Red Chamber 27

News of the Prince of Nan'an's defeat and capture reached the capital.

The enemy demanded that the Great Qing Kingdom send a princess or a commandery princess to their country for a marriage alliance in exchange for the Prince of Nan'an.

The Emperor sneered. The Prince of Nan'an's defeat had caused the deaths of many soldiers and the loss of Great Qing territory; for him to still expect a royal noblewoman to be traded for his safety was a pipe dream.

The Nan'an Prince Mansion wanted to secure the Prince of Nan'an's release, but they had to provide the person from their own household.

Dowager Consort Nan'an and the Princess Consort dared not voice any objections to the Emperor; they were already thanking the heavens that the Emperor had not confiscated the Nan'an Prince Mansion.

They did not know that the Emperor had already made his decision; once the grand army launched a counterattack against the enemy, it would be time to settle accounts with the Nan'an Prince Mansion.

By now, the Emperor had already seized control of the entire imperial court.

A large portion of the military connections once controlled by the Four Kings and Eight Dukes had already returned to the Emperor's hands.

This was largely thanks to Jia Daishan and Jia Hu.

Before his death, Jia Daishan had handed over all of the Jia family's military connections.

This included the connections of the Ningguo Mansion.

Jia Daishan and his brother Jia Daihua had supported each other; Jia Daishan knew all of Jia Daihua's connections—even more than Jia Jing, the head of the Ningguo Mansion, and certainly more than Jia Zhen.

When Jia Zhen inherited the Ningguo Mansion, Jia Jing was obsessed with Taoism and seclusion, failing to pass on all the connections he knew to Jia Zhen.

As a result, he died suddenly from consuming golden pills, leaving no time to arrange his affairs.

Jia Zhen had no idea what military connections the Ningguo Mansion still possessed, yet he thought about rebelling alongside Commandery Prince Yizhong.

Was he playing a game?!

The Emperor had long since prepared his blade, yet most of the nobles among the Four Kings and Eight Dukes remained oblivious, still living in a drunken stupor.

Only the Rongguo Mansion and the Dong'an Prince Mansion, which had pledged loyalty to the Emperor early on, knew of his intentions, while the Prince of Beijing, who had surrendered his military power and was obsessed with literature, had also sensed something.

To return to the topic, Dowager Consort Nan'an and the Princess Consort were unwilling to send their own daughters for the marriage alliance.

They called it a marriage alliance, but it was no different from sending someone to their death.

They both knew the Emperor would not give up on attacking the enemy country. Once the Great Qing army went to war, the girl sent for the alliance would likely be killed by the enemy.

The only unmarried girl left in the Nan'an Prince Mansion was the Princess Consort's own daughter.

The Princess Consort was the Dowager Consort's niece, and the daughter was both the Dowager Consort's granddaughter and grand-niece; she was the closest in blood, and the Dowager Consort could not bear to send her to her death.

The two women then came up with the idea of adopting a daughter to send for the alliance.

Recently, Dowager Consort Nan'an and the Princess Consort had been attending various banquets and visiting other families, scouting for candidates to adopt.

The two of them had their eyes set on Tanchun.

Lady Jia Shi, Jia Zheng, and Wang were all very tempted; sending a concubine-born daughter to curry favor with the Nan'an Prince Mansion was a very profitable deal.

Jia Zheng even believed that his daughter going for a marriage alliance was an act of loyalty to the country, and the Emperor would surely see his devotion and reward him as a father.

Although Wang was unwilling to see Jia Tanchun titled as a high-ranking commandery princess, the thought that Tanchun would be married far away and no longer be an eyesore before her made her actively promote the matter.

Unfortunately, Jia Hu did not agree, and neither did the Princess.

Jia She and Zhang both stood on Jia Hu's side.

What kind of marriage alliance for a commandery princess? That was simply sending a poor girl to her death.

Although Jia Hu was not close to his cousin Tanchun, he could not watch her be sent to her death.

