The Second Master of the Red Chamber

Chapter 851 Fuck an official
Finally, Jia Lian returned with Aunt Xue and her daughter, and everyone exchanged pleasantries upon meeting.

He invited Aunt Xue to the head of the table, and upon seeing Madam Xing sitting to the lower left of the main seat, Jia Lian quickly said:

"Why is Madam sitting here? Please take a seat of honor."

Madam Xing, however, did not act foolishly at this moment. She waved her hands repeatedly and smiled, saying:
"Brother, there's no need to be so polite. You're the one treating us today, and I'm just here to take a look and have a drink."

Please sit down.

Although she held the title of the legal mother, Madam Xing knew that if she were to act like an elder and sit in the main seat today, she would surely be met with disdain from everyone in the hall.

It's likely that this is why Grandmother Jia didn't come over today to steal Jia Lian's thunder.

Jia Lian repeatedly advised her, but seeing that Madam Xing still declined, Jia Lian did not insist and instead invited Aunt Xue to take a seat.

Aunt Xue naturally couldn't accept it either.

She sat down on the low table next to her and said with a smile, "His first wife is right. You are the host today, so you should sit in the seat of honor. I'll just sit here."

Seeing that the two elders were seated on either side, Jia Lian said no more, walked to the main seat, and sat down.

As for Sister Feng...

If Madam Xing and Aunt Xue were not present, she could sit directly next to Jia Lian.

But now, of course she wouldn't sit in a high position in front of her nominal mother-in-law and legitimate aunt.

So after greeting the others, she sat down at a random table on the side.

As Sister Feng took her seat, the hall gradually quieted down.

Jia Lian looked around and was greeted by a series of bright, large eyes.

He smiled slightly and beckoned Qingwen, who was standing next to him.

Upon receiving the order, Qingwen imitated the appearance of a eunuch in a play, stood beside Jia Lian, and loudly proclaimed, "Perform a dance."

Then, a group of graceful dancers, with delicate steps hidden beneath their skirts, slowly made their way from outside the hall to the center of the main hall.

After getting into position and formation, they began to dance gracefully as the music suddenly started.

……

Because he possesses the treasure trove that is Tianxiang Tower, even if he doesn't hire an opera troupe, any banquet Jia Lian wants to hold will never be dull or tasteless.

Gu Qingyi and the other women, any one of them, would already be at the pinnacle of talent.

Not to mention, the Tianxiang Pavilion now has more than twenty young women who are only 80 points or above.

With the four beauties Gu Qingyi, plus the four maids Lan Zi Qing Lü, and twelve officials, there are already twenty people.

This doesn't even include the couple that Jiang Yun and he sent in yesterday.

Thus, with them at the core, more than twenty extras could easily put on a variety of entertaining performances for the banquet guests.

Of course, the core of a lychee feast is lychee.

Singing and dancing are merely for entertainment.

After the first dance music finished, Jia Lian ordered the maids beside him to cut lychees from the lychee trees on both sides and send them to the people in the palace to taste.

Everyone originally thought that since Jia Lian had chosen lychees, a fruit that was extremely precious in the capital, as the name of the banquet, it was inappropriate.

Before we begin to taste it, there might be some kind of ceremony, or at the very least, a unique opening ceremony.

I never expected it to be given away so casually.

Considering Jia Lian and his wife's actions of sending lychees to various places yesterday, it becomes clear that even such a precious fruit is nothing more than ordinary in Jia Lian's eyes.

Sure enough, throughout the entire banquet...

Whenever Jia Lian saw that someone's plate was empty, he would order someone to cut a new batch of lychees and serve them to each person's table.

As a result, there are naturally those who are reserved, don't particularly like to eat, or are afraid of getting a sore throat from eating too much, who have already eaten the rest before they've finished the previous ones.

Fortunately, everyone at the table was familiar with each other, and most of them were older sisters. So when this happened, they would give away what they couldn't eat to the greedy ones.

As a result, Jia Lian also noticed Xiangyun and the others.

Especially Xiangyun.

This girl seems completely unafraid of getting a sore throat.

