The destiny of all heavens begins in the Red Chamber

Jia Huan sneered, "The current emperor is a different person from those of the past!"

"The Ning family is already a target of controversy, so it's best to keep a low profile as much as possible and avoid taking the lead in anything!"

After saying this, he politely declined Qin Keqing and Jia Qiang's invitation to dine and left the Ning Mansion with an air of nonchalance.

Not long after, he heard that Madam Wang had approached Wang Xifeng and asked her to contribute 100,000 taels of silver to sponsor the upcoming visit of Consort Yuan to her family.

The news was naturally told to Jia Huan by Aunt Zhao.

When Aunt Zhao talked about this, her face lit up with gossip: "Wang Xifeng would definitely not agree!"

She curled her lip and said disdainfully, "It's just a concubine without an official title leaving the palace to visit her family. Anyone who didn't know better would think the Empress was coming!"

Jia Huan smiled but didn't speak, inwardly speechless at Madam Wang's behavior.

They really don't hold back at all; they seize every opportunity to fleece anyone they encounter!

Who is Wang Xifeng? She is also a member of the Wang family. How could she easily fall into a trap?

Of course, if her loan plan goes smoothly, she might actually be able to raise the money to buy the house across the street in one go.

As far as we know, the Xue family received 300,000 taels, the Ning family received 200,000 taels, and Wang Xifeng received 100,000 taels.

There were also the two marquises of the Shi family, and the Lin family.

Given Madam Wang's appetite, she would demand at least 300,000 taels of silver.

After all the relatives outside have borrowed money, it will probably be the old lady and Master She's turn.

A quick calculation shows it exceeds a million taels. Who knows, after allocating the money for purchasing the house, he might still have hundreds of thousands of taels left over. This business is thriving.

Unfortunately, while she was scheming, others weren't fools.

Of course, it wasn't just Lady Wang who was making frequent moves in preparation for Yuan Chun's visit home; the old lady was also trying various methods.

Her methods were far more sophisticated than Madam Wang's; she directly commanded Master She and Master Zheng.

First, she inquired about the resale price from the owner of the house across the street. Then, she forced her two sons to find ways to raise money, caring only about the result and not the process.

If the old lady had a smaller appetite and only wanted to buy a house across the street, the price wouldn't be low, but it would still be within Gongzhong's budget.

But for some reason, the old lady was thinking something else entirely.

She wanted to buy all the houses across from the Rong Mansion to build the detached residence for Yuan Chun's visit home—that was quite an extravagant move.

It should be noted that the main gates of the Ning and Rong mansions, along with the walls on both sides, stretched for the length of an entire street.

Of course, none of the houses across the street were as large. To meet the old lady's requirements, at least ten houses would need to be purchased, which is the main reason why such a huge sum of money would be required.

Anyway, after learning about these requirements from the second master of the government, Jia Huan had nothing to say to the old lady.

Master Zheng and Jia Lian personally went to inquire about the situation. The owner of the house across the street wasn't too forceful, indicating that he could sell his house, but the price wouldn't be low.

They dare to ask for an astronomical price of 100,000 taels for any random three-courtyard house!

Damn, did they calculate that the Rong family would definitely buy their house? Aren't they afraid of offending the Rong family so badly that they'll get revenge later?

However you calculate it, it would indeed take more than a million taels of silver to acquire the nearly ten residences, and you would also have to pay some favors.

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Chapter 218 Unexpected Outcome (Please Subscribe)

The entire Rong Mansion felt chaotic; it seemed no one was really in the mood for celebrating the New Year.

Because of the incident at the family residence, not only were the core members of the household extremely distressed, but the servants below also joined in the fun, and all sorts of rumors spread like wildfire.

There were all sorts of rumors, and they spread almost every possible location in the Rong family mansion where a separate residence could be built for a family visit.

Some shameless fellows have even set their sights on the Ning family, and they're going to give them a good talking-to.

The most shameless thing is that some guy who dislikes Jia Huan has even included the martial arts school where the Ningrong Street branch is located in his account, making it sound very convincing.

It seems that as long as Jia Huan contributes the martial arts school, the matter of the provincial residence will be completely resolved.

Upon receiving the news, Jia Huan's mind was instantly filled with one word: Damn!

The martial arts school is located at the corner opposite Ningrong Street, which is not suitable for building a royal villa at all.

The martial arts school at that time was just big enough to build a three-courtyard house, and that was about it.

"Master, if the manor needs it, I am willing to offer up that martial arts school!"

Jia Huan was no pushover either; he immediately went to Master Zheng and made a passionate statement.

