[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-my-life-as-a-rising-force-in-the-red-chamber":3,"chapter-my-life-as-a-rising-force-in-the-red-chamber-my-life-as-a-rising-force-in-the-red-chamber-chapter-78":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","My Life as a Rising Force in the Red Chamber",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2310876,4515,"Chapter 78: Small Courtyard, Glint of Blades","my-life-as-a-rising-force-in-the-red-chamber-chapter-78",78,"\u003Cp>Just as Jia Cong was absorbed in his reading, a shrill voice suddenly called from below the pavilion: “Cong brother, I knew you’d be here.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jia Cong looked out the window and saw a boy of thirteen or fourteen smiling up at him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The boy was slightly plump, with a dignified appearance and bright, darting eyes full of liveliness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Xiaoyu, how did you find me here?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I asked Master Zhang—he said he saw you head toward the Cassia Pavilion after class. I guessed you were hiding here to read.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cai Xiaoyu was his classmate in the Bingwen Hall and one of the few who had befriended Jia Cong in the two years he’d been at Qingshan Academy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was the youngest son of Grand Secretary Cai Xiang, of considerable family standing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cai Xiang’s eldest son was mediocre in talent, his second son a wastrel; only this youngest son, Cai Xiaoyu, possessed exceptional intelligence. Though a concubine-born son, he was deeply favored by Cai Xiang.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He entered the academy two years ago, just like Jia Cong, but unlike Jia Cong—who was recommended—he passed the entrance examination through his own merit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jia Cong knew Cai Xiaoyu loved food and amusement; lately, he’d been busy preparing for the academy exam and had grown tired of the academy’s public meals.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The courtyard was empty. In the left corner stood a pile of firewood, neatly stacked with dried logs, alongside some unsplit round logs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In two months, the cold of Shenzhou City would arrive, and these logs would be put to use.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cai Xiaoyu was naturally cheerful and sociable, sincere at heart, never flaunting his status as Cai Xiang’s son. Few in the academy even knew his lineage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When the carriage reached Chunhua Pavilion, he got down and walked, covering a short distance until he reached a courtyard, where he unlocked the gate with a key.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jia Cong placed a round log atop the woodpile, raised his axe high, and focused his Qi for a moment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’ve arranged to meet Ziqian and Zhongwen at Chunhua Pavilion tonight for dinner—you must come. The academy exam has worn me out; we need to relax. Don’t be late.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jia Cong smiled and shook his head, then suddenly remembered something. He packed his things and left the academy, bypassing his own residence, hiring a carriage straight for the northern city.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At first his movements were slow and heavy, but gradually they grew faster, until a shimmering silver blade-light danced around his body, revealing considerable skill.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The little fat boy finished speaking, waved his hand, and sauntered off with a sway.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Cong brother, the academy exam is over. The autumn provincial exam is next year—you don’t need to strain yourself for just one or two days.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This small courtyard had changed little in two years, except that the tall mulberry tree in the center had been cut down at its roots, leaving the yard far more open than before.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He then pulled a gleaming curved blade from a shelf beneath the eaves and began to wield it in the courtyard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With a sudden slash, a flash of blade-light rang out—crack!—splitting a log as thick as a waist cleanly in two, the halves flying outward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He repeated this, splitting eight or nine logs, until sweat beaded on his forehead. He stopped, fetched a jug of preheated water from the side room, and drank deeply.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though he didn’t study as hard as Jia Cong, he still maintained a solid upper-middle rank in the Bingwen Hall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now that the academy exam was over, how could he not go out and feast?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, the courtyard gate opened. A slender, graceful girl with a beautiful, spirited bearing stepped in, quietly closed the gate, and watched Jia Cong practice his swordplay.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since entering Qingshan Academy two years ago, he had returned to Rongguo Mansion very rarely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Each year, except for the New Year, he only went back when Jia Zheng and Lady Wang celebrated their birthdays, or when the sisters in the garden held birthday feasts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Every year when Jia Mu celebrated her birthday, Jia Zheng would summon him home—yet he’d just eat the feast and leave. Jia Mu had nothing to say to this grandson, and Jia Cong was glad for the quiet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Altogether, he spent less than a month each year in the Jia household.