Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

Jinling, Mingze Lane, a two-courtyard house.

All the neighbors know about this courtyard. No one lives there on a normal day, but someone comes to clean it every year.

It looks like the outer house of a wealthy family.

In this old alley where the old Jinling people live, the houses with two courtyards are not luxurious, but they are definitely not ordinary.

It does not look shabby, but it does not attract too much attention either. It is hidden in the hustle and bustle of the city, rising in the morning and setting in the evening, blending in with the dust.

Enter from the main gate, pass the screen door, and enter the hanging flower door, where you will see an exquisite inner courtyard.

In addition to the main room in the middle, there are two side rooms on the east and west sides, but the door of the east side room is tightly closed, and there is a copper lock covered with rust hanging on the door.

It seems to be locking away some old privacy that no one wants to see.

Although the yard looks a bit old and no one usually lives there, it is kept spotlessly clean.

The edges of the stone steps in the courtyard were covered with green moss, and the bluestone slabs on the ground reflected a soft yellow light in the morning light.

There was a sudden rain in the early morning, and the tiles on the eaves kept dripping water, which then broke into pieces on the eaves stones outside the corridor.

The sound of dripping water becomes the only sound in the courtyard, crisp in its monotony and tranquil in its emptiness.

The window of the main room was only half open, allowing fresh air from outside to flow in without disturbing the people inside with the cold wind.

On the bed lay a young woman, wearing a snow-white soft silk inner garment, with beautiful features like a painting, and her long, beautiful hair was scattered on the pillow.

There is a strange beauty like powdered jade.

But her face looked too pale, and her soft, thin and tender lips were only a very light pink, lacking the rosy luster that they should have.

The early morning sun shone into the room, half lighting up the dim room.

The woman on the bed seemed to be awakened by the light. Her eyebrows were slightly frowned, her long eyelashes trembled slightly, and she slowly opened her eyes.

She had a dark and deep nightmare filled with fear and despair, in which she struggled painfully on the brink of life and death.

In that horrific nightmare, the only thing that gave her the courage to endure was the hands that embraced her, so warm and strong.

It even aroused her strong attachment to life. If not for this, she might never wake up again.

She had just regained consciousness, and her whole body felt indescribably weak, even her fingers were too lazy to move, and what came into her eyes was a completely unfamiliar environment.

She turned her head slightly on the pillow and saw a handsome young man sitting on the rattan chair beside the bed. He was sleeping soundly with his eyes closed and his hands folded across his chest. There was deep fatigue between his brows.

She thought of the soothing embrace and comfort she received when she was dying, and a tender feeling welled up in her heart.

His body squirmed involuntarily, and the wounds in his chest and abdomen felt a piercing pain, and he couldn't help but groan.

Jia Cong, who was sitting on a rattan chair, suddenly woke up and asked with a look of joy, "You are awake. You have been in a coma for two days."

Zou Miner looked confused and her voice was slightly hoarse as she asked, "I'm not dead, where is this?"

Jia Cong pulled the rattan chair to the bedside and sat down, smiling and saying, "Of course you won't die. You were seriously injured that day, and it just so happened that Zhang Youpeng, a famous doctor in the capital, was in Jinling.

I asked someone to invite him, and he arrived in time. Although Mr. Zhang is a very skilled doctor, it still took him a lot of effort to save you.

I was worried that the assassin would find out that the assassination attempt had failed and would come back to harm you, so I asked Mr. Zhang for help and announced to the public that you had died from your injuries.

Mr. Zhang also used the magical technique of acupuncture with golden needles to temporarily block your five senses and vitality. Even when the coroner from Yingtian Prefecture examined you, he determined that you were dead.

This way you don't have to worry about anyone trying to assassinate you again, and you can rest and recover from your injuries.

The murderer who hurt you should be the pirate Shui Luosha. Both Jinyiwei and Yingtianfu have issued imperial decrees to pursue him.

This courtyard is the former residence of an old friend of Mr. Zhang. It has been vacant for a long time. I have no place to put you for the time being, so Mr. Zhang brought you here to recuperate."

