The Overlord of the Red Mansion

Chapter 119 The Four Maids
Anyway, the person who knew witchcraft is dead, so the matter is left unresolved.

The follow-up investigation is the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice. Jia Rong does not believe in ghosts and gods, nor is he afraid of this.

The next day, Jia Rong had dinner at home, along with his mother, Lady Jia, and others.

Li Wan was there too, her face full of embarrassment and awkwardness.

Li Wan seldom meets men outside of her, and even has to avoid suspicion with Jia Zheng, but now she always eats with Jia Rong.

However, the most embarrassing thing at this moment was not having dinner together, but trying hard to curry favor with the powerful Ningguo Duke. He didn't even look at her. Even her own cousin might not be successful here because of her.

Jia Rong said, "The person who cast the curse has been found out. It was Ma Dao Po who cast the curse. She has Jia Baoyu and Jia Lan's villains in her house, as well as the five hundred taels of silver given by Aunt Zhao."

When the old lady heard this, she was heartbroken and angry.

"It turned out to be that bitch! I was wondering why she said such sarcastic things to me that day, it turned out to be her doing!"

"She thinks that now that I have lost Baoyu and Lan'er, everything in the house will belong to them? She's dreaming! I want them to die together!"

Family members killed their own family members, and the one who was a cheap woman with the status of a concubine or aunt wanted to kill the old lady's grandson and great-grandson!

It's not an exaggeration for this old lady to want to kill him.

Even Lady Wang, who usually had a good temper and was very tolerant of Aunt Zhao, had a murderous look on her face at this moment.

Madam Wang cursed, "That rude bitch, catch her and beat her to death!"

Jia Tanchun, who was eating at a nearby table, hurriedly got up and came over.

"Brother-in-law...is this true?"

Jia Rong looked at her and sighed, "It's absolutely true. This matter is no longer my responsibility. I have already attributed this matter to Aunt Zhao alone. Jia Huan doesn't seem to know about this matter either. It will not be easy for him to stay in the capital. I have someone send him to his uncle."

"Everyone has his own share of responsibility. Although I won't vent my anger on your brother, he has done a lot of sneaky things in the west. Let's just consider it as an early separation."

Tanchun felt even more ashamed now. Her family had done so many immoral things, how could she face Jia Yuanchun and old lady Wang Fu-ren?

Xue Baochai understood this kind of thing very well. She also had a shameful brother. No matter how hard she tried to appear dignified and virtuous, she would feel ashamed as soon as others talked about her brother.

Fortunately, she only has one ignorant brother, but Tanchun is the one whose mother and brother are both disappointing.

Xue Baochai quickly decided to win over Jia Tanchun. Their experiences were similar, so it was easy for her to gain Jia Tanchun's friendship.

Tanchun is also the sister of Xichun and Yingchun, and is very helpful in infiltrating the threechun's small team.

Xue Baochai has already realized Lin Daiyu's disadvantage. Lin Daiyu can't help at all with Jia Rong's affairs. If she wants to get close to Jia Rong as soon as possible, she must either go to Wang Xifeng and Youshi, or get close to Sanchun Shi Xiangyun.

She didn't get along well with Shi Xiangyun, and there was a gap between her and Wang Xifeng, who didn't like her at all, which led to Youshi also being lukewarm towards her and unwilling to pay any attention to her.

All the girls in Youshi's courtyard are from official families. Youshi has a father who is an official. Her second and third sisters also came from landlords' families to officials' families. Qin Keqing's father is now a third-rank official in the Ministry of Works. Wang Xifeng is also from an aristocratic family and is unwilling to deal with a scheming businessman like Xue Baochai.

Everyone has their own thoughts. Li Wan now just wants to cling to Jia Rong's thigh.

"My Lord, is Lan'er okay? This incident was all caused by Aunt Zhao. It has nothing to do with Lan'er. My son was wrongly accused."

Jia Rong said directly: "But Baoyu just didn't want to live anymore, but your son went out to kill people in the streets, killing more than one or two people. Although he is young, you won't arrest him and put him in jail, but you can forget about taking the imperial examination in the future."

Li Wan's only hope in this life is for her son to pass the imperial examination and for her to wear the clothes of a lady of imperial decree by virtue of her identity as the mother of a high-ranking official.

