The Heavens Begin with Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 176 Yuanchun Wants to Cultivate Immortality

Seeing how shameless Aunt Zhao was, not only did she sell her daughter for fame and fortune, but she was even willing to sacrifice her own family, Mrs. Wang could not help but feel great hatred in her heart and believed that she was a great threat to her family.

However, Aunt Zhao was now in the possession of Mr. Zhan and no longer under the jurisdiction of her, a lady in the Jia family. She did not dare to risk offending Mr. Zhan by punishing her again.

However, Mrs. Wang can no longer punish Aunt Zhao, but Xiao Eleven can discipline Xiao Thirteen.

"Thirteenth sister, I have always known that you are very good at talking. Now that the master is in front of you, why don't you show off your skills and let the master see it for yourself."

Xiao Eleven was full of bad intentions. He held Master Zhan's big feet in his arms, held them up with his balls, and brought them to Xiao Thirteen.

Of course, Little Thirteen knew that it was Sister Eleven who was playing tricks on him, but he had no way of refusing, so he had to use all his skills and start cleaning from the big feet.

Originally she was prepared for the bitter taste, but who would have thought that it tasted sweet and not bad at all.

It turns out that Master Zhan now has a semi-immortal body, and the body fluids all over his body can be regarded as magical medicine. Although his sweat is not as magical as the secret medicine, it has the same effect as Ganoderma lucidum and ginseng. It is pure and easy to absorb, without any toxic side effects, and is very beneficial to people.

Xiao Shiyi had been used to taking the secret medicine produced by Master Zhan, and his physical fitness had improved significantly, so he was not sensitive to these things.

But Xiao Shisan was exposed to these things for the first time today, and he was still a mortal with flesh and blood, and had never undergone marrow cleansing. After taking this spiritual liquid, his body automatically absorbed it and began to improve his physical condition.

Feeling the instinctive feedback from his body, Xiao Shisan immediately knew that this was a good thing, and he immediately became excited. His little mouth kept licking it from bottom to top. The more he ate, the more energetic he became, and the more excited he became.

Seeing Xiao Shisan like this, Xiao Eleven couldn't help but feel shocked and angry.

What was surprising was that this vixen was indeed very good at seducing men. She was extremely open-minded when it came to matters between men and women and could accept any trick. Moreover, she could learn it once she learned it and became an expert at it once she used it.

She had never served the master like this before, but this vixen took the initiative.

Just look at the master's comfortable expression and you can tell how satisfied he is.

What makes her angry is that she was the one who taught this vixen this trick. She is clearly tying herself up in knots.

What's more, there will be a maidservant who can help this vixen to consolidate her favor in the future. Maybe this vixen will get the master's favor and climb over his head in the future.

She regretted for the first time. If she had known this would happen, she should have given birth to more daughters. What was the point of Baoyu waiting for a son!

Eh?
My son may not be able to do it, but my daughter-in-law seems to be able to do it!
Little Eleven glanced and saw Little Tenth Sister. She immediately went over and held Little Tenth Sister's hand and whispered a few words. Then the sisters joined hands and came to the other side of Master Zhan, separated to the left and right, and imitated Little Thirteen's practice and began to clean the mouth.

The involution has begun!

As the only capitalist, Mr. Zhan lay there with his arms and legs spread out, squinting his eyes, controlling the ball with both hands, carefully feeling the waves of comfort coming from his body, and giving precise work instructions from time to time.

"Move a little to the left, yes, that's it!"

"Okay, keep it up!"

After spending half the night, Master Zhan finally subdued the monsters again. He retired with his mission accomplished, and declared the welcome ceremony for Little Thirteen a complete success.

The next day, everyone in the Rongguo Mansion discovered that Aunt Zhao, who had been keeping a low profile for a while, started to shake again and became her old self again, shouting and yelling everywhere all day long, even more than when the old lady was around. She no longer even took the housekeepers in the mansion seriously, and Mrs. Wang did not scold her too much.

This is strange!

Zhou Ruijia went to Mrs. Wang to complain, but was scolded by her instead.

This made the people in the mansion who were watching the situation a little confused. Aunt Zhao had been dealt with by Madam Wang before, and it was not kept secret. Many people knew about it. How come the situation suddenly reversed?

Could it be that the master’s illness is getting better?
But after careful investigation, they found that the master was still bedridden. Only his head could move, while his arms and legs could not move. It would take at least half a year for him to recover.

