Lian Erye in the Red Mansion

After a hearty meal and drinks, and with the business settled, Jia Lian, having no interest in listening to the salt merchants' sycophantic chatter, said "Thank you for your hospitality" and took his leave.

The salt merchants hurriedly rose to see him off, but dared not all crowd forward; only Zhou Boru saw him off to the entrance of the restaurant.

The Wangjiang Tower is built facing the river, with a water corridor surrounding its main entrance. Perhaps because there is no curfew in this area, even late at night, the banks of the river are still brightly lit and bustling with activity. Countless wealthy people have indulged in pleasure and revelry here.

"grown ups……"

Zhou Boru bent down and stepped forward, calling out softly. Only when Jia Lian turned to look at him did he dare to reach into his robes, take out something, and present it to him.

"These are the land deeds and house deeds of the manor that you inspected that day. Please accept them as my apology for my previous neglect of you!"

Despite his sincere attitude, Jia Lian shook his head: "I appreciate Chairman Zhou's good intentions, but after this matter is over, I'm afraid I will find it difficult to return to Yangzhou. It would be a pity to leave such a fine garden unused, and I also don't have the energy to arrange for people to repair and maintain it. It would be a burden."

Zhou Boru, clearly anticipating Jia Lian's concerns, quickly replied, "I knew you wouldn't be staying in this small Yangzhou city for long, so I've already thought it through. From now on, the Zhou family will take care of all the maintenance and other matters related to the garden, so you won't have to worry about it. I've already attached the list of people responsible for the garden's care and maintenance to the property deed; you can order them around like your own servants whenever you visit."

As for regret, that's hardly a question. The garden has been idle for many years anyway. Even if the master manages to stay there even once in the future, it will have fulfilled its purpose. Even if the master never stays there, it's already fortunate that it's in his hands.

"Hehehehe."

Jia Lian finally smiled. This Zhou Boru was quite interesting; after hearing him say that, Jia Lian knew exactly what he was planning.

The value of that garden goes without saying. Just consider this: Zhou Boru knew that he was going back to the capital and probably wouldn't return to Yangzhou for several years or even ten years. So why did he insist on giving the garden to him?

Was it simply for the convenience of him staying in Yangzhou when he occasionally visited?

Of course not. He's determined to curry favor with him!

You should know that even if you use 100,000 or 200,000 taels of silver to curry favor with someone, even if they are happy at first, they will inevitably forget or become indifferent to this "friendship" over time.

But houses and gardens are different. For example, as Zhou Boru said, once he receives the house deed and land deed, it means that the garden belongs to him and is his property.

In this way, whenever he thinks of Yangzhou in the future, he will remember that he still owns such a beautiful and luxurious property there, and naturally he will recall that it was a gift from the Zhou family.

It can be said that as long as that garden exists, the relationship between the Zhou family and him will continue.

Not to mention, the Zhou family will continue to manage the garden for him. In this way, even if he suddenly falls on hard times, it will be easy for the Zhou family to take back the garden. And if Jia Lian continues to prosper, it will be even more worthwhile—a one-time investment with permanent benefits.

But what could Jia Lian say? Putting aside the nice things people said, even if it were just a matter of fact, what they were doing was only beneficial to him and had no drawbacks.

He only accepted the contract, but didn't take over the property. He didn't say anything, and neither did the Zhou family. Who would have known that the garden was actually already Jia Lian's property?

Even if he goes to Yangzhou and stays there in the future, he can simply say that he has a relationship with the Zhou family and they are just treating him to a meal.

This eliminates the risk of others impeaching him for embezzlement and bribery, allowing fixed assets to be transferred in one hand and out the other.

It is evident that Zhou Boru is indeed shrewd and resourceful, and has his own set of rules for doing things.

"Very well, then I shall accept your offer without hesitation."

Jia Lian smiled and accepted the contract. He never liked to refuse such a freebie.

Even if the Zhou family gets into trouble in the future, if he doesn't want to get involved, he can simply sell the garden to someone else...

When Zhou Boru saw that Jia Lian had finally agreed, a look of joy immediately appeared on his face. However, if he knew the rather tasteless scheme in Jia Lian's heart, he probably wouldn't be smiling.

Amidst the compliments, seeing Shen Pan'er gracefully approaching, he said to Jia Lian, "By the way, I heard you say at the banquet earlier that this is your first time visiting the Little Qinhuai River. I'm afraid you didn't have time to explore it properly when you came here before."

Therefore, I have already arranged a pleasure boat for you, sir. Tonight, you may enjoy a leisurely boat ride and admire the most representative scenery of Yangzhou…”

After saying that, he immediately cupped his hands to Shen Pan'er, who had come closer, and said, "I'll trouble Miss Pan'er to take good care of the master tonight."

"President Zhou, you are too kind. It is my honor to serve you."

Zhou Boru and the others all believed that Shen Pan'er was already Jia Lian's woman, which was why they specially invited Shen Pan'er over tonight. They thought that with Jia Lian's former lover around, Jia Lian would not refuse their advances.

In reality, Jia Lian did not intend to refuse. A night cruise on a sunken ship, accompanied by beautiful women, was already enough to arouse one's imagination. Not to mention, given the way these salt merchants operated, there might be some other entertainment. Of course, he was happy to wait and see.