Passing the imperial examination is Li Wan's only life plan for Jia Lan. Apart from this, there is no other way out.

Now that this only road is blocked, Li Wan’s life prospects have completely collapsed!

"We can't do this!" Li Wan quickly stood up, knelt down in front of Jia Rong and said, "Duke! I beg you to be kind and save my son!"

Jia Rong stood up and said angrily, "You want me to do everything for you? Do you think I owe you anything? Let's go back to your house after dinner. Send her back later. Even if she has to kneel, we'll carry her out!"

After saying this, Jia Rong just left, not paying any attention to the woman who was kneeling.

The old lady had a sad face and was speechless.

Mrs. Wang also felt that her family was unfortunate and felt ashamed.

After Jia Rong left, Wang Xifeng came over from another table and advised, "The old lady and the madam should stay here. The Duke may have a bad temper at other times, but he is very easy to talk to the old lady and the madam most of the time."

"Now that Master Zheng and Baoyu live together, there is no need to worry about anything else. With Master's current ability, even if he can't do it in the next few years, can he still do it in a few years?"

"Sister Xiangyun's aunt and sister were rescued and are living a good life. Uncle has been locked up all this time. Maybe he will be rescued in the future."

"Don't bother the master with other things for now. Besides, Jia Lan and Jia Baoyu can't pass the imperial examination now, so it doesn't hurt to wait a few more years."

Jia Yuanchun then comforted him, "Mother, grandmother, don't worry. There is more to becoming an official than the imperial examination."

Xue Baochai also said: "Yes, let alone Baoyu and others, even if it is my useless brother, if the master wants to promote him, it is just a matter of giving a heads up."

The general impression is that one has to pass the imperial examination to become an official, get one's name on the list, and be assigned a job after passing the imperial examination.

But in fact there were four ways in this dynasty: imperial examination, imperial seal, recommendation, and donation.

Examples of these situations can be found in people around us. For example, Jia Yucun was originally a member of the imperial examination system, but after being demoted, he relied on the recommendations of the Jia and Wang families to become an official.

Jia Zheng wanted to get a job through the imperial examination, but his father, Jia Daishan, submitted a petition to the emperor before his death, and the emperor granted him an official position, which was considered a "prerogative".

Jia Rong was a legitimate imperial examinee, and he won the emperor's favor by passing the imperial examination. Donations were even more common, and Jia Lian himself donated the title of Tongzhi, just to save face. With an official position, it would be convenient for him to go out to do business or drink and party.

Having money and power does not necessarily mean you can become a high-ranking official, but it is definitely much easier for you to enter officialdom than for ordinary people.

Jia Yuanchun helped Li Wan to stand up and sighed, "Master has been busy lately, sister-in-law, please don't delay Master's work of refining medicine for His Majesty. Lan'er is still young, so let's wait a few years first."

Li Wan burst into tears, but she could only agree, and continued crying, "How can I, a widow, live with my father-in-law and uncle? If it gets out, people will laugh at me. I beg you to let me and my widow stay here, so that Lan'er won't learn bad things and bring shame to the Jia family!"

Jia Yuanchun felt sorry for what she said, and thought of her mother and grandmother coming. Only her father and brother were at home, so it was not appropriate to leave her widowed sister-in-law at home alone.

Jia Yuanchun looked at Wang Xifeng, who quickly said, "There are many people in the mansion, so there are some places in the north backyard. The northeast is where the servants live, and there is a quiet Ningxi Pavilion by the river in the northwest. It is not a good place because it is by the street and the river, but it happens to be in the garden."

What Jia Yuanchun needs is Wang Xifeng to share the risk with her, so the quality of the place is not important.

"That's it." Jia Yuanchun nodded in agreement. This was not only Wang Xifeng's suggestion, but also represented the support of Youshi's courtyard. It would also be convenient for Jia Rong to share the burden if he asked.

Grandmother Jia and Mrs. Wang did not interrupt. Seeing that the matter could be resolved well, they felt relieved.

Some are happy and some are sad, and all the people in the yard gather together.

Qingwen was making shoes for Jia Rong while talking about the crisis.

"The maids from the eldest wife's room came in."

Lin Hongyu, Yuanyang and Ping'er naturally understood that it referred to the maids in Mrs. Wang's courtyard.

