The Red Mansion: From a Small Pawn to a Leader

Chapter 58 The Unlucky Jia Yucun 2
In Beijing, there is a saying that goes, "Children, don't be greedy, the New Year will come after Laba Festival." Celebrating Laba Festival means the beginning of the New Year celebrations.

The snow has stopped, but the sky is still gray and it's about to snow.

The door opened with a click, and Li Hu came out with water for washing his face.

A gust of cold wind blew and he shivered. He quickly poured out the water and turned back to the house.

Li Hu put down the copper basin, rubbed his hands and kept breathing out: "This damn weather is so cold!"

Rubbing his hands, Li Hu entered the bedroom, opened the lid of the copper incense burner, blew some air into it, and the charcoal fire in the incense burner began to burn red. Then he picked up the small copper pot at the foot of the incense burner and placed it on the fire.

There is not even a sip of hot water!
Li Hu sighed and decided to find someone to take care of his daily life.

Li Hu lifted the gauze curtain and walked to the desk, sat down and sorted out the documents on the desk.

Two days passed in the blink of an eye. Except for Jia Yucun who showed up unexpectedly, everything Jia She said came true. Now it depends on who will stand up to protect Wang Ziteng.

Jia Yucun attached himself to the Jia family again. Not only that, he also became a relative of the Jia family and became the nephew of Jia She and Jia Zheng.

Of course, there are reasons from the emperor, but also the helplessness of the Jia family, who have no one to use! Even though they knew that there was a calculation by the emperor, the Jia family would not let go of this opportunity. A right assistant minister of the Ministry of Rites could give the Jia family a lot of say.

Obviously the plot has changed, but it seems as if an invisible hand has pushed everything back to its original place.

The emperor's goal was achieved. With Jia Yucun as the first to speak out, the upright officials in the Censorate, the Hanlin Academy and the Imperial College all submitted memorials to impeach Wang Ziteng for "ruining state affairs for his own selfish desires."

These upright officials had masters behind them who advised them. They did not ask the emperor to punish Wang Ziteng, but instead advised him to be promoted and transferred away from the border to be the general of a province in the south.

The border troops and local troops are different, one is in heaven and the other is on earth. The promotion in public and the demotion in secret can also be regarded as punishment. But it will not cause a strong backlash from the military. Wang Ziteng did ruin the court's strategy.

Jia Yucun offended the entire military, but was recognized and accepted by the civil service group. By the way, Jia Zheng and the Jia family also gained favor among the civil servants. He put justice above his own family and was loyal to the country!
However, compared to what they gained, the Jia family lost more.

I heard from Jia Rong and Jia Baoyu that Jia Rong came to deliver New Year gifts yesterday, and Jia Baoyu also followed him to apologize. Jia Zheng did not beat him, but punished him to copy the entire text of "Book of Rites".

After a day of contact, Li Hu found that Jia Baoyu was by no means incompetent. He was smart and wise, and had a unique understanding of people and things, which was a bit shocking. In addition, he was a kind and innocent person, without the arrogance of aristocratic children.

Of course, Li Hu also discovered many of his shortcomings. He tended to be emotional when encountering things, was always hesitant when faced with choices, and lacked the courage to be decisive.

Just a child!
They said that the thresholds of the Ning and Rong mansions were almost trampled down by people from the four kings and eight dukes, and many people came to question them angrily.

This may be exactly what the emperor wants to see.

The New Year is coming soon, and the imperial court is about to be sealed. The results will definitely come out in the next few days.

Li Hu raised his head and heard the sound of "crunching" snow coming from the yard outside the window.

Then, footsteps sounded, and stopped outside the bedroom door curtain, and then Xueyan's voice came: "Second Master, Miss invites you to come over to eat Laba porridge."

"understood!"

Li Hu stood up, cleaned up the desk, took off the cloak hanging on the hanger, put it on, walked forward a few steps, turned back, put the small copper pot on the incense burner on the small stove without fire, and then strode out.

In the dining room next to the living room, two large pots of silver frost charcoal with green flames were burning early in the morning, and it was as warm as spring.

A maid in a thin cotton jacket made of black silk and a blue satin vest was watching people setting up the table.

At this time, a woman came in.

Old woman: "Miss Amber, breakfast is here."

Amber: "Then bring it in."

Mother-in-law: "Yes. Bring in the breakfast."

