Chapter 326: Moving to the Count's Mansion

Great Zhou Palace, Qanyang Palace.

Time entered the sixth month, and it was gradually becoming midsummer in the Love Shenjing.

Just past noon, it was the hottest time of the day.

The bright, scorching sunlight from outside shone in from the palace gate, leaving black and white shadows on the black bricks.

The main hall was a bit stuffy, and a plate of iced honey melon was placed on the imperial desk. Two palace maids were sweating profusely, standing behind the Emperor and fanning him with round fans.

Guo Lin held a gray-white secret memorial and walked quickly into the main hall.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, the head of the Love Shenjing file of the Zhongche Office has sent a secret memorial of the Rongguo."

The Emperor waved his hand behind him, and the two palace maids fanning him exited the main hall.

"Read!"

When the Emperor heard this, his expression was also strange. Jia Cong was also a learned and elegant person, but he didn't know why he would speak such harsh words to people.

After all, Wang Xifeng was Jia Cong's sister-in-law, and the younger brother-in-law moving out to establish a mansion still required the necessary etiquette.

Orphans adopted in the Love Shenjing, after two years of upbringing, would be sent to shops in various places to apprentice at the age of thirteen to cultivate future usable personnel.

Wang Xifeng had Ping'er bring five or six nimble-handed women, and also arrived at Qingzhi Studio early in the morning to help manage things.

"On the tenth day of the sixth month, the Jia old lady wanted to place Jia Zhen's widow, You Shi, and the criminal Jia Rong in the Count's Mansion. Jia Cong refused on the grounds that he was an unmarried person and could not take in clan relatives, and that it would violate imperial protocol."

But this matter did not arouse his interest. What he was concerned about was the various demands Jia Cong made on the Rongguo before opening the mansion, completely adopting an attitude of shielding.

"On the tenth day of the sixth month, Qin Ye of the Ministry of Works' Construction Office entered the sealed Ningguo to discuss the restructuring. Jia Cong said that there should not be a single place of overstepping in the mansion, and everything that was too luxurious should be changed to be simple."

In these years, due to natural disasters, family disasters, demotions, and confiscations, there were many people who had become slaves.

He regarded Jia Cong as his successor. If his disciple wasn't even a jinshi, wouldn't that fold his reputation as a master of literature? Perhaps he saw his intention, it's not impossible...

The day before yesterday, thirty family slaves bought from Jiangnan had arrived in the Love Shenjing.

And the original Ningguo was confiscated, many famous furniture items were confiscated, and the remaining incomplete items were also cleaned up by Jia Cong.

Even if he took the top scholar, he would only be granted a Grade 6B Hanlin. Wouldn't that be a superfluous act?"

Now the branches of the Xinchun Firm had spread throughout Yangzhou, Su Zhou, Ningbo, Jinling, Fuzhou, and other places.

Not only were there various types of furniture such as beds, tables, racks, chairs, and stools, but there were also various daily porcelain utensils, antique ornaments, curtains, brocade quilts, and other things.

"On the seventeenth day of the sixth month, the Jia family sent an official matchmaker to submit a document to call off the marriage, stating that the marriage was called off because Sun Shaozu violated the agreement, and the penalty for calling off the marriage was used to distribute porridge outside the west gate..."

"On the fourteenth day of the sixth month, the day to discuss the wedding date for Jia She's concubine-born daughter Yingchun, the person who sent the betrothal gifts was Sun Shaozu, the son of Sun Zhanying, a hereditary commander of Datong. He did not arrive on time, and the people in the Jia Fu were secretly angry."

The Emperor smiled slightly: "It seems that Jia Cong's resentment toward the Rongguo is already heavy, and he is not even willing to leave half a gap for people."

Guo Lin said with some surprise: "Your Majesty, that Jia Cong is already a noble count and has a Grade 5 official position. The slave truly doesn't understand why he still wants to take the spring examination."

When the Emperor heard this, his eyes flashed, and he pressed his hand, and Guo Lin stopped tacitly.

Qin Keqing was born into an official family and had managed a large household. Now that Jia Cong was granted a title and opened a mansion, she was very concerned about this first batch of sold family slaves.

If it weren't for Jia Cong's entrustment in the letter that the new mansion was established and should not be too ostentatious, Qu Hongxiu and Keqing would have sent more items.

He even had the two stone lions at the door thrown away by someone.

The fourteenth year of Jia Zhao, the twenty-third day of the sixth month.

