Lian Erye in the Red Mansion

The effectiveness of caning depends entirely on the will of the executioner.

The two old women holding the door bolt as a rod knew that Jia Lian only wanted to give Zhi Neng a minor punishment. In addition, Xiao Rong's eldest mistress was standing nervously by, afraid that they would hurt her skinny little brother in the blink of an eye.

So, after forty strokes, both Qin Zhong and Zhi Neng breathed a sigh of relief. It hurt a bit, but it was far from the kind of pain they had expected—that they would be half-dead if they didn't die.

Jia Baoyu was very worried when he saw Qin Zhong and Zhi Neng being carried by the old women to the mountain gate. He chased after them and saw Jia Lian and Feng Jie, so he began to plead for them.

"Baoyu, stop making a scene!"

Before Wang Xifeng could reprimand her, Li Wan had already walked up from behind and said with a stern expression.

Before leaving, Grandmother Jia and the others entrusted Jia Baoyu and the others to her care. After this incident, Li Wan was very worried and angry, so she treated Jia Baoyu with unusual severity.

Seeing that even the usually gentle Li Wan was acting this way, Jia Baoyu finally dared not speak anymore.

Jia Lian, however, smiled at him and said, "Don't worry, they'll both be fine. If you're worried about your Jingqing, you can go see him at the Qin family after we get back to the city."

"What about Zhineng...?" Jia Baoyu asked hesitantly.

Jia Lian smiled and stopped answering him, leading the group to the moon gate.

There were also quite a few people gathered outside, including the three sisters, Daiyu and their respective maids, as well as most of the nuns of Shuiyue Nunnery, about a dozen or even twenty.

"Sister-in-law..."

"Brother Lian Er..."

Sanchun and the others were outside and could hear the sounds of the caning earlier, so they were very worried. As soon as Jia Lian and the others approached, they went up to ask them with concern.

Jingxu, who had been waiting there for a long time and was almost ready to force his way in, was terrified when he saw his little apprentice Zhineng being dragged out by the Jia family. He immediately rushed up and shouted and interrogated her.

Unfortunately, Zhi Neng'er simply turned her head away and ignored her completely.

Jingxu was a slick old nun. After pretending to scold Zhineng several times, she stepped forward with a smirk and said to Jia Lian and Feng Jie, "Second Master and Second Mistress... if Zhineng commits any heinous crime, Second Master and Second Mistress may deal with her as you see fit, whether it is beating or killing, this old nun will have no objection."

Jingxu had already guessed what was going on, and fearing that Zhineng'er would implicate her, she quickly expressed her opinion.

Feng Jie was already seething with anger. First, Jingxu had caused her to be punished by Jia Lian. Second, according to her wishes, Qin Zhong and Zhi Neng'er should have been severely punished, especially Zhi Neng'er. And since Jingxu was Zhi Neng'er's teacher, she ended up giving Jingxu a good scolding.

Jia Lian ignored her, but comforted the three sisters and Daiyu, telling them not to worry, and then asked Li Wan to escort Daiyu and the others back.

Yingchun, Tanchun, and the others weren't stupid either. Just by looking at Qin Zhong and Zhineng being led away by the old women, and then glancing at Jia Baoyu who looked like he had lost his parents, they could probably understand what was going on.

Daiyu's delicate, wispy eyebrows were now furrowed into a wavy shape.

Too lazy to deal with the mess, he led Zijuan and headed back first.

After Li Wan and the others left, Jia Lian turned around and looked at Jingxu, who was still trying to persuade Feng Jie.

I was just looking for an excuse to get rid of this old bastard when this perfectly legitimate excuse came along.

"Besides Jingxu, who else in your nunnery is in charge?"

Jia Lian looked at the several old nuns around him and asked in a deep voice.

The nuns were not understanding what she meant and dared not answer.

Upon hearing this, Jingxu sensed something was amiss and quickly stepped forward with an ingratiating expression, saying, "What are your orders, Second Master? This humble nun..."

However, she definitely couldn't get close to Jia Lian, as the Aqi sisters blocked her way.

Upon seeing this scene, Wang Xifeng immediately guessed Jia Lian's intentions. She quickly began to calculate in her mind; it seemed that the heartless man truly loathed Jingxu, and wasn't even willing to wait before starting to punish her…

Only then did she completely give up the idea of ​​spending the five thousand taels of silver.

