The Red Chamber begins with a bastard

Chapter 608 Family Reunion

Although the weather was cold, Fuchengmen Street was still bustling on the second day of the Lunar New Year. With a population of nearly one million in the capital of Jin and its surrounding areas, the daily consumption of firewood and coal was undoubtedly quite astonishing, and most of this firewood and coal was transported from Coal Mountain in the west of Beijing or from Shanxi. Therefore, there was an endless stream of coal trucks entering the city from Fuchengmen every day, and the teahouses and taverns on the street were often full.

Yipinlou is the most upscale restaurant on Fuchengmen Street, so the consumption is naturally high. Most of the diners who come here are well-dressed and have deep pockets.

Jia Yucun was hosting a banquet in a private room on the second floor of Yipin Building to entertain an important guest. The guest had not arrived yet, so Jia Yucun stood at the window and looked out into the street. After a while, he saw seven or eight foreign guards riding horses and stopping in front of Yipin Building. The leader dismounted, threw away the reins, and walked proudly into the door.

Jia Yucun hurried downstairs to greet him, and with a smile on his face, he bowed and said, "Here comes Mr. Zhou. Please go up to the second floor and take a seat."

It turned out that the big boss Zhou was Zhou Ye, the big boss of the East Jishi Factory, who had just returned from a "tour" of coal mines in western Beijing. It was called an inspection, but in reality it was extortion. The coal bosses of these mines were all very rich, and the East Factory wanted to start a side business to get funds in order to expand its influence, so naturally it first targeted these fat sheep.

In fact, the East Factory also set its sights on the honeycomb coal workshop which had been popular in the past two years. It originally wanted to make a fortune from it, but when it found out that the boss behind the honeycomb coal workshop was actually Min Wang Xu Wenhou, it had no choice but to give up.

Jia Yucun welcomed the big waiter Zhou Ye to the private room on the second floor, and immediately ordered the dishes to be served. He also personally poured a glass of wine for the latter, saying flatteringly: "It's freezing cold, big waiter Zhou, please have a glass of hot wine to warm yourself up first."

Zhou Ye drank the wine in one gulp with a gloomy face. Jia Yucun observed his expression and asked cautiously, "But who was so blind as to offend the big boss Zhou?"

Zhou Ye sneered with gnashing teeth, "Now, apart from those bastards of the Jinyiwei, who else dares to go against our Dongchang? Damn that bastard Lu Youwei, don't let him fall into my hands in the future, or I will skin him alive."

It turned out that Zhou Ye's attempt to extort money from the Jingxi coal mine was not smooth this time, because those who opened the mines were not easy to deal with. Anyone who could do this business had his own backers, and the mines in Jingxi happened to be under the protection of the Jinyiwei, and a considerable part of the Jinyiwei's annual extra income came from these mines. How could the Jinyiwei allow the East Factory to reach out to their "private land" to make money?
So when Zhou Ye "inspected" the mines in western Beijing this time, he didn't see any coal bosses, but he "accidentally" ran into Lu Youwei, a captain of the Jinyi Guards who was on high alert. In the end, he didn't get anything from them, but was humiliated by Lu Youwei and they almost got into a fight.

In fact, Lu Youwei was the confidant of Yi Hong, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Zhou Ye did not dare to really take action. Moreover, the other side had more people and he would definitely suffer a loss if a fight broke out. So Zhou Ye could only endure it and retreated in disgrace with his Dongchang men.

Jia Yucun was a man of great social skills and good at opportunism. When he heard that it involved the Jinyiwei, he immediately kept silent, because neither the Eastern Depot nor the Jinyiwei were people he could afford to offend.

It is worth mentioning here that Jia Yucun originally served as the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture. He was on good terms with nobles such as Prince Beijing. Although he did not participate in the restoration of Emperor Kangping, the retired emperor, he was also implicated and imprisoned. However, this guy was smart. He paid money to bribe the important members of the Donglin Party and was exempted from punishment. He was eventually demoted from the third-rank Lord of Shuntian Prefecture to the fifth-rank Director of the Ministry of Works, and became Jia Zheng's direct subordinate.

Jia Yucun is a man who is good at dealing with people, very good at opportunism, how could he be willing to be inferior to Jia Zheng? Recently, he hooked up with Zhou Ye, the big boss of the Eastern Jishi Factory, trying to get close to Shi Dayong, the governor of the Eastern Factory, through him.

Civil officials originally despised eunuchs, and it was even more impossible for them to curry favor with them without any integrity. But for a traitor like Jia Yucun, such thing as literati integrity obviously did not exist. As long as it could help his career advancement, he would not only curry favor with the eunuchs, but would even kneel down and lick their asses.

Let's get back to the point. Not long after, the wine and food were served. Jia Yucun kept urging people to drink and serve food. Zhou, the head of the East Factory, also drank a few glasses of wine and felt a little better.

Jia Yucun smiled and said tentatively, "I have a widowed niece, she is only 20 years old, she has studied for a few years, and she is still young and beautiful. Unfortunately, her husband died less than a year after they got married. Now she has been a widow for three years and has no children. She plans to find a good family to remarry. I wonder if Brother Zhou has a suitable candidate to recommend? If the matter is successful, I will reward her handsomely."

