The Heavens Begin with Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 105 When Dreams Become Reality

When Lady Jia went out, the entire Rongguo Mansion was alarmed.

The stewards and the maids all ran around to prepare the sedan chair and palanquin, as well as the incense burners, fans, tents, tea, drinks, fruits and other things, and then came to invite the old ancestor to set out.

Surrounded by a crowd, dozens of people came to the East Palace in a mighty manner.

Youshi and Keqing had heard the news long ago, and they hurried over to greet her and bowed to her grandmother. She waved her hand and asked them to stand up, saying with a smile:
"I heard from Xi that she is learning martial arts now?"

"Is this true?"

Yu Shi smiled and said:

"To answer the old lady, it is indeed true."

"Before, due to the death of the eldest master, Sister Xichun was very unhappy in the mansion. Later, she suddenly proposed to learn martial arts."

"My wife thought she was just having a sudden whim and that she would not be able to endure hardships in the future, so she did not refuse. She just built a martial arts arena and asked someone to teach her some methods to train her strength, just to keep fit."

"Fortunately, the coaches and masters are all from the mansion, and all the martial arts and archery training is done in the mansion. It is not considered to be exposed to the public. Even if it is spread out, it will only be an interesting story and will not affect the girl's reputation."

Because of Mr. Zhan's frame-up before, Grandmother Jia already had a prejudice against Xichun, and was worried that this girl would do something that would bring shame to the family. Now, after listening to Youshi's explanation, she felt a little more at ease.

But when she thought of what Daiyu saw in her dream, Grandmother Jia was still a little worried.

Was that dream a precognitive dream?
"Well, if that's the case, let's go to the martial arts arena and take a look!"

You led the way and came to Huifang Garden in the East Palace. As expected, they saw a martial arts training ground there. It was spacious and flat, with a complete range of training equipment.

The people present had all grown up later, and most of them had never seen the military atmosphere in the Ning and Rong mansions before. Only Grandmother Jia was vaguely familiar with these things, and for some reason she felt a little melancholy.

She looked at the martial arts arena that was still fresh and showed almost no signs of use. She knew that the people were not lying. This was indeed a newly built thing. Xichun must have practiced for only a few days. She immediately felt relieved and smiled and waved her hand:
"Since you have practiced before, Xi girl, show us your skills so that everyone can see and understand whether Daiyu's dream is true or not."

Xichun was not polite either. She first bowed to Lady Jia and everyone else, then simply rolled up her sleeves and stepped into the martial arts arena.

The stewards and servants hurriedly set up the tables and chairs, diagonally facing the shooting range, and placed tea and snacks on the table, allowing everyone to sit down and watch.

Mr. Zhan had come here a long time ago, but he did not show up. He was just operating in secret. After everyone was seated, he quietly told the housekeeper Wu Sihai to bring up the bow and arrow, but he did not give it to Xichun, but first presented it to Lady Jia for her to examine.

At first, Grandmother Jia didn't understand why. She tried to hook the bowstring, but then she found that the bow was very heavy. She couldn't help but exclaimed:
"How many buckets of bow is this?"

Wu Sihai said respectfully:
"Madam, this is a one-stone bow."

"One stone?" Grandmother Jia's face suddenly changed. "Who can draw such a heavy bow?"

Everyone around was a layman and had no idea what was so great about this stone bow. They took the bow, tried to hook the string, and then immediately gave up and stopped trying.

Wu Sihai said:
"The fourth young lady is gifted with extraordinary talent. She has a famous teacher to teach her, and she has studied hard and practiced diligently, so she has made rapid progress."

"A bow of this stone is only used for daily training, but it is not the upper limit. If you really work hard, you can open a bow of two stones. It's just that you will be exhausted after shooting a few arrows."

Everyone then exclaimed in surprise, looking at Xichun's shocked face. They couldn't believe that such a delicate little sister could actually draw such a heavy bow.

After everyone had tried the quality of the bow, Wu Sihai held the bow and arrow and presented it to Xichun.

Xichun took the bow and arrow, took a deep breath, and then drew the bow and arrow as she usually did when practicing archery, and shot arrow after arrow at the target fifty steps away.

When others were still doubting Daiyu's ability to predict dreams, Xichun had already firmly believed it.

The figure of the man galloping on his horse on the track was clearly the freedom she had always dreamed of.

Apart from the people in Zhan Mansion, no one knew that she was practicing archery. But even the people in Zhan Mansion had never had a heart-to-heart talk with her, so they didn't know what she was like in her heart.

