The Second Master of the Red Chamber

Under the shade of the trees, Jia Lian took out the key and opened an iron door close to the mountain wall. Immediately, a thick, dark blue stone door appeared before him.

Xue Baochai was a little surprised.

She knew that this was the location of the ice cellar in the garden, but she didn't understand why Jia Lian brought her here.

Jia Lian did not explain to her, but placed his palms on the stone door and pushed it to the right. With a loud bang, the stone door that seemed to be as heavy as a thousand pounds was pushed open by Jia Lian, revealing the dark passage inside, and a chilling air hit him in the face.

As if he saw the strange look in Baochai's eyes, Jia Lian explained, "There are grooves under this stone door, and many pulleys are set in the grooves, so it doesn't take much effort to open and close this stone door."

Baochai nodded in understanding, and seeing that Jia Lian had already walked down the passage first, she did not hesitate and followed him in.

As the stone door closed again, the passage became dark.

The sudden loss of her visual sense made Baochai subconsciously lean towards Jia Lian.

Suddenly, I felt a strong arm around my waist, and then I heard a reassuring voice:
"Don't be afraid, I'm here."

"Hmm~" Baochai became more and more nervous.

Fortunately, Jia Lian didn't seem to have any intention of bullying her. He calmed her down, then took out the fire starter he had prepared long ago and blew it up in the dark.

Seeing this, Baochai remembered the candle and lantern in her hand, and hurriedly handed it to Jia Lian for him to light.

As the dim candlelight lit up, the darkness in the passage was dispelled, and Baochai finally felt completely at ease.

So she couldn't help but ask again: "Why did you bring me here? If you want some ice, just ask the servants to come. It's very cold in here."

"You'll find out later."

Seeing that Jia Lian still refused to explain, Baochai did not ask any further questions. She let Jia Lian hold her hand and walk down the stone steps.

After a while, according to Baochai's estimation, they went down about a hundred steps, walked in a "Z" shape underground, and came to a stone gate.

Jia Lian followed the same method and opened the stone door.

The room suddenly became clear, and at the same time, a colder breath than before rushed towards them.

After crossing the stone gate, there is a large stone chamber, inside which you can see neatly stacked large bluestone-like ice bricks.

There were also some ice fragments left on the ground after the ice was broken into pieces. I guess they were left behind when Feng Jieer sent someone in to get the ice.

Some of the ice had melted long ago, but surprisingly, there were no signs of meltwater or corruption on the ground.

Baochai looked carefully and found that there were some small grooves running through the floor of the stone chamber. The melted ice water must have flowed out along the grooves. No wonder the entire stone chamber could remain so dry.

"This Feng girl, didn't we tell her to use it freely? After so many days, she hasn't even used half of the first stone chamber."

Jia Lian's reproachful words suddenly rang in Baochai's ears, which made her think something.

The first stone chamber? Are there other stone chambers?

Baochai thought that this was the ice cellar, because when they were in Nanjing, the ice cellar in their home was about the same size as the one before them.

However, storing ice in Nanjing was not as convenient as in the capital, and the ice cellar had not been used for many years after his grandfather passed away.

Sure enough, Jia Lian did not hesitate. He took her hand again and pushed hard against the stone wall on the right side of the stone chamber.

So, the stone wall that seemed intact at first glance actually evolved into a revolving stone door.

Because of the two heavy stone doors before, this simple and easy-to-understand light stone door was not enough to surprise Baochai.

Following Jia Lian, I saw another stone chamber of similar size.

The ice in this stone chamber had obviously never been removed, and all the ice was neatly stacked into a cube.

Baochai raised the lantern in her hand and moved closer. The candlelight shone on these huge, crystal clear ice cubes, and they glowed like crystal.

Baochai was inwardly marveling at the fact that the ice here was stored so well, when Jia Lian walked to the stone wall again and, in front of her surprised gaze, pushed open a revolving stone door.

Baochai was stunned. Only then did she realize that the straight line formed by the two revolving stone doors was actually a corridor.

No wonder the space is empty and no ice is piled up.

She was silent for a moment, then asked, "How many ice cellars are there here?"

"This is an ice cellar, but there are many stone chambers like this, about seven or eight."

As Jia Lian spoke, as if to verify his words, he pulled Baochai and pushed open one stone door after another.

Finally, after pushing open the seventh revolving stone door, Jia Lian stopped.

Baochai liked to be attentive to everything she did. She counted and found that there were eight stone chambers in total, and each of them was filled with ice without exception.

The total number of the eight stone chambers is quite impressive.

No wonder Sister Feng was so generous in distributing ice to various places in the garden. The amount of ice stored here is probably not much less than that of the imperial palace.

But, why did Brother Lian bring me in?

Jia Lian turned around to glance at Baochai's expression and saw that she was just looking down in thought. He thought to himself that this girl was indeed quite cunning.

If other little girls in the garden came in and saw so many ice cubes, they would probably have started screaming.

However, it’s better if you are a bit cunning. If you are not, I wouldn’t dare to bring you in.

Jia Lian walked to the end of the corridor again, and opened the last revolving stone door when Baochai suddenly looked at him.

Jia Lian turned around and smiled brightly at Baochai, then walked in.

Baochai hurriedly followed with a lantern in hand.

As you enter the room, you will see a basement that is many times larger than the previous stone chamber.

Small icebergs formed by stacking large ice blocks can be seen everywhere.

The most surprising thing is that there are many glass mirrors inlaid on the stone walls around and above the head.

These glass mirrors were arranged according to certain rules, and could actually repeatedly reflect the faint candlelight in her hands. The repeatedly reflected light passed through countless translucent ice cubes, and in an instant, the entire space looked like a glass world, which was extremely beautiful.

