Chapter 14: Words of the Sage
At Ningguo Mansion, after breakfast, Shen Ning took a slow walk in her yard while listening to Youshi's report on Jia Zhen's overnight results.
On the pomegranate tree in the corner, two magpies were flying up and down freely and chirping.
"The one who was Lai Sheng's family was dismissed?"
Shen Ning took the booklet from Youshi, turned to the end, and threw it back to her, "Who are you trying to fool?"
The others were all beaten with a stick and their families were driven back to the village, but Lai Sheng's wife escaped unscathed.
If she were to say, among the two Jia and Rong mansions, the Lai family is the biggest parasite.
After the construction of the Grand View Garden, Lai Ma's family also had a nice yard, servants to call, and her grandson donated money to become an official. In the end, even Jia Zheng had to borrow money from others, but the funny thing was that they didn't lend it to him.
The situation in Rong Mansion is like this, and it is even worse in Ning Mansion.
Shen Ning discovered that Lai Sheng's three sons had asked for grace to be freed from slavery when they were born, so there were no members of the Lai family around Jia Rong.
Has the Lai family given up on the Jia family a long time ago?
It's ridiculous that her eldest son still thinks others are loyal.
"Qingzhu, take..."
She was about to ask Qingzhu to fetch the ruler that Jia Jing often used, when she saw Qingping rushing into the courtyard, "Madam, the master of the West Palace is here."
It came as expected.
Shen Ning raised her eyebrows, "Is the Second Madam here?"
The Wang family, who let the children of the Jia family practice martial arts and prepared to take over most of the power in the Jia family army, should be the first to feel uneasy.
Although Second Wife Wang is always slow to react, she is meticulous and will think things through clearly when she gets home at night if she can't think of them at the time.
And Jia Zheng...
Shen Ning slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air, "Let's go and welcome them."
Youshi hurried over to support him.
We are all family members of the Jia family, so there is no need to avoid suspicion too much.
The ceremonial hall outside the second gate has a front and back partition. When Jia Jing was still in power, Jia Zheng often came to ask for advice, and Wang would also come every time. Naturally, she is still there now.
"Sister-in-law!"
Jia Zheng bowed early.
He was in his forties, with a short beard and a light green robe with scattered flowers. When he bowed, his face was calm but his voice was unusually gentle. If you didn't know him, you would think he was a gentleman.
In terms of appearance, Jia Zheng is far better than Jia She.
No wonder Lady Jia, who is somewhat obsessed with appearance, loves her second son the most.
"Second brother, second sister-in-law, sit down!"
When Wang also bowed, Shen Ning supported her and said, "There was a commotion in the school yesterday, so I guessed that my second brother would come."
Jia Zheng's face softened slightly, and he raised his hand towards Youshi who was bowing, "Sister-in-law, I have heard about the school reform from Wangshi." He had just taken a quick look at the new school rules and reward and punishment system that Jia Zhen had come up with, and felt that they were not bad, "but practicing martial arts with Jiao Da... is extremely inappropriate."
"inappropriate?"
Shen Ning asked him with a smile.
"Not right!" Jia Zheng said, "Sister-in-law should have heard from Brother Jing why our names all have a character. This is the decision of our ancestors, and we brothers all studied literature. How can we let Jiao Da teach martial arts in such an important place as the academy?"
"A school with important places?"
Shen Ning smiled, "Second brother, you know what kind of mediocre person Jia Dairu is, right? Even if you didn't know before, since he has been in charge of the academy, no one in the clan has made any progress, you should know that he is not suitable for the academy."
Why are you pretending to take it seriously? What were you doing before? "Mencius said, 'When Heaven is about to confer a great responsibility on a man, it will first test his mind and will, toil his muscles and bones, and starve his body.'"
Shen Ning looked at him, "The saints have said so. Why can't we let the children follow Jiao Da for half an hour every day to strengthen their bodies?"
