Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

Chapter 393: The Destroyed Family

Jinling, Yuminfang, Qu Hongxiu's residence.

In the early morning, the fiery red rays of the rising sun cast a layer of light golden glow on the lush and green grass in the courtyard.

Although Nanjing is known as a furnace during midsummer, there are also good times in a day, such as the third quarter of the morning hour, when purple air begins to rise but the flames have not yet burned.

It is the best time for martial artists to practice qigong and martial arts.

In the small courtyard, a slender and graceful figure was leaping back and forth, with two silver lights flickering and surrounding her body.

When the dance reaches a fast point, the shape of the sword disappears, only the silver light surges back and forth, cold and murderous, dazzling the eyes.

At this moment, a figure walked out from behind the screen wall covered with vines at the entrance of the inner courtyard.

He was tall and slender, handsome and incomparable, wearing a moon-white soft silk robe, a nine-rhinoceros jade belt around his waist, a jade hairpin in his hair, and walking lightly.

Qu Hongxiu stopped the knife in her hand and said in a cute voice, "I knew you were back, but I finally came here after a few days."

Jia Cong smiled and said, "We have two strangers in our house. We should not neglect them too much, so they can stay in our house for a few days."

The door of the left wing was opened, and Keqing came out. Seeing Jia Cong coming back, she was delighted and said, "Who on earth is this important guest? How could he have stopped you?"

Jia Cong smiled at Keqing and said, "I brought her here that day. She looks a lot like someone. You must have been curious when you saw her."

As a few people were talking, a servant girl came over from outside the second gate and reported that the third young lady of the Zhen family had sent someone to deliver a gift.

After hearing this, Jia Cong was surprised. How could Qu Hongxiu be related to Miss Zhen San?

Of course he knew this third lady. She had visited the old lady at Rongguo Mansion last time and even asked for a piece of calligraphy from her.

……

At this time, the maid brought in a woman who was dressed exquisitely, had a proper appearance and neat manners.

When she saw Qu Hongxiu, she smiled and said, "Master Qu, the store on Fenghe Street is opening today. Our third girl asked us to send some small gifts to show our regards to Master Qu."

As he spoke, he waved towards the gate of the inner courtyard, and two maids from the Zhen family came in carrying a box.

It seemed that the Zhen family knew that only women came and went in Qu Hongxiu's house, so those who came to give gifts were all mature old women, and they did not bring any servants.

The housekeeper of the Zhen family was a little curious when she saw Jia Cong, but she didn't care too much, thinking that he was a relative of Manager Qu who came to visit occasionally.

The old woman opened the box and said, "Although the gifts are not expensive, they were all bought by our third young lady herself, and they are all things a young lady needs in daily life.

Several sets of dresses made of top-quality Shu embroidery silk were custom-made by the master chef of Ziyun Pavilion according to the body shapes of Manager Qu and Miss Qin.

There are also some top-quality rouge and powder, two ruby-red filigree phoenix hairpins, two small marble and rosewood screens for the desk, and two boxes of ambergris from Japan…”

The old woman reported more than ten gifts in one breath. Although these gifts were not valuable, each one was exquisite and thoughtful, and the thoughtfulness and delicacy of Miss Zhen San could be seen everywhere.

Qu Hongxiu smiled and said, "Go back and thank your third lady for me. I will definitely come to pay my respects to you some other day."

The old woman made a few polite remarks and then took her leave. Her words and actions were very appropriate. The fact that a young woman under her could be so meticulous showed that Miss Zhen San was quite extraordinary.

……

Jia Cong looked at the gifts in the box with a look of surprise.

Asked: "Sister Xiu, how come you have contact with Miss Zhen San?"

After hearing this, Qu Hongxiu turned his gaze and asked curiously, "Brother Cong also knows Miss Zhen San?"

During this year or so, she began to pay close attention to the women Jia Cong was acquainted with and became close to. She could hear something behind his words, so she naturally had to ask about it.

Jia Cong said, "The Jia family and the Jinling Zhen family are old friends. Miss Zhen San visited the old lady in the capital, so I know her, but I have never met her."

Qu Hongxiu smiled and said, "So that's how it is. Miss Zhen San and I are familiar with each other because of the farm we just bought.

