Lian Erye in the Red Mansion

At the Yangzhou Canal wharf, a large group of officials were already waiting.

The impressive display of power made those who made a living at the docks over the years murmur among themselves, wondering which important figure had graced Yangzhou with their presence.

Their doubts were quickly resolved. As the officials and wealthy men gathered and stood, a huge official ship slowly sailed over from the distant river.

Just looking at the officers and soldiers who were the first to disembark from the deck of the official ship, holding up large black pink signs with the words "Retreat" and "Silence" written on them, any knowledgeable person could not hide their astonishment.

Another imperial envoy has arrived in Yangzhou! But no one knows why he came.

"Your humble servant, Wu Zhirong, Prefect of Yangzhou, along with all the officials of Yangzhou Prefecture, respectfully welcomes Your Excellency the Imperial Envoy!"

On the straight road in the middle of the dock, people dressed in official robes were seen getting off the official boat. A middle-aged man of medium build with a slightly protruding belly took the lead, stepped forward, and bowed.

After a long silence, just as Wu Zhirong thought the imperial envoy was going to give him a hard time, he heard a very gentle voice that sounded like someone his age.

"Haha, so it's Lord Wu. I've heard so much about you."

Wu Zhirong then got up and looked. He saw that the person walking towards him, although dressed in the attire of a civil official, was only wearing a blue robe, and his age did not match. Obviously, he could not be the famous Marquis of Zhenyuan, Jia Lian.

I glanced behind him subconsciously and saw two or three civil and military officials, but they were all dressed in the clothes of minor officials.

The leading civil official seemed to know what he was looking for, and without urging him, he just stood there with a smile.

Wu Zhirong reacted quickly, immediately composed himself, and smiled at the newcomer, saying, "This must be Steward Yang, I've heard so much about you."

"No, no, it is indeed your humble servant."

Knowing that the imperial court had sent people down to supervise the salt administration, local officials such as Wu Zhirong naturally wanted to investigate the background of the main people who came before they could feel at ease.

After exchanging a few polite words with Yang Xun, Wu Zhirong couldn't help but ask, "We heard that Your Excellency has arrived. My colleagues and I in Yangzhou have prepared a welcoming banquet for you. May I ask, Lord Yang, where is Your Excellency now?"

Yang Xun smiled and said, "Lord Wu, you've gone to a lot of trouble. However, the Imperial Envoy is not in Yangzhou right now, so let's skip the welcome banquet."

"Not in Yangzhou?"

Not to mention Wu Zhirong, even the several subordinate officials who had considerable influence in Yangzhou's officialdom who stepped forward at this moment couldn't help but look at each other with undisguised suspicion.

Yang Xun naturally knew what they were thinking, and simply said, "The Imperial Envoy has other matters to attend to at the moment, so he has entrusted me to go to Yangzhou first. He will arrive in a few days."

Is there something else?

This explanation sounds a bit perfunctory.

An imperial envoy is someone who is sent by the emperor to handle a special important matter. How could something else possibly delay things?

Sure enough, the imperial court is really serious this time. The legendary imperial envoy is too lazy to even bother dealing with them. As soon as he arrived in Jiangnan, he went to various places to investigate and collect evidence.

This was an easy guess to come up with, so for a moment, not only did the Yangzhou chief official remain silent, but the salt merchants, large and small, who were standing behind and had heard the news, all looked worried and panicked.

The imperial envoy wouldn't even let them see him, so how could their preparations be of any use?

"I wonder if Lord Yang could inform us of the Imperial Envoy's whereabouts? If so, I can arrange for someone to receive and serve him, lest some ignorant person offend the Imperial Envoy, which would be disastrous."

"Well, I don't know, the Imperial Envoy has not spoken to me. But Lord Wu need not worry, the Imperial Envoy said that he will come to Yangzhou as soon as he finishes his business."

Seeing that he couldn't get anything out of Yang Xun, Wu Zhirong didn't press the matter. He buried his doubts in his heart and smiled as he invited Yang Xun to take up residence in the camp.

Unexpectedly, Yang Xun said that the imperial envoy had ordered him and his entourage to stay at the salt administration residence to facilitate the investigation and retrieval of files.

This straightforward and undisguised behavior made Wu Zhirong and the others uneasy. That evening, they arranged a separate banquet, inviting Yang Xun and a centurion from the Northern Garrison who accompanied him. After the banquet, they each gave him a considerable sum of silver.

