Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

Chapter 191 Master and Disciple Discuss the Heart of Heaven

On New Year's Eve, Wang Xifeng's carefully prepared New Year's banquet lost much of its festive atmosphere due to the resentment in Jia Cong's mother's heart caused by her mother's indignation.

After all, everyone still has to celebrate the New Year, so the New Year’s Eve dinner that night will naturally be held as usual.

Moreover, Lady Jia felt humiliated and angry about the imperial decree bestowed upon Jia Cong's deceased mother, Lady Wang was jealous that Jia Cong would overshadow Baoyu because of this, and Lady Xing could not bear to see this whore and illegitimate son become so proud.

The other people in the Jia family might be secretly jealous, but few of them would hate or detest it, because after all, it was none of their business.

People like Jia Zheng and Jia Zhen were all happy to see it happen.

Jia Zheng is the one who has helped Jia Cong, whom he values, to rise in status. Now that Jia Cong is nominally kept in the second house, how can he not be proud?

Since Jia Cong returned to Beijing, many colleagues and great scholars and celebrities in the capital have sent him messages or written to him, asking him to bring his nephew, who was famous for his poetry in the south of the Yangtze River, to various banquets and literary gatherings.

Although it has not yet happened, it has already earned him enough face.

As the head of the Jia family, Jia Zhen considered it an honor to have one more imperial decree in his family. He would even receive an extra share of silver as a reward for the spring festival in the palace at the end of the year. Isn't that decent?

As for the fact that the old lady of the West Mansion was displeased with the imperial decree, Jia Zhen would at most just respond in a perfunctory manner and would not care about it at all in his heart. The West Mansion's own misfortunes had nothing to do with the East Mansion.

Besides, Jia Cong has become successful at a young age, and he still needs to win over more people. Maybe he will even need to rely on this kid someday. Why would he destroy Jia Cong's reputation for such trivial things?

Grandmother Jia arranged an inner banquet in Rongqing Hall, and as in previous years, it was attended by several daughters-in-law, granddaughters-in-law, as well as Daiyu, Baoyu, Sanchun, Jia Huan, Jia Lan and other descendants.

There is still no place for Jia Cong here.

However, no one in the mansion dares to deliberately remove Jia Cong from the New Year's Eve banquet, because things are different now. In the East and West Mansions, Jia Cong has become an obstacle that cannot be avoided.

Even Lady Jia would not do such a thing. If it were to become known, outsiders would only laugh at the Jia family for being so stupid.

Jia Cong sat at the same table as Jia Zhen in the flower hall outside, and was accompanied by Jia Rong, Jia Qiang and others. These people of the grass-roots generation were very enthusiastic and flattering to him.

Those legends about the harem were not worth mentioning to them. This cousin in front of them was only a little old, but he was a seventh-rank official, his mother was granted an imperial decree, and he went to the palace to meet the emperor every few days to make reports.

Among all the nephews and nephews of the Jia family, there is one unique person who, no matter who he is born into, cannot be stopped from making a fortune.

Jia Cong was naturally aware of the personalities and calculations of the people present, so he just dealt with them on the surface, drank a few cups, found an opportunity to quietly leave the table, and returned to Qingzhizhai.

……

As soon as I entered Qingzhizhai, I saw a human figure reflected on the window paper of the main house, and it seemed that the person was holding a pair of scissors or something in his hand.

It was not yet past the hour of Xu, and tall glazed lanterns were hung in the courtyard, illuminating it with bright yellow light. The windows of the east and west wing rooms were all covered with exquisite window grilles.

There are patterns such as "Abundance Every Year" and "Good Fortune, Longevity and Happiness" which add to the joy of the New Year.

Jia Cong entered the main room and saw Zhishao sitting on the small kang in the clinic, quietly cutting paper-cuts. Yinglian, wearing slippers, pasted the cut paper-cuts on the window paper of the main room.

Back then, Jia Cong and Zhi Shao lived in the storehouse in the East Courtyard. Every New Year's Eve they were alone together. At that time, she often loved to cut window paper-cuts to add a festive and gentle touch to the lonely little courtyard.

Now the past is gone, but she still remembers this handcraft skill.

In the study, Yinglian also prepared the best wedding couplets for Jia Cong, waiting for him to come back to write Spring Festival couplets.

Wu'er and Qingwen were setting up a table on the big kang opposite. They had been outside Rong Xi Tang in the afternoon to listen to the emperor's orders, and they got the good news first.

The Third Master has always been gossiped about behind his back by those evil-minded people in the mansion because of his biological mother. Now, the Third Master's biological mother is a noble lady just like the Madam. Let's see who dares to gossip about him.

