Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 37 Collect interest first
Early in the morning.

After breakfast, Chen Siyuan instructed before leaving, "I'm going to the East Palace. If anyone comes to visit, please make a careful note of it. I'll handle the rest when I get back."

Xiangling, Hongyu, and Yunxiang all agreed. Chen Siyuan immediately strode away with his head held high.

After he left, Xiangling packed up the food boxes, while Hongyu led the little maid Yunxiang to pour out the bath water bucket by bucket.

Yunxiang's eyes rolled around, but she didn't say a word because Hongyu was beside her.

The food box was neatly packed. Xiangling reached out to pick it up and suddenly took a breath. Yunxiang asked hurriedly, "What's wrong, Sister Xiangling?"

Xiangling's face flushed. She shook her head, her eyes flickering as she spoke vaguely, "Maybe I caught a cold last night. My right arm is a little weak."

Just then, Hongyu went out with the bucket. Yunxiang said, "To tell you the truth, yesterday I was dozing off when I heard someone shout. I thought something was wrong with Sister Xiangling and wanted to come out to see what was happening, but Sister Hongyu stopped me."

Xiangling's face suddenly turned red, as if blood could drip out. She said hurriedly, "I, I'll go return the lunch box!"

She left in a hurry after saying so much. The little maidservant Yunxiang was a smart girl, and she had seen Master Bao and Bihen playing in the water before. Watching Xiangling go away, Yunxiang thought to herself, "With this kind of personality, Hongyu will definitely take advantage of her in the future. Well, after all, I have a kind heart, so I might as well help her out in the future."

Seeing Hongyu coming back, Yunxiang hurriedly scooped up some water. Hongyu came in and saw her shifty eyes, and immediately frowned and said, "What are you thinking about? Hurry up and get to work, the yard is waiting for you to sweep it!"

Yunxiang's lips were pouting so hard that it looked like a bottle of oil could be hung on them. She rolled her eyes at Hongyu when she turned around. But she had already made up her mind: even if it didn't benefit her, she would help Xiangling ruin Hongyu's plans!

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By this time, Chen Siyuan had already entered the Ningguo Mansion. Perhaps because Wang Xifeng had already given instructions, the servants all followed the rules and none of them dared to provoke Chen Siyuan.

After Chen Siyuan went to see Feng Jieer, the servants came to Lai Sheng for advice. Lai Sheng said, "It'll only take about a month. Just be patient and it will be over. The guy in there is a well-known hot-tempered fellow with a sour face and a hard heart. He won't recognize anyone when he gets angry. And this new guy, Master Shiziyuan, has an even worse temper. I heard that Master Xue was even frustrated. We should just listen to whatever he says."

The servants all said, "That's right. We're fine outside, but it's time to clean up inside."

Chen Siyuan had met Fengjie and had seen how she commanded people with such authority, vaguely resembling the demeanor of a high-ranking official in the government court. Fengjie was busy at the moment, so she entrusted the purchasing and other errands to Chen Siyuan and sent him off to take care of things.

Ningguo Mansion had its own comprador, so Chen Siyuan just passed on a message and then began to inspect the surroundings.

The layout of Ningguo Mansion is similar to that of Rongguo Mansion, with both having three corridors and three entrances. The difference is that the west courtyard of Ningguo Mansion is the Jia family ancestral hall, and there is also Huifang Garden at the back.

The east courtyard was divided into front and back. In the front was Jia Rong's study and residence, and in the back was Youshi's courtyard. When Fengjie saw her just now, she overheard that Youshi had not recovered from her old illness and was still lying in the back.

Chen Siyuan couldn't help but wonder, it's just a stomach ailment, could it be a perforated stomach? It's been over ten days since Qin Keqing's death, and there's still no sign of improvement for Youshi... Or is Youshi deliberately avoiding this?

After inspecting the area all the way, they suddenly arrived at Jia Rong's courtyard. Chen Siyuan stopped and asked a servant beside him, "Does Rong live here?"

The servant, having received Lai Sheng's order, dared not neglect it and immediately replied, "Master Yuan, since the passing of the great-grandmother, Master Rong has been heartbroken and has refused to return to the principal room... He is now staying in the study room in front at night."

Is this because he's afraid that Qin Keqing's ghost will come back and cause trouble for him?

