Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

Chapter 82: Fame of Calligraphy (Please save and read!)

Jia Cong returned home on the second day of August.

At this time, Jia's mother's birthday banquet had been held for two days.

The Jia family is the top noble family in the Great Zhou Dynasty, and Lady Jia is a super-ranking lady of the country. The Jia family has been prosperous since the founding of the country, and its position among the four kings and eight dukes is very important.

Princes and nobles, colleagues in the court, old subordinates in the army, the eight families of Shenjing, the twelve families of Jinling, and the relatives and families of Wang, Shi, Xue, etc. will all come to celebrate the birthday.

In late July, the Ministry of Rites received an imperial decree and bestowed upon Mrs. Rongguo a gold and jade ruyi, four pieces of colorful satin, four gold and jade cups each, and five hundred taels of silver.

From then on, there was an endless stream of old friends and relatives from both the government and the opposition coming to send gifts.

As there were too many guests, they were afraid that the banquet would not be able to be arranged, so Jia Zheng, Jia She, Jia Lian and others decided to hold the birthday banquet from the first to the third day of August.

Ningguo Mansion and Rongguo Mansion held banquets together. Ningguo Mansion only invited official guests, while Rongguo Mansion only invited guests from the hall.

On the first day of August, the emperor's relatives, the emperor's son-in-law, the four princes, the eight dukes, the governors of the various cabinets and the imperial edicts and their relatives were invited to the palace.

On the second day of August, invite all officials and officials, imperial edicts, close friends and wives of the capital, elderly relatives of the Wang, Shi, and Xue families, relatives and guests of the twelve branches of the Jinling clan;
It was not until the third day of August that Jia She and Jia Zheng jointly held a birthday banquet for the old lady, and it was also hosted by Jia Zhen and Jia Rong of the Ning Mansion.

After that, there was a birthday banquet organized by Lai Dalin's Zhixiao and other family members, which I will not go into details.

……

Jia Cong had just arrived at the Jia Mansion and was unloading his luggage in Qingzhizhai. He had not yet had time to meet Yingchun and other sisters in the garden.

Jia Zheng called him and Baoyu to Ningguo Mansion to entertain guests, and also brought along Zhan Guang, Cheng Rixing, Hu Silai, Shan Pinren and other guests to help.

As Jia Cong walked along, he saw that both mansions were decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations, screens with phoenixes, and mattresses with lotus flowers.

The sounds of sheng, xiao and drums can be heard in the streets and alleys.

Among the guests invited to the banquet at Ningguo Mansion today were some of Jia She, Jia Zheng, Jia Zhen and other colleagues and superiors.

Although Jia She and Jia Zhen and their ilk were wealthy and powerful officials who did not sit in the imperial court, they still had to maintain good relationships with their colleagues in the same department.

Among them, four doctors from the four departments of the Ministry of Works were all present. In terms of official position, Jia Zheng was a fifth-rank deputy minister, and these four doctors were fifth-rank officials, and they were all Jia Zheng's superiors.

The presence of four superiors from the department to congratulate him was considered enough of an honor to Jia Zheng, so he was naturally overjoyed and greeted them warmly.

Although Jia Zheng's official position in the Ministry of Works was not high, he was the legitimate son of the Duke of Rong and came from a prominent family. He also lived in Rong Xi Tang of the Rongguo Mansion built by imperial decree at the instruction of the palace, and had a distinguished status.

In addition, Jia Zheng has always been kind to others, lives a mediocre life, and has no ambition to move up in the Ministry of Works, so he is very popular in the yamen.

His official position is not high, but the Ningrong Mansion has extremely rich background and connections, and maybe one day he will be of use.

Therefore, colleagues and superiors in the Ministry of Works were willing to give face to this good-natured man with a prominent family background.

It was the birthday of Mrs. Jia, the Queen Mother. How could these old officials not show up to celebrate?

Even Li Dekang, the Minister of Works, although he did not show up in person, asked other colleagues to bring gifts, and he also specifically asked Jia Zheng for a piece of Jia Cong's calligraphy.

Li Dekang was worldly-wise and thoughtful. After all, the doctor of the Four Departments was only half a level higher than Jia Zheng and was among his colleagues, so it was not surprising for him to come to celebrate his birthday.

But Li Dekang is the Vice Minister of Works and a popular candidate for the next Grand Marshal of Works, so his identity is sensitive.

If a vice minister goes to celebrate the birthday of the mother of a deputy minister, he will be suspected of currying favor with a powerful and wealthy family, and the censor will impeach him the next day.

So he showed his courtesy but the person was not there, and he also came up with an excuse to ask Jia Cong for calligraphy, and no one could find any fault with him.

