Red Chamber 18

Not long after Yinglian entered the Lin family, Jia Min and Lin Ruhai adopted her as their goddaughter.

When she married, Lin Ruhai and Jia Min prepared a generous dowry for her.

It included houses, farmland, and shops.

With that dowry, Yinglian could live a comfortable life.

Her husband's surname was Ma, and his name was Ma Haorang. His parents had both died when he was in his teens.

Not long afterward, he and his elder brother divided the family property, leaving no elders in his household.

After they married, Ma Haorang took the initiative and offered to bring Feng Shi into their home and care for her.

The three of them lived very well together. Though Feng Shi was old, she was still in fairly good health and could help Yinglian with many household affairs.

Ma Haorang and Jia Zhu both took the metropolitan exam, and both passed as second-class jinshi.

Jia Zhu entered the Hanlin Academy, while Ma Haorang was sent out to serve as the magistrate of a county. He took his wife and mother with him to his post.

In this life, Yinglian had no connection with Xue Pan.

And a certain "Fengyuan" was never beaten to death by anyone, but continued living in Jinling, indulging in his fondness for men.

Some time ago, Lin Daiyu received a letter from Xiangling saying that she was pregnant.

Liu Jiaying rested her chubby face in both hands and sat under the eaves, daydreaming.

She had no idea who had changed everything, but things were truly wonderful now.

As a transmigrator, she had no chance to put her knowledge to use.

So she might as well enjoy this new life granted to her by Heaven.

"Jiqiu!"

Liu Jiaying spotted a pretty figure and immediately called out happily.

She liked Jiqiu very much, just as much as Jia Yuanchun and Mother Liu did. She especially loved the gossip Jiqiu shared with them every day.

Liu Jiaying ran over, grabbed the hem of Jiqiu's skirt, and looked up at her. "Sister Jiqiu, what's the latest news today?"

Jiqiu smiled. "There's big news. I was just heading to Madam's courtyard. Would you like to come along, miss?"

"Yes." Liu Jiaying nodded. She wanted to hear the gossip as soon as possible.

Jiqiu took Liu Jiaying's little hand and led her into Jia Yuanchun's courtyard.

Jia Yuanchun and Baoqin's eyes lit up when they saw Jiqiu come in.

Baoqin personally brought Jiqiu a cup of tea.

Baoqin was married now and dressed as a married woman.

She had married Liu Zhong's former pageboy, who was now the second steward of the Liu Mansion.

After getting married, Baoqin had continued serving Jia Yuanchun.

Jiqiu was married too. Her husband was Liu Zhong's former servant, now his personal attendant.

Jiqiu accepted the teacup with a smile. "Thank you for the tea, sister. The tea you make tastes much better than the young maids'."

Baoqin teased, "What a silver tongue. It's lucky you're not a man, or who knows how many young ladies you'd win over with that mouth of yours."

Jiqiu giggled. "I don't want to win anyone else over. I only want to win you over, sister."

"What a smooth talker." Baoqin reached out a slender finger and poked Jiqiu on the forehead.

Liu Jiaying urged them anxiously, "You two, stop flirting and let Sister Jiqiu tell us the latest!"

Baoqin: "..."

Jiqiu: "..."

Jia Yuanchun pressed a hand to her forehead. "Ying'er, read two more pages every day from now on."

Liu Jiaying stuck out her tongue and obediently replied, "Yes."

Then she turned to Jiqiu, eyes shining with anticipation, and waited for her to share the gossip.

Jiqiu hurriedly shared what she had heard, lest the little lady start misusing idioms again.

Jiqiu said, "The emperor has granted many new titles to the women in his harem, including several noble consorts and concubines. The edicts were sent to their families. The second branch's young lady from the Duke of Qi's mansion was appointed Minister of the Fengzao Palace and Consort Xian."

Jia Yuanchun wasn't envious of those women being made consorts.

So what if they became noble consorts? They were just one among the emperor's many women.

How could their lives compare to hers?

Her husband kept his promise. She was his only woman.

How many noble ladies and young misses in the capital envied her!

Jia Yuanchun was only interested in the position given to the second branch's young lady from the Duke of Qi's mansion.

Minister of the Fengzao Palace?

That was a female official's post, wasn't it?

No matter how high her rank, she was still a servant, not a mistress.

This servant's official post had been listed alongside the consort's title, and even before it. What was the emperor thinking?

Did he like Consort Xian or not?

Jia Yuanchun couldn't figure it out.

Liu Jiaying clicked her tongue in surprise.

Her own mother hadn't entered the palace, yet there was still a consort who had become Minister of the Fengzao Palace, and she came from the Four Kings and Eight Dukes.

Was this the story correcting itself, or was the emperor scheming against the Four Kings and Eight Dukes?

Liu Jiaying admitted she couldn't make sense of it.

In her previous life, she had been an ordinary office worker, and her political savvy hadn't improved much in this one.

Since none of the women could figure out what the emperor meant, they stopped trying.

Baoqin reminded Jia Yuanchun to prepare a congratulatory gift for the Chen Family.

Jia Yuanchun thought it over, selected a few items from the household's common storehouse, then took a white jade statue of Guanyin bearing a child from her private storehouse and added it to the gift.

She already had a son and a daughter, so she had no need to worship a child-bringing Guanyin. Better to give it away as a favor than leave it gathering dust in storage.

As they talked, Liu Xiaopang came home.

The little boy was chubby and round, like a ball of glutinous rice.

He had started his schooling that year.

The people of the Li Duke Mansion had wanted to send him to the Liu Family's clan school, but Liu Zhong had refused.

Liu Zhong didn't trust the Liu Family's clan school.

It wasn't as disorderly as the Jia Family's clan school had been in the original story, but it wasn't much better.

In all those decades, it hadn't produced a single scholar who passed the county-level examination.

As an aside, the Jia Family's clan school was no longer as disorderly as it had been in the original story.

Since Jia Hu had passed the palace examination and placed first, Jia Zhu had passed the jinshi examination, and even Jia Lian had barely passed the provincial examination, the Jia family had begun taking their sons' education very seriously. They paid more attention to the clan school, which made it less chaotic.

When Jia Zhen saw that Jia Dairu was getting old and couldn't manage the students, he hired another teacher.

The man was a provincial graduate, and his teaching was far better than Jia Dairu's. He managed to produce two or three students who passed the county-level examination.

The Jia family recognized his teaching ability, increased his pay, and kept him at their clan school as a permanent teacher.

However, he stayed for only three years.

After three years, he passed the special jinshi examination and went away to take up an official post.

Before leaving, he recommended another unsuccessful provincial graduate to teach at the Jia Family's clan school.

The quality of teaching at the Jia Family's clan school was far better than at the Liu Family's.

Liu Zhong would rather send his son to the Jia Family's clan school than to the Liu Family's.

When Jia Yuanchun saw her son, a smile spread across her face. She peppered him with questions about what he had learned that day and whether he was tired.

Baoqin brought Liu Xiaopang some pastries, while Jiqiu poured him a cup of warm water.

The women gathered around Liu Xiaopang.

Liu Jiaying watched from the side without feeling jealous.

She understood that in ancient society, men had a higher status than women.

It was only natural for their parents to value her older brother more than her.

And even though Jia Yuanchun cared more about Liu Xiaopang, she didn't neglect her daughter.