The destiny of all heavens begins in the Red Chamber

The project progress bar in the "Golden Finger" app only represents the effect, not the result.

For example, even if the progress bar for breathing exercises is less than one percent, it has already become a habit, the exercise effect is always there, and the body slowly becomes stronger.

This process has been ongoing for over a year, and now his physical condition is comparable to that of a normal twelve-year-old boy!

Even if the progress bar reaches 100%, it only means that with each breath, the body will achieve the best training effect, not that you will become a superman.

Actually, being able to figure out a few tenths of a percent of the progress is already quite good.

If those Taoist masters knew about this, they would probably fight tooth and nail to get it!

Jia Huan's current physical attributes, whether in terms of strength, speed, agility, or flexibility, are no worse than those of a twelve-year-old boy who has been practicing martial arts since childhood.

With the running progress bar still at 85%, its running speed on complex terrain is more agile and faster than that of an average adult.

At this point, his running form had reached the level of a master!

Whether it's running posture, stability, or balance, it's all quite impressive.

Although he hadn't actually tested it, he was very confident that his speed running through the mountains and forests would be absolutely astonishing.

He ran as fast as lightning by the secluded pond near the Rong residence. The small pebbles on the road and the large rocks on the side could not slow him down at all.

Overjoyed, he casually tossed his hand, and five or six small pebbles scattered like flowers from a fairy maiden, randomly landing in various places.

Only when he had a clear understanding of the situation could every pebble he scattered accurately hit its target.

This was done just in case the servants and maids who suddenly appeared noticed something amiss.

There's no doubt about the high quality of the maids in the Rong Mansion; they were also quite intelligent.

When Jia Huan was in the mansion, he never touched a book.

He was either wandering around like a night owl or playing with Cong-ge from the eldest son's family.

The purpose was simple: to avoid Madam Wang's attention, he was summoned to the main room to copy Buddhist scriptures!

All I can say is that Madam Wang's methods are chilling to think about.

Although no one was directly hit, it's easy to imagine what would happen if a child were exposed to Buddhist scriptures too much. It could easily corrupt their character and make them yearn for Buddhism.

Rather than doing that, it's better to act a little mischievous and avoid reading the Four Books and Five Classics.

In this way, Madam Wang would certainly be happy to see it and would not deliberately take action against her.

In comparison, Cong Ge'er's situation is much better.

Unless someone is exceptionally gifted, Jia Lian, who is already an adult and married, would not have any reservations.

Perhaps they are eager for Cong-ge to grow up quickly and become capable, so that he can help share the burden.

Jia Lian is really exhausted; he's become incredibly thin lately.

This is no joke; just think about how many things he has to do, and you'll understand why.

As the Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Stud, he was doing the work of the Junior Minister of the Court of Imperial Stud. This was because the Second Master Zheng was a clay idol with virtually no practical ability.

Horse raising is not only a technical job, it's also physically demanding!

Right now, I can only say that I've just gotten the hang of it. After I've fully adapted, I'll still have to run to different horse farms from time to time to check on the specific situation and make sure that the people below me don't get away with anything too easily.

After all, the imperial court attached great importance to the horse administration, and if anything went wrong, Jia Lian would be in deep trouble.

In addition, as the only capable adult male in the Rong family who could be considered competent, he also had to run around running errands for the family.

For example, when Jia Zhen had this accident, the old lady called on him first, asking Jia Lian, who had just finished his official duties and was resting, to take people to the Ning Mansion next door to keep order and stabilize the situation.

At the same time, he also had to travel among various noble families to discuss how to resolve the matter of Jia Zhen's paralysis after being attacked, which was a very troublesome and mentally taxing task.

But once the old lady gave the order, he had no choice but to get busy, even if he didn't want to.

It is said that Wang Xifeng was quite dissatisfied with this, but there was nothing she could do about it.

At this point, if Cong-ge'er could step up, Jia Lian and Wang Xifeng would probably be eager to help him up and share some of the complicated tasks.

Furthermore, Madam Xing had no sons and was only interested in money, so she had no interest in Cong-ge'er, who was nominally her illegitimate son.

That's why Cong-ge'er was able to openly practice boxing and martial arts by the secluded pond in the mansion.

If it were Jia Huan, Lady Wang would probably be the first to object!

That's just how the environment is. Given our own limitations, we can only try to avoid putting ourselves in a passive or dangerous situation.

So far, he's doing fairly well; at least he hasn't been asked by Madam Wang to copy Buddhist scriptures.

Life in the manor was uneventful and dull.

Even going to find Xue Pan is not a feasible option.

Jia Huan realized that the second wife, Madam Wang, was keeping a close eye on the Xue family.

Only members of the Xue family and Jia Baoyu were allowed to have contact; everyone else in the mansion was kept on high alert.

