Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 420 Account
Rongqing Hall.

Grandmother Jia and Madam Liang sat side by side on a soft couch. The two were of similar age and rank. One was the wife of a duke of the highest rank, and the other was the principal wife of a former Grand Secretary. Naturally, they were very warm and friendly when they got together.

Because Sister Feng was too far along in her pregnancy to serve at Rongqing Hall, and the Second Miss had also made a betrothal to Chen Siyuan, it was not appropriate for her to receive outside guests. Therefore, at this moment, Madam Wang was sitting with her, while Li Wan stood by her side.

After the two elders had spoken for a while, Madam Liang finally said with a smile, "Elder sister, I wouldn't have come here without a reason. I was entrusted by the magistrate to come seven or eight days ago, but I suddenly caught a cold and it dragged on until the day before yesterday. Now that I'm feeling better, I've come to find you, elder sister."

Madam Liang was just being polite; in fact, she had sent the invitation two days earlier.

Grandmother Jia knew perfectly well what was going on, but she smiled and said, "I wonder why Madam is here this time—"

Madam Liang smiled and said, "I was just about to arrange a good marriage with you, elder sister. I heard that the daughter of Lord Lin, the former Salt Commissioner, is currently residing in your household?"

Grandmother Jia smiled and said, "Old sister, you were originally looking for a husband for Yu'er."

Madam Liang nodded repeatedly and said, "I originally planned to visit yesterday, but after listening carefully, I learned that Lord Lin entrusted his daughter to Jia Sima before his death. I am in a dilemma and do not know where to propose marriage. I consulted my husband, but he scolded me and made me confused."

"Because I first visited the Grand Marshal's house yesterday and received his permission, I have come to visit my elder sister."

Grandmother Jia felt extremely uncomfortable.

Daiyu had relatives, but because of the fierce dispute over the inheritance that day, Daiyu returned to the capital with Jia Yucun and Jia Lian, and that's when they stopped seeing each other.

The idea of ​​entrusting the orphan to someone else is reasonable, but if Jia Lian had received the marriage certificate that day, why would outsiders need to meddle in Daiyu's marriage? There would have been no need to consult Jia Yucun's opinion first!

Suddenly remembering Chen Siyuan's marriage to Yingchun, she thought to herself that no matter what, Chen Siyuan would soon become Jia's son-in-law, and he was a newly appointed scholar with a bright future. She should not make enemies with him over such a trivial matter. With a change of thought, Grandmother Jia smiled and said, "As you know, Yu'er and Shuliang already have a marriage certificate as proof, and Yu'er has privately acknowledged it. As Yu'er's maternal family, I have absolutely no objection to such matters."

Madam Liang then said, "That's good. Jia Sima also said that we need to ask my elder sister for her birth chart before it will be proper."

Grandmother Jia said, "We're all going to be buried in the ground soon, and we don't know when we'll be gone. Naturally, we hope our descendants will be successful. Since the two younger ones agree, I have nothing more to say." She then turned to Li Wan, who went to the side room to write down her birth chart.

A moment later, the betrothal letter was handed to Madam Liang, who secretly breathed a sigh of relief. After drinking two cups of tea and chatting with Grandmother Jia for a while, she finally got up to take her leave when it was nearly half past 9 am.

Grandmother Jia dared not neglect her and personally saw her off at the hanging flower gate, then opened the middle gate to see her off again before turning back.

After sitting down on the soft couch again, Grandmother Jia said to Lady Wang and Li Wan, "It's time to start preparing for Yu'er's wedding. When you're done, open the private treasury and select some usable items from Yu'er's mother's dowry. Tell me the amount first."

Madam Wang, fearing that she would have to spend more money, hurriedly said, "Grandma, my sister-in-law's dowry is almost twenty years old. Putting aside everything else, the leggings were all left in Suzhou, and the various fabrics have long since rotted away. Most of the items left are just some headdresses and jewelry."

