Chapter 7 – Red Chamber (7)
Dai Yu was lying in bed with her eyes closed. She knew that Zi Juan’s words were for her own good, but she still felt uncomfortable inside.
Zi Juan thought so of her elder sister and brother that the family had just recognized. What about the other people in the residence? They would not say so in public, but in secret, they would be gossiping and laughing.
Which of the servants in this residence had a merciful tongue?
Thinking of this, she felt sad. She wiped away her tears, and did not dare to let others know.
Not mentioning the events of the capital, just speaking of Lin Ru Hai. After a few days of care from Lin Yu Tong, he felt better by the day. Before a physician from a different place arrived, he was able to leave his room and walk in the courtyard.
Now, not just Lin Ru Hai was shocked, even Steward Lin was shocked.
This was good news! Great news. They should be happy.
However, Lin Ru Hai could not be happy. Didn’t the situation now perfectly show that someone in his own home had managed to harm him? He naturally did not think that a few meals from Lin Yu Tong could make him healthy. That was not realistic.
Lin Ru Hai believed even more that this was because he had been separated from the poisoned items, so his health was better.
Lin Yu Tong was happy for people to think this. She could not speak to anyone about the pocket space, much less expose it.
Even if Lin Ru Hai did not manage to get anything out of the investigation, he would only think that the enemy was hidden too well.
As a result, Lin Ru Hai agreed to Lin Yu Tong wanting to drastically sort out the Lin Residence, and Steward Lin cooperated fully.
While Lin Ru Hai had some life in him now, he was still weak. He would only give Lin Yu Yang some pointers on his homework when he had the energy. Father and son had a good relationship.
In the last few days, Lin Yu Tong carefully went through the ledgers. Ever since Jia Min married into the Lin Family, the income and expenses of the Lin Family were perfectly equal, with nothing left over, much less use some of the profits to buy some properties.
Not making a profit or a loss each year, this could not even fool a fool. However, there really was a fool like Lin Ru Hai who never had investigated the properties.
How could the farms in Jiangnan, tens of thousands of acres, have drought this year, insects the next, and then flooding? They never had a good harvest. The excuses were so bad. Would such excuses stand up to a investigation? These calamities all fell only on the farms of the Lin Family? They did not even find a good reason for their corruption. She just knew the people who had committed this act did not worry at all about someone investigating.
The head of the farms could not escape this, but Jia Min herself would not have clean hands, because the sum of money from this was so great the servants did not have such daring.
Theoretically, Jia Min was the mistress of the Lin Family. If these things entered the Lin Family, it was up to her to control them. There were no shu-sons in the family. Why would she embezzle?
The only possibility was that she was using the money to support her paternal family.
When she saw the list of gifts that Jia Min sent to the Jia Family each year, she knew where the money had gone.
On the gift list, the gifts the Lin Family gave the Jia Family were normal for exchanges between relatives. But there was paperwork stating that Jia Min was using her dowry silver to buy gifts to her paternal family.
For example, sending a crystal lantern during the Lantern Festival, a gold rooster on the second of the second month, offerings made from silver and gold foil forQingming, a jade-carved dragon boat for the Dragon Boat Festival…… Following down, during Qixi Festival, she would gift the misses of the Jia Family. For Midautumn Festival, she would have gifts for the ancestors of the Jia Family. Gifts for Midautumn, gifts for the Yang Festival, when it was the tenth month, she would sent winter clothing. Then, it was gifts for the new year.
She did not rest any month of the year. This did not even include the birthdays of the Jia Residence, their marriages, funerals, and one month celebrations for the children.
This was not the Lin Family, just a bank for the Jia Family.
No wonder the old mistress of the Jia Family always said to Young Sister Lin that “I only love your mother.”
Lin Yu Tong thought, if you give all this silver to me, I will only love Jia Min as well.
What was this!
Lin Yu Tong carried the ledgers and put them in front of Lin Ru Hai. “Father, are you clear about the accounts of the family here.”
Lin Ru Hai sighed. “Never mind! There is no point in pursuing it.”
How much silver was this! How was there no point.
Lin Yu Tong said in discontent. “At least we have to make clear how much the Lin Family gave the Jia Family? If it is unclear like this, they think we are stupid.”
Lin Ru Hai grimaced. This daughter was ruthless in her words. Yes, didn’t the Jia Family treat him like he was stupid?
However, he had his reasons. Seeing only him and the two children in the room, Lin Ru Hai said, “This father is in charge of the salt tax. They all say that it is very rich here. In reality, it is more than you can imagine, much, much more. Sometimes, the money is not something that this father can refuse if wanted. You can see at a glance the problem with the gifts to the Jia Family. There are many people with keen eyes. They all believe that this money is the mistress’s dowry? Mistress’ dowry is not enough at all. So, they will not believe it! But, would they think that Mistress will embezzle and use the Lin Family’s money to supplement her paternal family? They likely will not think of this either. In reality, no family will tolerate a wife that only wants to help her paternal family.”
Lin Ru Hai grimaced and continued, “Then, the silver that Mistress used for the gifts must have been given by this father. How can there be such a stupid son-in-law in the world that just wants to supplement his in-laws? Who would believe it? They will think, why would Lin Ru Hai give the Jia Family the silver?”
“You know the power of the Zhen Family in Jiangnan. In their view, the silver that this father accepted flowed through this manner to the Jia Family. Otherwise, who would send gifts every season. This is just an excuse to send silver to the Jia Family. And the master behind the Jia Family is the same as the Zhen Family.”
