Corrupt official in the Red Chamber

Chapter 442 Bad things

In the Changchun Palace, not far from the Yongshou Palace, there was a person anxiously stamping back and forth.

This person is not, the other person is Li Niangniang, the concubine of the Changchun Palace.

This Empress Li was quite favored by the emperor when she first entered the palace, so within a few years, she actually gave birth to two sons for the emperor.

What makes people feel even more strange is that these two sons turned out to be the emperor's eldest son and second son.

Since the queen had no legitimate son, the two sons of the concubine Li Empress turned out to be the best candidates for the throne.

As time went by, Jia Rui began to take charge of the government. Although their royal power was now falling apart, the throne was still tempting.

This Empress Li just wanted to put her son on the throne by relying on the power of her mother's family after the emperor's death, and then slowly deal with Jia Rui, and finally regain the power except Jia Rui.

The reason why she has such great ambitions is because she has the support of her family behind her.

Although her natal family was not a military commander and could not control military power, they had huge power in the civil service system.

The reason is that his father is a great scholar in the world and has a good reputation among scholars.

The scholars and officials in the imperial court who had passed the imperial examination all respected their family.

Relying on these connections, Li Niangniang believed that after a long battle, she could suppress Jia Rui, who only knew how to control the military.

This confidence comes from the thousands of years of practice in the Central Plains dynasties. Military generals can only be in power for a while, and in the end it is up to the literati to rule the world.

But now I heard that Concubine Jing was pregnant, which was a huge blow to Concubine Li.

Because Concubine Jing is still the emperor's concubine in name, if she gives birth to a child, Jia Rui will make the future child the emperor no matter what.

When Jia Rui's strength was still at its peak, Li Niangniang had no way to fight against Jia Rui.

What's more, there is a queen from the Jia family who is pregnant in Kunning Palace. If she gives birth to a boy, she will no longer have a share at that time.

Under such circumstances, for the sake of the future of the family and her son, Concubine Jing could not be allowed to give birth to the child under any circumstances.

In Li Niangniang's opinion, Concubine Jing's children are more threatening than Jia Yuanchun's children.

She was thinking about finding her confidant eunuch, but she hesitated.

This is not a trivial matter. If Jing Fei's child is lost, Jia Rui will not go crazy. If it is found out that he is responsible, will he still die?

Li Niangniang thought about it again and again, but still did not dare to make the final decision.

If he takes this step out, it will affect the fate of the entire family.

Empress Li finally decided to discuss it with her family before making final arrangements. After all, Concubine Jing had just found out she was pregnant, and it was still early for her to give birth!

Jia Rui didn't know that someone in the palace was already thinking about his unborn child. After he got up in the morning, he lay on Concubine Jing's belly and listened for a long time.

Concubine Jing laughed so hard at the little kid Jia Rui, she didn't expect that the general who stood up with his sword in full swing still had such a side.

Seeing that the time was almost up, Jia Rui reluctantly got up and said to her: "I won't come over today. You take care of yourself. If you have anything, you can call Qin Shun or Lao Li."

Concubine Jing nodded, then touched her belly and watched Jia Rui leave.

After Jia Rui left, Concubine Jing's face became serious.

"Arrange the people below. From now on, I will no longer eat food from the imperial kitchen. I will find a nun with decent cooking skills to cook for myself in our Yongshou Palace." Concubine Jing's face looked calm, but there was something in her tone. A hint of darkness.

After all, she had also been a queen, and she had seen a lot of intrigues in the palace.

If she is pregnant this time, and if she gives birth to a boy, she may overtake Jia Yuanchun's child and succeed him as emperor of the empire.

After all, she is still the emperor's concubine in name only, and her children also have the right to inherit.

At that time, will Jia Rui still support other people's children and ignore his own son?

Because she was aware of this, Concubine Jing became more cautious. She was afraid that some people would jump over the wall in a hurry.

"From now on, any concubine from the palace who comes to see me will say that I am unwell and cannot see guests."

Concubine Jing is going to lock herself in Yongshou Palace until the child is born.

She touched her belly and finally a smile appeared on her lips.

My child, my child, you must grow up healthily, and God will bless you as a boy, and your mother will be counting on you.

It turns out that Concubine Jing is not as indifferent as she appears to Jia Ruibian, and she also has ambitions in her heart.

However, she had been infertile for many years and was not favored by the emperor, so she acted very indifferently.

But now that she has seized this opportunity from Jia Rui, she also wants to be the empress dowager supported by the world.

Besides, Jia Rui returned to Yangxin Hall and continued his day's work.

At noon, Jia Rui had lunch at the Yangxin Hall.

Halfway through the meal, Qin Shun slipped along the wall to Jia Rui's side and said, "My lord, the old lady sent the eunuch from the mansion to send a message, asking you to go back to the mansion today."

Jia Rui put down the chopsticks in his hands and asked, "Did something happen in the house?"

There was an imperceptible smile on Qin Shun's lips, but he soon became serious: "My lord, Miss Shi, who was temporarily staying in Rongguo Mansion, was found lying on the same bed as Mr. Bao."

