After the whole family was swept away, I lay down flat

Chapter 578 Mutual Benefit
No matter what he thought in his heart, Jin Jiashu now acted obedient and submissive in front of Ma Shangyi.

He sincerely assured Ma Shangyi that he would never dare to act on his own again in the future. If he had any ideas in his mind, he would consult her first. No matter whether he could do it or not, he would ask her first instead of making a decision on his own.

Ma Shangyi was satisfied and smiled, "My brother is on good terms with the brother of the Hai family and the young master Yijun of the Zhenguogong Mansion. It is not a bad thing that he is willing to discuss his troubles with his friends. However, my brother's life experience contains the secrets of Madam Xu, the second branch of the Jin family, and the matters related to his hometown in Zunhua Prefecture. My brother should try not to mention them to his friends.

"It's okay for Young Master Yijun. He is the beloved son of General Zhou Si and the grandson of the Duke of Zhenguo. He may know the family secrets in the future. But Hai's brother is an outsider. It's not good for him to know too much about some things. The emperor has always been merciless in his actions. I know that my brother has been rescued and helped by the Hai family and has lived in the Hai family. I am grateful to them and feel close to them. I am not on guard against anything. But it is precisely because the Hai family has done a favor to my brother that I should think more about them and not let them accidentally break taboos. That would not be a way of repaying a favor, but harming them instead."

Jin Jiashu nodded his head and said yes.

Seeing that he was sensible, Ma Shangyi stopped talking. Some things don't need to be said too much, otherwise the smart young man will feel uncomfortable.

She only asked Jin Jiashu: "Brother, do you have anything else to ask? Since we have talked about it today, just tell me the questions you want to know. If I think I can answer them, I will tell you everything I know."

Jin Jiashu raised his eyes carefully to look at her, and felt that her expression did not seem to be coaxing, so he asked tentatively: "Ma Ma, how many people did the palace send to my hometown in Zunhua Prefecture? Are they all the Empress Dowager's people? Did my aunt send anyone?"

Ma Shangyi smiled and replied, "How many years has Madam Xu been a concubine? The people around her who can be trusted are all from the Cining Palace. Not only are they familiar with her, but they also guarantee that they will not be bribed by other madams. If there are people under her who can really go out of the palace to do business, they should stay in the capital to run errands, and not be sent to Zunhua Prefecture. That would be a waste."

It's not that Concubine Xu didn't have things she needed to send trusted people to do in the capital, such as moving Liu Dainiang's grave, offering tablets at temples, and asking for eternal lights, etc., all of which required trusted confidants to run errands. Concubine Xu hadn't trained her own staff yet, so the people who did these things were still arranged for her by the emperor.

The emperor also sent people to Zunhua Prefecture, but they were mainly eunuchs and imperial guards, and it was impossible for them to stay there for a long time. The missions that required a long stay in Zunhua Prefecture were all carried out by the old people in the Empress Dowager Cining Palace. In the past two years, Cining Palace has released several batches of old palace maids and old eunuchs. Some of them settled down in Beijing, some went to the Jinyiwei Yamen, some went to live in Zunhua Prefecture, and some - such as Ma Shangyi - used the excuse of retiring to return to their hometown and returned to Chang'an to take care of Jin Jiashu.

There are only a few old people from the Cining Palace stationed in Zunhua Prefecture, one is Nanny Tian, ​​who wrote to Ma Shangyi, and the other is Nanny Du. The two of them have several daughters, all of whom were adopted by the Chengen Marquis Mansion. They are loyal and smart, and can help run errands, just like the spring rain around Ma Shangyi. In addition, there is an old eunuch whose hometown is nearby. He returned to his family last year with his savings. He keeps in touch with the two Nannies and is responsible for passing on information and running errands for them, but Ma Shangyi has no intention of detailing how many people he has under him.

Jin Jiashu secretly kept this information in mind and asked Ma Shangyi, "You just said that Nanny Tian was in Zunhua Prefecture pretending to be a relative of mine... my mother and aunt. Is this safe? What if someone finds out the truth?"

