The Succession Struggle in the Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 201 The Jia Brothers' Clever Schemes

Tu Chengyu and Lin Daiyu met, but they didn't exchange many words before parting ways.

After Lin Daiyu took her leave, Tu Chengyu also did not intend to stay at the Jia family mansion any longer.

Seeing that Tu Chengyu was about to leave, Jia Jing didn't stop him, but just kept saying:

"We are ignorant of the rules in the manor and have disturbed Your Highness. We beg Your Highness's forgiveness."

Jia Jing still mentioned the incident of Jia Baoyu being beaten, so he probably really had some plans in mind.

Upon seeing this, Tu Chengyu continued to pretend he knew nothing, and left the Jia residence without saying a word.

Seeing that Tu Chengyu showed no intention of interfering, Jia Jing said nothing more and personally escorted Tu Chengyu out of the Jia residence.

After Tu Chengyu left, Jia Jing turned back, but this time he did not return to Rongxi Hall. Instead, he followed a servant to Jia Zheng's study in the front courtyard.

This is the place where Jia Zheng beat Jia Baoyu, and then Jia Mu made a scene.

However, now that the person who was beaten and the person who caused the disturbance have left, it has become quiet again.

After arriving at the study, Jia Jing walked straight in without asking anyone to announce his arrival.

At this moment, Jia She and Jia Zheng were already sitting in the study.

The two showed no surprise at Jia Jing's arrival, as if they knew he was coming.

After the three brothers exchanged greetings, Jia Zheng impatiently asked:

"What did Prince Su say?"

Jia Jing didn't rush to answer. He slowly sat down on the chair next to him, raised his teacup, and took a delicious sip of tea.

This action greatly worried Jia Zheng and his brother, but they knew Jia Jing's temper and knew that urging him would be useless, so they could only wait.

However, Jia Jing didn't keep them waiting any longer. He put down his teacup and said:

"Prince Su didn't say anything, so he probably won't concern himself with our family's affairs."

Upon hearing this, Jia Zheng sighed and said, "What should we do? I originally planned to use Prince Su's status to put pressure on Mother, but it seems that won't work now."

Upon hearing this, it became clear that Tu Chengyu's guess was correct; the Jia family members really did intend to use Tu Chengyu's identity to do something.

However, what he didn't expect was that the Jia family would try to use him to suppress the matriarch of the Jia family.

Could it be that the Jia family is also involved in power struggles?

Since Jia Zheng could say this in front of the other two, it was clear that this matter was discussed by the three men in front of him.

After he finished speaking, Jia Jing continued:
"This matter cannot be considered a failure; it can be reconsidered."

Jia Zheng asked, "What do you mean by that, Brother Jing?"

Jia Jing said, "Although Prince Su did not say anything, he did not stop us from doing things either, which gives us room to maneuver."

Upon hearing this, Jia Zheng closed his eyes slightly and began to ponder. At this moment, Jia She spoke up.

"But since the prince didn't actually show it, how could my mother believe it?"

Jia Jing said, "Prince Su hasn't made a move yet, but he has come to the Jia residence today. How can Aunt know Prince Su's attitude? In the end, it will be up to us to decide."

Jia Zheng was pondering his earlier words when he suddenly heard Jia Jing's words. He looked up incredulously and said:

“Brother Jing, you are trying to deceive Mother. Aren’t you afraid that Mother and Prince Su will find out?”

Upon hearing this, Jia Jing looked utterly helpless and said:

“I don’t want to do this either, but if I want my aunt to stop interfering in the affairs of the two households, this is the only way.”

It turns out that their plan today was ultimately aimed at wresting control of the two mansions back from Grandmother Jia.

The two Jia family mansions were founded by two dukes who were brothers.

Therefore, from the very beginning, many things between the two governments were intertwined.

Even now, this situation persists.

Although the affairs between the two families are complicated, if each family had a capable male head like other noble families, things wouldn't be like they are now.

But the strange thing about the Jia family is that neither the east nor the west mansion has a single man who can make the decisions within the household.

Originally, Jia Jing was doing these things, but two years ago, in order to avoid trouble, Jia Jing became a Taoist priest, which led to the power of the Jia family falling into the hands of Grandmother Jia.

If Grandmother Jia is a person who does good deeds, then this is not a big problem.

However, Grandmother Jia was, after all, a woman confined to the inner quarters of the household, and her knowledge was limited. Not only was she biased in her dealings, but she also couldn't manage her servants well.

