Chapter 321: Striking the Snake at the Seven-Inch Mark

North of the Divine Capital, at the Chunhua Pavilion, in a private room on the second floor.

A slightly chubby youth pushed open the door, grabbed the teapot on the table, and gulped down its contents.

He had drunk quite a bit of wine just now, and after racking his brains to spout a bunch of bewitching nonsense, he was truly parched.

By the window of the private room, with his back to him, stood a tall, slender youth, gazing at the scenery outside.

His hair, black as ink, was tied into a bun with a mutton-fat jade hairpin. He wore a moon-white soft robe with silver bamboo patterns, a nine-treasure jade belt around his waist, and held a black bamboo folding fan in his hand—the very picture of elegance and ease.

Yet, as the chubby youth looked at his peerless silhouette, he increasingly felt that this close friend and classmate of his didn't seem like a good person.

He had never seen anyone go to such lengths, determined to ruin his own eldest sister's marriage.

The youth turned around; it was Jia Cong.

"How was it? The method I taught you—did you say those things to her?"

"Brother Cong, I only helped you because I trust you. It's common enough for people to covet power, but you've gone to such great lengths, so anxious to break off this engagement—is there some other reason?"

You don't know, my third sister is the best of friends with the daughter of Huang Hongcang, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites. Although this Miss Huang is inferior to the Miss Qin of yesteryear, she is still a rare beauty.

Cai Xiaoyu gave an awkward chuckle.

Cai Xiaoyu took it with a look of pleasant surprise, carefully unfolded it to admire it, and exclaimed with great admiration: "Brother Cong, I've never heard of you copying the Book of Songs before. This is probably the only copy outside."

"I won't say much more in the way of thanks; I'll give you something."

"If he still wavers, I naturally have other ways to deal with him!"

"I've already had people follow him for four or five days and discovered he spends his days carousing at the Sixteen Pavilions. You, the Cong Sanye Cai, have a noble status; it wouldn't be easy for anyone else to make him believe those words."

"This little matter is hardly a challenge for me, Cai Xiaoyu. But how is your brain wired? You actually came up with such a method—how did you know these words would hold him in check?"

Jia Cong's expression turned solemn as he said: "This man is vicious and cunning, truly a shameless wolf. If my sister were to marry him, it wouldn't just be a case of marrying the wrong person—she would lose her life!"

"I'm giving this painting to my third sister and asking her to play matchmaker for me, haha."

Jia Cong looked at Cai Xiaoyu with a 'you are so shameless' gaze and said: "I didn't give you this calligraphy for that purpose."

Cai Xiaoyu said with a bitter smile: "To help you, I've been going to the Sixteen Pavilions every day. Just now, I was spouting nonsense to that Sun fellow. If my father finds out, he'll beat me half to death."

Cai Xiaoyu looked at Jia Cong in surprise: "After I said those things, I scared that Sun fellow half to death. I am very certain that even if you gave him ten times the courage, he wouldn't dare marry your sister now!"

As he spoke, Jia Cong took out a scroll and handed it to Cai Xiaoyu, saying: "This is a volume of the Book of Songs I copied by hand. Don't look down on it."

"Ever since you were granted the title of Count Lord Weiyuan, your calligraphy has become increasingly valuable. I think this piece alone is enough to pay for my meals at the Chunhua Pavilion for several years."

Cai Xiaoyu spoke nonsense with a straight face, completely ignoring Jia Cong's look of disdain: "Don't worry, I won't trade it for meals. I plan to give it to my third sister; she loves your poetry and calligraphy the most."

When Jia Cong heard this, a smug smile appeared on his face, which only made Cai Xiaoyu feel even more that he wasn't a good person.

Jia Cong frowned and said: "Don't think I don't know that you've been to the Sixteen Pavilions plenty of times even without helping me..."

Jia Cong sneered: "I've spent a lot of effort these past few days finding out very clearly that Sun Shaozu is currently waiting for a vacancy at the Ministry of War. His attempt to marry into my Jia family is nothing more than coveting the Jia family's power."

"It has always been the case that one strikes a snake at its seven-inch mark. As long as he knows that marrying into our family brings a hundred harms and no benefits, and will even ruin his future and his life, he will naturally know to retreat."

Cai Xiaoyu was startled by the severity of his words, but he had always trusted Jia Cong's abilities and knew that what he said must not be without foundation, so he didn't intend to ask for details.

Cai Xiaoyu asked: "Then how do you want me to use it?"

Jia Cong laughed: "In case your father finds out you've been visiting the Sixteen Pavilions every day and wants to beat you half to death, just present this calligraphy and say I sent it to the old gentleman for his correction. That should save you from a beating."

Cai Xiaoyu: "..."

The Rongqing Hall was where Jia Mu lived and was also the most scrutinized place in the Jia Fu.

The Jia Fu was a prosperous clan for generations with many people, and with many eyes and mouths, what happened in the Rongqing Hall could never be kept secret.

Within a single day, the news of Jia Mu wanting Jia Cong to support Zhang Zhang Youshi, Jia Rong, and others, and Jia Cong's stern refusal in public, spread throughout the Jia Fu.

Zhang Zhang Youshi was filled with shame and anger, but she was helpless. Who let her be alone and without support now, leaving her to be used as a pawn by Jia Mu and the others?

