Uncle Lai in the Red Chamber

Chapter 285 A Strong Man's Difficulty Mei Hanlin
While Lai Shangrong was busy expressing condolences, Xue Biao came to Mei's house with gifts.

He handed over the greeting card and was led into the side hall.

After drinking two cups of tea, an elegant-looking middle-aged man wearing Hanlin uniform walked in.

He quickly stood up and bowed, "Mei Shibo!"

Although he has never met Mei Gong, he is wearing Hanlin uniform and there will be no other people in Mei's house.

Mei Gong waved her hand and said kindly: "Nephew Xue Xian, you don't need to be polite. How is your father?"

In ancient times, transportation was inconvenient and information was poor, so Mei Gong did not know that Xue Biao's father had passed away.

Xue Biao said with a sad face: "Reporting to Uncle, my father passed away last month."

"What? Is Brother Xue gone?" Mei Gong lost her voice and said, "My condolences to nephew Xue Xian!"

Then he lowered his face, looked at him and said solemnly: "Your father just died of illness, why don't you stay at home to observe mourning, but wander around?"

Xue Biao bowed again and said: "Reporting to Shibo, my nephew is staying at home to observe filial piety. This time he is going to Beijing in compliance with his father's order."

After hearing that she was following her father's orders, Mei Gong's expression softened.

Fu Xu sighed: "Oh! That's understandable. If we finish things like this and go back early, will there be a place to stay in the capital?"

"Back to Uncle Shi, my eldest aunt is also in the capital and lives in Rongguo Mansion. My sister and I are also staying there temporarily."

"Huh? Rongguo Mansion? But the former member of the Ministry of Industry, Wailang, lives in Duke Zhou's house?"

Hearing that he lived in Rongguo Mansion, Mei Gong didn't even notice that Xue Baoqin also came to the capital.

"It's Mr. Zheng's house. My eldest aunt and Mr. Zheng's wife are biological sisters, so they live there."

"Hey! How many floors are there? If the nephew has nowhere to stay, he will move to the mansion. Why live in someone else's house."

Speaking of this, I suddenly remembered that Xue Biao was traveling with his sister. Ancient times were different from modern times. Even if there was a marriage contract, it was impossible to live in the husband's house before getting married.

He hurriedly asked: "Sister You has also come to Beijing?"

"Back to Shibo, my father was afraid of delaying my sister's marriage, so he asked his nephew to take her to Beijing..."

Hearing this, Mei Gong still didn't know what the will was. He waved his hand impatiently and interrupted: "Filial piety comes first, how can you say it's delayed? My nephew, please don't mention it again. You should return to your hometown as soon as possible to observe your filial piety." , the wedding date will wait until your filial piety period is over, and it won’t be too late to talk about it again.”

"Please have mercy on me, uncle. This is my father's last wish. If..."

Mei Gong waved her hands impatiently again and interrupted: "How can there be such a reason? In order to take into account your father's last wish, is it necessary to destroy the family tradition of my family? If people know that my daughter-in-law does not know how to observe filial piety, won't it make people angry? joke!"

After a pause, he then said: "If you don't have a place to stay, I'll have someone arrange an inn for you to stay in. Don't bother outsiders. It's not easy for you to go to Beijing. Wait for two days and then go back as soon as possible."

In the corruption case of the Camp and Maintenance Department, he was not the only one to suspect that Jia Zheng was involved. There were also colleagues who had the same guess as him. They even said that Jia Zheng was spared from punishment because of the imperial concubine's intercession.

As the whistleblower of the corruption case in the Camp and Maintenance Department, he did not want to be involved. If anyone knew that his unmarried daughter-in-law was staying at Jia's house, he would probably be labeled as engaging in malpractice for personal gain. superior.Xue Biao didn't know what he was thinking. He just thought he was really afraid of disturbing Rong Mansion.

