The Red Mansion.

Chapter 35 He did it on purpose

"He didn't even let his men arrest me? He didn't even beat me up?"

Jiang Nian stood under the eaves at the door of the main hall, watching Wang Ziteng lead a group of personal soldiers and Xue Pan away, and sighed in his heart.

Although Wang Ziteng's personality was not described in the original novel, and today was the first time Jiang Nian met Wang Ziteng, he had already guessed that Wang Ziteng should be a proud person, even a little arrogant.

Jiang Nian originally thought that his strong resistance and even humiliation just now would make Wang Ziteng angry and order his personal soldiers to arrest him or beat him up on the spot.

And he deliberately provoked Wang Ziteng!
If Wang Ziteng captured him, He Yun would go to Prince Zhongyi, or even seek an audience with Emperor Taishun. Prince Zhongyi or Emperor Taishun would then intervene, and Wang Ziteng might be punished, or at least released, and would not dare to interfere in Xue Baochai's affairs again.

If Wang Ziteng ordered his guards to beat him, he would deliberately take a few hits, then shout out his close relationship with Prince Zhongyi, thinking that Wang Ziteng would stop the guards. Then, he asked He Yun to go to Prince Zhongyi and tell him that Wang Ziteng had led his troops to trespass into his house and ordered his guards to beat him...

If he revealed his close relationship with Prince Zhongyi, and Wang Ziteng still refused to stop the guards, he would shout that his father was Emperor Taishun! If Emperor Taishun blamed him, Wang Ziteng, despite his injuries, would have said that he would have been beaten to death if he hadn't shouted that out. This would have made Wang Ziteng more likely to be punished, and even if Emperor Taishun still didn't recognize him as a prince, he probably wouldn't have punished him severely...

No matter which of the above three situations occurs, Wang Ziteng may be punished, especially the third situation. Once it occurs, there is a high possibility that Wang Ziteng will be punished.

Today, Wang Ziteng threatened Jiang Nian angrily and forced Jiang Nian to give up Xue Baochai. Jiang Nian was determined to punish Wang Ziteng and make him dare not interfere in Xue Baochai's affairs again.

And this is just one of Jiang Nian’s goals!

Jiang Nian's other purpose was to use this incident to make Emperor Taishun pay attention to his son who had already come to Beijing; to the old small house where he lived in the eastern suburbs; and to the fact that he was easily bullied by Wang Ziteng.

In Jiang Nian's opinion, if he wants Emperor Taishun to recognize him as the prince, the first step he has to take is to increase his presence in Emperor Taishun's heart!
As a result, Wang Ziteng just turned away without taking Jiang Nian away or ordering his personal soldiers to beat Jiang Nian.

Jiang Nian knew that Wang Ziteng would not give up.

He was not worried that Wang Ziteng would send people to arrest him, but that Wang Ziteng would send assassins to assassinate him.

As the saying goes, it is easy to dodge a spear but hard to guard against an arrow from the dark.

Fortunately, he has a golden finger of luck, so he won't be killed by Wang Ziteng after traveling through time for a few months, right?

Suddenly, a thought struck Jiang Nian. He hurriedly hid the 20,000 taels of silver in a banknote in the lining of a ragged cotton-padded jacket. This ragged jacket belonged to Xiangling, and she couldn't bear to throw it away. Of the 20,000 taels of silver, 10,000 came from the Xue family, and the remaining 10,000 was a gift from Jiang Xuelian to the original owner before her death.

Jiang Nian did this to prevent his belongings from being stolen.

……

……

As evening approached, the still bright sunshine enveloped the two adjacent old houses.

A horse-drawn carriage came slowly, its wheels creaking as they rolled over the dirt road. It first passed the Jiang family's small courtyard, and then stopped in front of the gate of the Qin family's small courtyard.

The servant driving the carriage opened the curtain and helped Qin Ye out of the carriage.