Yang Xun and the other man did not refuse, which undoubtedly made Wu Zhirong and the others secretly relieved.

……

As for Jia Lian, when they were about to enter Yangzhou, he told Yang Xun and the others to slow down, while he himself, along with Daiyu and the others, went ahead into Yangzhou Prefecture.

Just as Yang Xun and his group entered Yangzhou, he had already taken Daiyu and crossed the entire city of Yangzhou, heading towards Suzhou.

At this moment, he seemed completely unaware that the entire Yangzhou prefecture was in turmoil because of his disappearance.

He, on the other hand, had Zijuan and the others set up armchairs and fruit platters, and then took Daiyu to enjoy the breeze on the deck of the Fujian ship.

Daiyu sat on a high stool next to Jia Lian, her feet resting on the stool's leg loops. She looked at Jia Lian, who was lying back in a grand chair, having Xiangling peel grapes for her while Xueyan massaged her legs.

"Zijuan, are you the laziest one? Can't you see your daughter is drooling with envy? Why don't you peel some fruit for her?"

Zijuan stood behind Daiyu, and upon hearing this, she glanced at Jia Lian with a hint of helplessness.

How come I never noticed this side of Master Lian before? In her eyes, Master Lian used to be very serious, even though he was kind and gentle. Except in front of the old lady and others, he was a man who never smiled.

How to put it? He has a kind of imposing presence even without being angry.

But ever since he proposed to his daughter, especially after boarding the Fujian ship, as his relationship with her became increasingly intimate, Master Lian became more and more lazy in front of them.

It's unclear whether this is his natural personality or if he's deliberately behaving this way to get closer to the girl.

When Daiyu heard Jia Lian's teasing, her face flushed slightly, but she didn't show it.

Over the past two weeks, spending every day with Jia Lian, she has gained a clearer understanding of some aspects of Jia Lian's personality that she was previously unaware of.

Like Zijuan, she suspected that Jia Lian was pretending to be friendly with her. But regardless, she had indeed been very happy for the past two weeks and had significantly reduced her sense of distance from Jia Lian.

Of course, at the same time, respect for Jia Lian also decreased!

Daiyu even felt that Jia Lian had only pretended to be her cousin before, and that he was now being his true self!

Although she felt a little deceived, what could she do when her cousin, Lian Er, was so good to her? Even if she was deceived, she could only accept it. Anyway, compared to Jia Lian, who cared for and cherished her like a father, she preferred this cousin who was like a peer to her, teasing her from time to time or telling her a novel joke.

Therefore, she didn't mind Jia Lian ordering her around, and instead turned her head to ask, "Second Brother, you're not even going into Yangzhou City, but accompanying me to Suzhou first. Aren't you sure there won't be any trouble?"

Daiyu grew up in luxury, with both her parents being highly accomplished and elegant individuals. Even after joining the Jia family, although she was sometimes unhappy, her grandmother always provided her with almost the absolute best materially. This led her to become somewhat unaware of the hardships of the world, and she wrote lines such as, "In a prosperous age, there is no hunger or cold; why then is there the need to toil in farming and weaving?"

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However, this does not mean that she was exactly like Jia Baoyu, completely ignorant of worldly affairs.

On the contrary, Daiyu was very intelligent. She had a certain understanding of worldly affairs and even the officialdom, but she simply disdained to reveal it.

After all, she is Lin Ruhai's daughter, and having been exposed to the rules since childhood, she knows many rules that others do not.

She knew, of course, that Jia Lian was an imperial envoy on this mission, carrying out a royal decree, yet he had abandoned most of his entourage to accompany her in escorting her father's coffin to Suzhou. Leaving aside whether this would delay Jia Lian's important business, what if someone found out and impeached him before the emperor? Wouldn't that be a crime in itself?

"No, what trouble could there be if I escorted my uncle for a while? Or do you not trust your husband's abilities and are worried that I might not be able to handle the emperor's mission properly in just two or three days?"

"What nonsense are you spouting? What 'young master'...you're so frivolous!"

When Daiyu heard Jia Lian refer to himself as her husband, her face flushed red, and she glared at him fiercely.

For her now, this form of address still makes her too embarrassed. Unless, after they're actually married, then perhaps...

Zijuan smiled without saying a word in response to this situation, while Xueyan, who was kneeling on the futon on the ground, stared blankly at the two masters for a moment. After being kicked by Jia Lian, she continued to bury her head in massaging Jia Lian's calves.

