Chapter 676: Asking About the Events of That Year

Rongguo mansion, Fengjie courtyard.

As soon as Ping'er heard Wang Xifeng's words, she was greatly shocked. Probably because of the origins of Jia Cong and the Zhen family girl, Ping'er subconsciously did not want the Zhen family to have an accident.

She asked: "Second Grandmother, I heard that the Zhen family's Eldest Master is a high-ranking official in Jin Ling, and his rank is higher than our Cong Sanye.

The Zhen family's Third Miss grew up in the palace since she was small, not only doted on by the Zhen Old Matriarch but also valued by the Retired Emperor, who specially granted the grace of guarding the Imperial tomb for filial piety.

These were all said by our Old Matriarch herself. How could such a family still have a big accident?"

Wang Xifeng said: "The wife said in the letter that the Zhen family's main branch's Cong Sanye was involved in a major case of private firearm manufacturing, and the person also died unclearly. In short, it sounds very scary.

But even though the person is dead, the Embroidered Uniform Guard still refuses to let go of this matter, has been looking for the Zhen family's faults, sealed the Zhen family's shops, and searched the Zhen family's grand mansion.

This matter sounds very dangerous. I fear the Zhen family is truly going to have a big accident.

Otherwise, their eldest wife wouldn't be so evil, packing up more than a dozen chests of valuables and sending them to the Love Shenjing from thousands of miles away.

Nowadays, it is truly chaotic outside. In that territory of Jin Ling, even a family like the Zhen family is going to suffer. Which family can be smooth in everything? Just hearing it makes my heart panic."

Ping'er asked curiously: "Second Grandmother, isn't it said that the four most famous families in Jin Ling are Jia, Wang, Shi, and Xue.

Among them are our family, the grandmother's maiden family, the Old Matriarch's maiden family, and Bao girl's family. The Zhen family is not among them. How can the grandmother say the Zhen family is more powerful than the four families?"

Wang Xifeng smiled and said: "You were given to me halfway, and you are not from the south, so you don't know about Jin Ling affairs.

I have often heard the elders in the family talk about allusions since I was small, so I know some of the Zhen family's background.

It is said that the Zhen family's ancestors were also founding ministers and had made quite a few contributions. But before the Taizu established the country, their ancestor suddenly laid down his armor and returned to the fields, no longer serving as an official.

Perhaps it was for this reason that when Taizu established the country, the Zhen family did not catch up with the good times. The other four families were all granted official titles and ranks, but the Zhen family became a commoner.

However, the Zhen family produced quite a few outstanding descendants in the past few generations. Even among the boudoir, there were figures like the Zhen Old Matriarch.

Later, the Imperial family remembered the contributions of the Zhen family's ancestors and still granted them hereditary official positions in Jin Ling. It's just that after this setback, their prestige could not catch up with the Jia, Wang, Shi, and Xue families.

Our family, by the generation of the Eldest Master and Bao Er Ye, could only rely on the ancestors' blessings to inherit official titles and maintain the family business.

But the Zhen family, in this regard, was more powerful than our Jia family. It seems that every generation of them could produce top-notch figures.

You know about the Zhen Third Miss. She almost became my younger brother's wife. She is a capable girl, and a girl can manage a whole family's business.

The reason why the Zhen girl is outstanding is mostly due to her family background, because she has an even more outstanding father.

That Zhen Bao Er Ye was said to be a talented scholar when he was young, and he became a scholar before he was twenty. He had a bit of the demeanor of our Third Brother.

Later, I don't know what change happened or what stimulation he received, but he suddenly stopped studying and taking exams. He actually ran to do business.

This matter became a laughingstock for major families in Jin Ling that year, saying that the Zhen family raised a prodigal son, who clearly had the ability to take exams and serve as an official, but was willing to degenerate and handle the lowly business of merchants.

But no one expected that the Zhen Bao Er Ye was a genius in business. He handled the business for less than ten years and earned a house full of gold and silver for the Zhen family.

He also earned the nickname "Half of Jin Ling" for the Zhen family. Although the Zhen family had no hereditary titles, in terms of money and wealth at that time, they were no less than the four families.

Unfortunately, the good times didn't last long. When the Zhen Bao Er Ye was at his peak, he suddenly encountered a shipwreck at sea and died, leaving behind a vast fortune, all managed by the Zhen Third Miss."

Wang Xifeng smiled again: "Originally, I thought that the Zhen family's second branch only had the Zhen Third Miss as a single seedling.

If the Third Brother had married her, it would have been marrying a gold ingot into the house. But the happy event didn't happen in the end, which is also a pity."

Ping'er asked: "Second Grandmother, the Zhen family's Third Miss is so capable, why doesn't the Zhen family's wife look for her for a way, but instead sends things to the Love Shenjing from so far away?"