He hurriedly explained: "Shibo doesn't know something. The old lady in Rong Mansion is very fond of my sister when she sees her, and has asked Mr. Zheng's wife to accept my sister as her goddaughter!"

He also obeyed his mother and Aunt Xue's orders, and carried out the Rongguo Mansion and the imperial concubine's mother, hoping to make Mei Gong lose some face.

It's also because the matter was too urgent and he didn't do any investigation. If he knew about the relationship between the corruption case in the Camp and Maintenance Department and Mei Gong, he might have been alert after seeing the change in Mei Gong's attitude.

However, the Xue family has no connections in this area. Secondly, although they are not pure businessmen, they have been in business for generations and still retain the business mentality. Even if they know about it, they may not think it is important.

Sure enough, Mei Gong heard this and exclaimed: "What? Recognizing yourself as your goddaughter? This is absolutely not possible. You should withdraw from this marriage immediately!"

He couldn't accept living in Rong Mansion, let alone accepting Mrs. Wang as his godmother. If this matter spread, it would be really yellow mud that would fall off his crotch, and he would never be able to clean it off.

Even if this matter is indeed true, it is the emperor's intention, but as the emperor's appointed Hanlin, he is still unwilling to take the blame for the emperor.

This was the case with ancient intellectuals. Many of them had their own persistence, but most of them were pedantic and striving for fame.

There was no shortage of such examples in the Ming Dynasty. Many civil servants were proud of contradicting the emperor and getting slapped with it. It was them who allowed Emperor Chongzhen to raise only 20 taels of military pay before King Chuang came to Beijing.

But when Li Zicheng came to Beijing, these poor iron roosters obediently handed over tens of millions of taels of silver.

This is also the reason why Emperor Zhenglong valued a pure minister like Lai Shangrong so highly.

Xue Biao never thought that the endorsement he presented would cause Mei Gong to react so violently, but at this time, he no longer regretted it.

I can only find out the inside story and hope to get a solution.

"Master Zheng's wife is the royal concubine's biological mother after all, so how can she just retreat? Is there something difficult about the uncle?"

His words reminded Mei Gong that the emperor was helping the imperial concubine's mother-in-law cover up, but he couldn't say it clearly because Zheng was worried that he couldn't find a reason.

So he said plausibly: "How can I, who is a clean official, be able to cling to the powerful relatives of my relatives? Since your sister wants to marry into my family, she is a member of my family and must abide by my family's family tradition. You can take care of this matter. If you don't want to quit this family, Be it a marriage, if you don’t abide by my family customs, how can you enter my house, and naturally you won’t be able to make an engagement!"

It's the lesser of two evils, and although breaking off the engagement will affect your reputation, accepting the marriage will undoubtedly have a greater impact.

In just a few sentences, he had already drafted how to turn the situation around.

He also planned, once the Xue family refused to withdraw from this family relationship, how to shape himself into a clean stream who was unwilling to join forces with Jia Zheng, and unwilling to cling to his relatives and dignitaries.

Therefore, he spoke with determination and ruthlessness.

Xue Biao was a little confused at this time. If he were in another house, he might still have room for change, but after all, it was the Duke's house and she was the biological mother of the imperial concubine. What was his identity? He was clamoring to quit this house. Wouldn't a kiss be a slap in the face of the princess?
Holding back the grievance in his chest, he said angrily: "Isn't Shibo trying to force someone to do something difficult? The Rongguo Mansion recognizes their goddaughter because they value their sister-in-law. How can they back out?"

Mei Gong, however, pretended that it had nothing to do with him and said impatiently: "What do you want to do with me if you cling to me randomly? If you want to rely on the powerful, then forgive me for not being able to do so!"

Then he flicked his sleeves and said without any doubt: "Don't say that I don't miss the old relationship. I'll give you one month to cancel this marriage as soon as possible and move out of Rong Mansion quickly. Otherwise, this engagement will be over. !"

(End of this chapter)