The Cloud Feather of the Red Chamber: A Marriage Arranged with Gong Yuanzheng at the Start

April in the human world is a time when grass grows and orioles fly.

At this moment, Yangzhou is a city of slender willows, misty rain, and blooming flowers, a scene of unparalleled splendor.

Inside the Salt Inspector's residence, a servant boy hurriedly carried a secret letter to the backyard.

Along the way, pavilions, terraces, rockeries, ponds, and beautiful trees and flowers were everywhere, and the scenery at every step was breathtaking, but the servant had no leisure to appreciate it.

Upon reaching the backyard, he hurriedly handed the secret report to the old woman, panting as he explained, "This is the latest secret message from the capital."

The old woman's expression brightened, and she hurriedly took the secret letter to the young lady's study.

Inside the study, Lin Qingyue was checking last month's income and expenses.

Below her was a small desk, where a little girl of five or six years old was flipping through a book, her brow furrowed with worry.

Noticing the girl's absent-mindedness, Lin Qingyue looked up at her and asked, "Yu'er, what's wrong?"

Daiyu put down her book and looked at Lin Qingyue, her brows furrowing with even more sorrow.

"Sister, I'm worried about my brother's condition..."

Upon hearing this, Lin Qingyue's expression became more worried.

She has been in the world of Dream of the Red Chamber for fifteen years. Ever since she learned that she was Lin Daiyu's older sister, she has told Lin Ruhai and Jia Min about the plot of Dream of the Red Chamber through precognitive dreams.

After many years of marriage, they only had this one precious daughter. Even though her words were strange and superstitious, Lin Ruhai and Jia Min just thought she was talking nonsense as a child and didn't take her words to heart, nor did they reduce their love for her.

It wasn't until Lin Ruhai was sent to Yangzhou that they began to take Lin Qingyue's words seriously.

From the smallest details of daily life, such as clothing, food, housing, and transportation, to major matters like official interactions, they were extremely cautious.

But the power of the plot seemed irresistible, and many years later, Lin Ruhai and Jia Min had their second child.

The details of Daiyu's birth and the words spoken by the monk and the Taoist priest upon their visit are exactly the same as described in the book.

The family worked together to avoid the ending of their dream, but things never went as planned. No matter how well they took care of their health, their daughter Qingyu was still sickly.

None of the five members of the Lin family are in good health, including her.

Lin Qingyu is now three years old. In "Dream of the Red Chamber", he died at the age of three, and then Jia Min was so heartbroken that she became bedridden.

Lin Qingyue unconsciously tightened her grip on the calligraphy brush. Was there really no way to change the fate of the Lin family? Then what was the point of her time travel?

After fifteen years of living and working together, she had long regarded the Lin family as her own, and she absolutely could not watch them meet their predetermined end.

She was an orphan in her past life, and in this life, she is determined to protect her family.

"Sister." Daiyu saw the change in Lin Qingyue's expression and felt frightened. She stepped forward and took her hand.

Lin Qingyue snapped out of her thoughts and forced a smile at Daiyu, "Yu'er, I'm fine, you don't need to worry."

"You don't look well," Daiyu thought, but didn't ask any further questions. She simply held her sister's hand tightly.

"Young Miss! This is a secret report from the capital." Madam Fang, holding a letter, hurried into the study.

Lin Qingyue's expression hardened, and she immediately took the envelope.

Ever since she learned that this was the world of Dream of the Red Chamber, Lin Qingyue has been closely following events in the capital.

She had seen online more than once that some experts on the study of "Dream of the Red Chamber" had said that the deaths of her younger brother and mother seemed to be inextricably linked to imperial power.

To avoid a tragic end for the Lin family, she cultivated many trusted confidants in the capital, so that she could keep abreast of the city's developments.

Looking at the contents of the letter, Lin Qingyue's face showed surprise and confusion for the first time.

The Gong family, Wufeng—isn't this the world of Dream of the Red Chamber? How did characters like Yun Zhiyu appear here?

What's even more outrageous is that the Gong family wants to form a marriage alliance with the imperial court.

Is this world crazy?

"Has Father returned?" Lin Qingyue asked her mother.

The housekeeper replied respectfully, "Master is currently with the young master at the madam's place."

Lin Qingyue immediately stood up, took Daiyu's hand, and said, "Yu'er, let's go to Mother's now."

Upon hearing this, Daiyu's face lit up with joy.

Fearing that the children might catch the illness, Jia Min had not allowed them to pay their respects to her for several days.

The two sisters soon arrived at Jia Min's courtyard gate, where they ran into Lin Ruhai, who was just leaving.

Upon seeing his two daughters, Lin Ruhai immediately put away his worried expression.

"Yue'er, Yu'er, slow down, be careful not to fall."

"You've come to see Qingyu? He just fell asleep, so please be quiet."

Lin Qingyue gave Daiyu a wink, signaling her to go in first, then looked at Lin Ruhai and said with a serious expression:

"Father, there's something I need to discuss with you."

This was the second time Lin Ruhai had seen his eldest daughter so serious; the first time was when the monk and the Taoist priest came to their door.

"Let's talk in my study."

