Red Mansion: Picking up a Lin Daiyu

Chapter 347 What? Succubus?

Beijing,

Zhongshu Province Classroom,
After An Jingzhong was dismissed from his position as prime minister, Dongfang Zhi and Chai Pu, who were in the same office, were the two people with the best chance of taking over the seal of prime minister.

A veteran of two dynasties, he has served in the procuratorate for many years and has been diligent and conscientious.

One was an old official of the Qin Palace, who had been an aide to the palace long before Emperor Longyou ascended the throne.

In the Secretariat, the two of them were secretly competing with each other and seemed to be incompatible. Emperor Longyou also intended to let them supervise each other.

Moreover, in the Secretariat, all the immediate superiors had such an inward-looking work attitude. After the Prime Minister An Jingzhong was gone, work efficiency was greatly improved.

Every day, memorials from the Secretariat piled up in the classroom like snowflakes, and even more were submitted to the emperor for approval.

Every day, the eunuchs in the palace had to be loaded into the carriage with the imperial guards.

Even so, Dongfang Zhi and Chai Pu still did not dare to slack off and performed their duties diligently.

Another early morning, the eunuchs from the palace arrived as scheduled, and they brought guards to load wooden boxes onto the carriage.

Chai Pu, who was flipping through the memorials behind the desk, casually pulled out a memorial that was pressed underneath, put it first, and pushed it to the eunuch.

"These are more urgent and require your Majesty's approval today. Please don't forget."

Dongfang Zhi noticed Chai Pu's little action, but didn't say anything. Instead, he smiled at each other and went back to his own work, pretending he heard nothing.

"Don't worry, Master Chai. We will pass on your message."

……

Qianqing Palace,
As the New Year approaches, people start to dress up.

Every year before, the event was held in the imperial palace, and there were few decorations to celebrate. But this year was different. There were silks and satins to please the eyes, and the palace lanterns were replaced with brand new colored glaze covers, shining brightly.

For some unknown reason, Emperor Longyou, who had always been extremely frugal and even a little stingy, wanted to host a banquet in the palace to celebrate the festival.

At this moment, Emperor Longyou was still working at his desk reviewing documents as usual, without any festive atmosphere on his face.

Every time he picked up a memorial, his brows furrowed a little deeper.

Soon, the sound of footsteps was heard in the palace. This familiar voice interrupted Emperor Longyou's thoughts. He relaxed his brows and looked up.

The queen, dressed in palace clothes, walked in gracefully, followed by a palace maid who bent over and held a brocade plate.

On the brocade plate was a steaming casserole. As soon as it was brought in, a strong medicinal aroma spread throughout the hall.

Sitting on the embroidered chair beneath Emperor Longyou, the Empress advised earnestly: "No matter how complicated the state affairs are, no matter how heavy the burden on your Majesty is, you must take care of your health first."

"I just asked the Imperial Hospital, and they've found out that they've saved on the morning's medicine. How can that be possible?"

Emperor Longyou felt warm in his heart, shook his head and sighed: "After drinking the medicine, I felt dizzy and heavy, which made it difficult for me to review the memorials."

"In this case, it's better to take a break."

The queen did not give up and continued to advise.

At the right time, a group of eunuchs came in carrying several book boxes. One could tell at a glance that they were all memorials that had accumulated over the past few days.

The Queen's face showed worry. She was just beginning to persuade people when these memorials came to ruin the party. It was really unfortunate that they came at this time.

"Your Majesty, only when you are in good health can you better handle state affairs."

Emperor Longyou took the empress's hand, stroked it gently, and said with a smile: "I know. I know my body best. I won't force myself."

"Since the Queen has brought the medicine, please give it to me and let me drink it while I read these memorials."

The queen frowned, "Can't you take a break after drinking the medicine?"

Emperor Longyou raised his hand and called the eunuchs below to come over, and said firmly: "It's not that we can't take a break. The urgent memorials still need to be read first, and the rest can be put aside for now."

The eunuchs were piling up memorials on the imperial desk, and Emperor Longyou was chatting with the empress, "This past year, I have been arranging land taxes and have uncovered the private property of many noble families. Some people even paid them money and transferred their own land to them in order to avoid taxes."

"The merits of our ancestors and the land awarded by the previous emperor have become their only means of making profits. No one dared to investigate them. It was only after my repeated insistence that the fish scale list around the capital was found."

