The Red Mansion: From a Small Pawn to a Leader

In February, all things come back to life, which is a good time to enjoy flowers.

The plum blossoms on the hillside of Tuobi Villa are still in full bloom, with fragrance and gorgeous red.

Lin Daiyu helped Jia's mother out of the plum forest, smiling and saying, "Our place is small, not as big as the palace built for the empress to visit her parents. From afar, clusters of brilliant plum blossoms are scattered, echoing each other at the foot, middle and top of the mountain, magnificent and gorgeous."

Grandmother Jia smiled and nodded at her: "You have a mouth that makes people love and hate you."

Everyone laughed when they heard this.

Lin Daiyu covered her mouth and smiled. That day, Jia Mu and others came in a hurry and left in a hurry, so they were not entertained properly. So she invited Jia Mu and others to come for an outing, enjoy the flowers and have a simple meal today.

Grandmother Jia held Lin Daiyu's hand and asked as they walked down the hill, "What about that matter?"

Lin Daiyu understood that Jia's mother was asking about the Queen's adoption of her daughter, and she answered softly, "According to the time, my father just received the letter. Even if it is an urgent 600-mile trip, it will take three days to receive the reply."

Grandmother Jia nodded: "What do you think?"

Lin Daiyu smiled bitterly: "What else can I think of? Just think of it as an extra salary."

Grandmother Jia glanced at her and said, "It's good that you think so. The arm can never twist the thigh." As she said this, she glanced at Lady Xing, Aunt Xue and the golden hairpins who were following closely behind her, and sighed, "People from small families are superficial. They only see the bright and beautiful surface, but they don't know the dangers and calculations behind it."

Lin Daiyu smiled, then pretended to be surprised: "Is there any sinister plot behind this?"

Grandmother Jia said unhappily: "You are so talkative!"

Lin Daiyu changed the subject: "I asked the kitchen to cook a pot of red rice porridge and fried a few pieces of marinated pheasant meat."

Grandmother Jia nodded and smiled, "Thank you for thinking of this. This pheasant meat should be marinated and fried to go with porridge, it will taste even better, salty and juicy." As she spoke, she walked to the foot of the mountain and said to Wang Xifeng who was following Mrs. Xing, "You always say at home that I love Miss Lin. I mentioned this idea of ​​fried pheasant meat with porridge to Miss Lin, and she remembered it."

Mrs. Xing, Aunt Xue, Jia Yingchun, Jia Tanchun, Jia Xichun, Xue Baochai and Xue Baoqin all looked at Wang Xifeng.

Wang Xifeng's once very thin face now looked much plumper. She came over with a smile and took Jia's other arm, "What the old ancestor said is right. Miss Lin is the most filial to you!"

At the same time, she smiled bitterly in her heart. How could she compare with Lin Daiyu? As long as she told them everything, the housekeeper would arrange everything properly. But what about her? Although her situation was much better than before, she could never go back to the past. All this was thanks to Madam Wang and Wang Ren, especially Madam Wang. Just wait, she would definitely take revenge.

Grandmother Jia glanced at her and said to Lin Daiyu, "Go back on foot."

Lin Daiyu smiled and nodded, then said to Wang Xifeng, "Bring the eldest sister here when you have nothing to do. I like that girl very much."

Wang Xifeng's eyes lit up: "It's still a little cold in the morning and evening. Wait a couple of days, and I'll bring her over to pay her respects to you."

Lin Daiyu: "Then I'll wait."

As they were talking, the group came to the river bank. Although there was no peach blossom in March with fireworks, it was still very beautiful.

Wang Xifeng smiled and said, "Wait until mid-March, when the peach blossoms are in full bloom and the willows are green, that will be beautiful."

Grandmother Jia stopped and looked carefully. The waterway was long and narrow, with swaying willows. Then she smiled and nodded, and said to Lin Daiyu, "It would be nice to build a small and exquisite white marble bridge here. The willows on both sides of the river brushing the water, the slender river, and the white marble bridge, this is the charm of Jiangnan."

Lin Daiyu blinked her eyes. There was a white jade bridge on the long embankment in Yangzhou.

Seeing that Lady Jia was interested, Wang Xifeng immediately said, "Let's rest here, drink some tea, and enjoy the scenery."

Grandmother Jia smiled and nodded.

Lin Daiyu raised her hand, and immediately a maid swept the stone benches under the peach trees and folded the large brocade mattress into several layers and placed it on the benches.

Only then did Lin Daiyu help Lady Jia sit down. Madam Xing and Aunt Xue sat down on the stone benches beside them. Jia Yingchun, Jia Tanchun, Jia Xichun and Xue Baoqin sat together chatting and laughing.

The housekeeper's wife quickly took out the teapot from the tea basket and poured tea into it.

Wang Xifeng was surprised: "Oh, it's different now that he's been conferred the title of Duke. He even uses the Ru kiln teapot to make tea."

