Chapter 255: The Fall of the Jia Family

Three days later.

The affair at Jile Villa spread throughout the entire Lin'an City.

People felt incomparable shock.

In the streets and alleys, there was endless discussion, and the imperial court from top to bottom was also shaken.

The officials involved in this incident all received severe punishment.

Some were executed, others were exiled.

The Prince of Nanhe County was directly stripped of his title, and his entire family was exiled to the wild, desolate lands, with no possibility of ever returning to Lin'an.

Because of this case, the Jia Family was also stripped of all titles and official positions.

As for Jia She and Jia Zhen, because they had directly invested and held shares, they not only lost the titles inherited from their ancestors but were also directly thrown into prison, facing five years of incarceration.

If not for Jia Guifei and Tanchun, the entire Jia Family would have been wiped out directly.

Because when Tanchun had helped Luo Zijun investigate Lai Da, Luo Zijun had promised her that he would try his best to plead for the Jia Family; therefore, when the Jia Family was sentenced to have their property confiscated and the whole family was to be imprisoned, Luo Zijun hurriedly entered the palace to plead on their behalf before the Queen, and thus, the rest of the Jia Family was finally preserved.

The other few families, except for the Bai Family, were all implicated and punished.

From then on, of the Inner City Four Great Families, except for the Bai Family which remained standing, the other three great families all began to head toward decline.

Of course, everyone was clear that the case of Jile Villa was actually just a trigger.

Long ago, many people had sensed that the imperial court was about to take action against the Four Great Families, and had already begun to put it into practice, just like boiling a frog in warm water, taking it one step at a time.

This time, a case as shocking to everyone as Jile Villa suddenly emerged, and as it happened, several families headed by the Jia Family were more or less involved, which gave the imperial court the perfect opportunity to completely turn against them.

This time, the imperial court obtained a total of over one million taels of silver from these great families, which could just happen to alleviate the fiscal crisis brought about by the recent Seven Kingdoms Rebellion.

Among them, the Jia Family was the most miserable.

Because of the construction of Daguanyuan, the Jia Family was already stretched thin, and now that most of their fields, houses, shops, and over one hundred thousand taels of silver had been confiscated, this centipede that dies but never stiffens was finally rendered completely rigid.

Moreover, the Daguanyuan, which they had spent a vast amount of money and energy to build, was confiscated before Jia Guifei had even returned to see it.

This day.

When Jia Mu gathered everyone in the Jia Family and personally took stock of all the remaining property of the Jia Mansion, her body trembled instantly, and her face was filled with despair.

She had to painfully make a decision.

Dismiss the majority of the maidservants, servants, and guards; each person could only keep one maidservant.

The guards of the two mansions were to keep five each, and the servants were to keep ten each.

Even so, it would likely not last for long.

When the servants of the Jia Mansion heard this decision, it was like a bolt from the blue; the end had come, and they were terrified to the extreme.

Everywhere in the mansion, there was crying and pleading.

After all, many servants had lived in the mansion since they were young and had long been accustomed to a life of luxury, and they had long since lost other life skills; now that they were being driven out of the Jia Mansion, how were they supposed to survive?

The men were still fine; they could rely on manual labor to live.

What were those maidservants and nannies supposed to do?

After Jia Mu finished giving her orders, she heard the crying coming from everywhere in the mansion, and thinking of the hard days ahead and the former glory of the Jia Family, her chest felt tight, she spat out a mouthful of blood, and fainted.

Yuanyang and the others hurriedly helped her to the back to rest.

Jia Zheng braced himself and began to lead people to deal with the servants in the mansion.

"Master, I beg you, do not drive us away..."

"Young Lady! Young Lady! This servant would rather die here than leave you..."

"Mistress! I beg you, this servant still wants to stay here and serve you..."

For a time, the maidservants and nannies in the mansion were all kneeling on the ground, kowtowing incessantly and pleading, and some even fainted from crying.

However, things had reached this point, and no one could change anything.

Starting with Jia Mu, all the masters of the Jia Mansion began to dismiss the maidservants and nannies by their sides.

Jia Mu only kept Yuanyang and one nanny.

Lady Wang, Lady Xing, Zhao Yiniang, Wang Xifeng, and others all began to take action.

When Tanchun went to the backyard, Shishu, Cuimo, and other maidservants and nannies were all kneeling in the courtyard, crying and pleading.

The maidservants and nannies of Baoyu, Jia Xichun, and others were also wailing loudly.

Lin Daiyu was on the side holding a handkerchief, wiping away tears, and her few maidservants and nannies also began to cry.

Zijuan, Xueyan, and Chunxian cried and said, "We servants will not leave the Young Lady even if we die."

In fact, when Lin Daiyu brought these maidservants and nannies here, she had brought enough wealth for them to spend for a lifetime, but the money she brought had all been spent by the Jia Mansion on building Daguanyuan; now that Daguanyuan had also been confiscated and the Jia Mansion had collapsed, she was helpless.

