The Red Mansion

Chapter 3 Imperial Guards
Jiang Nian and He Yun walked into the hall.

There was only one person in the hall, a man in his early thirties, tall and strong, with an imposing bearing.

It was Ren Pijiang, the imperial guard sent by Emperor Taishun.

There are a total of 570 vacancies for the imperial palace guards in Daqing.

Among them, there were sixty first-class guards, with a rank of third grade; one hundred and fifty second-class guards, with a rank of fourth grade; two hundred and seventy third-class guards, with a rank of fifth grade; and ninety fourth-class guards, with a rank of sixth grade.

Ren Pijiang was a second-class guard of the fourth rank, and also a guard in front of the emperor. He was a minister close to the emperor in the inner court. His duty was to protect the emperor, and sometimes he also carried out tasks according to the emperor's orders.

Such a person has his own extraordinary origins.

Ren Pijiang was a trusted military officer of Emperor Taishun and served as the guard of the palace when Emperor Taishun was in the vassal state. With the ascension of Emperor Taishun to the throne, he was promoted to the second-class guard in front of the emperor.

When Ren Pijiang was a guard at the palace, he was ordered more than once to secretly come to Jiangning to meet Jiang Xuelian, Jiang Nian, and He Yun and his wife. This time he was ordered to come to Jiangning again, and it was the emperor's order.

Ren Pijiang was sitting on a carved nanmu chair in the main hall. When he saw Jiang Nian and He Yun walk in, he stood up and said to He Yun, "I want to convey the emperor's secret decree. Please make sure there is no one else inside or outside the hall."

He Yun understood and hurriedly checked inside and outside the hall to confirm that there was no one else there.

Ren Pijiang stared at Jiang Nian solemnly: "The emperor has a secret decree to convey. Jiang Nian, kneel and listen!"

After saying this, he walked to the center of the hall and stood facing south.

Jiang Nian understood what he meant, and walked up to Ren Pijiang, bowed deeply, and knelt down, saying, "Your humble servant Jiang Nian respectfully greets the Holy Saint!"

"Your Majesty, rest in peace!" Ren Pijiang solemnly agreed, and then issued an order, "You may come to the capital, but I do not wish to acknowledge you as my son. Your true identity must be kept secret. If you reveal it, I will punish you severely!"

Jiang Nian said respectfully, "I obey your command and thank you!"

Ren Pijiang stepped aside, restored his status, bowed to Jiang Nian, and said respectfully, "This humble official pays his respects to Master Nian."

Jiang Nian also bowed and said respectfully, "Please take a seat, sir."

Ren Pijiang was pleased in his heart, thinking that this unrecognized prince, although young, was quite sensible. When he received the imperial edict just now, he called himself "commoner", but now he respectfully called him "Sir".

After Ren Pijiang sat down again, he discussed with Jiang Nian and He Yun about Jiang Nian's trip to Beijing, and then gave He Yun a set of fifth-rank Dragon Guard official uniform, license, and waist badge.

This means that He Yun has become a fifth-rank Dragon Guard.

There is a military officer in Daqing called Longjinwei.

There are a total of 300 Dragon Guards, who are similar to the palace guards. The difference is that the palace guards are real positions, while the Dragon Guards are nominal positions and do not need to be on duty.

He Yun was very happy.

Jiang Nian was also delighted, thinking that He Yun's identity would allow him to be more useful to him.

……

……

Jiang Nian returned to the study.

He sat at his desk, sipping tea and thinking...

Instead of feeling disappointed, he felt fortunate.

As far as he knew, the reason why his father in this life had never recognized him as his son was mainly because he was concerned about Emperor Jingning.

At that time, Emperor Jingning sent the Fourth Prince to Jiangnan to carry out an important imperial mission. However, the Fourth Prince fell in love with Jiang Xuelian, a commoner woman in Jiangning, and had a son with him.

The Fourth Prince believed that if Emperor Jingning knew about this, he would be dissatisfied, and if the mother and son were brought back to the capital, Emperor Jingning would be even more dissatisfied.

