Lin's Mother in the Dream of the Red Chamber 2, Mwah!

The Lin family's old residence covers a large area. After all, Lin Yan was once a marquis, and his ancestors had been marquises for three generations, so they had once enjoyed a glorious life.

The house was built in the style of Jiangnan gardens, with small bridges, flowing water, pavilions and towers, and a beautiful view at every turn, exuding understated elegance and luxury.

Most of the servants in the Lin family were born into the family. They might have had some selfish motives before, but under the influence of the loyalty talisman, they were all as energetic as if they had been injected with chicken blood.

Since Lin Yan left, the profits from the estate and shops have decreased year by year. When asked, the answer is always the same: disaster or poor business.

When faced with someone like Chen Xia who lacks martial ethics, one should simply use the Loyalty Talisman to overpower him with sheer force.

The village heads and managers wept bitterly, confessing everything they had done and making up for all the embezzled money.

Chen Xia directly replaced those who lacked ability, and gave those who were capable a chance, since they wouldn't dare to deceive him in the slightest again.

During the Kangxi era, winters in the capital were unusually cold. Chen Xia summoned Lin Tailin, the steward.

He was instructed to find craftsmen to renovate and rebuild the Lan Gui Tang, where the original owner later lived, including laying fire channels in the ground, creating a heated room, and installing a heated kang (a traditional Chinese bed-and-heated platform).

In winter, she will move to Lan Guitang, and the main courtyard will also be completely renovated in preparation for Lin Hai to live there after he gets married.

The Lin family's head butler has been in charge of the household for generations, and he is extremely capable. Chen Xia simply stated her requirements, and the renovated Lan Gui Tang perfectly matched her aesthetic.

Three months have passed since Chen Xia transmigrated here. Under her constant nurturing and encouragement, Lin Hai has been transformed into an all-around talent proficient in both literature and martial arts.

Lin Hai has been feeling tired but happy lately. Every night after he falls asleep, he goes to a place called the library.

There, he studied under many historically renowned Confucian scholars, learning from them how to analyze policy questions using the concept of "practical application to governance."

While solidifying their academic foundation, students should focus on exam-taking skills and practice with past provincial and palace examination questions and prediction questions.

During this time, the original owner's two older brothers advised her that Lin Hai was too young and that entering the competition too early would do more harm than good. They suggested that she take a few years to calm down and prepare properly for the next spring imperial examination.

Chen Xia: "I think it wouldn't hurt to let Hai'er give it a try. If he passes, everyone will be happy. If he doesn't pass, he's still young, so it's good for him to gain experience and learn from his mistakes."

The brothers Chen Songnian and Chen Henian were worried that their nephew was too impetuous at a young age, and that his previous scientific expeditions had been too smooth.

If he fails the imperial examination and can't handle the blow, he might become despondent and never recover. She specifically came to discuss this with her older sister, asking her to persuade Lin Hai to take three years to reflect before taking the exam again.

As a result, not only did he fail to convince Chen Xia, his older sister, but he was actually convinced by her.

Thinking about it carefully, it's precisely because my nephew's scientific research journey has been so smooth that experiencing some setbacks and blows might not be a bad thing.

Little did they know that Chen Xia's reason for encouraging her son Lin Hai to participate in this year's imperial examination was not to subject him to setbacks.

Rather, it was to enable him to achieve fame at a young age, and to portray himself as a benevolent ruler, that Kangxi consistently implemented so-called benevolent policies.

Lin Hai has advantages: firstly, he is young; secondly, he is good-looking, even more so than Nalan Rongruo; thirdly, he is a good writer; and fourthly, he is the son of a veteran official.

Emperor Kangxi valued and cherished talent, and it was highly likely that he would give him an important position.

Chen Xia planned to have Lin Hai stay in the Hanlin Academy for a few more years, and not let him touch that hot potato of Jiangnan salt tax.

Before the two Chen brothers left, Chen Xia dismissed everyone around him and instructed them: "Go back and tell Father that I had a dream. I dreamt of Mother. Mother repeatedly told me to tell Father not to submit any memorials to the Emperor mentioning anything about the 'fire tax being returned to the public.'"

Tell your father, "Don't do it! The Emperor won't agree to this proposal, and it will offend many people."

Mother said, "If Father submits a memorial to the throne, all that awaits us is the destruction of our family and the death of our people."

Chen Songnian and Chen Henian returned home bewildered, went to their father's study, and told him what Chen Xia had said.

Chen Daiyue gasped. He was certain that he had never told anyone about his plan to submit a memorial to Emperor Kangxi proposing the return of the fire tax to the public treasury.