……

The reason why Li Dekang could criticize Jia Cong's calligraphy was because Jia Cong's calligraphy had become very famous in the past two years.

The reason was that somehow, the news that the emperor had collected Jia Cong's calligraphy of the Heart Sutra gradually spread. Many people traced the source and found that Prince Jiashun invited Jia Cong to participate in the Nanxi Literary Society because he valued his excellent calligraphy.

When Emperor Wenzong Liu Yanxiu met with old friends, he also inadvertently praised Jia Cong's calligraphy.

These information gradually came together, causing the value of Jia Cong's calligraphy to double in the past two years.

When Xiao Jindong was an unknown figure in Jia Cong's family, he received four pieces of calligraphy from him. Later, he sold two of them for a high price of one hundred taels.

By the time he realized what was going on, it was too late to regret, so he treated the remaining two pieces of calligraphy as precious treasures and placed them in his shop on Wenhan Street as store treasures.

It is said that countless people who love calligraphy come to the store to watch and appreciate it, which has increased Xiao Jindong's business by 30% to 40%.

Jia Zheng felt that it was an honor to take his nephew Jia Cong, who had a great reputation in literature, out to entertain guests.

He somewhat regretted not letting him return home two days earlier, otherwise it would have been a decent move in front of the princes and nobles, but it was also not good to disrupt his studies in the academy.

Back then, Jia She asked Jia Cong to write something to give to someone, but Jia Cong slapped him in the face in front of outsiders.

However, he would not do such a thing towards Jia Zheng, who had always been kind to him.

He immediately stepped forward and expressed his humility. In the past two years, he had been in Qingshan Academy, and all the teachers and principals he met were great scholars. Under their influence, he also had a magnanimous demeanor in dealing with people.

It was completely different from Baoyu, who despised the stench of the traitor and the corrupt official in his heart but was hesitant to deal with it outwardly.

This scene made Jia Zheng more satisfied with Jia Cong's attitude towards others, and he became even more angry and disgusted with Baoyu's timidity.

Jia Zhen heard that Jia Cong wanted to leave a message for the Minister of Works, so he had someone prepare the best writing brush, ink, paper and inkstone, and Jia Cong wrote it in class.

In fact, when Jia Zheng just came in, everyone had already noticed Jia Cong behind him.

In the past two years, Jia Cong has grown from a skinny bastard of the Jia family into a handsome and elegant young man.

As soon as he followed Jia Zheng into the main hall of Ningguo, almost everyone present noticed this handsome and elegant young man.

Baoyu, who has always been as beautiful as a flower in the spring morning, not only fails to seize Jia Cong's influence when standing next to him, but instead seems to be somewhat overshadowed.

When the doctors from the four departments of the Ministry of Works knew that the young man before them with extremely outstanding appearance was actually the creator of a new style of calligraphy that had become famous in the calligraphy world of the capital in recent years.

There was a look of shock in their eyes. How old was this young man, yet he had such outstanding calligraphy skills? This kind of talent was truly one in a million.

Jia Cong had heard Jia Zheng say that the Minister of Works had greatly admired his poem "卜算子", so he immediately rewrote the poem and asked several doctors in the Ministry of Works to pass it on.

In the past two years, Jia Cong has been studying in Luocang Mountain, and he has not neglected the art of calligraphy. He has been practicing his pen skills every day without fail.

His calligraphy is more refined and sophisticated than it was two years ago, and has gradually reached perfection.

Most of the guests attending the banquet in Ningguo Mansion today are officials from various departments in the capital, and almost all of them are officials from the imperial examination system. Only a very small number of them are officials who have gained official positions through imperial favor, like Jia Zheng.

These people had studied hard for ten years and were all connoisseurs of value. As soon as Jia Cong finished a piece of calligraphy, it immediately drew praise from everyone in the room.

Qiu Qingyuan, Langzhong of the Du Shui Qingli Division of the Ministry of Works, was also a calligraphy enthusiast and praised it highly.

He said, "Cunzhou, your Jia family is about to produce a master of calligraphy, what a cause for celebration!
People like you and me work hard all our lives and gain a little fame and fortune, but in the end they are nothing but passing clouds. Who will remember them a hundred years later?

But your nephew's elegant calligraphy will be passed down through the ages and will be immortal!
The Jia family is indeed a wealthy family with extraordinary luck and fortune. They have produced such an outstanding son. I really envy them."

When Jia Zheng saw this scene and heard such praise from his colleagues, he felt so happy that he felt dizzy.

Looking at the handsome Jia Cong, her eyes were full of admiration and love. How old is Cong, and yet he can be like this? It's really... enviable.

Jia She, who was standing by, was filled with anger when he saw this scene.

(End of this chapter)