Turning the tide in the Red Chamber

Chapter 98 [098] Jia Chen digs the wake hall at night
"Uncle Chen, it's getting late and the dew is getting darker. Please go back and rest early. If you get cold, how can you explain to the old lady?" Jin Cai smiled cautiously.

Jia Chen smiled meaningfully and said:
"Duke Xian was thinking of that precious sword before he died. As a descendant of Duke Xian, how can I live up to his dying wish? I must find it as soon as possible."

With that said, he turned his head to look at the boys, and ordered:
"I'll assign a task, one person guards the door of each room, and no one is allowed to enter the room until it is searched!"

"Yes!" The boys took their orders and left.

Jia Chen asked Jia Lian to lead his men to search each room carefully, but they searched all the rooms, but still found nothing.

Jia Chen's face darkened. It seems that Jia's mother's private money is really not in this backyard.

Just now, Jincai and his wife deliberately pushed back and forth, putting on a posture of unwillingness and unwillingness to open the door. They should be acting on purpose to make Jia Chen mistakenly think that there is really a treasure hidden in the backyard.

The faces of these two couples seem to be honest and honest, but in fact they are not honest at all, and instead hide some cunning and cunning tricks.

Jia Lian walked up to Jia Chen disheartened, and asked dejectedly:

"Brother, there is no one in the backyard, what should we do next?"

Jia Chen gritted his teeth and said, "Go back first, let's talk about it tomorrow."

While speaking, Jia Chen kept squinting at Jin Cai from the corner of his eye.

He noticed a smug look of triumph in Jin Cai's eyes.

It seems that Jincai and his wife did hide Jiamu's private money elsewhere, which is why they are so confident.

Jia Chen looked up at Mao Yueyue who was adorned next to the cornices and bucket arches, and thought deeply about where the money would be hidden in the ancestral house.
The layout of the ancestral house, apart from the backyard, is the front hall.

There are people coming and going in and out of the front hall every day. There are so many people, there is a high probability that Jincai and his wife will not hide their treasures here.

But there are no absolutes in everything, and there is also a saying that it is dark under the lights. Maybe the place that Jincai and his wife think is the most dangerous is the safest.

Jia Chen's thoughts turned, he had an idea, and he pretended to smile at Jincai and his wife:

"Today I'm going to bother Uncle Jin and Aunt Jin. When I return to Rong Mansion, I will take care of Sister Yuanyang and Brother Xiang more."

As soon as Jia Chen promised to support his children, Jin Cai and his wife's wrinkled old faces suddenly burst into laughter. Jin Cai and his wife hurriedly bowed their hands and thanked each other repeatedly.

Jia Chen bid farewell to Jin Cai and his wife, and went straight to the front hall with Jia Lian and the boys.

But before leaving, Jia Chen secretly ordered the two servants to keep a close eye on Jin Cai and his wife, and report immediately if they want to secretly transfer the treasure.

When they arrived at the front hall, Jia Chen asked Jia Lian to lead the servants to search every corner, carefully checking whether there was a mezzanine under the floor and behind the wall.

But they searched inside and out several times, but still found nothing.

Jia Lian stomped her feet anxiously, slumped on the grand master's chair, and complained:

"Where did this old thing, Jincai, hide his money? Searching for treasures was originally a good job, but I didn't expect it to be more tiring than my supervision of tomb repair in the wake hall."

Jia Chen's eyes suddenly lit up, and he jokingly smiled at Jia Lian and said:

"I thought of a place where the treasure is probably hidden. If you are tired, go back and rest. I will take someone to dig the treasure."

When Jia Lian heard this, his eyes lit up immediately, and his buttocks seemed to have a spring, he jumped up and shouted excitedly:
"My dear brother, I'm not sleepy at all. Where is the treasure? Let's go now!"

Jia Chen smiled and said, "Follow me!"

Under the leadership of Jia Chen, the group rushed to the wake hall on the outskirts of Jinling.

Jia Lian asked in astonishment: "My dear brother, you don't mean to say that the money is hidden in the mourning hall, do you?"

Jia Chen smiled inscrutably and profoundly: "Whether it's inside or not, just search it and you'll find out!"

"Okay!" Jia Lian was like a hunting dog having a good time, completely ignoring the image of the gentle and elegant son, and rushed to lead the boys into the wake hall.

However, after less than half a cup of tea, Jia Lian went out in front of Jia Chen with his head drooped, like an Erha who had gotten into trouble, and muttered in a sullen expression:
"My dear brother, I couldn't find it."

Jia Chen raised his eyebrows and asked, "Have you searched everything?"

"I've searched all over!" Jia Lian replied dejectedly.

"Let me see." Jia Chen strode into the Wake Hall, where there were several tables, chairs and two big beds.

"Have you searched under the bed?" Jia Chen felt that the two beds were nearly twice as big as ordinary beds, which was suspicious.