As a result, discord arose between the eldest and second sons of the Rongguo Mansion, and a feud broke out between the brothers Jia She and Jia Zheng.

Moreover, it fostered a culture of treating servants well, allowing them to rely on Grandmother Jia's power and influence to act arrogantly and even more domineering than the masters of the house.

Besides the Lai brothers, they also controlled many affairs in the East and West prefectures.

They deceived Grandmother Jia above, oppressed the other servants below, and wantonly embezzled the property of the two mansions.

So much so that a servant was able to build his own courtyard in the capital and even act as a master.

Whenever he thought about these things, Jia Jing would get extremely angry.

In this matter, he still has to thank Tu Chengyu.

If Tu Chengyu hadn't encountered Lai Shangrong in Jining on his way to Jiangnan and uncovered Lai Shangrong's embezzlement,

This gave Jia Jing the opportunity to thoroughly investigate and punish the Lai brothers and their sons, and to recover the property they had embezzled.

He also took the opportunity to reorganize the servants of the two mansions.

At the time, Jia Jing thought that if he rectified the servants, the two mansions would gradually improve.

However, after a period of time, he discovered that things did not develop as he had imagined; the two Jia family mansions remained lifeless.

Eventually, he slowly realized that the root of all this lay with the old matriarch.

As long as the matriarch is in charge of all matters, big and small, in the Jia family, the Jia family will never recover.

This led Jia Jing to plan to seize power from Grandmother Jia. He also persuaded the two brothers, Jia She and Jia Zheng, through various means, and the three of them came up with this idea.

Today, Tu Chengyu's visit to the Jia family mansion and Jia Zheng's education of Jia Baoyu are a scheme they came up with.

They originally planned to casually mention to Tu Chengyu that Jia Baoyu was pestering Lin Daiyu when Tu Chengyu came to the Jia family.

In their minds, given Prince Su's temperament, he would certainly not tolerate such things.

When the time comes, Prince Su will get angry and punish Jia Baoyu.

At this point, Jia Zheng had already punished Jia Baoyu in advance, so even if Prince Su was dissatisfied, he would not show it.

Jia Jing and his group could then use this incident to intimidate Grandmother Jia and extract some power from her to hand over to Jia She and Jia Zheng.

However, to their surprise, after hearing about Jia Baoyu's persistent pursuit of Lin Daiyu, Prince Su showed no intention of investigating the matter and even left without a word. This caused Jia Jing and his companions' plan to be cut short before it even began.

However, Jia Jing was a cunning old fox with a ruthless heart, and he actually planned to deceive the old lady.

Faced with Jia Jing's plan, Jia She and Jia Zheng fell silent for a moment.

They were persuaded by Jia Jing to put aside their past grievances and work together on this matter.

It was because of Jia Jing's description that they also saw that if the Jia family continued like this, either their main hall would fall into ruin, or one day they would offend someone and be destroyed, and their family fortune would be lost.

If they hadn't seen these things clearly, the brothers would have continued to live a life of leisure and comfort, waiting to die.

But now that they know about this problem, they are determined to try it no matter what.

Coincidentally, at this time, the Jia family managed to curry favor with Prince Su.

Although Prince Su was just an ordinary prince, he was by no means simple.

Not to mention that Prince Su himself was very capable, and was able to go to Jiangnan to carry out official business at a young age.

Take Prince Su's identity as an example. He was the most beloved grandson of the retired emperor, the most favored prince of the current emperor, and the crown prince's own brother.

It can be said that three emperors favored Prince Su, and such a status was just right for the Jia family to slowly recover.

This is why the three of them were so eager to seize power from the old matriarch.

After all, they knew that if they wanted to save the Jia family, they had to take immediate action.

However, since the target of their schemes was their own mother, Jia Zheng and his companion still had many concerns.

Now, hearing Jia Jing say that he would use deception, the two brothers found it even more unacceptable.

So the two of them just sat there, unsure of what to do.

Jia Jing naturally understood their difficulties, so he didn't urge them to go and just sat quietly to the side and waited.

For a moment, there was silence in Jia Zheng's study.

After an unknown amount of time, Jia She was the first to come to his senses.

"Since I've already decided to do it, I'll be letting my mother down no matter what I do. So what if I lie to her one more time? At worst, my mother will find out and I'll take the blame. Anyway, my mother doesn't really like me as her son."

