After the rebellion was successful, I realized that this place was the Red Mansion

Chapter 60: Heaven's Majesty
After collecting the keys, Xue Baochai, Lin Daiyu and Xue Baoqin were surrounded by maids and servants like stars surrounding the moon, and returned to Jia Mu's room to discuss what to do next.

Jia Zheng and others had gone back, so it was inconvenient for them to meet. Now that there were young girls from the Shi and Wang families at home, the backyard was already overcrowded.

Only Jia Lian went. When he entered the house, he saw the old lady and the old lady of the Shi family sitting in the first seat, and Sister Lin and the other two sitting at the bottom. He quickly stopped them and said with a smile, "Old lady... our house has been ransacked now, so Sister Lin and Miss Bao should sit at the top!"

Everyone looked at him in surprise.

Jia Lian forced a smile on his face but sighed in his heart. The more Prince Qian favored the girls in the mansion, the less his family members thought their house had been raided and they still thought it was something that had happened before.

They don’t care if the men of the Jia family don’t leave home for a day!

After a few days when the men of the Jia family were kicked out of the house, they realized that Prince Qian’s favor was not given for nothing!
Grandmother Jia hurriedly stood up and said, "Lin girl, Bao girl, come and sit down. It's your turn to manage this household now!"

Baoqin couldn't refuse. After she came to the Jia family, she received many favors from the old lady. How could she let the old lady sit with her?
Baochai was very careful in her words and actions. She glanced at everyone and saw that the maids and old women were all watching her.

Daiyu stood up, walked over to help Jia's mother, who had risen, and said to Baochai and Baoqin:
"The old lady is the ancestor of the mansion, and everyone respects her. Moreover, it would be difficult to manage the huge Rongguo Mansion without the old lady's former prestige. The old ancestor should still sit in the first seat. I wonder what Sister Bao and Sister Qin think?"

Baoqin naturally agreed, and Baochai also smiled and said, "Sister Lin is right. Now the three of us have been appointed by Prince Qian to take charge of this palace for the time being, but we are young after all and don't know how to manage these things. We still have to rely on the old lady, the lady, and Feng girl to assist us in management."

Daiyu laughed and said, "Since they are assistant managers, they must be provided with adequate food and clothing. They cannot be treated the same as servants."

She looked at Baoqin and then at Baochai with a negotiating look.

This gets to the point.

Wang Xifeng laughed and said, "If that's the case, then haven't I also received great favors from Prince Qian? I should have kowtowed just now!"

Everyone laughed, and Wang Xifeng glanced at Jia Lian, but Jia Lian avoided her gaze.

Grandmother Jia held her granddaughter's hand and said with a smile, "Don't make things difficult for Lin and Bao. You should just follow the orders given by Prince Qian. Don't act recklessly just because Prince Qian favors you. If you don't manage things well, you will inevitably be punished when you enter the palace in the future."

No one took anything seriously when Lady Jia said this unintentionally. They all saw that Prince Qian particularly valued Lin Daiyu and the other two, and had specially picked them out from among the other young girls.

But to Jia Baoyu, it was like a bolt from the blue!
"Grace...Prince Qian's grace, entering the palace...Even the old lady said so!"

Jia Baoyu's tears started to flow again. He stood there in a daze, his whole body feeling as if he had been struck by lightning.

If he had been wronged like this in the past, everyone would have rushed to comfort him, but now, only Lin Daiyu glanced at him, and the others were busy discussing things.

After discussing for a while, everyone decided:

The old lady, the mistress, Wang Xifeng, Aunt Xue, Li Wan, the eldest lady, Jia Zheng, Jia She and others were designated as assistants to the housekeeping staff, and their food, clothing and other expenses were reduced to half of the previous amount. The rest were demoted to servants and maids.

Originally, Mrs. Wang wanted to include Baoyu, but without waiting for anyone else to say anything, Jia Baoyu refused on his own.

After the discussion, everyone was quite happy.

Only Jia Lian, who was watching from the sidelines, sighed deeply!
"Lian'er, do you think it's inappropriate?" Mrs. Xing asked hurriedly.

