The Warm Jade of the Red Chamber

Seeing that Zhuang Ye was distracted, Emperor Chunyou gave him an annoyed look, Zhuang Ye shrugged, and leaned over to look at the other things in the box with Emperor Chunyou.

Under the blueprints are a thick stack of banknotes, land deeds, shop deeds, etc., with a total value of almost one million taels, which is naturally not much for Emperor Chunyou, who is an emperor of a dynasty. A sum of money equivalent to unexpected income, for Emperor Chunyou, who wanted to flex his muscles to govern the country but was constrained by the lack of treasury, might it be regarded as a windfall?

Emperor Chunyou was not at all ignorant of Xue Yun's matter.Before Emperor Chunyou came to the throne, he could not make any eye-catching actions, but he still used Zhuang Ye's hand to spy on the Jiangnan tribe, especially the Zhen family.

The Zhen family is in the south of the Yangtze River, and it is almost like the existence of the earth emperor. The Xue family has some connections with him, and even gave the Zhen family - which is equivalent to giving the loyal prince Zhuang Sheng - a lot of money and bribes, in disguise. It encouraged Zhuang Sheng's power to seize the throne.For Emperor Chunyou, Xue Jun's move was naturally unforgivable, and he was thinking that sooner or later he would clean up the Xue family.

However, Xue Yun was kind of winking. Ever since Emperor Chunyou came to the throne, he had gradually cut off the connection with the Zhen family. For this reason, he was tripped up by the Zhen family several times and suffered a lot.Not only that, the Zhen family also sent someone to assassinate Xue Jun, but they failed.Emperor Chunyou also knew about these things through spying, so he watched the Xue family and the Zhen family dog ​​bite the dog, and there was no movement for the time being.

Now that Xue Yun followed Feng Muzhi's matter and handed over the nomination certificate, Emperor Chunyou has no reason not to accept it.

When looking at Xue Jun's letter attached to the box, Emperor Chunyou maintained a somewhat good mood.Xue Yun's book is of course just an official article, saying that his family was coerced by the Zhen family and provided bribes as a last resort, but after he realized that the Zhen family wanted to help the third prince win the heir apparent, he stopped providing the Zhen family with silver taels , Because of this, he was persecuted by the Zhen family, and his life was threatened.For this reason, he has always felt quite tormented: on the one hand, the monarch and ministers are righteous, but on the other hand, he is afraid of being retaliated by the Zhen family and dare not expose them.But in the end, his loyalty to the emperor could not be overcome, and he decided to confess his mistakes to Emperor Chunyou and repent - not to ask Emperor Chunyou to forgive his mistakes, but to not harm his children and family.The silver bills, land deeds, store deeds and other items attached to the letter are for the Xue family to turn over to the state treasury, and they are also atonement for the mistakes he committed.

Emperor Chunyou read the letter and sneered. He didn't care much about whether what Xue Yun said was true or not. If he guessed correctly, judging from the meaning of Xue Yun's letter, he might choose to commit suicide to apologize.If it was possible to make the false impression that Xue Yun was harmed by the Zhen family, those who worked for Zhuang Sheng would probably lose their hearts, which would also be a blow to Zhuang Sheng.In this way, whether Xue Jun had really turned to the Zhen family, and to the third prince Zhuang Sheng, was not so infuriating because Xue Jun "repented in time" and handed over a lot of property to the state treasury. up.

Once Xue Jun died, there were only three orphans and widows left in the Xue family. It is still unclear whether the remaining millions of property of the Xue family can be preserved, and judging from what Xue Jun said in the letter, they will naturally be restrained from reconciling with each other. The Zhen family has too much involvement.If so, why did Emperor Chunyou have to be a person who would kill them all?Of course, if the orphans and widows of the Xue family are still in contact with the Zhen family, then he doesn't mind taking the remaining assets of the Zhen family into the national treasury.

Emperor Chunyou and Zhuang Ye had made up their minds, so they sent spies to Xue's house in Jiangnan overnight. One was to bring Feng Muzhi to Beijing, and the other was to make Xue Jun's death resemble that of the Zhen family.

