The destiny of all heavens begins in the Red Chamber

Even if someone like Jia Yuanchun managed to reach the position of a lady-in-waiting in the Empress's palace, what good would it do?

She's already in her early twenties, practically an old maid.

For some unknown reason, she was suddenly taken into the emperor's harem. Otherwise, she would have been released from the palace in a few years. If that had happened, her life would have been ruined.

Xue Baochai could naturally guess that there must be some inside story behind the emperor's sudden decision to take Yuan Chun as a concubine.

It involves the noble families, or even the Ning and Rong mansions, but the Xue family doesn't have that kind of face.

Unless, as Xue Pan jokingly suggested, he directly donated millions of taels of silver to the emperor and used that money to create a concubine position!

But doing that would be tantamount to offending the entire harem!

This is called price gouging. In the future, if the daughters of commoners or even minor officials enter the palace, unless they are particularly favored, where will they have a chance to rise in society?

Those concubines from powerful and wealthy families would also see her ambition and then take action to suppress her, which would even affect the entire Xue family.

Xue Baochai's ambition to rise to prominence is based on the Xue family.

In other words, she wanted to enter the palace to help the Xue family advance further and become a member of the powerful elite in the capital, not to bring disaster upon the Xue family.

Unless she can get a high position as soon as she enters the palace, but how is that possible?

If Jia Huan knew what she was thinking, he would definitely tell her that there was still a chance of success.

It's not that one can be so conspicuous in a high position without even entering the palace; if the Imperial Household Department fully cooperates, it's not impossible for one to climb up step by step.

The Consort Ling in the Qing Dynasty drama is the most typical example.

After her, the Imperial Household Department grew to a very large size, almost completely influencing the direction of the harem.

Of course, the price the Xue family would have to pay to obtain such convenience is something Xue Baochai would definitely not agree to; it's no joke.

Without generations of cultivation and the formation of a deep-rooted network of relationships within the Imperial Household Department, why would anyone go out of their way to help Xue Baochai live a stable and comfortable life in the palace?

At present, the Xue family can only get involved in some matters if they are bound to the Ning and Rong families.

For example, in cooperating with the Prince Zhongshun's Mansion, if Jia Huan hadn't been involved, the Xue family would have been easily controlled by the Prince Zhongshun's Mansion, with no power to resist at all.

Xue Baochai saw things very clearly and dared not cause any more trouble regarding her marriage.

If she were to truly anger Jia Huan, the effort and sacrifices the Xue family would have to make to advance further in the future would be far beyond what she desired.

The fact that Jia Huan is still willing to play with Xue Pan is already quite a show of respect.

Now, after hearing his brother Xue Pan's account, he felt even more terrified of Jia Huan, and that was true.

I never imagined that the illegitimate son of the Rong family, whom I used to look down on, would become so powerful that he no longer takes Prince Zhongshun seriously.

Looking across the entire capital, how many have such confidence?

Therefore, all she could do was keep telling her brother to work hard with Jia Huan and not to think about anything else, because having other thoughts was not a good thing for Xue Pan.

"Don't worry, little sister, I've already latched onto Brother Huan's coattails!"

Xue Pan's thinking was simple. He said smugly, "If it weren't for my brother's cleverness, there would be many things I wanted to get involved in. It's not that I didn't have the opportunity, but rather that I didn't have such good conditions!"

That's why they say fools sometimes have good luck.

He wasn't very bright, but soon after entering the Jia family academy, he managed to latch onto Jia Huan's coattails.

Of course, Xue Pan also knew that Jia Huan needed the Xue family's merchant caravan's help with many things, which could be considered a win-win situation. However, this did not mean that Jia Huan could not seek cooperation with other merchant companies.

In the capital and Tongzhou, there are quite a few merchants of moderate strength but without powerful backers.

Their abilities are absolutely formidable, but because they lack a powerful backer, their business has been stuck at a mid-level. If Jia Huan were willing to give them a chance, there would be far too many willing to pledge allegiance to him.

However, such businessmen are usually ambitious, and Jia Huan was too young to control them at the time!

If they were given a further opportunity, they could easily catch the eye of some real big shots, and being poached would be a matter of minutes, something Jia Huan simply couldn't stop.

Rather than doing all the work for someone else, it's better to cooperate with the Xue family!

At that time, Jia Huan was working with the Ning Mansion and the Xue family to do business together.

If the Xue family dares to make any move, they will be crushed in no time!

Even with Wang Ziteng's influence, it wouldn't work. Once the Xue family is branded as having betrayed their relatives and allies, they absolutely cannot afford the serious consequences of doing so.

Fortunately, Xue Pan wasn't very bright, but once he set his mind on something, he would do it resolutely.

Jia Huan and the Ning Mansion reciprocated by helping him stabilize the restless spirit within the Xue family's merchant caravan, allowing the Xue family's business to grow bigger and bigger. This was a true win-win situation.

At present, the many old managers in the Xue family caravan are all very honest and obedient.

