The Red Mansion Big Liar

However, San Sheng was a county magistrate who had committed many evil deeds and was sent to the capital. There were many high-ranking officials and dignitaries in the capital, and being in this position was a double-edged sword.

However, this location can also provide many conveniences, and if used well, it can also be beneficial to you.

Zhang Yun逸 had the Emperor and the King of Qin backing him, so he didn't have to worry about getting into any trouble by making friends with them.

He instructed Ruizhu to go to the pavilion on the mountain and ask Feng to go to the front hall, while he went there first.

"I haven't even come to congratulate you on your promotion yet, but you have to come to my house in person. Yun Yi is ashamed!"

"Master Zhang is in a serious condition. Master Zhang is busy all day long to help you. Yucun is just doing some unnecessary work. How can I trouble you?"

Jia Yucun bowed and smiled, "I should have come earlier to visit you and thank you for your kindness in picking up the boat, but I was busy with the government office and have been delayed until now. I hope you won't blame me!"

The Jingzhao Yin was a third-rank official, while he was only a fifth-rank Yuanwailang. However, Jia Yucun was humble in every way. With such shrewdness and tactfulness that he could bend and stretch, perhaps he would be able to thrive in the Jingzhao Yin position?

Zhang Yunyi thought to himself, but said modestly: "The capital is an important place, and the emperor has entrusted you with an important task. This shows that you are deeply trusted by His Majesty. Don't be modest."

After some greetings, the host and the guest took their seats.

Jia Yucun got straight to the point and said, "Last time, you said that I had a connection with you and asked me to go back and guess what it was. But I still have no clue. I don't know where it came from."

Zhang Yunyi took a sip of tea and said with a smile, "You will know in a moment."

As he was speaking, someone came in to report that Feng had arrived.

Zhang Yunyi quickly stood up and welcomed Feng in.

Jia Yucun did not dare to be negligent and quickly stood up, looking at Feng with a puzzled look.

The Zhen family was originally considered a scholarly family. Although Jia Yucun was familiar with Zhen Shiyin, he had never met Feng.

When he asked Jiao Xing to be his second wife, he also wrote a letter, so they didn't know each other.

"This is Madam Zhen from the Zhen family in Renqing Lane, Gusu City. She is also the mother of one of my concubines. Do you remember her, sir?"

"This……"

Jia Yucun was in a daze for a moment, then he bowed to Feng and said, "Mother-in-law, please accept my son-in-law's greetings!"

This sudden scene not only shocked Zhang Yunyi, but also made Feng at a loss.

As if he had noticed the two's surprise, Jia Yucun continued, "Jiao Xing often talks to me about my mother-in-law, but we are so far away from each other that we have no chance to meet!"

After he said that, Feng suddenly realized what was going on and said tremblingly, "It was the governor..."

Before she could finish, Jia Yucun interrupted her and said, "Mother-in-law, please don't address me like that. It really embarrasses me. I thought you were still in Ruzhou. If I had known that you were in the capital, I would have brought Jiao Xing with me to serve you."

Although Feng had some knowledge, her family had fallen on hard times after all. Jia Yucun had been the prefect of Ruzhou in his early years. Seeing him acting like this at the moment, although she understood that it was because of Zhang Yunyi, she still couldn't help being flattered.

At the same time, he had a new understanding of Zhang Yun逸, and he couldn't help but feel more fortunate that he did not use his power to bully others.

He hurriedly helped the kneeling Jia Yucun up.

Jia Yucun did not pretend to be serious anymore and stood up.

"Back then, my mother-in-law didn't abandon me and took Jiao Xing in as her adopted daughter..."

As if he could see Zhang Yunyi's confusion, he sighed and recalled the past while explaining the whole story.

Jiao Xing was originally just a maid in the Zhen family. Giving her this status as a concubine was already considered an honor, let alone being promoted to a main wife?

As the Zhen family fell into poverty, Jia Yucun wanted to promote Jiao Xing. They were even less likely to be arrogant, so not only did they remove her from the family, but Feng also adopted her as her daughter.

This kind of operation was actually not uncommon in ancient times.

When trying to establish friendships and use backdoors, there were even examples of redeeming prostitutes, taking them in as adopted daughters, and then catering to the officials' preferences and sending them to their homes in order to become close relatives of the officials.

However, at that time, Jia Yucun obviously only wanted to promote Jiao Xing and did not care about this relationship.

Otherwise, the Feng family would not have been stuck in Ruzhou forever.

Now, the reason for such an attitude is all because of Zhang Yun逸.

Although Zhang Yun逸 knew all this, he did not show it and instead had a very pleasant conversation with him.

By the time both the host and the guests had a great time and sent Jia Yucun out of the house, the two sides had already begun to call each other brothers.

