Lian Erye in the Red Mansion

Jia Lian dismissed Madam Xing with a few words and didn't take the matter to heart.

In the Jia family today, even Grandmother Jia and Lady Wang have to think twice before speaking to him, let alone Lady Xing.

It was just that he saw her as foolish and naive, and since she was his nominal legal mother, he was giving her some face and maintaining a reputation for filial piety and benevolence.

As they walked home, Jia Lian suddenly stopped, turned around, and called out to those behind him, "Come out! What are you doing, sneaking around like that?"

As soon as he finished speaking, a pretty, flower-like girl popped out from behind the narrow wall.

She walked over with her hands clasped behind her back and on tiptoe, looking both shy and confident. "How did you find me, Second Master?"

"How else did I find you? You've been following me since the old lady's room. Did you think I wouldn't see you?"

Jia Lian casually flicked Qingwen's forehead, and as she expertly covered her head and glared at him, Jia Lian suddenly laughed.

Girls Qingwen's age really change every day. It's only been a little over three months since I last saw her, and she seems to have become even more beautiful.

Slender arms and long legs, a face as beautiful as a lotus and eyebrows as delicate as willow leaves.

A slender waist, narrow shoulders—the epitome of a beautiful woman.

"What are you looking at, Second Master?"

Because Qingwen was born into the household of Grandmother Jia and had been raised freely by Jia Lian for many years, she spent her days wandering around aimlessly. Moreover, people from all the households gave her some face, which made her almost a local tyrant in the Rongguo Mansion.

Even in Grandmother Jia's room, she could come at any time. Therefore, she had calculated that after Jia Lian went to see Jia Zheng, he would most likely come to pay his respects to Grandmother Jia, so she came here in advance to scout out the situation and find an opportunity to get close to Jia Lian and talk to him.

In the end, her calculations were correct.

But when she was actually alone with Jia Lian, especially when he was staring at her so intently, she became shy again, afraid that he might do something shameful to her in public.

As if what she feared most had come to pass. No sooner had she finished speaking than Jia Lian bent down and hugged her. Startled, she immediately tried to dodge, but she was no match for Jia Lian, who had planned this all along. She easily fell into Jia Lian's hands, her body lifted off the ground and held in his lap with one hand.

"What are you doing? In broad daylight, someone might see us..."

Qingwen pushed Jia Lian a few times, protesting incessantly.

"What are you afraid of? Everyone in the manor knows you're my concubine. It's only natural for a man to hold his concubine. Even if someone sees us, it's nothing."

Jia Lian kept making things up, but in reality, he was worried about being seen. It wouldn't be a problem if ordinary maids and wives saw him, but if the three sisters and others saw him, it would definitely have a bad influence.

He hadn't seen the girl for a long time and missed her dearly. He also remembered how he had carried her back to his own courtyard when he first got her, and that's how this thought came to him.

Since it wasn't far, Jia Lian looked around, picked up his precious maid, and headed straight for his own courtyard.

Seeing this, Qingwen knew that resistance was futile, so she could only resign herself to letting Jia Lian hold her.

But in her heart, she was just like Jia Lian, unafraid of being seen. In fact, she thought it would be better if other maids and servants saw her, so they would know her place in the Second Master's heart.

Ever since that time when she was questioned by Grandmother Jia and others found out that she had been by Jia Lian's side for several years and was still a virgin, she lost all face. Some people who were jealous of her even gossiped and spread rumors about her behind her back.

What?! Her personality doesn't please Jia Lian? Even worse, some people fabricated stories that she had a physical defect, which is why Jia Lian disliked her!

This is truly intolerable, I, your humble servant, cannot tolerate it.

If they knew that the Second Master was now carrying her around in such a haughty manner, they would be so envious and jealous that they would never say those words again.

Because in the entire household, no other woman besides her had this honor. Well, the eldest young lady doesn't count.

So, half shy and half happy, Qingwen wrapped her arms around Jia Lian's neck and whispered something in his ear while they were walking.

It's nothing more than matters of love and family life, with a bit of complaining and tattling. For example, is Jia Lian getting tired of the old and looking for the new? Because she went to Pear Fragrance Courtyard to see those "music teachers" on Wang Xifeng's orders, and they were indeed all first-class beauties.

