Chapter 24 Daiyu Goes to School

"Comrade Wang Ying, your approach is correct; you must uphold the bottom line!"

Yuan Hongqu was very puzzled. She had read more of Dream of the Red Chamber than Wang Xifeng and knew the basic plot.

However, she has virtually no in-depth research on Dream of the Red Chamber, as she is not a scholar of the novel.

At most, she would study the characters, what medicine they usually took, what diseases they might have, their eating habits, and other minor details.

As for the Jia family's rapid decline, such a major topic was of no interest to Yuan Hongqu.

Wang Ying, who traveled into Dream of the Red Chamber after watching just a few clips, was completely clueless and has not yet been exposed, all thanks to her good acting skills!

Hearing Yuan Hongqu's question, Wang Xifeng smiled wryly:

“Sister, when I came here, she had already been managing the household for several years. Maybe because she was young at the time, she didn’t have that much courage. So the loan sharking hadn’t started yet. When I first came here, Zhou Rui’s wife had already started urging me to go and lend money at high interest rates. She said that everything had been arranged with the outsiders, and all I had to do was take the money and go. They would take care of everything else.”

“I told her that I was weak during my postpartum period and didn’t want to worry about these things, and that we could talk about it later. After I postponed it a few more times, she stopped talking to me about these things. I also secretly looked through the old account books, and there were no records or vouchers related to her lending money at high interest rates.”

Wang Xifeng was very cautious about this matter concerning her own life.

"Over the past year, I turned down many things and took some of the storeroom's stock to pawn to supplement the family's income; I also pawned some of my dowry, and managed to get by."

Wang Xifeng felt extremely bitter, and jokingly said to herself...

"If I had worked as hard as I do now, working twelve hours a day, I would have been a star long ago. Now I'm working myself to death and even losing money."

Yuan Hongqu was also amused by her words.

"Then you won't have time to be my die-hard fan..."

“That’s right.” Wang Xifeng laughed heartily.

After laughing, Yuan Hongqu felt something was wrong. The Jia family should not be in such dire straits now. What if the huge deficit will occur after Yuan Chun's visit to her family?

Could it be that Wang Xifeng was tricked?

"Feng'er, is their family really this poor?"

Wang Xifeng nodded:

"I didn't know before, but I've only recently come to understand some of the accounts. On the surface, that's how it is. I've finally figured it out. The Jia family looks quite prosperous, but it's all an empty shell! How much have the masters' salaries and the rent from those estates actually amounted to over the years? At their current spending rate, they can only last for about six months. What will they do for the remaining six months?"

"They don't know how to save money normally. There are hundreds or even thousands of people in the family. Just the cost of food and clothing alone is countless."

She counted on her fingers as she told Yuan Hongqu.

“Saving money is impossible. What about the reputation of the Duke’s mansion? They rely on these displays to collect those shady sums of money. Otherwise, how could their master buy antiques and calligraphy and paintings with that meager income?”

Yuan Hongqu knew a little more than Wang Xifeng, but even that was limited.

"Sister, if I were to divorce Lian Er, do you think it would work out?" Wang Xifeng frowned. If she could escape this misery sooner, the remaining dowry money would probably be enough for her to live a carefree life.

When the Rongguo Mansion is raided, I will rescue my daughter and have no regrets.

"Divorce?" Yuan Hongqu thought for a moment, then shook her head.

"The four great families share the same fate, and their fortunes are intertwined. Given their current influence, unless they commit a grave error and you are the only one who can remain uninvolved, leaving the Jia family on your own is practically a pipe dream."

Wang Xifeng looked helplessly at the dark sky and said after a long while:

"The two of us thinking we can contend with these four great families is a joke. I was... too naive!"

Yuan Hongqu also felt uneasy. She could keep herself out of the mess and not get involved with the four major families, but Wang Ying had become Wang Xifeng and couldn't escape these things no matter what.

