Lian Erye in the Red Mansion

We returned to the inner hall, which was the courtyard where the temporary mourning hall was located.

Yingchun had already prepared everything and was waiting for Jia Lian.

Because the previous religious ceremony had been delayed for too long, Jia Lian asked Wang Xifeng and others to go to Shuiyue Nunnery first, saying that he would personally escort Yingchun there after the ceremony was over.

"Brother." Yingchun is fourteen years old this year and has grown into a beautiful young woman.

Her figure was somewhat comparable to Baochai's, and at such a young age she already possessed a remarkable and exquisite charm.

A mourning scarf tied around her head accentuated her delicate and pretty oval face. Her slender figure was now dressed in a well-fitting white linen mourning garment, cinched at the waist with a white sash, revealing her incredibly slim waist, which appeared so small it could be grasped in one hand.

She stood up and happily called out to Jia Lian. When she saw Jia Lian glancing at her, she quickly looked down at herself and, finding nothing amiss, became embarrassed. "Brother, what are you looking at...?"

She was naturally delicate and graceful, best described as a willow in spring. Now, with a shy and timid air, she was even more captivating. Jia Lian couldn't help but laugh and say, "I didn't see anything, but my sister is becoming more and more beautiful and elegant. I couldn't help but take a few more glances."

Yingchun was already more introverted and shy than others, and her cheeks immediately turned red upon hearing this.

"Hey, what are you saying, brother? If you keep saying that, I'm not talking to you anymore..."

Yingchun was a little annoyed, and weakly protested, keeping her head down and not daring to look at Jia Lian.

Beside them, Siqi, the only maid Yingchun had brought with her on this trip, and Madam You, who had just come out of the inner hall, both chuckled.

Jia Lian knew that Yingchun was not good at making fun, so he didn't laugh at her too much. He gave a brief explanation to You Shi and then led Yingchun and the others to the front courtyard.

They hadn't gone far when, sure enough, Madam Xing and her entourage caught up with them. Upon meeting, she immediately pleaded for her brother's life, her words carrying a hint of reproach.

There's no reason to drive your uncle out of the mountain gate!

Madam Xing's reaction was within Jia Lian's expectations. He had no intention of wasting words with her and directly asked with a dark expression, "Does the First Madam know what he did?"

In my Jia family ancestral temple, right in the place where my father is buried, people gather their guests to gamble, drink, and play with actors and children. Which of these actions is not a deliberate desecration of my father's spirit tablet and a contempt for the ancestors of my Jia family?

If it weren't for the fact that he was his wife's younger brother, his son would have had him thrown out long ago.

Now, merely sending him out to sober up is already a disservice to my father and my ancestors of the Jia family.

So, Madam, please don't say anything more. This is for your sake. Uncle Xing is of low character, rude and unrepentant. Keeping such a person here will only bring criticism to you.

If others were to find out that the lady's family is composed of such people, it would likely damage her reputation.

Upon hearing this, Madam Xing's expression changed slightly. Jia Lian's unbridled denigration of her brother made her feel quite embarrassed.

Jia Lian continued, "If Madam truly cares for him, why not arrange a carriage for him and send him back as soon as possible?"

Such a person is certainly not someone my son can allow into the ancestral temple of the Jia family. Please forgive me, Madam.

The wife can also investigate thoroughly to see if her son deliberately slandered or targeted her. If, after investigating, the wife still feels that her son has done wrong, she can inform the old lady, and the son will be willing to accept the family's punishment.

My son has other matters to attend to, so I must take my leave now.

As Jia Lian spoke, he helped Yingchun onto the carriage, then mounted his own horse, bowed to the dazed Madam Xing, and ordered them to head towards Shuiyue Nunnery.

Outside the mountain gate, after his initial shouting and cursing, Xing Dequan was sobered up a bit by the mountain breeze.

However, his extreme shame and anger made him abandon his fear of the Jia family's power. Relying on the fact that he was Madam Xing's brother, the servants dared not really touch him, so he shouted and cursed outside the mountain gate.

