The Red Mansion in its bustling glory

Jia Jue followed the man all the way until they stopped in front of a magnificent hall.

The man who had led him there said, "This is where our master entertains guests. Please, young master."

Jia Jue nodded and stepped inside.

Servants had already seen Jia Jue enter and announce his arrival, so before Jia Jue even entered, a middle-aged man came out to greet him.

This man was about the same age as Jia Zheng and was the current head of the Zhen family, named Zhen Yingjia.

Upon seeing Jia Jue arrive, Zhen Yingjia greeted him with a broad smile, saying, "My dear nephew, you've arrived."

Jia Jue first bowed and greeted him, then asked, "How have you been lately, Uncle?"

Zhen Yingjia nodded and smiled, "I'm fine. I heard that my nephew has already passed the imperial examination and ranked first in the prefectural examination. Indeed, heroes have emerged from among the young since ancient times!"

Zhen Yingjia and Jia Zheng are almost the same person, both fond of associating with scholars and both pedantic in their thinking.

Now that he has met Jia Jue, he is naturally overjoyed.

The two entered the hall while talking.

Inside, the house was decorated with carved beams and painted rafters, and various antiques and treasures were displayed on the table, exuding an air of wealth and luxury.

After the two men sat down according to their respective roles as host and guest, Zhen Yingjia spoke again, "I heard that you encountered Japanese pirates on your journey. Were you frightened?"

Jia Jue laughed and said, "Although we encountered Japanese pirates, no one was hurt in the end. I don't know if that's lucky or unlucky."

Zhen Yingjia sighed and said, "It's a blessing that no one is hurt."

He then changed the subject, saying, "My dear nephew, your trip to Jinling to pray for the Dowager Empress has been met with great concern from His Majesty. He has already sent an envoy to issue an imperial decree ordering my household to cooperate. Why don't you come with me? It would be good to see if there are any shortcomings and make preparations in advance."

Jia Jue laughed and said, "Uncle, your words are too formal. Why would we need to look at it again? Your family is very proper in terms of etiquette, and since His Majesty personally selected it, there is no reason for it to be incomplete."

Despite saying that, Jia Jue still stood up with Zhen Yingjia and went to inspect the temple in his mansion. As they looked around, Zhen Yingjia told Jia Jue about the process.

After going through the whole process, the preparations were, of course, flawless, and there was nothing to criticize.

Jia Jue sighed, "Uncle's preparations are indeed flawless!"

Zhen Yingjia didn't respond, but just smiled.

After the two finished looking around, it was already noon.

Seeing that it was lunchtime, Zhen Yingjia invited Jia Jue to their residence for a meal.

Although Jia Jue tried his best to decline, he eventually stayed.

However, Zhen Yingjia said to him, "I have some matters to attend to at the moment, so please excuse me." With that, he had someone invite his two sons to come and keep him company.

In fact, the Zhen family and the Jia family are like two mirror images of each other.

The Jia family had two legitimate sons—Jia Jue and Jia Baoyu.

Zhen Yingjia of the Zhen family also had two legitimate sons—Zhen Yu and Zhen Baoyu.

The relationship between these two brothers is almost identical to that between Jia Jue and Jia Baoyu, with the elder brother studying diligently and the younger brother harboring resentment towards the imperial examinations.

Moreover, Zhen Yu was actually the top scorer in the prefectural examination.

Before long, the two brothers arrived, only to find two extremely handsome young men. One was dressed in plain clothes, while the other was dressed in bright red, extremely flamboyant and unrestrained.

Judging from their clothes, Jia Jue could roughly guess their identities.

Sure enough, Zhen Yingjia introduced them one by one. The one dressed in plain clothes was Zhen Yu, and the other was Zhen Baoyu.

When his father was present, Zhen Baoyu was respectful and dared not utter a single word.

After Zhen Yingjia left, Zhen Baoyu raised his head and carefully examined the person in front of him.

Jia Jue stood there, upright like a sturdy pine or bamboo. His face was like jade, his lips like painted rouge, his eyes like phoenix blossoms, seemingly both affectionate and indifferent, and his eyebrows like willow leaves, sharp and cold. He seemed ethereal, like a fairy from Mount Gusha reborn, and elusive, like Venus descending to earth.

Zhen Baoyu and Jia Baoyu are similar in temperament; both are close to those who are handsome.

Seeing Jia Jue's appearance, he stepped forward, took his hand, and said, "This must be my brother! You are indeed handsome and have a naturally refined demeanor!"

Zhen Baoyu held Jia Jue's hand tightly. Although Jia Jue wanted to pull away, he was too embarrassed to do so and was left awkwardly standing there.

Zhen Yu noticed Jia Jue's embarrassment and quickly stepped forward to pull Zhen Baoyu away. He then smiled at Jia Jue and said, "Baoyu has long admired Brother Jia's reputation and is deeply impressed by him. I apologize for my rudeness."

Jia Jue smiled and said, "You flatter me."

Although the two precious jades of the Jia and Zhen families were not interested in the imperial examinations and genuinely despised those corrupt men who pursued fame and fortune, they still treated some scholars who were not bookworms, were handsome, and were good at writing poetry and prose well.

However, Jia Baoyu did not treat Jia Jue with such kindness in the mansion because the elders in the family often compared him to Jia Jue, which inevitably made him feel uncomfortable over time.

The same applies to Zhen Baoyu.

So even though he knew that Jia Jue was the top scorer in the imperial examination and was the "stupid thing" and "parasite of the country" in his mind, when he saw his face, his previous prejudices vanished.

After chatting and laughing for a few more minutes, the three of them arrived at another house under Zhen Yu's guidance.

The room was already filled with exquisite food and sweet wine.

A group of actors were waiting outside, waiting for them to choose their performance.

As soon as the three of them sat down, Zhen Yu handed the opera troupe's script to Jia Jue and asked him to choose a play.

Jia Jue naturally declined in every possible way, but when he couldn't refuse, he had no choice but to make a scene.

He thought to himself, "These two brothers—Zhen Yu dresses simply and plainly, while Zhen Baoyu, though dressed in bright colors, has the same temperament as Jia Baoyu—they probably don't like fighting and joking around when they listen to opera."

While thinking, he flipped through the script—"It must be a play called 'The Zither Challenge'."

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhen Baoyu, who was standing nearby, praised him, saying, "Brother Jia, you certainly have excellent taste. 'The Zither Challenge' is full of literary elegance, refined and graceful, far superior to those noisy, fantastical works!"

Jia Jue simply smiled and remained silent.

Immediately afterwards, the two brothers each requested a performance, and the troupe of actors busied themselves preparing.

The three of them were naturally toasting and drinking.

While the Zhen residence was peaceful and harmonious, there was another person in Jinling City who was troubled.

This person was none other than a child.

What is a "human child"?

They're bastards who buy and sell people.

This kid is even worse; he not only buys and sells, but he also traffics. Now he's worried and sighing because of this little girl he trafficked.

That was many years ago, I remember it was during the Lantern Festival, when such a beautiful young girl was brought from Changmen in Suzhou.

Now she's thirteen or fourteen, and she's become even more beautiful.

A few days ago, she caught the eye of the Feng family, a small but wealthy family in Jinling. They said they would pick a day to take the girl home and had already paid the money. The chosen day was this afternoon.

Unfortunately, yesterday he was also noticed by the eldest son of the Xue family, a powerful family in Jinling. He paid money and said he would come to pick her up this afternoon.

Now the two companies are about to clash, what should we do?