Mr. Zhan modified and copied Xichun's image into Daiyu's dream based on her dreams after he had "fought" with her many times in dreams. The match was absolutely super realistic, without any deviation.

The people on the sidelines watched Xichun shoot arrow after arrow, and six or seven out of ten arrows hit the target. They exclaimed in surprise and clapped their hands until they turned red.

At this point, everyone no longer had any doubts about Xichun's archery skills.

If Xichun continued to practice like this, she would probably be able to reach the level of riding a horse at full speed and shooting ten arrows in a row in the future.

By the same token, Daiyu’s dream was truly a “precognitive dream”!

This is incredible!
People these days are more superstitious, and anything related to supernatural powers is basically related to gods, demons, and monsters.

If there are benefits, everyone will flock to it.

If there are any disadvantages, either kill it or stay away from it.

This "precognitive dream" can predict the future. What a magical power it is. It must be a very beneficial thing. The maids and old women looked at her with different expressions. There was a hint of fear in their flattery.

What if the young lady dislikes someone and points her finger at him in the future, and says that she dreams that this person will harm the master in the future? Most of the masters will not be willing to take any risk.

Everyone was watching Xichun shooting arrows, but many people's minds had already flown to Daiyu. Even Baoqin, Tanchun and others could not help but keep looking in Daiyu's direction.

Only Daiyu herself was pale, and she twisted the handkerchief tightly in her hands, as if she was about to tear it into pieces. But she was a weak woman, and even though the handkerchief was crumpled into pieces, she still could not do as she wished.

How can it be?

How could it really be a precognitive dream?

Daiyu's mind was in a mess, and she stared at the figure shooting the arrows in the field, as if she wanted to swallow Xichun.

When everyone envied her for having such magical powers, she was the one who most hoped that these powers were fake.

otherwise……

Doesn't this mean that the things she was worried about were all true?
Her expression was soon noticed by Jia Mu, who was beside her, and she asked hurriedly with concern:
"Girl, what's wrong with you?"

Daiyu was asked several times by Jia's mother before she reacted. She forced a smile and said:
"It's okay, my granddaughter is just a little tired."

"Grandfather, please continue to watch Sister Xichun's martial arts performance here. I will go back first."

Grandmother Jia always knew that Daiyu was in poor health, so she did not worry too much about it. She just said a few words of concern and asked people to take good care of her and let her go back to rest, and then continued to watch Xichun's performance.

Nowadays Xichun no longer practices archery, but has changed into a set of tight clothes and started boxing.

Her boxing skills were learned from Master Zhan. It’s hard to say whether she can fight well, but it’s definitely good looking.

Each and every move was graceful and elegant, combining strength and sharpness. It was infinitely better than those performed on the streets, and it made everyone fascinated and shout for joy.

Baoqin sat next to Lady Jia and kept flattering her.

"She is indeed a descendant of a famous family. Even though she is a girl, she gave up literature and studied martial arts, yet she has such a charisma. It really shows that the family has a rich background that ordinary people cannot match."

As Grandmother Jia looked at the leaping figure in the scene, she couldn't help but recall the time when Duke Ning and Duke Rong were still alive. She processed her memory simply and merged Xichun's figure with the memory, and her heart was filled with emotion.

Since when did no one in the mansion practice martial arts anymore?

It turned out that Rongguo Mansion also had a martial arts training ground, but why did it disappear later?
Oh, it seems that the martial arts training ground has been converted into a study room, and everyone has started learning to read.

But it seemed that he did not learn anything from reading books. His eldest grandson was the most promising, but he died at a young age.

Looking at this girl Xi now, she really has some of her ancestors' charm. Maybe the Jia family is really suitable for practicing martial arts but not for studying literature.

The titles of these two mansions have been passed down to the present day, and the title of Rongguo Mansion only has two generations left. The title of Ningguo Mansion has all been lost, and the family business has fallen into such a state of decline!

If it weren't for the eldest girl's hard work and winning the emperor's favor in the palace and being made a noble concubine, I'm afraid the situation would have been bad in the future!

Then why not... simply let your descendants give up literature and learn martial arts?

Judging from the speed of Xi's progress, perhaps Lian'er and Baoyu still have time.

No, no, no, practicing martial arts is too hard, otherwise why would She'er and Zheng'er be allowed to learn literature?

After risking one's life to become a duke, one has become a noble. If one's descendants still have to work so hard, then wouldn't the title be obtained in vain?
Baoyu is my darling. He will become the top scholar and prime minister in the future. I can’t bear to let him learn martial arts.

Or... let Lian'er try practicing first?

