The destiny of all heavens begins in the Red Chamber

If the timing is right, Lin Ruhai will naturally be an unavoidable obstacle if one wants to change Lin Daiyu's fate.

As mentioned earlier, as long as Lin Ruhai is alive, Lin Daiyu's fate will be completely changed.

If Lin Ruhai were to die, unless the royal family intervened personally, Lin Daiyu's fate of being completely bound to the Rong family would certainly not change in the slightest.

There was no other way; it involved the Lin family's assets, which might exceed three million, and the Rong family simply couldn't afford it.

In most fanfictions of Dream of the Red Chamber, the way to rescue Lin Ruhai is to personally visit and persuade him.

They used Lin Daiyu as a pretext and the Lin family's lineage as leverage; in short, they employed a variety of methods and went to great lengths.

Jia Huan's desire to change Lin Daiyu's fate naturally involves Lin Ruhai.

He was too young to travel far from home, and he couldn't possibly persuade Lin Ruhai.

I can't exactly tell the truth: I'm a time traveler, and you, as the female lead's biological father, were sacrificed to heaven long ago while in office. Your daughter was also bullied to death in the Rong Mansion, vomiting blood. From then on, your lineage was completely cut off. It was incredibly tragic.

If he really dared to say that in front of Lin Ruhai, the other party's first reaction would probably be to slap Jia Huan across the face. There's no doubt about it.

Jia Huan didn't do that; his methods were more direct.

They persuaded the Second Master Zheng to use some of the Rong family's resources to directly transfer Lin Ruhai away from Yangzhou.

As long as Lin Ruhai is transferred away from Yangzhou, the conflict of interest between him and the Yangzhou salt merchants will naturally disappear.

As for whether Lin Ruhai would hold a grudge and try to take revenge on those salt merchants in the future, that was none of Jia Huan's business.

What he needed to do was to directly transfer Lin Ruhai back to the capital through the imperial court!

In fact, Lin Ruhai is currently the best person that Master Zheng can trust.

Given their kinship alone, it's impossible for Lin Ruhai not to help Master Zheng!

Not to mention, Lin Ruhai could be considered an unofficial disciple of the Rong family, and it was impossible for him to go against the Rong family's wishes, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to survive in the officialdom.

There are many talented and capable young people, so why was Lin Ruhai able to stand out so quickly and rise to such a high position as the Grand Physician of the Imperial Academy in about ten years?

That's equivalent to a big shot ranked third or fourth in the Censorate. Is it because Lin Ruhai was a third-ranked scholar?

The real reason was clear to the officials in the capital: he had received strong support from his father-in-law, the late Duke Rongguo, and had come to the attention of the retired emperor early on.

With Lin Ruhai's help, at least the censors in the Censorate will behave themselves!

As for the other attacks, Lin Ruhai was perfectly capable of stopping them. He had the ability and the strength; otherwise, why would Master Zheng be so interested?

In addition, Jia Huan also planned to recommend another person to Master Zheng, this fellow was definitely a good knife.

But before he could find an opportunity to recommend it, something happened in the manor that forced him to temporarily shift his attention to it.

It has been revealed that Xue Pan killed someone in Jinling and had been imprisoned!

Of course, these days the prevailing custom is to keep family scandals private. Since the Xue family brought this up themselves, the matter is naturally not so simple.

Here's what happened: Just as Jia Huan and Master Zheng were discussing transferring Lin Ruhai to the capital, Aunt Xue, with tears streaming down her face, went to find the Second Madam, Lady Wang, startling this kind-hearted woman.

Before Madam Wang could inquire about the matter, Aunt Xue tearfully begged Madam Wang to intervene on behalf of the Xue family.

After hearing the whole story, Madam Wang was stunned by what she had heard and didn't know what to say.

So, didn't Xue Pan take Jia Huan's advice and secretly donate 10,000 shi of grain to the emperor through his connections in the Imperial Household Department?

Upon receiving the news and learning that the food had arrived, they were naturally overjoyed.

At this critical moment, the example set by the Xue family, a family of imperial merchants, is of great significance.

In my current good mood, I naturally want to reward Xue Pan, who is so sensible.

It's possible that the ancestral position of Ziwei Sheren (a high-ranking official) could even return to the Xue family.

Then, problems arose when investigating personal information.

The "Gourd Case" fabricated by Jia Yucun was brought up again, and according to the official laws at the time, Xue Pan was already a dead man.

Under normal circumstances, the Imperial Household Department would not easily let go of the Xue family until they had squeezed every last drop of profit out of them, given that they had such leverage over the Xue family. But the situation is different now.

The Xue family is about to be set up as a model for the emperor, so the Imperial Household Department is naturally very perceptive and dares not act recklessly.

Upon learning the news, Dai Quan immediately informed the Xue family of the truth. He only accepted five thousand taels as a tip-off fee!

This news was like a bolt from the blue for the Xue family!

Aunt Xue and Xue Pan were both dumbfounded. They knew about the original verdict, but they never expected the consequences to be so serious. If things went wrong, Xue Pan's situation would become extremely dangerous.

Is he a 'dead man'? You could say anyone can lay a hand on him, and it wouldn't be illegal!

