The Overlord of the Red Mansion

Chapter 173 Jia Yuanchun's Troubles
After a perfect end to a hard day's work, Jia Rong rode home on horseback.

As soon as I arrived at the door, I saw a group of people waiting.

Wang Ziteng's son came over and asked in a low voice: "Duke, my father asked me to come and pay my respects to you, Duke."

Jia Rong smiled as he sat on his horse and said, "Your father is asking about the emperor's health, right? Don't worry, he is well now. Go back and tell him to rest assured. Go to court tomorrow as scheduled."

Wang Ziteng and some people sent by high-ranking officials breathed a sigh of relief.

A new emperor has new ministers. Once the emperor changes, the court ministers will definitely change.

Jia Rong ignored these people and said to the servant who came to lead the horse, "This is the imperial horse given by the emperor. Take good care of it, clean the stable carefully, and use the best feed."

"Yes! Master!" The servants also noticed the extraordinary majesty of the horse.

Jia Rong rode his horse straight into the door, "I'm going to take a walk in the garden!"

It’s a long way from the front door to the garden behind. It usually takes more than ten minutes to walk there, but now it only takes one minute to get there by horse.

When Jia Rong rode his horse into the gate of Tianxiang Courtyard, the maids guarding the courtyard quickly pushed open the red door.

Jia Rong rode into the courtyard on horseback. After stopping his horse, he saw the maids hanging clothes to dry in the yard.

"Master!" The maids came over quickly and saluted.

Jia Rong looked at the clothes on both sides of the yard. There were sheets and blankets used in spring, as well as intimate clothes such as pants, underwear, socks, bellybands, and panties worn by women and girls.

Usually, Jia Rong is the only man who comes here. Even if other men come in occasionally, such as gardeners or stonemasons who do manual labor, they will clean up the yard in advance to prevent outsiders from seeing it.

Seeing Jia Rong looking at the girls' clothes, Qing Yun quickly walked over and said, "Please forgive me, Duke. I will ask them to put the clothes away so that they won't dirty your eyes."

Jia Rong smiled and said, "It's not like I haven't seen it before. It's normal to wash and dry clothes. It's nothing. I just remembered that it's about time to prepare more clothes for the maids. These clothes are not pretty enough. Let's wear them temporarily and change them for new ones in two months."

Shi Xiangyun came out of the house and saw Jia Rong riding a white horse. She quickly shouted into the house, "Come out and see! Big brother is coming on a big white horse!"

"What? Let me see!" Lin Daiyu and others quickly came out to watch the fun.

Jia Rong rode his horse slowly towards the door, and soon walked up to a few girls who looked excited and curious.

The tall horse under him was pure white. Although it was covered with some dust from the road, it still had an extraordinary temperament.

Jia Rong was wearing the uniform of a duke and a hat on his head. He was young, handsome and had an extraordinary temperament. The combination gave him a majestic aura that had not been felt before.

Shi Xiangyun praised, "Isn't it? What a beautiful white horse!"

Xue Baochai looked up at her husband and smiled happily, "The horse is a fine steed, and the man is also very heroic! This is our master, the Duke of Ningguo!"

Lin Daiyu laughed and said, "How long are you going to sit there stupidly? Are you waiting for us ignorant sisters to see you, just waiting for us to praise you? If I don't tell you, you will be anxious."

Jia Rong smiled and said directly: "I wanted to take you for a horse ride, but since you say I'm showing off, forget it."

Jia Xichun ran over excitedly, "My Lord, you are so handsome and suave! Take me for a ride! Look how much I'm praising you!"

Jia Rong quickly held Jia Xichun's waist with both hands and lifted the little girl up, "Sit tight!"

Then Jia Rong went straight up and was about to walk out with Jia Xichun.

Shi Xiangyun said happily: "I'll be the second one!"

Lin Daiyu looked at Jia Rong with grievance, which was obviously fake.

Jia Rong smiled and said, "We'll talk about it later. I'll take the horse to the stable first. I've been to a lot of places today. You guys wait for me at home. Is Yuanchun home?"

Jia Yuanchun walked out from behind the crowd and looked at the handsome man riding a horse, "Master, I'm here."

Jia Rong was riding a horse with Jia Xichun in his arms, and he said to the women below: "Today, the emperor has granted my surname. From now on, we will have different surnames. Are you satisfied?"

Jia Yuanchun looked at Jia Rong in disbelief, "Give him a surname?"

After hearing this, Lin Daiyu quickly stepped forward with a smile, knelt down and saluted Jia Rong, "Congratulations, Lord Guoxing!"

Seeing Lin Daiyu's action, the nearby maids quickly knelt down in front of Jia Rong and shouted in unison: "Congratulations, Lord Guoxing!"

Xing Xiuyan asked curiously, "If you are given the imperial surname, does that mean you have the same surname as the emperor?"

"Yes." Jia Rong gave an affirmative answer. "I have met with the Zongzheng who is in charge of the royal family members. From now on, whether it is my position in court or the expenses of daily etiquette, I will calculate it according to the royal family members."

"I am now a subordinate of the emperor's younger brother, Prince Xiao, and I am of the same generation as the crown prince. From now on, the Jia family tree will find a son from our family to inherit it, and the rest of us will inherit the imperial surname with me."

