Red Mansion and Crimson Pearl

Chapter 240: There is still Jia Rong in Jinling

After hearing the story of Qi Tou, Wei Jun couldn't help but sigh: "The great illusion goes through calamities, the world of mortals is in turmoil; grudges are poured out, and the body dies and the Tao disappears.

"If it weren't for Zhen's rescue, how could Jueshan survive? Zhen was left alone by Jueshan, and his own daughter became a slave.

"Zhen has achieved success in his practice and donated money and property, but what about his daughter? He didn't make any arrangements? Jueshan didn't even mention it?

“This is really frustrating!”

Chu Qian was silent for a long time before saying, "Being the daughter of a cultivator like this must be a sin from a previous life."

Wei Jun was speechless, and after a while he said, "You are right."

When Chu Qi stood up to say goodbye, he was still shaking his head as he savored this legendary and tortuous story.

Guan Sheng sat aside and sighed, "Dong Weng, in this story, the daughter of the Zhen family was originally the daughter of a good family, but she was abducted by a kidnapper and became a slave.

“Now that there is evidence, Mr. Dong should restore her status as a good citizen.

"But she is already Xue's concubine, so Xue must agree. This is the first difficulty.

“If this Zhen family member is made a good person, it means that the Yingtian prefect Jia who judged the case at the time was careless about human life and made a wrong judgment.

“This is the second hardest thing.

"The bloody shirt that Princess Zhaoqing sent back the other day is new evidence in the Song family's murder case.

“That case was also filed during Jia’s tenure.

"Both cases were directed at Jia, but this didn't seem to be about the cases, but about Jia himself.

"If the Censorate exaggerates this a little, it will turn into a factional dispute.

“Once it becomes a partisan dispute, there will never be a clear answer to the case.

“This is the third hardest.”

Wei Jun was stunned by his analysis.

Guan Sheng frowned and shook his head repeatedly: "Princess Zhaoqing is still a young woman after all.

"Playing chess in the imperial court is not just about who has more chess pieces!"

Wei Jun hurriedly asked him, "Didn't you say that this Jia is the teacher of Princess Zhaoqing?"

"It's true that he was a teacher. But this teacher climbed up to the female student and helped the Prince of Beijing to propose marriage to this female student. Have you heard about it?"

Guan Sheng sneered, "Anyone who takes advantage of this ungrateful teacher would kill him!

“Besides, the person standing behind Princess Zhaoqing is His Majesty.

"Behind Prince Beijing stands the Supreme."

The host and the guest exchanged glances and nodded slowly to each other.

Wei Jun straightened his back and coughed: "Come on, I have nothing to do, let's get some old case files to kill time."

I worked late into the night until three o'clock in the morning.

…(I sympathize with Wei Guan’s dividing line)…

The next day, Daiyu got up very early to prepare for the ancestor worship during the Lower Yuan Festival.

Although the elders in the clan did not want her to be present, she still went to her own ancestral hall to worship her ancestors and to burn paper at her father's grave.

When everything was done, it was already three quarters past noon.

Daiyu couldn't eat, so she just drank a bowl of noodle soup and went back to her room to lie down, tossing and turning and unable to fall asleep.

I heard that there are rituals being held in various Taoist temples today.

Before lunch, Aunt Meng couldn't wait to take Qingwen and Xueyan out for a walk.

Seeing that Daiyu couldn't sleep, Xiaohong and Zijuan came over, one of them massaged her legs while the other one combed her hair.

Xiaohong then whispered to her about the clan's ancestor worship:

"…The prefect read a long article.

"I heard from scholars that fu, bi, xing and so on, at least gave the clan enough face.

"The clan leader's face was beaming with joy.

"I heard that this prefect is very concerned about his reputation and never gets too close to any of the local aristocratic families in Suzhou.

“This is the first time I’ve participated in a tribe’s ancestor worship ceremony.

