The destiny of all heavens begins in the Red Chamber

Chapter 127 Under the Spotlight (Please Subscribe)

"Is it alright for the Ning family to provide 600,000 taels of silver upfront?"

Jia Huan's gaze was calm as he glanced at the three members of the Ning family and spoke slowly, "When the time comes, repaying the debt together with the Shi and Wang families will bring unexpected benefits!"

"The Shi family and the Wang family have also gotten involved?"

Jia Rong, disregarding the heartache of the 600,000 taels of silver he was about to hand over, exclaimed in shock.

He never expected that the matter of repaying the national treasury's debts would cause such a huge uproar!

"The four great families of Jinling are of one blood!"

Jia Huan chuckled and said, "We can't expect the Rong family to monopolize all the benefits, can we?"

"Benefits? What benefits are you referring to, Uncle Huan?"

Qin Keqing's voice was melodious and pleasant, and she immediately grasped the key point.

Jia Huan smiled slightly and briefly repeated what he had said to the two marquises of the Shi family earlier.

The three members of the Ning family were deeply moved and overjoyed.

If Jia Huan's statement is true, the current emperor will certainly make the first families to repay the silver exemplary, and the benefits from that would be immense.

Most importantly, it has come directly into the public eye today.

The most awkward thing for the Ning family right now is that they don't have a strong enough backer to rely on.

Because Jia Zhen left so suddenly, he took the Ning Mansion's connections with him as well.

However, Jia Rong was not very willing to see his father. Unless it was a holiday or birthday and he had no other choice, he was unwilling to take the initiative to go and pay his respects.

Jia Zhen was ruthless. He noticed the change in Jia Rong's mentality, and every time he went over, he would either beat or scold him. He didn't even use the connections he had, let alone kill Jia Rong outright.

Cough cough, Jia Zhen is lucky to be alive. His injuries stabilized once he reached the manor outside the city.

Of course, paralysis of one side of the body has a great impact on his normal activities and even his normal life.

This caused the man's temper to become increasingly volatile. He would beat and scold the servants at the drop of a hat. Even Madam You was beaten and scolded by him. He even naively wanted to return to the Ning Mansion and become the patriarch.

Neither Jia Rong nor Qin Keqing and her husband, nor Jia Qiang, would agree!

The consequences were quite serious, and the Ning family was now in a rather isolated state.

Aside from the Rong family, I don't know who else they have close relationships with, or who are only superficially friendly but actually at odds with each other.

This is also why they are quite passive in social interactions outside the home!

Those who were close to the Ning family felt that the Ning family was intentionally distancing themselves, while those who were not on good terms with them thought the Ning family was stupid for actually wanting to reconcile with them.

In addition, Jia Rong has a soft and gentle personality, making him prone to suffering and being taken advantage of when he's out in the world.

If it weren't for the fact that the Dragon Guards were almost all sons of noble families, they probably wouldn't even be able to stand firm!

Of course, his personality also has its advantages, namely, once bitten by a snake, twice shy.

Since recovering from his injuries, he has spent most of his free time staying at the Ning residence and not going anywhere. He refuses invitations to brothels and entertainment venues, which has left him with a psychological trauma.

In this way, there are basically no extra large expenses, and you can save money!

Jia Huan asked for 600,000 taels of silver. The reason he only changed his expression was because the Ning family had indeed been quite well-off recently, and 600,000 taels of silver was no problem for them.

As for Jia Qiang, it was driven by self-interest that he made the right choice.

When Jia Zhen was in charge of the household, how could he have access to the Ning Mansion's external businesses?

But Jia Rong's position was completely different. He was the undisputed head steward of the Ning Mansion's external affairs, with a vast amount of resources and manpower at his disposal. Jia Qiang thoroughly enjoyed the wonderful feeling of having such great power in his hands.

Needless to say, it would be best for Qin Keqing to stay away from Jia Zhen.

Even though Jia Zhen is now paralyzed on one side, it's still not appropriate for them to live together. This guy is not a peaceful person. If he makes any excessive demands, how will she respond?

Especially when her husband, Jia Rong, was completely unreliable, she felt truly frustrated and desperate!

"Six hundred thousand taels of silver is enough to elevate Rong-ge'er's title, and give Qiang-ge'er a proper official position or a low-ranking honorary title!"

After finalizing the amount to be repaid to the national treasury in the first batch, Jia Huan did not linger. He politely declined the invitation to stay for dinner and left quickly.

Indeed, the Ning family is easy to handle right now!

If it were Jia Zhen, how could he possibly spend so much money on such a small benefit?

Upon returning to the Rong residence, he immediately informed the Second Master Zheng of the good news.

