Chapter 204: Li Wan’s Training of Her Son

Qiu Bailin frowned, and did not look up to see Jia Rong’s eyes, nor did he care about Jia Rong’s expression. A deep doubt lingered in his heart, and he felt very uncomfortable.

This feeling comes from Jia Rong.

He had felt yesterday that Jia Rong was different from before, and today the situation was even more obvious. Since meeting Jia Rong today, it seemed that everything was restrained by Jia Rong, controlled by Jia Rong, and bound by him invisibly.

Although Jia Rong used to be a scoundrel and a fool, he had an inexplicable confidence in controlling the overall situation even when he was being a scoundrel, which made people feel very uncomfortable. He couldn’t even be frightened by the emperor’s oral order, which made Qiu Bailin feel uncomfortable all over.

He thought of his younger self. Not to mention the emperor’s oral instructions, even a casual compliment from his superiors would make him excited for days. If his superiors said that they valued him and ordered him to do something, he would be so excited that he couldn’t sleep for days and nights.

Now that I am older, I understand that no matter whether it is from superiors or in the palace, what they say can never be taken as the truth.

How can Jia Rong understand this at such a young age? !

“What do you want?” Qiu Bailin decided not to say those empty words. He raised his head, looked directly at Jia Rong, and said seriously: “You are not required to participate in the affairs of Qingxu Temple. The current emperor and Prince Zhongshun both think that the Jia family may know more about the inside story, so they gave you an oral order to help.”

“Yes. Immortal Zhang of Qingxu Temple, Dizang Temple, Yang, and the nuns of Shuiyue Temple always seem to be involved with our family. Logically, our family should know more about the inside story.” Jia Rong smiled and did not take the hidden poison in Qiu Bailin’s words seriously at all.

He paused, then smiled and said, “In the capital, the Jia family is not the only princely residence that has contacts with Qingxu Temple, Dizang Temple, and Shuiyue Temple. A few days ago, Prince Zhongshun’s residence went to Qingxu Temple to take a dip, and we went together to give gifts. Did Brother Qiu forget? I remember that Brother Qiu’s farm is not far from Shuiyue Temple. The tenants of our two families had a quarrel over fighting for water and land. It seems that the nun Jingxu from Shuiyue Temple has also been to Brother’s residence several times. Could it be that Prince Zhongshun and Brother Qiu also know a lot of inside information?”

Qiu Bailin frowned even more tightly, his expression changed again and again, and after a long time, he reluctantly bowed and said: “If Rong Ge’er knows the inside story, please tell me. If you don’t know the inside story, I won’t bother you anymore…”

“Two things.” Seeing Qiu Bailin was about to leave, Jia Rong finally raised two fingers. He smiled and said, “Brother, promise me two things. I will do them for you. Then you will definitely be rewarded by the emperor, and maybe even promoted to the first level and a half.”

Qiu Bailin just stood up from his chair. Hearing this, he felt it was neither right to sit nor to stand. He asked in confusion, “Which two things!”

Master Rong chuckled and said, “First, I want Jinyifu to arrest a person, and I will interrogate him alone after catching him. If you can agree to this, I will talk about the second one.”

“This is against the rules.” Qiu Bailin was very hesitant. He couldn’t tell whether Jia Rong really knew the inside story, nor could he guess whether Jia Rong could really solve the Qingxu Temple issue perfectly. He asked cautiously, “Who do you want to arrest? The Taoist priest from Qingxu Temple?”

Jia Rong shook his head. “Brother, do you think I’m stupid? If I directly send the Jinyifu to Qingxu Temple to arrest people, not only will the people of Shenjing and the Taoist disciples scold me to death, but I will also be reported to the officials of various departments. The person we want to arrest is a thief who steals and kidnaps. He has nothing to do with Qingxu Temple, but maybe he is related to the cult.”

Qiu Bailin listened and nodded, “I’ll do it for you. What’s the other one?”

“The second is about the Qingxu Temple. All the officials in Jinyifu must obey my command and orders.” Jia Rong raised an innocent smile, and saw Qiu Bailin’s face was distorted, almost angry. He hurriedly said: “If this matter cannot be handled, you can also put the blame on me. If you blame me now, you can just say that I acted on my own.”

Qiu Bailin was silent.