She thought to herself, "This is for the best. Jingxu was promoted by Madam, and tonight her disciple Zhineng'er's matter almost implicated Baoyu as well. If she is dealt with in this way, I'm afraid even Madam won't have any objections!"

So she walked around to Jia Lian's side and said with a smile, "I know the situation in this nunnery. Besides her, there are a few others of the Jing generation, such as Jing Shan and Jing Hui. Among them, Jing Shan is a capable person."

Upon hearing this, Jia Lian knew that Wang Xifeng probably found Jing Shan pleasing to the eye. Although Shuiyue Nunnery was small, it was still within the Jia family's sphere of influence. After defeating Jing Xu, it would be better to replace her with one of their own.

Therefore, not wanting to go against Wang Xifeng's wishes, she nodded and said, "In that case, from today onwards, Jingshan will take over the position of abbess of this nunnery. Who is Jingshan?"

An elderly nun, roughly the same age as Jingxu, saw Jia Lian speak, clearly indicating the situation was settled. Unable to contain her joy, she immediately stepped forward and said with a smile, "Reporting to Second Master, this humble nun is Jingshan..."

One family rejoiced while another grieved. Jingxu's expression changed drastically, and he could no longer maintain his usual smiling, compassionate face.

To Jia Lian, Shuiyue Nunnery was nothing more than an ant, but to her, it was everything. She had worked hard for more than ten years to manage it well and finally managed to serve Lady Wang, Grandmother Jia and others and gain their trust. How could she be willing to let it be taken away by someone else?

Therefore, even though she knew that Jia Lian was of noble status and not someone she could offend, she still immediately rebuked him: "Madam entrusted the Shuiyue Nunnery to me to manage. Over the past ten years, even if I haven't made any great contributions, I have certainly worked hard. Madam and the Old Madam are well aware of this. Whenever I go to the mansion, even the Old Madam treats me with great kindness. What right do you have to deprive me of my position?"

Jingxu was clever enough to bring up Lady Wang and Grandmother Jia in an attempt to put pressure on Jia Lian.

Jia Lian glanced at her. "You said that Madam and the Old Madam are very kind to you. If they find out that your precious apprentice is seducing their precious son and grandson, how do you think the Old Madam and Madam will deal with you?"

"This... I will go to the manor and explain this to Madam in person. Even if Madam is truly angry and doesn't want me to be the head of this place anymore, it will require Madam's personal order..."

Jia Lian was too lazy to waste words with her. His face turned cold, and he said, "Besides what happened tonight, how many dirty and evil things have you done over the years by taking advantage of the power of the mansion? Do you think we don't know? I'm only letting you off the hook because of Madam. If you're really not afraid of death, then say a few more words."

Jingxu was so startled that her voice faltered, and Wang Xifeng quickly gave her a meaningful look.

Seeing that Jingxu's attempts to persuade Jia Lian by mentioning Grandmother Jia and Lady Wang had failed, Jingshan felt relieved. At the same time, she knew that if she didn't crush Jingxu now, when would she ever get another chance?

"Second Master is right. This year, Jingxu did indeed do many things against the law and justice behind the back of the manor. There was nothing she wouldn't dare to do if it could make money."

Take, for example, the most unscrupulous thing she did: if she saw a well-behaved girl from a poor family who couldn't afford to raise her, she would trick her into coming to the nunnery to become her apprentice. Second Master and Second Madam, do you think she was acting out of kindness?

No, grandpas and grandmas may not know, but there are some strange men in the world who like to humiliate Buddhist disciples.

This heartless Jingxu would raise those girls and then sell them to brothels in the city or to the homes of local gentry and wealthy people, each for at least several hundred taels of silver.

Before Zhineng'er and Zhishan'er, she actually had three other disciples, all of whom she secretly sold. She lied to us, saying they were adopted by other nunneries, or that they had been blessed and chosen by noble ladies to be their Buddhist substitutes.

Jing Shan only wanted to bring down Jing Xu, so she didn't care about any taboos and revealed the biggest dirty thing that had ever happened at Shuiyue Nunnery in public.