"If this is the case in the capital, let alone other places. If the imperial power does not extend to the county level, there will be a long way to go."

The Queen lowered her eyebrows slightly and said, "Your Majesty has warned them with this move, and it has also frightened them. Especially the gradually declining lineage of the Four Princes and Eight Dukes, who have lost the two backbones of the Jia family, and are now even more scattered."

"Although thunder, lightning, rain and dew are all grace from the emperor, I think they may have some complaints in their hearts."

Emperor Longyou narrowed his eyes slightly, "It's difficult."

The Queen continued, "The harem has been renovated recently, and the three palaces and six courtyards that were once overgrown with weeds can now be inhabited. How about Your Majesty taking a concubine to appease them?"

Emperor Longyou widened his eyes and asked in surprise: "This? Are you willing to do this?"

The queen pursed her lips tightly, and after a moment, she sighed and said, "Looking through the history books, I find that the new emperors who ascended the throne always used this method to win over the powerful and the wealthy. Your Majesty has only not done this convenient thing over the years because you care about me. I am already satisfied."

"Seeing that Your Majesty is toiling so hard every day and the court is facing so many difficulties, how can I continue to watch?"

"This is my sincere request. I hope Your Majesty will take this opportunity to host a banquet for all the officials and promise to carry out my wishes."

"I am no longer the Princess of Qin, and Your Majesty is no longer the King of Qin. We can no longer do whatever we want."

Emperor Longyou held the empress tightly in his arms. All the eunuchs and palace maids around him retreated, leaving only Xia Shouzhong standing in the distance.

"Don't worry, I will never let you down."

"Your Majesty has been busy with state affairs and has devoted himself to the people. Why can't I trust you?" The Queen slowly stood up and said, "Your Majesty, why don't you listen to me and drink this medicine first."

Emperor Longyou smiled and nodded, "Okay, I'll listen to you."

While taking the medicine fed by the Queen, he took the top one of the listed memorials.

When he saw the cover, he found out that it was written by Lin Ruhai, the Imperial Censor of Yangzhou Salt. The brows of Emperor Longyou, which had just been smoothed by the Empress, began to frown again.

"Could it be that the Lianghuai salt tax was damaged?"

Emperor Longyou unfolded the memorial and took a look, and found that it was exactly as he suspected.

The Queen glanced casually and asked, "What went wrong with Censor Lin? Did the salt tax in Lianghuai be confiscated?"

The salt tax in Lianghuai accounted for one twelfth of Dachang's tax revenue. If something went wrong, it would be a major event that would shake the foundation of the country.

"Yes and no."

Emperor Longyou sighed slowly, "It seems that a big rat has been found in the salt depot, stealing the official salt and turning it into private salt. I don't know how much has leaked out. The salt tax on the books has been collected in full, but I haven't found out how much the difference is."

"Ah, it's already the New Year, it's really hard for them."

As he picked up the pen, Emperor Longyou wanted to say a few words of comfort, but the empress beside him said, "Hey, isn't Yue Ling returning to the capital from the north and staying in Yangzhou? Isn't it a good thing to let him share your worries and investigate this matter?"

"Oh, yes, Yue Ling is still on his way back north. So there's really no need to worry too much. It's just a few million taels of silver, which is nothing."

Emperor Longyou nodded slightly, and his frown relaxed.

The queen smiled helplessly, "A few million taels are nothing in front of your majesty. Is your majesty hiding something from me?"

"In the old days, if there was a flood, one million taels of silver would be allocated, and if there was a drought, tens of thousands of bushels of grain would be allocated. Your Majesty had to scrape together the money."

Emperor Longyou laughed and said, "Yes, the Queen is right. Several million taels is not a small amount. However, with Yue Ling here, he will only double the compensation. There is not much to worry about."

"This case of salt theft is definitely not a small one. We need to let Yue Ling and Lin Ruhai investigate it with all their might."

"I'd better endorse this father-in-law and son-in-law and issue an order."

……

Rongguo Mansion,
After the Zhen family caused a big disturbance in Rongguo Mansion last time, Wang Ziteng, who was serving in the Beijing camp, rushed over after hearing the news and calmed the matter down.

The mansion was closed to visitors for several months, and the storm was finally averted.

But this incident lowered the reputation of the Jia family by several levels.

When an old friend is in trouble, not only does your Jia family not help, but you also eat up the family's resources. You are truly despised by those high-ranking nobles.