She accepted everything her sisters sent her, and she always managed to empty the plates very quickly...

Jia Lian couldn't help but smile after observing her, feeling regretful that he would be leaving tomorrow and might not see the girl's pitiful state later on.

After several rounds of lychee bestowal, four or five rounds of singing and dancing were also performed.

This time, Gu Qingyi and the others seemed to be offstage, and instead, the twelve officials took the stage to perform a lively play in the open space inside the hall.

Jia Lian hadn't thought much of it at first; the twelve officials were only thirteen or fourteen years old, and the youngest were just over ten.

So many adorable little girls dressed in various opera costumes, their faces painted with colorful makeup—regardless of the plot or their singing skills, the sheer youthful energy of the scene is enough to charm anyone.

However, after admiring it for half a day, Jia Lian suddenly realized something was wrong.

There were only eleven maids in the palace.

One person is missing.

So when the play ended and the two leading actors, playing the female and male leads, came forward to ask for their rewards, Jia Lian asked with a smile:

"Why is one of you missing today? Where is Di Guan?"

The colorful young actors were all somewhat stunned, not expecting that Jia Lian even knew Di Guan's name.

Although Jia Lian never explicitly said it, most of them knew that among these young actresses, only Lingguan and Fangguan received special treatment from Jia Lian.

There was nothing she could do; Lingguan's appearance was indeed superior to everyone else's.

Fangguan, on the other hand, is young, with a charming and cheerful personality, and everyone likes her.

Seeing that the young actors were stumped by Jia Lian's question, Jiang Yun, who was in charge of arranging the program, quickly stepped forward to help report: "Reporting to Second Master, Di Guan has accidentally caught a cold. I was afraid that she would infect the mistress and the young ladies, so I didn't arrange for her to come today."

Hearing this, Sister Feng felt a little displeased.

Well, Jiang Yun didn't even inform her beforehand that one of the girls was missing. Did he think that since there were so many girls, she wouldn't notice if one was missing?

Well, before the heartless person asked, she really hadn't noticed. Knowing that she was sick and hadn't come, no one in the hall cared much.

At this moment, Ou Guan, disguised as a young scholar, suddenly knelt down before Jia Lian, her voice trembling with tears, and said:
"Please, Second Master, have mercy and save Di Guan!"

The people inside the hall were surprised to see this.

On the side, Jia Baoyu, who had been glancing left and right, sometimes talking to Xue's younger sister and sometimes fawning over his nephew's wife, involuntarily stood up, his eyes filled with shock.

He jogged forward and almost grabbed Ou Guan: "How is Di Guan?"

No wonder Jia Baoyu lost his composure.

He was a romantic soul who found solace in all things, and he especially cherished young and beautiful girls.

Since Di Guan was able to play the role of "Xiao Dan" (young female role), it means that her appearance was outstanding among all the young actresses.

Jia Baoyu had been paying attention to her for a long time.

Now that he suddenly heard Ou Guan cry for help, he naturally became concerned.

Although Ouguan was touched by Jia Baoyu's concern, she knew that this Master Bao was just a lucky charm in the mansion and could not save Diguan's life.

To save Di Guan, we need the approval of Master Lian above us.

So he ignored Jia Baoyu, knelt to the side, and continued to kowtow to Jia Lian, saying:
"Please, Second Master, have mercy and save Di Guan."

She was very ill.

We tried everything to find doctors and medicine for her, but although the doctors we found prescribed medicine for her each time, she never got better after taking it.

Sister Jiang said that according to the rules of the manor, someone like Di Guan should be moved outside.

Please, Second Master, have mercy on Di Guan. She is so frail and has no relatives in this household.

If she's moved out and no one takes care of her, how could she possibly survive...?

After Ou Guan finished speaking, apart from kind-hearted people like Ying Chun and Dai Yu, who felt extremely sorry for them.

Many others felt that the young actress in front of them was very unruly.

They actually used something like this to disrupt Master Lian's banquet.

If they hadn't known that Jia Lian treated these maids with kindness and hadn't spoken yet, they would have almost couldn't help but scold them.

