The destiny of all heavens begins in the Red Chamber

Xue Baochai would definitely tell Aunt Xue, and Aunt Xue at least knows that Jia Huan can speak to Master Zheng, which is enough.

Despite being the eldest son of the family, Jia Baoyu had absolutely no interest in family affairs or external matters.

Even if Xue Baochai and Aunt Xue were extremely capable, they were helpless against someone like Jia Baoyu.

Now that we've finally managed to invite Jia Huan to the Pear Fragrance Courtyard as a guest, when else would we seize this opportunity?

"Ten thousand shi of grain will be sent directly to the Emperor through the Imperial Household Department, under the pretext of sharing the nation's burdens!"

Jia Huan didn't mince words. After all, he had a good relationship with Xue Pan, so he simply said, "It would be best to spend money to smooth things over with Dai Quan, the Grand Chancellor of the Daming Palace, so that the credit can be truly realized!"

"Who knows, we might actually receive the current reward, after all, it's the first among the imperial merchants!"

"Is it true?"

Aunt Xue's eyes lit up, and she was overjoyed. She couldn't wait to deliver the grain.

Ten thousand shi of grain is a lot; when grain prices are stable, it's worth more than twenty thousand taels of silver.

Not to mention the current high grain prices in the capital, which have exceeded 50,000 taels of silver.

Of course, for the Xue family, 50,000 taels of silver is not a drop in the bucket, but it is quite easy for them to come up with it. Didn't they lend 50,000 taels to Wang Xifeng before without even letting out a word?

Before the White Lotus Sect started causing trouble, Jia Huan had already reminded Xue Pan to have his family's merchant caravan urgently transport grain from the south to the north.

This guy actually listened and did it.

As a result, the Xue family's grain store has made a lot of money in the past two months.

At least, the profit is much higher than 10,000 shi of grain.

It's not that they can't give more, but the Xue family can't withstand the pressure.

Once identified as a genuine fat sheep, the old lady and Madam Wang would probably be the first to pounce on it.

Not to mention the wolves and tigers outside, how could the Xue family withstand them?

Unless Prince Teng is in the capital at this time, if the Xue family makes too much of a show of force, they should just wait to be devoured.

Ten thousand shi of grain is just at a delicate balance point, not enough to arouse too much envy from outsiders, yet enough to warrant a second glance from the current ruler.

Sigh, there's nothing I can do. If you don't have the means, you can't even give a gift without feeling incredibly nervous.

"Could you please help me out, Brother Huan? The Xue family and Dai Quan, the Grand Chancellor of the Daming Palace, are really at a loss for connections. Even if they had money, they wouldn't know where to send it!"

After calming down, Aunt Xue immediately noticed a loophole and pleaded.

"Don't worry, Auntie, as long as there's money, everything will be fine!"

Jia Huan chuckled and squinted as he said, "Given my relationship with Brother Xue, I'd only charge a referral fee of five hundred taels of silver at most for something like this!"

"In addition, if we want to get Rong-ge'er, the head of the Ning family, to come forward, we need to prepare at least one thousand taels of silver as a reward, and it would be best to prepare two thousand taels. Naturally, the more prepared we are, the better!"

"As for Eunuch Dai, the price is quite clear: three thousand taels for acquaintances!"

Jia Huan stated the amount very clearly and said leisurely, "When you're in the capital, some things are a bit roundabout, and the expenses may be a bit higher, but there's nothing you can do about it!"

"If the Xue family can establish a relationship with Eunuch Dai, the benefits will be considerable!"

"As far as I know, this person also holds the position of Chief Steward of the Imperial Household Department, making him arguably the emperor's most favored person. We must not neglect him!"

"As for Brother Xue, as long as he doesn't cause any problems and doesn't have any criminal record with the authorities, everything will be fine. Otherwise, things will get a bit complicated!"

Jia Huan would never let go of an opportunity to make money, and besides, whether the Xue family succeeded or not was none of his business.

To be honest, if we could take this opportunity to resolve Xue Pan's messy situation, it would be a great thing.

Chapter 133 Subtle Changes (Please Subscribe)

By the time the party ended, it was already evening.

Jia Huan, this blockhead, was speechless. These young girls really knew how to have fun.

Playing word games and combining poetry can easily take up most of an afternoon.

Even he had to admire the literary talent of these young girls; they were well-read and had accumulated a considerable amount of knowledge.

If it weren't for the absence of Shi Xiangyun, who is known for her quick wit, we could have easily held a poetry gathering.

