The destiny of all heavens begins in the Red Chamber

The officers and soldiers of the West City Command Post of the Five Cities Garrison have a deep understanding of this.

In previous years, they were heavily criticized for the incidents of children going missing during the Lantern Festival.

It should be noted that the residents of the West City are mostly high-ranking officials and nobles, people they simply cannot afford to offend.

Ahem, over the past two years, the West City Command Center has amassed considerable influence, a tacit understanding between Jia Huan and Qiu Liang, the former West City Commander who has been promoted for his merits.

The current commander has a very close relationship with the gang!

More than a dozen brothers from various gangs have already filled positions among the low-ranking officials and soldiers in the command post.

With their cooperation, the gang's control over Ningrong Street, while not completely impenetrable, was still quite formidable; at least ordinary thieves had nothing to worry about.

Time passed slowly, and Jia Huan's life was quite peaceful.

As for the Rong family, he no longer needed to keep a close eye on things and offer advice to the Second Master Zheng.

The Court of State Ceremonial was a place where people were bored out of their minds, doing nothing all day long. It was similar to sitting on the sidelines in the Ministry of Works. The Second Master Zheng was particularly used to it.

If it weren't for the occasional opportunity to participate in small court assemblies and witness the fierce competition among court officials, one would probably be completely idle and useless. No wonder there is almost no competition for this position.

Even if one wants to use it as a stepping stone, one must consider whether political enemies will seize the opportunity and pin him down in the position of Minister of the Court of State Ceremonies, unable to move forward.

Since there's almost no actual work involved, there's no real merit to speak of, making it quite difficult to transfer.

But the Second Master Zheng was particularly suited to this position, and he did it with remarkable ease and stability.

As for Jia Lian, he was a rare clever person in the Rong Mansion, and what was especially rare was his practical ability.

In addition, as the eldest son of the Rong family's main branch, he was doing quite well in the Ministry of Revenue.

As for the Tongzhou and Tianjin sections of the Grand Canal under his supervision, with the help of a powerful figure from the Ningrong Street gang keeping an eye on things, there shouldn't be any major problems, making his position quite secure.

With the two uncles and nephews in charge at the yamen, the Rong family's external situation was quite stable.

Seeing this, Jia Huan naturally began to focus his attention on his own affairs, and also pondered how to manage the eight major estates well, paying little attention to other matters.

Apart from still being a regular in the study, he has been largely silent.

Apart from the guy keeping an eye on the affairs of the estates outside the city, the manor had almost completely forgotten about Jia Huan.

He was happy to do so!

Otherwise, like Jia Baoyu, who is already past the age of 20, he would still stay in the inner quarters all day, playing with his sisters and indulging in little tricks like throwing a tantrum now and then and making up quickly.

If he actually dared to do that, he'd be so disliked that even dogs would hate him within days.

Interestingly, since the New Year, Lin Daiyu's visits to the Rong Mansion have decreased significantly.

As a result, Jia Baoyu caused a ruckus several times, much to the dismay of the old lady and Lady Wang.

Each time, the old lady would send her most trusted maid, Yuanyang, to the Lin residence to fetch the person.

The first two times went smoothly, but on the third time, Lin Daiyu didn't come along.

The reason was also quite good: her father, Lin Ruhai, was not feeling well, and she needed to be by his side to take care of him.

Fortunately, Jia Baoyu wasn't completely out of his mind. Although he looked unhappy, he didn't say anything unpleasant, otherwise Lin Daiyu might have really turned against him.

This guy is always self-centered, and he can be really rude to people who aren't close to him.

Jia Huan could easily imagine a certain scenario. Upon hearing the reason why Lin Daiyu wasn't coming, Jia Baoyu blurted out, "Doesn't the Lin family have maids? Let the maids serve you. Sister Lin, please come to the mansion and play together!"

I'm afraid that even with the old lady's doting affection for him, saying this would immediately make her frown.

Later, it was only after the three sisters received the old lady's permission that they went to the Lin residence under the pretext of visiting Uncle Lin and finally learned the truth from Lin Daiyu.

Uncle Lin felt that Jia Baoyu was too old, over ten years old, and it was inappropriate for Lin Daiyu to be too close to him.

The three sisters naturally didn't need to pay attention to these words, as they and Jia Baoyu were cousins.

When the news reached the mansion, the old lady remained silent, unusually ignoring Jia Baoyu's commotion.

I don't know if he was stimulated by something, but in early February, Jia Baoyu actually took the initiative to report to the clan school, which was really strange.

Just by looking at the unwillingness on his face, you could tell he was probably being forced.

The atmosphere of the clan school was gradually taking shape at this time.

Those who are willing to improve have their own space and resources, and the teachers at the clan school will not hesitate to provide one-on-one guidance.

As for those who aren't interested in going to school, as long as they don't actively disrupt classroom discipline, no one will bother them.

Once you get through the morning study session, no one will pay any attention to you in the afternoon, whether you're playing football, learning martial arts at a small martial arts school, or playing other games.

