[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-my-life-as-a-rising-force-in-the-red-chamber":3,"chapter-my-life-as-a-rising-force-in-the-red-chamber-my-life-as-a-rising-force-in-the-red-chamber-chapter-7":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","My Life as a Rising Force in the Red Chamber",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2310805,4515,"Chapter 7: Seeking Silver","my-life-as-a-rising-force-in-the-red-chamber-chapter-7",7,"\u003Cp>Jia Cong’s injuries had finally healed, and over these past few days he began moving around his room; having lain bedridden for nearly half a month, his limbs had grown stiff.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now that his pain had just subsided, his body appeared even more frail; after a little exertion, he was already short of breath.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So he began using methods from his past life to stay fit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhi Shao noticed the Third Young Master had taken up even more peculiar habits—often lying on the ground pushing himself up and down, running laps daily in the narrow grain storage yard every morning and evening, not stopping until drenched in sweat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The day Zhi Shao went to demand her monthly allowance from Wang Shanbao’s wife, Wang Shanbao’s wife immediately reported it to Lady Xing, and soon after, Liu Sou, the cook, was harshly scolded by Wang Shanbao’s wife.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lady Xing was greedy and avaricious; as the eldest daughter-in-law, though she could not control the Western Courtyard, the Eastern Courtyard was her domain, where each person’s monthly allowance was fixed, and the household disbursed funds monthly according to these fixed amounts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since these people lived and ate within the courtyard, they didn’t need allowance money for food, and with Jia Cong—a disgraceful, powerless target—so easy to squeeze, how could Wang Shanbao’s wife not manipulate the allowance?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She had received Lady Xing’s secret orders, chosen the softest target, withheld and embezzled funds to help Lady Xing hoard wealth, while skimming a little for herself, thereby securing her own position more firmly in Lady Xing’s favor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhi Shao had been forced to come demanding the allowance because Jia Cong’s convalescence had drained their silver, and this exposed the truth—not only did Wang Shanbao’s wife lose face, but Lady Xing’s reputation suffered too; how could she not harbor resentment?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After that, whenever Zhi Shao went to the kitchen, she received only cold rice and leftover dishes, and the portions were deliberately reduced.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jia Cong’s anger or tantrums she found normal, but now he was smiling at her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Was this bastard child of a courtesan brain-damaged, or driven mad? Jia Cong’s smile looked clean enough, yet it sent a chill down her spine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This made Wang Shanbao’s wife feel increasingly unsettled; she thought she must be seeing ghosts—being mentally manipulated by a child, and she felt both ashamed and furious.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jia Cong took out a money pouch from his person and handed it to Wang Shanbao’s wife without expression: “I spent two taels of silver on supplies these past few days; the rest is here.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before Jia Cong could deny it, Wang Shanbao’s wife, face darkening, preemptively shouted: “Don’t tell me you didn’t have ten taels—your mother and Xia Po boasted about it, and plenty heard.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Liu Sou’s daughter Wu Er was nowhere to be seen; rumor had it she was confined to her home by her mother. Jia Cong knew Wang Shanbao’s wife, acting on Lady Xing’s orders, was behind this sabotage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She saw Jia Cong showed none of the expected rage or grievance—only calm expression, his eyes steady and fixed on her, their gaze almost scorching; suddenly, she felt a pang of unease.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Shanbao’s wife exhaled in relief, secretly sneering; she grew even more contemptuous of Jia Cong—this courtesan’s spawn was easily frightened into submission; a spineless coward, he’d hand over the silver without a fight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jia Cong smiled bitterly; Aunt Zhao had recognized the value of his calligraphy, delighted, and surely bragged to her fellow townspeople. With so many tongues in the Jia household, how could such news stay hidden?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Shanbao’s wife, her long face deliberately contorted into a menacing expression, snapped: “The Lady said she’d hold it for you—you don’t need a single copper for daily expenses in the courtyard, so you won’t hoard silver and go astray. Hand it over now!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The atmosphere turned oppressive; behind him, Zhi Shao’s face had grown pale, her small hands tightly clutching her sleeve, her bright eyes anxiously fixed on Jia Cong.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jia Cong suddenly smiled, startling Wang Shanbao’s wife.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The silver chest in the room had long been empty; fortunately, the couplet he’d given Aunt Zhao had fetched ten taels, preventing starvation—he slipped out daily to buy food to supplement their meals.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She gritted her teeth: “I didn’t say that—the Lady herself ordered it. If you won’t hand it over, I’ll have the Lady come collect it herself.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just as Jia Cong was calculating whether ten taels would feed him and Zhi Shao for half a year, Wang Shanbao’s wife suddenly appeared, smiling without warmth, bringing up his ten taels of silver.