At the end of the sixth year of Longyuan, everyone in the Rongguo Mansion experienced firsthand what it means to be sad at the end of the year.

Because their finances were depleted, Mrs. Wang and Jia Zhengyuan hoped to use the old lady's money to support her own funeral, and use the remaining money to help their family make up for the shortfall.

Unexpectedly, Mrs.

As a result, on New Year's Day, no money could be spent everywhere, and even the monthly payment was stopped. The people below were complaining. If they were not concerned about the funeral at home, they would have followed the old example and kicked out the third girl. Stepped down.

This is enough to make people anxious, but then they meet the Supreme Emperor who dies suddenly and is ordered to remain inactive for seven to forty-nine days. Jia Zheng and others thought about it in private. Although the old lady is noble, she does not dare to be on the same level as the Supreme Emperor. , so the silence was shortened by fourteen days, and the funeral was scheduled to be held on the 21st of the first lunar month.

Of course, it was said that it was for mourning, but in fact it was sent to Tiekan Temple for temporary parking in case Jia Zheng could carry his spirit south in the future.

There is no taboo in doing this, but the time left for the Jia family to collect money for the funeral is also shortened a lot.

Just like this, it was the twelfth day of the first month of the seventh year of Longyuan. Seeing that if the financial crisis was not solved quickly, the old lady's coffin might not be able to be carried out, Mrs. Wang had to give in again, gritting her teeth and promised to divide the old lady's inheritance into 40-60 pieces. The eldest room gets six, and the second room gets four.

Unexpectedly, Mrs. Xing was still shaking her head like a rattle. After insisting on placing the order, just the discount on the main house was more than the inheritance left by the old lady. The gold-lettered signboard of the Imperial Rongguo Mansion was worth ten thousand yuan. Even if the long house was taken away, it would still be in the house. It's a loss-making business, let alone a 40-60 split?

Finally, a lion came and opened his mouth, saying that he wanted to split the account 28/20 out of consideration for his family's affection!

How can Mrs. Wang accept this?

Last year, when she was renovating the flower hall to improve the feng shui, the old lady spent a sum of money, so the remaining amount of money was greatly reduced, and only 40% was just enough to complete the funeral.

If only 20%...

Then wouldn’t the second house have to borrow money again to pay for the funeral?!

So they quarreled for a long time, and broke up on bad terms twice.

After seeing off the arrogant Xing family, Mrs. Wang couldn't suppress her anger even after drinking two cups of tea, so she asked Caiyun: "Where is the master? Didn't I ask you to invite me a long time ago?!"

Caiyun timidly replied: "The master said that everything is decided by the wife."

In fact, except for the first two times when Jia Zheng showed up, he has always used this excuse since then.

After all, who doesn’t know that Cun Zhougong is a man of integrity and good face. For the sake of face, he claimed to be ill and missed his promotion. For the sake of face, although he suspected that he was a cuckold, he never showed any signs of it in front of Jiao Shun.

Now let him quarrel with his sister-in-law every day during the mourning period over a trivial thing. Duke Zhou would never agree to it.

Mrs. Wang knew very well in her heart and had never counted on him, but she couldn't hold back her anger. After hearing Caiyun's "cliché", she couldn't help but burst into laughter: "Hide, hide, it's urgent." , he still only knows how to hide and relax! No, no matter what I say today, I will ask him to come up with a charter!"

After saying that, he angrily rushed to the Rongxi Hall in the front yard.

Unexpectedly, when they arrived at Rongxi Hall, Jia Zheng was nowhere to be seen. After calling Jia Zhen, he found out that Jia Yucun was here. Jia Zheng and Jia Lian were entertaining guests in the side hall.

After all, Mrs. Wang couldn't make trouble in front of outsiders, so she had to kneel in the mourning hall to store up her anger, preparing to have a showdown with Jia Zheng after sending Jia Yucun away - either Jia Zheng would be responsible for settling the Xing family, or he would find money elsewhere.

Come on, it's not over until this matter is resolved.

After waiting like this for about two quarters of an hour, she saw Jia Zheng coming in from the outside with a sullen face. Mrs. Wang was about to get up and ask him to go to a quiet place to talk. Suddenly she saw Jia Zheng taking two steps forward and finding him kneeling on the straw mat chanting sutras.

Jia Baoyu is a coward!

There was no warning from this kick, and Baoyu was knocked upside down into Jia Rong's arms. The corner of his mouth was twisted in pain and he rolled his eyes.

"Brother Bao!"

Jia Huan next to him exclaimed and rushed forward, seemingly to help Baoyu up, but in fact he pulled off the hat on his head, revealing scabies of varying lengths.

There was a chaos in the mourning hall, and everyone hurriedly stopped Jia Zheng.

Although she has been completely disappointed with Baoyu and has transferred her expectations to her grandson Jialan, after all, this is her biological flesh and blood.

