The Overlord of the Red Mansion

Chapter 154 Jia Rong's Backyard

Jia Rong's backyard is very lively.

Hundreds of beauties live here.

Every night at dinner time, the most beautiful women in the entire Ning Mansion gathered here. Hundreds of beauties gathered together, and the air was filled with the smell of powder.

If Jia Baoyu were here, he would definitely think that this is a paradise with beautiful women everywhere.

Jia Rong thought so too.

After Jia Rong visited the harem and discovered that the quality of his harem was already higher than that of the emperor's, he became less and less interested in the emperor's life.

It would be even better if I could not go to work.

But if you have too much free time, it will be boring. People always have to do something to find the value of their existence.

Jia Yuanchun and others soon saw the golden phoenix hairpin that Xue Baochai took out of the box.

You Erjie praised: "What a beautiful hairpin! It's obviously worth a lot of money!"

My second sister really likes this kind of dignified and elegant thing.

Third Sister You smiled and said, "The Queen has given our family a lot of gifts in the past few years. If this continues, will she give away all the gifts?"

Jia Rong smiled and said, "You have never seen the world. You eat steamed bread and think that the queen is making pancakes for the emperor every day. You have no knowledge and imagination."

Third Sister You smiled and said, "Then please tell us about it, Master! Please~"

Jia Rong sat down and said, "Officials from all regions must prepare tributes and gifts for the emperor, even the royal family and princes from all regions."

"The emperor has treasures collected from all over the country, as well as tributes from foreign envoys. Naturally, the queen will have a share as well."

"The Queen is the mother of the country, so she will naturally not be short of money. The annual gifts from the Emperor are pocket money for the Queen, and the Queen can decide how to reward herself."

"The Emperor will naturally make up for whatever the Empress gives me. Besides, we have the support of the Emperor's uncle, so you don't need to worry about it."

Third Sister You smiled and said, "Yes! My Lord!"

Jia Rong said, "Let's eat first and talk about it after we finish eating. Our family has received three rewards from the queen in the past few years, all of which were obtained legally. We are not afraid of others knowing."

Wang Xifeng continued, "Of course I am. I wish others would know it!"

Everyone smiled and the maids served the hot dishes.

After dinner, they just hung out in the warm hall. In addition to the girls and aunts, there were also widows like the eldest and second aunts of the Zhen family.

Jia Rong and Jia Yuanchun were drinking tea while talking about the issue of children having separate rooms. Jia Ben will be eight years old next year and at this age he will need to live separately from his mother.

Jia Yuanchun looked at Jia Rong, and also sitting there were Wang Xifeng, Youshi, and Qin Keqing holding a zither.

"We could have lived separately last year, but Jia Ben is a naughty child and I was afraid he would be lonely there alone."

"Now that my two sisters' children have grown up, it's a good opportunity for the three brothers to live in Rong Mansion first. My father is also there, so he can help discipline them."

Baoqin and Qin Keqing had no objection. It was now convenient to go to Rongfu as they could go directly there from the garden.

It is a common understanding that it is better to avoid suspicion when a child grows up. The contrast between an orphan like Jia Rong and a man like Jia Baoyu who has both parents is too obvious.

Even Jia Lian, who has a father but no mother, is better than Jia Baoyu.

Everyone has seen the consequences of spoiling children too much, so naturally they don’t want their son to become a loser like his younger brother.

Jia Baoyu is the youngest son. If he were the eldest son, he would definitely receive a strict education.

Jia Ben was educated according to the treatment of the eldest son of a feudal family. Jia Yuanchun was very strict with him, just like Lady Wang was with Jia Zhu back then, and had very high expectations of him.

Jia Rong nodded, "Jia Ben's matter is fine, our guards will go over to protect him, so there is nothing to worry about. But now that your father has been promoted to an official position, will your family come back?"

Jia Rong's question made Jia Yuanchun feel very embarrassed.

"She should be back. My mother is actually doing well at home, but the old lady is always alone, worried and silent, and Baoyu is always fooling around outside. My mother can't take care of it all by herself."

Jia Rong laughed and said, "Where is Li Wan? Is she still acting like a great Bodhisattva who doesn't care about anything?"

When Jia Yuanchun saw the funny smile on Jia Rong's face, she felt even more ashamed.

"I don't know. Mother didn't say anything in the letter, and I can't ask."

Jia Yuanchun didn't want to get involved in her mother's family affairs, she just hoped that there would be fewer things over there to cause her trouble.

Jia Rong did not ask, "Then we will talk about it when the time comes. After the New Year, the children will go to live in Rong Mansion. I will arrange a school there specifically for our family and invite some famous people to help them with their education."

Jia Yuanchun breathed a sigh of relief.

Wang Xifeng was used to being a snob, so she also said, "Jia Ying isn't a child anymore, can he go and listen to the class as well?"

Since they were all his own sons, Jia Rong would not favor one over the other. "Any boy in the family who is over five years old will do."

Wang Xifeng smiled and said, "That's not enough. She will only be five years old next year. I remember that I had Ying'er when the master was twenty years old. Let's talk about it next year."

Jia Yuanchun suggested: "I remember that Jia Ying's current name still has the character for grass at the beginning. Why not change it to one with the character for wood?"

As a woman in the mansion, she naturally knew the importance of her name and generation.

Especially since the child will have to rely on Jia Rong's name in the future, being Jia Rong's younger brother is definitely not as good as being Jia Rong's son.

"That's good. The child is still young, so it's okay to change the name. But I don't know which one to use?"