After listening to Jia Cong's words, Zou Min'er was filled with surprise and astonishment. It seemed that she needed some effort to sort out the strange and bizarre things that happened after she fell into a coma.

……

That day in the inner courtyard of Qingyin Pavilion, Jia Cong deliberately provoked a conflict with Jia Yucun in order to prevent Yingtian Prefecture from collecting the bodies, and even took the extreme action of threatening him with a musket.

The purpose is to create momentum, divert other people's attention, and thus conceal the truth.

Zhao An, the coroner of Yingtian Prefecture, came up with a compromise method of on-site inspection, which happened to be what Jia Cong wanted. With Zhang Youpeng's golden needle technique to cover it up, Zhao An really thought that Zou Min'er had died.

The connection between cause and effect was so seamless that it was somewhat beyond Jia Cong's expectations.

Zou Min'er's injuries that day were so severe that even he was almost in despair.

Zhang Youpeng not only brought Zou Min'er back to life with his miraculous healing skills, but also brought her back from the brink of death.

Moreover, his magical acupuncture technique could actually make people enter a perfect state of suspended animation. Even the experienced old coroner from Yingtian Prefecture could not detect any flaws after taking the patient's breath and pulse.

Jia Cong had only heard of such miraculous medical skills in legends, both in his past life and this life, and he never expected that he would be able to see it with his own eyes one day.

Jia Cong was really shocked when he thought about how Zhang Youpeng always displayed extraordinary medical skills every time he treated a patient.

Zou Min'er's eyes flickered as she asked, "Does that mean that everyone outside has already determined that I'm dead?"

Jia Cong replied: "That's true, so your safety is guaranteed. Just take care of your wounds. When the matter in Jinling is over, I will personally send you back to Shenjing.

I will go and discuss this with the CRRC Corporation Limited."

After hearing what Jia Cong said, Zou Min'er remained silent, and no one knew what she was thinking.

She then asked, "You are the only one here, where is Mr. Zhang?"

Jia Cong replied: "Mr. Zhang uses a unique secret medicine to treat injuries. The medicine he has on hand is only enough for you to use a few times. I have already used it on you twice in the past two days, and there is not much left.

Yesterday, Mr. Zhang saw that your pulse was stable and concluded that you were out of danger, so he went out to prepare medicine and will be back in a few days. "

Zou Min'er suddenly felt something was wrong when she heard Jia Cong's words. Her pale face turned red and she asked in a weak voice, "You've been applying medicine to me these past few days?"

The knife wounds were on her chest and abdomen, which are the most private parts of a girl...

Jia Cong looked a little embarrassed and said, "That day in Qingyin Pavilion, Mr. Zhang gave you acupuncture to stop the bleeding and gave you medicine to prolong your life. He spent a lot of effort. After all, he is old.

So I cleaned the wound and applied medicine according to his instructions. He went out to collect herbs these days, so naturally he asked me to help him…”

Zou Min'er felt her heartbeat quicken as Jia Cong applied medicine and bandaged her. She had been seriously injured and comatose for two days, and her body was already weak. Now her mind was agitated and even her breathing seemed to be a little labored.

Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a wooden basin in the corner of the room. There were a few clothes in it, all covered in blood. They were the clothes she had worn that day.

Thinking of her new snow-white silk lingerie, her pretty face flushed and she rationally stopped thinking about it.

She turned her head slightly and stopped looking at Jia Cong. She pulled up the thin quilt, closed her eyes and pretended to sleep.

Jia Cong felt that the atmosphere was a little awkward, and his mind couldn't help but recall the flawless, jade-like face he saw when he changed the dressing...

He quickly cut off his reverie, forced a smile and said, "When you came over that day, I just fed you some rice soup. You haven't eaten for two days.

I'll prepare some food for you."

When he went out, he casually took away the wooden basin containing Zou Min'er's bloody clothes, which looked quite disheveled.

After Jia Cong left, Zou Min'er pulled down the thin blanket, revealing her head and face, her pale face full of blush. She stared at the roof in a daze, thinking about the past entanglements with Jia Cong, and she was getting more and more confused, and she was afraid that she would never be involved again from now on.

The wounds on her body were aching again, and she sighed helplessly.

