The Splendor of the Red Chamber

Lin Daiyu stayed by her father's bedside all afternoon.

Lin Ruhai was often asleep due to exhaustion, so she would confide her longing for him while he was asleep, and tell him interesting stories from his time at the Rongguo Mansion when he was awake.

Among them, Jia Baoyu occupies the most space, followed by the old lady and several sisters. Of course, there are also many anecdotes about Jia Lian receiving blessings from his ancestors and vowing to revive his family.

Finally, Lin Daiyu demonstrated the Eight Pieces of Brocade to Lin Ruhai, saying that she would teach her father when he felt better, so that the two of them could take care of their health together.

Lin Ruhai felt both gratified and regretful upon hearing this.

To her delight, her daughter was indeed well treated by her maternal grandmother, and she and her second brother-in-law's son, Baoyu, were very much in love.

It's a pity that, judging from the daughter's words, it's not hard to guess that Jia Baoyu is a good-for-nothing playboy. Although such a person wouldn't make Yu'er suffer, it would also be difficult for her to rise in status through her husband.

Just then, Zijuan returned to report.

As soon as she entered the room, she praised Lin Daiyu, saying, "Second Master is truly a genius. I saw him scribbling on the paper, and somehow he found a bunch of problems in the accounts."

The stewards, who had tried to deny it, were quickly exposed and called out by the Second Master in just a few words. Now, they are all trembling with fear, walking on thin ice, and dare not deceive or slack off in the slightest!

She paused, then lowered her voice and said, "That third uncle of the Lin family was taken aside to watch, which frightened the second master so much that he turned ashen-faced. He's now hiding back inside and doesn't dare to show his face."

"Okay, okay!"

Perhaps because his heartache had been relieved and his burdens lifted, Lin Ruhai actually uttered a complete sentence: "This boy truly has the bearing of his ancestor!"

Upon seeing this, Lin Daiyu hurriedly called the doctor in to take her pulse.

As expected, Lin Ruhai's pulse improved, but the doctor privately said that this was only a superficial improvement, and that the deep-seated illness in Lord Lin's body was probably beyond the help of medicine.

But no matter what, we'll get through this year-end.

In the days that followed.

While Jia Lian was busy with the New Year's shopping, he would occasionally come over to chat with the father and daughter, and also pass on the complete Eight Pieces of Brocade to Lin Daiyu.

Lin Ruhai was extremely satisfied with Jia Lian's actions and felt that his nephew was both ruthless and willing to treat the young Lin Daiyu as an equal, which was truly rare.

He even secretly regretted that Yu'er was born ten years too late; otherwise, if she had been paired with Jia Lian, wouldn't they have been ten or a hundred times better than Jia Baoyu?

And so, after the New Year, Lin Ruhai’s energy and spirit improved day by day, and by the Lantern Festival he was able to sit up in bed for a while occasionally.

Jia Lian didn't know whether to be happy or sad about this, but since his uncle Lin's life was temporarily out of danger, there was no need for him to stay in Yangzhou.

So, taking advantage of Lin Ruhai's good health that day, Jia Lian suggested that he go to Ningbo Prefecture to visit his father-in-law, Uncle Wang Ziteng, and that he should be able to return in about half a month.

"I'm leaving Zhao'er and Long'er with my uncle and Lin sister. If there's anything I need them to do, they can handle it. If they really can't, then I'll wait for my nephew to come back and deal with it."

Upon hearing this, Lin Ruhai said to Lin Daiyu, "Yu'er, go and keep watch outside. I have a few words... cough cough, a few words to say to your second brother Lian."

Lin Daiyu sensed that he seemed to be entrusting his orphanage to someone else, and her eyes immediately reddened, but she still obediently led Zijuan and Xueyan to the outer room.

Lin Ruhai then gestured for Jia Lian to sit closer before saying, "I have some properties in Yangzhou, Suzhou, and Jinling. You... cough cough... you sell them for me and secretly send the money to the capital to... cough cough, to your Second Uncle Zheng for safekeeping."

Jia Lian's heart tightened, knowing the real drama was about to unfold. He quickly asked seriously, "Uncle's health is improving, so shouldn't you handle these matters personally?"

Lin Ruhai shook his head and said, "I know my own body... cough cough... I definitely won't make it through this year."

"That……"

Jia Lian feigned hesitation for a moment, then tentatively asked, "I wonder how many properties my uncle owns, and approximately what their value is?"

"Including floating wealth, there are still five or six... cough cough... five or six hundred thousand taels."

This number wasn't too surprising; it was even lower than Jia Lian had expected.

But it's definitely not something you can accumulate by being completely innocent.

The entire Rongguo Mansion's annual income was only around 100,000 taels. It was considered good if they could save 10,000 to 20,000 taels a year, and they would occasionally be unable to make ends meet.

The Lin family had already fallen into decline by Lin Ruhai's generation, yet he alone had amassed such a large fortune...

Jia Lian lowered his voice and asked, "Uncle, do you intend to keep this money for Lin Daiyu's dowry?"

Lin Ruhai shook his head slightly and sighed, "I understand the principle of children holding gold. You don't need to... cough cough, don't tell her about this, lest she doesn't know the importance of this and overthink things."

"As long as Brother Cunzhou [Jia Zheng] is willing to take care of Yu'er, I'll consider this money as peace of mind."

