The Red Mansion Big Liar.

Chapter 361 Asking for Remuneration
Wang Xifeng symbolically hesitated for a few times, then leaned on his arms and said, "What's going on with the old lady? She suddenly came to me last night and asked me to embezzle 60,000 taels of silver from the government, and also took some things and asked me to go out and sell them."

If she didn't know what was going on, she wouldn't have come to ask Zhang Yunyi, she just came to him for confirmation.

As if she was worried that Zhang Yunyi would not tell her the truth, Wang Xifeng quietly clamped her legs together, moved coyly a few times as if to please him, and looked at him eagerly.

Hearing Wang Xifeng asking this, Zhang Yunyi suppressed the temptation in his heart and said seriously: "Since the old lady needs it urgently, you can just give it to her. Why are you asking me?"

He remembered that Jia She had said that the 100,000 taels were contributed half by the government and half by Lady Jia, but now Wang Xifeng said that 60,000 taels were embezzled, which obviously meant that Lady Jia had kept some for herself.

So, while arguing with Wang Xifeng, he tried to find out the specific details indirectly.

As luck would have it, Wang Xifeng also had the same idea, and pretended to complain: "Of course I have to give it, but the government treasury plus the income from the farm this year only amount to more than 100,000 taels of silver. Half of it has been used up at once. I don't know how to make ends meet for this family next year. Since I'm in charge of the family, I can't be completely ignorant, right? But it's not easy to ask the old lady about this..."

"I do know a little bit..."

Zhang Yunyi smiled and said with a double meaning: "If my sister-in-law wants me to spit it out, it's not difficult..."

"Pah!" Wang Xifeng's cheeks flushed, and she spat, saying unhappily, "I knew you were such a heartless person with no good intentions!"

Although she was complaining, her pair of long legs with well-proportioned flesh were moving up and down very vigorously.

Zhang Yunyi raised his mouth with great satisfaction and said with a smile: "You know what the old lady meant originally, but now she wants the eldest girl to replace the second girl, so she has to make some compensation!"

He had no right to comment on how the money in Rongguo Mansion was spent. Now that he knew how much money was left in the government, his goal had been achieved and there was no need to hide it anymore.

Although Wang Xifeng originally knew that it was mostly for Yuanchun and thought it was just to prepare a dowry for her, she never expected it to be compensation for Jia She.

Hearing this, she was startled, her legs squeezed tighter together, she took a breath of cold air and exclaimed, "Why are there so many?"

"Hiss!" Zhang Yunyi also took a breath and grinned, "A lot?"

He thought to himself, there are still 40,000 taels that you don’t know about.

But Wang Xifeng came to her senses after hearing what he said, and said with a hint of confusion, "That's not right! Since you took 60,000 taels from the government, why did the old lady sell things? Even if she was preparing a dowry, these are rare and good things. It would be both decent and convenient to use them as a dowry. Why do you have to do something superfluous like this?"

"Tell me, what good stuff do you have?"

Zhang Yun逸 was not concerned about what Lady Jia was going to sell, but he was trying to find out how much personal wealth Lady Jia had through this indirect way.

"The ginseng is fine, you don't need it, but the duck-cheek fur coat and the golden pheasant fur coat are rare treasures. The old lady has kept them in the box for many years, and even Baoyu was reluctant to give them to her."

Storing gold, silver and valuables is the behavior of the nouveau riche. Even people like Lady Jia, who came from a prominent family, mostly collected all kinds of items.

Although she could give it all to Jia She to make up the number, she knew that her son was greedy and was afraid that he would take the opportunity to lower the price.

Only then did she pick out some items that were easy to sell and had a considerable price and asked Wang Xifeng to sell them.

In the original novel, these two fur coats were later given by Grandmother Jia to Jia Baoyu and Xue Baoqin respectively.

When Zhang Yun逸 heard that Lady Jia was selling it, he was quite happy.

So he asked indirectly, "Why would you sell such a good thing? Is the old lady going crazy because of lack of money?"

"This stuff is valuable and easy to sell. We can't just sell everything off. That would be disgraceful."

Wang Xifeng rolled her eyes at him and said, "Besides, I think even though the old lady has a lot of ginseng, it's not as good as the one you gave to Lin last time. Now that she has a grandson-in-law like you, what's the point of keeping those junks?"

The speaker may not mean it, but the listener may take it seriously. Just now, he was attracted by the golden pheasant fur coat and the duck-cheeked fur coat. When he heard Wang Xifeng mention ginseng, he remembered that the original book mentioned that when Wang Xifeng had a miscarriage, Mrs. Wang asked Lady Jia for ginseng. After getting two taels of it, she found that it had lost its medicinal properties.

