Dream of the Red Chamber: After being exiled, I went on a killing spree in Liaodong.

"I already had the kitchen send the food over; it's still hot."

Jia She smiled so much that wrinkles appeared at the corners of his eyes, and patted Jia Yi's shoulder with a loving expression.

Wang Xifeng, standing to the side, subtly nudged Jia Lian, her eyes piercing him like knives:

Look at that younger brother, and then look at yourself!

Jia Lian smiled bitterly, thinking to himself: How can I compare? That's Yi Ge'er, who has struck it rich and become enlightened. For me to compare myself to him would be nothing short of humiliation.

On the other side, Su Xing and Luo Hong just came out of Zhenguo Mansion, their steps light and their brows furrowed with joy.

The words had already reached Niu Jizong's ears; all that was left was for him to act as the "well-meaning" elder offering advice.

But no sooner had they left than Niu Jizong slammed his hand on the table, making the teacups jump around.

"Those bastards!"

Ghost employees! Another damn ghost employee!

He risked his life to make a trip to Liaodong, but got nothing in return. The emperor neither rewarded nor punished him, leaving him to languish like a piece of rotten wood.

Now look what's happened! These two old foxes are trying to drag Jia Yi down with them, making him also eat soldiers' money and drink the people's blood!

He wished he could immediately go to the palace to lodge a complaint with the emperor.

But the thought was swallowed back down immediately.

Offending one duke is troublesome, but offending two means the entire circle of nobles could tear you apart.

He slumped into the chair, his head throbbing.

What I fear most is not that they are plotting against me, but that they have their eyes on Jia Yi.

That kid has a bright future ahead of him; if he gets ruined by something like this...

He was almost certain that those menacing bandits outside the city were probably secretly raised by Su Xing and Luo Hong!

The goal was simple: to force Jia Yi to lead troops into battle, fail to suppress the bandits, be falsely accused, and then be rejected by the emperor.

Fortunately, Yi-ge was lucky. He somehow managed to grab something important and escaped disaster.

At this moment, Emperor Yuankang in the palace was also in a state of great distress.

Su Xing and Luo Hong, those two old scoundrels, harmed the people as easily as cutting grass, yet we just couldn't find any evidence against them.

Without concrete evidence, even if he were the emperor, he could not arbitrarily harm the two dukes.

If we don't take action, those wronged spirits will come to claim our lives every night.

Xia Shouzhong stood to the side, squinting as he noticed the unease in the emperor's heart.

"Your Majesty," he lowered his voice, a slight smile playing on his lips, "how about... 'accidentally' letting this slip to the Marquis of Zhongyong?"

"Just think about it, with the temperament of the Marquis of Zhongyong, as soon as he hears this, he'll definitely come knocking on the door with his sword and chop those two old bastards to pieces without even breaking a sweat."

"Besides, he's... straightforward, so if he gets into trouble, it's easy to clean up the mess, and no one will dare to blame you."

Before he finished speaking, Emperor Yuankang's eyes lit up.

"Brilliant! That's a brilliant idea!"

"Send someone tomorrow to 'accidentally' leak the news to that kid Jia Yi."

He paused, then sighed softly, "But this trick can't be used too often... I still need to keep it to pave the way for the Crown Prince."

Xia Shouzhong bowed and replied, "Yes!"

As the sun began to set, Wu Sheng led the loyal and brave camp back to their camp in triumph.

Before his men and horses had even rested, he personally escorted 150,000 taels of silver straight to the Rongguo Mansion.

"Gentlemen, what brings you here?"

The doorman came up to us with a big smile, being unusually polite.

Wu Sheng was taken aback.

In this day and age, can the servants of wealthy and powerful families still be so amiable?

(If the gatekeeper could hear his thoughts, he would probably sneer and say: "Don't know what's good for you? You'd have been beaten to a pulp by Master Yi long ago.")

"We've brought the goods. Which courtyard is the Marquis in? Please lead the way quickly."

"Someone come here!" the gatekeeper yelled at the top of his lungs. "Carry the silver! Don't let it get bumped or knocked over!"

In the blink of an eye, more than a dozen servants rushed out and, together with the soldiers, moved boxes and carts, keeping themselves busy.

The front yard was in chaos, and Madam Wang strolled out with a worried expression.