If he really succeeds, he can then go to the army to gain some merits, and then use his elder sister's connections in the palace to at least extend his title for a few more generations!
Thinking of this, Grandmother Jia clapped her hands, asked Xichun to stop first, then waved her hand to call her to her side, praised her a few words, and then asked in a gentle voice:

"Xi girl, you have suffered a lot in the past few months of martial arts training, right?"

Hmm...it's not bitter, but a little fishy.

After hearing Lady Jia's question, Xichun's face turned slightly red, but she had just finished practicing boxing, and her face was already full of blood, so no one else noticed the change in her expression.

"It was indeed a bit hard at the beginning, but once you get through the first few months and develop a habit, it will be fine."

After hearing this, Jia's mother nodded and continued to ask:

"You were just a delicate little girl before, but now you can shoot a hard bow of one stone. I wonder how you practiced it?"

Xichun then said:

"It's all thanks to the master's guidance. He taught me the secrets of the magical skills, and with the help of diet and medicine, I have made rapid progress after practicing diligently."

"As expected." Grandmother Jia suddenly realized, "The boxing style I saw you using just now doesn't seem to be a military martial art. I wonder which master you have learned. Is he in the mansion now?"

After hesitating for a moment, Xichun betrayed Master Zhan.

"I dare not deceive the ancestor, even if it is Brother Zhan!"

"This is the Yi Jin Jing magical skill passed down in his family. It is the best way to strengthen the body and increase strength."

"My granddaughter has only practiced for a few months, but she has already achieved such results."

She didn't dare to tell the truth, for fear of scaring Lady Jia, but even so, Lady Jia was still very surprised and immediately laughed:

"Who was it I thought? It turned out to be Nian Si!"

"Such a miraculous effect must be a divine skill. He actually passed it on to you. No wonder everyone says he has a kind heart and a compassionate heart."

"Since they are all relatives, it couldn't be better."

She turned her head and looked a few times, but didn't see Lian Er, so she waved her hand and called Wang Xifeng over, and ordered:
"Look at the girl who loves him. Even a woman like him has not forgotten the traditions of her ancestors and knows how to practice martial arts diligently. And look at your boy, who is always running around in the palace and not doing his job properly!"

"When you return, ask him to prepare a generous gift and go to the Zhan family to become a disciple and learn martial arts."

"You can say that I said that he should at least be as good as Xi girl!"

"Xi is a girl, she can't be an official, she can't be a general. He is a grown man, but it's different."

"As long as he really learns some skills, I will sacrifice my reputation and go to the palace to ask for a real official position for him." When Wang Xifeng heard this, she was immediately delighted and hurriedly thanked him profusely.

She had long been dissatisfied with her man, who was flirting with other women all day long, acting as if she didn't know. He was only thinking about inheriting his father's title and had no ambition at all.

When they first got married, she didn't know how many times she and Lian Er had argued about this, but later she simply became numb and gave up.

Now that she has received the old lady's order, she will turn around and train her man as hard as she can.

Even if I can't learn any martial arts, at least I can stop him from running around in the red-light district.

After Jia's mother finished her instructions, she turned around, stared at Keqing, and said unceremoniously:
"The one at your house too, let's go together!"

"In the past, your eldest master at least had a title, so it would have been fine if he didn't seek advancement. But now that he has even lost his title, it's time for him to take over and establish a household."

Anyway, the useless man in her family has already acknowledged the master as his godfather, so it wouldn't be a big deal to acknowledge another master, so Keqing readily agreed.

Grandmother Jia turned to Mrs. Wang and said:
"I heard that Zheng'er and Nian Si have some misunderstandings. It's better to talk it out later!"

"Now our family is considered as the royal family, so he doesn't have to listen to others. We are all born into the royal family, so who is higher than who?"

Mrs. Wang did not dare to mention to Lady Jia that her family wanted to seize the title and that she had a request for help from Prince Beijing and others. She just smiled and nodded in agreement but did not give a definite answer.

When Lady Jia saw this, she just snorted coldly and ignored the matter.

Anyway, since the Zhan family has even passed on their magical skills to Xichun, they probably wouldn't mind passing them on to a few more people.

We are all powerful people, so isn't it natural for us to help each other?
What's more, his family is now royal relatives. For him, a mere viscount, to be able to curry favor with them is already a great blessing. What else does he want?

After saying this, Grandmother Jia felt tired, so she waved her hand and ordered them to return home.

There was another round of commotion among the crowd, and after escorting Lady Jia back, everyone dispersed.

