The Red Chamber begins with a bastard

Chapter 549: Appointment at the Eastern Palace
In ancient times, it was very common for men to have three wives and four concubines. For example, Jia She and Jia Zhen had many concubines, and even Jia Zheng had two concubines. So it was no big deal for Jia Lian to have a concubine. However, Wang Xifeng was always strong and jealous, so Jia Lian could only keep a mistress outside.

Unfortunately, the truth was revealed. Wang Xifeng got furious on the spot, but she didn't dare to vent her jealousy on Jia Lian, let alone provoke Jia Huan. So she picked on Jia Zhen's wife, Youshi, as an easy target and made a big fuss.

In the end, it was Jia's grandmother who stepped in to mediate, and Wang Xifeng finally settled the matter and agreed to let Jia Lian's concubine, You Erjie, marry him, but on the condition that she must be in charge of the money Jia Lian earned. In order to keep his favorite concubine, Jia Lian had no choice but to make the painful decision.

Jia Huan naturally didn't bother to care about such trivial matters, but according to Wang Xifeng's verdict in the Dream of the Red Chamber, "One obeys, two orders, three people become wooden, crying towards Jinling, the matter is even more sad", this matter is definitely not over yet. Moreover, with Wang Xifeng's vicious heart, it is impossible for her to tolerate You Erjie. There will definitely be trouble later, and the relationship between the couple will only get worse and worse.

Since Jia Huan came back from Jinling last year, he had no intention of paying any attention to Wang Xifeng. However, this woman was actually courting death and plotted against his foreign maid Mandarin that day. So Jia Huan, in a rage, decided to use a blunt knife to cut her flesh. In the end, even if Wang Xifeng was divorced by Jia Lian, it was her own fault.

However, now that his status has changed, Jia Huan has entered the court and has a broader stage in life. He is not very interested in this boring house fighting and does not want to spend too much energy on it. Therefore, he does not care about the subsequent development of Jia Lian and Wang Xifeng, but just goes to work in the Hanlin Academy every day.

After more than a month of internship, Jia Huan was already basically familiar with the work in the Hanlin Academy. He had a solid foundation, a flexible mind, was calm and at ease in dealing with people, and had good handwriting, so his superiors began to assign him some historical document writing work, and occasionally he would write one or two manuscripts for some bigwigs in the six ministries or the cabinet.

It is estimated that Jia Huan's manuscripts are well written, so more and more bigwigs gradually ask him to write. One day, the superiors gave Jia Huan another task, which was to write a lecture for the chief minister of the cabinet, Li Biao. In fact, it was a speech draft, which simply listed the main requirements of the lecture. The manuscript must be completed before lunch and sent to the cabinet. It can be seen that Lord Li is very anxious.

Jia Huan did not dare to delay and immediately began to conceive and write. It took him less than an hour to finish it. He polished it carefully again and after finding no problems, he left the Hanlin Academy and headed for the Cabinet.

The cabinet has a special and respected status, and its office location is different from that of other government offices. It is located within the imperial city, and even at night there must be cabinet ministers on duty to make it convenient for the emperor to summon him to discuss important matters at any time.

Jia Huan crossed Chang'an Street, entered from Donghua Gate, came to the cabinet to meet the Prime Minister Li Biao, and presented the manuscript.

Although Li Biao was a man who changed his mind according to the wind and had a lack of integrity, he still looked good and gave people a very kind and friendly feeling. He took the lecture notes from Jia Huan and read them carefully, saying with a smile: "Not bad, the logic is clear, the structure is rigorous, and the arguments are full. It suits my taste very well. Ziming is indeed an unprecedented and unparalleled talent among the six yuan."

At this time, Jia Huan hurriedly said modestly: "Mr. Li, thank you for your praise. I am ashamed to accept it."

Li Biao stroked his beard and smiled, "Ziming, there is no need to be modest. Well, here is an imperial edict. Try to draft one and give it to me before leaving the yamen this afternoon."

