The Second Master of the Red Chamber

Inside the luxurious carriage that drove out of the palace.

Jia Lian lay sprawled on the soft seat, his head resting on You Sanjie's lap, enjoying her head massage while listening to her rambling.

"The Empress looks so gentle, and she really loves the Prince."

"Hehe, she even gave me a bracelet!"

Noticing a hand leaving his head, Jia Lian knew without opening his eyes that the girl was admiring the gift the Empress had given her.

You Sanjie was petite and delicate, with a beautiful peach blossom face.

As long as she doesn't show her eccentricity and rebelliousness, her appearance is the most likely feature to win the favor of elders.

It was obvious that You Sanjie was very well-behaved when she first entered the palace, so not only Yuan Chun, but even the Empress showed some affection for her.

This made her very happy, and she kept reciting it after leaving the palace.

"My lord, how come the Empress, such a good person, has no children? Heaven is so unfair."

Jia Lian didn't answer, but instead raised his hand and slapped her buttocks.

This is because the girl completely stopped talking as she was speaking.

"Since you like her so much, why don't I ask her if she'd like to take in a goddaughter or something? I can recommend you then."

Yu Sanjie paused for a moment, then blushed and said, "That won't do. She's my... woman. How can she be the Empress's daughter?"

"Tch, so what? She's just a goddaughter, not a biological daughter."

Sister You hesitated for a moment, but ultimately shook her head.

She wasn't truly naive; she knew in her heart that the reason the Empress treated her somewhat unusually was mostly because of Jia Lian—she simply extended her affection to him because of him.

It's best to stop when you're ready. If you force yourself on someone and get rejected, you'll just be making a fool of yourself.

So he continued to massage Jia Lian's temples to relieve his fatigue, while also asking about the purpose of their trip.

"My lord, are we really moving into the new palace?"

"I wonder what the new Prince's Mansion will look like, and whether it will be as beautiful as our family's garden."

However, since it was personally prepared by the Empress for the Prince, it must be quite impressive!

Jia Lian kept his eyes closed and replied casually, "Let's go take a look first, then we'll decide whether to move it or not."

The Empress hoped that Jia Lian would move into the Imperial City as soon as possible, so that he would be much closer to the Imperial Palace.

So, while he was in the palace, the Empress forced him to return to the new Prince's residence for a midday rest, citing the reason that he shouldn't overwork himself.

It was also meant to let him see the new palace.

Jia Lian then led You Sanjie out of the palace.

A short while later, the carriage slowly came to a stop, and Ah Qin's voice came from outside: "Your Highness, we have arrived at the Prince's Mansion."

Jia Lian sat up, and with the help of You Sanjie, he straightened his robes before lifting the curtain and going out.

The red walls and green tiles that catch the eye seem both familiar and strange.

It was familiar because this was once the Prince Yun's residence. He had warned Prince Yun in front of this very gate, using the heads of a group of rumor-mongers as a warning.

The unfamiliarity lies in the fact that the scene before me is somewhat different from what I remembered.

Even before entering the mansion, Jia Lian could see that both the courtyard walls and the stone lions in front of the gate had been completely renovated.

A large crowd gathered in front of the stone lion, and when Jia Lian appeared, they all knelt down.

"Welcome back to the Prince's residence."

Jia Lian stepped off the carriage using a stool, walked up to the young official at the head of the group, bent down and helped him up with one hand, smiling as he said, "Brother Gu, how have you been?"

Gu Min, who was kneeling on the ground, was initially in a complicated mood.

After all, when he first met Jia Lian, the other party was simply a commander of the military corps.

Times have changed, and in just a few years, the other person has become someone he can't even see from behind.

Because of the other party's favor, he was appointed as the chief secretary, which allowed him to rise five or six ranks in a row, saving him at least ten years of his official career.

I couldn't help but feel moved.

Even so, when he heard the old address "Brother Gu" from the other party again, he was moved, but more so shocked and uneasy.

"Your Highness, please don't make fun of me. My status is too lowly to be addressed as Your Highness."

Gu Min couldn't hide his embarrassment.

