Chapter 353

July 15th, Ghost Festival, Count's Mansion in Jude Fang.

In the Jia family's East and West Prefectures, only the Huifang Garden of the East Prefecture introduced living water from the Liuyang River in the east of the city, forming a large area of river canals and water pavilions in the garden.

Many pavilions and towers in the Huifang Garden were built near the water, elegant and magnificent; the later Grand View Garden was rebuilt on this layout.

In the river canals and water pavilions in the garden, green lotus and lotus flowers were planted, blooming lushly in midsummer.

Although the flower buds closed at night, the green leaves were like covers, and the evening breeze blew, swaying and graceful, like a dream.

Two pleasure boats wandered in the river, the laughter of silver bells, combined with the flickering starlight in the sky, echoed between the green lotus and clear waves.

Today is the Ghost Festival; after the two prefectures finished the sacrifice to the ancestors and burning paper in the morning, Jia Cong invited the sisters from the West Prefecture to the East Prefecture to tour the lake according to the customs of the Ghost Festival.

Of course, out of politeness, he also invited Jia Mu, Lady Wang, and other inner house ladies, but Jia Mu pushed that she was unwell and didn't come; Jia Mu didn't come, so Lady Wang naturally didn't come well.

Ever since Jia Cong moved to the East Prefecture, he had kept the threshold of the Count's Mansion very tight and rejected several arrangements made by Jia Mu, so the old lady had been in a bad mood, so she naturally didn't want to support this evil grandson's scene.

Yuanyang felt strange, but after thinking about it slightly, she understood something.

Baoyu got the news and knew that so many sisters were going to play, so he also wanted to come, but this time he was beaten too hard by his father, and his actions were inconvenient, so he had to give up.

The girls on the two pleasure boats put one by one river lanterns lit with candles into the river, the firelight reflecting the waves, drifting with the waves, as if reflecting the starlight in the sky.

But these sisters and maids were all good at needlework and knew how to draw embroidery patterns, and their hands were clever, so they giggled and drew some auspicious patterns like peonies and birds on the river lanterns, and then put them into the river for fun.

However, this was exactly what Jia Cong wanted; they were disgusted with each other, and being together was uncomfortable for everyone.

On that pleasure boat, Jia Cong was laughing and talking with sisters like Daiyu and Seeing Tan Chun, while Jin Chuan stared blankly at the river lantern in the river, and the incomparably handsome face in the flickering waves...

Jia Cong was happy to invite sisters like Daiyu, Baochai, Seeing Tan Chun, Yingchun, and Xichun, and Qingwen went to invite Yuanyang, Hupo, Jin Chuan, and others who were on good terms to play together.

On the pleasure boat, Daiyu smiled: "Brother San's poetry and lyrics are excellent, but since the last time you made a few in Jin Ling, I haven't seen you make any new ones; it's a pity to waste such talent in vain.

Releasing river lanterns is a major custom of the Ghost Festival, and it is also a must-do for the inner house ladies to pray for blessings on the Ghost Festival.

But she saw Jin Chuan staring blankly at the river lantern, and then put it into the river to flow away; the river lantern swayed and drifted downstream, floating toward the pleasure boat in front.

Seeing Tan Chun on the side smiled: "Look at what Brother San said; the ones you made are not considered good, and the people in the world who make poetry and lyrics will be ashamed to death."

Yuanyang saw Jin Chuan's expression and was a bit curious; following her gaze, the shadow of the young man in the flickering waves beside the swaying river lantern also made her heart sway, and her face was burning.

Today the sisters are traveling together, with beautiful scenery; does Brother San have any new works?"

Today, the sisters each made a few poems for the Ghost Festival, and even little Xichun, who hadn't studied for long, made one to match the scene.

Ever since Jin Chuan became Baochai's maid, she had come back to life, and her personality was still as sharp as ever, but her behavior was much more steady, as if she had grown up a lot all of a sudden.

Daiyu, the three springs, Zhi Shao, Zhen Ying Lian, and others each had embroidery, chest and literary thoughts, mostly writing poems and couplets on river lanterns for fun.

Yuanyang saw the pattern Jin Chuan drew on the river lantern and was a bit strange in her heart; what Jin Chuan drew was not flowers, not birds, but an octagonal exquisite well.

Jia Cong couldn't stand their teasing, looked at the clear waves beside him, the hibiscus and peach plum, which were beautiful, and picked up a blank river lantern, picked up a pen and wrote on it:

Qingwen, Wu'er, Hearing Zi Juan, Yuanyang, and others had no literary talent, and some were illiterate.

Jia Cong smiled: "It's not that I don't want to do it often, it's just that my talent is limited, and I can't always do good ones, so I don't want to make people laugh."

The lotus stamens in the fire open in the clear stream, the beautiful red and green linger.

Shining like stars in the sky, quiet like flowing wine coming gently.

How can reincarnation know that there is emptiness, but the red dust sighs that the robbery becomes fate.

When will the wind and frost of the years end, the fish and dragon are soft and fragrant under the water.

Ever since Jia Cong returned from Jin Ling last year, everyone hadn't seen him make poetry and lyrics, and now they finally saw him pick up the pen again, and everyone curiously surrounded him.

Just the first two sentences, everyone felt the fragrance in their mouths after reading them; today the sisters were traveling on a boat on the Ghost Festival and releasing river lanterns, but these first two sentences wrote out the meaning.

At this time, everyone was in their youth, and their colors were just right; weren't they the time of the beautiful red and green of life, and they were compared by Jia Cong to shining like stars in the sky, quiet like flowing wine coming gently.

