The Red Mansion: From a Small Pawn to a Leader

It's Qingming Festival again. The sky is gloomy and it seems like it will rain at any time.

By the river in the back garden, paper money was burning fiercely.

Zijuan and Xueyan added paper money to the fire one by one.

Lin Daiyu, who was standing by, knelt down and bowed before the incense burner, then stood up and walked over silently, then squatted down beside the fire and stared at it in a daze.

Li Hu is not at home this year, so Lin Daiyu can only offer sacrifices to Jia Min from afar.

Zijuan squatted over and handed a stack of paper money to Lin Daiyu.

Lin Daiyu added paper money onto the fire one by one, and her eyes became red again.

Zijuan sighed: "My aunt must want the girl to live happily."

Coincidentally, at this moment a cold wind blew from the river, and the pile of paper money was blown close to the ground, emitting green flames.

Xueyan was so scared that she quickly moved closer to Zijuan.

Zijuan knelt down in front of the pile of paper money, closed her eyes and prayed softly: "Auntie, I hope your spirit in heaven is well, and I hope you can bless our daughter with good health, success in everything, and happiness forever."

Xueyan also knelt down and prayed along.

Lin Daiyu's face was covered with tears.

At this time, there was a sound of footsteps in the distance. Lin Daiyu took out a handkerchief from her body and wiped her tears. Looking over, it was Nanny Wang.

The paper money had finished burning by then, and Lin Daiyu stood up and walked over.

Nanny Wang handed a letter to Lin Daiyu: "Miss, this is a letter from Henan."

Lin Daiyu took the letter, tore it open and read it. Then her eyes flashed. Wang Ren had indeed gone to Henan.

Then he continued to look down.

After reading the letter, Lin Daiyu shook her head. Jia Lian was fine, but the Mei family was the unlucky one.

The Jia and Wang families did not dare to touch the third prince, so they could only blame the Mei family, especially Wang Ziteng. Wang Ren's backstabbing not only brought the already bad relationship between the Jia and Wang families to the brink of collapse, but also completely ruined the reputation of the Wang family. It was said that the verbal engagement between Wang Ziteng's daughter and the son of Marquis Baoning was broken.

If Wang Ziteng had not been seriously injured, he would have definitely come back to fight the Mei family to the death.

If Zhang Cheng's information is correct, this day next year will be Mr. Mei's death anniversary.

It was not only the Jia and Wang families who wanted him dead, but also the emperor. He had touched the emperor's bottom line, and no one could save him.

Lin Daiyu suddenly felt a chill on her cheeks, and then Xueyan exclaimed in her ears: "It's raining!"

She raised her head slightly and saw a drizzle starting from the sky.

The maids and old women who had been standing in the distance to serve immediately came over. Some opened an umbrella to cover Lin Daiyu's head, and some put a cloak on her. In an instant, she was surrounded by wind and rain.

Leaving a few maids to clean the garden, Lin Daiyu walked out of the garden surrounded by a group of maids and servants.

Dashun inherited the Ming system and there was no holiday on Qingming Festival.

Mei Yushi stood by the window of his office, looking at the drizzle outside the sky, and sighed: "One wrong step, all wrong steps."

At this moment, Censor Mei was very regretful. He should not have been involved in the fight for the throne again, and he should not have surrendered to the Third Prince. The Third Prince was a mean, narrow-minded, vindictive person. He was unreliable!
He suddenly remembered the news he had heard from the steward of the Third Prince's Mansion that perhaps he could pay a visit to Duke Yansheng after he arrived in Beijing.

Thinking of this, he turned around and shouted, "Someone come!"

His attendant came in in response.

Mei Yushi: "Go to Guang'anmen Street and tell your young master to go home immediately after leaving the yamen and not to hang out in the Eight Great Hutongs!"

Follower: "Yes." He turned around and walked out quickly.
The rain was getting heavier, from a drizzle to a drizzle.

