The Red Mansion Big Liar

Now Zhang Yunyi finally understood that he was accompanying the emperor in practicing Taoism.

However, the Ningguo Mansion, which had regained power, looked down upon the Zhang family as a marriage partner.

As far as the original owner remembered, the two families rarely interacted with each other, and since his mother passed away several years ago, they had almost stopped communicating.

If the cheap father had not told the original owner before writing the letter that if the emperor punished him, he should seek refuge in the Ning Mansion, the original owner would have almost forgotten that he had such an uncle.

Thinking of this, Zhang Yunyi couldn't help but feel a little confused. After his cheap father was beaten to death, the original owner also went to Ning Mansion to report the death, but he couldn't even get in the door.

The seventh day is almost over, and Jia Jingcai comes here alone. Isn't that too insincere?

His experience in his previous life told him that human society is like a monkey hanging on a tree. As long as you climb high enough, you will see smiling faces everywhere. But if you are at the bottom, even if you stick your neck out, you can only get the cold butts of others.

I have offended the emperor, and the Ning family is trying to avoid suspicion, so there is nothing to complain about.

Although his previous judgment was wrong, by chance he managed to find a shortcut to climb up.

Otherwise, you can only spend your whole life in an office like the Imperial Observatory, and the highest you can get is only a fifth-rank supervisor.

Want to make a lot of money with modern knowledge...

An innocent man is guilty of possessing a treasure. Without the corresponding strength, he will only attract covetousness. Spending money to avoid disaster is a small matter, but if things go wrong, you may even lose your life.

As for relying on the Jia family?

Not to mention that the Jia family will fall sooner or later, Zhang Yunyi knows better than anyone that this family is probably even more ruthless than outsiders.

A blacksmith must be strong himself. Only by breaking free from the shackles of the Imperial Observatory can he remove the ceiling above his head.

Otherwise, not only yourself but also your descendants will be stuck in this circle.

While Zhang Yunyi was still thinking about how to use this opportunity to climb up, Jia Jing had already approached.

Chong Daiquan bowed slightly and said, "We serve the emperor, how can we just enjoy leisure? Years ago, I refined a furnace of elixir for the emperor. Today, the elixir is ready. As soon as I came out of retreat, I heard the bad news about my brother-in-law. I didn't expect that I would be a step too late! However, I have been concentrating on practicing Taoism for these years and have not taken time to take care of this nephew."

At this point, he looked at Zhang Yunyi, concerned but not without complaining, "Your father had such a big accident, why didn't you go to the mansion to mourn? If someone had helped take care of him, this wouldn't have happened."

Zhang Yunyi secretly complained, how can you not eat or sleep when refining the elixir? It's okay for ordinary people not to know about my business, but how could Ningguo Mansion not know?

Besides, if he really didn't know, even if he seldom moved around, he wouldn't have blocked the door. I'm afraid he was worried about being implicated and would have informed the doorman long ago.

Now he was arrogant at first but respectful later, just because he listened to my nonsense and saw that I had a rare treasure.

It was one thing to understand in his heart, but Jia Jing had said so before, and as a junior, he could not confront him directly, so he could only follow his lead and say, "It is the end of the year, and my uncle is not at home. I think the servants in the mansion forgot to inform my uncle and cousin Zhen."

Upon hearing this, Jia Jing flew into a rage and said, "These bastards have lost their dignity. I'll show you how I'll deal with these filthy people when I get back!"

After scolding him, he patted his shoulder, forcing a trace of warmth from his haggard face, and said, "Your parents are both dead, and now you are alone, which is inconvenient. I think after the funeral, you can come back to my house and live there, so that I can take care of you."

Zhang Yunyi said respectfully, "Now my nephew only has uncle as his relative, so everything is up to uncle!"

Although he was familiar with "Dream of Red Mansions" and did not want to have too deep entanglement with the Jia family, this relationship was not something he could break off just because he wanted to.

Besides, the Imperial Observatory had never had much money, so even if he became an official, his house had been burned down and he really needed a place to stay.

