The Heavens Begin with Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 97 Aunt Zhao's reputation is damaged

"The imperial edict has arrived~"

Accompanied by loud shouts, Xia Shouzhong strode in again with the imperial edict in his arms.

Because they had already communicated privately before, when the imperial edict came out again, Xia Shouzhong came again with confidence.

Zhan Ershisi had already prepared the incense table and other items. When he saw Xia Shouzhong coming, he asked everyone to gather again to welcome him.

Xia Shouzhong stood in the middle and unfolded the imperial edict to read out loud. He conferred the title of Viscount on Zhan Niansi and gave him the title of Zhongliang. He also conferred the title of Digonglang, an eighth-rank official, on Xing Zhong and Zhao Guoji, and the title of Jiangshilang, a ninth-rank official, allowing these two men to get official positions for free.

Last night, Master Zhan was busy beating the monsters with sticks and had long forgotten about Xing and Zhao. But today he remembered to notify them to come here to await his orders.

Now that the imperial edict had come out, both of them were overjoyed. Even Xing Xiuyan herself was shaking with excitement.

My master became a viscount, and my father became an eighth-rank official. Although they were all honorary titles, an official was still an official, and they were promoted immediately.

This time, Zhan Ershisi did not refuse. Instead, he took the imperial edict respectfully and handed it to Xing Xiuyan, asking her to offer it. He then smiled and invited Xia Shouzhong.

"Thank you for coming to announce the decree. I have prepared some wine in the mansion. Please do me a favor."

"Haha..." Xia Shouzhong was also happy to continue to get closer to him, so he gladly obeyed, "Sir, such a big happy event, our family must ask for a glass of wedding wine."

The two of them held hands and went inside to drink. The young eunuchs outside were naturally entertained by the butler Yang Yougong. Of course, everyone got a share of the red envelope, and there would definitely be a lot of it.

Xing Zhong and Zhao Guoji were of too low status to be qualified to sit with Xia Shouzhong, so they went to a restaurant outside to celebrate with their relatives and friends. They did not mention themselves and only talked about Zhan 24.

When they got to the table, the two of them exchanged glasses and got to know each other. After Xia Shouzhong was a little drunk, Zhan Twenty-four asked him about the title.

"Zhan originally thought that it would be great to get a military officer position and work under my father-in-law. But I didn't expect that my father-in-law was so kind and actually helped my family to have four generations of wealth. I really don't know how to thank him."

Xia Shouzhong smiled and said:

"This is not entirely due to our family's efforts, it is also due to Sir's luck."

"This reward is not just for the iron smelting furnace, but also for the horse farm."

"Otherwise, even if he is awarded a title, he will only be a first-class general, and the title will only be passed down for two generations at most."

"Your Excellency's contributions are so great that he should be given a powerful military commander position. However, the current situation is quite sensitive and it is not convenient to rashly transfer military commanders, so we can only compensate him with a title."

Xia Shouzhong's words were very obscure, but Zhan Ershisi understood them immediately, so he held up the wine glass with both hands and bowed it upward to show his loyalty.

"Speaking of which, the emperor is wise and will reward those who have made contributions, so as not to disappoint our subjects. Zhan will definitely work hard and be loyal to His Majesty in the future, and will never be half-hearted."

After hearing this, Xia Shouzhong nodded with satisfaction, picked up his wine glass, and praised:
"My Lord is loyal. I have seen this and will certainly speak well of you in front of His Majesty."

"Please rest assured, sir. As long as you are loyal to His Majesty and diligent in the king's affairs, you will definitely be rich and prosperous. Your promotion speed will definitely be much faster than that of a civil official."

Zhan Ershisi thanked him and said:

"Then I'll have to trouble you, sir! Please rest assured, I am always generous to my friends and never stingy."

One of them wanted to make friends, and the other wanted to flatter. The banquet was a great pleasure for both the host and the guests, and they left after having a great time.

As soon as Xia Shouzhong was sent away, Xiu Yan led everyone in the mansion to congratulate him. They all knelt down and shouted in unison:

"Congratulations, Master, on being conferred the title of Viscount!"

