The Second Master of the Red Chamber

In the attic, the Fourth Prince said indignantly, "These Jia family members are really ungrateful! It is a great honor for the Jia family to have Second Brother Lian marry into their family. Now, there are countless people in the capital who envy the Jia family for their great luck, and some of them are actually trying to squeeze Second Brother Lian!"

Although the Fourth Prince is usually very rude to Jia Lian, he actually respects Jia Lian very much in his heart.

The last time Jia Lian escorted Princess Zhaoyang out of the border, he said that if Jia Lian could deliver her sister safely, he would recognize Jia Lian as his brother.

Although he didn't call him that later, he treated Jia Lian as his brother in his heart.

Until Jia Lian's life experience came to light, he naturally accepted this brother without any pressure, so he called Feng Jieer "sister-in-law" just now.

Now, seeing that people from the Jia family actually tried to "bully" Jia Lian, he immediately jumped up and down.

In the Fourth Prince’s mind, he can scold his brothers, be rude to them, and even use violence against them, but if anyone else dares to complain, he will smash their heads.

Seeing that the ancestor worship ceremony was over, the fourth prince immediately rushed to the attic and found Jia Lian and said, "If you ask me, you should just stop staying here and suffer the humiliation. Let's just move out.

If you don't have money, I can ask my father to give you a mansion, or you can live directly in my palace."

Although he didn't understand why the Fourth Prince was so excited, Jia Lian was still quite moved when he saw him speaking so eagerly.

"It doesn't matter. There are still many stupid people in the world."

Although the appearance of Jia Qin and others was beyond Jia Lian's expectations, it did not make him feel angry.

There are many stupid people in this world, not to mention such low-class people as Jia Qin and his son.

In comparison, both Yuanchun and Jia Mu saw it clearly.

In fact, to this day, even Jia Lian himself has not figured out which identity he should maintain that would be more beneficial to him.

Previously, they did not want to have anything to do with the retired emperor because it would involve huge political risks. But after a period of “cutting off the tail to survive” and the retirement of the retired emperor being a foregone conclusion, the risks are gradually being eliminated.

With that comes the potential benefits that royal status might bring him.

After all, this is a feudal dynasty, a family empire. Whether or not one is a royal family member will have a completely different impact on many important matters, and may lead to completely different choices.

This is also the reason why Jia Lian did not deny his identity as the "emperor's grandson" when faced with private inquiries from Daiyu and others.

However, given Emperor Ningkang's attitude, no matter what he thinks in his heart, at least on the surface, he should firmly establish his identity as a descendant of the Jia family and a meritorious official of Ningkang.

We cannot allow the remarks of Jia Qin and his ilk to spread openly in the Jia Mansion, as that would make Emperor Ning Kang think that he has ulterior motives.

Although he appeared to be loyal to him, he actually had his heart set on the emperor.

This is also the reason why he must severely punish Jia Qin and his son.

Jia Lian did not dwell on this topic with the Fourth Prince. He answered and then looked behind the Fourth Prince and asked, "Where is your sister?"

"She went to the back with your pretty maid. She said she wanted to see some female guards."

When the Fourth Prince saw that Third Sister You obeyed everything Feng Jie said, he thought that Third Sister You was just a maid in Ningguo Mansion.

He didn't even think about whether a maid was qualified to form a female guard.

Jia Lian did not explain, but led the Fourth Prince to the side hall of Ningguo Mansion to wait.

"Really, listen to me. There is no need to suffer in the Jia family. Just move out of the Jia family. Then everyone in the world will know your true identity. Even if the emperor doesn't want to admit it, he will have to let you return to your roots.

Moreover, I think that Father just doesn't want you to return to your ancestral home for the time being. Once he has dealt with those who oppose him, he will naturally restore your identity.

My sister and I will speak well of you then, hehe, it won’t be hard to make you a prince.”

The Fourth Prince's words made Jia Lian smile and he couldn't help but look at him again.

Not bad, I feel like I have made progress. He actually has political acumen, knowing that Emperor Ning Kang must at least clean up all the opponents before he can restore his royal family status.

"Why are you staring at me?"

When the Fourth Prince saw Jia Lian looking at him, his expression changed from being moved to being relieved, and finally to being meaningful, which made his hair stand on end.

He knew that many nobles in the capital were fond of men, especially handsome men like Jia Lian, who were even more fond of playing around.

Jia Lian smiled and said, "If I want to be a prince, I'm afraid I can only wait until the day when His Highness ascends the throne."

The Fourth Prince's expression froze on his face. After a long while, he said dejectedly, "My sister really didn't lie to me. You really want to push me to that position."