Even if the restless ones are far away in the south or other more distant regions, Xue Pan can't do anything about them, but the Ning and Rong mansions have the ability to deal with them.

As long as a message is given, without even needing to issue a formal notice, local powerful families and officials are happy to provide assistance.

Not only could they get free silver from the old shopkeeper who had absconded with the money, but they could also establish connections with the Ning and Rong mansions in the capital. It was a fantastic opportunity, and everyone was eager to do it.

After a few such incidents, the Xue family caravan became very stable.

Xue Baochai gradually figured out what was going on, and felt both happy and frustrated.

The reasons for her happiness are self-evident, but the reasons for her frustration are what truly upset her.

So what if she has exceptional business acumen?

It wasn't enough to intimidate the people in charge below. It just goes to show that her importance wasn't as great as she'd imagined, which was quite a blow to her morale.

The brother and sister exchanged only a few words before the sky grew increasingly dark, and Aunt Xue returned from the Rong Mansion across the street.

When she met Xue Pan, she only asked him casually and didn't pay much attention to the cooperation with the Prince of Zhongshun's Mansion. She thought it was just normal business dealings and wasn't interested in it.

"You wouldn't believe it, there was another mess at the Rong residence today, it almost made Zhu Ge's daughter-in-law cry!"

Aunt Xue, always eager for gossip, couldn't resist her urge to chatter after greeting her two children. She lowered her voice and said, "This time, Baoyu has gotten into trouble again!"

What happened again?

Xue Baochai was speechless. She had little interest in getting involved in the messy things that happened in the Rong Mansion from time to time, and it didn't arouse her much interest at all.

Xue Pan, however, became interested and asked curiously, "Oh, shouldn't Baoyu be at school? Why is he still staying at home causing trouble?"

With the expansion of enrollment at the clan school, Xue Pan, as Jia Huan's younger brother, went there to oversee things for a while.

Therefore, he is quite familiar with the recent situation of the ethnic studies.

Following the instructions of the Second Master Zheng, Jia Baoyu resumed his schooling, still spending his days in the middle class.

There was no other way; the clan school had gained a great reputation. Although Master Zheng had given up hope on Jia Baoyu, he still hoped that Jia Baoyu could achieve something.

This time, the old lady and Madam Wang did not say anything to stop them.

How to stop it?

It should be noted that several sons of founding marquises had already spent considerable effort and connections to finally gain admission to the Jia family school, which was a matter of great prestige.

Other families are willing to send their eldest sons to the clan school for advancement, but Jia Baoyu, the eldest son of the Rong family, spends all his time holed up in the mansion with a bunch of maids. Is that appropriate?

Although Jia Baoyu's reputation was already ruined, it didn't mean that the old lady and Lady Wang didn't care or pay attention to it.

As the saying goes, there's no harm without comparison!

No matter how much the old lady and Lady Wang had deceived themselves before, believing that Jia Baoyu was born with a jade in his mouth and was destined for wealth and nobility, they couldn't help but have some doubts about his behavior at the age of sixteen.

Even Yuan Chun in the palace, during the New Year, would send a message through her trusted eunuch, urging the young men in her household to study hard and make progress, and not to waste their precious youth.

Although no name was mentioned, everyone knew that it referred to Jia Baoyu.

At this time, the Rong family was extremely sparsely populated.

The eldest son of the Jia family has moved out. Jia Lian and Wang Xifeng have only one daughter, but Wang Xifeng is about to give birth and will soon have a second child.

But on the second branch of the family, there really was only Jia Baoyu and the next generation's Lan-ge'er.

Without the help of Jia Huan and Jia Cong, Jia Baoyu and his uncle Lan Ge'er naturally became the comparison group.

Compared to Lan Ge'er's diligence and eagerness to learn, Jia Baoyu was a typical example of someone who was hopelessly hopeless.

Even the old lady and Madam Wang were too embarrassed to give any other excuses; they couldn't possibly suppress Lan Ge'er, could they?

Thus, Jia Baoyu, who had rested in the mansion for several months, resumed his school life.

However, it was naturally impossible for him to become the focus of attention at the school at this time.

The Jia clan members were all either studying hard, practicing martial arts, or learning a trade early on through connections in the Ningrong Street branch.

In short, it's not so easy to just coast along in the clan school.

Now, there are even more students attending the affiliated school, and the learning atmosphere is getting better and better. In such an environment, if you don't work hard, do you really want to be like Jia Baoyu?

In the past, Xue Pan and Jia Baoyu would have been close friends since they were cousins. However, Xue Pan now felt he was an adult and didn't care much about Jia Baoyu.

The rules at the clan school are getting stricter and stricter. You can't just come and go as you used to. Getting your parents called is no joke!

Chapter 270 Recklessness (Please Subscribe)

Yesterday, guests came to the Rong residence.

They are Li Wan's widowed aunt and two cousins ​​from the original novel, Dream of the Red Chamber.

For reasons unknown, they came to the capital to seek refuge with Li Wan.

Li Wan was very pleased to receive them and introduced them to the old lady and Madam Wang.