So when she saw Baoyu stroking her sore chest and breaking out in cold sweat, Mrs. Wang couldn't help but feel angry in her heart. No longer caring about her face, she pointed at Jia Zheng's nose and asked, "Are you going crazy because of your loss, you old man?"

Why are you kicking him so well?! The old lady has a spirit in heaven. How can she be willing to obey you if she knows that you are treating her like a darling?!"

Jia Zheng snorted coldly, gritted his teeth and said, "You and I are going to die. Rather than being implicated by him, it's better for me to kill off my relatives as early as possible!"

Everyone was shocked when they heard this and asked what happened.

Jia Zheng shook his head and sighed a few times, but he did not explain to everyone. He pointed at Jia Lian and said, "Just ask Brother Lian."

With that said, he walked to Jia Mu's memorial tablet and knelt down.

Seeing this, everyone surrounded Jia Lian again. Jia Lian said helplessly with a bitter face: "Jia Yu came to the village just now. There are rumors about our queen being a hindrance to the Lord after the New Year, or arranging for her to interfere in the harem's affairs, fearing that Lu Wuzhi will do it."

Woe—these things have already spread outside, so our family is closed to the public, so we haven’t heard any news.”

After a pause, he smiled wryly and shook his head: "Even our queen was the first in line to leave the palace to visit the bride, which has become irrefutable evidence that she has the power to use public goods for private purposes."

Everyone was in an uproar after hearing this, and Mrs. Wang said angrily: "Who is talking nonsense?! The palace obviously wanted the eldest sister to see the old lady for the last time, so she was specially ranked first. How can I say it now?

Is she a coward and a master of power?!"

"Li'er is such a reasonable person, but we still need them to be reasonable."

Jia Lian spread his hands and said: "Not only the empress, but also Baoyu was implicated. It is said that it was because of him that His Majesty suffered a stroke. That is to say, the Emperor is kind-hearted and did not go into details."

At this point, he glanced sideways at Jia Baoyu, who had just regained his composure: "Who would have thought that Baoyu was not only ungrateful, but also became even worse? He dared not be dissatisfied with a hand-picked marriage, and openly called a man his dead wife to pay homage.

!”

Only then did everyone understand why Jia Zheng kicked Baoyu. To be honest, the kick he received was not unfair at all. It could be said that it was luck that the emperor suffered a stroke earlier, but what happened later was purely his own fault.

However, in front of Baoyu, everyone could not speak openly, so they all accused those who spread the rumors and believed them, and discussed how to refute the rumors.

After discussing together for a long time, Mrs. Wang suddenly discovered that Tanchun, who usually had the most ideas and was the most active, took Jia Lian and whispered a few words, then her face was as dark as water and she didn't say a word, so she nodded with some confusion:

"Third girl, tell me what to do about this matter?"

Everyone looked at Tanchun, with expectations in their eyes.

Although her reputation in the house has declined rapidly recently, it is entirely because a clever woman cannot make a living without rice, which is a crime other than war, and everyone still recognizes her talents.

When Tanchun saw everyone looking at him, he pursed his lips and said, "Madam, can you take a step to speak?"

Mrs. Wang knew that there must be something important for her and it was not convenient for her to say it in front of others. Otherwise, with her intelligence, she would not directly ask for a private meeting in public.

So he nodded hurriedly and said: "Then let's go to the side hall to talk."

Tanchun followed her forward silently for a few steps, then suddenly turned back to Baochai and said, "Second sister-in-law, please come too."

Although she still calls her "Sister Bao" in private, as long as she is in front of Mrs. Wang, she will change her name to "Second Sister-in-law".

Xue Baochai didn't expect that she would order his general, but after thinking about it for a long time in private, he realized that this was a matter of life and death, so he did not refuse and followed the two of them silently to the side hall.

This side hall is the one Jia Zheng used just now. When the three of them entered, the maids were still cleaning it.

Mrs. Wang waved her hand to signal them to leave, but Xue Baochai stopped her with her arms crossed, begged for tea and poured it for Mrs. Wang and Tan Chun.

When Mrs. Wang saw this, she secretly sighed. Bao Yatou was still polite even after such a commotion. She really was a good wife who was hard to find even under a lantern, but Bao Yu...

Alas~

She sighed secretly and put the matter behind her, and asked, "Third girl, can we talk now?"

Tanchun nodded solemnly and said in a deep voice: "I'm afraid my empress has offended someone this time, or blocked someone's good deeds. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been so cruel!"

"Ruthless hand?"

Mrs. Wang shuddered and hurriedly asked: "This matter has a great impact on your sister and Baoyu?"

“It’s more than a great influence!”

Tan Chun gritted his silver teeth and said word by word: "From what Brother Lian said, I came here just to have my wife buried with me!"