He was a proud and aloof scholar; otherwise, he wouldn't have stepped in to help, grabbing Zhou Guiren's brother who had bumped into someone in the street and refusing to let him go, nor would he have met Jia Lian.

At that moment, he realized that he was also displaying the kind of obsequious and fawning behavior that he had always despised most in his life—the kind of behavior that people showed in front of the powerful and wealthy.

Jia Lian laughed and said, "How could I not accept it? Although you are now my subordinate, as the saying goes, one should not forget the friendship formed during times of poverty and hardship."

I consider Brother Gu a friend, and I hope that Brother Gu will also consider me a friend, and not just your lord.

Although Gu Min was still somewhat uneasy, he also knew that Jia Lian's statement would undoubtedly make it much easier for him to manage the officials under the Prince's Palace in the future.

After all, his direct transfer from a county magistrate who had only been in office for a year to the chief secretary of a prince's mansion, a position of the fourth rank, inevitably made people think he had gotten incredibly lucky.

Among the other officials in the Prince's Palace today, there are some who previously held higher ranks than him.

After exchanging a few polite words, he pointed to an old eunuch next to him and introduced him: "This is Chief Eunuch Cao Zhong, appointed by the Empress as the chief eunuch of the Prince's residence."

"When the Prince was away, it was the two of us who managed all the affairs of the Prince's residence."

The old eunuch hurriedly bowed and stepped forward to pay his respects again.

Jia Lian nodded to him and offered a word of encouragement.

Then, looking at the other officials from the Prince's residence who wanted to surround him and talk to him, Jia Lian smiled and said, "Today I am just returning to the residence for a visit. I have to go back to the palace to handle the funeral arrangements in an hour, so I won't chat with you all. Just go about your business."

After Jia Lian finished speaking, he took You Sanjie's hand and walked into the Prince's Mansion.

Although the officials of the Prince's Palace were disappointed, they dared not make a fuss.

After a morning, the news that the Crown Prince intended to abdicate in favor of the Prince of Pingliao had spread widely.

Those who were chosen to serve in the Pingliao Prince's Mansion from the beginning were naturally the most excited group.

If this matter succeeds, these previously insignificant officials will suddenly become the most sought-after celebrities.

Since they couldn't get closer to Jia Lian for the time being, they turned their attention to Gu Min.

Judging from what just happened, this Chief Secretary Gu clearly holds considerable influence in the Prince's eyes.

As a result, even those who were previously dissatisfied with Gu Min adjusted their mindset and began to flatter him enthusiastically.

Gu Min didn't take it too seriously. While he was talking to Jia Lian's personal guard captain, his gaze involuntarily fell on the female guards who had followed Jia Lian into the palace.

The more I looked, the more alarmed I became.

He knew that Jia Lian had female guards around him, and he had dealt with them during the two years he worked as a clerk for Jia Lian in the Military Affairs Bureau.

He remembered clearly that Jia Lian only had two personal maids.

But what's going on now?
The number of the armored, sword-wielding female attendants, with their dashing figures, almost surpassed that of the ordinary guards.

At a glance, there were dozens of people.

The key point is the appearance of these waitresses...

Gu Min, a scholar, didn't know how to describe him for a moment.

Even if he couldn't help but glance at one or even several beautiful women, he wouldn't be moved.

However, looking at the female servants under Jia Lian's command, although there were many of them, not one of them could not be described as not being beautiful.

What's even more outrageous is that the further back you look, the more beautiful the female servants become, even possessing unparalleled beauty that captivates at first glance.

Gu Min thought for a moment that he must have seen wrong and was hallucinating.

If these beauties were in the homes of other noble families, each one would be a treasure to the head of the household. Yet here they are, appearing in droves before our eyes.
Without being fawned over or dressed in fine clothes, he simply mingled casually among his master's personal guard.

Gu Min couldn't explain what was happening before him, and could only think to himself:

"Could it be that our prince is truly a man of destiny, and that those around him are also influenced by him?"

So much so that the women around him automatically possess the beauty of goddesses and fairies, making us ordinary mortals dare not look directly at them?

Others around Gu Min also noticed this.

When they finally mustered the courage to look, they were equally astonished.

……

"Your Highness, this is the main hall."

