The Red Mansion Big Liar

The Red Mansion Big Liar

Author: Putting aside the facts

Summary:

Maids can wait to be sent, young girls need to be coaxed, and wives and grandmothers all have to be nudged.

Focus on how to save the golden hairpin from dire straits.

No licking, no ink.

Chapter 1 The trouble caused by the cheap old man

The sixth day of the first lunar month, the capital, the imperial city.

"Your Majesty! It's snowing! It's finally snowing. Auspicious snow, Your Majesty!"

A eunuch in his early fifties, with a hoarse voice, rolled and crawled on the steps leading to the Linjing Palace.

Before he could climb up the steps, Emperor Zhengqing, who was dressed in Taoist robes and had an immortal look, heard the voice and walked to the front of the palace gate.

He half-opened his Taoist robe and looked up at the snowflakes falling all over the sky. He pondered for a long time and sighed, "Dai Quan, today is the seventh day after Zhang Changqing's death, right?"

Dai Quan, who had just run to the front of the palace, bowed and said, "Your Majesty! Today is exactly the seventh day!"

"I didn't mean to beat him to death, but I didn't expect that he couldn't even survive twenty strokes of the cane. Now that I think about it, I feel really sorry!"

"It's all because of my failure to discipline the subordinates properly. The subordinates don't know how to control their severity." Dai Quan immediately knelt on the ground.

"Forget it! It's his bad luck, no one else can be blamed, get up!"

Emperor Zhengqing pondered and said, "The Imperial Observatory is different from other government offices. The son has always inherited the father's business, and there is no such thing as mourning. I remember that his family has only one son for generations, and he has a son. What was his name?"

"Your Majesty is kind and gracious. I remember his name is Zhang Yunyi."

"Draft an edict for me now, exempt him from the annual examination, grant him a title of official in the five organs, and when he turns fifteen, he can start work at the Imperial Observatory!"

"Old slave obeys!"

Emperor Zhengqing looked at Dai Quan who had gotten up from the ground with a sharp gaze, and said in a deep voice: "You go there in person to prevent your subordinates from being too smart. By the way, take a look at how the funeral arrangements are going. If there are any difficulties, help with some of the expenses."

"Yes, old slave, go now!"

……

Dai Quan left the palace, brought two young eunuchs, and came all the way to the west of the city under the escort of several guards.

In the distance, thick smoke was seen rising from a civilian house, and people on the road were walking hurriedly and shouting.

"The water is gone! The water is gone!"

"Why is there a fire at the Zhang family's house in broad daylight?"

"I'm afraid the candlesticks in the mourning hall have fallen over?"

"This shouldn't be the case! Isn't there anyone keeping vigil at his house? How could he have burned like this?"

"Who knows? The Zhang family suddenly dismissed their servants at the end of the year, and there was only one son in the family who was not yet twenty years old. How could he endure the funeral ceremonies and the vigil at such a young age? Maybe he dozed off during the vigil and knocked over the candlestick by chance?"

Dai Quan's face changed drastically when he heard this. He quickly pointed in the direction of the smoke and said anxiously, "Quick! Go and save him. Don't let him get burned to death."

Several guards immediately rode away on horseback, while Dai Quan, along with two young eunuchs, rode after them.

When they arrived at the burning house, they saw a handsome young man in mourning, lying straight on the side of the road, with a bright red mark on his neck clearly visible.

Dai Quan didn't care about being impolite, he pushed away the young eunuch in front of him, stepped forward, and stretched out his hand to touch the tip of the boy's nose.

"How...how could it be? No...no breath?"

Dai Quan almost collapsed to the ground.

There have always been real and fake beatings in the court. Although the Imperial Observatory was not a powerful government office, Zhang Changqing was a fifth-rank supervisor after all. Without his tacit consent, the executioner would not dare to use such a heavy hand.

This is the privilege of being the Prime Minister, to understand the emperor's intentions and help the emperor deal with some small matters that are inconvenient to talk about. No matter how hard you try, you will just misunderstand the emperor's intentions.

What's more, he did not misinterpret the emperor's intention. He just insisted on "making fair and just decisions" even though he knew that the emperor was furious, and did not make a big deal out of it.

But the emperor sent me to convey his order, and it was obvious that he felt some regret and wanted to give me a warning. Yet Zhang Yun逸 hanged himself at this time. This was really a tragedy.

He was regretting it so much at this moment. Why did he report the auspicious sign so well? Otherwise, the emperor would not have thought of Zhang Changqing.

The auspicious snow in his eyes before, at this moment, was particularly glaring, and he even felt resentment towards the dead Zhang Yunyi. He kicked the corpse in the stomach and cursed: "Just like your father, he won't choose death..."

