The destiny of all heavens begins in the Red Chamber

Seeing that Jia Huan seemed to have other opinions, Master Zheng simply asked directly. He felt that Jia Huan's perspective on some things was quite unique and could broaden thinking, making him a very good supplement.

Chapter 140: Finding the Right Balance (Please Subscribe)

"Sir, such things are very common in officialdom!"

Jia Huan spoke slowly: "The reason why it's hard to accept is because this happened to a relative, and it also involves the master's reputation!"

He wouldn't have spoken like that before. Did he think he was asking for trouble?

However, now that their influence and voice have increased, it's okay to be a little more unrestrained, as long as they have something to say.

As expected, the Second Master Zheng only frowned slightly, without flying into a rage and shouting at him.

"To be honest, the master might not like to hear it, but that's the truth!"

Jia Huan spoke calmly, but lowered his voice slightly: "Jia Yucun dared to do something that resembled a betrayal, frankly speaking, isn't it because he felt that the Rong Mansion's power was not enough to make him wary?"

Upon hearing this, Master Zheng Er's expression changed drastically. His recent experiences had made him particularly sensitive to such words.

Although he didn't slam his fist on the table and stand up, the sudden, violent heaving of his chest and the clearly audible heavy breathing revealed the turmoil in his emotions.

He estimated that even if something happened, the master wouldn't make a big fuss about it!

Jia Huan put it very bluntly: "After all, he is the Prefect of Jinling. The price to pay for transferring or removing him is simply too high!"

"If Jia Yucun senses something is amiss and directly sides with a high-ranking official in the cabinet, there could be a huge upheaval even in Jinling!"

"At that time, the master was only a junior official in the Ministry of Works, so there was really not much room for him to make a difference!"

"As for Uncle Wang, he is a military general after all. Unless we combine the power of the four major families in Jinling, it will be difficult for the Wang family to deal with the prefect of Jinling with their own strength!"

Are you kidding me? Do you really think the Protectorate Talisman is that powerful? No matter what, the Prefect of Jinling has already entered the upper echelons of the court. The next step would be either a regional governor or a high-ranking official in the court. It wouldn't be easy to take him down or transfer him.

In its heyday, the Rong family might have been able to do it easily, but now, forget about it.

As Jia Huan recounted his story, the expression on Master Zheng's face changed constantly, sometimes frowning and sometimes getting angry, his mood still not very calm.

"To be honest, if any other official had replaced Jia Yucun, they probably would have done the same thing!"

Jia Huan's tone remained calm, but his words were utterly blunt: "The Xue family lost their composure and exposed such a huge flaw; they are simply courting death!"

"If it weren't for the fact that the four great families were closely connected, Jia Yucun would still have some reservations. Do you think the Xue family mother and son could have left Jinling smoothly with their million-dollar fortune?"

Master Zheng was shocked and exclaimed instinctively, "Does Jia Yucun really have such audacity?"

"Hehe, such a good opportunity to fleece a fat sheep, if it were me, I would also take a big bite!"

Jia Huan's eyes were cold and sharp, and his words were even more cold and realistic: "The best part is that even if we take a big bite out of the Xue family, there won't be many problems afterward!"

"How rare and tempting is such an opportunity?"

Seeing the incredulous look on the Second Master's face, he chuckled and said, "At that time, Xue Pan voluntarily offered up the evidence of murder, not thinking it was a big deal at all!"

"The Xue family patriarch has just passed away, and the Xue family is in chaos. They are already fighting fiercely over the inheritance!"

"If they were to plot against the main branch of the Xue family and their son at this time, wouldn't some of the collateral branches of the Xue family applaud them?"

"Master thinks that under such circumstances, how could a cunning fellow like Jia Yucun possibly hold back? The fact that he didn't cause the Xue family to suffer a huge loss is already a great favor to the Rong Mansion and the Wang family!"

His words were reasonable, well-founded, and relevant to the realities of officialdom, leaving Master Zheng speechless.

"But Jia Yucun did betray us, so we must show some reciprocation!"

After frowning and pondering for a long time, the Second Master Zheng said, "Otherwise, if the news leaks, the Rong family will likely face a constant stream of troubles!"

"Then we'll find a way to bring him to the capital so he can be the main force for the master to collect debts!"

Jia Huan smiled sinisterly and said softly, "Let him do the kind of job where people actively come to collect debts, the kind that everyone dislikes!"

"If he does well, Jia Yucun will probably offend a lot of court officials, and he will have no choice but to obediently rely on the master and the Rong family, and dare not have the slightest thought of betrayal!"

"If he doesn't perform well, he could be a good candidate to draw the fire of the current emperor and his court officials!"

"There's another advantage: this fellow has already reached the third rank, so he's qualified to attend the minor court assembly!"

"When the time comes, let this fellow say what the master and Uncle Lin can't say!"

