The sky is foggy, and the Grand Canal dock outside Yangzhou City.
The sailboats were fluttering and there were many officers and soldiers.
Jia Lian stood on the deck of the official ship in the middle, clasped his fists at Jia Yu and Yang Xun and said, "This is a heavy responsibility for depositing money into Beijing. I hope you two will work together carefully to avoid making mistakes."
"I will definitely live up to your great trust."
Jia Yu's expressions were solemn and their moods were surging, just because the official ship behind them contained a total of more than five million taels of silver!
The stakes were so high that if anything went wrong during this trip, it would be enough to kill both of them.
Fortunately, Jia Lian sent thousands of officers and soldiers to accompany them, so they had no worries about the safety of their trip.
As for why five million taels of silver had to be transported back to the capital in advance, Jia Lian gave two explanations. One was that the court was pressing hard, and the other was that the silver should be transported back to the capital as soon as possible so that he could feel at ease.
Otherwise, so much money piled up in the Salt Patrol Yamen would be too eye-catching.
As for why they were chosen, Yang Xun naturally goes without saying. As Jia Lian's deputy, if the troops were to be divided into two groups on the trip back to Beijing, he would naturally lead one group. In this way, he can return to Beijing first and report his duties to the court.
Of course, he had also wondered whether Jia Lian had deliberately transferred him away so that he could do other operations. But even if he had doubts, he would not be foolish enough to make rash guesses.
This trip followed Jia Lian to the south of the Yangtze River. He basically got the benefits he deserved just by sitting down. Moreover, he had established a relationship with Jia Lian. He would be an official in the capital in the future. What else did he feel dissatisfied about? He didn't listen to Jia Lian's orders. The reason?
After all, even if there were other benefits, they were not something he was qualified to get involved with. Therefore, if he could safely return the five million taels of silver to the capital and transfer it to the national treasury, his mission would be considered a complete success.
The rest is all Jia Lian's business.
As for Jia Yu, it was purely because he intended to go to Beijing to develop, and Jia Lian also intended to transfer him to Beijing to work, so he was given an escort job so that he could go to Beijing to get familiar with it.
Seeing dozens of official ships disappearing in the distance, Jia Lian felt very calm.
Although five million taels of silver sounds like a huge amount, even the ministers of the imperial court would probably be shocked if they knew about it, but compared to the assets he confiscated from his house this time, it was not even half of it.
However, many other assets have not yet been discounted and liquidated.
This is his main reason for staying.
But in fact, even if there is no such reason, Jia Lian will still find reasons to stay in Jiangnan, because he still has some private matters to deal with.
"Second Master, are you going back to the Yamen?"
"Well, Zhang Yong will go back first, prepare his itinerary, and set off back to Suzhou early tomorrow morning."
Jia Lian gave the order and immediately led the other troops to the Zhou family manor.
"It's rare for you to come here. It just so happens that the slave sisters rehearsed two dances today, one is Tang dance and the other is Song dance. I wonder which one you want to reward first?"
In the flower hall that had been decorated gorgeously and suitable for dancing, Shen Pan'er invited Jia Lian to sit on the soft couch in the middle, then sat next to him and asked with a smile.
Seeing Jia Lian pondering, she introduced: "Song dance is graceful and Tang dance is unrestrained. Sister Tsing Yi and I are the lead dancers respectively. If you want to see the Nu family lead the dance, you can order Tang dance. If you want to see Sister Tsing Yi, you can order Song dance." "
"Then let's come to the Song Dynasty first."
Jia Lian thought, it's not good to be unrestrained right from the beginning, as it can easily lead to misfires, so it's better to add some clear and refined embellishments first.
After her reminder, Jia Lian still didn't choose Tang dance. Shen Pan'er pouted slightly and seemed unhappy. However, after Jia Lian slapped her on the hip, she still followed the other sisters with a smile and went down to change. Went to put on clothes and make-up.
The geishas all have outstanding looks and superb skills. After taking turns to perform their performances, some beautiful things will inevitably happen.
Just like being in a building boat on the Xiao Qinhuai River that night.
The difference is that when everyone met for the first time that night, they were quite reserved with each other. Even if the scenery behind them was bright and beautiful, it was mainly due to the numbness of alcohol. Today, the girls are becoming more and more familiar with Jia Lian, and knowing that Jia Lian is leaving Yangzhou is getting closer, their desire to win Jia Lian's favor becomes more and more urgent.
Therefore, it is normal to wink at Jia Lian during a performance. It is not surprising at all to deliberately dance to Jia Lian's side, pretend to fall into Jia Lian's arms, and then lie there unable to get up.