……

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 190 Giving advice

Modern people have many misunderstandings about the ancient annual festival sacrifices.

Among the so-called Heaven, Earth, Emperor, Parents and Teachers, ancestors are only ranked second to last when offering sacrifices.

The monarch who can enter the Taimiao can enjoy incense, which is why Emperor Zhengqing insisted on welcoming his biological father into the Taimiao.

Even ministers with outstanding contributions had the opportunity to receive such an honor. The Lingyan Pavilion of the Tang Dynasty also had this purpose.

Of course, the ritual does not apply to common people. For ordinary people, it is enough to worship the heaven, earth and ancestors.

Offering sacrifices to the emperor was a privilege enjoyed only by the scholar-official class.

As noble families with close ties to the country, the Ning and Rong mansions naturally held festival sacrifices in the same manner.

This is also the reason why Xue Baoqin participated in the sacrifices of the Ning and Rong mansions.

As an official in the court, Zhang Yun逸 was certainly no exception.

Because the ancestral tablets of his parents were still in the old house, early in the morning on New Year's Eve, he took You Erjie, Xiangling, Qin Keqing and others to the old house to pay homage to the Zhang family's ancestors and his parents first.

And Youshi also went with them to worship on the pretext of taking care of them.

Soon after Wu Cuo came back from the Zhang family's old house, Jia's mother and the two ladies, Xing and Wang, who were given imperial decrees, had returned from the palace after visiting the emperor to pay their respects. All the members of the Jia family, including Xue Pan and the women from each family, gathered in Ning Mansion.

The sacrificial process is not much different from the original book. As the eldest branch of the Jia family, the Ning Mansion must be headed by Jia Jing.

Jia She and Jia Zheng accompanied the sacrifice, while Zhang Yun逸, together with Jia Zhen, Jia Lian and Jia Baoyu each took his place.

After offering sacrifices to heaven, earth and the emperor, Zhang Yun逸 and Xue Pan withdrew.

All the members of the Jia family, along with Grandmother Jia, paid tribute to the portraits of Jia Yuan and Jia Yan.

Perhaps because of the unexpected events that happened in Ning Mansion this year, Grandmother Jia did not refuse Youshi's invitation to stay for dinner as she did in previous years.

After the ceremony, he was surrounded by female relatives and welcomed to the main hall in the backyard, while the male relatives sat at the front hall.

On such an occasion, Zhang Yun逸 would not go to the backyard like Jia Baoyu did, but sat at a table with Jia Zhen, Jia Lian and Xue Pan.

Jia Lian had been under house arrest for more than a month, and he was feeling very depressed. He drank and chatted with the three men, in high spirits.

Because the people at this table were either direct descendants of the two families or dignitaries like Zhang Yun逸 and Xue Pan, there were also many members of the Jia family's side branches who came to toast.

After a while, Jia Lian was already drunk.

Although Wang Xifeng had a lot of plans, it would be inappropriate to keep her under house arrest during the New Year holidays.

Zhang Yunyi wanted to test him, so he pretended to be concerned and asked, "Has Brother Lian's condition improved recently?"

Speaking of this, Jia Lian, who had been in high spirits just now, suddenly fell in expression.

He stammered, "It's New Year's Day, why do you have to bring up such irrelevant issues, aren't you afraid of spoiling my fun?"

Zhang Yunyi was naturally worried about his recovery and return, and had his eyes on Ping'er, but he was too embarrassed to say it out loud, so he had to make an excuse: "Isn't this just to ask about the situation, so I can help you find out if there is any medicine for your condition?"

When Jia Lian learned of this unspeakable secret, he immediately thought that there was something wrong with the medicine, so he went to find Xue Pan to ask.

Xue Pan had to investigate the reason in detail.

He and Jia Zhen had similar interests and were not good at controlling their words, so the three people present were all aware of his situation.

It’s just that I’m embarrassed to say it.

Now that Zhang Yun逸 has taken the lead, they no longer have any concerns.

Both of them had experience in this area. Xue Pan couldn't help but wonder, "I have mixed these pills before, but I recovered in three to five days at most. It's been a month for you. Is it because of congenital deficiency?"

He was used to speaking his mind and never considered Jia Lian's feelings.

If you are a man, it is impossible for you to admit that you are not capable in this area.

Moreover, Jia Lian still had such a difficult secret. He was immediately furious when his soft spot was touched. He said, "How can it be congenital deficiency? There were no pills when I came back that night, and I had sex with Yun'er several times. I'm afraid there is something wrong with your medicine!"

