Chapter 173: Greed for wealth, Wang Xifeng mistakenly arranged a date with a mandarin duck
But in the Golden Pavilion, Sun Shaozong was standing in the snow complaining, "The monks can see it, but I can't."
In the Rongguo Mansion, Wang Xifeng was facing her biggest - her mother-in-law, Xing, came to her and cried about being poor!
When it comes to Jia Baoyu's audit, the ones who suffered the greatest losses are naturally Lai Da and Jia Lian and his wife. The former lost both his money and his life, while the latter lost his family wealth, reputation and rights.
But the person who felt the most uncomfortable after the audit was none other than Jia She, the head master of the Rongguo Mansion.
Naturally, Jia She and his wife reaped a lot of the money used to build the villa, but he was the legitimate master after all, and also had the title of elder, so until the very end, Jia Baoyu and others did not dare to disclose it openly.
However, the old lady in the mansion privately ordered the couple to return most of the embezzled money to the public account.
This was a death sentence for Jia She. He had always been a person who enjoyed life in time and had already spent most of the stolen money. How could he make up for it now? !
He tried to beg for mercy several times and acted like a spoiled child a few times, but he almost made the old lady die of anger. She kept shouting that she would go to Shuntian Prefecture to sue him for being disobedient and unfilial.
Jia She had no choice but to scrape together the money from here and there and sold some of his treasured toys to fill most of the hole. Only then did he finally calm Lady Jia's anger.
But he himself also owed a lot of debts because of this.
If someone else were in his situation, he would probably have to stay at home for a while - anyway, those creditors would not dare to come to the Rongguo Mansion to collect debts.
But there is a restless teddy bear living in Jia She's heart. If he doesn't go out for a few days to "get some fresh air, some sunlight", he will feel uncomfortable all over!
So after a few days of silence, Master Jia hooked up with a young widow living near Chongwenmen. He was a real shrewd person who "started with a big mouth and flirted with everyone". He promised her a shop facing the street without any empty words and without any money!
Who knew that the young widow was also a smart one. She would not let go of the eagle until she had bitten the rabbit. She also showed all kinds of seductive behavior, which made Master Jia feel very uneasy. He even wanted to seize the tax silver from Shuntian Prefecture openly!
At this moment, he suddenly heard that his daughter-in-law had regained power. He was overjoyed and hurriedly forced Mrs. Xing to come over and cry poor, wanting to "borrow" some money temporarily so that he could "do good for the public" in front of the young widow.
Mrs. Xing was also a weirdo. She knew that Jia She would give the money to a prostitute outside after asking for it, but she still went to the door eagerly.
He wept in front of Wang Xifeng, "Master has been rich and noble for half his life, when has he ever suffered such poverty? You should quickly give him a few hundred taels of silver, so that people outside won't say that you two are disobedient and unfilial!"
To be honest, although Wang Xifeng and Jia Lian were also ordered to return the stolen money, she usually put the money in loans outside, so after making up for the losses here and there, she still had some savings left.
But as the saying goes, 'good fortune is hard to give up', let alone this kind of 'bad fortune' that can't even make a sound when thrown away?
Besides, Wang Xifeng had always looked down on this nominal mother-in-law, so she declined politely, saying, "Mother, since you asked me to do so, I shouldn't have refused. But you also know that Second Master and I have just paid a large sum of money to the public treasury, and now we still have a debt outside. How can I..."
"Aren't you the head of the family again?"
Mrs. Xing didn't even think about it and urged, "You can borrow some money from the public account to help the master. The master will definitely remember your kindness."
Even if Jia She thinks about the benefits, what's the point?
"I dare not do that!"
Wang Xifeng shook her head like a rattle: "Not to mention that a daughter-in-law also needs to maintain her dignity, just say that the government has to settle accounts every month now. How dare I dare to mess with the public accounts again?"
Mrs. Xing also said that she would only borrow it for half a month and it would not affect the settlement of accounts at the mansion.
But how could Wang Xifeng believe it?
She just kept refusing, and finally Mrs. Xing got annoyed and turned her face away and went to report to Jia She. Jia She was furious when he heard it, and later he even found an excuse to beat Jia Lian with a stick to vent his anger.
But that’s all for later.
But after seeing Mrs. Xing off, Wang Xifeng was left alone in the room, her brows also frowning.
She was not worried about Jia She, but she was used to spending lavishly on a daily basis. Now that she saw that Jia She had run out of money and could not get any money from the public treasury, she felt very anxious.
After a while, she suddenly raised her voice and said, "Ping'er, Ping'er! Where did you die again?!"
Ping Er was actually waiting outside the door. When she heard Wang Xifeng calling from inside, she quickly drew the cotton curtain and came in, saying, "Madam, you called me. What do you want me to do?"
"There is nothing to be commanded or not."
Wang Xifeng pointed to the stool where Lady Xing had just sat and said, "Please sit down. I have something personal to tell you."
When Ping'er saw her giving up her seat, she knew that this was probably not a good job.
So she was too lazy to sit down and said with a flat mouth: "Grandma, if you have anything to say, just tell me directly. I can't stand such flattery."
"If you are told to sit, just sit!"
Wang Xifeng rushed over and pushed her down on the stool. She returned to her seat and pondered for a while before lowering her voice and asking, "What did you say about the man surnamed Sun when he talked about mountains of gold and silver that day? Was he just teasing me or was it true?"
Wang Xifeng did not believe this at first, but after unexpectedly taking power in the past two days, she became somewhat skeptical.
Ping'er had heard her talk about this before. Although she didn't know what Sun Shaozong meant, she still helped by hinting, "It is said that Lord Sun is a capable man. He shouldn't be like the men in our mansion who talk big without even a word."
"And he said he would help you take charge of the family again. Hasn't that already happened?"
"Besides, no matter whether his business is successful or not, it won't go wrong to ask around first."
Wang Xifeng came to her to ask questions, so naturally she had some intention in mind for a long time. And after hearing what Ping'er said made sense, she made up her mind completely.
So she reached out and grasped Ping'er's wrist, and said with a smile: "Good Ping'er, since you said so, this matter can only fall on you - when Mr. Sun comes to our house next time, you can find a chance to ask him secretly for me."
Ping'er was just worrying about finding an excuse to meet Sun Shaozong in secret, and when she heard this, her heart was immediately filled with joy!
But she didn't dare to show it, and pretended to be extremely reluctant, muttering: "I dare not do this. If someone with too much mouth sees it and spreads rumors in front of the Second Master, I will never be able to clear myself even if I jump into the Yellow River."
"You little bastard, you're trying to get me to take advantage of you!"
Wang Xifeng glared at him and said angrily, "I asked you to ask him some serious questions, not to have an affair with him! Even if the Second Master finds out, what does it matter?!"
Seeing that Ping'er still didn't nod, she angrily said, "Okay, okay, I'll personally help you keep watch and make sure no evil-minded person will see it. Is that all right?"