Xiangling, however, glanced at Daiyu, whose face was flushed and more radiant than a peach blossom, and thought to herself: "When Miss Lin is shy, she's more beautiful than a flower. Only Second Master is worthy of a beauty like Miss Lin!"

Originally, Xiangling was unaware of the affair between Jia Lian and Daiyu, but after serving them closely for so many days and witnessing their growing affection, even the slow-witted Xiangling would eventually notice something amiss.

Finally, one day, while serving Jia Lian a bath, she couldn't help but ask him a question, and that's when she learned the truth.

Xiangling was very grateful to Daiyu. When she was first rescued from kidnappers by Jia Lian, she was taken care of by Daiyu, who was only eight or nine years old at the time. After arriving at the Jia family, Daiyu became her mentor under Jia Lian's matchmaking.

For Xiangling, being able to study was one of the happiest things, second only to being with Jia Lian.

Therefore, Daiyu held a very high position in Xiangling's heart. So when she learned that Daiyu would become Jia Lian's second wife, Xiangling felt no jealousy whatsoever; on the contrary, she was secretly delighted.

In this way, she can repay Jia Lian's kindness while fulfilling her filial duties to Daiyu, without having to worry about the dilemma of not being able to fulfill both loyalty and filial piety.

Daiyu, after all, wasn't particularly concerned with worldly affairs. Seeing Jia Lian's confident demeanor, she put her worries aside. In any case, she was overjoyed that Jia Lian was willing to put aside other matters and accompany her to Suzhou first.

She had been worried about whether Jia Lian should stay in Yangzhou to wait for her or return to Suzhou first if he disembarked in Yangzhou.

This is the best outcome for her now.

Feeling grateful for Jia Lian's kindness, Daiyu didn't want to hold his verbal advances against her. However, she was still embarrassed because the maids had overheard her, and she couldn't stand Jia Lian's smug look, so she got up and went back to her room.

Who knew that Jia Lian had just peeled a grape himself, leaned back, and brought it to his lips, laughing as he said, "Zijuan is too lazy. She won't even peel a fruit for you. I really don't know how you treat such a girl like a treasure. I have to personally do it for her."

Daiyu rolled her eyes at Jia Lian, but she was used to him teasing Zijuan. As long as it wasn't too excessive, she even enjoyed watching Jia Lian tease Zijuan. After all, Zijuan, relying on being sent by Grandmother Jia, always bossed her around like a maid.

After hesitating for a moment, not wanting to waste Jia Lian's good intentions, she lowered her head, slightly opened her mouth, and took the tender, glistening grape flesh from Jia Lian's fingertips into her mouth, chewing it in small bites.

Although she doesn't usually like eating grapes, the one Jia Lian peeled for her tasted exceptionally sweet, and she couldn't help but smile slightly.

But she soon regretted it.

As if he had found something fun, Jia Lian stopped letting Xiangling serve him, sat up, and focused on peeling grapes for her. He fed her one grape after peeling it, and when she showed an expression of not wanting to eat, he coaxed her gently.

However, Daiyu is Daiyu after all. Even though Jia Lian coaxed her with kind words, after eating the third one, she still stubbornly turned her head away and firmly refused Jia Lian's kindness.

She was even a little angry.

Perhaps because she had fed greedy squirrels before, she could roughly guess why Jia Lian did this. She used to catch two squirrels and feed them by hand.

Simply because the little squirrel's round, bulging mouth as it eats is incredibly cute.

She suspected that Jia Lian treated her like a small animal.

Of course, there was also the reason why her lips would easily touch Jia Lian's fingers every time she received food from him, which made her a little embarrassed.

"Hahaha……"

Jia Lian did this because he found Daiyu's small, delicate way of eating very endearing, but when he saw that Daiyu was not cooperating, he did not force her.

Just then, Ah Qin and the person at the bottom of the stairs walked over. Although they didn't say anything, their expressions indicated that something was wrong.

Jia Lian casually tossed the fruit in his hand into Xiangling's mouth, stood up, and said with a smile, "Sister Lin, you stay here and keep an eye on things. I'll go down and take a look."

In front of Xiangling and the others, Daiyu could be more at ease. But with others around, Daiyu was reluctant to show any closeness to Jia Lian, so she nodded slightly as if to acknowledge him, and then watched Jia Lian go downstairs.