Jia Zheng: “…”
He had countless rebuttals, but under Shen Ning's sage words, he couldn't say a word.
"Or does Second Brother look down on Jiao Da and think he is a slave?"
"How dare I!"
Jia Zheng kept saying that he dared not.
Jiao Da had saved his great-grandfather, Duke Ningguo.
"But my sister-in-law also knows the current situation of the Jia family."
He glanced at the servants at the four stations. When Shen Ning waved her hand, Qingzhu and the others bowed and left together, "We agreed at the beginning..."
"What did you say?"
Shen Ning interrupted him in a cold voice, "We are just letting the children learn martial arts to strengthen their bodies, not letting them join the army. What's there to say? Or..." She glanced at Madam Wang, "The Jia family gave up everything in the army. From now on, it is wrong for the children of the family to even run?"
The power of the Jia family in the military was eventually taken over by Wang Ziteng.
What does this mean in the eyes of those in power? Wang Ziteng was a military commander who was promoted to a higher position and was still very capable, so why did he die of illness?
If she were the one in the upper position, she would not let these people off.
"We all agreed yesterday. If my second brother disagrees, then Baoyu and Huan'er don't have to go to school. And what about the annual donation of 500 taels..."
Shen Ning paused for a moment, "Zhen'er, write a notice and post it at the clan school. Baoyu and Huan'er are not included in it."
Ah? Jia Zheng and Mrs. Wang's faces changed.
Neither of them expected that the sister-in-law would suddenly be so disrespectful to them.
Still posting notices?
How would the clan members view them as a couple? How would they view Baoyu? Neither of them cared much about Jia Huan.
Mrs. Wang never thought of giving him the five hundred taels of silver.
"This? Second uncle..."
Jia Zhen is now particularly afraid of his mother.
As soon as Youshi came in, she winked at him, which showed that his mother was very dissatisfied with the way Lai Sheng's family was handled.
"Sister-in-law, I didn't say I disagree."
Jia Zheng's face was already a little blue, "I just came here to ask."
Is that what he meant?
That's obviously not what he meant!
For the first time, Jia Zheng felt that his sister-in-law was difficult to deal with.
"Just ask~"
Shen Ning turned the jade bracelet on her hand and smiled, "I misunderstood my second brother and his wife." Her voice softened, "I also know that my second brother is a scholar. It would be a little hard for him to accept Jiao Da asking the children to practice martial arts. But my second brother should know that the county examination, prefectural examination, academy examination, provincial examination, metropolitan examination, and palace examination, except for the latter palace examination, each examination takes a long time. Without a good body, any examination will cost you half your life."
This? Jia Zheng sighed.
He longed to take the imperial examination, although he had no chance, but he was well aware that every year there were many students who fainted in the examination hall due to poor health and missed the exam.
"The children grew up in luxury and never had to endure hardship."
Shen Ning reminded calmly, "They don't know how difficult it is to be in the exam room, but they don't know that we, as elders, can't help but consider it."
If he had planned ahead and paid attention to Jia Zhu's health, perhaps he would not have died.
From her original body's memories, she knew that Jia Zhu and Yuanchun were both carefully brought up.
As long as Jia Zhu is alive, he will always be a support for the daughters of the Jia family.
"That's what my sister-in-law said."
Jia Zheng didn't think about his son Jia Zhu. At this moment, he was thinking about the returning scholar Shen Daxue. He was somewhat impressed by Shen Ning's foresight. "Today Zheng... was rash."
"My own brother, what are you talking about?"
Shen Ning smiled, "My second brother is here to ask because he cares about the clan and the school. Just ask clearly, second brother's wife, don't you agree?"
"……yes!"
Mrs. Wang raised the corner of her mouth and smiled softly.
Yu Shi, who was watching from close up, lowered her head silently. She always felt that the look between her mother-in-law and second aunt was full of fighting.
(End of this chapter)
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