Some programs do not require all members to appear on stage, which means that as time goes by, on the couch where Jia Lian is sitting, there are more and more beauties. The fragrance of the beauties, plus the slight smell of beauties' sweat, makes men... My heart is so excited.
Naturally, Jia Lian would not be polite to the beauty who voluntarily allowed him to take advantage of her, because he was here to seek pleasure.
Suddenly he frowned, and the panting beauty in her arms happened to catch a glimpse of her. She suddenly woke up, and her face changed color with fear.
Not caring about anything, he immediately turned over and knelt on the ground, trembling.
Her actions not only confused the other beauties on the couch, but also the other beauties who were still dancing in front of them quietly stopped and looked at each other.
Seeing the beauties getting up and sitting down one by one, looking at him at a loss, Jia Lian rubbed his fingers, wondering if he had accidentally detected a fake? Feeling slightly speechless, Jia Lian said coldly: "Get up and speak."
When the beauty heard Jia Lian's unkind tone, she even shed tears.
Shen Pan'er vaguely guessed something, took a closer look at Jia Lian's expression, and then boldly stepped forward to pull the beauty up, and whispered in a low voice: "My Lord is kind-hearted by nature, not a harsh person. What's going on? As long as you tell the truth, adults won't be too harsh on you."
After hearing this, the beauty still looked panicked, but at least she felt relieved. She knelt down again and cried, "Please forgive me, sir. I didn't mean to deceive you. I am not innocent..."
As soon as these words came out, the expressions of all the beauties changed.
In order to please Jia Lian, the salt merchants, whether they were under the name of their own brothels or specially invited them, were all famous courtesans from all over the south of the Yangtze River.
Moreover, those salt merchants probably promised this to Jia Lian.
This incident happened this time. If Jia Lian was angry because of this and punished the salt merchant family behind him, wouldn't it cause another turmoil in Yangzhou City, which had just settled down?
The stakes and risks are not something that these little oiran ladies can bear.
Even though they are in the land of romance, they can still understand each other. But at this moment, if something like this happens, it will inevitably reduce the weight of all of them in Jia Lian's mind.
If Jia Lian misunderstands all of them, wouldn't all their efforts during this period be in vain?
Therefore, many people couldn't help but look at her with anger and contempt, which made the beauty even more ashamed of herself.
"Not innocent? So you have had other men before?"
Jia Lian asked expressionlessly, no one could tell what he was thinking.
The pear blossoms of the beauty are covered with rain, and their pitiful appearance is very heart-wrenching.
At this moment, she could only place her hope in Jia Lian's kindness, so she replied: "This slave is shameless and has given her body to others without telling the people in the building. Therefore, if your Excellency is angry, you can punish me alone, but don't talk to the people in the building." It has nothing to do with it, nor does it have anything to do with the person who invited the slaves to perform..."
At this time, a beautiful woman couldn't bear it and couldn't help but stand up and said: "My sister's body must have been given to Mr. He back then."
The beauty trembled but did not deny it.
Seeing that there was a melon to eat, the girls hurriedly asked.
The man told her what she knew.
It turned out that this beauty belonged to Songjiang Prefecture. Two or three years ago, there was a talented man in Songjiang. His surname was He Ziyi. He was originally from a poor family. He met this beauty and admired each other. Later, the talented man went to Beijing to retake the exam with the silver taels sponsored by the beauty. , actually ranked among the top two in high school. Just listening to the stories circulated between the two of them seems to be a typical tale of a talented man and a beautiful woman.
It's just the ending, it's obvious.
"Back then, I heard people talk about Mr. He's high school, and I was very happy for my sister, thinking that my sister had a sharp eye for pearls. Who knew, but there was no news about Mr. He, and my sister was still the oiran of Yixiang House. Lady.
It can be seen that there are many rogues in the world and few who are affectionate and intentional. "
Listening to the others sighing and telling her story, the beauty could no longer hold back and burst into tears.
When the others saw this, they all lost their expressions and looked at her sympathetically.
It is common for these courtesans to make friends with talented people. But they won't hand over their bodies easily.
Unless, you have already identified the other party and decided to block it.
Obviously, the outcome of losing the bet would not only be a waste of innocence, but it would also be difficult to return to being the oiran woman sought after by thousands of people again.
In a situation like hers, it would be okay if she honestly informed the building of the situation, but the worst she could do was get a beating. Because with their looks like this, even if they are not sluts, they can still bring great value to the building, but it is no longer worth spending a lot of money to package.