Once Jia Hu explained the fate of the women sent for such alliances, Lady Jia Shi retreated into her Rongqing Hall and indicated that she would no longer involve herself in the matter.

Jia Zheng insisted that this was an opportunity to serve the country, and that dying for the nation would be Tanchun's honor.

The result was that he was beaten up by Jia She.

Wang wished Tanchun dead, but since Lady Jia Shi had backed out and Jia Zheng had been beaten, she dared not make another sound.

Upon hearing Jia Zheng's remarks, Tanchun was devastated.

This was her own biological father, yet he did not even measure up to her uncle.

Her heart was filled with bitterness; with a father who disregarded her life and a stepmother with a kind face but a black heart, she saw no light in her future.

Who knew how they would dispose of her for their own interests?

They would certainly use her marriage to scheme for benefits.

Why, why was her life so miserable?

Why wasn't she a daughter of the first branch?

Look at her sister Yingchun; she was also born to a concubine, yet her life was so happy.

Although her father did not pay much attention to her, her stepmother was kind and had found her a young, capable, and promising husband; becoming a titled lady in the future was not just a dream.

And look at herself...

Tanchun could not help but seek out her biological mother, Zhao Yiniang, and wept bitterly in her arms.

In the past, she had looked down on Zhao Yiniang, thinking her too vulgar.

But now she understood: if Zhao Yiniang had not acted vulgar, she likely would not have survived until now, nor would she have been able to protect her and her brother Jia Huan as they grew up.

Look at Zhou Yiniang, who has been tormented until she is nothing more than a wooden puppet.

Zhao Yiniang was once a maid serving in Jia Zheng's study; she would trim the lamp wick and add fragrance to his sleeves, and since she was literate, how could she have been vulgar?

Zhao Yiniang held her daughter, patting her back with both hands to soothe her, a fierce glint flashing in her eyes.

Zhao Yiniang is by no means a good person, as can be seen from the original text where she bribed Ma Daopo to strike against Jia Baoyu and Wang Xifeng.

In this world, the Rongguo Mansion belongs to the first branch, so Zhao Yiniang will not strike against Jia Baoyu again just to have her son inherit the Rongguo Mansion.

As for Wang Xifeng, she spends most of her time in the first branch and has little interaction with Zhao Yiniang; since there is no feud between them, Zhao Yiniang will not strike against Wang Xifeng either.

Nowadays, the people Zhao Yiniang hates most are Jia Zheng and Wang.

Jia Zheng is willing to let his own daughter die; what use is there in keeping such a man?

And if Jia Zheng were to die, her daughter and son would fall completely under the control of Wang, so it is better to let Wang accompany Jia Zheng on his way.

Zhao Yiniang looked toward the direction of Wang's room.

To torment her concubines, Wang makes Zhao Yiniang and Zhou Yiniang come to her room to serve her every day.

Over the past ten years or more, Zhao Yiniang has become very familiar with Wang's room.

She discovered a hidden compartment in Wang's room, and taking advantage of a day when Wang went out, she snuck into the room and opened it.

Zhao originally thought the hidden compartment contained banknotes and wanted to steal some.

But she discovered several porcelain bottles inside, filled with pills and powders.

Zhao stole some of the pills and powders, and after testing them, she discovered that one type was a drug that causes infertility after a miscarriage.

It stands to reason that Zhou Yiniang must have been dosed with this.

There was another drug that, when consumed, would manifest symptoms of typhoid fever, but if one actually took medicine to treat typhoid, that medicine would become a lethal poison, taking the life of the person who took it.

After the person who took the medicine died, even a physician could not detect that they had actually been poisoned, assuming instead that they had died from incurable typhoid.

You ask why Zhao Yiniang knows the effects of this drug?

Because she gave the medicine to Nanny Lai to consume.

Nanny Lai came to Wang's side to convey orders from Grandmother Jia, and Wang, wanting to treat this elder from Grandmother Jia's side with courtesy, had Zhao Yiniang personally serve tea to Nanny Lai.

Zhao Yiniang took the opportunity to slip the powder into Nanny Lai's tea.