Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

Chapter 352: The Incident Happened on the Ghost Festival

July 13th, the Ghost Festival is coming.

Rongguo Mansion, Fengjie's Courtyard.

Feng Jieer was fixing her makeup in front of a half-person-high mercury mirror. Ping Er lightly inserted a golden phoenix hairpin into her bun, and pinned a kingfisher hairpin on her sideburns, making her look even more luxurious and beautiful.

Jia Lian, who was sitting cross-legged and drinking tea, asked, "Didn't you say the other day that you would leave a deficit of three thousand taels for the Zhongyuan Festival? Now you have made up for it."

Sister Feng sighed and said, "This month the government paid the summer tax, and we lost so much income that I even pawned a few of my gold necklaces, which are not enough.

Originally, this deficit was extremely difficult to make up, but fortunately I was able to get help from the real person and it was finally made up."

At the end, Fengjie looked quite proud.

Jia Lian's expression changed. Money was tight in Yue's mansion these days, and he even skipped a lot of drinking and watching operas with others. It looked really unbecoming to outsiders. Naturally, he was interested when he heard that Sister Feng had a source of money.

He asked, "Which temple did you worship to get three thousand taels of silver? Tell me about it."

Sister Feng smiled mysteriously and said, "I asked Yuanyang to borrow a few things from the old lady's treasure chest and pawn them first, and then redeem them after the famine is over."

Jia Lian's face changed drastically when he heard this, and he said, "You are too bold to touch the old lady's things. Return them quickly. If the old lady finds out, even Yuanyang will be cheated."

Sister Feng glanced at him and said, "Oh my, look how distressed you are. I have to tell you that you have lost your conscience and are eyeing other women. Only I can deal with you.

If you dare to have any thoughts about anyone, the ancestor will punish you personally!"

Jia Lian looked a little embarrassed: "What nonsense are you talking about? Even if I am obsessed with money, I would not dare to have such thoughts. That is the old lady's golden key. Who dares to ask for this shame?"

Sister Feng glanced at Jia Lian and said, "It's good that you know the importance of this matter. Otherwise, my advice to you would be in vain."

Jia Lian added: "No matter what, you can't let Yuanyang do this, be careful not to cause trouble."

Sister Feng laughed and said, "Am I that stupid? I have been in the mansion for so many years and I still don't know how powerful these things are."

Jia Lian said, "If it really doesn't work, we can borrow some money from our third brother. He has property now, and even the female manager of Xinchun Store belongs to him. He has no shortage of money, and his brothers are easy to talk to."

Fengjie replied: "Don't mention this, the old lady will never allow it. The old lady attaches great importance to her reputation. She and Cong Lao San have had a grudge all their lives, how can she show her weakness in front of him.

Besides, the matter of Miss Qu from Xinchunhao was only discussed in private, not in public. If this is included, wouldn’t the old lady be borrowing money from Cong Laosan’s lover? She can’t afford to lose face.”

At this time, Ping'er was heard saying outside: "Sister Yuanyang is here."

Wang Xifeng hurried to the door of the inner room, and Jia Lian also put down his crossed legs and stood up.

The little girl lifted the door couplet and saw Yuanyang coming in carrying a small package. She had black hair, an oval face, a high nose bridge, and a pair of clear eyes with a smile.

She wore a satin bodice with a blue background and scattered flowers on the upper body, a snow-blue square-collared jacket underneath, a light green long skirt on the lower body, and a pine green sweat towel that tied her small waist to make it look thinner.

Wang Xifeng said with a smile, "Sister Yuanyang is here. Please take a seat. Ping'er, bring some hot tea."

Yuanyang unwrapped the small package in her hand, and found it was an exquisite ebony jewelry box. When she opened it, there was a glittering glow inside, revealing five or six pieces of top-quality jade, pearl and gold jewelry.

Yuanyang said: "These are some things that the old lady asked me to bring. Let Second Madam use them to make up for the deficit first, and then you can quietly redeem them later.

If people outside knew about this, they would just say that I took it out to help Second Grandma in an emergency. The old lady didn’t know about this, but she was afraid that other children and grandchildren would find out and come to borrow money, which would make it difficult for the old lady to do anything.”

