Red Mansion Huacai

Chapter 369 Accident
In those days, contracting a dirty disease was no joke, so Li Weijian never dared to go out to brothels to play around, and only wanted to hang out with girls he knew well.

It was too late to say anything now. Li Weijian glanced at Feng Jieer and knew that she was not crying about Jia Lian, but because she would never be able to find a reason to have a son in the future.

At that moment Li Weijian and Daiyu welcomed Fengjie and Ping'er into the house. The young couple was just trying to comfort each other when the eldest sister Li Wan came over in a moment.

Li Wan also had a look of shame and anger on her face. It was nothing for a young man from an aristocratic family to be a little lustful, but he didn't care about his own body and insisted on looking for that foreign woman to hang out with. He deserved to get a dirty disease. Jia Lian was now the heir and the successor of the title, and he represented the reputation of the Jia family.

Once this matter spreads out, how will outsiders view the Jia family in the future? You must know that there are still several sisters from the second girl who have not yet married. The reputation of these girls is not good because of the previous incident with Lady Wang and Baoyu. Jia's mother originally planned to stay for a year or two, and then outsiders would forget about it. Now is the perfect time to meet them.

And yet Jia Lian happened to cause such trouble again at this moment!

That would be fine, but now Jia Lan is getting older and has some friends, and Li Wan is afraid that her son will be criticized by outsiders because of this. Jia Lan is her life, and whoever ruins Jia Lan's future will be her enemy!

Seeing that Feng Jieer was crying, Li Wan was not in a good position to persuade her. She just pulled Li Weijian aside and said, "The old lady has said that although it is a bit against the rules, Feng Jieer really doesn't want to stay in Rongfu. The old lady said that Feng Jieer should stay at Bofu tonight. Tomorrow, Feng Jieer may have other plans."

Li Weijian agreed immediately, and Li Wan continued, "The old lady is very angry right now. She is old and keeps saying that she has a headache. Brother Jian, you take care of her first. I will be back."

Li Weijian hurriedly sent Li Wan out, and asked Baoqin, who volunteered to send her back. Then he turned around and went to the main room in the east courtyard.

As soon as she entered the door, she heard Sister Feng crying, "I went to my uncle's house early this morning to help him out. Yunping had already been engaged to the son of the Marquis of Baoning, and my aunt was showing off in her words and deeds. Now, it depends on whether my aunt will back out on this marriage or not."

What was she showing off? Since she was married to the eldest son of Marquis Baoning, she would inherit the title of the third-class son in the future. Moreover, the current generation of Marquis Baoning lived in seclusion and rarely went out. He even claimed to be ill and refused to go to the Fifth Army. His family had no shortage of property, so he could be considered a rare wealthy and idle person in the Dashun Dynasty.

If Wang Yunping marries him, she will be able to obtain the imperial decree of a lady in the future, which makes her much better than Feng Jieer's wife, a third-rank general.

When Feng Jieer mentioned this, she was clearly pleased. After a moment, she sighed and said, "It's a pity for my cousin."

Feng Jieer was quite close to Wang Yunping, but became increasingly distant from her uncle and aunt.

Seeing Li Weijian coming in, Sister Feng said to Daiyu, "My dear sister, I will stay at your house for one night. Tomorrow morning, when I have packed everything, I will go to live in the farm outside the city for a while."

Daiyu frowned and advised: "Sister Feng's action is probably too strong. No matter what... at most we can sleep in separate rooms. Why do you have to hide so far away?"

Sister Feng said, "It is also the time when the spring vegetables are about to be put on the market, and I am just going to inspect them. I was busy with Second Sister's affairs the past two years, and I have not been to the farm for a long time. Ping'er has been taking care of it. Sister Lin is now the head of the household, and she should know that there are many cunning, lazy, greedy and slippery people among the people. Ping'er is kind-hearted, and I am afraid that she will be deceived by others."

When Daiyu heard her say this, she said nothing else and hurriedly called Xixue to come and tidy up the guest house for Fengjie.

Just after settling Feng Jieer and Ping Erh in the courtyard of widowed aunt Liu, Li Weijian turned around and saw Daiyu looking at him unfriendly.

Li Weijian immediately said in anger, "What's with that look, sister? It's as if I would go out and hang out like Second Brother Lian."

Daiyu stammered for a moment and said, "The girls outside are not clean, and I'm afraid that Xianggu's house is not clean either. Fourth brother must be careful in the future."

Li Weijian didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and said, "The servants around me are all obedient. How can they be of any other use?" He paused and said, "Sister, you are so worried. Is it because your wedding day is approaching?"