Jia Lian responded, "I searched, and there is nothing under the bed."

Jia Chen bent down and looked under the bed, it was indeed empty.

"Come on, move these two beds away!"

Following Jia Chen's order, the servants rushed forward and hurriedly moved the two big beds aside.

"Knock on the floor to see if there is an interlayer?" Jia Chen ordered.

As soon as the voice fell, the servants all lay down on the floor and tapped inch by inch to hear the echo.

Jia Lian walked back and forth with his hands behind his back, stomping his feet from time to time.

Suddenly, Jia Lian's eyes lit up, he stopped, and stomped several times on the same spot.

"My dear brother, it seems to be empty down here!" Jia Lian shouted excitedly with bright eyes.

"Come on, dig up this floor!" Hearing Jia Chen's order, the servants quickly found picks and shovels, and swung their arms to dig the ground and shovel the soil.

"Uncle Chen, Second Master Lian, it's really empty down there!" a servant shouted excitedly.

Jia Chen hurriedly took a closer look, only to see a large hole one meter square in the ground amidst the steaming dust and smoke.

Jia Lian laughed excitedly and let out a pig cry: "Hahaha that's great, brother, we found it!"

Unlike him who was so excited that he lost his composure, Jia Chen still looked calm, but with a faint smile on his lips, he ordered:
"There should be a cellar down here, Brother Lian, take someone down to have a look."

"Okay!" Jia Lian was obsessed with money, completely ignoring the dirty dust on the ground, and crawled into the cellar on all fours.

After a few breaths, Jia Lian's excited scream came from the cellar:

"My dear brother, you are so clever! We have made a fortune! There are nine big boxes under here, which are full of gold, silver and jewels!"

Jia Chen ordered: "Bring out all these boxes and count them."

Soon, the boys brought the nine boxes to Jia Chen.

Jia Lian came out of the cellar, his head and face covered with dirt, but he didn't care to wipe it off, and kept yelling:

"Hurry up, hurry up! How much treasure is there?"

Money touches people's hearts, the eyes of the servants are full of greedy golden light, and the corners of their lips even overflow with saliva, but Jia Chen and Jia Lian are watching from the side, they don't dare to steal it.

Under the watchful eyes of Jia Chen and Jia Lian, the servants carefully counted the treasures in the box.

Jia Chen asked Jia Lian to bring a pen and paper to record the types and quantities of the treasures in a book.

After the recording was finished, Jia Chen picked up the booklet and saw that it read:

"Five thousand taels of gold ingots.

One hundred thousand taels of silver ingots.

Two golden Buddhas.

Two pairs of gold silk agate bracelets.

Three pairs of jasper bracelets.

Five pairs of jade wishes.

Eight pairs of emerald hairpins.

Eighteen big pearls.

Fifty-eight small pearls.

"

Looking at the densely packed records, Jia Chen smiled.

The total income of the Ningrong Second Mansion is about [-] taels a year.

Among the treasures in front of him, the sum of gold and silver ingots alone, when converted into silver coins, is as high as [-] taels.

It is equivalent to the total income of Jia's two mansions for three years!
If you add other jewelry, it will be even more.

Unexpectedly, Jia's mother hid so much personal money in private.

There is a saying in the Dream of Red Mansions that goes, "All unscrupulous words will be honored, and the beginning of a quarrel is really peaceful."

Now it seems that this is not entirely true, Jia Mu is the initiator of the decline of the Jia family.

She privately embezzled the money from Jia's father-in-law, and would rather bury the money underground than take it out to revitalize Jia's family.

How could the Jia family not perish with such a headed master who harmed public welfare and personal interests?
At this time, Jia Lian was lying on the hills of gold and silver treasures, touching left and right excitedly, looking at the posture, wishing to sleep with the money in his arms.

Jia Chen smiled lightly and said:

"Second brother Lian, first put these treasures back in the cellar and seal the cellar."

Jia Lian was unhappy when he heard it, and asked back with a bitter face:

"My dear brother, we finally dug it out, why do we have to bury it back?"

Jia Chen said with a smile: "Don't worry, these treasures won't grow wings to fly. You first take someone to put the money into a big box and put it back where it was. I'll take care of myself."

Tonight, under Jia Chen's exquisite command, he has gained a lot. Jia Lian has regarded this cousin as a god, and naturally he also regards his words as a standard. Rebuttal, follow through.

While the servants were busy packing the treasures into boxes and burying them in the cellar, Jia Chen gave another order:

"Second Brother Lian, I'll just watch here. You take ten people to my room and move all those account books over."

Jia Lian asked curiously, "Why did you move the account book to this wake hall?"

Jia Chen said with an unpredictable smile:
"One or two sentences can't be explained clearly to you, just do as you please, and you will naturally understand when tomorrow comes."

(End of this chapter)