"Your Highness, are you unwilling?"

"What's so good about that position? Because of it, Grandfather ordered the execution of my great uncle. Because of it, Father and Grandfather turned against each other. Because of it, Third Brother actually killed my eldest brother with his own hands..."

The Fourth Prince spoke, mumbling to himself, looking lost and confused.

At this moment, the Fourth Prince was no different from an ordinary boy who didn't know what was ahead. He looked lonely and weak, not like a leader at all.

But Jia Lian was very pleased.

Isn't it because the Fourth Prince is such a person that he rejected the Crown Prince's recruitment and ignored the Third Prince's good intentions, and made friends with the Fourth Prince without any hesitation?

Although he had not planned to take this step today, it was actually the best thing for both him and the Fourth Prince.

"Are you willing to watch a villain and a vicious husband who plotted to kill his brothers rule the world one day in the future?"

The fourth prince murmured: "I don't know..."

"What if one day he feels that you are a threat to him and wants to attack you?"

"I have no idea……"

"What if he attacks your sister?"

The fourth prince's eyes suddenly lit up: "He dares!"

Jia Lian shook his head and sighed, "You also said that for that position, your grandfather killed your uncle, and he also killed your eldest brother for the position of crown prince. Do you think there is still brother-sister love in his eyes?

You should be able to see that your sister is a beautiful lady, destined not to be ordinary.

Not to mention that your sister has already offended him last time, let's say one day in the future, if he does something unjust again and your sister intervenes to stop him and is retaliated by him, how can you protect your sister if you don't have the strength at that time?"

Jia Lian thought he had found what the Fourth Prince cared about, but he didn't expect that the Fourth Prince was not so easy to fool.

"Don't think I don't know. My sister did all this for you!"

The Fourth Prince glared at Jia Lian angrily.

Of course he knew that his sister was not only building up power in the princess's mansion, but was also constantly asking for jobs from their father to gain more power.

His royal sister was raised by the royal grandmother since childhood. She was originally a calm and free-spirited person, but after meeting Jia Lian, she became stupid and was ordered around by Jia Lian!

It’s so hateful. My imperial sister has never listened to a word I said since I was a child. She either beats me or scolds me.

Jia Lian did not deny the Fourth Prince's words: "Even so, I am a person who is unwilling to be ordinary. If I offend the emperor in the future, your sister will definitely not sit idly by.

How will you choose then?"

This was obviously a bit of a scoundrel, and the Fourth Prince said unhappily: "You two just want me to obey you so that you can use me to control the power of the world in the future!"

Fortunately, it was the Fourth Prince who said this. If it were another prince, Jia Lian would definitely change his family without saying a word.

He was silent for a moment, then slowly said, "Your Highness, you are joking. How can a ruler of the world be influenced by anyone?

At that time, His Highness' words were as heavy as gold, and a single word could decide the life and death of millions of people.

I only hope that Your Highness will not forget our friendship today and point his weapons at me, and I will be satisfied."

Jia Lian's discouraging tone made the Fourth Prince feel uneasy.

He was just speaking in anger, how could he doubt that his sister just wanted to turn him into a puppet? Seeing Jia Lian like this, he also felt that he had said something too much and chilled Jia Lian's heart.

After all, Jia Lian and his sister had such an idea, and he was the one who benefited the most.

"Well, I just said it casually, don't take it seriously...

However, I am really not suitable to be the emperor... otherwise, let's choose the fifth imperial brother. Yes, let's choose the fifth imperial brother. The three of us will work together to send the fifth imperial brother to that position!

You don’t know that the fifth prince loves reading the most. He is a little nerd. No matter how bad he is in the future, he will not be a cruel and merciless emperor.

Plus, with our assistance, we will be able to stabilize the situation!"

The Fourth Prince didn’t know what was going on with him, the more he spoke, the more fluent he became, and his eyes became brighter.

Jia Lian was silent for a while, then he smiled at the Fourth Prince and said, "Your Highness, what you said makes sense.

But... the Fifth Prince has just passed the age of childhood after all, how can he be a match for your Third Brother?

So whether it is for the sake of the overall situation or to protect His Highness the Fifth Prince, from now on, I hope His Highness can put more thought into this."

The Fourth Prince's words suddenly reminded Jia Lian that if he wanted to overthrow the Third Prince, he could indeed get the Fifth Prince to join him.

This not only creates an advantage of two to one, but also prevents the situation where the fisherman benefits from the conflict between the snipe and the clam.

