The Overlord of the Red Mansion

Chapter 268 Royal Aunt
Beijing, Shenggong West Street
A man in his forties wearing a yellow jacket was walking very fast, holding the handlebars of the rickshaw with both hands, using all his strength to drag the rickshaw weighing several hundred pounds forward behind him.

In the 200-jin car sat two women weighing 200 jin in total. One was a young nun wearing a hat, and the other was a young maid with her hair in a bun.

There were ten mounted policemen following behind the leading car.

Once the rickshaw entered Shenggong West Street, the mounted police stopped their horses and turned to patrol elsewhere.

The rickshaw soon arrived at the quiet West Street intersection, and further ahead was the Shenggong Outer Bridge.

The Sheng Palace is the original Prince Zhongxiao's Palace, but it has been expanding over the years.

Today, the Forbidden City is located to the south of the Holy Palace, and the Royal Museum, Xuanwumen Detention Center and Xuanwumen Command Center have been built between the Forbidden City and the Palace.

Xuanwumen Detention Center mainly detains corrupt officials, although it can also detain political prisoners, but no one under Jia Rong has committed political mistakes.

There are relatively few embezzlers, but Jia Rong still built it. It’s not bad to find some people to take medicine.

The food here is quite good, and the construction standard is according to one bedroom, one living room and one bathroom. They also thoughtfully provide a balcony and concrete floor for jumping out of the window, which is better than many ministers' homes.

To the north of the Holy Palace is the newly built inner ring river, and outside are the Royal Zoo, Royal Botanical Gardens, Royal Amusement Park, Minister's Primary School and other buildings.

Although Jia Rong did not undertake any costly and labor-intensive actions like building a canal or an imperial mausoleum, for his own comfort, he surrounded the Holy Palace and the Forbidden City in a square moat, built a water park near his home, and raised large fish such as finless porpoises and sturgeons in the moat.

Although it will freeze in winter, you can take refuge in the water park. Jia Rong is rich and has connections, so he can heat a section of the river to prevent it from freezing.

The excavated soil was directly filled into the west lake, and a commercial district and department store were built on the spot to absorb some high-end industrial products.

Jia Rong was emperor for three years and spent money like a flood.

However, the speed of collecting money from all over the world is far higher than that of any previous dynasty.

First, taxes are levied on individuals and on many large households.

Second, there are fewer people who eat for free, so everyone has some value.

The third is exchange. Originally, there were only six or seven officials in a county, and the rest were sedan bearers, yamen runners, legal advisors, cooks, hangers-on, etc., who were supported by the officials, totaling thousands of people. Now Jia Rong directly used his own money to support four or five hundred of them, weakening the county officials' ability to make money.

In fact, many county officials would not want to support so many people if they could get things done.

Although corruption still cannot be curbed, it has been put on the brakes to some extent, providing many opportunities for those who want to be honest officials but have no money to support their employees.

Even if the imperial court did not support these people, they would get money from the imperial court and county officials themselves, so they could just support half of them.

These people's salaries were paid by the imperial court, so they were naturally free from the constraints of local governments on county magistrates.

The political achievements stipulated by Jia Rong were financial taxation, education, and population. Regardless of whether they were honorable or not, in order to get promoted, he would naturally take ruthless action against the wealthy.

Jia Rong has no sympathy at all. Not to mention that the county magistrate has wiped out several wealthy families, even if workers died in the factories in the capital, Jia Rong would not care.

There was no need to report this matter to Jia Rong, and it was even more impossible to remove the cadres and technical workers who had been trained with great difficulty and replace them with a conservative group.

Fourthly, Jia Rong also opened his own mint to print money. In addition, the farming teams that opened up the black soil outside the Great Wall began to sell grain in exchange for various materials, so his men had no shortage of money and grain.

Fifth, the Jiangling merchants, who had been operating for more than ten years, gained greater power and established banks in various places as imperial merchants. In addition, overseas trade brought in a large amount of gold and silver, so they had no shortage of funds.

Jia Xichun traveled around half of the capital city in a rickshaw today and witnessed the prosperous era under the rule of the Holy Emperor.

Outside the city, there was a lot of traffic and people were bustling about. The people were wearing cloth clothes, cotton jackets, silk and satin.

Most well-dressed men have short hair and no longer wear it in a bun like before, but they still wear hats.

There are many rickshaw pullers wearing different colors on the outer streets.

Yellow is the royal colour.

Red was used by high-ranking officials of the imperial court and the royal family.

Blue is reserved for officials from the second to fifth ranks.

Green is a color reserved for people with titles, and can also be used by families with hereditary titles. For non-hereditary titles, official positions are given priority, and usually most people with titles also hold official positions.

Since black is the easiest color to dye, Jia Rong gave it to the scholar.

White does not need to be dyed, it is white in itself and is used by merchants and craftsmen.

The most difficult color to dye is purple, which can be used by Jia Rong, Jia Yuanchun, and the former queen.

The original queen was not removed and was still treated as a queen, but Lin Daiyu was treated as a noble concubine.

