When she heard this word, Jia Mu's first reaction was the same as Wang Xifeng's: she was surprised.
But what happens next is very different.
Wang Xifeng looked incredulous and unbelievable:
"Isn't this nonsense? Our Jia family didn't rebel, so how could our house be ransacked?"
Jia Mu was thoughtful and said after a while:
"Lian Er, what you said is a bit harsh.
Our Jia family, the founding fathers of the People's Republic of China, has a family with two masters, and has been illustrious for nearly a hundred years.
Although your great-grandfather has always wanted to switch from martial arts to imperial examinations, his fate was not favorable. After several lifetimes, there was only one Jinshi, the Taiye Dongfu, and one Jinshi, the Confucian scholar in our family.
There are also two talented people, Zhu Er and Ronger.
However, there is no one who can enter the official position from the imperial examination.
Although I am old, I am not confused. In recent years, the Jia family has indeed not been as prosperous as before. The signs of desolation and decline have been revealed, and I am afraid even outsiders can see it.
But compared to ordinary official homes, the atmosphere is still different.
After all, there is an old saying: "A hundred-footed insect is dead but not stiff." A family like ours has a foundation after all. Even if the children and grandchildren of a family only want to be rich and honorable, they will gradually decline, but they have offended the royal family.
But it’s not that bad.”
Jia Mu is the daughter of the founding prince of the country, and she has been married to Duke Rong for decades. This family background and experience make her not only knowledgeable, but also cultivated.
Even when she saw Jia Lian at this time, she suspected that he was here to urge Jia Zheng and his wife to move out of Rongxi Hall. She also thought about Baoyu's future and felt a little uncomfortable.
But as the "ancestor" of a family of bells and whistles and a family of calligraphy and calligraphy, Jia Mu would never do anything inconsistent with her status.
.
Jia Lian has always believed that Jia Mu is not a confused person.
It's just that because the eldest son Jia She has been so unsatisfactory since he was a child, Jia's mother prefers the second son Jia Zheng more and more.
It is precisely because of preference that this "not confused" old lady has been "confused".
Since the second son Jia Zheng became the head of the family, the Rongguo Mansion, which seemed to be extremely well-behaved on the surface, has since fallen into a chaotic state of "disorder between elders and young ones" until today.
The eldest son and the second son were in chaos, and the master and slaves were also in chaos.
Among the masters, there was also Mrs. Wang and Wang Xifeng's aunt and nephew, who colluded to embezzle the public property of the Jia family.
If the upper beam is not straight and the lower beam is crooked, and the servants see their masters "stealing", of course they will "steal" more confidently.
Decades of chaos have accumulated, and it is difficult to recover. The old lady can’t control it even if she wants to.
Anyway, Jia Lian doesn't blame the old lady, even if it can be seen that she is very unhappy about her becoming the head of the family.
.
At this time, Jia Lian stood in front of Jia Mu, nodded politely and said:
"The old lady has come from the heyday, what else can't you understand?
In order for the Jia family to survive, why didn’t the old lady do a lot of things to prepare for a rainy day?
For example, when we married our fourth aunt to Uncle Lin, an ex-convict, and let our eldest brother Zhu marry the daughter of Li Ji’s restaurant in the Imperial Academy, weren’t they all so that our family could switch from martial arts to imperial examinations?
There is also an old lady who has always carefully educated our mother-in-law, and later sent her to the palace to be a female historian, all in order to continue the wealth of our Jia family.
For the Jia family, the old lady really sacrificed her youth and her whole life, and her whole life and her children and grandchildren."
Jia Mu looked at Jia Lian and said lightly:
"It's the Jia family's blessing that you can see this level."
.
As the ancestor of the Jia family, Jia Mu has no reason not to want the Jia family to get better.
Now that Jia Lian is indeed successful, Jia's mother should be happy.
But when she thought about her beloved son and grandson, and how they would depend on them in the future, Jia Mu felt indescribably uncomfortable.
It can be said that Jia Mu is using her own self-cultivation to deal with Jia Lian patiently.
Seeing Jia Mu like this, Jia Lian knew that he might not be able to persuade Jia Mu for a while, so he smiled and said:
"The worries in the old lady's heart are nothing more than the future of our children and grandchildren.
I have three major things to report to the old lady, all of which are related to the future of the descendants of the Jia family.
The first thing, of course, is to build a provincial residence..."
.
When Yuanyang walked into the room with tea, he heard Jia Lian's last words:
"...The empress rose from the palace at the beginning of the 15th day of the first lunar month next year, and returned home at the third quarter of the lunar month. If it is confirmed at this time, the old lady will naturally believe what I said.
The three things I just mentioned can’t wait until the day when my mother-in-law is planning to get married, and my grandson must do them now no matter what.”
After Jia Lian left the room, Jia Mu stared at his retreating figure through the thin bamboo curtain.
After a long while, Fang murmured:
"When the old man was on his deathbed, he took the old man's hand and said: 'A gentleman's glory will be cut off in five generations. If any of my descendants want to keep their wealth, they must have a wonderful man who can win the glory of heaven.
, only then can the family business be revitalized.'
Baoyu was born with a jade in his mouth, and he was the only one in the family who looked like his grandfather. I decided that he was the "wonderful man who won Tianze", and I wholeheartedly hoped that he could revive the family business.
Who would have thought that Lian Er would have such a good fortune? Could it be that I was mistaken?"
Yuanyang didn't dare to answer the question and just handed the tea to Jia Mu:
"Old lady, please take a rest, thinking too much is harmful to your health."
Jia Mu shook her head and smiled at herself:
"I have to take a rest.
This Lian Er has thirty-six tops and seventy-two rotating axes all over his body, and he can also do calculations.
No one in this house is his opponent."
.
Jia Lian left Jia Mu's yard and was thinking about sending someone to the Yamen to have a look at the interrogation, when he happened to meet Li Gui again.
Li Gui anxiously came to report to Jia Lian that Yu Lu, who was in charge of silver rice, had been drunk a few days ago and said that he had also received the "rice and oil money" from Dai Liang, the head of the government treasury.
The so-called "rice and oil money" means that every time Zhuangzi handed over half of the grain, the stewards would first take away half of it. In other words, for example, if Zhuangzi handed over 1,500 kilograms of fine white japonica rice, the stewards would first take away 500 kilograms of it.
Jin, and then put the remaining 1,000 Jin into storage.
However, the account book that is entered into the warehouse should be written as 750 jins, because the "loss" of 250 jins must be deducted first.
After the grain is stored in the warehouse, even if the Jia family does not eat a single bite, the "loss" will be reduced by 250 kilograms every three months.
In fact, all these "lost" grains were smuggled out and sold by Dai Liang.
In other words, 1,500 kilograms of fine white Japonica rice will disappear out of thin air in just nine months.
At this time, Dai Liang will report that "food is insufficient and needs to be purchased from outside", so Lai Da will go to Jia Zheng for approval, and then go to Wu Xindeng to report and verify the accounts.
As soon as Wu Xindeng came back, he made false accounts and handed the approved silver to Qian Hua, who was in charge of purchasing. Qian Hua bought some cheap rice at a high price to top up the amount. Among them, in addition to passing off inferior goods as good ones,
They also have to file false accounts.
.
Jia Lian gritted his teeth after hearing this:
People like this have been involved in a series of hookups for a long time.
If you want to catch them, you have to catch them one by one and uproot them.
As long as we catch them, we will definitely get a lot of money.