In order to eat, I signed a contract with the system

Chapter 488 A Dream of Red Mansions - Wang Xifeng 15

If Prince Beijing wanted to rally the forces of the Four Kings and Eight Dukes again, he had to start contacting the new leaders of the four major families and the other three kings again, such as Jia Zheng of Rongguo Mansion, Jia Zhen of Ningguo Mansion, Lord Shi Er and Lord Shi San of Shi Mansion, Wang Ziteng of the Wang family, and so on.

The only thing that hurt Prince Beijing was that the old Prince Beijing died too early, and he was unable to accept these connections. He could only win them over one by one himself. The problem was that Prince Beijing was too young and there was a generation difference between them. If he made friends with Wang Ziteng and others based on status, he would easily offend people. But if he made friends based on seniority regardless of status, he would not be able to convince them.

In the original plot, the direction that Prince Beijing finally chose was to abandon the "elders" like Wang Ziteng and instead win over the "younger generations" of the same generation as himself.

He has given gifts to members of the Jia family, such as Jiang Yuhan, Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu, many times. These gifts not only reflect King Beijing's importance to the Jia family, but also imply the special relationship between their generations.

What Prince Beijing didn't know was that in this life, Wang Ziteng had not been able to use the marriage between Wang Xifeng and Jia Lian to obtain Jia Daishan's remaining military connections from Jia She, and thus changed his target. He planned to choose to marry Prince Beijing himself and take the opportunity to gain more benefits from Prince Beijing.

That is to say, Wang Ziteng cannot be too aggressive due to his elders' face, and Prince Beijing cannot be too attentive due to his more noble status, otherwise these two people who "are interested in each other" would have joined together long ago.

The appearance of Wang Xifeng now provides an opportunity for the two.

Prince Beijing finally decided to use Wang Xifeng to find Wang Ziteng, but he was concerned that Wang Xifeng was only Wang Ziteng's niece and not his daughter, so the only position that Prince Beijing could offer her was the concubine.

"Let's leave the main wife to my cousin from the Zhen family."

The Zhen family is not only the maiden family of the old Princess Beijing, with whom they have a close relationship, but is also the maiden family of Concubine Zhen and the old Concubine Dowager Zhen in the palace. Naturally, Prince Beijing is unwilling to give up his ties with the Zhen family, and marrying his cousin from the Zhen family can divert the resource support of this generation of the Zhen family to himself, which is a very good choice for Prince Beijing.

If we compare the Zhen family and the Wang family, then the Zhen family is naturally more important. After all, the Zhen family is not only more powerful than the Wang family, but also richer than the Wang family. Even a fool knows which one to choose.

But it is not possible to ask Prince Beijing to give up the Wang family just like that. Not to mention Prince Beijing's slight interest in Wang Xifeng, Wang Ziteng's ability and power are what Prince Beijing needs.

In his previous life, Prince Beijing did not have this consideration, perhaps because Wang Ziteng already had a biological daughter.

In his previous life, Prince Beijing had only a few candidates to choose as his principal wife: the daughter of the Zhen family, the daughter of the Jia family, the daughter of the Shi family, and the daughter of the Wang family.

Among the Jia family's generation, there is only one person who is of the same age as Prince Beijing, Jia Yuanchun, but Jia Yuanchun has already decided to enter the palace to seek a future and does not need to think about it at all.

The oldest girl of the Shi family is Shi Xiangyun, who was just born and is not suitable for the position. The Wang family has two daughters, Wang Xifeng and Wang Xiluan. Although Wang Xifeng is suitable for the position, her status is not suitable. With Wang Xiluan, Beijing King would never choose Wang Xifeng. He would only choose Wang Xiluan. But Wang Xiluan is not suitable either. Again, she is too young and not suitable.

So after much deliberation, Prince Beijing finally chose the daughter of the Zhen family, Zhen Baoyu's second sister.

The situation of other families remained the same in this life, except that the daughter of the Wang family became only Wang Xifeng. When there was only one choice, whether she was a niece or a daughter was no longer so important.

Prince Beijing knew that Wang Xifeng was Wang Ziteng's only choice for marriage, so he was naturally aware that what he said about niece or daughter was just an excuse. But even if it was an excuse, it did not stop Prince Beijing from using it to "bargain".

Prince Beijing wants both the power of the Zhen family and the power of the Wang family, so he decides to directly offer one position of principal wife and one position of concubine. Now it depends on whether Wang Ziteng will accept this deal.

Wang Xifeng had been practicing secretly and in fragments during this period, so even though she absorbed the power of merit much faster, she still couldn't catch up with her previous practice speed.

The personal servants were watching her too closely. Wang Xifeng tried many methods but failed to persuade Zhen to release fewer people. She could only continue to practice in secret with frustration.

Soon it was Jia Baoyu's second birthday, but the situation in Rongguo Mansion was a little special during this period, and even Jia's mother, who loved Jia Baoyu the most, was not in the mood to hold a banquet to celebrate for Jia Baoyu at this time.

The reason was that the results of the imperial examination for Jia Baoyu's elder brother Jia Zhu were announced, and Jia Zhu fell down even though he passed the exam.

Jia Zhu never woke up again after he fell down. After examining him, the doctor diagnosed that Jia Zhu died due to exhaustion of blood and physical weakness.

Upon hearing the news, Mrs. Wang immediately glared angrily at her daughter-in-law Li Wan's belly, where was Jia Zhu's posthumous son, Mrs. Wang's grandson Jia Lan.

"You little bitch, knowing that Zhu'er is not in good health and has to worry about the imperial examination and study like crazy, you still dare to seduce Zhu'er to have an affair!"

At this time, Mrs. Wang had completely forgotten that Li Wan was Jia Zhu's legal wife. She only felt that Li Wan was like a fairy who seduced and sucked her son. If she had not known that Jia Zhu was in poor health and took the opportunity to get pregnant, Jia Zhu might not have died of exhaustion.

"Second brother, you are confused."

"I know you feel sad that Zhu'er is gone, but Zhu'er's wife is pregnant with Zhu'er's only bloodline left. She is the legitimate grandson of your second branch."

"Zhu'er's health was not good to begin with, and the doctor had already advised against it. However, Zhu'er has loved reading since she was a child, and she is not willing to put down her books and just stay at home idle. This is not Zhu'er's wife's fault."

It's not that Grandmother Jia is not sad about Jia Zhu's death. To some extent, she is more disappointed than Lady Wang. After all, in Grandmother Jia's view, Jia Zhu is not only the eldest grandson, but also the pillar of the Jia family of this generation.

Now that the pillar of the family is gone, how could Grandmother Jia not be sad? But she still had some reason. Jia Zhu was dead, but the child in Li Wan's belly was still there. They were still hoping that Li Wan could give birth to Jia Zhu's son so that Jia Zhu would not be without descendants.

If we push Li Wan too hard now, what if she returns to her parents' home with the baby in her belly and remarries?

Mrs. Wang was not stupid, so she naturally understood this. On the surface, she never said anything to Li Wan again, but secretly, the hatred in her sinister eyes when she looked at Li Wan's belly was always there.

"I'll wait for you for a few months. It would be best if it's a grandson, so that my poor Pearl can carry on the family line. If it's just a granddaughter..."

Li Wan had not yet recovered from the pain of her husband's early death, but she already felt the bleakness of her future days. The hateful look of her mother-in-law, Mrs. Wang, always flashed in Li Wan's mind. Li Wan became suspicious, fearing that one day she would be sent away by her mother-in-law to accompany her husband.