Zhou Ye is already 45 years old this year. His wife died not long ago and he is planning to remarry. Hearing this, he was moved and said with a smile: "I wonder if Lord Jia's niece would look down on an old man like me?"

Jia Yucun was "very happy" and said, "If Brother Zhou is willing to marry her, it would be a great blessing for my niece. I couldn't ask for more."

Zhou Ye was almost 50 years old, and it was no wonder that he was happy to pick up a beautiful 20-year-old bride for free, so he immediately agreed to send a matchmaker to propose marriage on a chosen day. With this relationship of marriage, Jia Yucun and Zhou Ye became much closer and more friendly, and they chatted with each other and drank until the cups were dry.

"Brother Zhou, I have admired Governor Shi for a long time. If you could introduce him to me tomorrow, I would be very grateful." Jia Yucun said with a smile, stroking his beard.

Zhou Ye patted his chest and promised: "Brother Yucun, don't worry, I will take care of this matter."

Jia Yucun was secretly delighted and raised his glass, saying, "Thank you, Brother Zhou."

At this moment, there was a sudden commotion and exclamations from the street: "Whose family is going out? What a grand ceremony."

Jia Yucun and Zhou Ye hurriedly left their seats and walked to the window, looking towards the street, they saw a team of carriages and horses slowly passing through the street, with seven or eight horses leading the way in the front, followed by another seven or eight carriages, and then again the carts carried by the maids and servants, again seven or eight carts. At the end of the team were the servants who were escorting the team, some on foot and some on horseback, there were nearly a hundred people in total, quite a grand occasion.

Jia Yucun immediately recognized Jia Huan and Jia Baoyu, who were riding horses in front of the team, and blurted out, "I was wondering who they were. It turns out to be the Jia family. It looks like they are going out of the city."

Zhou Ye sneered and said, "I heard that the old lady of the Jia family is going to take her family to Tanzhe Temple to worship Buddha. Hehe, this time the Jia family was able to escape the disaster and leave behind a family of incense. It's time to burn incense and worship Buddha to repay the blessings."

Jia Yucun was moved and asked with a smile, "Brother Zhou, how did you know that the Jia family went to Tanzhe Temple to worship Buddha?"

Zhou Ye sneered and said in a show-off manner: "Every move of all officials in the capital cannot be hidden from the eyes and ears of our Eastern Investigation Bureau, especially the descendants of the founding nobles like the Jia family."

Jia Yucun couldn't help but feel a little shocked. In fact, Zhou was just bragging. The East Factory had only been established for more than two months, and its intelligence network was still in the planning stage. It was even far inferior to that of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. The reason why they knew that the Jia family's family members went to Tanzhe Temple to worship Buddha today was entirely because the Jia family informed Concubine Jia in the palace in advance. The East Factory's intelligence network in the palace was relatively complete.

Zhou Ye glanced at Jia Yucun and asked, "By the way, Brother Yucun's surname is also Jia, could it be that he is a relative of the Jia family?"

Jia Yucun said quickly: "No, I just have some friendship with Master Zheng."

"Hehe, I'm afraid it's not that simple. I vaguely heard that when Brother Yucun was reinstated, he followed the path of the Jia and Wang families."

Jia Yucun coughed awkwardly and said, "It is true, but it is just a matter of courtesy and human nature."

Zhou Ye smiled and said, "Brother Yucun, you don't have to avoid suspicion. Although the founding nobles like the Jia family are the focus of our East Factory's attention, it does not mean that the Jia family will be in trouble. In fact, our governor is quite impressed with Jia Huan." Jia Yucun's mind raced and he smiled and said, "So that's how it is. Jia Huan is really an amazing boy. The Jia family was able to escape this disaster thanks to his contribution."

Zhou Ye licked his lips and said, "You know what, this guy is really powerful and not easy to mess with. When the deposed crown prince was restored, he sent a hundred cavalry imperial guards to Tiewang Mountain to capture His Royal Highness Prince Min. This guy not only protected His Royal Highness Prince Min and successfully escaped, but also killed a hundred cavalry imperial guards on the way. It's really shocking."

Jia Yucun laughed and said, "What's the big deal? Two years ago, Jia Huan led troops under Lin Ruhai in Yangzhou to wipe out the gang of Kang Dayong. At that time, I was still in Jinling as the prefect of Yingtian."

"Tsk tsk, this boy is both civil and military, and quite courageous. No wonder the emperor appointed him as the military governor of Ningqian. Now he is on good terms with King Min, so I'm afraid he will be even more powerful in the future." Zhou Ye sighed, and suddenly he let out a light exclamation, pointing at a maid on the cart and said, "This maid looks pretty, and the beauty mole between her eyebrows is rare."

Jia Yucun stroked his beard and smiled, "I recognize this girl. Her name is Xiangling, and she is a maid from the Xue family. It seems that the Xue family mother and daughter are also going this time."

Zhou Ye exclaimed, "Brother Yucun actually recognized him?"

