The Red Mansion Big Liar

After Jia Yucun's commotion, Jia Lian finally reacted. He looked at Lai Da as if he wanted to say something but hesitated.

It was fine in front of Zhang Yun逸, but now there was Jia Yucun, and whispering to them would be a loss of dignity for the Rong Mansion.

Lai Da could only bite the bullet and say, "Because the masters are not available, the old lady had to ask Master Yi from the East Mansion's lady's family to come and welcome them..."

"Mrs. Dongfu?"

Jia Lian muttered something, was stunned for a moment, and then came to his senses. He said in surprise: "It turned out to be you!"

Lai Da was afraid that he would say something inappropriate again, so he quickly added: "Now Master Yi lives in the East Palace, which is close, and the factory in his government office is not far from the south of the city, so the old lady troubled Master Yi to make a trip."

At this moment Jia Lian finally figured out something was going on. He had just said a polite word to Zhang Yunyi when he saw a eunuch in a red robe galloping towards him with several guards in brocade clothes.

He quickly left Zhang Yunyi behind and turned his head to look at Jia Yucun and said, "Brother Yucun has been summoned back to the capital. Could it be that the palace is in a hurry to summon him?"

A hint of doubt flashed across Jia Yucun's face, and then a casual hint of joy disappeared. He quickly brushed his clothes, calmed down, and looked at the eunuch who was rushing towards him.

As expected, the eunuch rode his horse closer and dismounted.

He said, "Master Zhang is really easy for me to find!"

……

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 156 Interlude

To the astonishment of Jia Lian and Jia Yucun, the eunuch came up to Zhang Yun逸 with a smile on his face.

"I went to Tiangongyuan and found out that the master had gone back early. I rushed all the way to Ningguo Mansion, but I didn't expect that the master would come to the dock again. Fortunately, I didn't arrive too late this time."

Although he told Jia Lian about the entire chase, there was no dissatisfaction on his face. Coupled with the scarlet eunuch's robe, Jia Lian was even more confused.

However, Zhang Yunyi's performance surprised him even more.

He didn't show any sign of being flattered, but instead said calmly, "But what is the emperor's order?"

"Oh! That's right!"

The eunuch clapped his hands together and said with a smile, "Sir, your sunroom is truly extraordinary. His Majesty is full of praise..."

He recounted the story with gesticulations.

It turned out that the emperor felt comfortable staying in the sun room and felt that he absorbed the essence of the sun. He thought about balancing yin and yang so that he could absorb some moonlight when he slept at night.

However, on winter nights, without the sunshine, the sunroom was too cold, so he sent someone to ask him for advice.

Originally, Jia Lian was in awe when he saw the eunuch in red robe and scarlet clothes behaved like this.

But when he explained his purpose and heard that it was just such a trivial matter, he immediately lost interest.

But Jia Yucun, who was standing aside, was listening attentively.

The truth is revealed in the details. The fact that she even asked about such trivial matters shows that she has an extraordinary position in the emperor's heart.

After hearing this, Zhang Yunyi paused for a moment and said with a smile, "It's not difficult. All we need to do is make a skylight on the top of the bedroom and seal it with glass."

In the past, the panoramic sunroof on cars was often promoted as a selling point.

Eunuch Zhou flattered, "Oh! Master Zhang is the real master. He solved this difficult problem without even thinking about it."

"However, the glass used by the emperor must be specially made. I am afraid that the emperor will have to wait for another two days."

The expenses in the palace, especially those of the emperor, were extremely detailed. Everything from the length and width of the palace to the size of each brick had to conform to regulations.

The glass used is naturally no exception. The length, width and even thickness are all based on the number 95.

"Of course, the expenses for His Majesty will naturally take more time to prepare."

Zhang Yunyi looked at Jia Yucun and Jia Lian, pretending to be embarrassed, and said, "In this case, I will go to the palace with the eunuch to report to the emperor!"

Since he had already met Lin Daiyu, he didn't mind going into the palace.

However, Eunuch Zhou obviously didn't know what he was thinking. He hesitated for a moment and said, "The emperor only ordered me to come to ask Master Zhang for advice, but he didn't ask you to go there. Since you have something to do, how about letting me report to the emperor on your behalf?"

After he said that, Zhang Yunyi had nothing to say. He took out a silver note from his pocket and handed it over, saying, "Thank you for your hard work, eunuch. This is a small token of my apology!"

"Oh my! What are you saying, Lord Zhang? Stop slapping me in the face. I am just an errand boy for the Emperor. Lord Zhang, you have to give me more opportunities to run errands. Otherwise, I will be useless."

After pushing and shoving for a long time, Zhang Yunyi saw that he did not seem to be lying, so he took the banknote back.

