Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

Chapter 313: Xun En’s Intentions

Rongguo Mansion, Lixiangyuan.

Baochai was fiddling with an indigo-blue snow fox crane cloak with feather crepe surface. Her pretty face was flushed and her eyes were moving, as if she was delighted.

This was brought by Wu'er this morning, saying that the Third Master brought it from Liaodong for Miss Bao.

The last time Jia Cong went to Liaodong, Baochai gave him a bearskin cloak, which was very useful to him. He even wore it when he led his army to attack Qingyuanji.

When returning to Beijing from Liaodong this time, the Liaodong generals gave him many local products, the most of which were various furs. Jia Cong specially picked this one as a return gift for Baochai.

In fact, Baochai is smart and shrewd. She knows in her heart that Jia Cong's gift of a crane cloak is probably just a courtesy and does not mean anything, but she is still very happy.

Aunt Xue came in and saw her daughter playing with a brand new crane cloak. The milky white and fine snow fox fur was very eye-catching.

The Xue family is a wealthy family and has seen all kinds of precious furs. This kind of high-quality snow fox fur is not rare.

She was in the main room just now and saw Jia Cong's maid delivering something. She was very pretty and seemed to be called Wu'er.

Seeing how happy my daughter is, this snow fox crane cloak must have been given by Congge'er.

That day in Rongqing Hall, when Aunt Xue heard that Jia Cong was going to adopt the Ningguo lineage and turn a concubine's son into a legitimate wife, her heart was filled with excitement, thinking that Jia Cong was about to become powerful.

Unexpectedly, what he said later, that adoption was not a good thing, and was even very risky, made her happy for nothing.

However, there have been rumors in the palace these days that Cong Ge'er has made great contributions in Liaodong, and the emperor is likely to confer a title on him.

Even her own sister seemed a little depressed these days, so Aunt Xue knew that the rumors in the mansion were probably true.

Aunt Xue certainly knew what her sister was worried about. It was nothing more than that Jia Cong was too outstanding and overshadowed her Baoyu.

However, these are none of her business, so she naturally won't pay any attention to them.

Although this Cong'er is a concubine's son and is not favored by the old lady, it is really incredible how much trouble he can cause.

"Girl, I think Brother Cong remembers you and gave you such a nice crane cloak. But it's not surprising, since my daughter is so proud of herself."

Baochai heard something strange in her mother's voice, and when she turned around and saw Aunt Xue's inquiring eyes, she couldn't help blushing.

"Mom, what are you talking about? I'm not the only one who has it. All the sisters in the garden have it."

Aunt Xue sighed, "This Cong is a promising boy. Although he was not adopted to Ningguo, it is said that he has made great contributions in Liaodong. This time he will be granted a title."

When Baochai heard this, her eyebrows slightly frowned and she said, "Whether Brother Cong is conferred a title or not, it is the same in my eyes."

Aunt Xue laughed and said, "You are also a fool. For a noble family, whether he has a title or not is a world of difference. How can they be the same?"

As the rumors spread in the past few days, Aunt Xue's mind became a little active, but she couldn't say for sure at the moment, so she naturally didn't want to tell her daughter.

Suddenly, I heard my daughter reply: "I hope that Brother Cong is just an ordinary bastard."

There seemed to be helplessness and uneasiness in Baochai's words. After she finished speaking, she took the crane cloak and went into the inner room.

Aunt Xue was completely confused by this. What kind of logic was this? An ordinary bastard's son was better than a lord.

Aunt Xue knew that her daughter was very fond of Jia Cong. Logically, her daughter should be happy that the boy could be granted a title, but why was she so unhappy instead?

However, she had been the wife of an imperial merchant for half her life and was knowledgeable and experienced. In fact, she was more sensitive than her sister, Mrs. Wang. After a little thought, she understood what her daughter meant.

The reason why her sister wanted to match her daughter with Baoyu was, firstly, that she liked her daughter, and secondly, because she and her were sisters, she did not care about family background.

But the old lady in the mansion never agreed with the idea of ​​a perfect match between gold and jade, and always said that Baoyu was not destined to get married early.

In fact, Baoyu is the legitimate son of the Rongguo Mansion and the phoenix in the old lady's heart. According to the old lady, Baoyu should marry the daughter of an official family to be considered a match.

For example, the old lady’s granddaughter, Miss Lin, who was the most beautiful girl in the world, came from a family of marquises for five generations and was the daughter of a Jinshi who won the third place in the imperial examination.

Although his daughter was not inferior to him, the Xue family had no official family background since the previous generation. Although they were called imperial merchants, they could not escape the word "merchant".

If Cong'er was just an ordinary bastard of the Rong State, he could be a good match for my daughter. But if he was granted a title, how could a noble marry the daughter of a merchant?