If there is a conspiracy theory, if the fourth and fifth princes both stood against the third prince, would Emperor Ningkang really dare to pass the throne to the third prince? Wasn't he afraid that the third prince would kill his two remaining young sons as soon as he fell?

Lessons from the past, the teacher behind the car.

Jia Lian never thought that his investment in the Fourth Prince was a risky move. On the contrary, with his cautious nature, he made the most favorable decision after he had a good grasp of Emperor Ning Kang's character and the fact that the Third Prince had killed his brother.

He felt the chances were great.

Although Princess Zhaoyang said that she knew from Emperor Ning Kang that Emperor Ning Kang still wanted to pass the throne to the third prince.

But how can we judge the emperor's heart from the surface?

In Jia Lian's opinion, if Emperor Ning Kang really favored the third prince, then when Princess Zhaoyang revealed her "ambition", Emperor Ning Kang should have severely reprimanded her and suppressed them.

However, at present, none of these have happened. The Fourth Prince is still carefree as the King of Xiao, and Princess Zhaoyang is still active in the court.

Doesn't this mean that Emperor Ning Kang's mind is not that firm? At least, he has considered the good-natured Fourth Prince.

The Fourth Prince actually thought that Jia Lian agreed with his opinion, and immediately went to Jia Lian to ask him for advice on how to help the Fifth Prince ascend the throne.

Jia Lian was just perfunctory. After several times, the Fourth Prince realized that it was too early to say these things now, and he couldn't help but think of what he was thinking.

But after looking at Jia Lian left and right, he still couldn't open his mouth to talk about the young man's worries, and the atmosphere suddenly became quiet.

Jia Lian didn't seem to notice anything unusual about the Fourth Prince. After drinking tea silently for a long time, he saw the Fourth Prince sitting there in a daze. He politely invited him to have some tea and began to introduce the history of his tea.

Until a burst of laughter broke the atmosphere in the hall.

Third Sister You was originally chatting and laughing with Princess Zhaoyang, but after entering the hall and seeing the Fourth Prince was also there, she sensibly said goodbye and left.

Seeing how friendly he was to Princess Zhaoyang before he left, it is not difficult to imagine that he must have been conquered by Princess Zhaoyang.

This did not surprise Jia Lian at all. For You Sanjie, who came from a rural family, to be facing off against the famous princess of the dynasty, it would only take a few minutes to win her over as long as the other party was determined.

After Princess Zhaoyang entered the hall, she sat next to Jia Lian and talked with Jia Lian, laughing, about Third Sister You and her dozen female soldiers.

As they talked and laughed, the loneliness of the Fourth Prince standing opposite them became more and more prominent.

The Fourth Prince naturally realized that he had become a light bulb. He forced himself to sit still for a long time, but when he realized that his sister didn't even look back at him, he finally couldn't sit still anymore.

"It's getting late, we should go!"

The Fourth Prince's words were full of anger. Originally, for some reasons, he wanted to change his attitude towards Jia Lian and try to please him.

But on the one hand, Jia Lian didn't seem to have that intention at all, and on the other hand, he really couldn't stand his own sister being close to Jia Lian.

Just like Jia Lian, he probably couldn't stand the Fourth Prince's affair with Yingchun!

Princess Zhaoyang turned around and asked unhappily, "What are you panicking about?"

"Hmph, if you don't want to leave, you can stay. I'm leaving. If father asks about it, don't expect me to lie for you."

Seeing the Fourth Prince's tough attitude, Princess Zhaoyang also realized that the Fourth Prince was really angry.

She began to feel embarrassed.

After all, she had only achieved half of her purpose of coming here today.

But she had followed here disguised as the Fourth Prince's maid, and if the Fourth Prince left first, it would be difficult for her.

Just as the Fourth Prince threatened, if the news of her private meeting with Jia Lian were to spread, it would have a great impact on both her and Jia Lian.

Even though Emperor Ning Kang had never said anything, and even had tacitly approved it before, his attitude would certainly change as Jia Lian's background became public.

The reason why she didn't mention it before was because of the father-daughter relationship. But if she was ignorant and kept challenging her old father's authority, she and Jia Lian would definitely be greeted with thundering wrath.

Jia Lian could naturally see Princess Zhaoyang's dilemma, and he was just about to persuade Princess Zhaoyang and the Fourth Prince to go back first.

Because Jia Lian also felt that now was not the best time for Princess Zhaoyang and Daiyu to meet.

Just as he was about to speak, Aqin came in and said that Wang Ziteng came to ask for a meeting.

Jia Lian then turned to the Fourth Prince and asked, "I wonder if what Your Highness just said to me is serious?"

"what's up?"

