The Overlord of the Red Mansion

Chapter 39 Visit
The next morning, after breakfast, Jia Rong went to visit Jia Baoyu.

After entering, he greeted the old lady first, and after a few words, he went to Jia Baoyu.

We are all men, so there is no need to be polite.

As soon as I arrived outside Jia Baoyu's door, I found it closed.

Lin Daiyu lived with Sanchun at this time. With Xichun's presence, the living conditions in Sanchun's family were much better, and the lively atmosphere was more suitable for Lin Daiyu.

As soon as Jia Rong knocked on the door, an old woman came out to open it.

"Uncle Rong, Young Master Baoyu has gone to have dinner with the old lady." The old nanny said with a smile.

Jia Rong frowned and pushed the old nanny aside and entered the courtyard.

There were wet nurses and maids in the yard.

Jia Rong shouted, "Jia Baoyu! Come out!"

At this time, several maids came out of the room.

There are not many men in the mansion, and even if the maids have never seen him before, they know who is coming today.

"Uncle Rong."

The maids came out quickly to meet the people.

Jia Rong saw a group of teenage girls standing in a row, and he didn't want to be angry with them.

"Where did Jia Baoyu go?"

The little girls stammered and dared not speak.

Jia Rong said helplessly: "Forget it, I won't make things difficult for you. Since he is hiding from me, it will be useless even if I catch him. Give him some face and I won't look for him."

Several maids breathed a sigh of relief, and the leading girl said happily: "Thank you, Master Rong!"

Jia Rong smiled and said, "I may not come here every few years, so I can take this opportunity to get to know the maids in Baoyu's yard."

Several maids introduced themselves one after another.

"Xiren."

"Qingwen."

"Qiu Wen."

"Charming."

"Musk Moon."

"Qian Xue."

"Qixian."

...

Jia Rong discovered that Lin Xiaohong was not here, and might still be at Lin Zhixiao's house.

Lin Zhixiao is the steward of Rongguo Mansion. His daughter Lin Xiaohong is smart, but she ran away after she couldn't get a good result with Jia Baoyu.

It is not appropriate for Jia Rong to win over Lin Zhixiao's daughter Xiaohong. Besides, Xiaohong is still young, so it is better to let Lin Zhixiao and his wife take care of her for a few more years and then use her directly when the time comes.

Thinking of Jia Baoyu, Jia Rong looked at these pretty girls again.

"You will be leaving after working here for a few years. It won't hurt to do more needlework and housework. The treatment here is good, and you can save a lot of money to get married in the future."

Xiren said quickly, "Master Rong, we all want to serve Master Baoyu for the rest of our lives."

Jia Rong sighed and looked up at the girl.

"Baoyu has been spoiled since he was young, so he behaves very badly. He has never acquired any skills and refuses to study. He also makes friends with a bunch of bastards. It will be difficult for him to support his parents in the future, let alone you."

"He acts rashly without thinking. When he encounters trouble, he runs away like a coward. If you get into trouble or get bullied in the future, do you expect him to come back and save you, or do you expect him to help you vent your anger? I think he only uses his skills on women."

Qingwen was not convinced and said, "How can Master Rong say that about Baoyu? Baoyu usually treats us like a sister, how could he bear to see us being bullied?"

Jia Rong said helplessly: "I am not angry with you, nor do I use my status to bully others. Just talk about what happened today. I hid away and left a room full of maids and women waiting for me. Is this what a man should do?"

Qingwen defended herself by saying, "This is the mansion. Baoyu knows we are fine. He just went out to play."

Jia Rong stood up and said, "Okay, I won't bother with you. I won't tell Master Zheng about this either. Just think of it as me coming here to talk to him. You can tell him what I said. If he can pass the exam and become a scholar, I will consider him capable."

After saying this, Jia Rong left, leaving these young girls behind.

Next, I went to Li Wan and chatted with her for a while, but didn't stay long to avoid suspicion.

When passing by Sanchun's residence, he found that no one was there, so he went to Aunt Xue's house.

Xue Pan was not at home today either, obviously he had run away early with Jia Baoyu.

Aunt Xue and Xue Baochai entertained Jia Rong.

In ancient times, men and women were not allowed to touch each other, so they just sat down in the yard and talked without setting up a banquet.

Aunt Xue said, "My son went to the study early today. He thought the master would not come until the afternoon. He neglected the distinguished guest." Jia Rong has been too busy with so many women recently that he even cancelled his night activities. Naturally, he looked down on Xue Baochai, who has not grown up yet.

"Don't worry about it. I have heard a little about the Xue family's affairs before, but after I heard that the matter was handled by Lord Wang and Master Zheng, I didn't care much. I was busy studying a few years ago and only have some free time recently."

Aunt Xue said, "It's all been dealt with. Now the children are doing well. They are much better after coming to the capital and have become sensible."

