The Second Master of the Red Chamber

The carriage slowly stopped in front of the mansion gate.

Mrs. Zhen, who had been waiting for a long time, hurried forward to greet him. She saw the curtain of the carriage opened, and Jia Lian's tall and heroic figure appeared first.

She was slightly stunned, but still smiled and said, "It's such a long way, why do you have to send me there in person?"

Jia Lian jumped off the carriage, turned around to lead Zhen Yuhuan out of the carriage, and said nonchalantly: "I promised my aunt yesterday, so I must keep my word."

Mrs. Zhen smiled and glanced down at her daughter who was walking towards her somewhat embarrassedly. This made Zhen Yuhuan feel nervous for a moment, as she was worried that maybe she had not handled something on her body properly and her mother had noticed something.

Fortunately, Mrs. Zhen immediately spoke to Jia Lian again.

"It's hard for you to worry about her so much. By the way, have you had dinner yet? If not, why don't you stay and have dinner?"

Mrs. Zhen was just being polite and didn't think Jia Lian would agree.

Zhen Yuhuan's originally rosy face fell the moment she heard the words, knowing that she was about to part with her sworn brother.

Jia Lian looked at the enthusiastic Mrs. Zhen, then glanced at the little maid who was obviously reluctant to leave, and asked with a smile: "It's this hour, hasn't your aunt eaten yet?"

"We are leaving on the ship tomorrow morning, and there are many places in the house that need to be cleaned up, so we are a little late." Mrs. Zhen explained casually.

In fact, she mainly wanted to wait for her daughter to come back so that the mother and daughter could have their last dinner together in Beijing.

Jia Lian nodded, and then said: "We did eat a little before, but it's been a while, and now I'm really hungry. If aunt doesn't mind bothering me, I would like to stay and have a meal."

As soon as Jia Lian said this, Zhen Yuhuan, who had been hanging her head and looking depressed, immediately looked up and looked at Jia Lian with surprise.

Then she couldn't help but pull her mother's sleeve, reminding her to agree quickly.

Naturally, Mrs. Zhen would not refuse. It was a great honor for them that Jia Lian was willing to stay and have a free meal given his status.

"What are you talking about? I'm so happy that you're willing to stay. I'm just worried that the food at home is so simple and I can't take good care of you."

Mrs. Zhen said this, glaring calmly at her daughter, whose thoughtful expression was written all over her face, and then invited Jia Lian in.

The Zhen family is a large family in the south of the Yangtze River, and their rules and regulations are no less formal than those of the Jia family.

Even though he was only bringing his daughter to Beijing to discuss marriage, he was still carrying quite a few people and belongings.

This time when he returned south, there was naturally a lot of commotion at home.

Under such circumstances, the Zhen family was indeed not prepared to keep guests. If Jia Lian knew etiquette, he should not have agreed to stay for dinner at this time.

But Jia Lian stayed. Regardless of the etiquette of the Zhen family or Jia Lian's status, the Zhen family would never really send him off with a "simple meal".

In the main hall, while her mother was giving instructions to the servants, Zhen Yuhuan came up to Jia Lian and whispered, "Brother, I'm so glad you agreed to stay for dinner..."

"Silly girl."

Jia Lian touched Zhen Yuhuan's head, with some doting and some pity.

Zhen Yuhuan was of course very pleased, but fearing being seen by her mother, she did not dare to get too close to Jia Lian.

Thinking that it would take some time for her family to prepare dinner, she decided to go downstairs to take a bath first. Before leaving, she repeatedly warned Jia Lian not to leave early.

At one moment Mrs. Zhen came in and exchanged a few polite words with Jia Lian. Then they sat at the guest of honor seat and had nothing to say to each other.

Firstly, it was because of their status, and secondly, they were not really familiar with each other.

Just when Mrs. Zhen wanted to leave on the pretext of preparing dinner and let the servants accompany her, she heard Jia Lian say, "Actually, I stayed here tonight because I have two important matters to discuss with my aunt."

Mrs. Zhen was stunned for a moment, then she understood and felt that this was reasonable.

Seeing Jia Lian's eye signal, she dismissed the servants serving in the hall.