Although Aunt Xue was unwilling to accept this fact, it seemed to be obvious.

Now she realized that after all this time, this Congge seemed even more out of reach than Baoyu. What a situation.

Moreover, Aunt Xue did not expect that her daughter Baochai had such deep thoughts about Jia Cong, and in order to have the possibility of being with him in the future, she did not even want him to be conferred a title and be just an ordinary bastard. Her daughter has always been smart and ambitious, but she went crazy when she met this boy and actually had such a stupid idea.

……

Rongguo Mansion, Daiyu Courtyard.

There are pens and inkstones on the desk under the window, the bookshelf is piled high with books, and there is a green jade and glass pattern incense burner emitting a wisp of strange fragrance.

It was already summer and the weather was getting hotter. Daiyu wore a light green gauze dress, a light blue tube top, and a high-waisted white gauze skirt.

On the embroidered bed was an exquisite red satin crepe sable crane cloak, neatly folded.

This was given to Daiyu by Jia Cong yesterday, but she can't wear it now. She can only wear it at the end of the year.

However, Jia Cong also gave another gift, which seemed to be more favored by Daiyu.

At this moment, Daiyu was placing the gift on the desk. She asked Zijuan to raise the window high so that sufficient sunlight could shine into the room.

She was leaning over the desk with her head lowered, a strand of hair falling down at her temple, her bright eyes were moist and shining, the corners of her mouth were slightly raised, and she stretched out a slender jade finger and gently traced on it.

It was a map, carefully made from a whole piece of sheepskin, with densely packed mountains, rivers and streams painted on it. A red line meandered and twisted, almost crossing the entire map.

The starting point of the red line is Shenjing, passing through Gaomi County, Guangning City, and Yafu Pass. The end point of the red line is Qingyuanji on the Yalu River.

On this map, Jia Cong drew with red lines all the places he visited during his trip to Liaodong. It can be said that he put a lot of thought into it.

Before he went to Liaodong, Daiyu was very worried and checked the map to see how far he would have to walk and how many places he would have to pass through.

Therefore, Jia Cong spent a lot of time and effort to make this unique map on his way back to the capital.

Zijuan brought in some hot tea and when she saw her girl's appearance, she couldn't help but smile.

Ever since the third master went to Liaodong, the girl has been looking at the map over and over again, always in a daze.

Now that the Third Master has returned, he actually gave the girl a bigger one, which has left the girl with this disease.

……

The palace city of the Great Zhou Dynasty, Qianyang Palace.

The Minister of Personnel Chen Mo and the Minister of Rites Guo Youchang were standing below. They entered the palace today to discuss the rewards for the meritorious generals in the battle against the Jurchens in Liaodong.

The reason why the Minister of Rites Guo Youchang was also there was because the generals who were rewarded involved the conferment of titles, which was related to the relevant etiquette and rules of the Ministry of Rites.

This list of awards has been discussed by the cabinet, and a consensus has basically been reached on the standards for the awards.

Emperor Jia Zhao carefully looked through the list of rewards and honors. His name was more likely to appear on the first line, next to Jia Cong's name.

Emperor Jiazhao looked at the list, squinting his eyes slightly, and recalled the magnificent scene at the Meridian Gate yesterday.

Yesterday's prisoner presentation ceremony went very smoothly. The scene was grand and majestic, with thousands of troops responding, hundreds of officials paying homage, and the barbarians submitting.

This will surely become a glorious and colorful scene in the Jiazhao Dynasty.

What impressed him even more was the heroic young man who rode his horse and led the troops to present the captives, who made the announcement in military uniform and caused thousands of soldiers to praise his achievements and pay homage to him.

He also thought of his father, the emperor in Chonghua Palace, who had not been concerned with worldly affairs for a long time, and actually favored this young man and asked the Empress Dowager to give him a gift.

Emperor Jiazhao suddenly felt a sense of injustice.

Or perhaps he lost his biological mother's support at a young age, lived in obscurity for many years, and was oppressed by the shadow of his father and brothers. This kind of injustice has long been hidden in his heart.

This young man was promoted by him, and he served as a minister in the Jiazhao Dynasty. He made great contributions to the Jiazhao Dynasty, and was prominent in the expansion of territory for Emperor Jiazhao!
Could it be that the honor and favor I bestow upon him is weaker than the favor and appreciation that my father occasionally shows him?
Even though he had been on the throne for more than ten years, he knew that the people of the world were judging him all the time.

Which is better, his political achievements or his father's military achievements?

Emperor Jia Zhao picked up the red pen, thought for a moment, and added a few lines to the first line of the list of rewards.

The list was then returned to the Minister of Personnel Chen Mo and the Minister of Rites Guo Youchang.

When Guo Youchang saw the two new lines of annotations by the emperor on the list, his face changed!
(End of this chapter)