Chapter 141 Opening the Ancestral Hall for Adoption
"Mother, sister-in-law!" After finishing the work, Jia Cong continued, "My personal guards will take care of the follow-up matters. When everything is investigated clearly, I will report to mother and sister-in-law! After we leave tomorrow, we will seal up Shuiyue Temple. We will make plans after reporting to the old lady!"
Mrs. Xing nodded with a bit of pride. As long as the second house was embarrassed, she was happy. Wang Xifeng also nodded hurriedly. The third brother's methods became more and more fierce.
"Everyone should rest early! I will return to Tiekan Temple first and send someone to pick you up tomorrow morning."
After returning to Tiekan Temple, Jia Cong went straight to the outside of Jia Zheng's house.
"Has Second Uncle had a rest?" Jia Cong asked the servant outside the door.
"The second master took a nap in the afternoon, so he is still reading now!"
Jia Cong nodded and pushed the door open. In the room, candlelight flickered, and Jia Zheng was holding a book and reading it quietly.
"Brother Cong is back? Come and sit down! Someone, serve tea!"
After the servant served tea, Jia Zheng asked, "Is everything fine at Shuiyue Temple? Tomorrow is the third day, so we can return home tomorrow afternoon."
Jia Cong stood up, bowed to Jia Zheng and said, "Uncle, I am here to apologize to you!"
"Ah!" Jia Zheng was surprised. "Why is Cong asking me for forgiveness? But what happened? Don't worry, your uncle will help you make the decision !"
"Something happened at Shuiyue Temple. Because it involved my second brother Bao, my nephew overstepped his authority and was punished. Although it was caused by a reason, there is still a difference between legitimate and illegitimate children, and between the old and the young. So I came to apologize to my second uncle?"
"Baoyu? But what absurd thing did that wicked boy do?"
Jia Cong did not hide anything and directly told Jia Zheng about what happened in Shuiyue Temple. However, some things about Wang Xifeng and others were concealed by Jia Cong.
"It's ridiculous. Such evil deeds are committed in such a dignified place. They deserve death! It would be best if Cong-ge punished them immediately and handed them over to the government for judgment. If we let it go, wouldn't it make our Jia family ashamed?"
"As for those two evildoers, Brother Cong has given them too light a punishment! Now that there is a great funeral in the family, they actually let such a disgrace happen. If I were there, I would have beaten them to death!"
Jia Zheng was so angry that his teeth itched. The elders, brothers, and nephews were in mourning, and you were playing with little nuns? If this got out, would the Jia family still have a good reputation?
"Uncle, everyone present at the time was a family member, and the nun is being watched by my people for the time being, so Second Brother Bao's story won't get out! But if I didn't punish him as Second Madam wanted, people would definitely gossip about him, and it wouldn't let Second Brother Bao learn from his mistakes, so I just gave him a light punishment."
"Brother Cong, you have done a great job! What do those foolish women know? If anyone dares to slander you for this matter, your uncle will take care of it for you!"
"Okay, you've been busy all day so go and have a rest. There's no need to linger here with your uncle!"
Jia Cong walked out of the room and returned to his own room to rest.
Nothing happened that night, and another day of rituals was performed the next day. At dusk, after leaving some servants to look after the affairs, the masters of the mansion got on the carriage and returned home.
After the great funeral in the East Palace, the two palaces seemed to be unaffected and returned to peace.
Jia Cong was not in a hurry to return from his leave, because his family had already asked someone to calculate the date. In a few days, on March 26th, the ancestral hall would be opened.
A few days passed in a flash, and early in the morning of the 26th, Jia Cong entered the palace first!
Because being adopted into the East Palace also involves the matter of title, one must not only appear before the emperor, but also have the identity verified by the people from the clan house to avoid any accidents. Only after all this is done can one bring the people from the clan house back to carry out the adoption.
There were crowds of people inside and outside the Jia family ancestral hall !
There were two chairs in front of the innermost altar, one of which was made by Jia She, while the other was left empty. After all, the main line of the Ningguo Mansion had been cut off, so it would not be appropriate for others to sit on it...
On a chair at the upper left, Jia's grandmother sat quietly, while Jia Dairu, the old scholar and elder of the Jia family, stood on the right, muttering in a rhythmic manner the edicts bestowed on Jia Cong by the two emperors.
The rest of Jia Zheng and the elders of his branch family, as well as the historians Shi Ding, Shi Nai and Wang Ziteng, as the in-laws of the Jia family, all came to watch the ceremony!
Jia Lian and Baoyu, who were of the same generation, stood behind Jia Zheng and others.
The next day after returning home, Jia Cong reported the incident at Shuiyue Temple to the old lady. Grandmother Jia did not say much, but just asked him to deal with it according to the rules. However, it was obvious that the old lady was somewhat dissatisfied with Jia Cong's handling of Baoyu...
Originally Baoyu didn't want to come today, but Jia Zheng went to "invite" him personally, so Baoyu had no choice but to come on crutches...
Those of Jia Lan's generation, no matter how young, are not qualified to enter the main hall and can only wait outside.
Jia Cong only felt his legs go numb from kneeling. After an unknown amount of time, Jia Dairu finally finished reading the imperial edict and had someone bring three tea cups.
"Today you are adopted into the Ningguo Mansion, and in the future you will also be the heir to your own branch. From now on, you will only have an uncle-nephew relationship with the Rong Mansion's eldest branch, and no longer a father-son relationship."
"This first cup of tea is for Lord En. From now on, we will only be uncle and nephew, not father and son!"
Jia Cong respectfully picked up the teacup, knelt down and walked forward to Jia She, " Father, I cannot repay your kindness in raising me, which is really unfilial! But in the future, when father is old, I will serve you and show my filial piety without hesitation..."
Jia She sneered in his heart, this bastard is really good at pretending! Since he wants to be filial, why doesn't he give himself some money?
He picked up the teacup, not bothering to say anything, just took a sip and put it down.
Jia She bowed three times, took another teacup, and poured it directly in front of the empty chair! According to seniority, he was adopted as Jia Jing's son, but Jia Jing obviously had no chance to drink this cup of tea.
Finally, Jia Cong took the teacup and came to the old lady, handed it to her, kowtowed three times respectfully, and then said with tears in his eyes, "My grandson has been on this journey. The old lady has not treated me harshly because I am a bastard, but has loved me very much. At first, I took the imperial examinations, and later I served on the frontier. All of this was due to the old lady's favor and care for me to have my current status."
"Although my grandson has been adopted into the East Mansion, I will never forget the old lady's kindness. I will definitely continue to treat her as my dearest elder and be filial to her."
Although these tears were somewhat fake, Jia Cong was indeed extremely grateful to the old lady! Therefore, he was actually moved by some real emotions while speaking.
Originally, Jia's mother had some resentment towards this grandson, but now she couldn't help but feel distressed! Although this grandson was not as good as Baoyu, how much had he paid for the Jia family? How much suffering had he endured? Now that he finally became powerful, he was to be adopted to the East Palace!
"Old lady, no matter where your grandchild is or what his status is, he is still your grandchild!"
"Good, good grandson, get up!"
