The Splendor of the Red Chamber

Let's talk about Jia Lian later.

He originally intended to go to the Sheng family's house earlier, but Jia Zheng sent someone to call him back halfway there.

It turns out that Jia Yucun, the prefect of Jinling, was also transferred to the capital to serve as the assistant prefect of Shuntian Prefecture. He had just arrived in the capital today and came to Rongguo Mansion to curry favor.

In his early years, Jia Yucun lost his official position and was in dire straits. He worked as a tutor for Lin Daiyu at Lin Ruhai's house for a year. Later, when Lin Daiyu went to the capital for the first time, he escorted her along the way.

Because of this friendship, and because Jia Zheng admired his literary talent, he used Wang Ziteng's connections to secure Jia Yucun a position as the prefect of Jinling.

Now that Jia Yucun has been transferred back to the capital, he will naturally want to get closer to the Rongguo Mansion.

Jia Zheng's invitation for Jia Lian to return and keep him company stemmed from a desire to show off.

As expected, when Jia Yucun heard that Jia Lian had been appointed by imperial decree to serve as a marriage officer in the Imperial City Guard, he immediately showered him with countless compliments.

The flattery was so slick and skillful that Jia Zheng immediately agreed to form a kinship ties with him and address him as uncle and nephew.

The disturbance continued until 5 PM, when Jia Lian finally found a chance to escape and headed to the Sheng family with Xing'er and Long'er.

The news reached the inner quarters.

Wang Xifeng's expression immediately brightened and became cloudy. She instructed Ping'er, "Go, send someone to secretly follow the Second Master and find out whose house he went to. Report back to me."

Ping'er agreed, then asked, "Grandma, are we still going to Pear Fragrance Courtyard to see Concubine?"

"I'm not going!"

Wang Xifeng slumped onto the couch, grumbling, "He's out there indulging in debauchery, and I'm even bringing people into the house—bah! I'm not that shameless!"

He paused, then added, "Let's talk about it in a few days."

…………

When Jia Lian arrived at the Sheng family mansion in Jiying Lane.

Hua Lan had been in Shu Lan Courtyard for half an hour. At first, they chatted about old times and reminisced, but gradually the topic turned to Yuan Wenshao.

I've heard that even the second son of a noble earl's family has a hard time getting a seventh-rank military position.

Shulan covered her mouth in surprise and said, "The Earl of Zhongqin's mansion is a noble family, how come they can't even handle something this simple?"

Hua Lan sighed and said helplessly, "Even among noble families, there are different levels. How many families in the entire capital can match the Rongguo Mansion in terms of social standing?"

As she spoke, she took Shulan's hand and earnestly said, "Good sister, we're all family, so I won't hide anything from you. Now that your Second Master Lian has been appointed to the Imperial City Guard and is in charge of the Five Cities Garrison, could you please ask him to help your brother-in-law fill this vacancy?"

"this……"

Shulan looked troubled. She had finally had a few days of peace and quiet, how could she dare to agree to such a thing so casually?

Since her cousin had already put it that way, it wouldn't be appropriate to refuse directly. So she vaguely said, "I have no official status or relationship with anyone, how dare I interfere in these matters? At most, I'll shamelessly ask on your behalf, sister. Please don't blame me if it doesn't work out."

Hua Lan hugged Shu Lan tightly, saying happily, "As long as you're willing to speak up, this is half done. I'll only be happy; I wouldn't blame you!"

Just then, a maid came in to announce, "Second Master Lian of the Rongguo Mansion has arrived!"

The two sisters stood up at the same time.

Hua Lan smiled and said, "Sister, go and take a look. I'll go sit in Grandmother's room for a while."

Shulan didn't bother with formalities and instructed Xiaodie to stay at home before hurriedly searching for the main house.

As soon as she arrived near the hall, she saw her three cousins ​​peering through the window—to be precise, it was Mo Lan and Ru Lan who were spying. Ming Lan tried to persuade her two older sisters, but to no avail.

Shulan was speechless. Everyone said that the second branch of the family was a family of scholars, so how come her cousins ​​were just as unruly as Pinlan?

"Ahem~"

She coughed lightly in the corridor, and the three girls were so frightened that they almost scattered and ran away. When they turned around and saw that it was their cousin Shulan, they breathed a sigh of relief.

The eldest daughter, Rulan, jumped to Shulan's side, took Shulan's hand, and laughed, "No wonder you've fallen for him, Sister! This young master Jia is even more handsome than young master Qi!"

"So what if he's handsome?"

At this moment, the fourth daughter, Mo Lan, born out of wedlock, sneered, "He's already married. Do you think you can follow in the footsteps of your sister Shu Lan and become his concubine or mistress?"

Although Mo Lan was born to Lin Qinshuang, a concubine, she was the most arrogant among her sisters because of her father Sheng Hong's doting affection. She also looked down on her cousin, who came from a merchant family and had become someone else's mistress.