Even Baochai was stunned for a moment, and finally couldn't help asking: "How much ice is there here?"

"I don't know, probably a few hundred dollars."

"Brother Lian, why do you store so much ice?"

"Originally it was only prepared for my family. But the icehouse has been built, and many rivers outside the north city were also frozen thickly in the twelfth lunar month. Anyway, it only costs some labor and travel expenses, so I ordered people to collect more."

Baochai was secretly shocked, and after a quick look around, she realized that this was the main part of the ice cellar. Looking at the large ice blocks piled up everywhere, Baochai was now very sure that there was definitely not as much ice stored in any ice cellar in the palace as here.

She suddenly couldn't help but say, "With so much ice, the people in the Shan Mansion definitely can't use it all. If we take some of it out to sell..."

Baochai had been learning business from her parents since she was young. When she saw such a huge amount of ice stored, the first thing she thought of was that these were equivalent to silver in such a hot summer day.

However, she soon realized that Jia Lian was probably not short of money at all.

She knew that the Rongguo Mansion was short of money before, and Jia Lian and his wife added thirty or fifty thousand yuan to the treasury without even frowning.

Sure enough, Jia Lian didn't seem very interested in her proposal and did not respond to her.

Instead, he gave her a look that she couldn't quite understand, and then walked through the corridor between the ice piles and went deeper.

Baochai quickly lit the light.

Soon she saw Jia Lian standing at a stone wall with various rare and exotic animals carved on it. He turned around and looked at her, saying seriously, "See clearly."

After he finished speaking, Jia Lian turned around, placed his hand on a Qilin head, rotated it half a circle counterclockwise, and then pressed down hard.

With a rumbling sound, a seemingly flat wall next to it suddenly caved in.

Baochai's expression changed.

She was already wondering why Jia Lian suddenly brought her to this deep, cold cellar. She originally thought that it was to let her see the huge amount of ice stored there.

Now this scene suddenly appeared, combined with Jia Lian's expression, she realized something.

Sure enough, Jia Lian stepped forward and pushed open the stone door, and a dark passage as big as the one he came in through appeared in front of him.

"This is?"

Baochai couldn't help but clench her hands holding the lantern.

"Don't be nervous, it's just a secret passage. Come on, I'll take you over to have a look."

Jia Lian took Baochai's hand again, but Baochai still couldn't help feeling frightened.

What do you mean it’s just a secret passage?

At that time, people were not as exposed to TV dramas as in later generations. Things like tunnels and secret passages were no longer strange to them.

In Baochai's understanding, secret passages are something that should only exist in storybooks, and she never thought that she would see them in reality.

Thinking of those stories involving secret passages, most of which were accompanied by intrigue and fighting, combined with Jia Lian's identity, she couldn't help but feel frightened.

So he trembled and said, "Look, what are you looking at? Where does this lead to?"

"You'll find out later."

Jia Lian was just trying to keep the secret, but when he noticed Baochai's nervousness, he turned around and explained, "Don't worry, nothing will happen."

Perhaps because of her long-standing admiration for Jia Lian, Baochai gradually calmed down.

Following Jia Lian into the secret passage, after taking only two steps, they saw a steel gate blocking their way.

Jia Lian did not find it strange. He took out the key chain from his waist and untied the chain.

Then he did not take the key back, but instead stuffed the key chain into Baochai's hand.

Baochai was stunned.

There were only two keys on the keychain. If she remembered correctly, the key to open the iron door outside the cellar was also on it...

"Here you go. You can see there's a lot of ice in this cellar, so don't save it for me. Take this key and you can come in and get some ice anytime.

But this secret passage is special after all, so it’s better not to come in alone.”

It would have been better if Jia Lian hadn't said anything. As soon as he said it, Baochai took two steps back and shook her head, saying, "No, no. This key is so important, you should keep it for yourself, Second Brother Lian."

Baochai is not an ignorant girl.

As soon as she saw the location of the secret passage, she knew it would not be simple.

Not only is it hidden in the cellar, but it is also covered by a mechanism. An iron door is added behind the mechanism, obviously as a safety measure out of concern that someone might accidentally trigger the mechanism.

"Here you go, take it."

Seeing Jia Lian like this, Baochai said, "Why don't you just give me the key outside, and you should keep this one yourself."

Baochai thought that Jia Lian really wanted to make it easier for her to get ice, so she compromised.

Seeing this, Jia Lian smiled inwardly.

As expected, Miss Bao was very knowledgeable. Although he had not explained it to her yet, it seemed that the girl had realized the seriousness of the matter and did not dare to get involved easily.

"Don't worry, there is no hidden secret in this secret passage. I built it just to leave a way out for myself, and I never thought about what I would really use it for.

However, if you plan ahead, you will succeed; if you don't, you will fail.

Now that it has been built, we naturally cannot let it be like a dead object.

Even your sister Feng doesn’t know about this place right now.

If one day in the future, my family really needs to use it to avoid disaster and I am not at home, I hope you can help me shoulder this responsibility.

Although your sister Feng is smart, she is not as knowledgeable as you.

I feel more at ease handing this key over to you."

Baochai was shocked. Jia Lian's words made her feel a sense of crisis and the trust from Jia Lian.

No, it's not just trust.

It was a wonderful feeling, like the impulse in opera where a gentleman is willing to die for his confidant.

She held the key firmly in her hand and said to Jia Lian very seriously: "Don't worry, Second Brother Lian, I will keep this key well and will never let anyone else know the secret here!"

"Haha, I feel relieved about your actions."

Jia Lian reached out and touched Baochai's head, making her subconsciously want to avoid it.

But thinking that there were no outsiders here, she suppressed her shyness and let Jia Lian touch her head lovingly, just like he usually did to Xichun. (End of this chapter)