The others did not object to this. After all, Jia Rong inherited the late emperor's fortune, so it was normal for him to be the late emperor's empress.

The order in the imperial capital has stabilized, and under Jia Rong's governance, the city is constantly being renewed.

On the first day the seven princes arrived in the capital, they realized that some people were born to be emperors.

Jia Xichun felt the same as those princes and nobles. After passing through half of the prosperous imperial capital and arriving at the majestic and magnificent Shenggong North Street, he became deeply aware of one thing.

The person I want to see is not Ningguo Duke Jia Rong, but the Emperor of the Holy Dynasty!

The driver quickly slowed down his pace and looked at the short-haired soldiers in military uniforms marching in unison.

These are Jia Rong's confidants, and Jia Rong has dispersed his confidants into various teams to take charge of the team.

After going through layers of inspection, the driver parked the rickshaw outside the small gate at the north gate of the Holy Palace.

Someone has been waiting here for a long time.

Four maids in their forties came over to greet them.

The leader was from the family of Lin Hongyu's mother, Lin Zhixiao.

Now her husband Lin Zhixiao is the manager of the Imperial Household Department of the Holy Palace, and her daughter is the emperor's woman. Although she does not have an official status yet, other people will not laugh at this matter.

Both her husband and daughter have the surname Lin, so Lin Zhixiao naturally likes others to call her Nanny Lin.

"Fourth Miss."

Lin Zhixiao's wife still knows the rules very well. Even though Jia Xichun is now disliked by Jia Rong and does not acknowledge this relative, she dare not act presumptuously.

The necessary rules must be followed. Everyone in the Lin family is a servant of the Jia family, and they must give face in front of the Jia family's direct descendants. Otherwise, once Jia Yuanchun and others find out, Lin Hongyu will be implicated as well.

When Jia Xichun saw the nanny from the Jia family, she couldn't help but shed tears again.

Nanny Lin came over and said, "Fourth Miss, the Queen is already waiting for you in the palace. I will take you in now."

Jia Xichun nodded quickly and was about to get out of the car.

At this time, Nanny Lin said, "Young Miss, please sit down. There is a coachman from the inner palace here."

When Jia Xichun's maid heard this, she quickly got off the car and took out her purse to give the driver some money as a reward. But the driver dared not accept it. Whenever Jia Rong wanted to fire someone, he would investigate corruption, and many people were fired.

"Hey, you haven't collected the money yet?" Ruhua saw the driver bending down and backing away, so she quickly called out to him.

Nanny Lin frowned and scolded, "Ruhua, you used to be a member of the Ning Mansion, how come you don't know the rules of the Ning Mansion? It turns out that in the Ning Mansion, it is not allowed to pay servants more for doing things. The rules of the Wei Family are also applied in the Holy Palace."

Ruhua then remembered the rules of Jia Rong's family and suddenly dared not speak.

At this time, a woman about eighteen or nineteen years old came over and took the position of rickshaw driver, pulling the rickshaw into the holy palace.

You don't need to go fast inside the Holy Palace as the road is flat and doesn't require much effort.

When Jia Rong went from Baicao Palace to other places, he would usually have a busty female coachman to pull the carriage.

Only healthy women can produce nutritious milk, so the coachmen of Jia Rong and several concubines in the inner palace were all selected from young wet nurses.

Anyway, according to Jia Rong's personality, he would not keep too many lazy women. Even if it was a busty maid, she couldn't take money for nothing. She had to work and take on multiple positions.

Xichun soon arrived outside Nuanxiang Palace with the help of a female coachman who was prettier than her, had a better figure than her, was younger than her, and had longer hair than her.

There was no wall around Nuanxiang Palace, and the palace maid at the door quickly saw the person coming.

Not long after, when Jia Xichun arrived at the door, she saw a group of familiar yet unfamiliar good sisters standing at the door.

The female driver quickly parked the car at the door and stood quietly aside.

Jia Yuanchun and the old lady walked over, and Jia Xichun quickly got out of the car, knelt in front of Jia Yuanchun and the old lady with tears streaming down her face.

"Sister! Old lady!"

When the old lady heard this, she quickly said with a stern face: "Why are you still so rude? Your sister is the queen now."

Jia Xichun hurriedly shouted to Jia Yuanchun, "Your Majesty! I greet you, Your Majesty!"

When Jia Yuanchun saw Jia Xichun with her head shaved, she was filled with emotion and helped up this little sister who was like her sister-in-law.

Xichun is not only the youngest of the four sisters in the Jia family, but also the youngest girl among Lin Daiyu and others.

"Get up soon. You've suffered a lot in these years since we last met, but it was your own choice back then."

Jia Yuanchun tried to comfort her, but she didn't feel good either, because she was one of the people who hoped that Jia Xichun would get married quickly.

Because Jia Xichun's identity was so embarrassing, it would have been better if she left, but unexpectedly, Jia Xichun lived such a miserable life.

Jia Xichun stood up, wiped her tears, and sobbed, "It's my fault. I didn't know how to appreciate the good things I had. These years are all my own sins. I just hope to pay for the consequences as soon as possible and escape from that hell."