Jia Lian took the young beauty's words as mere amusement.

They put her down in the courtyard, and as soon as they approached the main house, they heard Feng Jie's voice coming from the hall.

"Ping'er, what's in these boxes? They're so heavy, I can barely move them..."

"Your second master is becoming more and more mysterious, and he even locked himself up with a lock."

"How about you go find a hammer and we pry the lock open?"

"No, that's not a good idea... Second Madam, please wait a little longer. You'll know when Second Master comes back."

Upon hearing this, Jia Lian smiled slightly and then lifted the curtain to go inside.

Sure enough, Sister Feng was standing in the middle of the pile of boxes, bent over, one hand on her chin, her brows furrowed, looking like she was overflowing with curiosity.

Seeing him enter, she hurried over to greet him, smiling, "You're back! What did the master want to see you about?"

"It's just some things happening outside and in the garden."

As he spoke, Jia Lian glanced at her sideways and laughed, "I vaguely heard just now that someone was trying to pick my lock. What's wrong? Haven't you dealt with me for months? Someone's itching for a beating again."

"Go away, go away! What amazing treasure is it that you're afraid people will see it? If you don't want me to see it, fine, who cares!"

Wang Xifeng immediately lost face and glared at Jia Lian.

Ping'er, who was inside the room, and Qingwen, who had followed her in, both chuckled at the sight.

It's because they all witnessed firsthand what the Second Master meant by "discipline." Hahaha, the domineering and lawless Second Madam Lian being spanked on the Second Master's lap—it's both hilarious and incredibly satisfying!

Jia Lian sat down in the main seat of the hall on a nanmu armchair and beckoned to Ping'er.

Ping'er, not understanding what was going on, still walked over. She saw Jia Lian lift up his robe, revealing three small keys tied inside.

"Take the third one down and give it to her. If you don't let her see it, she'll probably be scratching her head like a cat's claws."

Ping'er laughed upon hearing this, gracefully bent down, and extended her fair hands to take the key from Jia Lian's waist and give it to Wang Xifeng.

Wang Xifeng raised an eyebrow. "Just one key?"

"Or how many do you want?"

Wang Xifeng fell silent. She had already noticed that all the copper locks were brand new and uniform, and she hadn't expected that there really was only one key for each. It seemed they contained the same thing. But what could it be?

She happily turned to open the chest, but then heard Jia Lian instruct Qingwen to close the door.

"Is it really necessary to be so mysterious?"

Muttering to herself, Wang Xifeng became even more curious. She squatted down and opened a box.

"what!"

"ah!!"

Just as Jia Lian had predicted, a series of surprised exclamations rang out.

Accompanied by this surprised voice, and the dazzling light shining from the box onto Wang Xifeng's beautiful face.

Wang Xifeng's hand trembled, and even her pupils contracted. After a moment of stunned silence, she couldn't wait to reach out and check.

Not to mention her, even Qingwen, who had just closed the door and turned around, ran over at a brisk pace.

Ping'er wanted to go over too, but Jia Lian grabbed her hand, and before she knew it, she sat in Jia Lian's lap.

"Master..."

"What's the rush? The thing won't run away. Go check on it later. Let me kiss it first."

Jia Lian had been captivated by his beautiful concubine's figure when Ping'er took the key from his waist earlier, so he ignored her coyness, turned around, hugged her, and kissed her. His arms were also tightly wrapped around her body.

"It's actually true!"

On the other side, Wang Xifeng paid no attention to the people Jia Lian was bullying; her mind was completely focused on the box in front of her.

The reason was that the box was filled with identical, exquisite trapezoidal gold bars!

Almost instinctively, she picked up a piece, put it to her mouth, and bit it with her front teeth.

The familiar hardness immediately confirmed to her that Jia Lian was not playing a trick on her; it was real gold, even more real than gold!

She glanced at Jia Lian, immediately noticing Ping'er "struggling" in his arms, but didn't have time to care. She slapped away Qingwen's outstretched "dirty" hand, picked up a piece of gold, bit it, and then turned away, lowering her voice as if she were a thief, asking, "Where did you get so much gold? And those other chests, could they be from there too?"

