Lian Erye in the Red Mansion

Jia Jing, the lord of Ningguo Mansion, has been a monk for many years and lives in a Taoist temple.

Therefore, although Jia Zhen and You Shi were nominally the eldest master and young mistress of Ningguo Mansion, they were actually the heads of the household.

Now that Jia Lian is determined to deal with Jia Zhen, then winning over You Shi would naturally be entirely beneficial.

A fortress is usually easiest to breach from the inside. The reason is quite simple: with You Shi providing him with information and convenience, dealing with Jia Zhen would undoubtedly be much easier for him.

Of course, given that Lady You was not a crude and foolish woman, the possibility of her blindly obeying him after only two lessons was extremely low.

Therefore, Jia Lian wouldn't be so blindly confident as to tell You Shi about his intention to deal with Jia Zhen.

Human nature is complex; interests and emotions often require weighing the pros and cons.

Even if Lady You disliked Jia Zhen, he was still her support, and from a self-interested perspective, she certainly didn't want anything to happen to him.

Unless one day her affair is exposed, in order to protect herself, perhaps Lady You will stand firm in her position.

However, Jia Lian was not a person who liked to take risks. He preferred to plan ahead, so he could do this without You Shi's knowledge. When the day came, and You Shi found out, the difficulty and harm would undoubtedly be much less.

As I walked out of the room, I immediately saw Madam You's maid, Yindie, standing on the veranda, her body slightly hunched over and her legs awkwardly tucked together.

Perhaps hearing footsteps, she turned around and saw Jia Lian. She quickly composed herself and bowed respectfully, saying, "Second Master..."

"Have you been here the whole time?"

Hearing Jia Lian's question, the little maid became somewhat flustered.

Of course, she dared not say that she hadn't been able to resist peeking from behind the screen earlier, so she stammered, "Yes, this servant has been guarding here. This is the eldest mistress's order..."

Upon hearing this, Yin Die realized that perhaps Master Lian was worried about the safety of the place.

So he added, "Besides me, Fried Beans is also guarding down there..."

The Yu family was very cautious, and when undertaking such an important matter, they naturally had to ensure safety.

Her spacious and complicated dressing room had doors at both the front and back. If there was any disturbance outside, she could let Jia Lian leave through the back door. Several corner towers were also safe passageways.

Unless, someone has surrounded Tianxiang Tower beforehand...

As for the possibility that her two trusted maids would betray her, it's almost zero. After all these years as the matriarch, if she didn't even have the ability to keep two trusted maids in line, she would be too incompetent. Besides, as long as those two maids wanted to live, they would never betray her.

Jia Lian was certainly not worried about safety; in fact, even if he were discovered, he wouldn't be afraid.

He simply felt that this dutiful maid had worked hard, so he looked down at her.

Although her looks were nowhere near as good as Qingwen and Xiangling's, as You Shi's personal maid, she was naturally not unattractive.

With delicate features and a youthful appearance, this girl of fifteen or sixteen was undeniably beautiful and radiant. Therefore, Jia Lian took a step forward, and amidst her surprised and evasive gaze, reached out and pinched her cheek, smiling as he said, "Take good care of your mistress, and we will certainly not mistreat you, understand?"

"Yes, I understand..."

Silver Butterfly nodded hurriedly, but her little face was being pinched, making her movements a little uncoordinated.

My heart was pounding. I wondered, could it be that Second Master Lian has also taken a liking to me and wants to...?

Before she could fully process her imagination, Jia Lian had already let go of her hand and turned back the way he came.

Jia Lian's manipulation of the silver butterfly was merely a matter of whim. After years of experimentation with maids like Ping'er, Qingwen, and Xiangling, Jia Lian had a deep understanding of these young girls' psychology.

Arousing their expectations and desires often makes them more loyal and devoted.

As a mere maid, Yindie naturally didn't understand the reasoning behind it. Watching Jia Lian's tall and imposing figure disappear into the corridor, her heart was still unsettled.