"Okay! Okay!" Jia Jing patted Zhang Yunyi on the shoulder and said with a look of satisfaction, "From now on, you can treat your uncle's house as your own home. Just stay here with peace of mind."

"Uncle, you have come at the right time. I will follow Eunuch Dai to the palace. I would like to trouble you to take care of things here first."

The Imperial Observatory cannot be transferred to another position without special permission. Only by winning the emperor's favor can he have a chance to escape from the cage. Zhang Yun逸 does not want to miss this opportunity.

Since Jia Jing wanted to make good use of the rare goods, it would be a good opportunity to arrange it for him first.

Unexpectedly, Jia Jing suddenly frowned and scolded, "Nonsense! Although there is no such thing as mourning in the Imperial Observatory, after all, the seventh day has not passed yet. Now that your father's body is still warm, you are in a hurry to enter the palace to see the emperor. Do you still want to keep this reputation?"

He had his own parents in his previous life, and he was not interested in his cheap father, and would not give up the opportunity to enter the palace to meet the emperor.

However, living in this era where filial piety is more important than anything else, he had no choice but to adapt to local customs and could only look to Dai Quan.

"Mr. Jing is right. I have indeed not considered it carefully. You are in mourning and the emperor has not summoned you. It is indeed inappropriate for you to enter the palace. I will wait until I return to report to the emperor before making any further comments."

Dai Quan, who had been indifferent just now, suddenly changed his attitude at this moment, and Zhang Yunyi couldn't help but feel puzzled.

It can be said that Dai Quan had overacted before, but if it weren't for Jia Jing, who would have let him back down?

Why did the situation change after Jia Jing stopped it?

If he remembered correctly, in the original novel, Jia Rong went to Dai Quan to donate money for an official position. Was he giving face to Jia Jing or helping Jia Jing cover up?

If it's murder for money, you can just take the money and leave, why bother killing people?

As the director of the Imperial Observatory, Bian Yi Laozi only studied astronomy and calendar and had no contact with state affairs, let alone court expenses.

But when he criticized the emperor, he described the expenses of building Taoist temples and palaces in great detail, so there could be something fishy going on.

The original owner was just a boy of seventeen or eighteen years old, with no grudges or hatred. It was very likely that he was strangled to death in connection with this matter. He was just afraid that he had something shameful in his hands.

Thinking of this, Zhang Yunyi was stunned. The first person he suspected was Jia Jing.

The two families had not visited each other for many years, so why did the cheap father ask him to take refuge in Ning Mansion before writing a letter? And Jia Jing happened to meet him by chance.

But then, he denied this guess himself.

The Ning Mansion was able to maintain its current status only because Jia Jing accompanied the emperor in practicing Taoism. It would be fine to accuse others, but accusing the emperor of practicing Taoism is like shooting oneself in the foot.

Moreover, as a man who had read A Dream of Red Mansions in his previous life, he knew very well the character of the Jia family. This kind of thing, writing a letter to the emperor directly, did not seem like something this family would do.

The less clue he had about the murderer, the more he wanted to climb up.

In this way, at least the murderer hiding in the dark will be afraid of the consequences of being exposed.

The iron must be struck while it is hot. Zhang Yunyi no longer hesitated and bowed to Dai Quan, saying, "Please allow me to report to you, eunuch. The late emperor has some instructions, which I need to present to His Majesty!"

……

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 3 Entering the Palace

As a time traveler, he did not have much respect for the imperial power itself, but only for the power of life and death behind the imperial power.

Therefore, as long as the lies will not be exposed, they will use the tiger's skin as a banner and pretend to be the name of the former emperor and speak freely.

Anyway, if there are too many lice, you don't have to worry about them biting you. This is not his first offense. Once something happens for the first time, it will happen countless times.

The opportunity was fleeting, and he couldn't pin his hopes on the emperor's curiosity. If he was delayed, it would be difficult to make a breakthrough later.

Seeing Zhang Yun逸 bring up the emperor's biological father, Jia Jing and Dai Quan looked at each other in surprise.