He was a crude and ignorant man who had relied on his sister's meager support to get by all these years. He had no skills whatsoever, but he did have a strange kind of courage and arrogance.

In a fit of rage, he even dared to curse Jia Lian, calling him a smug little man who had no respect for his parents, which angered Jia She to death. He also bullied his stepmother, Lady Xing, and was simply worse than an animal...

Suddenly the mountain gate opened, and several agile figures rushed out.

"What do you want?" Xing Dequan was startled. Seeing the hostile expression on their faces, he turned to run, but there was no way he could escape. He was quickly pinned to the ground, howling in pain...

Inside the mountain gate, Yingchun heard the noise outside and became somewhat frightened. Through the carriage window, she reached out and tugged at Jia Lian's sleeve, whispering, "Second Brother, please tell them to stop, he..."

Yingchun wanted to say that he was their uncle after all, but then she thought that Jia Lian didn't seem to regard him as an uncle at all, so she didn't know how to persuade him.

He wasn't Jia Lian's maternal uncle, but he was her maternal uncle. For both emotional and logical reasons, she couldn't just stand by and watch.

Jia Lian knew that there was no point in reasoning with a lowlife like Xing Dequan; only fists could teach him a lesson.

Seeing the fear and worry on Yingchun's face, he patted her hand to comfort her, then said to the gate, "Put it down."

The servants of the Jia family at the mountain gate were both impressed and amazed to see Jia Lian actually beat up their uncle. "Second Master Lian is becoming increasingly barbaric and domineering," they thought. "Could it be that he learned it from Second Mistress Lian?"

Definitely not. Second Madam Lian was only fierce to us servants, but she treated her relatives with utmost respect!

But after Jia Lian finished dealing with the people, he showed no sign of leaving. Instead, he asked condescendingly, "Who was in charge here just now?"

"Reporting to Second Master, it was this servant..."

A middle-aged man, bowing respectfully, came up; he was a steward of the Jia family.

Jia Lian recognized him and, still mounted on his horse, asked calmly, "Just now, you were all sitting here listening to him spout nonsense outside, defaming the reputation of my Jia family?"

Wealthy and powerful families employ servants and guards for this very job.

There's no reason for just anyone to dare to shout and curse outside the gates of a wealthy and powerful family; they would have been beaten to death long ago.

The servants and lackeys guarding the gate were only interested in watching the commotion and the spectacle, and they didn't remember to go and stop them.

They even felt that Jia Lian had handled the situation poorly. How could he possibly send his uncle away? Now that this has been exposed, Second Master Lian must be furious, right?

The steward, belatedly realizing the situation, broke out in a cold sweat upon recalling the "secrets" Xing Dequan had just revealed. He knelt down with a thud and pleaded, "Second Master, please forgive us. We tried to persuade him, but he wouldn't listen. There was nothing we could do..."

"Slap him in the face."

The cold voice silenced the steward, who glanced at Jia Lian, steeled his resolve, and began slapping himself repeatedly across the face.

Seeing this, the other servants knelt on the ground timidly, unsure whether they should join the manager in slapping him...

"elder brother……"

It was Yingchun again. She was kind-hearted and couldn't bear to see others suffer, so she came to tug at Jia Lian's sleeve.

Jia Lian glanced at her helplessly. No wonder they say that righteousness cannot control wealth and kindness cannot control troops. Putting aside other things, having a sister like this makes him feel like a ruthless and unreasonable villain.

However, the Jia family mansion has already deteriorated too much, inside and out. If the main beams are not rebuilt and the decay is not removed, it is only a matter of time before it collapses.

Now that he has the title, it is time for him to begin taking over power and restoring the family to its former glory.

If you can't even manage your servants, how can you govern the entire family?

"Alright, this is the last time."

"Yes, yes, thank you for your forgiveness, Second Master, thank you for your forgiveness..."

Although he only got a few slaps to himself, for the person in charge, those short ten seconds felt like a life-or-death ordeal. The cold sweat on his back reminded him of this.

After seeing Jia Lian and his entourage off, he angrily yelled at the servants around him, "You all better watch out! If you make another mistake, I'll skin you alive before Second Master even skins me!"