Chapter 441: The capable man seizes the honor among the turtles
"Congratulations to the old lady!"
Jia Lian came into the room with a smile.
"The important matter of the queen's marriage has been solved."
Looking at the high-spirited Jia Lian, Mother Jia seemed to see Jia Daishan who had returned from a victorious battle.
.
Among Jia Mu's children and grandchildren, only Baoyu's body shape, speech and behavior are somewhat similar to his grandfather's, but he only has his form, but not his spirit.
When I think of the supreme glory of the Jia family when Jia Daishan was alive, and then look at the Jia family today, a summons from the palace makes everyone in the Jia family nervous and scared all day long.
Jia's mother could only keep comforting herself: Baoyu is the "auspicious" person who was born with jade in his mouth. Baoyu was born most like his grandfather, so Baoyu must be the lucky star of the Jia family. Baoyu will definitely be successful when he grows up. Baoyu must be able to revitalize Jia.
The "auspicious little lucky star" of the family...
Until then.
Mother Jia saw on Jia Lian's face a look that had never been seen on the faces of the descendants of the Jia family for many years.
On Jia Lian's face, there are four words "satisfied and ambitious" written on it.
Jia Lian's eyes were shining with the light of "hope".
Jia Mu finally understood that the person who revitalized the Jia family was not Baoyu who was born with a jade in his mouth, but Jia Lian.
.
Jia Mu was a calm person and asked Jia Lian with a smile:
"It seems that Lai Da embezzled a lot of money and confiscated it all?"
Jia Lian held a list in both hands:
"The cash confiscated from Lai's house was 462,436 taels, and the banknotes were 984,300 taels."
"Ah?"
Just these two numbers, Jia Mu, who has always been as stable as a mountain, was so shocked that her face suddenly changed. To describe it as "thrilling" is not an exaggeration.
She knew that the Lai family was a wealthy family, but she never imagined that the Lai family could have such a huge amount of property.
Starting from Aunt Lai, the Lai family has served the Jia family for decades. They are indeed respectful to the Jia family and seem to work hard. Therefore, twenty-eight years ago, it was Jia's mother who promoted Lai Da to be the housekeeper of the Rongguo Mansion.
Idea.
As the steward of the Rongguo Mansion, Lai Da's monthly salary is ten taels of silver.
This is quite a large amount.
You know, the old lady in the Jia family's monthly income is only twenty taels of silver, while Lai Da's monthly income is already half of the old lady's.
And Wang Xifeng, who works hard every day, only earns five taels of silver a month, less than half of Lai Da!
Lai Da's monthly payment for one month is already more than half a year's expenses for a middle-class family. It is a decently high income that can survive droughts and floods.
In addition, the Jia family also has a well-known old custom, that is, no matter what the expenditure is, as long as the master has a full share, the housekeeper and servants can get half of it for free.
Therefore, every year, whether it is the land rent on the village, the income from the shop, or even the money for pen and ink that Jia Huan went out to study, or the money for the lady's maid's makeup, the housekeeper and the servants can take half of it for nothing.
In this way, they got a lot of money for nothing. They still think that "a man will not be rich without windfall, and a horse will not be fat without night grass." Everyone has their own hidden tricks, but the master of the Jia family has always turned a blind eye - forget it.
Okay, people are a little greedy, that's normal, let him go, why make such a fuss? It seems like we are arguing with the servants over a few coins, how embarrassing it is.
But even the Jia family is generous, and even the Lai family are all good at saving money. Everyone in the family wears money on their ribs and lives without spending a penny. Over the past few decades, Jia's mother has only
I thought the Lai family could save tens of thousands of taels.
This is already a rich man.
But who would have thought that it was only over ten thousand taels? Bah! The Lai family’s is more than 1.4 million taels!
.
Jia Mu's hands are shaking a little.
But Jia Lian's next words made Jia Mu's hands tremble completely:
"In addition, there are eighteen large boxes of gold and silver, estimated to be worth at least seven to eight hundred thousand taels.
In addition, there is a small secret vault in the wall between the two-story brick and stone bank in his house, and there is a box of things in it."