"Then I'll invite Eunuch Zhou to have tea some other day!"

"Hey!" Upon hearing this, Eunuch Zhou's face immediately lit up with smiles, "That's great! Lord Zhang, please be busy first, I will go back to the palace to report first."

After saying that, he nodded slightly at Zhang Yunyi and then mounted his horse.

Although he was extremely flattering to Zhang Yun逸, he never even glanced at Jia Yucun and Jia Lian throughout the whole process.

This is not difficult to understand. For these eunuchs, no matter how high your official position is or how noble your family background is, it is all in vain if you cannot have a say in front of the emperor.

What's more, given Jia Lian and Jia Yucun's identities, they may not be able to catch other people's eyes.

When a whale dies, all things come to life. After Dai Quan's death, although the ranks of the leading eunuchs in the palace did not change much, their opportunities to serve the emperor increased greatly.

This eunuch Zhou, Zhou Xiangui, was the one most trusted by Emperor Zhengqing.

However, they had only been with the emperor for a short time, not as long as Dai Quan, so they naturally did not dare to put on airs in front of Zhang Yun逸, a favorite of the emperor.

Although Eunuch Zhou was gone, the shock he left on everyone lingered for a long time.

Needless to say, Jia Yucun looked at Zhang Yun逸 with a little more eagerness in his eyes.

Lai Da, who was standing by, bent his waist even lower unconsciously.

Seeing is believing, hearing is not. In the past, I only heard that he was quite trusted by the emperor, but I had no idea to what extent the emperor trusted him.

Originally, he wanted to find a county magistrate position for his son, but the Rong Mansion deliberately avoided suspicion, so he went to Zhang Yunyi to ask for the position, and he felt a little aggrieved for having to settle for second best.

Seeing this scene, the feeling of frustration was thrown out of the window.

Before this, Zhang Yunyi had used him to ask for an official position for his son, and there was a hint of recruiting him in his words. He also heard that he had a hint of wanting to win him over, and he was afraid that he would leave some trouble in the Rong Mansion and ask his family to help clean up the mess. He felt a little embarrassed.

Now, I am eager to hand in a letter of allegiance and help clean up some unspeakable messes.

He secretly made up his mind that after returning, he would not only warn his son, but also give Lai Sheng some advice, so that he would not be ignorant of the consequences and bring trouble to his family.

Even Jia Lian was startled when he heard Zhang Yun逸 call out "Eunuch Zhou".

The corner of his mouth twitched as he asked, "Could this eunuch Zhou be the eunuch in charge of the Jingshifang?"

"Eh?" Zhang Yunyi asked in confusion, "Could it be that Eunuch Zhou knows Second Brother Lian? Why didn't he say hello just now?"

Jia Lian showed a trace of embarrassment and said, "I have heard... I have heard of it, but I have never seen it."

Men are in charge of outside affairs, while women are in charge of inside affairs. The inner quarters of the Rong Mansion are managed by Wang Xifeng, but he is responsible for welcoming and seeing off guests outside.

Yuanchun worked as a female official in the palace, so naturally she had to take care of things in the palace.

The Jingshifang, which managed the palace maids and eunuchs and also took charge of the emperor's sexual affairs, was of paramount importance.

However, the Jia family had no close relationship with the eunuch Zhou, and they could not even see him when they made arrangements, so they could only make friends with a few of his close confidants.

Now, when he suddenly heard that this eunuch was the person he had always been unable to curry favor with, one can imagine the shock in his heart.

In fact, in terms of its relationship with the palace alone, Rong Mansion is not as good as the Ning Mansion.

He formed his own faction in the palace. If Jia Jing had not accompanied the emperor in practicing Taoism and had not been associated with Prince Ning, Dai Quan might not have been willing to give him face.

Even so, in the original book, Jia Zhen was still generous when receiving money.

Jia Yucun seemed to notice Jia Lian's embarrassment, and bowed to Zhang Yunyi again and said, "Thank you, brother Zhang, for taking the time to meet me today. I will definitely come to thank you someday!"

Before he knew it, he had even changed his name.

Zhang Yunyi didn't look at me with tinted glasses, and said with a smile: "Brother Yucun, you are serious. Brother Yucun and I are also destined to be together. Let's sit down another day and talk about the reasons in detail."

The "fate" he mentioned was naturally because of Xiangling.

Ever since he brought Feng back, his impression of Jia Yucun has changed somewhat.

At the beginning, Jia Yucun did receive favors from Zhen Shiyin, but when he learned about the Zhen family's plight, he also gave them two envelopes of silver and four pieces of brocade.

In ancient times, a letter of silver was worth five hundred taels. That's why people say "two hundred and five" when they curse someone, which is actually a homophone for "half crazy".

