The destiny of all heavens begins in the Red Chamber

Of course, simply having a superior social status wouldn't warrant such a reaction.

The key point is that what happened during the Mid-Autumn Festival led to Jia Huan's status as a gang leader being directly recognized by the local thugs.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is considered a very important festival in the Great Qian Dynasty.

That night, a large-scale Mid-Autumn Festival lantern festival will be held in the capital, similar to the Lantern Festival.

The day before the Mid-Autumn Festival, Ni Er, nicknamed "Drunken Vajra," who had joined Jia Huan's ranks after being introduced by Jia Yun, suddenly told Jia Huan some bad news.

A group of beggars who had taken up residence at the City God Temple in the North City planned to make a fortune in the West City during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

According to Ni Er, this group of beggars mainly engaged in begging.

They're here to make a quick buck, and their target is all too clear.

Damn it, how could Jia Huan possibly stand it?

Putting aside everything else, during the Mid-Autumn Festival lantern festival, the entire Rong family would go out of the mansion to enjoy the lanterns.

Including the three sisters, Lin Daiyu and the old lady, as well as the ladies, even Aunt Zhao wanted to join in the fun.

Not to mention the large number of maids and servants who followed them out.

If something goes wrong, things could get really messy.

Not only the Rong family members, but also the Ning family members and many other families from powerful and wealthy households, all planned to take advantage of the Mid-Autumn Festival lantern festival to get some fresh air and enjoy the lanterns.

Jia Huan immediately used his connections with thugs like Ni Er to gather all the local ruffians and hooligans, assigning them all the task of strict guarding.

On that same occasion, Jia Huan took an extremely firm stance, stating that if any fellow was negligent and an accident occurred, he would be sent to the coal mine of the Imperial Household Department outside the city to work as a laborer.

Afterwards, Jia Huan told Jia Lian about the matter.

This terrified Jia Lian, who then wanted to make a scene so that everyone would know.

He was stopped by Jia Huan. If outsiders knew that the legitimate son of a first-class general of the Rongguo Mansion was actually frightened by a group of low-life beggars, would he have no shame?

Of course, we can't pretend we don't know about this.

He and Jia Lian went directly to the study of Master Zheng, Mengpo Studio, to explain the matter.

The Second Master Zheng was furious. He immediately took out his calling card and ordered Jia Lian to go to the West City Command Post of the Five Cities Garrison and ask the soldiers there to cooperate in wiping out that group of ungrateful beggars.

This is how the powerful and wealthy normally operate when they are in charge!

Why spend your own money and effort when you can clearly mobilize the resources of the government?

In short, during the Mid-Autumn Festival lantern festival, Jia Huan's gang of thugs, in close cooperation with the officers and soldiers of the West City Command of the Five Cities Garrison, almost wiped out the gang of beggars at the North City God Temple!

Honestly, with the cooperation of local strongmen, it's quite effective in preventing those underhanded and shady methods.

It was a miracle that no children went missing at the Mid-Autumn Festival lantern festival in Xicheng!

Chapter 58 Furious (Please continue reading)

After the Mid-Autumn Festival incident, Jia Huan's reputation on the streets soared.

His identity as the leader of Ningrong Street is now confirmed.

A group of local thugs all wanted to become disciples of the small martial arts school.

Jia Huan was truly at a loss for words, but he didn't refuse everyone's good intentions.

The key point is that he realized these street thugs, despite being disliked by everyone, were surprisingly well-informed about the local affairs.

Just like that Mid-Autumn Festival incident, if Ni Er hadn't given them advance warning, how could they have so easily dealt with a group of thieves?

According to Ni Er, the group of beggars who occupied the City God Temple in the north of the city were not to be trifled with.

Their history spans over twenty years, with nearly thirty core members and over a hundred peripheral followers.

The key point is that this group of beggars seems to have some connection with many brothels in the capital.

Putting aside everything else, the fact that all of these guys died suddenly within two days of being captured shows just how deep the water is inside.

Jia Huan did not go to the West City Command Post to inquire about the situation, and the West City Command Post did not proactively reveal any inside information; everyone tacitly understood the situation.

If we hadn't known in advance and made proper arrangements, things wouldn't have gone so smoothly.

If innocent children are injured or killed during the pursuit, then it would be truly impossible to explain.

On the Mid-Autumn Festival, thanks to everyone's efforts, there were no abducted children, only lost children.

Later, most of these lost children were reunited with their families, thanks to the help of the West City Command Center, which was a great act of kindness.

Of course, it was only after hearing the information gathered by Ni Er and his team, as well as the drunken confessions of a close deputy commander at the West City Command Post, that they learned there was a conspiracy behind the missing children.

