The Red Mansion Big Liar

Chapter 186 Aftermath and Reconsideration

Dark, damp, and sticky.

Zhang Yunyi opened his eyes and felt a sense of emptiness in his stomach.

I glanced at the window inside the house and found that it had actually become dark outside, with only the faint light of snow reflecting off it.

He groped towards the head of the bed based on his memory, but found nothing.

He supported himself on the bed with his hands and just sat up. Just as he was about to turn around to look, he saw the door was pushed open.

"Yun Yi is awake!"

As Youshi stepped into the room, she said one word and then quickly fanned her nose with her hands.

She couldn't help but complain, "She's like she has no idea where she'll get her next meal. When I saw her walk, her legs and feet weren't working properly!"

It was a very cold day and it was difficult to open the windows. There was a steamer burning in the room, so the smell was naturally very unbearable. When You came in suddenly, she found the smell extremely pungent.

Zhang Yun逸 had been in it all the time and had adapted to this decadent atmosphere, otherwise, he would not have been able to stay there for a moment.

"What time is it?" He rubbed his head. "When did she leave?"

"It's already midnight! She didn't dare go back with the girls. She asked me to order a car to take her home early while they were having dinner in the back garden."

Youshi kept chattering, "You two were sleeping like dead pigs. Fortunately, I saw that you were not moving, so I came over to take a look. Otherwise, you would have been discovered."

"I didn't go to the garden, so they don't suspect anything, right?" Zhang Yunyi also felt a little guilty.

You was thankful and said, "Fortunately, I made up a lie about the government office and got away with it. Otherwise, the government office would have been over and you hadn't come back yet. Who knows if they would get suspicious! I heard from Baozhu that the second and third girls asked about you several times."

Zhang Yunyi had just woken up and didn't notice that the second girl also included the third girl. He said absentmindedly, "Sister-in-law, don't say anything. She said before that she just wanted to keep some memories and have nothing to do with her in the future, so she gave up her face and repeatedly..."

After hearing this, Youshi could not help but say, "You are kidding me! This kind of thing always happens again. Besides, she was almost unable to get out of bed. When I woke her up, she was reluctant to leave. She panicked when she heard that it was time for dinner."

Zhang Yunyi couldn't help but shook his head. He knew very well that for this kind of thing, there was only a difference between once and countless times.

However, he had not expected that Li Wan’s serious illness, which had lasted for nearly ten years as a widow, would be so difficult to cure.

At first, Li Wan asked him to take care of her, and he took it seriously, thinking that she had been a widow for ten years and had always been pure and unselfish, so she would definitely not be able to bear the burden.

Unexpectedly, Li Wan, who usually keeps a low profile, becomes like an iceberg that melts and swirls into an ocean once she falls in love.

Moreover, there are undercurrents in that vast ocean. Once you are caught in the whirlpool, you will be taken control of involuntarily, and then it will be like sucking the marrow out of your bones, making it impossible to escape.

However, being in the depth of the vortex, it feels as if the whole body is wrapped up, and the comfort is so sweet that one can't help but wander in it, reluctant to leave.

It is said that a beautiful woman does not need a knife to kill people, but her waist is enough to seduce people.

Zhang Yunyi also didn't understand whether Li Wan, who had been widowed for ten years, had such waist strength due to her natural talent or acquired through training.

I can only sigh in my heart: Jia Zhu’s death is not to be blamed.

There are always tired cows, but no plowed fields.

Even with his physique, he fell into a deep sleep afterwards, let alone a weak scholar like Jia Zhu.

On normal days, even dealing with the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, Youshi and Qin Keqing, would not be so stressful and tiring.

Today, I almost stumbled because of Li Wan.

He silently calculated in his mind and estimated that Li Wan's fighting power was roughly equivalent to that of Yu's mother-in-law and daughter-in-law plus Yu Erjie.

Of course, as Youshi said just now, I am afraid that Li Wan’s performance today was also beyond her normal level, which may be due to her illness that had accumulated over the past ten years.

Yu Shi seemed to be still unsatisfied. She stuck her head out and took a deep breath before continuing, "You don't even know. She just wiped her body. Such a big basin of water almost made her dirty!"

As she spoke, she spread out the index fingers and thumbs of both hands and drew a stroke the size of a basin.

Zhang Yunyi's face felt slightly hot, and he quickly changed the subject: "I'm hungry, is there any food ready?"

He had consumed a great deal of food and did not feel hungry.

You said unhappily, "You don't feel uncomfortable with the smell on your body, so you should take a shower first! The water is ready, and the bathtub is outside. The food is also prepared outside. If you don't get up, I will wake you up."

After she said this, Zhang Yunyi suddenly felt sticky and uncomfortable everywhere, even the sheets and quilts were wet.

He quickly threw back the quilt, jumped out of bed, swung his arms, and walked to the cubicle in a casual manner.

