The Second Master of the Red Chamber

"Eight cakes."

"touch~"

Inside the quaint and elegant tea room, the sound of jade tapping on the table could be heard intermittently, for an unknown duration.

Aunt Xue casually played a card, looking at the young man opposite her with a smile.

The other men, around 23 or 24 years old, are probably still studying or struggling to make a living.

Even with achievements, there is still a trace of naivety.

This man, though equally young, possessed a composure beyond his years, and was also handsome.

His face was chiseled, with distinct features.

He has striking features and deep, captivating eyes.

Even if she just casually looks up and makes eye contact with him, she will be deeply attracted by his gaze and unable to extricate herself.

She took advantage of her status as an elder and mother-in-law to look at people without restraint.

Unfortunately, the other party didn't seem to care much about her gaze.

While concentrating on playing cards, Jia Lian would occasionally glance at the two women, or rather, the girls, on his left and right sides.

The one on the right has a face like a silver plate and eyes like water apricots.

Her beauty was radiant and ethereal, as pure and bright as the moon.

The one on the left, her cheeks flushed with sorrow, was breathing softly.

Graceful and skillful, like a lotus weeping with dew.

Even though he already had both Daiyu and Baochai in his possession, he still found them incredibly beautiful and never tired of looking at them.

"What are you standing there for? It's your turn to draw a card."

"Oh, okay... let me think about which one to print."

Since there was still a long afternoon, Aunt Xue was worried that Jia Lian and Daiyu would be bored, so she asked Baochai to play cards with them.

But there are only three of them, so it's impossible for Xue Pan to fill in.

In fact, to avoid making Daiyu uncomfortable, Xue Pan had been sent away by Aunt Xue long ago.

So at first, it was Ying'er who accompanied her.

Later, when Aunt Xue returned from the kitchen, she replaced Ying'er at the enthusiastic invitation of several people.

They were playing mahjong.

In fact, Jia Lian had already replicated the mahjong gameplay of later generations several years ago.

To distinguish it from dominoes, he renamed it "Jade Tablet".

The main reason is that Jia Lian didn't know why mahjong was called mahjong. Since the tiles were made of jade, he simply named it that.

At first, it was just Jia Lian playing with Qingwen, Daiyu, and a few others.

For modern people who are used to playing dominoes, something that looks like dominoes but is played in a completely different way is not so easy to accept.

But as they came into contact with more and more people, they soon discovered it.

Compared to dominoes, jade tiles are simpler to play, but more fun.

Because while its gameplay is simple, it also contains elements of variation.

Compared to the monotonous gameplay of dominoes, this is much more interesting.

Most importantly, this is a production by Jia Lian, which comes with its own superstar effect.

This naturally and easily became popular among the inner quarters of wealthy and powerful families.

Not long ago, Sister Feng was telling him that nowadays, when these noblewomen get together, they no longer play dominoes or leaf cards.

Everyone plays with this jade pendant.

Some ladies and noblewomen even started using this to flaunt their wealth.

Well, at first they were just comparing whose jade pendants were more beautiful, made of better material, and felt better to the touch.

Gradually, it turned into blatant flaunting of wealth.

Jade pendants made of pure glass, pure silver, or even pure gold are appearing one after another!
Even Sister Feng was astonished when she heard it.

Jia Lian didn't care much about these things.

It was just something he casually came up with for amusement, simply to keep the women in the inner quarters from getting bored.

Just like the lyrics and music he casually tossed to Gu Qingyi and the others.

His vision was focused on the superstructure; he never aspired to become the god of entertainment in this era.

"Hehe, I got another self-draw."

I don't know if it's because he's the only man at the table, or because he hasn't played for so long and has regained his newbie aura.

I had incredibly good luck this afternoon; I kept winning by self-drawing as the game progressed.

He basically ate at three different restaurants all by himself.

The one who lost the most was naturally Aunt Xue.

This even made Daiyu, who always disdained worldly affairs, secretly give Jia Lian several meaningful glances, telling him to stop.

They are elders after all!
But Jia Lian didn't care.

Once on the table, even if it were the emperor himself, let alone Aunt Xue, he would still win without hesitation.

"What are you standing there for? Hurry up and pay me."

Jia Lian rubbed cards while simultaneously urging the collection of debts.

Although the amount played was small, only five coins.

But he had already won several strings of cash that afternoon, which was several thousand coins.

It was a great harvest. Little Xueyan, who was sitting next to him collecting the bills, couldn't stop smiling.

He swung his arms wide and began shuffling the cards carefully.

He also quite liked this part after each game.

Not only could she deliberately touch Baochai and Daiyu's small hands, attracting their coquettish glances.

It would be perfectly reasonable for him to occasionally touch Aunt Xue's fair and soft hands.