Grandmother Jia said, "Even if we bring her back, it won't be of any use. I'll open my private treasury and allocate ten thousand taels of silver to prepare a dowry for Yu'er." As she spoke, she looked at Li Wan and said, "Zhu'er's wife, there is really no one else in the family who can be used right now. I'm afraid you will have to take care of this matter."

Li Wan smiled and nodded in agreement, saying, "I, your granddaughter-in-law, rarely go out, and I'm afraid I won't be able to manage things well. However, since the old lady has given the order, I am willing to do my best."

Grandmother Jia smiled and readily agreed. Lady Wang said nothing more, and Grandmother Jia then called over the head maid, Amber, and led Li Wan to the back to inspect the private treasury.

It seems that news of Daiyu's arranged marriage spread like wildfire, reaching the entire household in no time. Tanchun, Xichun, and Xiangyun couldn't help but tease and joke about it, while the remaining servants merely smiled broadly upon seeing her, knowing that Daiyu was delicate and sharp-tongued, and therefore dared not ridicule or tease her.

I don't know which old woman said it, but it's fortunate that Miss Lin is so frail that her husband managed to secure her a secondary lineage. Otherwise, how could the second young lady have gotten such a good deal?
When this matter reached the ears of Xiuju and the other maids of Zhuijinlou, they were naturally very annoyed. Unexpectedly, they went to the second young lady, Yingchun, to complain, and Yingchun wholeheartedly agreed.

She felt increasingly inferior, thinking that even without Daiyu, if the Xue family had remained safe and sound, such a wonderful marriage would not have been hers.

That's how rumors spread; if the person involved doesn't care, the fabricated stories will soon disappear. Thus, the Grand View Garden returned to its usual calm, but Li Wan, who had opened a private treasury with Amber, couldn't hide the turmoil in her heart!
When Daiyu's mother, Jia Min, got married, the Jia family was at its peak, and her dowry was extremely generous. Excluding those items left in Suzhou that were inconvenient to move, the farmland, estates, shops, houses, and gold and silver jewelry totaled at least twenty or thirty thousand taels of silver!
Who would have thought that when the treasury was opened and the inventory was taken, only a 300-mu plot of land in the suburbs of Beijing remained, only a powder shop remained, and all the houses were replaced with gold and silver jewelry that had been stolen and replaced with gilded ones. All in all, it was worth no more than four or five thousand taels of silver!
Li Wan dared not make a sound, and kept the matter to herself for the time being. In the evening, she went to Grandmother Jia to report it. Grandmother Jia was stunned for a long time, and finally said that she would allocate another two thousand taels of silver from her private treasury to make new headdresses for Daiyu.

How should this matter be investigated? The household is managed by the daughter-in-law, Lady Wang, and there is also a troublesome eldest son who steals from the family. Investigating further will only make the Jia family lose face even more.

Li Wan didn't show it on her face, but she felt a chill in her heart! The Jia family had even stripped their own family members of their dowries clean, let alone their own granddaughter-in-law?

Because of that genuine artifact, Li Wan still had tens of thousands of taels of silver hidden away. If the Jia family found out, would they plot against her to her death? After thinking it over, she decided that the dowry was fine, but it wouldn't be good to keep those tens of thousands of taels of silver with her.

Since the Li family was now all in Jinling, it was impossible for them to reach her directly. So Li Wan thought of depositing the silver notes with Chen Siyuan. But Chen Siyuan had already moved out of the Grand View Garden, so how could she, a widow, see him?

Thinking about returning to Daoxiang Village, and just when he couldn't come up with a plan, Biyue suddenly said, "Lan-ge'er is here."

Li Wan quickly came to her senses, feeling quite surprised. Upon seeing Jia Lan, she asked, "Why are you here at this hour?"

Jia Lan said with a bitter face, "Sir, you just received a letter from home saying that your mother is seriously ill and you plan to resign immediately and set off to return home to take care of her."

