Lian Erye in the Red Mansion

"Not only is the girl in green well-versed in music, excelling in both the qin and xiao, but her talent is also unparalleled. Many of the musical pieces and lyrics she composed have not only impressed countless talented men in Jiangnan, but have also been sung by the most famous courtesans in Jiangnan's brothels, who regard them as classics. It is evident that the girl in green's talent is beyond the comprehension of us vulgar people."

Xu Baoan probably felt that Zhou Boru, as the host, shouldn't boast about his own business, so he was very eager to introduce the company, but he didn't notice the wink Zhou Boru gave him.

Gu Qingyi herself, after politely saying "You flatter me," looked at Jia Lian with her beautiful eyes and said, "My humble abilities are not worthy of such praise from you gentlemen, especially in front of the Imperial Envoy. It would be as if I were showing off my limited skills before an expert."

Although I have never been to the capital, I have heard of the Imperial Envoy's talent and reputation. I have always believed that the Imperial Envoy is a truly outstanding talent, and compared with him, my shallow knowledge is really not worth mentioning.

For example, the poem "Chang Xiang Si" by the master, which was circulated from the capital to Jiangnan last year, is truly admirable in terms of its exceptional talent and sentiment. As a result, a new tune has already been set to it, and it has become widely popular. Even courtesans greatly admire this poem.

She also dared to add a few tunes, but knowing her own dullness, she was afraid of tarnishing the master's elegant work, so she never sang them to others.

Therefore, although Qingyi had never met the lord before, she had long admired his talent and wisdom. To finally see the lord's true face today was truly an honor for Qingyi.

The beauty spoke as if exhaling a fragrant orchid, and her almost transparent veil was slightly lifted by the wind, allowing Jia Lian to see her unparalleled beauty more clearly with just a slight turn of his head.

In addition, the beauty was already quite close to him, and the fragrant scent emanating from her elegant body was enough to make even Liu Xiahui yearn for her. This made Jia Lian even more certain that the title of the most beautiful woman in Jiangnan was indeed well-deserved.

Fortunately, Jia Lian had already seen many beauties, and he forced himself not to turn his head too much to look at the other woman, so he remained calm and shook his head with a smile, saying, "I am just a rough man, and I have only managed to come up with a barely acceptable poem. It is nothing special."

Hearing this, the security guard realized he had almost caused trouble. He only knew that Jia Lian was a military officer, so he subconsciously assumed that Jia Lian was also a rough man, and his words just now implied that he included Jia Lian in the category of ordinary people like them.

If Jia Lian were less sensitive, he probably would have been displeased. Therefore, he dared not say anything more and quickly retreated.

Seeing that Xu Baoan had made a mistake, the others took the opportunity to flatter Jia Lian.

One person even deliberately looked at Jia Lian and Gu Qingyi and said with a smile, "A peerless beauty like Miss Qingyi is only worthy of a hero like you, sir. What does this mean? A beauty paired with a hero, a lady paired with a talented scholar..."

"That's right, that's right. I just don't know if Chairman Zhou would be willing to part with the young lady in green and give her to you, sir."

Now that the topic has come up, Zhou Boru naturally has to express his opinion.

"I dare not deceive you all. The reason why I dare to change the name of my Zhou family's brothel to 'Qianjin Yixiaolou' is entirely due to the beautiful name of the young lady in green."

Since Qingyi rose to fame in the past few years, Qianjin Yixiaolou has undoubtedly gained immense popularity and made a fortune by relying on the name of the Qingyi girl.

Therefore, although my Zhou family is the employer of the girl in green, in fact, the girl in green is actually the benefactor of my Zhou family.

I have already instructed my men to treat the young lady in green with the utmost respect, and anyone who dares to show the slightest disrespect will be severely punished according to the family rules.

Therefore, although the young lady in green is still the most beautiful courtesan at Qianjin Yixiaolou, my Zhou family has long since granted her the freedom she deserves. Today, in front of the Imperial Envoy, my Zhou family promises that as long as the young lady in green is willing to follow you, we will not hinder her in the slightest, and we will not ask for a single penny of ransom, considering it repayment for our debt of gratitude.”

Zhou Boru seemed to grit his teeth and solemnly made the promise.

While Bai Yi and the others outwardly expressed their admiration, they inwardly despised him. "Old fox, what a convincing actor!"

If you say you ordered your subordinates to treat him with courtesy and provide him with strict protection, they will believe you. But to say that the Zhou family had already granted him his freedom and that he still considers him a benefactor of the Zhou family is simply laughable.

However, they could all understand Zhou Boru's actions. There's a proper way to give gifts, especially when it comes to beautiful women!

Given Jia Lian's status, would he lack women?

