Pingyang Fu of the Red Chamber

Chapter 385 Jia Rong was instigated
"Dong dong."

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Jia Rong, who was lying on the bed with his eyes squinted, shouted impatiently,
"Who is it? It's already late. If you have anything to do, we'll talk about it tomorrow."

Pan stayed outside the door again, enduring the wind and snow, unable to leave. He approached the crack in the door and shouted,

"Uncle Rong, this is my servant Lao Pan. Pan You'an, please pay your respects to the master."

Jia Rong muttered in her mouth, Pan You'an, isn't he the steward who was beaten to almost death by Luo Yunhou? Why is this person here? Shouldn't he go to buy coal for work? Although he is curious, it is so cold outside. Too lazy to get up, but afraid of something happening.

"Wait a minute, it's almost dark. Why did you come to my house if you didn't go to do some errands?"

After saying that, I had to lift up the quilt, take a heavy cotton-padded jacket and put it on. Since it was time for dinner anyway, I simply got dressed and prepared to leave the house, finish taking care of things, and then come back for dinner.

outside the door,

Pan Youan braved the wind and snow, shivered, and replied;
"Uncle Rong, I'm just here to report the situation to you. There are some things you need to know in your mind. It's not convenient outside, so I can't say more."

Jia Rong was confused, what could happen to the house? If not her father bought two more servants to hang out in Tianxiang Tower, what else could happen? After Qin Keqing's incident, Jia Zhen intensified her efforts to buy servants into the house. Now it has been spread throughout the house that when there are more women, there will be more disputes, and even Mrs. You will not dare to interfere later.

After getting dressed,

Walking over and opening the door, a gust of cold wind blew in. Jia Rong suddenly woke up, looked at Pan Youan outside the door, and said,
"come in,"

"Thank you, Uncle Rong."

Pan Youan walked in carefully, closed the door behind him, and the two returned to the hall. Jia Rong sat in the main seat and asked,

"Why are you so anxious, Manager Pan? It's snowing heavily outside, aren't you afraid of the cold?"

Unexpectedly, Pan Youan's eyes turned red and he started to choke.

"Uncle Rong, it's cold outside, but it's not as strong as the fact that Uncle Rong was kept in the dark. I really couldn't bear it when I saw it, so I came directly to tell the uncle that if I don't care about it now, I'm afraid something will happen to me. ”

Jia Rong's expression changed, she looked over and sneered,
"Manager Pan's words are serious, what kind of disaster are you talking about?"

Pan You'an wiped the corners of his eyes, deliberately covered them up, and looked at Uncle Rong. He saw that Jia Rong had a stern face and was restless. He knew that the uncle had listened to his words, so he walked closer and whispered;

"Uncle Rong, I have to tell you something. A few days ago, I was appointed by the master as the steward of the boiler room, responsible for purchasing charcoal. Who would have thought that today when I went to the boiler room, Brother Qiang directly placed one of his own people in charge of purchasing charcoal? The old slave has taken over the matters and can withdraw money in the accounting room. The old slave feels something is wrong. The housekeeper Lai Sheng has always made arrangements for the house. Now Master Qiang has begun to interfere with the housekeeping. Uncle Rong, this matter is a threat to your status. .”

Jia Rong's expression remained unchanged, but there were many thoughts in her heart. Jia Qiang was not the brother who had always followed him and played with him since childhood. He didn't go to school every day by name. He also saw Jia Qiang several times. He was just covering his eyes. He was still a fighting dog, admiring flowers and willows. How could he do such a thing? For a moment, I couldn't believe that he could do this?

"No way. Are you saying that Jia Qiang and his men robbed you of your stewardship and took over the purchase of charcoal?"

"Yes, uncle, it has just fallen into the night. Brother Qiang's subordinate, Yang Zhu, is transporting coal outside the mansion. If you don't believe me, go to the side door of the west courtyard of the east mansion and have a look."

Pan You'an told the truth, and asked Jia Rong to go and take a look in person. As the saying goes, seeing is believing, and hearing is false. Jia Rong really didn't believe it, so she stood up and said,
"Lead the way ahead, go and have a look."

"Yes, sir."

Pan Youan's face lit up and he agreed.

After leaving the door, Jia Rong immediately called the boy on duty, Xiao Li'er, and the guards guarding the courtyard, and walked towards the west courtyard.

In the west entrance alley of Ningrong Street,
More than 20 carriages were parked, and they were lined up one after another. They were surrounded by baffles and thick blankets were spread underneath and around them. However, due to the lack of horses, there were not many in one carriage. At the front was the new steward Yang Zhu, walking in front of him. At the front, he held a lantern and called the house servants to help push the cart and guide him into the alley.

Jia Rong, who came out of the main gate, saw Ximen's carriages and horses trudging forward, and indeed bought coal. Seeing that the leader did not know him, he believed it in his heart, but when he thought of the withdrawal of money from the house, He returned to the house silently, and when he arrived at the accounting office, he asked to see the account of the purchase of the residence. The accountant took out the account book and handed it over. Jia Rong opened the account book and saw that the account stated that the coal purchase was 100 taels of silver. The recipient was Jia Qiang, and she couldn't help but feel a little anxious.

What did Jia Qiang mean? Could it be that she wanted to be the heir of Ningguo Mansion? When she thought of her father Jia Zhen's completely different attitude towards herself and Jia Qiang, she felt a little frightened in her heart. She closed the account book without leaving a trace and walked out.

"Uncle, what should we do?"

"Go back, we know this."

Jia Rong didn't say anything and took the people back to his yard, leaving Pan You'an alone and confused. Unexpectedly, Uncle Rong backed down. It was really useless.

