When they heard that Jia Lian was spreading money in Rongguo Mansion, the servants of the two mansions were naturally happy.

Especially Ningguo Mansion, it was an inexplicable surprise.

For a long time, because Rongguo Mansion had more masters and noble people, it distributed more rewards than Ningguo Mansion.

In the past, they could only be envious, but never imagined that this time when Mr. Lian returned to Beijing, even they could take advantage of it.

Second Master Lian is indeed a noble man, with a broad mind.

From this point of view, if Mr. Lian becomes useful to them in the future, they will also serve him wholeheartedly and strive for someone who can become Mr. Lian. There will be many benefits.

As for the people in Rongguo Mansion, because they could get an extra reward than the people in Ningguo Mansion, not only were they not dissatisfied, but they felt somewhat superior.

From the fact that Mr. Lian asked the servants in the Rongguo Mansion to get an extra share, it can be seen that Mr. Lian still favors his own people.

The servants were all happy, but the houses in the two houses had different opinions.

For example, Mrs. Xing, when she learned the news from her servants, her first reaction was confusion.

"Really have so much money? Are the second master and second wife willing to spend so much money as rewards?"

When each house pooled money to build a provincial garden, Mrs. Xing was You know, it's just because she has no money, so she can't get in the middle of the conversation.

But she had a plan in mind, and her eyes were always on the official treasury of Rongguo Mansion.

She knows that Mrs. Wang and Wang Xifeng are becoming more and more stingy nowadays, and they often use the tension in the officialdom as an excuse to deduct the benefits of each house.

"The eldest lady doesn't know that this has nothing to do with the master and the second wife. It was the second master Lian and the second mistress Lian who used the money to reward themselves. They didn't receive the money from the official at all?"< br />
"They paid for it themselves? When did Feng girl become so generous? Also, didn't she say that she had no money?"

Mrs. Xing was even more confused and a little dissatisfied. .

When Jia She died, the treasures left behind, except for a few that she hid in advance, the rest were sold by Jia Lian and his wife.

As for other small fixed assets, after the merger of the two government offices, Jia Lian was transferred to the official treasury of Rongguo Mansion.

Originally, she was determined to share the inheritance with Jia Lian and his wife. Who knew that Jia Lian actually promised Jia Mu and others to set aside all the money from the sale for the budget of the garden behind? ……

She didn’t spend a penny to build the garden, so she was naturally too embarrassed to object at the time, so she let it go.

　But in her heart, she still felt that Jia Lian was too honest and had no calculation, so he handed over the tens of thousands of dollars so easily...

As for Wang Xifeng saying that he had no money, that was because before Jia Lian left Beijing At that time, she was reminded that there might be unknown gaps in the construction of the garden, so she acted as if she had already taken out all her money.

Who is Wang Xifeng? At this point, she is naturally perfect. As a result, not only did Mrs. Wang have the nerve to ask her for help when there was a gap in the garden's budget, but Mrs. Xing even thought that Jia Lian and his wife were really out of money.

After all, regarding the garden behind, whether it was Jia Mu, Mrs. Wang or Jia Lian, they all paid tens of thousands of dollars, and she knew this.

Seeing how naive Mrs. After Mr. Lian became an official, he sent home a lot of money. Does Madam know?"

"How much?" Mrs. Xing said, she really didn't know. Wang Xifeng is too shrewd, and naturally he will not let her notice too many flaws when he deliberately hides it from her.

“Well, I don’t know the exact number of slaves, but from what my family said, Mr. Lian is definitely not short of money!

The eldest lady may be able to guess. Come on, it is very easy for those who are officials to make money.

What’s more, our second master is still working as a seal officer in the Military and Horse Department. If nothing else, the people below usually How many people here are filial to him?

Mr. Lian has changed his temper again now. If his money is not left to Mrs. Lian, who else can take care of it?
< br /> I heard a woman who went to Second Grandma Lian’s house to do some errands to say that the rooms at the back of Second Grandma Lian’s yard are now locked all year round, and no one is allowed in at all.

She peeked through the crack in the window and saw that the things inside were piled up, all of them valuable goods!"

"This..."

Mrs. Xing was shocked.

If this woman didn’t tell her, she really didn’t know that such a thing happened.

"It makes sense. In the past two years, Lian'er has received countless rewards from the palace alone. Not to mention, their husband's family is an official outside, so how many of us have It’s impossible for him to go around telling people about the ways to get money that women don’t know!”