……

Jinling, Dazaimen, Xinchunhao Jiangnan Head Office.

Qu Hongxiu transferred some people from the East Suburb Farm to search for Jia Cong's whereabouts in the city, but there was no news for a while.

She and Qin Keqing were feeling a little restless when they saw Jiang Liu suddenly come into the store. They were both surprised.

Qu Hongxiu asked quickly: "Where have you and Brother Cong been these days? You didn't even leave a message."

Jiang Liu replied: "Miss Zhou from Qingyin Pavilion was stabbed and seriously injured. In order to treat her, the Third Master has been in an old house in Mingze Lane for the past few days.

He asked me to come back and report to Sister Xiu that I was safe. He also asked Sister Xiu to mobilize ten people from the farm and place them in Mingze Lane to provide support and protection. You don't need to tell them the reason, the Third Master will make the arrangements himself."

Qin Keqing asked, "How is Miss Zhou's injury? Isn't it said outside that she is seriously injured and cannot recover?"

Jiang Liu replied: "Miss Zhou was seriously injured, but fortunately she was treated by a miracle doctor and was lucky enough to escape danger.

The Third Master was worried that Miss Zhou would be in danger again, so he lied to the public that she had died of her injuries, to prevent others from finding out that she had survived and trying to kill her again.

Qu Hongxiu frowned and asked, "This Miss Zou is just a musician in Qingyin Pavilion. How could someone assassinate her? And how could she be so involved with Brother Cong?"

Jiang Liu replied: "Third Master didn't tell me her identity either, but last time when Third Master went to Gusu with her, he also took me with him, and Third Master didn't avoid me in his words.

So I know that they went to Gusu that time to look for Zhou Zhengyang’s whereabouts.”

Qu Hongxiu and Qin Keqing looked at each other and had the same thought in their minds. This Madam Zhou, who seemed to be in a relationship with Jia Cong, was indeed related to the matter of Zhou Zhengyang.

……

At the same time that Qu Hongxiu and Qin Keqing learned the truth, other people who were unaware of the truth launched an intensive search and revenge in the city...

It seemed as if the assassination in the backyard of Qingyin Pavilion that day had opened the Pandora's box of disasters. In less than three days, murders occurred frequently in Jinling City.

In an antique shop on Yong'an Street in the west of the city, the shop owner and two strong shop assistants were killed in the shop overnight, and they were tortured before their death.

At a rice shop near the Longtan Port Wharf, the owners and their spouses were killed silently in their room, with bamboo sticks pierced into their fingers before they died.

Their nine-year-old son was called out to play by some neighborhood kids and luckily escaped death.

Within a few days, murders occurred continuously in the city, and six people died in total, leaving Jia Yucun, the prefect of Yingtian, in deep panic.

Only Zhao An, the experienced coroner in Yingtian Prefecture, discovered the surprising similarities among the six consecutive deaths.

On that day, Madam Zhou was stabbed to death in the backyard of Qingyin Pavilion. Zhao An examined the body on the spot. Madam Zhou had a knife wound on her neck, and the fatal one was a knife wound in her chest and abdomen.

The victims of the homicides in the following days were all stabbed in the neck, chest and abdomen, and the locations of the knife wounds were exactly the same as those of Madam Zhou.

The murderer seemed to have deliberately used consistent methods of killing to secretly show and demonstrate.

Zhao An thought back to the day in the backyard of Qingyin Pavilion when Jia Cong had even resorted to threatening people with a formation of muskets in order to prevent the Yingtian Prefecture from collecting Madam Zhou's body.

It can be seen how angry and crazy he was about the murder of Madam Zhou.

The criminal lawyer of the government office had made an appointment to find him to record the oral statement of the case, but he was nowhere to be found either in the Ministry of Works or in the Jia Mansion in Xinglongfang.

So, Zhao An thought of a horrifying possibility: maybe Jia Cong couldn't get over the death of Madam Zhou, and actually imitated the scene of Madam Zhou's murder and killed people in the city in the same way to vent his anger.

But these victims had nothing to do with Madam Zhou, and they didn't even know each other. I don't think the Director of the Firearms Bureau would be so crazy.