Chen Siyuan nodded without asking any more questions. He secretly squeezed the small porcelain bottle in his sleeve pocket with his right hand and walked towards the study in front to inspect it.

Just as I arrived outside the outer study, I saw Jia Rong and Jia Qiang coming out laughing.

Glancing at Chen Siyuan, the two men's smiles froze. Jia Rong gave a wry smile and stepped forward, saying, "I heard from Second Aunt this morning that she wanted to invite Uncle Yuan over, and I didn't expect him to be here so soon."

Chen Siyuan narrowed his eyes and smiled, "No problem. Rong'er... accept my condolences."

"Ah?" Jia Rong's mouth twitched, and he said with a forced smile, "Qin Shi is also unlucky. She was seriously ill last year. Who would have thought that she would pass away this year... Yes, I have something else to do outside. Uncle Yuan, we brothers will not be with you for long." "Goodbye."

Standing with his hands behind his back, Chen Siyuan watched the two brothers go away and continued his inspection. After a while, he came back and suddenly laughed out loud, "People have three urgent needs. Is there a place to change clothes nearby?"

The accompanying servant had no suspicion and pointed to the wing room next to the study and said, "That's it, Master Yuan, just go there."

"it is good."

Chen Siyuan hurried away, and the servant stopped there and waited. Chen Siyuan looked back and saw the servant turning his head to look at the bird's nest in the tree, then quickly walked to the main room, popped the cork of the bottle with his thumb, and poured all the goodies inside on the main room door, then quickly went into the side room to change clothes.

After a moment he turned around and went on patrol with the servant as if nothing had happened.

As the saying goes, "If you don't take revenge, you're not a gentleman." Chen Siyuan had just arrived, so if he wanted to use his power to suppress others, he would have to wait, and whether he could wait was uncertain. However, he also had these sinister methods, and this time he was just charging interest!

After a round of inspection, Chen Siyuan returned to the front to take charge. The compradors he had sent out brought in various items one by one. Chen Siyuan calculated the price and let go of those that were of similar quality.

After a busy day, it was night. Seeing that Wang Xifeng had not come out yet, Chen Siyuan thought it was not a good time for him to leave first, so he stayed ahead and waited.

At this time, in the east courtyard, the brothers Jia Rong and Jia Qiang had already returned.

As they entered the courtyard, Jia Rong jokingly said, "Well, aren't my second and third aunts prettier than the girls in Jinxiang Courtyard?"

Jia Qiang echoed, "Wonderful, beyond words!"

Jia Rong smiled and said, "From now on, if we always show filial piety, we will surely get what we want."

Jia Qiang hesitated and said, "Well... I think Uncle Zhen seems to be interested..."

Jia Rong blinked and said, "Does my father still care about this?"

Jia Qiang suddenly realized and then smiled knowingly.

As the two brothers approached the study, Jia Qiang suddenly said, "I've had too much to drink. I'm going to go to the bathroom."

Jia Rong went into the outer study room on his own and just waved his hand to let him do as he pleased.

Entering the study, Jia Rong immediately sought out the maid to ask for some rouge, and for a moment they were filled with laughter, anger, and curses. Suddenly, he heard a loud "Aiya!" from outside. Startled, Jia Rong looked up through the glass window and saw Jia Qiang tumbling out of the side room in a panic, without even pulling up his trousers.

Jia Rong hurried out to see what was happening, and saw Jia Qiang shouting, "Ghost... ghost... ghost!"

Jia Rong was so frightened that his heart was trembling. He asked tremblingly, "Where... where did the ghost come from?"

"Right, right inside."

Jia Rong grabbed a maid and ordered her sternly, "You, go in and take a look!"

The maidservant naturally didn't dare to go. Jia Rong glared at her and cursed, "What generation of slaves! If you dare not go, I will sell you out tomorrow!"

The maid's eyes were red with fear, and she went to the side room to check. She entered tremblingly and looked around by candlelight, but saw nothing unusual. The maid was puzzled. At this moment, she heard Jia Rong shouting from outside: "Look in the clean bucket!"

The maidservant followed the instruction and walked around the screen to look into the clean tub. She immediately rolled her eyes - a pale ghost face suddenly appeared in the clean tub!
(End of this chapter)