Corrupt official in the Red Chamber

Chapter 635 Borrowing Silver
Jia Lian left Wang Xifeng, turned around and left Rongguo Mansion and came to Ningguo Mansion.

When Jia Zhen of Ningguo Mansion heard that it was Jia Lian who came, he just sent his son out to greet him.

Jia Zhen is now the real Duke of Ningguo, while Jia Lian is just a commoner. Sending his son to greet him is already a great honor for Jia Lian.

Of course, if old lady Jia Mu was still alive, Jia Zhen would still give some face and greet her in person, but now it is different from the past. Jia Zhen no longer cares about Jia Lian.

Jia Lian was unhappy that Jia Rong came out to greet him but did not see Jia Zhen.

However, the situation was stronger than the person, and he was now here to ask for help from the Ningguo Mansion, so he did not show his unhappiness on his face, but smiled and said a few words to Jia Rong, since they had arrived at the main hall together.

When he came in, he saw Jia Zhen still sitting in the middle. It was not until Jia Lian bowed to him first that Jia Zhen stood up with a smile and asked Jia Lian to sit next to him.

In fact, according to normal etiquette, Jia Zhen did not act disrespectfully. After all, Jia Zhen is now the Duke of Ningguo and the head of the clan affairs office.

As for Jia Lian, he was just a criminal, and not punishing him was already a favor from the emperor.

After they sat down, Jia Lian said with a wry smile: "This time, my younger brother came to ask for your help."

Jia Zhen put down his teacup and said with a smile, "We are one family, so don't talk about different things. If you have any difficulties, just tell us."

Jia Lian said, "We are having a hard time getting enough money in our mansion, so I want to borrow three to five thousand taels from you, my brother, to use first."

Jia Zhen was stunned after hearing this. He looked Jia Lian up and down and said, "Brother, you are not kidding me, are you?"

"I'm not in the mood to joke. I'm going to pay the monthly allowance in a few days, and I don't know where to get the money from, brother."

Jia Zhen shook his head and said, "I don't believe it. Everyone in the capital knows that your sister Feng is the only one who has money. She has a hand in all the profitable businesses in the world. Now you tell me that you have no money. Do you think I will believe you?"

After hearing this, Jia Lian's face turned even more bitter. "Brother, you don't know how tight the woman in my family guards her money. I can't even think of getting a single ounce out of her."

Jia Zhen was stunned for a moment, then lowered his head and thought for a moment, then said: "In this case, I will give you three thousand taels first."

After saying this, he winked at Jia Rong who was standing beside him.

Jia Rong quickly bowed to his father, then walked out. After a while, he asked the servants to come in carrying a box.

Then Jia Rong opened the box and saw several thousand taels of silver inside.

"Brother, take this money back and use it first." Jia Zhen pretended to be indifferent and waved his hand.

When Jia Lian saw the box full of silver, he finally smiled and said, "Thank you, brother. I will definitely return you double when I have more money in the future."

After that, Jia Lian did not delay any longer and ordered his men to carry the silver back to Rongguo Mansion with him.

After Jia Lian left, Jia Rong approached his father and asked in disbelief, "How could the Rongguo Mansion still be short of money?"

Jia Zhen touched his face and sneered, "When the second branch was in charge, Jia Zheng was at least the director of the Tongzhengsi, and the people below still gave him face, and they gave him gifts of ice and carbon, and they could barely make ends meet. But now Jia Zheng has gone to live his own life, and their family has almost no income."

"Doesn't Second Aunt Lian have a lot of money? As long as she gives some, Rongguo Mansion will have more money than it can spend."

Jia Zhen sneered, "Don't you see that Jia Lian is on guard against the maid? I think there must be something behind their affair."

After he finished speaking, Jia Zhen stood up and walked out, instructing Jia Rong: "Don't go out to eat and drink with Jia Lian during this period of time, or you will be embarrassed when he asks you to borrow money."

"Don't worry, father. I'm not a fool." Jia Rong followed behind and answered cautiously. Besides, after Jia Lian returned to Rongguo Mansion, he found Lai Da and divided 2,000 taels of silver he brought with him and asked him to put it into the public treasury.

Lai Da put the silver into the warehouse with a smile, but when he came out, his arms were bulging and no one knew what was in them.

As for the remaining 1,000 taels of silver, Jia Lian asked Qionghua to save it for him.

This is his private money.

As for what money to use to pay back the Ningguo Mansion, Jia Lian didn't take it seriously at all. He didn't believe that Jia Zhen of the Ningguo Mansion would really be so shameless as to ask him for the debt.

With two thousand taels of silver temporarily, the Rongguo Mansion can barely get through this month, but this silver can only last about two months.

Wang Xifeng saw all this but did not intervene. She did not believe that Jia Lian could continue to have so much money. And who in the capital could supply him with unlimited money?

Just as Wang Xifeng had expected, a month and a half later, the Rongguo Mansion was once again out of money.

It was even worse than before, because several shops of Rongguo Mansion in the capital city were actually suffering losses.

Jia Lian was angry about this matter. He went to several shops personally to check the accounts.

After much investigation, nothing was found. Judging from the accounts, the shopkeepers were very responsible and did not make any money from the fraud.

Jia Lian was now at a loss. Given the current circumstances, if he didn't invest money, he would have to close the business or rent out the shop.

Although these shops are located in the capital city and in good locations, the annual rent is a drop in the bucket for the Rongguo Mansion. Only when the business makes money can the Rongguo Mansion breathe a sigh of relief.

However, if they wanted to keep the shop running, the Rongguo Mansion had no money to invest. This situation had pushed Jia Lian into a corner.

Of course, if Jia Lian took out his private money, he could barely make ends meet, but Jia Lian was not a fool, so how could he possibly take out his own private money?

Therefore, he could only go back and report to Jia She in frustration.

After hearing this, Jia She was also filled with anger, but he had no place to vent.

Jia She is not a fool. To be honest, he is several times better than Jia Lian.

Otherwise, he would not have been involved in the prince's rebellion.

But I have lost my fighting spirit over the years and have almost forgotten what I learned.

However, as long as Jia She uses his brain, he can still guess some clues.

He sat there in silence for a while, then said to Jia Lian, "It seems that you are not suitable to be a housekeeper. Let your wife manage this huge Rongguo Mansion."

When saying this, Jia She's eyes showed helplessness.

He had actually discovered that something was wrong with Wang Xifeng, but he didn't know what was wrong, so out of caution, he did not give the housekeeper power to Wang Xifeng, but gave it to his son.

Unfortunately, his son was a hopeless case and could not even maintain the Rongguo Mansion, so in the end he had to hand over the housekeeping power to Wang Xifeng.

(End of this chapter)