The Succession Struggle in the Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 228 Grandmother Jia, Still Vigorous in Her Old Age

When faced with Wang Xifeng's question, Madam Wang seemed somewhat reluctant to answer.

But now that things had come to this point, she knew she had no choice but to answer.

So he gritted his teeth and said, "Lian's daughter-in-law is right. She did send a sum of money to the palace some time ago. She didn't explain where the money came from. I thought it was the harvest from the farms down there."

That's what she said, but judging from the reactions of the aunt and niece just now, there must be something fishy going on.

However, in the Rongguo Mansion, the housekeeper was Madam Wang, while Wang Xifeng assisted her from the side.

It will be difficult to determine whether these two are lying.

Besides, no one was going to investigate these things at that point.

Grandmother Jia glanced at Lady Wang and asked, "How much silver did you receive, and where is it now?"

Madam Wang did not answer the question, but instead looked at Wang Xifeng sideways.

Wang Xifeng was also quick-witted; seeing Madam Wang's gaze, she quickly said:

"Old lady, I didn't dare to charge more. I only earned three thousand taels of silver in total. I spent some of it, kept some for myself, and only half of it was given to you, Madam."

Three thousand taels of silver, though not much for the Jia family, was still quite a sum earned from a project to renovate a prince's mansion.

Therefore, it is inevitable that the Prince Yi's Mansion was built with substandard materials.

It's important to know that Wang Xifeng was doing business in partnership with others, and the Geng family was the major shareholder in that venture.

Thinking of this, Grandmother Jia was so angry that she couldn't speak.

She was furious that Wang Xifeng, as a daughter-in-law of the Jia family, disregarded her status and did such a despicable thing.

Secondly, Wang Xifeng, who is usually quite clever, actually made a foolish mistake on this matter, daring to act recklessly in the residence of a prince of the current dynasty.

This incident not only angered Grandmother Jia, but also infuriated the three Jia brothers.

Jia Zheng, in particular, was not only angry with Wang Xifeng, but also with his own wife.

Judging from the reaction just now, even if Madam Wang wasn't an accomplice, she must have known something about what Wang Xifeng did.

This was quite embarrassing for Jia Zheng, a man who valued his reputation.

But as husband and wife are one, he couldn't expose the truth at this moment, otherwise he would really lose face.

Thinking of all this, Jia Zheng couldn't help but shout at Madam Wang, "You dare to accept such a large sum of money without even asking where it came from? I think you've lost your mind."

Upon hearing this, Madam Wang pretended to be very aggrieved and said:
"The money was handed over by Feng'er. How was I supposed to know there would be so many complications? If I had known, I wouldn't have dared to accept it."

Jia Zheng, however, remained undeterred and continued to roar, "You are in charge of all the affairs of the mansion, and it is your fault if you do not investigate them."

Faced with Jia Zheng's scolding, Lady Wang felt extremely wronged. She covered her face with a handkerchief, as if she was about to cry.

This scene left some people wide-eyed, while others felt a pang of sympathy.

This last type of person mainly refers to Lady Wang and Jia Zheng's eldest daughter, Jia Yuanchun.

This is the eldest maid who has remained at home and is still unmarried because of the delay in the Crown Prince's selection of a consort.

Seeing her father scolding her mother, she began to try to persuade him.

“Father, Mother made a mistake due to carelessness. Even if you want to punish her, you should wait until things have calmed down.”

Jia Zheng's original intention was simply to put on a show in front of everyone. He deliberately scolded Lady Wang, so that others would not dare to pursue the matter further.

So after the eldest daughter interrupted, he snorted angrily and stopped talking.

The Jia family members watched the performance of this family of three with indifference.

Finally, Grandmother Jia came out to express her opinion:
"Alright, alright, stop making a scene in front of me. Since you've accepted this money, hurry up and hand it over to the Shuntian Prefecture later."

Upon hearing this, Madam Wang stopped pretending to cry and took off her handkerchief, saying:
"Grandma, I'll bring the money over right away."

After saying that, he quickly left with Jia Yuanchun.

Once they left, Wang Xifeng panicked a little and said anxiously:

“Grandma, in principle, I should return the money I have. However, I used part of it to buy jewelry and give as gifts, and I also spent the rest. Now I can’t return it.”

The favor she was referring to was naturally the gift of jewelry to the women in the household.

So, when Grandmother Jia heard her words, she said angrily, "So you're saying we made money off you? Should I have everyone return the jewelry you gave us?"

Wang Xifeng quickly explained, "Grandma, please don't be angry. That's not what I meant. I just wanted to say that I don't have any money on hand right now, and I'd like to borrow some from the mansion to repay Shuntian Prefecture. As for the money in the mansion, I'll repay it slowly later."