Jia Yucun said with a smile, "I had a connection with this Xiangling before, so how could I not recognize her? Her father's name was Zhen Shiyin, and he had a daughter in his old age, and he cherished her very much. But later on, she was kidnapped away. When she grew up, she was very pretty, and was favored by Xue Pan, the eldest of the Xue family. He fought with another man for her, and even caused a murder case. In the end, I helped to resolve it."

Zhou Ye smiled and said, "I have heard about this matter too. It turns out that this girl caused a death. No wonder they say that beauty is a disaster. Speaking of Xue Pan, he is still on the wanted list of traitors, but his whereabouts are still unknown. Jia Huan is quite bold. He actually redeemed all the women of the Xue family who were sent to the music academy. He followed Yi Hong's method, but he paid money to redeem them, which is in line with the rules."

Jia Yucun's heart moved, and he stroked his beard and said, "The Xue family has a daughter named Baochai, who is extremely beautiful. Back in Jinling, the Xue family mother and daughter were kidnapped by the bandit Kang Dayong, and Jia Huan did not hesitate to use his own body as a hostage to save them. Now it is normal for him to spend money to redeem the daughter from the music school. I'm afraid he is interested in Baochai!"

Zhou Ye's eyes flickered and he said, "So there is this."

Jia Yucun stroked his beard and said with a smile: "We came here to drink and have fun, but we ended up talking about other people's affairs. Come, let's continue drinking."

So the two of them returned to their table and continued drinking.

…………

Tanzhe Temple is located on Baozhu Peak, about sixty miles west of Beijing. The Jia family arrived at Tanzhe Temple in the evening. The abbot had received the Jia family before, so he personally welcomed them out of the mountain gate this time and ordered people to clean the guest rooms early for the Jia family to stay overnight.

Jia Huan was also very generous and donated one thousand taels of incense money immediately. As a result, the monks' service became more considerate and basically all requests were met.

That night, after eating vegetarian food, Aunt Xue, Baochai, Baoqin and others waited anxiously in the Zen room. Finally, there was a knock on the door, and Jia Huan and Xue Ke led a "maid" in, who turned out to be Xue Pan, the big fool, dressed as a woman.

It turned out that Jia Huan had instigated Aunt Xue and her family to go to Tanzhe Temple, dozens of miles away from Beijing, to burn incense in order to arrange for Xue Pan to meet them.

"Mom, I kowtow to you!" When Xue Pan saw his mother, he knelt down and bowed.

"Pan'er, God have mercy on you, you are really still alive!" Aunt Xue couldn't help but burst into tears. No matter how ugly her son was, he was still her own flesh and blood. How could she not feel sorry for him?
The mother and son hugged their heads and cried bitterly, while Baochai and Baoqin stood by and wiped their tears silently. Xue Ke whispered, "Auntie, brother, please stop crying. Although this is a private house, you can be heard by others."

Aunt Xue was shocked and stopped crying. She tried to hold back her tears and said, "That's right, you evil creature, hurry up and get up, or you can get Huan'er into trouble."

Xue Pan stood up. He looked really funny dressed as a woman. But how could Aunt Xue and Baochai laugh at this moment? Seeing Xue Pan so thin that he looked unrecognizable, they felt angry and distressed.

"Your sister advised you to resign from your official position a long time ago, but you didn't listen. Now you have ruined your family and career. If it weren't for Huan'er, your sister and I would still be suffering in the music school!" Aunt Xue said this and started to sob again.

Xue Pan wiped his tears and said, "Mom, I know I was wrong. I won't dare to do it again."

"There is no future!" Xue Baochai sighed quietly.

Xue Pan lowered his head in shame: "My dear sister, it's my fault that I have caused trouble for you. It's all my fault that I was bewitched. From now on, I will keep my name secret and will never cause trouble for you again."

Aunt Xue was worried and distressed, and asked in tears, "Where are you going to hide your identity?"

Xue Pan glanced at Jia Huan and said gratefully, "Brother Huan gave me two thousand taels of silver, which is enough to last for a long time. I plan to go to Chang'an for a few years and make plans after the storm has passed."

Aunt Xue was surprised and asked, "Why do you want to go to Chang'an? Wouldn't it be better to go back to Jinling?"

Xue Ke said quickly, "I can't go back. There are many acquaintances in Jinling, and it's easy to be recognized."

Xue Baoqin nodded and said, "Not only can we not go to Nanjing, we can't go to the south either. This is a serious matter. If big brother is recognized, not only us, but I'm afraid that big brother Huan will also lose his head."

Aunt Xue was horrified when she heard this, and nodded, "Yes, yes, yes, you can't go to the south. Pan'er, you should go to the west and find a place where no one knows you. But you are all alone, and there is no one to take care of you. Is it okay?"

Jia Huan comforted her, "Don't worry too much, aunt. I have already made arrangements for cousin Pan. Someone will take him all the way to Chang'an."

Aunt Xue held Jia Huan's hand and said gratefully, "Brother Huan, how can I thank you for your kindness?"

(End of this chapter)