He also said: "Gu Yan has been inspecting corruption in the army in Datong. That Sun Shaozu is a descendant of the Datong hereditary border army, yet he would climb to marry Jia She. Investigate this person."

After the thirty family slaves arrived, Jia Cong had Liu Sao lead them, and it took two days to clean the Count's Mansion inside and out.

"On the eighteenth day of the sixth month, Jia Cong went to Luocang Mountain to visit Liu Jing'an, and stayed at the Liu Residence for two days. Liu Jing'an taught him, and he suspected that he had the intention of the spring examination."

"Continue."

These family slaves were carefully selected from all over Jiangnan by the Xinchun Firm.

And the Jiangnan region had a large population, and its products, literature, and education were better than the northern land, so the quality of the family slaves was actually much better than those in the north.

It was enough for Qin Keqing to select people with a clean family background, a steady personality, and a decent appearance. Some even knew how to read and calculate, which could be considered extremely rare.

Now that the areas and connections involved in the Xinchun Firm were growing, it was naturally not difficult to collect some outstanding people.

"On the sixteenth day of the sixth month, Sun Shaozu submitted a card to visit Jia Cong. Jia Cong did not see him and sent a message: The noble daughter of the Jia family will not marry a pig or dog, and if he enters the door again, he will break his legs..."

And this point was also what the Emperor was happy to see, indicating that everything was developing according to his expectations, but Jia Cong's mind was very meticulous...

The Emperor sneered coldly: "Ordinary people would think as you do, but Liu Jing'an is not an ordinary person. He knows that if Jia Cong does not enter the spring examination, he will be a Grade 5 real position for the rest of his life!"

Moreover, along with the thirty family slaves, there were also a large number of exquisite and elegant Jiangnan items shipped by boat.

"On the twelfth day of the sixth month, Jia Cong met with Cai Xiaoyu, the third son of the Cabinet Grand Secretary Cai Xiang, at the Chunhua Pavilion in the north of the city. The details of the conversation are unknown. It was investigated that the two were classmates in the Bingwen Hall of the Qingshan Academy."

And early this morning, several large carts were parked on the back street, and luggage was moved out of Qingzhi Studio box by box and loaded onto the carts.

"On the twentieth day of the sixth month, the Ministry of Works' Construction Office completed the restructuring of the mansion, and the Rongguo reported that Jia Cong would move to the Count's Mansion on the twenty-third day of the sixth month."

Sisters like Daiyu, Seeing Tan Chun, Yingchun, Xiangyun, and Xichun also came early in the morning to see him off, all of them laughing and talking, and the atmosphere was very cheerful.

Baochai also came early with Ying'er. Following the customs of Jiangnan, she also brought many exquisite bonsai flowers, bed curtains, gauze pillows, brocade mattresses, and tea sets as gifts for moving.

Zhi Shao, Wu'er, Qingwen, Zhen Ying Lian, and others were even more full of joy.

Now they were moving to the new Count's Mansion to live. The population there was simple, and their Cong Sanye was the biggest one, so they would never need to look at anyone's face again.

There were not so many elders and masters in the West Mansion, and it was clean and refreshing to come and go, so the days would definitely be more comfortable.

Moreover, the Count's Mansion was the original Ningguo. They had never had the opportunity to come here, but they had heard that it was as big as the Rongguo, and even better.

After everything was packed and loaded, Wu'er locked the courtyard door again, and the morning sun shone on the black-bottomed golden-lettered plaque under the eaves, and the words "Qingzhi Studio" shone brightly.

Jia Zheng was a bit reluctant to see Jia Cong move out of the mansion, always feeling that from now on, the Rongguo had one less literary seed, but this was an imperial decree, and it was a good thing after all.

It was just that, as the person inheriting the Rongguo, he had already given instructions that from now on, Qingzhi Studio would be locked and no one else would be arranged to move in, leaving it for Jia Cong to live in when he occasionally returned to the mansion.

On the back street, seven or eight carriages started one after another, some of which were loaded with the luggage of Jia Cong and others, while others were carrying the sisters of the mansion.

A day earlier, the sisters had told the old lady that today was the Third Brother's move to his new home, and they were going to the East Mansion to celebrate.

In fact, it was just taking advantage of the convenience to go to the East Mansion for a day.

In the past, they had all heard that the East Mansion was spacious and luxurious, and there was a Huifang Garden behind the mansion, which was a very good place to go, even better than the Rongguo.

