Even a rich family cannot support so many people sucking blood, not to mention that the Jia family's public treasury has long been emptied by Jia's mother and Mrs. Wang.
After only a few months of construction, the Jia family has no money to continue. If they can no longer get the money, the Jia family will have no choice but to stop work.
Jia Mu asked with a headache: "Lian'er, can't you give me credit first and give me money later?"
Jia Lian is also in a dilemma. Nowadays, it doesn’t mean that you can buy whatever you want. You have to buy materials from designated places.
But the stewards there are not ordinary people at all, they are either father-in-law or relatives of the emperor.
Those father-in-laws are all subordinates of the eunuch in the palace, and one of them is Dai Quan's godson. This is a good opportunity to curry favor with Dai Quan. We usually don't find such a good opportunity. Can the Jia family not buy materials from him?
?
The other shops are also owned by the stewards of various princes, and even the concubines of the princes. Take the shop that buys rocks, the concubine of Prince Fu, who is the younger brother of the Supreme Emperor. The Jia family cannot afford to offend such a family.
"Old lady, I really can't offend them. If they say anything in front of the emperor, I'm afraid it will hurt the empress."
Everyone present knew that Xia Shouzhong, the eunuch in charge of the harem, often sent people to Jia's house to fight against the autumn wind, but they did not dare to offend him. Dai Quan was in front of the emperor, and his status was higher than Xia Shouzhong, so he was not someone who could be offended.
Jia Mu felt a headache, but Yuanyang came over and rubbed it for her, which made her feel better.
"Girl Feng, how long can the money at home last?"
Wang Xifeng immediately said: "I can probably last another month."
Mrs. Wang was anxious about the money she finally got, "Why is it spent so quickly?"
No one in the room except Jia Lian and his wife understood that according to the plan, it should not be spent so quickly.
Jia Lian and Wang Xifeng were very happy to be given the job of building a garden by the general manager at first, as they could make some money from it.
Before they started making money, Jia Mu sent Aunt Lai and Mrs. Wang sent from Zhou Rui's family, obviously to spy on the couple. In order to prevent Aunt Lai and Zhou Rui's family from being discovered, they spent a lot of effort.
I also made a lot less money.
But there is also a benefit, accounting issues can be easily dealt with.
"Madam, Grandma Lai and Zhou Rui's family remember every expense."
Mrs. Wang's face turned red and she said, "I didn't talk about the account books. I just want to know why the cost is so high."
Wang Xifeng counted on her fingers and said: "Including our house, several families are building gardens. The queen of the governor's family is also a noble concubine, and there is also Concubine Miao. Their family is from a wealthy family in the south of the Yangtze River. Our queen can't be lower than them, right?
.There is also a daughter of a salt merchant. She is just a noble person, and her standards are almost as good as ours. As long as we are a little bit different, the mother-in-law's provincial villa will really be the same as that of a noble person."
The person who cared most about Concubine Xiande's face was Mrs. Wang. She said directly: "Our empress is not above other concubines, but she certainly cannot be on the same level as nobles. If the emperor knows about it, he might convict our family."
Jia Zheng also said: "We cannot lose face to the emperor, and we must not be compared with the nobles of the salt merchants."
Her precious son has expressed his opinion, and Mother Jia will certainly not object. But she still has a question, why is there still such a big gap?
Wang Xifeng said helplessly: "Old lady, you can't buy good materials in the capital now. Once good materials come into the city, several families will gather around them, stumbling over their words, and the materials will be gone. Qian'er, a boatload has arrived.
The Taihu Stone, good guy, we almost got into a fight on the pier over this."
After all, the Jia family was born in Jinling, and Jia's mother knew a little about the exchanges between the north and the south. Businessmen from the south would never delay consumption in the capital.
"Why is it in such short supply? Just find someone to transport it from the south."
Jia Lian spoke up and said: "It's useless. Some time ago, the censor joined the Ministry of War and said that there were too many bandits on both sides of the canal, which affected the movement between the north and the south. For this reason, the Ministry of War carried out suppression of bandits on the canal, and there was no notice from the Yamen
, big ships have to be restricted. Those gentlemen in the Ministry of War are so shady, a note costs thousands of taels."
Jia's mother was unhappy. The Jia family had no acquaintances with other yamen, but they were familiar with the Ministry of War.
"Isn't there no one to care about them like this? I'm going to ask the Minister of War if he can explain to the emperor that he has delayed the queen's wedding."
This frightened Jia Lian, and he hurriedly said: "Old ancestor, you can't go."
"Why can't I go? I still have some face with my old face in the Ministry of War. Even if they don't give me face, they must give Mr. Wang some face."
Lord Wang, I am talking about Wang Ziteng, the highest-ranking official among the in-laws of the Jia family.
Jia Lian said with a bitter face: "Old ancestor, we really can't go. The Ministry of War wants to suppress the bandits, and the Ministry of Household Affairs has no money. If you cause trouble, the emperor will have to pay off the debt."
The emperor raised this issue when he was a prince, but was suppressed by the overlord. He did not mention it after he ascended the throne, but this does not mean that the emperor does not care about it.
One of the reasons why there are so many people from aristocratic families in the capital opposing the emperor is the household debt.
Mother Jia didn't dare to say anything. The Jia family couldn't bear the pressure of a wealthy family in the capital. But if she bowed her head like this in front of her juniors, she would lose face.
Yuanyang spoke for Jia Mu and said, "The old lady didn't have a good rest last night. Otherwise, sir, sir, madam, you guys will come back later."
Jia She, Jia Lian and others were eager to leave as soon as possible. What if Jia Mu asked them to raise money? They were very happy to have the empress in the family, and they also expected the empress to give the family titles and titles. However, they could not throw away all their wealth for the sake of the empress.
go in.
Since the Jia family had a mother-in-law, they have not reaped any benefits at all, but the treatment of the big house has dropped a lot. The servants in the house are all around Jia Zheng, so it is strange that Jia She is happy.
Everyone else can hide from collecting money, but Mrs. Wang cannot hide from it. If she hides, can she expect others to really worry about Jia Yuanchun?
At present, there are only three people in the house who can spend so much money, Jia Mu, Jia She and herself. Mrs. Wang’s money is all reserved for Jia Baoyu, and of course she is not willing to take it out. Then the other two can only
I paid personally.
Mrs. Wang returned to Jia Mu again and said, "Old lady, you still need to worry about the provincial villa. Can you think of a solution from your uncle?"
Mother Jia frowned and looked at Mrs. Wang, feeling quite unhappy. Is it so easy to get money from Jia She?
"Don't even think about She'er. If push comes to shove, he'll start a fuss directly, where will the empress's face go?"
Mrs. Wang was also shocked and did not dare to say anything.
Jia Mu thought about it for a while and said: "At present, the only way is to borrow money from relatives."
Where else can I borrow money?
Mrs. Wang thought that Mrs. Jia had some clever tricks up her sleeve and looked at her expectantly.
But Jia Mu said: "I know you don't like Yu'er, but looking at it now, only son-in-law Lin can help our family. Yu'er is the only child left in the Lin family, so don't argue with her."
Mrs. Wang didn't wait for Jia Mu to finish her words, but rushed to say: "The empress is planning to find a good one for Baoyu."
Jia's mother asked: "If the villa for the mother-in-law becomes a joke, can we still find a good one for Baoyu? The only solution now is to wrong Baoyu. If you are not willing, you can find a way to get the money yourself."
