Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

Chapter 78: The Sword Light in the Courtyard

Just as Jia Cong was concentrating on reading, a duck-like voice suddenly called out from the attic: "Brother Cong, I knew you were here."

Jia Congcong looked toward the window and saw a boy of about thirteen or fourteen looking at him with a smile from below.

The young man is slightly plump, with a handsome appearance and a pair of eyes that are very lively and active.

"Xiaoyu, how did you find this place?"

"I asked Teacher Zhang, and he said that he saw you going to Dangui Pavilion after class. I guess you must be hiding here to study."

Cai Xiaoyu was his classmate at Bingwenguan and one of the few classmates who became good friends with Jia Cong during his two years at Qingshan Academy.

He was the youngest son of Cabinet Grand Secretary Cai Xiang, and came from a prominent family.

Cai Xiang's eldest son was mediocre in talent, his second son was a playboy, and only his youngest son, Cai Xiaoyu, was gifted and intelligent. Although he was a concubine's son, he was valued by Cai Xiang.

Like Jia Cong, he entered the academy two years ago, but unlike Jia Cong, he was not recommended by others. Instead, he passed the entrance examination on his own ability.

Cai Xiaoyu was optimistic by nature, fond of socializing and having fun, and had a loyal heart. He never used the title of Cai Xiang's son to show off, and even few people in the academy knew his background.

Although he was not as diligent as Jia Cong in his studies, he was still able to maintain an upper-middle level in the Bingwen Academy.

"Brother Cong, the college entrance examination is over. The autumn examination will be next year, so you don't need to study hard for a day or two.

I have an appointment with Ziqian and Zhongwen to have dinner at Chunhua Tower tonight at 12:00 pm. You must come with us. This college entrance examination is really tiring. You need to relax. See you then."

After the fat boy finished speaking, he waved his hand and walked away shaking his head.

Jia Cong knew that Cai Xiaoyu loved to eat and have fun. He had been busy preparing for exams in the academy some time ago, and had been complaining about the public meals in the academy.

Now that I've finished the college entrance examination, how can I not go out for a big meal?

Jia Cong smiled and shook his head, suddenly thinking of something, he packed up his things and left the academy. Without returning to his villa, he hired a car and went directly to the north of the city.

When the car arrived at Chunhua Building, he got off and walked for a while before arriving at a courtyard. He took out the key and opened the door.

This small courtyard has not changed much in the past two years, except that the tall mulberry tree in the yard has been cut down at the roots, and the whole yard seems much more empty than before.

The yard was empty. In the left corner of the yard there was a pile of firewood, with a lot of neatly stacked dry firewood and some unchopped logs.

In two months, the capital city of Shenjing will be hit by a severe cold weather, and these dry firewood will come in handy.

Jia Cong took a round log and placed it on the firewood pile, then held up the hatchet and concentrated his mind and breath for a moment.

He chopped down with a sudden move, and with a flash of the knife, a waist-thick log was split in half with a click. The two halves of the log flew out to both sides.

He chopped eight or nine logs in this way. His forehead was already covered with sweat. He stopped and took out the boiled water that he had prepared in the side room and drank it.

He then pulled out a shiny scimitar from a partition under the eaves and began to wave it in the yard.

At first, his movements were slow and steady, but gradually they became faster and faster, with a ball of silver blade light flickering around his body, and he seemed to have quite a solid foundation.

At this time, the courtyard door was pushed open, and a slender, graceful, beautiful and heroic girl walked in, gently closed the door, and quietly watched Jia Cong practice sword.

After he entered Qingshan Academy two years ago, he rarely returned to Rongguo Mansion.

Every year, apart from the New Year, Jia Zheng would go back to host Lady Wang's birthday party or the birthday party of the sisters in the garden. Every year when Grandmother Jia celebrated her birthday, Jia Zheng would also ask him to go back to the mansion, but he would just go back and eat the banquet and leave. Grandmother Jia and this grandson had nothing to say, and Jia Cong was happy to have some peace and quiet.

The total time he spent in the Jia Mansion each year was less than one month.

However, he would come to this small courtyard almost every other day. Qu Hongxiu had been living here for more than two years.

On the way back from the Nanxi Literary Festival that year, the ups and downs and bizarre experiences between him and Qu Hongxiu created an extraordinary tacit understanding and trust between the two.

At that time, the two of them worked together in the grove to kill the secret agent of the Magistrate's Court, concealing the truth and eliminating the disaster.

Jia Cong designed to frame Wang Shanbao's family for witchcraft and harmed people, and he was also unreserved towards Qu Hongxiu, who also helped him with all her might, which shows the trust and reliance between the two.

He had been practicing sword techniques with Qu Hongxiu two years ago. The firewood chopping method that used qi and strength to gather strength, as well as the curved sword techniques, were all taught by Qu Hongxiu himself.

"You are very smart. You have become what you are today after only two years of training. It's a pity that you started practicing martial arts a little late, otherwise you would have reached a high level by the time you were twenty."

Jia Cong smiled and said, "I am a scholar, and I am not going to venture into the martial arts world. As long as I am not powerless and can protect myself, I will be satisfied."

"How's business today?"

"We sold 23 bottles, each worth five taels. Because they were packed in exquisite wooden boxes, the profit from each bottle was three taels and seven cents, which was reduced to three taels. However, we sold seven or eight more bottles than usual.

Some ladies from wealthy families even ordered a few bottles. How could you have guessed that putting a nice wooden box in it would help sell more bottles? "

Jia Cong smiled and said, "This is called the packaging effect. If you put it in a beautiful wooden box, the ladies will think that the things are more precious and valuable."

Qu Hongxiu frowned slightly and said, "Packaging effect. You always say some weird new words. I don't know where you learned them from."

In the past few years, Qu Hongxiu has been living with five children. They were all orphans of the Hidden Sect who were rescued by Qu Hongxiu at the risk of his life when Zhou Junxing strangled the Hidden Sect branch in Dezhou.

Ever since she killed Wu Jinrong in Shuyun Villa in revenge, she had begun to think about retiring. For two years, she has been living in seclusion in this small courtyard and has never seen Uncle Qin from Wenhan Street again.

The five children she rescued have been raised by her. She didn't want them to follow the old path of their elders, and she just wanted them to live a peaceful life.

But it is not easy to provide these children with a way to make a living.

In order to help her fulfill her wish, Jia Cong figured out a way to extract perfume and helped her open a Xiuniang Perfume Shop in the north city.

They also built an unknown incense shop at the wild temple they had visited that year, using a set of distillation and purification equipment made by Jia Cong to make perfume.

Two of the older children were asked to guard the perfume shop, and Jia Cong would go there regularly to take care of it and give instructions. Within half a year, a small assembly line for the production and sale of perfume was formed.

In this era, there were no rare items like perfume. Less than half a year after Xiuniang Perfume Shop opened, it became famous among the ladies of the wealthy families in Shenjing City.

In less than two years, Jia Cong and Qu Hongxiu had earned nearly ten thousand taels of silver.

Taking advantage of the low value of the surrounding houses, Jia Cong not only bought the yard he had originally rented, but also bought another house not far away for the five children to live in.

Let these children learn a skill and have a safe place to live.

The strange relationship between him and Qu Hongxiu became closer and stronger through these events.

In fact, in the past few years, there has been a question that has been lingering in Jia Cong's mind, that is, why did Qu Hongxiu show mercy to him in the cave that year?
Every time he wanted to bring it up, Qu Hongxiu would change the subject intentionally or unintentionally, and never mentioned her own hidden origin again, as if all of this had already gone far away from her.

(End of this chapter)