The Red Mansion: From a Small Pawn to a Leader

Chapter 23 Wang Ziteng ran away
With a sound of spring thunder, the precious spring rain finally began to fall, and the entire capital city was shrouded in a veil-like rain mist.

Li Hu, wearing a loose brocade robe, stood by the study window, staring at the hazy rain and fog outside the window in a daze.

Suddenly, a dull thunder woke him up.

Li Hu walked back to the desk, on which was placed a portrait of a girl, who was none other than Lin Daiyu.

Lin Daiyu in the painting is lifelike and beautiful, like a willow swaying in the wind, and she is lovable.

She was still wearing a small padded jacket in this weather, and in a place like Yangzhou, which showed that she was not in good health.

There are many different opinions about what disease Lin Daiyu suffered from.

Li Hu felt that it couldn't be that kind of infectious disease. If it was really such a disease, at least one or two people around her would be infected. However, neither Xueyan, who had followed her since childhood, nor Zijuan, who slept with her later, had this disease.

In the original novel, after Lin Daiyu abandoned the boat and landed, she was still energetic to look at the street scene. After arriving at Jia's house, she chatted with Jia's mother and others, experienced great sorrow and joy, and also visited Jia She and Jia Zheng. Until dark, when Big Face Bao went to bed, Lin Daiyu was still awake, grieving and blaming herself for making Big Face Bao drop the jade.

No matter what time it is, traveling is very tiring. A whole day of driving makes one tired, let alone two or three months on a ship. This day was very intense, but Lin Daiyu did not seem to be overwhelmed, let alone sick from exhaustion.

It can be seen that Lin Daiyu's health is not bad. She should just be weak and have congenital deficiency, but the condition is not serious and will not endanger her life. As for the future, it is probably caused by the illness in the Jia family. And the Xiaoxiang Pavilion, with many bamboos and water, and the space is narrow, it is naturally damp and dark, and it is not suitable for long-term residence.

As long as it is not that kind of disease, it will be fine. Today, the Imperial Medical Service gathers together famous doctors from all over the world, so there is always hope of a cure.

Li Hu looked at Lin Daiyu's portrait again, then slowly rolled it up and hung it in the bedroom.

There were two letters on the desk, one was a letter from Lin Ruhai home. This is how Li Hu understood it.

Lin Ruhai's letter specifically mentioned Lin Daiyu, saying that she was not in good health and hoped to get married after her fifteenth birthday. This was exactly what Li Hu wanted. He really couldn't accept marrying an eleven-year-old girl, even if she was the fairy Lin Daiyu. I heard that the emperor married the ten-year-old queen mother at the age of thirteen. Bah, what a beast!

The other letter was from Jia Yucun, which contained some incomprehensible things, such as "I am not well-educated, my writing is clumsy, please forgive me", etc. I guess he wanted to take the opportunity to show his presence.

Two wooden boxes were also delivered, and Li Hu opened the lid of the first box.

The box is filled with specially cast gold ingots, each of which has a seal-script character "Fu" printed on it.

Ten taels per ingot, ten ingots, one hundred taels of gold, that is, one thousand taels of silver. Not much, but it is gold.

Gold is a symbol of power and wealth in this era, and most people may never even see the shadow of gold in their lifetime.

Li Hu raided the homes of more than a dozen imperial guards' generals. Except for the deputy commander of the imperial guards, the most he seized was a thousand taels of gold, which shows how scarce gold was.

Lin Ruhai gave away a hundred taels of gold at once. His father-in-law was really rich!
What did Jia Lian say? Yes, "It would be nice to make another three or two million right now."

I didn’t expect that the wish would come true so soon.

Li Hu suddenly remembered that the people from the Imperial Household Department said that Jia Min was in good health, so how could she die of illness?

Could it be that, as some people speculate, Jia Min's death was related to the struggles in officialdom?

Li Hu was stunned for a moment, walked to the desk and sat down, picked up the pen, thought about it, and put it down again.

He didn't know how to remind Lin Ruhai. He couldn't just say that someone might want to murder Jia Min. If it was right, everything would be fine. If it was wrong, then it would be a big problem. Filial piety was also involved. The prospective mother-in-law was also a mother.

