Jia Rong, the smiling tiger of the Red Chamber

Not to mention how much chaos the Lai family caused because Lai Shangrong's head was sent back, and how much pain Lai Da and Lai Nanny were in, all of which had nothing to do with Jia Rong.

Over there, Jia Rong and his party have arrived in Jinling smoothly.

I don't know if it's because the Jia family has already received Zhou Rui's tip-off. When Jia Rong arrived at the pier, there were already two sons and several grandsons of Mr. Jia Qitai with some clansmen and servants. Standing at the pier waiting mightily.

Jia Qitai's two sons are the eldest son Jia Zhai and the second son Jia Ju.

After casually exchanging a few words with these clan elders, they were surrounded by Jia Zhai and Jia Zuo's group and headed towards the ancestral house.

Although the area of ​​the Jia family's ancestral house is not as large as that of the Ningguo Mansion in Beijing, it is not small, and in the ancestral house, only the eldest son of the direct line is eligible to live in the ancestral house.But because Ningguo Mansion is in Kyoto all year round, this ancestral house can't be visited once a year.So there was no one else except the servants who were responsible for guarding and cleaning the two rooms.

Of course, it is also because the ancestral house has been unoccupied all year round. Although there are servants to guard and clean it, it still looks dilapidated after a long time.

Jia Rong looked up and down the ancestral house, and looked at Jia Zhai with a half-smile.

Jia Zhai was not stupid either, he sensed Jia Rong's gaze, and hurriedly replied, "Brother Rong, don't be offended. In recent years, due to the limited harvest of the sacrificial fields, the price of grain in Jinling has not been high these years. This clan There are also many clansmen here, so there is no extra money to repair the ancestral house. I hope Brother Rong will not blame me."

Yo, this is crying poor to myself!

Jia Rong raised her brows and said, "Well, I know clans have their problems too. Naturally, I can't blame Uncle Zhai." Then he paused, with two points of meaning, "Uncle Zhai Don't worry, I'm here this time. Apart from the ten-year life sacrifice for my great-grandfather, I also need to buy some land. After all, only when the clan is well-established can our Jia clan prosper, right?"

As soon as Jia Zhai heard Jia Rong's words, he immediately became excited. The purchase of land was not meant to increase sacrifices to the land, and he let go of the worry in his heart, and said with a smile: "After all, he is the future patriarch, Brother Rong. As expected, you will sacrifice your life for the sake of the clan. The clan will definitely think of you in the future."

This brother Rong seems to be a little different from what Zhou Rui said.

That's right, it's just a half-grown child, no matter how ruthless it is, how can it be so ruthless?What's more, Brother Rong is a scholar with outstanding literary talents, so he must be a sensible person.As for the servant she dealt with, he must have committed a huge mistake before he was dealt with.They are the clan, the backing of the Jia family, not slaves. Although Brother Rong's status is valuable, his seniority is there.No matter what, she didn't dare to be rash.

Besides, Zhou Rui's words sounded a little too exaggerated.

"Of course they will say goodbye to me." Jia Rong also nodded with a smile.

He said that he wanted to buy land, but he didn't say that it was going to be classified as a sacrificial field.He insisted on thinking this way, and he had no choice.As for thanks, she didn't dare to ask for it. What she wanted was their fear. As soon as Jia Rong's name was mentioned, she didn't even dare to say a word, and she didn't dare to raise any resistance to any of her words in the future.This is the main purpose of her coming here.

In the first few days after arriving in Jinling, many clansmen came to look for Jia Rong.However, he declined all visits on the grounds that he was tired from the journey.

In a blink of an eye, it is the end of autumn and the beginning of winter, the weather is going to be cold, and all households are starting to do winter things.

It has been more than half a month since Jia Rong came to Jinling. In the past half month, apart from going out to play occasionally, the rest of the time, Jia Rong thought that Jia Daihua was preparing for the sacrifice and lived in the ancestral house. , stay at home.

In mid-December, Jia Rong received a thick letter from Jia Qiang's envoy.

Taken apart it seems.

It's all about trivial things.If there is something special, it would be around the beginning of November, when Lai Da fell into grass, he was let go of his deed and became the eldest son of a good man, Lai Shangrong, who killed him?And boldly gave Lai Shangrong's head to Lai Da.

When Mammy Lai heard the news, she immediately fell ill. It is said that now she is exhaling a lot of breath and taking in less, leaving only one breath.

As for Lai Da, he cried and begged to come to Jia Mu.If Jia Mu wants to make decisions for Lai Shangrong, she must find out the murderer who killed Lai Shangrong.It's just that Rongguo Mansion sent people to investigate, and the county government of Huaxi County also sent people to say hello, and asked the county magistrate to help with the investigation.But nothing was gained. Huaxi County only said that Lai Shangrong took half a month's leave. Lai Shangrong's wife also said that when Lai Shangrong left, she only said that she would go out to meet friends and would come back in a few days.There was no more news after that.Unexpectedly, if there was any more news, it would be the news of his death.

What's too much is that it was reported from Lai's family that Lai Da was killed by Jia Rong.After all, Huaxi County is on the border of Jinling, and Jia Rong happens to be on the way to Jinling.Although this statement is a little untenable, many servants in the Rongguo Mansion actually believed this nonsense.

Then came Jia Qiang's grievances for her.

Scan Jia Qiang's letter.Jia Rong couldn't help showing a sneer.

It is true that she killed Lai Shangrong, but do you have evidence?Who can prove that Lai Shangrong was killed by Jia Rong?

