Lian Erye in the Red Mansion

Seeing the soldiers rushing recklessly into the gate, Bai Yi's face changed drastically. He hurriedly shouted at them, but the soldiers were just following orders and didn't take his words seriously. Perhaps they all knew that Bai Yi was no ordinary person. Since Jia Lian didn't give any orders, no one directly arrested him. They just pushed him aside and rushed into the gate.

"Master, what should we do...?"

Bai Yi's sons were almost in tears, hiding fearfully behind Bai Yi.

Seeing that threats were ineffective, Bai Yi finally calmed down a bit. He seemed to know why Jia Lian had come to cause trouble for the Bai family, because Jia Lian had mentioned the word "assassination."

He wasn't stupid, so he immediately knew that it must be that fool Wang Shanxiang who had already made a move against Jia Lian, but obviously failed.

If it didn't work out, fine. If Jia Lian was angry and wanted to vent his anger, he should have gone after Wang Shanxiang, not the Bai family.

Pushing his useless son aside, Bai Yi staggered forward and bowed to Jia Lian: "Everything requires evidence. Even if the imperial envoy wants to punish my Bai family, he must give us a reason. What kind of logic is this, acting without cause?"

"You want evidence? Fine, I'll give you evidence. Bring it here."

A middle-aged man dressed in servant's clothes, barely alive, was dragged up by the soldiers.

"This servant greets Master. This servant is incompetent and has failed to complete the task assigned by Master. Please forgive me..."

Seeing this unfamiliar man in front of him, who immediately kowtowed and spoke in such a manner, Bai Yi gasped in shock!

He understood the whole story almost instantly.

What a treacherous bastard, Wang Shanxiang! I'll curse your mother! You dare to scheme against me!

"Where did this bastard come from? Do I even know you? And when have I ever told you what to do? You damned bastard, how dare you falsely accuse my Bai family! I'll skin you alive!"

Enraged, Bai Yi stepped forward to kill the man, but was stopped by the soldiers.

Once Bai Yi understood the whole story, his pride vanished, and he immediately knelt before Jia Lian, saying, "Please, Your Excellency, see the truth. This person is not a member of the Bai family. Someone is plotting to frame my family and to put you at odds with the Empress Dowager. Your Excellency must investigate thoroughly, or you will fall into the trap of a villain."

Even if my Bai family had the greatest audacity, we would never dare to harbor such rebellious thoughts as to assassinate you, sir.

Bai Yi had considered immediately bringing up Wang Shanxiang and pointing the finger at Wang Jiaqian.

But if he said that, even if Jia Lian believed him, wouldn't that also prove that the Bai family and the Wang family were colluding to assassinate Jia Lian?

In this way, Jia Lian could use this as a pretext to take action against the Bai family.

Thinking about it this way, he hated Wang Shanxiang even more. He finally understood why Wang Shanxiang dared to frame him so blatantly. Wasn't she just using the Bai family as a pawn?

He could even guess that Wang Shanxiang, that arrogant old man, must have thought that if he failed, he could shift the blame onto the Bai family, so that even if Jia Lian got angry, he certainly wouldn't dare to take action against the Bai family!

Thinking about this, he didn't know whether he should be proud or angry.

The current situation is that Jia Lian, this hothead, knows he is from the Bai family, yet he still dares to attack them.

It's infuriating that neither her aunt, the Empress Dowager, nor her cousin, Bai Qi, the Marquis of Yangwu who commands 100,000 troops, are in Jiangnan. Otherwise, how could they allow Jia Lian to be so arrogant!

"The witnesses are right here. Do you still want to deny it? Do you think I'll believe you?"

Seeing Jia Lian's cold smile, Bai Yi thought for a moment and realized that if he were Jia Lian, he certainly wouldn't have believed the assassin he caught on the spot just because of what he said.

With a quick glance, an idea came to him. He carefully examined the middle-aged man who looked lifeless and then exclaimed in surprise, "Hey, aren't you one of Master Wang's men? I'm familiar with your master, and I often saw you by his side when we met before."

Yes, it's you, that's right. Although I don't know your name, I know you're from the Wang family.

"Very well, I have no past grudges with Wang Shanxiang, nor any recent animosity. Tell me, why have you conspired to frame my Bai family?!"

The middle-aged man's expression changed, and with his bloodied and mangled face exposed, he shouted, "Nonsense! I don't know any Master Wang, and I've never been by his side... Master, just confess! Stop making excuses!"