Second Master Lian is truly a scourge. If he wanted to, I'm afraid no woman could escape his clutches!

No wonder even the eldest madam went to great lengths and took such a huge risk to arrange a meeting with him here...

Taking a deep breath, Silver Butterfly kept all her thoughts to herself before going inside.

……

"Second Master, we've finally found you."

Jia Lian leisurely returned to the garden, and not long after, Lin Zhixiao's daughter, Xiao Hong, came looking for him.

"What are you doing here?"

谷肂

"Second Madam asked me to come and find Second Master, saying that if Second Master doesn't have anything important to say, she wants him to come home."

Xiao Hong was an exceptionally clever maid who spoke clearly and logically, which was why she was able to gain Wang Xifeng's favor in just a few months.

She was just too young, only thirteen or fourteen years old, even younger than Qingwen.

Since it was lunchtime anyway, Jia Lian went home with Xiao Hong.

Sure enough, Wang Xifeng and the others had already prepared lunch and were just waiting for him to return.

However, there was another reason why Wang Xifeng sent Xiao Hong to find him.

"My second uncle is heading back to the capital in triumph, did you know?"

Wang Xifeng said excitedly.

Although the Wang family, unlike the Jia family, does not have a hereditary title, in recent years, thanks to her uncle Wang Ziteng, the Wang family's reputation has been no less than that of the Jia family!

This is one of the reasons why she and her aunt, Lady Wang, were able to marry into the Jia family, and both married into the family's head, because the Jia family also needed a relative with sufficient influence in the court!

Wang Ziteng is now a first-rank official.

Looking at the entire Wei court, there are fewer than five military officers whose rank can be compared to Prince Teng's.

The first rank is already the pinnacle for military officers; the only way forward is to enter the Grand Secretariat.

"Oh, Uncle is going back to the capital?"

"Hehe, just now my aunt sent someone to tell Madam that she will probably be able to enter the capital within the month."

Jia Lian nodded. This was a good thing. Wang Ziteng was a representative figure of the four major families. With him in charge of the capital, it would be more convenient for him to do things.

As for why Wang Xifeng was so excited to tell him this news, Jia Lian saw through it at a glance.

See? I'm someone with connections too. With my second uncle around, you can forget about bullying me!

"come over."

"What are you doing?"

Wang Xifeng was about to sit down to eat when she saw Jia Lian asking her to come over, so she went over anyway.

"Snap!"

Sure enough, the heartless man spanked her again.

"you……"

Wang Xifeng immediately started baring her teeth and brandishing her claws, and even cautiously glanced at the maidservant serving the dishes beside her.

Ping'er was used to it, but Xiao Hong was seeing the domineering and shrewish Second Madam being beaten for the first time... Although she was beaten, something felt off.

Although Xiao Hong was suspicious and didn't understand, she was clever enough to know that she shouldn't show any expression at this time.

"What? Isn't it natural for men to beat their wives? You want to hit them back?"

Jia Lian glanced at Wang Xifeng and said casually.

Wang Xifeng then lightly spat.

Of course she knew that the idea that it was natural for men to beat their wives was a common saying among incompetent men in the city, and it didn't exist in families like theirs.

Therefore, Jia Lian's words could only be a joke.

At the same time, she knew that Jia Lian had seen through her little scheme, and this was his response to her!

However, even though I was hit, I didn't feel like I was hit at all. Instead, I felt a tingling sensation on my buttocks...

Then she thought about it again. It seemed that Jia Lian was now addicted to hitting her, doing it every now and then. But compared to Uncle Zhen over there, who actually hit Sister-in-law You when they argued, she felt inexplicably sweet inside.

Even the most clueless woman will eventually figure things out after being "trained" by her man for a while.

Wang Xifeng knew that this was a sweet and flirtatious way for the couple to express their affection, and she had already accepted it in her heart.

However, Jia Lian should never have done that, in front of the maid, he made her lose face.

Therefore, after her expression changed several times, she reached out and pinched Jia Lian's arm hard as revenge, before pouting and sitting down angrily on the other side of the kang table.