Red Mansion and Crimson Pearl

Chapter 333 Lin's Income and Expenditure

In comparison, the other volume was more than twice as thick, and the title page had a completely different and elegant handwriting: Lin's income and expenditure account.

One of these two books is the notes that my father Lin Ruhai kept when he returned to Jiangnan to take up an official post. The other is the household accounts that my mother Jia Min had carefully recorded since she married my father.

The corruption in the officialdom of Jiangnan is closely related to the dominance of the four surnames and the rampant behavior of the founding heroes.

Lin Ruhai's own notes were completely out of his heart. He started out by slamming the table and cursing, but later he was at a loss. When Jia Min died, he was quite sad and desperate.

It was not until he realized that his body was rapidly deteriorating that Lin Ruhai began to express his doubts in his notes.

The date when the notes stopped was the day when Jia Lian took her back to Yangzhou.

Lin Ruhai wrote a final note: I know you have come from afar with a purpose, so please collect my bones and leave them by the swampy river. Haha.

Therefore, his father knew that Jia Lian was going to "take over" the Lin family's property on behalf of the Jia family and bury his father at the same time.

Lin Daiyu looked at the line of words, especially the last two words "hehe", and felt that Han Changli's poems had never been so dazzling.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

After that, I am afraid that because Jia Lian would appear at his father's bedside at all times, his father would never have the chance to write again.

Daiyu slowly closed the Yangzhou Notes, stroked the title page for a moment with her fingers lingeringly, put it aside, and unfolded the account book left by her mother.

Jia Min is worthy of being Lady Jia's most beloved daughter. She is taught with great care and intelligence.

In addition to the amount of money and goods entered in the accounts, there are also detailed notes on the reasons and the people involved. The accounts will even go back and record the results of the event after several years.

Daiyu was flipping through the pages gently when her hand suddenly stopped.

She saw the four "large pomegranates" marked.

"When I was four months pregnant, my second cousin-in-law gave me a gift from the West King's Palace. After she gave birth, she presented it to the Crown Princess. The Crown Princess died of complications during childbirth. My beloved son died young, but my second cousin-in-law didn't say a word of comfort. During the banquet to celebrate my mother's birthday, I asked about the West King's Princess, but she seemed to know nothing about the pomegranate. How strange!"

In today's peaceful and prosperous times, those four pomegranates can be used as tributes to celebrate the birthday of the Supreme Lord.

It can be seen what a treasure it was more than ten years ago!

It's only natural that something like this would be considered a gift to congratulate my cousin on her pregnancy.

However, the mistress of the house where the treasure came from had no idea about this!

So, the mother became suspicious.

Daiyu stared at the page of account, her heart slowly sinking.

As a result of the mother's inquiries, she became suspicious of the King of the West and the couple Xiao Shihou.

But at the same time, the Princess of the West would certainly ask her husband when she got home after being tested like this. Then, would the Prince of Xining and the Marquis of Xiao Shi have other thoughts because of this? !

Daiyu slowly closed her eyes and leaned back into the couch.

When my mother got married, according to my grandmother's wishes, among the dowry, in addition to people from the Jia family, there would definitely be people from the Shi family.

Whether it is for the young Marquis Shi and his wife, or for the King of Xining, the mother and the child in her belly, or even himself and his father, the existence should not be a big obstacle.

But the prince at that time was a political enemy.

If this thing could be given to the Crown Princess through his mother and father, it would most likely be a blow to the Crown Prince.

As expected, although the Crown Princess gave birth to a son, she died during childbirth. After that incident, the Crown Prince's temperament changed drastically and he became suspicious from then on.

The matter ends here, and everything is over as everyone wishes.

But my mother is too smart.

She sensed something was wrong when Mrs. Xiao Shihou did not dare to ask her more about the pain of losing her son.

So he took advantage of one of Lady Jia's birthday banquets to test the Princess of the West.

However, Prince Xining was so negligent about this secret matter that he failed to come up with a reasonable excuse to inform Princess Xi.

He took the pomegranate, so his young son died. The Crown Princess took the pomegranate, so she died in childbirth.

If a mother who lost her child found the possible murderer, what would she do? Maybe she would take revenge hysterically?

Therefore, in order to cut off the possibility of mother's revenge, and to prevent such an incident from becoming the fuse for the rift between the Rongning and Ning mansions and the Western King, those people will definitely take action against mother and father...

The most regrettable thing is that, probably to protect her father and herself, the mother did not show any expression at all, but just silently recorded this doubt.

Xifu, Xiao Shihou, Madam.

Ha ha.

Daiyu slowly exerted force and grasped the account book.

The next morning.

Emperor Zhaoming came to pay his respects.

The Queen Mother's eyes were full of concern: "Did anyone make you angry with such a big thing yesterday? Is there anything I can't help you with?"

Emperor Zhaoming smiled and comforted the Queen Mother: "Your Majesty has helped me once, and I can still do it now. If I can't do it well in the future, I will ask you for help again."

"I just heard from Zhaoqing that the eldest daughter of the Xue family in Jinling has been favored by Prince Zhongshun, who wants to ask her to be his daughter-in-law.

"That's a good thing. Go back and ask Jia, if there is such a proposal, just grant them the marriage.

"Let Zhongshun take care of his son's marriage, so he doesn't have to give you instructions every day."

The Empress Dowager continued to actively give advice to Emperor Zhaoming.

Emperor Zhaoming's eyes lit up when he heard this: "Oh? There is such a happy event? Zhaoqing?"

Daiyu blushed and hid behind the Empress Dowager, complaining in a low voice: "I just spread some gossip, but the Empress Dowager actually used it."

Cheng Qian sneered and glanced at Emperor Zhaoming. Seeing that he looked gentle and didn't mind, she smiled and teased with confidence:

"As a young lady, the princess is good at chatting. Isn't the Queen Mother the same?

"Only Concubine Jia has managed to keep her composure. I don't know if she hasn't been informed of the news at home, or if she doesn't agree with this matter.

"We have been hearing this for two or three days, but there has been no news in the Daming Palace!"

Emperor Zhaoming chuckled and shook his head: "Jia Shi has not been feeling well these past few days, so I guess she hasn't heard about it. I'll go back and ask her later."

After some more jokes, he stood up and said goodbye.

The Queen Mother ordered Daiyu to send him off.

When she stood at the gate again, Daiyu's expression was completely different from that in the palace. She lowered her eyes and did not even look at Emperor Zhaoming. She only said softly:

"The eunuch's old purse has all its threads ripped. Our Qingwen has a good craftsmanship, so I asked her to make a new one for the eunuch. The eunuch should be replaced soon."

Qingwen followed her instructions and presented a purse with a dark blue brocade embroidered with a swastika pattern.

Tao Xingjian didn't dare to take it and first glanced at Emperor Zhaoming.

Emperor Zhaoming had a calm expression on his face, and it was impossible to tell whether he was happy or angry.

Tao Xingjian took it nervously, put it in his sleeve pocket first, then said thank you mumbledly, and walked away quickly following the silent Emperor Zhaoming.

It was not until he entered the Xuanzheng Hall and sat down at the imperial desk that Emperor Zhaoming glanced at Tao Xingjian.

Tao Xingjian hurriedly took out the purse and looked at it over and over beside Emperor Zhaoming, saying with an awkward smile:

"Qingwen's craftsmanship is really good, the stitches are so fine..."

As he spoke, he squeezed the purse gently, and a slight rustling sound came from it.

Tao Xingjian paused, frowned slightly, and reached into his pouch to take out a piece of paper.