Chapter 1: The Cao Family

  In Jiangnan, mentioning the Cao family may not necessarily make people think of the Jiangning Weaving and Dyeing Bureau, after all, there are many people surnamed Cao in the world. But when it comes to the Jiangning Weaving and Dyeing Bureau, everyone knows that it is indeed the Cao family, one of the most prominent families in Jiangnan.

  From the second year of Kangxi, the Imperial Household Department set up a weaving office in Jiangnan. The first weaver Cao Xi arrived in Jiangning to take office until now, 39 years have passed. Ten years ago, Cao Xi died of illness, and his eldest son Cao Yin inherited his father's industry and succeeded as the weaver of Jiangning under the benevolence of the current emperor.

  The Jiangning Weaving Bureau is similar to ordinary government offices, with the front being the public office and the back being the private residence. The difference is that the main hall in the central courtyard of the backyard is empty, as are the flower garden and several courtyards on the east side, only the five courtyards on the west side where Cao Yi's family lives.

  Due to the heavy courtyard enclosure, it doesn't seem crowded at all.

  The innermost courtyard on the west route was the residence of Cao Sun, the mother of Cao Yun.

  Entering the courtyard, there are thousands of "shou" characters written on the shadow wall. Behind the shadow wall is a spacious courtyard. In the middle of the courtyard is a artificial hill made of lake stones, surrounded by shallow pools of water.

  A golden-scaled fish swims in the pool, while two large white cranes stand proudly on the water's surface, occasionally lowering their heads to pick up and eat the fish from the pool.

  A five-room high-gabled house with gray stone walls and a green tile roof, with the three large characters "Xuan Rui Tang" written in imperial calligraphy hanging above the entrance. On either side of the main hall are long corridors, one connecting to the courtyard gate and the other leading to a small garden at the back of the yard.

  It was the middle of summer, and all the masters of the various courtyards were taking their afternoon naps. The maidservants also naturally stopped making any noise, leaving only a few little maids who had finished their chores and were leaning against the western corridor, dozing off.

  No one noticed that a boy in silver long clothes quietly walked out of the house, stood under the east corridor, and stared at the white crane in the water.

  If the maids and servant girls saw him, they would definitely come forward to fawn over him, because this young boy was the old lady's heart's treasure, the only son of Master and Mistress Cao, Cao Er.

  Actually, this Cao Kun is no longer that Cao Kun. Three days ago, a soul named "Li Yong" from hundreds of years later awakened in this body. Although the two names sound similar, they are people who differ by thousands of miles. One was born into a wealthy family's mansion during the Qing dynasty as a seven-year-old young master, while the other is a 26-year-old office worker at a modern law firm.

  Cao Gong woke up after three days, and was also confused for three days. He himself didn't know whether he was Li Yong or Cao Gong. Although he hadn't forgotten any of his experiences in that life, the scenes from this life since childhood were all in his mind.

  The loving care of family elders, the flattery of servants and maids, all seem to be revolving in my mind like slides. And when I see Sun Shi (Cao Fang's grandmother), Li Shi (Cao Fang's mother), Cao Yan (Cao Fang's sister) and even Cao Yi, I feel a sense of closeness, as if he were Cao Fang himself, and Cao Fang were him, just a big dream that has now awakened.

  Three days, first anxious, then heartbroken, and finally desperate. It seems that I have encountered the legendary crossing, and it is a crossing to a not unfamiliar family, the Cao family where Cao Xueqin was in. Although I am not a die-hard fan of "Dream of Red Mansions", but due to the popularity of the novel in recent years, I also know something about the Cao family.

  It is said that Cao's ancestors were Ming army generals, who surrendered and became Manchu Zhengbai Banner after being defeated in the Northeast. Later, they entered the capital from Longjing and served in the Imperial Household Department. Later, Cao Yi's wife and Cao Yin's mother, Sun Shi, was selected as Kangxi's wet nurse, and Cao Yin grew up with Kangxi since childhood, first serving as a companion reader and later becoming an imperial guard, thus making the Cao family prominent.

  Cao Yin's father Cao Xi was the head of the Jiangning weaving industry. Later, Cao Yin, his son Cao Guang and his adopted son Cao Yi successively held this position until the death of Kangxi and the accession of Yongzheng, when the Cao family began to decline. The reason seems to be that the Cao family and their relatives, the Li family, were both involved in the imperial succession dispute and took sides with the wrong faction, first supporting the Crown Prince and then supporting the Eighth Prince, without recognizing that the Fourth Prince was the true heir.

  As a result, after Yongzheng came to power, the Cao and Li families were successively confiscated, the Cao family was okay, Yongzheng still gave some face, although the house was confiscated, but two houses in Beijing were left for the widows and orphans of the Cao family to live in. The Li family didn't have such a big face, their wives, daughters, and servants were sold locally in Suzhou, and no one dared to buy them even after ten days of sale, the miserable scene was indescribable.

