Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

Chapter 206 Wu Ying Talks About Gold and Jade

In the 13th year of Jiazhao, Qingshan Academy.

Under the north wall of Lingxing Pavilion, the academy's servants were posting a notice, which was the list of names for the monthly examination of the Academy's Bwen Hall.

Many students have already gathered here waiting for the announcement of the results.

Qingshan Academy divided the student halls into A, B, C, and D. Students were assigned to the D and C halls based on their entrance examination results.

Anyone who passed the academy examination and became a scholar would be promoted to study in Yiwenguan, waiting for the autumn examination.

This year marks the 65th birthday of the Emperor Emeritus. Since the end of last year, there have been rumors that the Emperor will hold an imperial examination in May, but the news has not been confirmed yet.

Many students from Qingshan Academy's Yiwen Hall have high expectations for this year's provincial examination.

After reading the notice, many students pointed at the monthly exam list.

Excited, depressed, indifferent, secretly happy, all kinds of expressions are endless.

Among them, there was a young man who was slightly plump, with a handsome appearance and a pair of eyes that were very lively and active.

"Yu Zhang, I really envy you for having such a good teacher. In the past few months, you haven't attended classes at the academy for a single day, but you still rank among the best in every monthly exam.

How can we, who are suffering in the academy, feel ashamed of you?"

When Jia Cong, Cai Xiaoyu, Cui Anzhi, Liu Xiaoping and others first entered Qingshan Academy, they were assigned to study in Bingwen Pavilion. After passing the academy examination last year, they were promoted to Yiwen Pavilion together to prepare for the autumn examination.

Cui Anzhi on the side said with a smile: "Xiaoyu, you can't envy this. The only person in the world who can be called the literary saint is Jing'an Gong. His academic research and teaching are extraordinary.

After more than ten years of teaching at home, seven disciples of the Liu family became Jinshi (Jinshi). This is unprecedented, if not unparalleled. Yuzhang had such a great teacher and he studied very hard.

It's not surprising that he ranks among the top in the monthly exam. However, Master Jing'an has announced that Yuzhang will be his last disciple and the gate will not be open from now on. We will not be able to listen to his teachings anymore."

Jia Cong said, "Master Liu is old. He has been teaching the children and me for the past two years, which has exhausted him. I dare not stay in Liu's house every day, so as not to worry him too much."

Two months ago, after Jia Cong's birthday, Liu Jing'an discussed with Jia Zheng. Since Jia Cong was gifted and outstanding in literary talent, they decided to draw the profound meaning from the poem of the previous dynasty, "Reciting the jade chapter aloud, and striving to explore the mystery."

Jia Cong was given a jade seal with the inscription "Jia Cong", in the hope that he would study hard and achieve academic success.

In Liu Jing'an's heart, he probably just hoped that he would be a well-educated man, accompanied by books and pens, and live a comfortable life.

Jia Zheng was quite satisfied with the name Liu Jing'an chose. Jia Cong was of the Yu generation of the Jia family and was famous in the south of the Yangtze River for his poetry and prose, so the two words Yu Zhang were quite appropriate.

However, he disagreed with the profound meaning of Liu Jing'an's name. He regarded Jia Cong as the rare talent of the Jia family. With Jia Cong's extraordinary talent, he would be able to enter the cabinet in less than 20 years.

This is where the Jia family hopes to restore their reputation. It would be a waste of talent to just be an ordinary well-educated scholar.

A master of his generation did not ask his most trusted disciple to brave the waves and soar to the sky. Instead, he only hoped that he would be tolerated and safe, and even not make any progress. This made Jia Zheng a little difficult to understand.

Jia Zheng thought that it was probably because Liu Jing'an was really old and had become too old-fashioned. He was too attached to his last disciple and did not want him to go through too many hardships and setbacks.

Liu Xiaoping, who was looking at the list with Jia Cong, suddenly said: "Yu Zhang was the first in the Yongzhou Academy Examination last year. As long as he does not perform too abnormally in this autumn examination, he will definitely pass the provincial examination.

The chief official of Yongzhou Autumn Examination had to consider the face of the previous academician, and in this year's monthly examination, Yuzhang was among the top one or two, and his profound academic ability was obvious to all.

Now, all the students in Qingshan Academy say that you are the favorite to win the Yongzhou Jieyuan in the undergraduate program!"

The academic strength of Qingshan College is undoubtedly the best in Yongzhou, and even in the entire Da Zhou, it is rarely matched.

Therefore, those who rank at the top in the examination results of Qingshan Academy's Yiwenguan naturally have the ability to win the top prize in the autumn examination of a state.