Judging from this, the money was actually Daiyu's dowry, but because it was kept secret, it was not officially Daiyu's private property, and the second branch of the Jia family could use it at will.

In the past, Jia Lian would have been overjoyed, hoping to get a share of the profits.

But now...

His early warning radar is issuing alarms frantically!

"Uncle."

Jia Lian cautiously inquired, "Where did these businesses come from? Are they related to the salt administration?"

Lin Ruhai slowly shook his head: "You don't need to worry about that. You... cough cough... just do as I say."

How can we ignore this?!

If I were to truly become a hands-off manager, and my entire family were to be raided and wiped out in the future, would the imperial court spare me, the eldest grandson of the main branch, simply because I was unaware of the situation?!

Jia Lian did not approve of Lin Ruhai's actions, but judging from Lin Ruhai's expression, he was clearly unwilling to reveal the inside story.

You should refuse this offer.

This money was for his uncle Jia Zheng, and even if Lin Ruhai trusted Jia Lian, he would definitely have discussed it with Jia Zheng beforehand.

Moreover, among the servants and stewards accompanying them was Lady Wang's trusted maid, so Jia Lian certainly could not act arbitrarily in this matter.

After much thought, Jia Lian decided that the matter should be left to Lin Daiyu.

As long as this money is earmarked for Lin Daiyu's dowry, Uncle Zheng is a man who cares about his reputation, and he probably won't dare to use it in advance. In that case, the trouble won't fall on the Rongguo Mansion for a while.

It's not too late to make plans after I've established myself in the military.

Having made up his mind, Jia Lian stood up and said, "Since Uncle has already made up his mind, I will do as Uncle wishes when I return from Ningbo Prefecture."

Lin Ruhai was satisfied then, and instructed Jia Lian to take good care of Daiyu for him, and hinted that he could keep some of the money for himself.

Jia Lian appeared pleased, but in reality, he was determined not to take a single penny and to put it all on Lin Daiyu's tab.

When Jia Lian came out of the house.

Lin Daiyu, who had been pacing outside, immediately went up to Jia Lian and said, "Brother, my father..."

Don't rush.

Jia Lian comforted him, saying, "Your uncle only asked me to do something. I'll tell you the details after I've finished it."

Just then, a maidservant came to report that another letter had arrived from the capital.

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, Jia Lian had already received letters from the old lady, Wang Xifeng, and Jia Baoyu. It was estimated that Jia Lian and Daiyu had only been gone a few days before they couldn't help but write to him.

This time there were even more letters than before. In addition to the old lady, Wang Xifeng, and Jia Baoyu, Jia Zheng also wrote a letter to Lin Ruhai.

Jia Lian first opened the old lady's letter in public and read it with Lin Daiyu. Then he handed the letters from Jia Zheng and Jia Baoyu to Daiyu to keep.

He took Wang Xifeng's letter back to his residence and examined it carefully.

As expected, the first half of the story focused on the pain of unrequited love, while the second half was when the main topic began to come up.

It specifically mentions the buying and selling of honeycomb briquettes.

After Jia Lian left the capital, Wang Xifeng sent people to investigate and discovered that the practice of mixing coal ash with yellow mud had existed since ancient times, but what was made was not honeycomb briquettes, but coal balls and coal cakes.

These two things burn worse than raw coal, and their quality varies greatly, so they are basically only used by poor people.

If honeycomb briquettes were even better than raw coal, they would certainly have a market in the capital—after all, the firewood in the vicinity had long been cut down, and ordinary people couldn't afford charcoal.

However, this only applies to low-profit, high-volume sales. If the price of honeycomb briquettes is too high, those "troublemakers" would rather buy raw coal, coal cakes, or coal briquettes.

Wang Xifeng calculated that if this business could earn six or seven thousand taels a year, that would be considered quite good.

This is actually quite a lot. In a bad year, the entire Rongguo Mansion might not be able to save up this much silver.

But Wang Xifeng is the most greedy person; she only thinks she has too little, never too much.

So she hatched a wicked plan and suggested in the letter that she bring in the Wang family and, by using Wang Ziteng's name, simply monopolize the coal trade in the capital.

Anyway, the firewood on the nearby mountains has almost been cut down, and more and more families are using coal now. Once honeycomb briquettes are developed, the day when they completely replace firewood and charcoal will not be far off.

They'll raise prices on the spot and make a fortune.

That woman!

Jia Lian remained silent for a long time after reading it.

She herself was desperate to avoid trouble and wanted to throw away her money, but she deliberately dug a pit and jumped into it.

How many people will she offend if she does this?

Moreover, if he were to raise prices on the spot and cause public resentment in the capital, and someone were to take the opportunity to impeach him, wouldn't that affect his future career?

Jia Lian immediately wrote a letter strongly refuting Wang Xifeng's idea, demanding that she adhere to the principle of small profits and quick turnover, and stop thinking about unifying the world and raising prices arbitrarily.

He also warned Fengjie that if they really expanded this business, it would no longer be just a business for the couple, but for the Rongguo Mansion and the Wang family.

Even if you can earn more money in the future, you will inevitably be subject to others and may even have to deal with a lot of trouble.

Nothing beats the quiet, satisfying way for a couple to make a fortune together!