Didn't you say that a mere Jia Lian dared to bully the Bai family, and that you would teach him a lesson?

"Bullshit!"

Bai Yi and the middle-aged man engaged in a game of wrangling.

Jia Lian watched coldly, but in reality, he also harbored doubts about whether the Bai family had sent someone to assassinate him.

Firstly, the Bai family has the strongest financial backing, so they shouldn't be the first to act against him.

Furthermore, and most importantly, he had just learned from Wu Zhirong that An Siyuan's son was in the hands of the Wang family. Then, someone instigated Xu to assassinate him, threatening his son's life in the process.

When Jia Lian heard Xu's account, he felt a slight sense of lingering fear. He understood why Xu dared to do this almost immediately upon hearing her plan.

It can only be said that he was fortunate that he did not really bully the weak woman and widow. Xu was serving him voluntarily, which is why she immediately informed him.

Otherwise, if he were to be careless and take advantage of the other party's unpreparedness, there is a real possibility that their plan might succeed.

However, if he had really done something beastly, he certainly wouldn't have kept the Xu mother and daughter by his side; he would definitely have taken precautions against them.

I guess it's true that good people get good rewards.

Not only did it save him from a crisis, it also gave him the perfect reason to do what he had always wanted to do.

Therefore, following Xu's instructions, after capturing the person who instigated the incident and interrogating them to find out who the "mastermind" was, Jia Lian immediately led his troops to surround the Bai family.

Seeing Bai Yi's reaction and his immediate exposure of the Wang family, Jia Lian, after considering various factors, naturally trusted him more.

But...

"Stop arguing. Do you think I'll believe you just because you've put on this show?"

To tell you the truth, I have long ago found irrefutable evidence that your Bai and Wang families have been profiting from the illegal sale of salt. I originally thought that if you behaved well and were willing to cooperate with the court's punishment, I would not mind letting you live.

Who knew you would be so audacious and ungrateful? Then don't blame me for being ruthless.

Therefore, even if you don't testify against the Wang family, I have already secretly sent men to surround them. Rest assured, the Wang family's fate will definitely not be any better than your Bai family's.

After saying this, Jia Lian dismounted, seemingly intending to enter the Bai family's gate.

Bai Yi was truly anxious.

Last night I witnessed Jia Lian ransacking the Zhao family's property. If Jia Lian really gets in and confiscates his Bai family's property, even if his cousin and others manage to save him in the end, all the family fortune he has worked so hard to build over the past ten years will be wasted.

At this critical moment, Bai Yi couldn't care less about anything else and immediately shouted, "My lord, please wait! This humble subject has something to say!"

Seeing Jia Lian stop, he immediately said, "Last night, after we left the Zhao family, we gathered together to discuss how to deal with you, sir."

At that time, Wang Shanxiang became incredibly audacious and expressed his desire to eliminate the official so that the court would send down a more easily bribed imperial envoy.

We dare not deceive you, sir. Although we do not agree with his opinion, he speaks with such certainty that he seems to have absolute confidence.

Therefore, this matter must have been instigated by him; he was trying to harm the adults, and it has nothing to do with us lowly people.

If Your Excellency is willing to show leniency, my Bai family is not only willing to testify against the Wang family on Your Excellency's behalf, but from now on, the Bai family is willing to do everything in its power to cooperate with Your Excellency and will never dare to have any disloyal thoughts again. Please grant us your mercy!

'

Bai Yi kowtowed heavily to the ground.

His previous attempts to argue and resist were merely based on something he was relying on. When the Bai family's reputation proved ineffective against Jia Lian and he was about to take action against him, he became afraid.

Jia Lian turned to look at him: "Are you serious?"

"It is absolutely true. If you do not believe me, sir, you can summon the other five major salt merchants in Yangzhou for a face-to-face confrontation. If it is proven that I am lying, I am willing to submit to your judgment."

Jia Lian smiled.

With the Bai family's testimony, the salt merchants' accusations of wrongdoing were confirmed. This saved him the trouble of painstakingly collecting evidence.

I believe that afterwards, they will all cooperate with him and accept all his punishments.

Although I'm confident I could put in more effort and subdue these salt merchants, who wouldn't want to save some time and energy?

However, one needs to be qualified to accept his punishment.

He already disliked Wang Shanxiang, and yet he dared to lay a hand on him. Perfect, it seems the Zhao family alone isn't enough to control these salt merchants; looks like he'll have to kill another chicken.

Sigh, why force him to take action and make the emperor rich?