Red Mansion Royal Cat

Chapter 532: The legacy of the Wei and Jin Dynasties? Prime Minister Cao’s friendship?

Within a few months, the Ningrong Jia family held several wedding banquets in a row. Not only were the Jia family members exhausted, but even the family's relatives and old friends were drunk.

Most of the people who interacted with the Jia family were military generals. When these animals started drinking, they would often use large wine jars to count. Even those who loved drinking would have to kneel down.
Originally, they thought that they could take a break except for Jia Cong's wedding on June 6. But no one expected that before Jia Cong's wedding wine was even served, Rongguo Mansion actually sent another extremely special invitation.

This shameless old man, Marquis Jia En, actually wants to hold a banquet to take in a concubine?

"Dad, what's the matter with you?"

Jia Cong was almost shocked by Master She's actions. Ever since he showed his specialness at the age of four, Master She, who used to play with women all the time, basically bid farewell to his dissolute life of wine and women.

Even his concubines, some were married off to good families, and some were sent to farms outside the city so that they could live the rest of their lives without worries about food and clothing.

Now suddenly there were invitations being sent all over the capital saying that a concubine banquet was going to be held. Jia Cong really couldn't understand what the purpose of this was.
"Ah."

Master She lay leisurely in the rocking chair, enjoying the coolness of the evening, and it took him a long time to respond with a "hmm".

Jia Cong couldn't get an answer from Master She, so he turned his attention to the personal soldiers who had been following him.

"Uncle Qi, what is my father going to do? Don't tell me that my father is a man of few years and is thinking about playing with girls again..."

Snapped!
"Children, don't ask questions about adult matters. Send out all the posts and get out of here right away. Worry about your marriage. If you wrong your niece, be careful or I'll whip you!"

Jia Cong received a slap on the head, and Master She withdrew his hand and went back to taking a nap to enjoy his leisure time.

The same thing happened to Jia Jiu who was standing next to him. He lay down on the rocking chair, smiled at Jia Cong, shook his head and said nothing.

The two riddlers made Ren Jiacong feel like there was a nest of cats living in his heart, making him feel very uncomfortable.

Unfortunately, he didn't get any useful information from the two before leaving. He could only pick up another stack of gold-stamped invitations and take his men out to distribute them all over the capital.

On the last day of May, Rongguo Mansion was once again decorated with lights and filled with guests.

Even though it was just a weird concubine-taking banquet, there were at least a hundred guests who came with gifts to congratulate.

To be honest, Jia Cong could clearly tell from the words and expressions of the previous guests that the people who came today were mostly there to watch the fun.

Who would hold a concubine banquet?

Hey, come on, when did Marquis Jiaen pass by these years?

"Oh, the brothers are all here. That's great, San'er, go to Ziling Garden and ask Aunt Zheng to come out so the brothers can meet her!"

what?
What is this operation?
Not to mention Jia Cong, all the guests who were originally chatting and laughing with Master She suddenly froze and almost choked to death on their saliva.

What decent person would allow his concubine to show up in public and meet a man outside his family?
"Enhou, we're just going to disappear here...right?"

Old Thirteen's "persuasion" clearly expressed his desire to watch the fun. Although he said he would not see it, he kept winking at Jia Cong: Go quickly, I want to watch the fun!
Under the urging of Master She, Jia Cong had to call two servants, Jixiang and Ruyi, to go to Zilingyuan, which was adjacent to the east wing.

"What is the origin of that Aunt Zheng? Have you ever seen her?"

The two maids kept shaking their heads, and Jixiang added, "Master, Aunt Zheng was brought in from the back door early this morning, but I heard from others that Aunt Zheng seemed to be from a wealthy family, and she was a... widow before!"

"widow?"

Jia Cong couldn't help but stop in his tracks. Is his father...awakening to the legacy of the Wei and Jin dynasties and becoming friends with Prime Minister Cao?

It doesn't make sense. Just based on the title of Duke Rong and the handsome looks of Master She, as long as he opens his mouth to take a concubine, even a beautiful girl from a good family can be lined up from Andingmen to Zhengyangmen.

Could it be that this Aunt Zheng is a fairy from heaven?

Or was it a reincarnation of a fox spirit who had bewitched Master She?

crunch~
Before Jia Cong could come to his senses, the gate of Zilingyuan was opened from the inside.

A little lady in plain clothes with only a silver hairpin in her hair came out with a little maid.

"I pay my respects to the Third Master. Would the Master like to send me over?"

uh~
How should I put it? This concubine Zheng's appearance is indeed remarkable. The first impression she gives is that she is not as enchanting and charming as the concubines in the family. Instead, she has a scholarly air.

