While the housekeeper and his wife were trying their best to avoid the eyes and ears of others and send the money to Sister Feng's courtyard, Jia Zheng had already gone to court.
He returned to Rongguo Mansion in a hurry and immediately found Mrs. Wang to discuss important matters.
"Master, are you serious?"
Mrs. Wang could no longer keep her mind on practicing Buddhism. She stood up all of a sudden and almost tripped over the Kang table.
When Jia Zheng saw Mrs. Wang losing her composure, he had no intention of blaming her.
Humph, after all, it’s a girl’s family, and she loses her composure whenever big things happen. How can I, the master, not be surprised by honor or disgrace?
"Of course I won't lie to you.
The exact news had already spread in the palace, because the Supreme Emperor and the Empress Dowager praised the Holy Sage for being extremely filial, pure and benevolent, and for observing heaven and earth. The two old saints were overjoyed.
The special decree of grace was to allow the family members to visit the palace, but it was limited by the national system and rituals. The mother and daughter could not be contented, but they were so generous and convenient.
I have sent an order to all the nobles and relatives of the Jiaofang family. In addition to the favor of being allowed to enter the palace on the 26th, if there is a house in the Chongyu Courtyard that can stay in a defensive place, you may wish to invite the royal family of the inner court to enter your private residence.
The common people can spare the flesh and blood and family affection, which is the ultimate nature in heaven's theory. "
Jia Zheng stroked his beard and told all the news he heard in the palace.
Mrs. Wang was very unable to restrain her emotions.
When the daughter, who had not yet grown hair, was sent to the palace, it was rare for mother and daughter to see each other for seven or eight years.
Even if it was such a huge happy event last time that my daughter was granted the title of concubine, she could only meet her casually in Fengzao Palace. But because there are eunuchs and maids everywhere, they don't even dare to fulfill their wish to hold their daughter.
Now, the saint actually allows his daughter to go home to visit relatives. For her, isn't this a great joy to make up for her shortcomings?
So how can we give up and ask Jia Zheng to write a memorial to invite Yuanchun to go home to visit relatives.
Jia Zheng snorted: "I think you are confused. Even if the saint sends a decree, how can the empress, with her body of thousands of gold, be able to go home casually?
Didn't you hear what was said in the edict that any mansion where the empress is invited to come home to visit her relatives must have a Chongyu Villa that can be guarded at the gate?
The implication is that there needs to be an independent courtyard that can be used as the queen's palace!
Although our mansion is large and has many yards, where can we find a place that is large enough to serve as the queen's palace? "
Mrs. Wang slapped a ladle of cold water on her face, and said very unwillingly: "So, our family can't invite your mother-in-law to come home to visit the bride?"
Jia Zheng glanced at him with a frown and said, "Why are you panicking? Since a saint has shown mercy from heaven, he will not be inconsiderate.
When we went to court before, we had already gathered together to discuss it.
Look at the meaning of the palace. If we want to invite the queen to come home to visit the bride, we must build a temporary palace for the queen alone! "
"Then we will build a palace for the empress." Mrs. Wang said hurriedly.
Jia Zheng was a little unhappy and asked her if she knew how much it would cost to build the palace.
Mrs. Wang asked: "Isn't there even enough money in the official account?"
Jia Zheng sneered: "Although I have not cared about family affairs these years, I still know what the official treasury is like.
What is the status of our mother-in-law? If the palace our family built for the empress is not good, not to mention that the empress will not be able to hold her head high in front of other concubines, even the century-old reputation of our Jia family will be ruined!
In my opinion, if you don't have enough money, it's better not to apply. "
Mrs. Wang was a little silent. She seemed to understand how difficult it was to handle this extremely glorious thing.
"Lian'er raided several slaves yesterday and added a lot of money to the official..."
Jia Zheng continued to attack ruthlessly: "Stop your wishful thinking, what can you do with that little money?
For example, in the past two years, the Ministry of Industry built the palace for His Royal Highness the Fourth Prince, which cost nearly three hundred thousand taels!
Our mother-in-law is the fourth concubine, how can the construction of the palace be shabby?
Even if it can't be compared with the Prince's Mansion, at least it can't be too far behind. "
Mrs. Wang knew that Jia Zheng had been on duty at the Ministry of Industry and would not say anything bad about this kind of thing, so she asked: "According to your opinion, if we want to welcome our mother-in-law for a wedding, how much money should we prepare at least?"
Jia Zheng said: "According to my calculations, you must have at least two hundred thousand silver to be qualified to plan this matter.