Master Zhan burst into laughter and waved his hand:
"Let's celebrate together, let's reward!"

"All employees will receive three extra months' wages."

"Everyone in the mansion has a share!"

"Also, have someone change the signboard of the Zhan Mansion to read 'Zhong Liang Zi'. From now on, we will be a Viscount's Mansion!"

As he was speaking, he heard a report from outside the mansion that Master She had sent someone to invite Master Zhan to come to the mansion for a banquet and celebration.

The news that Xing Zhong and Zhao Guoji followed Master Zhan to run errands and ended up getting an official position has spread throughout the two governments.

As for Xing Zhong and Zhao Guoji, everyone knows that even if they are related to the ladies and concubines in the mansion, who would look up to them?
Everyone knows that these two losers are good-for-nothings, but just because they followed the right person, they became very successful. I don't know how many people envy, hate, and regret not having given birth to a beautiful daughter.

Wang Shanbao, who came to deliver the message, had his waist bent like a bow and his face looked like a flower blooming.

His granddaughter Siqi is now working as Yingchun's personal maid, and she might become Master Zhan's concubine in the future. He will have to find an opportunity to persuade Siqi to take the initiative.

In the future, he will look for more opportunities to curry favor with Master Zhan. Maybe when he is old, he can get an official position!

Didn’t you see that Zhao Guoji got a ninth-rank official position?
In terms of intimacy, even Tan Yau has withdrawn from the competition for a husband, so how can she compare to her own granddaughter who has climbed into bed with him?
Master Zheng is really ridiculous. On the one hand, he forbids others from associating with the Zhan family and even forced his daughter to withdraw from her marriage. On the other hand, he doesn't know that his aunt didn't listen to him at all and even sent his own brothers to run errands for Master Zhan.

Huh?
Wang Shanbao suddenly seemed to have discovered the highlight.

Mr. Zhan is so lustful, and Aunt Zhao is also a coquettish person. Could it be that... Aunt Zhao has been having an affair with Mr. Zhan for a long time?

No wonder Tanya took the initiative to withdraw from the competition for the husband!
This is indeed a bit inappropriate!
It seems that with the support of Lord Zhan, Master Huan San may not have a worse future than Master Bao Er!
Wang Shanbao shuddered and didn't dare to think about it any further. He just kept thinking about it and asked his wife to persuade Siqi to be more proactive!
Human jealousy is terrible.

If Wang Shanbao can make such a guess, then of course others can too!

These gossipy women have to find something to talk about, right?
How could a waste like Zhao Guoji get an official position?
Why did Mr. Zhan give it to him and not to the more capable Jia Yun?

There must be something fishy going on!

Master Zhan is a kind person, very good to his servants and very generous. His only shortcoming may be that he is lustful!

Tanchun was a very strict housekeeper, and she was still an unmarried lady, so people didn't dare to say anything bad about her, and so that stupid Aunt Zhao became the target of public criticism.

Overnight, Aunt Zhao's reputation plummeted to the bottom.

Except for the people in Master Zheng's family, everyone in the mansion already knew that Aunt Zhao and Master Zhan were having an affair, so Master Zhan gave the opportunity to become an official to Zhao Guoji.

This news was passed around and of course reached Tanchun's ears, making her very angry. However, she was also extremely unsure in her heart and didn't know whether the news was true or not.

She now has a much closer relationship with Aunt Zhao, and has a deeper understanding of her own mother's style of doing things.

In Tanchun's view, her own mother is a person who will do anything to achieve her goals, and all her skills are used against men. Apart from being able to deal with men, she is good for nothing else.

And if seducing a man could help her brother become an official, she would most likely be able to do such a thing!

But if Aunt Zhao really had something going on with Master Zhan, how could she still marry Master Zhan?
After hesitating for a while, Tanchun finally decided to go to Aunt Zhao to ask for clarification in person.

This time, too many private matters were involved, so Tanchun did not bring her maid with her, and went to Master Zheng's courtyard alone to find Aunt Zhao.

