Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

Chapter 225: There is a Cause for the Incident

Ningguo Mansion.

After noon, Keqing asked Ruizhu to help her put on her makeup. She wore a white double-breasted jacket embroidered with cold plums and a green lotus cross-collared jacket on her upper body, and a dark blue horse-faced skirt with a blue woven edge on her lower body.

She is still a new bride, so this dress is a bit too plain. Especially every time she goes to Rongguo Mansion, her dress becomes more and more plain.

People like Lady Jia and Wang Xifeng found it strange. She was in her prime, so graceful and attractive, and a new bride. Her clothes and makeup should be rich and festive, but instead she was so dull.

Only Keqing herself knew why she was dressed so simply. She just wanted to meet him in Rongguo Mansion and didn't want him to think of her as a festive bride. She was still the Keqing from Jinling.

But she had come to Rongguo Mansion so many times, but except for the one time when he came to Rongqing Hall to pay his respects to the old lady and she met him, she never met him again.

Later I learned that he had never been liked by the old lady in Rongguo Mansion since he was a child. The Qingzhizhai where he lived was in the northwest corner of Rongguo Mansion, far away from Rongqingtang where the old lady lived.

This is also the reason why it is difficult to meet him in Rongguo Mansion. Ruizhu heard the news that he is now observing government affairs in the Ministry of War and has to go to the yamen every day, so the chances of meeting him are even smaller.

After everything was packed up, Keqing took Ruizhu and Baozhu and took a carriage to the west corner gate.

But at the west corner gate, a tall and thin man wearing a brocade robe with a floral pattern hurried into the Ningguo Mansion.

Keqing and Ruizhu didn't care much about it, but they avoided the outsider men when they entered the house.

But Baozhu stood there stupidly, not moving, staring at the man with surprise in her eyes.

Baozhu knew this man. He had been to Xiuniang's incense shop several times and wanted to buy shares and distribute the business. He also threatened and intimidated Aunt Feng. In the end, he was hit on the back by her and gave her a severe lesson.

But how did he appear in Ningguo Mansion?
"Ruizhu, who is that man and why did he come to Ningguo Mansion?"

Ever since Ruizhu followed Keqing into Ningguo Mansion, the son-in-law of the mansion has been acting absurdly. The newlyweds, however, stay out all day and night. The master of the mansion also behaves in a very wretched manner, and the way he looks at the girl is not right.

Therefore, Ruizhu usually pays attention to her surroundings, so as to help the girl to be on guard. She probably knows something about the people who come in and out of the house on a daily basis.

Ruizhu replied indifferently: "This is the nephew of Steward Lai, his name is Lai Shangrong. I heard that he is the biological son of Steward Lai of the West Mansion. In short, they are all family."

Baozhu was surprised. Didn't this man say his name was Zheng Quan when he came to the store? What a cunning guy! It turned out that his name was Lai Shangrong, and he was the nephew of the steward of Ningguo Mansion.

She tilted her head and thought for a while. The more she thought about it, the more she felt something was wrong. She felt that she must tell Sister Xiu and Brother Cong about this as soon as possible.

……

Early this morning, Qu Hongxiu asked Jiang Liu to drive the carriage and follow her to the East Market.

There were seventeen children in a courtyard in the west of the city. The daily food and clothing expenses were not small. Every once in a while, she would go to the west of the city to buy rice and other daily necessities.

After buying everything and settling down in the courtyard in the west of the city, he and Jiang Liu returned to the Xinchun Street Incense Shop. The ice cubes that Jia Cong had made recently had greatly improved the shop's business.

However, as soon as the two of them entered Xinchun Street, they felt that the atmosphere was a little strange. From a distance, they saw that the shop was sealed and there were two yamen runners patrolling opposite the shop.

At the door of the women's quarters of the teahouse, many women were standing there pointing and talking.

Qu Hongxiu was used to the world and naturally more alert than ordinary people. He asked Jiang Liu to stop the car at the intersection and asked him to find out what was going on.

Jiang Liu spent almost no effort to find out the reason. When he came back and told Qu Hongxiu about it, she was shocked.

