The Red Mansion

Chapter 50 Jiang Nian vs. Jia Zhen
Jia Zhen is the current hereditary head of the Ningguo Mansion. He inherited the third-rank title of General Weilie, but he does not hold any official position.

He is greedy for pleasure, extravagant, licentious and shameless.

One day, Jia Zhen visited the Qin family and saw Qin Keqing. He was stunned by her beauty and thought to himself, "How could such a beauty exist in this world? If I could only have her, I would have no regrets in my life!"

From then on, he could not forget Qin Keqing and wanted to take her as his concubine.

However, Qin Ye was a fifth-rank civil servant, upright and abiding by etiquette. Even though Qin Keqing was adopted by him from Yangshengtang and loved by him, how could he be willing to let Qin Keqing become Jia Zhen's concubine?
Jia Zhen knew that Qin Ye would never agree to this, and he did not dare to test it rashly.

He was in great distress, but finally came up with a plan. He thought to himself, "If my son Jia Rong married Miss Qin, I could take the opportunity to get close to her and have sex with her. Wouldn't that be wonderful?"

Given Qin Keqing's background, she was not worthy of being Jia Rong's wife, as Jia Rong was Jia Zhen's legitimate and only son.

For his own selfish desires, Jia Zhen ignored the issue of whether the two families were equally matched in order to get Qin Keqing.

Just as Jia Zhen was about to implement this plan, he suddenly heard the news of Qin Ye's death today.

Jia Zhen was overjoyed, thinking to himself, "Now that Qin Ye is dead, why should I follow his plan? Without Qin Ye, the Qin family has lost him. As the heir apparent of the Ningguo Mansion, it would be easy for me to take Qin Keqing as my concubine."

He just felt that this was a godsend opportunity that should not be missed.

He did not know the cause of Qin Ye's death and guessed that he died of illness. Because he was eager to see Qin Keqing, he did not bother to send anyone to inquire about the cause of Qin Ye's death. He hurriedly prepared the funeral gifts, made an excuse to visit the funeral and express condolences, and rushed to the Qin family in a gorgeous carriage.

"Master Jia Zhen from Ningguo Mansion has arrived!"

After the name-calling ended, Jia Zhen entered the mourning hall, unaware that he had been spotted by Jiang Nian...

After Jia Zhen entered the mourning hall, he immediately found Qin Keqing. She was wearing a plain white mourning dress and standing beside the coffin. Her face was pale, but in Jia Zhen's eyes, she looked even more charming.

Jia Zhen was secretly delighted, his throat moved slightly, but he pretended to be sad. He walked forward, picked up three incense sticks, bowed three times to the spirit tablet, but his eyes seemed to be glued to Qin Keqing.

After the ceremony, Jia Zhen straightened his brocade robe and walked over to Qin Keqing, pretending to be concerned. "My lady, please accept my condolences! I was deeply saddened to hear of your father's sudden passing today, and I hurriedly prepared funeral offerings to pay my respects."

Qin Keqing had been lowering her head, but seeing such a distinguished master like Jia Zhen approaching with such concern, she could not ignore him, so she bowed deeply and said, "Thank you, Master Jia."

Jia Zhen pulled two silver notes from his sleeve and handed them to Qin Keqing, saying proudly, "Today, in addition to the funeral gifts, I have also brought two hundred taels of silver to help you. Please accept these, young lady."

For a family like the Qin family, two hundred taels of silver is already a large sum of money.

There were some people in the mourning hall, but Jia Zhen, a foreigner, approached Qin Keqing without permission and gave her a silver note of two hundred taels in public in the mourning hall, which made Qin Keqing feel embarrassed. She held the white handkerchief in her delicate hand and didn't know whether she should accept the silver note for a moment.

At this moment, Jiang Nian approached Jia Zhen and said calmly, "Master Jia, please respect yourself. Miss Qin is an unmarried woman, and she is currently keeping vigil for her deceased father. It is inappropriate for outsiders to approach her, let alone talk to her. I hope Master Jia will forgive me and not be impolite."