"Someone started to make a fuss, saying that the tribe should hold a big banquet. The tribe leader immediately agreed.

"I heard that we have to eat from noon to night!"

Zijuan couldn't help laughing when she heard this: "A buffet?"

"What is a buffet?" Daiyu didn't understand.

Zijuan smiled and explained, "I heard that the monks and Taoists originally prepared vegetarian meals for wealthy donors, and it was very generous.

"Later, the common people also learned to do it. Instead of serving four cold dishes first and then four hot dishes, they served one dish after another. It was like flowing water.

“This way, guests can always have hot dishes no matter when they come.

"Later, people thought this method was better than holding a big banquet, so it spread.

“It’s common in villages.

“Whenever there is a wedding or funeral in a family, there will be a buffet.

"The whole village came to eat from the end of noon until the beginning of midnight.

“It’s just that, there are few people who give gifts, but most people who eat and drink for free.

"There's nothing good in the village. It's just some steamed buns and rice, which doesn't make much money."

Daiyu nodded, not quite understanding, and asked with a smile, "What should we do with this buffet, clan leader?

"Does it mean the kitchen has to cook for six hours straight?"

Zijuan couldn't help laughing: "Who knows!"

As they were talking, Daiyu became more lively and asked what dishes were on the buffet.

Xiaohong took the opportunity to describe it in a very exaggerated way, describing the color, aroma and taste vividly.

After listening for a while, Daiyu swallowed her saliva and glared at her: "Stinky girl, I'm hungry!"

Xiaohong smiled and got up and ran to ask the Liu family to make a bowl of vegetarian noodles.

After eating the noodles, I drank tea.

But Aunt Meng came in with an unhappy face, and Daiyu hurriedly asked what was wrong.

Qingwen, who was following, laughed and said, "Aunt, you are looking for red bean paste buds, but they are not sold outside."

Daiyu laughed and said, "This thing is only available in the capital. If you want to eat it, ask Sister Liu to make it for you."

Aunt Meng then smiled and took Qingwen and Xiao Hongxueyan to wipe the dominoes.

Daiyu was relaxed on the outside but tense on the inside. She had made all preparations, waiting for Wei Jun to bring up the old case again.

On the other side, Feng Ziying followed the guy from Xuanmu Mountain and finally followed him to a silk shop in Gusu City.

Then he listened to those people talking, but it was all Jiangnan dialect. He couldn't understand a word and was immediately annoyed.

He hurried back to the inn where his group was staying, found someone who could understand several Jiangnan dialects, and asked him to go to the inn and secretly spy.

The man came back and reported: "The shop is opened by a Jinling native. The owner's surname is Jia. I think he is from the branch of Ning Gong who returned to his hometown."

The Queen Mother heard this and nodded with a smile: "That's more like it.

"This should be because the Jia family arranged someone in Suzhou to look after the old house for Sister Lin.

“When I found my sister coming, I followed her quietly.

"It's not a big deal."

Tanchun frowned.

Feng Ziying noticed that her expression was not right, so he quietly asked her, "What's wrong? Is it not right?"

“Jinling Jia family, you should now respect Sister Zhen.

"My eldest sister-in-law is thoughtful and capable, and she has never had any quarrels or grudges with Sister Lin.

"If she really sent someone like that, then they shouldn't be so sneaky."

Tanchun whispered, "But now in Jinling, besides my sister-in-law, there is also Rong'er..."

Feng Ziying was stunned: "Are you talking about Jia Rong?"

"That's right." Tanchun looked worried, "Brother Zhen never trusted this son in his life.

"He even adopted someone before he died, snatching his position as the eldest son and grandson, and suppressing him, not allowing him to make a name for himself.

"Although he was punished last time, given his hatred for Brother Zhen and Sister Lin, he may not let it go so easily."

Feng Ziying agreed very much, nodded deeply, and said in a deep voice: "This child has no bottom line.

"If he gets too obsessed with it, who knows what he might end up doing."