Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

Chapter 223 The provocation begins early

Jia Cong came back from Qu Hongxiu's place and took a carriage into the back street of Rongguo Mansion, preparing to return to Qingzhizhai from the back corner door.

But he saw a carriage parked at the street entrance of Lixiangyuan. Two people got out of the carriage. One of them was a handsome man whom he had never seen before, and the other was Jia Rong.

The two of them looked so intimate and ambiguous that it made him feel a little sick. He had seen Jia Rong and Liu Yuer fooling around last year, and they were still in the same state now.

At this time, Jia Rong saw him. It seemed that Jia Cong had seen what happened just now. He looked a little embarrassed. He was about to say hello to Jia Cong, but he saw Jia Cong enter the back corner door without looking back.

Before Jia Cong entered the room, he said to Jiang Liu who was following behind him, "Go and find out who was with Jia Rong just now and what their background is."

When he returned to Qingzhizhai, he saw thick, long, crispy fresh lotus roots and huge watermelons on the corridor of the main house. They looked fresh even in the hottest day of summer.

When I entered the main room, I saw Baochai talking to Zhishao.

Jia Cong asked with a smile: "How come Sister Bao has time to come today?"

Baochai's face was slightly flushed. Today she was wearing a yellow-edged double-breasted jacket, a tea-white tube top underneath, and a long skirt embroidered with orchids. She looked particularly beautiful and eye-catching.

"Cheng Rixin from our antique shop got these huge watermelons and lotus roots from somewhere. I think they are rare, so I sent some to you to try."

In fact, Xue Pan also invited friends to drink today, including Baoyu. These days, Baoyu often came to Lixiangyuan to talk to her, and Baochai was afraid that he would come over today and have something to say.

Ever since the story of the golden jade match spread, Baochai has been wary of Baoyu, fearing that if she got close she would attract gossip, so she stayed out of Lixiang Courtyard today.

Jia Cong smiled and said, "This fresh lotus root looks great. I'll ask the kitchen to make some later and send some to my sister. It will be like offering a gift to the Buddha."

Baochai saw that although his face was full of smiles, his eyes, as deep as autumn pools, were calm and indifferent, without any ripples, which made people feel a little disappointed.

Yesterday she was outside Daiyu's room and heard the two of them talking and laughing carefreely, which made her envious. When he was talking to Sister Lin, he would definitely not have such a look in his eyes.

……

At nightfall, the maid outside the second gate came to tell him that the third master's servant was outside the door and had come back to report after finishing his work.

Jia Cong went out of the back corner door and saw Jiang Liu waiting there.

"Third Master, I have been waiting in the back street this afternoon, and I just happened to meet the cook from the restaurant next door who was delivering food. He said that the young master of the Xue family invited some friends to come for a drink today.

I waited until the banquet was over, and when they were leaving, I heard Master Bao call the man with Jia Rong "Qi Guan."

Jia Cong's mind moved: Isn't Qi Guan Jiang Yuhan, the actress who plays the role of a young female in Prince Zhongshun's mansion?

Jiang Liu continued, "Later, I saw Qi Guan and Jia Rong get on the same carriage. I was curious and followed them all the way."

"Later, I saw them go to a house in Zitan Fort in the eastern suburbs, and they didn't come out for a long time. It seems that this must be the house bought by Jia Rong or Qi Guan."

After hearing this, Jia Cong felt a little confused. The Prince Zhongshun's Mansion had appeared in the Red Mansion. He sent someone to the Rongguo Mansion to ask Baoyu about the whereabouts of Qi Guan.

The person who came said that Qi Guan had not returned to the palace for a long time, and Prince Zhongshun could not do without this person for the time being. The ambiguity between them can be imagined. He was nothing more than a broken-hearted man or a lascivious boy.

Baoyu said that Qi Guan had bought a private house outside the city in the eastern suburbs, but the people in the palace didn't know about it, so they had to go to the Rongguo Mansion to ask.

