Lian Erye in the Red Mansion

Of course, Grandmother Jia was unaware of Jia Lian's thoughts. If she had known that Jia Lian could control their "destiny," she probably wouldn't have dared to act as the matriarch in front of him.

So she continued with a smile, "The second piece of good news is that your wife's younger sister, the concubine, and her family have come to the capital and are now staying at our house. Why don't you go and pay your respects to the concubine?"

Jia Lian had actually already seen Baochai and Aunt Xue's beautiful figures, but he was talking to Grandmother Jia and only glanced at them.

At this moment, upon receiving instructions from Grandmother Jia, he immediately stepped forward, bowed deeply, and said, "Greetings, Aunt, and greetings, Sister Baochai."

Baochai remained standing, but Aunt Xue showed no arrogance whatsoever. When Jia Lian bowed, she quickly stood up, smiling and saying, "No need for such formalities..."

As she spoke, Aunt Xue pretended to look Jia Lian up and down, saying, "When I saw you in Nanjing last time, I thought you were a good kid. I didn't expect that in just over a year, you've become such a majestic and extraordinary general. Good, truly impressive..."

Aunt Xue praised Jia Lian without reservation, and upon hearing this, Grandmother Jia asked, "Oh, so you've met him before, Aunt? How come I didn't know?"

Madam Wang, who was standing nearby, said with a smile, "When Lian'er went to Yangzhou last time, I heard that he also made a detour to Nanjing and visited all our important old friends and relatives. Perhaps it was around that time."

Grandmother Jia suddenly nodded: "I remember now."

So Grandmother Jia turned her head and smiled at Aunt Xue, saying that she was old and her memory was failing, and asked Aunt Xue not to take offense.

Just as Jia Lian found a moment of respite and stepped to the side, Jia Baoyu couldn't resist touching him, circling around him and occasionally reaching out to touch the icy, yet dazzling armor.

Jia Lian had just exchanged a few words with Yingchun and the others when he saw Jia Baoyu's appearance and smiled at him, saying, "What, you like it? Next time you come with me on a military expedition, I'll get you an even better-looking outfit than this, how about that?"

Everyone else laughed when they heard this, and Jia Baoyu himself felt embarrassed and withdrew his hand.

He could still tell that Jia Lian was mocking him. It was true that he didn't like reading, but that didn't mean he liked fighting and killing! On the contrary, he despised the crude and vulgar warriors who fought and killed. Compared to them, he was not as good as those bookish officials.

At least most of those students are clean. Look at Lian Erge, all travel-worn and sweaty. He's such a dirty guy!

He'd rather die than be forced to do the same.

Others took Jia Lian's words as a joke, but Lady Wang took them to heart.

According to Jia Zheng, Jia Lian has been greatly promoted while serving his elder brother, Wang Ziteng. If Jia Lian is treated this way, then there's no reason for him not to cultivate his own nephew, Bao Yu.

If Baoyu were placed next to his maternal uncle and made into a general, firstly, it would prevent Jia Lian from benefiting from the situation, and secondly, there was a real possibility that he might achieve great merit and obtain a title. At that time, even his own mere fourth-rank title would be promoted.

Before she could even finish considering all the benefits, Madam Wang quickly put the idea out of her mind.

People die on the battlefield. She has already lost one son, and this one must not be lost in any way!

Even the greatest benefit pales in comparison to Baoyu's life.

As Madam Wang was pondering these matters, Zhou Rui's wife, who was serving her, suddenly came to her side and whispered in her ear, "Madam, Master Dairu has come in person, wanting to ask for some ginseng to save his grandson."

Upon hearing this, Madam Wang immediately frowned and couldn't help but ask, "Didn't you give it to him by Feng'er yesterday?"

Zhou Rui's wife was at a loss for words.

Yesterday, Jia Dairu sent someone to request ginseng. Lady Wang told Wang Xifeng to weigh out two ounces and send it over. Xifeng simply agreed, but later sent over a small amount of dried, old roots and scraps, considering it enough to satisfy Lady Wang.

How dare he flirt with her, Grandma Feng? She'd be lucky if she didn't kill him, let alone send him ginseng. Dream on.

Seeing Zhou Rui's wife's expression, Madam Wang knew that Wang Xifeng was definitely being disobedient to her, and her face also turned somewhat unpleasant.

When Grandmother Jia saw this, she asked who had come. Upon learning it was Jia Dairu, she quickly invited him in.

Jia Dairu was one of the few surviving members of Jia Mu's generation, and he was the younger brother of the late Duke Rongguo.

Although they were not doing well, the Jia family governed themselves with filial piety, and no one in the clan dared to bully or humiliate them.

A short while later, Jia Dairu, whose temples were also gray and who was trembling, entered, leaning on a cane. He respectfully greeted Grandmother Jia, saying, "Greetings to my elder sister-in-law..."

In fact, Grandmother Jia was nearly ten years older than Jia Dairu. Seeing that her former brother-in-law had aged even faster than her, she couldn't help but feel a little sad. She asked, "What do you need? You could have just sent a young servant. Why did you come in person at your age?"