Mrs. Xing nodded in realization, her eyes lighting up.

After all, Jia Lian is her son!

Since the two parties closed their accounts, they have encountered a major event in preparing to build a garden. Especially knowingAfter Mrs. Dao Wang spoke in person and borrowed tens of thousands of dollars from You Shizhi, she was worried that the official treasury of the Rongguo Mansion would be exhausted and the whole family would have a hard time in the future, so she started planning early to bring more money to her house. in case for need.

She has been working hard and frugally for so many years, and she has accumulated thousands of taels of silver in total!

Originally, she thought it was very good. It was much more than the ancestral property of the old Xing family, but it also depends on who it is compared with.

For example, Jia Lian, I heard from this mother-in-law that the silver and copper coins that Jia Lian ordered to place in the front yard totaled at least five thousand silver...

It was simply nothing. Fabi.

The accompanying mother-in-law noticed Mrs. My only legitimate mother, if Master Lian doesn’t honor you in the future, who can he honor?”

Mrs. br />
Mrs. Xing has nothing to worry about. Since Jia She's death, her relationship with Jia Lian has also eased a lot.

Before Jia Lian left Beijing, she even asked her to take more care of her younger brother Jia Cong.

The richer Jia Lian is, the happier she is.

It would be better if Wang Xifeng didn’t exist. She felt that if Wang Xifeng hadn’t interfered, Jia Lian would have been more filial to her, and maybe Jia Lian’s money would have been handed over to her for safekeeping.

Thinking of this, she began to feel distressed even for the money Jia Lian had scattered.

　"Don't bother me here one by one. Go to Lian'er's place to receive your reward. Call everyone in our yard and Cong'er's yard. Don't call those who have nothing to do with it. Everyone has collected all the money..."

After hearing Mrs. Xing's instructions, the ladies all obeyed, but they were not too worried. They had already inquired about it, and everyone had a share.

In Ningguo Mansion, Mrs. You didn’t have much reaction after hearing the servant’s report. She just smiled and told Yindie: “Go tell Laisheng’s family and ask her to go to the accountant to pay three hundred guan. Give everyone in the house a share of the money, which can be regarded as a celebration for Second Master Lian."

You didn't want the servants below to think that she, the mistress, was not interesting enough.

As for whether three hundred guan is too little...

Originally, the population of Ningguo Mansion was much smaller than that of Rongguo Mansion. Especially after the incident of Jia Zhenjiarong, she A lot of it was sent out.

So three hundred strings are enough to give everyone meaning.

　……

The Rongguo Mansion compound was still bustling with activity.

"Lin Zhixiao's family has a total of fourteen pieces. The other second master specially rewarded Lin Zhixiao with five taels of silver, five taels of silver with Lin Zhixiao's family, one tael of silver with Lin Hongyu, and a total of eleven taels of silver with seven strings. Money."

As Lin Zhixiao's family and his two sons kowtowed to receive the reward, Lin Zhixiao, who was standing next to Jia Lian and read out, also put down the list and kowtowed hard at Jia Lian. head.

Jia Lian waved his hand to let him get up and looked at Lai Da, who had been standing aside for a long time.

"Manager Lai..."

Lai Da walked into the middle, knelt down and replied: "The servant in the servant's family is now serving in front of the old lady, so he cannot come to receive it. I can only accept the reward on my behalf, and I ask the Second Master to forgive me."

Jia Lian glanced at him, waved his hand casually, indicating that he didn't mind, but asked curiously:

“I heard that Chief Lai has three sons?”

“Second Master, my servant has three sons...”

“I heard Your eldest son Shang Rong has long been selected as a scholar and is studying hard to prepare for the provincial examination?"

"Yes..."

"Oh, then I would like to congratulate you in advance. If he is really promising and can pass the provincial examination, it will bring glory to my Jia family."

Lai Dayi was very happy when he heard this and quickly smiled and said: "Second Master is commending him. , he was originally just a slave Yangzi. If his master hadn’t let him go from birth with his grace, he would never have had the chance to study.

Now that he has this opportunity to go to Gongyuan to see something, he has already It was his fate. We never thought he could win."

Jia Lian smiled and said, "You don't have to be modest. There are many people in the world who have the opportunity to study, but Not everyone can grasp it.

I am not praising him, but just ask, in the whole world, which servant’s house can have a scholar sitting in charge?

Let alone the Master of Juren.