Not long ago, officials from Zhen'an Prefecture sealed up Xiuniang Incense Shop on the grounds that the shop owed government silver, and also arrested Mrs. Feng and her shop assistants and took them to Zhen'an Prefecture.

It’s just that the government officials haven’t caught the owner of the store, and are now guarding here…

Rongguo Mansion.

Baozhu followed Keqing in a carriage to the West Mansion, and was then taken to Rongqing Hall by Fengjie. She stayed there until Keqing and Lady Jia chatted and others, and then they sat down to play cards.

Baozhu just slipped out of Rongqing Hall. She knew that Jia Cong lived in Qingzhizhai, but she had never been there, so she could only wander around the garden looking for him.

At this time of year, Jia Cong would usually be busy in the Ministry of War or the Firearms Bureau of the Ministry of Works.

Today is the fifteenth day of the lunar month, and he happens to be at home all day. He never expected that Baozhu would come to Qingzhizhai to find him.

Baozhu is now Keqing's personal maid, and Keqing is now the new bride of the East Palace. Due to the seniority and gender differences between the two palaces, it is difficult for them to meet alone in the mansion.

Therefore, he rarely saw Baozhu, let alone Baozhu finding Qingzhizhai alone.

Jia Cong knew that Baozhu must have something extremely important to tell him, which was why she came to him without any suspicion.

"Brother Cong, do you know who I saw in Dongfu today? It was the guy who went to the shop several times and threatened Aunt Feng with words, saying that he wanted to buy shares in the shop.

I heard Ruizhu say that he was the housekeeper’s nephew Lai Shangrong, but when he came to the shop he only said his name was Zheng Quan. I knew this guy was not a good person, so I beat him up…”

When Jia Cong heard the name Lai Shangrong, his face suddenly darkened, and he didn't even listen carefully to what Baozhu said.

He had heard from Qu Hongxiu that there were people who had repeatedly wanted to buy shares in the store. It was obvious that they had taken a fancy to the wealth of Xiuniang's incense shop and had become covetous of it.

Unexpectedly, this person is Lai Shangrong, and behind Lai Shangrong are none other than Lai Da and Lai Er, the stewards of the East and West Mansions.

In Jia Cong's impression, neither of these two people is a good person.

Relying on the fact that their mother was Lady Jia's maid and the two brothers were well-respected servants, they became the stewards of the East and West Mansions respectively. It is needless to say how much they embezzled from the Jia family on a daily basis.

The fact that the Lai family was able to build a garden half the size of the Grand View Garden is already amazing enough.

Relying on the power of the Jia family, the two brothers did many shameful things outside. The Lai family is actually a parasite that depends on the Jia family.

Behind Lai Da and Lai Er are Jia Zheng, Jia She, Jia Zhen and other men in charge of the East and West Mansions. It is these people who are coveting Xiuniang's incense shop!
But he believed that Jia Zheng had nothing to do with this matter. What suddenly occurred to him at this moment was that he had seen a bottle of Japanese water jade perfume in Daiyu's room that day, and he had noticed it at that time.

Daiyu told me that this perfume was obtained by Brother Zhen from the East Palace, and Sister You from the East Palace gave it to Grandmother Jia, who then gave it to Daiyu and Baoyu to play with.

At that time, Daiyu said that the Shuiyu perfume was a woman's item and only women would buy it, but Brother Zhen, a man, got it.

He had some doubts in his mind at the time, but after all, it was not a big deal, and nothing happened afterwards, so he forgot about it.

Now that I think about it, it really wasn't without reason.

This happened just over a month ago, which was very close to the time when someone harassed Xiuniang's incense shop. Today, Baozhu met this man again in the East Palace, and Ruizhu recognized him as Lai Shangrong, the son of Lai Da.

There can't be so many coincidences in this world.

Jia Cong was almost certain that the one who coveted Xiuniang's incense shop was Jia Zhen from the East Palace, and Lai Shangrong was instructed by Jia Zhen!
At this time, the old woman who was guarding the back corner gate came to Qingzhizhai and said that the third master's servant was waiting outside the back corner gate and had something important to discuss with the third master.

(End of this chapter)