With Jia Huan personally overseeing things in the morning, no one dared to cause any trouble.

The same applies when Jia Baoyu arrives; as long as he doesn't cause trouble, no student from the clan school is willing to get close to him.

However, this guy is really speechless; he actually stuck to Qin Zhong on his own initiative.

It has been almost half a year since he and Qin Zhong had a conflict at school last year, and they haven't seen each other, let alone contacted each other.

Jia Baoyu believed that Qin Zhong had betrayed their friendship, and in his anger, he took the most extreme measure of severing ties.

At that time, Master Zheng had high expectations for him, but with Jia Huan's bad advice, Jia Baoyu was soon sent to the main study for further studies, and had no time or energy to restore his relationship with Qin Zhong.

Then, the two who were once so close gradually drifted apart.

Jia Baoyu was having a great time playing with his sisters in the mansion, and Qin Zhong was also doing increasingly well at the clan school. There were no problems because of Jia Baoyu's absence.

This kid, after all, is a true son of an official. Apart from being a bit introverted, he is better than the students of the clan school in other aspects.

Qin Bangye only had one son, Qin Zhong, so he naturally nurtured him carefully from a young age. Once he was given more opportunities, his knowledge and vision became truly remarkable.

At the clan school, a few of the most mischievous kids had already gone out with Jia Huan to make money.

The rest are either those who lack the courage to venture out into the world, or those who are genuinely ambitious.

In addition, the school atmosphere is good, so as long as Qin Zhong doesn't really have a personality problem, it's not difficult for him to actively integrate into the school.

Not to mention, this guy got along well with those two eccentric classmates, Xiang Lian and Yu Ai, from the very beginning, so it was very easy for him to integrate into the clan school group later on.

Then, Qin Zhong's strengths gradually became apparent, and he became quite popular.

Not only the students at the ethnic school, but also the teachers at the ethnic school were quite optimistic about it.

After all, he comes from a family with a strong academic tradition. Even if he wasn't particularly proactive in his studies, the knowledge and skills he received from his father, Qin Bang, since childhood were invaluable.

Even if he only attends school diligently in the mornings, Qin Zhong's academic performance is still the best in the clan school, without exception.

In the afternoon, this guy actively participated in the Cuju (ancient Chinese football) activity, and his attitude was quite positive and upright.

Then, after more than half a year of training, he not only grew taller, but also became more masculine, making him the undisputed number one handsome man in the clan school.

Well, Jia Huan naturally didn't participate in the competition, otherwise Qin Zhong would have had to settle for second place.

Think about it, the sunny, athletic, and handsome guys in modern schools are the darlings of female students.

This is no exception at the clan school!

Originally, it was only Qin Zhong who took the initiative to get close to Xiang Lian and Yu Ai, two somewhat effeminate classmates.

Later on, Xiang Lian and Yu Ai started to actively approach Qin Zhong instead.

Fortunately, with Jia Huan in charge of the school, nothing of homosexuality occurred. However, Qin Zhong had indeed become a star student at the clan school, which was quite normal.

Jia Baoyu hasn't been to the clan school in so long, how would he know these things?

Then, when he reluctantly returned to the clan school to report for duty, he was immediately struck by Qin Zhong's extraordinary appearance.

Like a devoted sycophant, he took the initiative to get close to Qin Zhong, offering all sorts of sweet words as if they were free, just wanting to know Qin Zhong's name and background.

Qin Zhong's height and appearance have changed quite a bit, but the biggest change is in his overall demeanor.

He transformed from an introverted little boy into a sunny, healthy, and handsome young man; it's normal not to recognize him at first glance.

Jia Baoyu's behavior was almost identical to that of a modern-day "simp," and he was the type who would actively approach and strike up a conversation with anyone who was pretty or attractive.

When she found out it was Qin Zhong, she became incredibly enthusiastic and clingy, practically glued to him.

Qin Zhong, on the other hand, was somewhat unaccustomed to Jia Baoyu's excessive enthusiasm.

Fortunately, Jia Baoyu's attention has been drawn to something else lately, otherwise Qin Zhong really wouldn't know what to do.

Chapter 157 I appreciate the good intentions (Please subscribe)

This year's Flower Festival marks Lin Daiyu's ninth birthday!

It wasn't a major birthday celebration, and since it was for a child, they wouldn't have put much effort into organizing it.

But Lin Ruhai felt he owed his daughter something, didn't he?

Since I had some free time, I decided to hold a small birthday party.

Of course, all those invited were relatives and very close friends.

Sure enough, Jia Huan was also invited, and it was even Steward Lin who personally came to invite him.

There were no invitations. That would have been too formal and unnecessary.

Jia Huan was only slightly surprised. He hadn't expected the Lin family to invite him so formally; it was quite a rare occasion.

Regardless, we must give them this face!

Upon returning to the mansion, he heard from Aunt Zhao that Jia Baoyu, the three sisters, and Xue Baochai were also preparing to attend Lin Daiyu's birthday banquet. He simply smiled and remained noncommittal.