The Heavens Begin with Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 124 Fairyland Products
Baoyu was sleeping soundly when he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his ears. He woke up involuntarily and opened his eyes in a daze. He saw his wife staring at him fiercely and her slender jade fingers were pinching his ears and twisting them into a circle.

"Ah, it hurts..."

Baoyu hurriedly rolled down from the couch, stretched out his hands to hug Mrs. Wang's legs, and said with a drooling smile:

"Why is the madam here?"

"I was too happy today, so I drank a few more cups. I will never do that again next time!"

"Are you happy? What are you happy about?" Mrs. Wang raised her eyebrows, her eyes full of disappointment.

Baoyu said proudly as if to take credit:

"Madam, you don't know that I brought back a box of gold from Brother Zhan. With this gold, our family will no longer be short of money, and naturally we won't have to borrow money from others anymore."

"The second master Xue is full of money. I never like to deal with him. Madam, just give him the gold and don't let him appear in front of me again."

This made Mrs. Wang so angry that she looked around for something to do, wishing she could beat her stupid son to death.

Caixia hurried forward to stop him, winking at Baoyu and reminding him:
"Second Master, you may not know that the gold you brought back was stolen by someone, and a lot of it has not been recovered yet."

"Robbed?" Baoyu was shocked. He jumped up, thumped his feet anxiously, and asked questions repeatedly.

"What do Li Gui and his men do for a living? How could they let the gold be robbed by others?"

"Who robbed it?"

"Have you reported it to the police?"

Caixia smiled bitterly and said hesitantly:

"It was robbed by the servants in our house."

"Because of this incident, the wife was furious and beat two people to death and drove out 20 to 30 people."

"But even so, we were not able to recover all the gold. We lost at least 10% of it."

"Oh, so that's it..." Baoyu was relieved immediately and said with a heartless smile: "It doesn't matter if it's 10% less. Anyway, it should be enough to pay off the debt."

When Mrs. Wang heard this, the anger that had not yet been extinguished suddenly flared up again. She jumped up and slapped him in the face.

"I'll beat you to death, you evil creature!"

"What are you talking about!"

"Do you know how much silver that ten percent of gold dust would be worth if converted into silver?"

"At least 10,000 or 20,000 taels!"

"We don't even need this much food and clothing for the thousand people in our mansion in a month!"

"What debt are you talking about? Whose debt are you paying back?"

"Of course, of course it's returned to the Xue family." Baoyu covered his face and said evasively.

"Okay, you've paid back the Xue family, but how are you going to pay back the Zhan family?"

Baoyu said as a matter of course:

"Brother Zhan is generous and kind, and he doesn't care about this small thing. You don't have to pay it back."

"Puh!" Mrs. Wang was held back by Caixia, unable to go forward and hit him, so she spat at him and jumped up and down, cursing, "What a charitable person!"

"If Zhan was really generous and charitable, he wouldn't have been able to save up hundreds of millions of dollars!"

"Don't be fooled by the nice words he says to you when he's borrowing money. When he asks for the money back, he'll be in a completely different mood!"

"The Xue family is just a merchant family. If we really don't want to pay back the money in the future, we can always find a way to get rid of it."

"But Zhan is now a popular viscount. Who dares to owe him money?"

"If he insists on asking us to pay back the money, should we use you to pay off the debt or me?"

Baoyu was frightened by these words. He was not afraid that Brother Zhan would ask him to pay back the money in the future, but he was afraid that Brother Zhan might be a hypocrite just as his wife said, that he did not really regard money as dirt.

The disillusionment with his idol would completely destroy the three outlooks that he was barely maintaining now.

If there really is no one with high moral character in this world, and everyone is vulgar and mediocre, then he will no longer have any expectations for this world.

Seeing the panic on Baoyu's face, Mrs. Wang softened her heart again.

After all, he is my own son. I can't really beat him to death and feed him to the dogs.

"What a sin!"

"How could I give birth to something like you!"

"Now that gold is insufficient, I have to borrow the money even if I don't want to."

"Let me ask you, how much interest is this money?"