If we were to ask which concubine in the two rooms of Rongguo Mansion has the best appearance, it would definitely be Tanchun and Jia Huan's mother.

In the entire Rongguo Mansion, the appearance of Aunt Zheng is only slightly better than that of Aunt Zhou of Master Zheng. After all, Aunt Zhou is older.

"Third Master? Third Master?"

Aunt Zheng called out twice before waking Jia Cong from his confusion.

However, Aunt Zheng remained respectful and gentle, and reminded him, "I dare not keep you waiting for long, Master. Please lead the way for me, Master."

Jia Cong frowned and said, "Madam Zheng, why don't you change into brightly colored clothes? Today is a happy occasion anyway. If you wear such plain clothes, people will think that my family is so poor that we don't even have the money to buy new clothes for you."

Since it is a wedding banquet, even if it is for Master She to take a concubine, it still has to be decent. This is the rule.

But Aunt Zheng shook her head: "Please forgive me, Third Master. I am still in mourning..."

……

When Aunt Zheng, dressed in plain clothes and hairpins, walked into the main hall, the entire hall was almost silent.

Only Aunt Zheng knelt down and bowed to Master She openly, saying, "I pay my respects to you, Master~"

The voice was gentle and calm, without any fear or hesitation.

"I, Zheng, greet you all."

Everyone in the room was very puzzled by Aunt Zheng's dress. What kind of concubine would dress like this? Which concubine didn't dress in fancy clothes and try their best to please the master.

Dressed like he's in mourning, Marquis Jia En actually likes this!
Everyone's surprised and amused looks made Master She feel uncomfortable. He waved his hand and said to Aunt Zheng, "Get up. I'll let my brothers meet you and get to know you. Then go and offer tea to the mistress. From today on, you are my concubine. From now on, if anyone dares to embarrass you when you go out, just let Lao Qi and his men go to your house to fight..."

Ok?
Jia Cong sensed something strange in what Master She said, and Old Thirteen and others beside him had similar expressions.

This old fellow Jia Enhou has something else to say!
Upon hearing this, Aunt Zheng responded, knelt down and bowed to the guests again, then left the main hall accompanied by her maid.

The Thirteenth Elder was the first to be unable to hold back his doubts: "Lord En, you actually let your concubine go out? What business does a concubine have to go out to do?"

Everyone on the side nodded in agreement, confused by Master She's bizarre actions.

But Master She said leisurely: "Brothers, do you remember that I beat someone up a few days ago?"

Beat someone up?

"What about Li Jingwei? Didn't you say that he was trying to snatch a woman from you in Lichunyuan? Oh, I see. It wasn't just to snatch this Zheng, was it? There's no reason. Although this Zheng is pretty, she shouldn't be someone that you, Master She, would personally go out and snatch from her."

As one of the only two super-dandy old men in Beijing, Old Thirteen naturally knew all the gossips in the brothels.

Duke Rong and the son of a wealthy merchant had a huge fight over a woman in Lichunyuan, beating the son beyond recognition. This caused the censors to impeach the Duke, which angered the emperor, who fined him a year's salary.

If this happened to someone else, they might feel embarrassed and lose face, but for Master She, it was a basic operation and nothing new at all.

But if such a fuss were made over a woman of ordinary appearance, it would really be a new thing.

Everyone was even more confused, but Master She shook his head and said, "Yes and no, he is not trying to steal my woman, I am trying to steal his woman. And it's not for the woman from Lichunyuan. I, Marquis Jia En, would not be so shameful to fight for a brothel girl. Zheng was snatched back from the Li family's backyard by me!"

hiss!
He robbed a woman in someone's backyard, which is more exciting than robbing someone in a brothel!
Everyone became more interested and urged Master She to continue.

"This story all started when my eldest daughter gave birth to a child..."

It turns out that Li Jingwei is not just a wealthy businessman. He is a relative of the Liu family of the Duke of Liguo's Mansion and a distant relative of Liu Xianglian.

The Taizhou Li family is a large family in Zhejiang.

Not only did several people in the clan hold official positions, but they also ran silk, brocade and tea businesses.

In the past, he went out to sea secretly and made a lot of money by smuggling. He also became a relative of Liu Fang, the first-class son of the former Duke of Liguo's Mansion, and expanded his family business to the capital.

After Liu Fang's downfall, in order to maintain relations in Beijing, Li Jingwei, the eldest son of the Li family, went to Beijing in person, wanting to renew his "old relationship" with Liu Xianglian. Unexpectedly, what Liu Xianglian disliked most was Liu Fang's group.

