The Red Chamber begins with a bastard

Chapter 455 Living beyond one’s means
After a busy day, Xue Baochai finally packed up the luggage she brought from Jinling and was able to rest. Ying'er poured a cup of tea and brought it over. Xue Baochai took a sip and asked, "Why don't you see Xiangling?"

Ying'er said, "I sent her to deliver something to Madam an hour ago, so she should have returned long ago. But I'm afraid she got a little playful on the way and ran around in the garden again. I don't know where she got stuck now."

Xiangling was originally bought (robbed) by Xue Pan. She was born with good looks and good character, so Aunt Xue originally planned to choose a good day to marry her, set up a few tables of wine, and officially make her Xue Pan's concubine. However, when they were in Jinling, Xue Pan took a fancy to Mandarin and tried to exchange Xiangling for Jia Huan. In the end, he was pushed into a fish tank and taught a lesson by Jia Huan. Afterwards, he took his anger out on Xiangling, beating and scolding her, and almost beating her to death. Aunt Xue had to temporarily transfer Xiangling to serve Baochai, thinking of transferring her back after a while to continue serving Xue Pan.

Unexpectedly, Xue Pan was later injured by the Jinyiwei and could no longer be humane. Aunt Xue naturally lost interest in it, and Xiangling completely became Baochai's maid.

It is said that Xiangling had always longed for the life in the garden. Now that she was Xue Baochai's maid, she could move into the garden with her justification. So she was happier than anyone else these two days. She had fun everywhere whenever she had time, and Xue Baochai did not interfere with her much.

At this time, there was a dripping sound on the roof, and a cold rain began to fall, followed by ice particles, and then turned into fluttering snowflakes.

Xue Baochai and Ying'er were just getting worried when they heard Xiangling's voice coming from outside the house: "Hurry up, don't break anything!"

As they were talking, Xiangling lifted the door curtain with a piece of banana leaf in her hand, probably to keep out the rain and snow. However, her body and head were covered with snow, her outer clothes were wet, and her face was red from the cold.

Ying'er clapped her hands and laughed, "You deserve it. I let you run around aimlessly and not go home until dark. This time you finally got what you deserved."

At this time, two maids followed Xiangling in, and they were working together to carry in a large potted plant that was full of snow-white flowers.

"Just put it here. Thank you for your hard work." Xiangling said while trembling.

The two maids' clothes were also soaked by the rain and snow, and they were shivering with cold. Seeing this, Baochai hurriedly asked them to come over to the stove to warm themselves up. Ying'er poured them some hot wine and urged them, "Hurry up and drink a cup of hot wine to warm your bodies."

Xiangling and the two maids drank a cup of hot wine, and then they slowly calmed down. Xue Baochai frowned and said, "What kind of precious flowers are worth sending in the wind and snow? You should change your clothes quickly."

Xiangling hurried to change her clothes. The two maids who originally served Aunt Xue hurriedly retreated to the outer room and asked other maids in the room for two sets of suitable clothes to change into.

"Oh, it turns out to be a white begonia. It's really rare in the middle of winter. It's a pity that it was damaged by hail." Ying'er said with regret as she stood in front of the pot of white begonia.

Xue Baochai walked closer and saw that some of the flowers were broken.

At this time, Xiangling also changed her clothes and came over. Seeing that the flowers were damaged, she said with an annoyed look: "So many of them were damaged. If I had known, I would have left them at the Madam's place and not moved them. It's a waste of a beautiful pot of flowers."

Xue Baochai scolded her, "It's no big deal to break a few flowers. It's lucky that your head wasn't damaged. It's freezing and snowy, and you didn't even find a place to hide first."

Xiangling said embarrassedly, "I saw that I was almost at the door, so I just walked a few steps faster, but I didn't expect that I still broke a few flowers."

Xue Baochai shook her head and said, "Look, you are still only concerned about the flowers. Is it more important to ruin the flowers or ruin the people?"

Ying Er laughed and said, "Otherwise why call her Dai Xiangling?"

Xiangling fiddled with the corner of her clothes awkwardly. Xue Baochai smiled helplessly and said, "Forget it. Where did this white crabapple tree come from?"

Xiangling replied quickly, "This is a gift from Third Master Huan to Madam (Aunt Xue). I happened to be delivering something to Madam, so Madam asked me to bring it back for the young lady to enjoy."

When Xue Baochai heard that it was Jia Huan who gave this to his mother, she kept silent. Ying'er said with a smile, "Mr. Huan is really filial. He thought of our wife when he got a pot of flowers. Who would have thought that our wife would pass it on to you, young lady? Hehehe, do you want to return the gift?"

Xue Baochai's pretty face turned red, and she said angrily, "You are the only one who is nosy."

