Red Mansion, Ningfu Scholarly Family

Chapter 76 Aunt Lin bullies others by relying on her seniority.

……

It was already the end of June when Jia Rong returned to Beijing with the tax silver.

The clerks from the Ministry of Revenue had already received the news and were crowded at the Kyoto dock, waiting anxiously.

There is no way. The Ministry of Revenue has been empty for a long time and is anxiously waiting for this batch of tax silver to be replenished.

In addition to the Ministry of Revenue, two groups of people also came from the palace, waiting to divide the silver.

The two emperors had a very tight treasury.

As soon as several large ships under the Ningguo Mansion's flag docked, the crowd rushed over.

"Congratulations, young master, for safely transporting the tax silver to Kyoto. You have done a great job!"

"The eldest son also suppressed the rebellion in Weishan Lake on the way. He is truly a young hero!"

Jia Rong brought some silver, and the clerk from the Ministry of Revenue did not hesitate to flatter him.

A few eunuchs also came up to join in the fun.

"Master Rong, when the emperor heard that the tax silver arrived safely in Beijing, he said that he was a talented son of the Jia family!" A eunuch in red congratulated with a smile.

Jia Rong didn't know this eunuch, but he didn't dare to neglect him. He smiled and said, "It was all the adults who made the plans and the guards who fought bravely. It wasn't my contribution at all."

The red-robed eunuch smiled and said, "My Lord, you are too modest. I heard that many of your personal guards were injured?"

Jia Rong put on a sad face: "Indeed, it is very damaged."

There isn't much damage actually.
Water bandits are still water bandits after all, and they are no match for the elite guards of Ningguo Mansion, especially when a "sand youth" came at the end. He thought he was very handsome with a sword in his hand, and wanted to capture the enemy general among thousands of troops. As a result, he was surrounded and captured alive by the personal soldiers.

What is a pity is...

A girl with good swordsmanship ran away.

Originally, Jia Rong was going to dismiss everyone and discuss swordsmanship with the girl.

Unexpectedly, she chose to dive directly.

He doesn't even have the courage to fight Jia Rong!
It can be seen how high Jia Rong's swordsmanship has reached!
The red-robed eunuch smiled and consoled him, "Young Master, why do you have to do this? The guards died bravely protecting their master, so their deaths were well deserved."

"By the way, there's one more thing."

The red-robed eunuch whispered, "The Grand Emperor summoned Ling Zu to the palace today. I think the old man will make further progress soon."

"Oh!"

Jia Rong was overjoyed.

He hurriedly and quietly ordered Xiao Xiao to prepare a bank draft of 200 taels, handed it to the old eunuch calmly, and said with a smile: "Eunuch, have some tea."

The Qingliu people disdain making friends with eunuchs the most.

But the Jia family was destined not to be a clean family.

So there is no problem in making friends with eunuchs.

The old internal minister Dai Quan and Jia Jing are old friends. It is precisely because of Dai Quan's existence that Jia Jing is actually not much inferior to Prime Minister Ye.

The eunuch in red naturally accepted it with a smile.

This is a mutual show of goodwill and tacit understanding.

He had to accept it.

"I will go in and count the tax silver now. If you have any problems in the future, just let me know." After saying that, the eunuch laughed softly and said, "Is the tax silver good?"

"Intact."

As Jia Rong spoke, he handed over the document written by Lin Ruhai, the Imperial Censor of Yangzhou's Salt Inspection Office, and said solemnly, "Two million, six hundred and fifty-five thousand, eight hundred and ten taels of tax silver, not a penny less. Please check it, eunuch!"

The eunuch quietly gave a thumbs up and said, "Young Master is a sensible man. We will invite you to have tea when we are free in the future."

This batch of tax silver had been transferred several times since Yangzhou, and had even encountered pirates in the middle. Even if there was a shortage of 100,000 or 80,000 taels, the emperor emeritus could not say anything.

The fact that Jia Rong was able to bring every penny of tax money to the capital shows his true character.

But then again, if one can leave a good impression on the Emperor, a mere 100,000 taels of silver is nothing.

At one point, a eunuch in red led people to count the tax silver. Jia Rong asked quietly and found out that the eunuch in red was actually... Xia Shouzhong!

……

It would take some time to count the tax silver, so Jia Rong waited on the boat until the evening when the tax silver was finally counted without missing a single cent. The task was finally completed successfully.