"Interest?" Baoyu was stunned, and after thinking carefully, he said with a chuckle: "Brother Zhan only said that money is something outside of one's body, and asked me to take the gold back to use, but he didn't mention the interest!"

"You..." Mrs. Wang became even angrier, her fingers trembling as she raised her hand to slap Baoyu again, scaring him so much that he kept shrinking his neck and backing away.

"Don't tell me you signed the promissory note without even reading it?"

"IOU? I didn't sign that!" Baoyu recalled carefully and had no memory of it.

"No IOU was signed?" Madam Wang was also stunned for a moment, then she lowered her raised hand and her expression softened. "In that case, let's invite Master Zhan to our house tomorrow, and we can talk it over face to face and make everything clear."

"If the interest rate is not high, we will borrow the gold. If the interest rate is too high, we will have to empty our family's coffers to make up for the lost gold and return it to him."

"Caixia went back to weigh carefully to see how much gold was left in the box and how big the deficit was."

After Caixia agreed, Mrs. Wang asked Baoyu:
"How many ounces of gold did you borrow this time?"

"Uh..." Baoyu looked at Mrs. Wang timidly, moved his feet, hid behind Caixia, and poked his head out from behind Caixia, saying awkwardly: "That... I forgot to ask."

"Hiss..." Mrs. Wang's blood pressure immediately rose again, and she began to search the room, looking for a stick.

"Madam, madam, calm down, you must calm down!"

Caixia was frightened and hurriedly went up to hug Mrs. Wang tightly. She turned her head and winked at Baoyu. Baoyu immediately ran away and went to Rongqingtang where Jia's grandmother lived.

At this critical moment, only the old lady can save his life!
With Grandmother Jia's mediation, Baoyu's beating was finally put on hold for the time being. He would wait until the next day when he met Mr. Zhan, and then they would decide whether to punish him for both crimes based on the circumstances.

Besides, after Master Zhan obtained the ability of "Mind Image Cave Heaven", he used it to play with his own women. After arriving at the East Palace, he hugged Youshi and Keqing and went into the main room.

Originally this was Brother Zhen’s residence, but now it has become the exclusive residence of Master Zhan.

Yu Shi and the other woman originally thought that the master was trying to play some tricks, but they didn't expect that after Master Zhan came into the room, he snapped his fingers, and with a "pop" sound, the whole room turned upside down on the spot, and in a moment it became a different appearance.

"Ah...this is..."

The two women were horrified, looking at the chandelier above their heads that looked like a crystal gem. The light was so bright that they dared not look directly at it.

Looking at the walls around, they were spotlessly white, as if they were all covered with a layer of porcelain.

Looking down at my feet, there is nothing new. It is just a cashmere carpet, and the most noticeable thing is that the craftsmanship is much more delicate.

In addition to these, there are many other things in the room that are completely unrecognizable. They look so beautiful and exquisite that they are simply not made on earth.

"Haha... this place is... my residence in the fairyland!"

Taking advantage of the two girls' ignorance, Mr. Zhan kept talking nonsense and took them to see modern technological products such as running water, air conditioning, water heaters, reclining chairs, wooden horses, gun machines, etc.

"Pah, pah, pah, as soon as I see the master's room, I know that the master is not a real god in heaven!"

Youshi and Keqing hugged each other, their little faces blushing and looking shy, but their eyes had already been wandering over the long row of gorgeous clothes in the wardrobe.

In the past, whenever Master Zhan wanted to make some clothing, he had to ask the embroiderers in the mansion to make it for him. However, many things could not be shown to the public due to various issues such as material, craftsmanship, and acceptance, which reduced Master Zhan's fun a lot.

Now that he has the ability of "Mindscape", Mr. Zhan can finally stick to his original intention and realize his dream!
"Come, come, let me introduce you some good stuff!"

"Look at these stockings, black, pink, purple, white... long, short, with suspenders... thin, thick, transparent, reflective... everything you can think of!"

"And the speed shoes over here, the heels are high and thin, covered with diamonds, under the light, they are glittering, are you tempted?"

