Red Mansion: Picking up a Lin Daiyu

Chapter 150 King Qin's Reward
In Lixiangyuan, the peace of the past returned.

When Lin Daiyu returned to the yard, she only saw the strong woman cleaning, and she could not see what had happened just now.

But on the way back, he ran into a few maids from the Jia family and learned a few words from their discussions.

Seeing Lin Daiyu, Jia Daishan smiled again and called out, "Yu'er, come here."

Lin Daiyu walked quickly to Jia Daishan, bowed, and said, "Grandpa, I'm here."

Jia Daishan nodded slightly, "I'm sorry that the evil creature frightened you just now. This mansion was originally your home. How could Grandpa allow you to suffer injustice here?"

Lin Daiyu shook her head and said, "I'm not really wronged, but he keeps speaking rudely to my uncle Yue... It's really unpleasant."

Seeing the friendship between the two, Jia Daishan couldn't help but smile and said, "Okay, okay, you should live well with your uncle Yue in the future. With him taking care of you, who would worry?"

"You know, he was the one who defended the barbarians and made millions of people in the city feel at ease."

Looking at Yue Ling again, Jia Daishan shook his head and sighed, "I am sorry to have embarrassed the Grand Commander today. The mansion is really lacking in discipline, and it is not something that can be corrected overnight. I will apologize on behalf of that evil creature."

Yue Ling nodded, "Well, after this lesson, he should learn his lesson. As for the matter of the Jia family's lintel that the old Duke mentioned before, it would be better to do as I said and find a more capable brother to take on the responsibility."

Jia Daishan was puzzled and said, "There are only Lian'er, Cong'er, Huan'er and that evil creature in the mansion now. I have taken a look at them, but I don't think any of them can be useful. Is it because I am short-sighted? Is there anyone among them who is worthy of the Grand Commander's attention?"

Thinking about the ending of the Jia family in the previous life, the best brother among them was Jia Lan.

Today, the old master gave him enough face, so Yue Ling also took the opportunity to do a good thing. "It is easy to change the country, but it is difficult to change one's nature. These brothers are old, and it is not easy for them to change. Why not find a younger brother and let the old master teach him, so that he can benefit from it for the rest of his life."

"Younger brother?"

Jia Daishan thought about it carefully and realized that Yue Ling was talking about Jia Lan, the posthumous son of Jia Zhu, the eldest son of the second wife.

Nodding slightly, Jia Daishan said: "The Grand Commander's words are true, I understand."

Yue Ling bowed again and said, "Okay, that's all for today. You two should take care of yourselves. I'll take my leave."

"Go slowly, Grand Commander."

When he got on a carriage with Lin Daiyu, Yue Ling did not sit opposite her, but sat next to her.

"I'm sorry to have scared you today."

Lin Daiyu shook her head and said, "That's fine, but he said a lot of bad things about Brother Yue, which was really annoying, and it was worth the beating."

Yue Ling knew without much thought what bad things Baoyu had said.

"He was content with enjoying himself, but he didn't think carefully about where the Jia family's food, clothing and wealth came from. Did it fall from the sky or blown by the wind? If he didn't go out, he wouldn't know the suffering of the people. It was normal for people to be busy all day long for a living."

"Not everyone in the world is like him, born with jade in his mouth. He is not qualified to enjoy the inheritance of his ancestors and look down on those who work hard like his ancestors."

After hearing this, Lin Daiyu also nodded slightly.

She has a stable life, thanks to her father who was busy outside, and now she relies on Yue Ling.

Yue Ling rubbed Xueyan's head and praised her: "You did a good job today. I'll make you something delicious when I get home."

Xueyan cheered, "Great! General Yue is the best!"

……

After Yue Ling left, the two heads of the Jia family sighed repeatedly as they faced each other.

"It was a good thing, but it ended like this. It was more of a failure than a success."

Jia Daihua followed and said, "What can I do? This is fate."

Then he said, "Lin Ruhai is really smart. His Lin family has only one son for several generations, and only this one orphan girl is left. If there is no reliable person to take care of Daiyu after he dies, how can he sleep in peace?"

"This is really a good choice. Not to mention that he is better than the brother in our mansion, who in the world can compare with him?"

He slowly let out a sigh of relief and said, "How come there is no girl left in my East Mansion, and only these many troubles were born."

"Oh, that's not right. Did Jia Jing, that unfilial son, leave a maid behind?"

Jia Daishan nodded, "It's the youngest girl standing outside the door just now. That girl is too young, so you want to send her to Yue Ling's house, under the pretext of raising her?"

Jia Daihua shook his head, "Then I won't think about this unorthodox way. My children and grandchildren will have their own blessings, and I can let it go. Anyway, even if Daiyu is here, Lin Ruhai and Yue Ling will give some face to the Jia family out of friendship."

Jia Daishan sighed and said, "I never thought that the future of my Jia family would depend on a young maid."

Rongxitang,
In Madam Wang's courtyard,
After returning from visiting Baoyu, Mrs. Wang leaned back on the couch and calmed herself down.

She couldn't bear to look at Baoyu's miserable condition. Her eyes were blurred with tears, so she was supported by several maids and came back.

"In the past, that girl's mother and I were not on good terms. Every time she comes back, she comes to bother my son again. It's really annoying!"

"How good is that girl? She has bewitched Baoyu to the point of being crazy." "No, Baoyu must calm down. Arrange a marriage for him when he is a few years older. He should be older now."

As she thought about this, Mrs. Wang already had a candidate in mind.