At this point, Grandmother Jia was in no mood to ask how she had managed to spend such a large sum of money.

He simply said, "Since you want to lend it, then lend it to me, Second Brother. You should write an IOU for her and have her sign it."

"Ah!" Wang Xifeng was dumbfounded upon hearing this.

She thought that borrowing money would be the same as before, with a verbal agreement and then the money being taken from the public fund.

As for repaying the money, she will repay part of it later, and the rest will be repaid when the old lady is in a better mood. She will say a few nice words to the old lady to make her happy, and then she won't have to repay it.

But she didn't expect that this time she would have to sign an IOU, which would make it harder for him to renege on the debt later.

This also shows that Grandmother Jia was indeed angry this time.

Knowing the outcome, Wang Xifeng dared not object and could only weakly utter a single sentence.

"We'll do whatever the old lady says."

Jia Zheng, however, paid no heed to any of this. When Grandmother Jia gave the order, he had already gone out into the passageway and had his servants bring him paper, ink, brush, and inkstone.

After Wang Xifeng finished agonizing over it, the IOU appeared in front of her.

Seeing this, Wang Xifeng had no choice but to obediently sign the IOU.

After this was done, Grandmother Jia accepted the IOU and instructed Jia Yingchun to go to Lady Wang and tell her to bring over more silver.

Then, Grandmother Jia interrogated Wang Xifeng.

"How much do you know about the shoddy workmanship at the Prince Yi's residence?"

Wang Xifeng said with a bitter face, "Grandma, I really didn't mean to cut corners. It was all done by the servants."

Grandmother Jia said, "At this point, what's the use of making excuses? Tell the truth so that the family can help you."

Wang Xifeng said, "Grandma, your granddaughter-in-law is not lying. After the Geng family persuaded me to take on this job, they handed the work over to their subordinates. I haven't been to the Wang Mansion even once, so how would I know about their shoddy work?"

Upon hearing this, Grandmother Jia asked seriously, "Are you really not lying?"

Wang Xifeng shook her head and said, "No."

Hearing this, Grandmother Jia breathed a sigh of relief and said:
"It's good that you don't know. In this way, tell us about all the people who are working with you on this matter, and then hand them over to the Shuntian Prefecture." Logically speaking, Wang Xifeng should have been happy to cooperate after Grandmother Jia said this, but she hesitated and didn't speak for a long time.

Upon seeing this, Grandmother Jia scolded, "Are you sure you don't want to part with a few servants?"

Wang Xifeng quickly explained, "Grandma, it's not that I'm reluctant, but the people I'm using this time are all servants from my own family."
My uncle is not in the capital right now, so it's not appropriate for us to interfere in other people's affairs.

This is indeed a difficult problem. Although the two families are related, there is no reason for the Jia family to overstep their bounds and arrest the Wang family's servants and hand them over to the authorities.

However, Grandmother Jia said, "Just tell me the name, you don't need to worry about anything else."

Wang Xifeng had no choice but to recount the story of every single servant who had worked with her this time.

Just as Wang Xifeng was reciting these names, Madam Wang returned with Jia Yuanchun and Jia Tanchun, her face contorted with grief.

After she came over, she handed a stack of silver notes to Grandmother Jia and said:

"Grandma, here are three thousand taels of silver notes. My daughter-in-law's and Feng's are together."

Grandmother Jia didn't count the silver notes; she took them, placed them beside her chair, and then said to Lady Wang:
"Give me another three thousand taels of silver; I'll need it later."

After hearing what Grandmother Jia said, Lady Wang beckoned to Jia Yuanchun, who then presented a small wooden box to her with both hands.

Lady Wang took the wooden box and handed it to Grandmother Jia, saying:

"I guessed that the old lady would need money, so I took 10,000 taels of silver notes from the palace."

Grandmother Jia was very pleased with Lady Wang's cleverness.

But the thought that such a clever person has made such a stupid mistake makes me feel a little sad.

She didn't take the wooden box, but simply said:
"Now that you're ready, take out another three thousand taels of silver."

Upon hearing this, Madam Wang busied herself counting the silver notes.

Grandmother Jia then turned to Jia Jing and the other two and said:

"Now that things are clear, what do you three think is the best way to handle this?"

Jia Jing and the other two exchanged glances but remained silent.

Jia She's attitude was the most obvious; although it was his daughter-in-law who made the mistake in this matter.

However, it had little to do with him from beginning to end, and having just been hurt by Grandmother Jia again, he had no intention of getting involved at all.