Jia Lian then realized that it was not Feng Jieer who asked Yuanyang to steal things for emergency use, but that the old lady also knew about this and just pretended to be Yuanyang's receiver and gave him the things for emergency use.

The old lady was afraid that if others knew about this, they would come to borrow money from her, which would be difficult to deal with.

However, Jia Lian knew clearly who the old lady was wary of. Once they knew about this, the ones who would follow suit and borrow things from the old lady would be none other than the eldest master and mistress of the East Courtyard.

Now the public treasury has less allocated silver, and the master is used to spending lavishly. I heard that he is short of silver right now.

……

July 15th, Hungry Ghost Festival.

Rongguo Mansion, Rongqing Hall.

The Zhongyuan Festival, Shangyuan Festival, Qingming Festival and Cold Clothes Festival are major festivals for people in the Central Plains to worship their ancestors every year.

Every family in the capital city, regardless of size, must offer sacrifices to their ancestors in the hope of blessing their descendants, continuing their wealth and prosperity, and ensuring a long lineage.

Since the Ningguo Mansion was stripped of its title, the Jia family's ancestral temple was moved to the Rongguo Mansion. After the beginning of autumn, Jia Lian and other young men in charge began to prepare for the Zhongyuan Festival to worship their ancestors.

When the auspicious time arrived in the early morning, the eight descendants of the Jia family entered the new ancestral hall in order according to the order of their branches, kowtowed to their ancestors, and offered sacrifices.

The Ningguo line was stripped of its title and exiled, Jia Zhen died suddenly, and Jia Rong had no descendants. The status of the original eldest and most legitimate branch of the Jia family plummeted.

Even the patriarchal family rules must submit to the imperial power.

The Jia family's sacrificial rites and etiquette of respecting the humble also became very different.

Originally, Jia Jing, the eldest son of the Ningguo clan, was the chief priest, but now it has been changed to Jia She, with Jia Zheng and Jia Jing as his attendants.

Since the eldest branch of the Ningguo family had in fact become extinct, Jia Jing's position as an accompanying sacrificial offering was no longer worthy of him and was a shame to his ancestors. Therefore, Jia Zheng from the second branch had to be included in the list.

A hundred years after Jia Jing's death, the Ningguo lineage will be completely wiped out and will completely become a side branch of the Jia family.

Therefore, it is easy to understand why Jia Jing looked so haggard during the entire Ghost Festival ancestor worship ceremony.

Jia She, originally the eldest son of the second wife who accompanied the sacrifice, has now become the chief sacrificer and the patriarch of the Jia clan. This should be his highlight moment, but there is not a trace of joy on his face.

After the ancestor worship ceremony, a banquet with wine, food and tea was set up in the main flower hall of Rongqing Hall and in the outer porch.

Although the public income has decreased this year, the monthly allowance for each room remains unchanged, so most people in the mansion do not feel anything unusual.

During the banquet, everyone was talking and laughing, except Jia She, who was sitting at the male table outside the porch, looking depressed.

As the Jia family paid the summer tax according to the new policy, the public income was reduced, and the silver allocated to the East Courtyard was greatly reduced, so there was no problem in making a normal living.

But it is now difficult to live a luxurious life like before.

Originally, Jia She had taken a fancy to a singing girl in Xingxiang Tower, who was sixteen years old, tender, charming and beautiful, and wanted to take her as his seventh concubine.

But now that he had no extra money and after the break-up of the marriage with the Sun family, his fur shop on Hongping Street had lost its trade route to Datong and its original income.

He had no money to buy a concubine. When he thought of the charming appearance of the singing girl, Master Jia felt angry and aggrieved.

At this time, he looked through the door of the porch and saw that at the banquet for the women in the big hall, Lian'er's daughter-in-law told some joke that made the old lady laugh.

Behind the old lady stood a maid, tall and slender, yet plump and graceful, with black shiny hair, fair and rosy skin, and a pair of big, bright eyes. She was smiling as she massaged the old lady's back.

……

July 15th, Ghost Festival, Jinling City.

When the first bright red glow appeared from the dark clouds in the east, this ancient and magnificent city seemed to be awakened instantly.