"Of course, those are the regular ones. There are also special ones here, such as this one. Look at it, it has a forked top, it's purely electric, ultra-high frequency, and it's a pure 'fairyland product'... Do you want to try it?"

Under the instigation of Mr. Zhan, Youshi and Keqing reluctantly experienced the "products of the fairyland".

"Come on, everyone, look here!"

While working hard, Mr. Zhan took a DV camera and began to learn from Teacher Chen.

The two women had no idea what the machine in Mr. Zhan's hand was for, and they were very cooperative, doing whatever Mr. Zhan asked them to do.

During the intermission, Mr. Zhan took out the memory card from the DV and connected it to the hundreds-inch TV on the wall. Then, when the power was turned on, alluring sounds clearly rang out from the stereo in the room.

"Ah... Master, what is this?"

When Youshi and the other woman saw their own figures appear on the screen, the blurred eyes, hungry expression, and various subtle reactions of the body were clearly revealed. They heard the heavy breathing and the seductive nasal sound in their ears, and they were suddenly panicked and excited.

"Ha ha……"

Master Zhan hugged the two of them and laughed heartily, saying something nonsense:

"This is a divine tool from the immortal world. It is a proof of the truth of a god named Chen. It is extremely precious and ordinary people are not qualified to see it."

"Under the illumination of this divine weapon, our cultivation speed can be greatly improved, so don't waste it."

The two women of the You family hurriedly came up again, asking for all kinds of things, in order not to waste the effect of this magical weapon to add to the fun.

Master Zhan was having a lot of fun, and he conjured up many more "fairyland products" and said:

"This divine weapon and immortal weapon can be used together, and can achieve a linkage resonance effect, doubling the ability of auxiliary cultivation."

Youshi and Keqing both accepted it shyly, and experienced the feeling of the "product from the fairyland" raging on their bodies.

With the help of this "magic weapon", the two women were obviously no match for Master Zhan. In the end, they had to call for reinforcements and asked people to call Master Rong's two concubines, Yun'er and Xiren, to come and fight together.

After fighting for several hours, Master Zhan finally stopped and fell into a deep sleep among the women.

The next morning, Master Zhan was having breakfast being served by several ladies, while Master Rong was carefully waiting on him.

Originally, he should have been caught together with Master Lian to practice martial arts in the morning, but he took the Madam's route and was let off by Master Zhan.

On the surface, Jia Rong and Jia Lian were both practicing martial arts hard, but in reality they were only allowed to meet once at the beginning of each day, and then separated in the name of teaching according to their aptitude.

One of them was slacking off, while the other was stretching his muscles and building up his strength under the watchful eyes of his martial arts master.

Jia Rong thought he had a good plan and didn't have to suffer any hardship, so he secretly rejoiced every day. But after a few months, Jia Rong looked fat due to kidney deficiency, while Jia Lian had passed the novice stage of fitness and looked somewhat capable.

It is hard to say who is at a disadvantage and who is at an advantage here.

However, if we catch Jia Lian and ask him, we will definitely find that he also does not want to practice martial arts and just wants to be lazy. However, Jia Lian does not have a woman to bribe Master Zhan, so Master Zhan will not be lenient with him.

If you ask, it was the old lady who entrusted me with this specifically, and I would not want to let her down.

As for Jia Rong, after secretly seeing Jia Lian being trained to the point of screaming and howling like a ghost every day, he became more cautious, fearing that Master Zhan might dislike him one day and throw him over to train. While they were having dinner, Yang Yougong came in with a message that Jia Zheng invited him to meet him at his house.

Mr. Zhan had already been rewarded for what happened last night. He just watched the excitement for nothing, it was a pity that he couldn't be there to see it with his own eyes. Now that he had been invited, of course he happily agreed.

Nowadays, Mr. Zhan often goes to Rongguo Mansion. Every time he comes, he finds that the atmosphere here is different.

When Master Zhan came over again this time, the atmosphere he felt was a slight dissatisfaction among the servants, as well as a sense of grief over the death of the rabbit.

