Corrupt official in the Red Chamber

Chapter 78 Prelude
After hearing Jia Rui's words, Xue Baochai finally had a smile on his face.

"Then thank you, sir."

After saying this, Xue Baochai got up courteously, and handed the fragrant tea in his hand to Jia Rui.

Jia Rui shook his head lightly, then took a sip of tea, and continued, "Go home again tomorrow and tell your brother to follow me to the south, but don't act recklessly. Shang Fang’s sword doesn’t just care about others and ignore his own people.”

"Don't worry, I'll tell my brother when I go back tomorrow that I will never ruin your business."

"I hope so!" Jia Rui didn't believe it.

Early the next morning, Jia Rui and Xue Baochai acted separately. Jia Rui continued to go to the warehouse in the suburbs to order food, and Xue Baochai went home to tell his family the good news.

Thanks to yesterday's experience, the speed of counting the grain today is much faster than before, and the grain was cleared out to Jia Rui in just one day.

Jia Rui was very happy about this, and then asked these people to transport the grain to a separate warehouse, and then locked the door, and Jia Rui held the key himself.

Afterwards, Jia Rui followed Jiang Lan back to the household department and counted 20 taels of silver.

This time the speed was faster, and by the time the lamp was turned on, the 20 taels of silver had already been counted.

Now that Jia Rui's preparations have been completed, he is waiting to go back and report to the Emperor before leaving the capital.

It was late at night when we got home, Jia Rui asked the people below to prepare a meal, and was about to eat when he saw Xue Baochai leading Xue Pan in.

After Xue Pan saw Jia Rui, he was still as carefree as before.

"Brother-in-law, thank you this time."

Xue Pan sat down across from Jia Rui as he was talking, and asked the maid next to him for a pair of chopsticks, and ate with Jia Rui.

Xue Baochai also had a headache looking at her brother, but she was her own brother after all, so what could she do?
In the end, he could only give Jia Rui an apologetic look, then sat beside Jia Rui and poured wine and vegetables for him.

Jia Rui came from modern times. Although he knew many ancient etiquettes, he didn't take them to heart. Therefore, he didn't care much about Xue Pan's unreasonable behavior towards other people.

"How are you preparing? We are going south in two or three days, so don't panic."

"How many years have I been traveling all over the world, do you still need to tell me? My sister greeted me this morning, and I had already prepared my luggage at noon?"

"That's good!"

"By the way, brother-in-law, how much do you think we can earn this time going south?" Xue Pan's small eyes began to light up.

"What nonsense are you talking about? We're going south this time to help the victims. Don't talk about anything else."

"I know, I know, isn't this at home?"

"Okay, don't worry about these things. Just listen to my arrangements when you get to the place. Anyway, your benefits are indispensable." Jia Rui said with a sullen face.

"Brother-in-law, do you think our Gonghua business can continue?" Xue Pan looked at Jia Rui with some anticipation.

Jia Rui really has nothing to do with Xue Pan. You can't beat him, you can't scold him, and what's worse, he's a fool.

"Okay, let's put this aside for now and wait until I get back." Jia Rui rubbed his temples with a headache.

Xue Baochai saw that the atmosphere was a bit oppressive, so she hurriedly came out and said, "By the way, it will be the birthday of Rongguo Mansion master Jia Zheng in two days, and we have already sent us a post over there."

Jia Rui frowned.

Jia Rui, who was familiar with the Red Chamber, knew that after Qin Keqing's death, Jia Zheng's first birthday was "Jia Yuanchun chose Fengzao Palace".

Did you let yourself run into it?

"It depends on the situation. If the Emperor is in a hurry, you can go on my behalf. If you can catch up, I can congratulate you in person."

There was nothing to say that night, Jia Rui got up early the next morning as usual, and practiced the Yang family's marksmanship.

After practicing marksmanship, Xue Baochai waited on Jia Rui to bathe and change clothes. After breakfast, she put on her official uniform and Jia Rui hurried to the palace.

Now Jia Rui's entering the palace is the same as entering his own courtyard, almost no one stops him, this is also the privilege given to Jia Rui by the Supreme Emperor.

But in front of the Dragon Head Palace, Jia Rui didn't dare to rush in.

As usual, he asked the little eunuch to go inside to report, and after the word came out, he hurried into the Dragon Head Palace.

When I entered the door, I saw the Supreme Emperor, and there was a woman beside him.

This made Jia Rui startled, and quickly stepped back, lowering his head.

Jia Rui has been to Longshou Palace countless times, and he has never seen a concubine beside the Supreme Emperor.

Seeing Jia Rui's reserved look, the Supreme Emperor smiled and then waved.

"You are a nephew in my eyes, how can there be so many rules?"

Jia Rui was quite happy to see the Supreme Emperor, so he moved a few steps forward, knelt down and saluted the Supreme Emperor.

After the ceremony, Jia Rui still stood beside him with his head down.

"What's the matter with your visit this time?"

"Back to the Supreme Emperor, the food and money for disaster relief have been counted. I can go south immediately."

The Supreme Emperor raised his eyes and glanced at Jia Rui, "Don't be clever, please ask me if you need anything."

Jia Rui smiled awkwardly. He just said he could go south immediately, but he didn't say he could go south.

"Long live, there are disaster victims everywhere in Shandong. I'm afraid it's not safe for me to carry so much food and money, so I want to ask the Supreme Emperor to assign me some soldiers so that the things can be safely transported to Jinan."

"Well, you are right to worry."

The Supreme Emperor thought for a moment, and then said to Dai Quan who was standing next to him: "Give some of your spies to Jia Rui, and then order Prince Teng, the governor of the Beijing Camp, to select three thousand elites for Jia Rui to dispatch."

"The slave obeys."

"Anything else to ask for?"

"No, the Supreme Emperor has already arranged everything for me. I have nothing to say." When he said this, Jia Rui's tone was choked with sobs.

Although Jia Rui knew that this was the effect of the soul-destroying talisman, it would be a lie to say that he was not moved by a person who treats you so well.

The Supreme Emperor was very pleased when he saw Jia Rui's choked tone.

It's not worth worrying about him.

"In this case, you can set off again in five days."

Jia Rui was stunned for a moment. One must know that disaster relief is like fighting a fire. The victims on the Shandong side starved to death every day, but the Supreme Emperor asked him to stay for five more days. What's wrong?
Seeing Jia Rui's puzzled eyes, the Emperor didn't explain much. He just said, "The Emperor wants to give your family a favor. You can stay and watch the excitement."

Jia Rui keenly felt that there was a trace of mockery in the Taishanghuang's tone.

It seems that everything about the Emperor is in the eyes of the Supreme Emperor.

"The minister obeys the order."

"Okay, I won't be working in the palace for a few days, I'll go home and rest for a few days, and prepare to go south."

After hearing this, Jia Rui hurriedly thanked him, then bowed and retreated.

The concubine standing next to the Supreme Emperor seemed like an invisible person without any words when Jia Rui was talking to the Supreme Emperor.

But when Jia Rui left, the woman gently floated beside the Supreme Emperor.

"Long live, I think Mr. Jia is not bad. He is young and incompetent. I don't know if he is married."

There was a gleam of light in the Taishanghuang's eyes, but it was quickly covered up, and it was still as chaotic as before.

"It's too late for you to say that, Jia Aiqing is already married, and I heard that the relationship between the husband and wife is very good, and it's just a sweet match!"

The concubine next to her felt a little regretful.

(End of this chapter)