The Jia family has completely lost the status that they once had as the backbone of the four princes and eight princesses. Even the relationship between the four major families in Jinling, Jia, Shi, Wang, and Xue, has become distant.

Aunt Xue saw that things were not going well and moved out of Lixiangyuan early.

There have been no visitors to Rongguo Mansion for months.

Before the New Year, it is almost time to start cooking and worship the ancestors. In the past, there were clusters of flowers and splendid fires, but today, only the Jia family's own members present flower baskets, and the eight branches of the family come to show off, and no outsiders come to visit.

A master dressed in a white monk's robe, carrying a Buddhist shrine, was invited into the mansion by the Jia family's doorman.

There was a girl who had been waiting for a long time at the gate with hanging flowers.

As soon as they met, they hugged each other. Xing Xiuyan, who was slightly shorter in stature, had red eyes and choked up, "I never thought that one day, I would be able to see my sister again."

Miaoyu patted her back gently and consoled her: "Master and I have settled in a Taoist temple outside the capital. If you want to meet us in the future, there will be plenty of opportunities."

"Don't cry anymore. How have you been lately? I can see that you have become thinner and thinner."

Xing Xiuyun's parents only regarded her as a way to curry favor with the powerful, so they kept her in Rongguo Mansion and ignored her. Madam Xing, the eldest wife, did not have much affection for this poor relative, so Xing Xiuyun became a nobody in the mansion, with no one to discipline her or pay attention to her.

Apart from visiting Tanchun and Yingchun from time to time, there is actually not much to do.

The Rongguo Mansion was a wealthy and powerful family, and they never treated her unfairly in terms of monthly salary. According to the treatment of a young lady, she also received two taels of silver per month, but her salary was cut in half by Mrs. Xing, and the remaining half had to be given to her parents.

As a result, she was penniless, had no income in the mansion, and no maids or nannies were willing to serve her.

Speaking of evil slaves bullying their masters, there was no servant in Rongguo Mansion who treated her as a master.

With such poor treatment, he will definitely lose weight over time.

Xing Xiuyan was a girl with a strong personality who could stand up to embarrassment. She shook her head and said, "Fortunately, I heard the rumors in Suzhou. The Marquis finally set things right and cleared your father's name. I am really happy."

"Seeing my sister again today was like a dream."

The two grew up together, were as close as sisters, and even had a half-teacher relationship. Miaoyu was filled with emotion.

After wiping the corners of her eyes with her sleeve, Xing Xiuyan stood up again, took Miaoyu's hand and said, "Sister, come over here. I'll introduce the girl from the Jia family to you."

"They are all very nice people, and they often take care of me on a daily basis."

The two walked together, their sleeves fluttering, as they passed through the corridors of Chuanshan. The mist around them set off their beautiful faces, like a pair of fairies from the mortal world, causing the maids and nannies beside them to stop and stare, amazed. "Hey, when did such a pretty girl appear in the mansion?"

"One of them seems to be a distant relative of my great grandmother."

"Oh, oh, oh, what a beautiful color. Luckily, I didn't bump into those guys in the mansion. If I had, wouldn't they have been so scared?"

The two girls did not hear the noisy discussions. After arriving at the porch in Lady Wang's courtyard, Sanchun and Li Wan were living there.

It was not even noon yet, and it was the perfect time for the sisters to have fun.

The door of the middle room was open, with a large green felt curtain drawn to block out the cold wind. However, there was a little maid with a pretty and slightly blushing face standing outside the door.

"Miss Xing, the girls have been waiting for you for a long time, please come into the room."

"Okay, I'll help you."

Xing Xiuyan spoke politely and walked into the room with Miaoyu.

Miaoyu is not good at socializing, and her cold and arrogant appearance makes people feel that she should stay away from her.

As soon as she entered the room, Miaoyu attracted the attention of several girls in the room, making them stand up unnaturally.

Because Miaoyu was dressed so uniquely and was holding a Buddhist shrine in her hands, everyone couldn't help but perform a Buddhist salute, "Greetings, young master."

Miaoyu returned the greeting slightly, and the atmosphere became a little awkward.

As the happy fruit in the room, Shi Xiangyun, who was always impetuous, quickly regained her nature and pulled Xing Xiuyan to ask, "Please introduce me, who is this?"