The words weren't exactly subtle, and the Second Master Zheng immediately understood, his eyes widening in disbelief.

The way he looked at Jia Huan changed slightly again.

That's why people say that anyone who has achieved something in history is hard to fathom.

What was originally a matter that greatly annoyed Master Zheng could easily be turned into a good thing by Jia Huan, and just hearing about it made him very excited.

Damn, just thinking about getting a high-ranking official of the third rank to do the dirty and hard work is exciting.

Indeed, after Jia Huan's analysis, it was clear that as long as Jia Yucun was transferred to the capital, he would have no choice but to act as a puppet master for the Second Master Zheng, or he would have no choice but to do so.

Xue Pan's affair can be used as leverage!

As Jia Huan said, times have changed.

Lord Zheng is currently the Minister of the Court of State Ceremonial, a fourth-rank official, and one of the Nine Ministers.

The prestige of the Ning and Rong mansions is much stronger than before.

Now, Jia Yucun dares not think that the Ning and Rong mansions can do anything to him as he did before!

Perfect! We can use Xue Pan's matter to our advantage; we're not afraid that this guy won't behave and submit!

Besides, he's been transferred to the capital, so I doubt he'll have any complaints!

As for the Xue family's dissatisfaction, it's nothing at all.

Do you really think that Master Zheng Er takes the Xue family seriously? That's impossible.

Based on Xue Pan's foolish behavior in Jinling, Master Zheng Er would definitely look down on him.

The fact that they didn't take advantage of their own problems to kick the Xue family out is already quite a show of respect.

The more he thought about it, the better he felt Jia Huan's idea was, and he nodded repeatedly with a relaxed smile on his face.

Jia Huan was also delighted. He didn't want to think about the Xue family's affairs, and he was even able to help Master Zheng make up his mind to transfer Lin Ruhai to the capital.

He added fuel to the fire: "Master, if Uncle Lin and Jia Yucun work together, there's another advantage!"

"Uncle Lin can be considered Jia Yucun's benefactor. Whether in the scholarly circles or in the civil service, Jia Yucun has to rely on Uncle Lin's help. There's really no need to worry that he will resort to tricks again!"

"If that's the case, then Jia Yucun will have effectively cut himself off from officialdom!"

The Second Master Zheng's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he had already made up his mind.

"How did the Xue family respond?"

Although Master Zheng didn't think much of the Xue family, as relatives, he still had to maintain appearances.

So, he still subconsciously asked.

"Learn from your mistakes!"

Jia Huan scoffed, "Let them wake up too. Don't think that just because the Xue family is rich and has relatives like the Rong Mansion and the Wang family, no one will dare to touch them!"

"Also, I will personally remind Xue Pan not to act so recklessly in the future!"

Master Zheng nodded in agreement, then turned and told Madam Wang about the situation, asking her to relay it.

Although Madam Wang was dissatisfied, she did not say anything more.

Master Zheng made it very clear that it was impossible to take down Jia Yucun.

If we force them to serve under a certain Grand Secretary in the Cabinet, we'll be doing all the work for someone else!

With his profound thoughts, he is not someone to be trifled with!

Therefore, he planned to transfer Jia Yucun to the capital to keep an eye on him and help him with some hard and tiring work. As for the Xue family, they would have to make do for now.

If there were no long-term consequences, Madam Wang would naturally want Jia Yucun to be finished.

However, since Jia Yucun had the power to resist and might even harm the Rong family's power, Lady Wang was not very happy about it.

Of course, what she told Aunt Xue was not the whole story.

It must have been through all sorts of hardship that they transferred him to the capital for close surveillance, to do the hard and tiring work, so that they could take him down as soon as they sensed anything amiss.

Incidentally, I also managed to get ten thousand taels of silver from the grateful Aunt Xue as a thank-you fee.

As for the current reward, forget about it. Let's just replace it with Xue Pan becoming a registered 'living person' again. There will be plenty of opportunities in the future.

Seeing this, Aunt Xue could only swallow her frustration; what else could she do?

Prince Teng is far away on the frontier, so we can't count on him at all.

Even with Aunt Xue's knowledge, she knew that it was unreliable for Wang Ziteng, a military general, to interfere in the affairs of civil officials, especially since he was a high-ranking civil official of the third rank.

After this incident, Xue Baochai had even greater ambitions and motivation to climb the social ladder.

With her shrewdness, how could she not have realized that the Xue family might have been temporarily abandoned?

But that's just how things are sometimes; what can you do when the Xue family's power isn't strong enough?

The atmosphere at Rika-in remained oppressive for several days before it eased.

Aunt Xue and her daughter Xue Baochai recovered quickly from the blow and soon became frequent visitors to Rongqing Hall and the second branch of the main hall, just like before.

Xue Pan, however, was so angry that he had no desire to get involved in the conflicts of the martial arts world.