Sure enough, a bathtub had been placed outside, a set of clean clothes was placed on the kang, and the food on the kang table was still steaming.

He immediately stepped into the bathtub, sank in, and suddenly felt refreshed all over. He couldn't help but take a deep breath.

At this moment, Youshi came behind him, rolled up her sleeves and helped to scrub.

She felt mixed emotions at the moment and secretly regretted helping Li Wan to bring them together.

I originally thought that after Li Wan left, I would still have a chance to take over, but now it looks like there is not even a drop left.

She hoped that Li Wan would be consistent in her words and deeds, leave enough memories for her, and have no further contact with him in the future.

Otherwise, even if it was inconvenient for her to come often, but this time she was enough to be worth three people, how could she not have some ideas.

Thinking of this, she quickly reminded him, "If she goes back on her word, you can't let her do whatever she wants in the future. If she doesn't know how to restrain herself, it's no joke if she gets herself hurt."

"Sister-in-law reminded me!" Zhang Yunyi sneered and stood up. "Sister-in-law, hand me the towel quickly. Change clothes and eat early."

Although he seemed to be nonchalant, he was secretly alert in his heart.

After all, I am just a mortal body and I have no external help.

Learning from Jia Zhu's previous experience, even if Li Wan can come and go freely in the Rong Mansion in the future, she should not be too diligent. She should at most do it once a month, and she should stop at just a few times, leaving 30% of her energy to spare.

Zhang Yunyi was wary of Li Wan, but he didn't know that Li Wan had already been overwhelmed, and only relied on her ruthlessness to manage to return home.

Zhang Yunyi's guess was not wrong. She had been holding it in for ten years and had been looking forward to it for a long time. She was even more worried that if it happened this time, there would not be a next time.

For a moment, I didn't care about my body's ability to bear it.

After forcing herself to return to the house, she could no longer hold on. She didn't even have time to savor the feeling. As soon as she touched the pillow, she fell into a deep sleep.

When Suyun followed the large group back home, he was ready to call her for dinner, but when he entered the house, he found that his grandmother had not only fallen asleep, but was snoring for the first time.

Because she left early, Youshi had to use her feeling unwell as an excuse. Suyun saw that she was sleeping soundly and didn't think much about it, so she just let her be.

However, although Li Wan had a good night's sleep, she still felt exhausted.

She was not as diligent in exercising as Zhang Yunyi. She took a hot bath and had dinner before going out.

In addition, there was some cold wind on the way back, and I actually fell ill the next day.

This made Zhang Yunyi, who learned about it from Youshi who had "recovered from her illness", feel a little concerned and somewhat complacent.

……

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 187 Seeking good luck and avoiding bad luck

The end of the year is the time for families to interact with each other.

The same goes for Prince Ning's Mansion.

However, among the people who come to the door, many have sad faces, come to complain about their poverty, and ask for money.

The Ministry of Works corruption case implicated most of the officials from Prince Ning's faction.

In the past, when they had this floating wealth, they squandered it extravagantly and were used to spending it lavishly. Now that they have returned the dirty silver, even their family assets have been emptied.

The difficulty comes at the end of the year, especially for those generals serving in the army.

If these people want to gain a foothold in the army, in addition to interpersonal relationships, they must also cultivate a group of personal soldiers under their command.

The treatment of these personal soldiers is often much better than that of ordinary soldiers in the army, and the extra expenses are all based on their abilities.

Although these generals would also receive some empty salaries to subsidize this part of the expenses.

But now that the dirty silver has just been returned, it is a time of shortage of money, so they have to ask King Ning for help.

Besides his status as a prince, wasn't it because of the money-making method of the Ministry of Works that Prince Ning was able to win over this group of people?

Today, what we have gained in these years has been in vain, and people at the bottom have changed their minds and are full of complaints.

Although he could provide temporary subsidies and solve their urgent needs, it was not a long-term solution. These people had their financial resources cut off, and so had he.

The prince’s family doesn’t have any surplus food!

In order to win over this group of people, he was eager to find a stable way to make money so that he could reassure them.

It was no longer possible for him to get help from the Ministry of Industry, which was why he was eager to win over Zhang Yun逸.

Although the sales of Tiangongyuan were in the hands of King Zhongshun, he did not want to offend him rashly, but the purchase of raw materials was a matter that Zhang Yunyi had the final say.

In the past, when I asked the Ministry of Industry for help, I often went through the procurement route, and now I am familiar with it.

However, Jia Zheng was slow in doing things, and it has been almost half a year, and there is still no news.

He finally couldn't help but summon Jia Zheng to ask about the progress.

"Although the prince is eager to seek talents, Brother Yi is an old relative of the family. This is a matter of course. Why should the prince be so humble?"

