The Red Chamber begins with a bastard

Chapter 434: Wang Ziteng escaped, and his beastly father was furious (two chapters in one)

Seeing Jia Baoyu leave dejectedly, Shi Xiangyun couldn't bear it anymore. She wiped her tears and said, "Sister Lin, Brother Huan, I'm sorry. It's all my fault that I didn't know how to speak. I angered my second brother and got you into trouble. But don't mind it too much. My second brother is not like this usually. I guess he's in a bad mood today."

Lin Daiyu said with a smile: "Yun girl, he said that to you, and you apologized for him. It's really hard for you."

Shi Xiangyun said embarrassedly: "Actually, Second Brother is usually very nice to me. He always remembers me when there are delicious food and fun things. He just said that because he was angry. Sister Lin, Brother Huan, can you give me some face and stop being angry with him?"

Lin Daiyu turned her head away and said nothing. She had always been clear about what she loved and hated. Jia Baoyu's words and actions today really annoyed her. It was really unreasonable.

Seeing Shi Xiangyun's embarrassment, Jia Huan smiled and tried to smooth things over, "It's just a daily quarrel between brothers and sisters. It's not a big deal. You can forget about it in the past few days. Sister Yun, you should pack up and go back quickly. I think they are in a hurry."

Shi Xiangyun looked at Jia Huan gratefully and said, "Brother Huan is really generous. I will go back first. If Sister Bao arrives, please remember to notify me."

Jia Huan nodded and said, "Yes, if we start a poetry club, you will definitely be indispensable!"

After hearing this, Shi Xiangyun left with peace of mind. Lin Daiyu glanced at Jia Huan with a smile, turned back to the desk, picked up the book and continued reading.

Jia Huan was a little puzzled, so he stepped forward and asked with a smile: "What book are you reading, sister?"

Lin Daiyu retracted her hand and covered the book to her chest so that Jia Huan could not see it. The latter could not help but laugh and said, "What a rare treasure, you can't even take a look at it?"

Lin Daiyu snorted, "What do you care about my treasures? I won't show them to you anyway. I'm stingy, but you, Brother Huan, are generous. I'm just a mean person, but you're just a good person!"

Jia Huan suddenly smiled and said, "Sister Lin is angry about this. You also know that Sister Yun is always outspoken. Why bother with her?"

"Brother Huan is really generous. I am very stingy and I insist on making a fuss. Just leave me and live a peaceful life!" Lin Daiyu turned around and continued reading with her back to Jia Huan.

Jia Huan couldn't help but laugh or cry. Lin Duidui was really annoying when she got angry. He could only cough and say, "Sister Zijuan, please make me a pot of good tea."

"I don't have any good tea here. If you want to drink good tea, just wait for Ping'er to come." Lin Daiyu said.

Zijuan smiled and said, "It seems that I should make a pot of chrysanthemum tea. It's time for the young lady to cool down."

Jia Huan clapped his hands and laughed, "How wonderful! Sister Zijuan is so considerate. Go and get some water quickly. This fire has affected everyone."

Lin Daiyu burst out laughing, and Jia Huan breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Okay, no need to brew chrysanthemum tea, let's brew a pot of Longjing tea instead."

Zijuan smiled and went out to get some water. Lin Daiyu rolled her eyes at someone and asked, "Where did Huan-di go today? He usually doesn't come home for the whole day."

"When I left Yangzhou, Huzi asked me to take some silver to honor his mother. I'll get the job done today and visit Sister Hongling." Jia Huan stretched and sat down by the stove.

Lin Daiyu suddenly realized, "So that's how it is. Is Hongling okay?"

"It's going well. My daughter is almost two years old, and the family is very happy."

Lin Daiyu smiled and said, "Then she has chosen a good family."

…………

Jia Baoyu left Xiaoxiang Pavilion dejectedly and returned to Yihong Courtyard. Seeing this, Xiren couldn't help but feel strange. She reached out and touched his forehead, and asked with concern: "Second Master, are you feeling unwell?"