Tanchun cried with her own maidservants for a while, then came to Lin Daiyu's side, held her hand, and said, "Daiyu, you don't need to let your maidservants and nannies leave. The Old Ancestor said that even if our Jia Family only has one mouthful of rice left, we will not treat you unfairly."

As Lin Daiyu cried, she began to cough and spat out several large mouthfuls of blood.

Zijuan and Xueyan hurriedly helped her into the room and onto the bed to lie down; until nightfall, Lin Daiyu could not get up from the bed and looked extremely weak.

After one night, her face was pale, and she was even sicker.

When Jia Mu heard about it, she hurriedly sent someone to invite a doctor. After the doctor examined her, he shook his head and sighed, not even daring to prescribe medicine. After leaving the room, he said, "Alas, prepare for the young lady's funeral."

Upon hearing this, everyone immediately began to cry.

However, at this time, the Jia Mansion had all sorts of matters that needed attention, so after crying for a while, everyone left.

Only Tanchun and a few maidservants remained, wiping away tears and guarding the bedside.

Lin Daiyu lay on the bed, eyes open, her breath as thin as a gossamer thread, coughing blood incessantly.

The Jia Mansion had already dismissed many maidservants and nannies yesterday, but some were unwilling to leave even in death; they knelt on the ground crying and had been kneeling all night.

The maidservants of Tanchun, Jia Xichun, and others were unwilling to leave.

Two of Baoyu's maidservants left while crying.

Jia Mu was helpless and began to harden her heart.

"If they still insist on staying here today, then drag them out immediately and throw them outside... Sigh, it's not that we are heartless, we truly cannot afford to support them anymore..."

Jia Zheng sighed and agreed.

Jia Tanchun went to plead on behalf of her maids, but was met with a scolding; she returned to the backyard in despair, crying until she was a tear-stained mess.

At this moment, Yingchun heard the news and hurriedly brought her maids and nannies back to visit.

Seeing the miserable state of the Jia Mansion now, she could not help but cry as well.

Upon seeing her, Jia Mu cried and said, "Yingchun, you are the one with good fortune, having found a reliance in advance..."

The maids and nannies following Yingchun, such as Siqi and Xiuju, seeing the miserable fate of the other maids and nannies in the Jia Mansion, all secretly rejoiced in their hearts: Fortunately, our Young Miss was sold by the master; it was a blessing in disguise to have followed Young Master Luo...

After crying before Jia Mu for a while, Jia Yingchun went to where Lin Daiyu was.

Seeing Lin Daiyu so severely ill and hearing that the doctor had advised them to prepare for the funeral, she immediately cried until she was a tear-stained mess.

Jia Tanchun also came over and cried.

Lin Daiyu mustered her strength, opened her unfocused eyes, and said weakly, "Such is my fate, what can be done? I fear I won't last past tonight... To go like this is actually clean, but you all... Sigh, Second Sister is fine, having Young Master Luo to rely on, but Third Sister, Baoyu, Xichun, and Xiangyun... what will become of them..."

Jia Yingchun suddenly remembered something, hurriedly wiped away her tears, stood up, and said with a sobbing tone, "Daiyu, don't say silly things, you will definitely be fine. I will go find Liu Chujian and ask her to have Young Master Luo help you..."

Upon hearing the words "Young Master Luo," Lin Daiyu's dim eyes brightened slightly, but she smiled bitterly and said, "Young Master Luo has already calculated my fate long ago... Such is heaven's will, who can change it..."

Jia Yingchun did not listen to her and hurriedly left with her maids and nannies.

Meanwhile.

Luo Zijun and the Second Miss Bai were riding in a carriage, coming out of the palace.

Today, the Queen summoned him urgently to tell him that she had received news last night; just as he had expected, the armies of the Wu and Chu states suddenly changed direction and lunged toward Daliang. Fortunately, they had listened to his advice earlier and had already stationed troops at the border, standing in battle array, which allowed them to repel the enemy's sneak attack.

The Queen chatted with him for the whole morning, listened to most of his suggestions, and began storing large amounts of grain in Lin'an, relocating the old, weak, sick, and disabled to places like Luoyang, while at the same time, armies from various places began to gather toward Lin'an...

At the same time, the Queen also gave him a reward.

The Daguanyuan that had been confiscated from the Jia Mansion, along with over twenty acres of farmland, several manors, and shops, were all bestowed upon him, and she allowed him to enter the palace at any time to discuss military affairs.

"Brother-in-law, congratulations."

In the carriage, Bai Qingtong said with a smile.

Luo Zijun asked, "Is there any news about Lai Shangrong?"

Bai Qingtong said, "On the day Jile Villa was wiped out, Lai Shangrong took his family and fled. As for where they fled to, there is no news yet."

