The Good Concubine of the Qing Dynasty [Red Mansion]

Faced with these inexplicable visitors, the elderly lady was startled, followed by anger: “Hurry and get someone to chase these two out!”

The monk had a scabby head and bare feet, and the Daoist had a limp and disheveled hair, looking somewhat deranged. How did such people manage to get into the backyard?

The guards had not yet reached the backyard, and the maids and servants nearby rushed to form a human barrier in front of the masters.

But things were indeed strange.

It was unclear how the monk and Daoist managed to separate the crowd. They first scrutinized Daiyu closely, then moved on to Yingyu, Luoyu, and Chenyu, squeezing each of their arms as if checking their authenticity. Finally, the monk looked at the elderly lady and shook his head: “How strange! Why are you here?”

At first, the elderly lady didn’t react, but suddenly she remembered who these two people were.

In the dream world, she couldn’t see every detail clearly. She hadn’t encountered these two individuals in the dream world, but she had heard about them from others.

When Daiyu was three years old, a monk came to the Lin family, claiming he wanted to lead Daiyu to become a nun.

He insisted that she must not be seen crying or by any external relatives or friends, or else her illness would never be cured.

Then this monk went to the Xue family, giving them a prescription. Eventually, the Xue family’s daughter and Baoyu talked about a match made in heaven, with Jin Suo matched to Baoyu, leading to Daiyu’s death from sorrow!

These two people were clearly not good!

Suspecting that the guards, whom she considered useless, would charge in at this moment, they rushed at the two intruders.

In such a small place, the monk and Daoist still managed to dodge and move around, reiterating their intention to lead Daiyu to become a nun and not be seen by outsiders.

Feeling a mix of fear and anger, Jia Min was furious. Was there really someone who would curse her daughter like this?

She resolutely refused: “That’s impossible!”

She would never agree to let her daughter live such a difficult and joyless life!

Upon hearing Jia Min’s response, the Daoist looked at Jia Min’s face, then at the old lady, and calculated with his fingers: “It is you. You were already destined to die, how are you still alive?”

Jia Min was furious.

These two madmen had first cursed her daughter Daiyu and now were speaking such ominous words to the old lady!

The old lady was horrified, retreating while protecting the children and ordering people to quickly capture the two intruders.

The guards responded in unison, and more attendants joined in.

By all rights, they should have been able to capture these two.

However, the two managed to weave their way through the crowd and disappeared.

They left behind a scene of chaos.

The two had come mysteriously and left just as mysteriously.

They came, said some strange things, and then ran away.

Jia Min’s face was covered in frost. They ran away?

The monk may run, but not the temple!

Jia Min quickly turned to her daughter and saw that Daiyu was indeed frightened, her lips tightly pressed, and her eyes full of tears.

Jia Min’s heart ached: “Daiyu, don’t be afraid, Mother is here.” Where did these evil people come from? Her daughter would never be like that.

Daiyu had never encountered such people before. Seeing them gone and her mother comforting her, she finally began to cry.

Yingyu was also a bit scared, but she considered herself grown up and tried not to cry, holding back the tears that filled her eyes.

She looked at her second sister, who indeed showed no sign of fear, only surprise.

Luoyu’s surprise was because, when the person reached out to grab her arm, she tried to dodge, believing she could, but she found she couldn’t move away, just like when her maid grabbed her.

The twins exchanged glances, silently confirming that they had experienced the same thing.

The monk and the Daoist had not really run away but had gone to see Lin Ruhai.

Lin Ruhai was at the yamen when these two appeared before him. The Daoist, calculating with his fingers, said, “Strange, strange. It’s not you but your mother. Do you know which divine being altered your mother’s fate? According to the rules, she should have been dead long ago.”

Lin Ruhai was furious: “Nonsense!”

The Daoist shook his head and sighed: “Strange, strange indeed!”

Just as Lin Ruhai was about to send people to capture them, the two had disappeared again.

He could no longer sit still.

He quickly made his way back, riding hard.

The head of the guards apologized to him, admitting his failure to stop the two individuals.

The old lady spoke up to defend him, saying, “It’s not their fault. The backgrounds of those two are rather unusual.”

Knowing that she should have been dead, they were indeed not ordinary people.