He had no choice but to go back. Jia Rong, who went back on the other side, did not really go back. He just led people straight to the west courtyard and came to the side door. When he saw people carrying coal, he walked over.

A sharp-eyed young man had seen it and immediately ran over to say hello.

"Greetings, Uncle Rong." "Well, who is in charge?"

"Back to you, sir, it's Manager Yang."

After speaking, he pointed to the man standing in the corner holding a lantern.

Jia Rong didn't say anything. He walked directly to the car, grabbed a handful of coal and threw it on the ground. Then he stepped on it. Immediately, the upper surface of his shoes was stained with large pieces of cinders. People around him didn't understand that Yang Zhu was in front. Seeing the master, he came over in a hurry.

"Greetings to Uncle Rong."

Jia Rong ignored it, instead stretched out his dirty feet and said;
"What did you do as a manager? You spilled coal on the snow. My shoes were all stained. Tell me, what did you do?"

"Sir, it's my fault that I'm not doing my job well. Please forgive me."

Yang Zhu looked forward and saw a large handful of coal scattered on the ground. Uncle Rong's shoes were completely black. He didn't allow him to quibble. How could he know that Jia Rong did it on purpose?
"Just admit it. Come on, give me a slap and let him wake up. I don't care whether my words have any effect on the affairs of the house."

"Yes, sir."

Xiao Li, the young man behind him, called out to the two guards, walked over, and gave Yang Zhu a few slaps. People around him looked over secretly.

Jia Rong saw the fingerprints on Yang Zhu's face, which were visibly swollen, and scolded;
"Be careful next time. The house is not a place for you to act wild. Let's drop this matter and go back."

After saying that, Jia Rong led the people back to the east courtyard.

Yang Zhu was left covering his face at a loss. The servants around him were hiding together and talking quietly, and their eyes were wrong when they looked at Yang Zhu.

"What are you still doing? Hurry up and unload the coal. If you don't want to do it, get out."

Yang Zhu cursed when he saw the people around him not doing anything.

People around started to get busy. They came twice and more than 50 trucks of coal were piled up in a mess in the warehouse of the boiler room. An oil lamp was lit at the west door. Eating from the basin, the servants and the servants carried the bowls and chopsticks and ate the food with their heads down.

The food for the servants of Ningguo Mansion has always been on par with the treatment of the servants of Rongguo Mansion. They are basically very good, including a big bowl of corn cakes and meat and vegetable soup.

At this time, Yang Zhu was not in the mood to eat. He covered his face in the back room and remained silent. He thought about Uncle Rong's actions. Someone must have tipped off the news, that is, Manager Pan was chewing his tongue behind his back. There was no one else, so why did he just hit him? I don't understand why I killed myself but didn't take down my position as manager.

Jia Qiang and her servant came back from Old Liu Tou's account after settling the account. It was originally more than 50 taels of coal, but she sold it for 100 taels. Naturally, she took the rest of the money without showing off. , minding his own business and returned to his yard.

It's night, and no one is still waiting in the snow except the people on duty.

After everyone finished their work and had dinner, they went back to rest. Jia Rong was relieved, but things still couldn't be done. Jia Qiang couldn't interfere in Jia Qiang's affairs, otherwise her father would be beaten again, and she was upset just thinking about it.

Unexpectedly, Jia Qiang, who used to play behind her, has begun to change. She must be more careful in the future, otherwise she may not have a place to speak for herself in the house.

I thought about Rongguo Mansion. If Uncle Lian was here, I could think of some ideas for myself. Unfortunately, I went to Jiangnan and I didn’t know if I could catch up with my marriage. I thought about how my father had given me another woman last night and secretly told him beforehand. After I paid the betrothal gift, I didn’t even tell the Rongguo Mansion in the west to prevent Luo Yunhou’s scandal from happening again. She was said to be the legitimate daughter of a foreign minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs. She was as beautiful as a flower and well-educated. But why did she have to find a civil servant? Where is the woman next to me.

Although Jia Rong was eating, drinking and having fun, he was on duty at Longjingwei and heard a lot about the internal situation. First of all, it was already known to everyone that the nobles and the civil servants were at odds. It's not very good, but when Jia Rong thinks of that woman's appearance, her heart becomes hot. A woman raised by a civil servant is still feminine.

Thinking of this, I no longer think about being a noble civil servant, but also fantasize about how happy my life will be in the future.

Tianxiang Building,
Jia Zhen drinks here every day, and she doesn't know whether it is because she is unwilling to accept it or because she is stimulated, so she hugs the sweetheart she bought here every day.

After living here for a long time, I lost my energy and my body bones obviously lost weight. I had been messing around with my concubine for another day tonight, and I felt a little hungry, so I wanted to get out of bed and have someone arrange a meal and dinner, but I didn’t know that just now After getting out of bed, I felt dizzy and fell to the ground before I could stand up. The concubines were so frightened that the surrounding concubines gathered around and hurriedly helped Jia Zhen to get on the bed. There were four naked women on the bed. In a panic, the four of them took their clothes and put them on. They didn't know whose clothes they belonged to. After putting on their clothes, the four of them got out of bed, ran out and shouted;
"Come here, come here, the master has fainted!"

The scream woke up Yin Die'er who was guarding outside, and immediately set off back to his wife's yard.

"Madam, madam, it's not good, it's not good, the master was injured by those foxy girls and fainted,"

Mrs. You was shocked when she heard what her maid Yindie Er said.

"What, this happened? You go and call the doctor. I'm arranging people to guard the house. This matter must not be spread outside."

"Yes, ma'am, this servant is going!"

(End of this chapter)