Otherwise, let’s stop talking. "
Two hundred thousand, the official’s money is too far behind...
Mrs. Wang also fell into silence. After a while, she said, "If not, let's talk to the old lady about this first and see what she means..."
When Jia Zheng heard this, he knew what his wife meant...
She wants to trick the old lady into loving her!
This is a bit different from Jia Zheng's plan.
He thought that Mrs. Wang would think of asking the Wang family for support...
In recent years, Prince Teng's official career has been prosperous, and the Wang family is now the most prosperous among the four major families. As Mrs. Wang's status as the eldest daughter of the Wang family and Yuanchun's niece, the Wang family should be willing to support!
Of course, he would definitely not take the initiative to express such thoughts, so he nodded lightly, said nothing, and went back to Mengpo Zhai.
The problem is posed to you, and it’s up to you to decide what you can do.
…
Because he had to deploy defense work out of the city, Jia Lian did not go to the government office until the afternoon.
When he returned home, he didn't care much when he heard the word "provincial relatives" being circulated at home.
It's just expected.
Seeing that Jia Zheng and others did not come to him, he pretended that he did not know and still took his people as planned to survey the terrain in the East Cross Courtyard and prepare to build his own martial arts field, horse riding path, etc.
He was not worried at all that he would not be able to do this.
To put it bluntly, what is the little money in the official position?
It’s just a place that everyone looks to to put money in their pockets every year.
If you really want to raise money, if nothing else, Jia Mu and Mrs. Wang can handle the matter.
These two old women cannot be underestimated sometimes...
Even Jia Lian's calculation was that it would be great if he could use this incident to drain the private pockets of Jia Mu and Mrs. Wang.
The so-called money is confidence. As long as their confidence is reduced, it will be easier for him to do things in the future.
However, although Jia Lian didn't care, Wang Xifeng did.
When it was time to have dinner, Wang Xifeng couldn't wait to talk about this matter with Jia Lian.
"The bigger good news you talked about yesterday, were you referring to the marriage proposal?"
Wang Xifeng finally took Jia Lian's words to heart.
There is no other way. Knowing yesterday that he was allowed to visit the palace on the 26th is enough to make people feel that God's grace is so great, but Jia Lian said that even greater God's grace is yet to come.
Sure enough, it has come true today. How can this not make her, who is not afraid of heaven and earth, murmur in her heart?
Jia Lian smiled and said: "Compared with how I know, shouldn't you be more concerned that once the family decides to do this, our family will be impoverished?"
Wang Xifeng immediately asked: "You mean, this matter can be done?"
"I said it can be done, do you believe it?"
"I believe it! From now on, if you say one day the sun will rise from the west, I will believe it too!"
Wang Xifeng was truly convinced.
Forgetting everything that happened in the past, Jia Lian can actually take into account the things that the palace just showed mercy today. This is amazing.
She still clearly remembered that Jia Lian told her yesterday to hide the money at home. Maybe there would be a big hole in the house that needed to be filled soon.
Anyway, it’s here today.
Once we really want to build a palace for the empress to visit her relatives, wouldn't it be a huge hole?
Everything was predictable, which made Wang Xifeng feel a chill on her back.
If everything else about her man hadn't been normal, she might have wanted to invite a master to come to town to see if Jia Lian was possessed by an evil spirit...
I made up my mind that if anything happens in the future, I'd better try not to hide it from him, otherwise I won't feel at ease!
After discussing with Jia Lian the general strategy for dealing with the matter of relatives, Wang Xifeng asked again: "How is it? I see you just came out of the west wing. How much did you collect?"
Jia Lian smiled and deliberately tested Wang Xifeng's eyesight: "Guess."
Wang Xifeng curled her lips and said cooperatively: "Three thousand?"
Jia Lian shook his head.
"Five thousand?"
"It can't be ten thousand, right? Haha, if that's the case, these slaves in our family are really too honest."
According to government regulations, those who embezzle money or steal two or three taels of property from their master will have their hands chopped off.
More than ten taels is a proper death penalty.
The total number of housekeepers and deacons in the family is ten thousand taels. Doesn’t each person pay an average of four to five hundred taels?
Then no matter where you go, you will never die. Are those slaves really that honest?
Jia Lian smiled and said, "I have already asked Xiang Ling and Qing Wen to collect half of it. In order not to draw attention to yourself, don't make any plans for this money yet, just leave it in the west wing.
The remaining half is piled outside. You can send someone to move it to the official center later. "
Wang Xifeng's eyes were bright and she was heartless, and things became more and more to her liking.
Pass and keep half, this is what smart people do!
