Chapter 126: Jia Mu: Stir it up, stir it up, you just stir!

Lin Zhixiao even took the lead to step forward, kneeling and shouting:

"Lord Hou, you are wise! We servants will henceforth do our utmost for the household!"

"Lord Hou, you are wise…" The servants in the courtyard fell to their knees, all shouting in unison.

"Enough! Everyone, stand up!"

"That's all for today; you all go back and think it over, disperse!"

Jia Jing waved his hand and loudly addressed the people in the courtyard.

After the servants left one by by, Jia Jing then sat back in his original seat.

At this moment, Lady Wang, Mrs. Xing, and Feng Jie were still kneeling on the ground, and Jia Mu showed no intention of calling them up.

Today, Jia Mu was truly angry about what those few had done.

Mrs. Xing was still fine; she was dim‑witted, and Jia Mu had always known that and never held high expectations for her.

Only Feng Jie and Lady Wang publicly undermined each other without any sense of propriety, which truly dampened her mood.

She has always believed that family harmony brings prosperity, and between the main branch and the secondary branch she has constantly watched to keep balance.

At the very least, the outward demeanor must be amicable, lest others see a joke.

In fact, she didn't care much about Feng Jie's giving money for a seal or Lady Wang's sending favors to the Wang Family.

First, Jia Mu's temperament is rather magnanimous.

Second, Jia Mu, at her advanced age, has seen every demon and monster, and has witnessed many of these household tricks.

Especially the matter of Lady Wang subsidizing the Wang Family, she has known a bit about it over the years.

It is only because the Wang Family has prospered in recent years, and Wang Ziteng has risen through the ranks, becoming a leading figure among the four great families.

Moreover, Feng Jie and Lady Wang, both daughters‑in‑law of the Wang Family, have always been respectful to her and have never erred in household matters.

So she turned a blind eye, pretending not to see.

After all, the Jia Family has given considerable support to the Wang Family over the years; beyond generations of intermarriage, even some courtly favors have been granted, and a small transfer of silver is merely a trivial matter.

As long as Lady Wang does not overstep, she pretends not to know.

She thought that after she is gone, Baoyu and future Jia descendants might still rely on Wang Ziteng, so this money would serve as a favor left for them.

What angered her was that Lady Wang and Feng Jie, lacking a sense of propriety, dared in front of so many to have their confidants accuse each other, leaving no room for the other.

This is not what should happen in a blessed family!

Even now that she is still alive, they dare to fight like this over stewardship rights!

If she were gone, they would still cause a catastrophe.

With such bottom‑less quarrels, can the main and secondary branches ever coexist peacefully later?

If brothers, uncles and nephews are at odds, can the Jia Family ever be fine again?

The root of a family's downfall always begins with internal strife!

Lady Wang and Wang Xifeng's actions even made Jia Mu foresee the future courtroom clash between the main and secondary branches.

Therefore, Jia Mu this time was so angry that she let Lady Wang and Wang Xifeng kneel for so long without calling them up.

In these times, a matriarch making daughter‑in‑law and granddaughter‑in‑law kneel as a rule is a matter of natural law.

If she does not relent, the two must kneel until they faint.

And Jia Jing would not easily speak to relieve them, letting Jia Mu chastise them so they might learn some respect.

So, when San Chun, Shi Xiangyun, Xue Baichai and others emerged from the side rooms into the small courtyard, they saw exactly this scene.

The courtyard was filled with a solemn, murderous atmosphere, and the scent of blood drifted in from outside from time to time.

Jia Mu, her face ashen, sat on a huanghuali chair in the courtyard; beside her sat Jia Jing, and behind her served the pair of Yuan Yang, while everyone else knelt on the ground.

Lady Wang, Feng Jie and the others knelt; the old women and maids they brought naturally had no reason to stand.

Tan Chun, Yingchun and the others, though, also did not agree with the actions of Lady Wang, Mrs. Xing and Feng Jie.

Nevertheless, some of them were elders; Lady Wang was Tan Chun's biological mother, and Mrs. Xing was Yingchun's biological mother.

The timing was right, so they had to step forward to plead on their behalf.

Li Wan, Tan Chun, Yingchun and the others stepped forward, kneeling behind Lady Wang and Mrs. Xing to salute:

"Please, Grandmother, accept our greetings! Take care of your health!"

Then they also bowed to Jia Jing, greeting:

"Third Brother!"

Jia Jing smiled and nodded.

Jia Mu, seeing the few emerge from the front courtyard side rooms, realized they had been hiding nearby to eavesdrop and understood the whole matter, and, with a face full of anger, complained:

"Peace! Peace! Peace—what a damn peace! This house is full of these ridiculous, messed‑up troubles."

"Also these one‑after‑another thoughtless daughters‑in‑law and granddaughter‑in‑law, if I can live a few more years it would be as if the ancestors blessed me!"

"The old woman has lived only for face; since marrying into the Jia Family, from being a senior granddaughter‑in‑law to now, over fifty years."

"I've never seen such a thing; it's one thing if the servants are indecent, but the master also disregards propriety—truly a disgrace!"

"Look at your good wives, the good second sister‑in‑law: one is the head lady of the Jia Family's second branch, the other is the steward grandmother of the main branch; the two are close aunt‑nieces, and today they performed such a spectacle."

"The two households actually accused each other in front of the public, as if they wanted to destroy the Jia Family's reputation!"

"Every day they all pretended to be courteous and gentle, yet when faced with a trivial matter, their true colors emerged!"

"Now that I'm still here, they clash point‑blank, causing an unending uproar! If I'm gone, can this house still be any good?"

"How can I later go to see the Prince of the State with peace of mind? How can I face the ancestors of the Jia Family calmly?"

Jia Mu paused, adjusted her seat, and her voice grew a few shades lower, tinged with despondence, then said:

"Stir it up, stir it up, you just keep stirring! Stir until the main and secondary branches are at odds, uncle and nephew fall into discord, stir until the Jia Family's reputation is ruined, the clan collapses, and this old woman merely ends up with you…"

Jia Mu's heart today was filled with long‑suppressed fury: Baoyu had been beaten, the servants were being settled, and Lady Wang and Feng Jie were attacking each other.

These scenes left her, who usually loved lively chatter and laughter, feeling ill at ease and unhappy.

At this moment, with no outsiders in the courtyard, she suddenly burst out.

Before the words were finished, Jia Mu's face turned ashen; she could barely stay seated in her chair, clutching her head and swaying as if about to fall.

"Granny!" Yuan Yang's face changed; she quickly reached out to support Jia Mu, and Tan Chun and Li Wan also hurried forward to help hold her up.

Seeing this, Feng Jie and Lady Wang were also startled; if anything happened to Jia Mu, they, as daughters-in-law and granddaughters-in-law, would be utterly ruined.

Feng Jie, crying, said:

"Granny, your granddaughter-in-law knows she was wrong; you may scold or beat me as you wish, but please, above all, take care of your health."

Lady Wang also hurriedly said:

"Granny, if anything were to happen to you, how would Bao Yu manage afterward? Please, don't let anger harm your health."