Two strong young men used poles to carry in a black iron box, with three large elephant-trunk locks hanging on it.
Jia Lian took out three keys, opened the lock and opened the box himself.
Mother Jia couldn't help but say "Oh!" and covered her heart with both hands.
The box was packed so full that the bottom could not be seen. Just putting it on the top layer was enough to scare Mother Jia.
The four pairs of ivory inlaid with gold chopsticks, the two jade-inlaid gold pots, and the large emerald lotus leaf plate were all used by the Jia family for banquets with distinguished guests. There were also double carp gold plates and lotus gold bowls.
How come the specially made gold utensils used to prepare meals when picking up the driver were stolen by the Lai family?
What made Jia Mu even more dizzy was the multi-treasure red gold dragon and phoenix necklace, red gold flat hairpin and other items, which were all included in her dowry!
Logically speaking, they should all be stored in Jia Mu's own warehouse in the back building. How could Jia Lian search it out from some secret warehouse behind the wall of Lai's house?
This makes sense!
This is awesome!
Mother Jia's body began to sway with trembling hands. Fortunately, Yuanyang had quick eyesight and quick hands, so she quickly stepped forward to hold her and whispered:
"Old lady, please take care of yourself!"
Jia Mu grabbed Yuanyang's hand and tried to calm down:
"Of course I have to take care of myself. It's not worth getting so angry over this bitch slave."
Jia Lian was also afraid that he would make the old lady angry, so he hurried forward and helped Jia Mu:
"Old lady, although moths are hateful, we still have to look for the better.
It’s a good thing that we finally caught the borer before it completely bore the tree.”
Jia Mu also held Jia Lian's hand with her other hand:
"You did well."
Jia Lian felt that Jia Mu's hands were no longer trembling, so he tentatively asked:
"Mama Lai has to come to see the old lady no matter what. Does the old lady want to see her?"
Jia Mu thought for a while, smiled bitterly and nodded:
"I want to see what kind of face she has to see me."
.
Aunt Lai was tied into a rice dumpling, her mouth was gagged, and she was brought in in a box.
At this time, a mother-in-law untied the rope for her and pulled out the rag from her mouth. Aunt Lai immediately climbed to Jia Mu's feet and kowtowed:
"This slave is so confused and blinded that he only wants to leave more money for his children and grandchildren, so he does such greedy things. My son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren were all forced by me to do such bad things. The old lady is the worst.
Benevolence, saving one life is better than building a seven-level pagoda. The old lady spared the slave's dog's life, adding blessings and longevity, living a hundred years and becoming rich..."
.
Looking at Aunt Lai, Jia Mu said nothing.
The blow Jia Mu suffered was not only the things stolen by the Lai family, but also what made Jia Mu almost collapse was the blow to the self-confidence she had accumulated over the years.
She thought she had read countless people and had insight into the world, but now, she deeply doubted her own vision of people.
First, between his own grandson Jia Lian and Baoyu, he regarded Baoyu as a stubborn stone, and then regarded the stubborn stone as Baoyu.
Now, it has been proven that he was wrong about the Lai family, who has been given countless honors and favors by Jia Mu, and is most favored by the Jia family.
It was the Jia family that made Grandma Lai's family more respectable than the young master. It was the Jia family that made the Lai family's slave call a rich man. It was Jia's mother who also made the Lai family's grandson renounce his slave status and asked Jia Zheng to donate money to him.
She became a county magistrate, and as a result, the Lai family repaid her like this!
When Grandma Lai saw that Jia Mu was silent, she kowtowed even harder, and there was already blood on her forehead:
"Old lady, please be merciful! The fault is all on me. I am willing to die to apologize, so please spare my children and grandchildren! The old lady also has children and grandchildren..."
Jia Mu was silent for a long time, and finally sighed:
"Lian Er, I'm old and can't take care of so much anymore. Now that you are the head of the Rongguo Mansion, you have full authority to handle it. Don't let them dirty the floor in my house."
.
When Grandma Lai heard the words "dirty the floor in my house", a strange smile curled up at the corner of her mouth.