Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 55 Fatty
As Aunt Xue finished speaking, Xue Pan muttered, "If I ask Butler Zhang for everything, when will my son be able to establish his own household?"

Aunt Xue choked, then listened as Xue Pan continued, "My son has met that steward Liang several times. Twice, he saw the thief coming out of the old Prince Yizhong's mansion. The other day, he took my son to the mansion to inspect the nanmu, and who knew it was a fake?"

"You——" Aunt Xue was speechless for a moment.

That was seven thousand three hundred taels, a painful sum even for the Xue family. When Xue's father was alive, the Xue family, known as the Imperial Merchants, had businesses spread across the country. This included timber for the imperial court, as well as the Xue family's own pawnshop, medicinal herbs, cloth, silk, and coffins.

Outsiders only think that being a royal merchant is easy, with the legend that "a good year brings heavy snow," but who knows the inherent difficulties? Putting aside the profits and losses of other businesses, just take the timber business: it's a pure loss-making business that only gains publicity.

On paper, the Xue family made a small profit from timber, but the inner court was like a bottomless pit, and they had to make do with it.

To put it bluntly, the imperial merchant is a protective umbrella. With the support of the imperial merchant, the Xue family can not only pay less taxes when doing business everywhere, but also avoid local disturbances.

Because the timber business has always been a profit, but a loss. Fortunately, the Xue family has various businesses to supplement their income. Otherwise, how could the Xue family have such a reputation when Xue's father was alive?
However, Xue's father had seen that Xue Pan was not cut out for business, and he never allowed Aunt Xue to get involved in outside business. In addition, Aunt Xue had learned all the tricks of the women from the Wang family, resulting in the Xue family's eldest branch having no illegitimate children for more than ten years.

So when Xue's father passed away, the Xue family lost its main pillar. Later, Xue Pan got into a lawsuit in Jinling and became a living dead for no apparent reason!

What does it mean to be a living dead person? The government office reported that Xue Pan had died of a sudden illness, and his name had long been crossed out from the yellow register and household registration. In theory, there was no such person as Xue Pan in the world anymore. Doesn't that make him a living dead person?

It didn't matter if he was dead or alive, but the eldest branch of the Xue family was in a state of panic. These days were different from Chen Siyuan's previous life. The Xue family only had mother and daughter left, so how could the other branches let go of such a fat piece of meat?

Those who are more particular will choose an heir to adopt, support Aunt Xue, and then marry Baochai off. The remaining wealth of the first wife will go to that man - at least it is acceptable in appearance; those who are not so particular will directly go to the house to ask for it, and take the first wife's property back to the clan.

So the Xue family saw something was wrong and rushed to the capital. In the case of Xue Pan, Aunt Xue naturally asked her brother Wang Ziteng for help. Wang Ziteng exchanged letters several times, and the previous Jinling prefect delayed the case for a year. The next prefect, Jia Yucun, actually sentenced Xue Pan to death due to a sudden illness. How could there not be something fishy here?

Aunt Xue might be confused, but Baochai was quite sharp. So, on the way to Beijing, mother and daughter deliberated several times before finally deciding to seek refuge with the Jia family. Compared to the shady Wang Ziteng, the Jia family was at least better off.

It wasn't a big deal once they arrived in the capital, but soon the shopkeepers everywhere started cheating people. Complaints were rife everywhere, and with each passing year the profits kept falling, until now many shops were actually losing money.

This year, Sister Bao has mentioned several times that Aunt Xue was thinking of pawning the shop, but she didn't expect that Dai Ba Wang would cause such a thing.

Seven thousand three hundred taels! Considering that half a year’s earnings are gone, how could Aunt Xue not feel distressed?

She was about to open her mouth to scold him again, but Baochai beside her said, "Mother, my brother meant well... but he didn't know how to judge people, so he got into trouble." After a pause, she looked at Xue Pan and said, "Brother, don't act on your own from now on. You must discuss everything with Housekeeper Zhang."

Xue Pan responded in a muffled voice.

Baochai continued, "It's pointless to say more now. We must find a way to make amends."

Xue Pan said, "I'll go to my uncle's house right now. The patrol officers are from my uncle's family. With his help, I don't believe we can't find that bastard!"

"Nonsense!" Aunt Xue scolded.

Baochai's face was also gloomy, thinking to herself, "Who doesn't know that her uncle's family is scheming?" If they get too close, the Xue family might be devoured by the Wang family.

