Chapter 1: The Star of Death (Please collect it.)
On the 20th day of the twelfth lunar month, in the western part of the capital, at the Rongguo Mansion in Judefang.

The sky was gloomy and it had been snowing all day outside. The window frames of the west-facing compartment were covered with snowflakes.

The dry and hard window paper could not keep out the cold, and the room was freezing.

There was only a desk with a missing corner and an old wooden bed in the room.

There was an elm sleeper couch in front of the wooden bed, and a guqin was hung on the empty wall opposite.

The furniture was very old and broken, and there was nothing else in the room. It looked like a snow cave, shabby and simple.

On the desk by the window, a thin young man was writing with a brush, occasionally raising his hand to his mouth to blow air.

There were a few pieces of dry charcoal burning in the charcoal basin on the ground. The dark red flames were mixed with a few wisps of gray smoke, which made people dizzy.

The young man stood up, held on to the table and opened the window a crack. A gust of cold wind came into the room, making him shiver.

But he still left the window a cracked, as it would be serious if he inhaled the charcoal gas.

He grew up in this cramped little courtyard, which had only three rooms, two of which were filled with unused items.

The East Courtyard where the first-class general Jia She lived was built by separating an area from the back garden of the Rongguo Mansion.

This small courtyard was the first one built when the East Courtyard was constructed, and was used to store bricks, tiles and tools for building the courtyard.

It was also a place for the coolies who carried earth and built walls to rest and cook.

After the East Courtyard was completed, this small courtyard was slightly renovated and became a storehouse for storing sundries in the East Courtyard.

In the wealthy and elegant Rongguo Mansion, there is no place more dilapidated than this place.

Fortunately, the people who live here know how to clean up, so both inside and outside the house are clean and simple.

The maid Zhishao hurried forward and helped the boy to sit down. She was a few years older than the boy, and the girl's slenderness and childish beauty had already begun to emerge.

She wore a light green silk cotton jacket, a washed-out blue satin vest on the outside, and a gray turquoise sweat towel tied around her slender waist.

Seeing Jia Cong's somewhat stiff body, Zhishao frowned and took a soft cloth cushion and placed it on the chair.

"Zhishao, do you still have the bamboo charcoal you used a few days ago? This charcoal is so stinking."

"The charcoal was all used up yesterday, so I went to ask Wang Shanbao's wife to get some more. She said it was cold these days and all the good charcoal was gone, so there was only firewood.

But I heard earlier that the West Mansion had just received 1,000 kilograms of silver frost charcoal and 2,000 kilograms of bamboo charcoal, and Second Madam Lian had someone send a lot of it to the Master. How come it’s gone in just one or two days?”

The wet nurse Zhao Ma gritted her teeth and said, "That Wang Shanbao has a pair of dog eyes, but our Third Master is an upright master.

We can’t use silver frost charcoal, and we are not allowed to use inferior bamboo charcoal. We are fooled by the charcoal from the kitchen stove. What a black-hearted woman.”

Shenjing is located in the north, and it is very cold in winter. The charcoal fire in the house and the food in the bowl are equally important, and they are both important things for surviving the winter.

Wang Shanbao, the housekeeper, was used to seeing her master's mood, so she dared not withhold charcoal from Jia Cong's room. She could not cover up the fact that Jia Cong froze to death.

But it didn't matter if he gave the charcoal to the lower class and smoked the wild thing raised by the prostitute half to death. It satisfied the eldest lady's wishes and she was proud of it.

Jia Cong knew that Wang Shanbao was originally Mrs. Xing's companion and was as sarcastic and mean as her master.

Zhi Shao pouted and said, "Mom is just talking in the yard, don't go out and tell others about it, or you'll bring trouble to the Third Master."

After hearing this, Nanny Zhao was speechless. Although she was a bit fierce, she knew that Zhishao had good intentions and that she was saying this for her own good.

I clearly nursed a young master, but I never expected him to live such a miserable life. There is still room for discussion about the affairs of this mansion.

Zhishao complained softly, "Third Master, your injury hasn't healed yet. Why are you trying to write now if you don't stay on the kang? If you develop a chronic disease, it won't be easy to get sick."

Jia Cong smiled bitterly in his heart. Twenty days ago, he was a researcher at a provincial museum. One day, he worked overtime until midnight and was returning home when he was hit by a car that ran a red light.

After waking up, he became Jia Cong, the illegitimate son of Jia She of Rongguo Mansion.

According to the maid Zhishao, that day was Jia She's birthday. He went to Jia She's yard to kowtow and somehow knocked over and broke Jia She's purple jade inlaid seven treasures ruyi.

The purple jade ruyi was something Jia She had just obtained from outside, and it was said to be very valuable, so the couple treasured it very much. However, Jia Cong broke it.

Mrs. Xing, who was very thrifty, was so distressed that she trembled with pain and even shouted that she wanted to kill this unlucky thing to settle the score.

Jia She has looked down on his son since he was born.

Now that his treasure had been destroyed and his wife was crying and yelling at him, it aroused even more malice.

He called the servant outside the second gate, pinned Jia Cong down and gave him a scolding.

Jia Cong was disliked by everyone in the mansion, and no servant took him seriously.

