Corrupt official in the Red Chamber

Chapter 284
On this day, Jia Zhen "carefully planned" and secretly arranged seven or eight strong young men, assigning them to both sides of the study, each holding a stick and waiting for the opportunity.

Afterwards, he dragged his sick body to the study with difficulty.He asked the chief steward Lai Er to be called.Laiji was not suspicious of his summons and hurried over alone.

Entering the study, Laiji saw that although Jia Zhen was sitting upright in a chair, her face was haggard and could not be concealed.He said softly: "Young man, I would like to say hello to you."

Jia Zhen glanced at him and asked in a deep tone, "How many years have you been working in the house?"

Lai Er was a little confused about Jia Zhen's question. He looked at Jia Zhen doubtfully, then quickly lowered his head and said, "To tell you what I want to say, I have been in the government since I was 12 years old and have been working there till now. In total, there are three Ten years."

Jia Zhen nodded and asked: "The government has not treated you badly over the years, right?"

Laiji felt something was wrong in the atmosphere, but he still answered bravely: "The master and his wife in the house are very kind to me."

Suddenly, Jia Zhen slammed the tea cup on the table to the ground and asked angrily: "In that case, why do you want to embezzle the government's money?"

Laiji now fully understands Jia Zhen's intention, which is to burn bridges across the river!He thought to himself, didn't he know how many disgraceful things he had done for Jia Zhen over the years?The money was just to keep my mouth shut.

"Master, I don't agree with what you say. All that money was earned by my hard work, you should understand." Laiji said.

Jia Zhen seemed to be out of breath with anger. He stamped his feet and shouted: "Come here and take down this disrespectful slave."

Following Jia Zhen's words, four or five people broke in from outside. They pounced on Laiji, pushed him to the ground, and tied him tightly.

Seeing this scene, Laiji knew that if he didn't defend himself, he might not have a chance in the future.Therefore, he shouted loudly: "Master, have you forgotten about Jia Qiang? Are you going to burn the bridge across the river?"

Jia Zhen's heart palpitated when she heard Lai Er's words.However, he quickly hardened his heart and ordered a towel to be brought to cover Laiji's mouth.

Then, Jia Zhen pointed at Lai Er and cursed: "What a slave, you dare to frame your master at this time, I think you don't want to live anymore."

After hearing what Jia Zhen said, Lai Er became even more panicked.Although he was tied tightly, he still touched his head to the ground and kept wailing.What he meant was that he wanted Jia Zhen to open up.

Seeing Laiji's pitiful appearance, Jia Zhen couldn't bear it.After all, this is the person he has been with since he was a child.But at this moment, he really had no other choice.

So he said: "I will give you a clear path. If you can hand over all the money you embezzled, I will let you go. But if you dare to deny it, I will definitely beat you to death according to family law."

When Lai Eryi heard this, he felt like life appeared in front of his eyes.He kept kowtowing to express his agreement with Jia Zhen's plan.

Jia Zhen said with a smile: "In this case, I won't embarrass you. You stay in the house for a few days. When your mother and daughter-in-law send the money in a few days, I will naturally let you go back."

Laiji finally felt relieved after hearing this.To make up for the money they have embezzled over the years, it is nothing to the Lai family.

Laiji knew that his eldest brother had made a huge amount of money by smuggling various contrabands outside the customs over the years.As long as the elder brother leaks it from his hand, he will be able to sit back and relax.

So he didn't resist anymore and obediently let the boys below drag him out.

Besides, Lai Er was tied up by Jia Zhen, and soon the news fell to Grandma Lai's ears through various channels.

After hearing the news, Grandma Lai's eyes darkened and she fainted to the ground.

The family members were busy for a while and finally rescued her.

After waking up, Grandma Lai did not cry like other old ladies. Instead, she gritted her teeth and hardened her heart and asked people to find her eldest son Lai Da.

Lai Da actually got the news about Ning Guofu a long time ago, but he always pretended not to know.

After all, solving this matter cannot be done with a small amount of money.Although he has made some money over the years, he has also taken the risk of beheading. He does not want to let the money he finally saved go to waste.

He just came out of Rongguo Mansion today and was thinking about going out to have a drink with some friends. The boy at home came to him in a hurry and said that Grandma Lai asked him to go back.

Lai Da is such a smart person. If he had hair on his body, he would be smarter than a monkey.

He immediately guessed that his mother had received news about his younger brother, and she was asking him to go back and discuss how to raise money to redeem his younger brother.

Although he was unwilling in his heart, he knew his mother's position in the family, so he could only hold his breath and return home.

As soon as he arrived at his mother's room, he saw that his mother's face was pale and her eyes were staring at him sinisterly, which made Lai Da feel a little panicked.

Lai Da didn't know what happened, but he felt that his knees suddenly became weak and he fell to his knees.

"Beast, tell me, do you know about your brother or not?"

After Lai Da heard this, he knew that he could not hide it from his mother, so he could only lower his head and say nothing.

