Lian Erye in the Red Mansion

"Lian'er, did you do all this?"

As soon as Jia Lian entered Grandmother Jia's inner hall, before he could even greet her and Jia Zheng, Grandmother Jia waved a stack of poems and asked Jia Lian a question.

Jia Lian had already planned this, and upon hearing this, he went over, took the document, examined it, and then nodded, saying, "That's right, it was indeed written by me."

Grandmother Jia and the others exchanged bewildered glances, while Daiyu and her sisters showed slight delight.

"When did you learn this skill? We had no idea!"

Grandmother Jia's doubts deepened.

Although Jia Lian's previous behavior made her believe his words that he was of one mind with his family and would not quarrel with Jia Zheng and others.

However, the fact that Jia Lian had kept even this skill a secret from them made her quite uneasy.

This unease can be described as a wariness of things beyond one's control.

Jia Lian laughed and said, "It's nothing special. It's just something I did for fun, imitating the works of my predecessors when I had nothing else to do."

These things couldn't earn him official rank or title, so the grandson didn't bother with them much.

"I never expected these things would alarm our ancestor, which surprised me greatly."

Jia Lian's implication was that he wasn't deliberately hiding anything; rather, these things were really nothing, and it was their overreaction that surprised him.

Grandmother Jia and the others fell silent.

Are they truly outdated, or are they simply ordinary mortals, appearing so mediocre in the presence of Jia Lian?

Even Daiyu and Tanchun felt a little embarrassed, thinking that Jia Lian's words were somewhat hurtful.

Although they were still young and had not yet read through all the books in the original story, they had already begun to learn to write poetry, and had even secretly composed a few poems that they thought were ingenious, but had never shown them to others.

Is writing poetry and lyrics really just a minor pursuit, not worth promoting?

Jia Zheng was also taken aback. Although he had said this when educating Jia Zhu and Jia Baoyu: "Don't waste your energy on fancy words and flowery prose. The only right path is to thoroughly understand the Four Books and Five Classics and the classics of sages."

However, he occasionally felt a pang of guilt. After all, the authors of those "florid and ornate" poems that he so dismissed as insignificant were mostly renowned figures in history!

He was also worried that Jia Baoyu and others would secretly criticize him, saying that he wasn't talented enough to write good poems, so he said those things...

Today, Jia Lian has finally vindicated him.

So Jia Zheng stroked his beard and praised, "Lian'er is right. Poetry is just a minor art, fine for amusement in one's spare time. Even the famous scholars of the court focus on writing books and establishing theories, and rarely put much effort into the art of poetry."

At the age when one should be studying, it is better to focus on writing essays for the imperial examinations; the proper path is to follow the eight-legged essay style.

Baoyu, do you understand now?

Jia Zheng never forgot to give Jia Baoyu pointers.

Jia Baoyu quickly shrank his neck and stammered, "I understand what you mean, Master..."

Although he wanted to criticize Jia Zheng for being mediocre and shallow, he lacked confidence when he thought that Jia Lian's poems were better than his own, and that Jia Lian shared the same view as Jia Zheng.

Lian Erge is really something. He could clearly be a refined scholar, so why does he have to flatter the behavior of those corrupt officials?

Those who can excel at poetry are truly talented!

Jia Baoyu was silently puzzled.

Grandmother Jia herself doesn't write poetry, nor does she dislike it, but she could still see that Jia Lian's ambition was simply outrageous.

"You really crave being an official and enjoy being promoted so much?"

Your official rank isn't high enough, your inherited title isn't prestigious enough, what position do you want to climb to?

Grandmother Jia's doubts were shared by most other people.

Many people who haven't reached the level of Master Lian are thinking about how to enjoy themselves all day long, but Master Lian only wants to be promoted and ennobled!

Even Daiyu felt that Jia Lian seemed a bit vulgar...

No, it's those incompetent and shallow people who are obsessed with scheming and using any means to curry favor and climb the social ladder that are truly vulgar and disgusting.

Brother Lian is someone with lofty aspirations and a broad mind.

He's probably the same kind of person as his father, maybe even a bit more capable...

Faced with Grandmother Jia's questioning, Jia Lian smiled and said, "I have said before that I take it as my duty to restore the glory of our ancestors. I will not waste time on other things before I achieve this goal."

Everyone fell even more silent.

Madam Wang's face was ashen; she didn't know how to describe it.

People who say things like that are either brainless or just spouting nonsense to fool others.

But Jia Lian was clearly not lacking in common sense.

As for fooling people, she used to think so too, but as time went on, it seemed that this blockhead who always looked at people with a sidelong glance might actually have a bit of a chance!

No one dared to say anything more about Jia Lian. They wouldn't question whether the old matriarch's actions in establishing the Duke's Mansion were merely worldly and mediocre.

Jia Lian boasted that restoring his ancestors' glory was equivalent to donning an invincible golden body, and no one would dare to criticize him.

Jia Zheng looked ashamed. This responsibility should have been borne by him, the son of a Duke, but now it had been snatched away by the next generation, Jia Lian!

Approaching fifty, with his career already nearing its peak, he felt embarrassed to compete with Jia Lian. He could only cough lightly and say, "Lian'er, if that's the case, why are you still competing with others outside?"