After Jia Cong received the order, he could not come back for a while. Wu Er asked Sister Liu to prepare fruits and dishes in advance, and hid a small jar of girl's red wine, waiting for him to celebrate, and everyone could have a good New Year's Eve dinner. When Jia Cong finished writing the Spring Festival couplets and pasted them up, Yinglian pasted all the window flowers, and added pine and cypress fragrance to the silver frost charcoal in the brazier to warm the main room.

The New Year's Eve dinner began with sweet voices, fragrant aromas, and laughter.

At midnight, a large number of fireworks were set off in the open space of the flower hall in front of Rongqing Hall. Standing in the courtyard of Qingzhizhai, one could see them very clearly.

The sky is full of fireworks and the thirteenth year of Jiazhao has finally arrived.

……

The first day of the first lunar month.

Wu'er also has his widowed mother, Sister Liu; Qingwen also has a cousin; Yinglian's mother, Lady Feng, is settled in Xiuniang Xiangfang; Juan'er and the other four are all children born in the Rong family.

Jia Cong asked them to go home and reunite for New Year's tea.

Only Zhishao was an orphan who had never known her parents since childhood, so Jia Cong took her with him to Luocang Mountain to pay New Year's greetings to his mentor Liu Jing'an.

In the era of patriarchal ethics, Heaven, Earth, the Emperor, Parents and Teachers are the most important. Jia Cong's maternal family is in decline, and his mentor Liu Jing'an is his closest elder. It is only natural to pay homage to him on New Year's Day.

Cui was very happy to see Jia Cong return after half a year. She was very fond of this talented, handsome and sharp young disciple of her master.

After learning that he had a rough life and had grown up in loneliness and hardship, she felt even more pity for him, and even began to love Zhishao, who was by Jia Cong's side.

Jia Cong and Liu Jing'an drank tea together and talked to their mentor about the major case of the Jinling Water Supervision Bureau and the imperial decree to posthumously confer a title on their biological mother.

Liu Jing'an suddenly asked, "The emperor has extended such favor to your biological mother. What do you think?"

Jia Cong was stunned, and he could sense a test in the teacher's words.

An academic mentor not only teaches the Four Books and Eight-Legged Essay, but also focuses on preaching, answering questions, enlightening one's vision, and honing one's character.

Liu Jing'an was the top scholar in the imperial examination and his academic reputation was known throughout the world. He experienced the vicissitudes of life and was promoted to the position of Grand Master of the Ministry of Rites. His vision and perspective were extraordinary.

Since he is revered by the world as a literary saint, it is natural that the children he teaches will not be nerds who are only good at imperial examinations but ignorant of worldly affairs, but rather talented people who can establish themselves in official careers and govern the country.

Jia Cong thought for a moment and replied respectfully, "I think that Your Majesty is very rich and has seen many outstanding people. He will never show any special favor to me just because I have little talent.

The emperor's biological mother came from a humble background and was unknown during her lifetime. She did not enjoy the glory and honor of filial piety, which has become a thorn in the emperor's heart. Cong dare not say whether she suffered because of this when she was in the palace...

When the emperor built a temple and erected a monument for his biological mother, he encountered many criticisms and obstacles. He promoted Cong to the eighth-rank copyist of scriptures and served as a righteous official because Cong's biological mother was also of humble origin and he had the same kind of heart as the emperor, which proved the meaning of filial piety, regardless of whether he was a legitimate son or a illegitimate child.

Now that the grand temple has been built, His Majesty has accomplished his goal in one fell swoop by posthumously conferring a title on my mother as a conclusion to his interpretation, and has made the ceremony of treating the living and dead Empress Dowagers with equal status and respect an irrefutable iron law!

Seeing the big from the small, and seeing that from this, Cong thought that the emperor wanted to measure the world with the dispute over rites and laws.

The edict shows the world that what he says must be followed by the law, and the emperor’s will is unique. This is the great way of imperial power, and is definitely not a special favor for one person or one family.

Just this one incident made Cong feel that the king was in a state of awe, as if he was walking on thin ice or facing the abyss. "

In fact, Jia Cong's words were a little too clear and blunt. If he did not have great trust in his teacher, he would never have said it to this extent. This was already suspected of being an attempt to guess the emperor's intentions.

Liu Jing'an's eyes sparkled with surprise and he was shocked. It was understandable that such an analysis came from someone who had experienced the ups and downs of officialdom for a long time.

This disciple of mine is only thirteen years old, but his vision is far-reaching, even not less than mine. With such scheming and cunning, I thought Zhang Tianshi's words were alarmist at the beginning, but now it seems...

(End of this chapter)