Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

Chapter 20 Coveting and forcing
Jia Cong, Xiao Jindong and others sat in Chunhua Tower for two hours before leaving.

He Jizhen, Zhou Xizhe, Liu Bi and others are all well-educated people. Although Xiao Jindong is a businessman, he runs a bookstore and is proficient in literature.

Jia Cong interacted with these people and listened to their casual conversations, which covered topics such as calligraphy and painting, court anecdotes, and market slang, which broadened his horizons.

When I returned to the East Courtyard, it was just past noon and the granary was quiet.

As soon as he entered the door, he saw Zhishao sitting alone on the doorstep crying. His heart skipped a beat and he had a bad feeling.

"Third Master, you're back." Zhishao burst into laughter when she saw Jia Cong come in, but there was still fear and panic in her eyes.

"What's wrong with you? What happened?"

Zhi Shao was about to cry and said, "Not long after Third Master went out today, Wang Shanbao came to the house and said that Madam wanted me to come over and talk to her."

Jia Cong was startled. Why would Madam Xing suddenly go to talk to Zhishao? These two people had nothing to do with each other.

"When the wife saw me, she praised my good looks and said a lot of nice things to me."

Jia Cong's face had turned cold. Mrs. Xing called Zhishao over specifically to praise her for her good looks. This was like a weasel paying a New Year's greeting to a chicken.

"The mistress also said that the master's room was in need of capable people to serve him, and that the master...he had taken a fancy to me and wanted to take me into his room..."

When Zhishao said this, not only was her voice trembling, but her slender body was also shaking, and she was completely oppressed by endless fear.

She grew up in the East Courtyard and had heard many stories about her master's lust and debauchery. If she were to become a concubine of such a man, she would rather die immediately.

Jia Cong's face was pale, and a terrible light flashed in his eyes, which were usually warm and pure. He was muttering two words that even Zhishao couldn't hear clearly: Damn it!

Zhishao looked at Jia Cong's terrible expression and couldn't help crying.

Jia Cong said gently: "Don't be afraid, I'm here. Even if I die, I won't let you jump into this fire pit!"

When Zhishao heard this, her whole body trembled violently and she threw herself into Jia Cong's arms and burst into tears.

Jia Cong held Zhishao in his arms and patted her back gently to comfort her. In the empty granary courtyard, Zhishao's sobs sounded particularly helpless and desolate.

Since Jia Cong came into this world, he has been unusually mature mentally and has taken a calm attitude towards everything around him.

He tried his best to adapt himself to the rules of this world, avoid being radical, and take things step by step.

But after what happened to Zhishao, he began to doubt this code of conduct.

If Jia She really wanted to force Zhishao to be his concubine, he would find that he had no way to stop him according to the rules of such a wealthy family.

Zhishao is a maid who sells herself in the mansion. To Jia She, Zhishao is no different from an object and he can take her or give her away with just a word.

The life and death, honor and disgrace of maids and servants depend on whether their masters are powerful or not.

The experiences of the two maids Yuanyang and Siqi in Dream of the Red Chamber are the best proof.

Jia She coveted Yuanyang and wanted to take her as his concubine, but Yuanyang was Jia's mother's close maid, and Jia's mother was the most powerful supporter in the Jia family.

As long as Yuanyang herself was unwilling, even if Jia She was the eldest son and heir to the title of Rongguo Mansion, he would be helpless against a maid, and in the end he would be severely scolded by Grandmother Jia.

But when it came to Yingchun, because Yingchun was soft and gullible, Jia She didn't care about this concubine's daughter, and naturally, Grandmother Jia didn't think much of this second granddaughter.

As a result, Yingchun had an obscure status in the Jia family. Even her wet nurse dared to bully her and took her pearl and filigree gold phoenix jewelry to gamble, but Yingchun did not dare to pursue the matter.

Her personal maid, Siqi, was about to be expelled from the Grand View Garden because a love letter sent to her cousin Pan Youan was found. Yingchun had no backbone to rescue her, and eventually forced Siqi to hit her head against the wall and die.

In this large and profound mansion, whether the maids and servants have a good life depends on whether their masters have the ability to rise to a high position.

As a bastard with a bad background, he was not only hated by his biological father and mother, but also disliked by the old lady in the mansion. He was not even as good as Yingchun. What could he use to protect Zhishao?

He is Jia She's son. His father wants his maid to be a concubine. If he says no, that would be disobedience and unfilial.

Although this sounds ridiculous to a modern person, this is the shitty rule of the world under the patriarchal clan system.

Could he take Zhishao and run away from the Jia family compound, living in hiding, unable to go to school, and struggling for food and clothing for the rest of his life?
With only two hundred taels of silver on him, how far could they go?

If she were found by Jia She and his ilk, he would be fine, but Zhishao would be a runaway slave and would not be able to escape death.

Only when he encountered such a heart-wrenching and throat-breaking difficulty did he truly realize the cold and suffocating world of strict patriarchal system and the petty intrigues of big families.

Only then did he realize how powerless he was, and he hated this feeling of powerlessness.

……

The courtyard of Jia She and Mrs. Xing.

"What did you say? She still disagrees. She would rather be a slave girl than have a master!"

Jia She was furious and Mrs. Xing looked panic-stricken.

"That's it. Chang'e has loved young men since ancient times. Maybe she is in love with young men and doesn't like me, who is old.

She couldn't reach Baoyu. Could it be that she was so used to serving Jia Cong that she fell in love with that depressed evildoer? She was really blind and self-degrading.

If she really has this intention, she should give up the idea as soon as possible.

I asked her to come into the room, but she refused. Who would dare to have her in the future? Maybe she wanted to wait a few more years and then release her and marry her as my legal wife.

Let her think carefully. No matter who she marries, she can't escape my grasp. Unless she dies or never marries, I will subdue her!"

Mrs. Xing stood aside with a stiff face, while Wang Shanbao, the housekeeper, stood at the door, peeking inside furtively.

The maids passing by heard the familiar roar, which seemed to have happened before. They didn't know which woman was going to be unlucky again, so they were all very frightened and walked around this place from a distance.

……

From that day on, Jia Cong never left the granary and never left Zhishao.

Although he knew that if Jia She really wanted to do something coercive, his method would be useless.

As the fifteenth day of the first lunar month was approaching, he had to attend the Nanxi Literary Meeting, which made the situation more embarrassing.

The more he cannot give up any opportunity to break through the status quo.

Although Zhishao was still nervous, she thought that Jia Cong was going to attend a literary gathering on the 15th day of the first lunar month and he couldn't be too shabby. She had washed his clothes until they turned white.

She calmed herself down, took out ten taels of silver from Jia Cong's savings, and asked Zhao Ma to buy a piece of fine material to make a new robe for Jia Cong.

Zhishao learned needlework since she was young, and everything Jia Cong wore was made by her stitch by stitch.

The days that followed seemed very different from the past. Jia Cong read and practiced calligraphy every day, while Zhishao was busy sewing robes for Jia Cong.

But both of them were feeling gloomy in their hearts. In the meantime, Jia Cong went out and found the Huanming Money House to exchange a small silver note.

Then he rented a remote courtyard in the west of the city. This was a way out for himself and Zhishao when things got out of control.

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(End of this chapter)