The Chen brothers, Chen Songnian and Chen Henian, didn't really believe Chen Xia's words.

But as the saying goes, an elder sister is like a mother. Since Chen's mother passed away early, Chen Songnian and Chen Henian were raised by their elder sister Chen Xia. No matter how outrageous Chen Xia's words were, they would still obediently relay them.

But their father's reaction made them realize that their eldest sister was telling the truth. The two brothers panicked: "Father, if you submit this memorial, it's like throwing away the rice bowls of all the county and prefectural officials!"

"No wonder Mother was so anxious that she appeared in my sister's dream. Father, if you submit this memorial, our whole family might really be in danger!"

Chen Daiyue sighed; he understood this principle all too well. These past few days, he had been struggling with whether or not to submit a memorial.

He knew very well that even if he submitted it, the memorial would most likely be suppressed and not discussed by Emperor Kangxi.

Although Chen Xia used the pretense of her mother appearing in a dream to have her two younger brothers deliver a message to their father, the threat of family ruin and death was not an exaggeration on her part.

In his previous life, the Chen family fell into ruin because of this. His father was ousted from the capital and on his way to take up his post in Hainan, he was attacked by river bandits and none of them survived.

The original owner didn't understand what was going on and thought she had really been harmed by river bandits. But after Chen Xia went through her memories, she discovered that her father, Chen Daiyue, had actually submitted a memorial proposing that the fire tax be returned to the public.

Her father was truly courageous. The reason why Emperor Yongzheng had such a bad reputation was largely due to his implementation of the "fire tax reform" and the "land tax reform".

Fire loss was actually an additional tax levied by local governments on the people under the pretext of losses during the process of melting down broken silver into standard silver ingots.

This resulted in a situation where the official tax was one tael, but only two or three taels were actually paid, with the excess amount going into the pockets of officials under the guise of "fire loss".

Now her father is proposing to attribute this money to meritorious officials, isn't that cutting off the source of wealth for those corrupt officials? And not just one or two, but almost all of them.

After all, the practice of accepting bribes for firework has become an unspoken rule among officials, and her father is now standing against the entire officialdom.

The key point is that Emperor Kangxi was an emperor who cherished his reputation. He always touted himself as a benevolent ruler and was even willing to let officials who were short of money borrow money from the Ministry of Revenue.

He would never agree to his father's suggestion, so his father had done the dirty work for nothing.

Chen Songnian and Chen Henian were truly anxious when they saw their father remain silent. Although their official positions were not high, one was in the Ministry of War and the other in the Ministry of Justice, so they were not novice when it came to officialdom.

They knew all too well that their father's memorial could truly cost the entire family their lives.

Chen Daiyue hesitated for a moment, still feeling somewhat unwilling, and waved his hand: "You two go ahead and do your work, I will consider it carefully."

Chen Xia knew that his father was the kind of person who wouldn't give up until he hit a brick wall, so that night he asked the little system to give him a dream-making talisman.

He exaggerated the experiences of his family in his previous life and stuffed them all into his dream. This dream made Chen Daiyue believe that he had been reborn. The first thing he did after being reborn was to go straight to his study and burn that memorial.

After burning the memorial, Chen Daiyue was still somewhat shaken. He had been so foolish in his previous life, thinking he was loyal to the emperor and patriotic. He submitted a memorial proposing that Emperor Kangxi return the fire tax to the public, but his memorial was suppressed and not mentioned again.

Later, he was framed by the combined forces of Suo'etu and Mingzhu and demoted to Hainan. On the way, he encountered river bandits, and his two sons were killed in front of him, while his daughter-in-law and granddaughter were raped to death.

Seeing his entire family suffer such a calamity, he was filled with remorse. As the official posing as a river bandit slit his throat, he vowed that if he could start his life over again, he would never again be a foolish loyal subject.

Having been given a second chance at life, he has only one wish: for his children to live well.

When Chen Daiyue recalled how, after he died in his previous life, he became a ghost and saw on the Wangxiang Terrace that his grandson was ostracized and suppressed because of his own stupidity, and was eventually killed by the Jia family, causing his family line to end, Chen Daiyue's heart ached.

After sorting out his memories, Chen Daiyue determined the future direction of his family. The first step was to build a good relationship with the Fourth Prince and get on his good side in advance.

Another point is that his family needs to maintain a good relationship with the direct descendant of Chen Tingjing. Now that the princes have begun to enter the court, he should just pretend to be a deaf and dumb Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue.

A few days later, Chen Henian came to Chen Xia mysteriously and said, "Sister, Dad burned that memorial, and he hasn't been sighing so much lately. Do you think he's come to terms with things?"