As soon as these words were spoken, the other two cabinet ministers present looked at him sideways, thinking that this old fox Li Biao acted quickly and took advantage of Zhao Mingcheng's absence to start winning over Pei Zhi's own people. Moreover, this Jia Huan was from Diecui Academy, not from the Donglin school.

Jia Huan was also secretly surprised, because imperial edicts and imperial decrees were a kind of imperial decree, and the emperor usually asked the cabinet ministers to write them. Now Li Biao wanted him to write it, which was a joke. He quickly declined and said, "I am not talented enough and I am afraid I am not qualified for it."

Li Biao stroked his beard and smiled, "Don't panic. I just asked you to try to draft one. In the end, it will have to be reviewed and revised by me. There must be no mistakes. Even if there are mistakes, the responsibility lies with me, not you."

Jia Huan glanced at the smiling Li Ge Lao, and said with a cupped hand: "Then I will give it a try."

Li Biao nodded and laughed, "Go ahead. It's not that difficult. Just treat it as the examination paper for the provincial and municipal examinations. It's actually pretty much the same."

Jia Huan bowed and left the cabinet. When he was about to leave through Donghua Gate, he met Prince Xu Wenhong and his entourage coming out of Wenhua Palace.

Now that the crown prince is regent, Xu Wenhong handles government affairs in the Wenhua Palace every day. He can discuss and decide small matters with ministers, but for major matters he must send a fast horse to ask Emperor Qiansheng for instructions.

At this moment, Xu Wenhong had just finished dealing with government affairs and was preparing to have lunch. Besides the guards of the Eastern Palace, there was also a man wearing a four-clawed dragon robe, about forty years old. He was none other than Prince Zhongshun Xu Zaisong, who was of the same generation as Emperor Qiansheng, and was the crown prince's uncle.

When Xu Wenhong saw Jia Huan, his eyes lit up and he thought to himself, I have been so busy dealing with state affairs recently that I forgot about you, but now you have come to my doorstep. This is amazing!

When Jia Huan bumped into this person, his heart skipped a beat, but it was impossible to avoid him now, so he could only bite the bullet and step forward to salute and say, "Your humble servant greets His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and Your Highness Prince Zhongshun."

Prince Zhongshun Xu Zaisong has always been a supporter of Emperor Qiansheng's new emperor faction. Now he serves as the governor of the Central Military Governor's Office, and is ordered to be in charge of the defense of the capital. Together with the chief minister of the cabinet, Li Biao, one civil and one military, he assists the crown prince in regulating the country.

"Are you the new number one scholar Jia Huan?" Prince Zhongshun looked Jia Huan up and down and nodded, saying, "You are born with a good appearance. I heard that Jia Cunzhou had a son who was born with a jade in his mouth. Could it be you?"

Jia Huan shook his head and said, "That is my brother, his name is Baoyu."

Prince Zhongshun sneered, "I do remember it. It was a man called Baoyu. He was good friends with Qi Guan under my command." The Qi Guan that Prince Zhongshun mentioned was the actor Jiang Yuhan. Jia Huan had met him once in the past. This man looked like a woman and had exchanged glances with Jia Baoyu. They became acquainted with each other. Later, he escaped from the palace. Prince Zhongshun sent people to the Jia family to look for him, and Jia Baoyu was severely beaten by Jia Zheng.

Crown Prince Xu Wenhong had originally wanted to punish Jia Huan, and when he heard Prince Zhongshun's unfriendly tone, he was even more delighted and asked, "Jia Huan, why are you here if you are not working in the Hanlin Academy?"

Since the contradiction was irreconcilable, it would be humiliating to kowtow to him, so Jia Huan answered in a neither humble nor arrogant manner: "Lord Li asked me to do something."

The prince frowned secretly. Li Biao was the chief minister of the cabinet and the chief minister who assisted him in supervising the country. Even he had to be respectful. He asked, "What's the matter?"

