The destiny of all heavens begins in the Red Chamber

These stewards were all known for their numerous misdeeds, yet Jia Zhen was made the scapegoat.

Jia Zhen was ruthless enough to send the five corpses to the Shuntian Prefecture government office, hoping to pin all the blame on them, but of course he failed.

It is said that even the highly valued steward, Lai Er, was punished with a beating, and many maids and servants were implicated, creating a climate of fear throughout the Ning Mansion.

At this point, it's not impossible to take advantage of someone's misfortune and try to profit from it, but it's difficult to clean up the mess from the beginning.

When Jia Zhen comes to his senses and settles scores later, it's no laughing matter.

Jia Huan saw it clearly: although this impeachment was forceful, it would not be easy to completely bring down Jia Zhen.

The Rong family couldn't just stand by and watch Jia Zhen perish. The saying "the Rong and Ning families rise and fall together" was not a joke, so naturally they would do everything in their power to help Jia Zhen out of his predicament.

Furthermore, the impeachment turmoil at this time could easily escalate into a power struggle between the nobility and the civil service if properly guided, and the government certainly wouldn't allow things to develop to that point.

At that point, the most likely outcome is that Ma Yuan and Jia Zhen, as the instigators, will each be punished equally and no further action will be taken, and the matter will simply be dropped.

It was just that Jia Zhen had never encountered such a crisis before, and he panicked because he had no experience.

It's not impossible to bring Jia Zhen, or even the entire Ning Mansion, to death, but the risk is just too great.

Among the charges previously listed, one was having an ambiguous relationship with his daughter-in-law, which Jia Huan considered the most fatal. He believed that as long as Qin Keqing's true identity was fully exposed, the problem would be solved.

In that case, the current emperor would certainly not tolerate Qin Keqing, and as for Jia Zhen, who had an affair with the emperor's concubine, he would definitely die a violent death.

What awaits the Ning family is the emperor finding an opportunity to confiscate their property and exile them; even the Rong family dares not intervene to help.

The consequences of doing so would be quite severe; the royal family's reputation is not something to be trifled with. Once the royal family discovers who exposed Qin Keqing's identity, they will be utterly doomed.

Fortunately, whether Ma Yuan, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, was unaware of the matter or dared not act recklessly, the situation did not escalate to that point.

"Grandma, you must save your grand-nephew this time!"

In the main hall of Rongqing Hall, Jia Zhen was pleading with the old lady for help, tears streaming down his face.

"Brother Zhen, this is not a good matter!"

The old lady remained calm and easily grasped Jia Zhen's emotional changes, saying leisurely, "Of course, the matter was caused by the West Mansion, so I naturally won't turn a blind eye!"

"Thank you, ma'am!"

Jia Zhen was overjoyed and quickly assured him, "As long as my nephew passes this test smoothly, whatever the old lady says will be done from now on, and my nephew will absolutely not say a word!"

That's the guarantee the old lady wanted!

Afterwards, she spoke some comforting words in a gentle tone, and then coaxed Jia Zhen, who had turned from worry to joy, away.

"Tell me, what's the best way to get Zhen-ge'er out of this predicament?"

The old lady's smile faded, and she looked at Master She and Master Zheng below her, as well as Jia Lian who was listening in, and asked directly.

She does have a way: she can go directly to the palace and use her connections to resolve the problem.

However, favors lose their value with each use, so it's best to use them as little as possible.

Unfortunately, neither Master She, nor Master Zheng, nor Jia Lian had any experience in court politics, so they had no idea how to solve the problem.

All they could say was that "everything is up to the old lady," and that they couldn't let Jia Zhen suffer any misfortune.

Jia Zhen had already demonstrated his exceptional resourcefulness, and in a short period of time, he had already arranged for Jia Lian to become the official sixth-rank Taipusi Cheng (Assistant to the Court of Imperial Sacrifices).

In order to make amends, he didn't even ask Jia Lian to pay a single penny of the money spent on the activities.

To put it simply, from the moment he started assisting the second master in his political activities to resolving Jia Lian's actual official position issue, Jia Zhen's performance left the core members of the Rong Mansion speechless.

Putting aside his character, Jia Zhen was undoubtedly the most capable member of the core members of the Ning and Rong mansions at that time, without exception.

Who knows, Jia Zhen might play an even greater role in the future, so it would be terrible if he were to fall from grace now!

The old lady was naturally aware of this, otherwise she wouldn't have taken the opportunity to manipulate Jia Zhen!

It should be noted that Jia Zhen, as the clan head, although of a lower generation, did not blindly follow the Rong Mansion's orders. He had his own thoughts and ideas, as demonstrated when he acted on behalf of Master Zheng.

That time, Jia Zhen's efforts had already yielded results, but in the end, he sent two juniors, Jia Qiang and Jia Rong, to deliver the good news instead of personally delivering the message, which already speaks volumes.

No one is a fool, especially the old lady who wanted to control the Jia family in the capital; she knew this even better!

Chapter 83 Fighting Poison with Poison (Please add to your favorites)

The situation of the Jia family in the capital was actually similar to that of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in modern Europe.

The first two dukes of the Jia family were both heroes of their time, ruthless men who fought their way out of thousands of troops.

At that time, the Jia family in the capital was actually the family of two dukes. The two families were closely connected and discussed everything together. There was no question of who was in charge and who was subordinate.

When the generation with the character "Dai" took over the family, although Jia Daishan, the second-generation Duke of Rongfu, was more outstanding, Jia Daihua of Ningfu, the head of the main branch of the clan, was no pushover either.

