Lian Erye in the Red Mansion

West of the Imperial City, there is an ordinary three-courtyard house, which was purchased by Lin Ruhai when he was promoted to the position of Director of the Imperial Academy.

After Lin Ruhai passed away, Jia Lian used this villa to store the Lin family's inheritance and arranged for a group of servants, led by Lin Youquan, to guard it.

At this moment, in a room deep in the backyard, the bed board of the Hibiscus Bed suddenly opened, and a strong, fair arm reached out from it.

He crawled out with considerable effort, then completely lifted the bed board, stretched his hand out to the hole underneath, and said, "Come on up."

Before long, a woman's figure, as delicate as a peony and as white as snow, emerged from among them.

She squinted first, then looked around and asked curiously, "Where is this?"

"This is Lin Yatou's room."

Upon hearing Jia Lian's words, Baochai was secretly startled and thought, "Could it be that after walking in the darkness for so long, we've actually arrived at Xiaoxiang Pavilion?"

But Baochai immediately realized something was wrong.

She had been to Xiaoxiang Pavilion many times, but she had never seen a room decorated like this before.

Besides, how could such a secret passage be so hidden just to connect to the Xiaoxiang Pavilion, which is also located in the Grand View Garden?

So she asked hesitantly, "I've heard people say that Lin Daiyu had another residence outside the Jia family mansion, which you helped to arrange. Could this be it?"

Jia Lian nodded, then shook his head: "To be precise, it's a property acquired by Lin's father, so it naturally belongs to Lin Meimei now. I'm just taking care of it for her."

Baochai remained silent.

She knew this from a conversation between Madam Wang and Aunt Xue.

When Jia Lian returned from Jiangnan, he brought back so many things in large carts and small boats, but many of them were not sent back to the Rongguo Mansion, but to the Lin family instead.

In the eyes of Lady Wang and others, the so-called Lin family was nothing more than Jia Lian pocketing the money for himself.

However, Jia Lian was in a stronger position than they were, so they dared not object.

Although Baochai did not intend to misunderstand Jia Lian, she felt it was just a nice-sounding way of putting it.

Anyway, since the Lin family's things have fallen into Jia Lian's hands, as long as Jia Lian treats Daiyu well in the future, it will be considered that he has a conscience.

Unexpectedly, judging from Jia Lian's words at this moment, he had no intention of taking over at all, and his tone clearly indicated that Daiyu was the master of this place.

At this moment, facing her, Jia Lian had neither the need nor the motive to lie or put on a show. His actions demonstrated his upright character, which is truly admirable.

Jia Lian, of course, had no idea that Baochai had once again truly accepted him. In his eyes, Daiyu's was his, and he had no reason to take it over.

On the contrary, in addition to the Lin family's old belongings, the mansion also contained a lot of his personal items!

For example, a large portion of the real gold and silver that the salt merchants of Jiangnan "paid tribute" to him was hidden here in the name of the Lin family.

So, if he were to split the bills with Daiyu someday in the future, he would suffer a huge loss in silence!

After tidying up and restoring the huge canopy rocking bed, Jia Lian sat on the edge of the bed and waved to Baochai, who was looking around the room.

Baochai walked over and sighed, "I originally thought that there were enough books in Lin Daiyu's room in Xiaoxiang Pavilion, but I didn't expect there to be even more here. Master Lin truly deserves to be the third-ranked scholar, and the Lin family truly deserves to be a scholarly family."

Baochai's words were genuine praise.

How could someone who doesn't truly love books possibly possess such a vast collection of precious books?

This is something that the four families of Jia, Shi, Wang, and Xue, who merely used books to decorate their facades, could not compare to.

"Lin Daiyu only chose some of her favorite items to decorate her room. Uncle Lin's real collection of books is far more than what is in Lin Daiyu's boudoir."

Amidst laughter and conversation, Jia Lian took Baochai's hand and gently pulled her onto his lap.

Although Baochai felt uncomfortable, she thought that Jia Lian had told her such a big secret today, and that this place was secluded and deserted, so she felt embarrassed to refuse Jia Lian's advances.

If Baochai didn't refuse, Jia Lian was even less polite.

Holding a delicate and fragrant body like Daiyu in your arms is wonderful, but for true pleasure, you need to hold a voluptuous beauty.

Especially someone like Baochai, who possesses strengths from all sides.

The saying goes that a beautiful woman of sixteen or eighteen is as soft as butter, especially one who ranks first among the twelve beauties, whose beauty and talent are both unparalleled.

Jia Lian locked his arms tightly, pressed his head against Baochai's, and fully enjoyed the beauty of her body.

He sensed that Baochai's unease was growing and that she was showing signs of resistance. He knew that if he couldn't find a suitable reason, the beauty would eventually push him away in anger because she was too shy.

Just as Jia Lian was racking his brains to tell Baochai a slightly risqué joke, he suddenly smelled a faint fragrance.

"Where is the fragrance coming from?"

Upon hearing Jia Lian's sudden question, Baochai, whose fair face had already turned bright red, instinctively asked, "What fragrance?"

"This fragrance is very unique, delicate with a hint of sweetness, somewhat like the delicate scent of white lotus!"

Jia Lian raised his head and spoke to Baochai very seriously.