Why?

But no matter how they inquired, they couldn't get any information.

Even Jia Huan and Tanchun could not help but run over to inquire about the news. Aunt Zhao certainly could not tell them the truth, so she just evaded the question by saying:

"Why do you care so much? Don't be like those gossipy women and ask about these trivial things."

"Tan girl, go back and prepare well. I have already convinced the Madam. After Empress Yuan returns home to visit her relatives, I will try to convince the Master to give you to Master Zhan as a concubine."

"Huan'er should also calm down, take everyone back, and stop sending people to keep an eye on the Madam."

Tanchun was delighted with the good news, and her face was red and her heart was beating fast. She did not ask for more details, but Huan Saner, relying on his mother's love, said with a playful smile:
"I understand, my child. It was because my mother had something on my wife that she had no choice but to bow her head and compromise."

"Could it be that her playmate is really a stranger?"

"Now that we have evidence, why don't you just report the matter to the master and bring that bitch down once and for all? What if she turns around and kills that playmate and then bites us back? Wouldn't that be terrible?"

Aunt Zhao had always been happy to hear Jia Huan's disrespect for Lady Wang, but this time he used the word "slut" which made her feel uncomfortable. She was afraid that her son would say something unpleasant again, so she slapped him on the back of the head and scolded him:
"What's the use of calling her slut or not? From now on, you should call her Madam and be more polite. Don't let outsiders hear you and complain."

Then Aunt Zhao saw her son's surprised expression, and realized that her reaction was a bit extreme, so she quickly changed the subject:
"That playmate has a very important background. How can she just kill him if she wants to?"

"Anyway, I can eat her for the rest of my life!"

"Since you have gained some real benefits, you can give her some concessions on matters of face, so that she won't get angry out of shame. Do you understand?"

Only then did Jia Huan realize that the person in front of him was indeed his biological mother, and not someone else pretending to be his mother.

"Don't worry, mom. I used to hate her for always bullying us, but now that we've turned the tables, it's no big deal to let her take advantage of us for a bit of face."

Aunt Zhao was relieved and said:

"The most urgent matter is your sister marrying into the Zhan Mansion as a concubine. As long as this matter is implemented, nothing else matters."

"You should spend more time on your sister's dowry and don't be stingy with the money that should be spent. What does the imperial concubine's visit to her parents have to do with us? We won't flatter her. It's more appropriate to spend the money on our own family."

After a discussion, the few of them dispersed happily, only to find that all the clouds in the sky had dispersed.

When Jia Zhen passed away, the Imperial Observatory's Yin-Yang Department allowed the coffin to be kept for 49 days. Given Jia's mother's status as the legitimate wife of a duke and a first-rank lady, the time would of course be much longer, reaching 81 days, which was almost the limit for ordinary people.

During these 81 days, the Jia family's water and land rituals never stopped.

Now that it is almost over and the funeral is about to take place, Concubine Yuan has finally completed the palace's review process and has been allowed to leave the palace and return home to see her grandmother off.

Seven days before the funeral, eunuchs would come out to inspect the layout of the residence and learn about the details.

There were also eunuchs in charge of inspecting local areas and other guard posts, and they brought out many young eunuchs to set up guard posts in various places to prevent outsiders from disturbing the empress's carriage.

The official from the Ministry of Rites came specifically to instruct the people in the Jia residence on various etiquettes.

Outside, officials from the Ministry of Works and the Five Cities Military Preparations Department were cleaning the streets and driving out idlers.

Originally, they were going to make lanterns and set off fireworks, but because of the funeral in the mansion, the palace specially allowed these to be exempted.

Finally the wedding day arrived. The younger generations including Jia Lian and Baoyu were waiting outside the West Street Gate, while the elders including Mrs. Wang were waiting outside the main gate. All the monks and Taoists rushed to the backyard to chant sutras and pray for blessings, and were not allowed to come to the front without permission.

The entire long street in front of Ningrong Mansion was completely cleared, with people guarding both ends to prevent pedestrians from coming and going. The street entrances and alleys were all blocked with curtains to prevent outsiders from seeing through.

It was not until the afternoon that a eunuch came riding a horse and reported:
"Your Majesty has requested permission to leave the palace and will be here in a moment."