Suddenly, Jia Lian paused in his shuffling motion.

He felt something brush against his calf under the table.

He quickly looked at Daiyu.

They're carefully arranging the tiles; they've already arranged half the length.

Seeing that he was only looking at her and not playing cards, she frowned and glared at him.

Jia Lian turned back to look at Baochai.

It's impossible to be perfectly straight from any angle.

Therefore, Jia Lian had no choice but to look at the elder opposite him with suspicion.

Even though she behaved normally.

As the saying goes, a guilty conscience needs no accuser. When Jia Lian looked at her suspiciously for the second time, Aunt Xue finally couldn't help but blush slightly and lower her head, not daring to meet Jia Lian's gaze.

Jia Lian then knew who was being mischievous.

……

A fierce and exhilarating battle ensued, lasting until dusk.

Perhaps because everyone was playing so seriously and no one at the table could afford to lose, after nearly two hours of playing cards, everyone still felt a little unsatisfied.

Jia Lian did vomit some money later, but still won a small amount of money by more than two strings of cash at the end of the game.

Xueyan counted the money carefully and happily presented it to Jia Lian.

Jia Lian grabbed a handful and stuffed it into Xueyan's arms... Hmm, she didn't encounter any obstacles. Obviously, she's no match for Zijuan, but she should be about as good as Qingwen.

"You sat with me all afternoon and helped me count money; this is your reward for your hard work."

"Thank you so much, Second Master..."

Xueyan never expected Jia Lian to suddenly stuff money into her hands.

Not daring to resist, she could only take a step back, her face slightly flushed, after Jia Lian had stuffed it in.

It wasn't that Jia Lian intentionally wanted to harass the young girl; it's just that people in this era didn't wear clothes with pockets.

The only place to put things, besides here, is in the sleeves.

He was too lazy to roll up his sleeves, feeling it would be more convenient and warmer to tuck them into his clothes.

Seeing that everyone was looking at him, Aunt Xue's face was filled with a smile that said, "Hello, host, you're so funny."

Jia Lian coughed lightly, then looked straight ahead at the maids around him and said, "You've all been serving in this hall all afternoon, you must be tired."

Here's some money for you to buy candy.

Anyway, you won against your wife and daughter, so if you want to thank someone, thank your wife and daughter.

As Jia Lian spoke, he grabbed the copper coins on the table and threw them into the air.

His movements as he tossed money became increasingly skillful and graceful.

As for whether scattering money on the ground and making people pick it up would be insulting?

The maids said they wouldn't.

They would just happily pick up the money while kneeling down to express their gratitude.

Seeing that Jia Lian had even given away his own principal, Aunt Xue couldn't help but advise, "Why are you giving them so much money..."

Jia Lian's initial capital of one string of cash and three hundred coins were exchanged from her.

She initially said she didn't want Jia Lian's money, but Jia Lian resolutely refused.

There are rules at the mahjong table, and even if it's just your aunt, you still have to follow them.

So he could only grumblely accept the one tael of silver that Jia Lian had borrowed from Daiyu.

Why was Daiyu wealthy? It was because Zijuan always had pocket money ready for her mistress when she went out.

As for why Jia Lian's principal was one string of cash and three hundred copper coins... it's because the exchange rate between silver and copper coins at that time was between one to one thousand two hundred and three hundred copper coins.

Aunt Xue, unwilling to let Jia Lian suffer a loss, naturally gave him 1,300 coins.

Thousands of copper coins were scattered on the ground, jingling and clanging.

Apart from Zijuan, who maintained her composure, and Xueyan, who had already collected a large handful of snow geese, all the other maids present were overjoyed, bending over to pick them up and scrambling for them.

It was so lively and cheerful.

"It's alright, sharing happiness is worse than keeping it to yourself," Jia Lian replied with a smile after scattering the money to Aunt Xue.

Seeing that there was a lot of money piled up in front of Daiyu, he went over and said with a smile, "Good sister, look how happy the maids are."

Since you have this money to do nothing with anyway, why don't you give it to them?
If you don't like throwing money around, I'll help you.

Despite Jia Lian's earnest persuasion, Daiyu remained unmoved.

"No need, I still need this money."

As she spoke, Daiyu calmly brushed aside Jia Lian's reaching, dirty hand, pulled the money closer to her, and said to Zijuan:
"Keep this money; you'll definitely need it next time."

Some people, having only won some money by chance, are so smug about it.

If he loses next time and has to borrow money, then he'll be someone I don't care about.

Having failed to get the money and even been reprimanded, Jia Lian immediately shifted his focus to Baochai.

Seeing this, Baochai also calmly put away the remaining money. Since neither of his two women would give him face, Jia Lian had no choice but to turn his attention to his only remaining woman, Aunt Xue.