After a long silence, Jia Jingcai said, "Since the late emperor has instructed me to do so, I will leave this to my uncle. You should quickly follow Eunuch Dai into the palace to see the emperor!"

"This..." Dai Quan waved his hands and said, "How can this be possible? Lord Jing is his uncle and a witness. I think he should come with us into the palace. In case the emperor asks..."

"Forget it!" Jia Jing sighed, "I will go with you and ask for a good fortune from the emperor."

"Yes, yes, yes! The late emperor's spirit has appeared. This is a great joyous event." Dai Quan echoed and turned to Zhang Yunyi and said, "This can be considered a blessing in disguise for you."

Seeing that the two were convinced by him, Zhang Yunyi quickly stepped aside and bowed to let the two go first.

Seeing this, Jia Jing said in dissatisfaction: "Child, even though you have the emperor's order, you should still pay your respects to your father. Your uncle will have to tell the servants to go to the mansion to find your cousin Zhen to help. The car is parked at the entrance of the alley. After you pay your respects, you can come find me on your own."

"That's perfect! I'll ride with you in this icy and snowy weather."

"The carriage is a bit crude, I'm afraid that Eunuch Dai will have to squeeze in with him."

"It's okay, it's okay. It's snowing heavily, and it's good to have a shelter from the wind and snow."

Seeing the two of them walking away politely, Zhang Yunyi had no choice but to kowtow several times respectfully towards the courtyard.

If no one exposed him, he would be happy to pretend to be ignorant, but unfortunately, the opposite happened.

When they arrived at the entrance of the alley, they saw Jia Jing standing next to a two-wheeled carriage, waving away an old servant.

Looking at the receding figure, Zhang Yunyi smiled and said, "Uncle, could this be the loyal servant named Jiao? Mother often mentioned him when she was alive. I'm afraid he must be over 70 years old now, right?"

Jia Jing sighed, "Yes! He is indeed a bit old. If we call him out again, I am afraid people will accuse us of mistreating our loyal servant."

After helping Jia Jing get into the car, Zhang Yunyi finally understood what Jia Jing meant by "squeeze in".

This was originally a carriage for one person, so Dai Quan was not polite at all. He sat in the middle with his horse and sword in his hands, leaving only the seats by the windows on both sides for others.

Before he got on the car, he noticed that there was no Ning Mansion logo on the car, and the driver had been replaced by a young eunuch, which showed that Jia Jing only brought one driver.

He traveled with such a small group of people, as if he was afraid of being discovered, so he joked, "I only knew that my uncle was devoted to Taoism, but I didn't know he was like this..."

"That's right!" Dai Quan also complained, "Although you don't hold an official position and haven't inherited a title, you have made achievements after all. Who would say anything about riding in a sedan chair, let alone a carriage? Why treat yourself so harshly?"

In ancient times, unlike modern times, if you had money you could use anything you wanted, and everything would be regulated, otherwise it would be considered an overstep.

The sedan chair with four bearers that Dai Quan mentioned could only be ridden by officials of the third rank and above. However, this was only in the capital. Outside the capital, officials could ride in a sedan chair with eight bearers.

I thought Jia Jing would be humble, but unexpectedly, he said with shame on his face: "Eunuch Dai, please don't make fun of me. Although the emperor is magnanimous, my brother-in-law has offended the emperor after all..."

Seeing that he was very frank, Zhang Yunyi felt that he had some petty thoughts, and hurriedly said: "Uncle is right, the late emperor also reprimanded my nephew. The whole world belongs to the king. As the saying goes, eating the salary of the emperor, being loyal to the emperor, as a minister, I should share the worries of the emperor."

"Hahaha! Well said!" Dai Quan laughed. "You know when to advance and when to retreat. Your future is bound to be limitless."

"Thank you, eunuch, for your kind words!" Zhang Yunyi bowed slightly.

Dai Quan leaned forward slightly and said, "Although there is an order from the late emperor, you have not been summoned, and you are in mourning. If I bring you into the palace without permission, I will be concerned about the consequences. If you only meet the emperor later for some trivial matters, I am afraid that the emperor will be angry, and I will have to suffer with you."

