The Second Master of the Red Chamber

When Jia Lian returned home, it was already the second watch.

"Aren't you here to see your stepsister off? Why did you take so long?"

As soon as I entered the room, I saw Feng Jieer's familiar suspicious look.

Jia Lian did not speak. He sat down on the kang, took the fragrant tea handed to him by Ping'er, took a sip and then said casually: "Mistress Zhen insisted on staying for dinner, and I couldn't refuse, so I was delayed for some time."

"Haha, I don't think you can refuse. You really want to stay and eat more."

Faced with this groundless ridicule, Jia Lian simply ignored it and waved to his cousin in red to come over and massage his legs.

Seeing that Jia Lian ignored her, Feng Jieer curled her lips but did not argue. She sat on the other side of the table and lowered her body to Jia Lian and said, "Didn't Chief Steward Dai come to see you before? What's the matter?"

Not long after Jia Lian returned with Daiyu and others in the evening, Dai Quan came to convey the order of Emperor Ning Kang.

"It's nothing important. His Majesty just can't stand my idleness, so he asked me to pack up and go to Tianjin to help him build ships."

Although Jia Lian's tone seemed nonchalant, Sister Feng was delighted when she heard it.

Although Dai Quan came home in the evening and returned quickly, there was no sign of anything unusual happening to Jia Lian.

But that was Dai Quan after all, the emperor's number one eunuch, and he came all the way to see Jia Lian, so she couldn't help but be worried.

When he heard that it was the emperor who asked Jia Lian to do the job, he felt relaxed and happy.

"Look at you. The emperor can think of you and let you do something. What a great favor. Many people want to do things for the emperor, but they can't even ask for it. You still look unhappy."

Although she was happy, Feng Jieer couldn't help but feel a little reluctant to leave. Jia Lian had only been home for a few days.

But the emperor's order cannot be disobeyed.

"Then when are you going to leave?"

Faced with Feng Jie'er's eager eyes, Jia Lian suddenly felt a little proud.

This woman, now in front of him, how could she still be the rose with thorns?
So he reached out and stroked the other person's bright face, and said with a smile: "There's no rush for this matter."

Having reached Jia Lian's position, it is no longer necessary for him to obey the emperor's orders.

Given the current political situation, Jia Lian feels it is more important to stay in the capital and get first-hand information.

Anyway, the emperor had already told him to stay at home and observe mourning. This time he issued this order for no reason and did not specify a specific date, so he was naturally not in a hurry.

In the past, ports and ships were built to help make the country stronger, to demonstrate one's own value and to enhance one's own status.

Now he is still a "suspicious person" in the eyes of the emperor, so why should he work so diligently like a slave and make himself look cheap?

He has decided to have a good rest at home and think clearly about his future position before thinking about other things.

He took the grapes that Feng Jieer had peeled and handed over, and after eating them, he suddenly said, "I have something for you to do."

"What's the matter?" Sister Feng asked in confusion.

"I plan to build a new house on the original Lai family's land, and when the time is right, we will move out."

When Jia Lian said this, not only Sister Feng, but also several maids in the room were stunned.

move out?
Move out from the Duke's Mansion?
This was something no one had expected, but since these words came from Jia Lian, who was becoming more and more trustworthy, no one thought that Jia Lian would joke about such a big thing.

The first one to be anxious was Feng Jieer.

"Why are you moving out for no reason?"

Jia Lian glanced at the maids in the room, making them mistakenly believe that he was asking them to retreat.

Jia Lian didn't wait for them to leave before he said, "This small courtyard is no longer suitable for the two of us to live in. It's time to move to a bigger and better house."

When Sister Feng heard this, she immediately understood what Jia Lian meant.

Indeed, this small courtyard was originally arranged for them by Mrs. Wang when the couple came to help with the household management.

I'm not going to say anything bad about it. The foundation is there, it's just an ordinary small courtyard with two entrances in total.

Although Feng Jieer later opened a door on the west side and renovated an empty courtyard next to it into a garden and bathroom, making the place much larger, it was still far from commensurate with the status of their Lord and Lady Marquis.

Oh, now it’s the Duke and the Duchess.

To give the simplest example, among the more than 40 maids and more than 20 servants on duty in the courtyard, only Ping'er, Qingwen, Xiangling, as well as Qiaojie's wet nurse and two personal maids live in the courtyard. All the others are placed elsewhere.

In fact, Feng Jieer felt that living in her own small courtyard was quite comfortable. Maybe it was because she had lived there for so many years, and every tree and blade of grass was placed according to her wishes, so she had developed feelings for it.

Considering that Jia Lian is a man, it is indeed not suitable for him to stay in such a small courtyard with his current status, so he said hesitantly: "If you think this courtyard is too small, then we can move to the east wing. There is no need to move out."

"The East Cross Courtyard is not suitable either."

Feng Jieer was stumped, and she also felt that Jia Lian was right.

The East Courtyard is only one-third of the original front yard of Rongguo Mansion. The front and back houses of Rongguo Mansion are almost the same size. In this way, the East Courtyard only occupies one-sixth of the size of Rongguo Mansion.

Of this one-sixth, nearly half belongs to the current Mrs. Xing.

Jia Lian's personal guards, attendants and servants total nearly a hundred people. Even if all of them lived outside, the East Courtyard might not be able to accommodate all their daily activities.

She finally realized the need to change her house.

So he asked tentatively, "Didn't you say at the beginning that you wanted me to be the mistress of this Duke's Mansion?"

There is huge ambition in the woman's eyes.

She is now the wife of the Duke and holds the power over the householder. All she needs to become the real mistress of the Duke's Mansion is actual ownership.

She has never been a good person at heart.