In the past, the Jia family always did things in a respectful manner. Even if the servants did something wrong, at most they would be kicked out of the house.

This is indeed a huge matter for those servants who have no background, but for those who have some influence in the mansion, they don't care at all.

To put it bluntly, anyone who has reached the level of a manager in the Rongguo Mansion has a house, land, and servants outside, and lives the life of a rich master.

But what happened last night was a bit too much by Mrs. Wang.

She actually beat someone to death!
It’s just that I took some of your gold!

As for that!
Those are two lives!

He was beaten to death just like that!
In addition, dozens of people had their legs broken and were driven out, which made people even more resentful.

The people in this mansion are all related, and coupled with the grief of one's own kind, all the servants inevitably feel resentful towards Mrs. Wang.

Mrs. Wang actually knew all this in her heart, but with the gold in front of her, she could not care about anything else and could only choose the lesser of two evils.

As for the servants, there is always a way to appease them.

Besides, even if they are not satisfied, what else can they do?

Do you dare to rebel?
The most urgent task was to settle the matter of the gold, so she asked her master to come out and entertain Master Zhan.

On the one hand, as a woman, it was not convenient for her to interact directly with Master Zhan. On the other hand, she was also worried that Master Zhan, now a viscount, would not give her face and she was afraid that she would not be able to control Master Zhan.

When they arrived at the gate of Jia Zheng's courtyard, they saw Baoyu pacing back and forth there from afar, like an ant on a hot pan.

Seeing Master Zhan coming, he hurried over and asked anxiously:
"Brother Zhan, how much gold did I borrow from you last night? How much is the interest?"

Mr. Zhan burst into laughter and patted Baoyu on the shoulder.

"What can I borrow?"

"Master, you can spend the gold I gave you as you like. You don't have to pay it back!"

"As for how much gold there is, I just packed it into a box, how would I know how much it weighs?"

Baoyu was delighted and slapped his thigh and shouted:

"I have already told my wife that Brother Zhan is a generous man and not someone who is blinded by money, but my wife just doesn't believe me. I am really a villain in vain!"

Mr. Zhan then went into the yard with Baoyu in his arms, smiling. Jia Zheng also got the news and went to the door of the living room with Mrs. Wang to greet them.

Seeing Baoyu and Master Zhan walking in arm in arm, smiling happily, Jia Zheng's face suddenly darkened. He glared at Baoyu fiercely and shouted:
"You ignorant beast, you have no manners, you are such a laughing stock!"

Baoyu quickly withdrew his hand, stood aside in silence, with his head lowered and his eyes submissive.

Mr. Zhan knew that Jia Zheng was doing this for him to see, so he smiled and said:
"Master Zheng, please don't blame Baoyu. We got along very well from the moment we met. I like his sincerity the most. If he was restrained, it would be too awkward."

Jia Zheng was delighted at heart, but he still glared at Baoyu. He only said to Master Zhan:
"My dear nephew, please don't indulge him too much. This beast is naturally stubborn. If you give him a little color, he will dare to open a dyeing factory for you to see."

The two of them chatted for a while, using Baoyu as an excuse, then went inside and sat down, and tea was served.

They both knew that the purpose of this meeting was gold, but it was customary to chat for a while and not get straight to the point.

Jia Zheng knew that Master Zhan was uneducated and that it would be troublesome to talk to him about poetry and songs. However, he did not understand the practical matters of the world that Master Zhan was good at, and he could not say anything about them, so he only picked out some major and minor events in the court to talk about.

"Yesterday, Baoling Hou was reported for no reason. It was just a small matter, but it attracted a lot of people to attack him when he was down."

"The officials in the court are so morally corrupt nowadays. They are only selfish and have no integrity at all!"

"I have written a memorial and will submit it to the court tomorrow to clarify the matter for Marquis Baoling so as to clarify the truth."

Seeing Jia Zheng shaking his head and sighing, with an expression that lamented the change of people's hearts, Master Zhan sneered inwardly. No wonder everyone said that Jia Zheng was a fool. He couldn't understand such an obvious thing. His political literacy was really too low!