Not only did he reject Li Jingwei's proposal, but he also cut off all business cooperation with the Li family.

This caused the Li family's business in the capital to lose protection. Although some of his family members had entered the officialdom, they were all minor officials below the fifth rank.

In this capital city where a random brick could hit royal nobles, the Li family could not protect their business with just their own people.

In order to hook up with Liu Fang, they did a lot of immoral things for Liu Fang and offended a lot of people.

At this time, wanting to change allegiance and let others protect the abandoned child of Duke Liguo's Mansion regardless of offending Liu Xianglian and even the Jia family is almost harder than climbing to the sky.

Just when Li Jingwei was about to give up, a "miracle" happened.

An elder from one of the Liu tribes sent someone to invite Li Jingwei over.

Later, Li Jingwei used silver to pave the way and gained support from a branch of the Liu clan, thus saving his business in the capital.

At the same time, the Liu clan members of that branch became much stronger because of the financial support, and sometimes even dared to challenge the new clan leader Liu Xianglian.

This concubine Zheng was Li Jingwei's concubine. She was the concubine that Li Jingwei had brought back home in Taizhou by using threats and inducements in order to wipe out the family.

Aunt Zheng was indeed a widow, and a widow of noble birth whose husband died shortly after their engagement.

As luck would have it, her husband's family was a merchant family with few offspring. A few years after her husband's death, Zheng took care of the family business for her late husband and was filial to her parents-in-law.

Originally, according to the plan of her parents-in-law, they were going to adopt a son from Zheng's family to inherit the family business during the Autumnal Equinox last year.

But unexpectedly, things did not go as planned. His parents-in-law were met with robbers when they were out and both were killed.

The matter of adopting a son was delayed due to a funeral in the family, which eventually led to a disaster.

A widow from a prominent family, who controls a business comparable to that of the Li family, wouldn't she be coveted by others?

Those members of the Fu family who had been kind and amiable in the past showed their fangs one by one, and colluded with the Li family to continue to oppress the Zheng family.

Finally, seeing that she refused to comply, he used all his strength to spread rumors that Zheng was a jinx to her husband, father, and relatives, and that she was secretly having an affair with a housekeeper in the family.

With the support of the Li family, the people in the clan used the Shentang method and threatened Zheng that if he was unwilling to hand over his business, they would kill Zheng's parents and brothers.

The Zheng family was a small family, and the most promising member of the family was just a scholar. How could they withstand the persecution of the powerful families?

In order to ensure the safety of her relatives, Zheng had no choice but to agree to the Li family's request. After handing over her business, she was carried into the backyard in a sedan chair by Li Jingwei.

"In order to prevent the Li family from going back on their word, Zheng did not hand over her own embroidery and dyeing techniques. She also forced the Li family to back down in the name of mourning, thus maintaining her innocence."

Master She seldom admired women, but he truly admired Zheng.

Master She sneered: "My son-in-law is young and ignorant of the world, and he almost fell into someone else's trap. Since the Liu and Li families have set their sights on my grandson, don't blame me for being rude. I originally planned to knock on their door directly, but I didn't expect to hear about Zheng's matter halfway..."

"That's easy. Let's just file a petition for impeachment..."

"No! This is so boring... hehe!"

Master She bowed and rejected the proposal of others, laughing: "If you want to play, you have to have fun. The Li family robbed Zheng's business, so I will give Zheng this opportunity to take revenge with her own hands. I want to see what those ignorant old guys in the Liu family can use to fight my son-in-law without money. After all, my son-in-law lacks experience, so let him practice with this matter."

Thinking of the mess of the Liu family in the Duke of Liguo's Mansion, everyone could understand the unusual behavior of Master She this time.

It is really interesting that Jia Enhou, who always likes to use fists and swords to "reason" with others, actually wants to fight with others calmly.

"Lord En called us here because he wanted us to..."

"The Li family's silk and tea businesses are spread all over the country, and those who are close to the old guys in the Liu family all have big businesses. Which brother is interested? Let's take them over together!"

……

The old lady became depressed after Tanchun got married. Fortunately, with the company of Xiangyun, her lively niece and granddaughter-in-law, she gradually regained her former spirit.

When Madam Xing came to Rongxi Hall with a bitter face, the old lady said angrily and amusedly: "Why are you aggrieved? Zheng is not the concubine taken in by the eldest son, but the God of Wealth invited back..."

Monthly ticket recommendation ticket

　Thanks to the little orange cat for the reward!

　　I’ll stop here tonight and continue tomorrow. Good night!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)