"We'll talk about the details later. Please invite the old lady over. I'll go take the horse to the stable and take care of it."

Xue Baochai's heart suddenly became excited.

Jia Yuanchun's son was to inherit Rongguo Mansion, and the remaining second child was Baoqin, but Baoqin's status and ability were obviously not enough. Wang Xifeng?
A widow who married into the family, and that woman was always causing trouble, and her son was nominally someone else's son. Although he was definitely Jia Rong's son, he was not orthodox in any way.

Xue Baochai's eyes were full of excitement, her hands were tightly grasping the handkerchief and fan, and a smile appeared on her face unconsciously.

When Lin Daiyu and others saw Jia Rong go out, they prepared to go back.

At this time, Lin Daiyu stretched out her hand and waved it in front of Xue Baochai, and said with a smile: "Sister, you are staring at me. Are you attracted to Tang Monk riding a white horse?"

Xue Baochai looked at Lin Daiyu with a smile, "You are the only one who knows how to talk. I think you are the one who is thinking about love the most!"

Lin Daiyu said anxiously: "You are it!"

Xue Baochai smiled. Lin Daiyu flirted with others all day long only because she relied on Jia Rong's favor. Xue Baochai was not afraid of the teasing of these little girls.

Seeing Xue Baochai making fun of her, Lin Daiyu did not make any explanation. She just turned around and walked quickly inside, ignoring her and ran away in defeat.

Jia Rong and Jia Xichun rode to the front yard to release the horses, fed them some food to enhance their relationship, and then walked back.

After wasting quite a bit of time, the old lady, Mrs. Wang, Li Wan and others had already arrived, along with Jia Zheng, Jia Baoyu and Jia Lan.

Jia Lan remained silent and looked in a bad state.

Jia Baoyu was talking to Jia Yuanchun, and the whole family gathered together lively.

The old lady said happily: "Sir, please sit down. Feng girl is not here, otherwise it would be even more lively today!"

Jia Rong sat near Jia Zheng, while Jia Baoyu and Jia Lan were standing.

Jia Baoyu stood near Jia Yuanchun, while Jia Lan and Li Wan stood behind Mrs. Wang.

Jia Rong said: "Now I have taken the emperor's surname. The emperor has long granted my family and Yuanchun's family the right to inherit the Rongguo Mansion. We can continue to have the surname Jia in the future."

Jia Yuanchun looked embarrassed. Although she and her husband had a different surname, which solved the problem that had been nagging her for more than ten years, she felt uncomfortable when she thought that her son would inherit his mother's surname instead of his father's.

The old lady naturally knew the problem and took the initiative to ask: "Can Jia Ben inherit the west and Jia Shu follow the east?"

Jia Rong shook his head. "Your Majesty is talking about one branch. Yuanchun's branch is originally the bloodline of the Rong Mansion. She has more western blood than my other children."

"Besides, Jia Ben and Jia Shu are still young. It's hard to say who will be better when they grow up. Besides, the children are still young now, so it's hard to say what will happen in the future."

Mrs. Wang felt that it would be troublesome if her grandson did not take his father's surname, so she said, "Can't they all take your surname?"

Not only did Jia Rong get the emperor's surname, he was also assigned by the emperor to the line of Prince Xiao, which had no right of succession to the royal family.

When the prince has children in the future, Jia Rong will be the emperor's uncle.

It is extremely difficult to be crowned king with a different surname, but it is much easier if it is the surname of the country.

By following Jia Rong, you can obtain royal status for free, which an ordinary person would never get in his entire life.

Even if it is slightly inferior to the real royal family, it is a threshold that ordinary people can never cross.

Among all the civil and military officials in the court, there has only been Jia Rong in the past few hundred years.

If they don't follow, the children will really hate their mothers in the future.

Jia Rong was firm in his attitude. "This is the emperor's will. Someone must inherit the western wing. Jia Lan will inherit the Rong Mansion in my hometown, and my Ning Mansion's branch in my hometown will be given to Baoyu. My children will inherit my place in the future."

Li Wan heaved a sigh of relief and said hurriedly, "Thank you, Lord Guoxing! Lan'er, thank you, Lord Guoxing!"

Jia Lan also knew that this was a huge fortune and that he would have a place to settle down in the future.

So he said politely: "Thank you, Lord Guoxing!"

Jia Baoyu also said politely: "Thank you, Lord Guoxing, and thank you, brother-in-law!"

Jia Rong smiled and said, "It's okay. We are all family. If I go everywhere, the emperor will not be happy if he knows. We should let go of what we should let go of."

Jia Yuanchun sighed in her heart, but had nothing to say.

The emperor's bestowal of a surname was a good thing for everyone else, except for Jia Yuanchun's family, which had the right of inheritance to the west.

Most of the house on the west side has been occupied by the one on the east side, and what was inherited was only the house, without the farmland and nearby properties.

Simply put, it means inheriting a big house!

Compared with the current Ning Mansion, his son seems like he was raised by a stepmother!
Jia Yuanchun was in an extremely complicated mood at this time. She wished her son was raised by a stepmother, which would be dozens of times better than it was now.

(End of this chapter)