Xing Xiuyan was unable to stand steadily and was pulled all over the place by her. She kept saying, "This is the sister I mentioned before, who grew up with me and is also my master."

"Su..."

Xing Xiuyun wanted to bring up the topic of Suzhou, but she didn't know if this would touch upon Miaoyu's sorrow, so she couldn't help but look back at Miaoyu again.

The sisters were in tune with each other. Miaoyu lowered her eyebrows and nodded secretly.

Xing Xiuyan continued, "It's the case we talked about before, the case of Marquis An Jing in Suzhou, which redressed the injustice done to my sister's father."

The girl with a complicated life story is the object of everyone's sympathy.

Moreover, Miaoyu was wearing a Taoist robe with her hair tied up, looking like a lay disciple who was practicing Taoism with her hair tied up.

With so many elements, there must be a lot of stories behind it.

The girls, who had been cooped up in their boudoirs for a long time, needed stories the most, so they quickly invited Miaoyu to come and sit down, served her tea and snacks, and started chatting about things in Suzhou.

Before he could finish his task, Baoyu came back from the toilet and suddenly found that there was one more person in the room.

This person had an ethereal air, and her speech and behavior were quite extraordinary. Especially when she sat aside, just seeing her profile was enough to make one feel as if she was an immortal.

The staring gaze from beside her made Miaoyu very uncomfortable. She frowned and turned around, only to see it was a man.

Miaoyu couldn't help but wonder, "How could there be a man in this inner room?"

At this time, the girls noticed Baoyu's existence.

Tanchun apologized, "He is the second brother Bao from the second wife's house. He is our biological brother and has been together since childhood. Even before he got married, he has been living in the inner chamber and playing with us."

Miaoyu raised her eyebrows, stood up and said coldly: "This is against the rules, I will go back first."

Baoyu completely ignored the fairy's disdain and came closer to ask, "Sister, you are more beautiful than a fairy. I think you look familiar."

Miaoyu's disdain was clearly written on her face, "I just arrived in the capital, and I don't have any old friends."

Jia Baoyu's eyebrows lit up with joy, "Just right, just right. I see that Master is wearing a Taoist robe, so he must be here to preside over the Jia family's sacrifice. This way, I can also be considered to have established a relationship with the Rongguo Mansion. If there are any difficulties in the future, you can come to me."

"Master, just continue chatting with them. I won't disturb you."

Jia Baoyu has a good appearance. Although his words are unpleasant to the ear and he is a bit self-righteous, he is not rude.

Before coming to Rongguo Mansion, Miaoyu had heard of Jia Baoyu's great name, which was completely different from Marquis Anjing.

A genius of the younger generation, who saved the crumbling empire; a devil of the Rongguo Mansion, who spent all his time in the inner chambers, had several conflicts with other families' ladies and was notorious.

Unexpectedly, I ran into him by coincidence as soon as I arrived.

Miaoyu, who came from a family of officials, found it difficult to understand the family style of the Rongguo Mansion. Why was it like this and why did they indulge him so much?

The girls around begged again before Miaoyu was allowed to stay.

After all, she is a female master and she has to show up in public on weekdays.

Miaoyu took a deep breath and answered the girls' questions, "When he was in Suzhou, Marquis Anjing turned the tide and changed the atmosphere of the officialdom in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. He also eliminated the Japanese pirates on Shuangyu Island."

"This has been a maritime threat for decades, but it was divided and annihilated by Marquis Anjing."

"Divide and destroy them?"

Speaking of war scenes, Shi Xiangyun's interest was immediately aroused. She liked magnificent heroic stories the most, and she asked repeatedly: "Master, please tell me in detail how to divide and annihilate them?"

When Miaoyu was about to respond, she noticed that Jia Baoyu, who was a few steps away from them, had a change in expression and it gradually turned red.

No one had paid any attention to him, but when such a sudden change happened, Miaoyu reacted immediately.

This Jia Baoyu is jealous of Marquis Anjing.

When she thought of this, Miaoyu laughed secretly in her heart.

"Okay, then I'll tell you in detail. I know the matter best. At the time, I was staying at Fengqiao Inn where Marquis Anjing was staying."

With just one sentence, the interest of all the girls and maids in the room was aroused.

Only Xing Xiuyan was stunned for a long while, and complained in her heart: "Isn't that right, sister? After I left, you went to Fengqiao Inn and stayed with An Jinghou? What's going on?"