The Fourth Prince asked subconsciously, but when faced with Jia Lian's suggestive look, he realized that it was the previous topic about ascending to the throne.

Glancing at Ah Qin next to him, the Fourth Prince wisely did not speak directly, but just nodded and said, "Of course I am serious."

"It's good that you are serious. Your Highness may not know yet, but Lord Wang Ziteng has been appointed by His Majesty as the new cabinet regent. Lord Wang will definitely have a place in the court in the future.

If we do not take action against such a loyal minister, and he is lured away by the other side in the future, wouldn’t it be a huge loss for us?

At present, the Fifth Prince is still young, and it is inconvenient for him to do many things. As the Fifth Prince's brother, should Your Highness take on this obligation and take the initiative to recruit Lord Wang on behalf of the Fifth Prince? At the very least, you should try to win Lord Wang over, so that he will not vote for one side or the other."

The fourth prince was stunned and asked, "Wang Ziteng wants to join the cabinet?"

Even a prince could not ignore the first-rank official who entered the cabinet.

Seeing Jia Lian nod, the Fourth Prince asked hesitantly, "What do you mean?"

"Your Highness, please go and receive Lord Wang on my behalf. This will allow Lord Wang to see how much Your Highness values ​​him. Secondly, Your Highness can also use your eloquence to let Lord Wang know what is justice and what is evil, so that he won't stand on the wrong side in the future."

The Fourth Prince's face fell. Like Jia Baoyu, he was also afraid of dealing with a "parasite" like Wang Ziteng.

When he was in the study, he was often criticized by the teacher!

But what Jia Lian said made some sense... Who told him to swear so confidently that the three of them would work together to help his fifth brother ascend to the throne?

"What about you?"

"I'm going to take your sister to see someone."

"who?"

"Someone you don't know, Your Highness."

The Fourth Prince felt that he was being treated like a fool, but when he saw that his sister was also smiling and silent, he knew that they must be hiding some secret from him!

He snorted coldly and walked out angrily. Before leaving the hall, he turned back and said, "Don't bully my sister anymore!"

After saying this, he seemed embarrassed and quickened his pace.

Not to mention the Fourth Prince, even Jia Lian and Princess Zhaoyang were slightly embarrassed by his words.

Obviously, the Fourth Prince knows something.

Looking at Ah Qin who was almost unable to hold back her smile, Jia Lian said, "Take Master Wei to see Lord Wang. Remember to have someone guard the door and don't let irrelevant people hear their conversation."

"Yes."

As soon as Ah Qin left, Princess Zhaoyang asked with a smile, "What did you say to Ling'er that he was willing to meet Wang Ziteng?"

Jia Lian briefly recounted what the Fourth Prince had said before, causing Princess Zhaoyang to sigh. She then couldn't help but ask, "Do you really agree with him?"

Jia Lian looked at Princess Zhaoyang, and Princess Zhaoyang also looked at him.

Jia Lian laughed and said, "This isn't a game of house, can we just give in if we want to?

When that day comes, the arrow will be on the string, and even Your Highness will have no choice."

Princess Zhaoyang smiled and felt relieved.

She did not have as much ambition as Jia Lian. In her opinion, if they had to fight for it, it would be best to let her own brother take that position.

She slowly approached Jia Lian, snuggled into his arms, and enjoyed the broad and warm heart of her lover.

Jia Lian seemed to know what she was thinking. He stood there without moving, just holding her in his arms with one hand.

After a long time, Jia Lian suspected that Princess Zhaoyang had fallen asleep in his arms. He patted her hips and asked softly, "Didn't you say you wanted to see Lin girl?"

Princess Zhaoyang was so startled by Jia Lian's slap that she immediately fell asleep. She covered her buttocks with her backhand and gave Jia Lian a blank look with a blushing face.

Jia Lian was very surprised.

How bold this girl was at that time. When they were outside the Great Wall, she even dared to play the game of female thief with her.

Jia Lian's eyes also reminded Princess Zhaoyang of the extraordinary things she had done with Jia Lian when they were in love. She naturally didn't think much of it before, it was just what she felt and what she was interested in.

But as Jia Lian's life experience came to light before the world, when she looked back, she naturally felt differently.

In order to prevent Jia Lian and herself from delving too deeply into this issue, Princess Zhaoyang quickly calmed down, smiled and shook her head at Jia Lian.

Under Jia Lian's puzzled gaze, she slowly stretched out two fingers.

"Erlang is wrong. Before, I only wanted to see the sister of the Lin family, but now, there is one more."

Faced with Princess Zhaoyang's playful smile, Jia Lian's expression became dull.

...(End of chapter)