Jia She continued to yell and scold, and shouted that he should be beaten to death. Although the servants who knew the family law used some force, they did not dare to be too cruel. After all, he was a direct descendant of the master, and if he was beaten to death, he would have to pay with his life.

In the end, Jia She couldn't get enough of his anger, so he snatched the board and hit it hard a few times himself.

Jia Cong was beaten so hard that his skin was torn and blood splattered everywhere.

When Nanny Zhao rushed to Jia Cong's room after hearing the news, she found that Jia Cong was dead, so she carried him back to the room and took care of him.

After all, he was lucky enough to be saved, but no one knew that this Jia Cong was no longer the same Jia Cong.

……

In his previous life, because of his profession and interest, he had studied "Dream of Red Mansions" in depth.

Jia Cong only appeared a few times in "Dream of Red Mansions" and was only mentioned briefly, but he was just a background character.

But he is the legitimate grandson of the Rongguo Mansion after all. Although Jia She is a good-for-nothing, even a tiger will not eat its own cubs. He did not expect that Jia She would be so cruel to his own son.

He stayed in the house for nearly half a month to recuperate from his injuries, and gradually recalled many memories of his previous life.

After learning a lot of old news from Zhishao and Aunt Zhao, I finally understood the reason.

Jia Cong's biological mother was a prostitute in Jinyun Tower in Shenjing City. Because she was very beautiful, she was forcibly bought away by Jia She before she could receive any customers.

The concubines in the Rong and Ning mansions were either from humble families or born as servants who were favored because of their birth.

The background of Jia Cong's biological mother was extremely shameful. If Jia She had not been lustful and absurd, such a woman would never have appeared in the Jia family.

Later, the woman gave birth to Jia Cong, but unexpectedly, the child had a strong life.

His aunt was fine when she gave birth to him, but suddenly died the next day. The doctor said that she was born with congenital deficiencies and had lost her vitality and suffered a hemorrhage, so she didn't survive. She was a person with bad luck.

But strange things happened again. The girl who was helping the midwife to deliver the baby suddenly slipped and fell in the garden, and happened to hit her head on a rock, splitting her head and killing her.

Finally, the hired midwife, taking the wedding money given by the Jia family, happily hurried home, but was kicked to death by a frightened horse on the way.

What kind of weird things could happen in this world? Several people who picked up Jia Cong lost their lives one after another, which scared the people in the mansion. Everyone knew that the Third Master Cong was a tough and unlucky person.

Finally, the old lady in the West Mansion made a harsh statement that any servant who dared to spread the news would be tied up and beaten to death.

The most coincidental thing was that less than a week after Jia Cong was born, Duke Rong Jia Daishan passed away due to illness. Although it had nothing to do with Jia Cong, it still aroused people's suspicion, as if Jia Cong had hindered his grandfather.

The old lady had always looked down on her eldest son because he was a lecher and a scoundrel, and only doted on her second son who was studying hard.

This time, the eldest son married a prostitute, who gave birth to a vicious and evil child who killed a large number of people. He became a laughing stock in the circle of wealthy families in Shenjing City, and brought great shame to the Jia family.

The old lady, who had loved her face all her life, was furious and was also in great pain from losing her husband. Her eldest son was so licentious and despicable. If it weren't for the iron rule that the eldest son should inherit the title, and Jia Daishan's last will and testament.

Maybe even giving the title to the second son would suit her wishes.

In the end, they could only hold their noses and let Jia She inherit the title of first-class general. They sent him to live alone in the East Courtyard, so that he could out of sight and out of mind.

……

Jia She is a pervert. He takes into his room all the beautiful women in the mansion, whether they are fragrant or smelly. How can such a man have any loyalty?

At first, I was only attracted by the beauty of the prostitute, but the attraction faded after it wore off.

He never thought that the woman would give birth to such a tragic son, which not only brought shame to him, but also made his mother dislike him. He was kicked out of the Rongguo Mansion in disguise.

He did not think he had done anything wrong. He felt that his son was a jinx and a hindrance to him, and he wished he would die sooner rather than later.

The first wife, Mrs. Xing, was born in a poor family. She flattered her husband blindly and was greedy for money. She was always concerned about the money coming in and going out, and she would rack her brains to embezzle some of it.

He didn't care about the rest of the human relationships and worldly wisdom, and treated this illegitimate son born to a prostitute like a piece of trash. He despised him to the core, saying that he was not even as good as the dirt on the ground outside the second gate.

The old lady actually liked good-looking youngsters, but since Jia Cong had died in such a tragic way and his mother was so miserable, she felt timid.

Besides, she was rich, happy and long-lived, and was the golden bridge between the East and West Palaces. No one dared to push this fatal person towards her for fear of ruining her life.

Therefore, Jia Cong rarely showed up in front of the old lady from childhood to adulthood, and the old lady couldn't even remember what her grandson looked like.

What the superior likes, the subordinates will like even more. The maids and servants in the mansion are the best at reading the wind's direction. They also speak coldly to this motherless woman behind her back. The master is living a life not as luxurious as the maidservants around the mistress.

Jia She and his wife scolded this bastard every three days and beat him every five days. Everyone in the East Courtyard knew about it, but they kept it secret and tried not to let the news reach the West Courtyard.

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(End of this chapter)