Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

Chapter 207: The Secret of Calligraphy

It was May and the streets began to be filled with joy. Business in the birthday gift shops became noticeably more prosperous, and restaurants and brothels also became bustling.

The Zhen'an Prefecture and the Qinian Prefecture in the Shenjing capital dispatched a large number of yamen runners to clear up street thefts, arrest ruffians and scoundrels, round up beggars and vagrants, and set up porridge shops outside the city to feed the poor.

The entire city of Shenjing presents an atmosphere of coexistence of order and peace.

The reason for this scene is that May is the 65th birthday of the Supreme Emperor, and Emperor Jiazhao has issued an order for the whole city of Shenjing to celebrate.

Zhen'an Prefecture and Qinian Prefecture naturally had to clean up the Shenjing City so that it would match the glorious atmosphere of the retired emperor's birthday.

At that time, all the nobles and officials in the capital city will come to the palace to celebrate his birthday.

At the end of last year, the Jiaofangsi hired famous teachers from all over the country to instruct various types of zither players, singing girls, and dancers.

After half a year of preparation, a grand musical and dancing stunt show has been prepared and will be performed in the Chonghua Palace of the retired emperor. It is said to be spectacular and rarely seen.

On the birthday of the retired emperor, all the restaurants, teahouses, brothels, theaters and brothels in the capital city were open all night long to share the joy with the people.

The news that the Emperor would hold a special imperial examination on the occasion of the Emperor's birthday in May, which had been circulating since the beginning of the year, was finally confirmed.

The scholars from all over Yongzhou who were taking part in the provincial examinations, and the candidates from all states of the Great Zhou who were taking part in the metropolitan examinations, rushed to the capital city from all over like clouds gathering in the wind.

At the same time, the good news of the marriage of Prince Jia Rong spread from Ningguo Mansion...

……

After the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Jia Cong took Qingwen to Qin's house in Guizhifang.

Because Qin Ye was still in charge of the construction of the secondary hall of the Da Ci'en Temple in Jinling, there were only female family members in the Qin residence. As it was a family of scholars and officials, the family rules were strict, so it was inconvenient for Jia Cong to visit alone.

He took Qingwen with him so that she could visit Keqing in the name of visiting Ruizhu. In fact, he knew that there was no point in doing so.

But our farewell to Jinling cannot just disappear like this. To say that I have no regrets at all would be deceiving myself.

When Qingwen came back, she brought back a message for Keqing: Wait for your marriage with peace of mind, don't worry, and study with peace of mind.

After listening to Keqing's message, Jia Cong felt a little disappointed, but he had expected this result. Ethics and morals are strict, and matchmaking is no joke.

Jia Cong thought about Keqing's message for a long time, and then recalled the scene he saw in Chunhua Tower last year. Finally, he let go of the worry and focused his energy on the autumn examination.

……

Rongqing Hall.

Wang Xifeng was reporting to Lady Jia and Mrs. Wang about the distribution of the monthly salary in the mansion, the expenditure of money in various places, and other miscellaneous matters.

Then he said, "Madam, the East Palace is preparing for Rong'er's wedding. This morning, Brother Zhen borrowed three thousand taels of silver from our family for the wedding."

Grandmother Jia was surprised and asked, "Why do you need to borrow so much money all at once? The East Palace has a lot of money, so why are they so short of money?"

Wang Xifeng replied, "You don't know, old lady, the weather in the north has been abnormal in recent years. During the New Year, Wu Jinxiao and his brothers came to Beijing to present gifts, saying that there have been droughts and floods in the north for the past two years, and the weather has been abnormally cold.

The eight or nine farms in the East Palace only produce less than five thousand taels of harvest in a year. Brother Zhen's expenses are even greater than ours, so it's natural that the money on hand is not enough.

I heard that Brother Zhen attaches great importance to Rong'er's marriage and wants to hold a grand ceremony so that he can earn some respect outside, so he borrowed money from us and said that he would pay it back in two months at most."

Grandmother Jia sighed, "Brother Zhen inherited the title when he was young, and his father has always wasted his time in the Taoist temple. No one has disciplined him, and he has been living a carefree life. Over the past decade, he has been living an extravagant life. Even the family's wealth cannot withstand such a toss."

Wang Xifeng said, "After all, you only get married once, so just muddle through. I heard that Brother Zhen has been looking for a job recently, so I think he is considering what to do next."

Mrs. Wang asked, "Brother Zhen wants to have a grand wedding, but which daughter should he marry so that he can be valued like this?"