Even from several meters away, Jia Lian could almost hear Wang Xifeng's pounding heartbeat.

"Whether it is or not, you'll know once you open it and take a look."

Jia Lian remained as nonchalant as ever, as if that whole box of gold bricks, which would drive the world mad, was nothing more than commonplace in his eyes.

Feng Jie didn't care about Jia Lian's attitude anymore. She immediately went to the door, first fixing the bolt that Qingwen hadn't properly secured, then peeking out through the window crack a few times before returning.

She glanced at Qingwen, took a deep breath, walked to a box next to her, and unlocked it.

Perhaps I was too excited, because it took me twice as long as before to barely open the second box.

Ding……

Although it was silent, the three women in the room seemed to hear the sound of metal clashing.

Qingwen was stunned, and Ping'er sat motionless in Jia Lian's lap. Only Wang Xifeng, with a flushed face, glanced at the box that was almost identical to the one from before, then immediately moved aside to continue enjoying the thrill of opening the box.

After opening all the boxes, Wang Xifeng could no longer contain herself and plopped down on the ground, muttering, "It's all gold..."

At this moment, where was the majesty of Second Madam Lian, and where was the dignity of the Marquis's wife? She was like a beggar on the verge of starvation seeing a steaming hot meat bun.

Of the three people present, only Jia Lian silently mocked her once. The other two maids, Ping'er and Qingwen, did not pay any attention to Feng Jie.

One of them covered her cherry-like mouth, while the other stared wide-eyed in shock.

Seeing that they were indeed stunned, Jia Lian smiled to himself, turned Ping'er's face, and kissed her red lips.

Ping'er no longer pretended to be reserved and responded passionately. After noticing Jia Lian's deep kiss, she also extended her fragrant tongue in response.

Because she knew Wang Xifeng too well, she wouldn't care too much about what Jia Lian did at this time.

Wang Xifeng turned her head and glanced at them, her brows furrowing, but she didn't say anything. Instead, she got up and checked each box one by one. After confirming that all the gold was genuine, she took out two pieces of gold and held them in her hand. Then she closed all the boxes and walked up to Jia Lian.

After Jia Lian had taken his advantage and released Ping'er, she held up the gold brick in her hand, her face filled with astonishment, and asked, "Where did all this gold come from? Could it be that the rumors are true, and you really...?"

Wang Xifeng's already bright and clear eyes now shone with a dazzling light.

Although he knew Wang Xifeng was a money-grubber, seeing her behavior, Jia Lian couldn't help but shake his head inwardly. He pulled her to sit on his other lap and asked with a smile, "Oh, what rumor have you heard?"

"That's right, some people say that under the guise of serving the imperial court, you took the opportunity to embezzle money in Yangzhou, extort money from salt merchants, and even killed someone..."

Wang Xifeng's voice was low, as if she was afraid of being overheard.

Jia Lian was a little surprised. He didn't expect that even Sister Feng had heard the news. It seemed that Emperor Ningkang had not lied to him. It was certain that the court officials had already started to make moves against him while he was still in Yangzhou.

"Do you believe those words? Do I look like a cruel and greedy person?" Jia Lian lifted Feng Jie's face with one hand and asked teasingly.

Sister Feng subconsciously shook her head. She knew that Jia Lian was a person who was "indifferent to fame and fortune." In the past, she was the one who complained that Jia Lian spent money extravagantly and was generous to some unrelated people.

But the facts are clear. If Jia Lian wasn't greedy, where did all this gold come from?

She examined them carefully; each box contained at least two or three thousand taels of gold... a total of ten boxes!

How much money must that cost?

Wang Xifeng felt like she was going to faint. She came from the Wang family, one of the four great families, and was the eldest daughter of the main wife. She was confident in her extraordinary knowledge and experience, but she had never seen so much gold before!

The most money she had ever seen was the silver stored in the former Rongguo Mansion's treasury.

But those large, heavy black boxes containing dark, black ingots of silver could never compare to these gleaming, brand-new gold bricks.