For those who conceal it like she does, she can continue to enjoy the scenery for the time being. The risk is that once one day you are noticed by a real big shot and find out that you are no longer innocent, you will not be able to talk to many noble people who feel that you have been deceived.
Not only is his own future uncertain and his life and death uncertain, he can also easily implicate the brothel behind him.
This is why she is scared at the moment, and why everyone sympathizes with her.
Jia Lian felt helpless when he saw that the flower hall, which was originally bright and lively in spring, suddenly turned into such a miserable state.
He just wants to enjoy dancing, listening to music, looking at beauties, and doesn’t want to gossip and eat melons. Is he wrong?
"Why are you crying? Do you want me to help you and capture your unlucky lover to vent your anger on him?"
Hearing Jia Lian's question, the beauty was stunned and shook her head quickly.
"Then why are you kneeling on the ground, looking like I feel pity for you? Why don't you get up?"
Seeing Jia Lian's face turn warm, the beauty couldn't believe it. She looked at Jia Lian carefully for a few times before she dared to stand up.
Shen Pan'er was afraid that Jia Lian would be angry, so she sat next to Jia Lian again and said with a smile: "She deceived my lord, isn't your lord angry?"
Jia Lian raised her chin with his hand: "She is not my woman, why should I be angry? Or did you lie to me too?"
"Keke, I don't dare to deceive you. If you don't believe me, come and test my body. If you find that I have deceived you, I will let you do whatever you want..."
Seeing Shen Paner smiling brightly and looking confident, Jia Lian shook his head and looked at the others: "Who among you is like her? If you tell me now, I will not hold you accountable for what you have concealed." matter.
But if I don't say it now, after I am brought to the capital, I will not be as easy to talk to as now. "
The expressions of the other beauties changed and they looked at each other. Finally, a timid beauty stepped forward and said, "Please forgive me, my lord, the slave family is not the same...the slave family is also the same as Sister Mengyun..."
"Oh, you also devoted yourself to a certain great talent?"
"No, it's not..."
Perhaps seeing that Jia Lian really had no intention of punishing him, or perhaps he did not dare to deceive Jia Lian, the man finally blushed and said with a hateful expression: "The slave family was forced by the young master's family, but the young master's family was afraid that his father would find out, so they threatened to prevent the slave family from telling anyone." Go out and wait until he takes charge of the family in the future before bringing the Nu family back to the house. Therefore, the Nu family definitely did not intentionally deceive you."
Although it was reasonable for such things to happen to these women, Jia Lian felt a little uninterested.
Without saying anything, he asked them to leave, leaving only Shen Pan'er and Gu Qingyi.
Seeing Jia Lian looking at the two of them, Shen Pan'er smiled angrily and threw herself into Jia Lian's arms, while Gu Qingyi, with an indifferent expression, sat behind the guqin beside her and started playing as if no one else was watching.
"Sir, are you really not angry with them?"
Shen Pan'er took a piece of snack and fed it to Jia Lian's mouth. She smiled coquettishly in Jia Lian's arms, as if she wanted to use her delicate body to completely eliminate Jia Lian's unhappiness.
Jia Lian had no interest in raising this issue again. He is not so pretentious that he wants to enjoy the various charms of promiscuous women, but also requires them to be pure and pure. In fact, this is a paradox.
However, this made him make up his mind.
"I see that each of you has a maid to serve you?"
"Yes, even though we are slaves, our food, clothing, housing, and transportation are all given to us according to our lady's instructions.
Take the slave family as an example. Not counting those who take care of the arrangements during performances, there are two maids who usually serve closely.
But this is nothing to me, Sister Qingyi is even more powerful. Not only are there four personal maids to serve her, but the guqin, pipa and other things used in her room are all of the highest quality.
Sir, please take a look. The guqin in front of her was made by a former qin master. It was named 'Crane Moon'. It is said that the original Qianjin Yixiaolou spent a lot of money to find it for her.
And that day when you were on the boat and saw Sister Qingyi for the first time, the jade flute in her hand was called "Shock", and it was also a hard-to-find item with a lot of money... Wow, the more I talk about it, the more envious I become.
In the future, if you get something similar, please remember to buy it for Pan'er. "
Jia Lian felt strange after hearing this: "Oh, I see you have a good reputation in Jiangnan. Don't you have one or two treasures with you?"
Shen Pan'er said with some embarrassment: "Jiaofangsi is no better than other brothels. If there are really good things, they can't get it. So, what I have in my hands now are ordinary objects."
