Lian Erye in the Red Mansion

Yangzhou is very close to Nanjing. Jia Lian and his entourage rode fast horses and set off in the morning, arriving in Jinling City in the afternoon.

Walking along the wide and quiet avenue of Stone City, it takes less than half an incense stick's time to arrive at Ning Rong's old residence.

"Who goes there, daring to trespass here!"

The sound of Jia Lian and his entourage's galloping hooves startled the two drowsy gatekeepers at the entrance of the Rongguo Mansion. As soon as they saw the newcomers, they immediately scolded them.

"Jia Lian!"

Jia Lian reined in his horse, and only after the horse's hooves landed did he calmly utter two words.

"Lian...Second Master Lian...!" The two doormen shuddered when they saw who it was and hurriedly paid their respects.

"Open the door now."

"Yes, yes, yes..."

……

"Grandpa Jin, Grandpa Jin~!"

Jin Cai was still fast asleep in the steward's room when he was woken up by the boys outside. He was very unhappy and cursed a couple of times.

Two servants pushed open the door and rushed over, exclaiming, "Oh my dear Grandpa Jin, why are you still sleeping? Second Master Lian is here!"

"Who? Which Master Lian?"

Jin Cai thought she had misheard.

"There's no other Master Lian. It's Master Lian himself who just came down from the capital and arrived. He's already heading straight for the accounting office with his men!"

Upon hearing this, Jin Cai nearly fell off the bed. He hurriedly put on his shoes, not even bothering to put on his clothes properly, and ran outside with the two servants who were pulling him along.

As they approached the accounting office, they found it quiet. A dozen or so servants who usually guarded the outer courtyard had all gathered in the small courtyard, each of them peeking inside furtively.

Jin Cai then slowed down, straightened her clothes, and carefully walked into the hall.

Sure enough, after that major case, who else could be sitting upright and looking through the account books but Master Lian?

Jin Cai couldn't help but panic, wondering what had happened. Why had Second Master Lian come all this way to check the accounts? They hadn't received a single word beforehand!

Seeing that Jia Lian had also noticed him and was looking over, Jin Cai quickly bowed and stepped forward: "This servant greets Second Master..."

"It's Butler Kim, long time no see."

Although Jia Lian was quite polite to him, it made Jin Cai even more uneasy. She didn't dare to make any other moves and just hunched over, waiting for Jia Lian's next instruction.

"Is this the final account for this year?" Jia Lian put down the account book he had just skimmed through, picked up the new one next to him, and asked the old accountant standing to the side.

The old accountant was clearly startled by Jia Lian's sudden attack. He couldn't help but wipe the cold sweat from his brow and nodded, saying, "Reporting to Second Master, this is indeed this year's account book..."

Jia Lian casually flipped through the accounts as well, and finally asked, "According to the accounts you submitted, you should still have more than 22,000 taels of silver left. How come the amount in the accounts is much less now?"

Jin Cai hurriedly replied, "Second Master, there are a few other things that happened later and haven't been reported yet, such as the Mid-Autumn Festival gifts sent to various households, the birthday gifts prepared for the Zhen family's matriarch's 70th birthday, and the gifts prepared for the birth of Governor Zhang's eldest son... These are all recorded in the account books later, which Second Master can consult."

Jia Lian nodded. He hadn't come here to check the accounts for Jia Zheng. If the accounts were roughly correct, he didn't want to get involved. But recalling their reactions when he arrived, he smiled and said, "So, the numbers recorded in the accounts are correct, and there's enough cash in the treasury?"

"This..." Jin Cai's expression immediately turned troubled.

Normally, he would have simply agreed and let it pass without revealing anything unusual. But today, the master's family suddenly attacked, and he was still completely baffled. What if something went wrong and he angered the master's family? Wouldn't he lose face for generations?

As expected, Jia Lian knew something was wrong the moment he saw his appearance, and immediately said coldly, "Bring out all the silver from the treasury and let me count it on the spot."

Jin Cai immediately knelt down in fear, "We servants are guilty, please spare our lives, Second Master Lian!"

Seeing Jin Cai like this, the others in the hall either turned pale or wore expressions of schadenfreude.

Jia Lian looked at Jin Cai, who was dressed impeccably from head to toe, and asked with a smile, "I'm just checking the treasury silver, not trying to kill you. Why are you so scared? Could it be that you, Steward Jin, have embezzled all the silver in the treasury?"

Jin Cai scribbled several heads, "How dare this servant... dare not deceive the Second Master. Most of the silver in the treasury has been lent out by the masters of various departments. There are only a few thousand taels of silver left in the treasury now..."

As Jin Cai spoke, she recounted the events in "details".

Originally, the Jia family had twenty branches, but now twelve branches remain in Nanjing. However, they are all collateral branches with little to no foundation or family wealth. In fact, due to their laziness and reliance on the relief provided by the Ning and Rong mansions, they live worse than ordinary people!

Such people were not uncommon, not only among the twelve families of Nanjing, but also among the other six families who followed the Ning and Rong families to the capital.

Since they could no longer make ends meet, they had to seek relief from the two governments.

Previously, the steward had to report to the capital and obtain approval before lending money. After this precedent was set, everyone wanted to borrow from this and that, so the heads of the Ning and Rong mansions cut off their hopes. Except for setting aside some money and food for the truly destitute during the New Year holidays, no other loans were allowed.

However, with the emperor far away and no proper masters remaining in Nanjing, and with silver stored in the treasury, it was easy to find a way to smuggle some out through collusion between insiders and outsiders…

Of course, in Jin Cai's words, it was because they saw that their "masters" were really in dire straits and couldn't resist their pleas that they agreed to lend the money.

