After the whole family was swept away, I lay down flat

Chapter 826 Jin Jiashu's Letter

Haitang was very happy.

I wonder if my brother Haijiao also wrote about these things in his letter to my grandfather Haixiya. He should have introduced them in more detail. It sounds like there is hope.

Although she felt that considering her grandfather's age and physical condition, it might be a bit strenuous for him to serve as an official for another three years, and that he might not have the motivation to pursue advancement in his official career after his grandson and adopted son both successfully entered officialdom, she was happy for the old man when she heard that her grandfather had a bright future.

As for whether my grandfather can get promoted further, it depends on his own wishes. He has not had an easy life in the past few decades, and he should take a good rest and enjoy a leisurely retirement life. If he wants to pursue the peak of his career again, Haitang will of course support him, but just hope that he will not be too tired.

After reading her brother's letter, Haitang carefully put away the translated letter and put the original letter away again. When she was about to put it back into the envelope, she unexpectedly found another letter in the envelope. It was very thin, with only two pages. The words were written in very small handwriting. The handwriting was obviously different from Haijiao's, but it looked very familiar to her.

Is this Jin Jiashu's letter? How did he send it inside his brother's letter? And his brother Haijiao actually agreed to it?
She quickly unfolded the letter, only to find that the entire letter was composed of encrypted text. At first glance, it looked like repeated numbers randomly arranged together and it was not a written text at all. It was even more exaggerated than Haijiao's letter, which mostly contained ciphertext.

If such a letter was sealed separately, if an unrelated person saw it during the journey, they would definitely find it strange, right? It was inconspicuous in Haijiao's envelope. If Haitang had not found another stack of letter paper in the envelope after reading her brother's letter, she would probably have ignored it.

Haitang took out the letter, spread out a blank piece of paper, took out the code book left by Jin Jiashu, and deciphered it word by word.

Jin Jiashu's letter generally recounted his experiences after arriving in Beijing, but he did not go into detail about his confrontation with Jin Wu and the Sun family. I don't know if it was because he didn't want to say too much, or because he knew Haijiao would give a detailed introduction, so he didn't go into details.

He spent more time describing his encounter with his "aunt" Concubine Xu Xianfei, and his acquaintance with his "cousins" the Eighth Prince and the Seventh Prince. He seemed to like the Eighth Prince very much, thinking that although he was young, he was very smart and gentle, and was kind and considerate to his "cousin". No matter what he asked, he would provide help within his ability.

Maybe because his "aunt" Concubine Xu Xianfei had to recuperate and didn't have much time to see him, Jin Jiashu spent more time with the two princes. The two princes had a good relationship. The Seventh Prince always protected the Eighth Prince, and the Eighth Prince was always on guard against others offending the Seventh Prince, and was afraid that he would be tired. If he hadn't known in advance that the two of them were not from the same mother, Jin Jiashu would have suspected that they were brothers with the same father and mother.

However, considering that Concubine Xu was actually the Seventh Prince's wet nurse and raised him since childhood, and it is rumored that she married the Emperor as a concubine for him, it is not surprising that the two princes have a close relationship.

After Jin Jiashu had sounded out the Eighth Prince's temper and his friendly attitude towards him, he once again implicitly expressed his thoughts: he did not seek high office or wealth, but only hoped to pass the imperial examinations with his own ability, have a stable future, marry his beloved girl, and live a peaceful and quiet life behind closed doors.

He knew that he was a relative by marriage, and that the court officials were now very wary of relatives by marriage, and he did not expect to be a high-ranking official or hold any real power. He was essentially just a son of a provincial scholar from the countryside, and he was used to living a life of a small family. He really couldn't and didn't want to suddenly get into the top circles of the country's dignitaries and deal with people. He had a grudge against the Sun family, and he hated relatives by marriage like Sun Ge Lao the most. Even if his "aunt" and "cousin" really needed his help, he was only willing to be a loyal and good minister like Tao Ge Lao, and was unwilling to follow the old path of treacherous ministers like Sun Ge Lao.

Jin Jiashu expressed his true thoughts several times in front of the Queen Mother, Concubine Xu and the two princes. He couldn't tell whether they believed it or not, but he felt that both the Queen Mother and the two princes agreed with and were pleased with his decision. The Eighth Prince even promised him privately that in the past, because of the relationship between his mother and son, Jin Jiashu and his relatives had become the thorn in the eyes of the Sun family and had suffered a lot. When he became the crown prince in the future, he would definitely let his cousin live a peaceful and stable life and would not let anyone bully or hurt his cousin again. Jin Jiashu thought that was enough. The Eighth Prince made a promise to him, so as long as he did not break his promise in the future, the new monarch would have no reason to breach the contract. At that time, no matter what Concubine Xu said, he could live the life he wanted.

Concubine Xu herself did not comment on his statement. After he arrived in the capital, he first visited his aunt and was worried about her condition. Later, he discovered the truth about Concubine Xu's poisoning, so he did not have time to formally mention his marriage to his aunt.

It seemed a bit inappropriate to bring up such a topic at that time.

However, after the confrontation, although Concubine Xu was still ill, she also revealed a little bit, saying that she no longer planned to let Jin Jiashu marry into the Zhang family.

In any case, Concubine Zhang Gong concealed the fact that Concubine Hu was pregnant, which indirectly encouraged Concubine Sun's arrogance to stir up trouble. In addition, the fact that she knew that the eunuch in charge of her palace had been bribed by Concubine Sun, but she did not reveal any information and allowed him to order people to poison Concubine Xu, made Concubine Xu wary of Concubine Zhang Gong.

Although Concubine Zhang Gong had only two princesses, no one knew whether she had reached other agreements with the Sun family. Concubine Xu Xian did not dare to be careless, for fear that she had other plans. If she arranged for her "nephew" to marry a daughter of the Zhang family, what if she betrayed the child? !

Jin Jiashu is the only flesh and blood of her "sister" left in the world, and the only surviving relative from her mother's side, so he cannot afford to make any mistakes. She has caused trouble for this child in the past, and she feels very guilty. If she acts as a matchmaker for her nephew, but ruins the child's life, how can she face her "sister" in the afterlife? !
Concubine Xu told Jin Jiashu that she really liked Zhang Yingfeng, the daughter of the side branch of the Zhang family. She thought that although her family background was not good enough, her talents were enough to support a small family and develop it into a new noble family. This was better than any lady from a noble family.

However, no matter how good Zhang Yingfeng was, she was not as important as his nephew, Jin Jiashu. If Jin Jiashu could marry a lady from a famous family, it would only be icing on the cake, but the most important thing was that he lived a good life. If he himself was not happy, then no matter how good the lady from a famous family was, she would only be a burden that would hold him back.

Concubine Xu wanted to find a good marriage for her "nephew" for his future, but since he had his own ideas about his life, his happiness was naturally more important.

She did not say it explicitly, but she made a promise to Jin Jiashu through her trusted maid that if he took a fancy to a girl and wanted to marry her, then as long as she met the girl and thought there was no problem, she would arrange the marriage for him and would never force him to marry into a powerful family, so that he could rest assured.

Jin Jiashu was relieved. He happily told Haitang the good news in a letter. However, after reading the letter, Haitang still had doubts in her heart.

Can this kind of unspoken promise, or words spoken through someone else's mouth, really be considered a "promise"?

(End of this chapter)