Li Wan was quite surprised. After asking in detail, she went to the front and asked Jia Lian to give the teacher a hundred taels of silver as travel expenses. Turning her head, she was secretly delighted. With the teacher gone, Lan-ge'er would be without a tutor and could go to visit his distant brother!
Knowing she was not favored by her mother-in-law, Lady Wang, Li Wan needed to speak with the old lady, so she went straight to Rongqing Hall. She went inside and spoke for a while, without mentioning Chen Siyuan, only saying that she wanted Lady Jia to arrange for a suitable tutor to be found.

Grandmother Jia was immediately in a dilemma. How could she not know the true character of the Jia family's private school? The Jia family rose to prominence through military achievements, but after Jia Zhu's death and Jia Jing's flight from disaster, their literary lineage was severed. Now, let alone a private school, who in the family could discern the quality of the teachers?
Suddenly remembering Chen Siyuan's arrival, Grandmother Jia smiled and said, "What's so difficult about that? Yuan-ge'er just became the third-ranked scholar, so he must know some scholars who are truly talented but unlucky. We can ask Yuan-ge'er for advice another day."

Li Wan was secretly delighted, but kept a straight face and said, "I wonder when that will be. We can't wait until Second Sister returns home, can we? That would be too late."

Unaware of Li Wan's true intentions, Grandmother Jia said, "Yuan-ge'er is handling his wedding, and he has no relatives to help him. It will be necessary for the First Madam to go and lend a hand. If the First Madam goes to Yuan-ge'er's house in the future, you can just go with her."

Li Wan was overjoyed. She hesitated for a moment before thanking Grandmother Jia and then turned away excitedly.

On the way, she couldn't stop reminiscing, and memories of the past kept surfacing in her mind, making Li Wan feel intoxicated.

Su Yun and Bi Yue, seeing this, dared not disturb her for a moment. After a long while, when Li Wan came to her senses, Su Yun said, "Grandma, are you thinking of Master again?"

Biyue said, "That must be so. If Master were still alive, why would Grandma have to worry about Lan-ge'er's studies?"

Li Wan sighed and said meaningfully, "That's why you shouldn't meet someone too amazing when you're young, otherwise you'll only live in the past."

Suyun and Biyue didn't quite understand, assuming Li Wan was referring to Jia Zhu. Later that evening, when Madam Xing came to Rongqing Hall to serve Grandmother Jia, Li Wan took the opportunity to tell her about it. Madam Xing, unsuspecting and eager to show off Chen Siyuan's newly acquired three residences, readily agreed.

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Now, let's talk about the residences near Nengren Temple.

On this day, Chen Siyuan led Siqi and Miaoyu inside to settle in. Because the move was in a hurry, there was no time to build a nunnery in the side garden, so the group was temporarily settled in a nunnery.

This residence is a hundred times better than the original small courtyard. At least Miaoyu and Siqi won't be stuck in the cramped courtyard all day. Stepping out of the main hall, they can enter the side garden, where a stroll will refresh them and even improve their health.

Chen Siyuan instructed the servants to help with the arrangements, and then went to the main room to talk to You Sanjie, Qingwen, and others.

This action caused resentment not only among Miaoyu but also among Siqi.

Regardless of what the two were thinking, Chen Siyuan entered the room and saw You Sanjie, Qingwen, Xiangling and others chattering endlessly, discussing how to give the eldest sister a proper name.

My eldest daughter will be two years old in the fall, and it's time to give her a proper name. We can't keep calling her "elder sister" anymore.

Upon seeing Chen Siyuan arrive, You Sanjie immediately fell silent. Qingwen, not as talented as Xiangling, simply deflected the question, saying, "Since Master is here, why don't you ask Master to name our eldest daughter?"

After a moment's thought, Chen Siyuan said, "How about calling it Zhuohua?"

Xiangling immediately praised, "The peach tree is young and tender, its blossoms are bright and beautiful, what a wonderful name."

