Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

Chapter 299: Violation of the Prohibition and Changes

The Holy Capital, Rongguo Mansion, Yingchun Courtyard.

It is March now. The remaining snow has long melted and the green willows in the garden have sprouted new buds.

The purple water lilies that have survived the winter are in full bloom in the resurrection of March, and the early returning spring swallows begin to flutter under the eaves.

The sound of Chunchang's jade fingers tapping chess pieces, and the sound of swallow feathers brushing against willows reflecting on the embroidered curtains.

Yingchun sat at the chess table, holding a yellowed chess manual from the pre-Song Dynasty in her hand.

While reading carefully, he would occasionally place a piece on the chessboard and then ponder over it in the chess manual.

Among the sisters in the family, Yingchun is the eldest. Daiyu, Tanchun and others are still young, while Yingchun is already over the age of marriage.

In the past two years, she has grown into a graceful and elegant girl, with cheeks as red as fresh litchis, a nose as smooth as goose fat, and a pair of bright eyes full of autumnal charm.

She was wearing a light yellow collared, dark-flowered, double-breasted jacket, which set off her graceful and slender figure, making her look very charming.

On the chess table stood a brand new rosewood chessboard, the edges of which had been rubbed to a shine.

Jia Cong bought this chessboard from the East Market specially as a gift to Yingchun before he went north.

There is also the old songbook in Yingchun's hand, which was also bought by Jia Cong from a poor family for two hundred taels of silver.

Like Jia Cong, Yingchun was also born out of wedlock, but she was slightly luckier than Jia Cong in her childhood. After her biological mother died, she was taken in by her grandmother Jia to be raised.

But this luck only went so far. She was taken to the West Mansion to be raised since she was young. Jia She ignored this illegitimate daughter and only saw her a few times a year.

Jia Lian basically ignored this illegitimate sister, just like when Jia Cong was in the East Courtyard, Jia Lian almost forgot that he had a younger brother.

Although Grandmother Jia took Yingchun to the West Mansion to raise her, she did not like her eldest son and his wife, and did not think much of Yingchun either.

Yingchun's taciturn character is inseparable from the long-term lack of family affection in the environment.

It was not until four years ago that Jia Cong moved into Qingzhizhai in Xifu. Perhaps because of their similar life experiences or perhaps because of their blood relationship, the relationship between the siblings has been very close in the past few years.

Jia Cong has been growing taller in recent years, and the shoes, socks and outer clothes he changes into are all made by Yingchun.

Every time Jia Cong returned home from the academy or went on a long journey on imperial errands, Yingchun would always help him put away his clothes and shoes and take care of whether he was warm or cold.

Perhaps it was because she had someone in her heart who cared about her, that although she was still a quiet person in recent years, Yingchun's life was more fulfilling and happier than before.

Jia Cong's relationship with Yingchun is not just that of a brother and sister, but also a kind of pity for her that is difficult for outsiders to understand.

He knew that his second sister dressed simply, had little interest in poetry, calligraphy or painting, but loved playing Go, had a meticulous mind and was quite good at it.

Therefore, they would often collect some high-quality chess pieces, chess boxes, ancient chess manuals and other Go-related items and give them to Yingchun to enjoy and relieve her boredom.

When Jia Cong had free time, he often went to Yingchun's room to play chess. He had no talent in this game and usually lost more than he won. Fortunately, he kept trying again and again.

It is said that those who are bad at chess are the best at playing chess, and it seems to be true.

Yingchun finally discovered that her brilliant younger brother was not as good as her in one aspect, and she felt somewhat proud.

Therefore, playing chess and martial arts in their spare time became something that the brother and sister enjoyed doing.

……

At this time, the maid Xiu Ju came in jumping up and down. As for Yingchun's former maid Siqi, she was the granddaughter of Wang Shanbao and she asked to leave the house and get married last year.

Yingchun knew that Wang Shanbao had harmed Jia Cong, but she never rejected Siqi because of this. When Siqi left the house, Yingchun even gave her a lot of jewelry and clothes.

Xiu Ju said mysteriously, "Miss, today the commander of the Wucheng Bingmasi, whose surname seems to be Zhang, brought a matchmaker to the East Road Courtyard to propose marriage to you."

When Yingchun heard this, the chess book in her hand trembled and her expression changed a little.

"You are asking around, how do you know about the East Road Courtyard?"

"Xiaodie from the East Road Courtyard is my aunt's cousin. I asked her to keep an eye on her for me, and she just ran over to tell me."

Yingchun had reached marriageable age last year and was the first among the sisters to reach marriageable age. The old lady had already asked people outside to keep an eye on her.

However, Yingchun was born out of wedlock, and noble families would generally not choose a woman born out of wedlock as their first wife.

However, some small and medium-sized officials in the capital wanted to curry favor with the wealthy and noble family of Rongguo Mansion. When they heard the news that the daughter of the mansion was waiting to be married, many of them came to the mansion to inquire about marriage.

However, Jia She and Lady Xing were both greedy by nature. They considered themselves to be of high status as dukes and looked down upon those powerless and poor petty officials.

She has rejected several families recently and is determined to treat this concubine's daughter as a cash cow to be sold at a high price.

Yingchun is introverted and not as outspoken and bold as Tanchun. She has an unspeakable fear of marrying into another family.