The Jinling Jinyiwei Qianhu Division was located in Guangdefang, which was only a mile away from the Jia family's old house in Xinglongfang. Early in the morning, soldiers from three hundred-household divisions gathered inside and outside the Qianhu Division, with swords and arrows in a solemn atmosphere, ready to go.
In the team there was a civil servant wearing the uniform of a fifth-rank official, with a solemn expression and a distinguished demeanor.

Even Ge Zhicheng, a captain of the fourth-rank Jinyiwei, looked at this civil servant without any disrespect.

Although Yang Hongbin, the Left Chief of the Dali Temple, held a lower official position than him, he was a civil servant with a legitimate academic degree and held a powerful position in the Dali Temple.

He is not comparable to someone like him who lives on the edge of a knife, comes from a rough military family, and is the emperor's lackey.

Moreover, the other party is the imperial envoy specially appointed by the emperor to inspect the case, representing the order of the king of heaven. According to the imperial edict, this inspection case involves officials below the fourth rank. This person can execute first and report later, and his power is enormous.

Yesterday afternoon, as soon as the imperial inspector arrived in Nanjing, he secretly entered the Jinyiwei Qianhu Office, read the emperor's edict to him, and also showed him the order from the Jinyiwei Commander in Chief of the Capital.

He ordered the Jinyiwei Qianhu to mobilize all its troops and fully cooperate with him in Nanjing to carry out his orders. Yesterday, all the Jinyiwei backbones who participated in the meeting were forbidden to leave the station alone to prevent the news from leaking.

Because the person that the imperial inspector wanted to arrest was a powerful and prestigious person in Jinling City, even Ge Zhicheng, the leader of Jinling's Embroidered Uniform Guards, was somewhat afraid of him.

Under normal circumstances, as they were all officials in the same city, Ge Zhicheng would never dare to provoke this person.

Not only was the other party's official position higher than his, but the authority and power he held were not something that a mere Jinyiwei captain like him could afford to provoke.

At this moment, he suddenly received this secret order, which was like the arrow on the string was on the string and had to be shot!

Therefore, in addition to the Jinyiwei personnel who were temporarily assigned to participate in the arrest, Ge Zhicheng had already ordered the seven centurions in the city to try to suppress any unusual movement in the city and report immediately.

……

Yang Hongbin rode on his horse with a serious expression, looking at the gate of Guangdefang, as if waiting for something.

Although he appeared calm on the surface, the horse under him seemed to sense his surging emotions and snorted anxiously.

This was Yang Hongbin's second time to come to Nanjing to handle imperial missions, and both times he came to Nanjing, he handled the same major case.

The first time he was just an attendant accompanying Prince Ning on his mission, but this time he had been promoted to the fifth rank and became an imperial inspector.

Jinling was a lucky place for him. His official career flourished suddenly because of the trip to Jinling, and he took a very important step forward.

But this time he came to Jinling again to inspect the follow-up of a major case involving the Water Supervision Bureau. I wonder if God will bring him good luck again.

Yang Hongbin will never forget that the reason why he was able to achieve success and get promoted last time was not due to his own efforts, but was due to the efforts of the young master of Rong State who came up with many brilliant ideas and made great plans.

Although he was promoted to the fifth rank of Dali Temple Zuoshizheng, the young man had made great contributions in Liaodong that almost destroyed the country, and was granted the hereditary title of Weiyuan Earl!

This kind of fortune and talent is something I can never compare to.

Fortunately, Yang Hongbin was not a mediocre person. Relying on his talent in criminal justice, he extracted important evidence from Zhou Suqing, thus reopening a loophole in the Water Conservancy Bureau's major case that had not been solved.

On that day, Wei Guanyao, the Minister of the Dali Temple, brought the confession into the palace to ask for imperial decree. After reading the confession, the current emperor was furious.

This was also within Yang Hongbin's expectations. After all, the person involved in Zhou Suqing's confession was a powerful figure in Nanjing, commanding thousands of people and ranking above Zou Huaiyi. He was an extraordinary character.

Such a person was actually the mastermind behind the major case of the Water Supervision Bureau. It was no wonder that the emperor was furious when the officialdom in Nanjing was so corrupt.

This time, the Dali Temple Minister Wei Guanyao recommended him as the imperial inspector, which was a move of great trust in him and also an important opportunity for him to develop his official career again.