If he really succeeds, it will indeed bring honor to my Jia family, and I will have my own reward at that time.

I’m afraid... ...Mr. Lai is used to being rich, and he doesn’t look down on my few copper coins..."

Mr. Lai’s face changed slightly, and he hurriedly said: "What did the second master say? The slave family can have what they have today. This scene is all due to the grace of generations of masters.

As for my son Shangrong, let alone he is not in high school yet, even if he really gets hit one day, if he dares to be ungrateful and betray his master, I will be the slave of my old slave. Break his dog's legs!"

Lai Da was shocked by Jia Lian's words.

Although he has always been sure that based on the Lai family's achievements in serving the Jia family for several lifetimes and the dignity of the old mother in front of Jia Mu, even Jia Lian cannot do anything to his family.

However, this does not mean that he dares to disobey Jia Lian.

This is still Jia Lian back then. Nowadays, Jia Lian is even more noble as a marquis. If he breaks out, even Jia's mother may not be able to protect their Lai family!

He was naturally cautious in front of Jia Lian.

Secondly, about my son Shangrong...

Don’t say that my son hasn’t won the imperial examination yet, but if he does win the imperial examination one day and is qualified to be an official, then there will be more Relying on the support of Jia's family.

As the general manager of the Duke's Mansion and serving Jia Zheng all year round, Lai Da also knew everything about officialdom.

Based on the foundation of their family, even if their son wins the imperial examination, he can only be assigned an official position by relying on the power of the Jia family...

As for being a Jinshi, they have never expected it. , I don’t even dare to hope.

You must know that all Jinshi must go through the palace examination, which means they may have to meet the emperor!

If the emperor asks about his son’s family background, what should the son say?

Are both father and grandfather slaves of Rongguo Mansion?

If that really happened, he could imagine how ugly the emperor would look.

Although the imperial examination in this dynasty was not as demanding as in the previous dynasty, all scholars, peasants, and businessmen could take the examination.

But this must not include slaves!

Although his son Shang Rong has been freed by the Jia government since his birth and belongs to the common people, the emperor may not necessarily think so.

All Jinshi must be officials of the imperial court.

The so-called relationship between monarch and minister is actually equivalent to the relationship between master and slave.

The parents of the court official were actually slaves of someone else’s family? What did this make the emperor think?

It is not necessarily that Lei Lei is angry, but he is definitely unhappy.

If the emperor is unhappy, the fate of the Lai family is already doomed.

Therefore, the Lai family never planned to let Lai Shangrong pass the Jinshi examination. They only hoped to be able to win the imperial examination, and then rely on the relationship with the Jia family to quietly get an official position. From then on, the Lai family transformed from a slave class. , became the scholar class.

As long as he doesn’t fall into the emperor’s eyes, no one will pursue him and stick to his family.

It can be said that Lai Shangrong is the only chance for the Lai family to make a comeback. They have carefully cultivated him since childhood and valued him more than anything else.

How dare Lai Da make Jia Lian feel dissatisfied? If his son's future is ruined, then the entire Lai family will never be able to turn around.

Faced with Lai Da’s humble look and words, Jia Lian’s heart was not disturbed at all.

To be honest, if he hadn't just returned to Beijing and there were a lot of things going on at home, he would have really wanted to take this opportunity to uproot the Lai family.

It’s not that the Lai family is very important in his heart, he just doesn’t want a family that is not loyal enough to keep biting the Jia family.

As for why the Lai family is not loyal enough...

In fact, many facts have shown it.

The biggest point is that the Lai family trained Lai Shangrong to study and take scientific examinations!

When Jia Mu was still in charge of the family, for the sake of her old sister, Aunt Lai, she released her eldest grandson from slavery. This was a sign of favor.

At least, Jia Mu at that time certainly never thought about letting the Lai family train an official!

Let me ask you, apart from the Tian family, which other family is qualified to be the master of an official?

For another example, since the eldest brother Lai was promoted to the two brothers, the Lai family has never let their children do hard work in the two houses...

This point is different from that of Lin. Zhixiao arranged for his son and daughter to enter the mansion early, starting from the third-class slaves. There is a huge difference.

Therefore, many things are not traceable, but Jia Mu, Jia Zheng and others cannot see them.

Of course, with the smoothness of the Lai brothers and Aunt Lai, it is not surprising that Jia Mu and others cannot see clearly. After all, they were in the middle of the game, and they even felt that the Lai family was incredibly loyal. Many important matters were left to them, and they just said it would save their worries.

