The Overlord of the Red Mansion

Chapter 32 Still Young
Wang Xifeng led Jia Rong to a nearby table.

Before Brother Feng could say anything, several girls stood up.

"Master Rong!"

Sitting at this table were Jia Yingchun, Jia Tanchun, Jia Xichun, Shi Xiangyun, Lin Daiyu, and Xue Baocha.

Feng Ge said, "We don't see each other often, so Master Rong is here to meet the girls today, so that we don't have to know each other."

Jia Tanchun took the initiative to say, "We should go see the master."

Jia Rong smiled and said, "Forget about the red tape. No one should or shouldn't do this. I haven't come here many times in the past ten years, and I'm not familiar with the girls. I apologize to you all."

Everyone hurriedly said, "How dare you?"

Jia Rong smiled and said, "I know Xichun for sure, and Miss Lin too, but I can't tell Tanchun from Yingchun. The last time I saw them was when Yuanchun and I got married, and it's been three years."

Jia Tanchun smiled and said, "How come you don't even recognize me? Brother-in-law!"

Wang Xifeng joked, "Tanchun stays at home all day, how can I recognize you? You are all growing up, and you are only eight or nine years old. If you change your clothes and walk in front of me, I can't recognize you."

There were all little girls at this table. There was really nothing much to say between the 19-year-old Jia Rong and these little girls in their early teens.

Jia Tanchun is the daughter of Jia Zheng and Aunt Zhao, and is Jia Zheng's concubine. She is just nine years old.

Jia Yingchun is the daughter of Jia She and his concubine. She is not favored and has a cowardly character. She is the second of the four girls in the Jia family and is ten years old this year.

Jia Rong smiled and said, "Don't be angry, sister. I was too busy studying to go out before. If you have nothing to do next year, you can ask Xichun to take you there to play."

Shi Xiangyun asked: "Why do we have to wait until next year?"

Jia Rong looked at the nine-year-old daughter of the Shi family and smiled, saying, "I plan to start tidying up the backyard in a couple of days, so that Xichun and future girls and children can have a quiet place to play. I should be able to build several yards next year."

Shi Xiangyun quickly said, "Can I go over and play?"

Jia Rong smiled and said, "We are all from the same hometown, so of course you can. But I am probably busy most of the time and don't have time to entertain you. You can just go find Yuanchun and Xichun when the time comes."

Shi Xiangyun said happily: "Okay!"

Jia Rong looked at Lin Daiyu and said, "Sister Lin, we are acquaintances. I am half a student of your father. Let's not be so formal today. Just call me brother."

Lin Daiyu nodded and said with a smile, "Brother Rong."

When Xue Baochai saw that they had finally arrived, she smiled and bowed her head.

Brother Feng beside him said with a smile: "This is Miss Baochai from the Xue family. Her mother is my aunt's sister and the daughter of your mother-in-law's sister. Oh, how do you calculate it? Just know that this is also one of your own."

If we use Jia Yuanchun's generational basis, we can just call her cousin, but if we use Jia Rong's generational basis, it would be difficult to calculate.

Jia Rong smiled and said, "Since you are one of my family, I will call you Sister Baochai."

He is the head of the Jia family and also a scholar. Calling her sister is giving face to the mother and daughter of the Xue family.

Xue Baochai quickly smiled and called out, "Brother Rong."

Jia Rong was always good at leaving people alone, so he quickly nodded and said, "Okay, I've been here for a long time, you guys sit down and eat."

Jia Rong quickly went to the ladies' table. Lady Wang, Lady Xing, Mrs. You, Jia Yuanchun, and Li Wan were all at this table, and Wang Xifeng was also at this table.

Qin Keqing was a concubine and sat at the aunt's table with Baoqin and the You sisters.

There's not much to say at this table, just a few simple polite remarks.

He also went to meet the old, middle-aged, young, teenagers, children and women in the tribe and became familiar with them.

When it was almost done, they started to leave one after another.

Jia Rong asked the woman to go back first, and after the banquet was over, he went to Rong Xi Hall and sat down with Jia Mu and others.

Grandmother Jia sat in the main seat, and Youshi, as the elder from Ningguo Mansion, sat on the side.

In fact, there is another woman named You who is older than her, but everyone ignores this woman.

Jia Rong sat on the right, and next to him were several members of the Jia family.

Opposite them were Jia She, Jia Zheng, Jia Lian and others, sitting on the side of Jia Mu, and on the left of Jia Mu stood a few wives and grandmothers. Jia Rong asked, "How much did it cost this time?"

