The Splendor of the Red Chamber

The military institutions in the capital consisted of three guards and two command posts.

As mentioned earlier, the Three Guards were all regular troops under the jurisdiction of the Beijing Garrison.

The two offices were the Imperial City Office and the Five City Garrison Office.

The Imperial City Guard was a secret service agency directly under the emperor, in charge of imperial prisons, handling imperial cases, and investigating officials and commoners.

The Five City Garrison was mainly responsible for trivial tasks such as fire prevention, theft prevention, night patrols, street cleaning, and household registration checks.

Not only are the tasks varied, but there are also a whole bunch of superiors managing them, such as the Imperial City Guard, the Censorate, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Justice, the Court of Judicial Review, and the Shuntian Prefecture, all of whom can issue orders to the Five City Garrison Command.

Therefore, most of the noble families disdain taking up positions in the Five Cities Garrison, and even the fifth-rank garrison commander in charge of the overall situation [Chen Yejun's father] is regarded as a down-and-out among the noble families.

As for Sheng Changwu's upcoming position as an eighth-rank patrol officer, in Xun Gui's eyes he was an insignificant and vile official.

However, for the eldest branch of the Sheng family, which came from a merchant background, it was already an immense honor for their son to be able to become an official in the capital.

Since Jia Lian was there to show his support, he naturally wouldn't undermine the Sheng family.

After praising them with a few kind words and promising to help introduce them to Commander Chen of the Five Cities Garrison, the Sheng family father and son were overjoyed.

Just as they were having a pleasant conversation, a servant rushed in and whispered a few words in Sheng Wei's ear.

Sheng Wei's expression immediately changed drastically, and he hurriedly stood up, saying, "Second Master Lian, please forgive me! My mother-in-law is ignorant of etiquette and has offended Miss Lin in a rash and impolite manner. It is truly impolite..."

"What on earth happened?!"

Upon hearing that Lin Daiyu had been offended, Jia Lian's expression immediately changed.

He was originally gentle and refined, but now his tone and manner made Sheng Wei feel a chill down his spine.

"My lord, please forgive me!"

He dared not call her "Second Master Lian" anymore, and directly changed to the official title to explain: "It was my uncouth and uncultured mother-in-law who mistook Miss Lin for Minglan, and her words were somewhat offensive."

Master Lian is a fifth-rank official. Although he does not hold a real position, he is still worthy of being addressed as "Sir".

Hearing that it was a verbal offense, Jia Lian breathed a slight sigh of relief, but still said with a cold face, "Take me there to see."

At this moment, Sheng Wei no longer cared about the rule of "no men allowed inside" and hurriedly led the way with his son, guiding Jia Lian into the inner courtyard of the Sheng family.

As soon as they entered the fourth courtyard, they heard someone shouting in a loud, gruff voice, "What's wrong with being an Imperial Censor? My son is a scholar who passed the imperial examination; he's a future prime minister! When he becomes prime minister, he'll promote his brother to be an Imperial Censor. Wouldn't that be a perfect match?!"

That woman has quite the nerve!

Let alone a mere country bumpkin who passed the imperial examination, even the newly appointed top scholar wouldn't be this arrogant.

Jia Lian frowned, about to go over and see who was so arrogant, when Lin Daiyu led two young girls out to greet him.

One of them is Sheng Minglan, and the other is a little older, with delicate and fair skin and a lively temperament. It is likely that she is Sheng Wei's second daughter, Pinlan.

"Is your sister alright?"

Jia Lian looked Lin Daiyu up and down, noticing that although she seemed annoyed, she wasn't truly angry. He then pressed her for details, asking, "What exactly happened just now?"

"This distinguished person."

Before Lin Daiyu could speak, Sheng Pinlan interrupted, "It's all that Sun Zhao's doing. She came to arrange a marriage for her good-for-nothing nephew, wanting my grandmother to agree to marry Minglan to him."

As it turned out, she was blind and cruel; seeing Miss Lin's extraordinary beauty, she mistook her for Minglan. If Minglan and her sister Shulan hadn't desperately stopped her, she would have even tried to pull her away!

The Sheng family seemed like a respectable household, but who would have thought they would have such an odd in-law?

"I'm sorry to have frightened my sister."

Jia Lian calmly reassured him, "Wait here for a moment, I'll go and meet with that prime minister's son."

"elder brother!"

Lin Daiyu quickly pulled him back, shaking her head and saying, "She's just a gossipy, vulgar, and stupid woman. If you argue with her to her face, wouldn't you lose face? Besides, we're here to offer our congratulations; it wouldn't be good to embarrass our host."

Upon hearing Daiyu's words, Minglan visibly breathed a sigh of relief.

Pinlan was somewhat disappointed, clearly hoping that Jia Lian could teach her sister a lesson about her wicked mother-in-law.

"You're such a soft-hearted girl."

