kingnovel Chapter 880 Fake appearance
Chapter 880 Fake appearance
Originally, Lin Ruhai should have informed the Jia family of Daiyu's engagement. However, since Lin Ruhai had already prepared to send his daughter and Lu Cheng to the north when the engagement was made, he did not specifically inform them in advance, but let Daiyu inform the Jia family directly after she arrived.
It was also for this reason that when the old lady heard that Lin Daiyu was engaged, she was caught off guard.
But everything was set in stone, with the parents' permission and the matchmaker's words, and the Engagement Letter had been exchanged. Even if Old Lady Shi had other ideas, it was impossible.
After all, Old Lady Shi was only the grandmother. As long as Lin Ruhai, the biological father, was still alive, she, as the grandmother, had no right to interfere in her granddaughter's marriage.
Baoyu acted like a fool and the whole family tried to comfort him, but Lin Daiyu just felt awkward.
As soon as she arrived today, this cousin went crazy and smashed the jade. If the jade was really broken, I'm afraid she would be implicated and blamed.
Thinking of this, Lin Daiyu just wanted to stay away from this cousin.
On the other hand, Jia Zheng learned from Lin Ruhai's letter that Lu Cheng was engaged to his niece, and he was also happy for his brother-in-law.
Afterwards, Jia Zheng warmly entertained Lu Cheng and let him stay in his mansion for a while.
After settling Lu Cheng down, Jia Zheng was thinking about whether he should go to the backyard to inform his mother Jia about Daiyu's engagement, when he heard a servant coming over to tell him that his beloved son had gone crazy again.
Jia Zheng immediately rushed to the backyard angrily. He wanted to give his son a good scolding, but his mother Jia was there to protect him. After a tantrum, he had to give up.
In this way, Lu Cheng and Lin Daiyu spent their not-so-pleasant first night in the Jia Mansion.
The next morning, Lu Cheng bid farewell to Jia Zheng and asked Xiangling to go to the back house to say hello to Daiyu. Then he took two servants, carrying the prepared gifts and a visiting card, and went to visit the Hanlin scholar introduced to him by Lin Ruhai.
According to the imperial examination system at that time, the top three in the palace examination, the top scorer, the second place and the third place, would be directly assigned to serve as officials in the Hanlin Academy. The top scorer was usually appointed as a compiler in the Hanlin Academy, while the second and third place winners were usually appointed as editors in the Hanlin Academy.
In addition, the second-class Jinshi and the third-class Tongjinshi had to pass the examination to become Shujishi to be eligible to enter the Hanlin Academy. Moreover, the list of candidates entering the Hanlin Academy also had to be selected by the emperor, also known as the imperially selected Hanlin.
Entering the Hanlin Academy means entering the national cadre reserve base and becoming a disciple of the emperor.
There was an unwritten rule in the Ming and Qing dynasties that only Hanlin scholars could enter the cabinet.
It can be said that most of the high-ranking civil officials in the court came from the Hanlin Academy.
The imperial examination was held every three years, and the third place winner was also selected every three years. Lin Ruhai was appointed as the Imperial Censor of Salt, which showed that he was highly regarded by the emperor. Naturally, he had his own network of connections in the Hanlin Academy.
When Lu Cheng came to Beijing this time, Lin Ruhai introduced three Hanlin academicians to Lu Cheng. Two of them were classmates who passed the imperial examination in the same year as Lin Ruhai, and the other was the third place winner in the previous exam. All three of them were retained in Beijing to serve.
Lu Cheng visited them one by one according to Lin Ruhai's instructions, presenting gifts and visiting cards. The three Hanlin scholars also tested Lu Cheng's academic foundation, and then asked Lu Cheng to come and ask for leave frequently.
After a busy morning, in the afternoon, Lu Cheng took two servants and, with the introduction of someone in the Jia family, bought a small courtyard in Kyoto as his future residence.
It is not easy to live in Kyoto, and housing prices in the capital are indeed not cheap.
Fortunately, Lu Cheng has some savings, so it is not a problem for him to buy a small yard.
If it weren't for the fact that he couldn't be too ostentatious now, with Lu Cheng's financial resources, he would be able to buy a piece of land and build a Grand View Garden or something in the capital.
However, Lu Cheng doesn't care too much about these enjoyments.
How can the Rong and Ning mansions, the Grand View Garden, compare with the Forbidden City?
After buying the yard, Lu Cheng took Xiangling and two servants to the street to buy various daily necessities.
Before, Lu Cheng basically lived in the Lin Mansion, and there were no other servants around him, only Lai Wang and Lai Shun, who were arranged by Lin Ruhai for Lu Cheng.
