Chapter 857 Uncovering the Jizi Scroll

While Xing Xiuyan and Miaoyu were still in jail, nothing unusual was noticed in the Jia Mansion.

Xing Xiuyan was originally only a marginal figure in the mansion. She was allowed to live in the Grand View Garden because she was a girl and could be considered a relative of Mrs. Entering the garden, Xiuyan wisely chose the simplest and most plain Lu Xueguan. Of course, this was her favorite for the simple and elegant scenery here.

 At this time, the Jia Mansion was already enveloped in a tense atmosphere.

"Going back to my ancestors, since January, there have been no tea fruits in the clan school, and the lunch is also a lot worse. Originally, these trivial things should not alarm the ancestors, but these children who come to study in the clan school Many of them are from outside the family. In order to encourage the children in the family to study and improve, the family also said that they would take care of lunch and tea between classes. In the past two years, they have also won the favor of the children, and they all know how easy it is to go from frugality to luxury. , It is difficult to turn from luxury to frugality. It used to be there, but now it is not. This gossip began to increase. My grandson is also thinking that if these words spread more and more, it will definitely have a great impact on our Jia family. If outsiders know, If you are not sure, you will have random thoughts..."

Jia Rui stood in the hall with a calm tone, but the hidden meaning in his words was very obvious.

"I also asked the second sister-in-law. The second sister-in-law said that the current difficulties in the house have decreased slightly. It is true that there are not as many tea fruits as before, but lunch is still according to the original rules. The grandson went to the back room to ask, and she said that it was The prices of vegetables, rice and noodles outside have increased, so the tea, fruits and fruits have simply been reduced, and have been added to lunch..."

Jia She and Jia Zheng were sitting aside with gloomy faces. Over there, Mrs. Xing and Mrs. Wang also had very ugly faces.

It is not the turn of the gentlemen to get involved in matters such as family matters, but this time the two brothers Jia She and Jia Zheng heard the news when they went to attend the 80th birthday of Chen Ruiwen's mother in the Duke of Qi's palace, which made them lose face, so Only then did he rush back to find out.

Xie Jing, the head of the Xie family of the Marquis of Dingcheng, who was now a guerrilla in the Fifth Army Camp, joked that the Jia family could not even open the pot for food, which attracted everyone's ridicule. The two brothers Jia She and Jia Zheng didn't know what the joke was. They were extremely embarrassed at the time. After coming down, Only then did I find out the whole story.

It turns out that the children of the Jia family used to study in the clan school, and they used to take care of lunch. There were tea fruits during class, but now there are no tea fruits, and lunch is much worse. Some children complained after they returned, and they were always in trouble. It was spread out and spread among rumors, and it became a joke among these Wuxun families.

“Later, the grandson went to the Liu family’s daughter-in-law to take care of the kitchen, but the Liu family’s daughter-in-law said that this was the arrangement of the steward, and that purchases and purchases were made in accordance with the requirements of the steward of the back room,…”

The kitchen manager is in charge of the Liu family's wife, but the backroom manager in charge of kitchen purchasing is Zheng Haoshi. All expenses including the kitchen, firewood room, etc. are in charge of the backroom manager, and Zheng Haoshi's wife is Lai Da's wife. The distant sister, Zheng Haoshi, is the cheap brother-in-law of Lai Da and Lai Er, and they always wear the same pants as Lai Da.

Jia Mu’s face was extremely ugly and she snorted, “Brother Rui, what else do you want to say?”

"My grandson also finds it very strange. Before this year, the prices of vegetables, meat and eggs were going up, but after the new year, as usual, the prices of these things will drop. Moreover, my grandson also heard that last year's grain harvest in Jiangnan and Huguang was good, and it was transported through the canal. The price of rice and noodles here is about 10% lower than the year before last, and the prices of everything have also dropped. How come they have risen a lot when they come to our Jia family?"

Jia She and Mrs. Xing remained calm, while Jia Zheng and Mrs. Wang changed their expressions slightly.

Jia Zheng was in the Ministry of Industry, so he could naturally hear some news. He would not ask about the price of grain in the capital city, but he certainly knew that Jiangnan and Huguang had a bumper harvest last year. The grain in the capital came from Jiangnan and Huguang. In good years, food is cheap, so naturally it cannot be sold at a high price. Why does the Jia family say that the price has increased a lot when they buy it?

 But Mrs. Wang is much more sensitive than Jia Zheng.

She also knew from Wang Xifeng that the whole family had strong opinions about the huge cost of repairing the garden, which even affected the monthly payment of people in the family. However, Yuanchun was the eldest daughter of her family and a royal concubine, so she had to support this situation no matter what. .

Now the hole in the public house is too big, and the people below have opinions, and she is well aware of it. However, under such circumstances, there are still people doing this kind of business in the back room, and even the notoriety has spread to the outside world, and she feels sad in her heart. Some get angry.

It's just that the Lai family is an old man in front of the old lady. Although Mrs. Wang is angry, she can't get angry immediately. However, she can guess something from the uncle's gloomy silence and the excited sneer on Mrs. Xing's face. This Jia Rui chooses. It is definitely not a coincidence that the attack was launched at this time, but it was probably planned.

"Brother Rui, what do you think is the reason here?" Jia She pondered for a long time before stroking his beard and saying slowly.

