lai Shangrong, the culprit, is still with him, so I'm afraid it won't be good for Jia Mu.

Jia Lian looked forward and backward, feeling quite embarrassed when he saw Li Wan standing absentmindedly outside the circle.

He tentatively said, "Although Shang Rong is not an outsider, it would be rude for everyone to go back. Besides, there are still a few plaques that my wife told me about. Why don't we trouble my sister-in-law to accompany Shang Rong to visit the remaining places?"

Li Wan was secretly happy in his heart, but deliberately showed an embarrassed look on his face. He hesitated for a while and said: "Lian Er, you go ahead! Uncle Lai is Lan'er's master, so I have no reason to refuse!"

Watching everyone leaving with a cheer, Lai Shangrong and Li Wan turned around, only to realize that Jia Lan was still following behind them.

Lai Shangrong was hesitating on how to send Jia Lan away when he heard Li Wan say: "Lan'er, go back and take a closer look. I'm afraid your Uncle Bao will be angry with your master. Don't let him say anything bad in front of the old lady!"

"Eh!"

"Wait a minute! I'm with you! If you don't live up to your expectations, and you still arrange things for me, I want to see if he dares to say it in front of me!"

Qingwen was eager to protect the Lord and hurriedly called Jia Lan to stop.

"Qingwen is a charcoal, you should follow her and watch her!"

Following the slope to the north of Daoxiang Village, the three of them came to the rockery, then went around the back of the mountain and submerged themselves into the rockery.

(End of this chapter)