In the end, Jia She even made a self-deprecating remark about himself.

This was also a flaw of Grandmother Jia's; she favored her youngest son over her eldest. In the mansion, the youngest son lived in the main room, while the eldest son lived in a side room.

It was precisely because of this flaw that Jia She, the eldest son of the Rongguo Mansion and heir to the title, neglected everything and indulged in pleasure.

Fortunately, this person was not completely useless. After Jia Jing's repeated persuasion, he gradually regained his spirits.

Now they are even more willing to step forward and take responsibility.

It is clear that even the most useless person has things they care about deeply.

Seeing that Jia She had said this, Jia Zheng, who was full of concerns, could not say anything more and could only nod in agreement.

"Brother Jing, what do you think we should do?"

Since both brothers agreed, Jia Jing broke his silence and quietly told them his plan.

Just as the three Jia brothers were trying to take advantage of Tu Chengyu's status as Prince Su, people in the Xingwang Mansion were also talking about Tu Chengyu.

The present-day Xingwang Mansion is the former Yongwang Mansion, which was also the residence of Prince Yixiao, who was killed by Tu Chengyu.

Logically speaking, a mansion that changed hands twice in just six months, and the two previous owners did not have a good ending.

There should be some concerns about such a mansion, and the next owner should not be arranged so quickly.

However, the current emperor had no such taboos whatsoever. Not only did he arrange for Prince Xing to move in, but he did so without making any repairs whatsoever.

What's most astonishing is that not only did the Prince of Xing arrange it this way, but the Crown Prince and the other two adult princes also directly occupied the vacant residences in front.

Right now, in this newly established royal residence that Tu Chengyu is quite familiar with, the Prince of Xing is throwing a tantrum.

This was a small room. Besides Prince Xing, there were two other people inside: one was an official from Prince Xing's residence, and the other was Prince Xing's cousin, Liu Shigui.

King Xing stood beside a table, facing the two men, and said with a pained expression:

"Now, as you wished, I have finally faced off against my own brother."

As he said this, King Xing was thinking about Tu Chengyu's gaze.

In the court today, Prince Xing noticed that when Tu Chengyu looked at him, the warmth of the past was gone, replaced by a scrutinizing gaze and an expression of disgust.

King Xing knew that this was the likely outcome of his campaign to seize the position of crown prince.

He was prepared for this situation from the moment he took that step.

But when he experienced that moment firsthand, he still felt a pang of pain in his heart.

Faced with King Xing's outburst of temper, the two men standing opposite him could only remain silent.

Although they had always hoped that the Prince of Xing would break with the Crown Prince and show his determination to compete for the position of Crown Prince.

But these are, after all, brothers, and if they were to step in and instigate things now, it might backfire.

Seeing that neither of them spoke, King Xing lightly tapped the table and said:

"I had no intention of vying for that throne, yet you insisted on persuading me, even dragging my mother into it to put pressure on me. Now you're all satisfied, but who understands my satisfaction?"

King Xing may have long harbored resentment, but he had been suppressing it.

Today, I was provoked in court and finally let it all out.

The two standing men looked at each other in bewilderment upon hearing this, only then realizing that even now, the Prince of Xing was still grappling with such a problem.

They've already revealed their identities and are competing head-on; to still expect brotherhood is incredibly naive.

Faced with this situation, Liu Shigui could no longer stand still, and he hurriedly said;

"Your Highness, there has never been any kinship in the royal family since ancient times. The former Crown Prince and Prince Ping were born of the same mother, yet they fought each other to the death. How much more so should Your Highness and the Crown Prince?"

Even if you don't want to fight, future circumstances will force you to contend with the Crown Prince. Rather than being passive later, why not take the initiative now?

Prince Xing sneered and said, "This is the same old rhetoric again. According to you, all the princes have to fight for the throne, or they will die?"

They had argued about this issue before, and Liu Shigui already had the answer in his heart.

He said, "Your Highness, your status is different from others. Other princes may not be in trouble if they don't compete, but Your Highness is the Empress's eldest son."

Even if you do nothing, others will still suspect you. If you don't fight back, Your Highness, if they have any suspicions, you'll be like meat on a chopping block, completely at their mercy.

Such blunt words could only be uttered by someone as close to King Heung as Liu Shigui; if anyone else said them, it would likely be considered a sin.

(End of this chapter)