Xia Shouzhong no longer had time to chat with Jia Rong. He was busy competing with the Ministry of Revenue to discuss the distribution of tax silver.

Jia Rong took the Xue brothers and sisters back to Ningguo Mansion.

Xue Baoqin sat on the carriage sent by Ning Mansion, raised her hand to lift the curtain at one corner of the window and looked out, smiling: "Kyoto is indeed different from Jiangnan. The mansions everywhere are magnificent and majestic." Jia Rong rode a horse outside and smiled: "These are all the mansions of dukes and marquises. The one in front is the mansion of Shenwu General, and this is the mansion of Jingtian Marquis. Further ahead is Ningrong Street. Our Ningguo Mansion is in the east, and Rongguo Mansion is in the west."

"Grandpa means that you should live in Ning Mansion first when you come to Beijing. Anyway, there are many houses here, and it is convenient to do some things. You can slowly look for a suitable residence later."

Xue Ke said hurriedly: "Then I'm sorry to bother Brother Rong."

Jia Rong smiled and said, "We are family, there is no need to disturb us."

As they were talking, they had already arrived at Ningguo Mansion.

There are two big stone lions at the door.

There are a few big characters on the plaque above the door:
The Ningguo Mansion was built by imperial decree!

The three-room gate with animal-shaped roofs was closed. A few well-dressed servants were sitting in front of the gate, talking. Suddenly, they saw Jia Rong and his party, and hurried forward to greet them.

"Uncle Rong is back!"

"Ah."

Jia Rong nodded, dismounted, and a servant hurried forward to lead the horse to the stable.

"The master should be back from the palace by now. Let's go see him first." Jia Rong patted Xue Ke on the shoulder and said.

Xue Ke said nervously, "Should I go see the master now? Or should we wait until tomorrow morning to make it more formal?"

Jia Rong said, "It's all right. Master doesn't care about these empty formalities. Sister Baoqin can go inside to see the young aunt... Forget it. It's fine if we can just talk about our own affairs."

Xichun may not recognize this niece.

"Okay, I'll listen to Brother Rong."

Xue Baoqin nodded obediently, and took Xiaojiao to the inner courtyard to find Aunt Xichun.

But when Xichun heard that a man named Xue wanted to stay at home, she was not very happy at first. But after seeing Xue Baoqin's appearance, her attitude changed immediately, and she affectionately called Baoqin "Xiao Qin'er".

"Qin'er, you can just stay here. I'll ask them to clean up the yard for you."

Xue Baoqin said hurriedly, "I heard Brother Rong say that we can use the courtyard on the west side to stay temporarily. So we don't need this one anymore, right?"

Xichun smiled and said, "That's the outer courtyard. Your brother lives there, so you should live here. There's an aunt here too, so we can talk and have fun together on weekdays."

"There is another aunt? Is she from the West Mansion?" Xue Baoqin asked with a smile.

When they came, Xue Ke and his sister naturally asked around and found out that the Ningguo Mansion was not very populous.

There was only one older girl, who was still very young.

An old man has been bedridden for many years.

Brother Rong is the only legitimate grandson.

Xichun smiled and said, "No, I'll introduce the aunts over there to you another day. This is Aunt Lin."

As she spoke, Xichun pulled Baoqin and said, "Come on, I'll take you to meet Aunt Lin."

Lin Daiyu was writing an article under the window.

In the past two months, she has read almost all of Jia Rong's books. As she already had some basic knowledge, she can now write eight-part essays with ease.

She now really wants to compete with her eldest nephew Jia Rong.

"Sister Lin!"

Xichun ran into Daiyu's room with a smile.

"Look who's coming!"

Lin Daiyu stopped writing, raised her eyes and smiled: "Could it be the niece of the Xue family?"

"Sister Lin is so smart!"

Xichun waved to the outside and said with a smile, "Come and meet Aunt Lin."

Baoqin walked into the supplies with a smile and bowed slightly: "Meet Aunt Lin."

Lin Daiyu smiled and said, "She is indeed a good girl. No wonder Rong'er has been looking forward to it since early morning."

Xue Baoqin's face suddenly turned red, and she said pitifully, "Aunt Lin is bullying me because of her seniority."

Xichun smiled and said, "Sister Lin, Xiaoqin'er just arrived today."

Lin Daiyu smiled and said, "I was just joking, Xiaoqin, come and sit down."