Therefore, Jia She turned his head to look around, displaying an attitude of indifference and detachment.

In this urgent situation, Jia Zheng couldn't think of a good solution, so he couldn't come up with a coherent explanation.

Seeing this, Jia Jing knew that he had no choice but to speak up himself.

He coughed and said, "Aunt, from what we've seen so far, although Lian's wife is the one who steps forward, she really doesn't know about the shoddy workmanship."

Therefore, I believe that all we need to do is have Lian's daughter-in-law go to the Shuntian Prefecture to explain the situation clearly.

Jia Jing's words implied that he still intended to send Wang Xifeng to Shuntian Prefecture.

Upon hearing this suggestion, Grandmother Jia, who had just been trying her best to protect Wang Xifeng, did not say she would not see her off this time.

She simply asked, "How do you want it delivered?"

There's a big difference between giving and receiving gifts. If you give a gift well, there's basically no problem. But if you give a gift poorly, then you'll be in trouble.

Jia Jing naturally knew about this matter, and he said:
"Without the people from Shuntian Prefecture escorting them, our own household can take the initiative to send them to Shuntian Prefecture, which will give us some room for maneuver."

Upon hearing this suggestion, Grandmother Jia nodded and said nothing more.

Jia Jing then said, "Besides that, all the servants of the Wang family should also be sent to the Shuntian Prefecture government office, so that Lian Ge's daughter-in-law can be exonerated from her crimes."

Grandmother Jia nodded and said, "This is a prudent way to handle things, but how will you deal with the Wang family? After all, they are in-laws, and we can't afford to offend them."

Grandmother Jia mainly valued Prince Teng, since he was still an official.

Although they have left the capital, judging from the current situation, they are still valued by the emperor, so the Jia family cannot be underestimated.

This is why, despite what happened today, the Jia family was tricked by Lady Wang and her niece Wang Xifeng, and why Grandmother Jia was able to tolerate it and try her best not to lash out.

Otherwise, given Grandmother Jia's status in the Jia family and the temper she had cultivated over the years, she would have already given Lady Wang and Wang Xifeng a thorough dressing-down.

There's no place for Jia Zheng to put on a show of scolding his daughter-in-law here.

Upon hearing what Grandmother Jia said, Jia Jing replied:

"At this point, we can't worry about anything else. I will personally lead the men to the Wang family to take these servants there."

In this way, even if General Wang finds out, he will understand my good intentions.

Given Jia Jing's influence among the Jia, Shi, Wang, and Xue families, if he personally went to arrest someone, Wang Ziteng would only see it as a serious matter, rather than complaining about the Jia family's arrogance.

With such meticulous arrangements, Grandmother Jia was naturally very satisfied.

She said to Jia Jing, "There's no time to lose. You should take your men and go now, otherwise it will be useless if the people from Shuntian Prefecture get there first."

Knowing the urgency of the matter, Jia Jing left with his men without saying a word.

After he left, Grandmother Jia handed all the silver in her hand to Jia Zheng and said:
"It seems that Feng'er can't avoid going to Shuntian Prefecture. However, she is a member of the Jia family after all, and she will need someone to take care of her when she goes to Shuntian Prefecture."

Therefore, you shall take men and send Feng'er there. Remember, this time it is our Jia family who is sending her there voluntarily; do not let it turn out that she will be captured by the Shuntian Prefecture.

Jia Zheng understood the difference and quickly agreed.

Then, Grandmother Jia turned to Wang Xifeng and said:

"When you go to the Shuntian Prefecture government office, make sure you explain everything clearly. Don't take responsibility for things that aren't yours. The East Prefecture has already gone to your Wang family, so they should be able to make proper arrangements."

Wang Xifeng understood that Jia Jing was in such a hurry to go to the Wang family not only to arrest the servants involved in the case in advance, but also to find a scapegoat for Wang Xifeng.

In that case, it will be the servants who cut corners, not her, the mistress.

Having understood the reasoning behind it, Wang Xifeng felt relieved and was no longer so afraid of going to Shuntian Prefecture.

After giving these instructions, Grandmother Jia stopped stopping him and had Jia Zheng take Wang Xifeng away.

After they had all left, Grandmother Jia took a breath and said to the remaining people:
"It's all a tragedy, and I, an old woman, have to worry about them."

Seeing Grandmother Jia sighing and lamenting, Lin Daiyu found it quite novel.

Since arriving at the Jia family mansion, she had always thought of her maternal grandmother as just a kind old lady, never expecting her to have such a formidable side at this crucial moment.

It can stabilize the entire situation during a crisis.

(End of this chapter)