But while Yang Hongbin was delighted, he did not dare to relax at all on this trip to Nanjing. Every nerve in his body was tense, and he was full of caution and vigilance.

It was not an easy task for him to capture such a person in Jinling.

After arresting this person, it is even more difficult to interrogate him and obtain valuable information to successfully conclude the Jinling Water Supervision case.

No one knows what will be involved behind this...

……

At this time, a horse galloped towards the gate of Guangdefang.

When Yang Hongbin saw this person, he breathed a sigh of relief.

This time he was ordered to leave the capital, and the emperor sent twenty palace guards to accompany him and support him, and to serve as his envoys. These guards were all capable and elite men.

The fast horse reported back to one of them.

The man dismounted and reported, "Your Excellency, General Liu of the Left Army Command has sent a message to the Jinling Commandery.

Lord Du, the commander-in-chief of Jinling, received an order from the Five Military Governor's Office and has sent officials to restrain the five thousand households under the commander-in-chief of Jinling Guard and not to move without authorization. Anyone who disobeys the order will be punished for treason.

At present, all the important roads leading to the Jinling Guard Command Office have been blocked by the Jinyiwei, and the front and back doors of the residence of Jinling Guard Commander Zhou Zhengyang have been guarded, waiting for the order from the adults to capture him! "

Yang Hongbin asked, "Has anyone in Zhou's residence gone out since last night?"

The man replied, "Except for someone who went out to buy vegetables and rice this morning, no one else has gone out. We have been following the people who went out to buy things, and they returned home after buying things."

Yang Hongbin breathed a sigh of relief. According to Zhou Suqing's confession, he was the one who instructed him to secretly sell stolen goods worth 200,000 yuan and loot foreign goods, and after the incident, he provided him with shelter and hiding.

It was Zhou Zhengyang, the third-rank military officer, the superior of Zou Huaiyi, the Water Conservancy Commissioner, and the commander of the Jinling Guard.

When Zou Huaiyi committed suicide at the scene of his arrest, many inside stories of the Water Conservancy Bureau case were buried. Although the Court of Inquisition and the Dali Temple conducted extensive investigations afterwards, they also arrested many people related to the case.

However, there was not a single clue involving Zhou Zhengyang, who was a high-ranking official. Perhaps it was because this person acted meticulously, or perhaps after Zou Huaiyi was executed, the relevant people protected each other.

What reasons exist among them is currently unknown...

If Zhou Suqing had not been worried about being silenced by Zhou Zhengyang, she would have fled Jinling without permission and was accidentally captured by Jia Cong at Yafu Pass in Liaodong, thus revealing the inside story.

Who could have imagined that the third-rank general who controlled the military power of Jinling City was actually the mastermind behind the major case of the Water Supervision Bureau.

……

As the commander of the Jinling Guard, Zhou Zhengyang commanded the five major guards of Jinling with more than 5,600 soldiers. He was the person with the greatest military power in Jinling.

Such a person must have many eyes and ears in Jinling City.

Therefore, when Yang Hongbin received the imperial edict in Shenjing, the Five Military Commandery and the Dali Temple considered that Nanjing was the secondary capital of the Great Zhou, commanding six states and one prefecture in the south of the Yangtze River. If Zhou Zhengyang commanded the troops in Nanjing, the consequences would be disastrous if something happened.

Therefore, the best strategy is to take advantage of the unknown opportunity to launch a surprise attack and capture the enemy.

That's why Yang Hongbin rushed to Jinling in casual clothes last night, but did not stay at the official inn. Instead, he went directly to the Jinling Jinyiwei Qianhu Office to convey the emperor's orders to coordinate in order to avoid alerting the enemy.

Even the Jinling Guard Command's superior office, the Jinling Capital Command, was kept in the dark.

Yang Hongbin said to Ge Zhicheng in a deep voice: "Sir Ge, everything is ready. Please come with me to arrest the person!"

Hundreds of Jinyiwei soldiers were divided into two groups and rushed towards Zhou Zhengyang's mansion and the Jinling Guard Command Office respectively. The thunderous sound of horse hooves roared on the streets of Jinling.

Ever since Zou Huaiyi was executed, this ancient city, which had been peaceful for a long time, has once again been stirred up like a deep, stagnant pool of water.

(End of this chapter)