After her initial anger, she began to feel anxious, contemplating whether she should do something, such as finding an alternative method since meeting outsiders was not an option. Perhaps there could be another way, such as hiring a substitute who shared similar attributes to take Daiyu’s place.

It would only require spending some money.

The fate of her granddaughter in the past life was far from good, which made her wary of ignoring the words of those two.

The more she considered it, the more determined she became. Even if her son disagreed, she was resolved to proceed.

Seeing her resolve, Lin Ruhai, who had been angry, fell silent.

Her attitude reminded him of when he was reluctant to take a concubine, and his mother had insisted he agree.

Recalling this, he agreed readily: “I will handle this matter.”

Finding a substitute was not difficult. Many poor families, struggling for their daily meals, would be willing to take Daiyu’s place as a layperson in a monastery, especially since it involved only offering incense and prayers without any labor, and they would be assured of food and drink.

“Mother, what about those two?”

The old lady shook her head: “They were spouting nonsense. Don’t take them too seriously. I’m just being cautious.”

Having lived this long, even if she were to die now, she would have no regrets towards the ancestors of the Lin family.

However, she had not yet seen her grandson come of age and prosper, so she was still worried.

Yun Shuyou was in her own courtyard at the time, and except for special circumstances, she generally did not bring her maid to visit the old lady.

Therefore, she only learned about it afterward.

She recalled that there were indeed such characters in *Dream of the Red Chamber*, but she was unaware of what they actually did. Upon hearing Luoyu’s account, her brows furrowed. She carefully checked both children from top to bottom, confirming they were unharmed before she felt relieved.

As for their sudden appearance and disappearance, Yun Shuyou became highly alert.

Could those two be the legendary practitioners?

She thought her self-defense measures should be sufficient, as there were no zombies to fight here, and generally, as a maid, she wouldn’t have to deal with assassins.

However, it seemed she couldn’t be too cautious.

High-level ability users, of course, have their own means of self-defense. For instance, she had seen a level six ability user who could control vines, a powerful tool for both offense and defense.

She was currently level five and didn’t possess such strength.

But her current physical condition was not inferior to those seasoned practitioners who had trained for a lifetime.

Her recovery speed was also beyond that of ordinary people.

Being called a “little superman” in the modern world wasn’t a problem.

Although she lacked some offensive techniques, her strength meant even a single leaf could become a formidable hidden weapon.

As for weapons suited to wood-based ability users, like vines, they had high requirements for seeds.

Yun Shuyou hadn’t found any satisfactory seeds.

If one were to categorize the levels of spiritual energy concentration, the apocalypse world would be the most chaotic but also the highest in spiritual energy. Next would be the *Dream of the Red Chamber* world, with modern times being the lowest.

The difference between the *Dream of the Red Chamber* world and modern times wasn’t too significant, but there were certainly still many hidden realms here.

If those two people had real skills, would they have any valuable items, or even cultivation techniques?

Yun Shuyou took a deep breath.

Undeniably, she was intrigued.

…

Yun Shuyou proposed to strengthen the martial arts lessons for the children this time, and Lin Ruhai agreed immediately without hesitation.

Previously, they had only provided basic training, especially for their daughter, which amounted to learning some superficial techniques. Even if Yun Shuyou hadn’t suggested it, Lin Ruhai was already considering it.

While working on enhancing the children’s abilities, he also began searching for more experts to come to their residence.

If the visitors were not merely there to observe but intended to do something, what would happen to the Lin family?

If it were an assassination attempt, the entire Lin family could be wiped out.

Just thinking about this possibility made Lin Ruhai restless.

If two assassins had broken into the residence of a third-grade official and left unharmed, it would undoubtedly cause a major uproar.

Lin Ruhai had just begun his new position.

As the saying goes, “a new official takes office with three fires” — it’s expected to make some significant moves to establish authority, and this situation was akin to being slapped in the face.

Soon, a wanted notice was posted at the city gates.

A high reward was offered for information about their whereabouts.

Seeing the reward amount, many people were tempted. The two individuals’ features were also quite distinct, but it was as if they could fly and evade detection. Despite numerous searches, no one had seen them.

What people didn’t know was that the two were quietly lamenting their misfortune in a dilapidated temple in the mountains.

They had some skills but couldn’t cover great distances in a single step.