Everything inside was purchased and added according to Her Majesty the Empress's wishes, so Your Highness can rest here with peace of mind.

Cao Zhong carefully led the way for Jia Lian.

He had originally intended to introduce Jia Lian to several palaces that the Empress herself had ordered to be renovated or even rebuilt.

Seeing that Jia Lian had no intention of investigating further, they had no choice but to lead him to the main hall.

"Steward Cao, you've worked hard. You may all leave now." Jia Lian was known for his gentle and polite manners, and he was highly regarded in the eunuch circle, so Cao Zhong was not surprised.

He simply pointed to the few maids who had just gotten up from the ground and advised, "This is the first time Your Highness has returned to the manor. Why don't you leave them here to serve you?"

The prince may not know that all the maids in the mansion were personally selected by the Empress.

Each one is not only gentle and obedient, but also comes from a respectable family; Your Highness can rest assured.

Cao Zhong had also heard that Prince Yun had planted palace maids as spies in Princess Zhaoyang's residence and even ordered them to assassinate her.

Perhaps Jia Lian also had this concern, hence the explanation that follows.

Of course, his explanation was unnecessary, because the Empress had already said it.

Moreover, Jia Lian did indeed notice along the way that all the palace maids and eunuchs he encountered were nimble and agile, with no deformities among them.

It seems the Empress put a lot of effort into decorating his new residence.

However, by now, Jia Lian is no longer short of beauties, so he is naturally not in a hurry to see which girls in the mansion are pretty.

"No need. I will summon you if needed."

Cao Zhong naturally dared not force him.

Glancing at the group of female servants following behind Jia Lian, he already had a plan in mind, so he led the other palace maids and eunuchs to wait outside the palace.

With no outsiders around, Sister You San immediately relaxed.

She let go of Jia Lian's hand and rushed into the hall, her loud and boisterous voice echoing through the room.

Jia Lian smiled and sat down by the bed.

After arranging for people to guard various parts of the palace, Aqin came to Jia Lian and asked, "Does Your Highness really intend to place our female soldiers here?"

Actually, I think the government office there can accommodate them.

Last night, the housekeeper cleared out all the guardhouse rooms at the back of the yard so they could squeeze in and have enough room.

Jia Lian leaned back, bracing himself on the bed with his arms, and twisted his neck.

Seeing this, Aqin quickly stepped forward to massage Jia Lian's shoulders and neck.

Jia Lian then wrapped his arms around her waist, their bodies pressed together.
Unfortunately, she was wearing soft armor, so she couldn't directly enjoy her soft, sweet, and fragrant body.

Why make them suffer by sharing a room?

This space is vacant; let them come over. It'll be convenient for them to train there as well.

Jia Lian was incredibly shrewd and calculating.

Back then, whenever he went on a long trip and brought back a woman, he would always find a way to appease the women at home.

Either coax them with kind words or offer them benefits to get them to accept it.

Offering benefits was only effective on pragmatic women like Sister Feng.

Now that Daiyu has entered the family, the old lady won't buy into this.

The key point is that Jia Lian brought back quite a few women this time.

I'm afraid neither of these two methods will work.

So Jia Lian simply incorporated all those beauties into the women's bodyguard.

This saved them the trouble of explaining to Sister Feng and the others, and they no longer had to worry about the inquiries.

The question is about soldiers, specifically soldiers belonging to the Aqin sisters and Sister You San.

Although this trick was very effective in concealing the truth, it would certainly be inconvenient to house so many beautiful women in the Grand View Garden.

Wouldn't that be an admission of guilt without being asked?
As for the front yard, after all these years of renovations, each area has its own function and purpose, and there isn't enough space left for them.

If they are placed everywhere, it will not be in accordance with any proper etiquette.

Jia Lian originally planned to house them in Tianxiang Tower in the same way he had housed the Four Beauties and the Twelve Officials.

After all, there are plenty of rooms over there, so they can accommodate everyone.

But today, all these women were brought into the palace by Sister You San, and coincidentally, the Empress also asked him to come and take a look at the Prince's Mansion.

Therefore, it was decided on the spot to settle them here.

This not only provides a spacious and comfortable environment for the beauties, which is beneficial to their physical and mental health, but also completely eliminates the scrutiny of Daiyu and others.