For her own immediate interests, she didn't mind driving Lady Wang and her husband out of Rong Xi Tang and making herself the master of the house.

However, Jia Lian laughed when he heard this. It seemed that this woman still did not realize the fundamental problem.

If it was just a matter of occupying the mountain and becoming the king, he wouldn't need to discuss it with Sister Feng, he could do it on his own.

In fact, even Jia Zheng and Wang Fu-ren only occupied Rong Xi Tang in name. The couple did not live in the main hall, which is the so-called main house in the main courtyard.

Needless to say, Mrs. Wang lived in the three small main rooms next to Rong Xi Tang, which is the side courtyard, all year round.

Jia Zheng was similar. He basically spent his daily life in the outer study, Mengpo Zhai.

As for the night, if she had no sexual interest, she would stay in Lady Wang's room. If she was interested, she would go to find Aunt Zhao or Aunt Zhou.

Naturally, the residence of these two concubines who gave birth to children could not be the main house.

However, the location of their family is within the scope of Rong Xi Tang, declaring their ownership of Rong Xi Tang.

This situation may have been caused by the fact that Jia Zheng and his wife felt guilty about occupying the main courtyard, so they deliberately avoided suspicion.

As for the former Jia Lian, he had already thought in his mind that one day in the future, if the two sides got along well, he would wait until Lady Jia died and then move Jia Zheng's family to the east courtyard, or he would pay to build a house for them outside and then invite them to live in another courtyard in a decent manner.

If you don't get along well, you will naturally be kicked out.

As the inheritor of the family title, he did not think this would be a difficult task at all.

He had not expected that things would turn out like this. In the end, he was an outsider, and Jia Zheng was the legitimate heir of the Rongguo Mansion?

Under such circumstances, Jia Lian would naturally not do such a thing as occupying the nest of another and driving out the owner.

The main reason is that he is rich, so there is no need for him to be so shameless.

Let's not talk about the huge amount of money he embezzled in Jiangnan that year. In recent years, he has received rewards from the palace and the court, and his restaurant, wine shop, grain store and other businesses have also grown well. He has enough money to support him in building a luxurious house.

In fact, Jia Lian had not decided whether to move out before, but as his mourning period was about to end, he made an engagement with Baochai.

Jia Lian didn't want to hold his wedding in the East Courtyard or "borrow" Rong Xi Tang.

He wanted to hold a grand wedding for Chai and Dai in his own home.

So she tapped Feng Jieer on the forehead and scolded her with a smile: "You are still thinking about this? Aren't you afraid that people in the world will poke our spines?"

The couple had discussed this issue before.

But Feng Jieer is a person who puts profit above all else.

In her eyes, as long as the benefits are big enough, what does it matter what others say?
After all, can the house built outside be as powerful as the Duke's Mansion built by imperial decree?

However, seeing that Jia Lian was indeed a man of integrity, he could only give up such shameless thoughts and start thinking about other ways out.

"Although the Lai family's territory is nice, it's still a little small after all... Wait, you're not counting the Lai Sheng family as well, are you?"

Jia Lian said noncommittally: "We'll just find them a better place when the time comes."

The houses of Lai Da and Lai Er were originally the properties of the Jia family, but after they were given to them, they expanded them to varying degrees and now they are next to each other.

The two companies combined have quite a large territory.

Now that Lai Da's house has been taken back by the government, I believe Lai Sheng will be happy to move to another place when he knows that Jia Lian is going to build a new house on their land.

Sister Feng nodded and said, "It's still a little narrow..."

Although Lai Da and Lai Er were wealthy slaves, they were slaves after all, and no matter how big their house was, it was limited.

In Feng Jieer's view, Jia Lian is now a real duke, and since he wants to build a new house, he cannot lose face.

At least in terms of territory size, it cannot lose too much to the Rongguo Mansion.

"Have you forgotten that when Lai Da wanted to build a garden for Lai Ma, he was able to negotiate and let the neighbors move out. I think my reputation should not be worse than Lai Da's... You don't have to worry about the territory."

Sister Feng immediately started laughing.

With Jia Lian's guarantee, she felt relieved.

Now that we have the land, the next issue naturally becomes funding.

"So how much money do you plan to spend to build the house? Do you need to use the gold?"

The gold that Feng Jieer mentioned refers specifically to the ten boxes of gold she had hidden under her bed.

Jia Lian frowned slightly and said with a smile, "If you are willing, it is not impossible."

Feng Jieer immediately rolled her eyes in annoyance.

She had known for a long time that Jia Lian had some "private money", but she had never been sure how much.

Now she has some clues, but she is afraid that the money in her hands is her private money.

She wasn't too angry. After all, she had so much money that she could never spend it all in her lifetime.

So I asked curiously, "You said before that you wanted me to help you with something, what was it?"

Jia Lian tapped the table with his fingers and said slowly, "If we want to move out, we must have a reason..."

Feng Jieer reacted immediately. Yes, he was going to move out for no reason. Not to mention whether Lady Jia and others agreed, Jia Lian himself also held the title of "Duke of Rong". What would outsiders think if he left the Duke of Rong's Mansion?
She was a little annoyed. With her intelligence, she should have thought of this earlier.

It was all because of this heartless guy, who was always more reliable than him in what he said and did, so much so that she developed a dependent mentality. In front of him, she was too lazy to think.

"Then what name do you think is good? If there is no suitable one, I am afraid the old lady will definitely not agree."

Jia Lian paused for a while and said, "Didn't a lot of people think I was an outsider when we were offering sacrifices to our ancestors yesterday? As an outsider, it's better for me to live outside."

Feng Jieer was stunned for a moment. Although she felt that this reason was far-fetched, she couldn't think of anything else at the moment, so she nodded. (End of this chapter)