What else is there to say? Grandma Lai immediately understood that her son had already known the situation.

Therefore, she stood up from the bed regardless of it, and threw something movable at Laida's body.Lai Da knelt there and did not dare to resist. At most, he could only hold his head with his hands.

After a long time, Grandma Lai was tired, and then she gasped and asked her daughter-in-law to help her back to the bed.

After she sat down, she stared at Lai Da and said, "Send someone to Ningguo Mansion and ask Uncle Zhen how much money it will cost to do this."

But Lai Da, who was kneeling below, did not move.

Facing this situation, Grandma Lai felt a little depressed. However, she remained tenacious and said to her eldest son who was kneeling below:
"As the front man of your family, you should think carefully. If there is a crisis, you will ignore your own brother. How can you make others trust you?"

After listening to Aunt Lai's words, Lai Da was a little touched. He said hesitantly: "The disaster that my second brother has caused this time cannot be underestimated. Uncle Zhen will not give up easily."

Aunt Lai frowned and showed a helpless expression: "The cause of this incident should be Uncle Rui of Dingxihou Mansion. It seems that our Uncle Jia Zhen has been forced into desperation by Uncle Rui."

"What is Jia Rui's intention? Doesn't he know that family harmony is very important? Why does he have to cause trouble in the city?"

Aunt Lai's eyes became sharp, and she said, "Your experience is not rich enough. Let me tell you, Uncle Rui's goal is to control the entire Jia family."

Speaking of this, a hint of shrewdness flashed in Aunt Lai's eyes: "I originally thought that Uncle Rui had already started taking action, but he has delayed it until now. It seems that he is still too kind in his heart."

In Grandma Lai's view, Jia Rui has a high position and half of the country's major affairs are decided by him.However, his control over the Jia family that raised him was obviously insufficient.

If Jia Rui was smarter, he should have put the Jia family under his control long ago so that he could deal with external affairs without any worries.

"Listen, you must obey any orders from Uncle Rui from now on. If you disobey in the slightest, I will beat you to death without Uncle Rui taking action."

Aunt Lai has seen through everything now. The previous conflict with Jia Rui can be ignored, but from now on, the Jia family will be under Jia Rui's rule, and any aliens will be obliterated.Therefore, if you don't keep a low profile and obey now, you won't have another chance in the future.

"I see."

"Now that you know it, why don't you hurry up and get things done!"

After Lai Da heard this, he quickly rolled away from here.Then, he passed the message to Jia Zhen through various relationships.

Jia Zhen did not embarrass Lai Er too much, and only asked Lai Er to pay 15 taels of silver. The matter would be over, and Lai Er could continue to serve as the chief steward of Ningguo Mansion.

After hearing this, Lai Da was shaking with anger.You must know that Lai Er has been a housekeeper in Ningguo Mansion for so many years, and his family property is only about 3 taels. How could he come up with 15 taels at once?
However, the current situation is not good for him, and the Lai family can only accept their fate.

Finally, he went to Laiji's home, forced his sister-in-law to collect 3 taels of silver, and withdrew another 12 taels of silver from his own home.Finally, he sent the money to Jia Zhen and redeemed Lai Er.

And Jia Zhen has not been idle these days. He has also begun to sell some shops and fields in Ningguo Mansion.

Naturally, the Rongguo Mansion knew about the matter in Ningguo Mansion very quickly.

When Jia Mu heard that Jia Zhen started selling shops and fields, she breathed a long sigh of relief.It seems that Jia Zhen is prepared to bear the loss of the money alone and is not prepared to involve their Rongguo Mansion.

That's right.

After learning the news, Mrs. Wang finally relaxed and was no longer as worried as before.She could finally enjoy the beauty of life with peace of mind.

Only Ping'er complained slightly in front of Wang Xifeng, "Grandma, did we pay back the money too early? If we had known we could delay it for a while, we could have saved this money."

Ping'er's words made Wang Xifeng feel a little regretful, but she quickly put this emotion behind her.Because Jia Rui has been here many times in the past few days, using his warmth and care to soothe her inner loneliness.

All this made her feel that life was finally bright again. Besides, although money was precious, it was not impossible to earn it back again.

In this way, Jia Zhen finally managed to collect 50 taels of silver after half a month.

On a dark and windy night, he quietly delivered the silver to Jia Rui.

The reason why he chose to deliver it at night was because he didn't want to cause trouble in the city during the day, and his own face would be disgraced by then.

After receiving the money from Jia Zhen, Jia Rui kept his previous promise and never mentioned the matter again.

At the same time, he was also working on a bigger deal.

It turns out that the current owner of the Ruifusheng Bank has finally arrived in the capital from Shanxi.

This boss has quite a lot of background, his name is Fann.During the founding period of the People's Republic of China, his ancestors provided military rations and material supplies to Emperor Taizu, so after establishing the world, his family also gained the title of Imperial Merchant.

(End of this chapter)