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She didn’t even care how vulgar it looked—right before Jia Cong’s eyes, she began counting the silver in the pouch to check if two taels were truly missing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She was too busy counting the silver to notice that though Jia Cong’s face remained calm, a flash of icy coldness passed through his eyes, sharp as frost.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jia Cong knew he couldn’t keep the money—if he didn’t hand it over willingly, Lady Xing would devise even more ways to humiliate him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She was his stepmother; she merely claimed she was holding it for the child, not taking it outright—on the surface, she had no fault to be found.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Filial piety and righteousness stood firm before him; ancestral rites and rituals loomed large. If he showed even the slightest defiance, he’d be branded unfilial, and from then on, he’d have no place in the Jia household—worse than he was now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since Wang Shanbao’s wife had taken the silver, meals had become a problem; Zhi Shao ate little and could manage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Jia Cong, now exercising daily, burned through far more energy, and each night he was too hungry to sleep.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Born into the Jia household, where two dukes had once held power, Jia Cong thought his skills were still adequate—yet he couldn’t even get enough to eat, reduced to such misery.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Still, he’d finally seen through Lady Xing: the chief lady of the mighty Jia household, so greedy and stingy she’d strip a bastard son of ten taels.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And Wang Shanbao’s wife’s vile face—both mistress and servant were beneath contempt; incapable of anything grand, only fit for petty theft and scheming. No wonder the matriarch despised the eldest daughter-in-law.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The book sent by Tan Chun mentioned Wang Mojie, and through it Jia Cong learned that in this timeline, Wang Mojie was one of the few renowned literati untouched by historical divergence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Here, he remained the famed “Buddha of Poetry,” celebrated across the land for his poetry and painting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jia Cong carefully wrote three poems by Wang Mojie, planning to take them to the bookshop for sale when Aunt Zhao next visited—he’d learned from the couplet incident that his calligraphy held value.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This time, he’d make sure Aunt Zhao kept her mouth shut; otherwise, once the silver came in, Lady Xing would snatch it away again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But for several days afterward, Aunt Zhao never appeared; he later heard she’d been sent to the laundry room, on the grounds that Jia Cong was grown and no longer needed a wet nurse.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jia Cong sneered inwardly—this was cutting off his own hands and feet, trying to starve him to death. But it wouldn’t frighten him; he’d find another way if he had to.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The next morning, Jia Cong left the Eastern Courtyard early, heading to Wenhuan Street to find a calligraphy and painting shop to consign his three scrolls.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shortly after he stepped out, Zhou Changyan entered Rongguo Mansion in a blue scholar’s robe.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jia She, as the eldest legitimate son who inherited the title, should have inherited the ancestral Rongguo Mansion by right; according to ancestral rites, Jia Zheng, as the second son, should have moved out to a separate residence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet it was Jia She, the eldest, who was forced to move out—merely because of one word from Jia Mu.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jia Mu detested her eldest son’s dissolute, frivolous ways; she let him keep the title but barred him from living in the mansion, and no one dared speak a word against it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Clearly, at this time, filial piety outweighed ancestral law; even a degenerate like Jia She could only obediently submit to his mother’s will, never daring to utter a complaint—otherwise, he’d face eternal ruin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jia Cong observed all this; though he lived in humiliation, he understood that filial piety and ancestral rites could not be lightly defied—he must proceed slowly, plan carefully.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The strange situation of dual inheritance in Rongguo Mansion was rare among the noble families of Shenjing; though every household head knew its origin, none would gossip openly—every family had its own sordid secrets; they preserved mutual dignity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the Jia household, this matter was an even deeper taboo; no one, high or low, dared speak of it—even someone as lowly as Lady Xing, though she hated it, would never utter a word outside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhou Changyan was merely a hanger-on in someone else’s household; naturally, he knew nothing of such aristocratic intrigues. Since Jia Cong was a grandson of the Rongguo Duke, he naturally came to Rongguo Mansion—but he didn’t know about the separate Eastern Courtyard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1528,"2026-06-20T12:19:54.434Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","a4ffee92d821223ec3f8449cc7ea9aa4b6ca0dad433cf459fe267fbb99aabb31","my-life-as-a-rising-force-in-the-red-chamber-chapter-8","my-life-as-a-rising-force-in-the-red-chamber-chapter-6",920,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fmy-life-as-a-rising-force-in-the-red-chamber-cover.jpg"]