Jia Ke could finally relax after dealing with these things.
During the period before the Chinese New Year, Jia Ke was really busy. In the past, most things were handled by the emperor, and he didn't think anything of it. Only when he took charge of the world did he realize how trivial these things were.
But you still have to do it, because no matter how small a matter is, it will pass through the gate of the Prime Minister's Yamen. Now, no matter how small it is, it is a big deal, such as how much firewood many northern cities need, and whether people starve to death in winter.
If a beggar dies of starvation, then who will collect the body and where it will be buried will all have to go through Jia Ke.
In addition to these things, the most important thing is the situation of military appeasement across the country. Jia Ke never lets others interfere in these matters, they are all under his own control.
In the twelfth lunar month, Jia Ke visited all the three major battalions and the Xiaoqi battalion near the capital, and sat with the soldiers below, eating and living together, in order to build up feelings.
On the 23rd of the first lunar month, it was finally possible to seal it. In the past, the seals were kept in the palace. This time, all the seals were stored in a secret room of Yan Guogong. There was nothing unusual about it outside, but inside the secret room.
There are dozens of soldiers guarding the road day and night.
After sealing, Jia Ke took Li Deshan back to the Duke of Yan's Mansion. As soon as he entered the lobby, he saw Qin Keqing and Shi Xiangyun, discussing how to celebrate the New Year this year.
After Shi Xiangyun came to the Duke of Yan State, Qin Keqing handed over some things to Shi Xiangyun, but because Shi Xiangyun was young, he only dealt with trivial matters.
Lan Xiang, who used to help Qin Keqing handle these matters, has been idle by Qin Keqing for some time. Jia Ke has never interfered with these things that Qin Keqing is responsible for. Even Lan Xiang complained several times in front of Jia Ke.
Jia Ke didn't even plead for her in front of Qin Keqing.
When Qin Keqing saw that Jia Ke was back, he quickly got up and led Xu Xiangyun to introduce Jia Ke into the lobby, then brushed the snow off his body. Shi Xiangyun had already served hot tea beside him.
Li Deshan stood respectfully at the gate, waiting for the summons from his masters.
Jia Ke took the tea and took a sip, then sat there and asked them, "How are you preparing for this year's New Year?"
Shi Xiangyun now stood obediently behind Jia Ke and kept beating his back.
Qin Keqing sat next to Jia Ke and said with a smile: "Everything is almost ready, and the New Year gifts from everywhere have been sent."
Jia Ke nodded, and then said: "How many New Year gifts have you received from officials from various places?"
Now Jia Ke not only wants to receive ice and carbon gifts, but also has something extra, to receive New Year's gifts from officials from various places.
Qin Keqing said with a smile: "There are more gifts this year than in previous years. There are about seven or eight hundred thousand taels."
Jia Ke calculated it silently, and then said, "Don't touch this money, just keep it in the warehouse. I have some use for it."
Qin Keqing nodded after listening, and then said: "Uncle, the annual gifts in the past few years have totaled 2 million taels, and if you keep them so much that you won't let them go, what's the use of you?"
Jia Ke glanced at Qin Keqing, then said with a smile as if nothing had happened: "What's the use? I just want to add more land to us, so that our children and grandchildren will have a place to eat in the future."
Qin Kexin smiled after hearing this and said nothing more.
At this time, Ruizhu, who was standing by and waiting, spoke, "Uncle, my wife sent someone this morning to ask about this year's filial piety, when will it be delivered?"
Shi Xiangyun was a little surprised when he heard this statement, "What is filial piety? What kind of statement is this? Why haven't I heard of it?"
Qin Keqing quickly explained to him with a smile: "In the past few years, it was more difficult for the neighboring mansion. At that time, your uncle had just become a marquis, and his life was better than that of the neighboring mansion, so he had to pay 50,000 yuan to the neighboring mansion every year.
Two pieces of silver, and it became a routine."
Shi Xiangyun was a little stunned after hearing this, "Fifty thousand taels of silver? How big a pile is that?"
Qin Keqing looked at her and said with a smile: "It's not much, just about a dozen boxes. I'm going to check the warehouse in a few days. If you follow me and take a look, you'll know how many there are."
Upon hearing this, Shi Xiangyun immediately said happily: "That's great, remember to call me when the time comes."
Seeing that pure smile, Jia Ke also had a smile on his face, then he grabbed Shi Xiangyun's tender little hand, patted it and said, "It's like I haven't seen you before. I'll go in with your grandma in a few days and bring you in."
After being locked up in a warehouse and sleeping with money for a day, you will never think about it again."
Shi Xiangyun said disapprovingly: "Even if I sleep with Yinzi every day, I won't mind it."
Her words made both Jia Ke and Qin Keqing laugh.
Qin Keqing laughed for a while, and then said: "It's going to be a bit difficult for the neighboring house this year, otherwise Girl Feng wouldn't have come here in such a hurry to ask for money."
"What do you mean by this? People in the neighboring mansion go to give gifts every day. Is it still short of these silver taels?"
After Qin Keqing heard this, his face became serious.
"Uncle, I don't know. The food and clothing costs in the neighboring mansion are now several levels higher than before. If it were just these, there would still be some surplus. But there are a few people over there who have worked hard to make them, and there's nothing you can do about it."