Wang Xifeng sneered: "This is just a trick in a big family. Although the Zhen girl is capable, she is a girl of the second branch. The Zhen eldest wife would rather believe in others than believe in her.

The dozen or so chests she transported are all the valuables and family property of the Zhen family's main branch.

The Zhen eldest wife asked her maiden family's wife to plead, wanting me to help and temporarily store these chests at the Jia family.

If their family has an accident, it will be a retreat. It's just that this matter is a bit tricky, and I have to sum it up well..."

Ping'er heard this and was a bit worried.

She said: "Second Grandmother, if their family is truly sentenced by the Imperial Court, and now our Cong Sanye is serving as a court official, will we be implicated if we store their property?"

Wang Xifeng smiled and said: "You are also making a fuss. This kind of thing is not rare in big families.

The moon has its cloudy and sunny days, and people have their misfortunes. There is no such thing as a family that never fails in the world.

No matter how wealthy a family is, who knows when they will meet with misfortune. Planning in advance, storing gold and silver, and leaving a way for the descendants is a common thing.

I grew up in Jin Ling. There are as many big families there as there are hairs on an ox. I don't know how many similar allusions I have heard.

I still remember the scene about fifteen or sixteen years ago. At that time, I could just walk and jump. I couldn't remember big things, only that it was noisy outside all day.

When I was a few years older, I often heard the adults in the family chatting about the events at that time, and then I knew some of the reasons.

It is said that at that time, there was a change in the Love Shenjing. A certain prince failed, causing a mess, and many civil and military officials were implicated.

Many families of convicted officials took gold and silver treasures and their children and fled to Jiangnan from far away.

Many of the gold and silver they brought were also deposited with old relatives and big families in Jin Ling, leaving a retreat for themselves later.

At that time, it was rumored in Jin Ling that among the twelve marquises of the founding of the country, there was a Marquis surnamed Geng, whose family was the wealthiest and had accumulated countless rare treasures for generations.

That year, he was also involved in the matter, and fled to the southern province with his family and wealth, but was later executed by the Imperial Court.

It is said that many of the treasures he brought to Jiangnan were also deposited with old relatives, and in the end, no one knew who the lucky one was..."

Ping'er saw Wang Xifeng talking about allusions and gossip, quite full of interest, and even with hidden envy...

She had followed Wang Xifeng since she was small, so she naturally understood her grandmother's temper, shrewd and capable, clever, needless to say, but she also liked money and wealth.

Wang Xifeng suddenly asked: "Why don't I see Wu'er?"

Ping'er said: "Today I am going to check the accounts with the steward woman in the outer courtyard. Because the doctor came to see the fetus for the grandmother, Wu'er asked me to come over to take care of her, and she is busy alone."

Wang Xifeng said: "Now it's just a letter from the wife, and the Zhen family people don't know where they are. This is still a matter without a shadow.

You also don't tell others for the time being, so as not to fire a blank shot, and there is no follow-up, which will cause more talk..."

The two were talking when Wu'er lifted the door curtain and entered.

She wore an Ai-green jacket with orchid embroidery, a white embroidered horse-face skirt, and a gold hairpin inlaid with pearls on her bun, elegant and beautiful, moving and touching.

Because of the heat of midsummer, she walked outside, and a layer of fine sweat seeped out on her fair forehead.

She took a handkerchief to wipe it gently, drank a cup of cold tea to quench her thirst, and handed the account book in her hand to Wang Xifeng.

She said: "Second Grandmother, the accounts for the last half month have been checked with several steward women. The expenses are all proper. Where there are increases or decreases, I have made notes."

Wang Xifeng flipped through the account book at will, saw a page, and asked: "Baoyu's room expenses originally had many reasons, and the waste was greater than other places. Have they all been reorganized?"

Wu'er said: "The expenses in Baoyu's room have all been reorganized. Most of the maids and servants around him have been cut, saving more than twenty taels every month, which is nearly three hundred taels a year.

Originally, Baoyu, Huan, and Lan went to the clan school, and they also received eight taels of paper, brush, and snack silver every year.

Because this item overlapped with their monthly money, according to the Second Grandmother's meaning, this item has also been cut."

Ping'er said: "Besides these, because the Old Matriarch doted on Baoyu in previous years, there was an extra reading subsidy every month. At first, it was pocket money given by the Old Matriarch.

Later, it was all drawn from the public. If these things are not calculated carefully, the monthly outflow will not attract attention.

I asked Wu'er, even if the Cong Sanye has such great learning, the reading expenses are not small, but the monthly paper and brush silver only cost two taels.