Let’s not talk about how Wang Xifeng dealt with Jia Lian, let’s just talk about Baoqin. After she went back to see her father and brother, she found that all her luggage had been moved into the mansion and she was temporarily staying there.

However, the family of three lived separately.

The two men, Master Xue Er and Master Xue Ke, were placed in the outer courtyard, and Master Zheng's outer study was tidied up and used to accommodate the two.

Baoqin was favored by Grandmother Jia and was assigned to live by her side with Daiyu in a small courtyard in Rongqing Hall.

In the original book, this was Baochai's place, but after Baochai came this time, she has been staying in Lixiang Courtyard. She usually keeps her status confidential and never tries to curry favor with Lady Jia, so she has never lived in Rongqing Hall.

Baoqin had a similar temperament to Baochai, and with her efforts to please her, she easily won Grandmother Jia's favor and replaced Baochai's position in the original book and moved in.

Because she was so favored, even though the Xue family father and son lived in the outer courtyard, they still received a lot of attention and no one looked down on them.

Especially since they behaved in a similar manner to Aunt Xue and others when they entered the mansion, throwing money everywhere, which naturally won the favor of many people.

The next day, the second master of the Xue family asked Baoqin to pass on the message before he officially went to Lixiangyuan to visit his sister-in-law.

Aunt Xue has long given up on the Xue family. She just wants to hand over the job of imperial merchant to them securely and then cut off all ties with them.

When the Xue family came over, Aunt Xue exchanged a few polite words with them, then had the account books and other things brought out and placed on the table, waving her hand and saying:
"Now all the relevant accounts are here. Second Master can have someone take them back and check them slowly. I have not been feeling well recently, so I will not keep you here for long."

Mr. Xue Er originally wanted to reminisce about the past and talk about some past events to lay some emotional foundation, but when he saw that he was about to be kicked out, he didn't care about face anymore, so he waved his hand to drive Xue Ke and Bao Qin out, and then said directly:

"Sister-in-law, before I came here, I heard that Baochai's old illness relapsed and now she doesn't have much time left?"

"Why didn't sister-in-law inform the family earlier about this matter?"

After hearing this, Aunt Xue frowned and said unhappily:

"It had a seizure a few days ago, but now I've hired a famous doctor and it's under control."

Yesterday, Master Xue II spent a lot of money to get information, among which was the matter of three women fighting for a husband. Now he just thought she was just pretending, so he sighed:
"We are all family members, so there is no need for sister-in-law to hide things from me."

"If the so-called famous doctors were really effective, they wouldn't have relied on that bald monk to prescribe the medicine back then."

"The medicines on that prescription are so rare and intricate that it took all the family members working together to finally put together the prescription."

"Now that my eldest brother passed away early, my eldest sister-in-law doesn't have any capable people at her disposal. It's so difficult to get all the medicines. How can we really control the disease?"

"Sister-in-law, just confess it!"

Originally, the illness was fake, and Aunt Xue had no way to explain it to him, and was even more unwilling to explain it to him, so she simply threw her sleeves and snorted:
"Don't worry about Baochai's affairs, Second Master. You should go and check the accounts of the Royal Merchant!"

Seeing her unhappy face, Master Xue Er became more convinced of his own judgment, so he smiled and said:
"You can't write two Xue characters with one stroke. We have no choice but to take responsibility for Baochai's affairs. We cannot just sit back and watch."

"We had already discussed it before we came here. We will definitely help with all our heart and soul to prepare all the ingredients on the prescription and save Baochai's life."

If it were the old Aunt Xue, after hearing him say this, she would have been fooled by him and would have burst into tears of gratitude.

But Aunt Xue had already lost interest in the Xue family and didn't believe that they would be so kind. Her first reaction after hearing this was that they must have other plans, so she asked directly:

"In that case, I would like to thank you uncles, but I don't know how my family should thank you."

Master Xue stroked his beard and said sanctimoniously:
"Sister-in-law knows about Baochai's illness, which has lasted for many years and has not been cured. Although we will definitely do our best to help maintain her condition, it is hard to say how Baochai will perform in the future."

"My Xue family and the Zhan family have been friends for generations. In order to maintain the relationship between the two families, my eldest brother arranged for Baochai and nephew Zhan to get engaged before he died."

"This is a good thing, but if Baochai is in poor health and stays bedridden after the wedding, or even dies soon after, that would be bad, and would ruin the relationship between the Xue and Zhan families."

"After discussing it with several families, we feel that the marriage agreement between the two families must be kept, but we must give nephew Zhan a healthy bride."

