At the wonton stall, Ding Yun, who took three to five minutes to eat a single wonton, was initially only half-listening to the conversation around her. However, when she overheard people in the teahouse mentioning that Jia Enhou was also vying for a position to handle disaster relief in Jinzhou, and that he had raided his own household, she immediately knew something was amiss.
This world was definitely a parallel one.
Glancing at her bowl, she saw only one wonton left. It wouldn't be polite to stay and ask for more broth, so she quickly called out to the owner for another bowl.
Then, she focused her attention entirely on listening.
Using her unique talent for filtering out the sounds she wanted to hear amidst the general din, she tuned in.
“Is that true? Did Jia She go completely off the rails after being provoked?”
“Isn't he afraid of being ridiculed for doing that?”
“People always say that family shame shouldn't be aired publicly. Why would he expose his family’s dirty laundry? It's so strange.”
“Eh, what's so strange about that?
Honestly, I find it stranger that he held on for so long. Think about it, if you inherited the head of the household, yet couldn't even live in the main hall and had to reside by the stables because your brother occupied it, with outsiders mocking you as a 'stable general'?
Would you be able to swallow that?
If it were me, even with filial piety towards my mother holding me back, I'd definitely find a way to cause some trouble.
Especially if I caught my brother in a compromising situation.
I wouldn’t just stop at not killing him.
At the very least, I'd find a way to use it as leverage to split the family as soon as possible, to escape the humiliation.
The fact that Jia Enhou could endure this long…
I'm truly impressed by his patience.
This time, something must have touched a nerve, causing him to finally lose all restraint and explode!”
“As the saying goes, even a rabbit will bite when cornered, and a dog will jump over a wall when desperate. When people are pushed too far, what can't they do?
Especially those who have been suppressing themselves all along.
When pushed to the brink, their breakdown and madness can be even more terrifying.”
“Hey, Old Zhang, tell us the details! How did he raid his family?
How much silver did he confiscate?
And what about his sister-in-law lending money at exorbitant interest?
What happened there?
What's the outcome now?”
“How would I know the specifics of the raid?
I only know it happened suddenly. They say he brought along some elders from their Rongguo Mansion who lived in the countryside for their upkeep, not within the mansion. They suddenly took control of all the servants.
Then they searched house by house.
It's hard to say how much money was confiscated, but just two days after the raid on their household, Jia She repaid the fifty thousand taels of silver that his family owed to the national treasury.
This indicates he definitely reaped substantial rewards.
Otherwise, how could he have repaid so much?”
“Good heavens, fifty thousand taels of silver!
After all, they are a dual Duke family, they must have some foundation. To think their servants could embezzle so much, it seems the saying 'Jia is not false, white jade forms the hall, gold makes the horses' isn't just for show. Only accumulated family wealth and prominent merchants or salt traders could produce so much liquid silver.”
“Their family is just too ridiculous. Their servants embezzled so much silver, yet the second mistress of the household was still lending money at interest. Were they truly that short of money, or was the second mistress just that greedy?”
“I remember when Xue Wangshi and Jia Wangshi married into the Xue and Jia families respectively, Xue Wangshi was marrying down, while Jia Wangshi could be considered marrying up.
Who would have thought that after just a few years, Xue Wangshi's husband is dead, and she holds vast wealth, while Jia Wangshi has to resort to lending money at interest to manage the household? Fate truly plays tricks on people!
“Old Zhang, quickly tell us what happened to Jia Wangshi. With such a scandal, it must be difficult for the Jia and Wang families to suppress it, right? And aren't there many censors in the capital? The impeachments from them alone would be enough to give them a hard time!”
“Ah, such powerful families are not easily shaken. The latest news is that lending money at interest was the independent action of Jia Wangshi’s confidante, Mrs. Zhou Rui. She has now been apprehended and imprisoned.
Jia Wangshi has only been punished by being confined to a small Buddhist hall.
She wasn't even divorced.
However, I heard the Wang family paid a hefty price. After all, if Jia Wangshi were truly divorced, it would be difficult for their remaining unmarried daughters to find suitable husbands. Even now, it's probably difficult, but at least this way, there's a fig leaf covering them, preventing complete disgrace.
She has truly been a bane to all the women in the family.”
“So, is Jia She just going to let this matter go?”
“How would I know that?
I only know that Jia She seems to have summoned many elders and clan patriarchs from the family. But what exactly happened is still unknown. Before Jia She’s raid, the Rongguo Mansion was like a sieve; with a bit of silver, any information could be obtained. Now, it's inconvenient.
We can only gauge the general situation by the commotion.
The specifics are unknown.
Let's wait and see. When I get any news, I'll tell you all immediately, I promise to give you the full story.”
“Tsk tsk, I wonder what leverage Jia She holds that he even managed to invite the clan elders. This is truly dramatic!”
“Oh, if I didn't have other things to attend to, I'd almost want to go to the capital myself to join in the excitement.”
…
Hearing this, the discussion about Jia Enhou in a certain corner of the teahouse gradually came to an end. Ding Yun had also finished her second bowl of wontons and couldn't possibly eat a third. With a hint of regret, she paid the bill and headed back to the Taoist temple.
On the way, she took the opportunity to harvest her wheat and rice in the farm again, finally accumulating enough experience to upgrade the farm to level five.
As expected, upon reaching level five, another plot of land became available, and five new types of seeds were unlocked: strawberry, corn, bok choy, lettuce, and mushrooms. Ding Yun, as usual, designated two plots to plant these new seeds, intending to record their maximum yields.
She planned to plant more strawberries, which she particularly liked, to save some for later.
If there were crops with higher experience points than wheat and rice, she wouldn't mind switching her primary planting focus to those.
However, based on Ding Yun's own experience, the possibility was extremely slim.
After upgrading and planting the seeds she wanted, Ding Yun returned to the Nanhua Temple to continue her studies. She intended to obtain a Taoist ordination certificate as soon as possible.
This would allow her to get registered in the Taoist hierarchy earlier and gain the qualification to travel the world.
Initially, Ding Yun expected the next period to be relatively monotonous, involving planting and studying. However, she encountered a tricky situation that very evening.
That night, as her consciousness entered the farm again to harvest the three plots of wheat and rice currently being cultivated, the numbers above the wheat and rice did not reset to zero. Instead, a previously unseen page popped up.
[Warehouse storage space insufficient]
Faced with this sudden notification, Ding Yun was completely bewildered. She had always assumed the farm's warehouse had infinite storage. How could there suddenly be insufficient storage space?
Was this some kind of computer C: drive?