Jia Baoyu pushed Xiren's hand away, walked straight back to his room, threw himself on the bed and burst into tears. The maids were at a loss as to what to do.

Xiren was heartbroken when she saw this, and hurriedly pulled Qingwen outside and asked in a low voice, "What happened to the Second Master? Did he have a quarrel with Miss Lin?"

Qingwen stuck out her tongue and said, "She was driven out by Miss Lin."

Xiren was surprised and asked, "Why is this happening? Why did Miss Lin chase him out when he was fine?"

Qingwen said, "I don't know exactly how it started. I was playing with Xueyan and the others in the yard at the time, and then Third Master Huan came, and then Miss Yun came as well. I don't know how they started arguing. Miss Yun first criticized Second Master, and Second Master got angry and scolded Miss Yun, and then scolded Third Master Huan. Finally, Miss Lin got angry and drove Second Master out. She spoke rather harshly, saying that her place was too small to accommodate a Buddha like Second Master Bao."

Xiren sighed and stamped her feet when she heard this, "I knew that he was a restless man. As soon as he comes back, there will be some trouble. Look at how this happened during the years he was away. No, I have to go back to my wife and let her take care of it. Otherwise, if things go on for a long time, I'm afraid it will get worse."

Qingwen hesitated and said, "Husbands and wives sometimes quarrel, let alone brothers and sisters. There's no need to disturb the wife over this, right?"

Xiren sneered, "You don't know, some people are bad from the bottom of their hearts. Have you forgotten that damned Aunt Zhao once used paper figurines to harm Madam and Second Master? We have to be on guard. And our Master is not cunning, he only knows how to treat people sincerely. How can we defeat him? We have to be cautious."

Qingwen fell silent after hearing this. Jia Huan was mature despite his young age. If he tried to play tricks, ten Baoyus would not be his match.

…………

Emperor Qiansheng sent his father, Emperor Kangping, back to the Jingxinzhai in the Western Garden, then he walked out the door with the packaged duck in sauce, handed it to a young eunuch on duty, and said calmly, "Send it to Wang Ziteng's mansion and say it's a reward from the retired emperor."

The young eunuch quickly accepted the order, carefully took the still slightly warm sauced duck, and hurried away.

Emperor Qiansheng took out a handkerchief and wiped his hands, then threw it to the guards behind him and went straight back to the palace.

When Emperor Qiansheng returned to the Qianqing Palace, the eunuch Guifang, who was in charge of the seal of the Silijian, reported: "Your Majesty, the old lady Jia brought a group of ladies from the Jia family to the palace to visit the imperial concubine today, and they even knelt outside the palace gate to thank the emperor for his grace."

Emperor Qiansheng nodded and said calmly, "I understand. Change your clothes and go to Fengzao Palace."

At that moment, Emperor Qiansheng changed into his casual clothes and headed for Fengzao Palace.

When Jia Yuanchun heard that the emperor had arrived, she struggled to get up from the bed. Just as she was about to take Long'er from her nurse's arms, Emperor Qiansheng strode in. She quickly knelt on the ground and cried out, "Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you."

"My beloved concubine, please stand up quickly!" Emperor Qiansheng reached out his hand to help Jia Yuanchun stand up, and took the baby in her arms to examine him carefully, smiling and saying, "She looks more like my beloved concubine."

Jia Yuanchun smiled and said, "I think he looks more like the emperor."

"It's not clear now, but we'll know when it grows up a little bit. Thank you for your hard work, my dear. The weather is cold now, so please take care of yourself." Emperor Qiansheng said as he handed the baby to the wet nurse.

Jia Yuanchun said happily: "It is my blessing to give birth to a son for the emperor. How dare I say it is hard work!"

Emperor Qiansheng laughed and said, "What reward do you want, my beloved concubine?"

"Hasn't the emperor already given the reward?" Jia Yuanchun said with a smile.

