The head of the Red Mansion

Chapter 209
At Rongguo Mansion, a group of young girls are worrying about how to graze the cattle.

This is not their area of ​​expertise.

Even though they weren't good at it, they knew that cattle were a valuable commodity for farmers.

"Cousin, when you painted the cow and then added the cow, did you actually think about this?"

Min Mei secretly asked Lan Zhi, her eyes shining brightly, it was clear that she was also happy that the ox had become a source of trouble for Jia Zheng and his wife.

"Some things are better left unsaid; why bring them up?"

Lanzhi tapped her cousin's head. "You should think of it this way: I cut off the cow because I didn't want to let them get away with it, but I added the cow back because of my maternal grandparents."

"Oh~~"

Min Mei couldn't help but laugh, "I understand."

The reason her father dared to treat them that way was also related to her second uncle and aunt, who were once in charge of the household.

After moving into the Rongguo Mansion, although her second uncle and aunt were constantly unlucky, their misfortunes never reached the hardships and despair she and her mother had experienced.

Min Mei hates them.

I've been looking for an opportunity to make their bad luck even worse.

Unfortunately, she never found the opportunity.

Now...

"Cousin, Aunt from the East Mansion sent over a new plate of snacks. I'll give them all to you."

"Give them all to me?"

Lan Zhi laughed heartily, "Do you think I'm the kind of person who needs your plate of snacks? You want to thank me, huh? See?"

She lifted her foot and said, "These boots of mine are a bit old, get me a new pair."

"……become!"

Min Mei looked her up and down at her boots. "Do you want sheepskin or deerskin?"

For the sake of my second uncle and aunt, who will suffer for the rest of their lives, she'll just bleed once!

"Let's get a pair of each!"

Lanzhi didn't hold back in exploiting her cousin, saying, "I'll supply half of the goods for your family's fur shop later."

what?
Min Mei was overjoyed, "It's a deal!"

To make a living, their family opened a fur shop.

However, there are many such shops in the capital, but you can't get good sources of goods without connections.

"nature!"

As the two sisters made their vows with a high five and happily completed their transaction, in the Pear Fragrance Courtyard, Aunt Zhou and Aunt Zhao were also happily doing needlework together.

With the master and mistress not home, they no longer need to follow rules or serve each other constantly.

"It's so warm inside."

Aunt Zhao carefully put away the last stitch of her purse and said with a smile, "In previous years, the two of us would take turns lifting the curtain."

In summer, bamboo blinds are lifted; in winter, cotton blinds are lifted.

The former is alright; their bodies can withstand it, but what about winter...?

Sudden changes in temperature can easily lead to illness.

"Yes, now... is the life a human being should be living."

I will never have to serve anyone again.

Aunt Zhou is very satisfied with her current life.

In this family, she wasn't in a position to serve the old lady, but she was barely considered a half-elder among the uncles and aunts.

Besides, the old man and woman were very polite. They took good care of her because she was honest and hardworking, and even gave her an extra pair of silver earrings for the New Year.

There weren't many things, but Aunt Zhou was quite satisfied.

“With the master and mistress not home, the eldest master is the head of the household.” She glanced at Jia Huan, who was sleeping on the kang. “When he comes back, bring Huan’er over and call him ‘brother’ a few more times.”

"I know."

The wife likes to nag and is stingy with what women have, but the eldest wife is kind.

Aunt Zhao said, "Haven't you noticed that I've been bringing Huan'er over every day these past two days?"

Since the master is unreliable, we naturally rely on the eldest uncle and eldest mistress.

"Ah~"

She sighed with a smile, "I wonder if Madam can take good care of that cow."

hum~
Did you used to rub her?
Are you okay now?
I'm going to be ground down by a cow.

When Aunt Zhao first heard the news, she was stunned for a while, then covered her face and laughed heartily in the room. She was extremely happy.

The two women were all smiles, while Jia Zhu could only sigh.

"Once you've made the decision, you can't go back on it."

Li Wan advised him, "Master and Madam will gradually adapt to their current lives. In fact, as long as you get through this initial period, things will get better."

"I know."

Jia Zhu lowered her head, "Knowing is one thing, worrying is another."

He's a son, living a good life, bossed around by servants, but his parents...

Jia Zhu felt guilty.

"I wonder if they know to put out more firewood at night. If they don't... they might freeze."

"……rest assured!"

Li Wan was speechless. "A heated kang can't be cooled down all at once. When it gets cold, the master and mistress always get up to put out firewood."

"is it?"

Jia Zhu had never done this before, and upon hearing this, a glimmer of hope appeared in her eyes.

That night, Jia Zheng and Wang Shi were indeed awakened by the cold.

They forgot to put out the firewood.

It's not so easy to reignite the fire.

It's not easy to light a flint, and even if you manage to light one, the flammable thatch isn't brought in time.