Lin Yu Tong immediately understood. Lin Ru Hai allowed Jia Min in order to give the Zhen Family the impression that Lin Ru Hai was working for the Jia Family. And the silver that the Jia Family accepted had reached the hands of their master.
As to that master, they likely thought the Lin Family had intentions of siding with him through the Jia Family.
As to how much silver there was, it could not be confirmed. The Jia Family was used to spending. How could some silver not be kept behind where the silver passed through their hands?
Also, as long as Jia Min’s ledger was here, Lin Ru Hai did not fear that the emperor would misunderstand that he had sided with another master.
Lin Ru Hai had been in Yangzhou for so long without anything happening. It likely was because of the false impression he had created.
The fact that his health started declining when Jia Min passed away seemed to confirm this guess.
Lin Yu Tong looked at Lin Ru Hai with a changed look. As expected, an old wily fox! He gave up the interests of the Lin Family in return for peace for a long period of time, and greater benefits. The silver that he had accepted through the years did not appear at all.
Compared to the overall benefits, the bit of income from the Lin properties was nothing. As long as the properties were there, the loss was negligible, much less doing any real harm.
The Jia Family thought themselves rich, they naturally would not spread it around they were benefiting from others. Lin Ru Hai had suffered a loss. This was the reason that there was no news.
Him not saying anything proved that the silver did not come from legal means. The origin was not proper, and the destination was also not proper. He wanted people to think that this came from corruption and was being sent to the master in the shadows.
Even on threat of death, one could not speak of such a matter. If the person in the shadows did not get the silver, who would they blame? Naturally the Jia Family. The Jia Family had embezzled the silver that the Lin Family sent.
After understanding this point, sister and brother sucked in sharp breaths. Lin Yu Yang felt that he had a lot to learn.
Lin Ru Hai preened slightly under the awed gazes of the two children. “This father will give a sum of silver each year to the emperor and say that this is silver that this father had to accept. Also, this father has the emperor’s spies around. He will naturally report to the emperor that the mistress had used the Lin Family’s silver to supplement the Jia Family. The emperor will not think that this father betrayed him. What does this father have to worry about?”
Lin Yu Yang stood up and bowed gravely. “Father, please teach me.”
Lin Ru Hai laughed out loud, feeling good all over. The comprehension of the two children was rare.
Lin Yu Tong also put away her own presumptuous thoughts, and became more humble and careful. Even the most foolish person in her opinion was so clever, what was there for her to be proud of?
After learning of the meaning behind this, Lin Yu Tong knew what to do.
She sent all the people of the Jia Family to farms in Liaodong. The farm was not far from the army. Steward Lin sent a trusted person to see the people to the farm and would then sell the farm along with its people. Even if sent to the local officials there, it was nothing, as long as those people were under watch. That place was near the border, a place already used for prisoners. There was no away these people could run away.
Some of these people were Jia Min’s most trusted. She feared that Steward Lin had imprisoned them separately. Lin Ru Hai likely had to question them more about the Jia Family.
However, that was not within Lin Yu Tong’s responsibilities.
The Lin Residence used the servants who had been with the Lin Family for generations. In terms of loyalty, they were incomparable.
Lin Ru Hai was much better now, able to go out on his own. At least, he had been able to go to the government office twice.
Lin Yu Tong and Lin Yu Yang also moved to the courtyards which had been prepared for them.
There were servants with the courtyards. Lin Yu Tong was unable to name them, asked their birthdays, and named then Ba Yue and Shi Yue after their birthday months of eighth and tenth month. The four second-rank servants were named after the four seasons. The third-ranks used their original names. Lin Yu Tong did not care to ask. The junior servant girls were under the control of the senior ones and would not serve her closely.
Lin Yu Tong only arranged for two reliable and dutiful servant girls who were not very pretty in Lin Yu Yang’s courtyard. The rest were all male servants.
Lin Ru Hai was very satisfied when he learned of this. His daughter did not grow up in an aristocratic household, but she could see what was involved here.
Lin Ru Hai grew more and more healthy. While nothing had been found from the investigation, ever since the people of the Jia Family had been removed from the residence, his health had gotten better even without special protection. It indirectly proved that his health and the Jia Family were related. Just knowing this was enough.
Right now, he was worried about his younger daughter living with the Jia Family. Just as he considered if he should bring her back as soon as possible, the letter from Mother Jia,Shi-shi arrived……
Translator Ramblings: Whether or not Jia Min actually supported the Jia Family or Lin Ru Hai reported his bribes is really not part of the original story. So as Lin Yu Tong starts to learn more, the story goes into more unexplored territory.
So more background on the Zhen Family. The Zhen Family has the favour of the emperor, and is powerful in Jiangnan, which literally means the “south of the (Yangtze) river”. Historically, the area was a center for commerce and politics, with multiple cities serving as capitals for various dynasties (Nanjing, Hangzhou etc). The Zhen Family’s rise was due to a wife of the family becoming the wet nurse of the emperor, which meant that her son grew up with the emperor and became favoured. The Dream of the Red Chamber is set in a Qing-like dynasty similar to the one that the author Cao Xueqin lived, and his Cao Family rose to prominence in this fashion, though by the time Cao Xueqin grew up, the family properties had been confiscated.
- Grafting Life Chapter 6 – Red Chamber (6)
- Grafting Life Chapter 7 Red Chamber (7)
- Grafting Life Chapter 8 – Red Chamber (8)
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