Dream of the Red Chamber: From a Border Ruffian to a Capital Tyrant

"Like birds that have eaten their fill and flown back to the forest, leaving behind a vast, clean, white expanse of earth!"

This judgment, like a magic spell, exploded in Jia Lang's mind.

In my past life, I read Dream of the Red Chamber as just a story of joys and sorrows, but now it has become a Damocles' sword hanging over my head!

He didn't enjoy a single bit of the immense wealth and power that the Jia family enjoyed during its heyday.

But the tragic end of the tree falling and the monkeys scattering was like a black pot, firmly placed on his back.

Those snobbish servants were calling him "Second Master Lang" all the time, and that title was definitely not unfounded.

If it were a poor, distant relative, these sycophantic lackeys would have kicked him away long ago; why would they have the patience to come and collect the debt?

The character "琅" refers to Jia Lang of the Ningguo Mansion...

Jia Lang frantically searched his memory for anything related to Dream of the Red Chamber. From Jia Yan to Jia Daihua, and then to Jia Jing and Jia Zhen, every name was familiar, but he couldn't find the name "Jia Lang" anywhere!

Am I invisible?

Or is he just a marginal cannon fodder character that even Cao Xueqin didn't bother to mention?

Thinking of this, Jia Lang looked down at the coarse linen clothes he was wearing, which were faded from washing and even had several holes in them. His stomach rumbled in protest, and hunger surged like a tide.

Recalling the arrogant and domineering faces of those servants just now, a feeling of sorrow and anger welled up in his heart.

"I'm afraid if it were that unlucky guy from before, you bunch of lackeys would have really driven him to his death... Now that I've taken over your body, I'll avenge you!"

Jia Lang touched his shriveled belly, a self-deprecating yet ruthless smile curving his lips, and muttered to himself.

After a brief moment of sadness, the reality of hunger brought him back to the present.

"Fine! Since I'm here, I might as well make the best of it! I can't possibly become the first protagonist to starve to death right after transmigrating!"

Jia Lang stood up and turned the tattered clothes inside out, but he couldn't find a single copper coin.

But he quickly adjusted his mindset. As a bookworm who has been navigating the internet in the 21st century, thick skin is a basic survival skill, and having enough to eat is the only truth!

He made up his mind to first go to this so-called Ningguo Mansion to "recognize relatives" and fill his stomach before making any further plans.

Since those servants called him Second Master, presumably if he went to freeload a few meals, those so-called "relatives" wouldn't beat him out for the sake of face.

However, reality is crueler than imagined.

They got to eat, but they also got to experience plenty of eye-rolling.

The gates of Ningguo Mansion are not so easy to enter.

For the sake of those dozen or so acres of ancestral land deeds, Jia Lang, relying solely on his physical strength, caused a huge uproar in the main hall of the Ningguo Mansion.

It turned out that the land deed had long been stolen by the chief steward Lai Er, and the so-called "land acquisition" was just a formality.

Although Jia Lang's outburst terrified Lai Er and forced him to pay several hundred taels of silver as "hush money," it also thoroughly offended the masters of the Ningguo Mansion, turning him into a "troublemaker" that everyone wanted to beat.

But that's exactly what Jia Lang wanted!

As Jia Lang gazed at the unfamiliar blue sky above, the confusion in his eyes gradually faded, replaced by a wild and ruthless energy that grew like weeds.

They come, the security!

Since God gave me this body that can tear tigers and leopards apart, I have to find a new way to live in this cannibalistic world!

He took the silver and went straight to the Rongguo Mansion, heading directly to the courtyard of the housekeeper, Wang Xifeng.

He knew very well that there were only two ways to survive and make a living in this cannibalistic world:

Take the imperial examination to become a civil official, or go to the battlefield to earn military merit!

liberal arts?

Jia Lang smiled.

Without Baidu on his phone and without search engines, the hundreds of Tang and Song poems in his mind were all fragments, and he couldn't even recognize all the Four Books and Five Classics.

To take the imperial examination?

I'm afraid those old scholars will laugh their heads off!

Only the martial path!

The Jia family are descendants of military heroes who founded the dynasty. Although the current generation of descendants are all soft-hearted and lazy, and no one is willing to go to the border to suffer from the wind and sand, the blood of martial spirit is engraved in the genes of this body!

With a height of over eight feet and seemingly inexhaustible strength, it would be a waste not to use him for fighting on the battlefield!

Wang Xifeng was a shrewd person who was greedy for money and knew how to treat people differently based on their social status.

Jia Lang's spending of several hundred taels of silver, coupled with his neither humble nor arrogant, even somewhat reckless, "bold words," earned him a higher opinion of Feng Lazi.

The matter was reported up the chain of command, eventually alarming the matriarch of Rongqing Hall—Grandmother Jia.

When Grandmother Jia heard the name "Jia Lang", she was completely stunned.

This name, like a rusty key, unlocked her long-sealed memories.

That was the only bloodline left by Jia Daihua's third son from Ningguo Mansion!

Back then, the two Dukes of Ning and Rong were such heroes, and their third son was even more like his father, wielding a long spear with unparalleled skill. He was the most promising candidate among the third generation of the Jia family to take over as the military governor of the capital garrison.

Unfortunately, fate was cruel to the talented, and he died young, which led to the gradual decline of the Jia family's influence in the army, and even the important position of the military governor of the capital fell into the hands of outsiders.

"That child... has grown so much? And he's going to join the army?"

Grandmother Jia held her Buddhist prayer beads in her hand, a complex expression flashing in her eyes, a mixture of nostalgia for the past and helplessness in the face of the present.

Wang Xifeng added fuel to the fire, telling the story of Jia Lang's rampage at Ningguo Mansion as a joke, while omitting Jia Lang's fighting prowess and only calling him a "foolish fool".

Upon hearing that her grandson had not only failed to inherit his father's heroic spirit but had instead become a "scoundrel" who only knew how to bully his own family, Grandmother Jia's initial interest in meeting him vanished instantly.

"Fine, since he's a good-for-nothing, keeping him in the capital will only bring shame to the family."

"Since he wants to go to the border, let's grant his wish. It will also preserve his father's reputation for loyalty and bravery."

Since Grandmother Jia had given her instructions, Jia Zheng naturally dared not neglect them.

Although this official was a proper scholar, he had also heard of Jia Lang's "glorious deeds" in Ningguo Mansion.

Although he was disappointed in him, he still considered the fact that the child was his third brother's only bloodline.

Jia Zheng opened the old military records and found an old bodyguard who had followed Jia Daihua back then, who was now serving as the commander at Yanmen Pass.

"In that case, let's send him to Yanmen Pass."

Jia Zheng then changed his tone and wrote a letter of recommendation.

"It's a place far from the emperor's reach, and it's also a harsh and cold land, perfect for tempering one's character."

"If he's promising, then the old man will take care of him out of old friendship; if he's utterly useless, then it'll save the Jia family from disgracing themselves by dying outside the Great Wall!"

Thus, carrying the scheming of the powerful families in the capital, the disdain of the Ningguo Mansion, and Jia Lang's own restless ambition, he was "kicked" out of the bustling capital by a transfer order and headed north to the windswept Yanmen Pass.

No one expected that this journey would be like a hidden dragon entering the sea and a fierce tiger returning to the mountain!

That "scoundrel" Second Master, in everyone's eyes, will unleash a bloodbath in the northern frontier of the Great Qian Dynasty!