The Red Chamber begins with a bastard

Chapter 365 Returning in Disappointment and Firmly Rejecting

Ying'er glanced at Baochai and whispered, "Miss originally wanted to ask Third Master Huan for help, but she was worried that it would affect Third Master's provincial examination, so she didn't bother him."

Xue Baochai's face was inexplicably hot, and she hurriedly explained, "Brother Huan has been delayed for three years due to mourning. Now he is lucky enough to take the imperial examination. He should be able to ascend to the throne with this opportunity. How can I hinder his future at this critical moment? I have to find another way. I thought of Lord Lin, so I hurried to Yangzhou. Unfortunately, Lord Lin has gone out to sea. It's really fate!"

Ping'er nodded secretly when she heard this. The Xue family was facing such a predicament, but it was fortunate that Miss Bao was still so considerate of the Third Master. No wonder even the servants of the Jia family praised her and remembered her kindness.

"It's hard for Sister Bao to still be thinking about others at this time. If it were me, I would definitely not consider it so thoroughly." Lin Daiyu sighed lightly, feeling a little uncomfortable in her heart.

Xue Baochai also felt a little uncomfortable. For a moment, they were both silent and the atmosphere was quite subtle.

Ping'er looked at the two girls thoughtfully, breaking the silence and saying, "I'm afraid Master Lin won't be back in the short term, so Miss Bao should find another way to make peace."

Xue Baochai said sadly, "There is nothing we can do now."

Ying'er said angrily, "That Jia Yucun is really despicable. He took the money but did nothing. I'm afraid he is colluding with the Jinyiwei to squeeze our family's money. I just hope he will be dismissed from office soon."

"Ying'er, you have no evidence to support your claims. Don't talk nonsense. I'm afraid even Lord Jia is powerless to do anything about this matter," Xue Baochai reproached.

Lin Daiyu said calmly, "Sister Bao, don't worry. Although Jia Yucun taught me for two years, he is talented but his character is not high. He is also very good at opportunism. Such people are cold and indifferent. It is not surprising that they would take advantage of others' misfortunes."

Xue Baochai obviously didn't expect that Jia Yucun had such a bad image in Lin Daiyu's mind, and she couldn't help feeling a little embarrassed.

Lin Daiyu continued, "Now, the only people who can speak to Yi Hong, the head of the Imperial Guard, are my father and my brother Huan. Unfortunately, my father is not here right now. I can't help him. But there are still two days before the provincial examination ends. Why don't you wait a little longer, Sister Bao?"

Xue Baochai said helplessly: "It seems that this is the only way now."

Ping Er suddenly woke up and said, "Sister Bao, maybe you can ask Mr. Feng to give it a try. I'm afraid it may not work."

"Feng Ziying, the eldest son of the Divine General Feng Tang's family?"

Lin Daiyu nodded and said, "It is this person. He is a good friend of Brother Huan. He should be able to speak in front of Yi Hong, but the effect may not be as good as Brother Huan."

Xue Baochai could not help but feel a glimmer of hope, and said lightly: "It is always good to be able to talk, but although the Feng and Xue families are old friends, they have had little contact since our fathers' generation, and their friendship has long been gone. Moreover, I am a woman, so it is not convenient for me to ask for an audience."

Lin Daiyu smiled and said, "I have an idea. I'm sure Sister Bao knows Tiehu. He was originally a good brother and confidant of Brother Huan. Now, due to his meritorious service, he has been promoted to the position of a thousand households under the jurisdiction of Yangzhou Guard. It just so happens that he did not go to sea with my father. How about I ask Housekeeper Xiao to find him and entrust him to me, so that he can talk to Master Feng through him?"

Xue Baochai had no better idea at the moment, so she nodded and thanked him.

Therefore, Lin Daiyu asked her housekeeper Xiao Lei to invite Tiehu to help. Tiehu and Xue Baochai were old acquaintances, and knew that the Third Master valued this girl very much. He was willing to take his own body as a hostage to save her. Moreover, when the Third Master was knocked unconscious by Kang Dayong who fell from the sky, Xue Baochai thought that the Third Master was in danger, and she cried miserably, and later vomited blood. It can be seen that this girl, like Miss Lin, has a secret crush on the Third Master.

