Lian Erye in the Red Mansion

"Mrs."

"Is the master inside?"

In the east wing of Rongxi Hall, Lady Wang entered the room and greeted Jia Zheng. Jia Zheng then asked her about Jia Lian.

Lady Wang then told Jia Zheng about the situation at Rongqing Hall.

Upon hearing this, Jia Zheng hurriedly asked, "Did they say when Lian'er will return to the capital?"

It has been nearly half a year since Jia Lian received the imperial decree to leave the capital. In particular, the changes on the border have caused this official, who holds a high position in the central government, considerable worry.

They were worried about Jia Lian, the most outstanding nephew in the family, and even more worried that Jia Lian would bear the blame in such an important matter and implicate the family.

He was aware that some people in the court had previously impeached Jia Lian.

"He didn't say when he would return to the capital, but only asked Feng to let his elders know he was safe. I suppose that since he has an imperial order to carry out, he wouldn't dare to act on his own and would have to follow the court's arrangements."

After listening, Jia Zheng frowned and pondered for a long time before finally saying, "Never mind, it's good to know that everyone is safe and sound."

As he spoke, he glanced at Madam Wang again and said slowly, "What have you thought about what Ru Hai told us before?"

Upon hearing this, Madam Wang's face darkened, and she remained silent for a moment.

"What, you don't want to?"

"It's not that we're unwilling. We've practically watched Lin grow up; she's excellent in both looks and temperament."

However, I do have a few words I'd like to say for your consideration, sir.

Hearing what Madam Wang said, Jia Zheng was not in a hurry to ask further questions, and slowly sipped his tea.

"Although our Jia family has a large population, the number of male descendants in our two mansions, east and west, is actually quite small. Especially after several upheavals, the population of both mansions has dwindled significantly."

Even the master's children are the same.

Although Baoyu is a bit mischievous, he still has some intelligence. In my opinion, in the future, only Baoyu can inherit the mantle of the master.

Although Lin girl is good in every way, there is only one thing: she is too weak. I'm afraid she won't have a blessed future..."

"It's not a problem if he's a little weak; he can take good care of himself in the future. If it's really bad for having children, we can just put two other maids in Baoyu's room. It's nothing serious," Jia Zheng interrupted.

"What you say is true, but besides having offspring, I have other considerations."

One reason is that the old man usually doesn't care about the trivial matters at home and is unaware of the children's temperaments.

Over the years, Baoyu and Lin Daiyu have had quite a few conflicts, several times even alarming the old lady. In my opinion, both of them are actually short-tempered and unforgiving; if they were to get together, I'm afraid there would be even more trouble in the future.

I understand what the master means. Lin's mother passed away early, and now her father is seriously ill. The master feels sorry for his niece and wants the two children to become related by marriage so that we can take care of them in the future.

Master meant well, but I'm afraid they'll cause trouble in the future and blame us, which would be a waste of Master's good intentions.

In addition, I have a selfish motive.

Now in our family, Lian'er has inherited the ancestral title and has also become an official, so he can be considered to have taken on the responsibility of upholding the family name on behalf of the former patriarch.

However, the master's lineage still seems to be without a future.

I know that Master is determined to have Baoyu enter officialdom through the imperial examinations, but from ancient times to the present, has entering officialdom through the imperial examinations ever been so easy?

Jia Lian nodded silently. He wasn't too keen on hearing what Madam Wang was saying, but he still felt a strong connection to what she was saying.

Jia Zheng was diligent and studious from a young age, and even the old Duke liked him and thought he was a promising talent. But after studying for thirty years, he was still just a little bit short of passing the imperial examination and entering officialdom.

In the end, the old Duke's health failed him, and on his deathbed, he submitted a memorial requesting imperial favor and permission to enter officialdom.

This became a lifelong regret for him. In fact, he felt that if the old Duke had lived three more years and given him another chance to take the imperial examination, he would have been confident of passing it…

If he is like this, then what about that unruly brat Baoyu?

"What are you trying to say?"

"Master, what I want to say is that if Baoyu can pass the exam in the future, that would be good. If he fails, we should make other preparations for him. At the very least, we should leave him a way out so that he can follow in your footsteps and enter officialdom through hereditary privilege."

In my opinion, with Baoyu's sister being a noble concubine in the palace and his maternal uncle holding a first-rank official position, it wouldn't be difficult for him to secure an official post in the future.

However, the master should also know that those who receive imperial favor are ultimately inferior to those who succeed through the regular imperial examinations. Without anyone's help, it will be difficult for them to become officials in the future.

So I thought, shouldn't we be more serious and consider Baoyu's marriage more carefully, and try to find him a capable wife's family so that they can be of assistance in the future...?"

As Madam Wang spoke, she noticed Jia Zheng frowning, and quickly added, "It's not that I think the Lin family is bad. The Lin family is just like ours, both being renowned families with a history of over a hundred years. Lin's father is a proper third-place scholar in the imperial examinations and holds a second-rank official position."

In truth, the fact that he is willing to marry into our family is a great honor for our Baoyu.