The Xue family's mother and daughter lived in Jia's mansion for a few more days, and finally couldn't bear to pack up and rush back to Jinling, but on the way, they received the news of Xue Jun's death, and Aunt Xue passed out on the spot.

When the mother and daughter returned to Jinling weeping, Xue Jun's mourning hall had already been arranged by Xue Jun's eldest son Xue Pan with the help of the Zhen family.

The Zhen family came so quickly and so coincidentally that many caring people noticed it and remembered it in their hearts.Xue Jun's death was sudden and strange, and the Zhen family had a lot of suspicions. It happened that they had been in the south of the Yangtze River for too long. They felt that they had nothing to do with them at this time, and they coveted the Xue family's wealth, so they rushed to the door to "help" "Are.

Even the spies hiding in the dark couldn't help lamenting the short-sightedness and stupidity of the Zhen family, but this made their plan go very smoothly, and they could ask for rewards after returning to Beijing.

The mother and daughter of the Xue family heard the news of Xue Jun's death and traveled all night. They were already exhausted. Seeing that the Zhen family helped to take care of Xue Jun's future generations, they were also grateful, but they didn't think of any doubts for a while. .

Aunt Xue especially knows how important it is for the three of them to be supported by someone in the Zhen family. Once Xue Yun dies, the rest of the Xue family clan will probably want to share their family's property, their orphans and widows. , I'm afraid I can't beat them.With the presence of the Zhen family, presumably the clansmen would not go too far.

Aunt Xue's prediction was right, the Zhen family indeed shocked the other members of the Xue family, but the Zhen family themselves were hungry wolves that were not cooked well, and they were dissatisfied with Xue Yun for a long time. The orphan and widow of the Xue family scraped off a layer of oil, and even wanted to scrape the skin and bones.

It wasn't until then that they realized that instead of using most of the family wealth to fill in the Zhen family, it would be better to give half of the family wealth to the clansmen.After Aunt Xue read the letter that Xue Jun asked Xue Pan to hide for her, she felt more and more regretful in her heart. It was the Zhen family who ruined their family, but they could not take revenge.

The news of Xue Jun's death was naturally sent to the capital. Both the Wang family and the Jia family sent people over one after another, but in the south of the Yangtze River, they really couldn't handle the Zhen family for a while.The current head of the Wang family is Wang Ziteng, Mrs. Wang and the elder brother of Aunt Xue, who is now the chief secretary in the residence of Prince Zhongmin Zhuang Xi, and is a third-rank official, and is also highly valued by Zhuang Xi.

Zhuang Xi is a person who does not care about current affairs, and there is no dispute with his brothers on weekdays, but it is a rare peace. Even Emperor Chunyou valued his ability to handle affairs very much. Apart from Zhuang Ye, among the former princes The one most used by Emperor Chunyou.

But Wang Ziteng couldn't come in person after all, he just sent his son Wang Zipeng to come, together with Jia Lian sent by the Jia family, but he couldn't help the Zhen family at all, and he didn't dare to offend the Zhen family in Jiangnan, so their The arrival only made the Zhen family calm down a bit, but it couldn't stop them from continuing to treat the Xue family as fat.

Just when the Zhen family was about to gnaw away most of the foundation of the Xue family, an unexpected visitor disrupted the plan.

The people who came were the whole family of Prince Cheng Ke, the prince, the concubine, the son and the concubine did not bother. Zhuang Ye was ordered by the emperor to go south to check the flood control dams of the Yangtze River. By the way, he begged for grace and brought the whole family to the south of the Yangtze River for fun. Now, I can also go to Yangzhou on the way, so that Daiyu can meet her parents and relatives.

Zhuang Ye's family just settled down in Jinling, just to have fun, and it has nothing to do with Xue Yun's funeral, let alone come to express condolences, but as long as they are still in this city, the Zhen family can only hold hands and feet, Many methods dare not be used at will.

