Dream of the Red Chamber: A Refined and Elegant Young Man in a Turbid World

Xing Xiuyan blushed for no apparent reason. She and Jia Cong were only siblings in name; they had never met before the twelfth lunar month. Moreover, he was tall and imposing, and her heart was already in turmoil. She could only timidly lower her head.

"My third brother's behavior makes me feel utterly ashamed..."

At this moment, Yingchun only managed to greet Jia Cong when he entered, and then she slumped back onto the soft couch without making a sound. Taking advantage of this, Jia Cong grabbed Xing Xiuyan's soft hand and pretended to walk down the corridor.

When Xing Xiuyan was pulled like that, half of her body went limp, and she covered her face with her handkerchief in embarrassment.

"If you have something to say, Third Brother, just say it directly. Why drag this out?"

Jia Cong then took out two whole ten-tael silver ingots from his sleeve and forced them on, lowering his voice and leaning closer to say,

"Sister, please don't take offense at my rudeness. These personal funds are for giving to others."

Xing Xiuyan's heart pounded. In all her years, she had never seen so much pure silver. She was immediately filled with shame and hurriedly tried to refuse.

"Absolutely not! I appreciate your kindness, Third Brother, but it's already shameless of me to stay here as a guest; how could I possibly accept your personal allowance as well!"

After a brief shoving and pushing, Jia Cong took the opportunity to get closer. The power of a third-level Martial Realm cultivator was far beyond what Xing Xiuyan, a mere woman, could contend with. He immediately grabbed her hand and forcefully placed it inside his.

"That would make us seem distant. Although you are staying here as a guest, we are still family..."

Xing Xiuyan only smelled an extremely strong masculine scent, and instantly her mind went blank, her cheeks flushed, and her phoenix eyes filled with affection. She immediately lost her temper and stopped talking.

"I will never forget the deep affection my third brother has shown me. Just now, Miss Siqi mentioned that my third brother gave money to my parents on my behalf. How can I ever repay such kindness?"

Having achieved his goal, Jia Cong refrained from further intimacy, simply smilingly withdrawing his hand.

"My uncle's family is struggling, and we should lend them a hand, but if they become excessively greedy, I will not tolerate it."

Xing Xiuyan sighed deeply and did not answer, presumably knowing what kind of people her parents were.

The two returned to the house and drank tea again. Yingchun put down the Taishang Ganying Pian and casually echoed a couple of lines, her face still showing a slightly unusual flush.

Not wanting to linger, Jia Cong left only Chu Lan behind before getting up to take his leave. Xing Xiuyan personally saw him to the door before reluctantly waving her handkerchief in farewell.

The next day, Xiangyun heard that there were guests at the Rong Mansion, so she also came to stay there temporarily. Tanchun even pulled all her sisters to start a plum blossom club.

Baoyu was overjoyed, but Jia Cong remained indifferent. With all these sisters together, his ambiguous relationship with Baochai and Daiyu made it easy for things to go wrong. He simply said that he would be taking the imperial examination after the New Year and dared not delay practicing martial arts for even a moment.

Jia Huan was not qualified to attend the party in the Grand View Garden. After his injury on his buttocks healed throughout the winter, he worked diligently and devoted himself to learning martial arts from Jia Cong.

Seeing that he had accepted the pledge of allegiance, Jia Cong generously taught him a set of Six Harmonies Tiger-Taming Fist, which was the basic fist technique taught to him by Sun Tai when he was at the first level of martial arts. It was slightly more complicated than the Taizu Long Fist.

Jia Huan, smugly pleased with himself, practiced his horse stance while chatting and laughing with Jia Cong.

"Cong-ge'er, just watch me. I should have reached the first level of the Martial Realm by now."

Jia Cong chuckled inwardly, but outwardly offered only words of comfort.

"Learning martial arts is not something that can be accomplished overnight. I have been training under Instructor Sun through the coldest days of winter and the hottest days of summer, and I have never slacked off for a single day. Huan-ge'er is not a serious martial arts student, so he will surely achieve something in a year or two."

After practicing martial arts, Jia Huan was still covered in sweat even in the dead of winter. He was now admiringly combing Ba Hongchen's mane.