Jia Rong said slowly, “Brother, you have concerns, and so do I. Brother, you should know that there are two kinds of people in the world that you should never offend. One is the eunuchs in the palace, and the other is the monks of Buddhism and Taoism. Zhang Shenxian is the leader of Taoism, and if he is not careful, he may offend the entire Taoism. If Jinyi Mansion cannot obey my command, I can do nothing to help. Otherwise, even if the emperor issues an imperial decree, I can only watch from the sidelines.”

Qiu Bailin glanced around and said in a muffled voice, “Aren’t you afraid that what you just said will spread to the palace?”

“I am loyal to the court and His Majesty, so I am not afraid.” Jia Rong laughed. What is there to be afraid of? How could he not know that there are more people in the palace recently? Even if these words were heard by Emperor Longtai, at most he would be scolded by him as shameless, and then the situation would be the same.

Qiu Bailin added: “Without the imperial decree, how can you guarantee that the Jinyifu will obey your orders?”

Jia Rong rolled his eyes. “Brother Qiu is the commander of the Jinyi Palace. The Jinyi Palace officials are not in the capital at the moment. Besides, didn’t the palace issue an oral order? Are the Jinyi Palace officials going to disobey it?”

Qiu Bailin wanted to curse.

The oral order from the palace is to assist the Jinyiwei. Is commanding the Jinyiwei still considered as assistance?

Qiu Bailin said in a strange voice: “Brother Rong is really capable.”

“Thank you for the compliment. Big brother, you can go back and think about it.” Jia Rong chuckled and escorted the man out of Ning Mansion.

Watching Qiu Bailin riding north, he couldn’t help but sigh in his heart: “He must have gone to Prince Zhongshun’s Palace! He has to ask for instructions for such a small matter. It’s too frustrating for the commander of the Jinyi Palace to be so aggrieved!”

Jia Rong shook his head and went back to the mansion to find a quiet and clean room to take a nap. But when he returned to the inner house, he saw a woman sneaking in.

“what’s up?”

The old woman was startled and quickly told the truth. It turned out that Shuiyue Temple was raided yesterday and many nuns were locked up. Fortunately, Zhineng and Zhitong escaped because they were working for Jingxu outside. Therefore, the little nun could only sneak out of Ning Mansion, seemingly seeking shelter.

Jia Rong was surprised and said, “This is strange. In the past, they were close to the West and didn’t go to the West. Why did they come to the East?”

The old woman looked around for a while before she said with difficulty: “Zhenwei is here to see Master Qin, and is about to report this to Grandma.”

“Oh?”

Damn, this guy Qin Zhong is still hooking up with Zhineng’er just like in the original book.

Jia Rong pursed his lips and did not hesitate. “After all, grandma is Jingqing’s sister, so it’s better to let her know. If grandma is embarrassed, you can take the little nun to Mr. Qiang’s house for the time being, and let them meet when Jingqing finishes school.”

After saying that, he did not go to the East Courtyard, so as not to affect Qin Keqing’s decision. Qin Zhong was Keqing’s brother, not his brother. He just had an affair with a little nun, so it didn’t matter how to deal with it. If Qin Zhong really liked her, why not stay? If Qin Zhong was hesitant and couldn’t figure out his feelings, no one could help him.

Jia Rong put aside all his thoughts and simply went to Tianxiang Tower to rest.

It was already past noon when I woke up, and I was woken by the noise downstairs.

After listening carefully, he discovered that it was Li Wan scolding Jia Lan.

Another rare thing.

Li Wan’s voice was gentle as she lectured him, “He is your uncle after all, you should at least go and see him.”

Jia Lan was a quiet person, even to his biological mother. “I still need to practice archery today.”

Jia Rong, who was upstairs, could not help laughing when he heard this, and he also knew how this character was formed. But at this moment, evil thoughts suddenly emerged in his mind.

“Li Wan is a widow with a son, living a quiet and chaste life. But she is not without desires. She has been alone in her empty room for many years, but no one knows the loneliness and despair in the middle of the night…”

Bah, bah, bah!

No, yes, yes, yes.

Jia Rong shook his head and immediately came to his senses. He quickly tidied his clothes, went downstairs quickly with the sound of clanging, and went straight to where Jia Lan and Li Wan were.

“Lang’er, kneel down.” He hadn’t even reached him when the voice came. He took a few quick steps and said, “As the ancients said: An elder brother is like a father…”

Chapter 205: Aunt San said that night that she wanted to…

Jia Rong saw a strange look on Li Wan’s face. If it were in the past, he would pretend to have said something wrong and try to make up for it.