  Thinking of this, Cao Guang felt a chill run down his spine. He had become the biological son of Cao Yin, although he didn't know how many years he had lived, but in short, he had died young and left behind a posthumous child, and then there was the story of Cao Yin's adopted son inheriting the family business. Thinking of this again, he couldn't help but laugh and cry at the same time. He had inadvertently become an elder of Cao Xueqin, and it was highly likely that he was his father, even if not, he was still his grandfather... uh... also his grandfather.

  Although three days is not long, Cao Kun gained a lot of understanding of the Cao family through his physical memory. He knew that the old lady was already 68 years old and although she had been a servant in the palace when she was young, she was not the wet nurse of later legend, but had been Kangxi's nanny.

  The imperial nanny is not the kind of servant who takes care of children, but a high-level caregiver also known as "Jing Qi Ya Ya", who is the general manager of the daily life of princes and princesses, and can be regarded as their actual foster mother.

  From the spring of Shunzhi's 11th year when she entered the palace to serve until Kangxi's 4th year when the emperor got married, Sun had been serving as Kangxi's "imperial wet nurse" for over a decade. Her relationship with Emperor Kangxi was no less than that of a biological mother and son. Therefore, after Kangxi took personal control of the government, he conferred upon Sun the title of "Feng Sheng Fu Ren", a first-rank lady-in-waiting, and also granted her husband Cao Xi the noble rank of viscount. Additionally, two years prior to Emperor Kangxi's third southern tour, he stayed at the Jiangning Weaving Bureau, so the Jiangning Weaving Bureau was also known as "Da Xing Gong" by the people of Jiangning.

  Cao Yin, in order to avoid impropriety, moved to the west wing of the residence, vacating the main house and east wing where he had previously received the imperial carriage as a sign of respect. It was during this southern tour that Kangxi wrote the three large characters "Xuan Rui Tang" for the residence of wet nurse Sun Shi, and in front of all the officials who accompanied him, referred to Sun Shi as "this is an old person of my household". Perhaps because she had been serving in the palace for too long, separated from her husband, Sun Shi did not have a biological son of her own. Cao Yin was actually the eldest illegitimate son of the Cao family, his birth mother having died early, and he was raised under Sun Shi's name as if he were the legitimate son.

  Cao Yin was clever and intelligent from a young age, able to speak at the age of ten months, recognize characters at three years old, and write at five years old. Although he was four years younger than Kangxi, he indeed served as a companion reader in the palace, and later became an imperial guard at the age of sixteen. He remained a close minister to the emperor until his father Cao Yi grew old, when he was sent to Jiangning to take over. Initially, he served as the Suzhou Weaving Commissioner, and after Cao Yi's death, he succeeded him as the Jiangning Weaving Commissioner, while Li Xue, another trusted official of Kangxi and Cao Yin's brother-in-law, took over as the Suzhou Weaving Commissioner. Li Xue's mother, Madame Wen, had also served as a wet nurse for Kangxi, although her tenure was not as long as that of Madame Sun.

  Cao Yin's first wife was a woman of the Gu family, a daughter of a wealthy family in Jiangnan. The couple loved each other dearly, but they had difficulty having children and never had a son or daughter. After his first wife passed away due to illness, Emperor Kangxi arranged for Cao Yin to marry Li Xue's cousin, Li Shi, as his second wife.

  When Cao Yin married the 18-year-old Li Shi, he was already over thirty. In the first year of their marriage, they had a daughter named Cao Yan, and several years later, they had a son named Cao Kun. Because Cao Kun was weak from childhood, they were afraid that he would not survive, so they did not give him a formal name, but instead called him "Lian Sheng" (meaning "born again"). It wasn't until two years ago when the Kangxi Emperor visited the south and stayed at the Weaving Bureau that he personally gave Cao Kun the name "Kun" and granted him the title of "First-Class Light Chariot General", which was only four ranks lower than his father Cao Yin's Second-Class Viscount. Every year, he also received a stipend of 235 taels of silver from the imperial court. Because it was the emperor who gave him this formal name, they stopped using the nickname "Lian Sheng" and everyone in the family started calling him by his new name, with those who should call him "Young Master Kun" doing so, and those who should call him "Big Brother" doing so as well.