Chen Xia pushed the newly made osmanthus pastries in front of him: "I think so. How have you been at the Ministry of Justice lately? Is everything going smoothly?"

Speaking of this, Chen Henian perked up: "Sister, let me tell you, I think our mother must be a fairy descended from heaven."

She actually found me two ghost masters to learn how to solve cases. Don't laugh, I'm not kidding, it's only you; I definitely wouldn't tell anyone else. Guess who they are?

Chen Xia took a bite of osmanthus cake and casually said, "It can't possibly be Lord Di Renjie, can it?"

Chen Henian slapped his thigh: "That's why you say my sister is smart, she's like my idols, Judge Dee and Judge Bao. Now if anyone tells me that our mother isn't a fairy, I won't believe it."

My eldest brother also has a master, but he's very tight-lipped, so I can't guess who it is. However, I saw him reading something about the "Military Treatise of Yue Fei." Sister, how come I didn't know there was such a military manual?

Chen Xia poured him a cup of tea: "After talking so much, you must be thirsty. Have some tea and a snack. There's a reason why your older brother didn't tell you. You should learn how to solve cases properly from your idol. Don't talk nonsense after you leave this house, or people will think you've lost your mind."

Chen Henian isn't stupid, so he definitely wouldn't go out and talk nonsense. The key thing is that he discovered that apart from Chen Xia, he became mute whenever anyone wanted to talk to him, not even his own father.

Chen Xia went to great lengths to pave the way for his eldest son, Lin Hai, and to ensure that he had connections in the officialdom.

Since Lin Yan's death, the Lin family's relationship with the clan has become distant. The Chen family is her maternal family, and the more prosperous the Chen family becomes, the greater the support Lin Hai will receive in the future.

In the spring of the twenty-seventh year of the Kangxi Emperor's reign, on the eighth day of the third month, Lin Hai, carrying his examination basket, mingled with a group of middle-aged and even elderly candidates for the imperial examinations and entered the examination hall.

The imperial examination consisted of three sessions, each lasting three days. Candidates entered the examination hall one day in advance and submitted their papers the following day.

The first exam consisted of the eight-legged essay, with questions drawn from the Four Books and Five Classics. The second exam tested practical official documents, and the third was a policy question.

These questions were a piece of cake for Lin Hai. He had practiced similar questions countless times, and his writing flowed effortlessly, as if guided by divine inspiration. He could compose poems and sentences with ease, as if writing clouds and water, all in one go.

Lin Hai first wrote down the answers on the draft paper, then revised and revised them repeatedly. Only after he was sure there were no problems did he carefully copy them onto the exam paper.

After finishing the three exams, Lin Hai was taken home by the housekeeper and fell asleep immediately. He slept for a day and a night. When he woke up, he ran to the yard and practiced some boxing before feeling alive again.

He's almost certain to pass the imperial examination this time; now it's just a matter of how high his ranking will be.

In the past, Lin Hai would have been nervous, but now he's been brainwashed by Chen Xia. He figured he could just take the exam again next year. The exam papers are already in, so there's no point in being nervous now.

What followed was a long wait. Lin Ruhai was preparing for the palace examination, which was personally set and presided over by Emperor Kangxi, and the examination venue was the Hall of Preserving Harmony.

In mid-April, the list of successful candidates in the imperial examination was finally posted on the outer wall of the examination hall. Steward Lin lost his shoes in the crowd when he went to see the list.

Supported by two servants, the old woman, overcome with emotion, burst into tears: "Madam, the young master has passed the imperial examination with top honors..."

Chen Xia smiled broadly: "My son is very capable. Everyone in the household has been rewarded with half a year's salary. Old steward, you've worked hard. Go and rest."

The messengers delivering the good news arrived in waves, clearing the way with gongs. On such a joyous occasion, Chen Xia was naturally generous, giving out very generous amounts of money as a token of celebration.

When the list of successful candidates for the imperial examination was released, Emperor Kangxi was quite surprised and ordered someone to bring Lin Hai's examination paper to him for careful review. After reading it, he repeatedly praised it.

"To possess such talent before even reaching adulthood is truly remarkable. I must take a good look at Lin Hai during the palace examination. Li Dequan, go and find out which family this Lin Hai comes from."

Li Dequan bowed and replied, "This Lin Hai is the only son of the late Marquis of Jing'an, Lin Yan, and his mother is Chen, the daughter of Chen Daiyan, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue."

Emperor Kangxi raised an eyebrow: "It's actually Lin Yan's son. No wonder he's so outstanding. If Lin Yan hadn't been burdened by his health, he would have been a talent capable of becoming a general or prime minister. I want to see that child in person during the palace examination."