Chapter 161

Jin Ling, the Xue family mansion.

With lush trees and flowers, winding stone paths, and a two-story embroidered pavilion with elegant, upturned eaves, the building—topped with blue tiles and white walls reflecting the snow—stood in the southeast corner of the Xue family mansion's backyard.

The maid Ying'er sat on the kang, winding five-colored silk thread as she knotted a plum blossom pattern for a hanging tassel.

She looked up and saw her mistress take out the calligraphy she had received a few days ago, unfolding it on the desk to admire it closely, clearly unable to put it down.

"Miss, is that calligraphy Young Master Jia Cong sent really that good? You have taken it out to look at every day for the past few days; how can you not get tired of it?"

Xue Baochai smiled: "When the shopkeeper's wife from the Love Shenjing came to our house a few months ago, she mentioned that this Brother Cong was not only excellent at his studies but had been famous in the Love Shenjing for his poetry and prose since childhood. I was a bit skeptical when I first heard it.

Now that I have seen this calligraphy, I know it is true. It is truly strange how heaven creates people. I often hear people say that one cannot achieve success in the art of calligraphy without twenty or thirty years of effort, yet Brother Cong is about the same age as me.

He hasn't been out of the womb for many years, so I don't know how he practiced such handwriting. And this poem—it is even more refined and elegant in its phrasing and harmonious in its rhythm than the poem about plum blossoms that circulated last year. It is truly excellent."

As the mistress and servant were talking, they heard the faint sound of singing drifting from the garden below the embroidered pavilion; the voice was soft, melodious, and lingering, very pleasant to the ear.

"Listening to the deep night, loneliness strikes the isolated city, the spring tide rushes. Thinking of the past, sorrow weaves like fabric... The jade tree song ends, the autumn dew is cold, the rouge well is broken, the cold cicada weeps."

Baochai knew that the Qingyin Pavilion was quite famous in Jin Ling. It was not a flower house or a brothel, but a music hall specifically for raising female singers, musicians, and dancers.

Baochai was surprised; wasn't this Brother Cong's "Full Man Jiang Hong"? The calligraphy had only been sent a few days ago and had been in her room the whole time. She thought outsiders didn't know about it yet, so how could someone be singing it?

"Ying'er, who is singing that song?"

Baochai felt a bit strange; this Brother Cong was actually a romantic, being so familiar with the singers of the Qingyin Pavilion.

But why would the singers of the Qingyin Pavilion be singing Brother Cong's "Full Man Jiang Hong"? Baochai was curious, so she went down from the embroidered pavilion and followed the sound.

"Exactly, how do you know him?"

Xue Pan was a dandy and a fool; although he knew Jia Cong had sent a piece of calligraphy, he never bothered to look at what was written on it.

"Sister, why are you here? Do you also think this song is good? I heard it's something they just learned."

Whether or not there were female artists from the Qingyin Pavilion present had almost become the standard for whether a banquet or gathering in Jin Ling was luxurious and elegant.

Because the female artists there were highly skilled, high-ranking officials, nobles, and literati in Jin Ling would invite them to perform and liven up the atmosphere whenever there were banquets, celebrations, festivals, or literary gatherings.

The Qingyin Pavilion was a proper music hall; at least her brother still had some sense of propriety. If he had invited singers from a flower house to sing at home, it would have been too improper if word got out.

Baochai stood to the side, listening, mesmerized. This Brother Cong was truly a genius; this "Full Man Jiang Hong" set to music was so pleasant to hear, adding an extra layer of artistic conception beyond the words on the page.

The singing lady asked: "Is the Brother Cong the young lady speaks of the Young Master Jia Cong from Xinglong Lane?"

"It is the singing lady from the Qingyin Pavilion performing. Because of the lawsuit last time, the Mistress won't let the Young Master go out, and he is bored at home, so he has been finding all sorts of ways to amuse himself these past few days.

Although Xue Pan was a dandy and a jerk, he doted on his sister. Seeing that she loved listening, he wanted to ask the singing lady to sing it again.

The "Full Man Jiang Hong" was sung repeatedly. The singing lady's voice was soft and moving, and accompanied by the pipa—sometimes impassioned, sometimes low and lingering—she sang the poem with deep, melancholic, and soul-stirring emotion.

She saw her brother, Xue Pan, sitting in the Lanfang Pavilion in their garden, legs crossed and leaning back while drinking wine. In front of him sat two ladies from the Qingyin Pavilion—one singing and the other playing the pipa in harmony.

Baochai was relieved to hear that they had invited singing ladies from the Qingyin Pavilion.

"That is correct. I have never heard this poem by Brother Cong before; it must be a new work. Counting the days, it hasn't been long, so how could the ladies from the Qingyin Pavilion already be singing it?"

"Today, they invited a storyteller from the Qingyin Pavilion to tell stories to the Mistress, and also invited the singing ladies from there to perform."

"Sister, are you talking about the calligraphy that our cousin from the Jia family sent a few days ago?"

But she heard Baochai ask: "I actually know this song; it is exactly the poem Brother Cong sent a few days ago. I just don't know where the two ladies learned it."

The singing lady smiled: "We have not had the honor of meeting Young Master Jia. There is a reason why we can sing his song.

