Lian Erye in the Red Mansion

"Second Master."

The maids, including Zijuan, knew that Daiyu was shy, so they would usually back away when Jia Lian came over.

Therefore, at this moment, Zijuan was standing outside the door. When she saw Jia Lian come out, she immediately came up and bowed.

Seeing Jia Lian looking down at her, she smiled and said, "Second Master often tells us to take good care of our young lady and not let her be willful and refuse to take her medicine. In my opinion, Second Master is the best medicine for our young lady."

Since Second Master returned these past few days, Miss has not only been in much better spirits, but even her cough has disappeared on its own. Her complexion is completely different from when Second Master went to Yangzhou. Therefore, this servant thinks that if Second Master could continue to accompany our Miss every day as he does now, perhaps our Miss's illness would be cured."

Because Jia Lian cared about Daiyu, he would often give her some instructions before leaving, telling Zijuan to be more intimate with Jia Lian before she dared to speak like that.

Jia Lian naturally wouldn't blame her for being talkative.

Speaking of which, apart from being in front of him, Daiyu was like a gourd with its mouth sawed off most of the time in front of others, keeping everything to herself and not liking to talk.

He needs a talkative and outspoken maid to take care of him. Otherwise, no matter how attentive he is, he can't possibly understand Daiyu's thoughts at all times.

His ability to so readily manipulate Daiyu's emotions owes a great deal to Zijuan, the traitor within the family.

Therefore, Jia Lian smiled, reached out and pinched her cheek, and said with a smile, "Of course I will accompany your young lady every day. Not only that, after your young lady marries into the family, I will also take you, this girl who knows how to talk and flatter, into my room. That way, when I am busy, I will let you, this girl, accompany your young lady in my place."

"Second Master, you..."

Zijuan felt that Jia Lian's actions were repeatedly beyond her comprehension.

When she was young, she only heard people say that Jia Lian was a dissolute young man. Later, after she followed Daiyu, she heard from inside and outside the house that, like Daiyu, she thought that Jia Lian was a very good person with great ambition and extraordinary courage.

After Jia Lian and Daiyu got engaged, seeing Jia Lian's series of ways of coaxing Daiyu, she felt that the rumors she had heard when she was a child were probably true.

Second Master, you really know how to charm girls.

But looking at the girl, I felt she was so happy.

She thought that was the end of it, but who knew that Jia Lian, who had never harmed her in the slightest, would suddenly pinch her cheek.

This caught her off guard, leaving her unsure how to react.

Fortunately, Jia Lian released her after he finished speaking, gave her a meaningful smile, and then left.

She quickly called out, "Second Master, it's getting late. Let me find a lantern to see you off."

"No need, it's just a few steps."

After saying that, Jia Lian had already disappeared at the end of the corridor.

The room that Daiyu arranged for Jia Lian was actually connected to her own courtyard.

It was only a short walk, but as soon as Jia Lian was out of Zi Juan's sight, he ran into the woman from a few days ago again.

"My lord, my husband requests your presence. He says he has something important to report to you."

"Your husband?"

"That's Lin Hong, the most accomplished member of our Lin family right now, a Xiucai (a successful candidate in the lowest level of the imperial examinations)!"

The woman spoke with an undisguised pride on her face.

Jia Lian glanced at her a few times, then said silently, "In that case, lead the way."

The woman's face lit up with joy, and she quickly bowed deeply, then swayed her ample hips and led the way.

Instead of going to the front yard, they stopped in front of a nearby side room.

Are you sure this is the place?

"How could I dare to lie to Your Excellency? You'll find out when you go inside."

The lady had a playful smile on her face, and a hint of excitement on her cheeks.

If Jia Lian hadn't known the other party's background, he might have thought the other party was plotting something sinister.

Lin Hong and his wife were considered relatively active and influential figures in the Lin family. After all, they had a scholar in their family!

When Lin Ruhai intended to choose an heir from among his clan, one of the candidates was their son, Lin Lang.

Therefore, they managed to snatch the opportunity from the Lin family members to move into the old house, take care of Daiyu, and preside over the memorial service for Lin Ruhai.

This is also why Madam Chen was able to come and go in the inner courtyard, because she was ordered by the elders of the Lin family to move in and take care of Daiyu, even though Daiyu didn't really need it.

At this moment, Ms. Chen had already pushed open the door.

From Jia Lian's perspective, one can see that the room is not large, but it has clearly been simply furnished.

With gauze curtains, red tents, and red candlesticks, it looked like a wedding room at first glance.

"Jiaojiao, the Marquis has arrived, why don't you come and greet him?"