"You just saw Jia Baoyu and called him a stranger. Are you going to leave?"

"I thought that when you were in Panxiang Temple, you were servile and served tea and water like a maid of Marquis Anjing, and that was your limit. You actually, actually, still stayed there?"

Xing Xiuyan felt like her world had collapsed in half. The monk she once joked about was neither a monk, nor a Buddha, nor a human, but now she had fallen into the mortal world and became a succubus.

Xing Xiuyan really found it hard to accept this reality.

What was even more difficult to accept was Jia Baoyu. He hated and feared Yue Ling, but the girls in the room could not avoid this person whenever they chatted.

In fact, it's not just them. Ordinary people would talk about Marquis An Jing after dinner.

Baoyu's ears were callused from the rubbing, but he didn't care so much about it anymore.

But, in the Rongguo Mansion, the arrival of Xing Xiuyan is related to Marquis Anjing, and another female master is also related to Marquis Anjing. How come all the girls in the world are related to him?

Baoyu often thinks that the girls and maids in Rongguo Mansion are people who like him, but gradually he finds that this is not the case.

However, the more terrifying fact is that he has never seen a girl who hates Marquis An Jing.

How could he accept this?

Seeing the fairy-like Miaoyu, who went from keeping strangers away at first to melting away like ice and snow when she talked about Marquis Anjing and speaking witty words one after another, Baoyu felt very jealous.

The sisters' laughter and joy seemed like his death warrant. Jia Baoyu could no longer bear it. He stood up angrily, slammed the door and left.

A loud bang interrupted the atmosphere in the room.

Miaoyu looked back and asked in surprise, "What...what happened to him?"

Shi Xiangyun was not yet satisfied, so she squeezed past Xing Xiuyan and came to Miaoyu, waving her hand indifferently and said, "He is always like this, don't pay any attention to him."

Miaoyu smiled, "Okay, let's continue. Where were we just now?"

Shi Xiangyun immediately replied, "It's about the Marquis of Anjing crossing the sea in black clothes and wading through the water to kill the enemy."

"Well, this is the exciting moment..."

……

Rongqing Hall,
Lady Xing, Lady Wang, and Li Wan surrounded Lady Jia, chatting and passing the time.

Lai Ma Ma came back from outside and smiled as she reported the good news to Jia Mu: "Just now, I saw a maid who was as pretty as a fairy. She was really pretty. None of the boys in the mansion are married yet, and the huge Rongguo Mansion has not yet had any offspring. Don't you ladies have any ideas?"

After asking again and again, Mrs. Xing and Mrs. Wang realized that what Nanny Lai saw was the female master who was going to preside over the sacrifice.

Grandmother Jia was also very worried about the marriages of her descendants. The reputation of Rongguo Mansion was not as good as before, and very few people were willing to interact with the mansion. It was difficult to arrange marriages for those brothers who had not yet married.

"Second Madam, is this true?"

Mrs. Wang replied, "The person that Lai Mama mentioned must be the female teacher who is going to chant sutras. I have seen her in the Taoist temple before. She is a very pretty girl."

"It's just that her background is a bit poor. Although she is from an official family, her parents are both dead and she has no relatives or friends. She only has a master who guides her in her practice."

"Female Master?"

Grandmother Jia was very surprised. Has the Rongguo Mansion reached such a point where they are so hungry that they are not even able to choose what to eat? They even want to marry a nun?

In the old days, people of this status were not worthy of being concubines in the Rongguo Mansion, and it was considered shameful to keep them as extramarital affairs.

"How do nuns get married?"

Lai Ma explained: "Those who practice Buddhism with their hair uncut can return to secular life."

"Is it really beautiful?"

"One on one, at least she's no worse than the girl from the Xue family."

Grandmother Jia nodded slightly, "Well, you can call her to come and have a look."

Just as the message was delivered, a maid came in hurriedly and whispered a few words into Yuanyang's ear.

Yuanyang was shocked, and hurried to Jia's mother's ear, leaning over and whispering, "Grandma, great news, it's rumored in the palace that His Majesty wants to choose a concubine from among the nobles."

"what?"

Grandmother Jia looked stunned, but after a moment she clapped her hands and laughed, her body shaking with excitement.

"Let the girl who went to look for the nun come back. May our ancestors in heaven bless us, and our Jia family will not fall down!"

(End of this chapter)