Chapter 84: Why are birthday gifts so cheap and lowly (Please collect, please follow!)

Her sister-in-law's words just now were lukewarm, but they didn't sound good to the old lady's ears.

The old lady might not care for her own grandson, but she didn't want outsiders to talk about him to diminish her own face.

But her sister-in-law didn't realize it at all and actually continued to chatter:

"Although his background is not good, in a family like ours, background is secondary; filial piety and understanding etiquette are the most important."

"I also heard that he made a mistake, and even his etiquette was exempted by the old lady. I felt sad for the old lady when I heard it."

"To have such a troublesome one, Master Zheng should really discipline him. If everyone was as obedient as Baoyu, wouldn't the old lady be worry-free?"

Jia Mu, at the head, felt her face turn cold upon hearing these words. This Wang Ziteng had become such a big official, yet his wife was actually a fool!

Lady Wang's face also turned bad at this time, and she was about to step out to put out the fire and let her troublesome sister-in-law shut up quickly.

Wang Xifeng sneered in her heart. Her uncle was a first-class figure in the Wang family, yet he had such a wife.

Clearly a fool with a belly full of straw, yet she had to jump out and show off, afraid that others wouldn't know she was stupid.

But she didn't know that the Hou Jue of Zhongjing title of the Shi family was three parts more valuable than the hereditary Hou Jue of Lady Bao Ling title of the Shi family.

Yet Lady Xing still felt that her own mouth was sharp; she thought these ridiculing remarks about Jia Cong were a way to curry favor with Jia Mu, as he was, after all, nothing more than a concubine-born son of a prostitute.

The Wang family's ancestors were also just county counts, and the title had been extinct for several generations.

……

Yet she didn't know she had already offended a group of people in the hall, even Lady Wang was looking at her sister-in-law like she was looking at a fool.

The contempt on the face of the Hou Jue of Zhongjing's wife, Lady Li, flashed by.

The Hou Jue of Lady Bao Ling and the Hou Jue of Zhongjing were both Jia Mu's nephews. This blood relationship was much closer than the Wang family.

But it doesn't count when it comes to Cong Ge'er."

May was the Retired Emperor's birthday. Our Hou Jue and other civil and military officials followed the Emperor to the Chonghua Palace to kowtow and wish the Retired Emperor a long life."

Saying such stupid things on such an occasion made her aunt's face embarrassed.

She was interrupted by Li and felt a bit unhappy: "The Hou Jue's wife's words are strange. Is he different from others?"

This Wang family was just a fallen family without even a title. If it weren't for relying on the Jia family's connections, how could they sit in the position of Commander of the Capital Battalion?

She said: "We women don't know about things outside, but I heard our Hou Jue mention some things."

……

How could the Hou Jue of Zhongjing's wife, Li, not see the embarrassment on Jia Mu's face? She couldn't help but feel a sense of shared hatred.

Zhang's face twitched when she heard this. Although her husband's position as Commander of the Capital Battalion was somewhat glorious, it was a newly promoted position.

The wife of the Hou Jue of Zhongjing, Li, spoke first: "Lady Wang's words are not quite accurate. Others sending a piece of paper as a birthday gift is called rude."

The family foundation and the Shi family with two marquises in one family were worlds apart.

The man in the family suddenly gained a high position, and she didn't know how to behave, arrogant and forgetting herself to this point.

Her husband had a high official position, but he didn't have the face of the Emperor personally taking him to pay respects to the Retired Emperor.

This Zhang was just a small-minded person. Her eyes were so shallow, and she had forgotten where she crawled out from.

The Hou Jue of Zhongjing, Shi Ding, was the third grandson of the Chancellor, Shi Gong.

Shi Xiangyun's father was the eldest grandson, but because he died early, the Hou Jue of Lady Bao Ling title was inherited by the Chancellor Shi Gong's second grandson, Shi Nai.

The Hou Jue of Zhongjing was originally just a minor general in the military, but later because of his merit in following the dragon, he helped the current Emperor ascend to the throne, and only then was he promoted from a commoner to the Hou Jue of Zhongjing.

Knowing that the Emperor conferred the title with the words "Zhongjing" (Loyal and Quiet), one could know how great the Emperor's praise and trust for Shi Ding was.

Shi Ding's Hou Jue of Zhongjing title was fought for by himself in a sea of swords and fire, and it was conferred by the current Emperor, so it was more weighty than the hereditary title of the Shi family.

To say which of the four families of Jia, Wang, Shi, and Xue had the most imperial favor, it was none other than this Hou Jue of Zhongjing, Shi Ding.