Upon hearing this, Jia Dairu couldn't help but shed tears, choking back sobs as he said, "My nephew is really ill, and the doctor said he needs to take 'single ginseng soup,' so I'm begging you, sister-in-law, to have mercy and save his life..."

As Jia Dairu spoke, he actually tried to kneel down before his mother, Jia Mu, while leaning on his cane.

Grandmother Jia was startled and quickly had her attendants help her up.

Grandmother Jia had only vaguely heard that Jia Dairu's grandson was ill, but she did not expect it to be so serious that Jia Dairu would disregard his dignity and come in person to seek medical advice.

Although ginseng is precious, which family like theirs doesn't stock up on some before winter?

Therefore, he said, "So that's what it was for. It's worth all this trouble. You could have just sent your servant to fetch it."

Upon hearing Grandmother Jia's words, Jia Dairu glanced at Lady Wang beside him and sighed softly.

Their family lived off the tuition fees offered by the students at their home school, and they were generally well-off. However, it was clearly impossible for them to afford the high-quality ginseng that cost tens or hundreds of taels per stalk.

Therefore, he had no choice but to seek help from the Rongguo Mansion.

Who knew that Madam Wang, who had agreed so readily, would only send him a package of unusable items, which was clearly a deliberate attempt to humiliate him.

He was, after all, the son of the Duke of Rongguo, and he had his pride. If it were anything else, it wouldn't matter, but for his grandson's life, he had no choice but to swallow his pride and personally visit Grandmother Jia. He hoped that Grandmother Jia would help him out of consideration for their relationship as uncle and sister-in-law.

Seeing Jia Dairu's expression, Grandmother Jia roughly guessed what had happened, and her own expression also turned displeased.

Seeing this, Madam Wang had no choice but to stand up and say, "Grandma, yesterday my daughter-in-law had Feng'er pack two ounces of ginseng and send it to the Master. Perhaps it's not enough? I'll go to the storeroom myself to check, and if there's any, I'll weigh out some more for the Master..."

Jia Dairu sighed and said, "It's not that we don't have enough. What Madam sent was just some root powder, which is completely unusable."

Upon hearing this, not only Grandmother Jia, but everyone else looked astonished.

Jia Dairu was, after all, an elder. Although ginseng was expensive, if he didn't want to give it, he could have simply said he didn't have any. Giving a packet of unusable root powder was really inappropriate.

Madam Wang's face turned ugly in an instant. Was Feng girl blaming her for not helping her pass on a message last time, so she was deliberately trying to ruin her reputation?

At this moment, Wang Xifeng had already emerged from the back door.

She heard from someone that Jia Dairu had come, and feeling guilty, she came to check.

Seeing this scene, she immediately sensed something was wrong. But she still cleverly stepped forward and, pretending to be nonchalant, said to the dark-faced Grandmother Jia and Lady Wang, "Master, this matter is my fault. Originally, I was supposed to follow Madam's instructions. However, the ginseng sent from the estate this year was not much. The whole ginseng was picked out the other day and used to make medicine for the Old Madam. The rest was to be used to make medicine for Aunt and the Governor's wife. Since we couldn't find any good ones, I asked them to go to the old storehouse to see if there were any extras. If there weren't any extras, I was also planning to go to the East Mansion to ask Madam Zhen for some to make up the difference and send it to you, Master."

Unfortunately, I was busy and forgot about it. I guess they were just being lazy and didn't want to go through the trouble, so they just found some cheap imitations to make do.

These maids and servants need to be taught a lesson; they even dare to be perfunctory about the master's affairs..."

Although Wang Xifeng's words were clever and somewhat reasonable, they could not fool Grandmother Jia and Lady Wang.

In particular, Grandmother Jia was genuinely angry. She knew that Wang Xifeng was taking Jia Dairu's family lightly because they were down on their luck, and was deliberately indulging and humiliating them, which led to Jia Dairu, at his advanced age, personally coming to her door to beg for help.

This time, she's lost face too.

Originally, if the brothers were not doing well, it would be the fault of the eldest brother and sister-in-law who inherited the family business. If this matter were to get out today, the good reputation she had built up over most of her life would be ruined!

Fortunately, Jia Dairu only wanted the ginseng to save his life and had no intention of completely offending Lady Wang and Wang Xifeng, so he didn't argue with Wang Xifeng. It wasn't just inferior stuff; it was clearly a dried-up packet of powder, the kind even a dog wouldn't eat!

Otherwise, Grandmother Jia would be even more embarrassed.

Even so, Grandmother Jia remained silent with a gloomy face, letting Lady Wang and the other woman know her emotions.

Lady Wang is alright, as someone else is taking the blame, but Wang Xifeng is on pins and needles. If Grandmother Jia doesn't let it go, she might really have a hard time getting through this today.

Humiliating elders, especially those two generations older, can bring good reputation!

He was anxious but dared not show it on his face, nor did he dare to argue further. His eyes darted around rapidly, searching for a solution.

Suddenly seeing Jia Lian sitting leisurely in the corner, she was instantly furious.

Damn man, why aren't you coming to my rescue now?