Aqin knew that being in full armor made it inconvenient for her to be intimate with Jia Lian, and with You Sanjie by her side, she didn't want to lose face for herself and her sister.

After hearing Jia Lian's specific arrangements, he went to call the female soldiers over to express their gratitude.

Before long, the beauties came in, filling the spacious room to the brim.

Because most of the sixteen "veterans" of You Sanjie's original wife were on duty, those who came in were basically Korean beauties brought back from Korea.

Jia Lian glanced at it and couldn't help but sigh.

Although the female soldiers under Sister You's command were pleasing to the eye when they were together.

After all, they are all young and beautiful, scoring at least 70 points, and some even 80 points or higher.

It is truly a feast for the eyes.

However, compared to the beauties of North Korea, they are a whole level below in overall appeal.

There were nearly twenty of these Korean beauties.

Aside from the ten that Jin Shijia gave him at once, the others were recruited from other clans in Gyeongjong and other regions of Korea, as well as from his own generals, and presented to him.

If Jia Lian liked any of these beauties, he would naturally keep them.

If they didn't like them, they were directly included in the list of beauties that Joseon Kingdom presented to the Great Wei court.

Speaking of the beauties presented by the Joseon Dynasty.

Jin Shijia and the others actually adopted his suggestion.

For more than half a month, they extensively recruited women from across the country to exchange for silver as tribute.

In total, they collected approximately three thousand Korean women who met Jia Lian's requirements, netting over ten thousand taels of silver.

It was only because of the time constraints that Jia Lian felt that, given the nature of those Korean nobles, they would probably have used such a clever method to repay the real money.

After all, it wasn't his own wife and daughters he was giving away.

They all used the guise of sacrificing for the country to half-coerce and half-deceive women into submitting them to the roster.

Although there were many, Jia Lian had seen them all, and basically none of them were very beautiful.

After all, Jia Lian never intended to use this method to recruit beauties in the first place.

This suggestion was made both to weaken North Korea, to increase the domestic population, and incidentally to ease some domestic conflicts.

The Great Wei Dynasty has been at peace for too long, and the phenomenon of valuing sons over daughters has reappeared among the people. In addition, there are too many women who are monopolized by powerful and wealthy people like him, resulting in a large number of people in the countryside being unable to find wives.

Therefore, Jia Lian's demands were the same as when he snatched women from Jianzhou.

It mainly refers to ordinary women of childbearing age.

21.

Even if there were beautiful enough women, sending them directly to him would be far better than adding them to the tribute list and exchanging them for a maximum of fifty taels of silver.

That said, Jia Lian ultimately took away these twenty Korean beauties.

According to his standards, all scores should be at least 80 or higher, and some should even reach 90 or higher.

After all, it was practically a collection of beauties gathered from all over Korea.

With such a foundation, it's no wonder that she outshone the maids originally selected by Madam You, who were under the command of Sister You San.

No wonder Gu Min doubted his own eyes when he saw it.

He encouraged the beauties in front of him with a few words, telling them to continue learning Chinese and to practice some martial arts as appropriate.

Since he had brought them all the way to a foreign land, Jia Lian naturally had to ensure their survival.

Having mastered Mandarin, I also acquired some basic martial arts skills.

Even if she's no longer just a pretty face, she can still be used to protect Daiyu and others.

Just as Jia Lian finished giving his instructions and waved for them to leave, the beauties looked at Aqin but didn't move much.

Aqin glanced with a smile at You Sanjie, who had already taken off her shoes and was lying behind Jia Lian, intermittently massaging his shoulders, and then said to Jia Lian:

"If we settle them here, I'm afraid they won't see the prince for a long time."

"It's rare for us to gather together today, so Your Highness, please select a few to keep you company. This will give them a chance to get closer to you."

Seeing this, all the beauties looked at Jia Lian with longing eyes, their hearts filled with gratitude for Aqin.

As newcomers, their status was inherently inferior to that of the veterans under Sister You San's command.

Regardless of their superiors' initial intentions in instigating them, having them serve Jia Lian was giving them a chance to rise in status and become phoenixes! (End of Chapter)