There might be a shortage, but what's lacking isn't just any ordinary beauty, but the kind that not only possesses unparalleled beauty but also has a unique, irreplaceable allure—ideally, the kind that a man can consider his confidante.

This unique attraction can be beauty, talent, intelligence, or even a unique experience with a man.

In short, you must make this woman feel unique in the man's eyes, like a fairy sent from heaven, the salvation of his soul. Seeing her is like encountering love.

This is the core of the honey trap.

Therefore, for such a unique and peerless beauty, tonight's chance encounter with her destined man, leading her to abandon everything and willingly follow him, is naturally far more precious than giving her away like a commodity.

This is also why they didn't have much of an opinion about Zhou Boru using the courtesans they had each invited tonight as foils to highlight Gu Qingyi.

Because, compared to Gu Qingyi, who was famous throughout Jiangnan, the courtesans they invited always seemed rather ordinary.

Jia Lian didn't speculate too much about these things, because he had roughly guessed this outcome ever since Gu Qingyi appeared. After all, if one didn't want to give away such a "good thing," the best choice was naturally not to let someone of much higher status see it, otherwise wouldn't that just needlessly attract attention and bring trouble?

Therefore, upon hearing Zhou Boru's words, he also turned his head to look at the girl in blue with great interest.

From the very beginning, he noticed that this beauty had a cold aura about her. Even the things she said before seemed to be based on social obligation rather than genuine feelings.

As expected, Gu Qingyi showed no surprise at Zhou Boru's words. She simply bowed to Zhou Boru and then turned to Jia Lian, nodding slightly: "I am but a humble person. If you, sir, would be so kind as to take me in, I would gladly serve you for the rest of my life."

The words were concise and to the point, revealing little emotion. They conveyed a sense of resignation, leaving one feeling that something was missing – a lack of surprise.

Facing the expectant gazes of the crowd, Jia Lian did not respond directly. Instead, he looked at Gu Qingyi and smiled, "Miss Qingyi just mentioned that she once added a new tune to my 'Longing for You' melody, which has piqued my curiosity. Tonight is the perfect time; I wonder if I might have the honor of hearing Miss Qingyi play this piece?"

Seeing how polite Jia Lian was to Gu Qingyi, the salt merchants were somewhat stunned. Did he agree to accept the salt or not?

Zhou Boru frowned as well. Although Jia Lian was a difficult person to deal with, he absolutely did not believe that Jia Lian could refuse his good intentions!

After thinking for a moment, he roughly understood Jia Lian's meaning. He sighed inwardly, realizing that he would have to pay a heavy price to get through this ordeal.

Gu Qingyi, who had always spoken softly and remained calm, showed a hint of surprise for the first time. She glanced at Jia Lian's handsome face, nodded, and bowed before leaving.

……

When the clear and melodious singing, accompanied by the soft sound of the zither, drifted out from inside the hall, it interrupted the whispering courtesans who were gathered on the outer veranda.

As the leading ladies of their respective brothels, they rarely get together.

Only during the annual Flower Queen Contest, when the top courtesans from various prefectures toured the country to perform, could they occasionally gather in twos and threes.

I never expected that my courtesans, whom I rarely see but have compared themselves to countless others, would gather here in this way.

Moreover, all of them came here solely to please one person.

This was a rare occurrence in their careers as courtesans.

My heart was filled with both bitterness and joy.

To my delight, I met the legendary Marquis of Zhenyuan, who was indeed as handsome and dashing as I had heard.

The bitter truth is that this time, they were treated as mere accessories. You see, back in their own brothel, and even in their own prefecture, they were always the ones being used as foils!

There was a sense of disappointment, but when they thought that the person being used as a foil was Gu Qingyi, many people felt less disappointed.

After all, the other woman's reputation was something that all the courtesans of Jiangnan could only dream of, and there was nothing they could do about being jealous.

"Sister Pan'er, I heard that you once performed at the Marquis's residence. You are also the only one among the most beautiful courtesans in Jiangnan who has seen the Marquis in many different ways. Can you tell us what kind of person the legendary Marquis of Zhenyuan is?"

When I saw him just now, I only thought he was very young and handsome, but I couldn't see anything else.

Shen Pan'er, who had just come out for some fresh air after tidying up her makeup, was surrounded by a group of people.

But she was used to it, so she responded quite naturally to these rivals who, on the surface, called each other sisters but in reality, were constantly competing with each other.

"Also, I've heard that you've already served the Marquis of Zhenyuan. Is that true?" A courtesan asked earnestly, her innocent eyes wide open.

Shen Pan'er turned to look at her and shook her head. "This must be a misunderstanding. What a heroic figure the Marquis of Zhenyuan is! How could he possibly be interested in you, little sister? You don't have such good fortune."