Daiyu blinked her eyes, covered her mouth and smiled, "It's true, it's only been these two days."

Hongyu then came in and asked when they would have dinner. Li Weijian and Daiyu then remembered that they had not yet eaten. They immediately ordered people to serve the meal, and after they had eaten and drunk their fill, they did not mention the rest.

The night was peaceful in the Bo Mansion, and the Rongguo Mansion was also quiet. The cunning servants who were born with a glimpse of wealth and status did not dare to make any noise when walking. Even if they were given an errand, they only whispered to the relevant person, for fear of angering the powerful Third Miss Tanchun.

It was no wonder that everyone was so cautious. Even Mrs. Fei, who always had face in front of Tanchun, was slapped in the face for discussing Mr. Lian's affairs in private. How could the rest of the people dare to take risks?

Everyone in Rong Mansion had different reactions. The Third Miss cleaned up the house with ruthless hands, and it looked even tidier than when Sister Feng was here. The Fourth Miss Xichun didn't care about it, and just looked for ink and started painting.
When Li Wan returned to Daoxiang Village, she saw Jia Lan asking curiously, and was afraid that her son would go astray in the future, so she immediately scolded him, which made Jia Lan feel very upset.
The second young lady was still in the Taoist temple at this moment. She was very surprised when she heard what the maid said. Then she thought again, if it was the fourth brother Jian, he would never be infected with such a dirty disease. Thinking of Li Weijian, she suddenly remembered the beautiful scene of the night before.

The second girl's face flushed, and she thought to herself, at this point, except for the last hurdle, she really gave him everything. She touched her throat without checking herself, and suddenly felt a little hot in her throat. She thought to herself, weird, why is it this taste?
Mrs. Xing was also anxious and angry. She scolded Jia Lian and then sent people to find a famous doctor to treat him overnight. Jia Cong ran away early in the morning and no one knew where he was now. If Jia Lian had an accident and Feng Jieer did not give birth to a boy, then wouldn't the title and family property fall to the second wife?
When the third lady heard that Mrs. Xing was making such a big fuss, she hurried over to persuade her. But she was a junior and couldn't be too strong. Seeing that Mrs. Xing was talking to herself, Tanchun had no choice but to go find the old lady.

The old lady had seen Li Wan, and now she was lying on the couch with her eyes closed. When she heard what Mrs. Xing was doing, her headache got worse. She quickly sent Yuanyang to call Mrs. Xing over and scolded her in person, telling her not to make trouble. Mrs. Xing looked embarrassed and finally calmed down.

As for Jia Lian, he felt as if he had been struck by lightning, and after being scolded by the old lady and Mrs. Xing, he now locked himself in the study room in the front.

I was thinking randomly, and for a while I was lucky, thinking it was just a flirtation, I couldn't be fooled, right? Then I was angry, secretly hating the young master of Baoning Marquis Mansion, who had to drag me to find that foreign woman for no reason.

At this moment, he had forgotten that at the banquet that day, the young master of Baoning had talked about his romantic affairs with a smile on his face, which made Jia Lian very envious. Afterwards, he begged with a shameless face, and the other party took him along reluctantly.

At night, Jia Lian tossed and turned and couldn't fall asleep. It's not good to think too much when something happens. The more you think about it, the more likely you are to get stuck in a dead end. At this time, Jia Lian's luck gradually faded, and now he was left with only anxiety.

He was only in his twenties and didn't even have a son. What was he going to do in the future? Perhaps he had thought too much, Jia Lian felt that his words were no longer useful.

In panic, I fiddled with it for a while, but there was no response!
Jia Lian was afraid, so he simply stood up and called the servant to serve him. After a long while, until Jia Lian got angry, Xing'er finally came in with a sad face.

There was a rustling sound inside for a while, then a "ouch!" was heard, and then Jia Lian cursed, "Get out, you good-for-nothing!"

Xing'er ran out, tumbling and crawling. Jia Lian put on his clothes and went to the back to look for her in Yihong Courtyard.

When he entered the courtyard, a maid came to greet him and said, "Second Master, Second Madam and Aunt Ping are not here at the moment."

Jia Lian snorted coldly and stopped in the courtyard to look around. Yao Tao, who later became his wife, now lived in the west wing, while Qiu Tong lived in the east wing. After a brief thought, thinking that Yao Tao was her favorite, Jia Lian moved to the east wing.