"Buried with me?!"

Mrs. Wang didn't react for a moment and said in shock: "How can you let your daughter-in-law be buried with your father-in-law?"

Tanchun didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "I mean you will be buried with the emperor in the future, where do you want to go?"

Mrs. Wang suddenly realized that, yes, although the Emperor was mourning at the moment, judging from the rumored condition of the Emperor, it was possible that the Emperor would die immediately before the Emperor was buried.

At that moment, she felt anxious. Not to mention that Concubine Xian De was the biggest pillar of the Rongguo Mansion at the moment. She couldn't just sit back and watch her daughter suffer a catastrophe just because of the mother-son connection.

So he quickly stopped Tanchun and asked, "What should we do?!"

After a pause, he said in a hateful voice: "Who is so cruel? He insists on killing your sister?!"

Tan Chun shook his head slightly and said helplessly: "Our family is too closed to news. Now that my daughter's eyes are darkened, what can she say?"

After a pause, he added: "Jia Yucun should have noticed this, otherwise I wouldn't be so angry - but judging from the look on my face, it's obvious that Jia Yucun didn't come up with any good ideas."

"Then what should we do? Can we just watch your sister and Baoyu being buried with the emperor?!"

"Madam, please be patient."

Tan Chun comforted Mrs. Wang, and then said: "For the current plan, I'm afraid I can only ask Brother Jiao for advice - he knows a lot about the situation in the palace, and usually..."

Before she could finish her words, Mrs. Wang had already stood up: "Yes, yes, yes, how could I have forgotten him? Someone is coming, someone is coming! Leave a message to Uncle Jiao quickly, so that he can do whatever he wants today.

I want to come too!"

After the servants had taken the order, Tanchun turned his attention to Xue Baochai, who said nothing, and said seriously: "Sister-in-law, this is a major matter related to the life and death of our family. As the saying goes, before going outside, you must first settle down at home. At this critical moment,

There can be no more branches."

After a pause, he stood up and walked out: "You talk to the madam, I will go to the eldest madam to discuss it first."

Mrs. Wang subconsciously stood up and watched her go out of the side hall, then turned to look at Xue Baochai, but for a moment she didn't know what to say to this nominal daughter-in-law.

But I heard Xue Baochai sigh slightly: "Madam, most of my dowry is shops and farms. It's too late to sell it now. How can I get 20,000 taels if I scrape together the cash? If it's not enough, I'll shamelessly get it from my parents' house."

Let me borrow some and send the old lady away safely."

Only then did Mrs. Wang understand why Tanchun called her here, and then she felt moved - she had actually always regarded the Xue family as the last source of information, but because Baoyu's actions were too hateful, she really couldn't open her mouth.

Now that a catastrophe is imminent, Baochai can offer to use the dowry to help the government tide over the difficulties. How can she not be touched by it?

So he held up Baochai's catkins with both hands, and after a while he choked up and said, "Good boy, good boy, it's all Baoyu who failed you."

Not to mention the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.

But that afternoon, more rumors about Concubine Xian De and Jia Baoyu, as well as comments and comments from the public, flooded into the Rongguo Mansion, and some of the rhetoric was closely related to Tan Chun's speculation.

Word spread like this, and soon everyone in the Rong Mansion knew that their mother-in-law was in big trouble. It was also said that the mother-in-law and Mr. Bao were buried with the emperor. The Rongguo Mansion was afraid that they would also be buried with them.

The people in the commotion were panicked and frightened.

Jia Lian, Jia Huan and others complained openly and secretly about Baoyu, hating him for causing trouble to the family and hurting themselves. Some of them complained about the psychic Baoyu, thinking that it was Baoyu who had lost the jade and that was why such a thing happened.

Jia Zhen and Jia Rong lied about something happening at home, leaving Jia Qiang to support the scene, and then fled back to Ningguo Mansion.

Jia Zheng was sitting on his knees in the mourning hall, his face visibly haggard, and he had the aura of lying flat on his face from beginning to end. Anyone who looked at him knew that he was useless and could not be counted on at all.

On the other hand, Jialan is still responsible, and he works together to come up with a countermeasure, but it is difficult to do it alone, and secondly, he is still young and has limited knowledge, so how can he come up with a solution in a hurry?

As for Jia Baoyu, who is at the center of the storm...

He was frightened at first, but then he saw that everyone looked at him differently, and listened to the gossip, and then he jumped up in a manic mood and wanted to pull out the psychic jade and beat it.

As a result, he found nothing in his pocket, and then he remembered that the psychic jade had been lost.

After a moment of silence, Baoyu suddenly made another move to hit the wall, shouting something like, "A good man does what a good man should do." As a result, he was stopped as expected, so he simply lay down on the straw mat in a physical sense, which fully proved that

He found out that he was indeed Jia Zheng's biological son.
Chapter completed!