Everyone hurriedly cheered up and waited in front of the door. Even Jia Zheng was carried on a stretcher and temporarily stayed in a guest room near the mourning hall to make it convenient for the empress to visit.

After waiting for an hour or so, I heard the sound of music and vaguely saw pairs of dragon flags, phoenix flags, pheasant feathers and Kui heads. After the procession of ceremonial guards passed by, eight eunuchs carrying a phoenix sedan chair slowly came from behind.

Everyone knelt down hastily on the side of the road. Several eunuchs came running over and helped Madam Wang and the others up.

But Empress Yuanfei did not get off the sedan chair here. Instead, she took the phoenix carriage straight into the gate and went straight to the place where the body was placed in the mansion. Only then did she stop and was led by Concubine Cai and others to get off the carriage.

Yuanchun first entered the mourning hall, prayed, burned incense, and paid her respects to the deceased. After crying and bowing for a while, she went out to the guest room next door to visit her father Jia Zheng.

After asking about Jia Zheng's health, he ordered the imperial physician to come forward to diagnose and treat him, and then gave him some medical advice and medicine. Only then did he complete the formalities after giving Jia Zheng a lot of treatment.

Next, Yuanchun took a sedan chair to the Grand View Garden. After touring the garden, she sat down in the designated palace and ordered the words "Heavenly Fairyland" to be changed to "Visiting Relatives' Villa" before summoning Lady Wang and others to meet her.

When everyone entered, they knelt down to pay their respects to the empress. Yuanchun wanted to perform the family ceremony, but no one dared to respond, so they had to give up.

Yuanchun held Mrs. Wang's hand and sat on a couch, reminiscing about the long-standing separation between mother and daughter. She couldn't help but cry and was very sad.

After the mother and daughter talked, Yuanchun called her younger brother and sister-in-law to come over, showed great concern for Baoyu and others, and gave them many gifts.

After everyone had spoken, Yuanchun suddenly asked Mrs. Wang:

"Before my daughter returned to the palace, she heard that her family had encountered a fairy, and she even opened the door for everyone in the mansion to go and encounter the fairy. Is this true?"

"This..." Madam Wang was suddenly at a loss for words. Now in public, with many palace maids and eunuchs around, she didn't dare to speak the truth carelessly, so she could only nod and agree, "It is true."

Yuanchun then asked:

"That immortal fate is still there, can you let your daughter have a try?"

"Uh……"

Ever since Mrs. Wang presented the treasure recklessly that day and killed the old lady, she had developed a resistance to the treasure mirror and dared not even touch it again. Now, when she heard that her daughter wanted to see the treasure mirror, she suddenly felt a little resistant and did not want her daughter to touch such a dangerous thing.

But since the queen had spoken, she couldn't refuse, so she had to decline politely:
"The core of the immortal fate is a treasure mirror."

"But this treasure mirror does not belong to our Jia Mansion. It belongs to the loyal and good Viscount Zhan Niansi. It is not in the mansion now."

Yuanchun turned her head and looked at the eunuch who was accompanying her. The eunuch bowed and said:

"I will fetch the treasure mirror for you to enjoy."

Mrs. Wang's heart skipped a beat and she hastily tried to stop him:
"It's not very safe when encountering the immortal fate. The mansion took a risk before, and it was all thanks to the fact that Master Zhan was a hermit and could rescue us in time. But even so, dozens of people in the mansion fell seriously ill."

"You'd better not take any risks, Madam!"

After hearing this, Yuanchun hesitated for a moment, but the eunuch smiled faintly and said:

"This is simple. Since Lord Zhan was able to save people that day, he can do the same now."

"I will invite Lord Zhan to come along and protect you, and he will definitely ensure that your Majesty is safe."

After hearing this, Yuanchun said nothing, and the eunuch who was accompanying her got up and went out to summon Master Zhan.

Seeing the eunuch's behavior and his courage to make decisions for his master, Mrs. Wang was suddenly shocked and began to wonder whether the one who wanted to see the fairy fate was her own daughter Yuanchun, or the emperor and empress behind him?
Although she knew that Mr. Zhan was a wise and extraordinary man, she didn't know whether this matter would bring good or bad consequences, and Mrs. Wang didn't know whether Mr. Zhan could handle it, so she could only wait anxiously.

Not long after, Mr. Zhan came in from outside with a swagger.

When Yuanchun saw Master Zhan's appearance, she was first shocked, and then overjoyed.