The reason Jia Lian suddenly asked the question was because he remembered that one of the twelve officials seemed to be going to die.

But since he had seen the twelve little girls and they were all lively and energetic, he didn't pay much attention to them for the time being.

Now that I've discovered that the wheels of history are indeed rolling forward, I can't help but feel grateful that I managed to find the time to come back.

Otherwise, he wouldn't even know when one of the twelve little girls was missing.

Seeing that Sister Feng's expression kept changing, as if she was about to stand up and cause trouble at any moment, Jia Lian spoke up in advance:
"Alright, it's the rule in the manor to move seriously ill servants out to recuperate. Your sister Jiang did nothing wrong."

Upon hearing this, Ou Guan became anxious.

Even with the help of several close friends taking care of her, Di Guan's condition has not improved.

If we move it outside, it will be inconvenient to take care of it day and night. Wouldn't Di Guan just have to wait to die?
Just as he was about to kowtow, Jia Lian said again, "However, what you said makes some sense."

Since Di Guan has no relatives outside, it wouldn't be good to move him away and leave him unattended.

Here's what we'll do: there are so many rooms upstairs at Tianxiang Tower, why don't you find a room on the top floor and put her in there?

Aside from your usual care of her, don't let her come down until she's fully recovered, to avoid infecting others.

After speaking, Jia Lian suddenly looked at Qingwen, who was serving him beside him, and a look of pity appeared in his eyes.

So he said to Sister Feng, "Saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda."

With the weather so hot these days, people are more prone to getting sick.

Tomorrow, have someone invite Physician Zhang over to examine the Old Madam and Yingchun. If they're alright, that's good; if they are, it'll be good to have him take preventative measures.

After saying that, he turned to Qingwen and said, "After Physician Zhang comes tomorrow and examines the old lady and the others, you should personally lead him to take a look at Diguan."

Remember to give him an extra red envelope and ask him to prescribe more medicine.

The Zhang family and the Jia family were old friends, and they exchanged gifts during festivals.

Therefore, when Physician Zhang came to treat Grandmother Jia and others, he did not charge them any money.

As soon as Jia Lian gave his orders, everyone in the hall reacted differently, and no one knew what they were thinking.

Only Ouguan was overjoyed.

They originally thought of asking Jia Lian to be merciful and let Di Guan stay in the mansion to recuperate, so that with their care, Di Guan would have a chance to survive.

At worst, she would beg for a favor and ask Jia Lian to release her temporarily so that he could take care of her.

Unexpectedly, Jia Lian not only refused to have Di Guan moved out, but also personally ordered Physician Zhang to come and treat Di Guan.

Physician Zhang is a renowned medical expert in the Imperial Medical Academy!
Although they had long-standing ties with the Jia family, they had only ever provided medical care for Grandmother Jia.

It was only later, when Daiyu came over, that Physician Zhang condescended to examine the young ladies of the mansion, out of respect for Grandmother Jia.

In other words, when Madam Xing and Madam Wang were feeling unwell, they were too embarrassed to bother Physician Zhang.

Unexpectedly, Jia Lian actually invited Physician Zhang to examine Di Guan.

She and Di Guan already had a "husband and wife" bond, and felt that they were one as husband and wife. At this moment, she was grateful for Jia Lian's kindness and felt that she would be willing to serve Jia Lian to the death for the rest of her life.

Therefore, he kowtowed repeatedly, expressing his gratitude.

Although Sister Feng felt that Jia Lian was making a mountain out of a molehill and that it wasn't worth it for a little maid.

Even though Jia Lian gave her instructions in front of so many people, she didn't refuse him; instead, she smoothed things over for him.
"I've been feeling unwell lately and would like to invite a doctor to come in and take a look at me."

Since you've said you'd invite Physician Zhang over today, I might as well take advantage of the opportunity and ask him to examine me as well.”

Everyone laughed at what Sister Feng said.

In terms of status alone, Sister Feng is now almost as high as Grandmother Jia.
Even without mentioning Grandmother Jia, if she wanted to ask Physician Zhang to examine her, Physician Zhang really wouldn't dare not come.

(End of this chapter)