If it were an ordinary young man, he would have to reveal his true feelings. However, Zhang Yunyi had lived two lives, and was afraid that the message would lose its mystery, so he evaded the question by saying, "Don't worry, eunuch. The emperor will be very pleased to hear this. The late emperor ordered that this must be presented to the emperor in person, and I dare not go against his will."

"This..." Dai Quan seemed a little unwilling.

Jia Jing hurriedly smiled and stopped him, saying, "Eunuch Dai, please don't ask. Aren't you afraid of breaking a taboo?"

He turned to look at Zhang Yunyi and said, "It's amazing that you are so young and can still think about these things. But why don't you ask the late emperor about the person who hurt you? Even if your uncle wants to speak up for you, he has nowhere to start."

"Yes! Why didn't the late emperor tell you?" Dai Quan asked with a puzzled look on his face.

There is no such thing as a perfect lie. If you want people to believe it, you should never consider how much falsehood is mixed in your lie, but rather make it impossible for the other party to verify it.

As long as there is ambiguity, people will come up with ten thousand explanations.

Zhang Yun逸's lie was not only impossible to verify, but there was also subsequent evidence to support it, so he was not panicked at all.

He looked bewildered and said, "Now that you mentioned that, uncle, I remember that when I was caught by the ghost, I kept begging the ghost to let me die with my eyes closed. The late emperor should have heard it at the time, but he didn't tell me. Why?"

Explanation is covering up. Only by letting the other party guess the result by themselves can you avoid being questioned.

Jia Jing was stunned at first, then he glanced at Dai Quan, as if he had thought of something, and said hurriedly: "How can we speculate on the late emperor's thoughts? There must be other deeper meanings, so don't think too much about it."

"Yes, yes, yes!" Dai Quan also echoed, and then threw his official uniform at Zhang Yun逸. He even lost the interest in talking, leaning against the car and fell into deep thought.

Of course mourning clothes could not be worn into the palace. Zhang Yunyi knew this very well, so he picked up the official uniform without hesitation.

But the moment she took off her mourning clothes, she couldn't hide her embarrassment.

The ancients valued the upper garment more than the lower garment, and underneath their gorgeous clothes they wore an embarrassing pair of open-crotch pants.

Moreover, these open-crotch pants are different from the ones tied around the waist in previous lives. Instead, they are trousers tied at the base of the thighs. This is also the origin of the word "danku".

This is also the reason why when Xiren was tying Jia Baoyu's belt for the first time, she touched his thighs instead of his waist.

After all, Zhang Changqing is a fifth-rank supervisor, and although Zhang Yun逸 is not a playboy, he is no exception.

Although, in his previous life, they had been frank with each other in the sauna, but now in the small carriage, there was a eunuch who looked neither male nor female, showing off in front of him, which inevitably made him feel uncomfortable.

However, no one was embarrassed and the emotion was fleeting.

Looking at the vigorous and youthful body, Zhang Yunyi was quite satisfied with this body he traveled through.

As the saying goes, a wise bird chooses the right tree to roost in. When a bird grows big, it needs a big enough forest to live in, right?

Although Jia Jing let him live in Ning Mansion out of the mentality of making a lot of money, he didn't mind accepting his favor. When the Jia family fell, he would have to lend a hand and gather... no, he would have to rescue those talented and poor women and be passionate about them.

As a modern person who is familiar with "Dream of Red Mansions", it is inevitable that I have a filter for those golden hairpins.

However, for now we have to develop slowly, step by step, and then proceed step by step.

After changing into his official uniform and carefully thinking over his speech for the meeting with the emperor, the carriage stopped in front of the palace gate.

……

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 4: Silver tongue and far-sighted thinking

The imperial palace is divided into the palace city and the imperial city. The imperial city is where the six ministries and other government offices are located, while the palace city is where the emperor lives.

Because the carriage did not belong to the royal palace and they had to wait for someone from the Jia family to take over, the three of them got off in front of the palace gate.

After Jia Jing got off the car, he gave a few instructions to the guards, and the group braved the snow and walked to the imperial city.