Now the case has been solved. It turns out that the private residence purchased by Officer Qi outside the eastern suburbs of the city is actually related to Jia Rong. It is even possible that the house was purchased by Jia Rong, and it was most likely the place where the two of them had their secret meetings.

Perhaps Baoyu also knew the truth but just didn't reveal it. Even someone like Baoyu was accustomed to these things.

Qi Guan was a man of Prince Zhongshun, who had always been hostile to the Jia family. Jia Cong did not know why, but the two sides had become enemies. It would have been fine if Jia Rong and Liu Yuer had been hanging out together, but now he dared to provoke Prince Zhongshun's men. Isn't this asking for trouble? It was true that the provocation started in Ning.

……

Ningguo Mansion, from Lutang.

"Master, I sent people to negotiate with that shop several times, but nothing came of it. The other party didn't leave any room for negotiation. I'm afraid it won't be resolved amicably."

Housekeeper Lai Er looked at Jia Zhen with a gloomy face and felt worried.

As the steward of the East Palace, he knew best that the East Palace had become increasingly empty in recent years, the master's life was not as comfortable as before, and his temper became more and more weird.

The master and the eldest uncle are both people who enjoy life and do not know how to manage their savings. Not only has the family business not grown, but they have also sold several shops in the past two years.

The annual revenue from the shops and land in Nanjing, the capital of the country, was less than 20,000 taels. After accounting for some embezzlement, another 4,000 to 5,000 taels were lost.

In addition, the climate in the north of the Great Zhou was abnormal, and Wu Jinxiao, who was in charge of eight or nine farms in the East Palace, could only bring in five thousand taels of grain for the New Year.

The total income of Ningguo Mansion throughout the year is less than 20,000 taels, and there are so many people to support in the mansion, and the master and the eldest uncle are the kind of people who live a life of debauchery.

I didn't see any savings, but instead suffered a lot of losses.

The last time the master got married, the master even borrowed three thousand taels from the Rongguo Mansion. Although he was short of money, he still wanted to put on a lavish display. I don't know who he was doing this for.

So throughout this year, the master racked his brains to find ways to make money.

This spring, I don't know where the master got a few bottles of strange perfume from.

I also heard from somewhere that a perfume shop in West City that had been open for several years had a secret recipe for making perfume and could make a lot of money.

He also asked an expert to make secret calculations. After deducting the cost of production, the shop made a net profit of three to four thousand taels a month since it started selling the Japanese water jade perfume, together with other inferior perfumes.

That’s a total of 50,000 taels of silver in a year, which is twice the annual income of Ningguo Mansion!
The master asked someone to investigate the matter and found out that the incense shop was run by two women and children with no background. It looked easy to set up, so the master became interested.

So he decided to think of some way, whether by cheating or robbing, to get the secret recipe of the perfume.

But he asked his nephew Shangrong to talk to him several times, but to no avail. Just as he was about to think of some other means, his nephew was beaten for no apparent reason, and the matter was delayed.

Today the master thought of this matter again and didn’t know how to deal with it.

Jia Zhen cursed: "How come you can't even do such a small thing? The Jia family has kept a bunch of good-for-nothings like you in vain!"

Lai Er is the son of Lai Ma, the maid of the old lady in the West Mansion. However, he was sent to the East Mansion by the old lady to be the housekeeper. Isn't this just a thorn in the East Mansion?

Jia Zhen had always been unhappy about this matter, but because of the old lady's seniority, he couldn't object. He was a proud and unruly person by nature, so naturally he didn't have a good face towards Lai Er.

"Master, my master often walks around outside and knows many people in the government. Maybe he has some ideas."

"Given the beast's dissolute appearance, what can he do? Well, go and ask him to come and see him."

"The master has not been at home these days. I heard that he is in Rosewood Castle in the eastern suburbs."

"What is this beast doing there? Let him come to see me immediately."

(End of this chapter)