This one sentence offended two people.

Rulan was about to argue with her, but Minglan quickly grabbed her and reminded her, "There are men around. If you sisters want to argue, wait until we get back to the inner quarters."

Then Minglan said to Shulan, "Sister, hurry inside, lest Second Brother Lian get impatient."

Shulan blushed, nodded to Minglan, and then lifted her skirt and entered the hall.

Besides Sheng Hong and Jia Lian, his cousins, younger cousins, and younger brother were all present. After exchanging pleasantries, Shulan stood between Jia Lian and Sheng Hong, serving wine from a wine pot.

Seeing this, Jia Lian immediately had a servant from the Sheng family bring over a chair, pulled Shulan down to sit, and said, "Although I cannot give you a formal title, I will not truly treat you as a concubine or mistress."

The Sheng family members nodded in agreement with these words, and Shulan's eyes welled up with tears.

The atmosphere at the dinner table became increasingly lively.

In an attempt to elevate his own status, Sheng Hong casually mentioned Mr. Zhuang, the teacher at the Sheng family's private school, and said, "Qi Heng, the young master of the Duke of Qi's mansion, became Mr. Zhuang's student when he accompanied the Duke to inspect salt in Dengzhou."

Now that my family has moved to the capital, Young Master Qi has come to our door again to plead his case, hoping to continue his studies under Mr. Zhuang.

Jia Lian had also heard of this Mr. Zhuang, who seemed to be a famous Confucian scholar of the time. He never expected that he would be a teacher at the Sheng family's private school.

"Hehe~"

Sheng Hong stroked his beard and smiled, "It was also a coincidence. When I was an official in Dengzhou, I cleared the name of Mr. Zhuang's mother, which is why Mr. Zhuang was willing to condescend to do so."

When Sheng Hong praised Mr. Zhuang's teaching skills and cited the example of the young master Qi Heng, Jia Lian suddenly thought of his cousin Bao Yu.

He picked up some dishes from afar for Shulan and said to Sheng Hong, "Since even the Qi State Mansion has recognized Mr. Zhuang, it seems that Mr. Zhuang must have unique teaching methods."

Coincidentally, my uncle is also worried about my cousin's studies. My uncle's son is very intelligent, but unfortunately, he is so spoiled at home that no one dares to discipline him.

So my uncle wanted him to have a change of environment so he could study hard and make progress…”

"this……"

Upon hearing Jia Lian's hint that he wanted Jia Baoyu to study at the Sheng family, Sheng Hong was secretly delighted, but on the surface he pretended to be hesitant: "I would naturally welcome the young master of the Rongguo Mansion to study at the Sheng family, but there is one thing I must say first."

Besides male disciples, Mr. Zhuang also taught several female disciples, three of whom were my good-for-nothing daughters, and one was the eldest granddaughter of Grand Tutor Yu.

Of course, during regular classes, screens were used to separate the students, and they also left school separately; this was always done in a way that maintained proper decorum and discipline.

There are even female disciples?

Unexpectedly, Sheng Hong, who appears dignified, is actually quite open-minded.

Baoyu loves spending time with his older and younger sisters, so hearing this news will probably reduce a lot of conflict.

Of course, that's not how you should put it.

Jia Lian laughed and said, "Then I'll go back and tell my uncle what his plan is—hehe, it just so happens that Lord Sheng and my uncle are both officials in the Ministry of Works, so it will be convenient for them to coordinate with each other."

"Yes, yes, it's convenient, extremely convenient!"

Sheng Hong was originally worried about how to approach Jia Zheng without losing his aloofness, but now that Jia Zheng was taking the initiative to approach him, he was naturally overjoyed.

He drank several glasses of alcohol and quickly became drunk.

Sheng Changbai hurriedly had Changfeng and Changwu help Sheng Hong back to the inner quarters, and then apologized to Jia Lian repeatedly.

Jia Lian waved his hand and said, "It's good that you're drinking to your heart's content, there's nothing impolite about it."

As he spoke, he took Sheng Shulan's hand and said with a smile, "I have a lot to say to Shulan, so let's just call it a day."

Sheng Changbai personally escorted him to the vicinity of the villa before returning to the inner quarters to check on his father's condition.

Sheng Hong drank the hangover soup and felt a little better.

So he said to his two sons, "The young master of Rongguo Mansion is far better than the young master of Qiguo Mansion in terms of interpersonal skills and social graces. Of course, the young master of Qiguo Mansion is also good, but he is only good in the sense of being a young and talented man."

This Second Master Lian, however, has the proper manners of an official—Changbai, Changfeng, when you pass the imperial examinations and enter officialdom in the future, you should learn from this Second Master Lian.”

Sheng Changbai nodded steadily.

Sheng Changfeng, however, scratched his head and looked impatient, clearly thinking about more than just imitating the 'style'.