Seeing that his personal guards had taken control of the ship, Jia Lian did not hesitate and followed Shen Pan'er onto the ship, then went up to the second floor.

The ship wasn't very big, especially the second floor, which had almost no rooms, only pavilion-like cabins with no walls on all four sides. Instead, there were interconnected screens and countless colorful silks and bamboo curtains hanging from the beams, creating a scene that was both opulent and elegant.

Of course, what attracted Jia Lian's attention even more were the three dancers dancing on the deck. They had started dancing before Jia Lian boarded the ship, and now that they saw Jia Lian coming, they all showed a shy and coquettish expression towards him, but their dance moves were perfectly in accordance with the rules.

Inside the cabin, with the bamboo curtains wide open, many beautiful women were already playing music for them. Some of these women were playing the pipa, others the guqin, and still others the erhu.

These instruments, which should have been mutually exclusive, were played with remarkable harmony under their superb skills, producing a serene and elegant sound without any hint of decadence.

Apart from the few maids at the bow and stern of the boat, every woman here was exceptionally beautiful.

They were all the high-class courtesans I had seen at the banquet before. Even though I had already seen their faces, seeing so many top-class courtesans all at once, even though their looks and figures were somewhat similar, still made me feel amazed and stirred my heart.

Imagine if the twelve beauties of Jinling, including Yuan Chun, were all made to look like they were in their prime, and then dressed up in beautiful clothes and performed their talents together. What a decadent and intoxicating scene that would be!

"Hehehe, please sit down, sir. There's no rush. Tonight, we twelve sisters belong to you alone. You all have plenty of time to enjoy ourselves..."

Shen Pan'er smiled and helped Jia Lian into the cabin, where he sat down on a chair that had been laid out with dried tangerine peel.

Because she deliberately spoke in a seductive tone, the other beauties in the cabin who wanted to see Jia Lian but were too shy to look directly at him became even more embarrassed.

No one seemed surprised; in fact, many subtly straightened their posture so that they could see their most beautiful figures when Jia Lian glanced at them.

Of course, Gu Qingyi was not among these people.

The young woman in green, who had won the top spot in the beauty pageant for two consecutive years and was known as the number one beauty queen in Jiangnan, was sitting in the seat closest to Jia Lian, gently playing the guqin with a very calm expression.

At this moment, she removed her veil, revealing her stunningly beautiful face.

Jia Lian couldn't help but take a closer look, and then helplessly discovered that this woman was indeed just as he had guessed. Not only was she about the same age as Miaoyu, and equally beautiful and refined, but even her expression and temperament were nine-tenths similar to Miaoyu when he first met her at Panxiang Temple in Suzhou!

In other words, once he has completely won over Miaoyu, he can dress her up in such a beautiful way, and they will look exactly like a pair of peerless sisters.

If he hadn't known that Miaoyu was the only daughter of the former Suzhou textile commissioner, and that her father had only committed a crime two years ago, while this Gu Qingyi had already been famous in the Jiangnan pleasure quarters for three or four years, Jia Lian would have been tempted to suspect that this woman might be Miaoyu's long-lost sister!

Moreover, Jia Lian probably knew why Gu Qingyi was so popular. Apart from her looks and talents, which are subjective, her calm demeanor and ever-present aloof and refined appearance made her a perfect example of an abstinent goddess!

Such women might not matter much to truly powerful and wealthy people, but to those self-proclaimed ladies who are actually penniless and pretentious, they are practically killer beauties.

Seeing Jia Lian admiring the beauty and skills of his other sisters, Shen Pan'er, who had nothing else to do, went behind Jia Lian and wanted to give him a shoulder massage.

Given her status as the top dancer in Jiangnan, she would never have served men like this before. But now that she had made up her mind to cling to Jia Lian, she naturally wanted to seize every opportunity to let Jia Lian discover her merits.

She had barely escaped Jia Lian's sight when she suddenly felt she was being watched. Turning around, she saw two of Jia Lian's maids staring at her, especially one of them, whose cold, even murderous, eyes made her involuntarily take a step back.

Quietly calming herself down, she couldn't help but think to herself, "What's the point of keeping such a fierce woman around?"

She dared not act rashly again, knowing that Jia Lian's personal guards valued his safety highly. Just moments before, while they were preparing for their performance, the soldiers rushed in and ransacked the boat, confiscating anything that posed even the slightest threat to human health. They even searched the women themselves.

At the time, they were somewhat dissatisfied, but later they discovered that a large number of troops had been stationed on both sides of the river, which surprised them and made them admire the demeanor of Jia Lian, a powerful figure from the capital, which was indeed different from that of their Jiangnan region.

This made Shen Pan'er sigh in her heart. If someone like Jia Lian were to be so closely protected wherever he went, his life would inevitably seem a bit too rigid and boring.

Little did she know, it was Jia Lian's people who knew that Jia Lian was now a formidable obstacle for these salt merchants, and that there was a vested interest between them. That's why they were extremely cautious and careful when Jia Lian set foot on their territory, not daring to give him the slightest chance.