Since she turned 15 last year, her family has started discussing marriages, which made her very uncomfortable. When Jia Cong was at home, she still had some support in her heart. Now that this closest brother is thousands of miles away, Yingchun feels even more depressed when she hears this news.

He quickly asked, "Did the master and mistress say that?"

Xiu Ju giggled. She knew that her daughter was afraid of getting married. Every time she heard these things, her face looked unhappy. She didn't understand why.

"Don't worry, young lady. The master doesn't like him. He said that the ancestors wanted to choose a civil official as their wife. In fact, he just despises him because he is a low-ranking military officer of the sixth rank."

Xiu Ju added, "I heard that Commander Zhang's son can't read, and he just idles around and rides horses and fights cocks every day. Fortunately, the master doesn't like him, otherwise it would be terrible."

After hearing what Xiu Ju said, Yingchun breathed a sigh of relief, but then she frowned and looked unhappy.

Xiu Ju glanced at Ying Chun and said, "Don't worry, young lady. The master has high standards and will not arrange a marriage for you so quickly.

If you ask me, since the girl is so pretty, she should choose a civil servant as her husband in the future. He is well-mannered and will treat her well. It would be best if he is as talented as the Third Master and looks so proud. "

Yingchun was usually kind to her servants, and Xiuju was a personal maid who had served her since she was a child, so the master and servant did not have many reservations when talking to each other.

Yingchun smiled and said, "There are not many people like Brother Cong in this world."

There was a hint of pride in his words.

Xiu Ju naturally knew that the girl valued Third Master Cong the most, and said with a smile: "Of course, among all the young masters in the world, there is no one who can compare to the girl's brother."

……

East Road Courtyard.

Jia She was drinking with his two newly married concubines in a side hall. Recently, wars had been frequent in the nine borders, and the prices of goods in Datong had been rising rapidly.

The day before yesterday, Jia She shipped out a large amount of goods and estimated that he would receive another sum of money next month. Therefore, he was in a good mood for drinking today and was very happy hugging his two concubines.

Just as he was feeling proud, Jia Lian quickly entered the side hall, not caring about Jia She's displeased look, and said hastily:

"Master, something happened in Datong, please talk to me in the inner hall!"

When Jia She heard that something happened in Datong, his face changed. He quickly sent away the concubine who was accompanying him for drinking and took Jia Lian into the inner hall.

Jia Lian said in a hurry: "The news just came that Lord Gu, the governor of nine provinces, was patrolling the border in Datong and caught evidence of fraud by Datong Lieutenant General Xu, who has now been imprisoned.

I heard that the Jinyiwei in Shenjing has sent people to escort this man back to the capital for interrogation. Our business in Datong was arranged by this Lieutenant General Xu.

Although there is another middleman involved, there is no guarantee that Lieutenant General Xu knows the whole story and knows that the one doing business with him is our Rongguo Jia family. If this is the case, we will be in big trouble!

My son heard that the Jinyiwei used hundreds of tortures, and even the strongest would confess... "

Upon hearing this, Jia She sobered up all of a sudden, paced back and forth in the hall anxiously, his face turning pale with fear.

"What should we do? What should we do? Send someone to retrieve the goods on the way immediately. Do not send them to Datong again."

Jia Lian said: "As soon as my son heard the news, he sent people to chase them. They can't move fast with the goods, so we will definitely catch them up.

But this is not enough. Datong is more than ten days away from the capital, and the news we heard was only from more than ten days ago.

I guess that Lieutenant General Xu has been escorted away from Datong a long time ago, and he is almost reaching the capital. If he knows the truth and betrays us, we will never be able to clear our name even if we jump into the Yellow River."

When Jia She heard this, his legs went limp and he fell into his chair. When he first took up this way of making money, it was just a small thing and there was no big risk.

Later, they contacted the Sun family, the hereditary commander of Datong, an old friend of the Jia family, and their business grew bigger and bigger.

The Sun family has been hereditary and has been running Datong for several generations. They have extensive influence in the local area and are able to handle many problems. Jia She doesn't have to worry about anything, and nothing has ever happened.

In the past two years, Jia She has been making a lot of money, and the few worries he had in his heart have gradually faded away.

But he never dreamed that a commander of nine provinces suddenly came out and went to Datong Town to patrol the border and check. As luck would have it, he found evidence of fraud by Brigadier General Xu.

It is very likely that his private purchase of sea salt, tea and ironware will be implicated.

Selling banned items for huge profits is a common thing in the Nine Frontiers. Many nobles in the Shenjing make money in this way.

As long as the officials do not investigate and the people do not complain, everything will be peaceful.

But if someone reveals a little bit of it, it will implicate a whole chain of people. If the imperial court finds out, they will definitely punish severely. Not only will he suffer a bad ending, but I'm afraid the entire Jia family will...

Just when Jia She's face turned pale and he was at a loss, the housekeeper suddenly came to report that Sun Shaozu, the son of the Sun family in Datong, had just arrived in Shenjing and came to the mansion to pay a visit to the master.

Jia She was already in a state of panic at this juncture, and had no intention of meeting the guest. He was about to say that he had something to do, but when he heard that it was Commander Sun from Datong, his heart trembled.

My own affairs are closely related to the Sun family of Datong. Although the name Sun Shaozu is a little unfamiliar, people say he is a member of the Sun family. I think it is better to meet him and perhaps I can get some information.

(End of this chapter)