The woman's face lit up with secret delight.

"No way, I heard you've already left the brothel? If you hadn't decided to follow Lord Zhenyuan, why would you have left?"

When someone raised questions, it immediately triggered a chain reaction.

"Sister Pan'er, will you still participate in this year's Flower Queen Contest?"

"Probably not. After all, I've already participated twice, and I really can't compete with Gu Qingyi. What's the point of participating again?"

The others then became suspicious.

The Flower Queen Contest is a stage where countless flower queens from all over Jiangnan compete. To shine in the Flower Queen Contest brings numerous benefits to each of them.

Not to mention, once you're among the top four courtesans, your appearance fee will be at least one hundred taels of silver.

This brings not only money, but also an extraordinary status and more opportunities to meet influential people.

For these courtesans, what could be more worthwhile than finding a good husband?

Shen Pan'er had participated in the previous two sessions, but suddenly she didn't participate this time. Given the rumors that Shen Pan'er had left the brothel and disappeared for over half a month, they all knew she was lying.

During that time, she must have been serving Jia Lian.

But I don't know why she's denying it now? Is it because she's not charming enough to attract Jia Lian, so she's embarrassed to admit it? Or is Jia Lian just a name without substance, actually a heartless and fickle man who abandoned Sister Pan'er after playing with her?

Thinking about it this way, some people who had wanted to curry favor with Jia Lian immediately backed down.

After all, she was born into a life of hardship and was blessed with this appearance. It would be foolish not to cherish this first opportunity to make a choice.

Of course, excluding two or three of them, who are still virgins on the surface but are actually no longer virgins.

Courtesans are divided into "pure courtesans" and "married women," with the former usually holding a much higher status than the latter.

To curry favor with Jia Lian, the salt merchants naturally invited courtesans, but even following their reputations, there was still a chance of something going wrong. After all, if a courtesan secretly offered herself to her lover, or was forcibly defiled by some powerful figure, and didn't report it to the brothel, no one else would know.

Therefore, these two or three people dared not provoke someone of Jia Lian's stature. It was one thing to fool others, but if Jia Lian or the salt merchants found out they had been deceived, their fate would be dire.

Shen Pan'er saw the expressions on her "sisters'" faces and understood their thoughts perfectly. She was happy to create this misunderstanding for them.

The courtesans who came tonight are all a great threat. If it weren't for the salt merchants asking her to mediate because she had "served" Jia Lian, she wouldn't have had this chance to see Jia Lian again tonight.

Looking towards the main hall, apart from Gu Qingyi's singing and playing the zither, there was nothing else to be seen.

At the stairwell and in the corridor, soldiers were on guard everywhere. Looking down from the railing, there were sentries every three or five steps.

She had just looked out the window of the side room and saw that the entire Wangjiang Tower was under the guard and control of Jia Lian's soldiers.

Is this the grandeur and power of an imperial envoy?

She also wanted the protection of this power. Unfortunately, his business was almost finished; after that, he should return to the capital.

So this is her last chance.

……

Inside the hall, after Gu Qingyi's performance, Jia Lian and the salt merchants began to discuss the main topic.

This time, the salt merchants were much more honest. They didn't try to find excuses or make up reasons, but frankly admitted that they hadn't done a good enough job for the court, that they were wrong, and that they were willing to accept the court's punishment.

However, his words implied a plea for Jia Lian's forgiveness and understanding.

"I can understand you, but you do not understand me."

When I first arrived in Yangzhou, I offered you all some advice, but not only did you not appreciate it, you repeatedly sent assassins to try and kill me. Your actions have truly chilled my heart.

Upon hearing Jia Lian's questioning, the salt merchants cried out that they were wronged, saying that it was all the Zhao and Wang families who acted on their own initiative, and that their actions had nothing to do with them.

After arguing for a while, Zhou Boru tentatively said, "It's all our fault for being ignorant. Only today have we come to understand your good intentions, sir."

If you are willing to forgive us, we are willing to make amends for our mistakes in accordance with your requirements of that day…”

Seeing Jia Lian's thoughtful expression, which seemed reasonable, Zhou Boru quickly added, "Although the evil deeds committed by the Zhao and Wang families have nothing to do with us, Your Excellency's distress is ultimately due to the salt administration. Therefore, in addition to compensating the national treasury with three million taels of silver as Your Excellency promised, and giving you one million taels to bribe officials in the court, we would also like to offer Your Excellency a separate, generous gift to calm your nerves."

We implore you, sir, to grant us this chance, considering our sincere repentance.

As Zhou Boru spoke, he was the first to stand up and kneel down to plead.

Seeing this, the others did the same.