"Can't I give more rewards after I've given them?" Emperor Qiansheng seemed to be in a good mood, and he pinched Concubine Yuan's round and smooth chin affectionately.

Jia Yuanchun was secretly delighted, and she knelt on the ground and said, "Then I will dare to ask for mercy for my uncle."

The smile on Emperor Qiansheng's face slowly disappeared, and he said calmly, "Do you want to plead for Wang Ziteng?"

Jia Yuanchun was so scared that she hung her head, feeling uneasy and regretting her rashness. It was a big taboo for the harem to interfere in government affairs. She did so right after giving birth to a prince. She seemed to be taking advantage of the emperor's favor. What should she do if she angered the emperor?
But my mother had come to visit me not long ago, and I had to do what she had told me to do. Besides, Wang Ziteng was my uncle, so how could I stand by and watch him die? Thinking of this, Jia Yuanchun had to bite the bullet and cry, "My uncle was framed. Your Majesty, please understand. The Wang family's ancestral tomb has a history of hundreds of years. How could the royal aura suddenly appear? This is obviously nonsense. If your Majesty doesn't believe it, just send the Imperial Observatory to verify it."

Emperor Qiansheng said calmly, "My beloved concubine, do you think that I don't have the ability to distinguish right from wrong?"

Jia Yuanchun turned pale with fear and said in a trembling voice: "I dare not, I...just!"

"I have my own considerations. My beloved concubine, please have a good rest and don't interfere in matters outside the palace. This will not happen again!" After saying this, Emperor Qiansheng turned around and left Fengzao Palace.

Jia Yuanchun collapsed to the ground, feeling extremely regretful.

Emperor Qiansheng returned to the Yangxin Palace with a gloomy face and asked the eunuch on duty to bring a large pile of memorials. The eunuch couldn't help but think, is it Wang Ziteng's turn to be in trouble this time?

It turned out that these memorials were all impeachments against the Minister of War Wang Ziteng, and Emperor Qiansheng had never approved them. Now he specially asked the young eunuch to bring them here, obviously intending to take action.

However, what surprised the young eunuch was that Emperor Qiansheng just casually flipped through the memorials and then threw them into a wooden box on the side of the imperial desk. That wooden box was specifically used to store memorials that were "kept in the palace and not sent out." In other words, Wang Ziteng actually escaped.

Emperor Qiansheng threw all the memorials impeaching Wang Ziteng into a wooden box, and finally took out a separate memorial from the drawer. It was the memorial of resignation that Wang Ziteng had previously submitted, and he had also kept it without approving it.

At this time, Emperor Qiansheng picked up the red pen and wrote on Wang Ziteng's memorial: According to investigation, the Wang family's renovation of the ancestral tomb was indeed in violation of the rules. Qing Tian is the Minister of War, and he holds an important position but does not manage his family well. From today on, he will be dismissed from the post of Minister of War and ordered to stay at home and repent and reflect on his mistakes to serve as a warning to others!

Emperor Qiansheng put down his imperial brush, threw the memorial on the ground in front of the imperial desk, and ordered: "Send it to the cabinet and let Li Biao draft an order immediately."

The young eunuch did not dare to delay, and hurriedly took the memorial to the cabinet and handed it to the minister on duty, Li Biao. Li Biao was the second assistant of the cabinet who defected to Emperor Qiansheng that day.

Ever since the Chief Minister Shi Fengyi was given a "long vacation" that day, Li Biao, the Second Minister, naturally became the number one person in the cabinet. It was time for him to perform well, so after receiving the memorial approved by Emperor Qiansheng, he immediately wrote an imperial edict with brilliant literary talent, and then ordered someone to send it to the Qianqing Palace as soon as possible.

Emperor Qiansheng reviewed the imperial edict and felt that there was nothing wrong with it, so he stamped it with his imperial seal and sent it to the Ministry of Rites to convey the edict.