Ping'er drank her tea, put down her teacup and said with a smile, "I came in yesterday. Today, Madam has moved into the garden, so it's time for me to go back and serve her."

Lin Hongyu said quickly, "Of course not! I looked for a long time when I was having dinner just now. There were only embroidered phoenixes and phoenixes left beside the lady, but the gold and jade bracelets and colorful clouds and mists were gone."

Yuanyang said, "Maybe he is cleaning the house. He doesn't go to every room when eating."

Qingwen hummed and said, "We are not overthinking. The master has few maids to begin with. He didn't call us yesterday and today. The four maids in the mistress' room are first-class maids. Apart from the maids in the old lady's and Baoyu's rooms, the mistress's room is the best."

Ping Er smiled and said, "Who are you praising? I only remember one person who came from the old lady's room. I also only remember one person who followed the old lady and Master Bao and then came here."

Yuanyang laughed. She came directly from the old lady's room, while Qingwen had been to both rooms.

In fact, among the maids who became concubines, Yinglian was originally from the Ning Mansion, Yuanyang belonged to Lady Jia, Ping'er was Fengjie's dowry, Qingwen was from Baoyu's room, and Xiaohong was the daughter of an ordinary servant, an ordinary maid with no affiliation.

There are ones from all over the place, and the main goal is to treat everyone equally.

At this time, outside the main house in the front yard, several maids who had just served Jia Rong dinner came out to chat.

Bai Jinchuan came back from outside, "Is the master in the room? The eldest lady asked me to come and see."

Yuchuan said, "She is taking a nap, let's not disturb her."

Bai Jinchuan nodded, and was in no hurry to go back to report. She stood beside the wooden railing under the eaves and chatted with the other three.

"The eldest wife asked the four of us to serve the master here, and we will work here from now on."

Yuchuan smiled and said, "This is great. The food and things here are good, there is plenty of money, and the master is a good person."

Bai Jinchuan joked: "Yes, if you are lucky, you can even become an aunt!"

Yuchuan laughed and said, "I think you are the one who is thinking about love. It hasn't been long since you started, but you have already become a slut. You woke up from your dream in the morning, and it started again at noon!"

Caixia and Caiyun both smiled with their lips pursed.

Jinchuan has no sense of shyness. She and Yuchuan are sisters, and are also good friends with Caixia and Caiyun, so they naturally have everything to talk about.

"I think this is what our wife meant. She asked the four of us to come and serve her, and the Duke also agreed. When I was changing his clothes yesterday, his hand even touched my butt."

Yuchuan didn't believe it. "That bitch Qingwen has been with the Duke for so long, but she is still a girl. How can you be more romantic than her? I think your butt touched the Duke's hand!"

Not only Yuchuan didn't believe it, Caixia and Caiyun didn't believe it either.

"It must have hit you when you bent over."

"That's right. We were all here yesterday. Don't talk nonsense. If the grandmothers find out that you said that about the Duke, they will kick you out."

After hearing this, Bai Jinchuan also said carefully: "Maybe I touched it accidentally."

The four maids continued to chat, dreaming of becoming aunts.

After living in poverty with Madam Wang for more than a year and going through a hard life for a year or two, he finally didn't want to leave after spending two days of comfortable life back in Ning Mansion.

However, just when the four maids were dreaming, Qingwen and Xiaohong decisively launched a fierce attack, directly dragging Ping'er and Yinglian to live in the front yard, leaving only Yuanyang to work in the backyard with Jia Mu.

Qingwen and Lin Hongyu quickly took charge of Jia Rong's daily washing and dressing, and treated the four maids as inferior maids, not allowing them to get close to Jia Rong.

Things like bathing, changing clothes and warming the bed are all done by Qingwen, while things like pouring water, massaging legs, passing messages and fanning are done by Xiaohong and Yinglian. Normally, talking is done by Ping'er and others in turn.

From daily living and washing to talking, relaxing and wiping butts, Ping'er, Xiaohong, Qingwen, Yinglian and others didn't give the four newcomers any chance at all.

Mrs. Wang may have the intention of supporting four maids, but Jia Yuanchun obviously does not support it, and Grandmother Jia also does not support the shameful behavior of having too many maids.

(End of this chapter)