……

Li continued: "That time at the Chonghua Palace, the Hou Jue inadvertently saw a handwritten Heart Sutra, which is said to be the Retired Emperor's favorite object."

"Later, I heard from people who knew the inside story that this Heart Sutra was written by Cong Ge'er himself two years ago. It was originally sent to Prince Emperor Jia Zhao, and later the Prince offered it to the Retired Emperor."

"It is said that the Retired Emperor likes Cong Ge'er's calligraphy very much, and the Heart Sutra he wrote became the Retired Emperor's favorite object."

When Li said this, everyone sitting there was stunned. The calligraphy written by Jia Cong was actually so outstanding that even a supreme figure like the Retired Emperor loved it.

Lady Wang, Wang Xifeng, and others knew that Jia Cong wrote a good hand of calligraphy, but they didn't know there were such shocking anecdotes inside.

And this happened two years ago, yet the people in the mansion were completely unaware, and their hearts were shocked.

That New Year's Eve, Prince Emperor Jia Zhao had sent someone to send a New Year's gift to Jia Cong. The Jia family vaguely remembered that the eunuch Wang Dong said that Jia Cong sent a handwritten Buddhist scripture to Prince Emperor Jia Zhao.

They didn't expect that the Buddhist scripture was later sent by the Prince to the Retired Emperor.

This matter happened within the palace, so not many outsiders knew about it.

That year, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works, Li Dekang, also occasionally knew about this, so he paid attention to Jia Cong and specifically called Jia Zheng over for a talk, but he didn't tell Jia Zheng about this matter.

So after more than two years, no one in the Jia Mansion knew about this.

Jia Mu also remembered that when she entered the palace to ask the Empress Dowager to plead for Jia She, the Empress Dowager Yizhang once said: Jia She is not completely useless; at least he raised a good son.

At that time, Jia Mu was suspicious in her heart and even asked the Empress Dowager if she was talking about Jia Lian. Although she finally knew she was talking about Jia Cong, she didn't know the root cause.

Now hearing her niece-in-law's words, she finally solved the case of many years, and her heart couldn't help but feel a sense of horror. How much more had this grandson done that others didn't know about?

When Li said this, the face of Prince Ziteng's wife, Zhang, was burning hot. She felt that everyone in the hall was looking at her with teasing eyes, and she wished she could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

Everyone looked at the plain white, overly low-key ebony scroll again, and no longer felt that it was a shabby object that didn't know etiquette.

The birthday gifts sent by other young ladies and young masters combined were not as valuable as this one. That was a treasure even the Retired Emperor loved.

The girl sitting on the low stool in front of Jia Mu laughed and said: "Old Lady, can we open and look at the words this Third Brother Cong sent you?"

Seeing Jia Mu nod, the girl jumped up from the low stool and happily took the scroll from the maid's hand.

She also called Yuanyang to hold the other end and gently unfolded the scroll.

The ancient, clumsy, and elegant brushwork of the calligraphy rushed toward them, making people unable to help but want to immerse themselves in it.

The beginning of the scroll clearly wrote: "Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra."

Jia Cong knew that this Heart Sutra did not exist in this world, so why wouldn't he use it a few more times? Using it to celebrate the old lady's birthday was just right.

The girl jumped and shouted: "It really is that Heart Sutra. Old Lady, this is the same as the one in the Retired Emperor's hands!"

"And these words are even better than the Xizhou poem in Tan Yatou's room, and the brushwork is more skillful and sharp."

The girl stared at the calligraphy in her hand, her eyes full of joy and admiration.

This scene was seen by Baoyu to one side, and his heart felt sour and uncomfortable, but what could he do? Who let him not have this ability?

The Hou Jue of Zhongjing's wife, Li, smiled: "Isn't that exactly the same as the treasure in the Retired Emperor's hands? Old Lady has good fortune. This birthday gift from Cong Ge'er is truly decent."

The noble ladies in the hall all stood up and went to look at the Heart Sutra.

Being able to be the hostess of a noble family, most of them had read books and knew a few words.

Although they were not particularly knowledgeable about calligraphy, this scroll of words came from the same person as the Retired Emperor's favorite object, so how could they not watch the fun?

So all kinds of praise were thrown at Jia Mu like they didn't cost money. Although the old lady was not close to the person who wrote the words, hearing these words made her feel she had face, and the unhappiness stirred up by Zhang just now vanished instantly.

Zhang, to one side, had a burning face, as if she were being slapped on both sides.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 85 =====