It can't even compare in terms of numbers.

She mentally calculated that all that gold must be worth at least 300,000 taels of silver.

Good heavens! The contents of these dozen or so small wooden boxes alone are several times more than the combined wealth that she and Jia Lian have accumulated over the years!

Will this cause any problems...?

Thinking of this, Wang Xifeng looked at Jia Lian with some worry.

She originally thought of herself as a bold person, believing that there was nothing she wouldn't dare to do. If it weren't for Jia Lian keeping her in check, she certainly wouldn't be as "obedient" as she is now.

But at this moment, she once again deeply realized that she was utterly inferior to her man.

Even with her arrogance, she knew that even if she had a hundred years, she might not be able to amass so much gold!

Jia Lian immediately had her carried to her.

She was even afraid that the Emperor's Imperial Guards would come to investigate her man at any moment.

Jia Lian found Feng Jie's reaction to be fairly normal and satisfactory.

However, he shook his head and smiled, "Don't you know that the Lin family's assets are now all in my hands?"

"So, all this gold belongs to Lin's family?"

Wang Xifeng secretly breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn't unaware of the Lin family's assets, but in her view, even if the Lin family had considerable wealth, it would only consist of antiques, paintings, calligraphy, and real estate deeds.

How could there be such neatly arranged gold bricks!

That's why she suspected that Jia Lian had embezzled the money. She had also heard that the salt merchants of Yangzhou were all incredibly wealthy.

I had previously heard from other noblewomen that some court officials were discussing how their husbands were extorting salt merchants, and that some salt merchants had even gone to the capital to report them.

She was quite taken aback at the time, but outwardly she feigned complete disbelief, even scolding the gossipy noblewoman. However, she still harbored doubts, which is why she became suspicious upon seeing such a vast amount of gold.

"So, what are you planning to do with this gold...?"

Wang Xifeng looked up at Jia Lian with starry eyes, her expectant gaze both amusing and endearing.

In Sister Feng's view, no matter how much gold the Lin family had accumulated, since it had been delivered to her...

Her mind was already racing, trying to figure out how to keep the gold in her own hands.

Jia Lian saw through her thoughts at a glance, and slapped her on the bottom in an annoyance, scolding, "Stop thinking about those tricks. Since I gave you the key, it's naturally for you to keep it safe."

But remember this: all this gold was given to you by Lin Daiyu. From now on, if you treat her badly, how will you live with yourself?

This gold certainly doesn't belong to the Lin family.

All the Lin family's assets that he brought to the capital were sealed up in the Lin family's villa.

This gold was part of what was originally moved from the Zhao family's secret chamber.

As for how Jia Lian managed to secretly mix them into the Lin family's property, there's no need to go into details.

In short, it wouldn't be difficult to extract the more than 100,000 taels of gold bricks from the Zhao family's secret chamber during the trip to Yangzhou, given the massive wealth totaling 12 to 13 million taels.

As for those who followed him into the secret room and knew about the gold bricks, firstly, they were of low rank and had no influence, so they had no idea how Jia Lian kept his accounts.

Secondly, they each gained sufficient benefits. It's not difficult at all to win over a few people who are already loyal to them.

In other words, even if they reported him, Jia Lian wasn't afraid at all. That's the source of his confidence in brazenly carrying those chests full of gold home.

Even if someone inspects the property midway and claims it's Lin family property, who would dare question him? Detain him?

This batch of gold was originally privately minted and hoarded by the Zhao family.

As for why this portion was given to Sister Feng, one reason, as he said, was to make Sister Feng think that she had received a great benefit from Daiyu's family, so that she would treat Daiyu well in the future.

Secondly, it also serves to shut this bitch up and solidify my position as the head of the family.

Jia Lian knew Feng Jie very well.

That's why he brought these glittering gold items in front of her to look at, instead of giving her silver notes directly.

Firstly, he had given most of his silver notes to Princess Zhaoyang. Secondly, Wang Xifeng was a typical money-grubber who loved gold and silver the most.

While she was certainly excited to be shown a stack of papers, nothing beats the dazzling and eye-catching presence of real gold and silver.