Jia Yuanchun suddenly felt that Jia Xichun was still too selfish. After entering the room and sitting down, Jia Yuanchun couldn't help but ask some questions.

"I heard from Sister Wang that the Wei family has never treated you badly over the years. Why did you take your dowry and go to the temple to become a nun?"

Lin Daiyu and others did not dare to reminisce with Jia Xichun. Even Shi Xiangyun, Jia Yingchun and Tanchun, who used to be good friends with Xichun, were sitting aside with their children in their arms and did not dare to speak to Xichun.

Lin Daiyu also sat aside holding her child, listening quietly to Jia Xichun's explanation.

Jia Xichun wiped her tears, "The Wei Ruolan my sister introduced to me was good-looking but useless. She died not long after the marriage. I was like an outsider in the Wei family. They also owed a lot of money. Later, after the fire at the beginning of this year, they wanted to divide my dowry. I have been using my dowry non-stop since I entered the Wei family, and there is not much left."

"Their servants talked behind my back, and my sisters didn't care about me, so I had no choice but to become a nun."

Jia Yuanchun said coldly, "It's my fault. When you wanted to get married, I was the one who suggested Wei Ruolan, but it ended up hurting my sister."

Jia Xichun wiped away her tears in grievance.

Youshi couldn't stand Jia Xichun any more. She didn't have so many scruples and directly accused her, "It's not like I didn't introduce you to someone else at the beginning. It was you who didn't want to. Besides, the Wei family treated you well. Do you really think we don't know that you spend money lavishly in the Wei family?"

"If the emperor hadn't asked someone to take care of the Wei family's business over the years, you would have been divorced long ago!"

After hearing this, Jia Xichun felt even more aggrieved and couldn't stop crying.

The old lady was so angry that she felt uncomfortable. "Why are you crying? You chose the path yourself! Go back to the temple and chant Amitabha!"

Jia Xichun quickly knelt on the ground and cried to Jia Yuanchun, "Madam! I don't want to go back to the temple! Those people made me work hard and stole my money! I only have a maid named Ruhua by my side, and my dowry is not much. If Madam and the Emperor don't care about me anymore, I will go out to beg for food in the future!!"

Jia Yuanchun was really angry and furious.

"Get up! The emperor asked you to stay for two days, so let you stay for two days. Go and rest first. I don't want to see you!"

The old lady sat aside with a frown on her face, also saying nothing.

Tanchun and Yingchun were not easy to talk to and did not want to pay attention to this married sister.

Ping Er took the initiative to come out and support Jia Xichun, and said, "Miss Fourth, get up first. I will take you downstairs to rest and dress up. Since the emperor has asked you to come to visit, he will definitely not let you beg for food on the street. Let's go down first, and we will tell you after the ladies have discussed it."

Jia Xichun looked at Ping'er, who was dressed beautifully and gently, and smelled the pleasant scent of Ping'er's perfume.

Compared to Ping'er, Xichun now looks like a shabby nun.

"My queen, sister Tanchun, sister Yingchun, sister Yun, sister Lin, sister Bao, sister Feng, old lady..."

Xichun called out to everyone, but was eventually ignored by everyone.

After Ping'er took Xichun and Ruhua away, Jia Yuanchun sighed, "What do you think we should do about this? We can't let her go begging, can we? We can't afford to lose this person in our family."

Wang Xifeng said angrily: "It's easy. Just give her some money and let her remarry. It's better to marry someone from another place, so as not to embarrass herself in the capital."

Qin Keqing smiled and said, "What are you thinking? The emperor didn't even give a title to Sister You, so how could he give a title to Princess Xichun? Without the title, she can't get married, so she might as well continue to be a nun."

Qin Keqing and Jia Xichun were not familiar with each other and had not met many times.

Youshi didn't mind this title. She and Qin Keqing had been good friends for more than ten years, and they often joked with each other in front of everyone.

On the contrary, the relationship between the second and third sisters and Youshi was somewhat distant, because the relationship between stepsisters was not as good as that between Wang Xifeng and Qin Keqing, who were outsiders and close friends.

You said directly: "I think the emperor doesn't want her to embarrass herself in public. The Wei family can't be blamed for what happened. It's not good for Xichun to stay in a nunnery or get married. Her identity is too troublesome. It's better for her to become a nun with me in the backyard, so as not to embarrass the royal family in public."

When Jia Yuanchun heard Youshi say this, she hesitated for a moment and asked, "Is this okay?"

Youshi smiled and said, "She's not going to get married anyway, and doesn't want to stay out anymore, so it's good for her to come to the palace and stay with me, and then I can take good care of her."

Qin Keqing also smiled and said, "Yes, there is only one nun in the Cihang Jingzhai in the backyard, and she still has hair. It would be nice to have another little nun now."

Jia Yuanchun was also worried that Jia Xichun would embarrass herself outside, especially if she did something shameful under the identity of the emperor's aunt.

After comprehensive consideration, he quickly agreed to let Jia Xichun enter the palace to practice.

Jia Rong replied quickly: I will think about it.
(End of this chapter)