Jia Lian glanced at Jin Cai and said jokingly, "Oh, so they borrowed it. Didn't you servants lend some out too, to earn some interest or something?"

"Well, there are some..."

Cash has added value, and people in this era understand that.

With so much silver in hand, it would be strange if they didn't have wicked thoughts. Jia Lian even saw through it at a glance; these servants were probably the masterminds behind this, and they only brought in the people from the Twelfth Household to prevent the master from punishing them when the truth came out!

After all, although the people of the Twelfth House were poor, they were still relatives of the two families. Out of consideration for being relatives, they should be given some face.

Jia Lian then said, "Since that's the case, show me the list of loan agreements and such. We can't possibly lend out all the money for us and then not know who the debtors are, can we?"

Sensing that Jia Lian might lose his temper at any moment, Jin Cai, though worried, immediately sent someone to fetch the list from the steward's office.

Jia Lian took the money and examined it, then looked at Jin Cai and asked curiously, "Oh, is Steward Jin also short of money? What do you need these two hundred taels of silver for?"

Jin Cai gave an embarrassed smile: "This servant will return the silver tomorrow..."

"Today."

"Yes, this servant will go home shortly and make up for all the outstanding debts..."

Seeing that Jin Cai was so sensible, Jia Lian didn't intend to make things difficult for him. After all, he was Jin Yuanyang's father, so he still had some dignity.

After accepting the list, Jia Lian looked at the servants around him and said, "Before midnight tonight, make sure you return all the silver you borrowed from the treasury. Even if you're short by one tael... Steward Jin, tell me, what is the legal punishment for stealing and embezzling the master's property and being sent to Yingtian Prefecture?"

Jin Cai was sweating profusely, but still dared not refuse to answer: "At best... at worst, a broken hand; at worst, death by beating..."

The law was so harsh on slaves that, apart from a few taels of silver, they should have been beaten to death!

Of course, in the case of such a situation, most aristocratic families would not actually report it to the authorities, as that would be too shameful. They are fully capable of dealing with their own servants themselves!

Several other people on the same list nearby immediately knelt down upon hearing this, promising to return the money that day.

"As for the money borrowed from outside..."

Jia Lian looked around and said to Jin Cai and the other managers, "Since the money was borrowed from you, it is your responsibility to collect it back."

"I'm giving you three days. If you can't get it back, you'll have to make up the difference. Do you think that's reasonable?"

The managers who rushed over upon hearing the news immediately turned ashen-faced. How could they possibly recover the losses in three days...?

Jin Cai immediately replied, "Second Master, rest assured, we will collect all the debts within three days."

Jia Lian then smiled and asked, "Besides cash, have you also taken the lead in helping us move out and sell those old items left by our ancestors?"

Upon hearing this, Jin Cai was even more frightened and hurriedly kowtowed, saying, "How dare we servants do such an outrageous thing! Second Master, please go in and take a look. If anything is missing, you may take my life!"

Jia Lian nodded and said nothing more.

In fact, as soon as he entered the mansion, he noticed that the pavilions, terraces, flowers, trees and other plants were well taken care of and maintained, which meant that Jin Cai and the others had put a lot of effort into looking after the mansion.

That's true. Although it's far away, the capital sends officials down to check every year, so there's no need to worry about them causing trouble here.

As for lending money out privately...

This mistake isn't a huge one, but it's not insignificant either. However, he's not yet the head of the Rongguo Mansion.

Unlike Wang Xifeng, who was so foolish as to try to manage someone's household but ended up offending the whole family and getting nothing in return, he was much better off than causing trouble for himself!

Therefore, as long as he can establish his authority, that's enough; he doesn't need to make a big fuss about these things now.

"I'll probably be staying here for a few days. Could you help me prepare a room in the front yard?"

Seeing that Jia Lian's expression had calmed down, Jin Cai finally breathed a sigh of relief and even suggested that Jia Lian move into the main hall.

Jia Lian did not adopt the suggestion, dismissed the extra people, wrote a list for Jin Cai, and instructed her: "Prepare another set for each of them according to the specifications of the Mid-Autumn Festival gifts. Starting tomorrow, I will personally visit the families above."

Jin Cai glanced at the few houses listed, nodded, and said, "Although there are only a few, I'm afraid we won't be able to prepare everything in one night. We'll have to go outside to buy many things."

Jia Lian said, "Then a slightly lower price is fine. Just do your best in the preparations, and I'll come back to check on things later."

Jin Cai agreed and went to make arrangements.

Seeing that it was still early, Jia Lian summoned Zhao Sheng, Wang Teng, and the others, and instructed them: "Go to the Yingtian Prefecture government office and inquire among the yamen runners and gatekeepers if there is a young monk from Suzhou."

Zhao Sheng and his companion were puzzled and laughed, "Second Master, you're confused. How could there be a little monk in the yamen? If you want to find a little monk, you have to go to the temple."

Jia Lian glanced at them, silencing them, before saying, "He has had his hair renewed. Just keep quiet and find out who he is, then bring him to me."

Jia Lian only vaguely remembered that there was a well-informed young novice monk in Shuntian Prefecture who seemed to know Xiangling's whereabouts.

I wonder if Xiangling and that kidnapper have arrived in Jinling by this time, or if they have run into that little monk.

We'll have to wait until we find the person before we can talk about it.

Note: To help you understand, let me explain the concept of time in this book.

One breath ≈ two to three seconds;

A cup of tea ≈ ten minutes;

A meal takes approximately twenty minutes.

One incense stick's time is approximately thirty minutes.

One quarter is fifteen minutes, four quarters is half an hour, and eight quarters is one hour.

There's no need to take it too seriously; different interpretations are acceptable, but they are not permitted in this book.