While instructing the maid to move the pot of white begonia to the side of the desk and place it on a wooden shelf, she took out a pair of scissors and cut off the damaged white begonia flowers. After such pruning, the whole plant of white begonia suddenly became simple and elegant, which was very consistent with the plain and simple furnishings in the room.

…………

The snow outside the window lasted for a while and then stopped, but it raged again at night, the north wind was as sharp as a knife, chilling the skin and bones. The charcoal fire in the room burned very brightly, dispelling the chill of the snowy night. At this moment, Jia Lian was working hard on Wang Xifeng, whose cheeks were flushed and her eyes were slightly closed, looking very happy.

After that, Feng Er brought hot water and towels, helped the two to clean themselves, and then left. Wang Xifeng was obviously very satisfied with Jia Lian's performance tonight. She lay comfortably in his arms, with the afterglow of pleasure on her face, and asked with a smile: "If you are being attentive to me for no reason, you are either a traitor or a thief. Tell me, what do you want from me?"

Jia Lian smiled and said, "Second Madam is indeed very discerning. Give me three hundred taels of silver for emergency use, and I will return it to you after the New Year."

Wang Xifeng pushed Jia Lian aside and sneered, "I knew you were a weasel paying New Year's greetings to a chicken - you have no good intentions. You want money, but I don't have a penny."

Jia Lian's face turned red and white, and he said angrily: "You are destroying the bridge after crossing it. Why didn't you tell me when you were enjoying it just now?"

Wang Xifeng said with a smile: "I didn't force you, you were the one who shamelessly climbed onto me, and you dare say that only I enjoy it, and you yourself are not happy?"

Jia Lian had a dark face and said nothing. Wang Xifeng left him alone for a while before asking, "Sister Lin sold your house for 1,200 taels of silver. Have you spent it all? Now you can't even take out 300 taels of silver?"

Jia Lian was so angry that he gritted his teeth and said, "It would be fine if you didn't mention this. It makes me angry when you mention it. Didn't you use some trickery to take away half of the 1,200 taels from the sale of the house?"

Wang Xifeng was very proud and said with a curled lip, "I didn't ask you for it. You wanted to give it to me. Now you are blaming me for using some tricks?"

Jia Lian said with a spit, "If you hadn't used tricks in front of the old lady and forced me into a corner, would I have given you half? Stop talking nonsense. I'm in urgent need of money now, so you should return it as soon as possible."

Wang Xifeng slapped away Jia Lian's hand that was stretched under her nose and snorted, "I don't have any silver. How about you sell me and Feng'er, maybe you can get some silver in exchange." Jia Lian was so angry that he regretted being so servile. He actually asked this tigress for money. He was simply trying to get the skin of a tiger.

Wang Xifeng saw that Jia Lian didn't say anything, and knew that the heat was almost reached. If she continued to embarrass him, he would probably turn hostile. This was not what she wanted. She just wanted to use this opportunity to control Jia Lian and make him obedient. It was like flying a kite. If the string was pulled too tight, it had to be loosened at the right time. So she changed her tone and asked, "What do you want three hundred taels of silver for?"

"Isn't it ridiculous what you asked? The New Year is almost over. As a man, I am out there entertaining guests and giving gifts without spending any money?" Jia Lian asked back unhappily.

"Then you should ask the government for it. In the past, these expenses were charged to the public account, so you don't have to pay for it yourself."

Jia Lian pulled a long face and said, "Where is the money left in the government? It was all used up in the construction of the garden a few years ago, and there is still a lot of debt due to the famine. This year, we have been borrowing everything we can from outside. Now it is the end of the year, and everyone is short of money. We can't borrow any more. Unfortunately, that old beheaded Wu Jinxiao has not yet sent the rent for the farm. If he doesn't send it before the end of the year, there will be no hope for this year."

Wang Xifeng was naturally very clear about the financial situation of the Jia family. With hundreds of people in the family and no sense of self-control, they had long been spending more than they earned. In the past few years, they were barely able to make ends meet, but since the construction of the garden, both the Rong and Ning mansions had negative assets and were barely able to maintain their status by borrowing money.

Wang Xifeng rolled her eyes and pouted in the direction of Jia's mother's room, saying, "The old ancestor has a lot of valuable things upstairs. I'm afraid she can't even remember them. They are just gathering dust there. If you have the ability, go get a few of them and sell them off. You can get thousands of taels, not to mention a few hundred taels."

Jia Lian pouted and said, "Do I need to remind you? Where do you think the money for the opera and banquets these days came from? It was all thanks to Yuanyang's help. I pawned a few antiques for five hundred taels of silver, and I have to redeem them later. If the imperial concubine comes to visit her parents after the New Year, it will cost a lot of money. The money has not been found yet, and the master and the eldest master are worried about this matter."