When Jia Rui heard this, he was stunned for a moment, and then said in disbelief: "Didn't Baoyu move to the front? How come they two met again?"

Qin Shun lowered his head and said, "Second Master Bao was bored after studying, so he went to the Grand View Garden to enjoy the flowers. Somehow he met Miss Shi Da. After that, we had a great time chatting and had lunch at Miss Shi Da's place. We somehow ended up sleeping together."

Jia Rui rubbed his forehead, "Did the two of them go off the rails?"

"That's not true. I just slept on the same bed."

"In this case, how did it reach the old man?" "Mr. Guo, you also know that Rongguo Mansion has no secrets, and for some reason, it caused uproar in the city. Now even the old man is alarmed."

Jia Rui stamped his feet angrily.

Isn't this offensive? And the whole capital knew that this was a serious blow to the reputation of the Jia family.

Another thing, Jia Rui also had doubts about this matter. How could Jia Baoyu and Shi Xiangyun lie together? This is not common sense!

Is there someone secretly causing trouble here?

But what benefit does this do to the other party?

But the matter has already happened, and there is no point in complaining now. We have to solve the problem quickly and suppress this matter.

"If you don't want to eat, go back home immediately."

Jia Rui threw down his chopsticks and walked out.

Qin Shun hurriedly followed Jia Rui, helped Jia Rui change clothes, and then left the palace, and the group hurried back to Wu Guogong's mansion.

After coming back, Jia Rui hurriedly came to the yard of the old man Jia Dairu.

When I entered the door, I saw that Mrs. Jia was not there, only Mrs. Wang was looking at Jia Xuan.

This little guy is now the dominant one in the family, and he is not afraid of anyone except Jia Rui.

Jia Xuan was playing with a few maids on the ground. When she saw Jia Rui coming back, she immediately hid nervously behind Mrs. Wang.

Mrs. Wang looked at her frightened great-grandson and glared at Jia Rui unhappily.

"Go quickly, go quickly, your grandfather is in the study, don't make people uncomfortable here." Mrs. Wang drove Jia Rui away with a look of displeasure on her face.

Jia Rui touched his nose and felt helpless. He used to be Mrs. Wang's darling, but now that he has a great-grandson, he has fallen out of favor.

However, Jia Rui still saluted Mrs. Wang and said hello before leaving the main room and going to the small study next to her.

Entering the study, Jia Rui saw the old man Jia Dairu sitting there with a gloomy face, holding a book and looking at it absently.

"Bless me, old man." Jia Rui said while saluting.

Mr. Jia Dairu glanced at Jia Rui, then threw the book in his hand on the table.

"Have you heard about what happened in Rongguo Mansion?"

"Old Master, I just heard about it today."

"Then tell me what to do?"

Jia Rui also scratched his head a little. If this matter had not been spread, everyone would have treated it as unknown. But since the news spread all over the city, the ethics of the world must be explained.

You must know that when feudal ethics controlled the entire society, sometimes even Jia Rui had to bow to ethics.

"How about letting Shi Xiangyun be Baoyu's concubine?" Jia Rui asked tentatively.

"I'm confused. Although Shi Da Yatou is an orphan now, her identity is also the daughter of a marquis, which is better than Daiyu."

"Then what do you think we should do? Anyway, I have no choice." Jia Rui sat down next to Jia Dairu helplessly, picked up the teapot next to him and poured himself a cup of tea.

Jia Dairu was also very sad.

Originally, he didn't need to worry about this kind of thing, but since Jia Rui became prime minister and controlled the entire empire, he was too busy to touch the ground, so the affairs of the Jia family fell on Jia Dairu.

Originally, Jia Dairu was very happy to serve as the temporary patriarch, because many people came to him every day to talk or comment, which made Mr. Jia Dairu feel that he had fun in his later years.

But after hearing about Jia Baoyu yesterday, the old man's good mood disappeared immediately.

"Otherwise, find a family and marry Miss Shi. With your status, I think there will be many common people's children who want to curry favor with our family." Jia Dairu said his own way.

Jia Rui thought for a while, and now this is all he can do.

But the premise of all this is that Mrs. Shi agrees. Otherwise, even as the prime minister, he can't make any mistakes.

"Then when things calm down a bit, I'll go to the Rongguo Mansion and ask. If it works, what should we do? If not, we can only let Miss Shi marry Jia Baoyu as a concubine."

You must know that in this ancient time, a concubine was equivalent to a slave, and she had to serve the wife of the house every day.

Aunt Zhao, who had never seen Jia Zheng, was so favored that she even followed Jia Zheng to the south for several years, acting like a grandma in charge.

But when he returned to Rongguo Mansion, he had to humble himself in front of Mrs. Wang and take care of her daily life.

After negotiating with the old man, Jia Rui left the yard and went straight to Xue Baochai.

When I entered the house, I saw Xue Baochai changing clothes, as if he was going out.

"Where are you going?"

When Xue Baochai saw it was Jia Rui, he immediately smiled happily and said, "Go to Rongguo Mansion. Something happened over there."

(End of this chapter)