When Tanchun stammered and told her the rumors she had heard, Aunt Zhao immediately exploded. She jumped up on the spot and cursed:
"These are a bunch of plague-ridden devils with pink eye!"

"It's obvious that they are jealous of your uncle's official position and deliberately say such bad guys are innocent!"

"Although your uncle is an official, it is just an empty title. No one else can get any credit except him!"

Although Tanchun had guessed this a long time ago, she only breathed a sigh of relief and felt relieved after hearing Aunt Zhao's personal confirmation.

Aunt Zhao glanced at her daughter's strange expression and immediately understood Tanchun's worries. She said unhappily:
"Don't think that I'm easy to fool just because I'm like this, and anyone can take my body away from me!"

"So what if Mr. Zhan becomes a viscount? What does it have to do with me?"

"I am already a concubine now. Even if I give that Mr. Zhan some sweet things, what benefit will it bring to my family? Can I still be the main wife?"

"If I, your mother, want to move up in the future, I can only rely on my son to gain status as a mother. I will wait for your brother Huan Saner to earn me an imperial decree... well, an imperial decree is fine too."

"When I get the imperial decree in the future, I will wear the imperial decree clothes all day long and walk around the mansion, making that lady jealous to death!"

Although Aunt Zhao's words were still very unreasonable, at least it put Tanchun's mind at ease, knowing that she had never had an affair with Master Zhan and it would not affect her family's future marriage.

However, after Aunt Zhao finished talking about her own affairs, she turned the topic to her, came over, took her hand, and urged:
"Although this rumor is nonsense, at least they have one thing right!"

"Mr. Zhan gave the official position to your uncle for no reason. It's obvious that he still cares about you!"

"You can count it yourself. Because of him, there are already three people who have been promoted to high positions, including Xue Pan, Xing Zhong and your uncle!"

"The Xue family is his in-laws, so Xue Pan is a real official. Xing Zhong's daughter is his concubine, so he has an eighth-rank honorary title. Even your uncle, who has almost no relationship with him, has a ninth-rank official title."

"He is only a little old now. He will probably have the opportunity to help others become officials in the future. Do you think the master will be moved when he knows about this?"

"You know that Baoyu is a idiot. He is just a waste. Don't expect him to take the imperial examination and bring honor to the family."

"If there is a relative like Mr. Zhan, who can help Baoyu become an official, or protect the family from worries, I don't believe he won't be tempted!"

"I will persuade the master to change his mind and make friends with the Zhan family again."

"Your chance will come again then, but you must seize it. It's best to make it a fait accompli before Master Zhan can escape!"

Tanchun blushed immediately and shouted angrily:
"Auntie, you are talking nonsense again. If you continue to speak without restraint, I will never dare to come to your place again!"

Aunt Zhao pinched Tanchun's waist with great force, and scolded her as she screamed:
"You are such a heartless little bastard, you only know how to play tricks on your mother. You don't have any sincerity at all!"

"We are all family, who are you putting on all this airs for?"

"I might as well tell you, as long as you are brave enough to let Master Zhan eat your body, I will report this matter to the old lady and ask her to come forward to sit down and talk with the Zhan and Xue families, forcing the two families to cancel the engagement immediately and let Master Zhan get engaged to you!"

"The longer the night, the more dreams there are. It's too late to decide on this status. Even if he wants to regret it, it's too late!"

Tanchun was immediately startled and cried out:

"How is this possible?"

"Why not?" Aunt Zhao glared.

"It's a different time now. Originally, Mr. Zhan was just a businessman, and you, a concubine of the Jia family, are a good match for him."

"But now that Mr. Zhan has become a viscount, how can you still be worthy of him?"

"Let's not talk about anything else. How much money did the Zhan family make from running the Jockey Club? But how many powerful families really look up to him?"

"But now, there are a lot of people and cars in front of the Zhan Mansion. The lords of the four kings and eight dukes' families have come in person. Even the King of Beijing has come in person to congratulate. Has this ever happened before?"