Xue Baochai saw a turning point in it, and thought of the box that was handed over to Daiyu, guessing that Prince Chengke's family would settle down in Jinling at such a coincidence at this time. Auntie took advantage of the fact that Zhen's family was afraid to move, and dealt with the Xue family's shop in Jinling as quickly as possible, and then made some salutes, and directly hired a big boat to settle in the mansion in the capital.It is safer to be under the emperor's feet than under the eyes of Zhen's family in Jinling.As for the shops or farms that are really too late to deal with, they will fight with the Zhen family and the Xue clan to avoid completely annoying them.

Aunt Xue was skeptical, tried to sell a few shops, and found that Zhen's family really didn't dare to obstruct her, so she followed Xue Baochai's advice.Although in a hurry, most of the shops and farms were sold at low prices, but now they don't care about that much, and they should feel lucky to have someone who dares to buy their shop under the pressure of the Zhen family.

In fact, things are not that simple. The people who bought Xue's shop and the farm were actually arranged by Emperor Chunyou and Zhuang Ye. Otherwise, how would ordinary merchants dare to touch Zhen's eyebrows?This Jinling is the territory of the Zhen family, and it is impossible for Prince Chengke to stay in Jinling forever. Sooner or later, they will be retaliated by the Zhen family.

The Zhen family naturally knew that there was something wrong with the people who bought the shop, but now that Emperor Chunyou was firmly seated on the throne, even if they were too courageous, they would not dare to confront the emperor openly, and it was okay to stumble secretly.

So the Xue family sold most of the shops and farms in a short period of time, and then organized a large ship to salute, moved away from Jinling, and went to the capital, even though the mansion in the capital had not yet been called. trimmed.

As soon as the Xue family's boat docked, the servants of the Wang family and Jia's family had already received the news, and they were all waiting on the pier.

The Xue family's house in the capital city has not been lived for many years, and it is also unoccupied for a while, so Xue's mother and son can only choose whether to live in Wang's house or Jia's house.If you followed Aunt Xue's thinking, she would naturally want to go to Jia's house. As the elder brother, Wang Ziteng hadn't been close to their sisters since childhood. Some.The most important thing is that the Jia family is at least tied to Prince Chengke's mansion. They were able to escape this time thanks to Prince Chengke. She always felt that if she had something to do with Prince Chengke's mansion, she would always It can deter those who want to harm their family. After all, in this capital, the Zhen family still has some influence—although it is not as influential as in the Jiangnan area, not to mention the loyal Prince Zhuang Sheng and Princess Zhen Gui in the palace. Which one is an irresistible force for the Xue family.

But it was Xue Baochai who dissuaded Aunt Xue, saying that when she returned to the capital, why would she not go back to her mother's house, but go to live in someone else's house?Although Mrs. Wang and Aunt Xue are sisters, it is Jia's mansion after all, and Mrs. Wang is not even the hostess of Jia's mansion.What's more, Xue Baochai looked at it coldly, the Jia family didn't seem to be very close to Prince Chengke's mansion, who in this capital is not a human being?How can you not see it.If so, how could they be able to deter the third prince, Prince Zhongshan, when they lived in Jia's house?It's better to live in Wang's house. First, it's Aunt Xue's own natal family, and the name is justified. Second, no matter what, Wang Ziteng is still an official of the court, and he has the relationship with Prince Zhongmin. Prince Zhongshan can't be so risky. The world is so bad, let's take action against the Xue family, right?Things that are not beneficial should be done by few people.

After much deliberation, Aunt Xue talked to the Jia family, and then followed the Wang family's carriage to the Wang family.If she insisted on staying in Jia's mansion when the Wang family sent someone to pick her up, wouldn't that be slapping her brother in the face?Offending my brother and sister-in-law will not do me any good.

The Xue family had a lot of wealth, although when they left, many large and bulky things were left to the clansmen, there were still more than a dozen carriages saluting, a long queue lined up, and rumbled into the gate of the palace.Aunt Xue also knew that these things had entered the Wang family's door, and she was afraid she had to keep some of them, but no one lived in her house, so she couldn't be at ease if she put all the things back.I had no choice but to comfort myself in my heart, and it was like spending money as a favor. Their Xue family's foundation in the capital is shallow, and with the help of their mother's family, as long as they can stand on their feet, relying on the Xue family's shop in the capital, there may not be a day when they can start again .