The Second Grandmother said that the family is no longer what it used to be, and the expenses of the men in the mansion cannot exceed the Cong Sanye, so as not to break the rules of respect and inferiority.

So Baoyu's reading subsidies have also been cut in the past few months, just adding one tael of paper and brush money to the two taels of monthly examples."

Wang Xifeng smiled slightly and said: "Baoyu is not the stuff for this. I want to laugh when I talk about him reading. This one tael of paper and brush silver can actually be donated.

Even if his room draws it, it is spent by the maids playing cards and gambling.

Don't talk about Baoyu, Huan is an even smaller frozen cat, and he is even less of a material for reading. Spending paper and brush silver on them is just throwing it into the water.

Their second branch only has Lan who looks like something. The eldest sister-in-law manages strictly daily, perhaps he can study and succeed in the future..."

Rongguo mansion, Baoyu courtyard.

Since Baoyu was punished by Jia Zheng to kneel, almost kneeling and crippling his knees, because he received treatment from Zhang Youshi, and raised for more than half a month, now it is all solid.

Although Baoyu can walk around, he thinks carefully that the huge West Prefecture is no longer what it used to be, and now there is no place he likes to walk.

The sisters in the family have long lived in the East Prefecture. Except for going to the Rongqing Hall to pay respects every morning, they don't show their faces in the West Prefecture.

The threshold of the East Prefecture is too high, and Baoyu simply cannot cross it.

Since Jia Cong moved to the East Prefecture, except for a family banquet set up because of his promotion to official position, Baoyu followed to the East Prefecture to attend the banquet, and he never went to the East Prefecture again.

The woman guarding the small door of the East Prefecture, every time she saw him coming, her two old faces were pulled longer than the horses in the stable.

This couldn't help but give Baoyu an illusion that the two women guarding the small door of the East Prefecture were specifically prepared for him...

Originally, he also liked to go to Fengjie courtyard to turn around, because there was not only the beautiful and gentle Ping'er.

There was also Wu'er, who had a bit of the charm of Lin Meimei, looked delicate and beautiful, and had a graceful demeanor.

It's just that every time Baoyu went to Fengjie courtyard, as long as Wu'er heard the news, she would hide far away. If she met occasionally on weekdays, she would pretend not to see, say nothing, and walk away far away.

This made Baoyu feel very humiliated. Since he was small, he was the phoenix of the West Prefecture, born with jade, and everyone praised his appearance and character as outstanding.

Why has it become like this now? Could it be that he is actually unbearable, so people hate him? But this thought flashed in Baoyu's heart, and he denied it decisively.

He is full of clear wind and bright moon, with a heart that comes and goes without concern, born with jade, and transcendent.

Others see him, only to feel ashamed of themselves. How could he have any unbearable points...

Although he didn't believe it at all, he also weakened the thought of going to Fengjie courtyard from then on.

Because, although he looked down on Jia Cong, feeling that he was a moth of salary.

But he was not really stupid, knowing that although the Old Matriarch still doted on him, others in the Rongguo mansion were different, and would not think he was still a phoenix...

Now Jia Cong is the master of the West Prefecture, not someone he can provoke.

What made Baoyu even more heartbroken was that the very beautiful Wu'er was already serving tea to the Old Matriarch in the Rongqing Hall and was already Jia Cong's proper woman.

Although Baoyu was heartbroken that she had fallen into the silt, but now that she had this status, Baoyu didn't dare to provoke or implicate her.

Many things had happened in these years, and Baoyu had heard of them. Jia Cong's character and style were outstanding, but his heart seemed not very broad.

For example, that year he used a knife to cut off the hair of his cousin Yi, and scared him into incontinence, which is said to be inconvenient to this day.

And that year he broke the legs of Wang Shanbao's wife in front of everyone.

In short, Jia Cong had an outstanding appearance and style, but in fact, he was a bit fierce and stubborn, which made Baoyu feel a bit rough and vulgar.

So, if he made a mistake on this, I fear he wouldn't care about the family's face, and would definitely drive him out of the West Prefecture.

At that time, not to mention losing his face, I fear he would never see the sisters in the family again, which is a heartbreaking thing.

Moreover, if the Master knew about this, not only would he not pity him, but he would mostly feel that he had lost his face, and would definitely beat him to death in a fit of anger.

Baoyu weighed the pros and cons, although he was furious and heartbroken, full of innocence and detachment nowhere to vent, but he was a hero who knew the current affairs in his bones.

So, in order to stay in the West Prefecture, he had to endure humiliation and never go to Fengjie courtyard again.

He could only watch helplessly, sighing that the world was difficult and unfair, letting those who were Zhong Lingyuxiu be implicated and ruined by Jia Cong.

