The Good Concubine of the Qing Dynasty [Red Mansion]

Rongguo Mansion was their wife’s family’s home, so the gatekeeper naturally would not stop them and opened the door quickly. At the same time, someone trotted to the backyard to pass on the message, thinking that if the wife was to be happy, a reward of silver would be inevitable.

When Jia Min heard the news, she was cheered up, and her haggard face became a little rosy because of this good news.
“Please hurry up!”
The people who came were Lai Dajie, the eldest daughter-in-law of Nanny Lai, who was Jia Mu’s most trusted confidant. The other person was Nanny Shi, who was born in Jia Mu’s dowry and had taken care of Jia Min for several years.

Seeing these two people, Jia Min burst into tears: “Is the old lady okay?”

Lai Dajie took the lead in bowing and greeting: “Replying to Auntie, Hello, old lady, it’s just that she was thinking about you, so she sent us here to pay her respects to you.”

Jia Min’s nose was sore when she heard this: “You two maids have worked hard on the journey. Please take a seat.”
After a brief conversation, Lai Da handed Jia Mu’s letter to Jia Min, who couldn’t wait to open it.
Every word in Grandmother Jia’s letter to Jia Min was filled with heartache.

Jia Min opened the letter and read it for a while before tears started to fall. She choked up and wiped her tears with a handkerchief: “I am an unfilial daughter. Not only can I not be with my mother, but I also have to trouble my mother to worry about me…”

In the letter, Grandmother Jia did not tell Jia Min too much about how to suppress the two concubines. She just gave her a hint, asking her not to be too lenient with the concubines.

There is no order without rules. Now that the aunt is pregnant, she should be more relaxed, but when she recovers, we have to establish the rules that should be established.

When Lady Jia wrote this letter, she didn’t know that another concubine was also pregnant; otherwise, her letter would not have been so peaceful.
She also wrote a separate letter to Lin Ruhai. Naturally, Jia Mu’s attitude in this letter was different from that in the letter to Jia Min.

In the letter, Grandmother Jia mentioned the guidance and training that Duke Rong gave to Lin Ruhai when he had just passed the imperial examination and won third place.

At that time, Lin Ruhai’s father had passed away, and he had no uncles or brothers to help him. Although he had a teacher and classmates, it was the old Duke who gave him a push. This allowed him to have such a smooth career on the court. Now, at the age of less than 30, he has already reached the position of a fourth-rank prefect.
The old Duke hoped that his sons would take up civil service positions, but their descendants were not up to the standard, so he carefully selected Lin Ruhai.
Lin Ruhai was talented, but he had no relatives to help him in his officialdom. What he lacked was exactly what the old Duke had.

When he grew up, the two families’ in-laws could help the Jia family get through the mediocre period of this generation of descendants.

Grandmother Jia knew that if she ordered too much, it would easily cause rebelliousness, so she only mentioned this sentence and then wrote a long letter saying that she missed her daughter, and that there had not been any children in the Lin family for so many years, and that she, as a mother, apologized to the Lin family on behalf of her daughter and took the initiative to show weakness.
After all this pushing and pulling, Lin Ruhai in the outer study finished reading the letter, put it down, looked out the window, and sighed.

Min’er was, of course, not wrong, and it was even more embarrassing for a junior like him to have his mother-in-law admit her mistake.

Although there was no substantial evidence this time, Lin Ruhai was certain that it was Min’er’s subordinates who acted on their own, but he was very clear about the matter and he would not implicate Min’er.
Lin Ruhai thought for a while, picked up his pen, and began to write a reply…

Jia Min burst into tears after receiving the letter from her grandmother. Nanny Qian also received a letter from her grandmother. After reading the letter, her mouth was filled with the taste of coptis.

The old lady told her in the letter not to act on her own, and she had thought so at first, but unfortunately, she couldn’t help herself. She thought she had a good idea and it wouldn’t implicate herself, so she went ahead and did it. Now, not only did the old lady blame her, but she was also suspected, and her power was restricted by the old lady and greatly reduced.

Madam Yun was fine, and Madam Mei just had a miscarriage. It was not worth it.
But she still had a chance, and now she knew what to do.
Nanny Qian knew that she was not very smart, so she would not go wrong if she listened to the old lady. She carefully hid the letter from the old lady and the bottle of medicine powder that was sent to her and began to wait.