Daiyu, Seeing Tan Chun, and other sisters all tasted Jia Cong's rendering and praise for their sisters in the poems, and each felt warm and happy in their hearts.

Just reading the third sentence: How can reincarnation know that there is emptiness, but the red dust sighs that the robbery becomes fate.

Each felt a bit confused in their hearts; they all knew that Jia Cong was excellent in literature and martial arts, and his heart was firm, even more than ordinary people, yet he would have such blurred words.

Baochai had a lot of miscellaneous studies on weekdays and had read many Buddhist scriptures and Daoist books, but she heard Jia Cong's sigh of the world and the next life in this sentence.

It was just that he was so young and successful, how could he have such thoughts...

When everyone read the last sentence: When will the wind and frost of the years end, the fish and dragon are soft and fragrant under the water.

Yingchun only had thoughts of sister and brother, Xichun was ignorant, and the rest of the people read the romantic and charming, and couldn't help but have thoughts of love and anger...

July 15th, Ghost Festival, Jin Ling.

Zhou Zhengyang's residence was located in Linqing Street, East of Jin Ling City; this street was in the prosperous place of Jin Ling, and there were many shops at both ends of the street, and many vendors also made a living here early every morning.

It was just that for a distance near the Zhou residence, the street was very clean, and very few people would set up stalls to do business nearby.

Eight out of ten people in Jin Ling City knew that a big figure lived in this residence, the Jin Ling Guard Commander Zhou Zhengyang, who held thousands of troops guarding Jin Ling.

Therefore, the two little servants guarding the gate of the Zhou residence didn't have to worry about anyone who didn't have eyes and would move on the head of Tai Sui.

Early in the morning, they got up lazily, opened the door, moved a long bench, sat at the door, and yawned with nothing to do.

Suddenly, they heard the sound of horse hooves from the other end of the street, mixed with the sound of chaotic footsteps; the two little servants guarding the gate showed surprised expressions on their faces.

Since Zhou Zhengyang moved into Linqing Street, who in Jin Ling City didn't know? Who would dare to be so noisy here? Isn't this looking for trouble?

The two were about to stand up, go and see what happened, and scold them well.

Before they could stand up, they saw countless Embroidered Uniform Guards wearing flying fish suits, wearing embroidered spring knives, and fierce-looking, rushing toward the gate like a tide.

The two little servants guarding the gate had never seen such a posture, and their faces changed greatly; one of them mustered his courage and shouted: "Do you know whose residence this is? How dare you be presumptuous here!"

But before he finished speaking, the leading Embroidered Uniform Guard battalion commander had already drawn the scabbard of his embroidered spring knife like lightning, just a scabbard that drew blood from his mouth, and even spat out two broken teeth.

The two little servants guarding the gate were knocked to the ground by the Embroidered Uniform Guards, and the others kicked the gate open, and the crowd rushed into the Zhou residence; before long, they heard fearful human voices in the Zhou residence, and it was a mess.

Yang Hongbin also dismounted quickly and led the accompanying imperial guards to rush into the residence simultaneously.

This was Jin Ling, and he was arresting the head official of the Jin Ling Guard; the one cooperating with the arrest was the Jin Ling Embroidered Uniform Guard Battalion; for them, they were ultimately outsiders.

He had to maintain sufficient caution and meticulousness.

Yang Hongbin led more than 200 Embroidered Uniform Guards to surround the Zhou residence, turning the entire Zhou residence upside down, but the final result made his heart sink.

Now the person in charge of the Zhou residence was a concubine of Zhou Zhengyang, and a concubine-born daughter of Zhou Zhengyang.

According to them, Zhou Zhengyang's wife returned to her mother's house to visit relatives two days ago, and also took Zhou Zhengyang's ten-year-old legitimate son.

And Zhou Zhengyang himself took his close subordinates to inspect the military training of the battalion under his command yesterday and never returned; such things often happened in the past, so the people in the house didn't care.

At this time, an Embroidered Uniform Guard reported that Jin Battalion Commander Ge Ge Zhi Cheng brought another team of people to raid the Jin Ling Guard Command, and it was also empty, with no gains.

Yang Hongbin looked at the Zhou family's concubines and servants kneeling on the ground in the Zhou residence, his face pale.

He rushed to Jin Ling day and night from the Love Shenjing, light and simple, and since entering Jin Ling, he had been extra careful and cautious, just because Zhou Zhengyang had a special status in Jin Ling; once the news leaked, it would cause unexpected opportunities.

He didn't expect that he still let him escape; Yang Hongbin could be sure that the news was not leaked after he arrived in Jin Ling.

Because Zhou Zhengyang had already left the residence yesterday and hadn't returned; at that time, he was still on his way to Jin Ling.

His wife and children even left Jin Ling a few days in advance under the pretext of visiting relatives.

This showed that Zhou Zhengyang had long known the news of the imperial court arresting him, so he could arrange for himself and his family to escape so calmly.

Even in order not to arouse suspicion, he specially sacrificed his concubine and concubine-born daughter to cover people's eyes and ears.

Yang Hongbin could infer that not long after he obtained Zhou Suqing's confession, the news had already leaked from the Love Shenjing.

Someone rushed day and night from the Love Shenjing and sent the news to Zhou Zhengyang before him.

Thinking of this, Yang Hongbin felt a chill in his heart; the major case of the Water Supervision Office back then not only involved the Grade 3 commander who commanded thousands of troops in Jin Ling, but also involved some figures in the Love Shenjing.

(End of chapter)