Now in the West Prefecture, the only place he could go, and the place he liked to go, was only the Lixiang courtyard.

Because there was the Bao sister who looked like a fairy, gentle and tolerant, and never gave people a look. Baoyu felt that it was truly rare nowadays...

It's just that Baoyu knew clearly in his heart that every time he saw Bao sister, she was indifferent to him and had nothing to say. Could it be because they were both older?

But the last time he went to see Bao sister, he saw her concentrating on copying the post, and I don't know when, she actually became the same as the Third Sister.

Baoyu remembered that Baochai's room was always simple, but hung quite a few calligraphy and paintings, one of which was the "Man Jiang Hong" written by Jia Cong.

Although Baoyu didn't like the imperial examination books, he was quite confident in his spirituality and talent, and he was quite familiar with matching couplets and editing poems.

He felt that girls were all precious, and they should be more accommodating and considerate. Since Bao sister liked to write, he might as well accommodate her a little, and they would have topics to talk about.

Baoyu thought of these, and felt a bit proud in his heart, just seeing Qiuwen cleaning up clothes in the room.

He said: "Qiuwen, go and tidy up my paper and brush, I want to write."

Qiuwen smiled: "Bao Er Ye has the interest today, I haven't seen you write for a long time."

Saying that, she took paper and brush from the bookshelf, soaked the brush, dipped water and ground ink, and spread out the rice paper.

Baoyu took the brush and looked at the rice paper, frowning and saying: "This brush has been used for a long time, it should be changed. This raw rice paper is too rough, how can it be used to write?

Isn't it that I can receive two top-grade Huzhou purple brushes every month, and four knives of top-grade silver-patterned snow wave paper? If there is good paper and brush, don't use these secondary things."

Qiuwen was a bit unconvinced and said: "Bao Er Ye doesn't care about trivial matters on weekdays, so you don't know the market in the family now.

Second Grandmother always says that the mansion has less title property, and there is much less income than in previous years, so we can't be as extravagant as in the past, and we need to open source and reduce expenditure.

Last time, the maids and servants of the Bao Er Ye were cut, but it was still felt that it was not enough. The expenses in this courtyard that could be reduced were all targeted.

That Wu'er in the East Prefecture, and Ping'er beside the Second Grandmother, they check the accounts every three days. Whenever they feel that the expenses shouldn't be, they cut them in various ways.

The two top-grade Huzhou purple brushes, four knives of snow wave paper, and a piece of Song Huizhai mud gold incense ink that the Bao Er Ye should have had every month were all cut by them.

Just this one expense, it scrapes away seven taels of silver from the Bao Er Ye every month, which is more than eighty taels a year. Their hearts are truly black!"

Baoyu heard Qiuwen's words, and felt angry in his heart.

He said in a painful tone: "Absurd! Stupid! Reading and writing, elegant things, how can it be so stingy, insulting the literati!

They were both clear and handsome girls, how did they degenerate into this now, actually doing these things of calculating every penny, truly vulgar and unbearable!"

Qiuwen heard Baoyu's words, and couldn't help but feel proud.

Since Wu'er went to the West Prefecture to manage the household, Qiuwen felt jealous and envious, and she found her more and more unpleasant to the eye.

She thought that she had become Baoyu's big maid early, at that time Wu'er was still working in the kitchen, a sick little girl who couldn't even get a proper job in the mansion.

But only a few years had passed, and this sick girl had actually practiced into a spirit, becoming one of the few steward maids in the two mansions, and was openly managing the house in the West Prefecture.

She also became a woman in Cong Cong Sanye's room. Cong Cong Sanye has that kind of appearance, official title and reputation, and also became a Hanlin academician. Does this sick girl have such great luck!

Every time Qiuwen thought of this miserable thing, her heart felt like it was burning. Even if she met Cong Sanye in the mansion, he wouldn't even look at her straight...

That group of shameless maids and women in the West Prefecture followed her all day long, calling her "Miss Liu" one by one, which made Qiuwen feel truly disgusted.

She wanted to climb into Baoyu's bed, and it wasn't a day or two...

So she put all her thoughts on Baoyu, and found some opportunities, so she naturally knew what kind of thoughts the Bao Er Ye had when he ran to the Second Grandmother's courtyard.

Now Qiuwen made up things, aroused Baoyu's disgust and anger, and defeated his thoughts, feeling very proud in her heart.

She said: "Bao Er Ye is absolutely right, some people just have a good skin, but their hearts are very dirty. Seeing Bao Er Ye's good temper, they bullied him like this."

As soon as Qiuwen finished speaking, a crisp voice sounded at the door: "Just shut up, saying these things to provoke the Bao Er Ye, if the words spread, we will be the ones suffering!" (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 677 =====