Jia Yuanchun, receiving her mother’s message: “…”

Her mouth was full of bitterness.

Mother had far too much confidence in her.

Even the Emperor’s maternal family couldn’t escape the fate of repaying debts—what virtue or ability did she possess? She was merely a consort!

Moreover, her opinion was the opposite of her mother’s. She believed that at this time, not only should they not refuse to repay, they should repay in full. This way they could still leave an impression with the Emperor and others.

This money… could not be escaped.

Rather than repaying when forced to the point of no choice, repaying now could still bring some benefits.

Thus, Second Madam Wang not only failed to receive her daughter’s support but instead received a word of advice from her daughter to repay the family’s debts in full.

Repay in full?

Over seven hundred thousand taels of silver!

Others were only repaying thirty percent, yet they should repay in full?!

Wasn’t that being a complete fool!

Moreover, it was easy to say—where would so much silver come from?

Scraping the entire Jia family clean might raise this much, but afterward, what would they live on?

The family still had estates and shops, but some of these were in the hands of Second Madam Wang and Wang Xifeng. These they would never sell. Another portion was watched by both sides, maintaining a kind of balance.

As long as there were other options, they wouldn’t touch these. Given the situation in the capital, selling was easy, but buying back would be difficult.

While they each deliberated, the items in the storehouse were sorted out. Jia She’s expression was very ugly. After staring at that pile of scrap metal and rotten wood for a while, he stared at the two Wang family women and laughed coldly.

He had his own private storehouse and didn’t lack money, but he was the heir to the title—the public storehouse was also his!

If not for having a legitimate grandson now, Jia She truly wouldn’t give the Wang family women a pleasant face.

Their family’s storehouse, when cleared, only yielded slightly over thirty thousand taels! If this got out, it would truly be a joke!

Jia Lian knew about his wife. He had a good idea what was going on, so he kept his head down and said nothing.

What went into her own pocket was better than being taken out to fill this pit.

He didn’t believe the family had no other silver.

This was Rongguo Mansion’s debt. Now the first and second branches hadn’t separated yet. It was perfect to repay it before the family division. Otherwise, after the division, the second branch would absolutely refuse to bear this debt.

So after Wang Xifeng felt guilty, she was the first to propose a suggestion: “There isn’t much in the storehouse. The estates and shops’ income still has to support our large family’s daily expenses. Everyone knows this—those can’t be touched. Now there’s no other way—why don’t we go ask the Old Ancestor for advice?”

She couldn’t directly say to use the Old Ancestor’s storehouse, so she proposed it indirectly.

But no matter how indirect, those with intentions could tell what her purpose was.

Second Madam Wang naturally disagreed: “How can this work? How can we have designs on the Old Ancestor? That’s her personal savings!”

Second Madam Wang considered Grandmother Jia’s things as her own family’s. If not for the fact that she hadn’t passed away yet, and there was also the first branch making moves there, she would have already moved those things to her own storehouse long ago.

If they now emptied Grandmother Jia’s storehouse, wouldn’t she be the one at a loss?

The two sides’ conflicts couldn’t be reconciled.

This was no small sum. Even one-third would be over two hundred thousand taels of silver. A prince’s annual stipend was only ten thousand taels—no one could dismiss this lightly.

The Jia family’s first and second branches quarreled endlessly. If it were normal times, many idle people in the capital would watch the drama, but recently there had been so many such scenes that the capital’s residents couldn’t keep up. This joke of brothers fighting each other recently wasn’t rare in the capital at all. The Jia family wasn’t the only one creating such a spectacle—there were many other households that needed to repay silver.

Yun Shuyao had opened a pawnshop, and business had been particularly good lately.

After some initially brought household items directly to the Ministry of Finance to have them valued and converted to silver, the Ministry subsequently stopped accepting items and only accepted silver or banknotes.

Those who owed much money—where would they have so much ready cash? They had no choice but to sell at a loss.

Those families that didn’t lack money had indeed collected quite a few good items during this period, such as the Lin family.

The Lin family didn’t owe much debt. When told to repay, they repaid in full. They also had plenty of ready cash and secretly collected quite a few famous paintings and calligraphy, saving several percent compared to buying at normal times.

Unfortunately, no one was selling estates near the capital or good shops. Occasionally when a few foolish ones sold, they were bought up before reaching the market.