When Jia Ke heard this, he understood that the masters of the Jia family might have used money as dirt by now.
Among them, Jia She is the most exaggerated. He now has seventeen or eight famous concubines, not to mention those who are just hand-in-hand and have not yet been given official titles.
It costs a lot of money.
In addition, Jia She loves to play with antiques, and I don’t know if he was deceived or something. Every year, boxes of silver are moved out, and he gets back piles of scrap metal.
The other one is Jia Zheng. He doesn’t have any bad habits, but he has four or five Qingqing guests. These people accompany him to drink, chat, eat tea and enjoy flowers. The most important thing is that they often buy some antiques.
Appreciating paintings requires spending a lot of money.
In addition to these two grandfathers, the other young men below also followed the same example, and now each of them has their own problems.
Jia Ke sighed and said, "Fortunately, our family can still afford to support us now. Otherwise, even if we sell the house, we won't be able to support these people."
"Then the uncle means to send the money there?" Qin Keqing actually doesn't want to send any more money. In the past, Jia's family was in trouble, so they gave them fifty thousand taels of silver every year, but now they use Jia Ke's relationship to not only accept it
They have been courting each other, and they have even started to take on lawsuits and sell their positions and titles, but now they still don’t have enough money to spend. Who can bear this?
According to Qin Keqing's calculations, Rongguo Mansion now spends at least 1,340,000 taels of silver a year. This is the first of its kind in the capital, and even the princes and nobles are not so extravagant.
Jia Ke sighed, "What can I do? It's either my grandmother's or my father's. I can watch them starve."
Qin Keqing is also a little helpless. These relatives are still very close to Jia Ke, and they can't get rid of you even if they want to.
Jia Ke pondered for a moment and said: "This year, the gangsters at the infantry commander's office brought me about 100,000 taels of silver. I will send it to the library in a moment. You can take 100,000 taels of silver and send it to the side.
In the house, don’t let the people next to you say that our popular food and spicy food will make it hard for your parents to eat."
When Jiaco said this, he had to sigh again. There was no one in the Rongguo Mansion next to him who could support him, but he had the ability to do a little exercise on his own. They were also parents and officials of the same party.
Thinking of this, he remembered that he hadn't seen Jia Zhu for a long time.
"How is Brother Zhu doing lately? Why haven't I seen him recently?"
Before Qin Keqing could answer, Shi Xiangyun rushed to say, "I know, I know, Brother Zhu is not in good health right now. I went to see him a few days ago, and his face seemed to turn pale from illness."
Jia Ke was a little worried when he heard this, "What's the specific situation? Could it be that his disease has recurred?"
Qin Keqing shook his head and said: "We don't know the specifics. We just took a look and left. It seems that the madam was very covering up. I'm afraid no one in the house knows the specific situation."
Jia Ke felt helpless after hearing this. He judged that Jia Zhu's disease might have relapsed. In modern times, people said that as long as one smokes that thing, it will be difficult to quit smoking in the future, even if it is temporary.
I'm afraid it will continue to happen as time goes by.
While Jia Ke and the others were talking here, they didn't know that in a small courtyard in front of the Duke of Yan's mansion, Qin Zhong was there, in a dilemma.
What do you think? It turns out that Qin Zhong often hangs out with Jia Baoyu. Although Jia Ke and Qin Keqing guarded him closely, he couldn't stand it and he wanted to, so in the end Jia Ke and Qin Keqing just let it go.
As a result, something happened as soon as he and Jia Baoyu got close. It turned out that Jia Baoyu often went to Mantou Nunnery outside the city to fulfill his vows, so Qin Zhong naturally followed him. As a result, he had some unclear relations with a nun in Mantou Nunnery.
stand up.
If it's just like this, it doesn't matter. After all, if the news spreads about a young man looking for flowers and willows, people won't say anything too unpleasant. After all, this is much better than Long Yang's kindness.
But Qin Zhong was in trouble. The nun seemed to have a deep love for Qin Zhong. She actually got pregnant and asked Qin Zhong to marry her off.
This look scared Qin Zhong a lot. If Qin Zhong was a child of an ordinary family, marrying a nun would be nothing. But now Qin Zhong is Jia Ke’s brother-in-law, and there are many daughters of powerful families in the world.
The young lady is waiting to marry him, so she naturally has high standards.
How could Qin Zhong be willing to associate with this nun anymore, but he couldn't bear the nun's running to Rongguo Mansion every two days, which made Qin Zhong feel very uncomfortable, and he was afraid that Jia Ke and Qin Keqing would find out about this matter.
Among them, he originally wanted to discuss the matter with Jia Baoyu, but he didn't know that Jia Baoyu was a compassionate person and actually persuaded Qin Zhong to accept the nun.
This made Qin Zhong a little angry. This nun, Jia Baoyu, has also been involved in this. Who knows whether the child she is carrying is yours or mine, and now she is blaming all this on me.
So Qin Zhong became angry and wanted to handle the matter himself.
What he is waiting for is a gangster who specializes in helping people deal with these chores on the street. Now Qin Zhong really has not made up his mind whether he should let this gangster handle this matter. After all, people have feelings.
No matter what, this nun and I are still a couple.