However, there was inevitably disappointment in Zhang Zhang Youshi's heart. After all, anyone could see that Jia Cong, with his hereditary countship, would sooner or later become the most powerful person in the Jia family.

As a fallen person whose title had been stripped, how could she not have harbored thoughts of seeking his protection?

But after Jia Cong's words and actions spread, Zhang Zhang Youshi, who had seen much of the world, knew that Jia Cong was firm and unyielding, and could not tolerate even a grain of sand in his eyes; she was not the sort of person he would associate with.

She remembered Qin Keqing, the former wife of Rong'er, who had been able to catch the eye of this young count, but ever since she heard Keqing had gone missing, there had been no news—whether she was alive or dead...

As for the descendants of the Ningguo line, such as Jia Xiao and Jia Qiang, upon hearing that Jia Cong had been granted a hereditary countship and that the Emperor had even bestowed the original Ningguo Prefecture upon him,

they had thoughts of using the excuse of Jia Cong obtaining the Ningguo Prefecture to rely on their kinship and the relationship of the Ningguo descendants to come knocking, and perhaps even extort some benefits.

But until Jia Cong refused even the original mistress and young master of the Ningguo Prefecture without mercy, let alone those of them with more distant relations,

most of them realized that this young kinsman who had been granted a title was shrewd, ruthless, and airtight—not someone to be trifled with—and they dared not harbor any more covetous thoughts.

As for other Jia family descendants who didn't think of working and only wanted to feed on the shade of others, most of them also gave up their inappropriate thoughts.

As for the many servants in the Rongguo, many had been family servants for generations, having spent lifetimes in a wealthy and snobbish household, long ago developing a pair of snobbish eyes and a heart for wealth.

What Jia Mu could think of, many of the cunning family servants could also think of.

In their eyes, although Jia Cong had been granted a countship, he was still the old lady's grandson, and no matter how big Jia Cong's countship was, it couldn't beat his father's marquis title.

The future Count Lord Weiyuan's mansion would be nothing more than a branch of the Rongguo.

However, many knowledgeable servants still knew how noble a hereditary countship was.

They also knew that when the East Mansion reopened in the future, according to the old lady's usual way of managing the household, she would certainly assign some capable servants to manage the former East Mansion, now the Count's Mansion.

That Cong Sanye was excellent at both reading and fighting, but after all, he was a man—how would he manage a household? Moreover, he was still young and unmarried, and there was no mistress in the mansion to manage it.

For most servants, this was simply the best place to go, and many servants and maids in the Rongguo were hoping to be assigned by the old lady to work in the Count's Mansion.

For them, this was a beautiful thing that benefited both sides.

However, the word from the Rongqing Hall was that Cong Sanye Cong was not willing to use the old people from the mansion at all, but had bought dozens of new family slaves to use instead.

Of all the servants in the Rongguo, Cong Sanye Cong only asked the old lady for Liu Sao from the kitchen, the reason being that Liu Sao was the mother of Cong Sanye's trusted maid, Wu'er.

Thus, in the past few days, Liu Sao had become the focus of envy and jealousy for all the servants in the mansion, and countless family slaves of various backgrounds had been saying nice things to Liu Sao and inviting her to meals.

But Liu Sao had long received instructions from Wu'er and knew that Cong Sanye asking for her alone to come to the Count's Mansion was entirely out of regard for her daughter.

Over the past few years, with the ups and downs of Jia Cong's fortunes, the snobbery of the servants in the mansion had risen and fallen several times.

As Wu'er's own mother, Liu Sao had seen enough of the faces of those around her and naturally would not be easily deceived by these people, becoming even more cautious in her words and actions at this juncture.

Moreover, Wu'er had specifically instructed that Cong Sanye only wanted Liu Sao to come, and all helpers and handymen were to be newly recruited.

This series of actions by Jia Cong soon made these family slaves give up their inappropriate thoughts.

This young Cong Sanye was not someone who didn't know how to manage a household.

The gate in his heart was a hundred times stricter and shrewder than the Second Mistress of the mansion. He hadn't even opened the mansion yet, and he had already managed the Count's Mansion like an iron bucket, not even a needle could be inserted.

Therefore, Jia Cong's actions in the Rongqing Hall that day truly saved him a lot of trouble in opening his mansion and also invisibly drew a line with the Rongguo.

Because of Jia Cong's title, the various undercurrents caused in the Rongguo subsided, and the brand-new Count's Mansion was gradually nearing completion amidst tense restructuring and renovation...

Jia Mu's methods, which had always been effective and had dominated the inner chambers for decades, had met with such a setback when encountering this grandson who was never worry-free, so her mood was naturally very bad.

However, she had recently begun to worry about another matter, and that was the marriage of her second granddaughter, Yingchun.

In the fifth month, they had already exchanged engagement documents and betrothal gifts with the Sun family, and it was originally agreed that they would come to set the wedding date the day before yesterday.

But Lady Xing from the East Road Courtyard sent word that Sun Shaozu had delayed the time and had not come the day before yesterday, nor had he sent any message to explain the reason.

Jia Mu was a person who had seen much of the world and was most sensitive to such marriage matters, so she guessed that something must have gone wrong.

The engagement and betrothal of Yingchun had already spread, and if something went wrong, it would harm her granddaughter's reputation.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 322 =====