It was just that in the past, except for the three sacrifices a year when they would go to the Jia Clan Ancestral Hall in the East Mansion, at other times, the old lady would not allow Daiyu and the three spring sisters to go to the East Mansion.

As for the reason, only the shrewd and capable Seeing Tan Chun had heard some from the women below. It was said that the old lady disliked the East Mansion's bad reputation, and if girls went there, it would cause gossip.

But now there was no such concern at all, because the Ningguo no longer existed, and the original population of the mansion had all dispersed.

Now this was the Count Weiyuan's Mansion, a brand-new noble mansion that had been restructured and renovated!

The mighty motorcade circled to Ningrong Street and stopped at the west corner gate of the main gate of the Count's Mansion, and entered the corner gate one after another.

This scene attracted many descendants of the six branches of the Jia family on Ningrong Street, who stopped to watch one after another.

They vaguely saw those carriages driving into the north corner gate, and from the carriages came down a handsome youth, several beautiful girls in gorgeous clothes, and many maids who were as beautiful as flowers and jade.

Silk and satin, hairpin treasure light, fragrance overflowing.

A noble family produces outstanding people, the world is full of wealth and spring, what a magnificent scene that makes people yearn for.

On this day last year, the Ningguo was surrounded and confiscated by countless Embroidered Uniform Guards, and it was destroyed in an instant.

Only a year had passed, and the Jia family had a prominent descendant who suddenly rose and re-entered this vast mansion.

And this concubine-born son of the eldest branch of the Rongguo was granted the hereditary Count Weiyuan by the Emperor, and his descendants would live in this kind of mansion for generations.

It made people feel a lot of emotion, its death was sudden, and its rise was vigorous.

After everyone got off the carriage, because of the renovation by the Ministry of Works, Jia Cong had come to check several times, so the path here was already familiar.

He led the sisters through the ceremonial gate, the main hall, the warm pavilion, the inner hall, the third gate, the inner ceremonial gate, and the inner plug gate, until the main hall.

And the residence Jia Cong chose was a large courtyard on the right side of the main hall. This place was originally the core courtyard of the East Mansion.

It was once the residence of Jia Daihua, and later Jia Jing lived there for a year before becoming a monk to practice Daoism. Every time he returned for ancestor worship, he chose another place to live.

Jia Zhen and others, because their biological father was still alive, were not convenient to move in, so this courtyard had been vacant for many years.

Out of the back corridor small gate of the courtyard, walk two steps and you are in the Huifang Garden, and further inside are the magnificent and elegant buildings such as the Yishan Water Pavilion, Dengxian Pavilion, Doufeng Pavilion, and Tianxiang Building.

Later, when Yuan Chun returned home to visit, the Grand View Garden was built, which divided half of the Huifang Garden. Now the entire Huifang Garden is still intact.

A stream of living water introduced from outside the east wall flows through the entire Huifang Garden. Near the water, many pavilions and terraces are built, and rockery rockeries are built in the intervals.

Small bridges lead to winding streams, winding paths connect to bluestone roads, clear streams rush in the stones, and fragrance drifts under the trees.

And when Jia Cong had the Ministry of Works restructure the mansion, he changed the places where the buildings were too vulgar and luxurious into a style of elegance and simplicity, which blended more and more with the water and tree shadows, creating a more simple and handsome style.

Zhi Shao, Wu'er, and others were busy tidying up the courtyard, while Jia Cong fulfilled the duty of a landlord, taking the sisters to wander in the Huifang Garden, watching the water and climbing the building, looking for flowers, and everyone felt that the scenery was new and strange.

When they returned to his courtyard, Zhi Shao, Wu'er, and others had already tidied up the four places as new with the family slaves.

The sisters found places to sit and talk. Daiyu saw Zhen Ying Lian still busy in the study, so she walked over to watch.

Seeing Zhen Ying Lian tidying up the bookshelf, but the four treasures of the study, incense burners, and sandalwood tripods on the desk were all arranged neatly and orderly.

There were also two open books, with bookmarks inside, and annotations on the side, just like the appearance of having just been opened and read.

Daiyu went over to take a look, one was the Four Books Collection, and the other was a collection of current essays, and these two were common books for the imperial examination.

"Zhen Ying Lian, are these two books that Third Brother is reading?"

"Yes, these are the books the young master read last night. I arranged them according to where the young master read, so that it won't be messy when the young master reads them again."

Daiyu laughed: "What a good girl. Third Brother asked you to manage the study, and he really found the right person."

Just as Daiyu was speaking, she heard steady footsteps coming from behind.

