The Red Mansion: From a Small Pawn to a Leader

Chapter 162 Raising Money 3
The afterglow of the setting sun filled the entire Lixiangyuan.

Zhou Rui's wife rushed in like a gust of wind. Just as she reached the backyard door, she saw Mrs. Wang's maid Jin Chuan'er and a little girl who had just grown her hair standing on the steps playing.

Seeing Zhou Ruijia's expression and knowing that something urgent was going on, Jin Chuan'er stopped trying to stop her and nodded towards the living room.

Zhou Ruijia understood and hurried to the living room.

Just as she reached the bottom of the stairs, Zhou Ruijia suddenly remembered that Mrs. Wang came to borrow money from the Xue family. She walked lightly to the door, tilted her ear and listened quietly. There was silence.

She hesitated for a moment, gently lifted a corner of the door curtain, and was startled.

Mrs. Wang and Aunt Xue were just sitting there quietly, not saying a word.

Zhou Ruijia gently lowered the curtain again. Thinking that the person was already dead, it would be useless to rush back now, so she quietly retreated.

In the hall, Aunt Xue picked up the teacup and took a sip, while secretly glancing at Mrs. Wang from the side to observe her reaction.

Mrs. Wang was the same as usual, her face as calm as a piece of clear water, but the string of nanmu beads in her hand was spinning faster and faster.

Aunt Xue sighed inwardly, realizing that she couldn't escape today, so she decided to just buy a way out for her daughter.

Thinking of this, Aunt Xue coughed and spoke: "Amitabha! The emperor's grace is really great. Listening to books and watching plays has never been seen before in ancient times. When the queen returns home to visit her relatives, I will also see the world. It will be worth dying for."

The rosary beads slowed down their rotation, and Mrs. Wang slowly looked towards Aunt Xue.

Aunt Xue: "As the saying goes, many hands make light work. For such a big event, our Xue family will naturally contribute a little. Then we can also benefit from it and share in the blessings of the queen."

Only then did Mrs. Wang reveal a smile.

Aunt Xue went on to say, "There is nothing we can do to help, so we can just give another gift to honor the queen. Coincidentally, a lot of things happened at the same time. First, Pan'er teamed up with others to form a caravan and went to Hetao to do business, spending tens of thousands of silver coins at once.

The pawnshop lost tens of thousands of taels of silver because of that evildoer. If someone came to redeem the pawned items, they would have to pay a large sum of money. This time, not only did they lose all the money they had earned in the past six months, but they also lost almost all the capital they had brought from Nanjing."

After a pause, "I heard people clamoring for the visit to the villa, so I discussed it with Bao Yatou for half a day. We took some capital from several shops and deducted half of their subsequent purchase expenses. Adding the cash at home, we barely raised 30,000 taels of silver."

Only thirty thousand taels?

The smile that had just appeared on Mrs. Wang’s face disappeared.

Aunt Xue's heart skipped a beat, and she said hastily, "Sister, you also know that during the Wanshou Festival, Wang Li took away another 10,000 taels of silver with Uncle Baoyu's letter. By the way, Pan'er heard from Xue Ke that Uncle Baoyu built a big house in Suzhou and bought a lot of property, and the Wang family of Jinling also started a business."

Mrs. Wang's face changed: "Is this true?!"

Aunt Xue nodded and continued, "These things are no secret in Jinling. By the way, Feng girl must know that her brother Wang Ren took advantage of his power to buy a lot of shops and properties."

Mrs. Wang's face suddenly turned gloomy.

Aunt Xue looked at her and said, "Girl Bao said that the Xue Family Chamber of Commerce can also help purchase curtains and draperies and antiques from the south. They are much cheaper than in the capital, and can save some money."

"What kind of business is Pan'er doing in partnership with others?" Mrs. Wang suddenly asked.

Aunt Xue paused: ".Fur business."

Mrs. Wang's eyes lit up: "Master said that this villa will take at least a year to build."

Aunt Xue was startled when she heard this.

At this time, Xue Baochai came out from the inner room, bowed to Mrs. Wang, picked up the teapot from the table, and refilled the tea for Mrs. Wang and Aunt Xue.

Xue Baochai smiled and said, "Aunt, you don't know that it's hard to do business outside the Great Wall. Without a strong background, not only will you lose your capital, you may not even be able to come back."

