Chapter 504: Heavy Snow in Shenjing
After conquering Jiulong, Jia Cong did not rush to advance! First, the army needed to rest. Moreover, Suolang Wangdui had escaped, and the enemy troops in Chengdu Prefecture had already known of his arrival. They had lost the time to launch a surprise attack, and the next step was a fight to the death.
Moreover, with Wujie, Jia Cong also had a better idea about how to deal with the Qiang people.
If the Qiang tribe could be defeated without bloodshed, not only would the problem in the rear be completely solved, there would be no need to deploy so many troops in the rear, and even the Qiang tribe could be absorbed into their own forces.
On the third day after the fall of Jiulong City, Jia Cong ordered all troops to garrison Jiulong City, while he led 20,000 elite troops and returned to Maozhou with Wujie.
There was also good news: Jizong Pass and Wuweishan Pass had been captured by his troops in a surprise attack! The Qiang people were now trapped.
…
This year, the capital is a little colder than in previous years, and a heavy layer of snow fell in October.
In Wang Xifeng's courtyard, the master and servant were talking in low voices. Naturally, their conversation centered on Jia Cong!
"It's been several months since Bison Cao left, and he didn't even write us a letter. It's a waste of time that we keep thinking about him all day long!" Wang Xifeng complained.
Ping'er, standing by, smiled and said, "It seems to me that it's Grandma who's missing Third Master! Third Master is currently leading an army of hundreds of thousands, conquering countless enemies. He barely even has time to rest, so how could he have the time to write to us? However, when Third Master has some free time, I'm sure he won't forget us."
"Hmph, you're quite considerate, even standing up for that buffalo! No wonder he loves you the most!"
"But I can't stand grandma's teasing!"
As the master and servant were talking, they heard the voice of a little maid outside, "Greetings to the eldest madam, greetings to Miss Lin, Miss Bao, Miss Shi, Miss Qin, greetings to the second, third, and fourth ladies!"
Before the two of them could stand up to greet them, Li Wan rushed in with a group of sisters.
"So many people are here today, it seems like they were invited by invitation!" Wang Xifeng responded with a smile and asked everyone to sit down. Ping'er brought the maids to pour tea for everyone.
"It's snowing and cold these two days, so the maids have temporarily suspended classes to let us take a break!" Yingchun said with a smile.
Tanchun stepped forward and took Wang Xifeng's arm, saying, "We have something to ask of our second sister-in-law!"
"What's so important that you guys have to come to me for help?"
"It's snowing heavily now, making it a perfect time to explore the snow and look for plum blossoms, so we decided to host a party at Third Brother's garden in the East Mansion, and specifically invite Second Sister-in-law."
"That's not worth it for you people to come!"
"Second sister-in-law, my sisters and I have discussed having you host a party for us." Xiao Xichun said with a smile.
Wang Xifeng was stunned. "I told you guys that you wouldn't come here for no reason. It turns out you're planning on getting the Second Lady to pay for it!"
"Each of you now have two monthly paychecks. I know that the East Palace gives you ten taels of silver every month. Do you still need to ask me for money?"
"Look at all of you! Uncle Lin is a high-ranking official in the Ministry of Revenue, managing the Emperor's money. The Xue family is a royal merchant, and thousands of silver coins pass through Auntie's hands on a daily basis. Yun girl, your Shi family has brought in tens of thousands of taels in the past few months. Even for you little ones, Brother Cong gave you tens or hundreds of taels when he was home."
"Even my sister-in-law, every year she has a harvest of 1,800 taels."
"You're all so rich, yet you're here to bully me, Second Madam?"
Wang Xifeng's words caused everyone to burst into laughter. Li Wan stepped forward and said, "Look, we just said one sentence, and she went crazy first, spouting off two carts of scoundrel, earth-legged, worldly words that are only good at calculating and calculating! This Feng Lazi, she's lucky to have been born into a family of officials and nobles, and married into such a family. If she had been born into a humble family as a boy, who knows how to be so mean and mean-spirited."
"That's right, eldest sister-in-law!" Xiangyun nodded and smiled. "Everyone knows that second sister-in-law helps third brother manage a huge business. The two aunts at home all say that even the imperial edict of the Divine Capital has to be polite when meeting the second wife now."
"That's Brother Cong's money. I'm just a shopkeeper who handled it!" Wang Xifeng said proudly. "Besides, if you want to spend it, it's easy. Let alone a few dozen taels, as long as the two mistresses of the East Palace agree, Second Madam can spend hundreds of thousands of taels."
Daiyu blushed and spat, then pulled Ping'er aside and said, "I don't care about these things. Sister Ping'er, go get the key and open Second Sister-in-law's box. Let's take all the good things."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Xichun and the others all came forward and surrounded Wang Xifeng to make a fuss. After a while, Wang Xifeng laughed and said, "Okay, okay, it's just a few silver coins. I'll have Ping'er get twenty taels to host you."
"Greetings, Grandma, Second Grandma, and all the girls!" The room was bustling with activity when Amber came over.
"Why are you here with me when you're not serving the old lady?"
Amber bowed, "Replying to Second Madam, yesterday the three concubines from the East Palace, along with the First Madam and the First Madam, sent a message to Old Madam, saying that the plum blossoms in the garden have finally bloomed, so they wanted to invite Old Madam to come over and have some fun."
"The old lady has been bored in her room these past few days. Look at the weather. It will clear up after another night of snow. It's a perfect time to go to the garden of the East Palace to enjoy the snowy scenery! Therefore, the old lady asked me to find the two grandmothers and the other girls, and said we will go together tomorrow."
Hearing this, Wang Xifeng couldn't help but throw her head back and burst into laughter. "It's only right that I, the Second Madam, should save the money. Look, they in the East Mansion are so filial to the old lady, there's no reason for me, the Second Madam, to spend the money."
"The eldest sister-in-law of the East Palace and Keqing hold the keys to the public palace of the Cong brothers. They don't have much silver. Yuanyang and the others don't know how many thousands or even tens of thousands of taels of silver they have in their pockets. Tomorrow we will all go there and eat at their East Palace."
Wang Xifeng's money-grubber look once again made everyone laugh.
The next day, after two or three days of heavy snow, the sky finally cleared up! Li Wan and Wang Xifeng, along with a group of other girls, arrived at the old lady's courtyard early in the morning.
Grandmother Jia was obviously very happy to see the arrival of her little daughters.
Looking at them with a smile, she saw Li Wan wearing a blue woolen double-breasted jacket, Wang Xifeng wearing a pink flowered jacket, a dark blue silk grey squirrel cloak, and a bright red crepe and silver squirrel skin skirt.
Baochai, who was at the back, wore a crane cloak made of foreign silk with a lotus-green dot pattern, while Daiyu wore red fragrant sheepskin boots with gold-embroidered clouds, a crane cloak lined with white fox fur and covered with scarlet feather gauze, a four-ring Ruyi ribbon with two rings in a sapphire-green pattern, and a snow-cap on her head.
Xiangyun wore a mink-headed coat with a black-grey sable lining, a sable-colored gown with a sable-like pattern, and a scarlet gorilla-felt cape with a gold lining. She also wore a scarlet gorilla-felt cape with a large mink-like collar. The other women wore similar scarlet gorilla-felt capes with Guanyin hoods, but Baoqin didn't wear any snow-proof clothing.
