After the rebellion was successful, I realized that this place was the Red Mansion

Chapter 115 Destroying a Golden and Jade Marriage, Breaking the Preordained Bond of Wood and Stone, Severing the Union of the Qilin

Chu Yan walked into the back hall and saw the two beauties together. He couldn't help but laugh and said, "A crane's shadow crosses the cold pond, and a flower's soul is buried under the cold moon. Today they are both here."

Daiyu glanced at him, then looked at Xiangyun, thinking to herself: Is Yun girl Du Heying?
As she pondered this, she and Xiangyun rose to greet him. Since the palace maid hadn't brought a kneeling mat, she knew that kneeling before the emperor wasn't necessary for everyday meetings.

"His Majesty!"

Shi Xiangyun, however, knelt directly on the ground.

Daiyu stopped in her tracks.

Chu Yan glanced at Xiangyun, who was kneeling obediently, and asked, "What terrible disaster have you committed? Why haven't any eunuchs come to report it?"

Shi Xiangyun raised her small face: "Although it's not a major disaster, I saw that they were all startled by my words, so I came to apologize to the emperor."

"what did you say?"

Chu Yan asked.

Daiyu noticed that the tall emperor did not sit down, but remained standing in front of the kneeling Yun'er, asking about the matter first.

Xiangyun recounted what had just happened.

"What's so surprising?" Chu Yan laughed and reached out to pull her up. "You scared them with just a casual remark. They're too timid."

Xiangyun blushed, feeling somewhat embarrassed.

Chu Yan said, "I have said that as long as it is not intentional, I will not punish you for your words. Do you think that if you casually say that Princess Qinghe's son will become the emperor, she will actually give birth to him?"

"whee."

Xiangyun looked at him and smiled, her expression gradually relaxing.

Chu Yan said, "I am the emperor, and I decide who will be the crown prince in the future."

Xiangyun laughed again, and Daiyu glanced at him: "That's hard to say. Since you were able to start a rebellion and become emperor, it's not impossible for others to do the same..."

His voice grew softer and softer, as if he were testing the waters, but then he became even more hesitant out of fear.

Chu Yan laughed: "I'd really like to see who has the ability to rebel against me... Of course, this can't get out, otherwise people will die in the war."

Daiyu did not answer, but instead asked Xiangyun, "Are your knees hurting? You're kneeling even without a prayer mat."

Xiangyun shook her head.

Chu Yan pulled her into the east side room and said, "Miss Lin is right. Next time you want to kneel, wait for the prayer mat to be brought before you kneel."

Xiangyun laughed and said, "Once the prayer mat is brought, you won't let me kneel anymore. My grandmother told me that she used to kneel four or five times when she went to the palace. I've been to the palace three times, and I've only knelt to you once."

She spoke in a charmingly innocent tone, and Chu Yan reached out and pinched Xiangyun's cheek, laughing, "Sister Yun can even read the Emperor's mind now!"

"Pfft~"

Xiangyun's eyes narrowed with laughter, and Daiyu asked her, "What are you laughing at, Sister Yun?"

Xiangyun smiled happily but did not answer.

"Sit down, stop grinning like that."

Chu Yan sat on the soft couch, leaning against the pillows, facing them. Xiangyun and Daiyu also sat down.

"How is things at home?" Chu Yan asked Xiangyun first.

Daiyu sat upright but awkwardly opposite, while Xiangyun was much more relaxed.

"Everything is fine at home. My grandmother, second aunt, third aunt, and all my sisters have moved to the East Mansion. Grandma Zhen even gave up her old place to my family, which made us feel quite embarrassed."

Xiangyun said.

Daiyu said, "You don't need to be embarrassed. Both the Ning and Rong mansions belong to the emperor. Who gets to live there is just a matter of imperial decree."

Chu Yan realized that she wasn't targeting Xiangyun, but him.

Lin Daiyu was much more eloquent tonight.