Lin Daiyu suppressed her laughter and said, "If you like it, I'll give it to you."

Wang Xifeng was surprised and delighted: "This is too expensive."

Aunt Xue was secretly surprised. How could he be so generous?

Grandmother Jia smiled and nodded at Wang Xifeng: "Pah, everyone says you have seen everything, but you don't even recognize this teapot."

Wang Xifeng saw Lin Daiyu laughing, and she reacted and glared at her, which meant: You have learned bad things. She took the tea bowl from the housekeeper's wife with both hands and handed it to Jia's mother, "Good ancestor, please teach me."

Grandmother Jia took the tea bowl and took a sip, then she smiled and said, "This is an imitation of Ru porcelain made by the imperial kiln in Jingdezhen, and is used exclusively in the palace." Then she turned to Lin Daiyu, "Is this a reward from the palace?"

Lin Daiyu smiled and nodded.

At this time, Xue Baochai came over with a bowl of tea and said softly, "Miss, tea."

Lin Daiyu took the tea bowl very naturally, then nodded with a smile.

Seeing Lady Jia and Wang Xifeng looking at her, Xue Baochai blushed, then smiled slightly, took a bowl of tea from the housekeeper's wife, and handed it to Aunt Xue.

Wang Xifeng held back her laughter and looked at Lin Daiyu gossipingly.

Lin Daiyu glared at her, then silently said three words, "Aunt."

Wang Xifeng was startled, took the tea bowl from the housekeeper's wife, and held Mrs. Xing in both hands.

Seeing this, Jia's mother laughed and said, "You are a bad girl."

Lin Daiyu covered her mouth and smiled.

Grandmother Jia glanced at Xue Baochai and was about to say something.

There was a sound of hurried footsteps and everyone looked over.

The maid from Rongguo Mansion came over excitedly and reported to Grandmother Jia: "Madam, good news. Second Master Lian just sent a servant to say that the emperor is so generous that the master of the East Palace has entered the cabinet."

Grandmother Jia stood up suddenly: "Really?!"

The old woman said: "Mr. Lian said to tell the old lady first to make her happy."

Grandmother Jia was very excited and said "good" three times in a row, then put her hands together, thinking that with the blessing of her ancestors, the Jia family would prosper again and no longer have to worry about the future. Even if Jia Lian could not take over Jia Jing's position in the future, with the prince's high regard for him, he would definitely be the minister of the six ministries. Jia Lan was a good student and could pass the imperial examination to become an official in the future.

In the palace, there are Concubine De and His Royal Highness Prince An. In the outer court, there are the Li family, the Lin family, the Shi family, and the help of the old relatives. As long as the emperor does not deliberately target the Jia family, the Jia family can rest assured in the future!
Grandmother Jia suddenly thought of Jia Zheng and hoped that he would not cause any more trouble.

Thinking of this, Jia's mother said to Lin Daiyu, "Let's go and have some porridge."

Little did Lady Jia know that Jia Zheng was in trouble again.

The Henan Provincial Administration Office was located in Kaifeng Prefecture. As Kaifeng City was severely damaged, Jia Zheng had been working in Luoyang. Also, because the court had not appointed a new governor of Henan, he became the highest official here.

Outside the Luoyang government office, there was a sea of ​​kneeling people from the suburbs. In front of the crowd were more than a dozen corpses covered with white cloth, and dozens of women and children in mourning clothes were kneeling on the ground, wailing bitterly.

A row of officers with swords on their shoulders stood in front of the stone steps, looking nervously at the people kneeling there.

Jia Zheng, wearing the official uniform of the provincial governor, was standing on the stone steps in front of the gate with a gloomy face.

Zhou Rui stood beside him with a grim face.

Suddenly, Jia Zheng started to cough and gasp loudly.

Zhou Rui hurried forward to give him a back massage.

After his coughing and wheezing subsided a little, Jia Zheng said, "Go and arrest them! Arrest them all!"

Zhou Rui: "Without any witnesses or physical evidence, who can we arrest? Besides, who would dare to arrest anyone?!"

Jia Zheng coughed and shouted, "Why is he so arrogant? His son is the governor of Anhui, and I am the governor of Henan. I am not afraid of him!"

Zhou Rui smiled bitterly: "There is no evidence!"

Jia Zheng's face turned blue with anger, and he shouted, "Let's go find him! I don't believe that there won't be any clues left!"

Zhou Rui sighed. How to find it? This incident was obviously a counterattack by the gentry in Luoyang Prefecture. The imperial court first promoted the "tax-tax system", which made them pay a lot more silver every year. Now their land was distributed to the people. How could they swallow this!
At this time, a burst of hurried horse hoof sounds came over, and everyone looked over.

An officer came galloping over here at the whip of his horse. When he reached the stone lion, he jumped off his horse, ran to Jia Zheng and whispered a few words.

Jia Zheng was overjoyed. Li Hu finally came! (End of this chapter)