Mrs. Wang looked at her.

Xue Baochai: "It's the Li family. The fur business does make a lot of money, and the investment can be recovered in the first year, but the majority of the interest in the first two years has to be shared with the Li family. The Xue family only makes a little hard-earned money. After deducting the wages of the employees and various expenses, there is nothing left."

Mrs. Wang looked at her, as if trying to see how much sincerity there was in her words.

Xue Baochai did not immediately avoid Mrs. Wang's gaze, but smiled at her slightly, then turned and stood beside Aunt Xue.

Mrs. Wang turned her gaze to Aunt Xue again.

Aunt Xue smiled.

"Excuse me, Auntie, what did my aunt say?" Xue Baochai suddenly asked.

Mrs. Wang didn't say anything.

Xue Baochai: "You have been helping your uncle's family for many years. Now that your uncle is a provincial governor, you are in trouble again. It's time for your uncle to help you." Mrs. Wang: "Your uncle has only been helping you for half a year..."

Xue Baochai: "It will take at least a year to build this villa for the visit."

A trace of anger immediately flashed across Mrs. Wang's face, but she said nothing.

Just then, they all heard soft voices coming from the yard.

Mrs. Wang's face sank: "Who's outside?!"

Zhou Ruijia responded and walked in.

Mrs. Wang: "What's the matter?"

Zhou Ruijia walked forward and whispered rapidly in Mrs. Wang's ear.

Mrs. Wang's expression changed drastically and she stood up suddenly: "Hurry! Go back to Rong Xi Tang!" and hurried out.

Mrs. Zhou Rui made an apologetic expression to Aunt Xue and hurriedly chased after her.

Aunt Xue also stood up and sighed, "You kid, you borrowed money and offended others. Why bother?"

Xue Baochai seemed unusually calm, and replied calmly: "If we don't make our position clear now, they will use the name of the queen to eat our family alive in the future."

Aunt Xue was stunned and didn't say anything for a long time.

Xue Baochai smiled and said, "Don't worry, Mom. Auntie won't let us go. She can't bear to let us go."

Aunt Xue nodded and asked, "Will your aunt write to your uncle?"

"Yes." Xue Baochai said affirmatively.

study room

The light in the hall has dimmed.

Dai Quan lit the lantern on the imperial desk.

Emperor Yongchang was reading the letter at this time. He read it very carefully. After reading it once, he picked up the pen and made a mark on the key points.

"The floating assets and banknotes of these few small servants alone amount to more than one hundred thousand taels. Counting other things, it's at least two or three hundred thousand silver coins. With such a bunch of parasites, it's no wonder that the Jia family's purse is empty." Dai Quan said as he cleared the official documents on the imperial desk.

Emperor Yongchang smiled coldly: "Those gentry are nothing but parasites sucking blood from the imperial court!"

Dai Quan didn't dare to say anything.

Emperor Yongchang changed the subject: "Was this Li Hu's idea?"

Dai Quan replied: "Yes."

Emperor Yongchang asked again: "Where is he now?"

Dai Quan smiled and said, "I heard that the lady asked Jia She to go to Rongqing Hall, so he slipped away."

Emperor Yongchang also laughed: "This kid is very cunning! He lit the fire and then ran away."

After a pause, he said, "I always feel that this kid is not holding back his fart!"

Dai Quan glanced at the emperor.

Emperor Yongchang shook his head: "Forget it, he is also helping me make money. Hey, Li Hu has made a lot of money in the past two years, right?"

Dai Quan thought for a moment and replied, "The Imperial Household Department has records that the Li family has acquired a lot of properties in and outside the city. It is said that Lin Ruhai also gave them a lot of money."

Emperor Yongchang's eyes lit up: "So, this kid is really rich!"

Dai Quan: “Yes.”

Emperor Yongchang smiled and said, "Since he is reluctant to spend it, I will help him spend it. Didn't he ask the Crown Prince to help him keep the house next to it and the land behind it? Tell the Crown Prince that if he doesn't pay for it now, I will give it to other meritorious soldiers as a reward."

Dai Quan suppressed his laughter and replied, "Yes."

"Once we buy it, we must start construction and rebuild it according to the standards of a marquis's mansion." Emperor Yongchang added.

(End of this chapter)