The mother and son were both terrified, but Xue Baochai remained calm and quickly analyzed the key points.

The verdict in this "Gourd Case" was entirely the work of Jia Yucun, the prefect of Jinling. It was obvious that the other side intended to use this as leverage to control the Xue family!

Xue Pan was furious and vowed to teach Jia Yucun, that despicable scoundrel, a lesson!

Aunt Xue thought even more deeply and went directly to Madam Wang to complain and lodge a grievance.

When Xue Pan was first arrested and imprisoned, he thought Jia Yucun was a protégé of the Rong Mansion and an absolute ally, and that he could resolve the matter by bribing him with some money.

Who would have thought that Jia Yucun would have such deep thoughts? This time, he really put Xue Pan in a difficult position.

When Madam Wang learned of the matter, she was quite shocked and furious.

Look at what Jia Yucun has done.

As a disciple of the Rong family, Jia Yucun's behavior was excessive; he was practically an ingrate.

This incident made Madam Wang feel quite embarrassed when facing Aunt Xue, who was crying and complaining. She felt she had lost face.

Therefore, Madam Wang, for once, invited Master Zheng back to the main hall of the second house to talk, told him about the matter, and asked him to seek justice for the Xue family.

Master Zheng was shocked; he never expected such a thing to happen.

Like Madam Wang, he felt somewhat embarrassed.

It should be noted that after Jia Yucun dealt with Xue Pan's case, he wrote a letter to him about it, which was a subtle way of asking for credit. But no one expected that he would have such a trick up his sleeve.

Judging from the second master's perspective, Jia Yucun was clearly deceiving everyone and was utterly inhuman!

He was somewhat angry, so he told the story in the main study, which prompted a group of scholars to speak out and condemn him.

The gist is that Jia Yucun is utterly ungrateful!

He was able to be reinstated thanks to the recommendation of the Second Master Zheng; otherwise, it would have been impossible to regain his original position and even become the Prefect of Jinling in a short time.

Which of the scholars and gentlemen in the grand study didn't envy them?

As a result, Jia Yucun actually pulled this stunt. If they didn't take advantage of their misfortune, they would truly be letting down all the money Master Zheng had spent on them over the years.

Jia Huan found it amusing, and this time he didn't say a word.

After the guests and gentlemen had left, Master Zheng asked Jia Huan for his opinion.

Since the brawl that occurred at the gate of Prince Zhongshun's mansion, it is quite obvious that Master Zheng has taken him more seriously.

This attention extends beyond just focusing on him personally. It also shows considerable importance placed on his words and the opinions he offers, which is quite remarkable.

To bring about such a change in such a rigid figure as Master Zheng, we have to thank Jia Baoyu for his cooperation.

As the saying goes, there's no harm in comparison.

Jia Baoyu's various behaviors almost drove Master Zheng to despair.

At this point, Master Zheng had absolutely no interest in Jia Baoyu, and was too lazy to discipline him.

In the past, he would occasionally call Jia Baoyu to the main study to inquire about his studies, but recently he has hardly called on Jia Baoyu at all.

Fortunately, the kid was having so much fun in the backyard that he didn't even think about leaving, believing that his little trick had succeeded.

What kind of tricks are they using? It's the same old thing: feigning illness. Even the Second Master Zheng can't be bothered with them.

The old lady and the second wife, Lady Wang, were keenly aware of the impropriety, but unfortunately, Jia Baoyu was uncooperative, so they could only sigh helplessly.

Fortunately, Master Zheng adhered to the Confucian way of doing things, and he always had a stern face no matter who he was dealing with. Not to mention outsiders, even the old lady did not know what he was thinking, which saved Jia Huan a lot of trouble.

The fact that Master Zheng Er attaches importance to this is naturally a good thing for Jia Huan!

Things that previously required the Rong family's resources and the personal involvement of the Second Master Zheng have become much easier to accomplish than before.

As long as Jia Huan's suggestions aren't too outrageous and happen to align with Master Zheng's interests, they're always successful.

Fortunately, every piece of advice he gave was reliable.

This saved Master Zheng a lot of trouble, and naturally he was valued even more.

However, Jia Huan had little interest in the imperial examinations, which disappointed Master Zheng.

With Jia Huan in charge, he actually had more expectations and ambitions for his official career. Otherwise, given the Second Master Zheng's personality, he would never have done something like arguing with someone at a small court meeting.

This time, the Xue family's predicament has left Master Zheng quite displeased.

He felt that Jia Yucun was a cunning and treacherous fellow, not a kind person, and even considered removing him from his position as the prefect of Jinling. However, doing so would have completely turned him against Jia Yucun.

Jia Yucun was quite capable!

Otherwise, this fellow has only been reinstated to his original position for a short time, and relying solely on the influence of the Rong and Wang families, it wouldn't be easy for him to become the prefect of Jinling.

Because Jinling was the birthplace of the Great Qian Dynasty, the rank of the prefect was quite high, directly equivalent to a third-rank official.

If this were during the Ming Dynasty, he would be the head of Yingtian Prefecture, a respectable third-rank official, a remarkable figure in the entire court.

It is not an easy thing to transfer the prefect of Jinling.