Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

Chapter 263 The Portrait Resembling Tan Lang

The first day of October is the Winter Clothes Festival.

The newly relocated ancestral hall is located in a three-courtyard area to the east of Rongguo Mansion.

The courtyard has five gates behind a black oil-painted fence, with a plaque hanging on it with the words "Jia Family Ancestral Hall" inscribed on it, and "Book of Yanshenggong Kong Jizon" written next to it.

There is a long couplet on both sides, which reads: The Zhao family owes its life to the care of the emperor for his protection; its achievements are known throughout the world, and generations will admire its prosperity.

This couplet was also written by Yanshenggong Kong Jizong, a title passed down from Confucius. It was extremely rare for a noble family in Shenjing to have the Yanshenggong personally write a plaque and couplet.

These plaques and couplets were moved from the Ningguo Ancestral Hall in their original state. Just imagine how majestic they were in the past.

Although the Jia clan ancestral hall still exists today, the family's wealth and prominence have been cut by more than half as the eldest son, Ningguo, was stripped of his title and his house was confiscated.

……

Early in the morning of that day, the eldest male descendants of the eight clans of the Jia family in Shenjing gathered in the main hall of the Jia family ancestral temple at the hour of noon.

In the main hall hangs the portraits of the two ancestors Rong and Ning, both of whom are wearing jade robes with python waists; on both sides are also hung the portraits of recent ancestors such as Daihua and Daishan.

However, the person who presided over the sacrifice this time changed from Jia Jing to Jia She.

The emperor stripped Ningguo of his title, and the eldest legitimate son was convicted of a crime, which meant that his family line would be extinct. Although Jia Jing was still alive, the Jia family no longer dared to let him be the main priest.

Otherwise, the emperor would lose face and the family would be charged with the crime of usurping the throne. The Jia family could no longer afford the consequences.

Ever since Jia She was framed by Jia Cong and implicated in the witchcraft business of Wang Shanbao's family, he has been even more disliked by Grandmother Jia. He has no choice but to keep a low profile in the Jia Mansion in recent years.

He usually spends his time with the East Courtyard and concubines. Besides that, he tinkers with antiques or asks Jia Lian to go to Ping'an Prefecture to do business.

As for what business Jia She was doing in Ping'an Prefecture, apart from Jia Lian, even Mrs. Xing didn't know.

However, in recent years, although his master's health had long been in decline, he was still greedy and could not digest too much. Even though they were pretty but useless, he still bought several beautiful concubines and spent money on them without hesitation.

Mrs. Xing then knew that he had made a lot of money in Ping'an Prefecture.

And now that Ningguo was deposed, he, the eldest son of the Rong state who was originally neglected by his father and mother, suddenly started to tremble again.

Not only did he naturally become the patriarch of the Jia family, but he also went from being an accompanying priest for many years to the main priest.

The great ceremonies of family and country are in war and sacrifice.

Only the eldest and most respected person in a family can serve as the chief priest of sacrifice. This is the most honorable and respectable thing in the family. How can Jia She not be complacent?

In Jia She's mind, the old lady's favoritism towards the second wife didn't matter. He was still the most respectable person in the outside world.

Jia Jing, who changed from the main priest to the accompanying priest, was originally a leader among the children of the Jia family and was very successful when he was young.

However, in the past ten years or so, he has been staying in Xuanzhen Temple in vain seeking immortality, taking elixirs and taking medicine to survive, and closing his eyes and ears. His original network of contacts has been abandoned, and all his abilities and talents have been wasted.

No matter how outstanding a person is, once he gives up the desire to make progress and abandons himself, he will eventually turn into wasteland and mud.

……

In the main hall of the ancestral temple, Jia She presided over the sacrifice, Jia Jing attended the sacrifice, Jia Lian offered wine, Jia Cong presented silk, and Baoyu held incense.

There were also two young men from the Cao generation who spread out the prayer mats and guarded the burning pool.

After the ceremony, all the male members of the Jia family knelt down and worshipped the portraits of their ancestors in the main hall of the ancestral temple.

In the inner hall behind the main hall, Jia's grandmother and the female members of her family stood in order of seniority and knelt down to pay homage to the spirit tablets of the nobles in the pagoda in the inner hall.

The incident at this year's Spring Festival ceremony has been a long time ago.

But when they stood in front of the inner hall's pagoda again, Jia's mother, Wang Fu-ren and others were still frightened, and Wang Xifeng, Youshi and others remembered it even more vividly.

Their eyes all turned to the third seat on the right on the second floor of the Spirit Tower.

There is the spirit tablet of Du Jinniang, Jia Cong's mother, who was granted the title of Fifth Rank Concubine by the Emperor.

That memorial tablet was newer than the ones next to it, and the gold paint on the engraved characters shone with a cold and dazzling light.

……

Jinling, Yuminfang.

There is an unoccupied three-courtyard house in the alley, and its original owner was an official from the Jinling Maritime Customs.

Last year, a major case involving the Water Supervision Bureau occurred in Nanjing, and the homeowner was implicated and eventually died in the Jinyiwei prison.

This courtyard was also confiscated and sold by the government.

The yard was renovated recently, and it must have been bought and occupied by someone.

This house with three courtyards is not small in Yuminfang. Anyone who can buy it must be rich or noble.

Naturally, this attracted the attention of the old neighbors nearby, but the owner of the house lived a secluded life and never interacted with the neighbors, so few people had seen his true face.

