Dream of the Red Chamber: Start by gaining Zhao Yun's martial prowess, and be ennobled in a sin

Lin Zhixiao took the lead, stood up, knelt down, and shouted:

"Your Excellency is wise! We servants will certainly do our utmost to serve the household from now on!"

"Your Excellency is wise..." The servants in the courtyard knelt down and shouted in unison.

"Alright! Get up, everyone!"

"That's all for today. Go back and think it over carefully. You may all leave now!"

Jia Jing waved his hand and addressed the crowd in the courtyard.

After all the servants had left, Jia Jing returned to his original seat.

At this time, Madam Wang, Madam Xing, and Sister Feng were still kneeling on the ground, and Grandmother Jia showed no intention of telling them to get up.

Today, Grandmother Jia was truly furious at what these people had done.

Madam Xing is alright. She's not very bright, and Grandmother Jia has always known that, so she never had high expectations for her.

However, the fact that Sister Feng and Madam Wang were so unseemly undermining each other in public made her feel anything but happy.

She always believed that harmony in the family brings prosperity, and she always tried to maintain a balance between the first and second wives.

At the very least, one must appear amicable on the surface and avoid becoming a laughingstock in front of others.

In fact, she didn't care much about Sister Feng lending money at exorbitant interest rates or Madam Wang giving some benefits to the Wang family.

Firstly, Grandmother Jia was a very magnanimous person.

Secondly, Grandmother Jia has lived to such an old age, she has seen all kinds of demons and monsters, and she has seen plenty of these little tricks played in the inner quarters!

In particular, she had known a little about the matter of Madam Wang subsidizing the Wang family over the years.

It was only because the Wang family had prospered in recent years that Wang Ziteng rose through the ranks and became a prominent figure among the four major families.

In addition, both Sister Feng and Madam Wang, the two daughters-in-law of the Wang family, treated her with respect and never made any mistakes in handling household affairs.

So she turned a blind eye and pretended not to see it.

After all, the Jia family has provided considerable support to the Wang family over the years. Not to mention the intermarriages spanning several generations, they have also bestowed some favors upon the Wang family in official circles. A small transfer of money and benefits is therefore a minor matter.

As long as Madam Wang doesn't go too far, she'll pretend she doesn't know.

She thought that after she passed away, the Jia family descendants, such as Baoyu, might still need to rely on Wang Ziteng, so she decided to leave this money as a favor for her descendants.

What angered her was that Madam Wang and Sister Feng were so inconsiderate that they dared to arrange for their trusted maids to denounce each other in front of so many people, leaving no room for the other side to maneuver.

This is not something that should happen in a blessed family!

They dare to fight like this for the right to manage the household, even though I'm still here!

If I were gone, they would surely cause a huge uproar.

With their shameless and unreasonable behavior, how can the first and second wives possibly get along harmoniously in the future?

If brothers and uncles are at odds, how can the Jia family possibly prosper in the future?

The root of ruin always begins with internal strife!

The actions of Lady Wang and Wang Xifeng even gave Grandmother Jia a glimpse into the future consequences of the eldest and second sons' families going to court against each other.

That's why Grandmother Jia was so angry this time that she made Lady Wang and Wang Xifeng kneel for so long without them saying a word to get up.

In this world, it's perfectly normal for a mother-in-law to make her daughter-in-law and granddaughter-in-law kneel down as punishment to establish rules.

If she doesn't give in, the two of them will have to kneel until they faint.

Jia Jing would not easily speak up to help them out of their predicament; it would be better for Grandmother Jia to teach them a lesson so they wouldn't become disrespectful.

So, when the three sisters, Shi Xiangyun, Xue Baochai, and others came out of the side room and into the courtyard, this was the scene they saw.

The courtyard was filled with a somber and heavy atmosphere, and the smell of blood wafted from outside from time to time.

Grandmother Jia sat on a rosewood chair in the courtyard, her face ashen. Apart from Jia Jing, who was sitting, and Yuanyang, who was serving behind her, everyone else was kneeling on the ground.

While Madam Wang and Sister Feng were kneeling, the old women and maids they brought with them naturally had no reason to stand.

Although Tan Chun, Ying Chun, and others also disagreed with the actions of Madam Wang, Madam Xing, and Feng Jie.

However, these people are the elders. Lady Wang is Tan Chun's legal mother, and Lady Xing is Ying Chun's legal mother.

Since it happened to be that way, I had no choice but to step in and plead for them.

Li Wan, Tan Chun, Ying Chun, and the others stepped forward and knelt down behind Madam Wang and Madam Xing to pay their respects:

"Please take care of yourself, Grandma! Please stay healthy!"

Then the group bowed to Jia Jing and greeted him:

"Third brother!"

Jia Jing smiled and nodded.

When Grandmother Jia saw the group emerge from the side rooms in the front courtyard, she knew they must have been hiding nearby, spying and trying to find out what had happened. Her face full of anger, she complained:

"Peace! Peace! Peace my ass! There are all these messy and troublesome things going on in the manor."

"And then there are all these troublesome daughters-in-law and granddaughters-in-law. I'll be grateful if I don't live a few more years!"

"This old woman has lived her whole life for the sake of saving face. Ever since I married into the Jia family and became a great-granddaughter-in-law, it has been more than fifty years now."

"I've never seen anything like this before. It's one thing for the servants to be so disrespectful, but for the master to be so shameless is utterly disgraceful!"

"Look at your good wife and good second sister-in-law. One is the head wife of the second branch of my Jia family, and the other is the housekeeper of the first branch. They are also close relatives, aunt and niece. Today, they have put on such a good show."

"These two maids dared to denounce each other in public, as if they wanted to ruin the reputation of the Jia family!"

"They all pretend to be respectful and gentle on ordinary days, but they show their true colors over the smallest things!"

"I'm still alive, and we're already at odds like this, making a huge fuss! If I were gone, would this household be any better off?"

"How can I face the Duke with peace of mind after this? How can I face the ancestors of the Jia family with peace of mind?"

Grandmother Jia paused here, adjusted her chair, and lowered her voice, revealing a hint of despondency, before continuing:

"Go ahead and stir things up! Keep stirring things up! Stirring up discord between the eldest and second branches of the family, creating rifts between uncles and nephews, ruining the Jia family's reputation, and causing the clan's downfall. This old woman will just be there for you all..."

Grandmother Jia was also filled with pent-up anger today. Baoyu had been beaten, servants had been purged, and Lady Wang and Fengjie were attacking each other.

These scenes made her, who usually loved laughter and joy, feel neither comfortable nor happy!

There were no outsiders in the courtyard at the time, and he suddenly erupted in anger.

Before she could finish speaking, Grandmother Jia's face turned deathly pale, and she could barely sit up in her chair, clutching her head and swaying as if about to collapse!

"Grandma!" Yuanyang's expression changed, and she quickly reached out to support Grandmother Jia. Tanchun and Li Wan also rushed forward to help Grandmother Jia.

When Fengjie and Madam Wang saw this, they were also startled. If something happened to Grandmother Jia, wouldn't they, as daughters-in-law and granddaughters-in-law, be forced to cut themselves off from the world?

Sister Feng cried and said:

"Grandma, your granddaughter-in-law knows she was wrong. You can scold or hit her all you want, but please take good care of yourself."

Madam Wang quickly added:

"Grandma, if anything happens to you, what will happen to Baoyu? You mustn't upset yourself!"