Lin Ruhai's study was in the front yard, which was quite far from here. It took the father and daughter fifteen minutes to walk there.

The servants served tea and snacks and quietly left the study.

Lin Ruhai picked up his teacup, skimmed off the foam, took a sip of tea, and looked at his eldest daughter sitting below him.

"Yue'er, why are you in such a hurry to find me? Is something the matter?"

Lin Qingyue placed the secret letter on Lin Ruhai's desk.

"Father, the palace wants to form a marriage alliance with the imperial court."

Lin Ruhai did not open the secret letter; he already knew about it yesterday.

"Yue'er, this has nothing to do with us, there's no need to pay attention to it."

Lin Qingyue, however, persisted and pressed on with her questions.

"Father, how much do you know about the Palace Gate and Wufeng? Why is the imperial court going to arrange a marriage with a martial arts sect? Who proposed this marriage?"

Lin Ruhai was somewhat surprised that Lin Qingyue knew that the Palace Gate was a martial arts sect. Seeing the secret letter on the table, he understood that it must have mentioned something in the letter.

He didn't know much about the palace gates and Wufeng either, but seeing Lin Qingyue's anxious and eager expression, he couldn't help but chuckle.

Although it was unclear why Lin Qingyue was so interested in this matter, it wasn't a secret of the court, so telling her wouldn't hurt.

"Does Yue'er know about the great war with foreign tribes thirty years ago?"

Lin Qingyue nodded. How could she not know? Her maternal grandfather, Jia Daishan, died young because of the illness he developed during this battle.

That battle was also the most brutal major battle since the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Eight tribes, including the Xiongnu, Hu, and Rouran, joined forces to invade the border region. The court mobilized all its elite troops and fought on several fronts. It took six years to achieve a pyrrhic victory.

Although the city was recaptured and hundreds of thousands of enemies were killed, the entire Qing Kingdom was depleted of its treasury and its people were suffering. In some households, not a single able-bodied man could be found.

After thirty years of recuperation, it slowly regained its former prosperity.

"Wu Feng grew rapidly during this period. They adopted all kinds of orphans and trained them to be cold-blooded assassins. They lived among the people, or as they called it, the Jianghu."

"They committed all sorts of evil deeds in the martial arts world, slaughtering many innocent people. Many sects, fearing Wu Feng's threat, submitted to his tutelage."

Lin Qingyue was puzzled. Wasn't this just organized crime? Didn't the imperial court care? Thinking this, she asked directly.

"Father, hasn't the imperial court considered sending troops to wipe them out?"

"Encirclement and suppression?" Lin Ruhai smiled bitterly. "What power does the current imperial court have for that?"

"They are not ordinary bandits; they are all highly skilled individuals."

"Most of the court's military officers are skilled at leading troops and arranging battle formations, but how can their physical skills compare to those of martial arts practitioners?"

"No matter how many troops are mobilized to encircle and suppress them, it will only result in a few more souls falling under the blade."

"Many murder cases have been investigated and found to be committed by them, but the imperial court is powerless to do anything about it."

"They said that matters of the martial world should be settled within the martial world itself, and the imperial court does not need to intervene."

"Later, when they struck again, they would wipe out the entire family. With no survivors, no one came to report the crime."

"In order to avoid provoking the imperial court, Wu Feng never targeted anyone in the government, not even the lowest-ranking constables or yamen runners."

Lin Qingyue clenched her fist silently. It was all ordinary people who were suffering, and since it didn't involve the interests of those in power, they naturally watched coldly.

After a moment of silence, she remembered a TV series she had watched in her previous life. The Divine Marquis's Mansion, where the protagonist worked, seemed to handle cases related to the martial arts world.

"Father, hasn't the imperial court ever considered setting up a special office to handle these matters of the martial arts world?"

"I've thought about it and I've done it." Lin Ruhai's expression showed a hint of helplessness.

"It was proposed by the Crown Prince at the time, and many martial arts masters were recruited."

"But most of these people are carefree and unrestrained, and how could they be willing to obey others and serve the court?"

"At that time, the imperial court joined forces with several small sects to annihilate Wufeng in one fell swoop. However, the news was leaked, and in just one night, those sects were all slaughtered."

"The imperial court issued a warrant for their arrest, but they only found a few small fry, and in the end, the matter was dropped."

"The Crown Prince was also reprimanded by the Emperor for this matter. Now these princes are jumping around like this, and it is said that Wu Feng is behind them."

Lin Qingyue frowned. Was Wu Feng really that strong in the TV series she was watching?

Lin Ruhai continued over here.

"This marriage alliance was proposed by the thirteenth prince."

Lin Qingyue, the thirteenth prince, knew that he was the younger brother of the current crown prince, born of the same mother. He was free-spirited and disliked formalities.

Among the adult princes, he was the only one who did not hold a formal position and spent the whole year traveling.

It now seems that the thirteenth prince's duties lie not in the court, but in the martial world.

Clearly, Lin Ruhai had also considered this point. In this light, the thirteenth prince's connection with the palace was not so simple.

"It is said that the thirteenth prince befriended the palace master of Gongmenjiao Palace during his travels. The two got along very well and became close friends."