save the bachelors

Chapter 4749 4752 [Rose Society]

After the Chinese New Year, Wang Ziteng, the governor of nine provinces, returned to the capital to report on his work.

The entire Wang family, young and old, also returned to the capital.

Logically speaking, Aunt Xue should move out of the Jia family and live with the Wang family.

After all, the Wang family is her real family, and the Jia family is just her sister's in-laws' family.

But Aunt Xue did not move, and Wang Ziteng did not send anyone to pick her up.

The reason is actually very simple, he doesn't want to take on this hot potato.

It turned out that Xue Pan had been in the capital for more than a year. Although he was held hostage by the parchment, he no longer drank and caused trouble, acted like a jerk, or flirted with other women. His performance was better than in the book.

In the book, after he arrived in the capital, he indulged in eating, drinking, gambling, whoring, and keeping male lovers and actors. He even turned the Jia family's family school into a private school and kept several boys.

But good things are limited, and it's just like the pot calling the kettle black.

Not only did Xue Pan fail to manage the business left by his father in the capital, he also failed to study hard. He was still idle all day long, doing nothing and wandering around.

Although he didn't cause any trouble, he didn't accomplish anything either.

Wang Ziteng naturally had eyes and ears in the capital. Seeing that Xue Pan was such a useless person who was totally hopeless, he naturally didn't want to waste his efforts.

Therefore, even though he knew that Xue Pan was already eighteen years old and an adult, and that he should get married soon and set up his own household, he still turned a blind eye to it, as if this person did not exist.

Correspondingly, Wang Ziteng brought valuable gifts to the Jia family as soon as he returned to the capital. Xiang Nan, in particular, received many treasures collected by Wang Ziteng from outside.

Xue Pan, who was also a nephew, got almost nothing.

……

Lin Daiyu's father, Lin Ruhai, was also promoted from the Imperial Censor of Salt to the Magistrate of Yangzhou Prefecture, and from the seventh rank official to the sixth rank official.

The Tongpan was responsible for grain transportation, water conservancy, military farming, horse herding, river and sea defense, and also supervised the work of the prefect. So although he did not have as much power as the prefect, he was also the second in command at the local level.

In two years, he was promoted from the seventh rank to the sixth rank, which was a very fast progress. If he continued at this speed, it would not be a problem for him to enter the cabinet at the age of fifty.

This is not surprising. After all, he was a successful candidate in the imperial examination and a third place in the imperial examination. It is natural that he is valued.

Lin Daiyu was naturally very happy about her father's promotion. She specially made a pair of official boots for her father and personally delivered it to him.

"Congratulations, uncle, on your promotion." Xiang Nan bowed and said with a smile.

"Thank you, my dear nephew." Lin Ruhai stroked his beard and said, "In fact, promotion is not my intention. The main thing is to contribute more to the emperor and the country."

"Uncle is right." Xiang Nan nodded and smiled, "If there is anything you need me to contribute to, just let me know."

"Okay, I just reported in and haven't taken over the work yet. After I officially take over, I will see what kind of work I can find that requires your help." Lin Ruhai nodded.

"No problem, I'll be there whenever you call." Xiang Nan agreed.

……

Time flies, and it is April 26th, Xiang Nan’s birthday.

Wang Ziteng's family, Xiao Shihou's family, the four kings and six dukes, and even the Emperor Jiaxing and Empress Yuanchun sent birthday gifts.

Sisters such as Sanchun, Lin Daiyu, Xue Baochai, Shi Xiangyun, etc., also gave their own gifts, such as fans, calligraphy and paintings, insoles, purses, etc. Even Yinglian from the back street made a pair of blue satin official boots with her mother and gave them to Xiang Nan as a birthday gift. It turned out that the mother and daughter were always grateful to Xiang Nan for reuniting them, so they made a pair of shoes every year to express their gratitude.

In ancient times, a pair of good official boots would cost ten taels of silver, which was not a small amount. For the mother and daughter who made a living by sewing, a pair of official boots as a gift was already very expensive.

"Hey, the mother and daughter make a living by knitting and sewing, and they work very hard already. Why should they give me gifts?" Xiang Nan sighed.

Then he ordered Xiren to select two pieces of high-quality cloth and give them to Yinglian and her daughter, asking them to help make two sets of clothes and giving them twenty taels of silver as wages.

He knew that Yinglian and her daughter would not accept the money if he just gave them silver. It would be better to ask them to make clothes. Two rolls of high-quality cloth would definitely be enough to make two sets of clothes.

Because a piece of cloth is 13 meters, even for Yao Ming's clothes, at most 3 meters of cloth would be used. The remaining cloth could be given to Yinglian and her daughter.

A piece of top-quality cloth was worth seven or eight taels of silver. Adding the twenty taels of silver in wages, it was enough for Yinglian and her daughter to spend.

"Second Master is so kind-hearted." Xiren said with a smile when she heard it.

……

"We don't have anything good to give you for Second Uncle Bao's birthday. This is a set of clothes that my maids and I made for you. Do you think it's suitable for you?" Qin Keqing also took out a set of clothes and said to Xiang Nan.

These clothes were all fully embroidered, including a red arrow-shaped sleeve with hundreds of butterflies in flowers, a dark blue brocade jacket with eight-pattern tassels, and a pair of court boots with a green satin and pink base.

"Well, you can just make clothes for yourselves. Why bother making clothes for me? There are so many needleworkers in the Jia family. I have enough clothes to wear." Xiang Nan smiled when he saw this.

The Jia family has their own needleworkers, and their only job is to make clothes for everyone in the Jia family.

Masters like Lady Jia, Jia Zheng, Jia She, Mrs. Wang, and Mrs. Xing had to buy several sets of clothes all year round, and all the clothes had to be embroidered, not just cut.

In addition, every year on his birthday, Xiang Nan would also receive birthday gifts such as clothes. So he had no shortage of clothes, as many as 70 or 80 pieces.

At that time, these clothes alone were worth 18,000 taels of silver.

"This is also a gift from Ruizhu, Baozhu and I. Please accept it, Uncle Bao." Qin Keqing said.

"Okay then." Xiang Nan nodded when he heard her say that, "Don't work so hard in the future, just make a purse, sachet, insole, sweat towel or other small things."

"My second uncle is right. I'll remember it." Qin Keqing nodded.

……

After her birthday, Tanchun sent out invitations one day to call everyone to meet. It turned out that a pot of roses she had grown was in full bloom, which gave her the idea to decide to hold a poetry club.

Li Wan's father was the chief academic officer of the Imperial College and came from a scholarly family; Xue Baochai was also a hermit living in the mountains and was full of talent; and Lin Daiyu was even more knowledgeable than Bi Gan... So when they saw that Tanchun was so interested, they naturally responded immediately.

Although Yingchun and Xichun were not fond of poetry, they were of course very happy to see their sisters so interested and decided to join in the fun.

Xiang Nan also knew that the days of these girls being free and carefree were numbered, because in two years at most, Yingchun would be married.

After that, it was him, Lin Daiyu, Xue Baochai, Tanchun, Xichun, etc. By then, the Grand View Garden would be dispersed, and not many people would be able to stay, and even fewer would be able to come back to reunite.

So he was willing to play with them and leave more good memories, so the Rose Club was convened immediately.

In order to facilitate their address, they were given nicknames: Tanchun was called Jiaoxiake, Yingchun was called Lingzhou, Xichun was called Ouxie, Li Wan was called Daoxianglaonong, Xue Baochai was called Hengwujun, Lin Daiyu was called Xiaoxiangfei, and Xiangnan was called Yihonggongzi.

(End of this chapter)