Therefore, when Baochai asked for help, Tiehu naturally agreed. However, he couldn't help feeling embarrassed for Jia Huan sometimes. These two were rare beauties in the world, and they came from good family backgrounds. No matter how you look at it, it's impossible for them to commit themselves to just one person. He didn't know how the Third Master would choose in the future.

Let's get back to the topic. Tiehu was asked by Baochai to find Feng Ziying that night and ask him to plead for Xue Pan to Yi Hong.

Feng Ziying already owed Jia Huan a favor and was worried about how to repay him, so he shamelessly went to Yi Hong to plead for mercy and guaranteed that Xue Pan could not possibly aid the enemy, let alone be involved in the smuggling of salt. However, Yi Hong did not give Feng Ziying much face and only promised him that he would personally look into the matter and would never wrongly accuse a good person.

Feng Ziying also knew his own limitations. Even if his father Feng Tang came forward, Yi Hong might not be able to take him into consideration, so he could only say goodbye helplessly.

Xue Baochai stayed at the Lin family for one night, full of hope, but finally had to return disappointed. She took a boat back to Jinling the next morning.

Lin Daiyu was worried, and it happened that the arrow wound on Shitou Xingwei's shoulder had already healed, and it would be fine as long as he didn't exert too much force. So she asked him to escort Baochai and her servant back to Jinling.

…………

Let's talk about the last round of the provincial examination. There were a total of five policy essay questions, and policy essay was undoubtedly Jia Huan's strong point, so on the afternoon of the second day, Jia Huan basically finished answering all five questions. After dinner, he blew out the candle and went to bed, while most of the other candidates were still studying late into the night.

At this time, the chief examiner Sun Chengzong and the co-examiner Mei Yucheng were leading several inspectors past Jia Huan's seat. Seeing that he was lying peacefully with his arms resting on his head, they could not help but glance at him sideways.

"Hey, it seems that this boy is confident about his studies. I hope he is not just filling in the gaps." An examiner whispered with a smile.

Another examiner smiled and replied, "Brother Yusheng was not present when the names of the candidates were called out the other day. I'm afraid he didn't recognize this boy."

"Oh, could it be that this boy has quite a background?"

"This man is Jia Huan and Jia Ziming, a role model of sonship and filial piety who was personally commended by the emperor."

Brother Yusheng said solemnly, "So it's this boy. It's said that he's a child prodigy. Before he was ten years old, he won the top three places in the boy's exam and was awarded the title of scholar. He's really got the capital to be proud of."

Sun Chengzong and Mei Yucheng naturally both knew Jia Huan, but the former had a blank expression on his face and just walked past, while the latter had a complicated look in his eyes. He glanced at Jia Huan's examination basket, and his heartbeat inexplicably quickened. After taking a deep breath, he silently followed Sun Chengzong to continue his inspection. The two chattering examiners followed a few steps behind them, holding lanterns.

The next morning, Jia Huan got up, ate, and stretched his muscles before carefully copying the answers onto the test paper. This process was particularly important. Not only must the handwriting be neat and beautiful, there must be no typos, and no erasures. If the paper was slightly dirty it would result in it being invalid.

Time passed by second by second. This time, Jia Huan didn't even have lunch. He copied all the papers in one breath. He breathed a sigh of relief after checking them again and again. He then had something to eat to fill his stomach and then rang the bell to hand in the papers.

After a while, the examiner came with a sealing officer, who quickly sealed the name and other information on the paper along the sealing line and stamped it with a saddle stamp. Then all the drafts were packed into a container and sent to the transcription office, where they were transcribed by a special person. This is the so-called "covering the name and changing the book".

In other words, in order to prevent candidates from colluding with examiners to cheat, all test papers must not only be covered with names, but also have to be re-copied by a dedicated person before being sent to the examiners for correction, to prevent examiners from recognizing the candidates' identities through handwriting or secret marks and cheating.

In other words, the marking examiners cannot access the candidates' original papers during the marking process. Only after the admission results come out and the sealed seal of the original papers is opened, will they know whose paper it is. Therefore, it is very fair and its strictness even exceeds that of today's college entrance examination.

