The Red Mansion: From a Small Pawn to a Leader

Chapter 49 Entering the Mansion 1
It’s snowing heavily, falling all over the sky.

After passing the memorial archway and not far from the gate of his own house, Li Hu lowered the cotton curtain and glanced at Lin Daiyu who was lying on the couch to rest. Suddenly he saw her move and realized that she was not asleep.

Li Hu smiled. This girl was shy and would blush easily with shame. Finally, she used the excuse of being sleepy to escape.

At this time, the front of the carriage was hit by the sound of a knife handle knocking "dong, dong, dong", followed by the voice of a personal soldier: "General, Third Uncle is leading the whole family to greet you at the door."

Li Hu: “Got it.”

Lin Daiyu lifted her fox-skin cloak, sat up on the couch, and looked at Li Hu nervously.

Li Hu smiled and said, "You don't have to get out of the car, just talk through the window."

Lin Daiyu turned her gaze to Nanny Wang again.

Nanny Wang nodded.

Lin Daiyu's face suddenly flushed, "I, what should I say?" She glanced at Li Hu, then immediately lowered her head.

Li Hu was happy: "I have already told you in my letter that there are many things that cannot be learned from books. But you still don't accept it, saying things like 'there are thousands of bushels of grain in books' and 'there are hills and valleys in books, only then can you see mountains and rivers'. Learn more from me in the future."

The fire of gossip was burning fiercely, and Nanny Wang and Xueyan both turned their eyes to Lin Daiyu.

Lin Daiyu couldn't hold back her anger anymore. She glared at Li Hu angrily and then turned her head to the other side.

Li Hu was amused by her cute appearance.

Lin Daiyu was so angry that her face turned red. She looked at Li Hu fiercely, twisting her handkerchief in her hands, and wished she could dig a hole and bury Li Hu alive on the spot.

The carriage slowly stopped, and Li Hu stopped teasing her. "It's very simple. You just need to say the word 'reward', and the rest will be taken care of."

Lin Daiyu opened her eyes wide and looked at Li Hu, meaning: Is it that simple?!

Li Hu stood up and said with a smile, "Our family is not a century-old family like the Jia family, and we don't have any so-called wealthy servants. These people are either my former neighbors or the families of my personal soldiers. They are all honest people and will not pretend to obey or deceive their superiors. Letting you reward them is to swear to them your status and let them know that there is a new head of the family. Do you understand?"

Lin Daiyu nodded.

Li Hu: "I won't accompany you. Let's have dinner together tonight." He took the cloak handed to him by Nanny Wang and put it on.

Lin Daiyu had already stood up: "There is snow on the ground outside, second brother, please walk slowly."

Li Hu looked at her with a smile, pushed the door of the carriage open a crack, and got out.

The snow in front of the door was filled with servants from the entire mansion, all covered in white snow.

When they saw Li Hu, except for Li San, everyone else knelt down in front of Li Hu and said, "Greetings, head of the family!"

Li Hu smiled and nodded: "Get up, everyone get up."

"Thank you, Master!" Everyone stood up.

Li San stepped forward and bowed to the carriage: "Greetings to Miss Lin!"

Everyone followed suit and bowed: "Greetings to Miss Lin!"

There was silence, and the only sound in front of the door was the whistling of the snow wind.

Li Hu looked towards the carriage.

At this time, Lin Daiyu's voice came from the carriage: "Reward."

Li San: "Miss Xie Lin!"

Everyone shouted again: "Miss Xie Ling!"

Li Hu glanced at his personal soldiers.

The personal soldier driving the carriage understood, tapped the horse's buttocks with the whip, and shouted in a low voice: "Go!"

The carriage slowly moved towards the mansion gate.

Looking at the carriage disappearing through the gate, Li Hu smiled. This girl knew how to add drama to herself. She knew how to strike the right balance.

Li San walked over happily and said, "The backyard is finally not empty anymore." He lowered his voice and said, "This Miss Lin is no ordinary woman." He gave Li Hu a thumbs up.

Li Hu smiled. Li San suddenly remembered: "I told the kitchen this morning and asked them to cook a pot of eight-treasure porridge. I'll send it to Miss Lin right away." After saying that, he walked quickly inside.

