The Heavens Begin with Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 12 Undercover Success
After chatting for a while, Wang Xifeng hurriedly supported Aunt Xue and walked into the yard.

Mrs. Wang had been waiting anxiously. When she saw her come in, she hurried over, held her hand, and started complaining.

"I said I would go out to pick you up, but they wouldn't let me. They said that by the time I got out, you'd already arrived. I was so anxious waiting for them."

Aunt Xue laughed, patted my sister's hand, and said soothingly:

"They are all sisters, why should we pick them up?"

"I'm not too old to walk, so what's wrong with taking a few more steps?"

Mrs. Wang looked at her sister carefully for a few times, then she also laughed and praised:

"Looking at your complexion, you look just like when you got married, not old at all. It shows that you have not suffered any hardship in the Xue family over the years. I feel relieved."

Mrs. Wang pulled her sister onto the kang affectionately, sighing.

"Alas, I am not so lucky. I am not as lucky as you. I have to worry about everything in and outside the palace all day long. Now my face is so old that it is unrecognizable."

Aunt Xue looked at my sister for a few times and saw that there were indeed some wrinkles on her face, but after all, she was a pampered rich lady, so she was not that old. The reason why my sister said that was probably because she compared her with the other aunts at home, so she comforted her:
"Sister has taken good care of herself, how can she be old?"

"Sister, come and see, I am now a ripe fruit. How can those young people compare to my graceful beauty?"

Aunt Xue used all those nice words on her sister, which immediately made Mrs. Wang smile happily.

"Little sister, you are good at coaxing people. You have always had a sweet mouth. But you don't need to say such coaxing words in front of your sister, or..."

She was just about to say that she was going to appease her master, but she suddenly remembered that her brother-in-law had passed away a long time ago, and quickly changed the subject.

"...I'd better say something nice when I see the old lady later!"

She changed the subject very abruptly, fearing that her sister would think too much, so she glanced around and waved her hand to call the people standing in the hall over.

"If my guess is correct, this extraordinary and heroic young man must be Wenlong, right?"

Aunt Xue glanced at the young man her sister was looking at with a smile, and said with a dry laugh:
"Sister, this is Master Zhan Niansi, and also Baochai's... fiancé."

This Zhan Niansi is of course the alias of Mr. Zhan, a legitimate local gentleman.

"Huh?" Mrs. Wang's eyes widened immediately, and she looked at her sister in surprise, "Baochai is engaged? Isn't she going to enter the palace to participate in the selection?"

"That was originally the plan, but... the plan is not as fast as the changes!"

Aunt Xue smiled along, her face a little stiff, her hands twisting on the handkerchief, and explained hesitantly: "When my master was still alive, we arranged a marriage with the Zhan family."

"Not long after the engagement, the Zhan family fell into decline, and the two sides lost contact. The marriage fell through, so I never mentioned it to my sister."

"But who would have thought that the Zhan family would regain its power, and Master Zhan came with the original token and renewed the marriage."

"As for the matter of the small election, let's not talk about it anymore."

After hearing this, Mrs. Wang suddenly realized what was going on. She looked Zhan Ershisi up and down. Seeing that the young man had a handsome appearance, stood there elegantly and gracefully, and had a refined temperament, he did not look like someone from a small family. So she smiled and asked:

"I wonder what family Mr. Zhan came from? What official position does your father hold? Does he have any honors or titles?"

Zhan Ershisi smiled and bowed and replied:

"My nephew is from the Zhan family in Hebei. My father has passed away due to illness, and I have never had any honor or title."

"The Zhan family?" Mrs. Wang tilted her head and thought. She had never heard of any high-ranking official with the surname Zhan in the court, and there didn't seem to be any powerful Zhan family in Hebei. Her attitude immediately became indifferent.

The Rongguo Mansion is a place of top dignitaries. The people who come and go on a daily basis are either rich or noble. Even ordinary officials of lower ranks are looked down upon, let alone an ordinary local gentry!
The reason why the Xue family was able to marry the youngest daughter of the Wang family was because of the status of the emperor's money bag. Otherwise, how could a mere merchant family be qualified to marry into a family as wealthy as the Wang family?
But now the Xue family is in decline, while the Jia family is in its heyday. The status of the two is very different, so naturally the standards for looking at sons-in-law are also different.

Mrs. Wang sighed inwardly, thinking that a merchant family was not presentable after all, no wonder she could only marry her daughter to some local gentry.

She looked down on Zhan Ershishi, the son-in-law of the Xue family, and ignored him. She just pulled Xue Pan and his sister to her side, praised them warmly, and then led Aunt Xue and others to meet Lady Jia.

This time, Zhan Ershisi, an outsider, could not enter the house and could only be isolated outside and taken to the living room to be served tea and rest.

After half an hour, a little maid came over, knelt down and bowed to him, and said lightly:
"My concubine and her family will be staying in the mansion from now on. Please make yourself at your own convenience, Mr. Zhan."

After hearing this, Zhan Ershisi laughed and left.

The Xue family had such a large fortune that they certainly had a residence in the capital, but Zhan Ershishi's original target was the beauties in the Ning and Rong mansions. If the Xue family lived outside, it would be very inconvenient for him to steal their beauties in the future, so it was agreed at the beginning that the Xue family would stay at the Jia Mansion.

He went to a separate courtyard of the Xue family, occupied it, turned it into the Zhan Mansion, and lived there.

Xiangling was serving him here, while Hongye and others surrounded the Xue family members and stayed at the Jia Mansion, which was considered as a successful undercover operation in the Jia Mansion.

Any fortress must be conquered from the inside. With those greedy and evil-minded slaves in the Jia family, what corner can't they dig down?

(End of this chapter)