Soon, officials from the Ministry of Rites arrived at Wang's house with Emperor Qiansheng's imperial edict and read it out. Wang Ziteng led all the male members of his family to kneel in front of the incense table to listen to the announcement.

When they heard that their master had been dismissed from his post and ordered to reflect on his actions at home, the Wang family members were all mourning their parents' death. However, Wang Ziteng was greatly relieved and kowtowed, saying, "I accept your order. Thank you. Long live the emperor!"

The official from the Ministry of Rites who was in charge of delivering the imperial edict had an indifferent expression. He handed the imperial edict to Wang Ziteng and turned away without saying a word. In his opinion, although Wang Ziteng had saved his life this time, his official career was completely over and there was no possibility of his comeback, unless someone else became emperor. However, Wang Ziteng was over sixty years old, while the emperor was only in his early forties, at the prime of his life. It would not be a problem for him to be emperor for another ten or twenty years. By then, even if Wang Ziteng did not die, he would be in his seventies or eighties, at the age when he needed help even to pee. What else could he do?
Let's get back to the topic. After Wang Ziteng received the imperial edict, he ordered people to put away the incense table and returned to the inner house leisurely.

Wiping tears, his wife walked up to Wang Ziteng and cried, "My Lord, the Emperor is too ruthless. You have worked hard for the Xu family for your entire life. You have made contributions and suffered a lot. I didn't expect that you would end up like this. You can be dismissed just like that."

Wang Ziteng scolded him, "What do you know? Go ahead and tell someone to heat up the salted duck that the emperor gave me, and cook a pot of rice for me. I'm hungry."

Wang Ziteng's wife was a little confused. She didn't understand why she was fired but her husband seemed very happy. However, she didn't dare to ask more questions and hurriedly ordered people to heat up the food.

Watching his wife leave, Wang Ziteng snorted coldly and said, "How can a foolish woman know the danger? This time I was only dismissed from my post, and it's good enough that I can save my life. Thanks to the sauced duck sent by the Grand Emperor, the Emperor had to give him some face. I guess Concubine Yuan also contributed to it. Otherwise, with the Emperor's ruthlessness and determination, how could he let me go?"

…………

In the evening, Jia Zhen drank some wine in Jia She's room, and returned to the East Mansion with a little drunkenness. He first went to visit his sick wife Youshi. Seeing that the latter's illness did not seem to have improved, he did not care too much, but said proudly: "Uncle Wang is fine now."

Yu Shi coughed twice while lying on the bed, patted her chest and said, "Amitabha, this is a good thing. Not long ago, hundreds of people in Prince Yi Zhong's family were beheaded, which scared me."

Jia Zhen snorted coldly, "You are not the only one who is frightened. Almost all the nobles in the royal family are worried. Even the old lady, who is used to seeing storms, is silent and tells everyone in the mansion not to go out and cause trouble."

Yu said with lingering fear: "I heard that many people in the court impeached my uncle. He was lucky to escape this disaster."

Jia Zhen said in a low voice, "It's all thanks to Concubine Yuan. The old lady and the mistress came to the palace today. They probably asked Concubine Yuan to plead with the emperor in person. No, the imperial edict came down this afternoon, only dismissing the Minister of War and ordering him to stay at home and repent."

Youshi sighed, "The eldest girl was born on the first day of the first lunar month. Fortune tellers have said she was destined to be rich and noble since she was a child. Now she has indeed given birth to a prince and has been promoted to a noble concubine. She is so noble that it is beyond words. We are also blessed with this."

Jia Zhen said proudly, "That's right. If it weren't for the eldest daughter, I would have been chosen to be the Fengzao Palace and given the title of Consort Xian De, I'm afraid I would still be suffering in the southern barbarians. Now that the eldest daughter has been promoted to Imperial Consort, the emperor might be so happy that he would return the title to our Ningguo Mansion."

You said happily, "Then we really have to burn incense to thank you."

