The Overlord of the Red Mansion

Chapter 89 Things are changing

In the old lady's room, Grandmother Jia was lying on her side on the couch to rest.

Yuanyang was packing up with the maids. When she saw Sanchun and Wang Xifeng coming in, she walked up to the old lady with a smile.

"Ma'am, the girls are here."

Grandmother Jia, who was resting, slowly opened her eyes and looked at the girls and wives who came in.

"old lady!"

"Ancestor!"

Shi Xiangyun used to call her aunt, but now she calls her ancestor.

When Grandmother Jia heard this, she felt something was wrong.

In most situations, members of large families rarely use true kinship terms and focus more on hierarchical divisions.

As the head of the family, Jia Zheng can call Lady Jia "mother". Jia Baoyu calls his mother, Mrs. Wang "Madam". Bastards usually call their mother "Aunt".

Grandmother Jia looked at Shi Xiangyun, who was full of joy, in confusion, and quickly said calmly, "Okay, I knew you would come today. Come sit down and talk."

Yuanyang smiled and said, "You are dressed so beautifully today. Isn't it hot to wear new clothes in such a hot day?"

Shi Xiangyun's face turned red with heat, "My aunt told me to wear this."

Grandmother Jia had a blank expression on her face. She looked at Tanchun, Xichun, and Yingchun again and said, "It's almost time for dinner, but I've been talking to people all day and I'm tired."

Yuanyang said, "Grandma, just eat something simple. I think all the food that should have come has already come. Let Grandma take a look at the rest."

Grandmother Jia nodded and said, "She should have been allowed to handle it herself a long time ago. She didn't come to see an old man like me, but to meet her master. It's time for her to wake up from her stupid head."

Yuanyang smiled and said, "Madam, these are all surnamed Jia. If they were outsiders, the master would not take them in and worship them as ancestors. Just like these past two days, there is an old ancestor at home. We know what to do and what not to do, and we don't break the rules."

The old lady was very pleased with Yuanyang's words.

The old lady smiled and said, "Okay, go and accompany your master. Serving him is much more important than serving me."

Yuanyang also smiled and said, "Then I'll go down and get busy. Leave this to the girls."

"Go." Grandmother Jia was very satisfied with Yuanyang. At the same time, Yuanyang was the best person to communicate between Grandmother Jia and Jia Rong.

Yuanyang said to Shi Xiangyun, "Sister Xiangyun, do you want to stay here today? If the master asks me later, I will give you a clear answer."

Shi Xiangyun was a little embarrassed. "My uncle is going to another province to be an important official. He will take his family with him to take up the post in a few days. He asked me whether I want to stay here at the Jia Mansion or go to the southwest with them. I..."

Grandmother Jia quickly realized the problem and said quickly, "Stay here. I heard that the court and the southwest are going to fight again. It's not convenient for you to go there. Just stay here. I think your elder brother is also happy for you to stay here."

Shi Xiangyun said happily: "Okay!"

Although her uncle's family did enough to give her face, it was not good enough. Shi Xiangyun still liked the lively atmosphere here.

Grandmother Jia was born into a Shi family. Her father was the Minister of the Shi family. The Shi family now has two marquises in one family. Even though it has declined a lot compared to the time of Mr. Shi, it still produced a lady like Shi Xiangyun who is proficient in poetry.

Shi Xiangyun can compete with Lin Daiyu in literature, and is also much better at needlework than Lin Daiyu.

Seeing that Shi Xiangyun still had the mentality of a child, Grandmother Jia did not say much to her. It was not appropriate to talk about marriage at the moment.

Grandmother Jia could guess the historian's plan.

In the imperial court, people of different surnames cannot be ennobled as kings, and everyone who enters the court becomes a king.

The families of dukes and marquises were only considered middle-class families in the imperial court, and those who held state power were always the princes of the royal family.

Now, the group of people following the four kings and eight dukes are all the emperor's men. This is also the reason why Jia Baoyu was punished so severely.

Although Prince Beijing and the other four princes are also princes of the royal family, they were all descendants of princes from a hundred years ago. They are not brothers of the current emperor and cannot be trusted at all.

A new emperor appoints his own ministers. After the emperor passes away, it is time for the new emperor's power to take over the old power.