"Therefore, it is best to transfer the marriage contract between the two families from the eldest branch to my second branch, and let Baoqin take charge."

"But don't worry, sister-in-law. When Baochai gets better, I will definitely find a good match for her and let her marry off in style."

In fact, what the Xue family had discussed before was to let Baochai marry a man, but things had to be done step by step and not too hastily.

Anyway, as long as the engagement between Zhan Niansi and Xue Baochai is turned into an engagement between the Zhan and Xue families, it will basically be a combination of interests and it won't matter who becomes the bride.

Get the marriage contract first, then there is no need to rush for other things. He can slowly deal with Baochai and the others.

Although she had long known that the Xue family was extremely shameless and had no regard for their in-laws, Aunt Xue was still trembling with anger after hearing his shameless words.

What a bullshit engagement between the Zhan and Xue families!
Fortunately, he made up the lie so perfectly that it was difficult to find a point to refute it.

If this were really told to people outside who don't know the truth, I'm afraid they would actually believe it is true!

It’s a pity that this crappy engagement was fake from the beginning, and the Zhan family has no relationship with the Xue family at all!

Fortunately, I recognized the true face of this group of people, otherwise I would probably be schemed against by them in the future!
After Aunt Xue knew their purpose, she stopped pretending to be nice and stood up, slapped Master Xue in the face, and then spat on his face.

"Pooh!"

"I'm going to blind your minds!"

"You black-hearted maggots!"

"You just thought I knew nothing!"

"You gave money to Jia Yucun, the prefect of Yingtian Prefecture, to help me kill my son and make him die suddenly!"

"But you don't know?"

"Jia Yucun's resurgence is due to the relationship between the Jia and Wang mansions. Just send a letter to Master Zheng and he will reveal all your sneaky tricks!"

"Isn't it this status as an imperial merchant that you have been working so hard for?"

"Now this thing is no longer rare in my family. If you want it, I'll give it to you. Just take it!"

"After we get this, our two families will completely sever ties and have no relationship anymore!"

"You beasts who even scheme against your own nephews and nieces, get out of here and never show up in front of me again!"

Master Xue was so slapped that he fell off his chair and sat on the ground. He felt dizzy and his head was buzzing as if hundreds of flies were buzzing in it. When he opened his mouth, several big teeth and blood came out.

He covered his swollen cheek and looked in horror at his sister-in-law opposite him, who was pointing and cursing like a female demon, as if he had just met her for the first time.

After having known each other for many years, he had no idea that this seemingly soft and gentle sister-in-law was actually so aggressive and had such great strength.

Little did he know that this was because Aunt Xue was careful and restrained her strength, otherwise the veiled monster that had been poached many times by Master Zhan would have been able to blow his head off with one slap.

Aunt Xue pointed at his nose, cursed him loudly, then kicked him over and walked away.

Master Xue gasped on the ground for a long time before he recovered. He struggled to get up, feeling shocked and angry. Thinking of what Aunt Xue had just said, he couldn't help but secretly hate the evil Jia Yucun.

Regarding the previous matter of Xue Pan, they gave Jia Yucun a lot of money, and the effect was very good. Jia Yucun caused Xue Pan to die suddenly.

Originally they were very satisfied with this, and later when Jia Yucun was the prefect, they cooperated very well in many things. But now, after hearing what Aunt Xue said, Jia Yucun turned around and sold them out.

What’s funny is that they knew nothing about this and after being sold by Jia Yucun, they were still counting money for him!

These officials are so fucking evil-minded!

I will write a letter back home to make Jia Yucun suffer!

He was secretly furious in his heart, he raised his arms, covered his face with his sleeves and walked out the door.

Xue Ke and his sister were waiting for him outside. They had seen Aunt Xue and her maid come out angrily and leave quickly, without answering them. They were confused and uncertain, and now when they saw their father coming out, they hurried over to ask what had happened.

As a result, when they met, they saw that half of Master Xue's face was swollen like a pig's head, and they were immediately shocked.

"Master, what's going on?"

"Who hit the master?"

Master Xue waved his hand with a gloomy face and said vaguely:

"Don't rush to take over the Royal Merchants' accounts. I think there are probably problems with them."

"I just raised a few questions, but your aunt got angry and punched me."

"Father, considering that she is a woman, has not bothered with her. Let's go back first and talk about it later."

When Xue Ke Baoqin heard this, she immediately became furious. While helping her father back home, she hurriedly took out some silver and asked someone to invite a royal physician to treat his injuries.

Thanks to the book friend "塌手小松许" for the reward of 100 coins!


(End of this chapter)