“Back to the eldest sir, this is clearly someone in the back kitchen who is causing trouble.” Since Jia Rui came to openly point out the problem, he was naturally well prepared. “So my nephew was also surprised, so he went to do an investigation...”

I heard that Jia Rui did the investigation himself. Jia Zheng and Mrs. Wang both looked at each other. They have reached this point. What is going on?

"..., the vegetables, meat, eggs, fruits, rice and noodles for the kitchen are delivered to the Gu family in the eastern suburbs of the city, the Tian family in the southeast, and the Hu's butcher shop in Jinchengfang. In the past three years, these three companies have been contracted separately. Our Rongguo Mansion, um, also includes vegetables, fruits, eggs, and meat from Ningguo Mansion. Except for a few rice noodles that are sent from our own farm for the ladies and gentlemen in the mansion to try, they are all smoked from the south of the city. Yang's rice shop in Fangfang purchased the goods. As for the earlier time, the rice shop was Zhao's grain house in Xianyifang, and the meat was from Xinglong butcher shop in Anfufang..."

Jia Rui said plausibly, "There are also white coal and musk coal used in the back room. The white coal and musk coal were originally the most famous ones in the Yinjia coal field and Lujia charcoal field in the west of Beijing. With the reputation of our Jia family, go to the Yin family and Lujia coal field." Purchasing goods at home was not a problem at first, but for some reason, I went to a store called Zhuji Coal House to purchase white coal. Well, Musk coal was also purchased from this store. Later, my nephew went to inquire about it and found out that this was Zhuji Coal Store. The houses are all purchased from Yinpian Coal Factory and Lujia Charcoal Factory, so that’s fine. If it’s close to our house, it seems to make sense. After further inquiry, this coal house gave our house free money. The price of coal is 20% higher than the price delivered to other households, and the price of Musk coal is even 30% higher..."

White coal is used to burn kangs and ground dragons in winter. It is used in large quantities in the whole house, while musk coal is high-quality charcoal. It is mainly used for cooking fires in the smoker cages used by girls and ladies. Of course, it is also required for barbecues. Use this musk coal.

Jia She's face was frighteningly gloomy, and Jia Zheng could not sit still. The government and the government were currently in huge deficit, and even Wang Xifeng was unwilling to take charge of the affairs. It's probably related to this kind of thing.

Jia Mu, on the other hand, had a stern face but said nothing.

"Rui Ge'er, if that's the case, since you found out in February, why didn't you tell me earlier?" Jia Zheng couldn't help it.

"Back to the second master, my nephew cannot ask about such matters, so my nephew only asked the chef, and then asked the second sister-in-law, but the second sister-in-law was hesitant and hesitant..." Jia Rui spread his hands. , "Until this time, a friend of mine outside has taken over part of the garden construction work and delivered stones to the garden since last year. It has been delayed until March and the account has not been paid, so he came to ask me, I also asked the eldest uncle and uncle Zhen. Both the eldest master and uncle Zhen said that after the garden was built, the accounts would be transferred to the second sister-in-law. However, the second sister-in-law said that she had no money and had to wait a while, so I went back to that person. Friend, but that friend made me laugh..."

Jia She and Jia Zheng both asked in unison: "Oh, why are you laughing at me?"

“He said it’s not that there’s no money, it’s that there’s no money without using the money.” Jia Rui laughed.

Jia She and Jia Zheng both looked at each other, not quite sure what this meant.

"I didn't understand what it meant. When I asked again, my friend thought I was showing off, so he asked me directly how much rebate it would take to settle the account. He said that another person who worked with him would get paid every year. I received a sum of 8,000 taels of silver and was given a 10% rebate. In March, I received the last sum of 8,000 taels of silver and was given a 20% rebate. I was also asked if I knew why some people were able to settle the entire bill years ago? I was all confused, so I asked who paid the full bill? Didn’t it mean that the house was in trouble, so everyone could only take part of it? My friend said, it was a business partnership between your house and others, so of course they could pay the full bill. Now everyone is Take the money to donate to the official position, and you will become the county magistrate..."

This last sentence made everyone present, including Yuanyang and Hubo standing behind the old lady, Qiutong and Caixia standing next to Mrs. Xing and Mrs. Wang, all frightened.

The amount of money it costs to donate an official position is not a small amount.

If the stewards in the government are trying to make money from this, everyone actually knows in their hearts that there is no way to avoid this if there are hundreds or even thousands of people in a Jia family. As long as it is not too excessive, then everyone will turn a blind eye. Haven't you been here for many years?

But the money you donated to become an official is probably not something that can be spent in the tens or hundreds of taels. Mr. Lian donated five thousand taels to become a fellow intellectual with a false title. This was the market situation a few years ago. Jia Rui said that he was about to take office as a county magistrate, which means there is a real shortage. I'm afraid it won't be possible without tens of thousands of taels of silver.

These tens of thousands of taels of silver are not a small sum even for the current Jia family. How dare that servant be so bold and presumptuous?

"Rui Geer, who is it?" Jia Mu, who had not spoken until now, finally spoke, her tone calm, but everyone could hear the anger hidden inside.

The servant’s family donated money to officials, but the owner didn’t know it. Moreover, the county magistrate was not in charge of the actual donation, and his own precious jade had not yet been donated to officials. Who could be so presumptuous? She actually knew in her heart who it could be, but no matter how biased she was, if she didn't speak up at this time, she was afraid that her two sons and daughter-in-law would rebel.

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 (End of this chapter)