"If we don't seize the opportunity to settle the marriage now, as soon as Baochai dies, do you believe that powerful families will come to propose marriage to us?"

"Even if the master changes his mind by then, how can you, a concubine's daughter, still have a chance?"

Aunt Zhao is indeed an expert on men. She has studied every aspect of men thoroughly, especially marriage. She has seen through it long ago. There is no such thing as love or not. It's all business and trade-offs!
Tanchun was so confused by her own mother's words that she lost her composure. There was nothing she could do, she had invested too much in this.

First, he worshipped Aunt Xue as his stepmother, and in the future he would take care of her in her old age and see her to the end of her life.

Then he gave his two personal maids, Shishu and Cuimo, to Master Zhan to enjoy in order to get closer to him. Now both girls have been eaten up by Master Zhan, and he can't get away even if he wants to.

If everything went smoothly, this would be an acceptable investment, but she had a father who cheated on her and at the critical moment, he gave an order to sever the relationship between the two families.

In order to avoid loss of her initial investment, she had to disobey her master's orders and continue to keep in touch with Master Zhan in private, waiting for the relationship between the two families to be restored.

As a result, before she could wait for a turning point, Master Zhan rose to prominence and became a viscount, a powerful nobleman. His high status made her feel unworthy of him.

Things have come to this point now. If you want to give up, it will be a huge loss.

Even someone as open-minded as Tanchun can no longer be so free and easy.

"Think about this matter yourself. If it's too late, you'll probably just be a concubine in the future, just like your mother and me. Think about it carefully!"

Aunt Zhao left a message and went to find Master Zheng to complain and persuade him.

Rumors are something that must be debunked personally. Otherwise, if they are passed on to Mr. Zheng by outsiders, there is no telling what he will think.

As soon as Aunt Zhao saw Jia Zheng, she rushed over with tears in her eyes, knelt down at his feet, hugged his legs tightly with both hands, and cried:
"Master, you have to make the decision for me!"

"Those bastards in the mansion are resentful that the master didn't allow them to go to the Zhan family to help, blocking their way to wealth. Now they are spreading rumors in the mansion. You can't just ignore it!"

"These gossipy women are clearly not targeting me, but you, my Lord... wuwu..."

Originally, because of Zhao Guoji's matter, Jia Zheng was very dissatisfied with Aunt Zhao and didn't want to pay any attention to her.

But Aunt Zhao is an expert in dealing with men. When she is fooling Jia Zheng, her skills must be +3, specifically provoking Jia Zheng's fragile psychological defenses.

They were originally relatives by marriage, and the daughter was the most likely to marry into the Zhan family as the principal wife. However, because of a word from Prince Beijing, such a good situation was ruined.

It is impossible to say that Jia Zheng did not regret it afterwards.

However, he is still struggling to seize the title, and cannot offend the families of the four kings and eight dukes, so he can only endure it.

The more successful Mr. Zhan is, the more stupid Jia Zheng appears.

Especially now that Mr. Zhan has become a viscount, a title two levels higher than the first-class general he had been striving for. No, that's not right. Even if Jia Zheng succeeds in seizing the title, it will be a downgraded title, and he will become a second-class general, which is three levels higher.

This made him even more indignant.

"Humph!"

"The servants in this house are becoming more and more outrageous!"

"I can't even remember whose meal I ate. I just keep asking for trouble!"

"We just cleaned up the atmosphere, but now they are making up rumors again. We must punish them severely again."

After Jia Zheng comforted Aunt Zhao, he turned around and found Lady Wang, told her the situation, and asked her to control the spread of rumors in the house.

Mrs. Wang was now jealous of Zhao Guoji, and even more disdainful of Aunt Zhao. She did not want to suppress the rumor at all. She thought it would be best if she could make the master angry and sell out this vixen. So she pretended to be embarrassed and said:
"Master, we are just trying to get people to spread the news about the first wife's side. If we control it strictly, everyone will be as silent as a cicada and dare not speak, then this trend will not start!"

After hearing this, Jia Zheng also sat up and sat down.

