Chapter 1174 The Queen's Visit to Her Parents, a Villa Built Outside the City

Emperor Longqing made more and more small moves.

Replacing the commander-in-chief of the Shenji Camp is just a small and insignificant step.

As the imperial inspection began, all civil and military officials in the court, as well as local governors, who were conservative and sympathetic to the retired emperor, would be transferred from their original positions by Emperor Longqing using various means.

The retired emperor was nearly seventy years old. Due to his advanced age, he spent most of his time hiding in the East Palace to enjoy his life. He could only turn a blind eye to the emperor's troubles and let it go.

It’s the end of the year in a blink of an eye.

The Imperial College was on long vacation and would reopen after the Lantern Festival.

Students like Su Mingzhe, who are going to take the imperial examination in February, don't have to go back to school.

After returning to Rongguo Mansion, Su Mingzhe found that there were many strangers in the mansion, so he asked:

"Why are there suddenly so many more servants in the mansion? Is there any happy event?"

Originally, there were three or four hundred slaves in Rongguo Mansion, but after the "elimination of traitors" last year, there were only two hundred and forty or fifty people left.

Excluding the slaves belonging to each family, there were only about a hundred people scattered around.

However, as he walked along just now, Su Mingzhe clearly noticed that the number of slaves in the mansion was at least more than three hundred, and even approaching the four hundred mark.

Mingyan, who was carrying her luggage, replied with a smile:
"Second Master, you may not know yet, but the Emperor has already agreed to let the ladies in the palace return home to visit their parents. We have also begun to prepare to build a separate residence for the visit to welcome the eldest lady back!"

"The residence for the visit of the mother..."

Su Mingzhe sighed slightly:
"When I was in the Imperial College, I also heard people say that the emperor and the emperor felt sorry for the concubines in the palace who had been separated from their families for a long time, so they issued an imperial decree to allow the concubines to return home to visit their families. But I also heard that the families of other concubines built separate courtyards outside the city to visit their relatives. Why did our family build a separate courtyard in our own home?"

Mingyan was just a servant, how could he know so much? He just shook his head to indicate that he didn't know the details.

Su Mingzhe bathed and changed his clothes, then went to the backyard to pay his respects to Lady Jia and asked about the affairs of the imperial residence.

Without waiting for Lady Jia to answer, Mrs. Xing, who was greeting her, smiled and said:

"Baoyu, you just don't know. Who are the families that built the imperial residence outside the city? They are all nouveau riche and local tycoons that have only become rich in recent years. Since our Jia family wants to build an imperial residence, we must build it near Rongning Street! Otherwise, wouldn't we be in the same league as those nouveau riche and local tycoons?"

After listening to Mrs. Xing's explanation, Su Mingzhe felt like rolling his eyes.

Not to mention anything else, just the three or four hundred acres of land near Rongning Street close to the imperial city cannot be developed without 100,000 or 200,000 taels of silver.

If other various expenses are added, the minimum cost would be 500,000 taels of silver.

On the other hand, if you build a separate residence outside the city for your mother to visit, you might need thirty to fifty thousand taels of silver to enclose a courtyard of similar specifications.

Because the construction is done outside the city, other expenses can also be reduced and kept within 200,000 taels of silver.

In order to "show off their wealth", the masters of Rongguo Mansion simply let three hundred thousand taels of silver go to waste.

As a person determined to rebel, Su Mingzhe would never allow such a thing to happen.

In his opinion, every ounce of silver in the Jia family should be used wisely rather than wasted on extravagant life.

Not long after, Jia Zheng came off duty and paid his respects to Lady Jia.

Su Mingzhe followed Jia Zheng to Rongxi Hall and told him his thoughts:
"Father, our family has just experienced a great disaster, and the house is empty. If we waste hundreds of thousands of taels of silver just to show off our wealth, it would be too worthless!"

Jia Zheng was a soft-hearted man. After listening to his son's words, he felt that they made sense, but he hesitated and said:
"But your grandmother also agreed to build a villa for visiting relatives at home!"

Jia Zheng is a filial son. As long as it is Lady Jia's request, he will try his best to meet it.

"Father, you can persuade grandma like this!"

Su Mingzhe came to his father and spoke in a low voice.

Jia Zheng suddenly smiled happily:

"Ying'er, it's amazing that you can be so thoughtful!"