You forgot, when you first arrived in Jinling, I told you that the farm we bought was originally the property of the Zhen family."

Jia Cong naturally knew about this. Before he came to Jinling, in order to make it easier for him to do things in Jinling, he asked Qu Hongxiu to buy a farm with suitable conditions in Jinling.

As for the purpose of the farm, the Ministry of Internal Affairs once issued a secret decree to Xinchunhao, which stated it very clearly.

After arriving in Jinling, Qu Hongxiu told him that he had bought a suitable farm, and that the farm was originally the property of the Zhen family in Jinling.

At that time, Jia Cong did not care about it. The Zhen family of Jinling was a wealthy family with many industries in Jinling. In recent years, they had made a fortune from maritime trade.

Compared to the declining fortunes of the Xue family in Jinling, the Zhen family in Jinling has managed its family well in recent years, and its prestige and wealth are growing day by day. People in Jinling have begun to jokingly call them Zhen Bancheng.

The Zhen family owns so many properties, almost all over Jinling. The farm that Qu Hongxiu is interested in happens to be an old property of the Zhen family. What's so strange about that?

Qu Hongxiu came from a special family. He had been accustomed to the world in his early years. He was extremely smart and acted carefully and prudently, which always made Jia Cong feel at ease.

Therefore, Jia Cong did not ask for the details at that time.

……

Qu Hongxiu said: "In fact, I heard that there is such a farm in the east of the city, but the original owner of the farm was the Jinling Du family, and I didn't know it had been transferred to the Zhen family.

According to the requirements in your letter, only this farm in the east of the city is suitable. The place is large enough and the location is quiet. There are no villages or houses around. It takes only half a mile to get to the official road. "

I asked Wang Dequan to find the manager of the Zhen family who manages the farm, but he said that the farm has been passed down in the Zhen family for two generations and is an ancestral property that will not be sold easily.

However, although this farm has been in the hands of the Zhen family for many years, the Zhen family has been mainly engaged in maritime trade business in recent years and has done very little agricultural business, so this farm has been idle.

So I found a middleman and contacted Liu Xian, the chief steward of the Zhen family, to see if it was possible to get the Zhen family to sell it.

However, Liu Xian said that the family business was now managed by the third daughter of the second room, and since it involved the old property of the Zhen family, it needed the third daughter's approval before it could be sold.

But the third young lady went to Shenjing to pay a visit to the elders of the Zhen family and will be back in a few days. I thought there was no hope for this matter, so I asked Wang Dequan to find a suitable place again.

But unexpectedly, a few days later, Liu Xian, the chief steward of the Zhen family, came to tell me that the third young lady wanted to talk to me about the farm.

Although Miss Zhen San is young, she is a very smart and capable person.

Later, the two sides reached an agreement that Miss Zhen San could sell the farm at a fair price, but she wanted to sell Xinchunhao perfume in her new store on Fenghe Road.

It’s just that the Zhen family and Xinchunhao had no dealings before, and now they want us to supply 20 bottles of high-quality perfume at regular prices every month as part of their new store’s sales, and sign a one-year contract.

After one year, both parties will decide whether to extend the contract based on their own wishes.”

……

Jia Cong felt strange after hearing this. Xinchunhao's business in Jiangnan was booming.

In addition to opening specialty stores to sell perfumes, many merchants also purchase perfumes in bulk from the Xinchunhao headquarters and place them in their own stores to attract customers.

However, Xinchunhao has imposed strict restrictions on the quantity of such bulk purchases by foreign businessmen to avoid excessive bulk purchases that would affect the business of Xinchunhao's specialty stores.

The limit on bulk purchases by foreign businesses is 20 bottles of premium perfume per month.

Miss Zhen San is willing to sell her ancestral property. From a business perspective, the profits she wants to gain will, according to common sense, cost Xinchunhao some money.

But I didn't expect it to be such a plain and ordinary request, to supply twenty bottles of high-quality perfumes per month, which was no different from the purchase limit for other sales.

The only advantage we have over other foreign companies is that both parties sign a one-year contract, and Xinchunhao must supply regularly during the twelve months of that year.

However, after one year of this contract, Xinchunhao can terminate the contract at any time without any restrictions.

