The Red Mansion: From a Small Pawn to a Leader

Chapter 291 It's the world that's wrong

Having lost face in front of Lin Daiyu yesterday, Li Hu went to the back garden at dawn for a five-kilometer weighted jog to exercise his physical strength and endurance.

After taking a hot bath, Li Hu came out refreshed, sat down on a bamboo chair under the eaves of the corridor outside the main hall, and shouted loudly to the outside of the courtyard gate: "Xiangling! Xiangling!"

"Hey~" Xiangling ran in like a gust of wind.

Li Hu: "Wipe my hair."

Xiangling ran into the house again like a gust of wind, took out a snow-white velvet cotton towel and slowly wiped Li Hu's hair.

Li Hu: "Where did you go crazy again?"

Xiangling: "I went to the small kitchen with Sister Xueyan."

Li Hu laughed: "You guys are eating secretly again?"

Xiangling blushed: "No. Yes, the girls want to eat fried artemisia. Sister Xueyan and I will go and inform them."

Li Hu: "I see, I just ate it by chance."

Xiangling was anxious: "No."

At this time, Amber, who had changed her clothes, came out and asked, "What's going on?"

Li Hu smiled: "Nothing, I was just teasing her. Hey, you finished washing so quickly?"

Hubei blushed, took the towel from Xiangling's hand, and wiped Li Hu's hair while saying, "I forgot to tell you just now, the young lady sent a message saying that the Second Master is fine and should come over."

Xiangling suddenly remembered: "Oh, by the way, I heard from Sister Xueyan that the third young lady from Rongguo Mansion sent someone to give you something."

As he was talking, Feng came in hurriedly and reported to Li Hu, "Second Master, there was a message from the front yard saying that the person you invited has arrived."

Li Hu raised his hand, signaling Amber to stop wiping, and then slowly stood up. He was no longer as casual as before, and exuded a fierce aura. Amber, Xiangling and Feng were all shocked.

Li Hu glanced in the direction of the imperial city and strode out
In the front yard, Wang Daniu passed by the ceremonial gate with his hands behind his back.

In front of the ceremonial gate, four personal soldiers stood upright with swords slung over their shoulders, not moving.

Wang Daniu blinked, stepped back and glanced inside the door.

At this time, the officer on duty came out and said with a smile: "General Wang, what's the matter?"

Wang Daniu: "Ah, nothing. No, I have something to ask you if you can go out so that I can prepare the carriage."

The officer on duty smiled and said, "Why, General Wang is going to give gifts to the matchmaker again?"

Wang Daniu smiled.

The officer on duty said, "I'm not saying anything too much. General Wang can wait until he is promoted to lieutenant general before arranging a marriage. Or you can ask the general to find you a legitimate daughter of a noble family. Even if she is a concubine's daughter, we won't lose out."

Wang Daniu waved his hands irritably: "Go away, you know nothing!"

The officer on duty smiled and shook his head, then turned around and walked back.

"Wait a moment."

"You can ask Uncle San about this. How would I know whether the general will go out or not?"

"That's not the case."

Wang Daniu stepped forward and asked in a low voice: "Is Zhang Cheng here?"

The officer on duty was slightly stunned: "General Zhang is here? I haven't heard about it!"

Wang Daniu frowned when he saw that he didn't seem to be lying. "That's impossible. I just saw a figure wearing a cloak. It must be Zhang Cheng. Am I seeing things?"

The sentry officer looked at him strangely and said, "I didn't see anyone else this morning except Uncle San." He then asked the four guards, "Did you see anyone?"

The four guards replied in unison: "No."

Wang Daniu: "Could it be that I really saw it wrong?" After saying that, he turned and walked out.

The officer on duty shook his head, turned and walked in.

Wang Daniu was not mistaken, Zhang Cheng came, but he did not go through the ceremonial gate, but walked through the alley used by the servants.

In the study, Zhang Cheng knelt there straight, motionless.

Li Hu sat at the desk and looked at him.

There was silence.

Zhang Cheng couldn't help it: "I deserve to die. I have brought trouble to the general. I will turn myself in now!" After saying this, he kowtowed three times and was about to get up.

Li Hu said coldly: "Turn yourself in? Do you think that if you turn yourself in, I won't be implicated?"