Without a doubt, these are all tactics used in power struggles within large families, and they're not exactly respectable in public.

Having learned from that experience, Jia Huan plans to retain information channels from the local thugs.

Later, he was surprised to find that with the help of street thugs passing on information, he not only learned some firsthand news about the underworld, but also gained a clear understanding of the situation on Ningrong Street.

For example, whatever a member of a collateral branch of the Jia family who lived on Ningrong Street did outside could basically not escape the watchful eyes of the local thugs.

This provided Jia Huan with a very important source of information for understanding the Jia family members on Ningrong Street and assisting Master Zheng in managing the collateral branches of the family.

Indeed, although the Rong family is not the head of the clan, several branches of the clan are dependent on the Rong family. As the head of the family, Master Zheng has the reason and the obligation to manage and control these branches of the clan.

Clan, clan, the whole clan is one.

If a member of the clan commits a heinous crime, not only will the individual suffer misfortune, but the entire clan will also be greatly affected.

Even worse, if a clansman participates in a mutiny or rebellion, the clan will naturally collapse along with him.

For heinous crimes like the extermination of three generations of a family, it's no joke.

In the past, the control over collateral branches of the clan was superficial, at most using economic or clan means to restrain them, but the effect was not significant.

At the very least, it's difficult for the higher-ups in the clan to know immediately what the clan members have done.

In the story of Dream of the Red Chamber, the young people of the Jia clan played an indispensable role in making the foolish and domineering Xue Pan so detestable.

Many of Xue Pan's bad habits were picked up in the capital, and it was a group of young members of the Jia family's collateral branches who led him into this mess.

It can be said that these young members of the Jia family's collateral branches were themselves full of vices and were definitely not good people. They were the kind of people who would be unjustly beheaded but would definitely be imprisoned.

Outsiders may not know their specifics or what bad things they've done, but the local thugs certainly do, and that's where the timely information comes from.

In addition, the Rong family sons who lived on Ningrong Street were also well-informed about by the local thugs.

If one wants to understand the situation of the servants, or even worse, if one wants to deal with them, the thugs under Jia Huan's command will definitely be of great use.

How could the thugs on the street who source their antiques from the antique shop owned by Leng Zixing, the son-in-law of Zhou Rui, the head servant of the second wife, Madam Wang, not know about it?

Moreover, local thugs could quickly learn about important events happening in other parts of the capital and then inform Jia Huan.

Thus, the small martial arts school that Jia Huan bought has now become the location of a branch on Ningrong Street.

From time to time, thugs would come and go, gathering the latest news they had received.

Useful information will be rewarded accordingly.

Although the reward wasn't much, it was practically a risk-free business for the thugs who frequented the area.

Originally, the information they provided was hardly a secret.

Anyone who's willing to ask can easily find out.

Of course, when it comes to time and efficiency, the local bigwigs are still very helpful.

Later, during the routine greetings, he told the Second Master Zheng, who was already used to it, about some of his plans and situation, which resulted in the Second Master Zheng's fury.

"You wicked child, how old are you to be hanging out with those street thugs? This is utterly ridiculous!"

"Instead of studying properly, all you do is play these crooked and evil tricks, it's outrageous!"

"If you still consider me your father, then cut ties with those thugs as soon as possible, or I'll teach you a lesson about family discipline!"

"Don't get carried away just because you accomplished something small during the Mid-Autumn Festival!"

"Studying is the right path, what are you trying to do?"

In short, the Second Master Zheng's outburst clearly showed he was genuinely angry.

Jia Huan neither refuted nor agreed; he simply lowered his head and remained silent.

When Master Zheng Er was tired of talking and took a break, he hurriedly bowed and said goodbye, while giving a wink to a few familiar guests.

With Master Zheng's 'three views' being so upright, and his behavior typical of a rigid Confucian scholar, how could Jia Huan not have made arrangements to deal with him in advance?

Given his actions, even if he manages to get away with it for now, he will inevitably be discovered by the Second Master Zheng sooner or later, leading to a fierce ideological conflict. That's for sure.

In any case, in the eyes of the Second Master Zheng, not taking the imperial examination path was not the right way!

However, whether to avoid trouble or because he felt it unnecessary to spend too much effort on the imperial examination to become an official, Jia Huan had no intention of pursuing an official career through the imperial examination.

In officialdom, without a trustworthy senior civil servant to protect you, plunging headlong into the civil service is tantamount to suicide, unless the emperor places special importance on you.

Chapter 59 New Year's Trivial Matters (Please continue reading)

In the original novel of Dream of the Red Chamber, the overall situation of the imperial court is quite clear.

That was the process of the rapid decline of the nobility and the further expansion of the civil service.