The Red Mansion: From a Small Pawn to a Leader

As Xuzhou City fell, bad news came one after another. Express mail from Jiangsu and Anhui arrived almost every day. As a close minister to the emperor, Bangyanlang was busy every day.

Only about three quarters of an hour had passed since he left the study room when the second place candidate returned with a stack of official documents and realized that there had been a new development. The door of the main hall was closed tightly and the eunuch on duty was guarding it.

The runner-up was stunned for a moment, but still walked over lightly.

The eunuch on duty hurried down the steps and greeted him.

The runner-up lowered his voice and asked, "Who's here?"

The eunuch on duty said: "The loyal and brave Marquis is back."

The runner-up was surprised: "Li Hu is back?"

The eunuch on duty reminded him, "You should address him as Marquis, General Li, or Minister Li."

The runner-up suddenly came to his senses, realizing that he had spoken rashly, and nodded in appreciation.

The eunuch on duty said: "The emperor has ordered that no one is allowed to enter. You'd better wait here, Mr. Bang." After saying that, he turned around and walked back to the palace gate.

The second place candidate's eyes flashed. The emperor should be asking Li Hu about the war in the Central Plains, which shows that Li Hu has an extraordinary position in the emperor's heart. Now is not the best time to overthrow Li Hu and use him as a stepping stone. Well, I have to remind the third place to control his temper.

Thinking of this, he glanced at the tightly closed palace door, then turned and walked towards the gate of the Qianqing Palace.

After walking less than three or five steps, the runner-up suddenly heard the palace door behind him open with a "click"!
The eunuch on duty said, "Grandfather, Lord Marquis."

The second place student suddenly stopped, turned around slowly, and saw the dusty Li Hu at a glance. He thought, is this Li Hu? He looks too ordinary, um, quite tall. If he hadn't been in the palace and heard the eunuch on duty call him, who would have thought that the man in plain clothes in front of him was the loyal and brave Marquis Li Hu who turned the tide of the war with his own strength and frightened the Mongols!

Dai Quan accompanied Li Hu down the stone steps.

The second place candidate held the document in both hands and bowed slightly, "Secretary Li, Minister Li."

Dai Quan introduced with a smile: "The second place winner of the special examination. The emperor carefully read the second place winner's two examination papers and praised him for his good reading."

Li Hu just smiled and nodded, then continued walking out of the palace gate.

When the footsteps faded away, the runner-up raised his head, looked at Li Hu's receding back, and quickly walked into the study.

As Dai Quan walked away, he said to Li Hu, "You really pissed off the Tartar emperor this time, but he didn't find any evidence against you, so he could only send someone to complain."

Li Hu smiled.

Dai Quan: "Fukang'an also sued you."

Li Hu stopped walking: "What do you mean?"

Dai Quan: "They said you were dishonest and didn't do your job after receiving money." At this point, he couldn't help laughing. "I've lived for so many years, but this is the first time I've seen the Jurchens protest. During the reign of the Emperor, they would march south in large numbers if something went against their will. The situation has really changed!"

He paused, "What a pity. If there had not been this rebellion, or if there had been enough food, the imperial court could have gathered a large army and marched north to join forces with Fu Kang'an to destroy the Jurchen Tartars."

Li Hu took another step forward. The current situation was caused by him and Shui Rong, but more importantly, it was due to the mutual calculations between Emperor Yongchang and Qian Xiaosi. They used Fu Kang'an and food respectively to drag down the other side.

As the old saying goes, to resist foreign aggression, one must first stabilize the internal situation. The Dashun and the Jurchens will then focus on suppressing internal rebellion.

Dai Quan suddenly remembered: "Oh, by the way, you can't underestimate these three top scorers of the special examination. In just a few months, they not only tied the special examination scholars together, but also won over many clean officials."

Li Hu raised his eyebrows: "Such a blatant clique, the censors don't impeach and investigate? The emperor doesn't care? Where is the law of the court?"

Dai Quan smiled bitterly and thought: The king's law, the king's law, is the law of the royal family! If the emperor says it is a party, then it is a party, and if he says it is not, then it is not.

Before walking out of the palace gate, Li Hu saw Zhao Tong waiting outside the palace gate.

When Zhao Tong saw Li Hu coming out, he immediately came over and said with a smile, "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said that he will not be seen today. General Li, please go back home and reunite with your family as soon as possible."

After hearing this, Li Hu bowed in the direction of Yuqing Palace and thought that the prince was really capable, unlike his father who had the face of a capitalist.

Dai Quan smiled and said, "I won't delay General Li. Alas, you haven't said when you will get married."

Li Hu: "I promised my father-in-law that I would go through the coming-of-age ceremony."

Dai Quan: "That's good. Shandong really can't leave your father-in-law for a while."

Li Hu: "Can you tell me what position my father-in-law held after he came to Beijing, the cabinet or an official in one of the six ministries?"

Dai Quan: "Do you think there is still a cabinet?"

Li Hu was slightly stunned. Indeed, the current cabinet was in name only. There was no Prime Minister or Deputy Prime Minister, only two Grand Secretaries who made up the numbers.

Dai Quan: "Okay, go back quickly."