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But this small courtyard—he came nearly every other day. For over two years, Qu Hongxiu had lived here.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>During their bizarre, eventful journey back from the Nanxi Literary Gathering, he and Qu Hongxiu had forged an uncommon bond of understanding and trust.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Back then, they had joined forces in that small grove to kill the Ancha Yuan’s undercover agent, covering their tracks and averting disaster.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jia Cong had framed Wang Shanbao’s wife for witchcraft, revealing everything to Qu Hongxiu; she, in turn, had spared no effort to aid him—proof of their deep mutual trust.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Two years ago, he began training under Qu Hongxiu. The method of focusing Qi to split wood, and the curved blade technique he had just used—all were taught to him hand by hand by her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’re clever. After two years of training, you’ve reached this level. Too bad you started late in martial arts—if you’d begun earlier, you could have reached the upper echelon by twenty.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jia Cong smiled. “I’m a scholar, not a wandering swordsman. As long as I’m not helpless, able to protect myself is enough.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“How was today’s business?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I sold twenty-three bottles, five taels each. With the elegant wooden boxes, profit per bottle dropped from three taels seven mace to three taels—but I sold seven or eight more bottles than usual.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some wealthy young ladies and ladies of the household even pre-ordered several bottles. How did you know adding a pretty wooden box would sell more?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jia Cong smiled. “It’s called the packaging effect. With a beautiful wooden box, those ladies feel the product is more precious, more valuable.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Qu Hongxiu frowned slightly. “Packaging effect—you always invent strange new terms. Where do you even learn these?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For years, Qu Hongxiu had kept five children with her—all orphans she’d rescued at great risk when Zhou Jun slaughtered the Dezhou branch of the Hidden Gate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After she killed Wu Jinrong in Shuyun Villa to avenge herself, she had already considered retiring. For two years, she had lived quietly in this courtyard, never again seeing Qin Shu on Wenhán Street.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She had raised the five children she saved, unwilling to let them follow the old path of their elders—living by the sword—and only wished them a peaceful, safe life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But giving these children a means to survive was no easy matter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To help her fulfill this wish, Jia Cong devised a method to extract perfume, helping her open a shop called Xiuniang Perfume House in the northern city.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He also built a hidden perfume workshop at the abandoned temple they had once visited, using a set of distillation and purification tools he had crafted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He assigned two of the older children to guard the workshop, and visited regularly to oversee and guide them. Within half a year, a small production and sales pipeline for perfume had taken shape.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Perfume was an unheard-of rarity in this era. Within six months of opening, Xiuniang Perfume House had gained fame among the noble ladies and young ladies of Shenzhou City.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In less than two years, it had earned Jia Cong and Qu Hongxiu nearly ten thousand taels of silver.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Taking advantage of low property prices in the surrounding courtyards, Jia Cong not only bought the courtyard they had rented, but also purchased another nearby residence for the five children to live in.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So they could learn a skill and have a secure home.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His strange relationship with Qu Hongxiu had grown ever closer and more solid through these very deeds.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In truth, for years one question had haunted Jia Cong: why, in that cave, had Qu Hongxiu spared him when she could have killed him?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Every time he tried to bring it up, she would deliberately steer the conversation elsewhere, never again speaking of her Hidden Gate origins—as if all that had vanished from her life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1364,"2026-06-20T12:19:54.434Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","189b0958a97a6903c5e612a956ae93dc762d0996a4baea9b9fc2399e4f4e1c23","my-life-as-a-rising-force-in-the-red-chamber-chapter-79","my-life-as-a-rising-force-in-the-red-chamber-chapter-77",920,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fmy-life-as-a-rising-force-in-the-red-chamber-cover.jpg"]