Chu Yan nodded, "What Lin said is very true, but in order to prevent some people from thinking that it is the Ning and Rong Mansions and not being able to distinguish between the two princes, Xiangyun, when you go back, take down the plaque of the Imperial-Built Duke's Mansion and move the Jia Family Ancestral Hall away."

Lin Daiyu's dewy eyes widened. She had made a fool of herself, but she couldn't retaliate because both families had been raided, and the old plaques and the Jia family ancestral hall should have been removed long ago.

If we don't withdraw now, we'll have to withdraw eventually.

If Chu Yan had issued an imperial edict at any other time, Daiyu would have ignored it. But it was only after she said those words that he remembered to issue an edict to withdraw the edict.

If the old lady and the madam find out, they might mistakenly think that she has offended the emperor.

Xiangyun said, "Because the family property was confiscated, the plaque of the Duke's Mansion can be removed, and the Jia family's ancestral hall can no longer be kept. However... I want to plead with the Emperor on behalf of the old lady. There are still some empty rooms in the mansion. We can temporarily put the Jia family's ancestral tablet in the rooms, and then take it back to Jinling when the Jia family has the means to move it in the future."

Chu Yan asked her, "Have you been staying at the Rongguo Mansion often since you were little?"

Xiangyun smiled and said, "I go there very often. I'm familiar with many people in the Jia family, especially Ping'er and her three sisters, who are my closest friends."

Chu Yan asked curiously, "Isn't Ping'er Wang Xifeng's dowry maid?"

Xiangyun was a little unaccustomed to him calling Fengjie by her name, so she smiled and said, "Sister Fengjie came often even before she married into the Jia family, and Sister Ping'er came along too, so we played together."

Chu Yan looked at the sash around her waist and saw a small golden unicorn ornament tied to it, so he asked her for it.

"what are you up to?"

Xiangyun asked the question aloud, but had already reached out and untied the golden unicorn from her palace sash, handing it over.

Chu Yan held it and played with it for a while, then laughed and said, "This is probably a female Qilin."

Xiangyun chuckled, "How does the emperor know whether it's male or female?" Hearing this, Daiyu finally sneered, "If there were a pair, one big and one small, wouldn't it be easy to tell them apart?"

Xiangyun looked at her curiously, and Daiyu said, "At the beginning of the year, when we went to Qingxu Temple to perform a ritual, an old Taoist priest brought some gifts. Your brother saw a large golden unicorn among them and secretly hid it. It just happens to look like yours."

Xiangyun chuckled and said, "Second Brother must have seen that I often carry this with me, and when he saw it was fun to play with, he brought it over!"

She didn't mind at all, and didn't even think about going anywhere else.

Daiyu, on the contrary, felt guilty.

But her guess was correct; this person intentionally brought up Xiangyun's golden unicorn and knew that Baoyu also had a golden unicorn.

I just don't know why he suddenly brought this up?

Chu Yan nodded in approval, saying, "Miss Lin is right. Sister Yun does indeed have a slight lisp when she speaks, calling out 'I love you, brother' repeatedly."

Upon hearing this, Xiangyun blushed and gave each of them a reproachful look:

"I just heard Sister Lin making fun of me, and I didn't want to talk to her or give her a cold shoulder! But then Brother Emperor joined in making fun of me too!"

Daiyu laughed, but then realized she shouldn't laugh in front of him, so she quickly covered her mouth with her handkerchief and turned away, still laughing.

Chu Yan glanced at her again. Lin Daiyu, with tears streaming down her face, looked as pitiful as Xi Shi, a sickly beauty. When she smiled, her eyes crinkled, and she was exceptionally bright and lively, comparable to the charming and cheerful Shi Xiangyun. No wonder the two of them later composed poems together and their relationship grew better and better.

Seeing him looking at her, Daiyu was both annoyed and furious, and secretly glared at him.

A beautiful woman looks beautiful no matter what she does; it's pleasing to the eye.

But even though I admire her, I still have to give her the necessary blows.

Chu Yan said slowly, "Speaking of the Golden Kirin, I also got something else, a piece of jade."

“Jade?” Daiyu looked over.

Xiangyun quickly said, "Is it Brother Bao's jade? I saw it last time."