Brocade is even more valuable than silk, and four pieces of brocade are worth as much as one thousand taels.

These two items alone amounted to two thousand taels of silver, which was forty times what Zhen Shiyin had given him.

Not to mention that he gave Jiao Xing one hundred taels of gold when he married her.

Having seen how many people in modern times have become enemies after borrowing money, Jia Yucun cannot be considered ungrateful for this reason alone.

As for the Jia family, if Lin Ruhai had not written a letter to recommend him, would the Jia family help him?

Is this love for the Jia family or for Lin Ruhai? I believe Jia Yucun has his own account in his mind.

As for Xiangling.

Perhaps it was because the cost of offending the four major families was too high, and he had to make this choice.

People always seek profit and avoid harm. For a favor of fifty taels of silver, which has already been repaid forty times, is it still worth sacrificing your future?

Do unto others, do not impose on others.

At least Zhang Yunyi can't do it himself, and he won't force others to do it.

When Jia Yucun heard this, a hint of doubt flashed across his face, but Zhang Yunyi smiled and did not ask any more questions.

……

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 157 Grass Snake Gray Line

"What are you looking at, sister?"

In a carriage in Rong Mansion, Amber looked at Yuanyang, who was lifting the curtains not far away, and couldn't help but joked, "Sister, are you looking at Master Lian?"

When Lin Daiyu was put into the sedan chair, she happened to see a eunuch running towards her from a distance.

After getting in the car, she couldn't help her curiosity, so she lifted the curtain and looked over.

When he saw Zhang Yun逸 chatting and laughing with the eunuch, he became even more reluctant to let it go.

Originally, Grandmother Jia was interested in promoting this marriage, as she only thought that Zhang Yunyi was attracted by his personality and wealth, but now, she realized his power.

After hearing what Amber said, she was too embarrassed to look any further, so she had to lower the curtain and gently scolded, "Don't talk nonsense!"

Amber sneered, "There are no outsiders here, so why should you be shy? For us servants, being able to be a maid or concubine for the master is something we would love nothing more than to have. Apart from Baoyu and Master Lian, who else in the mansion can win your favor?

However, Baoyu is good, but there are too many people around him, and Xiren and Qingwen protect him like a mother hen. I heard Yuchuaner say the other day that the mistress wants to let her sister serve Baoyu as well. It's better for Master Lian to have less time and peace with the old people!"

"That's not true. Don't talk nonsense. If Second Mistress hears this, she'll tear your mouth to pieces!"

She pretended to grab Hubo's cheeks, but Hubo didn't care. She dodged with a smile and said, "What are you afraid of? Even if it's the Second Madam, can she surpass the Old Madam? Sister Ping'er is the Second Madam's dowry, how can she compare to Sister? As long as the Old Madam nods, how dare the Second Madam say no?"

"I think you are a little girl who has fallen in love. If you dare to gossip again, I will tell the old lady tomorrow and give you to Master Lian as a reward!"

Amber chuckled and said, "That won't work! I'm not as loved by the old lady as my sister is. If I get bullied, there may not be anyone to stand up for me."

Yuanyang couldn't help but think of Aunt Zhao when she heard this, and sighed, "Stop talking nonsense. Can the old lady still protect me forever?"

Unexpectedly, Amber smiled and said, "Sure enough! I said that sister looked absent-minded and stared at the Second Master, it turns out that you were worried about this! I think sister is too cautious. The Second Master has been married for several years, and the Second Madam's belly has not moved. It would be better to take advantage of the old lady's good health and go there early. If you give birth to a child, no one will be able to do anything to you in the future..."

Yuanyang quickly covered her mouth and scolded in a low voice: "You are asking for your life! Who said it must be a man in the mansion?"

Originally, she was worried about revealing her thoughts, but now she was worried that Amber would misunderstand and spread these nonsense.

"Ah!" Amber said in surprise, "Not in the mansion? Could it be that my sister has fallen in love with Master Yi?"

Yuanyang blushed immediately and said sternly: "You little bitch, you are becoming more and more unruly. As slaves, how can we have the right to say such things..."

Having said this, she couldn't help feeling guilty, and looked at Amber and said, "Don't go out and say anything..."

"Don't worry, sister! How could I harm you? I'm just thinking about you!"

Although this is true, she also has her own little plans.

Among the maids around Lady Jia, Yuanyang is naturally the head, but Xiren and Qingwen have already been given to Baoyu, so among the others, only he and Boli are still useful.

Yuanyang was in charge of Grandmother Jia's private treasury, so Grandmother Jia would not have any worries even if she followed Jia Baoyu.

But if she followed Jia Lian, the situation would be very different.