"Cough, cough, cough!" Before he finished speaking, the 'corpse' on the ground let out a series of violent coughs and suddenly sat up from the ground.

"Fake... fake corpse!"

The people who came to put out the fire retreated like a tide, uttering cries of surprise.

Dai Quan's face was filled with horror as he looked at the young man who had come back from the dead.

What greeted him was not the fear of surviving a disaster, but a calm yet slightly confused look.

"Zhang... Zhang Yunyi? Are you a human or a ghost?" He took a step back calmly, widened his eyes, and asked in a hoarse voice, looking stern but weak.

"I... I am not dead?" The young man did not answer. He looked around blankly and then knelt on the ground and kowtowed. "I am Zhang Yunyi, and I kowtow to thank the late Emperor Xingxian for his grace!"

"What did you say?" Dai Quan asked in shock.

"I had my soul captured by the ghosts, but fortunately the late Emperor Xingxian descended from the sky on his imperial sedan chair, drove away all the ghosts, and told me to atone for my father's sins and serve the emperor, so I was able to return to life."

After saying this, he showed an expression of disbelief, stretched out his hands, and looked at each other over and over again.

Dai Quan was stunned at first, but then he showed ecstasy. He led a group of guards and the people who came to put out the fire, bowed down to the south and shouted: "Emperor Xingxian appeared... This is really... It's a miracle!"

While Zhang Yun逸 knelt down with everyone else, he secretly glanced at Dai Quan and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

The previous talks about resurrection were nothing but nonsense for the sake of self-protection.

The ancients did not have a deep understanding of natural phenomena and often attributed them to metaphysics.

The cheap old man whom I had never met before was the chief officer of this kind of work, the director of the Imperial Observatory.

Last winter, there was no snow in the capital city throughout the entire twelfth lunar month. I don’t know what was wrong with my cheap father, but he actually wrote a letter to accuse the emperor of being obsessed with Taoism and squandering money, which led to punishment from heaven.

The Imperial Observatory was a special government office. Officials of the office were not allowed to transfer to other offices. The position was inherited by their descendants from generation to generation. They could not be promoted without special permission, and they were not even allowed to resign.

When there were vacancies for officials, they were also selected from the direct descendants. It can be said that the officials of the Imperial Observatory did not follow the usual promotion and assessment channels. They were appointed and dismissed based on the emperor's preferences, and they were not even allowed to change their careers.

Why?

Because the ancients were superstitious, the emperor needed to firmly control the right to interpret celestial phenomena.

But as the chief official of the Imperial Observatory, this cheap old man didn't think about how to help the emperor shirk the blame, but instead put the blame on the emperor. Isn't this like a birthday star hanging himself because he thinks his life is too long?

Look, he was beaten to death outside the palace on New Year's Eve.

Zhang Yunyi was powerless to complain about this...

If you want to die as a warning and leave your name in history, don't implicate others!

wrong!

He had already killed the real Zhang Yunyi, and he was just a fake who had traveled through time and space.

As soon as he woke up, he was kicked by the eunuch in front of him. He couldn't help but think that the emperor was still not satisfied with beating his cheap father to death, so in order to protect himself, he made up this lie in a hurry.

Although this world is not the history he is familiar with, Emperor Zhengqing is quite similar to Emperor Jiajing in his memory of his previous life.

Not only was he fascinated by alchemy and Taoism, but he also inherited the throne as a cousin since the previous Emperor Mingde had no brothers or children.

The Emperor Xingxianxian mentioned by Zhang Yun逸 was the biological father of Emperor Zhengqing. Like Emperor Jiajing, after he had firmly established himself on the throne, he began to clear his father's name, insisting on honoring him as the Imperial Father, and intending to have his biological father's tablet enshrined in the Imperial Ancestral Temple.

This is also the reason why Zhang Yun逸 dared to talk nonsense. Even if Emperor Zhengqing could see that he was talking nonsense, he might still go with the flow in order to clear his biological father's name.

The emperor has always regarded himself as the Son of Heaven. Is there any more convincing evidence than his biological father ascending to the immortal world?

Just as he was feeling smug about his quick wit, he heard the eunuch's hoarse voice: "No wonder the emperor suddenly wanted to grant you an official position. It turns out that he and the late emperor have a telepathic connection!"

Are you in tune with each other?

Zhang Yunyi smiled secretly. This damn eunuch's professional ethics were really good. He was always trying to flatter the emperor in every possible way.

But when I thought about it, I realized something was wrong.

Saying a few flattering words is not a big deal, but the person who is given an official position is not a eunuch and cannot make decisions on his own.

While he was wondering, Dai Quan had already unfolded the imperial edict and shouted, "Zhang Yunyi, accept the edict..."