Qingwen muttered a few words, and found it sounded natural. Sister You Sanjie neither agreed nor disagreed, but smiled and said, "Then let's call her Zhuohua, You Zhuohua."

The eldest sister was born to Chen Siyuan and Madam You, but the third sister You insisted on having the surname You. When Qingwen and Xiangling went to play in the side garden, Chen Siyuan pulled the third sister You and said, "Why does the eldest sister insist on having the surname You?"

Sister You sneered, "Since she was so heartless as to exchange the eldest daughter for the ugly boy, then the eldest daughter should inherit the You surname." She paused, then added, "Besides, I'm doing this for my brother's own good... If there were an illegitimate eldest daughter, not to mention the second young lady and the Lin young lady, I'm afraid even the Bao young lady would feel disgusted."

Chen Siyuan thought about it and realized it made sense, so he had no choice but to go along with Sister You.

The feud between You Sanjie and You Shi was irreconcilable, and she didn't want to say more, so she changed the subject and said, "That's right, why doesn't brother stay with Miaoyu?"

Chen Siyuan laughed and said, "People are different. For example, I treat my sister with sincerity, and she naturally reciprocates with a hundredfold affection. But Miaoyu is like a donkey; she won't move when you try to drive her, and she'll back down when you try to push her. If you ignore her, she'll come running to you instead."

Sister You covered her mouth and chuckled, "I never knew you had such an ungrateful nature." Glancing sideways at him, Sister You teased, "I don't believe my brother can resist at night."

Upon hearing this, Chen Siyuan immediately gave an embarrassed laugh.

The saying goes, "Boys are plump, Zhao Feiyan is slender, each has her own charm." Miaoyu was one thing, but Chen Siyuan was preoccupied with finding Siqi that night.

That evening at dinner time, the little maid Yunxiang eagerly came over and said, "Master, Master, I heard that Aunt Zhang gave birth to a girl."

Chen Siyuan took a moment to process what Yunxiang was referring to when she said Zhang Jinge. He immediately thought to himself, "Zhang Jinge is lucky to have given birth to a daughter. Sister Feng has a fiery temper, but Zhang Jinge, though strong-willed, is extremely well-behaved. Now that she's given birth to a girl, I'm sure Sister Feng will be able to tolerate her no matter what."

After saying "I understand," Chen Siyuan hesitated whether to give a reward, but Yunxiang didn't want any money and turned to leave.

Chen Siyuan clicked his tongue in amazement, thinking to himself, "This little girl isn't greedy for money anymore?" Little did he know, Yunxiang now considered herself the steward of the Chen family, so why would she be greedy for those few reward coins? She was bossing people around every day, feeling incredibly pleased with herself! Sure enough, it was night when Chen Siyuan went to the side garden to look for Siqi.

Siqi was overjoyed, her smile barely concealing her alluring charm. She was naturally bold, and now her lust was boundless, oblivious to the eavesdroppers. Her desire burned like fire, caring nothing for the peephole. At first, she was like a thirsty dragon gushing from a well, then like a hungry tiger seizing a sheep. The sounds of their lovemaking were so intense that even the most hardened man would be moved. Their soft breaths were so captivating that even a clay god would be mesmerized. Clinging tightly to each other, she couldn't bear to part, whispering sweet nothings in each other's ears.

These two were completely oblivious, much to the distress of Miaoyu in the western courtyard. The mere sound of their voices made her restless, and even covering her ears only added to her turmoil! She couldn't decide whether to sleep or not. She tossed and turned in bed, her legs intertwined, and eventually found solace in a pillow and a vajra pestle.

After the third watch of the night, the other side finally settled down. Miaoyu thought that this was how it would be for tonight, but Chen Siyuan asked Qingfan to bring water. After quietly washing up, he came to her place again.

Miaoyu was startled and quickly hid the items carefully before turning over and pretending to doze off. Unexpectedly, Chen Siyuan got into bed and fell asleep on his back.