The pillar of the Xue family's eldest branch passed away last year, leaving behind only an orphan mother and a pair of children. Now they are homeless in Jinling. It seems that they have gotten into some trouble recently, and the matter has been reported to Wang Ziteng of the Wang family.

It would be better to send a secret message to them and come to the capital to keep them company.

"The eldest daughter of the Xue family, Xue Baochai, is only a few years older than Baoyu. She is also a beautiful girl, and is definitely lovable. She is no less beautiful than that girl Lin."

"The girl from the Lin family looks so weak and infertile. If someone marries her as the first wife and cuts off the family line, it will be a disaster."

"This beating has put an end to Baoyu's thoughts, which is just right."

After writing a letter, Mrs. Wang was feeling very happy, but outside the window she saw Li Wan holding Jia Lan's hand and about to go out.

After beating her son, the mother and son wanted to go out and play, which made Mrs. Wang unhappy.

When they reached the door, Mrs. Wang called out, "What are you doing?"

Li Wan looked back and saluted with Jia Lan, "To answer Madam, it was the old master who asked me to bring Brother Lan over."

Mrs. Wang immediately became alert.

When Grandmother Jia was in charge, Baoyu was the most favored son, and no one could compare to him. But now that the old master is in charge, Baoyu is even worse than the reptiles on the ground.

Seeing that he had just beaten Baoyu and then told Lang'er about it, it must be that he was intending to train a new successor to the Jia family.

Madam Wang narrowed her eyes and nodded slightly, saying, "Okay, go ahead. We can talk about some things when you come back."

Afterwards, Mrs. Wang went back to the yard.

Li Wan was startled, but she still bowed with Lan Ge'er and hurried to Lixiangyuan...

……

Hall of Supreme Harmony,
It was the first morning court session after the national mourning. All officials were in high spirits as they were going to discuss a major event in Dachang - the coronation ceremony.

At this time, the King of Qin was wearing a dragon robe, sitting on the dragon throne, and ascended the throne as emperor.

All that’s missing is a grand ceremony, and then all the etiquette will be complete.

"I have several things to discuss today. The first is the coronation ceremony, which will be held on May 17th. You will all cooperate with the Ministry of Rites to ensure that the ceremony is a success. The second is to reward the generals who have made outstanding contributions in the battles of the capital and Liaodong."

Looking at Yue Ling below, the King of Qin smiled and said, "First, there is the meritorious official known to all women and children. Now his story has spread throughout the streets and alleys, Yue Ling. He will be given the titles of Marquis of Anjing, General Po Lu, and Grand Commander of the Capital. He will be given an honorary title. He will be awarded a reward of 1,000 taels of gold, 10,000 taels of silver, 3,000 pieces of silk and satin, and 10 pieces of imperial utensils."

Yue Ling stepped out from the ranks of civil officials, but heard cheers from the military officials, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your kindness."

The King of Qin nodded in satisfaction, and continued: "General Feng Tang of the Divine Martial Arts and Liu Fang of the Duke of Liguo Mansion are granted a higher rank... Jia Daihua of the Ningguo Mansion, who was a guilty minister, fought bravely and made great contributions in the decisive battle. The title of Ningguo Mansion is restored, the punishment of not allowing the three generations of Ningguo Mansion to take the imperial examinations is lifted, and the children of Ningguo Mansion are allowed to join the army and become officials..."

"Pingzhang Zhengshi Dongfang Zhi was promoted to Privy Councilor. Privy Councilor Chai Pu was promoted to Right Prime Minister..."

It took two quarters of an hour to read out the rewards, which was very comprehensive.

The King of Qin announced everything he wanted to say, and the remaining time was for all officials to discuss politics.

Feng Yu, the assistant to the Privy Council, stepped out first and said, "Your Majesty, the battle in the capital city caused the loss of most of the troops in the capital. We urgently need to reorganize the army and recruit new soldiers to defend the capital city."

The King of Qin nodded and said, "That's right. Instruct the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue to deal with this matter as soon as possible."

The Minister of Works stepped out and said, "As Lord Feng said, the city walls of the capital were severely damaged in the battle, and only one in ten houses outside the city remains. We still need a lot of manpower and material resources to repair the city walls and houses. Otherwise, when winter comes, the capital will be full of refugees."

Dongfang Zhi suggested: "Your Majesty, a lot of people were relocated to the city before the war. Why not expand the capital and build an outer city to provide housing for the people? For the time being, we should repair the outer city outside Zhengyang Gate, where the damage is the most serious."

"The inner city wall is more than 20 miles long. If we repair it everywhere, we don't know when it will be completed. After the outer city is built, we can slowly repair the inner city wall."

The King of Qin nodded and said, "My dear minister, what you said is absolutely right. Let's do it this way."

The Minister of Revenue, Zhao Gongjin, stepped out and said, "Your Majesty, the disaster in Cangzhou is difficult to contain. Several ministers have been sent there one after another, but none of them can do anything about the situation there. Now that the previous Lord Xu has died of illness in office, we urgently need a minister of high reputation to take charge of the disaster relief."

Cangzhou was indeed a mess. Many imperial censors had been sent there, but none of them could solve the local problems.

Moreover, the local people are martial, and it is difficult to reason with the common people. If anything goes wrong, it will arouse public anger, and even the superiors will be in danger of their lives.

Upon hearing this, all the officials shrank their heads and kept silent, fearing that their names would be called.

At the right time, Yue Ling stepped forward and said, "I am willing to share your majesty's worries."

King Qin was shocked. "You?"

　Twenty-one!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)