Yun Shuyao didn’t lack estates now. Though rewards for her merit hadn’t been officially bestowed yet, the Emperor had given her an estate right in the capital suburbs—excellent location, large area. Such a fine estate was only available from the imperial family.

She also took this opportunity to buy quite a few things. However, her targets were clear—gemstones and rare stones were the priority. And indeed, such opportunities were rare. She had taken out basically all her ready cash, but the results were also very gratifying. She obtained three “great treasures”!

In her joy, she received a letter from the Jia family.

Originally, Second Madam Wang’s intention was to have Wang Xifeng come here to borrow silver. However, Wang Xifeng wasn’t stupid. If she wanted to borrow money, she wouldn’t seek out the Lin family. Why damage the precarious relationship between the two families?

Wouldn’t it be better to save this favor for a critical moment?

Second Madam Wang couldn’t order people around, and she couldn’t bring herself to humble herself, so she had Li Wan write a letter.

Lin Ruhai: “…”

He didn’t even look at this letter, directly throwing it aside for someone to burn.

On the Jia family’s side, they quarreled as they quarreled, but in some places they were united, such as borrowing money from relatives and friends.

No one was willing to take the loss, so they would borrow whatever they could.

However, looking around, there were actually limited people they could borrow from. Of the four great families—Jia, Shi, Wang, and Xue—the only one that hadn’t borrowed money was the Xue family. They themselves did business, and moreover, the deceased Xue family head had secretly served as the Emperor’s eyes and ears. It wasn’t good to be too visible, so naturally they wouldn’t borrow money from the court.

In outsiders’ view, they were imperial merchants. Imperial merchants borrowing money from the court?

That naturally wouldn’t do.

So Second Madam Wang approached Aunt Xue and mentioned the difficulties the family currently faced. Aunt Xue had originally planned to give thirty thousand taels, but in the end, under her dissatisfaction, she produced fifty thousand taels in banknotes.

After Xue Baochai watched her aunt leave with satisfaction, she emerged from the inner room, her gaze worried.

Their family had given banknotes many times now, and her appetite was growing larger. Just now, producing fifty thousand taels of silver had only barely satisfied her.

Thinking about it, Xue Baochai couldn’t help but sigh.

It was still because the Xue family’s status was too low, and her brother was unambitious. They still needed the Jia family’s protection, otherwise it wouldn’t need to be like this.

What Xue Baochai didn’t know was that after Second Madam Wang obtained fifty thousand from the Xue family, she turned around and siphoned off twenty thousand taels. Looking at the remaining thirty thousand taels, she siphoned off another ten thousand taels, leaving twenty thousand to bring out: “This is what I was able to obtain only with great difficulty in asking.”

The Xue family’s silver was successfully obtained. The Lin family’s side hadn’t replied, and Second Madam Wang was somewhat disappointed.

But the relationship with the Lin family… not being able to borrow silver was within reason. However, if they could truly borrow silver, that would be an unexpected joy, which was why she had sent a letter there.

Lin Daiyu’s side also received Second Madam Wang’s letter. After receiving it, she was angry for quite a while.

Only at times like this would the Jia family not forget her. The only thing that gave Lin Daiyu some comfort was that the letter writer wasn’t Wang Xifeng, her second sister-in-law. Otherwise, she felt she would be too angry to sleep well.

Borrow money?

If the Jia family was truly short of money, controlling the servants’ and masters’ expenses a bit—that would be truly having no money. Now… it was just that the public funds had no silver.

Lin Daiyu naturally wouldn’t lend. She actually felt this silver would eventually have to be repaid. If they didn’t repay it now while the family still had some foundation, they might not be able to repay it later. Moreover, after repaying the money, the Jia family wouldn’t have much left, and in that case, perhaps the first and second branches wouldn’t continue fighting.

Borrowing money here and there, scraping together, they only got several tens of thousands of taels, still far from thirty percent. Someone apparently got inspired—Jia Lian led people to raid the Lai family. This raid was extraordinary—houses, shops, and banknotes, adding up to two to three hundred thousand taels of silver. This thirty percent was directly resolved!

Jia Lian: “…”

His heartache was beyond measure.

Just how much silver had these parasites swallowed from their family!

He, a future title heir, wasn’t as wealthy as the Lai family!

For a moment, his eyes turned red looking at the somewhat respectable servants in the household.

The neighboring Ningguo Mansion also worried about silver. Although as a single-line succession they were somewhat better off, who would complain about having too much silver?