Miaoyu was so angry that she felt like she was about to ascend to heaven and her mind was about to explode. In her turmoil, she inevitably made a lot of noise. Then Chen Siyuan came over and started groping her. Miaoyu calmed down a little, but just when she was at her wit's end, that scoundrel said, "I'm tired. Let's rest."

Turning her head slightly, Miaoyu saw Chen Siyuan with a wicked smile on his face. She was taken aback, realizing that Chen Siyuan was deliberately teasing her.
In this moment, they ride cranes and phoenixes, climbing dragons and attaching themselves to phoenixes. In an instant, the witches and rain meet with King Xiang. In a flash, colorful clouds confuse the insects. The golden lotus rides high, unafraid of overflowing the Blue Bridge. The jade shoots gently emerge, what fear is there of burning temples?

After a short while, the rain intensified, the clouds rose again, and swallows and orioles frolicked, as if fish in water. I won't elaborate further.

The next morning, Chen Siyuan, feeling refreshed, went to the garden to practice his stance training. Miaoyu and Siqi, who had just gotten up at 7:00 AM, were both astonished when they met.

Seeing that the other was shaking her head with red eyes, Siqi assumed that Miaoyu had been diligently riding the reins all night, while Miaoyu thought that Siqi had been repeatedly trying to please her. The two women felt a pang of sympathy, but neither of them mentioned it.

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In the blink of an eye, Baochai and Daiyu had exchanged betrothal gifts, and soon after, they sent their small betrothal gifts, setting the date for the larger betrothal gifts to be sent at the end of next month. In the Rongguo Mansion, only Grandmother Jia was urging Li Wan to prepare Daiyu's dowry; at the Xue family's old residence, Baochai was overjoyed, while Aunt Xue missed Chen Siyuan, but knowing that he had been busy with various affairs lately, she had no choice but to suppress her thoughts for the time being.

As expected, Chen Siyuan came to the Hanlin Academy on the first day of the fifth month to report for duty. However, after only half a day on the job, he asked for leave to visit his family.

The top scholar Zhao Zhen and others were astonished and privately sought out Chen Siyuan to persuade him, but Chen Siyuan smiled but remained silent, determined to ask for leave to visit his family. Seeing that he could not persuade him, the elder brother Zhao Zhen could only sigh helplessly.

The leave request was submitted, and before the court session even ended, a reply was received, granting Chen Siyuan a six-month leave to manage household affairs.

Chen Siyuan happily returned to his residence at Nengren Temple, and excitedly began making arrangements to rent a villa in Xiangshan to escape the summer heat soon.

Qingwen, Xiangling, Wu'er, and the others cheered and echoed their joy, but You Sanjie came over to stop them.

Chen Siyuan feigned nonchalance and pouted, "After ten years of hard study, I finally passed the imperial examination. What's wrong with me enjoying myself a bit?"

Sister You was both amused and exasperated, and spat out, "Brother is getting married next month, and we might have to move to Faxiangfang by the middle of the month. How will we have time to go to Fragrant Hills to escape the summer heat?"

Chen Siyuan blinked, thought about it and realized it made sense. He then jokingly pulled You Sanjie and said, "Oh dear, I have to remind you, sister, otherwise I'm afraid we would have messed things up. Well, let's talk about Fragrant Hills in the fall. Let's take a stroll around Houhai Lake when we have some free time."

That day, nothing more was said. The next day, Madam Xing, along with Madam You and Li Wan, arrived together.

Li Wan, needless to say, had come to see her eldest daughter, Zhuohua. Chen Siyuan greeted them at the ceremonial gate. He glanced around and saw that You Shi and Li Wan looked normal, but Madam Xing had a long face, her displeasure practically written all over her face.

Having spent so much time together, Chen Siyuan was well aware of Madam Xing's intentions. She had come alone, hoping to have some intimate time with her. However, with the You sisters, Qingwen, Xiangling, and others all present, even Chen Siyuan wouldn't dare to act recklessly. It could only be said that Madam Xing had truly lost her mind this time.