Several maids carrying food boxes then walked in in a row.

In a blink of an eye, the table was placed with four exquisite meat and four vegetable home-cooked dishes, two small plates of pickles, three overlapping trays of steaming dumplings, and a large bowl of fragrant Laba porridge.

The sounds of Lin Daiyu's voice and footsteps were heard from the warm room, and then Lin Daiyu walked out while talking.

Behind her followed Zijuan and Qingwen.

As she walked, Lin Daiyu said, "The corner of that piece of silk is still not in good shape. Iron it again."

Qingwen: "Yes." As she was speaking, a maid came from outside the door to report: "The Second Master is here!"

The door curtain was lifted, and Li Hu and Xueyan walked in.

Seeing Li Hu coming in, the maids all bowed to him and said, "Greetings, Second Master!"

"well."

Li Hu took off his cloak and handed it to Xueyan. He smiled and said to Lin Daiyu, "It's really warm here, but it's as cold as an ice cave over here."

After listening to this, Lin Daiyu glanced at Amber and Qingwen. Just as she was about to say something, she suddenly saw soap foam on the left temple of Li Hu. She sneered and said, "You are so old, but you can't even wash your face clean." Then she took out a handkerchief and handed it to Li Hu.

Li Hu just stretched his face forward.

Lin Daiyu pursed her lips, but still wiped his hair with a handkerchief, saying, "You should have a maid in your room to take care of your daily life."

Li Hu could not hear these words, he only smelled a faint fragrance coming from Lin Daiyu's sleeves, which made him feel intoxicated and numb. He sniffed subconsciously.

A blush flew across Lin Daiyu's face. She glanced at Li Hu with a slight frown, then turned and walked towards the dining room.

Li Hu came back to his senses and asked: "Hey, what did you say just now?" and followed.

Lin Daiyu said unhappily: "Eat."

Li Hu smiled and walked to the main seat at the square table and sat down.

Amber first picked up the bowl in front of Li Hu, poured two spoonfuls of porridge into the bowl, leaving exactly two centimeters of porridge from the edge of the bowl, and brought it in front of Li Hu, placing both hands on the table, and then went to take Lin Daiyu's bowl.

Li Hu nodded. As expected of a maid trained by Lady Jia, she was so elegant even when serving a meal.

Zijuan handed Li Hu a pair of chopsticks that had just been scalded with boiling water.

Xueyan had nothing to do, so she stood quietly behind Lin Daiyu, while Qingwen stood at the door with the other maids.

Unlike the original novel, Xueyan did not become a nobody who ran errands. Here, Amber, Zijuan and Qingwen are the "outsiders".

Li Hu picked up the bowl of steaming Laba porridge, and a fragrant aroma hit his nose: "What a nice smell!" He quickly took a sip, "Good, it tastes very good." Then he took another sip.

Seeing that Li Hu liked it, Lin Daiyu smiled happily and quickly picked up a bun for him.

"You eat too!"

Li Hu first picked up a bun for her, and then picked up a piece of food with chopsticks.

Lin Daiyu hummed, picked up the bowl and started eating.

Li Hu swallowed the bun in his mouth, drank a mouthful of porridge, and said, "I couldn't sleep last night, and I remembered what the old lady said. You are bored staying at home alone, and there are many girls in the Jia family."

Lin Daiyu put down her chopsticks, pouted and stopped eating.

Li Hu was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "I'm not sending you to Rongguo Mansion. What I mean is that our family is only two streets away from the Jia family. You can invite them to come over and start a poetry club or something. It's not too much trouble to send them back before dark."

Lin Daiyu's eyes lit up: "This is a good idea. I'll send them the invitation right now." After saying this, she stood up and was about to leave.

Li Hu quickly stopped her and said, "Eat first. It won't be too late to write the post after dinner." Then he picked up the chopsticks and handed them to Lin Daiyu.

Lin Daiyu sat down again, took the chopsticks and started eating.

At this moment, Nanny Wang hurried in and whispered something in Li Hu's ear.

Li Hu's face changed immediately.

Lin Daiyu: "What's wrong?"

Li Hu: "Jia Yucun was assassinated!"

Lin Daiyu was startled and asked anxiously, "How is it?"

Li Hu: "He is fine. However, something big is going to happen in the court."

(End of this chapter)