The Red Mansion in its bustling glory

Baoyu has disappeared; this is a serious matter.

Not only because he was the apple of the old lady's eye, but also because every time he made even the slightest unusual move, something bad was bound to happen.

Jia Jue then asked the servant carrying books beside him, "Have you seen Baoyu?"

Fu Shu replied, "Just now, Third Master Bao and Master Ren went out together."

Uncle Ren is Wang Ziteng's son, whose full name is Wang Ren.

Jia Jue nodded upon hearing this.

If we were to say that Prince Teng was more deserving of a higher opinion from Jia Jue, he was indeed a capable man who made rapid progress in his official career.

As for his son, Wang Renjiajue, he was rather dismissive.

If Jia Jue were to evaluate this person, he would only use four words: "a good-for-nothing."

He can be considered in the same category as Jia Zhen, Jia Rong, and even Xue Pan, who was still ruling Jinling at that time.

But now that the two of them are hanging out together, I'm afraid they might cause some trouble.

Jia Jue asked, "Did you see where they went?"

Fu Shu said, "I only saw the two gentlemen heading towards the inner courtyard."

"The inner courtyard?" Jia Jue sighed. That makes sense. Given Bao Yu's personality, how could he possibly mingle with these "filthy men" he called him in the outer courtyard?

If this were any other place, Baoyu might have been able to restrain himself, but this was the residence of Prince Teng, Jia Baoyu's uncle, a place he had frequented since childhood.

From a young age, I often went to the inner courtyard.

No one said anything.

Since that's the case, we can only let him be.

I just hope it doesn't cause any trouble.

Jia Jue thought to himself.

Flowers bloom and fade, geese come and go, time flows like water, never ceasing day or night.

The banquet had ended, and Jia Jue returned to his courtyard.

A crescent moon hangs on the treetop, its clear light filtering through the gauze clouds.

At this moment, the Jia mansion was completely silent, and almost everyone was fast asleep.

The occasional cough only accentuated the serene atmosphere of the dreamlike realm.

Jia Jue was also lying on the bed, his face peaceful and his eyes closed.

Next to Jia Jue's bed was a small bed, on which lay Musk Moon.

This has been the custom in the Jia family since its inception—the personal maidservant sleeps next to the master.

As for Qingwen, she slept in the outer room, next to the incense burner.

Jia Jue was already fast asleep.

In his dream, he came to the outside of a thatched hut.

The moment he stepped into the door of the thatched hut, he suddenly heard a soft laugh—"Ha, fellow Daoist, you've come."

Jia Jue turned around and saw two people standing in front of him—a monk and a Taoist priest, whose clothes were tattered and covered in filth.

The moment they met, Jia Jue thought of two people described in "Dream of the Red Chamber":

Bald-headed monk

A lame Taoist priest.

Jia Jue remained silent; he had always maintained a respectful distance from the two of them.

The bald-headed monk shook his head. "Fellow Daoist, you've arrived too early."

The lame Taoist priest also said, "The tribulation is not yet over, fellow Taoist, you should calmly undergo the tribulation."

As Jia Jue listened, he pondered in his heart—

Jia Jue knew that almost all the important characters in "Dream of the Red Chamber" were reincarnated immortals undergoing tribulations in the mortal world. The bald-headed monk and the lame Taoist priest were keen to bring these reincarnated immortals into the Buddhist order.

For example, Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai both met these two people when they were young.

Both of them also spoke foolishly to their parents, promising to take them to a realm beyond the mundane world.

Now, listening to what the two of them are saying, it seems that he is also a celestial being who has descended to the mortal world to experience tribulations.

At this moment, Jia Jue couldn't help but wonder to himself—what was life like in the modern world, on Earth? And what was the truth behind his time travel?

There are essentially two answers:

First, one's past life was also part of the tribulations one must undergo, that is, one of the tribulations of the mortal world that one must experience.

Second, this is my second time traveling through time. The first time I traveled through time, I became an immortal.

But regardless of the possibility, it won't be of much help to the situation I'm facing right now.

This isn't a cultivation world, after all, and there aren't any cultivation techniques for him to practice.

According to my memory of the original work, besides being reincarnated and dying to become an immortal, the only other option is to achieve complete enlightenment.

Just like Liu Xianglian later on.

But Jia Jue asked himself honestly, and he knew that he was not capable of doing so at the moment.

As for death—he didn't have the courage for it.

Seeing that Jia Jue remained silent, the two of them also stopped speaking.

The atmosphere among the three became subtle and awkward.

Suddenly, the bald-headed monk seemed to remember something and said to the lame Taoist, "Fellow Taoist, do you remember some things he gave us before he entered the world?"

The lame Taoist priest suddenly realized and said, "It is indeed so. Please let me go and find it."

Having said that, he began searching through his sleeves.

Before long, he had two more items in his hands—a book and a silver sword.

Jia Jue couldn't see where he had taken it from.

It's impossible for him to have hidden that long sword on his person.

Several words slowly appeared on the book:

Give it to me when I come.

Both the bald-headed monk and the lame Taoist priest exclaimed, "They actually plotted this far!"

Having said that, the lame Taoist waved his hand—and the two items flew toward Jia Jue.

When the sword and the book clashed, they suddenly disappeared.

What followed was a jade pendant.

The jade pendant is simple and unadorned, with a line of poetry inscribed on each side:

"His chest is completely spotless."

"Clear water and white stones, how beautiful they are."

Jia Jue had seen these two lines of poetry before—one in Yu Qian's poem "Reading Books" from the previous dynasty; and the other in Qinglian's "Song of the Hero of Fufeng" from the Tang dynasty.

Just as Jia Jue was about to speak, he saw the world in chaos before him and a dazzling array of colors in his eyes.

Before I knew it, I had forgotten most of what happened in my dream.

I only remember that last piece of jade.

Suddenly, Jia Jue opened his eyes from the bed.

The room was brightly lit, and upon closer inspection, he saw Lin Daiyu sitting by his window, tears streaming down her face, her eyes swollen from crying.

Then look, you can see the three sisters Yingchun, Tanchun, and Xichun, as well as Xiangyun, Li Wan, and Wang Xifeng.

Seeing that they were all there and all crying, Jia Jue knew in his heart that something bad was about to happen.

Sure enough, Daiyu was the first to notice that he was awake, and said, "Brother Jue is awake!"

One sentence attracted a lot of attention.

At the same time, a young maid ran out and said, "Quickly go and tell the old lady and the madam that the second master has woken up!"

The people inside the room exchanged glances and whispered amongst themselves, which finally made Jia Jue understand what had happened—

After returning from Wang Ziteng's house that day, he fell asleep that night and never woke up again.

I've been lying in bed for three whole days now.

After three days without food or water, his body became increasingly weak.

Even the family thought things were going to get really bad.

Fortunately, a bald-headed monk and a lame Taoist priest came along, saying they specialized in curing those who were unconscious or possessed by demons.

So he hung a jade pendant by Jia Jue's bedside, threaded with a red thread, and instructed him: "When he wakes up, wear it day and night, and never take it off."

Then he left.

When Jia Jue looked up, he saw a jade pendant hanging above the bed, with two lines of poetry engraved on it:

"His chest is completely spotless."

"Clear water and white stones, how beautiful they are."