As soon as these words were spoken, Jia Zhen felt extremely ashamed, not only because Qin Keqing and others were in the mourning hall, but also because he felt as if his conspiracy had suddenly been exposed.

Jia Zhen's eyes widened in anger as he shouted to Jiang Nian, "Where did you come from, you brat? How dare you act so presumptuously here?"

Jiang Nian remained calm, "I'm Mr. Qin's next-door neighbor." Jia Zhen, finding this ridiculous, glared at Jiang Nian and said, "A neighbor like you dares to meddle in other people's business! I'm the master of Ningguo Mansion, and I've always been close to Mr. Qin. I've come here today to offer my condolences. I'm speaking to Miss Qin to comfort her and to give her the two hundred taels of silver she gave to the Qin family. I never expected someone as rude as you to come here and tell her what's going on!"

Jiang Nian said calmly, "I'm here on the orders of Prince Zhongyi to help the Qin family with the funeral arrangements, and I must also take care of Miss Qin's safety. No matter who you are, if you are disrespectful to Miss Qin, I will correct you. If I don't fulfill my responsibilities, I will be violating Prince Zhongyi's orders."

Jia Zhen was stunned: "..."

"What? Prince Zhongyi? What does Qin Ye's funeral have to do with Prince Zhongyi?"

"Prince Zhongyi is so noble, how could he interfere in Qin Ye's funeral!"

"This brat must be bluffing!"

Thinking of this, Jia Zhen stared coldly at Jiang Nian and said sternly, "You bastard, you are talking nonsense! How could Master Qin's funeral be related to Prince Zhongyi? And how could Prince Zhongyi order a rude boy like you to come here to handle the funeral!"

Jiang Nian said calmly, "It seems you still don't know the cause of Master Qin's death. When you know, you will understand the reason. This is a mourning hall, so please respect yourself and do not offend Miss Qin again. Don't make any noise here and disturb the peace of Master Qin's soul."

Jia Zhen was stunned and looked at others. He saw Qin Keqing lowering her brows and eyes, and Qin's housekeeper Peng Jizhong and others were silent, as if they agreed with Jiang Nian's words.

Jia Zhen's heart trembled, and he thought to himself, "Could it be that Qin Ye's death is really related to Prince Zhongyi? Could it be that this young man in front of me really came to the Qin family to handle the funeral on the king's orders?"

Although he was suspicious, because so many people were watching and Qin Keqing was in front of him, he deliberately snorted for the sake of face and said to Jiang Nian coldly, "I will find out the truth about this matter!"

After saying this, he turned around and walked out of the mourning hall. When he reached Peng Jizhong, he paused and said in a pretentious tone, "Butler Peng, come out with me. I have something to ask you."

Peng Jizhong did not dare to disobey and walked out of the mourning hall with Jia Zhen.

The two men arrived at the inner courtyard, where they saw white banners hanging high, fluttering in the wind like flakes of white snow. Plain chairs covered with white cloth were set up in the courtyard for mourners to rest. In the corner, a teahouse stood with a square table and teapots and cups for drinking.

Jia Zhen stood in the courtyard and asked Peng Jizhong in a pretentious tone, "Why did Master Qin die? Is there some hidden secret?"

Peng Jizhong whispered the details of Qin Ye's death.

Upon hearing this, Jia Zhen's expression changed drastically, his heart ablaze with fear. "Qin Ye actually died like this! It was actually related to Wang Ziteng! Yesterday, Wang Ziteng had a huge fight with that rude boy! And that rude boy actually asked Prince Zhongyi to suppress Wang Ziteng! Qin Ye died unjustly because of this incident. It can be said that Wang Ziteng had killed him! I wonder if Wang Ziteng will be punished for this?"

Jia Zhen and Wang Ziteng were naturally familiar with each other.

Jia Zhen's grandfather, Jia Daihua, once served as the governor of the Beijing camp. Ningguo Mansion helped Wang Ziteng to become the governor of the Beijing camp.

Wang Ziteng is also the backer of Ningguo Mansion.

At this moment, Jia Zhen was shocked and couldn't help but feel fear for the rude boy in the mourning hall...

(End of this chapter)