After welcoming the three into the hall for a short rest, Madam You excused herself to go see Second Sister You and went to the back to look at Zhuohua. Seeing Madam Xing looking over frequently, Li Wan stood up and said, "I'll go and talk to Xiangling for a while first. I have something important to ask Brother Yuan when he has some free time."

Madam Xing feigned surprise and said, "Does Zhu's wife have something important to say? Why don't you tell Yuan'er first?"

Li Wan made a few excuses and hurriedly left the hall.

Once only the two of them remained inside, Madam Xing said, "I heard you asked for leave?"

Knowing that he couldn't explain it to Madam Xing, Chen Siyuan simply said, "This is the Prince's intention."

Madam Xing did not press the matter further, saying, "Since it is the intention of a distinguished person, there must be a deeper meaning. Since you are going to handle the wedding preparations anyway, this is fine." After a pause, she added, "By the way, when do you plan to move to Faxiangfang?"

Chen Siyuan said, "No rush. The new house has been tidied up and servants have been left to clean and tidy it. I plan to move in around the middle of the month."

Madam Xing said with a sigh, "It's still mid-May... Then let me know in advance so I can come over and help out after the move is finished."

Chen Siyuan gave him a mischievous grin the moment they met eyes.

It was not convenient to say more here. Madam Xing felt uncomfortable being stared at, so she covered herself by smoothing her hair and said, "I don't know where the rumor has been coming from lately, but it is said that Grand Secretary Zheng is going to retire, and that guy from Xinglong Street might be going to be added to the cabinet. The master has heard the news and has been going to Xinglong Street every few days, and he is busy arranging to establish a kinship with that guy."

Chen Siyuan said, "I'm afraid it's just the master's enthusiasm that's unfounded, and it shouldn't be taken seriously."

Madam Xing said, "It's hard to say. When I came here just now, Jia Yucun came to the east wing and closed the door. I don't know what he said to the master."

Chen Siyuan remained noncommittal and chatted with Madam Xing for a while. He then noticed Li Wan's maid, Suyun, loitering outside the hall. Chen Siyuan excused himself, saying he needed to relieve himself, and went outside.

When Suyun met him under the eaves, Suyun said, "Uncle Yuan, our grandma is waiting for you in the side garden."

Chen Siyuan agreed, then asked Xiangling to keep Madam Xing company, and went into the side garden by himself. Walking along the path, he turned past a bamboo grove and saw Li Wan sitting alone in the pavilion.

Chen Siyuan strolled into the pavilion, and the two greeted each other. Li Wan then sent her maid, Biyue, out to keep watch.

As soon as he left, Chen Siyuan asked, "Lanqiao, is there anything urgent?"

Li Wan nodded and briefly recounted the dowry of Jia Min, Daiyu's mother. Chen Siyuan remained silent, thinking to himself that Grandmother Jia probably already knew about this and was just pretending not to know.

In the original text, Sister Feng once calculated that all the Jia family's daughters, including Daiyu, would receive 10,000 taels of silver as dowry from the old lady. However, she never mentioned Jia Min's dowry.

Why not say so? I'm afraid that by then Jia Min's dowry would have already been emptied by the Jia family!

After Li Wan finished speaking, she said with a chill in her heart, "If the Jia family is treated like this, what about me, a widowed granddaughter-in-law?" As she spoke, she pushed over a sandalwood box and said, "Keeping these silver notes around will only bring trouble. Yuan'er, please keep this money for my daughter and me. If something happens to me one day, you can give it to Lan'er when he grows up."

Chen Siyuan immediately became anxious, frowning as he was about to speak, but Li Wan stopped him. She said, "Just in case, I know your intentions, so there's no need for oaths. I've come here for two reasons: first, for this money; second, Lan'er's tutor has resigned to return home to care for her ailing mother. I need your help to find a suitable tutor so that Lan'er's studies won't be delayed."