Sister Bao pondered for a moment and said, "I think Mother should go find Auntie about this. The Master is serving in the Fifth Army, and Uncle has connections in Shuntian Prefecture. That swindler was very deliberate, and now that he's succeeded, he might have already fled. We shouldn't make this too public. It would be best to find a long-time constable to conduct a secret search."

Aunt Xue pointed at Xue Pan and said, "If you had any of your sister's intelligence, I wouldn't be so worried all day. You stay home and reflect on yourself. I'll go and talk to your aunt." After a pause, she said sternly, "You are not allowed to go out today! Do you understand?" "I understand."

Aunt Xue and Baochai hurried out of the Pear Fragrance Courtyard and went ahead to look for Lady Wang. Only Xue Pan and Liu Yan'er were left inside.

Liu Yan'er's eyes flickered as she hurried forward to help Xue Pan up, saying, "Master, please get up quickly. The mistress and the young lady have already left."

Xue Pan stood up and suddenly raised his hand to slap himself, cursing, "Damn it, how could I have believed that bastard's lies?"

Liu Yan'er said, "It's my fault for not stopping you... If I had known this would happen, I should have talked to Madam."

Xue Pan remembered that Liu Yan'er had indeed tried to persuade him a few times a few days ago, and he immediately felt that Liu Yan'er was a good person, so he said, "What does it have to do with you? Don't say it."

Liu Yan'er whispered with concern, "Master, is there a deficit in the account?"

Xue Pan shook his head, speechless. The Xue family had come to the capital with all of their eldest wife's property. Aside from the old Jinling house, all the other rented out properties had been sold, so the loss was minimal for the Xue family.

Liu Yan'er observed his expression and whispered, "Master, you are too impatient, thinking of establishing a household as soon as possible. Master, this should be a lesson learned. Don't be upset again."

Xue Pan responded in a muffled voice. Liu Yaner brought some tea and whispered, "Now that this has happened, I can't say anything else."

Xue Pan drank the whole thing in one gulp, looked at Liu Yan'er in surprise, and asked, "What else?"

Liu Yan'er said, "Today, the maids around are saying that Master Chen has become rich. The eldest wife has made several hundred taels of silver in just a few days."

"Hmm? There's such a thing?"

Liu Yan'er said, "I went to the East Courtyard during my free time this morning and vaguely heard something. It seems that Songjiang is opening up, and Governor Yan is short of money, so he sent his advisors to the capital to raise funds. I heard that Governor Yan intends to send a fleet to Fusang, which will be back before the New Year. It's not uncommon for him to make 30 to 50 percent profit on this round trip."

Xue Pan was already a frightened bird at this moment, so he frowned and asked, "Is this all right?"

Liu Yan'er was an expert at shifting blame, and she immediately said, "I'm just a maid, and I stay in the backyard all day. How would I know if it's appropriate?" After a pause, she added, "But this matter is handled by Master Chen, why don't you go and ask for it yourself?"

　A few words of complaint, was it that I didn't make it clear earlier? I used Liu Yan'er's inner thoughts and dialogues to point out that this woman was here to monitor me, and even pointed out the protagonist's own inner thoughts.

　　Why are there so many nitpicks? The word "gujia" means coercion. This means the protagonist didn't intend to deceive anyone, but was forced into the Rongguo Mansion.

　　After entering the Rongguo Mansion, Liu Yan'er took advantage of Xue Pan's drunken behavior to quickly get rid of the surveillance. What's wrong with that?
　　They say Liu Yan'er will leak secrets? Compared to the protagonist, she is more innocent, so how dare she leak secrets?
　　There are also people talking about sending girls and sluts... It's so funny. A female thief who set up a honey trap has lost her innocence to begin with. Why does she have to stay with the protagonist?

　　Those who say that it would make outsiders think the protagonist was cuckolded, please remember that in the Red Mansion there is a distinction between master and servant. Assuming Liu Yan'er is innocent, assuming that Liu Yan'er has no bad intentions, as long as she does not take the concubine and does not give birth to a child, the master can drive her away at any time.

　　In the book, there is a world of difference between the master and the servant. The master is the master, and the servant... to put it bluntly, is just property and not a human being at all.

　　We cannot look at the problem with today's perspective and take it for granted that the personal maid is the mistress. That is not right.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)