"What nonsense are you talking about?"

Master Zheng was furious and tried to appease Jia Huan.

He is extremely concerned about his reputation; how could he possibly covet the property of Jia Huan, a son of a concubine?

Despite the saying that 'parents should not own property,' if a father cannot even accommodate a small, inconspicuous martial arts school, then he is unworthy of the title of father.

In addition, he turned his attention to the servants in the mansion who dared to gossip about Jia Huan and thoroughly purged them, thus suppressing the unhealthy tendencies in the mansion.

After Jia Huan openly and honestly reported the false accusation, he didn't take the matter to heart anymore.

Xue Pan, that fellow, quietly came to tell him some news that was hard to tell whether it was good or bad: "Brother Huan, we've got that three-courtyard house across from the Rong Mansion!"

"Mom plans to move there once everything is cleared out. You'll have to come over for a drink then!"

"So fast, you must have spent a lot of money, right?"

Jia Huan was somewhat surprised, as he had also heard the Second Master Zheng mention the house across the street.

"One hundred thousand taels of silver, no questions asked!"

Xue Pan said with some pain, "This is only because we know each other; otherwise, the price would be even higher!"

He chuckled and said, "After all, the Rong family can help drive up the price!"

"Since we're acquaintances, why is the price so high?"

Jia Huan asked in bewilderment, "According to normal prices, 50,000 taels is considered a high price!"

"The owner of that house is from the Imperial Household Department. We've dealt with each other before, but we're not exactly close!"

Xue Pan was a little embarrassed, but he smiled and said, "No matter what, as long as we can get the house smoothly, that's all that matters!"

"From the Imperial Household Department?"

Jia Huan's heart skipped a beat, and he asked curiously, "Is this the only one that belongs to the Imperial Household Department?"

"How could that be? There are two other houses nearby that belong to the Imperial Household Department!"

Xue Pan curled his lip and said, "With the royal name in their hands, these guys are all rolling in money!"

"Nobody knows how many properties they own outside. If we hadn't been lucky this time, it would have been very difficult to discover that they were the owners of the house!"

"How many other ones are there? Have you found out about the owner's background?"

Previously, Jia Huan had not heard the Second Master Zheng mention this, which clearly meant that the Second Master Zheng was unaware of these matters. It can only be said that the people in the Imperial Household Department were very good at keeping things hidden.

"That's not clear!"

Xue Pan shook his head and said, "Brother Huan, as you know, the waters in the capital are very deep. There are some things you can't ask about recklessly, or you'll easily bring trouble upon yourself!"

Jia Huan didn't bring up the matter again, but he understood that the Rong family's entanglement over the Imperial Residence should end now, and there was no point in making a fuss any longer.

Sure enough. When he quietly informed Master Zheng of the Xue family's actions and the identities of the behind-the-scenes owners of the several houses across the street, even the dignified Master Zheng couldn't maintain his composed demeanor.

Just thinking about how the people from the Imperial Household Department lived right across the street made me feel uncomfortable!

Of course, there was more vigilance and unease.

After hearing the report from Master Zheng, the old lady fell completely silent.

Soon, news spread from Rongqing Hall that Yuan Chun's detached residence for visiting her family would be built on the site of the current Lixiang Courtyard.

In fact, this was a pretty good choice. Whether considering environmental factors or other aspects, the only one who was unhappy was Madam Wang.

She didn't care who lived across the hall; she just wanted Yuan Chun to come back to visit her family in style!

In fact, because of this matter, he had a falling out with the Second Master Zheng, and there was no sign of the situation easing even during the New Year.

How could Master Zheng care about Madam Wang's feelings?

If Wang Ziteng were still alive, he would probably have some reservations, but that's unlikely now.

Some things could be done according to Madam Wang's whims, but some things could not be compromised in the slightest.

At this time, Wang's plan to borrow money from relatives somehow got leaked.

When Master Zheng heard the news, he was furious. The Rong family was acting like a destitute household, resorting to begging from relatives for money. It was so embarrassing that it was almost unbearable to talk about.

However, Madam Wang didn't take it to heart and felt that she had done nothing wrong.

On the contrary, he often cursed Aunt Xue, Qin Keqing, and Wang Xifeng in private.

Aunt Xue finally gave the money, a full 100,000 taels of silver!

But Madam Wang felt it was too little; with the Xue family's wealth, she would only be satisfied with at least 300,000 taels.

This matter spread throughout the mansion, and everyone was astonished by Madam Wang's greed.

The Xue family has already sponsored 100,000 taels of silver, which is a huge sum of money. How can they still not be satisfied?