Wang Xifeng said bitterly, "If Third Brother Huan can bring back all of the Lin family's inheritance, then everything will be fine. Not only can we pay off the debt for building the garden, but the remaining money will be enough for us to use for eight or ten years."

Jia Lian sneered, "Everyone knows that the eldest master is still brooding over this, and I'm afraid he wants to tear Huan Lao San alive. But in all conscience, the Lin family's inheritance is the Lin family after all. Sister Lin has already given 10,000 taels to the old ancestor as a filial gift, and also gave me a house. She is already quite generous. Sometimes people really can't be too greedy."

Wang Xifeng laughed and said, "Master Lian is now being conscientious. If you are so conscientious, why don't you return the money you have been trying to coax me into giving you all these years?"

Jia Lian's face flushed, and he scolded, "You are talking about that. How can a husband and wife keep their accounts clearly separated? Why don't you count the jewelry I bought for you over the years? Stop talking nonsense. Are you going to give me the three hundred taels of silver or not?"

"No!" Wang Xifeng said angrily. Jia Lian got up without saying a word and was about to leave the bed.

Wang Xifeng hurriedly grabbed him and asked, "Where are you going?"

"Go to the study and sleep!" Jia Lian said angrily.

Wang Xifeng smiled and said, "You can go ahead, but don't come back once you're gone, and don't even think about getting a penny from me in the future."

Jia Lian, however, heard a hint of relief in Wang Xifeng's tone, and immediately put on a smiling face and said, "My dear lady, lend me three hundred taels. At worst, I will serve you one more time."

As Jia Lian spoke, he started to move his hands. Wang Xifeng spat, "Go away. I don't have any money. My gold necklace is worth a few dollars. You can use it as collateral for emergency use. But you must redeem it for me after the New Year."

Although Jia Lian was not very satisfied with this, he thought it would solve his urgent problem, so he said, "Let's just pledge 500 taels. We need money for the New Year anyway."

"No need, just consider it three hundred taels. No matter how much more silver you have, you will spend it all. In the end, I will still have to pay for it."

Jia Lian had no choice but to keep silent, because if he continued to do so he would probably lose all the three hundred taels. Although he felt aggrieved, he had no choice but to endure it.

Wang Xifeng glanced at Jia Lian and knew that he was unhappy. However, the only means she had to control Jia Lian now was money, so she had to hold on to his purse even tighter to make Jia Lian obedient.

Wang Xifeng is strong-willed by nature. Although she is a woman, she always wants to suppress her husband. In the past, she was able to control Jia Lian by relying on her family background, youth, beauty, and powerful tactics. However, with Wang Ziteng's dismissal from office, she also lost the support of her natal family. In addition, the novelty between the couple has long passed, and Jia Lian is obviously not as obedient to her as before, so she can only control Jia Lian with money.

Seeing Jia Lian's frustrated look, Wang Xifeng suddenly laughed and said, "I suddenly thought of a way to make money. You see, Baoyu is grown up now, and he is a good match for Miss Lin. If the two families get married, then the Lin family's property will naturally become the Jia family's property. Isn't it the best of both worlds?"

Jia Lian sneered and said, "It's a good idea, but I'm afraid Madam won't agree."

Wang Xifeng nodded and said, "That's true. Madam is probably more interested in Miss Bao. Miss Lin's personality is not pleasing to Madam, and she has been weak since she was a child. I'm afraid she is unlucky."

Jia Lian obviously didn't want to talk about this, so he yawned and said, "Go to sleep."

Wang Xifeng pushed him and said, "Don't go to sleep yet. Rong'er seems to be getting close to Huan Lao San recently. Today, he even gave Huan Lao San three pots of white begonias. White begonias are hard to come by at this time of year. I'm afraid they are worth a lot of money. Is there something going on between them?"

Jia Lian frowned and said, "It's just a few pots of flowers. What can they do? Are you overthinking it?"

Wang Xifeng sneered, "As far as I know, Third Brother Huan and Brother Rong have never gotten along well. There must be a reason why she is trying to please Third Brother Huan for no reason."

Jia Lian nodded and said, "It is indeed strange... No, why do you care about this? I advise you not to provoke Huan Lao San. Have you forgotten the lesson you learned before? Don't forget the pain after the wound has healed."

Wang Xifeng sneered, "He is now a juren master, and both the old lady and the master value him. I am a weak woman with no one to rely on, so how dare I provoke him?"

"I'm glad to know!" Jia Lian covered himself with the quilt, turned around and ignored Wang Xifeng.

Wang Xifeng was so angry that she turned her back to Jia Lian and thought to herself, "I don't believe that Huan Lao San can always be so lucky. There will always be a day when he will be unlucky."

(End of this chapter)