The destiny of all heavens begins in the Red Chamber

Without figuring out who's behind the person surnamed Qiu, beating him up won't do any good.

I'm afraid the other party is actually hoping for this, as it would only make things worse.

After all, the commander of the patrol battalion was a figure of some influence in the capital, commanding nearly a thousand patrol battalion officers and soldiers, and was not someone to be trifled with.

Such people, though their official rank and position are insignificant, usually come from extraordinary backgrounds.

Take Qiu Liang, a friend of mine, for example. He comes from the Jing Tian Marquis's family, one of the twelve founding marquises. Although he is the legitimate son, he is not the eldest son. Yet, at a young age, he has already risen to the position of Commander of the Five Cities Military Command.

Of course, now, thanks to Jia Huan's help and his own connections, he has become the Prefect of the Capital, and who would dare to underestimate him?

"Master, this man surnamed Qiu seems to be Taizong Congxun, he's not one of us!"

Jia Huan said, "These guys seem to have a pretty good relationship with the current leader!"

Upon hearing this, the flower hall fell into an extremely quiet state, so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.

The so-called "Taizong Congxun" refers to a group of military nobles who rose to prominence through military achievements and were trusted confidants of Emperor Taizong of the Great Qian Dynasty. They were used to counterbalance the founding nobles.

Of course, their strength, reputation, and influence were far inferior to those of the founding nobles, but they were still a force to be reckoned with.

However, with each new emperor comes a new court. After the retired emperor ascended the throne, the "meritorious officials of the founding emperor" naturally stepped aside, and the founding nobles still dominated the court.

As such, most of those who received merits during the reign of Emperor Taizong escaped the consequences of the deposition of the crown prince.

When he ascended to the throne, he naturally favored 'Taizong Congxun' who had certain military power.

The man surnamed Qiu held the rank of Cavalry Commandant, and he was only a second-generation descendant, a typical example of "Emperor Taizong's descendant of a noble family".

"Brother Huan, don't talk nonsense. How could you possibly be involved in such a thing?"

After a moment, it was the Second Master Zheng who reacted first. He glared at Jia Huan and scolded him angrily, "You're not allowed to talk nonsense outside like that!"

"I know what I'm doing!"

Jia Huan chuckled and said, "No one would do such a thing nowadays, otherwise it wouldn't be a mere sixth-rank official who comes to ask for your hand in marriage!"

"I reckon that the woman who came forward back then was at least the wife of a high-ranking official of the third rank or above..."

"What? Someone wants to marry Lin Daiyu? I won't allow it!"

Suddenly, Jia Baoyu shouted loudly, interrupting Jia Huan.

"You wicked child, what nonsense are you spouting? Are you itching for a beating again?"

Master Zheng was furious. If this weren't the Rong Mansion, he probably would have directly resorted to family discipline.

Turning to the strange-looking old steward Lin, he apologized, "I'm so sorry, my son was presumptuous!"

"It doesn't matter!"

Butler Lin chuckled and said, "I've long heard that your second young master and young lady are childhood sweethearts. It's understandable that they were excited when they suddenly heard that someone had come to propose marriage!"

What the hell do you mean by "understand"? Why are you smiling so meaningfully?

Master Zheng felt a headache coming on. If he had known that Jia Baoyu was so unreliable, he shouldn't have brought him along to embarrass himself. He had truly lost all face.

As for the marriage between Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu, he was quite hesitant.

The old lady had mentioned it a few times, but Lady Wang had also told him that she didn't want Baoyu and Lin Daiyu to become even closer, mainly because Lin Daiyu's health seemed very weak.

Master Zheng also agreed with this statement. After all, as far as he knew, Lin Daiyu had been taking medicine to maintain her health ever since she came to the Rong Mansion, which was not a good sign.

Even after returning to the Lin family, Lin Daiyu's health didn't improve at all during their several meetings.

Of course, the old lady's idea was also very reasonable. The Lin family only had one daughter, Lin Daiyu, so the entire Lin family would belong to Baoyu, which would greatly guarantee Baoyu's life.

Jia Huan was unaware of Master Zheng's thoughts; otherwise, he would have laughed his head off.

If Lin Ruhai were to die, Lin Daiyu's fate would be in the hands of the Rong Mansion's matriarch.

But Lin Ruhai was still alive and well at this time. With proper care, he could live to be fifty, and there was still a good chance he would live to be sixty.

Putting everything else aside, Jia Huan was quite confident in the speed at which his medical skills were improving.

Given Lin Ruhai's shrewdness, how could he possibly be interested in someone like Jia Baoyu? Wouldn't that be setting his own daughter up in trouble?

Of course, if his plans to leave the manor succeed, he wouldn't mind taking over the Lin family's assets and resources, which are quite tempting.

As for feelings and such, talking about them in this day and age is truly a joke.

Why did the imperial era, with its relatively low productivity, highly value the concept of "mutual respect" between husband and wife?

In any case, from a modern perspective, this idiom is not a compliment. If you think about things more, you will know the true situation.

