Jia Rui hesitated and said nothing.
Of course, this was a pretense of hesitation. He had to show his fear of the Lai family, which would displease Jia's mother and arouse the dissatisfaction of Jia Zheng and Mrs. Wang.
"Brother Rui, is there anyone else in this Rongguo Mansion that makes even the Jia family fear him?" Jia She said coldly.
"Back to the eldest master, this matter is big and involves too many areas. My nephew is worried about causing a commotion in the house..." Jia Rui quickly bowed, "And this matter doesn't happen in a day or two, or even in a year. Years ago, it’s just that the garden was built and the house was facing difficulties, so it was revealed..."
Jia She sneered, "Everyone knows it well, and you also know that there are difficulties in the house now. Now we can't even pay people's monthly payments. We still owe a lot of debt outside. We have to sell a lot of shops to make money." To live a good life, what should we do in the second half of the year? What should we do next year? But there are still people doing this kind of thing, and even hollowing out our family to enrich their own family. Haha, they even donated their offices. There is a real shortage. Lian'er and Even Baoyu hasn’t received this kind of treatment yet.”
Seeing his brother talking about this, Jia Zheng was also very unhappy. Jia Lian has now gone to Yangzhou. Although Baoyu is now studying and writing at home, Jia Zheng also knows that he will definitely donate an official status to Baoyu in the future, otherwise he will It is difficult to find a good family even to get married, but it is so difficult in Rongguo Mansion now, and it is really unbearable for someone to hollow out the Jia family like this.
"Brother Rui, it's already this time, why are you still hesitating?" Jia Zheng said with a stern face: "We have to make these jokes known to everyone outside. We still don't know anything about it, which makes us embarrassed in front of outsiders. Have you lost enough?"
Jia Rui's face twitched for a while, his expression was in place, and then he lowered his head and said, "My nephew doesn't dare. Although the manager of the Zhuji Coal House is named Zhu, he only holds 20% of the shares, and the remaining 80% belongs to Butler Lai. In addition, my friend also said that the Li family who paid all the bills actually contracted this business with the Lai family. If calculated, it is 30% higher than the market price..."
Jia She gritted his teeth and held the armrests of the official hat chair with both hands. He just hummed heavily but said nothing.
But Jia Zheng couldn't help but ask: "Jia Rui, are what you said true?"
"Back to the second master, how can my nephew dare to lie about such a thing? Everyone knows the relationship between the owner of the Zhuji Coal House and the housekeeper Lai. They have to pay dividends every year..., the garden is jointly owned by the Li family and the Lai family. Didn’t the great master also pay their bills? It’s more than 30,000 taels of silver. My friend said that it’s only 25,000 taels of work at most. I can definitely do better than them..."
Jia Rui seemed very calm and indifferent at this time, "As for those shops that deliver vegetables, eggs, meat, and fruits, my nephew will definitely not be able to ask anything about these shops now, but those shops in the past few years , such as Zhao's Grain House in Xianyifang, the shopkeeper's nephew also knew him, and he asked about it when we were having a drink. He said that Butler Lai was too generous, and originally agreed to give a 10% rebate every year. Three years ago It is about to rise to 15%, and the price is not willing to rise. How can this kind of business last long?..."
Jia Zheng couldn't listen anymore, and Mrs. Wang on the side couldn't help but slapped the coffee table hard.
Thinking about Wang Xifeng going to great lengths to lay off the servants in each house in order to save some money, and even planning to resell a bunch of little actors he bought during the Yuanchun Provincial Marriage Festival, if he hadn't considered that the news had spread, he would have felt that the Jia family could not survive now. , those little actors were sold to Prince Lu's Mansion, but now there are still people sucking blood in the mansion every day and every month, which is simply unacceptable.
"No wonder Jia Zhen also came to me to complain, saying that life in Ningguo Mansion was a bit difficult, and they were fighting famine and borrowing money everywhere. Humph, it seems that Lai Da and Lai Sheng are playing this game very smoothly. It's just that But what has our Jia family become? Taken advantage of?" Jia She said angrily: "Jia Rui, who is the Lai family donating officials for, but Lai's eldest son?"
"Exactly, it is said that I spent 10,000 taels of silver to donate an official position, and then spent 8,000 taels of silver to open up all the links to fill the vacancy, so that I can fill the vacancy and take office this year. Everyone knows that donating an official position is normal. It is difficult to fill the vacancy in three to five years, but if you are willing to spend eight thousand taels of silver, it is not impossible to fill the vacancy that year. It is said that you will go to a county in Jiangxi to be the county magistrate..."
Jia Rui's words shocked everyone, including Jia's mother.
Of course, Jia She had known this for a long time, but it was still a bit unbearable to say it now.
Eighteen thousand taels!
Even a large Jia family with hundreds of people can use it for half a year, right?
How could a slave just donate it for use? How much wealth do they still have in their family?
Eighty thousand taels, one hundred thousand taels, or even more? !
"Haha, it's really shocking. This Lai Da's son has studied for several years. I'm afraid even Langeer has studied more than him? Lai Da is actually so willing to spend 10,000 or 20,000 silver to donate to her. There is a real shortage of county magistrate. Sir, how much does Lai Da's monthly salary cost for a year?" Mrs. Xing said with a sneer.