For the sake of his daughter and daughter-in-law, Mr. Zhan kindly advised:

"This time when Marquis Baoling was impeached, Marquis Zhongjing just sat there and watched without saying a word. Master Zheng should have known that there must be someone behind these officials, and it is very likely that this emperor is behind this."

"The Jia family is now in great favor with the emperor, and the emperor is trying to win them over. Master Zheng should not act against the emperor's wishes."

"In my opinion, Master Zheng might as well go with the flow and make his attitude clear to the emperor. From now on, he will follow the emperor's lead and draw a clear line between himself and the four kings and eight dukes. This will surely please the emperor."

Hearing that the emperor was secretly behind this, Jia Zheng was shocked and asked hurriedly:

"My dear nephew, you said that this matter was ordered by the emperor. Do you have any inside information?"

Master Zhan shook his head and said:
"For things like this, you can only rely on your intuition. How can I get the news from you?"

"Even if there was no order from the emperor, it must have been initiated by the officials who figured out the emperor's intentions. The emperor at least tacitly approved it."

After hearing this, Jia Zheng heaved a sigh of relief, smiled and waved his hand, saying:
"My dear nephew, you are worrying too much!"

"There have always been many attacks in the court, so my dear nephew, please don't believe everything you hear."

"If the emperor is really dissatisfied with Baoling Hou, he should just issue an imperial decree to reprimand him. Why resort to so many tricks?"

Seeing that Jia Zheng disagreed, Master Zhan advised:
"It is better to be cautious in official circles."

"Even if it's not the emperor's order this time, it doesn't stop the officials from expressing their positions. Master Zheng might as well join in!"

"The current emperor has been dissatisfied with the powerful families of the Four Kings and Eight Dukes for a long time. It would be a good thing for Master Zheng to express his attitude as soon as possible, break away from the lineage of the Supreme Emperor, and join the current emperor!"

After hearing this, Jia Zheng suddenly became unhappy and said indifferently:

"My family and the Baolinghou family are old friends. We should help each other. How can we add insult to injury?"

"As for the four kings and eight dukes, we have been attacking and defending each other for many years, and only then have we got the connections and power we have now. How can you just abandon them?"

Master Zhan made a final effort and said:
"Then Marquis Zhongjing and Marquis Baoling are from the same clan, but they still remain silent, don't they?"

"If Master Zheng feels that something is wrong, he might as well follow Marquis Zhongjing's example and stand on the sidelines instead of participating."

"Hmph!" Jia Zheng slammed his teacup down on the table. "My dear nephew, you are being too nosy!"

"My dear nephew, you have never been an official in the court, so you naturally don't know. The affairs of the court are not like business. You need to have a big picture and a long-term vision. If you are too fussy about everything, you will only be despised and stay away from others."

Fine!

Your Jia family has a big picture and a long-term vision!

I just need to say something unnecessary!

Seeing that Jia Zheng refused to listen, Mr. Zhan shut his mouth in dismay and stopped talking.

Mrs. Wang saw that the atmosphere was getting tense, so she quickly changed the subject and said:
"Baoyu borrowed a box of gold sand from Master Zhan before. This kid is so ignorant that he didn't even ask how much he borrowed or what the interest was. He really deserves a beating!"

Mr. Zhan waved his hand generously and said:
"A gentleman should share his wealth. I have already told Baoyu that this gold is a gift to him. He does not need to return it, and there is no interest."

After hearing this, Jia Zheng and Mrs. Wang were both stunned for a moment, but then Jia Zheng waved his hand hastily and said:
"No, no!"

"This box of gold must be worth at least one or two thousand taels. It's such a huge sum of money. How can my family take it for free?"

Jia Baoyu, who was standing next to him, was overjoyed, thinking that he had not seen Brother Zhan wrongly, and said happily:

"Master and Madam, Brother Zhan is a rare person of high moral character in the world, and he is the most generous and righteous person."