When he got closer and pushed the door, he saw that it was bolted. Jia Lian knocked on it several times but there was no movement from inside, so he immediately cursed, "Bitch, if you don't open the door today, I'll sell you to a brothel tomorrow!"

After the words fell, a lazy voice came up a moment later: "Second Master, why are you here now? I went to bed early in the morning, ha~"

There was a rustling sound, and after a moment, the door was finally opened. Qiu Tong looked at Jia Lian's gloomy face and was so frightened that she stammered and dared not speak.

Jia Lian snorted coldly and strode inside. Qiu Tong said awkwardly, "Second Master, today is a day for me, why don't you go to the opposite side to look for peaches——"

Jia Lian said sternly: "Don't even mention that your menstrual period has come. Even if it is your uterine bleeding, you can't avoid it!"

At that moment, without caring about Qiu Tong's reply, Jia Lian stepped forward and pulled her to go inside. At this point, Qiu Tong could only grit her teeth and be pulled by Jia Lian to the kang inside. She closed her eyes and let Jia Lian do whatever he wanted like a dead person.

It was strange that Qiu Tong had not slept with him for a long time, and although she was scared to death, she was aroused by the rubbing. She groaned for a moment, thinking that she would be doomed to death if she ended up in the red-light district. So, she might as well enjoy herself for a few years.

Qiu Tong accepted her fate, but suddenly Jia Lian stopped. Qiu Tong opened her eyes in surprise and looked at Jia Lian inexplicably: "Second Master?"

Jia Lian bit his lower lip and suddenly raised his hand to slap him.

Snapped--

"Ah!" Qiu Tong was not a submissive person to begin with, and now she just threw a tantrum, shouting, "Why did the Second Master hit me? The Second Master had a serious disease, and he wanted me to take care of him. Did I say anything more? Why did I still get beaten for this?"

"It was you who hit!"

Jia Lian raised his palms and slapped Qiu Tong left and right, and soon Qiu Tong's mouth was bleeding. The maids and old women serving outside heard that something was wrong and hurried to find the third girl Tanchun.

No matter how capable Tanchun was, she was still a girl. How could she persuade Jia Lian at this moment? Knowing that Jia's mother had already gone to bed because of a headache, she hurried to invite Mrs. Xing to come to Yihong Courtyard.

When they arrived near Yihong Courtyard, they saw Jia Lian coming out in a daze, muttering to himself, "It's useless, it's useless..." When Mrs. Xing saw this, she was so frightened that she dared not go forward and turned away to hide.

Tanchun was anxious and said hurriedly, "Madam, how can we hide now? At least my second brother should call you mother."

Mrs. Xing said dejectedly, "I am just a concubine who is appointed as a concubine. If I really lose face, do you think your second brother will listen to me?" After a pause, she continued, "Besides, he left now, but he just beat up the maid, which is not a big deal."

Tanchun had no choice but to watch Jia Lian walk out of the Grand View Garden like a walking corpse. Then the two of them hurried into the Yihong Courtyard and saw Qiutong crying non-stop. After a while, she went to find Yaotao to make trouble. Tanchun was completely annoyed and directly deducted Qiutong's monthly salary. Only then did Qiutong calm down.

Just after dealing with this one, the head maid Yuanyang came back and said that a quick-talking old woman ran to Rongqing Hall to knock on the door to complain. The old lady was very worried now and ordered her to come and see what happened.

Tanchun then hurried to Rongqing Hall with Yuanyang, and in front of Lady Jia, she said that Qiutong had made a scene and annoyed Jia Lian, so she was slapped, but now everything was fine.

Grandmother Jia knew that what Tanchun said was not entirely true, but how could she control it now that she was old? She just sighed, pretended to be confused, and then asked Tanchun to go to rest early.

By the time Tanchun fell asleep, it was already past the second watch.

Early the next morning, Ping'er led the maids and old women to pack their bags. When Sao heard about this, she hurried back to tell Fengjie.

Feng Jieer was indifferent and just urged Ping'er to pack everything up. Then she took a carriage to the farm outside the city.

............................................................

But Li Weijian went to the inner court early that day and did not finish his business until near noon. At this time, people in the court went to restaurants in groups of three or five, but Li Weijian remained motionless, only thinking about what food Xing Xiuyan would bring today.

After a while, Ding Rusong smiled and said, "Master, Miss Xing is here."

After he finished speaking, Xing Xiuyan came in carrying a food box.

Li Weijian took a look and saw that she was wearing a peach-pink jacket, with a high bun on her head, two strands of hair on her temples, and her bangs were a little messy, which made her look more cute.