  Cao Gong was the eldest son of the mansion, and naturally became the darling of Old Lady Sun. She had raised him by her side since he was a child, until half a month ago when he turned seven years old, Cao Yin finally persuaded her to let him move to his parents' place and attend clan school. Unexpectedly, just over ten days later, he fell ill. Cao Yin and his wife originally wanted to hide it from Old Lady Sun, but unexpectedly the news leaked out. It turned out that Old Lady Sun had sent someone to deliver cool tea to the school because of the hot weather, fearing that her grandson would get a fever, and that's how she found out about Cao Gong's illness. She hurriedly rushed to the front yard, scolded her son and daughter-in-law, and ordered the maidservants to pack up her grandson along with his bedding and daily necessities and bring him back to her own courtyard.

  Cao Guang thought of this, narrowed his eyes, isn't it said that those who cross over bring butterfly wings? Since he knew that his small body was not good and his lifespan was short, wouldn't he take preventive measures in advance? At present, it's only the 40th year of Kangxi, the tragic "Nine Sons' Struggle for Succession" has not yet been staged. As long as the Cao family avoids this disaster and makes up for those deficits from welcoming the emperor, Yongzheng will have no reason to confiscate their property.

  After thinking through all this, Cao Cong's heart that had been hanging in the balance for many days finally calmed down, and he couldn't help but miss his family from that world. As the youngest child of his parents, who doted on him as their treasure, they spoiled him so much that he was able to live a life of mediocrity. His brother's daughter, who was only four years younger than him, and his sister-in-law treated him like one of their own children. Before he could repay the kindness of these loved ones, he inexplicably traveled back in time over 300 years, how could he not be filled with regret? Unbeknownst to himself, his eyes had already turned red.

  "How did your eyes get red, is Grandpa's body still unwell?" Along with the soft and gentle voice, a pair of small hands touched Cao Yun's forehead.

  Cao Gong listened to the familiar voice, looked up and saw a 13 or 14-year-old little maid, wearing a milky white satin jacket with a purple vest outside, which set off her red lips and white teeth. Cao Gong secretly praised that if an outsider saw this dignified appearance, they would definitely think she was a young lady from a wealthy family, but in fact, she was just the second-class maid named Zi Jing in the old lady's house.

  Zijin saw that Cao Guang was not as lively as before, and his eyes had a few more worries. Although Cao Guang's body was small, he was actually over 20 years old inside, how could he bear to let such a young child worry, so he had to rely on the appearance in his memory, pulled up the corners of his mouth, and called out "Sister Zijin", as soon as the words came out, he himself almost burst into tears.

  Zi Jing saw Cao Gong reveal his usual appearance, and only then did he put down his heart. He bent down to tease him into speaking when footsteps sounded from behind. Zi Jing and Cao Gong both turned their heads to look, and the fine bamboo curtain at the main door of the hall was lifted. A little maid in her early teens, wearing a yellow goose dress and with two buns on her head, walked out. Seeing the two, she smiled: "The old lady is awake and looking for Master!" The one who came out was also a second-class maid from the old lady's room, named Cha Jing.

  Zi Jing listened and then bent down to help Cao Gong tidy up his collar, before retreating a step back and saying: "Master, please go in quickly, lest the old lady gets anxious!"

  Being treated like a child, Cao Yun was very uncomfortable, but he had no choice. The old lady regarded him as her heart's treasure, and everyone in the courtyard looked at him with eager eyes, if he made any move that was different from usual, it would scare a group of people, forcing him to act out "child" according to his memory.

  With a sigh in her heart, Cao Rou walked up to the upper house with her short legs. On the other side, Cha Jing was already pulling the ears of those little maids under the corridor, scolding them in a low voice, but using force, those little maids were all around ten years old, their ears red, wanting to cry but not daring to, kneeling on the ground looking very pitiful. Although Cha Jing was about the same age as them, she had been personally trained by the old lady since childhood and had already received the second-class maid's monthly allowance last year, so these little maids who swept the floor outside naturally did not dare to resist.

  Cao Yun furrowed his brow, involuntarily glancing over there a few more times. Only then did Tea Jing stop what she was doing and hurry over to lift the curtain. Seeing Cao Yun looking at her, she burst into a brilliant smile, revealing two small dimples, and said: "Just getting better, yet you ran out to stand in the courtyard, making Old Lady worry!"

  Just been cared about by a little girl, and then scolded by another little girl, Cao Gong couldn't help but get a headache.

  No wonder "Dream of the Red Chamber" mentions that Baoyu spends his days among a group of maids, it's inevitable. Since entering the old lady's courtyard, except for Cao Xueqin and himself, he hasn't seen another man. The ones walking around in front of him are all big and small maids. Just talking about the old lady's side of the courtyard, there are four first-class ones, eight second-class ones, and more than twenty others who don't count. Those who often come include the madam's attendants, several wet nurses' attendants, and young ladies' attendants, all of whom follow their masters to visit every day. Cao Xueqin is just helpless; fortunately, he has a mature mind at over 20 years old. If it were an ordinary child growing up in such a feminine environment, it would be strange if they didn't become effeminate.