Jia Lian shook his head helplessly, but given his status, there was really no need for him to argue with an old hag.

Once he finds out the details of that "prime minister's lineage," he'll say a few words to the prefect and professor of Yangzhou, and the Sun family will have nowhere to turn for help.

At this moment, Madam Li also arrived with her eldest daughter, Sheng Shulan, in a state of great anxiety and fear.

Upon seeing Jia Lian in person, Madam Li quickly bowed deeply and said, "It is all because I have not managed the household properly that someone has offended Miss Lin. I beg you to punish me."

Just now, Sheng Pinlan was worried that things wouldn't get out of hand. Now, seeing her mother so servile in front of a man, not even bothering to cover up the large expanse of white skin peeking out from under her clothes, she was shocked.

Only then did she realize the seriousness of the situation, and she instinctively hugged Minglan tightly, not daring to breathe too loudly.

Seeing her mother's earnest apology, Sheng Shulan quickly followed suit and bowed, saying, "All the faults are our Sun family's fault. Please, young master, for the sake of your great-aunt, do not make things difficult for the Sheng family."

This young woman is definitely biased towards her own family.

Seeing that Shulan was dignified and beautiful, Jia Lian's gaze unconsciously lingered on her tilted collar, taking in her plump and fair skin.

Then, feigning magnanimity, he laughed and said, "Since my sister doesn't want to make a fuss, I can't be bothered with a country bumpkin."

Then he asked Lin Daiyu, "Sister, would you like to come with me to settle in outside, or...?"

The Sheng family members, who had just breathed a sigh of relief, immediately became anxious and all looked at Lin Daiyu.

The young master of Rongguo Mansion personally came to the Sheng family to offer his congratulations. What an honor this is! If that Sun Zhaoshi really scared away the distinguished guest, how would the Sheng family face themselves?

"Forget it."

Lin Daiyu, who was known for her sharp tongue but kind heart, saw that Minglan and the newly acquainted Pinlan both had pleading expressions on their faces, so she said to Jia Lian, "If you run away every time you hear a crow cawing, it will make it seem like you're afraid of it."

As she spoke, she took Minglan's hand again: "Besides, we won't be staying for more than a few days. I'd like to spend the night with Minglan."

"Haha~"

Jia Lian instinctively reached out to rub her little head, but then held back, remembering they were in front of others. He said indulgently, "Alright, whatever you say, little sister. If anything happens again, just tell Zijuan and Xueyan to come find me."

With that, Jia Lian took the opportunity to leave the inner quarters of the Sheng family mansion.

He chatted and laughed with Sheng Wei and Sheng Changwu all the way, as if nothing had happened.

Seeing this, the Sheng father and son gradually felt relieved.

However, they did not notice that Xing'er had received two instructions from Jia Lian outside the hanging flower gate and had already quietly left the Sheng Mansion with his men.

…………

Let's return to the inner quarters of the Sheng family mansion.

Seeing that Jia Lian did not pursue the matter, Li Shi felt as if she had been granted a pardon. She first apologized to Lin Daiyu with a lot of nice things, and then arranged for Pinlan and Minglan to take her for a stroll in the back garden.

After watching the three girls walk away, she turned back, grabbed her eldest daughter's hand, and stamped her foot, saying, "Has your mother-in-law gone mad? It's one thing to try to associate herself with our family normally, but to dare spew such filth in front of the daughter of the Salt Commissioner's family?!"

Shulan said aggrievedly, "Isn't it all because they're used to being unruly in our household, thinking everyone in the world has to respect and fear the Sun family? That's why my mother-in-law is so arrogant!"

Although she tried her best to protect her family in front of Jia Lian, if it weren't for her family's repeated tolerance for Sun Zhigao's future prospects, how could she have suffered so much bullying in her husband's family?

Li comforted him helplessly: "My son, do you think your father and I don't love you? But Sun Zhigao is quite prestigious in the local literati, and he is on very good terms with the county magistrate."

Even if he did agree to a divorce, he would spread rumors about you everywhere. How would you face that then? Even your sister's marriage would likely be affected!

Sheng Shulan remained silent.

These words were like invisible shackles, binding her grievances tightly, while also allowing resentment and bitterness to accumulate in her chest.

Seeing that her daughter remained silent, Madam Li sighed and instructed, "When you return, please speak to your son-in-law and tell him and his mother to behave themselves at tomorrow's wedding, and not to disturb the young master and Miss Lin again!"

Shulan smiled wryly, just as she was about to say that speaking up would only have the opposite effect, the two old ladies of the Sheng family also rushed over upon hearing the news, and Li hurriedly went up to explain the situation.

Sheng Shulan had no choice but to shut her mouth and secretly prayed that the Sun family mother and son would not cause any more trouble.

At that moment, a thought suddenly popped into her mind.

If I don't reveal the young master's identity, and the Sun family mother and son offend him again and again, how will the young master punish them?