At this moment, he didn’t care what Li Wan, Su Yun, and Bi Yue thought, and he lectured Jia Lan directly, “I don’t know how you developed your character. Archery is important, but family is not important? Although Uncle Bao is fine, your mother only advised you to go and visit him. Think carefully about whether your behavior just now is right or not, benevolent, righteous, polite, wise, and trustworthy, loyal, filial, honest, and courageous.”

He had hopes for Jia Lan at first, the kind that had nothing to do with Li Wan. He also knew that Jia Lan was aloof and indifferent, but why was he so? Last time when Baoyu, Qin Zhong, Jin Rong and others caused trouble at the charity school, Jia Lan pretended not to know and even lied to him.

At the time, I was a little unhappy, but I didn’t say anything. But now I couldn’t help it, and just followed my own will, scolding and scolding.

Make yourself happy first.

Seeing Jia Lan still in a daze, Master Rong could not help but shout again, “Although I am not from Xifu, nor am I your brother, I can still control you. Why don’t you kneel down?! You are so young, but you have such a cold and heartless heart. If your father is still alive, would he want to see you like this? Although Xibian dotes on Uncle Bao, has he ever treated you badly? At least Uncle Bao never looked at you differently. You have never been beaten by anyone at home, and your food, clothing and living expenses are the same as Uncle Bao’s. You want to make progress, and the family is happy. As your elder brother, I have hired a master and learned archery in a charity school. Aren’t all those things I did for you?”

These words already stunned Jia Lan.

Li Wan and the maids were all stunned.

Jia Rong was not satisfied yet. Seeing that Li Wan looked distressed and seemed to be hesitant to speak, he snorted, “Your mother only hopes that you will be successful in this life. But is it enough to be successful just to be capable? You can’t get close to your family. Even if you become an official in the future, how many people around you can talk to you? As a junior, you don’t get close to your family. You always wait for your family to get close to you. How can this make sense? Think about it carefully.”

Having said that, he turned and looked at Li Wan.

She was wearing a light blue jacket, with a slim figure, elegant lines, and a generous heart. Her facial features were gentle, her temperament was chaste, and the simple headband on her head added to her gentle and soft temperament. After all, she was a girl raised in a scholarly family. Even though she didn’t have many decorations on her body, she looked like a water plantain. The only thing was that her eyes didn’t have much life, and her depressed posture was not very likable.

The two maids behind Li Wan, Suyun and Biyue, have similar temperaments to her, one is fresh and elegant, the other is smart and beautiful, both are quiet and gentle people.

Jia Rong took a deep look at Mrs. Zhu. Although she was pretty, the description of her as “a dead wood and ashes” was really appropriate.

“As a junior and a man, I shouldn’t have said these things. Unfortunately, Uncle Zhu passed away early, and there is no one around Lang’er to teach him wholeheartedly. Auntie should also think about what kind of person you want Lang’er to become and what kind of future he wants to have. If Lang’er has talent but no morals, and is capable but heartless in the future, I think it would be better for him to be an idle person at home.”

These words were quite harsh, even a little rude and inappropriate.

However, Jia Rong thought that this was the way it should be, no matter what the reason was, even if it was to win over Li Wan, he should shock her, scold her, and bring some vitality to the deadpan Li Wan.

She didn’t intend to attract the attention of Wang Xifeng, Lin Daiyu and others in the Doufengxuan nearby, as well as the whispered discussions of Yingchun, Tanchun, You Erjie and You Sanjie.

I didn’t notice it before, but there are actually quite a few people in Doufengxuan!

Jia Rong smiled bitterly. No wonder Li Wan and Jia Lan looked a little strange. It turned out that they felt embarrassed.

Master Rong glared at Jia Lan and said unhappily, “Go to the archery range by yourself, either to practice shooting or to reflect on yourself. Come see me when you have figured it out. If you haven’t figured it out, you don’t need to come to Fangyuan Archery Range in the future.”

Then he turned to Li Wan, “Aunt is right, too. You always tell Lan to make progress, but you don’t teach him how to do it. What’s the point? If it’s just for an official position, he can just donate money in the future. Why bother with so much effort? Think it over for yourself. That’s all I have to say today. You can blame me, dislike me, or hate me. As long as you don’t like it, I won’t care about you anymore.”