Jia She snorted softly, "One hundred and eighty taels, the old lady treated him well, and will reward him with two hundred taels of silver at the end of the year."
"That's quite a lot. With everyone's support, I'm afraid I can earn five or six hundred taels of silver a year. But how many years will it take to save these eighteen thousand taels?" Mrs. Xing said unceremoniously. Last hit: "Thirty years."
How could it be possible to save this amount of money for official donations in thirty years?
Jia She, Jia Zheng, and even Jia's mother knew in their hearts that this was just on the surface. Lai Da was the general housekeeper. Why wouldn't he pick out some of the things that passed his hands? One thousand taels a year is too small.
But these words can only be swallowed in the stomach. A serious master like Jia Lian can only earn 50 taels a month, 600 taels a year, and the ladies can only earn 20 taels a month. When can masters compare with slaves? A lot less?
But this donation of eighteen thousand taels is too unacceptable.
This means that Lai Da's family has made at least 70,000 to 80,000 taels of silver from the Jia family in the past few decades, so they can be so generous in donating an official position for their son. For the current Jia family, 70,000 to 80,000 taels of silver is enough for two Three years of worry-free expenses.
Thinking of this, Jia She, Jia Zheng and Xing's Wang all exchanged glances subconsciously, and then looked at Jia's mother who was sitting at the top.
Mother Jia felt tired for a while, but when she saw the changes in the expressions of her son and daughter-in-law, she secretly sighed, "I'm tired, I'll leave this matter to you. Don't lose face, don't lose face." Proper,..., Yuanyang, help me go back to my room to rest."
Jia She, Jia Zheng, and the Xing family and the Wang family all stood up quickly to see him off.
When Jia's mother disappeared, Jia Zheng hesitated and said to Jia She: "Brother, this matter..."
Jia She also knew Jia Zheng's worries and snorted in his heart, but Feng Ziying had already greeted him, and he also knew that there was a huge gap in Jia's family. If he didn't make up for this matter, he was afraid that Jia Mansion is really about to be unable to survive.
"Second brother, I should take the lead in this matter, but let Lian's daughter-in-law and Jia Rui handle the details. Lin Zhixiao, Wang Shanbao, and Zhou Rui will assist..."
Lin Zhixiao is the housekeeper, Wang Shanbao and Zhou Ruize are servants of the Xing family and Wang family respectively, and they are their respective confidants. This can be regarded as a balance.
Hearing that Jia She asked Wang Xifeng to handle the details, Jia Zheng and Wang both nodded. This is the safest way, so that there are people in each room, and Jia Rui, a "new and cutting-edge" force who obviously also wants to overthrow the Lai family, can be used just in time. stand up.
…
As soon as Wang Xifeng returned to the room, she couldn't help but collapsed on the bed. Ping'er quickly spread the quilt for her, ordered her to lie down, and then squeezed her shoulders and rubbed her back.
"Ping'er, what time is it now?"
"Grandma, it's already past Haizheng." Ping'er looked at the chiming clock in the corner, "Grandma, don't tell me, this thing that Uncle Feng gave you is really useful. I heard that it is in Guangzhou. It would cost several hundred taels of silver to buy it from the Xiyi people."
"Hmph, I heard that there are craftsmen in Guangdong and Macau who are already learning to imitate, but I don't know if they can succeed." Wang Xifeng lay lazily on the bed, not even wanting to say a word. After a tiring day, she was really tormented. It's so frustrating, I haven't worked like this for a long time.
"I heard Uncle Feng say that we Han people don't need the arms and legs of the Xiyi people, let alone the foresight. As long as we are willing to learn and drill, we can imitate it in a short time. But if we want to reach the standard in terms of accuracy, You have to take your time.”
A blush flashed across Ping'er's face, obviously remembering that Feng Ziying pinched her cheek when she said this. How long has it been since she was so unstable, which made Ping'er feel moved but also complained.
"Okay, that's not what we worry about. Has Lin Zhixiao made proper arrangements? Hasn't Lai Da been making noises to see his ancestors? Shut him up. If he makes any more noise, he will be sent to see an official!" Wang Xifeng gritted her teeth and said: "Who would have thought that he could hide more than 20,000 taels of silver in his house? What about Lai Sheng?"
"Uncle Zhen has also locked up Lai Sheng a long time ago. It is said that Uncle Xiao Rong also whipped Lai Sheng so hard that two whips were broken..." Ping'er was also a little sad. On this day Suddenly, the wall fell down and everyone pushed back. There were more than 20 people in the mansion who came to report and expose the Lai family overnight, which made Ping'er tremble with fear.
"That's what Lai Er deserves! Youshi came to me and said that Lai Sheng earned two thousand taels of silver just from collecting the rent of Zhuangzi's shop every year. He has been suffering for fifteen years, and this should be thirty thousand taels of silver. "!" Wang Xifeng said angrily: "The two men in the Dongfu will never let go until they drain Lai Sheng dry. They are even more embarrassed than us now. The heads and faces that You married her to are all gone." You resisted and got out, now that you have this opportunity, why don't you take the opportunity to get it back?"