We have a regular customer at the Qingyin Pavilion, the young master of the Yade Studio in the south of the city, named Zhang Qian'an. I heard that Young Master Jia's poem was taken to his shop for mounting, and he thought it was excellent, so he copied it down.

During a banquet, he asked the ladies in the pavilion to sing it according to the rhythm, and the lady brought the lyrics back to the pavilion.

Our Lady Qing got these lyrics, couldn't put them down, and personally set them to music and rhythm. Once it was sung in the Qingyin Pavilion, it drew applause from the whole hall.

Now, not only is our Qingyin Pavilion singing it, but within a few days, it has spread very quickly. Many brothels and entertainment venues in Jin Ling are singing it; the whole city knows it.

This Young Master Jia truly has great talent; I didn't expect him to be a relative of your household."

"So that's how it is."

Baochai was also full of surprise. As a young lady from a sheltered boudoir, she usually had no social interactions and was somewhat isolated from outside affairs.

Coupled with the fact that her brother had been confined at home by their mother for the past month due to that lawsuit, news from the outside could not reach the inner chambers.

This Brother Cong was truly a man of opportunity, with extraordinary literary talent. A single poem had spread his fame in Jin Ling through such a clever method.

Since parting with Keqing at the Ding'an Temple that day, Jia Cong had not seen her come again, and he could not help but feel somewhat anxious and uneasy.

It was just that when he met Qin Ye again, he discovered something unusual. In the past, when they met at the official residence, Qin Ye would always chat enthusiastically for a few sentences, but now his attitude toward him was very cold.

Jia Cong exchanged a few polite words with him, but Qin Ye just responded casually and walked away, leaving Jia Cong very puzzled.

Could it be that Qin Ye had already sensed what happened between him and Keqing at the Ci'an Hall that day? Actually, this was not strange; Qin Ye was just always at the construction site and hadn't paid attention to this matter.

No one knows a daughter better than her father. If Keqing had revealed anything in her words or expression that made Qin Ye suspicious, he would naturally be able to sense it, and his sudden change in attitude toward him could then be explained.

If it was indeed as he suspected, it at least meant that Keqing was fine; perhaps she had been confined at home and was no longer allowed to come to the Ding'an Temple.

Keqing had never told him where the Qin family lived in Jin Ling, and Jia Cong did not want to ask Qin Ye, lest he make things worse and bring trouble to Keqing.

If it was indeed as he suspected, in Qin Ye's heart, he was likely just a lecher, so why would he tell him anything?

In the incense room that day, the two of them had been somewhat carried away; even if they met again, what would happen?

After copying scriptures for a few days in such a restless state of mind, a personal guard of Prince Ning came to deliver a message this day.

Prince Ning was to set off to return to the Love Shenjing the day after tomorrow. The chief officials of the various government offices in Jin Ling were to host a farewell banquet for Prince Ning at the Zhuojiang Tower in the east of the city, and Prince Ning sent word for Jia Cong to attend the banquet as well.

In this successful detection of the major case at Longtan Port in Jin Ling, when the case had reached a stalemate, Jia Cong had peeled back the layers, found a new path, and rediscovered the clues.

Afterward, in the annihilation of the ronin at Mount Qixia, the mobilization of salt troops into the city in Yangzhou, the encirclement and capture of Zou Huaiyi at the Zou family birthday banquet, and the interception of information within Jin Ling city, Jia Cong had contributed greatly to almost every event.

With such meritorious service, Prince Ning's farewell banquet naturally could not be without him.

To have such strategy and planning at such a young age made Prince Ning value him extremely highly. If he hadn't been afraid of the Emperor's suspicion, he would have even considered bringing him into the Prince Ning mansion as a subordinate official.

Although he was not the eldest imperial prince, he was diligent and pragmatic in his daily affairs, treated others with courtesy, and made friends with virtuous and talented scholars, earning a good reputation both inside and outside the court.

Jia Cong was not only excellent in poetry and prose, but also a youth with an extraordinary appearance, full of strange ideas and strategies, which was astonishing.

With the conclusion of the Zou Huaiyi case this time, Prince Ning had recommended Jia Cong's ability in his memorial and requested rewards for him, but the memorial was returned by Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao to the Ministry of Personnel for consideration.

This made Prince Ning somewhat vigilant. The Emperor had always shown much favor to Jia Cong; last time, the "three-stage firing" method had led to Jia Cong being promoted to a Grade 7 official position.

But this time, when he recommended Jia Cong again, he was blocked by the Emperor. Could it be that his repeated actions had made his Imperial Father realize his intention to win Jia Cong over?

Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao's act of returning the memorial was just a tactful refusal. Sure enough, the Ministry of Personnel's re-deliberation stated that Jia Cong had entered the school as a scholar and had been newly granted a Grade 7 official position, which was already an exception, so the reporting of merits should be postponed.

That is to say, he was only a scholar, yet he had been granted a Grade 7 official position, which was already an extremely rare exception.

According to the established regulations of the dynasty, even a top scholar (Zhuangyuan) would only be granted the position of Grade 6B compiler in the Hanlin Academy. If a scholar with a Grade 7 official position were to be promoted again, wouldn't he be on par with a top scholar?

Unless he achieved success in the top three ranks in the future or performed other extraordinary deeds, he could not be promoted again. Otherwise, Jia Cong was already at a point where he could not be promoted further, which is why it was said that the reporting of merits should be postponed.

(End of chapter)