Qin Ye was wearing an old official uniform. He had a thin face and a look of fatigue between his brows. His hair and beard were both gray, showing the traces of time.

He gently dusted himself off and walked into the Qin family's courtyard.

Qin Keqing and Qin Zhong, brother and sister, met them at the inner courtyard's hanging flower gate. Qin Keqing was wearing a sky-blue dress with delicate flowers embroidered on the hem, which made her look even more charming and beautiful.

Qin Zhong was still young, with a delicate figure, clear eyebrows and beautiful eyes, a fair face and red lips, but she was timid and shy, like a girl.

Qin Keqing followed Qin Ye into the main room.

When Qin Ye changed his clothes and sat down to drink tea, Qin Keqing said, "Father, a family has moved into the house next door to ours."

Qin Ye was slightly stunned, then suddenly realized: "I see, just now I passed by the door next door, and I was wondering why the gate was open. I wonder what kind of family lives there?"

Qin Keqing smiled sweetly and immediately introduced the situation of the Jiang family.

Her tone was gentle and her voice was as pleasant as a clear spring.

Qin Keqing continued, "About half an hour ago, the housekeeper and his wife from next door came over and gave us a gift."

Qin Ye nodded and said, "Since his family has moved next door to ours, they should give us gifts according to etiquette. We should also give them gifts of congratulations to fulfill the friendship between neighbors."

Qin Keqing said, "However, the gift from our neighbor is truly valuable. It's a pair of celadon vases he brought from the south, and two bottles of the finest tea. This gift must be worth a fortune."

Qin Ye opened his eyes wide, with a look of surprise on his face: "How could this really happen? Where is the thing?"

Qin Keqing said, "It's in my room. I'll get it now."

After saying that, she led Ruizhu to the west wing and got the things.

Qin Ye was an honest official and did not live a luxurious life, but he was a fifth-rank official who was nearly seventy years old, so he was naturally quite knowledgeable.

He carefully examined a pair of celadon vases, the glaze as smooth as jade, and the vases painted with landscapes, with delicate and subtle brushstrokes and a profound and long-lasting artistic conception.

He looked at the tea leaves carefully again and sniffed them. The tea leaves had a bright color and a delicate aroma.

He then said to Qin Keqing, "This gift is indeed valuable. I estimate that two bottles of tea would cost about twenty taels of silver, and a pair of celadon vases would cost at least two hundred taels of silver! How could you accept such a valuable gift?"

Qin Keqing lowered her head and said, "When the housekeeper and his wife next door came and saw that my father was not at home, the woman gave me the things. Because the things were packed, I couldn't examine them in front of them, and I didn't realize they were so valuable. Afterwards, I found out, but I couldn't send a servant to return them. If I did, wouldn't that be disrespectful? Even if I wanted to return them, I should wait until my father came back to deliver them in person."

After hearing this, Qin Ye fell into deep thought.

The Deputy Director of the Ministry of Works' Office of Civilian Affairs was a lucrative position prone to corruption, but Qin Ye was an honest official. Although he could afford two or three hundred taels of silver, he really didn't want to spend so much money on buying gifts for the Jiang family in return. If he spent this money, the dowry for his beloved adopted daughter Qin Keqing would be too shabby when she got married.

Seeing Qin Ye frowning in thought, Qin Keqing suggested, "Father, I have an idea. We'll accept the two bottles of tea. The pair of celadon vases are very valuable, so I'll return them. You can send them the inkstone in your collection as both a gift of congratulations and a return gift for the two bottles of tea. While that inkstone may not be as valuable as the famous Duan and She inkstones, it's still worth over ten taels of silver. And since it's one of the Four Treasures of the Study, it would be both elegant and appropriate as a gift to the young Mr. Jiang next door."

After hearing this, Qin Ye's brows relaxed and he nodded in approval: "That's very good."

Qin Ye immediately went to the Jiang family next door with a servant, a pair of celadon vases and an inkstone...

(End of this chapter)