The couple, trembling and frantic, worked together for more than half an hour to warm up the kang (a heated brick bed) again.

When they lay down again, neither of them wanted to talk.

However, I couldn't fall asleep for a while.

How did their lives turn out like this?

Jia Zheng was completely baffled.

Wang was thinking about her brother, Wang Zisheng, wondering if he knew about her current situation.

If I knew, could I secretly bribe someone in this village to take care of their daily lives?

If my eldest brother were home, he would definitely do that, but my second brother...

Wang Shi had no way to deal with her second brother, so she could only blame her eldest son Jia Zhu, who was already an adult, and Yuan Chun, who had married out of the family.

I resent that they don't know how to be flexible at all.

How can my parents sleep soundly while they are going through a hard time?

"what sound?"

Hearing the rustling sound, Jia Zheng immediately realized what was happening. He sat up abruptly and shouted, "Oh no! Old Niu has peed again!"

……

The Empress's gift conveyed a unique sense of intimacy.

Shen Ning received a portion of everything, from shark fin, abalone, sea cucumber, and bird's nest to various furs and jewelry made from the interior.

This is the largest gift bestowed by the imperial palace upon anyone since the Emperor Emeritus passed away.

The Empress originally didn't want to make such a big fuss, but the Emperor heard about it and specially asked her to add more to make it more grand, and it was sent out this morning.

These days, many people in the court know that the heavens of the Great Zhao have gradually changed.

The Emperor and Empress have always been stingy, and now they're like this...

The officials and censors of the Censorate merely glanced at the woman, their attention indifferent. Madam Shen of the Ningguo Mansion was the least threatening person to them; if the Emperor and Empress wanted to reward her, then so be it!
Everyone understands that the fact that the most noble couple in the world were able to turn the tables and become masters of their own destiny is related to the similar deaths of Jia Jing and the Crown Prince.

In fact, it's better for the retired emperor to have suffered a stroke than for the capital to descend into chaos again.

These past few years, everyone has been living in constant fear, truly afraid that one day they might be struck by sword or axe.

Historical records show that when two emperors were in power at the same time, it was always accompanied by bloodshed and turmoil.

Besides, the retired emperor is really old and senile.

He had clearly abdicated long ago, yet he clung to power stubbornly.

Your Majesty... it's not easy!

The officials of each department kept the Ningguo Mansion in mind. Knowing that the Emperor and Empress cared about their family, they focused their main attention on Zhen Yingjia, who was about to enter the capital.

The Zhen family owed the most money to the national treasury.

After achieving great merit, his father and grandfather were both close advisors to the emperor. When Consort Zhen entered the palace and Prince Jin gained power, the Zhen family became even more powerful in Jiangnan.

Although their national treasury was in debt mostly because the retired emperor spent money on his southern tour, it cannot be denied that the Zhen family also benefited greatly from it.

Besides, wasn't it a form of compensation that the retired emperor allowed Zhen Yingjia to succeed his father?

Aside from salt tax, everything else in Jiangnan is leaked by the Zhen family. Isn't that just making them cut back their spending and then remit it to the national treasury?
But despite all these years of cost-cutting, they have never repaid a single tael of the debt owed to the national treasury.

They placed all their bets on the Prince of Jin, but did they not consider whether the Prince of Jin was the kind of person who could be helped?
Jia Jing's death touched a raw nerve with many people.

It wasn't that they had much of a relationship with Jia Jing, but rather that they were horrified by the Prince of Jin's utter madness...

There were two dynasties that died after only two generations. They perished, but how many noble families and common people were implicated?

If it weren't for the Crown Prince's act of setting fire, Prince Jin would most likely have inherited the throne.

If it weren't for Jia Jing's second act of recklessness, given the Emperor Emeritus's muddle-headedness, the Prince of Jin, feeling hopeless about ascending the throne, would have inevitably gone mad as well.

Who will dare to say they are lucky then?
Memorials impeaching the Prince of Jin and the Zhen family flooded the emperor's desk like snowflakes.

The emperor was quite pleased.

However, the old man has just collapsed, and if he is too impatient, it would seem that he is not a filial son.

He kept the memorial concerning the Zhen family, but temporarily suppressed the memorial concerning the Prince of Jin.

The Prince of Jin needs to be dealt with, but it will have to wait until after the New Year.

The emperor temporarily relegated these matters to minor ones; his current concern was the strategy for suppressing the Japanese pirates.

If the Prince of Jin dared to collude with the Japanese pirates, then who knows how many Japanese pirates are lurking around the capital with predatory intent.

This is something he cannot tolerate.

"emperor!"

Upon arriving at the emperor's court, Dong Xiaoquan saw the emperor looking at a map and a thought struck him: "So you intend to implement a policy to control the Japanese pirates?"

"Not bad!"

