Lian Erye in the Red Mansion

Below the Star Gazing Tower, the music ended and the crowd dispersed.

The Zhou brothers had long since escaped the crowd's sight, but with the Crown Prince as guarantor, Jia Lian was not worried at all about not receiving the ten thousand taels of silver in gambling funds.

Under heaven, apart from a few in the palace, no one dares to disrespect the Crown Prince!

He led his white horse back to his tent, where the Crown Prince's men had already delivered the Crown Prince's reward.

As the heir apparent, the Crown Prince is quite generous today in celebrating his younger sister's birthday.

Five hundred taels of silver, a jade pendant, and a warhorse.

The Crown Prince originally intended to give all the rewards to Jia Lian alone, but Jia Lian thought that if he took all the limelight, it would inevitably arouse the jealousy of petty people.

Firstly, he had already garnered enough attention today; secondly, compared to the 16,000 taels of silver that was about to arrive, the Crown Prince's reward seemed insignificant. Therefore, he politely declined and only accepted the portion for first place.

"Congratulations, sir! We have all heard about your great display of power and how you stole the show at the literary gathering today."

Hehe, we originally thought you were only skilled in riding and archery, but we never expected that your literary talent is also unparalleled. Our admiration for you is like the Yellow River, flowing endlessly. You are like that…”

When Commander Xie Jun saw Jia Lian return, he rushed forward and showered him with flattery.

Jia Lian didn't let him finish speaking. He first asked about the horse's condition down the mountain, and then instructed, "Take this five hundred taels of silver and distribute it among the brothers who came on this mission. Everyone should get a share."

"This isn't quite right, is it? This was a special gift from the Crown Prince to you, sir..."

Jie Jun pretended to decline, but seeing that Jia Lian genuinely wanted to reward him, he immediately took the lead in bowing and thanking him.

The soldiers around him all showed joy and knelt down with Xie Jun to express their loyalty.

Following a capable and generous boss means a bright future!

……

Because they needed to get back to the city before dark, the literary gathering was the last event of the day.

Once all the dignitaries have set off to return to the capital, the events that occurred at the Imperial Horse Garden today are destined to spread throughout the capital at lightning speed.

Zhou family.

"You unfilial son!!"

When Zhou Hongchang heard that his eldest son, Zhou Xing, had lost a full ten thousand taels of silver in a bet, even the best self-control could not hold back. He flew into a rage and found the Zhou brothers hiding in the old lady's room, letting out a thunderous roar.

Zhou Xing knelt obediently on the ground, tears welling up in his eyes. When he saw his father coming, he quickly grabbed his grandmother's trouser leg, his face filled with terror.

Fortunately, the old lady of the Zhou family had already accepted her grandson's explanation, and seeing this, she quickly defended him, saying, "Why are you yelling? Xing'er has already told me that he originally wanted to stand up for his younger brother today and also vent his anger for the family."

Who knew that Jia Lian was so cunning and deliberately plotted to harm him?

"You, as their father, see them being bullied, and instead of standing up for them, you're intimidating them like this?"

Zhou Hongchang was furious and said angrily, "It's their own stupidity that's the problem, why should they blame others?"

They didn't even consider that if someone wasn't absolutely certain, they wouldn't agree to such a high-stakes gamble with him.

Ten thousand taels! Hmph, how much is my annual salary? At this rate, these two beasts will squander it all before we even have a chance to use any more money!"

The old lady of the Zhou family snorted and said, "If we relied on your meager official salary, our family would have starved to death long ago."

But the thought of someone harming her precious grandson in this way, and that it was the same person who harmed both of her grandsons, made the old lady of the Zhou family grit her teeth in hatred.

"Hmph, ten thousand taels? Why should I give it to him? Xing'er is just young and ignorant, that's why he was fooled. Is there no law in this world? No matter what noble or noble family he comes from, I won't give it to him, what can he do about it?!"

Regardless of one's character, anyone would try to renege on a deal involving ten thousand taels of silver.

After all, Zhou Hongchang was right. A fourth-rank official's annual salary was only a little over 150 taels of silver. If that's the case, it would take sixty or seventy years of official service to earn 10,000 taels!

Zhou Hongchang sighed helplessly: "I'm afraid it's not a matter of social status."

Before making the bet, those two good-for-nothings foolishly asked the Crown Prince to act as their guarantor.

The old lady thought to herself, "Although our family has the support of the empress in the palace, how dare we offend the crown prince? Besides, the Jia family is not what it used to be. Consort Jia in the palace is one of the four consorts, and her rank is even higher than our empress's."

This matter is unlikely to be resolved amicably.

"this……"

The old lady glanced at her grandson, knowing that her son wasn't lying, and her expression showed some panic.

Suddenly, an idea struck him: "If we use our connections to smooth things over and get the Crown Prince to turn a blind eye, this matter will be over. Or, should we just send the Crown Prince a thousand taels of silver?"

The old lady of the Zhou family was obviously reluctant to spend 10,000 taels of silver, so she wanted to quell the turmoil with minimal loss.

"We have no choice but to give it a try."

Zhou Hongchang sighed, but he knew in his heart that things couldn't be resolved so simply.

Since they even managed to get the Crown Prince involved, it must have been premeditated!

There are some things I can't argue with my mother about; after all, she's a woman, and there are some things I can't reason with.

"You two, come out with me!"

Seeing the two brats glare at her and the old lady's anxiety, she sighed, "My son called them out just to ask about the details..."

The old lady of the Zhou family then softened her expression and instructed, "You must only ask them questions politely. You are not allowed to hit them or threaten them!"

Zhou Hongchang: "..."

……

When Jia Lian finished handing over all his errands and returned to the Rongguo Mansion, it was already past midnight.

He rode straight into the east courtyard, dismounted outside the stable, and was led over by servants and others.

Seeing Steward Liu come out to greet him, Jia Lian casually asked him about the progress of the groundbreaking ceremony.

It wasn't the garden behind it, but rather the place he wanted to build for his own martial arts practice.

There was one in the front yard and one in the back yard, one for the personal guards and one for the individual.

Along the easternmost wall, a royal horse path about two miles long was built.

Due to limited space in the east courtyard, this was the only length that could be built; it's barely usable.

When he has the time and resources, Jia Lian will naturally want to acquire a manor outside the city and build a spacious and well-equipped imperial horse ranch.

Having experienced a year of fighting against the Tatars, Jia Lian naturally knew that archery on horseback was the most effective skill for killing enemies on the battlefield.

After all, given his status, if he were to actually engage in direct combat with the enemy, it would mean that the situation had become extremely unfavorable. At that point, no matter how well he had mastered martial arts, he would still be no match for the enemy.

"Second Master, you're back! Have you had dinner yet?"

Back at Sister Feng's courtyard, as soon as she entered the gate, Qingwen walked over with her hands behind her back.

"I just ate something quick outside the city. Go to the kitchen and see what good food they have, and get me some."

"Alright, Second Master, please go inside and wait."

Qingwen was quite sensible at times; for example, when she received the order, she immediately ran towards the main kitchen.

Halfway there, I remembered that Jia Lian had been busy all day and needed to change his clothes.

She didn't want Xiao Hong or the other maids to get close to Jia Lian, so she went back and ran to the west wing, banging on the door a few times to make sure Xiang Ling was awake before shouting, "Second Master is back! Go quickly to the main room to help him change!"

"understood."

Xiangling, a homebody, immediately put down the complete works of Wang Wei and went out of the house to the main room.