frightfiction Chapter 963 [Ashes of Love: Red Mansion Tribulation 33]
Chapter 963 [Ashes of Love: Red Mansion Tribulation 33]
Soon after, an imperial decree was issued from the palace. The emperor personally ordered the plaque of the Rongguo Mansion, which symbolized supreme honor and status, to be taken away. From then on, the Rongguo Mansion, which was once prominent and crowded with people, was renamed the Jia Mansion. At the same time, the first and second wives of the mansion also followed the emperor's order and officially separated.
After Jia Zheng returned to the mansion with a heavy heart, he did not dare to delay for a moment and hurried to the residence of Jia's mother, reporting to her in detail the emperor's decree to divide the family and the removal of the extremely valuable plaque from the Rongguo Mansion. When Jia's mother heard this, she felt a black screen in front of her eyes, as if the sky collapsed in an instant, and her whole body was shaky. She forced herself to stand firm, and her eyes swept across the people present, and finally fell on Jia She who was standing aside. Jia's mother's face was ashen, her chest heaving violently, and she pointed at Jia She and cursed angrily: "Well! Is this the work of you, this evil creature? I knew you never had a good heart. You always thought about how to calculate your brothers. Now you have caused such a disaster and brought shame to the whole family. You are really my good son!"
Facing the angry rebuke from Grandmother Jia, Jia She hurriedly waved his hand and shook his head, and hurriedly explained: "Mother, calm down, this matter really has nothing to do with me! This is the decree of the emperor, who can disobey the emperor's order? Besides, this disaster was caused by my second brother's wife lending money at high interest rates, and somehow it reached the ears of the emperor. You also know that the emperor hates such behavior the most, so our family has suffered this disaster and touched bad luck!"
Hearing this, Grandmother Jia became even more angry, but seeing that Jia She's words were sincere and did not seem fake, she suppressed her anger for the time being and turned to Jia Zheng and ordered, "Zheng'er, quickly call your daughter-in-law here. I want to ask her face to face and make things clear!"
Jia Zheng bowed and promised: "Don't worry, mother. I have already sent someone to invite you. I estimate that they should be on their way now."
Before she finished speaking, she heard footsteps outside the door, followed by the shaking of the beaded curtain, and Mrs. Wang, with a worried look on her face, led Baoyu hurriedly into the house. Baoyu saw Grandmother Jia and hurriedly ran forward, calling out obediently, "Grandma, how are you?"
"Hey, my dear grandson, come quickly to your grandmother." When Grandmother Jia saw Baoyu, she immediately forgot what had just happened.
Mrs. Wang walked up to Jia Zheng with a graceful step, fixed her beautiful eyes on him, and said softly, "Master, I wonder why you have called me here?"
Jia Zheng frowned slightly, his eyes first fell on Jia Baoyu behind Mrs. Wang, then turned back to Mrs. Wang's face and asked, "To be precise, it was mother who came to look for you, but why did you bring Baoyu with you?"
Mrs. Wang raised her lips slightly, revealing a faint smile, and explained, "Master, this was not my idea. It was really that Baoyu insisted on coming with me, and I couldn't persuade him, so I had to give in to him and brought him along."
At this time, Jia Mu, who was sitting in the hall, finally came to her senses and remembered the reason why she asked Mrs. Wang to come over. Her face darkened and she said to Mrs. Wang, "Second brother, someone reported to me that you are lending money at high interest! Is this true?"
Hearing this, Madam Wang was shocked, but soon regained her composure. She replied calmly, "Mother, this is really an injustice to me. This is absolutely not the case! Could it be that someone is talking nonsense in front of you?"
Jia Zheng snorted coldly and said sternly, "Humph! Now that the matter has reached the emperor's ears, the evidence is irrefutable. Do you still dare to deny it?"
Mrs. Wang's face turned pale instantly, and a thin layer of sweat appeared on her forehead. She stammered, "Master, I really don't know... I just followed others and lent a little bit, the amount is not large, how come it was found out so quickly?" At this moment, Mrs. Wang was full of doubts. She really couldn't understand. Obviously, many people in the capital were doing this kind of usury business, why was she the only one who was unlucky enough to be found out?
"Do you know? It's all because of you that you lent money at high interest. Our family is completely ruined! Someone even reported the matter to the Emperor. Not only did I lose the official position that I had worked so hard to get, but even the plaque of the Rongguo Mansion, which symbolizes the supreme glory of our family, has been taken back!" Jia Zheng lamented with a sad face.
Hearing this, Madam Wang was extremely anxious. She widened her eyes and screamed, "What? How...how could it become like this? There are so many people lending money at high interest rates in the capital now. Why did the emperor find out about it?"
Grandmother Jia, who was sitting beside him, was also extremely worried and asked immediately, "Yes, Zheng'er, please tell me everything about this matter. What exactly is going on?"
Jia Zheng took a deep breath and said slowly, "Actually, this matter was a memorial submitted by Prince Beijing. During the morning court session that day, he mentioned this matter to the emperor in front of all the civil and military officials in the court. Beforehand, none of us knew about this."
Grandmother Jia frowned slightly and asked doubtfully, "Prince Beijing? Could it be the family that is married to the Lin family?"
Jia Zheng nodded and replied, "That's right, mother."
Grandmother Jia asked angrily, "What does Prince Beijing mean by this? Our Jia family has always had frequent interactions with that prince's palace. Could it be that they don't even care about the friendship between relatives?"
Jia Zheng, who was standing by, bowed and saluted, and replied carefully, "Mother, please calm down. In my opinion, this matter may be related to the last incident. Do you remember? The last time the prince came to our house, we talked to him like that, and even took the initiative to add staff to his room. This was something that the prince and princess had never mentioned, but we acted so eagerly, which was really a bit beyond their authority! I guess we offended the prince because of this, and then the prince reported the matter to the prince. Now that the prince has sued our family, I think he just wants to teach us a hard lesson."
Grandmother Jia complained with dissatisfaction: "Oh, how can this prince be so stingy! I am his elder after all, but he is so petty! I do all this for his sake. Wouldn't it be better to have one more person to take care of him? If it were someone else, I wouldn't bother to worry about it!"
Mrs. Wang, who was standing by, heard this and pondered in her heart. She thought, no matter who it was, it would be hard for them to accept this. Who would be willing to accept such an elder who was keen on adding people to the younger generation's room? This would obviously have a negative impact on the relationship between the young couple.
However, although Mrs. Wang was dissatisfied, she did not say these words directly to her face. After all, as the head of the family, Lady Jia had to consider her face. So, Mrs. Wang just frowned slightly, with a barely perceptible bitter smile on her face.