In the blink of an eye, it is the twelfth lunar month.

From the beginning of the twelfth lunar month, the people in Jinling, every household, began to prepare for the New Year.

And Jia Rong is also busy here. Of course, her busy work is not the same as that of ordinary people. It is not for preparing for the New Year.It's about preparing for what will happen on New Year's Eve.

"Wu Ya, the things I asked you to investigate are all settled?" Jia Rong played with the huge ruby ​​at the end of the reckless debate for a while, and said so.

Wu Ya replied: "It's all done to return to the master. This is the evidence of the account book that Master Jia Qitai contracted with the Old Matriarch of the West Mansion and his second daughter-in-law, Wang Shi, to worship the fields. There are also eight people who participated in this matter. The family property account books of the Tailord and other related clansmen. In addition, there are evidences of their series of evil deeds such as lending usury, oppressing the people, robbing the farmland, and forcing them into prostitution in the name of the Ningrong Second Mansion. They are all here gone."

Jia Rong looked at the thick stack of booklets in the hands of the servant standing behind Wu Ya, and the smile on his face became brighter, "It's really good! But it's also just right, if it weren't for them to do evil, I wouldn't be able to find them." Get rid of these moths in one fell swoop." Turning to Wu Ya, he said, "Wu Ya, let someone inform them that I'm going to have a banquet at the ancestral house on the 29th, please. They must be honored to come.”

Wu Ya replied.

In the afternoon of the same day, all members of the Jia clan who received the notification from Jia Rong all expressed their intention to go there.

The next day, from the first quarter of Si time, the Jia family's ancestral house began to come over one after another.It was only after I came that I realized that Jia Rong invited quite a few people this time.It can be said that almost all members of the Jia family were invited here.

Among the brothers in Jia Daihua's generation, there is only one Jia Dairu left in the capital.As for Jinling, there are only three left, namely Master Jia Qitai, Master Jia Batai and Master Jia Jiutai are still there, and the rest are gone.

Among them, Master Jia Qitai is the oldest, the most powerful, and the most important voice in the clan.

Master Jia Qitai and Master Jia Batai are brothers, both are Jia Daishan's concubine brothers, the two of them worked hand in hand, together with Jia's mother, and pinched all the clans on Jinling's side into Jia Daishan's heirs.As for Jia Jiutai, who is Jia Daihua's younger brother, he was pushed to the sky by the two of them. Although he is too old, in the clan, his words have almost no weight.

Master Jia Qitai's second son, Jia Ju, was quite scheming. After scanning back and forth, he felt something was wrong, especially when he accidentally saw the guard standing at the door with a knife and a sword.

Then he walked to Master Jia Qitai's side, and said in a low voice, "Father, I feel that something is wrong with today's situation." He always felt that the current scene did not seem to be a simple feast for the clansmen.

"It's just a feast for the clansmen. There's nothing wrong with it. Even if Brother Rong is a bit surly, he's still just a child after all. Could it be that he can still perform a Hongmen banquet?" Master Jia Qitai After scanning around, he didn't notice anything wrong. When he looked at the second son, he felt that he was a little paranoid, so he said so.

Master Jia Batai picked up a cup of tea, took a sip, and said with a smile: "Brother Du, what your father said is not bad at all. Besides, even if it is Brother Rong, if you want to take advantage of this banquet to find out what's wrong, you can't do it." Don't worry. We have already prepared for everything. Just relax."

Although Jia Ju felt that there was something wrong in his heart, he had to bow his head and not say a word when he saw that Master Jia Qitai and Master Jia Batai both had expressions of 'you're supercilious'.

Wu Ya walked to Jia Rong's side and said in a low voice, "Master, everyone is here. Do you want to start now?"

Jia Rong nodded, "Since we're all here, let's start. Have people close the gates. Let people guard all the exits. If anyone wants to fish in troubled waters after a while, just tie them up together."

Wu Ya replied, but he did not mention it.

Jia Rong led Zhiqiu out.

When Master Jia Qi saw Jia Rong, he asked, "Brother Rong, look, this man is almost here. Can the banquet begin?"

Looking sideways, Jia Rong nodded and said with a smile, "Well, it's time to start."

At this time, Wu Ya also came back, clasped his fists and said to Jia Rong: "Master, everything is settled."

Jia Rong glanced sideways at Wu Ya.Wuya understood immediately and waved his hand.Then I saw a group of guards with knives and swords coming from nowhere, more than 20 people, lined up in two rows, all of them were murderous.

Not to mention the changes in the complexions of Master Jia Qitai and Jia Batai, even the complexions of the clansmen who came over also changed.Master Jia Qitai tapped his cane and said angrily, "Brother Rong, what do you mean?"

"Didn't you see it all? Of course it was settled." Jia Rong said with a smile.

Master Jia Batai also immediately said angrily: "Brother Rong, don't go too far. Considering your status as a scholar, you are young and talented, and you are the future patriarch of our Jia clan. If you invite a banquet, the clan will give you face." We came here together. What do you mean now? Settle accounts, who are you going to settle with, and what accounts?"

"What? Have you been domineering in Jinling for so many years? Now you don't know what account I have to settle?" Jia Rong's complexion suddenly darkened, and she said gloomily.

When Master Jia Qitai and Master Jia Batai heard Jia Rong's words, they both thought of what Zhou Rui said to them about Jia Rong's temperament and what he had done, and also thought about what Jia Du said just now, their expressions were very different. white down.

Could it be that this is really a Hongmen banquet?