Mrs. Xing, Mrs. Wang, Li Wan, and Wang Xifeng looked at the men in their own family.

Jia Lian is actually a busy man in Rongguo Mansion, both internally and externally, and is responsible for many things other than money.

"The banquet didn't cost much, it was mainly the wedding money, which added up to about four thousand."

Jia Rong nodded. "I don't usually like this kind of excitement, but it's right to have some excitement occasionally, otherwise it will lack cohesion, and others won't know that we are a family."

Grandmother Jia said: "That's exactly the truth."

Jia Rong said, "I'll make up the difference."

Wang Xifeng only speaks when the men are silent, mainly to ease the atmosphere and avoid a dull silence. The master is all here, so it is not her turn to speak.

Jia Zheng said quickly, "That won't do. This is something that Rongguo Mansion took the initiative to do. It's only a few thousand taels. Don't worry about it."

Mrs. Wang and the others didn't say anything, and Wang Xifeng didn't dare to argue, so she could only swallow it.

Jia Rong said, "Even brothers should settle accounts clearly. I am tired of seeing you shirking your responsibilities and making concessions to each other. How about this? From now on, I will pay for half of Baoyu, Tanchun, and Yingchun's birthday expenses before their wedding, as well as all future wedding expenses. How about that?"

"It's not that I don't want to pay it all, but if I did, you would definitely refuse again."

Wang Xifeng quickly calculated that this would save at least 20,000 to 30,000 taels of silver, and immediately said happily: "Master Rong really treats our sisters as his own family. Even though Master Lian and I have become outsiders, why doesn't he include us as well?"

Grandmother Jia laughed and scolded, "You are already married, why are you still fighting with the children?"

Wang Xifeng said hurriedly, "Yes, it's my fault."

Seeing this, Jia Zheng and Jia She knew that the old lady agreed to this matter.

The Ning family is rich, but the Jia family has too many prodigal sons, so the expenses are indeed high.

This time, the old lady happily distributed some money to the whole family. Although she gained face, she lost a lot of money in return.

Jia Rong smiled and said, "The Ministry of Revenue should have some work before the New Year. Last year, the boiler room was very satisfactory to the emperor and the ministers. This year, the court is preparing to build a better warm room for the emperor and the empress dowager."

Jia Zheng asked in confusion, "Is this true?"

The others were all looking at the official in charge of the Ministry of Revenue.

Jia Rong said, "It should be something that happened recently. The year before last, they only built the boiler room of the Military Affairs Office, and last year they built the Imperial Study. This year, I think they will build a few more. When the time comes, they will definitely allocate some money to quickly build them. As far as I know, the Ministry of Revenue is already calculating this account, and they will start after the emperor's approval."

Grandmother Jia looked at Jia Zheng and asked, "You are an official in the Ministry of Revenue, how come you don't know as much as Master Rong who just came back from outside?"

Jia She was drowsy. He had been in a bad mood in the past two years, but his face was rosy. Even the imperial physician advised him to skip a few meals, drink less, stay up late less, and play with women less.

But if he doesn't listen, it has nothing to do with others.

Jia Rong, the culprit, said, "Since my father-in-law didn't know, he probably didn't plan to start this year. If you think about it carefully, winter is only a few months away this year, so it's definitely too late to build a big house. Maybe he was planning to make a small house, so he wasn't in a hurry, so he didn't notify me."

After hearing this, everyone just let it go. Soon it was getting late, so they all went back.

Jia Lian originally wanted to go back with Wang Xifeng, but after going out, he saw Wang Xifeng nodding to the side, and then he found that Jia Zheng and Jia Rong were walking together and chatting about something, while Jia She had already left.

Jia Lian and Wang Xifeng followed quickly, and Mrs. Wang did not treat them as outsiders and did not say anything.

The three men and the maids listened carefully and soon heard the conversation clearly.

"I know what's going on at the Ministry of Revenue. There's some money my father-in-law doesn't want to take. Just like I said before, do your job well and do it beautifully."

"So maybe there are some things that are hidden from you, and those things about taking money are not told to you."

"Father-in-law, just pretend you didn't see it. Rongguo Mansion is not short of money. Those people in the Ministry of Revenue are all hungry. It's impossible for them not to take it."

Jia Zheng was speechless for a while. The next day when he went to work, he checked carefully and found that his craftsmen had already started working for three or four months, but he was the only one who didn't know about rebuilding the greenhouse for the palace.

After knowing this, he didn't say much, which was regarded as his tacit consent to the matter. Soon, seeing that he didn't say anything, the others also gave him some money.

Everyone has a share.

(End of this chapter)