"Lord Li is so kind as to let me draft an imperial edict on his behalf," Jia Huan answered calmly.

Prince Zhongshun and the Crown Prince looked at each other in surprise. Jia Huan had just entered the Hanlin Academy not long ago, and Li Biao actually asked him to draft the imperial edict on his behalf. However, it became clear after thinking about it that this old man Li Biao clearly wanted to take advantage of Zhao Mingcheng's absence to cultivate and win over Jia Huan, a rising star who was not from the Donglin faction.

The prince smiled awkwardly and said, "Lord Li is highly respected and has always been caring for and supporting the younger generation. Jia Ziming, you are lucky to have been favored by him. Go ahead and work hard. Don't disappoint Lord Li's expectations."

Jia Huan bowed and was about to leave, but just after he took two steps, Xu Wenhong said, "Wait a minute, Jia Zhuangyuan has won six first prizes in a row. He is a prodigy that only appears once in a thousand years. He must be well-versed in classics and extremely talented. This prince has admired him for a long time and can't wait to listen to his profound ideas. Tomorrow at noon, please invite Jia Zhuangyuan to the East Palace to lecture on classics for this prince. Please do not refuse."

Jia Huan frowned secretly, nodded and said: "Your humble servant will obey the order of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

Xu Wenhong's eyes flashed with a hint of teasing, and he smiled and said, "Master Jia, please go now. Tomorrow at noon, I will prepare a bed for you in the East Palace."

Jia Huan left the imperial city with a solemn expression. Prince Zhongshun glanced at Xu Wenhong and asked, "Has this boy ever offended His Royal Highness the Crown Prince?"

Xu Wenhong shook his head and said, "Uncle, you misunderstood. I just admire Jia Ziming's talent."

Prince Zhongshun laughed and said, "Your Highness the Crown Prince is truly courteous and humble, and is eager to seek talented people. I have to inspect the camp this afternoon, so I'll take my leave first." After saying that, he left.

Xu Wenhong frowned secretly. His relationship with Prince Zhongshun was neither good nor bad. He had always tried to win him over and please him, but Prince Zhongshun's reactions were always very indifferent. Especially after he was put under house arrest, Prince Zhongshun became even more indifferent.

Therefore, Xu Wenhong felt a little uneasy. In addition, the emperor personally brought Prince Dai and Prince Qing with him this time, which made him feel that the position of crown prince was unstable. Moreover, Emperor Qiansheng was now in his prime, and he would have to sit on the throne for at least another ten or eight years. As the saying goes, the longer the night, the more dreams there are. There were too many variables.

Jia Huan returned to the Hanlin Academy, drafted the imperial edict that Li Biao had asked him to write, handed it to the Cabinet before leaving office, and then packed up and went home.

After lunch the next day, Jia Huan went to the Eastern Palace with gritted teeth. Unexpectedly, he met an acquaintance. It turned out that the chief guards of the Eastern Palace were Wei Ruolan and Chen Yejun, whom he had met once before.

"Hey, isn't this Brother Jia?" Wei Ruolan and Chen Yejun recognized Jia Huan and hurried forward to meet him.

Jia Huan was also a little surprised. He clasped his fists and bowed, saying, "My two brothers are now working in the East Palace."

Wei Ruolan smiled and said, "We were also recently transferred to the Eastern Palace. By the way, what are you doing here, Brother Jia?"

"I came here at the invitation of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to give him a lecture," Jia Huan replied.

Wei and Chen looked at each other and complimented him, "Brother Jia, you have a great opportunity. I'm afraid you will soon be promoted to the prince's tutor and future imperial tutor. I hope you can support me in the future."

Jia Huan thought, what kind of imperial tutor is this? He is here to cause trouble and take revenge, but he still said a few humble words.

At this time, a palace maid came and said to Jia Huan, "Jia Hanlin, please follow me. The prince is waiting in Wensi Pavilion."

Jia Huan nodded and followed the palace servants into the East Palace.

(End of this chapter)