Jia Rong quickly wrote the word "楧" on the table with tea.

"This can be pronounced as yang or ying."

Wang Xifeng quickly decided on Jia Ying's name. It just so happened that Jia Ying couldn't write his own name yet, so it was easy to change it.

While Jia Rong was discussing serious matters, the girls were having fun again.

It was not a good time to drink after dinner, so a group of girls sat at eight tables in the hall, with six or seven people at each table.

There is no way so many people could be seated alone with just the young ladies, not to mention the young ladies, maids and grandmothers from officials’ families who are good at drinking games, guessing games and composing poems.

You also need to be able to play cards, understand poetry and allusions, and have some talents. Ordinary people can't get a room full of beauties, and rich people can hardly get a table full of talented women.

Jia Rong has no shortage of women with both talent and beauty.

Yuanyang was responsible for hosting the event, asking questions and adjusting the atmosphere to make the girls happy.

Lin Daiyu, Xue Baoqin, Shi Xiangyun and others are all intelligent and smart people. They are not afraid of the difficult questions causing a dull moment. It is much simpler than giving the old lady a drinking game.

After Wang Xifeng finished her business, she saw Jia Rong looking at the girls and started listening too.

As she listened, Wang Xifeng smiled and said, "I don't understand what they are talking about."

Jia Rong could understand it, but he was too lazy to explain it, so he shouted directly: "Baochai, you come and explain to everyone what is being said, and let the girls around who don't understand know how to play this game, so that you guys won't be the only ones playing in the future and it won't be lively anymore."

Now it was Daiyu's turn, and Xue Baochai smiled and said, "Okay."

Lin Daiyu smiled and said, "Sister Yun gave me a topic just now. The top of the wine should be a domino name, a tune name, an ancient Chinese text, an old poem, and a sentence from the almanac. The total should be a sentence. The bottom of the wine should be the names of fruits and vegetables on the table that are in line with human nature."

Xue Baochai laughed and reproached, "Sister Daiyu, this is my explanation, why did you say all of it?"

Lin Daiyu smiled and said, "Okay, I won't tell you, you tell me. How about Sister Bao telling Sister Yun about this?"

Xue Baochai smiled and replied: "It would be boring if I were to answer the questions while explaining them to myself. It would be more interesting if Sister Daiyu answered them and I explained them."

Xichun urged, "Hurry up and tell me. If all else fails, we still have the third place winner here. Who wouldn't understand?"

Xichun doesn't give face to others, but fortunately everyone gives her face.

Lin Daiyu quickly answered the question and started drinking games.

"The setting sun and the lone wild goose fly together."

Xue Baochai explained: "This is an ancient Chinese poem written by Wang Bo from the Tang Dynasty."

"The wind is strong and the wild geese are passing by the river in sorrow."

Xue Baochai explained: "This sentence is a Tang Dynasty poem."

"It is a broken-legged goose."

Xue Baochai explained: "Zhezuyan is the name of a domino."

"The one who screamed was inconsolable."

Xue Baochai explained: "Jiuhuichang is the name of a tune."

"This is a guest from Hongyan."

Xue Baochai explained: "The wild geese coming as guests is a phrase from the almanac."

Lin Daiyu walked to the table, picked up a hazelnut, and said, "Hazelnuts are not from the anvils in the other yard, so why are there the sounds of clothes being pounded in thousands of households?"

Wang Xifeng frowned, then smiled and said, "I still don't understand."

Shi Xiangyun didn't bother to explain to her. She stood up and pointed her fist at the other talented woman in the room.

"Baoqin!"

Xue Baoqin quickly fought back and also quickly extended her fist.

"Hello, brothers!" "Top five!"

"Eight horses!" "Seven tricks!"

"Seven tricks!" "Nine links!"

"Nine Links!" "Five Champions!"

“Three stars, take a photo!” “Three stars, take a photo!”

Soon Xue Baoqin won the game of finger-guessing against Shi Xiangyun.

Xue Baoqin gave Shi Xiangyun a test.

Even with Xue Baochai's explanation, many people still didn't understand how to play.

The less I understand, the less I want to learn.

Soon Wang Xifeng stood up with her hands on the chair and said, "It's time to play cards. Who's coming?"

This will happen a lot.

"I come!"

"I come!"

"Take me one!"

Wang Xifeng and others who did not know how to play drinking games or compose poetry quickly returned to the familiar card table and played games that they were good or not good at.

The older ones played cards, the younger ones continued to play poetry games, and the little kids were not interested in either and played skipping rope in the big room.

Several house searches took in many talented women, and Shi Xiangyun's poetry club grew to more than fifty people. Even the team for daily drinking and games had grown to seventy or eighty people.

Jia Rong naturally sat at the girls' table. Lust and immorality had nothing to do with cultural level. Jia Rong's cultural level and accumulation were much higher than those of the girls here, so it was natural that he could easily be the last one to sit, and was surrounded and praised by a group of girls.

He was a top scholar in the imperial examination, a high-ranking official in the court. However, after becoming an official, he never talked about poetry and culture with civil servants. Instead, he liked to beat up a group of girls who knew a little poetry and writing.

Ningguo Mansion was particularly lively this year, but soon on the day before the New Year, someone cooled the joy a little.

"Grandma, the madam and the old lady are here, as well as Grandma Zhu, Master Bao, and Brother Lang."

Instead of feeling happier, Jia Yuanchun felt even more uncomfortable after hearing this.

Coming and going, coming and going, Jia Yuanchun was really disappointed with this group of people. Why wouldn't she just let herself live in peace?

(End of this chapter)