The title of Marquis was conferred on the Shi family by the retired emperor, and now they must continue to make contributions to the new emperor.

Jia Rong, on the contrary, is a close confidant of the new emperor, and it can almost be said that he was promoted by him.

Although Jia Rong has some flaws, the new emperor likes to use him.

Both the Shi and Wang families are facing many problems nowadays. Among the four kings and eight princes, Jia Rong is the one who lives the best. Wang Ziteng is now being treated coldly and has been away from the center of power for several years.

Although Jia Rong is not a prince of the royal family, sometimes outsiders are more trustworthy than his own brothers. Judging from the fact that several princes' wives came to visit him, Jia Rong's status in the palace and the court is definitely not low.

Grandmother Jia was thinking about something. Seeing her in a daze, Jia Xichun called out, "Grandfather, Grandfather."

Tanchun and Yingchun didn't dare to disturb her, but Xichun called the distracted old lady back and was not afraid at all.

Because of her good nephew, Jia Xichun has never suffered any grievances in the Jia family, and her personality is very similar to that of Shi Xiangyun.

Grandmother Jia came back to her senses and said with a smile: "I was just thinking about something. When your grandfather was here, he was not as high-ranking as those who came today."

At this time, the kitchen came to deliver the meal, and Wang Xifeng said, "Madam, the kitchen has prepared the meal. There are many dishes today."

The old lady smiled and said, "If there are too many dishes, we can eat together. You can also sit down and eat with us. And Ping'er, there will be no outsiders here now."

Wang Xifeng said, "Okay!"

Ping'er sat down to eat with them.

The maid behind Lady Jia looked at Ping'er with envy, and also hoped to become her aunt one day.

Ping'er and Wang Xifeng did not live in the garden. The garden was for young girls and widows, so the ladies naturally had to live close to the master.

Living in a yard far away from the master means that the master does not like you.

But there aren't many yards in front, so each person can't have his own yard.

The three sisters of the Yu family and Old Lady Yu lived in the same courtyard.

Jia Yuanchun had a courtyard with her zither, while Qin Keqing had a separate courtyard, where they usually held private gatherings.

When Ping'er and Wang Xifeng returned to the courtyard gate, they saw Qingwen and Xiren standing in the aisle chatting.

There are high walls and courtyards on both sides, and there is a place similar to an alley at the entrance.

The two of them discovered it when Wang Xifeng walked over.

"Hello grandma!"

The two of them greeted each other together, not only referring to Grandma Ping'er, but also Wang Xifeng, the aunt that everyone tacitly acknowledged.

Wang Xifeng asked curiously, "Qingwen and Xiren are here, are Master Bao and the master inside?"

Jia Zheng is usually referred to as Master Zheng.

Xiren explained, "Baoyu didn't come. A group of men were busy in the west house, so I came over to talk to Qingwen."

Wang Xifeng smiled and said, "Come in and tell me, have you eaten yet? The old lady has given you some food."

Qingwen said happily: "I haven't eaten yet!"

Wang Xifeng quickly invited them to go in and eat together.

Ping'er followed behind and watched. When she was a maid, she knew what Wang Xifeng was thinking and what kind of person she was.

Now that she is an aunt, even though she eats and sleeps with Wang Xifeng, it gradually becomes more and more difficult to guess what she is thinking.

Ping'er naturally understood the problem.

In the past, Wang Xifeng did not shy away from treating her as a maid and ordered her around, so that she could naturally see clearly what she wanted to do. But now, she no longer treated her as a maid.

When Ping'er entered the room, she found that Jia Baoyu was not there, but Yuanyang and Jia Rong were eating here.

Also present were Jia Qiaoer and Jia Ying.

Jia Rong looked at the people who came in and said, "You came back after we finished eating. There's no need to feed these two children. They've already eaten at Yuanchun's place. Yuanyang and I also drooled over our meals. They're all full."

Wang Xifeng said happily, "It's a coincidence that I have brought back a lot of delicious food. When you are full, Qingwen, Xiren and Ping'er and I will go into the house to eat together."

Jia Qiaoer and her brother quickly approached Wang Xifeng.

"mother!"

"Mom! Let me see what delicious food you brought! I just want to see!"

