Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

Chapter 347: Clean Stream Washes Away Old Sins

The garden is full of lush flowers and trees, with shades from the trees, birds chirping, and beautiful flowers blooming on the branches and treetops, creating a lush picture of midsummer.

A slender figure was staggering and running in the garden, seemingly aimless, expressing great sadness and desolation.

The garden that was once a delight to the eyes has now become so strange and cold.

Jin Chuan was a pretty girl since she was young. She entered Lady Wang's room as a maid at the age of five. Baoyu was also a child at that time. Now, ten years have passed.

Mrs. Wang was the mistress of the Rongguo Mansion, and being able to serve in her room was a very honorable thing in the mansion.

Although Mrs. Wang was not always kind to her servants, she never abused or mistreat them, so she was considered a good master.

A few years later, Jinchuan's sister Yuchuan also entered Lady Wang's house to serve.

The two daughters both entered the mistress' room to serve, which made Jinchuan's mother feel honored and proud. She talked about it in front of and behind everyone in the mansion, saying that it was a glorious and powerful thing.

During these ten years, Jin Chuan worked meticulously and diligently, and Mrs. Wang was satisfied with her. She was promoted to a first-class maid with a monthly salary. Although she was a little lively and spoke a little recklessly, it was not a big deal.

During these ten years, Jin Chuan served Lady Wang longer than she had served her own parents, and this had become her natural way of life.

But she never expected that just because of a few teasing words from Master Bao, she would retort a few words and jokingly asked him to go to the east room to get Huan'er and Caiyun.

Master Bao has always spoken without restraint to maids since he was a child, and this is not the first time that the Madam has seen this, but this time she was so angry.

He insisted on kicking me out of the house and said many ugly and shameless things about me, and Master Cong Sanye happened to see it, so how could I still have the face to live...

Being able to serve in the Madam's room has always been the proudest and most honorable thing for me. Now I have been driven out of the house by the Madam, which has brought shame to me and the family.

Even if it was his own mother, he would slap him without any shame!

There was nothing innocent between her and Master Bao, they just had a few words involved. Wasn't she as unclean as Caiyun and Huan'er? Why did they want to kick her out? She refused to accept it!

This mansion is a place with leaks everywhere. White can be said to be black, and a living person can be forced to death.

If I were to be driven out of the house by my wife like this, it would not take two days for the news to spread inside and outside the house. It would be because I seduced Mr. Bao that I was driven out by my wife, and my reputation as a daughter would be completely ruined.

If she goes out like this without a clear purpose, she won't be able to marry into a decent family in the future, and her life will be ruined.

She was unwilling to accept it, she was not convinced. Why should she live like this and be humiliated when she had not done anything wrong? She might as well die. Even if she died, she would not let this go...!
……

Jin Chuan ran for a long way in a daze and arrived at a stone bridge in the garden. On the bank of the bridge there was an octagonal well built with clear stones.

She stumbled to the well and looked down. More than ten feet below the well platform, there was a pool of dark green water, so deep that you couldn't see the bottom.

The afternoon sun shone on the water, clearly reflecting her tear-stained face and the indelible palm marks on her cheeks.

She wiped her tears on the water surface, and without any hesitation, she leaned forward with her slender figure and jumped into the well...

The clear water suddenly opened up, and the icy-cold well water enveloped her, making her tremble all over. She couldn't swim at all, and had no intention of struggling, but she felt a sense of relief and liberation she had never felt before.

The sting of the slap on my face seemed to fade away all of a sudden, and those humiliating and embarrassing insults no longer lingered in my mind, becoming indifferent and disappearing without a trace.

She choked on the water several times, her mind started to become blurry, her whole body became extremely heavy, and she slowly sank downwards.

It seemed like a long time had passed, but it also seemed like only a moment. Time became blurred and she vaguely heard a woman's terrified voice.

Through the green waves above her head, she could clearly see an extremely handsome face appearing on the edge of the well. In the afternoon sun, it was extremely dazzling.

She suddenly remembered that in the courtyard of the East Palace, Qingwen had her hair wet and disheveled, and a sweet smile on her face.

Mr. Cong, who was standing next to her, had wet hands and even his clothes were splashed with water.

Although she teased Qingwen at that time, she was actually very envious and felt that Qingwen had a very good life...

……

Jia Zheng met Fu Shi in Rong Xi Hall. Actually, there was nothing important. Fu Shi was just paying him a daily visit and said some polite words to show his respect and seek advice.

He also talked about some things he had seen and heard outside, and finally some trivial matters at home, such as the fact that he had a younger sister who was still in the boudoir, who was as beautiful as jade and had an elegant taste for poetry and books, etc.

Jia Zheng was thinking about the conversation with his nephew and just echoed Fu Shi's topic.

Even if he could hear the hidden meaning in Fu Shi's words, he would pretend not to know to avoid embarrassing everyone.

Because his mother and the lady regarded Baoyu as the apple of their eye. After all, he came from a noble family and his future marriage would definitely be to a high-ranking and powerful family.

Although Jia Zheng was not the type to despise the poor and love the rich, if he had really understood Fu Shi's thoughts, he would have known that a 6th-rank Tongpan girl in her twenties was quite different from Baoyu.

After finally sending Fu Shi away, Jia Zheng was in a hurry to return to the study in the east corridor of Rong Xi Tang to continue his conversation with Jia Cong.