At that time, Master Zhan had just achieved the status of a Yin God and mastered the ability to enter dreams. He wandered around the capital and took a look around the imperial palace, where he dreamt of all the beauties, such as the queen and the empress.

Unexpectedly, Yuanchun was gifted and could have lucid dreams, so when he entered Yuanchun's dream, he was discovered by Yuanchun.

At that time, Master Zhan talked nonsense to Yuanchun, deceiving her by saying that she had the qualifications to cultivate immortality, and that he had an old relationship with Yuanchun's parents and could fulfill one of her wishes.

Yuanchun asked him to tell Jia Zheng not to go against the emperor, otherwise the family would be in danger.

Originally, Master Zhan wanted to trick Yuanchun into practicing Taoism with him, but when he saw that she was not willing to listen, he politely declined her request and said that he would make Yuanchun a royal concubine and let her persuade her parents herself.

At that time, Yuanchun didn't believe him at all and thought he was a liar. But after waking up, she actually became a royal concubine not long after.

She was a female historian in Fengzao Palace at that time. There were dozens of such women in the palace. After entering the palace for several years, she was visited by the emperor only a handful of times and was not favored at all.

Above the female historian, there are many ranks such as noble lady, concubine, and imperial concubine. How difficult it is for her to become a noble concubine in one leap!

But this strange "immortal" actually did it!
This incident had a profound impact on Yuanchun.

The education she received since her childhood was that the emperor was supreme, the Son of Heaven, the Purple Star who came down to earth, and even the gods in heaven had to obey his orders.

But after entering the palace for many years, she had never seen a god who obeyed the emperor's orders in the palace. After meeting the "god" in reality, she discovered that this god could actually influence the emperor's will!
The "immortal" in the dream was very disdainful of the emperor's so-called "Son of Heaven".

Between the emperor and the gods, who is more powerful? Who listens to whom?

For more than a year, this question has been bothering Yuanchun and she can't figure it out.

She had originally thought that when she saw that "immortal" again in her dream, she would try to learn the method of cultivating immortality from him. There was no harm in it anyway!

But who would have thought that the "immortal" would never come back and never appear in her dreams again.

In fact, Mr. Zhan had come up with a new way of playing. He started playing "precognitive dream" with Lin Daiyu and had long forgotten about Yuanchun's matter.

Human hearts are very complicated. The less Mr. Zhan shows up, the more Yuanchun feels that the "immortal" is a real immortal, not someone seeking fame or having some other agenda.

After becoming a royal concubine, Yuanchun used her identity to carefully investigate the affairs of immortals, and discovered that throughout history, it seemed that many emperors wanted to be immortals, but no emperor had ever actually become one.

If the emperor is truly the "Son of Heaven", would he still worry about not being able to become a god in the future?

I am afraid that this emperor is not really the son of God, or in other words, he is definitely not a biological son, otherwise why there is not even a single emperor who has become an immortal?

Yuanchun didn't need anyone to tell her, she found the answer to the question by herself. The emperor's status is really not as high as that of a god!

The longer time passed, the more Yuanchun regretted, feeling that she had missed such a precious opportunity.

That’s a fairy fate!

Even the emperor dreamed of getting this thing, but it was wasted by her!
Yuanchun’s regret is so great that it’s hard to express in words!
Until His Majesty allowed the imperial concubine to go home to visit her parents, she was still thinking about asking her parents who was the "immortal" traveling around the mortal world.

Some time ago, news came into the palace that there was a "fateful encounter" in the family, and Yuanchun was the most excited one.

She also didn't know whether this "immortal fate" was related to the "immortal" she had met in her dream before, but it was an "immortal fate" anyway and should not be missed.

But she was an empress after all, and there were some things that were not convenient for her to speak up on her own, so she used the eunuchs who attended her to achieve her own goals. On the contrary, Mrs. Wang was guilty and suspicious, and she made things complicated.

As soon as Mr. Zhan came in, Yuanchun recognized him immediately. She was so excited that she almost stood up to greet him.

Fortunately, she was still rational and knew that this "immortal" was now experiencing the mortal world and it was not good to reveal his identity, so she had to sit still and nodded to Mr. Zhan with a smile, but she began to think in her heart how to invite this immortal to meet her again in her dream so that she could ask him for advice on cultivating immortality.

(End of this chapter)