Following suit, the silver they raided out was even more!

The many wealthy noble households in the capital: …

Even the Lin family—Lin Ruhai also looked at account books for quite a while. Fortunately, they hadn’t crossed the line.

However, other large households weren’t so fortunate. After becoming alert, most were so angry their faces flushed red. However, they deeply understood the principle that family scandals shouldn’t be made public, so each one quietly dealt with the people involved.

After Yinzhen learned of this, he mockingly curled his lip. One by one they were angry about the parasites in their families—why didn’t they think that to the court, weren’t they also being parasites?

How laughable!

This grand drama of debt repayment, after continuing for more than half a year, was declared temporarily concluded. Kangxi still wanted his reputation. Seeing things were about more right, he had the Fourth Prince take on river management work, sending him away.

The Thirteenth Prince also went with him.

Without the Fourth Prince watching, those who still owed money breathed a huge sigh of relief. Those who owed much had only repaid a portion.

If the Fourth Prince still wanted them to repay the remaining money, they would truly have to hurt to the bone or lose everything. Their resistance would be extraordinary.

Now it was good.

“The Emperor is wise and sage!”

The Fourth Prince left the capital. Before he left the capital, Yun Shuyao’s side gained some “little guests.”

She spent a long time at the estate the Emperor had bestowed. What was planted here was also wheat, but another variety more suitable for the south.

Having made some new breakthroughs, the Fourth Prince sent over two older princes from his mansion—Third Prince Hongshi and Fourth Prince Hongli—hoping they could learn something, or at least if they couldn’t learn these profound things, it wouldn’t hurt to know the hardship of working in the fields.

Speaking of it, the young prince born by Luo Yu had been given a name by Kangxi. This name was perhaps determined beforehand, the same as in history.

Ranked fourth was called Hongli, ranked fifth was called Hongzhou.

Historically, Hongli was born of the Niuhuru clan and Hongzhou of the Geng clan. Now both had changed.

Now it was the fifty-fourth year of Kangxi’s reign. Hongshi was ten years old, and Hongli was eight this year.

They were already young boys.

Yun Shuyao knew what the Fourth Prince’s intention was in sending them here. Whatever they wanted to know, no matter who asked, she spoke freely. When going into the fields, she definitely pulled both of them along.

Enduring hardship was also treated equally.

In her heart, she naturally felt closer to Hongli—this was her own grandson—but at this time, she couldn’t show closeness or distance. Moreover, no matter whom she taught her experience to, without her abilities, progress definitely wouldn’t be this fast, and the results might not be what was desired, full of unknowns.

Now looking at the two young boys, Yun Shuyao was happy.

They had brought their tutors and still had to complete their studies here. The tasks weren’t light, so the time they spent together wasn’t that long, but this was still much more than the time Hongli had spent with her when he was in the prince’s mansion.

With both princes by her side, Yun Shuyao could clearly discover the differences between the two young princes.

Hongshi didn’t like going into the fields. Every time he went into the fields, he would furrow his brows, staring for a long time with an expression of deep suffering.

It was obvious he didn’t want to go into the fields, but perhaps because his father had said something, even though he didn’t want to, he would still slowly walk to the field’s edge, watching his boots get covered in mud.

In comparison, Hongli was not unfamiliar with going into the fields. When at some distance from his third brother, he would intimately chat with Yun Shuyao.

“The two osmanthus trees in my courtyard were planted by my own hands, and I also watered and tended them.”

“I’ve also picked up rice stalks with Father, bending at the waist the whole time.”

“Working in the fields is very hard. Madam, you’re truly remarkable.”

“Mother is proud of you, and so am I.”

The imperial estates using that wheat as seeds had already harvested twice. The thirty percent increase in yield wasn’t an isolated case. Because the imperial estates’ land was more fertile, the harvest was even better. This performance was truly astonishing.

Although Hongli was only eight years old, having started his education at three, he had also studied for five years and understood worldly affairs. Even if he didn’t fully understand the importance of wheat to common people, he could simply compare his own income, monthly allowance, and other aspects. No matter who it was, seeing their income increase by over thirty percent would be extremely delighted, and for common people, grain would only be more important than silver.

The people regard food as heaven.

As long as the common people could eat their fill and dress warmly, the realm wouldn’t fall into chaos.

So everyone could see the merit in grain production, but throughout the ages, every dynasty had people studying agriculture. Yet how many had actually achieved merit in this area?