If he took it out to sell now, he might not be able to sell it, so he couldn't help but feel happy.

Suddenly, he felt something tight under his body, and saw Wang Xifeng raising her hand and drawing circles on his chest. She twisted her body like a water snake and said, "Those golden pheasant fur coat and duck-cheeked fur coat are rare treasures. Rather than letting outsiders get them for free, you might as well buy them..."

Uh……

Zhang Yunyi secretly complained in his heart, after all this time, is he trying to sell it to me? Although it might be suspected of aiding the enemy, Jia's mother could still sell it. After all, it was a famous item in the original novel. As long as the price was right, it was not impossible to collect it.

So he bargained, "I don't need this... The crane cloak given by the emperor is still gathering dust in the storehouse!"

Wang Xifeng nudged him in the arms and said flatteringly, "You don't need anything, but I'm just thinking about our child. I looked at those two pieces, and they're a little too small for you..."

Depend on!
After all this fuss, you want to spend money but can't bear to do so, so you come to pay for it yourself.

"Why? Could it be that Second Madam can't afford it?"

"That's not the case. As a father, you should at least show some appreciation. Besides, if I buy it, the old lady will think I'm undercutting her. It would be better if you buy it and say it was given to you by someone else. Then you can sell it to someone else. The old lady won't be able to say anything."

As if she was worried that Zhang Yunyi would not agree, she quickly added: "If you are willing, these two pieces can be packed together for eight thousand taels of silver. I don't want the golden pheasant fur coat either, as long as you leave the duck-cheeked fur coat to our child..."

At this point, Wang Xifeng turned to Ping'er and said, "Quick, show it to me!"

Ok!

Wang Xifeng brought all her worries directly to him.

In the original novel, although Shi Xiangyun mocked the duck-cheek fur coat for being made of wild duck feathers, she was more like saying the grapes are sour because she couldn't eat them.

Although what she said was true, the tuft of fluff on the wild duck's head was not only waterproof but also colorful, which was really remarkable.

To make a fur coat, you need at least a thousand wild ducks, not to mention the fox fur lining with gold and silver threads, as well as the labor cost.

If the duck-cheek fur coat is like this, there is no need to say more about the pheasant-gold fur coat.

The two items together cost eight thousand taels, which is indeed very fair.

Anyway, it is given to his own child, so it can't be considered a bargain for outsiders. It can also lower the price of Lady Jia, so he is happy to do so.

Having said that, Zhang Yunyi glanced at the two fur coats Ping'er was showing and said in a flowery way, "They are just two useless things. How can they be as pretty as my sister-in-law?"

When Wang Xifeng shyly scratched his chest, he changed the subject and said, "But it seems that the old lady has a lot of good things. Why not see if we can dig out some more good things?"

"How to do it?" Wang Xifeng's eyes flickered, and she pursed her lips and said, "If the old lady doesn't want to, who else can do it?"

"It all depends on people!"

Zhang Yunyi smiled evilly and lied, "Ginseng is different from other things. Once it's old, its medicinal properties will be reduced. I've also seen the old lady's ginseng. I'm afraid it's quite old. You can just give it back to her and tell her that the people out there won't accept it. She'll have to pay out some good stuff to supplement it!"

He has always been good at taking advantage of the situation. Wang Xifeng took the initiative to lower the price, giving him this opportunity to try to squeeze more of Lady Jia's money.

Although it was highly likely that Lady Jia's ginseng would be difficult to sell, he was worried about meeting someone who didn't know its value, so this would be a sure bet.

"Really?" Wang Xifeng was a little skeptical. "Don't lie to me. What if the old lady asks someone else to sell it..."

"How could it be fake? If you don't believe me, bring the ginseng here some other day and let Mr. Zhen take a look!"

"Okay!" Wang Xifeng gritted her teeth and said, "Then let Ping'er take it and test it now!"

Ping'er agreed immediately after hearing this.

Zhang Yunyi ordered Ping'er as she was about to leave: "Close the door!"

He then hugged Wang Xifeng and staggered to a chair in the room and sat down. He grabbed Wang Xifeng's hair and pushed it down, saying with a smile, "Sister-in-law, you are very eloquent. You have fooled me so much in such a short time. I spent eight thousand taels of silver to make you happy. Now it's your turn to express your gratitude, right?"

……

(End of this chapter)