The Southern Zhenfusi was different from the Northern Zhenfusi. It also had to patrol the streets, and each street and alley was clearly assigned to individuals.

As a person with connections, Mr. Mei was assigned to the lucrative Guang'anmen Street. From Caishikou to the west, there were many shops on both sides of the road, but there were no wealthy or powerful people there, so everyone was an easy target.

Master Mei, wearing the uniform of the general flag, walked out of a shop with a knife on his shoulder, and led two guards to another shop. It was a new month, and it was time to collect tributes from each family.

The owner was already standing at the door holding a bag of copper coins.

Mr. Mei did not take the purse from the shopkeeper. Instead, he pushed the shopkeeper aside and walked into the shop, looking around as if he was looking for something.

Mr. Mei came out somewhat disappointedly: "Where is your daughter?"

The shop owner said: "To answer your question, sir, her mother is ill and is serving soup and medicine at home."

Master Mei looked at him and smiled: "You are not honest!"

Shop owner: “No, I don’t dare.”

Master Mei suppressed his smile and said: "I don't care whether you dare or not. Let your daughter wait for me here at noon tomorrow and have a drink with me." Then he snatched the purse from the shopkeeper's hand and turned to walk to the next house.

The shop owner stood there with a red face, snapping his fingers.

Mr. Mei suddenly stopped and walked back: "Is your woman really sick?"

The shop owner said: "I dare not deceive the official."

Mr. Mei's eyes rolled around, and he said to the two guards, "Go, tell the surrounding clinics that no one is allowed to sell medicine to him without my permission."

The two guards looked at each other, then turned and walked towards the clinic.

The shop owner seemed to understand something and stared at Mr. Mei with red eyes.

Master Mei patted the sword at his waist and sneered, "If you dare to move, I will kill you. Then your daughter won't be able to be my concubine anymore."

Shop owner: “You”

Mr. Mei threw the bag of copper coins into the shop and said, "This is the money for selling your body. Send your daughter over before dusk, or you will have to wait for your woman's funeral."

The shop owner: "You, you, I will go to the government office to sue you."

Master Mei burst into laughter as if he had heard a huge joke.

After laughing, Master Mei said: "Tell me? Believe it or not, I can let you be beaten to death with thirty boards. Do you know who is behind me?" He took a step forward and said in a low voice: "The third prince." After that, he left with a big laugh.

The owner stood there in a daze, not moving.

There was a grocery store next to it. Mr. Mei accepted the gift, picked up an umbrella, and walked across the street.

Just as he reached the center of the street, he heard the sound of hurried horse hooves in the distance. Master Mei was about to walk quickly to the other side of the street when he suddenly heard two shouts in his ears: "Master Mei! Master."

Master Mei subconsciously turned around and looked in the direction of his "young master", and saw a man on horseback galloping towards him.

Master Mei recognized him as his father's follower.

The follower yelled, "Master, get out of the way!"

There was a sound of horse hooves, and Master Mei felt a huge force coming from behind. Before he could feel the pain, he was knocked away. He seemed to hear the sound of breaking bones, and then he knew nothing.

The shop owner looked at Master Mei who was knocked away by the warhorse, and a crazy smile appeared on his face: "Retribution! Retribution!"

The shop owners around all smiled. They also recognized the knight's identity and sent him there urgently for six hundred miles!
The imperial court had a rule that if someone accidentally killed someone while delivering an express train of 600 or 800 miles, he would not have to pay for his life. If he delayed a military mission, his family would also be implicated.

So when ordinary people saw these messengers, they would stay away from them, including most of the officials.

Master Mei was knocked flying, and his warhorse ran forward a few steps due to inertia, then its front hooves softened and it fell forward.

The officer leaped up and stood on the ground, then ran to the attendant's horse, pulled him off, jumped on the horse, and galloped towards Qianmen Street.

The attendant came to his senses and rushed to Master Mei who was lying in a pool of blood, shouting, "Master! Master, come and help!"

Everyone's eyes were cold, with undisguised gloating on their faces. (End of this chapter)