Of course, as the saying goes, there are policies from the top and countermeasures from the bottom. If you are able to get through the entire process from sealing to transcribing, and then from transcribing to marking, cheating is still possible. After all, the sealing official knows which candidate the paper belongs to and he has every opportunity to tamper with it.

Let's get back to the topic. After Jia Huan handed in his paper, he left his seat with his examination basket and went to the dragon gate to wait for the cards to be released.

It is only three o'clock in the afternoon, and there is still nearly an hour before the end of the provincial examination, so the dragon gate cannot be opened casually. Only when the number of candidates who have handed in their papers reaches fifty, will the chief examiner open the dragon gate to let the candidates out, which is called "letting out the top candidate."

To Jia Huan's surprise, someone handed in his paper earlier than him. When he arrived near the dragon gate, there were already nine people waiting, one of whom was Lu Xiangsheng. "Brother Ziming, how did you do in this exam?" Lu Xiangsheng came forward to greet him, with a happy look on his face, which showed that he must have done well in this exam.

Jia Huan nodded and smiled, "Not bad, it looks like Brother Jiandou has secured victory this time, congratulations."

Lu Xiangsheng said a little embarrassedly: "I did well in this exam, but I didn't perform as well as I wanted in the first exam. I don't know if I can pass. If I fail again this time, I will be ashamed to return home and see my parents."

Jia Huan said confidently: "Jiandou will definitely pass this time."

Lu Xiangsheng said happily: "I will accept Brother Ziming's good words. Brother Ziming is sure to win this time."

Jia Huan is now quite famous, and the candidates present all came forward to introduce themselves in an effort to make themselves familiar to him.

After waiting for about half an hour, fifty people finally gathered. The chief examiner Sun Chengzong counted the number of people personally and then ordered the gate to open and let them in. Although he met Jia Huan during this period, he just nodded casually and did not talk to each other, probably to avoid suspicion.

"Third Master!" Mu Ye and Jin Bao, two servants, had been waiting outside the Dragon Gate. When they saw Jia Huan coming out with the crowd, they immediately came forward to greet him happily.

Jia Huan clasped his fists towards Lu Xiangsheng and said, "Brother Jiandou, now that the exam is over, why don't you come to my humble abode for a drink?"

Lu Xiangsheng yawned loudly, tears welling up in his eyes. He waved his hand and said with a wry smile, "Maybe some other time. I just want to sleep for three days now, even if the sky falls."

"What Brother Jiandou wants is also what I want." Jia Huan said and yawned loudly, his eyes also filled with tears.

"Haha!" The two smiled at each other and went their separate ways.

The examination lasted for nine consecutive days. The students had to eat, drink, defecate, urinate and sleep in the narrow cell. The intensity was simply hellish. Even Jia Huan found it a little too much to bear and he kept relying on his will to carry on. As soon as he handed in the papers and breathed a sigh of relief, fatigue came over him like a tide. He felt as if his whole body was hollowed out, his steps were weak, and he almost couldn't climb onto the horse's back.

Let’s talk about Jia Huan who returned to Zhuque Street and was about to enter the house when he unexpectedly found someone waiting outside the door. The person looked familiar, and he recognized him after taking a closer look. His sword-like brows couldn’t help but frowned slightly.

At this time, it was Lin Zhixiao and his two sons who were standing outside the house. He stepped forward swiftly, bowed respectfully and said, "Your servant Lin Zhixiao, along with your sons Lin Zhong and Lin Fu, are here to meet Master Huan San. I wish you success in the provincial examination and a place on the list of top scorers!"

Lin Zhong and Lin Fu even knelt down and kowtowed, being extremely respectful.

Jia Huan had a good impression of Lin Zhixiao. It was this man who helped arrange the coffin to go south. He didn't want to give him the cold shoulder, so he said calmly, "Butler Lin, you are too polite. How early did you arrive in Jinling?"

"It has been a while. As it is the period of the provincial examination, I did not dare to disturb you without permission. I came to pay my respects today after the examination is over." Lin Zhixiao replied.

Jia Huan was a little surprised and asked in confusion, "I wonder why Steward Lin is here?"