"Master, the Ning family has agreed to provide the first batch of 600,000 taels of silver to repay the national treasury's debt!"

Upon hearing this, the displeasure on the Second Master Zheng's face largely disappeared, and he nodded in satisfaction, saying, "Well done!"

The scholars and gentlemen beside him stared wide-eyed in disbelief, followed by a torrent of flattery.

In their eyes, it was truly remarkable that they could persuade the Ning family to come up with 600,000 taels of silver to repay the national treasury's debt.

Adding the amount in the hands of Master Zheng, there were over 900,000 taels of silver.

With a little more effort, a million taels of silver is not a dream.

But then the old lady intervened again, forcing Master Zheng to stop selling the unwanted antiques and curios.

That's right, Master Zheng really went all out to raise the money.

With Jia Huan by their side offering advice, these expensive items were naturally not sold off cheaply, nor could they be sold at a high price, but exchanging them for tens of thousands of taels of silver in a short period of time was not a problem.

This also shows the splendor of the Rong family at its peak. Just taking out one or two pieces from their collection back then would be enough to make waves in the antique market.

The only consequence of doing this is that it's very embarrassing and extremely shameful.

To outsiders, it seemed that the Rong family was already facing financial problems. Otherwise, why would the second master of the family, Zheng Er, need to sell antiques and rare artifacts to raise money?

So, the Second Master Zheng, who was in high spirits, was summoned to Rongqing Hall by the old lady and given a severe scolding.

Not only did they condemn him for making a fool of himself and damaging the Rong family's reputation, but they also strictly forbade him from continuing to sell the precious artifacts and antiques he owned, so that he would stop making a fool of himself.

The Second Master Zheng was scolded so badly that he looked utterly defeated, like a wilted eggplant.

It's impossible for him not to harbor resentment!

Since my mother scolded him for making a fool of himself and forbade him from continuing to sell his precious antiques, why not sponsor him with another sum of money so that he can raise 400,000 taels of silver?

Just when he was about to raise 350,000 taels, he called a halt and refused to lend a hand. Isn't that just harming his son?

Even Huan-ge'er, an illegitimate son, managed to raise several hundred taels of silver to provide support.

But the old lady really made him feel suffocated; he was so frustrated.

"There's still a shortfall of tens of thousands of taels of silver. What should we do?"

Once the flattery from the guests had subsided, Master Zheng Er finally looked up at Jia Huan.

To be honest, he relied on Jia Huan for advice and even directly helped him raise money when it came to the matter of raising funds. Who would believe that?

In any case, the group of scholars and gentlemen in the study had long since become accustomed to it and numb to it.

What else could be done?

If they had the ability to amass tens of thousands of taels of silver, they wouldn't be working as retainers at the Rong Mansion.

As long as you find the right connections, you can buy a decent official position even for several thousand taels of silver.

Of course, they also held Jia Huan, the second son of a concubine, in high esteem at this moment.

He's a genius, absolutely a genius when it comes to money!

Such an astonishing sum as one million taels of silver was arranged perfectly in his hands in no time.

As for the Second Master Zheng selling his precious artifacts and antiques, isn't it just because he's short of money that he's forced to do so?

Regardless of what people say outside, Master Zheng is doing his job properly, isn't that true?

The old lady is really talking without any sense of the situation. Look how she's driven Master Zheng to the brink of ruin!

I don't know what the old lady is thinking. Does she not care at all about the second master's career?

Based on their observations of the Rong family over the years, this is indeed a possibility. The main reason is that the abilities shown by the Second Master Zheng are simply too mediocre, and there is no sign of much potential.

But now that there's an opportunity to curry favor with the current ruler, why isn't the old lady tempted at all?

Do you really think that the person sitting on the dragon throne doesn't have to pay a price when they try to curry favor?

"Don't worry, sir. The last few tens of thousands of taels of silver will be covered by Second Brother Lian!"

Jia Huan chuckled and said something that left everyone present completely baffled.

"Lian'er, it seems like she has nothing to do with him, right?"

Master Zheng asked doubtfully, "Besides, where would he get fifty thousand taels of silver?"

"He can't produce it, but Sister-in-law Lian can!"

Jia Huan laughed and said, "Master, let me go and talk to Brother Lian about this!"

Master Zheng nodded in acquiescence. He really didn't know how he could get a full 50,000 taels of silver from his nephew, Jia Lian.

In fact, there are quite a few people paying attention to the Rong Mansion's activities right now!

There's no way around it; the issue of the national treasury's debt has already become a hot topic, and we absolutely cannot allow this momentum to falter.