“Oh my! Our young master Rong is so majestic.” Wang Xifeng led Ping’er to come slowly, with a lotus-like step and coquettish eyes. As they walked, she said, “It would be fine if you scolded your brothers at home, but you scolded your aunt too. You are really powerful and have no law. You ruined the fun, no wonder everyone calls you a fool.”

Jia Rong took a glance and knew that Sister Feng was here to smooth things over. He did not embarrass Sister Feng in front of everyone, but just kept a straight face and said nothing.

Wang Xifeng pulled Lan’er up and said, “That’s enough, Lan’er, go back to the archery path.” After a pause, she said to Jia Rong, “You go and do your thing.”

Jia Rong bowed his hands and said in a rather rude voice, “I’m going back to the building to rest. Send someone to call me if you need anything.”

“Oh, you monkey, you’re still throwing tantrums in front of me.” Wang Xifeng cursed softly, and when she saw Jia Rong turn around and go back to Tianxiang Tower, she turned back to look at Li Wan, who looked aggrieved. She said with a hint of meaning, “I say that you two deserve to be scolded. Rong’er scolded you for your own good, but Lan’er is too unreasonable. You are not a family like a family, and the ladies have their opinions. It’s just that they are the elders, so they can’t say it out loud. Fortunately, there is someone who dares to speak out in the family, and you should thank Rong’er.”

Li Wan is not a stupid fool, so how could she not understand the meaning of Wang Xifeng’s words.

Jia Rong lay back on the couch, and after hearing what Feng Jieer said, he was very happy. After all, she was a good daughter-in-law, and she was still helping him. Later, he just needed to apologize to Li Wan, and then discuss Jia Lan’s problem earnestly, so how could the relationship between the two not be closer?

The first window to break Li Wan should start with Jia Lan.

He listened carefully for a while and was even happier when he heard Wang Xifeng start to speak up for him. Where can you find a daughter-in-law like Wang Xifeng who is eloquent, smart, resourceful and capable?

Suddenly, he heard someone coming upstairs, but the person didn’t say anything, so he couldn’t tell who it was.

I heard footsteps getting closer and there were two people coming.

Just as he was wondering, he saw a head popping out of the door. It was Sister You. “She’s here! You were so impressive just now. You scared everyone.”

Jia Rong saw You Erjie walking out again and couldn’t help laughing and asked, “Why are you here?”

The two girls walked into the room gracefully, without any hesitation, and sat down directly on the couch.

You Erjie’s face showed tenderness as she said, “I hope I didn’t disturb your rest?”

Third Sister You said excitedly, “They were all trying to comfort Grandma Zhu, and we couldn’t get a word in. We were so bored that we came here. When are we going to the horse farm again?”

Jia Rong said helplessly, “I’m afraid it won’t be possible in the next few days. If Third Aunt wants to go, I’ll send someone to take her there.” In two days, Qiu Bailin will definitely come to visit. By then, he will have to deal with Ma Dao Po and the Qingxu Temple, so he won’t be able to spare time.

“What’s the point of going alone?” Third Sister You was indeed much more lively than Second Sister. She was now close to Rong Ge’er and did not have the same concerns when talking to him. But she suddenly seemed to think of something, her expression changed a few times, and she became a little cautious.

Third Sister You had something hidden in her heart. She was troubled for a long time and hadn’t slept well for several nights. She kept thinking about what happened that night when they drank. Did they say anything earth-shattering that night? Also, did Rong Ge’er do something unfaithful that night? It seemed that someone kissed her.

I also asked my second sister, and she said that no one kissed her that night. She couldn’t remember what was said at the table.

Now, Third Sister You didn’t know what happened that night. She only had a vague memory of it. If she really told it, wouldn’t it be embarrassing and shameful? If she was kissed, who kissed her?

She asked, “Does Rong Ge’er still remember the drinking scene that day?”

Jia Rong didn’t know what Third Sister You was talking about. Seeing Second Sister looking at him, he smiled and said, “It happened several days ago, how can I remember it? I drank too much that night and I even forgot how I got home. What happened?”

“Nothing… nothing.” Third Sister You smiled and shook her head, quietly letting out a sigh of relief. She thought to herself: No matter what was said or not, or whether anything happened or not, it would be best if Rong Ge’er didn’t remember it.

How could Jia Rong miss this opportunity? He tilted his head and pretended to be reminiscing.