The Fourth Prince was a mean person. In order not to affect his image in the heart of Emperor Jingning, he abandoned Jiang Xuelian and Jiang Nian, mother and son, in Jiangning.

But he did not ignore the mother and child. He ensured their material needs and secretly sent He Yun and his wife to protect, care for and supervise them.

Although he was now the emperor, he was still the emperor emeritus as the Jingning Emperor had not yet died. Under such circumstances, it was not surprising that he still did not recognize Jiang Nian as the prince and still wanted to keep Jiang Nian's true identity secret.

Jiang Nian was thankful that his father was willing to let him come to Beijing.

For him, this is a big improvement.

"Could it be that I really have this golden finger of luck?"

"Is Emperor Taishun's decision to allow me to enter the capital a sign of good fortune?"

Jiang Nian thought.

He looked at the manuscript of the poem "Little Pine" on the desk and recited softly: "Since its childhood, it has been buried deep in the grass, but now it has gradually emerged from the weeds. People at that time did not recognize the towering tree, until it soared into the sky, people began to realize its height.

He felt that this poem well expressed his current aspirations.

……

……

On this day, He Yun held a banquet to entertain Ren Pijiang, and Jiang Nian also joined the banquet on purpose, feeling that it was necessary to make friends with Ren Pijiang, the imperial guard.

After the banquet, He Yun came to Jiang Nian’s study again, accompanied by his wife Meng.

He Yun asked Jiang Nian, "Master is moving to the capital. Do you want to keep our house or sell it?"

Jiang Nian looked at He Yun and Meng Shi and asked, "What are you thinking?"

Mrs. Meng spoke first, "I think it's better to keep it. We are not short of money. This house is where Master was born and raised. It's where Madam and Master have lived for more than ten years. It would be a pity to sell it. Keeping it is a memory. When Master returns to Jiangning in the future, he can stay here."

Jiang Nian smiled: "I think so too, then keep it."

Mrs. Meng said, "We can let Qiu Fu and his wife stay in Jiangning to look after the mansion. However, we are already short of servants, and without Qiu Fu and his wife we ​​will be even more short of them. It's time to buy some servants."

Jiang Nian nodded: "Yes."

Mrs. Meng continued, "Also, I'm thinking, Master's status is no longer what it used to be. Even though he and the emperor haven't recognized each other as father and son yet, he's still the emperor's son. And Master is already fifteen this year. A young man of Master's age in a wealthy family would definitely have a maid to serve him. We should buy Master a maid to take care of his daily needs."

The so-called "big maid" here does not refer to an older maid, but a maid who serves the master personally in her daily life. She can be old or young, and is required to be outstanding in appearance.

There are only two maids in Jiang Nian's family, Qi'er and Qin'er. Both of them are maids with plain looks, and they do rough work such as sweeping and washing.

Jiang Xuelian loved her son dearly, but she always adhered to the principle that he should not be spoiled, so even when her son was in his teens, he still didn't have a maid.

Now Jiang Xuelian has been dead for more than two years, and Jiang Nian's father has become the emperor. Meng therefore thought that she should take advantage of this opportunity to buy a slave to find a maid for Jiang Nian.

Jiang Nian nodded again: "Yes."

He Yun asked again, "If we go to the market to buy slaves, it will be difficult to find good ones in such a hurry. I want to find Wang Dian and ask him to pick out some good ones."

Jiang Nian still nodded: "Yes."

I thought of a golden hairpin in the original novel.

That is Xiangling.

In the original novel, Xiangling was abducted as a child while watching the Lantern Festival fireworks and taken to Jinling. The kidnapper raised her and sold her first to Feng Yuan, a young master of Jiangning, and then secretly to Xue Pan, intending to flee to another province with the money from both families. However, he was caught and brutally beaten by both families. To compete for Xiangling, Xue Pan ordered his men to beat Feng Yuan to death. Xiangling then became a servant in the Xue family and later his concubine.

Now that He Yun and his wife are planning to buy a maid for Jiang Nian, Jiang Nian can't help but think of Xiangling.

However, there were so many people, where could he find the kidnapper and Xiangling?

He also didn't know whether Xiangling had been taken by Xue Pan now.

(End of this chapter)