Chapter 20

Jia Cong and Xiao Jindong and others sat in Chunhua Building for two hours before dispersing.

He Jizhen, Zhou Xizhe, Liu Bi and others were all learned scholars. Although Xiao Jindong was a merchant, he operated a bookstore and was proficient in literature and ink.

Jia Cong interacted with these people and listened to their idle talk, which involved calligraphy, painting, literature, court anecdotes, and market slang, which made him learn a lot.

When he returned to the East Courtyard, it was just past noon, and the granary courtyard was quiet.

As soon as he entered the door, he saw Zhi Shao sitting on the threshold alone, shedding tears. His heart jumped, and a bad premonition arose.

"Cong Sanye, you are back." Zhi Shao saw Jia Cong enter the door and turned tears into smiles, but there was still fear and panic hidden in her eyes.

"What happened to you? What happened?"

Zhi Shao was about to cry and said: "Not long after Cong Sanye went out today, Wang Shanbao's wife came to the door, saying that the Lady called me over to talk."

Jia Cong felt a chill in his heart. Why would Lady Xing suddenly find Zhi Shao to talk? These two had nothing to do with each other.

"The Lady saw me and praised me for being beautiful, and said a lot of nice things."

Jia She coveted Yuanyang and wanted to take her as a concubine, but Yuanyang was Jia Mu's intimate maid, and Jia Mu was the hardest backing in the Jia mansion.

This made Yingchun's status in the Jia mansion not obvious, and even her wet nurse dared to bully her, taking her gold phoenix headwear to gamble, and Yingchun didn't dare to pursue it.

The encounters of the two maids, Yuanyang and Siqi, in the Dream of the Red Chamber are the best proof.

But after Zhi Shao's incident, he began to doubt this code of conduct.

If Jia She really wanted to force Zhi Shao to be his concubine, according to the rules of such a wealthy family, he found that he had no way to stop it.

The life, death, glory, and shame of maids and servants depend on whether the master they follow is powerful.

Jia Cong's face was pale, and in his usually warm and clear eyes, a terrible light flashed, and he muttered two words that even Zhi Shao couldn't hear clearly: Damn it!

Since Jia Cong came to this world, because his mind was mature in an unusual way, he held an indifferent attitude towards everything around him.

Zhi Shao is a maid sold to the mansion. To Jia She, Zhi Shao is no different from an object, and her taking and giving are all in one word.

"The Lady also said that the Master's room lacks capable people to serve, and also said that the Master... he took a fancy to me and wants to take me into his room..."

But when it came to Yingchun, because Yingchun's personality was soft and easy to bully, Jia She ignored this daughter born of a concubine, and Jia Mu naturally didn't value this second granddaughter very much either.

Jia Cong said gently: "You don't have to be afraid, I am here. Even if I die, I won't let you jump into this fire pit!"

As long as Yuanyang herself is unwilling, even if Jia She is the legitimate eldest son and heir of the Rongguo Mansion, he can do nothing about a maid, and in the end, he was scolded by Jia Mu.

He made himself adapt to the rules of this world to the greatest extent, avoid radicalism, and try to do things slowly.

Zhi Shao looked at Jia Cong's terrible expression and couldn't help crying.

Jia Cong held Zhi Shao in his arms, gently patting her back to comfort her. In the empty granary courtyard, Zhi Shao's sobbing sounded particularly helpless and desolate.

She grew up in the East Courtyard since she was a child and heard too many ugly things about the Master's lecherous and licentious nature. If she were to be a concubine for such a person, it would be better to die immediately.

When Zhi Shao said this, not only was her voice trembling, but even her slender body was shaking, and the whole person was suppressed by endless panic.

Jia Cong's face had already turned cold. Lady Xing called Zhi Shao over specifically to praise her for being beautiful. Isn't this a weasel paying a New Year's call to a chicken?

Zhi Shao heard this, her whole body shook violently, and she threw herself into Jia Cong's arms and cried loudly.

Her personal maid Siqi was to be driven out of the Grand View Garden because she was found to have love letters sent to her cousin Pan You'an. Yingchun didn't have the backbone to rescue her, and in the end, Siqi was forced to hit the wall and die.

In this big house with deep doors, whether maids and servants have a good life depends on whether the master they follow has ability and status.

And he, a concubine's son with a controversial background, is not only disliked by his biological father and legitimate mother, but the Old Lady in the mansion doesn't like him either. He is not even as good as Yingchun.

What can he use to protect Zhi Shao?

He is Jia She's son. His father wants his maid to be a concubine. Can he say no? That is disobedience, that is unfilial.

Although this sounds absurd to a modern person, under the patriarchal clan system, the bullshit rules of this world are like this.

Could he take Zhi Shao and fly away, escaping from this Jia family courtyard? From then on, change his name and surname, unable to study and advance, and struggle under food and clothing for a lifetime?

With the two hundred taels of silver on him, how far can they go?

Once found by Jia She and his ilk, he would be fine, but Zhi Shao would be a runaway slave and would not escape death.

Only when he truly encountered such a heart-wrenching and throat-cutting difficulty did he truly realize the strict patriarchal clan system of this world and the cold suffocation of the big family's scheming.

He realized how powerless he was, and he hated this feeling of powerlessness.

Jia She and Lady Xing's courtyard.

"What did you say? She still doesn't agree? She would rather be a maid than a master!"

Jia She was furious, and Lady Xing's face was panicked.

"That's it. Since ancient times, Chang'e has loved young men. She probably misses the young masters and doesn't look down on me, an old man."

She can't reach Baoyu, so she actually took a fancy to that depressing evil obstacle who serves Jia Cong? She is truly blind and self-deprecating.

If she really has this intention, tell her to give up this idea early.

I want her to enter my room, but she doesn't come. Who will want her in the future? Maybe she wants to endure for a few more years, and in the future, she will be released and married as a legitimate wife.

Tell her to think carefully. No matter who she marries, she won't escape my palm. Unless she dies, or doesn't marry for a lifetime, I will subdue her!"

Lady Xing stood there with a stiff face, and Wang Shanbao's wife stood at the door, peeking inside sneakily.

The passing maids heard this familiar roar, which seemed to have appeared before. I don't know which woman is going to be unlucky again. Everyone was terrified in their hearts and walked around here from a distance.

From that day on, Jia Cong never left the granary courtyard and never left Zhi Shao for half a step.

Although he knew that if Jia She really wanted to do something forced, his method was useless.

Seeing that the fifteenth day of the first lunar month was approaching, he had to participate in the Nanxi Literary Gathering. The more destitute the situation,

the more he couldn't give up every opportunity to break through the status quo.

Although Zhi Shao was still panicked in her heart, she thought that Jia Cong had to participate in the literary gathering on the fifteenth, so he couldn't be too shabby. The few clothes he had were washed white by her.

She composed herself, took ten taels from the silver Jia Cong had saved, and asked Aunt Zhao to buy a piece of top-quality material, preparing to make a new robe for Jia Cong.

Zhi Shao had learned good needlework since she was a child, and everything Jia Cong wore was made by her stitch by stitch.

In the following days, it seemed that there was not much difference from before. Jia Cong read and practiced calligraphy every day, and Zhi Shao was busy sewing robes for Jia Cong.

But both of them had haze in their hearts. In the middle, Jia Cong went out once and found a Huanming Bank to exchange a small amount of silver notes.

Then he went to the west of the city to rent a remote small courtyard. This was a retreat he left for himself and Zhi Shao when things developed to an uncontrollable point.

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(End of this chapter)