Red Mansion: Picking up a Lin Daiyu

Chapter 425: You still said that you have never been transferred by Duke Dingguo?

"What? Your Majesty means that the Zuixianlou, which has become very famous in the capital recently, is run by Prince Zhongshun?"

In the imperial study, Yue Ling once again sat in front of the imperial desk and listened to Emperor Longyou reveal some secrets.

"Yeah, exactly."

Yue Ling was surprised and said, "So, your Majesty's plan was to use the undergarments as a gimmick to select a new courtesan, and to make the dandies in the capital spend a fortune just to win the smile of a beauty?"

Emperor Longyou smiled and sipped his tea, saying calmly: "What kind of courtesan is this? She is just a concubine of his family."

"Then Jia Lian fell into the trap and took the bait. Was that also part of your majesty's plan?"

Emperor Longyou shook his head and told the truth: "I thought it would be the son of a nobleman, but I didn't expect it to be the son of Duke Rong. The Rongguo Mansion built such a magnificent villa for the royal family to visit their parents, and they even had money to give their own sons such entertainment? Compared to the source of the money, it is very unclear."

Yue Ling was slightly startled.

Based on Yue Ling's understanding of the Jia family, they should not be able to come up with 100,000 taels of cash to support Jia Lian's sleeping with other prostitutes and doing such ridiculous things.

What's more, the visit to the emperor's parents is approaching, and wouldn't such a shameful thing bring shame to the mansion?

To take a step back, even if the Jia family had enough money in their accounts, Jia Lian, as the eldest grandson of the eldest son of the family, could not use 100,000 taels of silver.

Yue Ling had no idea how to get the 100,000 taels to avoid disaster.

This is the prince's account and also Emperor Longyou's account. Not only can the Jia family not deny it, but even if they pay it in full, they will still be in trouble.

Emperor Longyou tapped the table with his fingers, narrowed his eyes, and said, "I did intend to start with the nobles, but I didn't expect that the Jia family would take the initiative to bump into me. In this case, I don't need to think about the old relationship anymore."

Emperor Longyou said some confusing things today, which made Yue Ling really confused.

It seems that Emperor Longyou is determined to eradicate the corruption among the nobles, but he also points out that he will start with the nobles. Doesn't this mean that this is only Emperor Longyou's first step?
Seeing Yue Ling lost in thought, Emperor Longyou got straight to the point and said, "On your first day in the Imperial City, I did not instruct you to take off your sword, but the Yulin Army followed the instructions and stood in front of you to stop you."

"This seemingly compliant move actually has many tricks."

"Moreover, that person was selected from the Beijing Camp."

Yue Ling blinked, as if he thought of something.

Emperor Longyou nodded again and said, "Yes, he must be familiar with you. Even if he didn't whisper a reminder, he should have given you some face because of our old friendship. As a result, you handled things in such a formal and impartial manner. I don't know if it was done for me, for the civil and military officials, or to make you feel dissatisfied."

"Wei Chen..."

Emperor Longyou raised his hand to support her, "Of course, you and I have been friends for many years. How could we have a rift over such a small matter of etiquette?"

"But this move is in accordance with the law, and I cannot dispute it."

"It may seem like an insignificant move, but it is flawless and has no flaws."

Yue Ling responded: "Having no flaws is often the biggest flaw."

Emperor Longyou nodded. "During this period of time, I sent people to investigate the man's background, and finally found out that fifteen years ago, when he was called up to join the army, he joined the army of a general of the noble lineage, so I had to think more about it."

"Further investigation shows that most of the Dragon Guards in the Yulin Army are descendants of noble families."

Cold sweat broke out on Yue Ling's forehead.

It turned out that Emperor Longyou was not just making a small move this time. He wanted to use this as an excuse to thoroughly investigate the noble lineage. The situation was much more serious than he had expected.

Perhaps some unlucky person would have his property confiscated to demonstrate Emperor Longyou’s ruthless approach.

As it stands now, the unlucky guy must be from the Jia family.

However, the Jia family is just about to visit their mother, and everything is going well. But now it seems that the joy will turn into sorrow.

"I remember that Concubine Xian De will come to visit her parents in two days, right?"

Xia Shouzhong, who had been listening to the conversation between the emperor and his minister, had his robe soaked with sweat on his back. He kept responding, "Yes, that's right."

Emperor Longyou nodded, "That's good. She entered the palace when she was young and has never been able to see her family again. After this visit, I'm sure she will understand why I did this."

"On the day of the visit, you will summon the commander of the Beijing Camp, Prince Teng, to come to the palace to see me."