"Cong-ge'er's carriage is truly magnificent; how much silver should it cost?"

Jia Cong would never tell him that it cost three hundred taels; he simply waved his hand vaguely.

"How would I know about the public funds? Only my second sister-in-law's purchases are the source."

Jia Huan smacked Ba Hongchen on the neck while cursing, and stomped his foot in frustration.

"But the manor looks down on me. The other day, when I went out to replace my father, the steward Jiao Da actually assigned me a lame old horse. He deserves to die!"

Having stolen half a day of peace, Jia Cong also seized the opportunity to wink and lean in, secretly poking Jia Huan in the ribs.

"Hey, Huan-ge, tell me about your affair with Caiyun?"

Even with his thick skin, Jia Huan couldn't help but blush. He awkwardly released the reins of Ba Hongchen's horse and kicked at the pebbles at his feet.

"Cong-ge'er is making fun of me again. How could such a thing be?"

Jia Cong couldn't help but laugh and scold.

"Nonsense! Everyone in this manor knows that you, you blockhead, have an improper relationship with the madam's maid. Tell me now, or I'll stop teaching you."

Upon hearing this, Jia Huan was furious and immediately put on a fawning smile, pleading earnestly.

"Good man, I won't argue anymore. I'm only telling you this, so please don't let anyone else know."

Immediately, Jia Cong even invited Jia Huan into Qingyan Hall, ordered Qianxue, who was skilled in tea ceremony, to brew a pot of top-quality Longjing tea and set out four kinds of fruits, before dismissing the servants to listen to Jia Huan's vivid and enthusiastic description.

Even though Jia Cong himself had an affair with Qin Keqing, and was constantly rubbing against the women like Daiyu and Baochai, he couldn't help but listen with great interest. One moment it was about a ship capsizing before it even entered the harbor, the next it was about a fight in the wild like Guan Yu versus Qin Qiong, and finally there was a story about a skilled ventriloquist in the capital.

When he got really into it, he even slapped his thigh and cheered. In the end, he laughed and gave Jia Huan a few taels of silver as a token of appreciation for listening to the storyteller.

Jia Huan blushed, but clutched the silver tightly, his neck stiff with stubbornness, still refusing to accept defeat.

"Don't make fun of me, Cong-ge. My good second brother is much more unrestrained than I am."

Jia Cong naturally knew that Baoyu had been bisexual since childhood, so he immediately smiled and waved his hand.

"It's just a bit of fun between brothers, nothing to brag about. Let's have a meal today before heading back."

Jia Huan immediately beamed with joy.

"It's all thanks to Cong-ge'er that I'm so lucky today." Although his and Aunt Zhao's meals weren't too bad, they weren't much better than before Jia Cong learned martial arts. They ate the mansion's rations, and when it was the mother and son's turn, they often only got some leftovers.

Jia Cong specially summoned Li Rong and instructed him to take some reward money to the small kitchen to order dishes. Before long, two cold dishes, four hot stir-fries, and a pot of soup were served.

Braised goose feet and duck tongues, along with rouge-colored goose breast, are perfect accompaniments to alcohol. There are also steamed deer tendons, chicken marrow and bamboo shoots, pheasant and melon salad, and ham stewed with pork hock. There are also two desserts: cream-filled pine nut rolls and tofu skin buns, which are Baoyu's favorite. Finally, there is a bowl of steaming hot sour bamboo shoot and chicken skin soup.

Jia Huan's mouth watered at the sight, but he muttered something as he picked up his chopsticks.

"Cong-ge'er is now not far from my good second brother. I just wonder when it will be my turn to live this kind of life."

Jia Cong sighed and personally refilled the other person's wine.

"Brother, don't feel sorry for yourself. Your time to shine will come."

Jia Huan ate until his belly was round and full, then ate half a bowl of green rice before being drunkenly carried out of the Grand View Garden by a servant, still muttering something to himself.

As the year drew to a close, the next morning, a broker came looking for Jia Cong. Li Rong went to the side gate and returned with a bag of silver, totaling three hundred taels, which was the money Miaoyu had entrusted him to sell her ancestral property in exchange for.