I heard that you even made a bet with the younger brother of Consort Zhou in the palace and won ten thousand taels of silver from him…”

"Ten thousand? Wasn't it supposed to be three thousand?"

Madam Wang was startled and instinctively asked in surprise.

Jia Zheng explained, "Those three thousand taels were just the writing fee that Prince Bei Jing gave him. In addition, he also had a contest with Zhou Xingwen, the eldest son of the Zhou family, with a stake of ten thousand taels of silver."

As for the result, you can probably guess.

As soon as Jia Zheng spoke, everyone in the hall, from masters to servants, stared at Jia Lian as if he were a deity!

What kind of incredible move is this? A fee of three thousand taels of silver for the writing is already astonishing.

Throughout history, very few people have ever been known to have such an honor.

Not to mention, he won a prize of ten thousand taels of silver in a single competition!

Li Wan, standing below the hall, looked rather unfriendly. Because her husband had died young, leaving her and her son as orphans in the mansion, she was not valued much. Over the years, in order to prepare "wife money" for her son, she had practically earned the title of a miser.

Just because Grandmother Jia pitied her as a widow who had lost her job, she increased her monthly allowance from five taels to ten taels. Later, she said that she was working hard taking care of Lan'er, so she increased it by another ten taels.

It was a full twenty taels, on par with the prices of Grandmother Jia and Lady Wang.

This naturally made Wang Xifeng, who only had five taels of monthly allowance, extremely "jealous".

Unfortunately, she was usually very stingy, so Wang Xifeng mocked her.

She tolerated it all. Everyone thought she was like Wang Xifeng, taking advantage of being the steward to amass wealth. Who wouldn't see through that?

All her money came from a perfectly legitimate source!

Even so, she could only save about five hundred taels of silver a year...

She'll need to save up 10,000 taels for 20 years!!

By then, Lan'er had grown up.

That's the advantage of having a man...

Li Wan glanced at Jia Lian, thinking that he could easily earn more outside than he did at home.

No wonder he had no intention of fighting with the master and mistress for the family fortune...

He probably doesn't like this aspect of his family.

If Li Wan was like this, one can only imagine how her sisters were, who only had a pitiful two taels of pocket money each month.

Ten thousand taels is already beyond the limit.

Second Brother Lian is really bold, actually making such a big bet with someone. Luckily, he won...

"Zhou Guiren's younger brother? I vaguely remember hearing about him before. I think he committed some crime and was thrown into jail, but wasn't he released later? How come he's involved again?"

Grandmother Jia still remembered the incident with Zhou Sheng. At that time, Yuan Chun had not yet been made a concubine, and the Jia family was quite afraid of the Zhou family, who were related to the imperial family.

Jia Lian then smiled and briefly recounted how another unlucky son of the Zhou family had deliberately run into his hands.

Everyone then understood why Jia Lian hadn't even told his family, but had been writing poems and lyrics outside.

It turns out they were provoked and had no choice but to do this.

The crowd felt somewhat relieved.

"Ten thousand taels is no small sum. Do you really intend to ask the Zhou family for that amount of money?"

Madam Wang suddenly spoke.

Because Jia Lian was still standing while Lady Wang was sitting beside him, Jia Lian glanced at her sideways and asked, "Why didn't you ask them to give it to you?"

"It is inevitable that you younger generations will act impulsively when you are out in public."

However, I'm afraid the Zhou family won't give them that ten thousand taels of silver.

If we force them, I'm afraid the two families will become enemies...

Lady Wang seems to be genuinely considering Jia Lian's and the family's well-being.

Actually, she didn't want Jia Lian to make such a windfall, nor did she want to offend the Zhou family because of it.

When Grandmother Jia and the others heard what Lady Wang said, they all pondered it in secret.

Young people are prone to acting impulsively when they're out in the world, and if they cause trouble, their elders will probably have to clean up their messes.

Although Jia Lian is an exception, capable of taking responsibility himself, the Zhou family is probably not.

Putting ourselves in their shoes, the Zhou family probably feels cheated by Jia Lian and might deny everything. If the Jia family sends someone to pressure them, pushing them too far could easily create a deadly feud, and they might not even get the money.

"Oh, so that's what you're worried about, Madam."

That lady is overthinking it. We don't need to send anyone to force them. Within three days, the Zhou family will definitely send the money over on their own initiative.

After all, the Zhou family is a respectable family.

Upon hearing this, Lady Wang instinctively thought that Jia Lian was too naive.

If the Zhou family denies the 10,000 taels of silver, what does it matter if they are branded as "sore losers"?

Fortunately, he remembered that Jia Lian's outrageous remarks were never unfounded.

She was also afraid that if she mocked Jia Lian now, she would end up like the eldest son of the Zhou family, getting slapped in the face.

So, he moved his lips but didn't say anything more.

When Grandmother Jia saw this, she assumed that Lady Wang was afraid of affecting Yuan Chun, since Consort Zhou was said to be quite favored in the palace.

YY

However, since Jia Lian said he wouldn't force the Zhou family, she couldn't say anything in his defense. She simply said, "In short, right now, it's just you and your master who are in charge of things outside our home."

"If there's anything, discuss it with your master. Don't act impulsively, disregarding the family's interests for petty gains."

"Grandson understands."

……