Jia Lian felt a little enlightened after hearing this.
Well, I can only say that there are benefits within the system. Big factories outside also have their advantages.
For example, the material treatment of Shen Pan'er, the courtesan in the brothel, is obviously much worse than that of Gu Qingyi, who came from a brothel supported by the Zhou family.
So Shen Pan'er laughed and said: "Are you still envious? Didn't I give you this garden worth far more than one hundred thousand taels of silver?"
Upon hearing this, Shen Pan'er suddenly became excited: "Really for the slave family?"
Seeing Jia Lian nodding, Shen Pan'er couldn't help but look back at Gu Qingyi, then turned back and said with a smile: "It just so happens that everyone dreams of having a garden of their own. If you say this, then I take it seriously.
In this case, people think the name "Zhou Family Courtyard" is not pleasant and want to change its name. That's fine. "
"as you like."
Naturally, Jia Lian didn't care. As long as it was not renamed "Jia Lian's Farewell", it would have no impact. It was expected that the Zhou family would not dare to say anything.
"Hehe, what do you think of 'Chen Yuan'?"
"Shen Yuan?"
Jia Lian felt a little familiar.
But she saw that Shen Pan'er had already stood up, and started dancing on the spot with the dancer's costume that she had never taken off before.
While dancing, she lightly opened her red lips and sang a love song:
"Red crisp hands, yellow vine wine, the city is filled with spring scenery and willows on the palace walls~"
"The east wind is evil and happiness is weak... Even though the alliance is here, it is difficult to trust the brocade book. Mo, mo, mo~"
"The world is thin and human beings are evil. When the rain comes and evening comes, flowers tend to fall..."
Poetry can be sung, especially these terms from the Tang and Song Dynasties. In the land of brothels, countless versions of tunes were compiled. It is not surprising that dance music was also composed.
While Shen Pan'er was dancing, Gu Qingyi beside her was also strumming the strings to harmonize with her singing.
After the dance, Shen Pan'er fell into Jia Lian's arms and said with a smile: "These are two pieces of "The Hairpin-headed Phoenix" by Lu You and Tang Wan. The Nu family likes them very much. It just so happens that their surname is Shen, so they call them Shen Yuan. If you name it after your own surname, you won't be angry, right?"
Even if a beauty is acting coquettishly, it's hard for a man to express his anger.
What's more, Jia Lian doesn't care at all. After all, he could even put the garden in Shen Pan'er's name, which shows how wealthy he is at this time.
"I just asked you, maids, and I just want to tell you two things. One is that I have some personal matters and need to go to Suzhou. When I come back, I will probably leave for Beijing, so you should make preparations early.
The other thing is that you should send your maids back as soon as possible. When you get to the capital, I will provide you with people to serve you.
If it is really hard to separate, you are only allowed to bring one person with you at most. Is there any problem? "
"no problem."
When Shen Pan'er heard this, she knew that Jia Lian was mainly talking to Gu Qingyi. After all, Gu Qingyi has four maids by his side.
Gu Qingyi seemed to frown, but she nodded immediately when Jia Lian and his two men looked at her. At the same time, he felt relieved. Jia Lian had made a public statement that he would take her back to Beijing.
"Keke, do you want to tell other people about your instructions? Or, among the ten of us, you only decided to take Nujia and Sister Qingyi back to the capital? If so, there is no need to tell them, lest they be envious. "
The two people who had previously revealed that they were not innocent have been automatically excluded from the ranks of sisters by Shen Paner. She knew that unless Jia Lian was prepared to take them all away, those two people would definitely have no chance. That’s right, it’s okay if you don’t blame, but you still show grace?
Jia Lian's original intention was to decide the matter after he came back, but considering that he was going to Suzhou during this trip, there was no point in keeping these beauties here.
"Just tell them that I have left Yangzhou and I don't know when I will come back. If they want to go back, let them leave."
As he said that, Jia Lian took out a small stack of banknotes from his sleeve and said, "They stayed with me for ten days in Yangzhou, and I had to express my gratitude. When they left, they would make up for it according to their usual standards of performing performances. Ten times the reward, it’s up to you to arrange this.”
"How can I ask you to reward me with more money? We already took the money before we came to Yangzhou..."
Shen Pan'er said subconsciously, and seeing Jia Lian's expression unquestionable, he nodded the amount in his hand and said with a smile: "Even if it's ten times, it won't cost so much money."
"If there's more, you can keep it."
"Keke, sir, you are so kind to the slave family, aren't you afraid that sister Qingyi will be jealous?"
"..."
…