These old neighbors naturally don’t know that this is actually the new boudoir of the owner of Jinling Xinchunhao.

Today is the Cold Clothes Festival, the day to worship ancestors.

In a small room of the house, there was a black painted tablet with white characters on it on the altar. In the copper basin in front of the altar were two sets of half-burned paper clothes.

Qu Hongxiu was dressed in plain clothes, with slender shoulders and a straight back. Due to her long-term martial arts training, her slender and graceful figure contained agility and vitality that ordinary women did not have.

The tablet on the altar was for her father. She had been with Jia Cong for many years, and she had only mentioned her father to him once.

After she burned incense and kowtowed to the spirit tablet, she suddenly thought of Jia Cong, who was far away in the capital, and must be kowtowing to his ancestors in the Jia family ancestral temple at this moment.

She sighed slightly and took out a scroll from the secret compartment on the altar.

The edge of the scroll has turned slightly yellow, as if it has been washed away by a lot of time. This scroll is not only Qu Hongxiu's most precious thing, but also her most private thing.

Although she and Jia Cong have been very close over the years, Jia Cong is unaware of the existence of this scroll.

She gently unfolded the scroll, as if opening a dream that had puzzled her for years.

This scroll is a portrait of a woman.

The woman in the painting has a slender and graceful figure, a beautiful and flawless appearance, and is dressed in black with a jade belt around her waist. She looks like a banished immortal, with an incomparable grace and beauty.

The painter must be a master of painting, as every stroke was precise and vivid, making the woman look extremely moving, with her eyebrows, eyes, facial features, and charming smile, all so lifelike.

Sometimes when Qu Hongxiu gazed at the scroll, he felt that the woman's beautiful eyes, as clear as autumn water, seemed to move at the next moment, as if she was about to walk out of the painting.

Even though she was a woman, she was still shocked by the grace of the woman in the painting. The voice, appearance and smile of the woman in the painting were deeply engraved in her mind.

……

Qu Hongxiu's father holds a high position in the Hidden Sect and is often away from home.

More than ten years ago, he was suddenly seriously injured and returned to Texas. At that time, Qu Hongxiu was young and had just begun to remember things, so she was vague about many details.

This portrait also appeared at that time.

During the Qingming and Lantern Festivals, she often saw her father carrying her on his back, burning incense and worshiping towards the portrait with an extremely solemn and respectful expression.

Her father had never told her the identity of this woman. Coming from such a family, she naturally knew that not everything could be inquired about.

Her father was bedridden due to his injuries and died of his old injuries five years ago.

But these words alone are not the most important to Qu Hongxiu.

In a sense, this painting changed her life.

At that time, Wu Jinrong, a scholar of the Imperial Academy, accidentally learned the secrets of the Hidden Sect from his wife's brother.

He also informed Zhou Junxing, a soldier in Dezhou, which resulted in the death of more than a hundred people in the Dezhou Hidden Sect branch.

In order to take revenge, Qu Hongxiu assassinated Wu Jinrong at the Nanxi Literary Society. She was injured and accidentally met Jia Cong on her way to escape. Just when she was about to kill Jia Cong to silence him.

I discovered that Jia Cong's appearance was almost exactly the same as the woman in the painting!
Qu Hongxiu had seen that painting since she was a child. Every year, she saw her father worshipping the portrait, and it had become an image that she could not get rid of.

In that dark cave, she saw Jia Cong's face clearly for the first time by the light of the fire, as if she had met an old friend she had known for many years.

At that moment, the person in the painting seemed to walk right in front of her. She still remembers the shock and weirdness vividly many years later.

That night, in order to save their lives, she and Jia Cong worked together to kill the spy from the Magistrate's Court...

From that time on, her and Jia Cong's unique fate was destined. After years of companionship, Jia Cong had become the most important person to her.

……

She once suspected that the woman in the painting was Jia Cong's biological mother, because only mother and son could be so similar.

However, the year her father fled back to Texas seriously injured, the new emperor had not yet ascended the throne, and her father also began to worship the portrait that year.

This means that the woman in the painting was already dead at that time.

Jia Cong was born in the first year of the new emperor's accession to the throne. The woman in the painting had already passed away by then, so Jia Cong could not be her son.

Everyone in the capital knew that Jia Cong's biological father was Jia She of Rongguo Mansion, and his biological mother was Du Jinniang, the most beautiful courtesan in the capital at that time.

But Jia Cong looks so similar to the woman in the painting, there must be some strange connection between them.

She and Jia Cong had been together for many years, but she never told him a word about this matter.

He is the son of Rongguo Mansion, born into a noble family, with amazing talent and attracting worldwide attention. He passed the imperial examination at a young age and became an official in the court. He is sure to have a bright future.

The woman in the portrait, who is so revered and worshipped by her own father, is most likely an important figure in the Hidden Sect.

If people knew that Jia Cong had some kind of connection with Yinmen, given the imperial court's fear of Yinmen, he would be doomed in an instant.

She didn't want this to happen even if she died, so the best way was to cover it up forever.

Even Jia Cong himself doesn't need to know. Things should be done in secrecy and should be revealed in public, so as to prevent him from having any reservations and revealing any flaws.

Qu Hongxiu looked at the portrait, a cold look flashing in her beautiful eyes. She rolled up the portrait carefully, feeling a little reluctant.

Look at the flame burning in the copper basin...

(End of this chapter)