Upon arriving at the bow cabin, he found his personal guards, including the captain and vice-captain, as well as Lin Youquan.

Although he did not bring all fifty-odd guards with him on this trip, he did bring Captain Zhang Yong, Deputy Captain Zhao Sheng, and Liu Xianglian.

Of course, Aqi originally held the position of deputy captain, but she only protected Jia Lian personally and did not concern herself with the affairs of the personal guards.

Even so, Zhang Yong and the others still respected the Aqi sisters. Not to mention that they could always be with Jia Lian, the news that Her Highness the Princess of the Dynasty had appointed the two of them as third-class guards of the Princess's residence had also spread throughout the Jia family.

Those with proper official positions naturally hold extraordinary status.

Besides his personal guards, three small boats followed the Fujian-style ship, carrying dozens of imperial guards. These were fast boats hired before entering Yangzhou to avoid detection.

"Second Master was right. We were indeed discovered. Just now, the Imperial Guards sent word that they spotted a sneaky speedboat trying to follow us, but it has been driven away."

As soon as he entered, Zhao Sheng spoke first.

Upon hearing this, Jia Lian frowned slightly.

The power of the Yangzhou salt merchants was renowned throughout the land. This was not unusual; money makes the world go round. With profits of at least tens of millions of taels of silver every year, divided among just twenty or thirty merchants, it would be strange if their power were not immense.

So it's not surprising that they were able to find his trail so quickly.

But he wasn't worried at all. His reason for splitting up with Yang Xun was twofold: firstly, to accompany Daiyu to Suzhou and help her settle Lin Ruhai's affairs; and secondly, to create a smokescreen for the Yangzhou officialdom.

After all, if there really were problems in the Yangzhou officialdom, so much time has passed; the relevant authorities would have already taken care of everything, and wouldn't have left it unattended for him to investigate. So, arriving in Yangzhou a day earlier or a day later makes no difference.

It would be better not to go to Yangzhou, the stronghold of the salt merchants, for now. Perhaps other nearby prefectures might have more reliable information.

That would make it easier to break through the current situation.

Even if they knew his whereabouts, it wouldn't matter. He never intended to hide his whereabouts anyway. Lin Ruhai was a second-rank official, and the southward journey of his coffin was a major event. If someone really wanted to investigate, it would be very easy for them.

This was his second smokescreen, making those people unsure whether his departure was truly to escort Lin Ruhai's coffin to Suzhou, or to avoid them and investigate their weaknesses.

With the imperial court sending people down to investigate the case so openly, the people of Yangzhou Prefecture must be fully prepared for the investigation.

At this time, the more unconventional his actions, the more uneasy and anxious the people of Yangzhou Prefecture would become. As long as they were unsure of him, or rather, unsure of the court's true intentions, given enough time, those with real problems might lose their composure and reveal their weaknesses.

As for how to resolve the issues of the Yangzhou salt administration and the death of An Siyuan, Jia Lian had already made some plans while he was in the capital. Now, as long as he could handle things as well as possible within the time limit given by the emperor, that would be enough.

After his parents passed away, Liu Xianglian began to wander between the north and south, and he also went to Yangzhou and witnessed its prosperity.

Because of his own abilities, he also made friends with some famous people in Yangzhou and knew some things about the officialdom in Yangzhou.

Seeing that Jia Lian seemed somewhat careless about the salt administration, Liu Xianglian couldn't help but remind him, "My lord, I have been to Yangzhou before and even met the prefect of Yangzhou, Wu Zhirong. Therefore, I know a thing or two about the affairs of Yangzhou."

Because the Lianghuai Salt Administration was located in Yangzhou, Yangzhou had long been one of the most prosperous and bustling prefectures in the entire Jiangnan region.

The most famous of them were naturally the major salt merchants, especially seven of them.

Rumor has it that all seven salt merchants have powerful backgrounds and immense influence.

Now that Your Excellency has been ordered by the Emperor to supervise the salt administration, you should be extra cautious in all matters.

As Liu Xianglian spoke, he looked at Jia Lian's expression.

Although Jia Lian took a liking to him and brought him under his command, he still needed to judge Jia Lian's abilities and methods by observing his reactions and actions in major events. He would then decide whether he should strive to serve Jia Lian loyally for a bright future, or feign loyalty and spend the next three years peacefully before leaving.

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