"I wonder what two things you are talking about, brother?" Mrs. Zhen asked seriously.

She knew that given Jia Lian's status, such a serious matter must not be a trivial one.

Jia Lian was not vague either, and said directly: "The first thing is about your family's current situation."

Mrs. Zhen was immediately worried. The reason why she hurried back home was because the crown prince had committed treason and died, and the Zhen family was in a precarious situation.

"But what do you know, brother? To be honest, ever since the Crown Prince got into trouble, I have been living in fear all day long. If I hadn't gotten some promises from the Queen, I would not have dared to go south.

Therefore, if you know the inside story, please tell us, so that we can rest assured."

Mrs. Zhen's words were sincere. She was indeed afraid of being implicated by the prince.

Although the Queen told her not to worry too much, she did not tell her much about the inside story of the Crown Prince's matter, so she could only speculate a little from the rumors from the outside world.

Although she guessed that they should be safe because the Queen Mother agreed to let her take her daughter back south, guesses were just guesses after all. If Jia Lian was willing to reveal more inside information to her, she would be more than happy to do so.

When I return to the south, I can explain everything to my family.

"I do know some inside information about the Crown Prince. But please forgive me, Aunt. This is a serious matter, and I dare not disclose it casually. After all, if it is spread out casually, it will not be a good thing for you or me.

I can only tell you, aunt, that as long as your family cuts off all ties with the Crown Prince and stops getting involved, you will most likely not be implicated."

Jia Lian made a promise.

No one knew the inside story of the prince's case better than him. All the people implicated by the prince, except those who were caught on the spot at Tiewang Mountain, all the rest jumped out to stir up trouble after this incident.

In other words, he offended Emperor Ning Kang or was in the way.

The Zhen family's roots are in the south, and their connection with the Prince's Mansion has only been in the last one or two years. There is no conflict at all between them and Emperor Ning Kang.

As for the idea of ​​grudge against everyone and implicate everyone involved...

If it was said that the crown prince had stabbed the emperor in the back, Emperor Ning Kang must have been extremely angry at the time, but all of this must have faded away with the crown prince's death.

This can be seen from the fact that most of the people whose property was confiscated and liquidated in Fancheng were old ministers of the emperor's reign, while there were very few people who were affiliated with the prince. Otherwise, based on the vigorous clinging to the prince's mansion in the past six months, the Zhen family would have been liquidated by order long ago.

Seeing that the house-raiding storm in the city was almost coming to an end, and as long as nothing happened to the Zhen family, it meant that nothing would happen.

Although Jia Lian did not say anything specific, Mrs. Zhen finally felt relieved after receiving the assurances from two heavyweights, the Queen and Jia Lian, and a smile appeared on her face.

But Jia Lian continued: "What I want to talk about is not this matter, but..."

Facing the puzzled look of Mrs. Zhen, Jia Lian asked, "May I ask, aunt, does the Zhen family owe money to the national treasury or the government treasury?"

Mrs. Zhen was a little stunned, "What do you mean, brother?"

Jia Lian did not answer but asked: "If it is owed, how much is it?"

Mrs. Zhen fell silent for a moment, not knowing how to respond.

Seeing this, Jia Lian said meaningfully, "Your Majesty has been on the throne for seven years and has been committed to reform and governance. There are too many places where money is needed. If Your Majesty did not pay attention to the Zhen family in the case of the crown prince, but because of other reasons, the name of the Zhen family falls on Your Majesty's case again, it would be a loss."

Although Jia Lian did not say it explicitly, unless one is too stupid, one will be able to understand the implication.

Mrs. Zhen couldn't help but become nervous again.

Jia Lian was a close minister of Emperor Ning Kang, and had a lot of connections with the royal family. Since he hinted like this, could it be that he heard some rumors?
After thinking for a while, he said, "I dare not hide it from you, my brother. My family does have some account transactions with the national treasury and the government treasury...

But most of them are old stories, and the relationship between them cannot be explained in a few words."

Seeing Mrs. Zhen's hesitation and silence, Jia Lian knew that the amount of the Zhen family's deficit was probably even greater than he had imagined.