Initially, the leper monk noticed something was off but didn’t understand why the situation at the Lin family differed so much from the results he had calculated.

He then brought the limping Taoist with him, and together they visited the Lin family.

The limping Taoist found the cause.

It was a problem related to the Lin family’s matriarch.

One issue could trigger a chain reaction.

Her fate was supposed to have ended long ago, but when the limping Taoist came to visit, he saw that the old lady’s fate had already changed.

Not only had her death been postponed, but if nothing unexpected happened, she could live for several more years!

That would make their plans very difficult to carry out.

Even if Jia Min’s fate hadn’t changed much from the divination results, with the old lady still around, how could they ensure she met with misfortune?

As for directly taking action to alter the Lin family’s matriarch’s fate, that would be courting death.

They had endured much hardship in their cultivation and had no desire to seek their own destruction.

Now that they had identified the problem, the question was how to solve it?

Before they could figure that out, they were already being hunted. They had no choice but to hide and flee.

Leper Monk: “Should we report this information?”

Limping Taoist: “Report it like this? Do you want to be punished?”

The Leper Monk fell silent, shaking his head and sighing.

They were at the mercy of others and had no way out.

They were already reluctant to be involved in such tasks, and now they had made a mistake.

Leper Monk: “How about we check on other people to see if everything is normal?”

Limping Taoist: “Alright, let’s go!”

The two individuals were in constant distress, and so were those searching for them.

This time, the order to capture them came from the top, so they dared not be careless.

If they managed to capture them, they could at least show they had done something.

However, despite their efforts, they couldn’t find the two individuals. Even though their descriptions were very clear, they were constantly being berated for incompetence, which was far from pleasant.

As time went on, and they still couldn’t locate the two, they began to suspect that the fugitives might have changed their appearances to avoid detection.

If they removed their conspicuous features and changed their clothing, they would be very hard to recognize.

Naturally, Lin Ruhai was not pleased with this outcome.

He had set up an extensive network of surveillance in the Lin residence, but unfortunately, the two individuals did not return.

Someone with inside information must have known about Lin Ruhai’s previous inquiry into the panda’s whereabouts and sent one over.

When Lin Ruhai saw it, he had it sent to the Lin residence and placed it in the small courtyard next to Yun Shuyao’s.

He also arranged for special personnel to guard it.

As it grew, it would become quite large and could be dangerous, so it was better to prepare in advance.

The panda was still in its juvenile stage and was very cute.

From the moment it arrived, it quickly won the hearts of Luoyu and Chenyu. Soon, Yingyu also became a frequent visitor, often coming by during breaks.

Especially when it was cleaned and sat on the ground eating bamboo, looking innocently at everyone, its cuteness was irresistible.

Daiyu visited once and didn’t want to leave.

Daiyu had always been kept close by Jia Min and rarely played with her siblings.

Now that she was coming out on her own and interacting more with her brother and sister, Lin Ruhai felt a sense of relief.

Jia Min did not stop her.

She was aware of her own condition.

She had fallen ill again.

Over the years, both mother and daughter had been taking medicine together.

As her daughter grew older, her condition improved, but Jia Min found herself growing weaker and more helpless.

Her husband had been trying to find doctors to cure her.

She also wanted to see Daiyu grow up.

But she had a premonition that she would not be able to.

Even without the panda, she would still encourage her children to build good relationships with their siblings.

And…

One day, Yun Shuyao received a message and went to the main courtyard.

Jia Min was sitting there, gazing faintly out the window.

If time were to freeze, this would be a typical depiction of an ancient lady.

Jia Min turned around, “You’re here, sit down.”

Yun Shuyao sat down, “Madam.”

She wondered what Jia Min wanted to discuss.

Jia Min waved her hand, and someone brought tea. Then everyone left the room, closing the door behind them.

It seemed like something important was about to be said.

It was indeed a major matter.

When Jia Min spoke, her words were earth-shattering: “I don’t have much time left.”

Yun Shuyao’s alertness immediately heightened to the maximum: “Madam, please don’t say such ominous things.”

Jia Min looked at Yun Shuyao with a calm gaze, “There’s no need to discuss that. I haven’t lived my life in vain. The only thing I’m worried about is Daiyu. You know, once I’m gone, there’s a significant chance that the master might remarry. I want to make a deal with you…”