No matter how much the Jin family wanted to marry Concubine Xu, and took the initiative to make up lies about her background, it was all based on the lie that Nanny Tian and Concubine Xu were indeed relatives. Once Nanny Tian's lie was exposed, the Jin family would question her as a liar, and might even take the initiative to say that they had lied in the past, that they did not know any old scholar Xu, and had never heard that he had a second daughter.

Ma Shangyi nodded and said with a smile, "My brother is very careful. We must be cautious about this matter. But you don't have to worry. Although A Tian is not a relative of the Xu family, she learned the local dialect of Zunhua Prefecture from Empress Xu in the palace, and also inquired about the local customs. No one will suspect that she is an old lady who has been away from home for many years and whose relatives are separated." Nanny Tian herself is an orphan and was born in Zhili, but no one knows where her hometown is exactly, and her parents and relatives are long gone. All they need to do is to make some small changes to the palace list and change her place of origin to Zunhua Prefecture, and no one will think she is lying - and this kind of small thing is easy for the emperor and the empress dowager.

Coincidentally, considering Nanny Tian’s age, when she was about twelve or thirteen years old, there was indeed a beauty contest in the palace. A group of young palace maids were selected in Zhili, about two or three hundred people, including a dozen from Zunhua Prefecture. Some of them died early, some stayed in Beijing to retire, and only two returned to their hometowns safely to reunite with their families. One of them died early, and the other knew Nanny Tian in the palace in her early years, but she just couldn’t remember whether she was from the same hometown. Nanny Tian took the initiative to visit her, gave her generous gifts, and introduced her daughter and daughter-in-law to work in the embroidery workshop she opened, which just solved the plight of her family’s poverty. She was very grateful to Nanny Tian, ​​and she could only be obedient, so how could she take the initiative to question whether the other party was from the same hometown as her?

What was there to worry about? She didn't know that Nanny Tian had worked with the emperor's new favorite for many years in the Cining Palace, and what kind of people she had met after coming to Zunhua Prefecture. She could only be glad that this old acquaintance came to her hometown to retire, otherwise her family would have to starve to death.

No one would expose Tian Ma's identity, and she would also bring connections to the Jin family in Beijing. The head of the Jin family was ambitious and would never ask for trouble. He would only rush to make a reasonable explanation for everything she did.

In return, the empress dowager and the emperor decided that as long as the son of the head of the Jin family could pass the imperial examination and enter officialdom in the capital, they would arrange a good place for him when he was appointed to an official position - a place that would not allow him to see the concubines in the palace but would be noble and respectable enough.

By then, the Jin family will have complete faith in Nanny Tian and will be willing to serve Concubine Xu.

Jin Jiashu understood. His biological mother, Xu, lost both her parents and came from a humble family, without any help. But if the prince she gave birth to became the new monarch of this country and she became the queen mother, she would still need help. Although the first and second branches of the Jin family could not help much, and he, the eldest son, was still young, the Jin family could be used directly. A small local family with a long history of scholars, a disciple of a great Confucian scholar, once he entered the court, there were so many things he could do! If the Jin family could train a few more outstanding descendants in the future, it would only become more and more prosperous in the future, and it might even become a famous family of officials in Zhili.

This is a mutually beneficial thing.

Jin Jiashu lowered his eyes and asked carefully, "The patriarch of our family...does he know about my current situation? Does he have any instructions for me?"

Ma Shangyi smiled and said, "Don't worry, brother. Your branch has long been separated from the family. The family can't control you. Moreover, the two places are so far away that they can't control you even if they want to. You can live your life in Chang'an as you wish. If you feel that you are too alone here... then find a big family in the city to join."

Jin Jiashu was stunned: "Lian Zong?"

Ma Shangyi nodded: "There are also families with the surname Jin in Chang'an. I heard that when my ancestors were officials in Beijing in their early years, they also had a clan connection with your Zunhua Jin family!"

(End of this chapter)