Red Mansion, Ningfu Scholarly Family

Chapter 23 Jia Jing and Lin Ruhai
……

After strolling around Xingrong Street and buying some precious medicinal herbs for Master Zhen, he also went to a bookstore to buy a few fresh collections of eight-part essays. Jia Rong did not return home until near noon.

Lai Er had been waiting at the door for a long time. When he saw Jia Rong coming back, he hurriedly led a few doormen to greet him with a smile, and bent down to take the medicinal herbs from Jia Rong's hand.

As for the books and collections in Jia Rong's hand, Lai Er did not dare to touch them.

That is a book of sages!
Only scholars can touch it.

"Uncle Rong, you are finally back. The master has sent people to look for you everywhere." Lai Er said with a smile, bending over.

"Oh? What's the matter?"

It was expected that Jia Zhen would look for him. After all, Master Zhen had recovered quite well recently and was able to stand up again. Based on past experience, he would definitely find something to do.

Lai Er smiled and said, "Old Qin Ye is visiting with his daughter, and the master wants you to go over and entertain them."

"understood."

Jia Rong nodded gently and asked, "I bought a crutch for the master. Has it been delivered to your house?"

Lai Er smiled and said, "It has been delivered this morning and is stored in the warehouse."

"Why was it put into the storehouse and not given to the master?"

Lai Er hurriedly said: “Master, your filial piety, how dare we give it to you casually, we are just waiting for you to come back.”

There are rumors that the master has tuberculosis and coughs all day long. The news has spread throughout the mansion, and ordinary people dare not approach him. Recently, the people who serve Master Zhen have asked for leave to go home, either because their mothers are sick or their fathers have leg pain. Only Peifeng and a few others are left.

"Then bring the crutches over here."

"By the way, I heard that Steward Liu in the master's courtyard went home for something?" Jia Rong suddenly asked.

Lai Ershou shook it a little.

"Ah, yes!"

"His old mother was ill, and he went back to take care of her medicine."

He allowed Liu Quande to ask for leave to go home because Liu Dequan gave him twenty taels of silver as a gift...

Jia Rong nodded upon hearing this.

"Taking care of your old mother is a commendable act of filial piety."

"But the master must not be short of people to serve him. You should go there in person to fill the gap. I don't trust others."

"Ah, this..."

Lai Er was shocked!

"What? Don't you want to serve the master?" Jia Rong frowned slightly, with some doubt in his words.

"No, it's not..."

Lai Er was already trembling as he spoke.

"Then go and serve tonight. Hand over the things you have on hand to Butler Zhao first. When Butler Liu's mother is well, you can go back and do your work."

Lai Er: “…”

……

When Jia Rong entered the mansion, he first went home to put down the collection of eight-part essays he had bought, and then danced a few times in the yard with the snake-head cane. He felt it was not very convenient to use, and didn't understand why someone would use a cane as a weapon.

I unconsciously thought of the old woman in the shop, who was walking with a 22-jin, 2-liang, 2-qian iron cane, making a thumping sound...

Jia Rong had seen many strange people in the past few years, most of whom were swindlers. For example, a few years ago, several Taoists came to the mansion with unclear intentions. They performed some so-called "Taoist magic", which amazed Jia Jing.

Fortunately, Jia Rong happened to be nearby at the time. The Taoist magic of those so-called Taoists was obviously like "showing off one's sword in front of Guan Gong" in front of Jia Rong, so he easily exposed them. Jia Rong even performed some more advanced "Taoist magic" himself, which aroused even greater amazement from the crowd.

From then on, Jia Jing lost interest in Taoist priests, Taoist magic and other deceptive things, and focused on court affairs.

"Uncle Rong."

Jia Rong was dancing with his crutches when Cheng Yuan, a servant beside Jia Jing, suddenly ran in hurriedly.

"what's up?"

Jia Rong put down his crutches calmly.

Cheng Yuan pretended he saw nothing, stepped forward and said with a smile: "It was the old man who asked you to go over now."

Obviously, Jia Jing couldn't hide the fact that Old Qinye brought his daughter into the mansion, and it was even more impossible for Jia Rong to have a chance to meet the Qin girl alone. "I'll go now."