Luo Zijun pondered for a moment and asked again, "How is the Jia Family doing?"

Bai Qingtong sighed, "I wanted to go see them yesterday, but the Jia Family wouldn't let me in. Tanchun... she didn't come out either; she probably resents us in her heart."

Luo Zijun also sighed, "Tanchun has helped me a lot. This time, the Jia Family's trouble was indeed caused by us; it is only natural that they resent us."

Bai Qingtong hesitated for a moment, looked at him, and said, "Brother-in-law, should we help them? When I went there yesterday, I saw many servants kneeling at the gate crying, and many maids kneeling there, being picked by others..."

Luo Zijun thought for a moment and said, "The Third Miss can take some maids into the Bai Mansion if needed. As for the others, if they really don't want to leave the Jia Mansion, they can be allowed to live in the Daguanyuan next door for the time being."

"Daguanyuan?"

Bai Qingtong was stunned.

Luo Zijun said, "The Queen bestowed the Daguanyuan upon me. I have no use for it for now, and since it's just sitting idle, letting them live there is fine."

Bai Qingtong frowned slightly and said, "Brother-in-law, there are so many people; it will cost money to support them."

Luo Zijun said, "Only the young misses and the maids; no one else."

Bai Qingtong: "..."

"Third Miss, what kind of look is that? I don't have any other intentions. I just feel that those young misses and maids have no life skills; if they are really driven out, their fates will be very miserable."

To tell the truth, he really just wanted to change the miserable fates of those names in the book.

"By the way, there is also Miss Xiangyun; she can also bring her maids to live there."

Luo Zijun clearly remembered that Shi Xiangyun's fate did not seem very good either. Although there were several versions, the Shi Family had declined, and as a girl, how well could she fare?

Bai Qingtong raised her eyebrows, "Sister Xiangyun has a tall stature and long legs; I knew Brother-in-law wouldn't forget her."

Luo Zijun said, "What are you saying? Supporting these people won't cost much money. The silver collected monthly from the farmland, manors, and shops that the Queen bestowed upon me is more than enough to support them."

Bai Qingtong said with a half-smile, "By the way, there is one more person whom Brother-in-law definitely won't forget; I reckon you have already thought about supporting her."

Luo Zijun was speechless: "Who?"

Bai Qingtong snorted and said, "Naturally, it's your delicate and weak Lin Meimei."

A sneer appeared on Luo Zijun's face: "If the Jia Family even drives away Lin Guniang, then they are truly worse than beasts. Without the family property brought by Lin Guniang, they wouldn't have been able to hold on for so long."

Bai Qingtong sighed softly and said, "Driving her away is unlikely, but at this time, I reckon Tanchun, Xichun, and Daiyu will all be forced by the Jia Mansion to marry..."

Luo Zijun did not speak again; he lifted the curtain and looked at the street outside.

Bai Qingtong said, "Brother-in-law, are we going to the Jia Mansion now?"

Luo Zijun looked outside and said, "You go alone; it's not good for me to go. I reckon the Jia Family wants to kill me right now. Just drop me off at the street ahead."

Bai Qingtong said, "Chujian Bookstore?"

Luo Zijun hesitated for a moment and said, "Bao'an Hall, I'm going to buy some medicine."

Bai Qingtong asked, "What medicine? Is Brother-in-law sick?"

Luo Zijun did not answer; his gaze suddenly looked toward the entrance of the shop ahead, and a look of surprise appeared on his face.

"Senior Sister!"

He hurriedly poked his head out and shouted.

At the entrance of Bao'an Hall, his tall and beautiful Senior Sister, dressed in a white dress, was standing with Jia Yingchun and Liu Chujian, preparing to board a carriage by the side of the road.

Jia Yingchun seemed to be wiping away tears.

Hearing his voice, everyone's gaze turned toward him.

At this time, Bai Qingtong also suddenly leaned over, poked her head out with him, and looked over there.

The window was not very big, and the two of them in this posture looked like they were hugging each other.

Bai Qingtong had just poked her head out when she suddenly felt a pair of icy gazes look over.

At first glance, she saw that tall figure dressed in a plain white dress.

Because the other person was too striking, too beautiful compared to ordinary people.

That figure stood there, cold and aloof, quiet and still, yet she was like a flawless, rare gem of peerless beauty, shining with the most dazzling brilliance under the sunlight, making everything in the surrounding scenery suddenly lose its color.

This kind of dazzling brilliance, she had only ever seen on her own sister.

Such beauty was a beauty that shook the soul.

Even the words "a celestial being descending to the mortal world" were not enough to describe the beauty that the figure was radiating at this moment.

She was dazed for several dozen seconds before she blankly asked, "Brother-in-law, who is that..."

As she spoke, she could not bear to look away.

She probably never expected that one day, there would suddenly be a woman who would make her lose her focus.

(End of this chapter)