Lin Zhixiao accompanied him and said carefully: "I am following the orders of the old lady and the master to discuss something with Master Huan San."

Jia Huan said calmly, "I dare not. Since it is the order of the old lady and the master, Steward Lin should just do it. Why bother to discuss it with me?"

Lin Zhixiao smiled and said, "This matter is related to the Third Master, so we still have to ask for his opinion."

Jia Huan's heart was moved, and he pretended to be surprised and said, "It's related to me? That's strange."

Lin Zhixiao said embarrassedly, "It's like this. The old lady and the master have discussed it and decided to move Aunt Zhao's coffin to the Jia family's ancestral tomb for burial. Madam also agreed. I wonder what Master Huan thinks?"

Jia Huan's face suddenly changed, and he said calmly: "No need, Auntie is now in a very good place, there is no need to disturb her again." After saying that, he threw the reins to Mu Ye and turned to walk towards the door.

Lin Zhixiao blushed, obviously not expecting Jia Huan to refuse so firmly. He ran up to him and said, "Master Huan, please don't act on impulse..."

"Butler Lin, there is no need to say more. Just return home and report truthfully. I, Jia Huan, will bear all the consequences." Jia Huan said coldly, then pushed the door open and walked in.

Seeing Jia Huan's resolute attitude, Lin Zhixiao knew that he could not persuade him any further, so he changed the subject and said, "We will talk about this later. There is one more thing that I think I should tell Third Master Huan."

Jia Huan stopped and frowned, "What's the matter?"

"Something happened to the Xue family. Master Pan was arrested by the Royal Guards and thrown into prison. All the properties under the Xue family's name were seized."

Jia Huan suddenly turned around and asked, "What's going on?"

Lin Zhixiao said, "Master Pan was arrested in Weicui Tower. I happened to see him that day and didn't know what happened. Later, I heard that Xue's property was also seized. I went to Xue's house yesterday to inquire about it. It is said that Master Pan's case is related to a batch of old ships. Jinyiwei accused him of supporting thieves and even related to the illegal salt case in Yangzhou."

Jia Huan instantly remembered the blown-up bow of the ship that Kang Dayong had fled to the Yangtze River after breaking out of Datong Mountain. Could it be that the bow belonged to the Xue family? This was a problem. The Jinyiwei were so eager to catch people that they would not even spare ordinary people who had bought private salt. They wanted to fry the dry wood to produce a few ounces of oil. If a piece of fat meat like the Xue family was involved, how could these hungry wolves let go easily?

"What's the current situation of the Xue family?" Jia Huan asked hurriedly.

Lin Zhixiao shook his head and said, "It's very bad. Master Pan is still imprisoned in the prison of the Zhenfu Division. The concubine is worried and sick. Miss Bao rushed to Yangzhou the day before yesterday, and it seems that she went to ask Master Lin for help. Alas, the Lei family has a big appetite. He is not satisfied after embezzling 80,000 taels of silver from the Xue family. He wants to swallow up the entire Xue family. It's hard for Miss Bao, a lady from a wealthy family, to run around and ask for help."

Jia Huan raised his eyebrows immediately and said coldly: "Did Lei squeeze 80,000 taels of silver from Sister Bao?"

Lin Zhixiao was actually shocked by the momentum that Jia Huan released in an instant. He nodded and said, "I also heard from Master Ke Er that at first they asked Jia Yucun for help. The latter accepted 300 gold coins and agreed to mediate. The man surnamed Lei proposed to pay a ransom of 50,000 silver coins in exchange for his release. But after the silver was paid, he changed his mind and demanded another 30,000 taels.

The concubine was eager to save the man, so she searched all the silver vaults in her home and finally collected 30,000 taels to send to him. However, the other party did not keep his promise at all, and even went further, sending people to seal up all the properties under the name of the Xue family. "

Jia Huan frowned and asked, "What does Jia Yucun say?"

Lin Zhixiao sighed, "Just avoid him and let him go. He used our family and our uncle to get back on his feet, but I didn't expect him to be so cold and indifferent."

Jia Huan pondered for a moment, then got on his horse and rode towards the Xue family's house.

(End of this chapter)