If he weren't so familiar with them and didn't have much say, he really wanted to remind the girls to write down all the poems and word games they had to do that day.

In the future, it might become a cherished childhood memory.

Ah, in his childhood, Jia Huan felt like he was a block of wood!

He politely declined Aunt Xue's invitation to dinner and returned to his residence with a leisurely air.

Meanwhile, Lin Daiyu and the three sisters went to the small annex behind Rongqing Hall, Tan Chun's residence, to continue their conversation.

This afternoon, they had a lot of fun and talked a lot about sex.

Since Tan Chun had invited them, they decided to continue chatting while waiting for the old lady to bring the meal.

By this time, Lin Daiyu had already integrated into the three sisters' small circle, and there was no sense of estrangement or anything like that.

The main point is that the Ning and Rong mansions are not in bad condition!

In particular, the promotion of Master Zheng and Jia Lian's formal entry into officialdom were a great boost to the Jia family in the capital, which is no exaggeration.

Rumors about Qin Keqing, the mistress of the Ning family, were rampant at this time.

San Chun had also heard the rumor that Qin Keqing was the concubine of the deposed crown prince.

Although the Ning Mansion seemed unchanged, the younger generation, except for Jia Baoyu, were all in quite good spirits, with the three sisters being the most affected.

My cousin's wife is a noblewoman of the royal family, but she is not listed in the imperial register.

This has a significant boost to their confidence.

So what if Lin Daiyu's biological father was a third-rank official? He couldn't possibly be higher than a member of the royal family, could he?

And so it was; the three sisters, who had initially harbored a subtle aversion to Lin Daiyu, readily accepted her and became her true best friends.

With Lin Daiyu's delicate and intelligent mind, how could she not have noticed? She just didn't say it.

Throughout the entire process, only Jia Baoyu remained completely unresponsive, presumably having no interest in learning about it.

Ahem, the rumors about Qin Keqing were naturally spread secretly by Jia Huan.

The purpose was to thwart certain unhealthy ideas of the Ning and Rong families.

There are many strange things about Qin Keqing's death in the original novel of Dream of the Red Chamber!

However, one thing is undeniable: with Qin Keqing's death, Jia Yuanchun almost seamlessly took over the position in the palace.

If there were no connection between these things, none of our readers would believe it.

But as I said before, Qin Keqing's identity is not a secret.

The fact that the Jia family in the capital dared to use her life as a pledge of loyalty clearly shows that they didn't take the imperial family too seriously.

What one thinks in one's heart is not important, but one must outwardly show sufficient respect to the royal family, which was a matter of life and death in the era of imperial power.

Now that they know Qin Keqing's identity, the three sisters feel much more confident.

At Tan Chun's place, the young girls chatted and somehow the conversation turned to Jia Huan.

"Sister Tanchun, did you notice that this afternoon at Pear Fragrance Courtyard, both Sister Bao and Aunt Xue seemed to be trying to curry favor with Third Brother Huan?"

"What do you know, you little one? You must have seen it wrong."

"That's not necessarily true. I feel the same way, Sister Tanchun. What about you, Sister Yingchun?"

"Pretty much. Aunt Xue is being far too enthusiastic towards Huan-ge'er, almost to an excessive degree!"

"Do you guys know what's going on?"

"If even your own sister doesn't know, how could we possibly know?"

"Perhaps, Huan-ge'er is out there and can be of some help to the Xue family?"

"How could that be? The Xue family are imperial merchants, with a huge business empire and plenty of money. How could Huan-ge'er possibly be of any help?"

"Or it could be something about Baochai's brother Xue Pan. Surely Huan-ge'er can help with that?"

"That's quite possible, but I've never heard a whisper about it before!"

"Sister Daiyu, we can't easily leave the manor, and we don't know much about what's happening outside!"

"Yes, if it weren't for the large number of officials and their families visiting us these days, it would be quite difficult for us to even hear a little bit of gossip from outside!"

"If only I could go out of the manor someday and see what's outside!"

"I'm afraid we'll have to wait until the Lantern Festival, which is still several months away!"

"..."

As he talked, the topic went off the rails.

Tan Chun, however, kept it in mind and planned to ask Jia Huan about it when she had time.

She had the same feeling; it seemed that ever since Jia Huan successfully infiltrated the master's study, his status in the mansion had risen somewhat.

Although the old lady and the wife still disliked her, they did not intend to suppress her.

From time to time, Huan-ge could be seen following the master to the main study and Rongqing Hall.