"Look at the servants in the Zhan Mansion. Even the embroiderer, the winemaker, and the blacksmith all earn ridiculously high incomes. There is no other family in the entire capital that earns as much as this. That's it."

"I told you before that Brother Zhan gave me this gold as a gift, and I don't have to pay it back, but you didn't believe me. Now you should believe me!"

"Shut up, you little bastard!" Jia Zheng was furious, spitting at his good-for-nothing son. "What did I teach you?"

"How can you accept such a valuable gift so casually?"

After scolding Baoyu, Jia Zheng looked at Master Zhan with a strange look in his eyes.

He doesn't believe in any nonsense about "being generous and charitable"!

If a businessman doesn't want gold, then it's hard to say what he wants, but it must be far more valuable than gold!
"I have received your kindness, nephew, but I absolutely cannot accept this gold."

"How about this, my dear nephew will take all the gold sand back in a while. We will fill up the box with as much gold sand as there is in it, not a single grain less."

How could Master Zhan take back the sand he had given away? He immediately waved his hand and said:
"I gave this gold sand to Baoyu. How can I take it back?"

"Besides, I just packed a box at random without weighing it, so I don't know how much it weighed and I can't calculate it."

"If Master Zheng is worried, then I will just lend it to Baoyu and he can return it to me later. How do you think?"

Hearing that it was not a gift but a loan, Jia Zheng's expression eased a little and he nodded:

"Then Baoyu will lend you this gold. The interest will be 20% per annum. I will return it to you next year. How do you think?"

Mr. Zhan knew that the 20% was to smooth over the favor for him, so how could he accept it? He just shook his head and said:

"I took back what I gave away. How can you still have the nerve to ask for interest?"

"If you agree with what I want, we can make a promissory note based on the weight of the gold sand that is still in the box. There is no interest and it will be repaid in one year."

Jia Zheng was unwilling to owe this favor for nothing, so he refused and insisted on paying interest, but Mr. Zhan refused to accept it.

Finally, Mrs. Wang, who was watching the gold with envy, tried to mediate the situation, and the two sides reached an agreement that the existing weight of the gold sand would be used as the basis, and the annual interest rate would be calculated at 10%, and the gold would be returned after three years. The two sides signed a contract.

By this calculation, the total repayment amount after three years will be no less than a box of gold sand, which will not cause Mr. Zhan to lose too much. Even if the Jia family has some favors, they will not owe too much.

After someone brought pen and ink, the two parties signed a contract in two copies, each keeping one copy. Then everyone was happy and sat down again to serve tea.

This time they chatted again, but they no longer talked about the affairs of the court, so as to avoid causing any more unpleasantness.

Mr. Zhan then told Baoyu what he had discussed before, and said with a smile:
"I am currently researching steam engines. This is beneficial to the country and the people, and the emperor also attaches great importance to it. If I can achieve something, I will definitely be rewarded."

"I have discussed this with Baoyu before. I plan to take him with me so that he can gain some experience and learn some economic knowledge to improve his ability to handle affairs. He has also agreed. Now all I need is Master Zheng's permission."

"Oh?"

Hearing that his son, who hated economics, was willing to make progress, Jia Zheng was extremely surprised and turned to Baoyu and scolded him:

"You little bastard, why didn't you tell me such an important thing earlier?"

Baoyu shrank his neck and said with a bitter face:

"After I came back last night, my wife scolded me for grabbing the gold. I, I forgot about it."

"What a fool! You are so old, but you can't tell the priorities! This is the real business, what does a mere gold mean to you!"

After scolding his son, Jia Zheng came over and took Master Zhan's hand, and repeatedly ordered a banquet, insisting that Master Zhan should have a few drinks. At the same time, he secretly regretted in his heart that if he had known this would happen, he should not have paid the interest just now!
After owed such a huge favor, what's the point of that little bit of gold? It would be better to just owe big and large favors.

As we all know, the people who are willing to help you are often not the ones who owe you a favor, but the ones you owe a favor to.

If you could owe someone a favor that you could never repay, it would be like hugging a big thick leg permanently!
(End of this chapter)