Because chatting and talking with Jia Cong is much more interesting than having meaningless social interactions with Fu Shi.

Jia Zheng was just going back with great enthusiasm when he saw Jia Huan running towards him like crazy. He seemed to be startled when he saw him and wanted to avoid him but it was too late. Jia Huan and Baoyu had the same problem, that is, they avoided Jia Zheng like a cat or a mouse, probably because they were both useless in Jia Zheng's eyes.

Jia Zheng hated to see his sons behave unruly. If they had half the bearing and demeanor of Cong'er, he would not have to be annoyed by seeing them every day.

Seeing Jia Huan's improper behavior, he frowned and shouted, "Why are you running? The people who are leading you don't care about you. They let you run like a wild horse. You have no order!"

Jia Huan shuddered when he heard this, thought for a moment and said, "I didn't run away at first. I just passed by the octagonal well over there and a maid from the mansion jumped into the well. Third Brother Cong was calling for help.

I don’t know if he’s dead or not, I ran away because I was scared.”

Jia Zheng was shocked to hear this. The mansion was kind and benevolent, and they never abused or humiliated their servants. It was very rare for a servant to commit suicide.

He shouted to the servant beside him, "Why did you jump into the well for no reason? Go and call Steward Lin over. I want to question him!"

Jia Huan rolled his eyes, as if he wanted to speak, but after looking at the servant, he held back.

Jia Zheng sent the servant away and frowned at Jia Huan, saying, "Hurry up and tell me!"

Jia Huan said: "Only those in the Madam's room know about this. I heard that at noon, Brother Baoyu went to the Madam's room and wanted to rape Jinchuan.

When the madam found out that she had beaten Jinchuan, she jumped into the well out of anger, and now we don’t know if we can save her.”

When Jia Zheng heard this, he flew into a rage, beat his chest and stamped his feet, cursing, "What a lawless beast! How dare you do such a shameful thing!"

He then shouted to the servant beside him, angrily saying, "Go and tie up Baoyu for me!"

……

Outside the study in the east corridor, Qingwen followed Jia Cong's instructions and came out, but she was still a few steps late and did not catch up with Jinchuan for a while.

However, Jia Cong was still worried, so he followed them out and did not look anywhere else, but only went to the area near the well in the garden.

The two men hurriedly searched for a path in the garden until they saw an octagonal well on the bank of the bridge.

Jia Cong rushed to the well and saw a figure sinking in the well. He wondered who else could it be but Jin Chuan. He quickly asked Qingwen to call for help.

At this time, two strong women from the kitchen happened to pass by and were called by Jia Cong to go down the well to rescue the people.

Several people finally got Jin Chuan out of the water, but she was already unconscious. However, judging from the time, she must have fallen into the water not long ago.

Jia Cong asked two strong women to call a doctor for emergency treatment, while he and Qingwen stayed by the well to watch over Jin Chuan.

Jia Cong knew in his heart that Jin Chuan had drowned seriously after jumping into the well. If he just waited for the doctor to come and delayed the time, he was afraid that her condition would be extremely dangerous.

In the critical moment, he did not care about taboos and taught Qingwen the method of chest and abdominal compression. However, the little girl not only did not know the method, but also had no strength, so it was of no help at all.

He had no choice but to do it himself. After working for a long time, he finally drained the water and saved Jinchuan's life.

……

Rongguo Mansion, Mengpo Zhai Study.

Baoyu was brought to the room by two servants of Jia Zheng. He was already pale with fright. On the way he learned that the master wanted to question him because Jin Chuan jumped into the well.

Now he didn't care whether Jin Chuan jumped into the well and died or not. He just felt nervous and his legs were getting weak. He didn't know how his master was going to punish him.

As soon as Baoyu entered the room, Jia Zheng kicked him to the ground, and then he was pressed down on a bench by a servant and beaten with a stick by another servant.

Zhan Guang, Shan Pinren and other retainers were well-informed and rushed over to persuade them, but this only made Jia Zheng even angrier.

He cursed, "You are the ones who ruined him. You didn't teach him a lesson for his debauchery and despicable behavior. Are you going to wait until he kills his father and the king before you teach him a lesson?

If anyone tries to stop me today, I will beat them to death. If someone dies, I will confess the crime myself!"

The servant, who was well versed in martial law, did not dare to use any heavy hands at all. If he really hurt Master Bao, he would be the first to die.

Seeing that the servant was beating Baoyu weakly with the stick and Baoyu just groaned in pain, Jia Zheng became furious and snatched the family stick and kicked the servant away.

He swung the stick and hit Baoyu's buttocks hard. Just now Baoyu was groaning in pain, but now he screamed heart-wrenchingly.

Jia Zheng had just spanked Baoyu six or seven times, and blood had already seeped out of Baoyu's silk trousers.

Zhan Guang and Shan Pinren, who were outside the study, were frightened when they heard Baoyu's screams. They no longer cared about anything else and rushed in to stop him.

But he was beaten with a stick by Jia Zheng and driven out of the study.

Zhan Guang and others saw that the situation had become out of control. If Jia Zheng beat Baoyu to death with this kind of beating, the old lady in the mansion would get angry, and Jia Zheng's followers and retainers would not be able to escape responsibility.

So he quickly called the servant and asked him to go to the second gate to pass a message to ask the old lady and the mistress to come for help.

(End of this chapter)