Wang Xifeng smiled and said, "Speaking of which, Brother Zhen's relatives are not outsiders. They are my colleague in the Ministry of Works, Qin Ye, the Construction Officer. Rong'er married his only daughter."

……

Qingzhizhai. When Daiyu walked into the courtyard, she saw Jia Cong writing quickly under the window of the east study.

Daiyu knew that he had to write Chengwen Celun homework every day, so she didn't go to the study to disturb him, but went directly to the main room to talk to Zhishao and Wu'er.

When I entered the room, I didn't see either of them. Only Yinglian was copying calligraphy on a small desk by the window.

She wore a magenta printed double-breasted jacket, a white cross-collared coat, a light pink long skirt, and a bright yellow gold necklace around her neck. Although she was still young, she was already pretty and charming.

Daiyu walked forward and saw that Yinglian was practicing Jia Cong's calligraphy, and it seemed that she had mastered it to a certain level.

Daiyu was not surprised. All the maids in the third brother's room were literate. Yinglian was in charge of the third brother's study. She was influenced by the third brother's books and was no worse than others in literary matters.

Daiyu herself was well-read, so she naturally felt close to a woman like Yinglian who was well-educated and cultured. She stood behind her and watched her copy the calligraphy for a long while.

However, her attention was soon attracted by the content of Yinglian's writing, which turned out to be a new poem she had never seen before. Then her eyes turned to the copybook she was using.

Daiyu knew that Jia Cong was good at writing poems. He wrote poems about plum blossoms in Nanxi in his early years, and two new poems, "Man Jiang Hong" and "Lin Jiang Xian" in Jinling, which earned him a great reputation in the south of the Yangtze River.

However, after returning to the capital, he was never seen writing new lyrics again, because Jia Cong was busy studying hard and preparing for the autumn examination in the past few months, and his sisters did not mention the matter of writing new lyrics in front of him, for fear of distracting his attention.

Daiyu couldn't wait to take Yinglian's calligraphy and found that there were seven poems written on it. Except for the three familiar ones, the other four were new poems that she had never seen before.

The styles of these new poems are either magnificent, elegant, gentle, or generous. They are all very outstanding and each one has the potential to be passed down from generation to generation.

Daiyu asked with surprise, "Yinglian, are these the new lyrics written by Third Brother?"

Yinglian replied, "They are not new. They were all written by the young master in his spare time in Jinling. They were usually left in the study. Later he bound them and gave them to me as copybooks."

Daiyu heard this and a strange expression came over her face. She smiled and said, "Yinglian, you are really the most respectable woman in our house."

Yinglian looked at Daiyu with a smile on her face, but she had a silly look on her face and didn't understand what Daiyu meant.

Daiyu smiled and said, "Third brother's new poems are all worthy of being passed down through the ages, but they are never known to the public. Anyone who gets one of them would treasure it.

He treated it as an ordinary thing and casually gave it to you to copy. How extravagant and respectable of you, Third Brother really does not follow common sense."

When Daiyu saw one of the poems, her beautiful brows couldn't help but frown slightly.

We met without saying a word, a hibiscus caught the autumn rain.

The little girl is dizzy with redness, and the servant girl's heart is like a phoenix.

When the general calls out, he is afraid of being seen.

If you want to complain about your deep feelings, you turn around and knock on the jade hairpin.

The lyrics are warm and lingering, with the feeling of sadness of not being able to see someone, and the thought of a lotus hairpin in the hair. It is clearly written for women.

Although Third Brother and Sister Bao also met in Jinling, they actually only met once in Jinling.

When the sisters were together, she knew very well how the third brother treated Bao-jie, so this poem must have been written by someone else.

Daiyu asked, "Yinglian, who did Third Brother write this poem for?"

When Yinglian saw this word, her face turned red and she said softly, "I...I don't know either."

When in Jinling, Yinglian and Qingwen took turns following Jia Cong to Anding Temple to copy scriptures. How could she not know who the young master wrote this poem for?

However, Qingwen had warned her not to tell the origin of this poem when she returned to the Jia Mansion, and not to mention a word about the Miss Qin in Anding Temple, otherwise it would kill the Third Master.

Although Yinglian knew that Miss Lin and the young master were close, she didn't dare to reveal a word about anything that might kill the young master, even to Miss Lin.

When Daiyu saw her expression, she understood clearly what a stupid girl she was. She couldn't even lie.

(End of this chapter)