Realizing this, Jia Huan had no intention of causing trouble for himself and had no intention of contacting Xue Pan. He figured it wouldn't be too late to make contact with him outside once things calmed down.

Little did he know that Xue Pan really wanted to get to know him.

Xue Pan had obtained a lot of useful information from outside and wanted to inform Jia Huan as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, he couldn't freely enter the Rong family's backyard, so he could only anxiously wait outside.

Even a fool would know that the situation is not good.

For two consecutive days, all the people in the capital could clearly see the flames filling the sky, and there were also shocking explosions coming from time to time. Anyone with even a little bit of information knew what had happened.

Upon hearing the news, everyone, from high-ranking officials to ordinary merchants and commoners, gasped in shock and their expressions turned extremely grave.

No one expected that the thieves would be so rampant!

In just two days, eight of the thirteen official granaries supplying the capital were destroyed by violent explosions and raging flames.

What an astonishing feat!

The key point is that the imperial court has not released any information to this day, and the people of the capital have no idea who is behind such a great feat.

Faced with such a shocking scene, the fact that Jia Zhen, the head of the Ning Mansion, was seriously injured in the attack at Chunfeng Tower was nothing. Apart from the Jia family in the capital being furious, everyone else's attention was focused on the imperial court.

The rumors circulating in the streets are getting more and more outrageous, yet some people actually believe them!

In just a few days, the prices of grain, cloth, and other daily necessities in the capital city rose by 30% to 50%, and in some cases, they doubled.

This situation has seriously affected the daily lives of ordinary people.

Even the Rong family, who were used to playing in their own little world, felt the pressure from the outside world.

Wang Xifeng, who was in charge of the household affairs, was particularly worried lately.

For no other reason than the government's spending on external procurement has ballooned three to four times at an alarming rate.

Although she knew there was a problem, she didn't have enough reliable people at her disposal, and her understanding of the situation outside wasn't timely enough, so she could only suppress her anger and accept it.

Then, while she was reconciling accounts with Jia Huan, she inadvertently discovered the price list of daily necessities in Beijing that Jia Huan had in his hand. After reading it, she was so angry that she almost flew into a rage.

Wang Xifeng was dismayed to discover that, compared with this list of material prices, the procurement prices reported by the mansion had generally increased by two to three times, which was simply outrageous.

Cough cough, Jia Huan definitely didn't do it on purpose, and he had no intention of sorting out the Rong Mansion's internal affairs.

He and Wang Xifeng partnered to run an embroidery business for the maids and wives in the mansion, earning between twenty and thirty taels of silver each month, which was a stable income.

This was done openly; both the old lady and the second wife, Madam Wang, knew about it.

However, they didn't care much about such a small amount of hard-earned money.

Madam Wang has always presented a kind and gentle image. She would never do something as foolish as forcibly taking money from her illegitimate son just because of a monthly allowance of twenty-odd taels of silver. Would she have no shame at all?

Putting aside everything else, the value of the items reported as damaged in Jia Baoyu's room every month ranged from over fifty taels of silver to over a hundred taels. Did Lady Wang ever frown at that?

The reason Aunt Zhao carried the price list was that she wanted to find out the specific prices of daily necessities outside.

She was so angry about the ever-increasing prices of side dishes in the main kitchen that she frequently cursed and swore.

A bowl of steamed egg custard was already quite expensive at 100 coins, but now it has jumped to 200 coins!

Judging from this trend, there are signs that prices will continue to rise.

Aunt Zhao couldn't take it anymore. She didn't want all the money she had accumulated over the years to end up benefiting the servants in the main kitchen. Just thinking about it made her furious.

Jia Huan was speechless. He never expected that the servants in the manor would become so arrogant!

Even Aunt Zhao couldn't stand it anymore, let alone the other maids and servants. They could only eat the rations from the main kitchen and dared not order any other stir-fries anymore.

Cong-ge'er was also one of the victims. Listening to this kid complain, the meals he ate from the kitchen every day were cold. If it weren't for the hot weather, he really wouldn't dare to eat them.

Only the three sisters and Lin Daiyu were lucky enough to eat with the old lady almost every meal, without having to worry about extra food expenses.

The old lady, the second wife, and Wang Xifeng's head maid were equally fortunate.

The leftovers that the women ate were all consumed by these head maids.

Sometimes, Jia Huan felt a little envious.

It wasn't that he was greedy, but rather that the food at Dream of the Red Chamber was quite famous.

Judging by the old lady's dietary standards, a single meal would consist of at least thirty exquisite dishes.

Most of the dishes were never even touched, and ended up being enjoyed by the head and second-class maids of Rongqing Hall.

Not to mention, the rice that the old lady eats is made from imperial rice.