At Chen's call, a girl of about fifteen or sixteen, with her hair tied up and dressed in a gorgeous lady's gown, walked over. She appeared very shy, giving Jia Lian a graceful bow at the door without saying a word, simply keeping her head down.

"This child, he doesn't even know how to help the Marquis in. What is he standing there for!" The woman scolded with a laugh as she turned around to help Jia Lian.

Jia Lian, however, flicked his sleeves and strode into the room. Before she could speak, he turned to her and said, "Since you've tricked me into coming here, why aren't you leaving? Or do you intend to get involved in what's to come?"

These words startled the mother and daughter, who then looked both embarrassed and awkward. However, the woman seemed to have a naturally thick skin; she quickly changed her expression from anger to joy, laughing as she retreated, carefully closing the door behind her.

The atmosphere in the room suddenly became tense. Of course, this was especially true for the girl.

Jia Lian casually walked to the stool in front of the table and sat down, looking directly at the girl in front of him.

To be honest, girls of this age, unless they have a bad figure or irregular features, will always be quite beautiful when they dress up so carefully.

As for the girl in front of me, she was slender and delicate with regular features, and she even had a bit of Daiyu's delicate demeanor.

The key point is that she also has the surname Lin. Perhaps, daughters of the Lin family are naturally more delicate than those of other families.

So, with her elegant attire and the obvious door-to-door delivery service, it was, to be honest, quite tempting.

"Speak, what exactly do you want from me?"

Jia Lian looked at the girl in front of him and asked calmly.

Perhaps unaccustomed to Jia Lian's tone, the young girl replied shyly in a low voice, "My mother asked me to serve the Marquis..."

"Do you know what that means?"

"I……"

The girl looked up at Jia Lian, then suddenly nodded, her cheeks flushing.

"Oh, you know? Tell me about it." Jia Lian said with great interest.

The girl blushed even more, furrowed her brows, and secretly glanced at Jia Lian several times before suddenly raising her hand to untie the ribbon around her waist.

Jia Lian was taken aback and remained silent.

But his silence was clearly taken as tacit approval by the girl.

The girl took a deep breath, then raised her slender arms and pulled the neckline of her dress, which already slightly revealed her shoulders, apart to the sides.

As the girl's delicate and graceful shoulders were fully exposed, her arms fell down again, and her smooth silk dress, completely without support, drifted down like a falling leaf.

It was only at this moment that Jia Lian realized the true intentions of the Chen mother and daughter.

Beneath the girl's gorgeous dress, she was completely naked, her skin radiant. With each movement, her most exquisite figure was fully revealed to Jia Lian.

Unexpectedly, the girl was so frank. Jia Lian suppressed his instinctive agitation, shook his head, stood up, and walked towards her.

"My lord~~"

The girl thought Jia Lian was attracted by her figure, so she covered her private parts with her hand and glanced at Jia Lian shyly. Seeing Jia Lian standing in front of her looking down at her, she pretended to sway and fall against him.

This trick wasn't taught to her by her mother; it was just a girl's instinct in front of a powerful man.

Sure enough, she felt herself fall into a strong arm, and just as she was imagining what would happen next, she suddenly felt a warmth on her body.

When she opened her eyes, she found that Jia Lian had somehow managed to lift up her fine clothes that had fallen to the ground and was draping them over her shoulders.

She was utterly puzzled. "My lord?"

"My lord, what? It's so cold, aren't you cold without clothes on?"

"..."

It was definitely going to be cold. I felt a bit chilly while waiting for her inside, but to complete the task my mother had given me and for my own bright future, this bit of cold was totally worth it.

Jia Lian gathered the left and right lapels of her clothes together, pressing the right lapel up to completely conceal the girl's immaturity. Then he let her go and laughed, "I'm not used to dressing girls, so you can tie the rest yourself."

After Jia Lian finished speaking, he glanced at her delicate, rosy face with lingering interest before turning away.

"Why...?"

"There's no 'why' involved. A girl should have some self-respect and dignity, shouldn't she?"

After Jia Lian finished speaking, he didn't even turn around to see the girl's reaction, and mechanically opened the door.

When Madam Chen, who had been waiting outside, saw Jia Lian come out, she seemed somewhat surprised: "Lord Marquis, you've come out so soon?"

Jia Lian's eyes darkened, he glanced at Chen Shi with disdain, ignored her, and left.

Madam Chen then realized that things shouldn't have gone smoothly in such a short time. So she quickly glanced into the room and saw her daughter standing there blankly. Her once well-fitting dress was now loosely draped over her body, with the collar half open. Suddenly, she knew what was going on.

Taking action is half the battle won.

Therefore, he didn't bother to ask about his daughter's situation and hurriedly followed Jia Lian's footsteps.