The principles of this world, no matter how they change, remain essentially the same and can all be applied by analogy.

Whether in the court or in the government, whether courtiers or servants, the essence is actually the same.

The people below are always used to looking at the expressions of their masters. If the masters don't have that intention, how dare the people below cause trouble?
Previously, because Master Zhan spread the news indiscriminately, Grandmother Jia was angry and ordered to control a wave of rumors. After that, the atmosphere in Rongguo Mansion improved a lot. But when Jia Zheng and Mrs. Wang became selfish again and let their confidants spread the news about Master She's family, others would naturally spread the rumors about their own family as well.

Could it be that Mrs. Wang could specify rumor control and only ban rumors about Aunt Zhao, while pretending not to see the others and allowing them to spread randomly?

Seeing Jia Zheng frowning, Mrs. Wang fanned the flames and said:

"As the saying goes, there is no smoke without fire. In the end, it is Aunt Zhao who is ignorant of her own conduct. She knew that the master had issued a ban, but she insisted on letting Zhao Guoji continue to work with Zhan Niansi."

"It's inevitable that others would suspect that the two of them had an affair."

"Master, why not just ban Aunt Zhao from leaving the courtyard? Then the rumors will naturally disappear."

After hearing this, Jia Zheng frowned and shook his head, saying:
"That's not right. If we put him under house arrest now, wouldn't that be a case of trying to cover up one's own guilt?"

"Moreover, this news came out of the blue. It just happened to appear when we were preparing to seize the title. How could we know that the eldest wife noticed something and deliberately released it to confuse public opinion?"

"If someone is behind this, this news will not disappear automatically."

After hearing this, Mrs. Wang was also shocked and asked hurriedly:

"What should we do?"

Jia Zheng sighed and said:

"Let's suppress all the rumors first to prevent more news that is unfavorable to our family from spreading."

"The seeds of the rumor have already been planted, so it doesn't hurt to pause for a while."

"Keep watching the big house, just wait for them to make a mistake, and then find a better opportunity to detonate it in one fell swoop."

Mrs. Wang had no choice but to agree reluctantly and go to control the atmosphere at home.

The servants in the Jia family did not dare to say anything more, but they had already privately determined that this was the truth, and started a new round of sending daughters away.

She couldn't get into the Viscount's Mansion, but she could still fight for the position of a maid beside the Second Young Lady.

Among the maids originally surrounding Yingchun, only Siqi and Qiu Wen were relatively reliable and had never been replaced, while almost all the others were replaced.

Just by selling the maid's position, Master She earned gifts worth hundreds of taels of silver.

Siqi relied on having a good grandfather, while Qiu Wen relied on having been seduced by Master Zhan, so they were the designated candidates, otherwise they would not have been able to keep their positions.

Not only is Yingchun's side having people's eyes on her, but also Master Zhan has collected more than a dozen beauties in the past few days, all of whom were gifts from various families.

The Zhan family had enjoyed a period of glory before, but at that time it was due to the influence of the Four Kings and Eight Dukes or Prince Zhongshun. But now they have become viscounts, a member of the legitimate dignitaries, and are also in the emperor's favor. The situation is naturally different.

However, Master Zhan did not have much interest in these women, whose names were not even mentioned in the original book, and he assigned them to serve his concubines, without giving them the status of concubines.

One day, the doorman came in to report that Wang Ren, the young master of the Wang family, and his friends came to visit.

This Wang Ren is Wang Xifeng's brother. They have never had any dealings with each other since Zhan Ershi came to Beijing. Now that he has become a viscount, he immediately came to visit. It is really realistic.

However, this kind of thing is common in the officialdom. After all, he has a good sister, so Mr. Zhan certainly doesn't mind making friends with this future brother-in-law.

"Oh, please ask him to sit in the living room for a while, the master will come over now."

Zhan Ershisi changed his clothes and came to the living room. As soon as he entered, he saw three people sitting on the guest seats in the living room.