"Slave, I obey..."

……

Fengxue Pavilion,
The sisters lost interest in enjoying the scenery, so they went downstairs together and planned to leave through the backyard.

Miss Sanchun stood in front of everyone, not wanting to stay in this embarrassing place for even a second longer.

Even if the brothers in the mansion were incompetent, they had never thought that they would be so incompetent that they would lose all their face.

Unexpectedly, when they reached between the second and third floors, they saw Jia Lian, Jia Rong and Jia Qiang pushing and shoving the servants in Fengxue Pavilion and squeezing to climb upstairs.

Their faces flushed with arguing, and when they saw Tanchun and her group, they were even more delighted and called out, "Aunts, Uncle Lian is here! He's in trouble this time, you must help him!"

Even if the sisters wanted to avoid it now, they couldn't.

Without thinking, Tanchun squeezed out from the crowd and walked down first to meet them.

Tanchun did not retreat but advanced, stepping forward bravely, which made Jia Lian and others very happy.

"Third sister, I love you so much that I just want to waste my time. Come and help me. It's just 100,000 taels, which is nothing to you."

The more joyful one moment, the more sorrowful the next.

Tanchun frowned and said something that Jia Lian had never thought of before, cold as frost, "Can you please stop making trouble here?"

"?"

Jia Lian was stunned and didn't know how to respond for a moment.

"Brother Lian, don't you think you haven't lost enough face? One hundred thousand taels, do you know how many silver boxes can be filled with one hundred thousand taels? Even for my second sister's betrothal gift, you only dared to ask for five thousand taels. What do you think of us? One hundred thousand taels is nothing to you."

It was obvious that there were huge shortfalls in the Jia family's accounts, and even the sisters' monthly salaries had been deducted. Tanchun couldn't even take out a single copper coin from her body. When she was shopping in the market just now, she had to stubbornly refuse Sister Lin's kindness. She only looked at all the things she loved and finally was willing to spend only a dozen copper coins.

But Jia Lian asked for 100,000 taels right away, which made Tanchun angry.

"A burden. This is the burden of the Jia family."

Tanchun thought secretly in her heart, but she was powerless to change anything.

Jia Lian came to his senses and saw Tanchun's tough attitude. He quickly started to think. The people in Zuixianlou were not going to let him go. Jia Lian knew it very well and was pulling his clothes tightly from behind.

Just now, when someone mentioned Duke Dingguo, they showed him some respect.

Jia Lian was not stupid, and he knew where to bite to survive.

"Third sister, I'm not trying to expose your shortcomings. Who in the capital doesn't know that the third sister of the Jia family has already moved into the inner house of Duke Dingguo?"

"Other people might only give five thousand taels of silver as a betrothal gift, but that's Duke Dingguo. Since the founding of our dynasty, he is the only Duke who is not a founding hero. Everyone knows what Duke Dingguo can do."

"Logically speaking, our two families are now considered to be in marriage. A mere 100,000 taels is certainly nothing in the Duke's Mansion."

After these words were spoken, everyone in Zuixianlou became much quieter, and secretly wondered whether Jia Lian's words were credible.

The daughter of the Jia family entered the mansion of the Duke of Dingguo, and there were three of them at once. Of course, this romantic rumor spread throughout the capital in less than a day, and it became a big laughing stock in the court.

As long as it was just targeting the Rongguo Mansion, there was nothing for Zuixianlou to be afraid of. But if it really involved the Duke Dingguo, then it would be a completely different matter and it was not something they could handle at all.

Not only was it something they couldn't handle, but Duke Dingguo also had a reputation for being a lustful person. If he really showed up at this moment and asked for the courtesan Wanwan, perhaps Zuixianlou would have to hand her over to him without asking for a penny.

Everyone looked at each other, at a loss as to what to do.

But Tanchun must have been very angry with Jia Lian.

They are a group of sisters going out for a trip. She is not the only one here, Lin Daiyu is also here behind her.

Tanchun felt ashamed and angry when she heard such vicious words being spoken in front of Lin Daiyu.

Tanchun's face turned red with anger, but her body was as motionless as if petrified, and she did not dare to turn around to look at Lin Daiyu's expression.

It would be fine if it were just a rumor, but even her own brother said so. Combined with the fact that she crawled under Yue Ling's bed on the first day, wouldn't she be unable to defend herself, even if she was innocent?

Thinking of this, Tanchun gritted her teeth, untied the purse from her waist, raised her hand and threw it over with force.

There was a dull "bang" sound, and it hit Jia Lian's head.