Everyone looked at him. Jia Lian, having received orders from his elder sister Yuanchun, dared not utter a single word. After a moment's silence, he sighed to Lady Jia, "Grandmother, now our entire family...are all slaves!"

After that, he bowed and said goodbye without saying anything else.

Prince Qian's wrath was unleashed, and they were still dreaming, relying on his favor. From the old lady to the maids and servants, none of them knew that Prince Qian was about to drive out all the men in the Jia family, and they thought that Prince Qian had shown mercy.

Even the clever Lin Daiyu and Bao Girl were the same. They all thought that Prince Qian wanted them to enter the palace, so he showed them mercy and allowed them to have discretion in the management of the household.

Only when Jia Lian heard Sister Yuanchun's warning with his own ears did he realize that Prince Qian was deliberately letting them go. He was both favoring the girls and hanging the power of heaven over their heads.

……

He returned home and sat there feeling melancholy.

Wang Xifeng also returned home and wanted to come in to ask about things, but when she saw his worried look, she couldn't help but stop, leaned on the doorstep, and stared at him for a long time with her almond-shaped eyes.

"Look at you, are you trying to be as sentimental as Sister Lin?" Wang Xifeng said with a smile.

Jia Lian, who was being teased, had no mood to play with her and said nothing.

Wang Xifeng sneered and said, "The old lady sent me to ask you what you meant by that statement. You dare not pass it on. Do you really think the ladies in the mansion are just maids?"

Jia Lian glanced at her and didn't think his wife was that beautiful. But now he looked at her again, she had a slim figure, pretty eyebrows, a coquettish body, and a dignified face. She was really a beauty.

Unfortunately, it no longer belongs to him.

Jia Lian stood up and called out, "Ping'er, come and pack my things. I'm going to live out of the study tonight!"

How could he dare to stay at home? Not only did he not dare to stay, he didn't even dare to touch Wang Xifeng and Ping'er!
No matter what she said, Jia Lian packed up his things and left home.

"You are such a good guy, Mr. Lian. Once you leave, don't come back!" Wang Xifeng pointed at him and cursed, but she had no choice but to report to the old lady.

After hearing this, everyone looked at each other in confusion.

Originally, because Jia Lian had the power to submit memorials directly to the emperor and had been summoned by Prince Qian, they all thought that Prince Qian would show mercy. But now, it seems that this is not the case. Shi Xiangyun, who had been silent for a long time, said, "Prince Qian wants the girls to enter the palace before he will issue an imperial decree of pardon."

Lin Daiyu subconsciously looked at Baoyu, but saw that he was in a state of disarray and could not hear anything.

Shi Xiangyun lowered her head and said sadly, "Prince Qian has used both kindness and force. He's shown mercy to our families, but he's also ordered the girls from the Shi and Wang families to leave. Those who remain are sent to the imperial palace to await his final decision...Prince Qian knows all about our families. Now it seems he'll show us kindness, but he'll also demand that we...enter the palace and serve him wholeheartedly."

Her face flushed with shame, and she looked at her grandmother, trying hard to hold back her tears: "Grandmother, Yun'er is willing to enter the palace to plead with Prince Qian. If my sisters cannot enter the palace in the future, I will also ask Prince Qian to release them!"

After receiving the imperial edict, the Shi and Wang families discussed privately whether to leave the Jia family or stay here.

Some young sisters wanted to leave, while some wanted to stay, because they saw that Prince Qian did take care of the Jia, Xue, and Shi families. If they stayed, they might be made concubines by Prince Qian, and their families would be pardoned.

"That's all."

Grandmother Jia said to Lin Daiyu and the other two, "According to Prince Qian's instructions, all of you, except you, will be provided with food and clothing as servants, at the rate of those little maids who are paid a hundred yuan a month."

A hundred yuan a month is the lowest-ranking maid servant in the Jia family.

Xue Baochai felt that this was inappropriate, and Lin Daiyu also said, "This will definitely cause chaos."