Li Hu was a military general and could not and did not have the ability to interfere in the local government.

Maybe we could send someone to protect Lin Daiyu's family? Li Hu shook his head. It might cause misunderstanding and make Lin Ruhai think that he was targeting the Lin family's property.

Li Hu picked up his pen and wrote a letter back to Lin Ruhai. After thinking for a while, he wrote another letter to Lin Daiyu, asking her to write to him if she had any questions. At the end, he wrote six big words: "Eat more, exercise more."

He picked up a piece of rice paper on the desk and drew a little girl on the paper. The girl had a big head and a small body, and looked weirdly cute.

After sealing the two letters and putting them into brown paper envelopes, Li Hu stood up and walked out.

At this time, Wang Daniu came in from the moon gate of the yard. Li Hu looked at him with a smile and asked, "Why don't you hold an umbrella?"

"It's just a drizzle."

Wang Daniu wiped the rain off his face, took out a letter from his bosom and presented it with both hands: "This is a letter sent from Yuqing Palace."

Li Hu took the letter, opened the seal and read it. His eyes suddenly widened!

Wang Ziteng ran away! He left Beijing to inspect the border as the governor of nine provinces.

This time, the Jia family has completely withdrawn from the political stage. I guess Grandmother Jia will find it hard to bear this blow!

After reading the last line, Li Hu was stunned.

The prince also mentioned one thing in the letter. There was a result in Shaanxi. Except for the general's office, the officialdom in Shaanxi was almost wiped out.

The angry Emperor Yongchang ordered the beheading of more than a hundred officials, including the Shaanxi governor, and confiscated their homes and required them to return the money to the people.

The prince said in the letter that most of the extra taxes went into the Daming Palace, and some went into the pockets of the six ministries and nine officials, and that the money could not be recovered at all.

They couldn't get any money, and could only receive porridge from the court, so life was still difficult for ordinary people.

Daming Palace, no wonder those Shaanxi officials are so bold!
Last year, the entire province of Shaanxi reported drought, and the winter was a warm one. It’s almost April now, so I hope there won’t be a locust plague.

Oh, if there was a locust plague and the officials in Shaanxi were all killed by the emperor, it would be a huge joke!

Li Hu sighed and handed the cowhide envelope to Wang Daniu, "Send someone to Yangzhou to give this letter to Lin, Censor Lin."

Wang Daniu grinned: "Don't you want to give me something?"

"What are you sending?" Li Hu rolled his eyes at Wang Daniu and said, "Get lost!"

Li Hu guessed correctly, Grandmother Jia fell ill!

First, she received Jia Min's letter and was disappointed when she learned that the emperor had granted her marriage. Then came the news that Wang Ziteng had run away.

The successive blows caused the already exhausted Lady Jia to faint.

The record placed on the imperial desk was indeed the secret report that Grandmother Jia could not bear the blow and fell ill!

Emperor Yongchang had obviously read the record, but had not yet made any comment on the matter. He walked around the study room with his hands behind his back.

Dai Quan stood beside the imperial desk with his head down, waiting quietly for Emperor Yongchang to speak.

After walking around the upper study, Emperor Yongchang walked back to the imperial desk, looked at the record, and finally spoke: "Who do you think can be used among Jia Daishan's descendants?"

Dai Quan was in a dilemma. He hesitated for a long time before he said carefully: "Jia Zheng is a humble and kind person, and he has inherited the filial piety of his ancestors."

"Filial piety."

Emperor Yongchang paced back and forth, saying as he walked: "Is Jia She still drinking and having fun with his concubine every day?"

Dai Quan was startled and replied, "Yes."

Emperor Yongchang stopped and said, "Draft two decrees: First, Jia Zheng is extremely filial and is promoted to Langzhong of the Ministry of Works. Second, Jia Yuanchun is promoted to Depin."

Dai Quan: "As you wish."

"Let Li Hu send two gifts to Rongguo Mansion." Emperor Yongchang added.

(End of this chapter)