Jia Lian coldly looked at the people on the ground. Their honesty today was a case of not shedding tears until they saw the coffin, so they didn't deserve any sympathy.

If these salt merchants weren't involved in the salt consumption of nearly half the people of the Great Wei, and it weren't for the fact that it was inconvenient to implicate more people and cause greater turmoil, even if all of them were confiscated and punished, they would be largely innocent.

"Get up, everyone."

"Thank you, Lord Xie..."

"I don't want to make things difficult for you, after all, we are all people who work for the court."

Very well, let's do as Chairman Zhou says. Anyway, I've already confiscated the property of the Zhao and Wang families, and now that you're all willing to sincerely repent, I can give an explanation to the court and His Majesty when I return to the capital.

However, I have one more thing to remind everyone of.

The salt merchants immediately bowed and listened to the admonition.

"You all sell salt for the imperial court and are in charge of the livelihood of the people. You have done a great service and deserve more profits than other merchants. The imperial court can understand this."

However, everything has its limits. The Great Wei governs its people with the laws of the land. If you all fail to abide by the law, I fear that even if I forgive you this time, you will still find it difficult to guarantee the continuation of your families in the future.

Therefore, I have a suggestion for everyone: either leave the salt business as soon as possible, or be honest, law-abiding, and don't try to be clever.

For example, you have suffered heavy losses this time. Are you thinking that after I leave, you will take even more from the people?

The salt merchants all said they dared not.

Whether you genuinely dare not or pretend you don't, it doesn't matter.

In short, I have already reminded everyone.

In fact, the rising price of salt on the market, coupled with the decreasing salt tax revenue entering the national treasury, has long aroused dissatisfaction among the court and His Majesty.

Some even suggested abolishing the existing practice of specific families running the salt trade and instead allowing all merchants in the country to trade in salt…

"How can this be allowed? If other merchants get involved in the salt trade, wouldn't that create chaos? How can we guarantee that the salt and iron monopolies will remain the domain of the imperial court?"

"Yeah yeah……"

Upon hearing the words that their special status would be stripped away, the salt merchants erupted in uproar. After all, their immense wealth stemmed from being families designated by the imperial court to sell government-mandated salt.

If they were to compete with merchants from all over the world, wouldn't their advantages vanish instantly?

This is far more intolerable than Jia Lian taking away four million taels of silver from them.

"Quiet."

"As I have said, this is a suggestion from some court officials, which the court has not yet adopted."

However, you are all intelligent people, and you should know that when the court truly loses its trust in you, do you think the problems you just mentioned will still be problems? I have said all I have to say. You may all leave and discuss this carefully.”

The group exchanged bewildered glances. Zhou Boru quickly said, "Thank you for the reminder, sir. We will carefully study your teachings."

Jia Lian didn't say anything more. The reason he said those last words was simply to prevent these salt merchants from immediately trying to make up for their losses of millions by maliciously raising salt prices. That would make it seem as if he and Emperor Ningkang were trying to squeeze money from the people.

Then Zhou Boru and the others said that the amount of silver to be handed over was enormous, and they would need some time to prepare it. Jia Lian generously gave them a seven-day deadline. This was because he also needed a lot of time to finish dealing with the matters of this trip south. For example, it would take a considerable amount of time to count and load the huge amount of wealth piled up in the salt administration office onto the ships.

"The Zhao and Wang families, among others, violated the law and were punished by the officials, which is certainly gratifying. However, the large tracts of land they left behind cannot be left unattended; otherwise, if this continues, the people will not be able to buy salt, and chaos will surely ensue."

Zhou Boru suddenly mentioned it in a veiled way.

Jia Lian laughed and asked in return, "As far as I know, although you have fixed salt trading areas, the imperial court has long established a law to prevent a prefecture from having only one salt trader, which could easily lead to price gouging. Therefore, a prefecture must have at least three salt traders operating at the same time."

What you really want to ask is about the salt permits of the Wang, Zhao, and Feng families, isn't it?

"The matter of salt permits is not under my jurisdiction, nor do I wish to. When the new Salt Inspector arrives, he will take over the arrangements on behalf of the court."

However, I do have a tempting offer in my possession. I wonder if any of you would be interested in taking a bite?

Upon hearing this, Zhou Boru guessed that it was the Wang family's money shop left behind by the Wang family.

Opening a money shop is no easy task. They all knew that the Wang family money shop was not easy to change under Jia Lian's control, and in the end, it would probably be taken over by a wealthy family.

Therefore, the few confident individuals who wanted to compete for the opportunity exchanged glances, each secretly pondering how to get their hands on this coveted prize.

After all, if they could acquire the Wang family's bank at a reasonable price, the losses they suffered at Jia Lian's hands should be made up for!