On this day, Lin Ruhai went to Meixiangyuan to see Aunt Mei, who was lying in bed with her pregnancy. After hesitating for a moment, he went to Bitaoyuan.
When he arrived, he saw Min’er sitting upright on the couch, studying a Buddhist scripture carefully.
Lin Ruhai sighed. Min’er didn’t believe in Buddhism before. She only followed her mother in worshipping Buddha occasionally. But usually, at this time, she should be appreciating poetry or writing when she is in the mood.

The reason for her change now is that her two concubines are pregnant. The mysterious master Cicada gave her hope, and she now believes in Buddhism.
Seeing Lin Ruhai coming, Jia Min smiled at him. Lin Ruhai put his hand on her shoulders and sat next to her: “What are you looking at?”

Jia Min put down the Buddhist scriptures: “Some sentences in the Buddhist scriptures are thought-provoking.”
Lin Ruhai nodded slightly: “Have you settled the two maids? They have worked hard along the way and have taken care of you before. You should settle them well.”

Jia Min smiled even brighter: “I have settled everything. The two maids have gone to rest. I will talk to them properly when they have recovered.”
There is too little content in the letter.
She had so many things she wanted to ask.
Lin Ruhai looked at the pure joy on her face and sighed in his heart.

She was so happy to see the nanny from her mother’s side. She would be even happier if she could meet her mother’s family members. However, there were indeed no members of the Jia family in Xingtai Mansion; otherwise, it would be nice to invite them to talk to her.

Lin Ruhai took out a collection of poems by the new candidates in the province that had been specially compiled: “These are the poems of this year’s candidates. Didn’t you ask me to find out before? I read it and I like this one the most…”

Hearing Lin Ruhai say this, Jia Min also became interested: “Let me see, it is indeed well written; what place does he rank?”
Lin Ruhai: “Third, his poetry is the most brilliant among the candidates this year. The first two are better at essays.”
Jia Min was good at poetry. She would collect the poems she wrote every day and compile them into a book. When the couple was together, they would often appreciate other people’s excellent work together.

The servants serving around couldn’t help but laugh when they saw this familiar scene. The only ones who could get along well with the master were their wives.
When the night was deep and quiet, Jia Min looked at the man sleeping beside her, staring at the gourd pattern on the tent with her eyes open, unable to fall asleep.

She recalled the days before she got married when she was sitting in the arms of her mother and was her mother’s pride.
In the beginning, her mother was not happy about her marrying the master. Jia Min knew that her mother would rather she marry a nobleman.

But her father called the shots, and she had met him.
At that time, he was riding a horse, and she was looking down at him from above in the teahouse. The young man was like the morning light in the sky, shining brightly, and she remembered him in her heart at first sight.
When she heard her father say that he wanted to marry her to him, she did not show it on her face, but she was extremely happy in her heart.

The first few years after her marriage were the most carefree time for her. However, as time passed, her stomach did not respond. She became anxious, started looking for famous doctors, and started taking medicine.

Nowadays, taking medicine is like drinking water.
Ten years have passed.
She finally tasted the bitterness of her other best friends’ husbands taking concubines and the birth of illegitimate children.
This taste is really hard to swallow.
It was several times harder to swallow than the medicine she drank.
Jia Min’s eyes trembled, and she turned her head to look at the sleeping man. Even so, Jia Min never regretted marrying him.
He always respected her, and even though she was childless, he never put the blame on her, only saying that they were not destined to have children yet.

Just by telling this point, countless people would envy her for marrying a good husband.
Whenever she went out to socialize, there were always some people who made sarcastic remarks about her childlessness, but Jia Min knew that most of them did so out of jealousy. Compared to their husbands, many of them, even if they had children, lived a worse life than her.
But Jia Min also sighed in her heart. After all this, even if the rumor was not her intention, the master would never mention bringing the child to her to raise.

Although she had rejected the master’s proposal before, now it was the master who denied the idea, which was fundamentally different from actively rejecting it herself.