Wang Xifeng did not go back to the room to eat, but took her children and Qingwen and Xiren to eat at a small table on a couch nearby, less than five or six meters away from Jia Rong.

While we were eating, the cook, Mrs. Liu, came with the kitchen maid to deliver the food.

Seeing this, Xiao Hong asked, "Sister Liu, why are you here?"

Sister Liu replied, "Grandma knew that the master was having dinner here, and she knew that there were so many people here and she was afraid that there wouldn't be enough food, so she asked me to send some food over and asked if there wasn't enough food, so I went back and made some quickly."

The two of them came in quickly, and Qingwen and Xiren stopped eating and went upstairs to help serve the soup and arrange the dishes.

Jia Rong looked at Sister Liu who came in and asked Yuanyang, "How many people live in this courtyard?"

Yuanyang stood up to clean up the dishes, with quick hands and steady mouth.

"Second Madam, I, Ping'er, Qingwen, Xiaohong, four maids, Qiao'er and Ying'er, seven of the eight rooms are occupied, and the other one is used as a warehouse."

Yuanyang usually serves the old lady, while Ping'er is in charge of the courtyard. The courtyard is usually lively because there are many maids and grandmothers who are in charge, and many servants come to ask for assignments.

The power and silver are divided into two parts. You have to go to the accounting office to get the money when you are told what work to do, and then you have to reconcile the accounts. Ping'er is in charge of this at home and rarely goes out.

I feel like there are still too few maids nowadays.

Jia Rong said, "I didn't have many maids in the past because I didn't have fame and fortune in the past, so I couldn't afford to support so many people. Now that I have been promoted, you can have more maids. Otherwise, when someone comes, they will inevitably say that our family is not grand enough and is petty."

Yuanyang quickly said, "Yes, Master!"

Jia Rong said, "Let's just do it in the style of the old West Palace. Although it's still shabby compared to the royal family, it's better for our family to be frugal."

After Jia Rong finished speaking, he looked at Wang Xifeng and said, "Second Madam, please pick two or four maids to serve you first. There have been many disasters outside in the past few years, and many people have sold their fields, children, daughters, and wives."

Wang Xifeng really needed a maid, otherwise she would be too busy to take care of the children and walk around the mansion at the same time.

"Then thank you, master!" Wang Xifeng thanked him with a smile. Naturally, Jia Rong paid for the maid's money.

Jia Rong also gave Wang Xifeng a lot of money to support her. Not only did he give money to Wang Xifeng and Qiao'er and Ying'er, but he also gave monthly wages to many guests in the mansion and other miscellaneous people such as the concubines he temporarily kept.

Nowadays, those who hold official positions, have titles, land and shops, have power, benefits and connections naturally have to have equal positions.

Sister Liu served and put the food away. She stood aside and said, "It's like this. I heard that a lot of people died in the heavy snow in the south last year, and many people outside fled. But since we can't enter the capital, it's more comfortable in this city."

Wang Xifeng had never suffered hardship, so she didn't listen to Jia Rong's casual suggestion of selling his children, daughters, and wife. Mrs. Liu had her daughter as a slave and had experienced the decline of the Rong Mansion, so she was very sensitive to this and knew more about what was happening outside.

Jia Rong then remembered that there were no refugees coming into the capital.

"Wait until Ping'er finishes her meal and calls Xiaohong, then your Second Madam will go to Yuanchun to discuss it, and have someone go back to Jinling or Jiangnan to buy some. I don't need more maids around me, and now I have enough."

Yuanyang quickly said, "We serve the master, so we don't need a few maids at ordinary times."

Jia Rong said, "Well, let's wait until you get pregnant. There's no rush now. The nine-month state mourning will be over in July. If we wait until next year to mourn for our families, it will be too late. Don't worry about it!"

Yuanyang said embarrassedly: "Why don't you wait a little longer? I've already gotten married, and there's no rush to have a baby. Don't delay the master's business."

Jia Rong has never respected the law.

"No need to wait, I'll work hard by the end of this year and let both of you become mothers next year!"

Yuanyang was willing to do so, but since Wang Xifeng and the child were still there, she couldn't take the initiative too much. She quickly cleaned the table with the maid, poured water and served tea to Jia Rong, and served him attentively.

(End of this chapter)