Aunt Xue looked very pleased.

Anyone who doesn't know will definitely be deceived.

The Xue family is a well-known family. The more they show that they are living under the roof of others, the more likely they will be looked down upon.

Living in the Jia Mansion can make business go much more smoothly and reduce the extortion from officials.

Pretending to look respectable will make it easier to find a good family for your children.

After all, any normal person would be willing to marry the legitimate son of the Xue family, who is similar to the Jia family.

Your social circle is also a key factor!

The Xue family was not capable of getting to know the great nobles, and even the officials did not give them face.

Here in the Jia Mansion, you can meet many important people, and get to know the young men and women from three other wealthy families.

If you don't live in the Jia Mansion, you will miss out on the circle.

If you don't praise your son or daughter better, you won't be able to deceive those who are not aware of the situation.

The Xue family is actually not doing badly at the moment, because of their relationship with the Wang family and the Jia family, they can get purchasing business from big spenders like the Jia family, including channels such as pawnshops where they steal things in exchange for money.

The Xue family’s business in the capital is not managed by Xue Dashazi, nor by Xue Baochai and Aunt Xue, but by the Xue family as a big family.

At present, it is managed by the shopkeeper, the general manager and others left behind by Xue Pan's father. They make money by using the Xue family's name and share some of it with the three members of the Xue family.

If the Xue family did not live in Rongguo Mansion and could not go to Wang's house, the Xue family might not treat the three Xue family members so well.

Jia Rong was already in his prime at the age of ten. After his father's death, he quickly caught the people below him off guard. Thanks to his grandfather Jia Jing and his grandmother Jia, he did not lose control of the many industries of the Ningguo Mansion.

The Xue family has nothing to do with Jia Rong, and Jia Rong will not sabotage them.

Jia Rong smiled and said, "Aunt Xue is very lucky. Unlike Master She and Master Zheng, who have all kinds of troubles at home, she will go to Jinling soon. When she goes, she will take Sister Lin home to see Master Lin. Is there anything you can help escort her with? I can go along the way."

Aunt Xue said quickly, "That's not necessary. My son will go back with the shop owner at the end of the year to visit."

Jia Rong said, "That's fine. I should leave now."

Xue Baocha took the initiative to say, "I will take Brother Rong to Sister Lin."

Aunt Xue said, "Okay."

It is true that men and women should not be physically intimate with each other, but Xue Baochai was only twelve years old.

Even at the age of sixteen, there is no harm in knowing a steady, polite, promising, and powerful man like Jia Rong.

When they went over, Lin Daiyu and Sanchun had just returned. They chatted for a few minutes and then went back.

As Jia Rong walked out of the courtyard under the escort of maids such as Sanchun, Baodai and others, he saw a runner from the Ning Mansion standing in the corridor at the entrance.

"whats the matter?"

Ma Sheng said quickly: "The prices of lard and mutton fat have gone up in the past few days. It is said that after something happened in the city, patrols will be carried out all night. The shopkeeper asked me to come and ask the adults if we should prepare more."

Jia Rong shook his head. "No, it will snow soon. I don't believe those people are willing to go out and patrol all night. It's better to prepare more charcoal and cotton clothes and quilts. I believe those people will spend money to buy these."

"Yes!" The servant quickly went out to do the work.

Tanchun asked curiously, "Why did the servants from Ningguo Mansion come in? It doesn't sound like it's a serious matter."

Jia Rong smiled and said, "He is Ruhua's brother. I have also told them that as long as they need my decision, they can call me anywhere. Today he is standing outside the courtyard waiting obediently. There is no need to blame him."

Jia Xichun's maid Ruhua said happily: "Thank you very much, Master. Please tell my brother that I am doing well here and he doesn't need to worry."

"Okay." Jia Rong agreed, "You guys go back and rest. I'm leaving too."

Everyone nodded and went back. Not long after, Xue Baochai came back and called out to Xue Pan who had returned in the evening.

"You should ask the store to stock more cotton-padded clothes and quilts for rough people. The price will go up later."

Xue Pan said casually, "The price goes up every winter, and we always have a lot left over. Besides, everything we need has already been prepared. I'm sleepy, don't bother me."

Xue Baochai was unable to persuade Xue Pan, so she could only go back to her room and tell Aunt Xue about the matter.

Aunt Xue said, "This cotton-padded jacket costs more than one tael of silver, and a good one costs two or three taels. It will be even more expensive in winter. Apart from the cotton-padded jackets we received from the pawnshop, we don't know where to get the rest, and we have no place to store them, so we'd better not get involved."

Xue Baochai also realized that there was a big problem with this business.

These clothes require a lot of money to buy.

Small families cannot afford to gamble.

Both storage and purchase are huge problems, especially since this thing can be used by everyone and can easily be stolen by servants or "burned" in a fire.

(End of this chapter)