Xue Pan was also a heartless person, and he didn't think there was anything wrong with him making fun of Yun'er. He smiled innocently and said, "This is not something that Brother Yao Zhen hasn't eaten before, and we are all fine. Why did it happen to you that something went wrong?"

"You!" Jia Lian's face was a little embarrassed, maybe because of the alcohol or anger, his face was flushed and he glared at Xue Pan.

"Don't worry, Lian Er. What Wen Long said makes sense. There are no outsiders here. Let us help you analyze it so that we can prescribe the right medicine, right?"

After all, they were in Ning Mansion and it was New Year's Day, so Jia Zhen was worried that the two would have an argument, so he hurried to smooth things over.

"It's not like we haven't played together before, so you don't have any inherent deficiencies."

Xue Pan also reacted at this time, and hurriedly picked up the wine glass and said: "Don't blame me, Brother Lian, I just said something wrong, so I will punish myself with a glass!"

He said, drinking it all in one gulp.

Only then did Jia Lian calm down a little.

Jia Zhen was quite experienced in this area and analyzed, "Wenlong and I have taken that medicine many times, so there is no problem. If it is due to excessive consumption, then it is possible, but..."

"Just what?"

Since this concerned his happiness for the rest of his life, Jia Lian didn't care about whether he was embarrassed or not and asked quickly.

"It's just that this medicine is usually used by us to boost our mood. There have been times when we have consumed too much in the past, but it has never been like you, who hasn't recovered in such a long time."

He spoke from his own experience and his analysis was very logical.

Zhang Yun逸 had no experience in this area and could only listen.

Xue Pan rushed to say, "Yes, yes, yes! Last time I followed Feng Ziying to Jinxiang Courtyard for three days in a row. I took this medicine like candy beans, but after I came back, I only rested for less than ten days."

They were talking so intently that they didn't notice Jia Rong coming to toast them.

He blinked his sly eyes, looked at Zhang Yunyi, and suddenly said, "Second Uncle Lian, I'm afraid you were frightened by Second Aunt?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yun逸 could not help but look at Jia Rong with new eyes. He had heard of post-traumatic stress disorder in his previous life. It might be possible that Jia Lian had this problem because of it.

These words really woke Jia Lian up. Jia Lian was unwilling to admit that he was born with a defect. Although Jia Rong's words might not be entirely accurate, they gave him a way out.

"You're right. It must be her fault. Why did I offend this Yaksha in my fate? Give me a chance and I will divorce her!"

He turned his head and looked at Zhang Yunyi and said, "Brother Yi, you can read faces. Please help me see if I have a conflict with that Yaksha star in my fate."

It is better to destroy a temple than to break up a marriage.

Wang Xifeng is not Qin Keqing. She only has some conflicts with Jia Lian, but there is no life-and-death feud between them.

If he instigated Jia Lian to divorce his wife in public, he would not only make a mortal enemy of Wang Xifeng, but it would also be detrimental to his own reputation.

Even so, he was unwilling to help mediate. Seeing that the couple were getting along harmoniously, he could only say ambiguously: "Don't worry, Second Brother Lian, it won't be that serious... it won't be that serious!"

Xue Pan was a sincere man. He and Wang Xifeng were cousins. When he heard Zhang Yunyi say this, he hurriedly advised, "This is just Rong'er's guess. It may not be taken seriously."

"Uncle Xue, you don't know!" Jia Rong hurriedly explained, "My nephew was once in my aunt's room and was frightened by the master. I was in a bad condition for a while."

……

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 191 The Intention of a Drunkard

As soon as these words were spoken, Zhang Yun逸 and the other two looked at Jia Zhen at the same time.

It has to be said that Jia Zhen and Jia Rong, the father and son, are in perfect sync with each other and both share their experiences with Jia Lian.

However, Jia Rong, perhaps out of concern for Jia Lian's illness, temporarily ignored the presence of Jia Zhen, or was fearless, knowing that Jia Zhen would not take any action during the New Year.

He actually told about his secret affair with his aunt in public.

A trace of embarrassment appeared on Jia Zhen's face. He took a deep breath, and stared at him fiercely with his eyes wide open.

Seeing this, Jia Lian stepped forward and said, "Brother Zhen, don't blame the child! Isn't she just a concubine? If the child likes her, you can give her to him. As long as you solve your brother's problem, I will give you one or two more rooms later."

After all, it was because he was giving Jia Lian some advice that he offended Jia Zhen. Jia Lian also pointed at Jia Rong to tell him the way to recovery, so he couldn't just pretend to be deaf and dumb.

Although Jia Zhen was angry, he was just annoyed with him and humiliated him in front of everyone.

These father and son are birds of a feather. He has also given maids and concubines to Jia Rong as rewards.

Now that Jia Lian had intervened and promised benefits, the situation calmed down.