Li Hu nodded and said to Zhao Tong, "Please tell the prince that I will come over after breakfast tomorrow."

Zhao Tong: "Yes." Li Hu said a few more words to Dai Quan, then turned and walked towards the Meridian Gate.

Grain in Ear is not only a busy solar term for farming, but also a custom for sending off the flower god.

During the Grain in Ear season, all flowers begin to wither and the flower god abdicates. People often hold ceremonies to worship the flower god on this day to send her off, express gratitude to her and look forward to meeting her again next year.

Of course, ordinary people were busy harvesting food.

There were wars going on both in the north and the south, and the emperor had just lost a son. No family dared to submit a petition to request their queen to return home to visit her parents, so the Jia family's villa for visiting her parents remained closed.

After discussing it, Jia Yingchun, Jia Tanchun, Jia Xichun, Xue Baochai, Xue Baoqin and Shi Xiangyun came to Li's residence yesterday and got up early today. They made sedan chairs and horses out of flower petals and willow branches, or made pennants and banners out of silk, brocade and gauze, all tied with colorful threads. In the back garden, every tree and every flower was tied with these things. The whole garden was filled with fluttering embroidered ribbons and glamorous flowers. In addition, the golden hairpins made the peaches ashamed and the willows jealous, and the swallows were jealous and the orioles were ashamed. The whole garden was more glorious.

After seeing off the goddess of flowers, the golden hairpins drank wine and composed poetry in the waterside pavilion, and they were all drunk.

There were several crystal bottles lying scattered on the ground, and the last one was filled with red wine.

Shi Xiangyun picked up the crystal bottle, pulled out the crystal cork, and poured wine into Lin Daiyu's cup first, then the three sisters of the Jia family, and then Xue Baochai. Xue Baoqin did not dare to let her pour the wine. She took the crystal bottle with both hands, poured wine into the cup in front of Shi Xiangyun, and finally poured all into her own cup.

Shi Xiangyun blinked her eyes and said with a smile: "We have composed the poem, the couplet, and played the drinking game twice. Let's play finger-guessing games!"

The golden hairpins smiled at each other.

Shi Xiangyun pulled Lin Daiyu to play finger-guessing with her, shouting "three" and "five". Jia Xichun also pulled Jia Yingchun to play finger-guessing with her, shouting "seven" and "eight". Jia Tanchun and Xue Baoqin also played finger-guessing with their wrists, and the only sound was the jingling of the bracelets on their wrists.

Xue Baochai picked up the wine glass, took a sip, and looked at them with a smile.

Suddenly, a man's voice came in: "Wow, where did these drunkards come from?!"

The pavilion suddenly became quiet. All the ladies were startled at first, then they all looked towards the door and were stunned again.

Who else is standing by the door if not Li Hu!
Xue Baochai was the first to react. She quickly stood up and left the table. She took two steps forward, bowed, and said, "My Lord."

Jia Yingchun, Jia Tanchun, Jia Xichun, Shi Xiangyun, and Xue Baoqin followed closely behind, bowing together and saying, "Brother-in-law Lin! Lord Marquis!"

Li Hu smiled and nodded continuously: "Don't be so polite, don't be so polite." But his eyes were always fixed on Lin Daiyu who was still sitting there.

Lin Daiyu seemed to have just come to her senses. She slowly stood up and left the table. Then she slowly walked to Li Hu, knelt down and bowed, and said softly, "Second brother."

Li Hu bowed in return and said with a smile, "I'm back."

Xue Baochai's eyes flashed. She didn't know what was going on outside. Among the people she had seen, Li Hu would only bow to Lin Daiyu.

Shi Xiangyun: "Brother-in-law Lin, when did you come back?"

Li Hu looked at Lin Daiyu and replied, "Just got back."

Shi Xiangyun wanted to say something but was pulled out by Xue Baochai.

All the golden hairpins and maids followed him out.

Only Li Hu and Lin Daiyu are left here.

Li Hu looked at her with a smile, then clapped his hands and opened his arms.

Lin Daiyu curled her lips, her face full of grievance, which meant: Why did you come back just now!

Li Hu stepped forward and hugged her in his arms, patting her back gently: "Cry if you want to."

Lin Daiyu laughed out of anger, and her small hands twisted Li Hu's waist skillfully, and then rubbed him, all in one smooth motion.

Li Hu laughed and lowered his head to kiss her, but was stopped by Lin Daiyu: "No, someone is watching us."

Li Hu looked back and saw two figures, one big and one small, flashing by at the bridgehead. He knew without a doubt that they were Shi Xiangyun and Jia Xichun.

Lin Daiyu twisted her body and said, "Let me go."

Li Hu: "Give me a kiss."

Lin Daiyu: "No, I have rouge on my lips. Xiangyun is very sharp-eyed." Seeing that Li Hu still didn't let go, she said coquettishly: "Oh~ They will laugh at me soon, good brother~"

Li Hu smiled and said, "When they leave, you have to kiss them a few more times!"

Lin Daiyu pursed her lips: "Rogue!"

Li Hu then let her go and said with a smile, "I'm hungry."

Lin Daiyu said "hmm" and walked to the door: "Zijuan."

Li Hu sat on the chair and closed his eyes. It felt so good to be home! (End of this chapter)