Miss Zhen San sold her ancestral property, but only exchanged it for conditions that were not very advantageous, which made it seem like she was doing a favor easily. Jia Cong said, "Sister Xiu, I heard that Miss Zhen San is very capable. She took over the business left by her father and is only a few years older than me.

A girl who manages the family business to flourish must be a very shrewd person.

We need her help and want to buy her Zhen family's property, but she only proposed such a trivial condition. Don't you think it's strange?"

Qu Hongxiu smiled and said, "I also felt it was a little strange at first, and I discussed this with Keqing many times.

Miss Zhen San is smart, and Keqing and I are not stupid. We have calculated all the possibilities. This business will not harm us at all. We are even in an invincible position. That is why we bought the farm.

Now I heard you say that the Jia family and the Zhen family are old friends. When she arrived in the capital, she made a special trip to visit the old lady in the family, which shows that the relationship between your two families is indeed close.

Xinchunhao is actually your property. This is no secret outside. Miss Zhen San is such a smart person, she must know it.

I think Miss Zhen San is doing this business with us out of consideration for you and out of the friendship between us, your noble family.

That one-year contract was nothing but a business trick and ostentation.

We also asked around about Miss Zhen San. Ever since Zhen Yingquan went missing at sea, all the business of the second branch of the Zhen family has been managed by Miss Zhen San.

The Zhen family has made progress in recent years, all thanks to Miss Zhen San. People say that she is smart and resourceful, has a thorough plan, and acts uprightly, without any perverse or evil intentions... "

……

Although Jia Zhen's family is an old friend and their relationship is close, people's hearts are hidden, and Jia Cong will not simply understand all actions as kindness.

However, everything Qu Hongxiu said was detailed and logical, without any flaws. He thought about it several times and was sure that there was no risk, so he felt relieved.

Moreover, when the Zhen family's new store opened, Miss Zhen San specially sent gifts to Hongxiu and Keqing because of a contract with Xinchunhao, and her intention to make friends was quite sincere.

Yingchun had told him at the beginning that Miss Zhen San was a very outstanding woman, and now it seemed that she was indeed a little eccentric.

……

On the eastern outskirts of Jinling, there is a farm covering an area of ​​more than 40 acres, which is the largest farm in the suburbs of Jinling.

The entire farm is surrounded by high walls and is equipped with farming facilities such as barns, drying yards, mills, silkworm houses, and many neatly arranged houses and pavilions.

They also brought fresh water from a tributary of the Qinhuai River that flowed through the east of the city into the farm for daily farming use, and brought mountain springs from nearby mountains for daily living water.

The earliest owner of this farm was Du Hengchang, who came from the Du family, a former prominent family in Jinling.

Twenty years ago, the Jinling Du family was a well-known aristocratic family, and was on par with Jinling's Jia, Wang, Shi, Xue, Zhen and other aristocratic families. Its roots were so long that it was even longer than those of other aristocratic families.

The Du family has been a family of scholars and officials since the early Song Dynasty. It has produced many civil officials and high-ranking officials. The family's profound tradition of learning is incomparable to that of ordinary aristocratic families.

Since the Northern Yuan Dynasty annexed the north of the Yangtze River, the Han people and nobles migrated southward to escape the war. This marked the beginning of the more than 100-year-long migration to the south to defend the country, which is recorded in great detail in the history books of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

At the end of the Former Song Dynasty, the imperial court was weak and corrupt, and warlords emerged from all over the country.

In the land of Jiangnan, smoke of war was raging everywhere. Warlords from all over the country fought against the rampant invasion of the Northern Yuan Dynasty and never stopped fighting for separatist power.

The flags on the city walls changed, and the country south of the Yangtze River changed several times.

The ancestors of the Du family lived in troubled times. Although they wanted to help the people, they had no plan to save the world. So they retired from officialdom with their sons and daughters and lived in seclusion among the people.

The children of the Du family studied hard to show their ambitions when they were young, and after they grew up they followed their elders to do business and manage the world, completely changing their way of life. As for the deeper meaning of this, it has long been difficult for people to understand due to the passage of time.

When Emperor Taizu of the Great Zhou Dynasty established his rule in the Central Plains and rebuilt the Han imperial power, the Du family continued to develop for several decades and took root in Jinling, becoming a local powerful family in Jinling.