Logically speaking, the clan school should have already closed by now, but Baoyu was nowhere to be seen.

Three groups of servants were sent to search, but they all returned empty-handed.

She couldn't sit still any longer, so she had to come to the front yard to keep watch herself.

Just as I turned the corner of the moon gate, I stumbled upon this scene—

A group of soldiers, clad in armor and wielding weapons, their armor still on and stained with blood, looked as if they had just crawled out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood.

Madam Wang frowned, covered her nose, took a half step back, and looked disgusted.

Just then—

"Ouch!" came a cry of surprise.

One of the gatekeepers slipped, and the box fell to the ground with a loud crash.

The gleaming silver ingots were scattered all over the ground, and when the sunlight shone on them, they were so bright that it was hard to open one's eyes.

Everyone present, except for Wu Sheng and his group, was dumbfounded.

The ground was covered with gleaming silver ingots, shimmering in the sunlight so bright it was blinding—this wasn't just silver; it was a mountain of gold built with lives!

Madam Wang's pupils constricted sharply, her breath almost stopped, and she stared intently at the mountain of silver, wishing she could gouge her eyes out and embed them into the pile of silver.

"Who...who are you? This silver belongs to the Rongguo Mansion!" Her voice trembled, yet she forced a show of authority. "Guards! Move it back to Rongxi Hall immediately! Not a single tael is to be left outside!"

As he spoke, he bent down, his fingertips just touching the cold silver ingot—

"clang!"

A gleaming, sharp blade cleaved into the bluestone slab, sinking all the way to the hilt; the blade was no more than an inch from her toes. Dust billowed, and a murderous aura filled the air.

Wu Sheng stood behind the knife, his eyes like a hawk's, his voice as cold as if he had been pulled from a coffin: "Madam, if you touch it again, it won't just be the toe of your shoe that breaks."

Madam Wang froze, her face turned deathly pale, and her fingertips trembled like autumn leaves falling in the wind.

Only then did she realize—these people were heading towards Pear Blossom Courtyard!

In other words... all this silver belongs to Jia Yi?!

The servants at the gate, who were usually so bossy, didn't even dare to breathe loudly at this moment. They felt that Wu Sheng was not a guard, but a demon who had escaped from the Yama's palace!

"snort."

Wu Sheng glanced around with a cold smile, too lazy to say anything more, and waved his hand, saying, "Pick up the silver and leave."

The group quickly gathered the silver, hoisted it onto their shoulders, and hurried toward Pear Fragrance Courtyard. Their backs were clean and decisive, leaving no room for retreat.

Upon seeing Jia Yi, Wu Sheng immediately put on a smiling face, bowed, and clasped his hands in greeting: "My lord, the 150,000 taels of silver, not a penny less, have all been delivered!"

Jia Yi nodded lazily: "Not bad. Take ten thousand back as a reward for your trouble."

"Thank you for the reward, Lord Marquis!" Wu Sheng grinned, pocketed the silver notes, turned and left, his steps so light they seemed to fly.

"Yuanyang," Jia Yi said calmly, "this silver is to be sealed in the treasury and not touched without permission."

"Yes, Lord Marquis." Yuanyang responded and led the old women to carry baskets into the storeroom deep inside the Pear Fragrance Courtyard. Her steps were steady, and her expression remained unchanged.

Meanwhile, Lady Wang had already rushed towards Rongqing Hall like a madwoman, crashing headfirst into Grandmother Jia's room.

"Mother! Something terrible has happened! Something terribly terrible!" She gasped for breath, as if she had been chased by dogs for miles.

Grandmother Jia, already agitated from not seeing Baoyu all day, didn't even lift her eyelids: "What is it now? Why are you shouting like that? What kind of behavior is this!"

"Jia Yi! That fool! He... he somehow got his hands on over ten thousand taels of silver! A whole pile! It's so shiny it hurts my eyes!" Madam Wang gritted her teeth, her eyes gleaming with greed. "We haven't divided the family property yet, this is all public property, it should be confiscated! It should... it should..."

Before she could finish speaking, Grandmother Jia suddenly looked up and interrupted her with a cold laugh:

"He's a marquis now! His mansion is almost ready; he'll be moving out and establishing his own household in a few days! Are you coming to ask for money now? Are you trying to force him to completely break ties with us?"

His tone was cold and left no room for argument.