Ch. 173 - Wang Xifeng Missed Meeting the Mandarin Duck Because she was Greedy for Money
The Famous Detective of the Red MansionThis chapter is broken. Please report this on discord.
This chapter is broken. Please report this on discord.
In Zijin Temple, Sun Shaozong was standing in the snow complaining that “Monks can see, but I can't.”
In Rongguo Mansion, Wang Xifeng was waiting for the biggest upset the next day. It was her mother-in-law, Xing-Shi, who came to cry about poverty!
In terms of Jia Baoyu's audit, it was natural that Lai Da and Jia Lian lost a lot. The former lost both money and people, while the latter lost their wealth and reputation.
However, the person who felt the most uncomfortable after the audit was Jia She, the Big Master of Rongguo Mansion.
In the beginning, Jia She and his wife naturally took money from the nunnery, but he was a serious Master after all, and had the reputation of an elder, so, until the end, Jia Baoyu and others did not dare to make it public.
However, in private, the Old Lady in the mansion ordered the couple to return most of the money they coveted to the account.
This was equivalent to Jia She's own life. He was always a timely hedonist. He had spent 70 or 80 percent of the stolen money. How could he make up for it now?!
He tried to beg for mercy and played tricks several times, but he almost made the Old Lady faint due to rage and accused him of disobedience and unfilial behavior.
Without any help, Jia She had to scrape together and sell some precious items, which finally relieved the anger of the Old Lady, but they also owed a huge deficit.
If someone else encountered this situation, he would have hidden at home for a while. Anyway, those creditors dare not go to the Rongguo Mansion to collect debts.
But Jia She's heart felt like it was filled with restless butterflies. If he didn't go out for a few days, he would feel super uncomfortable!
After a few days of silence, the Big Master Jia got in touch with a young widow near the gate of Chongwen. Showing the real means of "bluffing on one’s big talk." He was bullshitting and penniless, but he promised to give someone a shop facing the street!
Who knew that the little widow was also shrewd!? She didn’t let it loose until she got to the shop. Thus, she also showed that kind of obsequiousness. The Big Master Jia was provoked, and he just wished that he could fight openly to rob the tax money of the Central Judicial Office!
At this moment, he suddenly heard that his daughter-in-law had regained power. He was overjoyed and forced his wife to go over to the mansion and cry for poverty. He wanted to ”lend” some silver so that he could be ”eager for justice” in front of the little widow.
Xing was also a bit eccentric. Knowing that Jia She asked for money to give to the prostitutes outside, she still headed over to the door and cried for poverty.
In front of Wang Xifeng, she wept and said, "The Big Master has been rich and noble for half his life. When did he suffer from such poverty? Hurry and take hundreds of silver taels to him, otherwise, everyone outside will say that you and your husband are disobedient and unfilial!"
To tell the truth, although Wang Xifeng and Jia Lian were also ordered to return the stolen money, she usually kept some usury outside. Once she made up for it, she still had some savings left.
But as the saying goes, "Good money is hard to give up." What's more, this kind of "bad money" won’t get caught easily
In addition, Wang Xifeng had a little disdain for her nominal mother-in-law, so she declined, "Since mother had asked, I should not refuse. But you know, the Second Master and I had just paid a large sum of silver back to the account, and now we still owe a deficit outside. How about..."
"Aren't you in charge again?!"
Xing, however, did not want to think about it, so she encouraged her to say, "You can borrow some silver from the account to Big Master. Big Master will surely thank you for your kindness."
What's the point of letting Jia She thank her for her kindness?
"I dare not!"
Wang Xifeng shook her head like a rattle. "I still want to save some face, but the house now has an account check every month. How dare I touch the account again?"
Xing said that she would only borrow it for half a month and that she would not miss the check in the mansion.
But how would Wang Xifeng believe her?
Finally, Xing was angry. She shook her head and reported back to Jia She. Jia She was furious when he heard about it. Later, he even found an excuse to punish Jia Lian by flogging him to vent his anger.
But these were the last words.
After she sent Xing away. Wang Xifeng was alone in the room, but her eyebrows were frowning.
She was not worried about Jia She, but she was used to extravagance. Seeing that she was now sitting on empty hands and collecting the wool that could not be kept, she was worried.
Halfway through, she suddenly raised her voice and called, "Ping’er, Ping’er! Where the hell are you?!"
Ping'er was waiting outside the door. Hearing Wang Xifeng shouting inside, she quickly picked up the cotton curtain, came in, and said, "Madam, what's the order?"
"There’s no order."
Wang Xifeng pointed to the chair, where Xing had just sat, and said, "Sit down. I have something personal to tell you."
As soon as Ping'er offered her a seat, she knew it was not something good.
Therefore, she was too lazy to sit down. She said flatly, "Madam, if you have anything to do, just tell me directly. I can't stand such a compliment."
"Just sit when I offer!"
Wang Xifeng rushed to her, pushed her to the chair, went back to her seat, and thought for a while. She then lowered her voice and asked, "What did you say about the mountains of silver that day? Are you entertaining me, or is it true?"
In the beginning, Wang Xifeng didn't believe this at all, but after the incident these two days, she became somewhat skeptical.
Ping'er had told her about it for a long time. Although she didn't know what Sun Shaozong meant, she was still insinuating and said, "Lord Sun is a capable man. He shouldn't be like the men in our mansion. He doesn't even talk big."
"He said he would help you. Isn't that all that matters?"
"Moreover, regardless of whether his business is successful or not, it will not be wrong to inquire first."
Since Wang Xifeng looked for her to discuss, she already had some ideas. After hearing what Ping’er said, she made up her mind completely.
So she put her hand on Ping’er's wrist and smiled, saying, "My precious Ping’er, since you have said so, this matter will fall on you. Find a chance to ask on my behalf secretly when Sun Erlang comes to our mansion next time."
Ping'er was previously worried that she could not find an excuse to meet Sun Shaozong privately. Hearing this, she was immediately happy!
But she did not dare to show it and pretended to be very reluctant. She murmured, "I dare not. If someone talkative sees me and makes trouble in front of the Second Master, I can’t prove my innocence even if I jump into the Yellow River."
"You little bitch!"
Wang Xifeng stared at her and said angrily, "I asked you to ask him something serious, not ask you to have an affair with him! What’s wrong if the Second Master knew about it?!"
Seeing Ping'er still didn't nod, she said angrily, "Well, then I will help you keep an eye on him myself. I promise that no one with a black heart and a rotten gut can see it. Will that be fine now?"