"Uncle San, please leave a bowl for me." Li Hu just remembered it, but it was too late.

"Hey!" A bodyguard suddenly shouted.

Li Hu looked in the direction of the voice and saw a middle-aged man wearing a coarse cotton robe, holding an umbrella in his left hand and a bundle in his right hand, being blocked by his bodyguards.

The man spoke up: "General Li, I am a teacher hired by the Lin family. I have written to you before."

Jia Yucun?
Li Hu was stunned. Shouldn't this guy have followed the carriage of Rongguo Mansion to visit Jia Zheng? Why did he come here? What does this mean?
Jia Yucun: "General Li"

Li Hu thought about it and waved at the personal soldier. The personal soldier stepped aside and Jia Yucun walked over.

Jia Yucun walked to a distance of about two feet from Li Hu and stopped. He put down his umbrella and then his bag, bowed deeply to him, and said, "Reformed officer Jia Hua greets General Li."

He said in front of so many people that he was the Lin family's teacher. Even if Li Hu hated him, he had to give him face.

Li Hu took a few steps forward, helped him up with his own hands, and said with a smile: "Sir, you have worked hard on this journey. Please, please go to the study to talk." Then he bent down, picked up the bag on the ground, and walked in with Jia Yucun.

The snow is falling heavily.

Lin Daiyu held Xueyan's hand and entered the hanging flower gate. On both sides were corridors, and in the middle was a hall, where a large marble screen with a rosewood frame was placed. After turning around the screen, there were three small meeting rooms, and behind the hall was Lin Daiyu's courtyard. There were five upper rooms in the front, with carved beams and painted buildings, and side rooms with corridors on both sides.

Li Hu ordered people to modify the courtyard according to his memory of Lady Jia's courtyard.

The maids and old women from the Lin family who came with her were the ones who usually served Lin Daiyu.

So two or three little maids scrambled to open the thick cotton curtain, and a burst of hot air instantly rushed out, along with a fragrance.

Four large pots of charcoal were burning in the hall early in the morning, and there was an incense burner with sandalwood burning in it.

As soon as she stepped into the hall from the extremely cold outside, the heat hit her and Lin Daiyu started coughing violently.

Nanny Wang quickly helped her to the door and rubbed her back.

A maid picked up a copper kettle from the small stove in the corner, brewed a cup of tea, and asked Lin Daiyu to drink a few sips. Xueyan hurriedly took off her cloak, and together with Nanny Wang, helped her sit down on the chair at the top.

Lin Daiyu took a deep breath and began to look around. Li Hu had introduced it on the way here. There were five main rooms, a living room in the middle, a small dining room to the east of the living room, and a door on the side leading to a green gauze cabinet; a door on the west led to the warm room and Lin Daiyu's bedroom.

Nanny Wang instructed the maids: "Slow down, slow down, don't break anything."

The old women carried in boxes and cages from outside.

Nanny Wang turned to Xueyan and said, "Second Master said there is a fumigation basket in the inner room. Go get it and use this brazier to warm the girl's bedding."

Xueyan: “Hey.” She answered and walked towards the bedroom.

"Oh! Girl." Xueyan's exclamation came from the warm room.

Lin Daiyu was startled, put down the tea bowl, stood up and walked over.

Nanny Wang followed in.

The kang under the south window of the warm room was piled with silks and satins of various patterns, the kang table was filled with brocade gift boxes, and there were two large mahogany boxes on the ground. The two large mahogany boxes were inlaid with gold lace and auspicious cloud patterns on them. They were obviously things only owned by the royal family.

Lin Daiyu seemed to understand something. She glanced around and her eyes fell on the table on the kang. There were two gift lists above the gift box.

Nanny Wang also saw it and handed the gift list to Lin Daiyu.

Lin Daiyu took it and looked at it, and found that it was indeed a reward from the Queen and the Crown Princess.

After reading it, Lin Daiyu frowned slightly. It seemed that the prince was in a bad situation!

Nanny Wang: "Young lady."

Lin Daiyu gave her a faint smile and said, "Open it and take a look."

Nanny Wang opened the first box, which was filled with fox and sable furs. The fur was shiny and fine, and they were all top-quality furs.

Xueyan opened the second box and found books inside.

(End of this chapter)