Jia Zhen laughed heartily, as if he had already regained his title, and patted the back of Youshi's hand gently, saying, "Rest well, and when you are well, go to the West Mansion more often. The future of our family's wealth and honor will depend on the Imperial Concubine. Madam, Baoyu, and Sister Feng must all try to please her."

Youshi nodded and said, "I know, I respect you."

Jia Zhen smiled and said, "That's good. I'll ask Rong's wife to make some medicine for you."

A trace of unnaturalness flashed across Youshi's face. As Jia Zhen's bedmate, how could she not see her husband's dirty thoughts? In fact, when Jia Zhen was touching his daughter-in-law Qin Keliao that night, she was not asleep at all. She was just afraid of her husband's usual tyranny and dared not make a sound. She could only continue to pretend to sleep. At this time, when she heard that her husband was going to ask Qin Keqing to serve her medicine, she hurriedly said, "I have my own maid to serve me. Why bother that child? Let her have a good rest."

Jia Zhen sneered, "Our dynasty governs the world with filial piety, and it is natural for a daughter-in-law to serve her parents-in-law. Why do you feel sorry for her? This is a good opportunity to temper her character, so that she won't be too controlling when she's old. Don't worry about it. I'll send Rong'er and his wife to serve you."

Yu Shi stammered, "Brother Rong's daughter-in-law went out of town to worship Buddha today. Doesn't the master know?"

Jia Zhen frowned and said, "Of course I know that she can't leave this door without my consent. But it's almost dark now. Could it be that she hasn't returned home yet?"

You said cautiously, "I heard from Rong'er that my illness will never get better, and his wife plans to stay in the nunnery and chant sutras for 49 days to pray for blessings and ward off disasters for me. Alas, this child is really filial!"

Jia Zhen's face turned pale with anger and he asked, "Forty-nine days? Who allowed her to do so?"

You Shi said awkwardly, "Brother Rong's daughter-in-law is doing this for my own good. She is so filial, I thought the master would definitely agree, so I agreed to Brother Rong's proposal."

Jia Zhen was so angry that he scolded, "You know nothing. If she wants to chant sutras and pray for blessings, she can just do it at home. Why does she have to go to the nunnery outside the city? Although the nuns there eat vegetarian food and chant Buddhist scriptures, they are inevitably mixed with good and bad people, and the management is not strict. If a bad person breaks in, it will be terrible. Rong Ge'er is really out of his mind."

Jia Zhen had been in high spirits these days. If his maid Ruizhu had not seen him last night, he would have succeeded. He had been itching for the chance all night. Now that he saw that the cooked duck had flown away, he was naturally very annoyed. He immediately left the room and ordered someone to ask Jia Rong to come to the study to see him.

Jia Rong had been feeling uneasy the whole day since he sent his wife Qin Keqing away. Suddenly, when he heard his father Jia Zhen calling him to the study, he began to tremble uncontrollably.

"Forget it, if I stick my head out, I'll be killed. If I hide my head, I'll be killed too!" Jia Rong made up his mind and went to Jia Zhen's study with gritted teeth.

When Jia Zhen saw Jia Rong, he asked with a dark face, "Rong'er, do you know that your wife stayed in the nunnery for 49 days?"

Jia Rong nodded tremblingly and said, "I know!"

Jia Zhen flew into a rage, slapped the table, and shouted, "How dare you! Why didn't you discuss this with me in advance?"

Jia Rong was so frightened that he fell to his knees and said in a trembling voice, "I didn't know beforehand. Keqing just came up with the idea. She said that my mother's illness would never get better, and she wanted to stay in the nunnery to chant sutras for 49 days to pray for her and get rid of the disaster. I thought it was a good thing... so I agreed. After I got home, I asked my mother for permission, and she agreed."

Jia Zhen shouted, "Who told you to act on your own? Who has the final say in the family? You know to ask your mother for permission, but you don't know how to ask your father? Bring your wife back tomorrow, or you'll have to take care of yourself!"

Jia Rong left the study with a deathly pale face, feeling hatred and fear in his heart.

(End of this chapter)