Chen Siyuan was about to agree immediately, but then he thought for a moment and said, "Lan'er has always been diligent, and the teacher has praised him a lot. If you ask me, in two more years, Lan'er will be ready to take the imperial examination. He is ten years old this year, which is not too young. Why not send him to Jinling and ask Li Jijiu to find him a suitable academy? In two or three years, he might just pass the examination in one go."

"Send him to Jinling?" Li Wan was greatly intrigued. Upon careful consideration, she realized that the academic atmosphere in Jiangnan far surpassed that of the capital, and that "reading ten thousand books is not as good as traveling ten thousand miles," a tradition that had existed since the Song Dynasty for scholars to travel and study. Sending Jia Lan to Jinling would be a win-win situation.

Furthermore, the Jia family is currently rife with intrigue, and Madam Wang, the mother-in-law, is becoming increasingly wicked. If she were to discover that I possess a vast amount of wealth, she might harbor some malicious intentions. Sending Lan'er to Jinling would be a safe haven. In this way, even if things go wrong, the consequences will fall solely on me and will not implicate Lan'er.

Li Wan thought it over and found it more and more appropriate, but then she frowned and asked with difficulty, "How can we explain this to the old lady?"

Chen Siyuan laughed and said, "Isn't this easy? It's the height of summer now, and we should wait until autumn if we want to travel far. Lan Tiao can send a letter to Jinling, and once we get a reply from Li Jijiu, I don't believe the old lady will stop us."

Li Wan thought about it and realized that this made perfect sense. She felt relieved and grateful that Yuan-ge was there. Otherwise, she would have been flustered and unsure of how to handle the situation.

Her eyes were filled with tears and affection. Chen Siyuan's mouth went dry. Luckily, Siqi's voice came from afar, which made him stop in his tracks and not overstep his bounds.

Before parting, Chen Siyuan quietly hooked his finger around Li Wan's before returning to the hall to chat with Madam Xing.

Leaving aside the situation here, let's talk about the Rongguo Mansion. After seeing Jia Yucun off, the eldest master Jia She lingered in front of the gate for a long time before finally stopping and heading straight for Rongqing Hall with his wide robes and sleeves billowing.

After a short while, they entered Rongqing Hall. At this time, Grandmother Jia had just gotten up from her nap and was being served ginseng tea by Amber.

Seeing Jia She approaching with a fierce expression and furrowed brows, Grandmother Jia asked displeasedly, "What brings you here, sir?"

Jia She cupped his hands and said, "I have an important matter to attend to, Mother. Please dismiss everyone else."

Grandmother Jia was taken aback, then gave Amber a look, and the maids inside followed Amber as she filed down the stairs.

Once everyone else was inside, Jia She said, "This is bad! Just now, Jia Yucun came to the door and said that when he sent Yu'er to the capital a few years ago, the whole ship was loaded with valuables, and he still has the list. Now that Yu'er is getting married, he wants to compare everything on the list."

"Ah?" Grandmother Jia was taken aback. "Then how did you speak to him?"

"This... is indeed a dishonorable matter, how could I dare to speak frankly? After stammering and trying to cover it up, Jia Yucun seized on the flaw and concluded that the Lin family's wealth must have been embezzled by our Jia family!"

I argued with him for a while, then he softened his tone, saying that no matter what, everyone in the gentry knew that Ru Hai had entrusted his daughter to him, and he would ensure Yu'er's safe and sound marriage. If our family couldn't provide any money to settle the debt, we could write a document so he would have an explanation.

"Confess? You agreed?"

Jia She nodded with a sullen expression, which made Grandmother Jia so angry that she repeatedly slammed her cane on the ground.

How could we possibly agree to such a thing? If word gets out, not only will the Jia family's reputation be ruined, but how will the empresses in the palace explain this to the Emperor?

(End of this chapter)