The destiny of all heavens begins in the Red Chamber

Xue Baochai's curiosity was piqued, and she was unwilling to let Xue Pan off the hook. She even coaxed him to tell her the inside story so that she would know what was going on.

"To be honest, this is something that's really hard to say out loud, for fear of offending my sister's ears!"

Xue Pan sat down helplessly and muttered, "Although I no longer frequent the clan school, there are still clan school students practicing martial arts at the small martial arts hall every afternoon, so I naturally know some things about it!"

"Given Baoyu's temperament, how could he suddenly change? There must be a reason!"

"How should I put it? He has no resistance to pretty and good-looking people. He has to go up to them, get to know them, and make friends. This time is almost the same!"

"You should have heard of Qin Zhong, right? He's the younger brother of Rong, the young mistress of the Ning family. He went to the clan school with Baoyu last year, but didn't they have some conflicts and become estranged later?"

"Who knew that after more than half a year, Qin Zhong was doing quite well at the clan school. Not only was he academically outstanding, but he also grew more and more handsome. This time, Bao Yu couldn't take his eyes off him."

"All you do is stick to Qin Zhong all day long, aren't you afraid of being laughed at by the other students at the clan school!"

Hearing this, Xue Baochai blushed slightly. She knew perfectly well the deeper meaning behind her brother Xue Pan's words, but she felt a little more disapproving and contemptuous of Jia Baoyu's behavior and performance.

How old is Jia Baoyu? How could he have such filthy thoughts?

I wonder how the old lady and aunt will react when they find out the truth?

It's estimated that Qin Zhong will be the one who suffers in the end!

Chapter 159 Angry at Their Lack of Competence (Please Subscribe)

Now that Xue Baochai knew the inside story, the three sisters of the Spring and Autumn period soon found out as well.

Xue Baochai wasn't a gossip, but her sudden distancing from Jia Baoyu was obvious to the three sisters, who weren't blind and could always guess what was going on through subtle hints.

Then, the sisters in the mansion collectively distanced themselves from Jia Baoyu!

At the moment, Jia Baoyu was focused on getting close to Qin Zhong and didn't notice the changes in the sisters in the mansion. That's how 'affectionate' this guy is.

Now it was Qin Zhong's turn to feel unhappy.

He had become accustomed to the atmosphere of the clan school and the normal social interactions among his classmates.

Even effeminate men like Xiang Lian and Yu Ai weren't as clingy as Jia Baoyu.

What made him most uneasy was that as Jia Baoyu spent all his time with him, the other classmates began to distance themselves from him, intentionally or unintentionally. Even Xiang Lian and Yu Ai were not very willing to communicate with him anymore.

This is not a good thing!

Just then, Xue Pan wandered into the clan school and saw Qin Zhong looking distressed because Jia Baoyu was pestering him. He couldn't help but reveal a strange smile.

Qin Zhong, however, was quite bold. Taking advantage of Jia Baoyu's absence, he took the initiative to ask Xue Pan for advice on how to avoid such a situation, which was already affecting his normal life and studies.

Hearing that Xue Pan was doing quite well outside and was a well-known hero in the martial arts world, he mustered up his courage and took the initiative to ask him.

Xue Pan was somewhat surprised, but still made a suggestion: study normally in the morning and go to the small martial arts school in the afternoon!

At this point, due to the normal guidance of the thugs in Ningrong Street, he was only interested in girls.

Qin Zhong is indeed handsome, and anyone would inevitably take a second look, but that's about it.

He's been in the underworld for so long, and he's certainly not wasting his time; his suggestions are quite insightful.

Xue Pan knew that Jia Baoyu was gentle and had a bit of a cleanliness obsession.

They rarely even approached the football field of the clan school, showing great disdain for it.

What I dislike most are burly men who are dirty and rough-looking, but the small martial arts school has no shortage of such guys.

Since the Ningrong Street branch opened, almost all the students of the clan school have been there, including Jia Lan, but Jia Baoyu has never set foot there.

Qin Zhong was overjoyed upon hearing this and thanked him repeatedly.

Sure enough, in the afternoon, Qin Zhong followed Cong Ge'er to the small martial arts school. Although Jia Baoyu was reluctant to leave, he did not come along, which made Qin Zhong breathe a sigh of relief.

Just then, Jia Huan arrived at the small martial arts school. Xue Pan hurriedly explained what had happened and chuckled, "Baoyu is really something, look how scared he's made Qin Zhong!"

"Let him be!"

Jia Huan dismissed it, waving his hand and laughing, "You did a great job!"

At this time, Jia Baoyu and Qin Zhong were only eleven or twelve-year-old boys whose personalities had not yet been fully formed, and their behavior and way of doing things could be gradually changed by their environment.

As a result, Qin Zhong benefited from the improved atmosphere of the clan school.

Don't say he's some kind of born bad seed; it's not that exaggerated.

To be honest, the part about Qin Zhong and Zhi Neng in the original novel of *Dream of the Red Chamber* was very likely influenced by the Jia family's school of thought. Anyone who remained unaffected in such an environment would be a truly remarkable person.