The purse contained not only silver but also copper coins. Tanchun was reluctant to give even a penny to this playboy.

It’s just that Tanchun has some little hobbies on weekdays. She likes to collect some strange little gadgets, whether they are clay figurines or hollow carved walnuts, none of which are light things.

It hit Jia Lian on the head and almost knocked him unconscious on the spot.

Jia Lian covered his swollen forehead in pain and wailed, "Hey, Third Sister, what are you doing?"

Tanchun pinched her waist and cursed angrily, "You filthy thing, you still think you are a brother, but you are so slanderous to your sister? You even asked Duke Dingguo to help you out. Are you really brave, or are you out of your mind?"

"Who do you think you are to let Duke Dingguo come out to work for you? Aren't you ashamed?"

"You have the nerve to make trouble here, Sister Bao. Why don't you go back home early and see if the master will break your legs!"

Jia Lian looked up in surprise, but saw Tanchun's condescending attitude, which was quite imposing. This blow drove away the lust in his body, and he seemed to have become a lot more sober.

Now, he also realized how big a disaster he had caused.

He had no choice but to settle for the next best thing: "Third sister, please help me, even if it's only 30,000 taels. Just use 30,000 taels to help me settle this matter. Please don't make a scene in the mansion!"

Tanchun looked at him coldly and said, "You also know how shameful it is? Get out of here and stop blocking this road!"

"And you, how dare you listen to the words of a dandy and come to Fengxue Pavilion? This is not the Jia Mansion, why don't you take him away quickly?"

The people in Zuixianlou were confused to be taught a lesson by a woman when they went out, but since she was a woman from the Duke Dingguo's Mansion, they could only endure it.

After taking a deep breath, the leader clasped his fists and said, "Miss, you are right. We will take him to Rongguo Mansion to seek justice!"

At this moment, he could only vent all his frustration on Jia Lian.

Realizing that Jia Lian really couldn't come up with the money, the people in Zuixianlou were no longer polite and beat Jia Lian downstairs with fists and kicks.

There were constant wailing sounds along the way, and even Jia Rong and Jia Qiang were not spared. They were beaten to varying degrees and were taken away together.

After all, they are in the same boat. If the Rongguo Mansion cannot come up with the money, and the Ning and Rong Mansions together cannot come up with the money, they will become the laughing stock of the capital again.

Xue Pan shrank his neck, glanced at Jia Tanchun who was standing high up and panting, and secretly complained: "Is this girl the third sister of the Jia family? I vaguely remember that she was just a shy little girl in the past. How could she be so arrogant and fierce? She is even more rude than my sister."

"This...this is still saying that you haven't been transferred by Duke Dingguo?"

Tanchun looked at Xue Pan with a cold brow. Xue Pan shuddered immediately, picked up the purse on the ground, swept away the dust on it with his sleeve, opened his palm and handed it over, smiling awkwardly: "Third sister, I am Xue Pan, Baochai's brother. What they did has nothing to do with me. Don't blame me."

Tanchun blinked and took it while twisting two fingers. "Oh, you are Baojie's useless brother?"

Tanchun covered her mouth and said, "Brother Xue, please make way. We sisters are going back home."

Xue Pan's mouth twitched.

There is really no way for him to defend himself by saying that he is a useless brother.

It can be said that the good life of the Xue family today has nothing to do with him. If one were to force a conclusion that he was related, it would only be that he could not control his brothers and accidentally acted as a matchmaker for his sister's meeting with Duke Dingguo.

He looked outside the door and felt much better because he thought he was better than Jia Lian.

"Yes, yes, I won't bother you anymore. Sisters, take care. Please give my regards to Duke Dingguo for me."

After saying that, Xue Pan ran out without looking back and went to Rongguo Mansion to watch the fun.

The scene returned to silence. Tanchun let out a long sigh, but after a moment, her eyes couldn't help but turn red with grievance.

Then, Lin Daiyu slowly came over, took Tanchun's hand, helped her walk down the wooden stairs step by step, then hugged her in her arms and comforted her softly: "Third sister, people can't choose their own life experience, these sufferings are inevitable. You did a good job just now, don't be sad."

Holding her shoulders and looking at her, Lin Daiyu said seriously: "Next, whatever you want to do, just do it happily. Don't be afraid, I'm here."

"If all else fails, there's still your rumored husband who can help you out."

Tanchun felt a lump in her throat and was about to burst into tears.

But when Lin Daiyu said the last sentence, she couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Patting Lin Daiyu's arm gently, Tanchun cried, "Sister Lin, even you tease me with this kind of thing..."

(End of this chapter)