Aunt Xue immediately laughed. She glanced at the money on her table, showing no intention of being stingy with taking it; instead, she looked at Jia Lian with a hint of encouragement.

Jia Lian pursed his lips, ultimately finding it too embarrassing to part with the money of Aunt Xue, the biggest loser. What little she had left was less than half of what she had asked the maid to bring over the second time.

Dinner was arranged in the Xue family's dining room, which Jia Lian was familiar with.

They were divided into two seats.

Outside were Jia Lian and the brothers Xue Pan and Xue Ke.

Inside, Aunt Xue and Baochai took care of Daiyu.

While drinking with the Xue brothers, he could hear Aunt Xue's frequent and enthusiastic greetings from inside, as well as Daiyu's occasional timid and weak attempts to refuse.

Jia Lian didn't need to look to know that Daiyu was in an awkward situation, unable to refuse his hospitality.

Hehe, even with his thick skin, he found it hard to resist Aunt Xue's enthusiasm back then, let alone Daiyu.

This sharp-tongued woman deserves to be taught a lesson.

……

It was quite late when I returned from the Xue family's house.

After escorting Baochai and Daiyu back to their respective rooms, Jia Lian returned to Jiaying Hall.

Seeing that Jia Lian had washed his face and hands and was having his maid help him change his clothes, showing no intention of going out, Feng Jie couldn't help but laugh:

"What, isn't Second Master planning to rest in your two dear sisters' rooms tonight?"

Jia Lian originally didn't want to pay attention to this woman who always spoke with veiled barbs, but then he thought that she was pregnant and there was no need to get angry with her.

So he let the maid undress him while saying, "If you don't welcome me, I can go back to the study to sleep."

Feng Jie could tell immediately that Jia Lian was somewhat displeased, but she wouldn't admit her mistake, so she simply smiled and said:

"Look at you, how can you be so temperamental?"

"I just thought you only cared about your two good sisters and didn't care about me, this jealous, irritating girl who always makes you angry."

Feng Jie laughed and came over to take Jia Lian's hand.

This is a tacit understanding between them.

If she acts cute, it means she's giving in.

Jia Lian would usually stop arguing with her.

So Jia Lian turned around and gently flicked her nose, laughing and scolding, "It's good that you know you're a burnt exam paper."

From now on, you'd better behave yourself and not make me angry, or you'll see what I do to you after your postpartum period is over.

When Jia Lian raised his hand, Sister Feng subconsciously shrugged, closed her eyes, and sniffed.

Upon hearing Jia Lian's words, several streams of water rushed through his body, which manifested on his face as misty eyes.

By all accounts, she had been suffering from a long drought.

She was so impatient that she was severely punished by Jia Lian after her confinement period ended.

After staring at Jia Lian's face for a few moments, she suddenly asked, "Do you want to take a bath?"

"I'm too lazy to wash today. I washed at Lin Daiyu's house at noon."

Feng Jie nodded, released Jia Lian's arm, and said with her head down, "Then you rest in the room, I'll go wash up."

Jia Lian asked in surprise, "Didn't the midwife say you should try to bathe as little as possible?"

Sister Feng said somewhat embarrassedly, "I haven't washed for three days, and I'm starting to smell..."

"Don't worry, Ping'er and the others will just fetch a bucket of water and wash me up in the small bathhouse. There won't be any problems."

"Uh, okay."

Feng Jie didn't dare look Jia Lian in the eye, and left while holding Ping'er's arm.

Although she now has a waiver of war, Jia Lian dares not touch her.

However, since Jia Lian was staying at home tonight, he couldn't help but be intimate with him.

Naturally, she needs to wash and clean herself properly in order to welcome her husband's favor.

Sister Feng left with a large group of maids, leaving Jia Lian feeling bored in the room.

I suddenly realized that I haven't exercised regularly in a long time...

I just want to go to the martial arts training ground in the outer courtyard.

Unfortunately, as soon as they left Jiaying Hall, they turned around and went into the inner study.

Practicing martial arts is a long-term endeavor, so a few more days or ten days won't make a difference.

I'm newlywed now!

Of Jia Lian's three studies, the outermost study is now under the care of Zhao'er.

The large study belonged to Hu Yuanyao.

Jia Lian entrusted the inner study on this side of the main building to Xiangling.

She is the most suitable person for this job.

However, Jia Lian had only been sitting down for a short while when a maid slipped in, but it wasn't Xiangling but Qingwen.

At sixteen, Qingwen was gradually shedding her naivety and increasingly revealing her natural beauty, beginning to possess an unparalleled charm.

However, there was a hint of resentment on her face at this moment.

"Second Master..."

Jia Lian smiled and beckoned her closer: "What's wrong? Did you come to see me for something?"