She was wearing a white hairpin and a flower, and was thin and graceful, but for some reason, there was a hint of sadness between her brows.

Li Weijian sighed in his heart. If he hadn't cared about Daiyu, how could he have delayed Xing Xiuyan for so long? This time Daiyu finally spoke up, and he planned to make the matter clear in a while.

Because he pretended not to know at this time, he just smiled and asked, "What's for dinner today?"

Xing Xiuyan smiled and spread out the food box on the table. There was a large bowl of boiled dried shredded vegetables, a plate of assorted tofu, a plate of pressed duck, and a plate of vegetarian pork tripe, all served with the best glutinous rice.

Li Weijian couldn't help but get hungry and said, "I wanted to eat pressed duck yesterday, but you made it today. Let me try it first--"

Li Weijian picked up a piece with chopsticks and put it into his mouth. He smiled and nodded repeatedly, saying vaguely, "It tastes really good."

Xing Xiuyan forced a smile and said, "As long as Master Bo likes it, I'll tell the kitchen later to make it two or three times a month. That way, it's just right, not too much or too little."

Li Weijian nodded repeatedly.

He had just swallowed the food in his mouth and opened his mouth to speak, but unexpectedly he spoke in the same voice as Xing Xiuyan.

"you--"

"you--"

The two of them paused at the same time, and Li Weijian raised his hand and invited: "You speak first."

Xing Xiuyan stammered, "I wonder if Master Bo could lend me some money?"

Li Weijian remained calm, thought for a moment and said, "But the family is in urgent need of money?"

Xing Xiuyan bit her lower lip and nodded, and Li Weijian asked, "How much do you want?"

Xing Xiuyan said: "Three thousand silver dollars."

"Then wait a moment." Li Weijian stood up and walked to the side room where the guards were resting. After a while, he returned with three silver bills in his hand, stuffed them into Xing Xiuyan's hand, and asked, "Is three thousand enough? If not, I have more here."

Xing Xiuyan let out a long sigh and shook her head, "Three thousand is enough." There were some things she couldn't say. If three thousand was not enough, she was afraid that it would cause trouble.

Xing Xiuyan put the banknotes away and said, "Enjoy your meal, my Lord. A waiter will come to get the lunch box later."

Li Weijian concluded that Xing Xiuyan must have encountered something. On normal days, every time she delivered the food box, she would talk to him for a while, but now she was eager to leave.

Li Weijian said nothing more, stood up and walked to the door of the room. He saw Xing Xiuyan walking away quickly with her hands in her pockets, then waved and called Ding Rushong over.

"master?"

Li Weijian whispered, "Send someone to follow Miss Xing and find out what's going on."

"Yes."

Ding Rushong hurriedly asked the accompanying servant Lingli for instructions, and the servant followed behind Xing Xiuyan from a distance.

After lunch, Li Weijian took a nap in the side room for half an hour. When he woke up, Ding Rusong came with a servant to report: "Master, I saw Miss Xing go to a teahouse and argue with a woman for a long time. Finally, she came out with a gloomy face."

"What is the origin of that woman?"

The servant said, "I know her. She is a famous matchmaker in the inner city. Her name is Zhou Sanniang."

Matchmaker? Li Weijian frowned, thinking that maybe Xing Zhong and his wife couldn't wait and asked the matchmaker to find someone for Xing Xiuyan?

After thinking about it, he felt that it was not that simple. Li Weijian immediately ordered: "Go find Zhou Sanniang and find out what happened."

Ding Rusong took the order and personally led two servants to look for him.

When the court was about to be dismissed, Ding Rusong had just returned. When he saw Li Weijian, he whispered, "Master, I heard it clearly. Xing Zhong got drunk during the day off and was led to a gambling house, where he lost several hundred taels of silver."

Just a few hundred taels of silver? You wouldn't sell Xing Xiuyan for that, would you? Besides, Xing Xiuyan now gets dividends from the food box shop every month, ranging from a few taels to more than ten taels, which is a lot in a year.

"and after?"

"Xing Zhong didn't have enough money, so it was seized by the gambling house. He happened to meet the young master of Baoning Marquis's Mansion, who for some reason intervened and paid for his gambling. After a while, Xing Zhong sold Miss Xing to Baoning Marquis's Mansion as a concubine for 2,000 taels."

Baoning Marquis's Mansion? Li Weijian narrowed his eyes and said, "Take my invitation and send it to Baoning Marquis's Mansion, and tell them that I will be visiting soon."

(End of this chapter)