The Red Mansion: From a Small Pawn to a Leader

Chapter 132 Left Vice-Minister of the Imperial Court

There were many big trees planted in the back garden. The autumn wind was blowing, and many leaves were blown down to the lake and the passages. They were swept up layer by layer, and in a short while the ground was covered with fallen leaves again. Li Hu and Lin Daiyu entered the garden, and they could no longer sweep the dust. The old women withdrew, and Xueyan led a few little maids to pick some flowers and plants, and sat among the fallen leaves to play with grass.

Just when we were having fun, Qingwen came with a group of people.

Qingwen smiled and nodded at her: "What a lazy girl! The young lady asked you to find something, but you couldn't be found anywhere. So you are hiding here."

Xueyan blushed, dropped the flowers in her hand, took Qingwen's hand and stood up: "Miss, what do you want? I'll go now."

Qingwen said unhappily: "By the time you leave, the flowers will be cold. Second Master wants to listen to the young lady playing the piano." She pointed at the old women and maids in the distance.

Several old women were carrying a zither, and maids were holding a small white jade incense burner, a face towel, and a copper basin.

Xueyan stuck out her tongue, "Where is the girl?"

A maid replied with a smile: "The Second Master and the young lady are sitting and talking in the pavilion over by the bamboo forest."

Xueyan: "Thank you, sister."

Qingwen poked her forehead with her finger and said, "Go quickly."

Xueyan smiled and called the maids to walk towards the bamboo forest.

Yellow leaves fluttered in the wind, but the small bamboo forest remained lush and green.

After returning from Ningguo Mansion, Li Hu accompanied Lin Daiyu for dinner. In that era, there were no televisions or mobile phones. At Lin Daiyu's suggestion, the two played a game of chess. As a result, Lin Daiyu showed no martial ethics and defeated Li Hu without leaving a single piece of armor.

After a while, Li Hu told Lin Daiyu about his business partnership with the Xue family.

Lin Daiyu was very happy about having another way to make money. She waved her hand and asked the manager to buy fur shops in Qianmen Street and the East and West Markets.

Li Hu also discovered an embarrassing thing. As the head of the Li family, he had no idea how much property his family had.

Lin Daiyu saw through his embarrassment and showed him the account book. He was shocked to find that he was already so rich.

This made Lin Daiyu very proud, and she took the opportunity to make fun of Li Hu.

Before they knew it, they had missed their nap. After the beginning of autumn, the nights became longer, so Lin Daiyu decided not to take a nap and instead took Li Hu to stroll around the back garden.

Lin Daiyu, in a good mood, was like a happy little bird. She took Li Hu for a stroll along the lake, picking flowers and plants on the roadside, catching fallen leaves in the sky, and sometimes scaring away birds that rested on the trees. She was very busy and only stopped to rest in a small bamboo forest.

Just then a gust of wind blew, and the bamboo forest swayed in the wind, making bursts of noise, as if someone was gently playing a piano.

This reminded Li Hu that Lin Daiyu had another hidden skill, playing the piano.

Li Hu and Lin Daiyu were sitting in the pavilion talking, while Amber and Zijuan were standing by to serve them.

A gust of wind blew, making Lin Daiyu's hair flutter in disarray.

Li Hu put down the tea bowl and reached out to hold it for her.

Lin Daiyu immediately responded with a sweet smile.

Li Hu smiled and said, "A smile makes you look ten years younger. Your smile is a hundred times stronger than any ginseng or cinnamon."

Lin Daiyu rolled her eyes at him and said, "As long as you don't get mad at me."

Li Hu was stunned for a moment, "When did I make you angry?"

Lin Daiyu was stunned for a moment: "You are making me angry now!" As she said that, she looked at him with a pout.

Li Hu's eyes widened. This was blatant roguery!

Amber and Zijuan smiled at each other.

Seeing Li Hu in a daze, Lin Daiyu burst out laughing, but quickly held it back.

Li Hu came back to his senses, pinched her face, and lowered his voice: "Wait until no one is around, and see how I'll deal with you!"

Lin Daiyu panicked and hurriedly grabbed Li Hu's hand and begged, "Good brother, please forgive me. I won't dare to do it again!"

Li Hu wanted to take advantage of the situation to tease her, but when he saw Xueyan coming with a group of maids and old women, he picked up the teacup and started drinking.

Lin Daiyu sensed it out of the corner of her eye, adjusted her hair, and picked up the teacup.

Amber and Zijuan held back their laughter and walked over to clear the tea set on the stone table.

Playing the zither is an elegant thing. One must first dress neatly, wash hands, and burn incense before playing the zither.

The small incense burner was already filled with the scent of sandalwood. Lin Daiyu sat down in front of the zither and looked at Li Hu with a smile: "What do you want to listen to?" Li Hu smiled: "As long as it's played by you, I like to listen to it."