"Second Grandmother is right. After Second Master had Miss Lin and Miss Bao, he no longer respects us old folks."

Qingwen's little mouth was pouting so high it could hold an oil bottle.

Jia Lian chuckled: "What, are you jealous too?"

"How could I possibly be jealous..."

Even so, Qingwen had already sat on Jia Lian's lap, following his lead.

Jia Lian was also a little curious: "I was wondering why I haven't seen you much these past few days?"

"Hmph. Second Master, you still have the nerve to ask?"

"Lately, you've been focusing all your attention on Second Madam Xue and Second Madam Lin; you don't care about us maids at all."

Jia Lian apologized, "Alright, it was my fault for neglecting you all."

And you, if you miss me, why don't you take the initiative to find me?

"Why would I contact you? I'm just an eyesore."

Qingwen gave a soft snort.

She was very proud, and knowing that Jia Lian was busy marrying Baochai and Daiyu and trying to win their favor, she couldn't be bothered to try and steal the limelight.

Seeing that Jia Lian did not reply for a moment, she worried that she might have been too coquettish and upset Jia Lian.

So he smiled and said, "Besides, it's not like they can't do without Second Master for a while."

"Let me tell you a secret, Second Master: you'll never guess what she's been up to these past few days with Madam Rong."

Qingwen was quite pleased with herself.

Jia Lian was taken aback and looked down at her: "Did you go and help her try on clothes too?"

Qingwen was taken aback: "You knew?"

"Nonsense. Where do you think the designs for those clothes of Madam Qin came from?"
Without me, could she have come up with so many new and interesting things?

Do you still remember the artwork that Xiangling asked you to deliver for her?

That's the pattern for the new clothes I designed for Madam Qin.

"That's right."

Qingwen nodded belatedly.

Not really concerned, he smiled and said, "Then Second Master must have seen those clothes before, right?"
Hehe, I won't tell Second Master, but I look really good in those clothes.

Grandma Xiaorong always says I'm a natural clothes hanger; I look better in things than others.

Jia Lian helped her sit up straight, looked her over, and nodded.

Indeed, this girl is beautiful and graceful, with a classic slender waist and narrow shoulders.

With her young age and outstanding looks, isn't she a natural clothes hanger?
Of course, Jia Lian would never say that Qin Keqing was deliberately trying to coax him.

Because Gu Qingyi, Shen Pan'er, and a few others are not necessarily worse than her in appearance and figure.

Qingwen had no idea what Jia Lian was thinking, and she continued happily:

"Grandma Rong is very good at tailoring clothes; she has made so many clothes."

Unfortunately, most of them couldn't be worn in public... Little Rong's eldest mistress said they could only be worn for Second Master, the only man in the family.

"Heh, you want to wear this for other men to see?"

"No way. Hehe, I even managed to trick Xiangling into going, but she was very unwilling, so we didn't force her."

Second Master, would you like me to wear it for you next time...?

Qingwen spoke with a touch of shyness.

Jia Lian smiled and indeed became somewhat curious.

"Great! I really want to see what my little Qingwen looks like in those clothes."

"Um……"

Qingwen had been sitting in Jia Lian's lap for a while, and Jia Lian was not one to sit still.

Sure enough, Qingwen was already giving Weiwei a playful kick.

Her gaze toward Jia Lian was also filled with tears and sorrow.

Jia Lian realized he had stirred up trouble and withdrew his hand, saying awkwardly, "Um... your second master has been indulging in too much pleasure these past few days, I'm sorry."

ah……?
Qingwen was caught off guard and immediately blushed.

He spat and jumped off Jia Lian.

After thinking for a long time, he still couldn't help but feel indignant: "Second Master is so shameless, how could he say such a thing!"
Hmph, I know without even asking. It must be because Second Madam Lin and Second Madam Xue are too charming, making Second Master so infatuated that he forgot all about home...

"You perverted second master!"

Jia Lian only intended to tease Qingwen, but he never expected to be so despised and insulted by her.

Seeing that he was about to leave, Jia Lian had an idea: "Come here."

"what happened again?"

Qingwen was somewhat wary, but she still walked up to Jia Lian.

Jia Lian raised his hand and laughed, "Although your second master is willing but unable now, you know he has plenty of ways to deal with people."

"I just don't know if your fish still bite people."

"Pah, whether it bites or not is none of your business... What's it to you... You rogue, Second Master..."

Qingwen's voice grew softer and softer as she spoke. Instead of struggling or running away, she stared intently at Jia Lian's clean, jade-like hands and his long, beautiful fingers.

Seeing this, how could Jia Lian possibly disappoint the beauty's heart?

He gently pulled her back onto his lap, without even touching the buttons on her clothes.

He simply lifted the hem of her skirt... (End of Chapter)