She was afraid of biting her tongue and calling him "brother Ai" again, so she simply stopped saying the two words.

Chu Yan pointed to the cabinet opposite him, "Sister Yun, go and get it."

Xiangyun got up and opened the cabinet. Sure enough, she saw the magical jade inside. She took it out and first handed it to Chu Yan. When he refused, she showed it to Lin Daiyu.

"Baoyu..."

Holding the jade pendant that Baoyu had always carried with her, Daiyu was overcome with emotion and her eyes welled up with tears.

But when she looked up at Chu Yan and saw him smiling at her, her heart skipped a beat, and she quickly threw away the magical jade.

She couldn't bear to be hugged and humiliated by him again just for a piece of jade!
Chu Yan laughed and said to Xiangyun, "In plays and poems, it is common for talented men and beautiful women to be brought together by small objects, such as gold and jade, wood and stone, or mandarin ducks and phoenixes, male and female unicorns, etc."

"Bah! What is Your Majesty saying?!"

Upon hearing the name "male and female Qilin," Xiangyun blushed and spat at him, turning away in embarrassment. She then said angrily:

"So that's why you rushed over to make fun of me. I've had this Qilin pendant on my body for so long, and I've never known whether it's male or female. If I say it's male, do you think I'm going to use it to matchmake people?"

Chu Yan laughed. If Shi Xiangyun had accidentally found out that someone else had a Qilin, she might have thought of something else, but since he had taken the initiative to expose it, Xiangyun knew that he was making fun of her.

Besides, now that she's entered the palace, she won't think much of it even if she sees others with unicorns.

Chu Yan looked at Daiyu. Lin Daiyu seemed to sense something and sneered before he could speak, "Sister Bao has a necklace with eight characters on it that a monk gave her, which match the characters on the jade pendant perfectly."

Xiangyun blinked, looked at her, then at Chu Yan, and suddenly laughed.

She knew about the necklace on Baochai's body, but she never thought of using it to matchmake her with Baochai. No wonder Lin Daiyu and Baochai didn't get along very well in the past few years.

Daiyu said calmly, "Now that Sister Bao has entered the palace to serve you, what's the point of mentioning the golden and jade marriage? Even if it really exists, once you get this jade, the golden and jade marriage will come true for you."

Chu Yan asked in surprise, "You're not going to plead for me, and you want me to return the jade to Jia Baoyu?"

He didn't believe in these things, and the magic jade wasn't effective. If Daiyu asked for it, he would definitely grant her request.

The premise is that she has to pay some price.

Daiyu said, "He can't keep this jade. It's better for it to stay with you so it won't get lost."

This is the truth.

Speaking of miracles, Chu Yan thought of something and asked her, "When you were young, did a bald-headed monk come to your house?"

Daiyu remained silent for a while before asking, "What would happen if I deceived the emperor?"

Xiangyun immediately looked at the emperor.

Chu Yan smiled and said, "It depends on my mood."

Daiyu slightly raised her eyelids and said in a low voice, "No bald-headed monk has ever come to my house."

She is openly committing the crime of deceiving the emperor!

Chu Yan could tell that Lin Daiyu was indeed different tonight than the previous two times. It seemed that she wanted to try to change her relationship with him while Shi Xiangyun was around, or perhaps she wanted to test his bottom line to see if he would tolerate some of her offensive behavior.

Chu Yan didn't mind her cautious probing; a Lin Daiyu without personality wouldn't be Lin Daiyu.

But she was probably wrong. Before she severed her vow with Jia Baoyu, Chu Yan would not be able to pardon Jia Baoyu, so her efforts were destined to be in vain.

Holding the jade pendant in his hand, Chu Yan said to Xiangyun, "When you go back, tell your sister Bao to bring her necklace to show me next time she enters the palace."

He has already messed up Shi Xiangyun's marriage with two golden unicorns, one male and one female, and Xue Baochai's marriage of gold and jade. Only Lin Daiyu's preordained love of wood and stone is left unfulfilled.

(End of this chapter)