Lin Daiyu rolled her eyes, thought for a moment, and said, "Then let's play 'High Mountains and Flowing Water.'" As she spoke, she gently plucked the strings with her slender fingers and began to play.

The sound of the piano came from the pavilion. At first it was a very light "ding dong" sound, like raindrops splashing, and slowly, it became like a clear spring flowing. Then the sound of the piano became faster and louder. Lin Daiyu's slender fingers were constantly hooking, lifting, wiping, and picking the strings, and then holding, supporting, plucking, and hitting them, faster and faster, and fine beads of sweat seeped out of her forehead.

Everyone was shocked.

Li Hu saw the sweat on Lin Daiyu's forehead and immediately walked to the copper basin placed on the fence of the pavilion, took the square towel and rubbed it twice in the water, twisted it gently, walked to the left side of Lin Daiyu, raised his hand, and wiped the sweat on her left forehead as much as possible without blocking her sight. After wiping the left side, Li Hu walked from behind her to the right side, and raised his hand again to wipe the sweat on her right forehead.

At this moment, Lin Daiyu seemed as if all this did not exist, and the sound of the piano was like a waterfall pouring down into the empty valley, filling the air with sound.

Except for Xueyan, Amber, Zijuan and the maids all opened their eyes wide.

Li Hu put the face towel back into the copper basin, then took out a teapot from the hollow tea basket on the side and refilled Lin Daiyu's tea bowl with tea.

Suddenly, with a "ping" sound, Lin Daiyu swept the five fingers of her right hand, and then both hands stopped above the strings, leaving only the lingering sound of the piano echoing in the pavilion.

"Good!" Li Hu cheered and personally handed the tea to Lin Daiyu.

Lin Daiyu took it and drank a few sips before putting it down. Then she blinked and looked at Li Hu, craving his praise.

Li Hu: “Okay!”

Lin Daiyu blinked her eyes several times and asked, "What should I do?"

Li Hu thought for a while: "The song is good, and the tune is also good."

Lin Daiyu bent over with laughter.

Li Hu also laughed.

After laughing, Lin Daiyu said: "Forget it, don't let me play the piano for you anymore."

Li Hu smiled and said, "As the saying goes, 'If you don't play for three days, your hands will be covered with thorns.' If you play for me, it will not only make you more skilled, but also make me more familiar with it. Isn't that a win-win situation?"

Lin Daiyu curled her lips after hearing this and said, "So many twisted ideas!"

Li Hu smiled and said, "Hey, let's buy two cranes. When the time comes, you play the zither and the cranes dance along with you. That scene..."

Lin Daiyu blinked her eyes, as if she was imagining something.

A gust of wind blew, and the bamboo forest made a rustling sound.

Li Hu looked at the sky in the distance. The sky had become gloomy, and dark clouds were rolling in from the horizon.

"It's going to rain, let's go back."

Lin Daiyu nodded and followed Li Hu out.

Amber and Zijuan quickly asked the maids and servants to pack up.

The wind was getting stronger and stronger and the sky was getting darker.

Li Hu embraced Lin Daiyu and walked into the moon gate of the courtyard. Suddenly, a bean-sized raindrop fell on Li Hu's face. He picked up Lin Daiyu and rushed to the main room like a fly.

Then, bean-sized raindrops began to fall sparsely, hitting the faces and bodies of Amber, Zijuan, Xueyan and others intermittently.
At this time, the torrential rain had covered the entire yard.

Amid the gurgling rain, Nanny Wang came in through the moon gate of the courtyard with a lantern in one hand and an umbrella in the other.

A maid had already opened the Xiang curtain, and Nanny Wang walked into the main hall.

Li Hu and Lin Daiyu are playing black and white chess.

Nanny Wang walked up to Li Hu and said softly, "Second Master, this is a letter from Third Uncle." Then she took out a letter from her sleeve.

Li Hu took the letter, tore it open and read it. On the letterhead was the prince's usual Zhong Wang small regular script: "Special invitation to Jia Jing, the Left Deputy Censor-in-Chief."

Li Hu's eyes flashed. It seemed that the emperor and Jia Jing had reached some kind of deal. Shui Rong's head?

Besides, the Censorate will be in turmoil!
The heavy rain also splashed huge waves here.

Jia Jing accompanied Dai Quan out of the gate of Ningguo Mansion.

Dai Quan: "His Majesty said that Lord Jia can go to the Censorate a few days later." As he said this, he walked down the stone steps and got into the sedan chair. A group of imperial guards protected the sedan chair and disappeared in the rain.

Jia Jing stood there, and because it was dark, I couldn't see his expression clearly.
(End of this chapter)