The leader was a young man in his twenties, dressed in silk and satin. He was definitely a young man from a wealthy family. He looked somewhat similar to Wang Xifeng, so he must be Wang Ren.

There were two people under Wang Ren, one of whom was also in his twenties, also dressed in luxurious clothes, but more vigorous and heroic than Wang Ren, but no one knew who he was.

The very bottom one was a middle-aged man, about 30 or 40 years old, with three long strands of beard, dressed like a scholar, and looked like a juren.

Seeing Zhan Ershisi coming in, the three of them stood up and saluted. The young man at the first table smiled and bowed, saying:
"Wang Ren has met Lord Zhan."

Zhan Ershisi smiled and waved his hand:
"My future mother-in-law is your aunt. Our two families are relatives. There's no need to call her Lord!

"I'll call you my dear brother, and you can just call me Brother Zhan."

Wang Ren was delighted to see Zhan Ershisi was so friendly, so he called him Brother Zhan, and then pointed to the young man next to him and introduced him:

"This is the son of the Feng family, the Godly General. His name is Feng Ziying. I have heard of Brother Zhan for a long time, and I came here to visit him today."

Feng Ziying also bowed and saluted, and Zhan Ershi returned the salute and said with a smile:
"So you are General Feng Tang's son. Nice to meet you."

After the two exchanged a few pleasantries, Wang Ren pointed at the middle-aged man and introduced him:
"So that Brother Zhan can know that this brother next to me is named Zhang Youshi, who is very knowledgeable and has a deep understanding of medicine, and can tell life and death."

"Mr. Zhang is the teacher that Brother Feng studied under when he was young. Previously, Mr. Zhang came to the capital to donate an official position for his son and has been living in Brother Feng's house."

"I heard that Miss Xue was not feeling well. She had sought out many famous doctors but her condition had not improved. That's why I invited Mr. Zhang to come and help treat her. I want to show my appreciation."

In the original book, Wang Ren was judged as a "cruel uncle and treacherous brother". In order to avoid being implicated, he sold his niece Qiaojie who was entrusted to him by Wang Xifeng. If it had not been for Liu Laolao, Qiaojie's fate would have been unpredictable.

From this we can see that this guy is also a cruel person.

Now he is so "enthusiastic" that he invited someone to treat Xue Baochai's illness. Of course, he is not very kind-hearted, he just wants to do good things.

Otherwise, Baochai has been "sick" for such a long time, and her cousin has never visited her once.

This Zhang Youshi was actually a skilled doctor. In the original text, he treated the seriously ill Qin Keqing and his words were always right when he took her pulse.

But medicine cannot cure terminal illness. Qin Keqing’s disease was a heart disease, which could not be cured by his medical skills. However, this does not mean that we should underestimate his medical skills.

Wang Ren and Feng Ziying were both sons of officials and they both hung out in Beijing, so it was inevitable that they would have some interactions. It was no surprise that they knew that Zhang Youshi had a high level of medical skills.

Although Zhan Ershisi did not need any miracle doctor to treat Baochai, he could not show such a thing. Seeing Wang Ren's "kindness", Zhan Ershisi was overjoyed and said:

"My dear brother, you are thoughtful!"

"I have been collecting materials from everywhere lately, trying to prepare the Lengxiang Pills, but I still can't get them all together."

"If Mr. Zhang can help replace the medicine or cure the disease, I will be very grateful and will definitely reward you handsomely."

Zhang Youshi stood up and said politely:
"I am a humble and lowly person, with limited knowledge and insight. Now that you value me, my Lord, I will do my best, but I dare not make any promises."

Exhibition 24 convenience paths:
"All the imperial doctors in the capital have seen this disease, but none of them can cure it. In the end, they still have to rely on the few remaining Lengxiang pills to treat it. Who dares to say that it can definitely be cured?"

"Now we are just trying to save the situation. No matter what the result is, I will definitely appreciate the kindness of you, sir."

Human life was at stake, so the four of them immediately left the house and drove straight to Rongguo Mansion.

Thanks to the book friend "20230323702_aE" for the reward of 100 coins!
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(End of this chapter)