Fortunately, he managed to forcefully change the atmosphere of the clan school.

In such an atmosphere, Qin Zhong's behavior and thoughts were naturally influenced.

With prolonged physical exercise, one's self-confidence will be significantly different from before.

At least at this point, Qin Zhong was definitely a top student whom teachers liked and classmates wanted to be close to.

Once he arrives at the small martial arts school, he won't leave easily until mid-afternoon. Who knows if Jia Baoyu has the patience to wait for him at the clan school?

This kid is pestering Cong-ge'er to let him practice martial arts, but I wonder how long he can keep it up?

As the school atmosphere improves, according to the teachers, one or two students have already reached a level where they can participate in the preliminary examinations for the imperial examinations.

Among them is Qin Zhong, whom the gentleman highly regards!

We can't just ignore the few guys at the small martial arts school who are still practicing.

The best way out, of course, is to participate in the military examination and obtain an official position before considering anything else.

Jia Huan knew that in a few years, there would be plenty of battles to fight on both the northwest and southwest borders.

If all else fails, we can ask for their consent, or we can put them in the West City Command of the Five Cities Garrison as soldiers, or they can start their journey into the Jianghu (江湖, the martial arts world) from the Ningrong Street branch.

In any case, with the resources Jia Huan currently has, it would be easy and simple to provide a path for a few classmates who are determined to practice martial arts to advance their careers, without much trouble.

It was like the West City Command Post of the Five Cities Military Command, or the shareholder alliance of the Four Seas Gambling House.

They might as well use their relationship, and they wouldn't feel bad about it at all!

In the future, connections with the Grand Canal Administration and the Warehouse Administration may also be added, allowing people to be placed in positions that are not considered important.

If it were given to a member of the Jia family, they probably wouldn't be willing!

Even Jia Huan has so many resources at his disposal; if he were to utilize them, they would be extraordinary.

Not to mention the Ning and Rong prefectures, they could probably send out a large number of low-ranking officials of the eighth and ninth ranks!

I don't know why they didn't make good use of it; maybe they didn't think much of it?

Officials who are pushed into government offices in this way have virtually no hope of promotion unless they are exceptionally capable or lucky enough to achieve great merit. They are probably too lazy to invest in promotion.

Jia Huan didn't tell them about these arrangements beforehand because he wanted to see how many students would stick with them to the end.

We've all been classmates for several years!

Even if we don't know each other inside and out, we at least understand each other's personalities and character, and Jia Huan is willing to give them a chance.

"Hey kid, stop loitering around here!"

Seeing Xue Pan constantly loitering around, Jia Huan said irritably, "As the locust plague spreads and the situation becomes more severe, the Tongzhou wharf will probably be incredibly busy!"

"The profits you can make will definitely make others envious!"

"I'm afraid there might be fierce fighting in the martial arts world. Can you still sit still?"

Why didn't you say so sooner, Brother Huan?

Sure enough, Xue Pan immediately showed a look of urgency, as if his backside was on fire. He hurriedly left with his guards, looking as if he couldn't wait to fly to Tongzhou.

Jia Huan couldn't help but chuckle. This guy was still so unreliable.

If we rely on someone like Xue Pan to hold onto control of Tongzhou Wharf, it's a pipe dream; we'll need the help of the gang members.

Currently, the gangsters from the triads are relatively united, but it's hard to say what will happen in the future.

Jia Huan wasn't too concerned; he was confident and assured of his success!

Recently, the locust plague has been a major concern for him.

The eight farms had actually taken very good preventative measures beforehand; at least the number of locusts emerging from the farms was not large, indicating that the previous deep-plowing and irrigation strategies had been effective.

Unfortunately, the owners of the surrounding estates and lands, as well as the tenants, did not have such thoughts or take any preventative measures. As a result, the locusts spread to all eight estates.

What's infuriating is that, faced with the locusts, the tenants in the village were all terrified, turning pale with fright. All they knew was to kneel down and pray to the gods, but they lacked the determination and courage to take action themselves.

Jia Huan was furious. He rushed forward and started wielding his sticks wildly, beating the tenants until they cried out in pain.

He demonstrated how to catch locusts with his bare hands and then eat them in various ways, such as deep-frying and grilling.

That immediately stunned all the tenants present, including the gang members they had brought.

Jia Huan didn't care, and simply asked, "Should we pray to the gods and hope for divine intervention, or should we take action ourselves to mitigate the losses?"

"In the event of such a disaster, the land rent can be waived according to the rules. However, whether or not you can continue to rent and cultivate the land in the future is up to me. You can decide for yourselves!"

After doing all this, he left a few fearless underlings at the estate to supervise, and then went straight back to the city to avoid seeing or hearing about it.

Given the current state of low productivity, sometimes farming really means fighting against the whims of nature!

He's not running a charity. The tenants themselves aren't willing to personally guard the grain they cultivate, so does he expect Jia Huan to pity them?

Although they could earn ten thousand taels of silver every month through the Xue family's business channels, they did not need any additional income from the eight manors.