From this point of view, the Lai family is very successful.

If one had not come from a humble background, it would have been possible for the Lai family to develop into a big family, or even become an aristocratic family, based on the abilities of the past few generations.

Jia Lian is still very certain about the abilities of the Lai family.

But, who said that when he gave Lai Da the opportunity, he couldn't seize it?

Since we did not surrender at that time, we were destined to perish.

From the funeral of Jia She and others last year to the construction of this huge provincial garden, although the Lai family was cautious enough, under his careful surveillance, he had already mastered sufficient evidence of their corruption. .

As long as he wants, he can eliminate the Lai family at any time.

Just don’t be in a hurry.

In today’s Lai family, even Lai Shangrong has not yet been elected as an official, and it is impossible for him to dare to betray the Jia family.things.

"That's all Lai Shangrong, where are your other two sons? I rarely see them a few times this year."

Jia Lian asked again casually.

Lai Da’s heart moved slightly. Could it be that this made the second master unhappy?

"I forgive you, Master. In the past few years, because they were too young, my servants did not arrange errands for them in the mansion.

" In the past few years, the people in the mansion have There are no changes in personnel matters, so I will let the two of them run errands with me all the time.

Since the second master asked about them, otherwise, I beg the master to be kind and let them come to the second master. Do you want to work under the master?"

"That's not necessary. Since they are following the master, let them follow me all the time. I have no shortage of people around me.

Okay, you Go and get the money."

After sending Lai Da away, the whole reward session is over.

It seems that the momentum is huge, but in fact, all the slaves put together did not spend enough one thousand taels.

Originally there were more than 600 people in Ningrong's Second Mansion, but now there are a little less, and there are more than 500 people.

On average, each person only has more than one tael of silver, including all the housekeepers and housekeepers’ wives. In fact, most people only live with the same amount of money.

Waved for Lin Zhixiao to go down, and then gave Zhao Sheng and others a look.

Zhao Sheng waited for his understanding and immediately attracted a group of people in the corner of the hall.

Most of these people are women and children, and everyone wears a filial piety belt on their forehead.

When Jia Lian saw them, his face suddenly became handsome.

Before these people could kowtow to him, he had already stood up and faced the group of servants who had not dispersed.

　"I believe many of you have heard that I left Beijing on orders this time and experienced many life and death crises.

　So, I can come back today, It was a complete luck to save a life!

However, I came back alive, but many people who followed me to Wala failed to come back.

It can also be said that I This life is saved by those who did not come back alive!

People cannot be resurrected after death. Although I am heartbroken, there is no way to save it.

But I can One thing I promise is to take care of their wives, children, and children on their behalf! Don’t let their blood flow in vain, let alone let them feel cold under the water.

So, I have called you here today., in addition to giving you some rewards along the way, more importantly, I want to tell you something.

The sons, husbands, or fathers of these people in front of me died for me, Jia Lian.

So, I don’t hope that one day in the future, I will hear someone say that any of them have been bullied by others.

I don’t want anyone among them to point their finger at me, Jia Lian, and call me an ungrateful person.

Wait, do you understand? ”

Although Jia Lian’s words were spoken calmly, the meaning made everyone in the courtyard look strange.

Those who were kneeling were even more confused. They looked sad and grateful, and couldn't help crying again.

They all knew that with Jia Lian's words, no one would dare to bully them in the Jia Mansion in the future!
< br />They are grateful, they are excited.

“Second Master~ I can’t stand what Second Master said. Sanwa, he, Sanba was able to die for Second Master, he deserved his death! "

An old man who was old but energetic raised his head and shouted loudly.

"Exactly, my pillar is the same, I'll wait, Thank you for your great kindness..."

Sounds like this made Jia Lian feel a little uncomfortable.

It was clearly the person closest to them who died. Now, in turn, he kowtows to him in gratitude.

After a few words of comfort loudly, and after they quiet down, Jia Lian said: "There's not much I can do, but I'm treating the family members of loyal people well." .

Okay, everyone who follows me on this expedition will be rewarded fifty taels of silver.

Among them, those who are seriously injured and disabled will receive an additional 120 taels of pension.

Those who died in battle will receive a pension of one hundred and eighty taels.

Wang Teng has been following me for many years. This battle was the most heroic, and he was given a special reward of three hundred taels of silver.

That’s it, each of you send two people up to get the money. ”