Xie En took the imperial edict and Zhang Yun逸 felt mixed emotions.

The good news was that the emperor did not hate himself for taking advantage of his father, but instead gave him an official position.

But in this case, the original speculation needs to be started over again. How did the original owner die?

"Zhang Yunyi, I would like to remind you that you should not commit suicide at such a young age. You will fail the grace of the Emperor and the late Emperor!"

He was still wondering who the murderer was, but Dai Quan had already ruled it suicide.

The original owner dozed off while keeping vigil, and was strangled to death from behind while he was in a daze. Although he did not see the murderer, he was indeed murdered.

The cheap old man was beaten to death in the court, and the executioner was a eunuch. Knowing that the emperor had granted him an official position, it is not impossible that he took the initiative to eliminate the root of the problem.

Zhang Yun逸 had no way of judging for a moment whether he did it intentionally or unintentionally.

Although it was unclear who the eunuch in front of him was, the bright red python robe was not something that an ordinary eunuch could wear.

Just as he was thinking about how to respond, he saw a guard approaching and whispering something.

"What! Not suicide?" Dai Quan's face turned pale and he shouted.

Seeing Dai Quan's revelation, the imperial guards stopped trying to cover up the truth and said hurriedly, "Yes! The murderer probably thought that the fire would destroy the body and did not hang the man."

Dai Quan looked at Zhang Yunyi with a serious face and said, "Tell me quickly who hurt you!"

Although Zhang Yunyi didn't know whether he was acting or not, he certainly didn't see the murderer's appearance, so there was nothing to worry about and he told the truth.

Zhang Yun逸 was still wondering who wanted to harm him, but Dai Quan was convinced that it was a vicious plot against him.

The emperor ordered him to convey the emperor's order, but only a few people on duty in the Linjing Palace could hear it. He always thought that the palace was his own piece of land, and that all his disciples were his followers. He never expected that there were people harboring evil intentions.

It is not terrible to have such thoughts. What is terrible is that he did not delay along the way, but the other party spread the news in such a short time and arranged someone to frame him, and he knew nothing about it.

Thinking of this, he grabbed Zhang Yunyi and said, "No! This matter cannot be resolved peacefully. You must follow me into the palace and report to the emperor. I, Dai Quan, want to see who dares to challenge the emperor!"

"Eunuch Dai, wait a minute!"

Before he finished speaking, an old Taoist in a Taoist robe with a haggard face came forward, pushing through the crowd of onlookers.

"Jing Gong! It's New Year's Day, why don't you enjoy your leisure time in Ningguo Mansion instead of running to..."

At this point, his face twitched a few times, and after a pause he said, "I forgot that Zhang Changqing is the brother-in-law of Lord Jing."

Brother-in-law? Lord Jing? Ningguo Mansion?

Zhang Yunyi looked at the visitor, slightly dazed, and bowed, saying, "Uncle!"

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 2 Murdered?

When he first came here, Zhang Yunyi was only concerned with how to save his life and ignored the fact that he had traveled to the world of the Red Mansion.

Only when he saw Jia Jing did he suddenly realize that the original owner's biological mother was Jia Daihua's illegitimate daughter, and that she was Jia Jing's sister.

Logically speaking, given the status of the Zhang family, even the concubine's daughter of the Ningguo Mansion could not afford to marry her.

However, she and Jia Jing are not from the same mother, and their age difference is too big, so there is not much brother-sister relationship between them.

In addition, Emperor Zhengqing succeeded to the throne as a cousin, which made his cousin Prince Yi Zhong dissatisfied and he rebelled. Although Jia Daihua, the then governor of the Beijing camp, did not participate in the rebellion, he was suspected of negligence.

Fortunately, Emperor Zhengqing had just ascended the throne and was afraid of causing unnecessary backlash, so he did not start a war. He simply left Jia Daihua idle and eventually chose Wang Ziteng, who had been guarding his own vassal state and had served under the Jia family, to take over the post of Jiedushi of the Beijing Camp.

However, even so, the Ning family had lost their power, and there were few who were willing to form an alliance.

This is how my cheap old man, who was only a fifth-rank official at the time, was able to get married.

Jia Jing, who had never been appointed as an official, was so disheartened that he chose to become a Taoist in order to save his face.

This was originally a helpless move, but unexpectedly, Emperor Zhengqing, who had only been emperor for ten years, also became fascinated by this. By accident, Jia Jing became a close minister to the emperor.

In his previous life, when he was reading "Dream of Red Mansions", he could never understand why Jia Jing, the inheritor of the Ningguo Mansion and a successful Jinshi, gave up his title and official career to devote himself to Taoism.

He did all these ridiculous things, but when he died, Grandmother Jia cried so sadly.