The ordinary maids and servants in the Jia family are better off than those outside, but now they are forced to eat coarse food. How can they control those old women?

Baoqin said, "There won't be any chaos. There are hundreds of Qian Wang's soldiers outside."

Baochai subconsciously looked outside, as if thinking about something.

Daiyu was not in good health, and it was not easy for her to hold on until now. She said softly, "I still think that the food of the old ladies and the ladies is better. If Prince Qian blames me, just ask him to punish me."

Knowing that they were concerned about Prince Qian, Daiyu didn't say much. She said goodbye to the old lady and went back to Xiaoxiang Pavilion to rest.

The people who stayed behind discussed it for a while, but did not listen to her. They still followed Yuanchun's intention conveyed by Jia Lian and reduced the food, clothing and other expenses of everyone in the mansion to maids and servants.

After changing out of their nice clothes, the people from the Shi and Wang families were busy asking Jia Lian to rent a house. The young girls had just settled down, and now they had to move out again, so they couldn't help but cry again.

It wasn't until dinner time, when the clock rang and the maids began to serve the food, that they were surprised to see their jaws drop.

A maid brought a bowl of white rice into Jia's room, another maid brought a bowl of stir-fried cabbage, and another maid brought a small bowl of duck meat.

A bowl of rice and two bowls of vegetables were neatly placed on Lady Jia's rosewood eight-immortals table.

There were more than thirty maids and old women serving inside and outside the house. Madam Wang and Madam Xing were also serving on the side. There were Western glass kang screens, Ru kiln flower vases, gold, jade, pearls, golden python backrests, etc. in the house. Which one of the furniture was not worth hundreds of taels of silver?

But even in such a luxurious house, Jia Mu's meal tonight was only a bowl of rice made from old rice and two dishes, one vegetarian and one meat.

Seeing this scene, all the maids and servants in the room fell silent.

"Madam, this..." Mrs. Wang was very embarrassed. This amount of food was really not presentable.

There were only two dishes, why was it necessary for her and Madam Xing to serve them?!

Especially the duck meat, there were only five or six pieces, and it was gone in just a few bites.

Grandmother Jia was quite calm. She picked up the bowl and chopsticks and said with a smile, "These are what the little girls usually eat. It's okay. It's good to be alive. Don't complain when you eat later. Whatever Prince Qian gives you is what you get."

Just as she was about to eat, someone suddenly announced, "Miss Lin has brought the old lady a meal, two dishes, and a soup: green stem rice, steamed lamb with milk, pine goose fat rolls, and ham and bamboo shoot soup!"

Only when four fragrant dishes were served did Lady Jia's table look better.

When Mrs. Xing smelled the fragrance, she actually swallowed her saliva. She also thought that when she went back to eat later, she would also eat the food of the maids!

"What does Baoyu eat?" asked Grandmother Jia.

"We also eat one meat and one vegetable," someone replied.

"Hurry up and ask him to come and eat with us!" Grandmother Jia hurriedly ordered.

After a while, the maid came back: "Old lady, Master Bao said he would rather die than eat King Qian's food!"

"This evil creature!" Mrs. Wang said helplessly.

Grandmother Jia sighed and ignored him.

On the other side, Aunt Xue also received food sent by her daughter Baochai. The maids all said that the girl would enter the palace and become a concubine in the future.

At the same time, Jia Zheng, Jia She, Jia Zhen and other men, Li Wan, Wang Xifeng, Youshi, Miaoyu, Shi Xiangyun, Yingchun, Tanchun and others, only ate the maids' meals tonight, one meat and one vegetable, nothing extra.

At Ningguo Mansion, Qin Keqing leisurely ate the dinner she had received thanks to Prince Qian's favor. She did not give the food to Jia Zhen and Jia Rong, but ate it by herself.

She was thinking about one thing:
After the Ningguo Mansion was ransacked, was she still a daughter-in-law of the Jia family, or a palace maid in the Ye Ting Palace waiting to be summoned by Prince Qian?

(End of this chapter)