Unfortunately, the Lin family is sparsely populated, and Lin's father is in poor health. The Lin family now relies entirely on him; if anything were to happen to him in the future, the Lin family would be completely ruined.

Lady Wang stopped there, knowing that such words should not be spoken too bluntly or harshly. Jia Zheng had served as an official in the central government for many years; he couldn't possibly be unaware of the interests involved in the marriage alliance. It was best to leave it at that.

As expected, Jia Zheng was already deep in thought.

He was a Confucian scholar who admired learned people. Among all the relatives of the Jia family, no one could surpass his brother-in-law, Lin Ruhai, in terms of scholarship and influence among scholars.

Therefore, deep down, he both respected and envied Lin Ruhai.

So when Lin Ruhai subtly suggested that he wanted to marry Lin Ruhai, he immediately agreed.

After all, only one person could become the third-ranked scholar in the imperial examinations every three years. As a father, he would naturally feel proud if his son could become the son-in-law of such a scholar.

However, Madam Wang's increasingly varied and subtle reminders have forced him to reconsider.

If his eldest son, Jia Zhu, were still alive, he wouldn't need to worry too much. With his son's high level of achievement in passing the imperial examinations at such a young age, he would surely be able to bring honor to the family if he didn't die.

Unfortunately, the eldest son died young.

Perhaps because of the exceptional talent of Jia Zhuzhu, he was now very dissatisfied with his two remaining sons.

One was incorrigible and lazy by nature. The other was mediocre, dull-witted, and had a despicable temperament.

However, he still preferred his second son, Jia Baoyu.

After all, compared to scrap material, a flawed gem is more worthy of being carved!

Therefore, his constant beatings and scoldings of Jia Baoyu were actually a manifestation of his eagerness for his son to succeed.

Furthermore, as Lady Wang mentioned before, the eldest brother Jia She's lineage has a successor...

Jia Zheng was an extremely proud man, and the person he despised most in his life was Jia She, a model of debauchery. It was a pity that Heaven was so unfair, bestowing upon him such a sensible and ambitious son as Lian'er!

Jia Zheng felt that in this respect, he really couldn't, and shouldn't, fall too far behind his elder brother. Otherwise, it wouldn't be fair.

Now that Jia Lian has taken up the mantle of the eldest son's family, he should also make a good impression on the second son's family. Otherwise, how can he justify the achievement of suppressing his eldest son, which took him fifty years to accomplish!

Having these thoughts in mind, he also felt that he should be more cautious about Jia Baoyu's marriage.

As a representative of the Jia family, one of the four great families, he certainly knew how important it was to have a capable wife's family to one's future.

For example, over the years, he's had many problems that he couldn't handle on his own, and he always relied on his brother-in-law, Wang Ziteng, for help...

Lin Ruhai was indeed highly respected in the court, but he was ultimately just a civil official, and his wealth and status were entirely tied to his official position. Once he died or retired, all his glory and imperial favor would vanish like smoke.

This is what is meant by "when the person leaves, the tea cools."

Lady Wang only knew that Lin Ruhai had been ill for several months, but she did not know that Lin Ruhai had submitted his resignation to the court half a month ago, citing poor health, but Emperor Ningkang had not yet approved it.

The Imperial Academy was a relatively quiet government office, so it wouldn't be a big deal for the official in charge to slack off for a few days. Perhaps Emperor Ningkang also wanted to wait and see if Lin Ruhai's illness might improve.

But according to his observations, it is difficult.

Given the Lin family's current situation, if something were to happen to Lin Ruhai, the Lin family would be completely severing ties with the upper echelons of society.

Jia Zheng frowned, noticing a slight smile on Lady Wang's face, knowing she was pleased to have persuaded him. He couldn't help but feel displeased and retorted, "What's the use of telling me all this? You know what the old lady means. Since you don't want to agree to this marriage, how are you going to answer to her?"

Lady Wang knew that Jia Zheng had been persuaded by him, but he didn't want to go against Grandmother Jia's wishes and asked her to solve these troublesome problems.

She knew all along that Jia Zheng was useless in these matters, and all she asked for was that he not hold her back.

"I understand what the old lady means. But the old lady dotes on Baoyu the most, how could she not understand the reason?"

In my opinion, the reason why the old lady has not brought this matter up for so long is precisely because she has these worries and considerations in her heart.

After all, even if the old lady doted on her granddaughter, there was no need to insist on betrothing her to Baoyu. Finding her a suitable husband when she grew up would be a better option.

What do you think, sir?

"Since you have a plan, I will leave this matter alone." Jia Zheng flicked his sleeve and agreed with Madam Wang's suggestion.

The couple exchanged a few more details, and Jia Zheng suddenly said, "The garden at the back is almost finished, and it can't be delayed any longer. Today, Lin Zhixiao told me that the treasury has run out of money again and asked me where to get the money next. I don't have a reply to him yet..."

"Don't worry, sir. Zhen'er's wife in the East Mansion has agreed to give us the remaining 30,000 taels of silver in the treasury. It should be counted and delivered in the next couple of days."

"Hmm." Jia Zheng nodded, flicked his sleeves, and walked out of the house.