The Supreme Emperor reigned for more than fifty years and although he had made outstanding contributions, he could not change the bad habits of emperors in previous dynasties who had been in power for a long time.

What a great success.

Especially in the later period, he gradually became arrogant and extravagant.

Actually, this is nothing. The country is peaceful and the people are prosperous. What's wrong with me enjoying myself?
However, if one enjoys life alone, he will inevitably be advised and remonstrated by his ministers, which will become very annoying after a while.

Therefore, the emperor, who had always been known as a "sage king" and "benevolent", based on the idea that happiness is better shared with others than enjoyed alone, waved his hand and allowed his ministers to enjoy the happiness with him.

If you want to enjoy life, you need money. What if the officials' salaries are not enough? It's easy, because the treasury has money.

As a result, originally only a few specific groups of people could take money out of the national treasury, but now everyone can have a share of the cake.

This policy is not a bad thing in itself. As long as it is implemented well and there is a return on loan, it can be considered a benevolent policy.

However, as time went by, this welfare policy for the ministers had long since changed from what it was at the beginning. The accounts and amounts of deficits accumulated during this period were already unknown.

The so-called seeing the leopard through the tube can give you a glimpse of it.

With these "benevolent policies", how could Emperor Ning Kang not be short of money when he took over the country?

Otherwise, he would not have sent his confidant Lin Ruhai to be in charge of the salt administration as soon as he took office.

He would not be so happy just because Jia Lian extorted 10 million taels of silver from the salt merchants for him.

Jia Lian has always known that Emperor Ningkang is short of money.

As long as Emperor Ning Kang does not change his mind and wants to accomplish great achievements, he will become increasingly short of money.

If you are short of money, you have to find somewhere to get it.

In the past, he couldn't touch those vested interests, but now that the emperor is being honored, who else can't Emperor Ning Kang touch?

Therefore, it is not surprising that Jia Lian could guess that Emperor Ning Kang would take action against those who had embezzled the national treasury.

Perhaps she could see that Jia Lian was somewhat dissatisfied with her evasiveness, so Mrs. Zhen hesitated for a while before explaining, "In fact, we in the Zhen family rarely borrow money from the national treasury, at least it has been like this for the past twenty years since I entered the Zhen family.

But I won’t hide it from you, brother. When I was handling the family affairs, I also found out that the family did owe a lot of money to the government treasury…”

Mrs. Zhen glanced at Jia Lian and continued, "If we really want to trace those accounts, we can trace them back to the time of our ancestors.

My dear, you may not know that our ancestors were greatly favored by several generations of emperors. For example, Emperor Taizu made six southern tours, and he stayed at our house four times.

In order to welcome the emperor, our ancestors did borrow a lot of money and grain from the treasury.

According to the elders in my family, these things were common practices at the time, not just in our family, but even with special permission from the emperor.

And almost all the debts our family owed were incurred at that time..."

As if she was afraid that Jia Lian would not believe her, Mrs. Zhen spoke in a very sincere tone. Even when she mentioned that Taizu had stayed with her four times, she did not show off at all.

Jia Lian smiled, it turned out that the Zhen family was not the one that had amassed the country's wealth during the reign of the retired emperor, but had a tradition.

As for what Mrs. Zhen said about seldom borrowing money in the past twenty years, Jia Lian did not quite believe it.

Borrowing money is addictive, especially the kind of money that you don’t have to pay back!
However, this was the Zhen family's own secret after all, and Jia Lian had no intention of delving into it. He only said, "Although there are reasons for this, His Majesty cannot tolerate any sand in his eyes.

If the old issues are brought up in the future and connected to the case of the Crown Prince, I am afraid it will be very disadvantageous to your family."

Mrs. Zhen was immediately worried and asked, "What should we do?"

Jia Lian smiled slightly, but did not respond. Instead, he changed the subject and said abruptly, "The other thing I want to talk about is about Huan'er."

Mrs. Zhen couldn't keep up with Jia Lian's thoughts at all, and subconsciously asked: "Huan'er? What happened to Huan'er?"

"Huan'er, she is already mine."

...(End of chapter)