"Don't be discouraged, Feng'er. I've only just arrived at Rongguo Mansion, and many things are different from what I knew before. Let's take it one step at a time, and we'll definitely find a way out for you." She gently comforted Wang Xifeng.

"In short, take good care of yourself and don't overwork yourself in managing the household. Wang Xifeng didn't accumulate any good karma when she was in charge of the household before, so you should gradually change and erase that bad reputation."

"I will never let you end up like that."

The last sentence can be considered Yuan Hongqu's guarantee to Wang Xifeng; she is a staunch supporter, and she will protect her!

"Sister, thank goodness you came."

"I also feel lucky. If it were the original Second Madam Lian, I would still be a little scared!"

Yuan Hongqu also felt that God was really good to her, even replacing Wang Xifeng's soul with one of her own. Given Wang Xifeng's original shrewdness, it was really inconvenient for her to do things.

Now that Wang Xifeng trusts him wholeheartedly, he must not betray her trust.

Yuan Hongqu had cooked a Dendrobium, fish maw, and lean pork soup in her space, and had just placed it in a soup pot in the kitchen, keeping it warm over a low flame.

"I've made some fish maw soup. Do you want to take it home or drink it here?"

"I don't want to go back! Lian Er is back. If I go back too early, he'll pester me again. If I go back later, he won't be able to wait for me, so he'll either go find someone else or go to sleep by himself, and I'll have some peace and quiet!"

Wang Xifeng gritted her teeth, and there were some things she found difficult to talk about with Yuan Hongqu.

A few months ago, Wang Xifeng was fooled by that face, thinking that such a handsome man was her legal husband, and that sleeping with him wouldn't be a loss. Little did she know that Jia Lian was a womanizer, and that he had been sleeping with some filthy women outside, causing her to contract a serious illness!

And it's so hard to even find a specialist here, so it's still not completely healed...

Wang Xifeng was filled with resentment, but felt too ashamed to tell Yuan Hongqu.

Mentioning Jia Lian reminded Yuan Hongqu of some things.

"Second Master Lian has a thing for married women, you should be careful about that. You're not jealous about these things now, but there's no guarantee that others won't set traps for you and then pin it on you." She reminded Wang Xifeng of things whenever she thought of them.

"I've got it. If you find out who it is, please let me know," Wang Xifeng said. She wanted to see which shameless person had dragged her into this mess.

"Of course. There's one more thing, how's your relationship with Ping'er? Does she have any suspicions about you?"

“She was very loyal to me. After giving birth, I was afraid that my personality would change too much and that my close friends would become suspicious. So I told them that I had an epiphany after having a child and that nothing was more important than my child. She didn’t suspect anything after all.”

Wang Xifeng thought back to how she had come up with a quick and clever idea, and she felt a little proud of herself.

Yuan Hongqu, however, reminded her,

“Ping’er is not only loyal to Second Mistress, but also to Second Master Lian. She was your dowry maid, and now she is your husband’s concubine. If you don’t want to have any contact with Second Master Lian, just make Ping’er a concubine. Then Jia Lian can openly go to Ping’er’s place, and you’ll have peace of mind.”

“Sister, this won’t work. Ping’er is still a good person. I don’t want to harm Ping’er and end up with the same illness as me.”

Wang Xifeng said that since she knew her illness was caused by Jia Lian, she would sometimes intentionally or unintentionally restrain Ping'er to prevent Jia Lian from harming Ping'er again.

"As long as you know what's going on. Let's go back. The three girls' wet nurses have come to pick them up." Yuan Hongqu saw that the three girls' wet nurses had all come over. It was getting late, and they had come to take their respective mistresses back to rest.

"Sister Lin, because you came, the school gave us two days off to entertain you. School starts tomorrow, so we can only come to your place to play after school." Xichun's voice was muffled, and she was very unhappy.

“Going to school is the right thing to do. I went to school every day when I was at home and never slacked off,” Daiyu said. “But as we’ve come all this way, my nanny says I need to calm down, get my emotions back on track, and gradually adapt to the climate and customs of the capital before I can go back to school.”