"In that case, I will go and persuade your grandmother tomorrow!"

When Su Mingzhe saw that Jia Zheng agreed with his reasons, he immediately said goodbye and left with a smile.

Back to the backyard.

Mrs. Xing and Mrs. Wang, who had just greeted them, had already left, leaving only Li Wan to prepare the dishes, and Sanchun and Lin Daiyu to eat together.

After dinner, Su Mingzhe chatted with Grandmother Jia for a while, and when Grandmother Jia felt sleepy, he accompanied Sister Lin to play in the green gauze cabinet.

As soon as the maid left, Su Mingzhe held Lin Daiyu in his arms.

Because the weather was cold, Lin Daiyu was wearing a lot of clothes. Although they were soft and fragrant when she held them in her arms, they did not feel good to the touch.

Su Mingzhe hugged her for a while, then pulled Lin Daiyu to lie on the bed.

Knowing what men like, Lin Daiyu took off her outer clothes, leaving only the thin clothes underneath.

After the two of them lay down in the bed, Lin Daiyu curled up in the man's arms and let the man hold her.

Her face was rosy and her body exuded a unique fragrance. Su Mingzhe couldn't hold back after hugging her for a while.

"Second brother, please stop being weird, okay?"

Lin Daiyu sensed something was wrong with the man and immediately looked at him with an embarrassed expression. She really didn't want to chase him away like this, but the man was too disrespectful to her.

"Just a moment, my dear Yu'er, just a moment!"

Su Mingzhe said some nonsense that no one would believe, hugged Lin Daiyu tightly in his arms, and continued to make little movements.

I don’t know how long it took.

Zijuan suddenly shouted from outside:

"Second Master, it's almost midnight. My daughter is weak and needs to rest."

After hearing this, Su Mingzhe could only reluctantly let go of Lin Daiyu and say goodbye to her.

In fact, after more than a year of recuperation, although Lin Daiyu's body is not as healthy as the three sisters, she will not get sick easily.

After the man left, Zijuan and Xueyan checked the doors and windows and prepared to blow out the candles and go to bed.

Sister Lin suddenly called out to Zijuan and muttered a few words. Zijuan became so angry that she gritted her teeth.

After a long while, Zijuan was still furious:

"Girl, didn't I tell you? If the Second Master dares to bully you like this, you must call me!"

Sister Lin was scolded by her maid and did not dare to speak. She could only speak in a low voice and asked Zijuan to speak in a low voice.

Seeing her master's soft temper, which was no different from Yingchun's, Zijuan was so angry that she could only sigh:

"Girl, if you are being bullied by the Second Master now, won't he bully you to death after you get married?"

Zijuan's worries are not without reason.

However, when it comes to matters between husband and wife, it has always been about one person being willing to fight and the other willing to be beaten.

The relationship between Lin Daiyu and Su Mingzhe was destined in their previous life, and it is difficult for ordinary people to separate the two.

Two days passed in a flash.

Jia Zheng first used Su Mingzhe's reasons to convince his wife, and then convinced Lady Jia.

In fact, in the entire Rongguo Mansion, only a few people, such as Jia She and Mrs. Xing, wanted to build a separate residence on Rongning Street for their royal family.

When Lady Jia agreed to select a site outside the city to build a separate residence for her to visit her parents, these people could no longer cause any trouble even if they wanted to object.

When Su Mingzhe learned that the villa for the imperial visit was to be built outside the city, he immediately took Jia Lian, Jia Cong, Jia Rong, Jia Qiang and others out of the city to find a place.

Others might need ten days or half a month to consider, but Su Mingzhe took his men for a ride on horseback and found a good place, one with hot springs.

As for the construction plan, Jia Zheng had been a deputy minister of the Ministry of Works for several years and knew some skilled craftsmen.

Su Mingzhe personally sent someone to invite them, and then they worked on the drawings together.

Before the Spring Festival, the blueprint and construction drawings of the future villa for the imperial visit had all been drawn up.

After finishing the preliminary work, Su Mingzhe was still worried about issues such as the supply of raw materials, but was scolded by Jia Zheng.

After the Chinese New Year, Jia Zheng asked his son to start studying behind closed doors in preparation for the imperial examination.

(End of this chapter)