The Heavens Begin with Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 40: My sister-in-law is so beautiful (I am going to start the attack on Ningguo Mansion, please read it later)
Zhan Ershisi received the invitation that evening.

Along with the invitation, there was also a message delivered by the servants of the Jia family.

Combining the two, Zhan Ershisi roughly understood Jia Zhen's thoughts.

But he also has his own ulterior motives. We are all the same, so no one should look down on anyone else.

Both parties had their own plans, and they hit it off immediately, deciding to sit together and have a few drinks to continue their friendship.

The next day, Zhan Ershisi came to Ningguo Mansion for a visit, bringing a generous gift.

Jia Zhen was also very considerate and personally brought his son to greet them.

"Haha...Brother Zhan is here, please come in quickly."

"Oh, Brother Zhen, you are too polite. I am so scared..."

The two smiling tigers held hands at the door and exchanged pleasantries for a long time before walking into the mansion side by side.

Since Jia Zhen decided to go along with Zhan Niansi's flattery, he did it very thoroughly. At this banquet, not only did he have his son Jia Rong sit beside him, he also asked Youshi and Qin Keqing to pour wine and serve food. No concubines or maids were used, and the main purpose was to make it a family banquet.

After the two of them sat down, You Shi poured wine for the three of them. Jia Zhen took the lead and led his son to raise the cup and apologize to Zhan Ershisi:

"Before, at the Shi family, due to some misunderstandings, my foolish brother and I had some conflicts, which almost ruined the relationship between our two families."

"I was too impulsive. I apologize to you. Please be magnanimous and don't take it personally."

Although Jia Zhen thought that he had not yet said anything about forcing someone to break off the engagement, his performance in front of the historian that day was not very good. This Zhan man was able to make such a big business, so he must not be a fool and he would definitely be able to notice something afterwards.

Even if he couldn't guess the time of breaking off the engagement, he probably knew that his family had been plotting against his shares before, so it would be strange if he didn't have any grudges in his heart.

So he might as well just bring the matter to light, apologize first, and then say a few nice words to coax her, and that should be enough to get over the matter.

Sure enough, after hearing this, Zhan Ershi also raised his glass and said with a smile:
"What are you talking about, Brother Zhen!"

"To be honest, I am also to blame. I transferred the shares to the Shi family privately without informing Brother Zhen in advance. It is inevitable that Brother Zhen is angry."

"Since we are all relatives by marriage, let's not talk about those minor frictions!"

"Let's use this cup of wine as an excuse. Drink it and forget all the past events!"

Jia Zhen smiled secretly in his heart, thinking that this Zhan was indeed a shallow-minded person. He just said a few nice words and then lightly let the matter go without even making things difficult for him.

If I had known this guy was so easy to please, I should have said more nice things to him. It’s not worth much.

Thereupon the three of them clinked their glasses, drank their drinks, looked at each other, and laughed heartily, as if all the burdens in their hearts had been lifted.

At the following banquet, Jia Zhen and his son took turns toasting Zhan Twenty-four, saying all kinds of nice things to make Zhan Twenty-four happy and smiling.

After three rounds of wine and five dishes, Jia Zhen saw that Zhan Twenty-four was already a little drunk, so he told him his purpose.

"I heard that you are buying sweet potatoes recently. I have quite a few in stock on my farm. If you need them, I will sell them to you. The price will be the same as what I paid to Master Zheng."

Jia Zhen had already found out that the Xue family had always been generous, especially to their own family members. The price of grain they paid to Master Zheng was 20% higher than the market price. Even the price they paid to the Shi family was not that high.

There were too many gossips in the Ning and Rong mansions, and all the news could not be kept secret, so Jia Zhen easily found out about it. This time he was willing to "lower his status" to reconcile with Zhan 24, and even offered all kinds of flattery to Zhan 24, just to sell the stored grain on the farm at a high price.

These days, low grain prices hurt farmers. After a good harvest, grain prices are even lower, especially for things like sweet potatoes and corn, which are coarse grains and are generally eaten by the lower class, and can be sold at even lower prices.

Most of the farms in Ningguo Mansion are fertile fields. A large amount of grain was harvested last autumn, but the government was unwilling to sell it to grain merchants at a low price, so it stored it in preparation for possible disasters, famines, etc. in the future.

Nowadays, the thing that landlords love to store in large quantities, besides gold and silver, is grain.

But if he could sell the grain at a high price, he wouldn't mind emptying the warehouse. After all, he wouldn't starve in a disaster year.

Jia Zhen thought that he had coaxed Zhan for the whole night, and now that he said this, he would definitely agree. But Zhan 24 was drunk, laughed, and refused:
"Oh, Brother Zhen, it's too late!"

"I'm not trying to shirk my responsibility. My family has harvested a lot of sweet potatoes recently. If we only rely on street vendors to sell them, we won't be able to sell them all even if the whole winter passes."

"We really can't collect any more now, otherwise they will all be piled up in the warehouse, waiting to sprout and rot."

After hearing this, Jia Zhen's face darkened. He knew, of course, that the Zhan family had already harvested a large amount of sweet potatoes, but he also knew that this guy was still harvesting a large amount and had no intention of stopping.

He didn't know how Zhan Ershisi planned to use the sweet potato, but he didn't care about that. He just knew very well that although Zhan said nice things, he still had some grudges in his heart and was unwilling to let go of the past.

Jia Zhen was silent for a moment, then said with a gloomy face:

"My dear brother, I did do something wrong before."

"My dear brother, you are so generous that you don't take it personally. I am extremely grateful and would like to express my gratitude."

"I wonder what you like, brother? What do you want?"

Zhan Ershisi was drunk and looked sideways at Youshi who was holding a wine pot beside him. He hummed incoherently:
"My sister-in-law is so beautiful..."

Hearing this, Youshi's heart trembled, her hands shook, and she dropped the wine jug to the ground, and it broke into pieces with a "bang".

She knew what kind of person her master was, and she also knew that her master had long been tired of her beautiful body. She was afraid that her master would take her as a gift for some small gain.

When Youshi turned her head to look, she saw Jia Zhen was furious. He slammed the table, stood up suddenly, pointed at Zhan Ershi and cursed loudly:
"Dog thief!"

"Who gave you the courage to covet the master's woman?"

"Just because the master flatters you, you actually think you are a big shot..."

Before he finished scolding, he saw Zhan Ershisi raise his head and said in astonishment:

"Brother Zhen misunderstood!"

"How dare I be disrespectful to my sister-in-law?"

"I heard that my sister-in-law has two half-sisters, both of whom are as beautiful as my sister-in-law."

"I am attracted to them and intend to take them as concubines, so I said this. I am not trying to disrespect my sister-in-law. I hope Brother Zhen will understand!"

Thanks to book friends "Wuqingmaomaoren" and "Northern Black Bear" for the reward of 100 coins!
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(End of this chapter)