The Overlord of the Red Mansion

Chapter 62 Years Ago 1
The city’s vegetable markets have become bustling again, and farmers from nearby suburbs of Beijing can finally come and sell their goods.

Jia Rong was walking on the street with Xue Pan. The little bully Xue Pan followed behind Jia Rong, as honest as a grandson.

Jia Rong walked to a grain and oil shop.

"How has business been these two days?"

When the shop owner saw that it was Jia Rong, he said with a bitter face, "I thought it would get better, but it's worse than last year."

Xue Pan asked curiously, "If everyone is out, how can they not make money?"

Jia Rong glanced at him and said, "Eating and drinking at home, do you have too much or too little money?"

Xue Pan quickly said awkwardly: "A little less."

Jia Rong looked at the pedestrians outside and said, "So business is still not doing well. It will take several months to recover, especially for some businessmen who stocked up at the end of the year. I'm afraid they are out of luck now."

Jia Rong looked at the owner of the rice shop again, "Boss Shen, what do you think? Are you going to sell the inventory to us at a similar price, or are you going to wait for some rich guy outside to pay you a higher price?"

The shop owner sighed, "Master Rong came at the right time. I borrowed a lot of money a while ago, and now the creditors are coming out. I am desperate and have no choice but to ask Master to consider our past business relationship and let my family not end up living on the streets."

Jia Rong smiled and said, "Boss Shen, you are too kind. I am not the kind of person who would kick someone when he is down. Just sell it to me at the normal price. I mean the normal price during festivals. It just needs to be slightly higher than the purchase price. I also hope that Boss Shen's business will last long and that he will purchase goods from here in the future."

Boss Shen said gratefully: "Thank you, Master Rong! Please rest assured that the goods we send to Ningguo Mansion are definitely good goods, and we will not cheat anyone."

Jia Rong nodded and looked at Xue Pan.

"You watch here. We will transport the items back to Ningguo Mansion later. After we go back, you can go to Rongguo Mansion to have a look. By comparing, you will know why they spent more money."

Xue Pan didn't want to follow Jia Rong in the first place, so he said after hearing this: "Okay! Don't worry, Master! I will definitely escort him back!"

Boss Shen looked at the silly guy and reminded him, "Isn't this the idiot from the Xue family? Master Rong asked him to do something, isn't he afraid that he will mess it up?"

Xue Pan had not walked far when he heard these words, and he felt very uncomfortable.

Xue Pan thought to himself: "How did I, the great master of the Xue family, end up in such a mess? I became a coward?!"

Xue Pan soon didn't want to do it anymore, but under the control of Jia Rong's power, he remained silent and finished the task at hand first.

Jia Rong did not speak for Xue Pan. If one still has a sense of shame in doing business, he will never achieve great success.

When Boss Shen saw that Jia Rong didn't say anything but was watching Xue Pan's performance outside, he knew that Jia Rong was really polishing Xue Pan.

Soon, after Xue Pan walked away, Jia Rong looked at the shops on the street outside.

"Why are there still many shops closed?"

Boss Shen said helplessly: "The rioter hasn't been caught yet. What if he comes out to cause trouble again next time and the city arrests him everywhere? There are still many people outside who can't get in."

Jia Rong went to a few more shops and got a general understanding of the current situation.

I won’t care about it after I get out. That’s the emperor’s business to consider.

Jia Rong went out to receive the reward for the Spring Festival, and after taking the money he went home to prepare for the New Year.

The Spring Festival is a sacrifice to ancestors during the old calendar year, and the reward refers to the emperor's reward.

The spring festival reward was the silver that the emperor gave to the officials who were granted titles for use in ancestor worship according to custom.

Although it is used to worship ancestors, it is like a bonus, and it is also a normal expense to celebrate the New Year. Some poor families rely on this to celebrate the New Year every year.

The issue of money is a big problem, and every household needs money to celebrate the New Year.

Some powerless people have no one to respect them, and they don’t have the ability to make money, so they can only live on a fixed salary.

The cost of living in Beijing is high, especially this year when vegetable and commodity prices have skyrocketed. This is certainly not a problem for wealthy families, but it has become a problem for some smaller families.

Those who are greedy will definitely be greedy for money, and those who have no money will seek help from relatives or friends.

Jia Rong is not popular. The people he knows are all officials who are capable of making money on their own. He has not yet met any relatives or friends who come to ask for money.

This time, not only Jia Rong was rewarded by the emperor, but a group of bastards Jia Rong knew also made a fortune. They resold all kinds of supplies under the emperor's nose and set up a black market.

On the contrary, the Rongguo Mansion has many people and relatives, most of whom are incompetent and have no other means of making money. Now they mainly live off their savings.

Our ancestors have a lot of financial resources, so even if Jia Rong doesn't help this time, there will basically be no problem holding on for another ten years.

When Jia Rong returned home, he saw the servants cleaning and busy pasting couplets and hanging lanterns. There was also a golden mandarin duck standing at the door.

Yuanyang saw Jia Rong coming back, and came down and said happily, "Master, the old lady asked me to come and ask how the wedding is going."

Jia Rong didn't want to run around during the New Year's Day, nor did he want to drink and chat with a group of middle-aged and elderly people, so he decisively refused.

"Just live quietly like in previous years."

Jia Rong still likes to make love in bed from this year to next year during the New Year, which has a better meaning.

Seeing Jia Rong coming in, Jin Yuanyang hurriedly followed him and said, "That won't do. In previous years, Ningguo Mansion was spent by itself, and we didn't get to know our former relatives very much. This year, Master, you have the Emperor's favor, so it has to be more lively. There are many wealthy families in the mansion."

"You don't know, a lot of people have come to ask about you in the past few days, saying they want to invite you to the New Year's party. You were invited before, but you refused to go. This year, I want to ask what the attitude of the old lady is."

"The old lady wasn't sure either, so she asked me to ask."

"Same as in previous years." Jia Rong's answer was decisive and straightforward. He just refused to go.

Yuanyang hurriedly persuaded him, "You can't do it this year. Not only are people from the Wang Mansion asking, but also the Shi family and the Wang family. Even if I don't ask, Sister Feng and Miss Shi will definitely come to invite you for a drink. You have such a good relationship, how can you not go?"

Jia Rong has never been a good person. Ever since he inherited the Ningguo Mansion after Jia Zhen's death, he has had little contact with the outside world. He is a typical prodigal son who has no intention of inheriting the interpersonal relationships of the previous generation.

In the first three years, I didn't visit any relatives and only interacted with a small number of people.

For the next three years, he started to associate with some scholars, focusing on the circle in Nanjing, and his relationship with the Four Kings and Six Dukes was severed.

After another three years, the relationship with the Jia family was slightly restored, but it was still mainly dealings with the lower-class impoverished families and business, or official relations in Jinling, Suzhou, Yangzhou, Hangzhou and other places.

Ten years ago, many people were not invited to Jia Zhen’s funeral, which offended a lot of people at the beginning. Later, he stopped visiting relatives and refused to go when others invited him, so the relationship was basically cut off.

The Jia family that the powerful and wealthy have made friends with in recent years is mainly the Jia family on the side of the old lady of Rongguo Mansion.

However, recently, those relatives who had been estranged for ten years have shamelessly come closer to me and want to renew their old relationship.

Jia Rong was so fed up with these people. They were such shameless creatures and he couldn't drive them away no matter what he did.

(End of this chapter)