Although Zhao An had this speculation in his mind, he felt that it had some basis in reason. After all, Jia Cong's reaction in the backyard of Qingyin Pavilion that day was too extreme and crazy.

However, Zhao An's speculation was ultimately without any evidence.

Moreover, Jia Cong was not only the director of the Firearms Bureau, who was a fifth-rank official, but also a member of the Jia family of Rongguo in Shenjing, and the hereditary Earl of Weiyuan conferred by the emperor.

No matter what his identity was, his background was quite impressive. Zhao An didn't dare to speak nonsense in front of others just because of groundless speculation.

Moreover, he was well aware of the relationship between the prefect Jia Yucun and the Jia family of Rongguo, so he didn't dare to mention it in public.

However, as the government criminal department investigated the latter two murders, a large number of correspondence and account books were found from the antique shop and the rice shop.

This proves that these two shops were stalls secretly set up by Liu Ao, a great thief from the East China Sea, in the city of Jinling.

The several people killed in the two shops were all spies sent by Liu Ao to Nanjing.

In short, these people are the remnants of pirates, and each of them deserves to be put to death. Even if they are caught by the government, they will be beheaded.

Therefore, although the hunt for the murderers of these two murders that shocked the city of Jinling is still ongoing, the results have become somewhat insignificant to the Tianfu and even the Jinyiwei.

……

Compared with the mysterious and dangerous situation in Jinling City in recent days, the two-courtyard house in Mingze Lane seemed unusually peaceful.

After Jia Cong went out of the yard, he bought a lot of rice, meat, vegetables, pots, pans, and other things, and stewed a pot of vegetable and meat porridge over a low fire in the kitchen.

Since he came into this world, although he had lived a poor life in the East Courtyard since he was a child, he was a member of the Jia family after all, and he had never had the opportunity or experience to cook for himself.

Therefore, the pot of vegetable and meat porridge in the kitchen was the first time in his life that he made it based on his experience from his previous life.

He even washed the clothes that Zou Min'er had changed out of the wooden barrel, and hung them in the yard to dry, not even bothering about the bloodstains on the clothes.

If others saw the dignified Earl Weiyuan washing a girl's clothes as if nothing had happened, half of the people in Jinling would be shocked.

Wait until the aroma from the kitchen wafts through the inner courtyard.

Jia Cong brought a bowl of mushy vegetable and meat porridge into the room. The noble young man, who had always been as handsome as jade, looked completely different in Zou Miner's eyes.

He is no longer the majestic and noble young earl, nor is he a wise and resourceful official in the court, but just a gentle man exuding worldly aura.

Perhaps this kind of Jia Cong has stripped away the gorgeous glare and melted away the past that made her gloomy and entangled. This is the purer him, the one who truly touched her.

Jia Cong placed the bowl of porridge on the bedside table, then went over to support Zou Min'er, trying not to disturb her wound. He carefully let her lean against the bed and placed two newly bought plain gauze pillows behind her.

Under normal circumstances, for a virgin girl, wearing her bed-curtain lingerie, to be half-hugged and half-carried by a man was really a violation of etiquette.

But after the assassination in Qingyin Pavilion and the struggle and dependence on each other on the brink of life and death, their already strange relationship has taken on a layer of strange tacit understanding and intimacy.

Or perhaps it was the delicate and neat bandages on the wounds on her chest and abdomen, and the brand new, snow-white, soft silk lingerie on her body.

Zou Miner felt shy and helpless, and at the same time, she gave up all her wariness towards the man in front of her.

Was it forced by external factors, or something that happened naturally, Zou Miner didn't want to bother to figure it out. Even if it was a kind of confusion, she would just let it go for a while.

Therefore, because she was seriously injured and could not hold the porcelain bowl by herself, Jia Cong was needed to feed her.

Although this made Zou Min'er feel embarrassed and shy, after being fed a few mouthfuls by Jia Cong, both of them quickly became calm, as if this was the most normal thing.

It was not until Zou Min'er leaned on the bed and saw through the window that her washed clothes fluttered in the wind in the middle of the yard that her calm mood was broken and her pretty face flushed. (End of this chapter)