Things went wrong twice during the banquet for Zhang Yun逸, and Jia Zheng couldn't help but wonder whether it was a backlash against him.

He had been an official for many years, but had not learned much about governing, but he had still not lost his ability to shirk responsibility and argue.

The same few sentences were repeated over and over again. Prince Ning was too embarrassed to state his intentions. Besides, what Jia Zheng said made sense, so he turned to ask about the progress of the villa where the bride was to be married.

"This..." Jia Zheng had never cared about this, so he could only turn a blind eye again, "Your Majesty also knows that the heavy snow this year has delayed the construction period a little. It is difficult to say now. I will report back after I go back and find out clearly."

After a few questions, Prince Ning realized that Jia Zheng was basically a fool, and he couldn't help but have an opinion of Yuanchun.

If it weren't for Zhang Yunyi, he would have even planned to break off the engagement. Even so, he was too lazy to waste time with him.

After sending Jia Zheng away, he thought of Jia Jing again.

Although what Jia Zheng said made sense, after marrying Jia Yuanchun, he would be considered a relative of Zhang Yun逸.

But it is better to do it sooner rather than later, and since Jia Zheng mentioned that the progress of the villa was delayed, he couldn't help but worry and kept putting it off.

He summoned Jia Jing privately again, and this time he did not hide his difficulties.

However, such frankness failed to convince Jia Jing. Instead, it reminded him not to act impulsively, lest Zhang Yun逸 suspect the cause of Zhang Changqing's death and end up making things worse.

After meeting King Ning, Jia Jing returned to Xuanzhen Temple, but he was still worried.

When the corruption case of the Ministry of Works was exposed, the emperor only confined Prince Ning to his quarters for three months as a minor punishment but a major warning.

However, Jia Jing had been practicing Taoism with the emperor for a long time, and he had a general idea of ​​Emperor Zhengqing's character.

Originally, one could hope for a turnaround by Prince Ning ascending the throne, but now that hope is slim.

On the one hand, the rejection of Prince Ning's proposal was out of caution, and on the other hand, it was also a deliberate attempt to alienate Prince Ning.

Moreover, the more this is the case, the more Zhang Yun逸 cannot afford to cause any trouble.

Otherwise, once he found out that I was the culprit who caused his family to be destroyed, I would be lucky not to stab him, let alone guarantee him in front of the emperor.

He immediately sent someone to summon Jia Zhen, and warned him, "If Prince Ning asks you to win over Yun Yi, you must not agree."

"Son, save yourself!" Jia Zhen asked in confusion, "Wasn't this agreed upon beforehand? Let the West Mansion take the lead to avoid Yun Yi's suspicion. Why did the master specially summon his son to come?"

Jia Jing frowned and said thoughtfully, "I also saw that Prince Ning was a little anxious, and I was worried that he would not listen to my advice. Now we don't ask for overwhelming wealth, but only for peace and stability. If Yun Yi makes a mistake again, our family will be doomed."

He told Jia Zhen about his speculation about the succession, and sighed, "Now that the West Mansion has emerged, I, your father, have also lost favor with the emperor. Prince Ning no longer has any need to win us over. This is a good opportunity to distance myself from him, so as to avoid being resented by Prince Qin in the future."

"This……"

After hearing what Jia Jing said, Jia Zhen's face suddenly fell.

He had always been counting on Prince Ning to ascend the throne and restore the former glory, but now even his last hope is gone.

But compared to wealth and glory, life is more important. He hurriedly said, "Should we remind Yun Yi? Otherwise, he will get too close to Prince Ning and implicate us in the future."

Jia Jing pondered for a long while, then sighed: "This is also what worries my father. Now the family is counting on him for the emperor's favor, but this is also a double-edged sword. If you often walk by the river, how can you not get your feet wet? The death of your uncle is always a thorn in your side. What if he finds out one day..."

At this point, a hint of ruthlessness flashed across his face, and he said in a deep voice: "If he really makes friends with Prince Ning, our family will take this opportunity to find a reason to completely cut off ties with him and the West Mansion, and then return the mansion to the court, leaving him and the West Mansion to do whatever they want, so as not to be conspicuous in front of Prince Qin."

Jia Zhen's face changed drastically, and he said anxiously: "But...but the whole family depends on him for survival. If we fall out with him, won't it be..."

Seeing that he looked unhappy, Jia Jing felt the same way.

However, since this matter concerns the survival of the family, he immediately interrupted and said, "As long as the mountains are green, there will be no shortage of firewood. Don't aim too high. As long as your father's reputation is still there, you can be exempted from those heavy taxes. With the eight or nine farms in the family, although it cannot guarantee that you will be rich, you can return the mansion built by the emperor, reduce those unnecessary expenses, and move back to Jinling. It should not be a problem to become a rich man."

When he heard that he would have to move away from the capital, Jia Zhen was even more unwilling.