While Rongguo Gong Jia Daishan was away fighting or guarding the frontier, Ningfu clan head Jia Daihua held the power of the Beijing garrison for a long time, serving as the so-called Beijing Garrison Commander.

When Jia Daihua grew old and his health deteriorated, Jia Daishan took over the job of the military governor of the capital garrison.

At that time, the Beijing Garrison could truly be considered the private property of the Jia family, as it had been firmly controlled by them since its inception.

This is one of the main reasons why Wang Ziteng was able to be promoted to the position of Military Governor of the Capital Garrison through normal channels despite having few military achievements.

However, this also nearly depleted the Jia family's years of investment in the Beijing Garrison.

It's no wonder the two Marquis Shi families were unhappy. If the Jia family had used some of their connections in the capital garrison on them, while they might not have become military governors of the capital garrison, they could certainly have been promoted to important generals within it.

Even if he were just a military officer in the 12th Regiment of the Beijing Garrison, his influence would be incomparable to what it is now.

At that time, the affairs of the Jia family were naturally discussed and decided by the two heads of the family, just like the first head of the family.

When the third generation of the Wen generation came along, the Ning family produced a genius named Jia Jing!

That was truly an extraordinary genius. In an era where scholars controlled the imperial examinations, he managed to carve out a path through the ranks and become a second-class Jinshi, causing a sensation throughout the entire military elite group.

To be honest, Lin Ruhai's third-place ranking in the imperial examination pales in comparison to Jia Jing's Jinshi degree.

It's no exaggeration to say that the Lin family, to which Lin Ruhai belonged, was a family with a long history of scholarship and was originally a scholarly family. They had simply become a noble family with literary merit.

However, the Jia family at that time had no academic background. Jia Jing relied entirely on his natural talent to pass the exam, which was extremely difficult.

It is said that Jia Jing was the most dazzling star among the sons of military meritors of that generation.

If he grows up smoothly, he will definitely become a leader-level bigwig in the Wuxun Group.

Compared to Jia Jing, Jia She and Jia Zheng of the Rong Mansion paled in comparison.

After Jia Jing took over the Ning Mansion and became the clan head, the clan power of the Jia family in the capital shifted towards the Ning Mansion for the first time. Even the brothers Jia She and Jia Zheng combined were not qualified to discuss matters with Jia Jing.

As for the old lady, although she had finally risen from daughter-in-law to mother-in-law and become the undisputed matriarch of the Rong family, the clan head, Jia Jing, showed her no respect and found it difficult to intervene in clan affairs.

Unfortunately, their good fortune didn't last long. The battle to depose the crown prince led to Jia Jing's downfall, and Jia She's future also became bleak.

Jia Zhen, who was not yet fully an adult, was forced into becoming the head of the Ning Mansion and also the head of the Jia family in the capital. Naturally, he felt very guilty in front of the old lady.

Jia Zhen was no pushover; his abilities were questionable, though far inferior to his father's. However, compared to the Second Master Zheng of the Rong Mansion, he was a true pragmatist.

After the initial period of adjustment and adaptation, he grew to dislike the old lady's interference in clan affairs, as if he and the Ning family had become appendages of the Rong family.

The old lady naturally wouldn't allow it. She had only recently enjoyed the wonderful taste of being flattered and fawned over by the entire clan, so how could she easily give it up? Don't even think about it.

This time, Jia Zhen was impeached and made a mess of things, so we can take advantage of him and make him completely obedient.

The old lady was very satisfied with the result, but it was a pity that her own children were not good enough.

When asked to come up with a good idea, they all remained silent, so the matter ultimately fell short of a satisfactory conclusion.

Jia Huan did not attend this family meeting, after all, he still had to maintain the face of the patriarch.

When Master Zheng returned to his study, he told him about it, in a private conversation.

As I said before, it's best for outsiders to know as little as possible about family affairs. This is also to save face for Jia Zhen, the clan head, and Master Zheng Er attaches great importance to this.

He wasn't asking Jia Huan for advice; he simply wanted to express his feelings and sighs.

This incident made him realize the unpredictability of court infighting, and to be honest, he felt a little uneasy.

It was clearly a fight between the Rong Mansion and Ma Yuan that dragged Jia Zhen of the Ning Mansion into it, almost killing him. How could anyone not feel a bit of regret?

Since the old lady had agreed, Master Zheng naturally thought the matter was over.

My own mother has that much ability.

Jia Huan couldn't help but chuckle and suggested, "Master, haven't all the elders and Brother Zhen fallen into a misunderstanding? This matter isn't difficult to resolve!"

"What do you mean by that?"

The Second Master Zheng was somewhat surprised and said irritably, "Don't speak recklessly if you're not sure!"

"Zhen-ge'er of the Ning family was almost frantic with worry!"

"Master is right to reprimand me; I was being reckless!"

Jia Huan stood up and pretended to listen to the teachings. After Master Zheng Er finished speaking, he then explained, "The reason why Brother Zhen was passive is because he has too many flaws, you can find them all!"

"But what if someone in the Ma Yuan family is in the same situation?"

Seeing the second master's surprised expression, he chuckled and said, "It just so happens that you had a conflict with Brother Zhen or Brother Rong again. You were fighting over a girl in front of everyone, or even got into a fight. What would others think?"

"A bird of a feather!"

The Second Master Zheng's expression changed slightly, and he couldn't help but let out a cold snort, his demeanor full of displeasure.

"That settles it!"