When they were in Lin's house, Xiangling had always played with Daiyu. Now that they were in Kyoto, Xiangling stayed with Lu Cheng, taking care of his daily life and running errands to send letters between Lu Cheng and Daiyu.
Lin Daiyu will live in Rongguo Mansion in the future, so it is not convenient for her to go out. It is also not convenient for Lu Cheng to enter the backyard of Rongguo Mansion. In this case, naturally, a trusted person will be needed to run errands.
This time, Lin Daiyu came to the Jia Mansion to visit her relatives. In order to keep a low profile, she only brought Xueyan and Nanny Wang, and no one else.
Only Xiangling can do this errand.
In fact, when Lin Ruhai got engaged to Daiyu, he also tacitly agreed that Xiangling would become Lu Cheng's concubine.
When a lady from a wealthy family gets married, she usually brings a maid with her, and sometimes there may be more than one.
Xiangling and Daiyu grew up together for several years and have a close relationship, so it will be convenient for her to take care of her in the future.
After moving to a new house and buying a lot of things, Xiangling and two servants were the only ones at home, so they were somewhat overwhelmed.
Lu Cheng took Lai Wang and Lai Shun for a stroll in the Renyazi market, and soon brought back a cook and a maid who was in charge of needlework.
Xiangling also learned some women's work, but she was not very proficient in it. Instead, she was more interested in poetry. Usually, she was only responsible for serving tea, making the bed, and adding fragrance to the family.
The courtyard was not big to begin with. Lu Cheng lived in the main room, and Xiangling lived in the outer room of the master bedroom. Lai Shun, Lai Wang, and the two new servants lived in the east and west wing rooms respectively. The east and west wing rooms also had a kitchen and utility room.
After settling everything, Lu Cheng began his life in Kyoto preparing for the exam.
Lu Cheng also had to visit the three Hanlin scholars and the Duke of Rong's Mansion from time to time.
What the Jia family lacks most is scholars, and Jia Zheng has always wanted to train his son to be a scholar. But among the younger generation of the Jia family, whether it is the direct lineage of the two mansions or the various branches, there is not a single decent scholar.
Jia Zhu was a good talent back then. He passed the imperial examination and became a scholar at the age of 14. It's a pity that he died too early.
As the saying goes, the more you lack something, the more you want it.
Seeing that Lu Cheng was extremely talented, Jia Zheng wanted to have Lu Cheng visit the Rongguo Mansion more often, and also wanted to let his precious son have more contact with Lu Cheng, perhaps he would be influenced by him.
After everything was settled, Lu Cheng visited the Rongguo Mansion again. Jia Zheng had Lu Cheng brought into the study, and then had Jia Baoyu brought over and introduced the two.
"Baoyu, this is Lu Cheng, who is engaged to your sister Lin. He is only three years older than you. He won the first place in the imperial examination this year. He is very talented. You should learn more from him in the future."
Jia Baoyu had originally thought that Lu Cheng was handsome and had an extraordinary temperament, and wanted to make friends with him. But when he heard that Lu Cheng was actually Lin Daiyu's fiancé and had also participated in the imperial examination, he immediately became unhappy: "Father, I am so talented..."
Before Jia Baoyu could finish his words, Jia Zheng saw his disappointing look and immediately became angry: "You rebellious son, what kind of people do you hang out with on a daily basis? Look at Lu Cheng, when he was your age, he had already won the top three places in the imperial examination. And look at you, you can't even recite the Book of Songs..."
After scolding Jia Baoyu as usual, Jia Zheng realized that there was an outsider present, so he drove Jia Baoyu out directly and asked a few guests kept in the mansion to come in and chat with Lu Cheng about poetry and knowledge.
Several of the guests were scholars who had failed in the imperial examinations many times and therefore came to Jia Zheng to serve as his aides.
Their names are also very interesting: Zhan Guang, Shan Pinren, Hu Silai, and Cheng Rixing.
The original author of Dream of the Red Chamber was very particular about naming. Even a minor character's name usually has a special meaning.
For example, the names of these Qingke sound like “to take advantage of others” and “good at cheating people”.
There was also the servant of the Zhen family who had lost Zhen Yinglian. His name was Huo Qi, which sounds like “disaster arises”.
Lu Cheng only chatted with those guests for a few minutes and found out their true colors. They were just a few failed scholars who were good at flattering others. But Jia Zheng still regarded them as his trusted advisers.
I can only say that Jia Zheng's "politics" is indeed fake and superficial...