Hearing Jia Cong's voice: "What rare thing has my sister discovered?"

Daiyu held up the collection of current essays in her hand and laughed: "Third Brother is now a noble count, could it be that you still want to go to the Toad Palace to break the laurel? How can you let others live?"

Jia Cong laughed: "I am fond of reading. After returning from Liaodong this time, I wanted to be lazy for a few years, but the situation is not up to me. Next year, I'm afraid I'll have to go down and fight."

Daiyu asked suspiciously: "The situation is not up to you?"

Jia Cong didn't want to talk to Daiyu about those things, so as not to make her think too much, and laughed: "The teacher is known as the master of literature and sage, and I am his disciple. If I don't win a jinshi background, I will be ashamed of the master's sect."

When all the moving and settling were handled properly, the sisters were together, Seeing Tan Chun and Zhen Ying Lian were reading and writing, and Jia Cong was playing chess and watching the game with Yingchun and Daiyu.

Zhi Shao and Wu'er, either reading scriptures or boiling tea, each had things to do.

Xiangyun, Xichun, and Qingwen were active, taking a few little maids to play in the garden, fighting grass and wearing flowers, sitting on swings, and all had their own fun.

When the sun set in the east, Jia Cong had Liu Sao open a banquet to entertain guests. According to etiquette, he also had Zhi Shao and Zhen Ying Lian go to invite the old lady, the mistress, Feng Jie'er, and other female relatives in charge.

It was just that after the two returned, they said that the old lady was not feeling well and let them play by themselves.

Lady Wang saw that Jia Cong only invited female relatives but didn't call her Baoyu, so she felt uncomfortable in her heart and naturally didn't come.

It was Wang Xifeng who brought Ping'er to the banquet.

A banquet for moving to a new home began, and the banquet was full of sisters, intimate and inseparable.

Wang Xifeng was also someone who could handle things and knew how to join in the fun, pushing cups and changing lamps, often saying some lively words.

The atmosphere of the banquet was well set off. By the time the wine was dispersed, the night was dark blue, and Jia Cong personally sent the sisters and Wang Xifeng back to the West Mansion.

When Jia Cong returned to the East Mansion, he saw Jiang Liu waiting at the second gate.

That day, when he mentioned in the Rongqing Hall that Sun Shaozu was born into a hereditary border army in Datong, and that the Jia family marrying him had the suspicion of associating with border generals, he noticed that Jia She's expression was very strange.

He had doubts in his heart, so he had Jiang Liu investigate outside for the past two days to see if Sun Shaozu and Jia She had any other connections.

Jiang Liu saw Jia Cong and stepped forward to say: "Cong Sanye, I followed the eldest master for two days and saw that he often goes to a fur shop on Hongping Street. It is a three-room fur shop."

"It specializes in northern furs such as tiger, bear, and leopard, and also sells some northern medicinal materials. The boss of this shop is the manager who sits in the shop on the surface, but he is very respectful to the eldest master."

They specialize in selling furs from the north, such as tiger, bear, and leopard, and also sell some medicinal herbs from the north. The owner of this shop appears to be the manager who sits in the shop, but he is extremely respectful to the Master.

Jia Cong was shocked when he heard this. He had never heard at home that Jia She had opened a shop outside. Since he hid it and didn't say anything, there must be something tricky.

And they all sold northern goods such as furs and medicinal materials, and Sun Shaozu came from the northern border of Datong, which was a bit coincidental.

He remembered Zhi Shao telling him that when he was still in Liaodong, Baochai sent some Datong furs and medicinal materials to him because Xue Pan had returned from doing business in Datong.

It is said that there are many such northern goods in Datong, and Jia She's shop happened to sell these things, so it is highly likely that his shop is related to the Sun family in Datong.

Jiang Liu said again: "I heard from the neighbors nearby that the business in the shop is good, and merchant caravans from other places often come to pick up goods, but they all come at night and leave after loading the goods."

"As for where they come from and where they go, these neighbors don't know, and Sun Shaozu came to the shop today, and then suddenly left the Love Shenjing in the afternoon, not knowing where he went."

Jia Cong's eyes flickered when he heard this.

He knew that the Jia Fu eventually failed, and one of the charges was Jia She's traffic with border generals.

Knowing border generals was not a crime, but the word "traffic" had room for discussion, implying collusion and perversion of the law.

And Jia She was so urgent to associate with the Sun family through Yingchun's marriage. Could it be that that charge was exactly on the Sun family in Datong?

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 327 =====

(End of chapter)