Jia Min closed her eyes and forced herself to go to sleep. What had happened had already happened, and there was no point in thinking about it. She still had to have her own children. Her two concubines were able to get pregnant, and she was not yet at the age where she could no longer have children. She would definitely be able to do it!
The two maids sent by Lady Jia stayed in the Lin Mansion for several days. They returned to Beijing with heavy hearts, carrying with them generous gifts and letters, as well as a lot of news they had learned here.

Because they knew that Lady Jia was waiting for their news, they rode as fast as they did when they came here. Fortunately, they were in good health; otherwise, they would not have been able to bear such a long journey.

There were too many pieces of news they wanted to tell, such as the fact that more than one concubine was pregnant, the consequences of Nanny Qian’s impulsive behavior, and the meaning behind the close surveillance they received after arriving at the Lin Mansion… All these made it impossible for them to slow down their journey.
Grandmother Jia asked them to make this trip in person because she was worried that many things might be viewed one-sidedly when written down, and she wanted them to see it with their own eyes.
Thinking about it now, the old lady was wise.

When they returned to the Jia family, the second wife was reporting all the affairs of the mansion to Lady Jia, while the first wife was staring at the teacup in boredom. When she saw the two maids, Mrs. Wang stopped talking and looked at them, her eyes shining slightly.
The eldest wife’s eyes were brighter.

Every time the sister-in-law gave gifts, they were very generous. Regardless of whether the two wives liked the sister-in-law or not, they were very satisfied with her gifts.
Grandmother Jia knew the personalities of her two daughters-in-law. When she saw the looks in their eyes, her mood immediately became bad. She sent them away coldly and asked everyone else in the room to leave, leaving only the three of them.
After listening to what they said, Jia’s mother’s face was gloomy. After a long while, she sighed and said, “I know. You have worked hard. Go back and have a good rest for a few days.”

Obviously, she wanted to be alone now and think carefully.
The two maids tactfully left, as they were indeed tired. Only Grandmother Jia was left in the room. She took out the letters from the box, and on the top was a gift list. She didn’t know if it was because of the letter she wrote to her son-in-law, but this time the gifts were even more generous than usual.

Jia’s mother would normally be happy, but now she put it down after taking a look. She first read the letter from her son-in-law, which was full of flowers, and said that he would be good to her daughter. Good for her daughter? Haha, is that really good? Jia’s mother then opened the letter from Nanny Qian.
The situation on my daughter’s side is indeed not good. Both of her concubines, who have just married into the family, are pregnant.

Would the people in the Lin family think that the reason there had been no good news in the Lin Mansion before was because her daughter was unable to give birth, so she wanted to prevent others from giving birth either? Now that two new people have come into the house at the suggestion of Old Lady Lin, and good news has come not long after, it is because they haven’t had time to take action yet?

Thinking about how the Lin family was so wary of her Jia family, could it be that Old Madam Lin already had such suspicions?
It can’t be because of the gossip spread by Nanny Qian?
Not to mention that the aunt didn’t miscarry, even if she did, this is too much!

Grandmother Jia held her breath and wanted to drink some tea, but found that the tea was already cold. She swung her hand and the cup flew out, hitting the ground with a crisp sound, and the tea spilled all over the floor.
Everything goes wrong!

Looking at the mess on the ground, Jia’s mother lowered her voice and said, “Someone come.”
The maid waiting outside the room pushed the door open cautiously and bowed. Grandmother Jia said, “Clean up the floor and go to the storeroom to get a new set of tea sets.”
“Yes!” The maid quickly cleaned up and served tea to Lady Jia again. Lady Jia waved her hand and let her go down.
At this time, Grandmother Jia regained her composure, slowly took a sip of tea, and lowered her eyelids. She couldn’t be impatient.

The Lin family is not the Jia family. The Jia family cannot cover the Lin family’s backyard with one hand now, especially when Old Madam Lin is so cautious. If she does anything, it will be easily exposed. Fortunately, she was cautious before and did not let Madam Qian do anything. Although she was impulsive now, there is no evidence. In this case, she can only wait.

It is still early now, and there is still more than half a year before the ten months of pregnancy. Even if the baby is born, it will take a long time for a baby who knows nothing to grow from babbling to adulthood. She has to be patient for the time being.
Thinking of this, Grandmother Jia sighed with regret. How come her mother-in-law survived a serious illness before? If she had passed away then, it would be much easier to do something now.