The history of the Du family is much deeper than that of the Jia, Wang, Shi, Xue and other aristocratic families that prospered with the founding of the Zhou Dynasty.

However, such a family that had experienced a hundred years of ups and downs collapsed overnight fifteen years ago because it was involved in the hidden sect's rebellion.

The two direct branches of the Du family, including the head of the family, Du Hengchang, and all the male members were beheaded and thrown into the market because they colluded with the Hidden Sect and intended to rebel. All the female relatives were sold into slavery, and countless family properties were confiscated and divided.

A century-old family that was once glorious in the south of the Yangtze River was completely forgotten in the world from then on.

More than a decade has passed, and except for the older generation in Jinling who still remember that there was such a magnificent family, many younger generations are unaware of the existence of the Du family.

……

A horse-drawn carriage was speeding on the official road to the eastern outskirts of the city. Qu Hongxiu was accompanying Jia Cong to the newly purchased farm.

It has been a long time since Qu Hongxiu left Shenjing and they haven't been alone together like this.

The wind blew the curtains and rushed into the carriage, bringing with it the scent of grass and trees in the suburbs, as well as the elegant and attractive fragrance of a daughter from Qu Hongxiu's body.

During such a warm and beautiful time alone, we really should say some warm and kind words.

If we don't count the fact that Qu Hongxiu has been in Jinling for the past two years, among all the women Jia Cong knows, Qu Hongxiu can be regarded as the woman with whom Jia Cong has the closest relationship.

Even Keqing felt that the two men's actions when teaching and imparting skills were too unscrupulous, without considering the differences between men and women...

Perhaps it was this strange and intimate relationship that made Jia Cong often overlook the fact that Qu Hongxiu was also a charming young woman when they were together.

It may be because Qu Hongxiu is too independent and capable. Just like Baozhu said, Sister Xiu travels all over the country alone, and Brother Cong never worries about her.

On the contrary, Qin Keqing seemed gentle, but as long as something went wrong, Jia Cong would take great pains to come up with a bunch of tricks to help her get out of it.

It is precisely because of this strange reason that the topic raised by Jia Cong in this rare moment of solitude seems careless and inappropriate.

"Sister Xiu, I heard you say that this farm originally did not belong to the Zhen family, but to the Jinling Du family. To own such a large farm, the Du family must have some background.

But I have been to Jinling several times, but I have never heard of a noble family with the surname Du in Jinling?"

Qu Hongxiu looked back at him with a helpless expression, but still told her the origins of the Jinling Du family.

Nowadays, many people in Jinling City have forgotten this once magnificent and glorious family. At least Jia Cong had never heard of it before this, but Qu Hongxiu knew it very well.

Jia Cong asked curiously, "Sister Xiu, I've never heard of the Du family before. How come you know the story of this family so well?"

Qu Hongxiu glanced at him and said, "Have you forgotten my origins? Fifteen years ago, the Du family was accused of colluding with the Hidden Sect and plotting rebellion, and the royal family confiscated the property and exterminated the family.

I also heard my father mention it to others before he died. As for whether the Du family really colluded with the Hidden Sect or was framed, I have no idea."

Jia Cong muttered silently: "Fifteen years ago..."

He suddenly thought that fifteen years ago was the last year of the reign of the Supreme Emperor and the eve of Emperor Jiazhao's accession to the throne...

……

The carriage was speeding along the official road and reached a gentle slope not far away.

A vast, slightly old farm looked particularly bleak and grim under the reflection of the blood-red setting sun.

This large farm once belonged to the Jinling Du family, which has disappeared without a trace, and also to the Jinling Zhen family, which is still glorious today. Now it has become an asset of Xinchunhao.

Jia Cong's purchase of this farm was not simply to accumulate wealth in Jinling, but was also an important step in his advance planning for his trip to Jinling to investigate the case of Zhou Zhengyang.

Just like he and Zou Miner said, one can't do much alone. Even if you are made of iron, you can't strung a few nails.

The purpose of his coming to the farm today was to dispatch fifty people from here.

Cooperating with the CRRC officers under Zou Min'er, they went to various states along the river to investigate Zhou Zhengyang's whereabouts and related information...

(End of this chapter)