"Master, the matter that my uncle has encountered this time is probably not simple!"

Jia Huan brought the topic back and said slowly, "Should we try to get some information from that guy surnamed Qiu? We need to find out his true purpose, right?"

He frowned and said, "Even if the person surnamed Qiu is forced to do so, his visits to the Lin family every time are very damaging to Sister Lin's reputation!"

These words were quite reasonable, and Steward Lin nodded repeatedly in agreement. Master Zheng also felt that they could not continue, as there were indeed risks as Jia Huan had mentioned.

"How about we let Lin Daiyu stay at our residence for a while?"

At this moment, Jia Baoyu eagerly stepped forward to offer advice, but was immediately forced back by a fierce glare from Master Zheng.

"You wretched child, if you can't speak, then don't speak. Nobody will think you're mute!"

Master Zheng was truly frustrated. He wondered how Jia Baoyu had grown up to be so ignorant of even the most basic social etiquette. What was he to do in the future?

The old steward, who had been all smiles and clearly quite fond of the 'childhood sweethearts' relationship between Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu, now had a very ugly expression and was almost about to angrily rebuke Jia Baoyu for talking nonsense.

Jia Huan sighed, utterly speechless at Jia Baoyu's 'innocence'.

Damn it, Lin Ruhai is still lying on his sickbed. If Lin Daiyu, as his only daughter, doesn't serve him and show him filial piety at this time, she will be despised by outsiders.

If she really did that, what reputation would she have left?

"Brother Huan, do you have any specific ideas?"

For once, the Second Master Zheng was quick-witted and completely ignored Jia Baoyu's suggestion, treating him as if he were invisible, and directly asked Jia Huan how to proceed.

"Master, it would actually be better to ask Brother Bao's friends to handle this matter!"

Without even thinking, Jia Huan came up with a terrible idea.

"How do you say this?"

Master Zheng glanced at Jia Baoyu with some surprise, not expecting that this fellow had friends outside.

If Jia Huan knew what Master Zheng was thinking, he would definitely chuckle and retort: ​​"Isn't that underestimating people? After all, Brother Bao is the legitimate younger brother of Consort Yuan!"

Chapter 199 Dreaming of Farts (Please Subscribe)

The Rong family naturally spared no effort in nurturing Jia Baoyu.

From the age of ten onwards, whether it was the old lady and Lady Wang who rarely went out, or other ladies from the family who came to visit, they would always bring Jia Baoyu out to make an appearance.

Then, whenever Master Zheng went out, or even when Jia Lian went out to socialize, the old lady would ask them to take Jia Baoyu with them to "broaden his horizons".

To put it bluntly, it was a declaration to the nobility that the next head of the Rong family had emerged.

After all, he was a scion of the Rong family who had been solemnly recommended by the Rong family, so the noble families still gave him a lot of face.

Putting aside everything else, Jia Baoyu's reputation for being polite and well-mannered gradually spread.

Jia Lian did not enjoy such treatment back then.

In private, when Jia Lian and Jia Huan talked about Jia Baoyu, their tone was full of sourness.

In Jia Lian's opinion, if he had received such treatment in his youth, he wouldn't have wasted so much time before, and he might already be a fourth-rank official by now.

Jia Huan only wanted to reply with one sentence: You're dreaming!

Back when Master Zheng was sidelined in the Ministry of Works, Jia Lian had already entered officialdom. It was simply impossible for him to surpass Master Zheng's rank.

The old lady would be the first to disagree!

Of course, it is an indisputable fact that if Jia Lian had entered officialdom earlier and gained more experience, his promotion would have been much easier.

Besides, for someone like Jia Baoyu, even if all the resources of the Rong family were poured into him, it wouldn't make a difference.

Perhaps Jia Lian, who had not yet entered officialdom, could not see clearly, but how could Jia Lian, who had been in officialdom for several years, not see clearly Jia Baoyu's true nature?

Calling Jia Baoyu a good-for-nothing is inaccurate, but he is certainly 'ignorant of worldly affairs'.

If he doesn't change his temperament, he'll at best be destined to be a wealthy but idle person.

Otherwise, Jia Lian wouldn't just have a sour tone; he would probably have been completely consumed by jealousy.

As Yuan-chun was granted the title of Imperial Concubine, Jia Bao-yu's social circle gradually took shape, and he became acquainted with a group of noble sons and friends.

People like Feng Ziying, the son of the Divine General, and Wei Ruolan of the Wei family, were all good-looking.

Unfortunately, due to his ancestors' background, his relationship with the Taizong Congxun family was not good.

Jia Huan suggested that having Jia Baoyu's friend handle the matter, as this would be more normal and less likely to attract attention.

He seemed to remember that in the original novel of Dream of the Red Chamber, Feng Ziying once attended a gathering with a facial injury, and the first person Wei Ruolan thought of was Qiu Duwei's son.

It's clear that they must have had quite a few fights before, but Jia Baoyu just didn't get involved.

"Brother Bao, you should invite those noble sons' friends to a gathering today!"

"Ask them what their relationship is with Commandant Qiu's son?"