"Oh, go to the master's yard and tell him that the master wants me for something and I can't go over to entertain the guests. And take this crutches to the master."

Cheng Yuan took the crutches respectfully and thought: Uncle Rong is really filial. The old man is bedridden and hasn't even started to walk yet, but the crutches have already been prepared.

……

Outer courtyard study.

When Jia Rong came over, Jia Jing was looking at a letter and was angry.

"This old Lin is like a stubborn donkey, he is quarreling with those salt merchants in Jiangnan again!"

"If I hadn't helped him in Beijing over the past few years, the grass on his grave would have been very tall!"

Zhuge Lan, the staff member, said with a smile: "Please calm down, my Lord. As the Imperial Censor of Salt, Lord Lin has seen that the salt tax revenue is getting less and less every year, so it is understandable that he is a little anxious. If you are worried, you can write another letter to persuade him..."

Jia Jing interrupted by waving his hand, "I'm afraid sending a letter is useless. Mr. Zhuge, I'd like you to go to Yangzhou in person to explain the situation. As for the salt tax, just do your best."

Zhuge Lan smiled bitterly, "I'm afraid that even if I go, I won't be able to persuade him. You know Censor Lin's temper. Once he makes a decision, even eight donkeys can't stop him."

"In my opinion, the safest way is to ask the emperor to order Lin Yushi to return to the capital. By then, you and Lin Yushi will be in the court..."

Jia Jing shook his head slowly.

"Now, it's not easy!"

Zhuge Lan sighed helplessly.

"In that case, I will set off to Yangzhou tonight to try and persuade them."

"Thank you sir."

"You're welcome, Your Excellency."

"There is one more thing." Jia Jing took out a memorial from the bottom of the desk and said seriously, "Someone impeached Jining Jiedu Zhang Maoye a few days ago for killing innocent people and claiming credit. Go and check the situation and secretly investigate his reputation."

"Is it the time when we wiped out the pirates last year?"

"Yes, I thought it was a little strange."

"..."

Ever since Jia Rong started preparing for the college entrance examination, Jia Jing allowed him to enter the study to listen to some court affairs. The college entrance examination requires testing policy essays and current affairs, so it is very necessary to know more about court affairs.

Jia Rong listened quietly for a long while. He could only listen to the court affairs but not speak. This was much better than Jia Zhen. Master Jia was not even qualified to approach Jia Jing's study.

After the two finished talking, Jia Jing looked at Jia Rong who was standing at the door and said with a smile: "Rong'er, how was your monthly exam? Bring me your essay."

After every monthly exam, Jia Jing would always check to see if Jia Rong's writing had improved. This was a regular routine. Jia Rong had already written it out from memory and brought it with him when he came.

"Master, please take a look."

Jia Jing took over a few articles, read them carefully, and nodded from time to time. Zhuge Lan was also watching from the side, nodding frequently.

As Jia Jing's top strategist, Zhuge Lan, although he did not pass the imperial examination, was also a juren. He came to work for Jia Jing only because he did not want to be a small official in a remote province.

His eight-part essays are naturally also excellent.

In a short while, I finished reading several articles.

Jia Jing looked at Zhuge Lan and said with a smug smile, "What do you think, Mr. Zhuge?"

Zhuge Lan smiled and said, "Mr. Rong's writing is much better than mine. I won't say much about other things, but just this one, "If rituals and music are not popular, then punishments will not be appropriate", I can't do it even if I study for another ten years."

Jia Rong smiled and said, "Sir, you are too modest. I happened to read an article of yours the other day, 'Only a benevolent person can handle small matters with great ones'. That is really good."

"Where, where..."

"Alright, alright." Jia Jing waved his hand and said with a smile, "Stop pretending to be humble and flattering each other."

After saying this, his face calmed down.

"Brother Rong, judging from your essays, your approach to solving problems has improved slightly compared to before, but you still need to pay attention to a few points."

"The key to the opening of an eight-part essay is to be grand, fluent, elegant, classical, natural, and not tainted with any vulgarity. The key to the opening of a long essay is simplicity, the key to the opening of a connecting essay is integration, the key to the opening of a large essay is formality, and the key to the opening of a small essay is spirit..."

(End of this chapter)