The emperor nodded. "Now that the north is at peace and Prince Teng is in charge of the south, the national treasury will gradually become full before long." Everyone knew he was broke. In the past, he had no power and no money, so he could only endure it and try his best to coordinate. But now that his father had fallen, the smarter people who had relied on the old man had begun to repay their debts.

He no longer worries about the national treasury's funds.

He took the initiative to return the money, remembering the merits of his father and grandfather, and the Emperor Emeritus, and that was enough.

Not repaying voluntarily...

Once he's done with this busy period, I'm sorry, but I'll definitely have to settle accounts.

In any case, the emperor had already decided to settle scores with the Zhen family.

The imperial decree summoning Zhen Yingjia to the capital had barely been issued when he issued several more decrees, revealing that one group was openly monitoring the Zhen family, while another group was secretly watching them.

"The strategy to subdue the Japanese pirates is beneficial to the country and its people, and should be implemented."

Which emperor wouldn't want to leave a lasting mark on history?
The emperor also had his own ambitions. "My idea is that you, my dear minister, should formally propose this at the grand court assembly tomorrow, let everyone debate it first, so that people have a clear understanding, and then announce it to the world next spring."

This?
No wonder he suddenly rewarded Madam Shen so handsomely.

Dong Xiaoquan thought for a moment, then said, "Okay!"

"How's your investigation going with the Japanese pirates?"

Now that they've decided to take action against that side, they need to capture as many Japanese pirates as possible.

The emperor asked Dong Xiaoquan, "Don't tell me that we still don't have a single clue."

"...It's easy to get a clue."

Dong Xiaoquan was not used to the emperor's temper. "The emperor asked me to interrogate the Prince of Jin."

Those men in black were his men.

"If you won't let me conduct the investigation, and instead expect me to search like a headless fly, isn't that making things difficult for Shuntian Prefecture?"

When pushed to the limit, he quit his post as an official in Shuntian Prefecture.

Dong Xiaoquan has been suffering terribly these past few days.

The retired emperor collapsed in front of him.

Although he was reporting on important matters, but...

Overall, the retired emperor treated him, the Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture, quite well.

Dong Xiaoquan felt very guilty these days, so he endured the trouble that Prince Jing and the others caused him.

But he didn't want to tolerate the Prince of Jin.

This person has no ruler, no father, no country, no family, and is utterly shameless.

He couldn't swallow his anger, even though the Imperial Clan Court had treated him kindly. "Your Majesty, do you know that what you're doing is fueling his arrogance and could even cause trouble?"

Now that we've taken him down, we should use swift and decisive measures to crush him completely.

That's why the Prince of Jin was arrested in the palace; otherwise...

Based on the momentum of Prince Jin's actions against the Jia family, Dong Xiaoquan guessed that he might have secretly hidden an army and launched a mutiny overnight.

"Come on, have some water."

The emperor was scolded, but he still poured him a cup of water in a gentle tone. "I know I haven't been decisive enough in some matters. But, my dear minister, you must understand me. The Emperor Emeritus has just passed away, and I immediately dealt with Prince Jin. To avoid appearing too cold-hearted, and also..."

At this point, the emperor sighed with difficulty, "Because of Jia Jing's death, the retired emperor thought of his elder brother, the crown prince. If this matter is investigated further... it will be a shocking case."

He needs stability in the court.

The crown prince only has one daughter, and she poses no threat to his throne. He was willing to investigate, but once he did, although the court was purged, it is likely that none of his brothers will escape.

Can he kill them all one by one?

"You can investigate, but I must tell you that for now, we can only keep it with Prince Jin."

"...Is it temporary?"

Dong Xiaoquan knew the emperor's concerns and focused on the key points.

"Yes!"

The emperor said, "My brothers were probably all involved in the Crown Prince's case back then. Give me two years. Then, we'll deal with the matter according to its severity."

At that time, demoting him would be perfectly justified.

The imperial brothers probably all hope that it will only be a demotion.

"In that case..."

Dong Xiaoquan thought for a moment, then said, "Then I will go to the Imperial Clan Court first."

"...Don't rush, don't rush!"

The emperor grabbed him again, saying, "An investigation can be conducted, but it's almost New Year's."

"Does Your Majesty still remember the Hetao region from back then?"

Dong Xiaoquan stared into his eyes and said, "The Emperor Emeritus has given up a great opportunity because of his illness."

emperor:"……"

“Cha Jinwang’s New Year celebrations do not conflict with the Emperor’s.”

Dong Xiaoquan stood tall and proud, "What do you think, Your Majesty?"

he?
What else could he say?
No matter what he says, this old guy can always argue back.

The emperor, not wanting to humiliate himself, said, "Yes, yes, yes, what you say is all correct, my dear minister."

He sighed inwardly, "Alright then, my dear minister, investigate however you wish."