Then he seemed to quickly lock onto a direction and pressed his head back against Baochai's soft breasts.

Baochai, who hadn't thought anything of it before, was greatly embarrassed upon seeing this. She quickly pushed Jia Lian's head away and said with a stifled expression, "There's no fragrance of white... white lotus. You're just trying to fool me."

"Really, I'm not lying to you. Smell it for yourself if you don't believe me."

As Jia Lian spoke, he took a deep breath between her breasts and then slowly exhaled it in front of Baochai.

Baochai couldn't bear this, and she couldn't possibly care less whether there was actually a lotus fragrance in it. She simply turned her head away and said, "You...you really want to embarrass me to death?"

"Uh, okay."

Jia Lian sighed softly, withdrew his head, and looked quite regretful.

But he was secretly quite pleased with himself.

An elegant boudoir, a lone man and woman, or a handsome couple like him and Baochai, where even without anything going on, sparks will fly.

Not to mention how he playfully teased and flirted with the beauty while holding her.

This can be seen from Baochai's pounding heart, her flushed face, and her eyes, which were much more hazy than usual.

This girl has fallen in love.

The reason Jia Lian brought Baochai here today was because he felt there were too many third wheels in the Grand View Garden, and Baochai was too reserved, which was not conducive to his strategy.

Seeing that the results were better than expected, Jia Lian certainly wouldn't miss the opportunity.

But he knew better than to rush things, so he paused for a moment with feigned regret, then suddenly looked up at Baochai and said, "Just now when you were bathing, Ying'er told me that you have a unique advantage that no one else in the world possesses..."

Baochai, who was already feeling incredibly shy and on the verge of climaxing, was startled by what she heard, and her eyes cleared up a bit.

Seeing her looking at him, Jia Lian didn't keep her in suspense and said directly, "That girl said that you have the fragrance of flowers all year round. She said that in spring you have the fragrance of peonies, in summer you have the fragrance of lotus flowers, in autumn you have the fragrance of white hibiscus, and in winter you have the fragrance of white plum blossoms."

At first I didn't believe it, but now I'm sure she's telling the truth.

Baochai said shyly, "That brat is talking nonsense. How could a person possibly smell of flowers..."

"How could there not be? I smelled it myself just now."

"No~ no! I said no, so it's no."

Baochai was unusually proud for once. However, her face was full of shyness, making her look more like she was being coquettish.

Jia Lian was stunned for a moment, then laughed and said, "Whether it's there or not isn't up to you to decide. Unless, you let me check..."

Perhaps love really does lower one's IQ; even the usually shrewd and intelligent Baochai failed to see through Jia Lian's intentions immediately, instead foolishly asking, "How...how do you intend to check...?"

"hey-hey."

Jia Lian remained silent. He turned slightly to the side, meeting Baochai's bright gaze, and placed her on the bed behind him.

"This~" Baochai seemed to want to back out.

Jia Lian placed a finger between her red lips: "Shh~"

Interrupting Baochai's questioning, Jia Lian no longer hesitated, bent down, and looked down at the peerless beauty lying by the bed, unconsciously bending one leg.

One word: beautiful.

It is so beautiful it is beyond description.

If he had enough time, Jia Lian would have loved to admire her for another half hour, and even wanted to subject her to various forms of training in order to observe different kinds of beauty.

Unfortunately, having experienced failure once, he knew it was better to wait until the future to try such a plan.

So he slowly squatted down and reached out his hands towards the beauty's already meager clothing.

Seeing Jia Lian's menacing look, Baochai knew perfectly well what he was up to.

After struggling with the decision for a long time, I finally decided to follow my heart and closed my eyes tightly.

……

The blazing sun shines on the house, and the intense heat penetrates through the tiles and beams, reaching every corner of the room.

On the bed, Jia Lian raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead, but finally could not hold on any longer and collapsed.

He lay on top of someone even worse off than himself, a person dripping with moisture.

The evenly distributed, densely packed water vapor evaporated, carrying away a large amount of heat. Jia Lian immediately felt that the beauty's skin was somewhat cool.

However, he immediately realized that it was an illusion, because in the midst of their intimate moments, he could feel the incredibly hot breath exhaled by the other person.

He could feel the beauty's heart pounding wildly.

Although the beauty's body was as soft as cotton and it felt very comfortable to lie on, Jia Lian was still worried that his weight would hurt her.

So, once he had recovered a little, he turned over and lay down beside the beauty.

Turning his head, he looked at the beauty's tightly closed eyes, especially the corners of her eyes still stained with tears, and couldn't help but reach out to stroke her burning cheek, softly asking, "Does it still hurt?"

Hearing his words, the beauty seemed to snap out of her reverie.

The moment she met Jia Lian's eyes, she lowered them in unbearable shyness. Then she leaned closer to Jia Lian's arm and said softly, "From now on, I belong to Second Brother Lian. I hope you will cherish me."

Hearing the beauty's cold and melancholic words, Jia Lian tightened his grip on her arm. Gazing at the hibiscus-scented canopy above him, he replied calmly yet solemnly, "Until the mountains crumble, the rivers run dry, winter thunder roars, summer snow falls, and heaven and earth unite, only then will I part from you."

After the poem was finished, Jia Lian could clearly feel the person in his arms tremble, and then her soft body pressed even closer to his chest.