However, Jia Cong was not too obsessed with this. The most important thing was to obtain the status of a scholar.

Jia Cong laughed and said, "Zhongwen, you are only saying nice things. When you hear music, you must understand its elegant meaning. Do you have anything to ask for?"

Liu Xiaoping laughed, "Yuzhang is really my confidant. I have no chance to listen to Master Jing'an's teachings, so I want to borrow Liu Gong's annotations to read the essays and strategies, so that I can learn more. I hope Yuzhang will help me." Cai Xiaoyu shouted, "You are so good, Liu Xiaoping. I thought of this a long time ago, but before I had the chance to say it, you got there first. How treacherous!"

Jia Cong smiled and said, "The annotated text is in my house. Zhongwen can send someone to get it tomorrow. However, I only have one copy. You can decide how to read it. It is none of my business..."

……

Rongguo Mansion.

Ever since Grandmother Jia asked Wang Xifeng to spread the word, the turmoil in Lixiang Courtyard was completely settled.

Aunt Xue was also a woman who had been around in the mansion, and after hearing what the old lady said, she knew the seriousness of the matter.

In fact, Yinglian was Congge's roommate. The old lady's tone had already shown that she was being raised as a junior, but she was too young and had not yet consummated the marriage.

Aunt Xue naturally called Xue Pan to give him a personal lecture and a stern admonition.

Although Xue Pan was a dissolute scoundrel, he was not lawless. Living in another family, he naturally knew the dangers of the situation, and he also had to consider the dignity of his mother and sister. Although he was unwilling, he dared not overstep the line from then on.

After Baochai knew about this, she was relieved. With the Jia family's explanation, her brother would not behave strangely again.

However, not long after that, rumors of a perfect match began to spread in the Rongguo Mansion.

It is nothing more than the words "never leave" and "eternal youth" engraved on Baochai's golden lock, which match the words "never lose" and "never forget" and "live long and prosper" on Baoyu's lifeblood.

It is said that Mrs. Wang and Lady Jia had discussed arranging a marriage for Baoyu, but no one knew which family they were talking about. All we know is that Lady Jia said that she had asked someone to look at Baoyu's fortune and found that it was not in his destiny to marry early, so the plan was called off for the time being.

The story of gold and jade also spread from then on.

Jia Cong witnessed with his own eyes an event that people in later generations talked about with great relish, happening right before his eyes.

One cannot help but sigh that the calculations of the women in the backyard are no different from the so-called battlefield without the smoke of gunpowder, except that they are a little ridiculous.

……

Baochai is clever and magnanimous. After moving into the Jia Mansion, she soon gets along well with the sisters in the garden.

She and Daiyu are both relatives from the other family, but compared to Daiyu, who is smart, reserved and pure, Baochai seems to be more praised by people in the mansion.

After all, in comparison, Daiyu is alone, while Baochai has her mother and brother by her side, and she has a wealthy family and many human relationships. This is another difference.

Aunt Xue has always been kind-hearted and speaks in a warm and pleasing manner. Even Lady Jia likes to chat with her, which also brings Baochai a lot of popularity.

Ever since the story of gold and jade came out, Daiyu and the three sisters had something to talk about in their boudoirs. Most girls in their prime years would whisper to each other and laugh about it.

When Baochai was not around, Tanchun and others would occasionally use it to make fun of Baoyu.

Although Baoyu felt that the newly arrived Baochai was a very good girl, she was not as good as Lin Daiyu in his heart.

But every time the sisters made fun of this, he saw Daiyu smiling and talking happily, not caring at all, and he couldn't help feeling sad and disappointed.

Baoyu was hoping that Daiyu would get angry with him because of this matter, but it was wishful thinking and he was trying to catch fish in a tree.

He did not dare to smash the jade, for he knew Daiyu would not buy into this, and it would be boring to do so. Thinking of her disappointment, he could not help feeling sad again.

Jia Cong was present several times when encountering such scenes. Occasionally, he met Daiyu's eyes and saw that her eyes were bright and moving, free and unrestrained, and full of smiles.

A perfect match made in heaven, once it was a prophecy of fate, but now the destiny has changed, there are no more tears and sorrow, only pure joy in the world.

Baochai knew that the rumors about gold and jade were spreading in the Jia family. She felt ashamed and angry, and she stopped wearing the gold locket. But it was too late to remedy the situation because the rumors had already been spread and people kept talking about it.

What should happen and what should not happen will eventually happen.

(End of this chapter)