Zhang Cheng kowtowed heavily: "I deserve to die!" Li Hu: "You deserve to die! As long as you are alive, this matter will not end, do you understand?"

Zhang Cheng was startled when he heard this, and raised his head slightly to look at Li Hu.

Li Hu said unhappily: "What are you looking at? Do you understand?"

Zhang Cheng was stunned for a moment, then after he understood what Li Hu meant, he kowtowed again: "If I die, the general will have even less reason to explain. It's not worth it."

Li Hu sighed, looked at Zhang Cheng, and said, "If you had told me when it happened and eliminated all those people, this wouldn't have happened today."

Zhang Cheng: "This matter is too big, I dare not say it. I, I thought I could keep it secret."

Li Hu: "Okay, let's stop talking. I called you here because I have something to tell you." He waved his hand.

Zhang Cheng climbed up and put his head forward.

Li Hu whispered something in his ear.

Zhang Cheng nodded.

Li Hu was silent for a moment, then said, "If the prince knew your identity, he would not let you go."

Zhang Cheng understood that even if the prince ascended the throne in the future, he would still be a "dead man".

Li Hu stood up and said, "Don't go back to that house. Go back to the barracks directly and leave after dark. Wait for my news."

Zhang Cheng: “Yes.”

Li Hu took a few steps back and forth, "I'm going to use this to catch a fish."

As soon as he finished speaking, the voice of the officer on duty came from outside: "General."

Li Hu walked out and came back soon.

Li Hu smiled at Zhang Cheng and said, "The fish has taken the bait." But there was bitterness in his smile.

Zhang Cheng's heart skipped a beat, and he asked tentatively, "Daniu."

Li Hu closed his eyes and did not answer.

Zhang Cheng suddenly laughed, and tears started streaming down his face as he laughed: "Why did it turn out like this? We brothers said back then that we would share happiness and hard times, but now... The general did not break his promise, and we are the ones who have let him down." As he spoke he knelt down, kowtowed three times, and then lay on the ground, tears dripping onto the brick floor.

Li Hu's eyes turned red: "You are all right, it's this world that is wrong."

Zhang Cheng raised his head, his face full of tears, and choked up, "We deserve to die. We have failed the general. This damn world has pushed us all into a dead end. There will never be a day when I want to..."

Li Hu interrupted him: "Don't cry, hurry back."

Zhang Cheng climbed up while sobbing, put on his hood, and walked out.

Li Hu walked out, looked at his back and sighed, then composed himself and turned to walk towards the backyard.

As soon as he stepped into the yard, he heard Lin Daiyu laughing in the house, so he strode over.

When the maids sitting on the terrace saw Li Hu coming back, they all came up to him with a smile and said, "The young lady was just talking about it, and the second master is back now." As they spoke, they rushed to open the Xiang curtains and announced, "The second master is back."

Li Hu walked in with a smile, and seeing Lin Daiyu coming to greet him with a smile, he said, "Oh, my sister is here!"

Lin Daiyu curled her lips and said, "If you don't come to find me, of course I will come to find you."

Li Hu was slightly stunned. Why did these words sound so sarcastic?

Lin Daiyu took out a letter from her sleeve: "It's from the third girl, saying that the Jia family is going to be taken over by the Wang family."

Li Hu took a look at the letter and was surprised. Is the Wang family so arrogant? Even Boss Jia can't do that!

Wang Li now holds an official position and needs to report to the government office to work, so Mrs. Wang's job falls on Wang Ren.

Accompanied by Lin Zhixiao and other stewards of Rongguo Mansion, Wang Ren inspected everywhere and directed the craftsmen to rush the construction of the villa for the visit of relatives.

As they were talking, suddenly a gust of wind blew by and the sound of drums and music could be vaguely heard.

Wang Ren stopped and listened to the intermittent drum music. He asked, "Hey, whose wedding is this?"

Lin Zhixiao replied, "To answer your question, Second Master, the little actors who bought the clothes for the Empress's visit are practicing playing music and drums."

Wang Ren's eyes lit up: "Let's go and take a look." After saying that, he strode towards the direction where the sound of drums and music came from.

Lin Zhixiao was stunned for a moment, then hurriedly chased after him.

The housekeepers and managers looked at each other and followed.

(End of this chapter)