The Red Mansion: From a Small Pawn to a Leader

Chapter 50 Entering the Mansion 2
Lin Daiyu picked up a book and started looking through it. Her eyes suddenly lit up. It turned out to be the Suzhou edition of "Collected Works of Li Bai", a Song Dynasty edition.

Then, she looked through all the books in the box, including the Shu-printed "Collected Works of Mr. Tang Liu" and "Collected Poems of Meng Haoran", all of which were Song Dynasty editions. There were supervised editions, local editions, complete copies, and solitary copies, all of which were extremely precious.

These two large mahogany boxes were a reward from the Queen. Lin Daiyu's eyes flashed. The Queen really put a lot of effort into this for her son!
Nanny Wang was also surprised: "This is too expensive!"

Lin Daiyu said nothing. She walked to the kang and opened the jewelry boxes. Various jadeite, gold and jade jewelry were sparkling.

Xueyan picked up a jade hairpin inlaid with pearls and said, "What big pearls! This is just right for a girl to wear." Then she handed it over.

Nanny Wang laughed and said, "You are still studying with the young lady, but you don't even recognize a pearl."

Xueyan: "Is this a Dongzhu? How can it be compared to the Dongzhu that Madam owns?" When she said this, she quickly covered her mouth and glanced at Lin Daiyu cautiously.

Nanny Wang glared at her and was about to speak.

Lin Daiyu spoke up: "It is indeed different from the Dongzhu hairpin that my mother had." As she spoke, she opened a gift box.

"Wow~" Xueyan exclaimed.

There was a jade bracelet in the box. The whole body of the bracelet was translucent, like condensed mist. Lin Daiyu took out the bracelet and looked at it carefully. The jade was warm and the surface of the bracelet was carved with a scene of surging sea of ​​clouds, which was delicate and lifelike.

Xueyan: "It's really beautiful, try it on, girl."

Lin Daiyu also liked it. After thinking about it, she put it on her wrist. It looked very beautiful against her fair and tender hands.

Nanny Wang smiled and said, "It fits the girl just fine."

Lin Daiyu smiled and said, "Put this away and wear it later." Then she put the pearl and jade hairpin into the gift box.

Lin Daiyu opened a few more gift boxes, all of which contained precious jewellery. She took a fancy to a pair of gold bracelets inlaid with gemstones, a crabapple flower pendant and a headpiece with kingfisher feathers and beads and squirrel and grape patterns. She ordered Xueyan to put them away, and asked Nanny Wang to put away a pair of glazed longevity bracelets and prepare to give them to Lady Jia.

In addition to valuable jewelry, there are also pens, ink, paper, inkstone, etc. Xueyan also has to open several other boxes.

Lin Daiyu waved her hand and picked out some jewelry, writing brushes, ink, paper and inkstone to give as gifts later.

As she was talking, a maid came in and said to Lin Daiyu, "Miss, housekeeper Li brought a pot of eight-treasure porridge."

Lin Daiyu: "Oh? Where are they?"

Maid: "The porridge has been brought in. Steward Li and the others are waiting outside the hanging flower gate."

Nanny Wang spoke up: "Miss, just give them some money for wine and food."

Lin Daiyu thought for a moment and said, "Five hundred coins for each of those servants. Steward Li..." He paused, took out a mink coat from the box, handed it to the maid, and said, "Send this to Uncle San."

Maid: "Yes."

"You all should call him Uncle San." Lin Daiyu added.

The maid replied, "Yes," and walked out holding the mink coat.

Nanny Wang smiled and nodded.

The door curtain was lifted and a little maid walked in.

The maid said: "Miss, the meal is ready."

Lin Daiyu: "Let's go." Then she walked out.

The meal was laid out on the square table in the dining room next to the large living room. In addition to a bowl of steaming eight-treasure porridge, there were four dishes of exquisite home-cooked dishes and a small dish of pickles.

Next to the square table stood a red charcoal stove from which no smoke had escaped, and the pot of eight-treasure porridge was placed on the stove.

There were two old women standing nearby, holding trays. On one tray were many bowls and chopsticks, and on the other were plates of pickles.

Lin Daiyu sat down at the main seat and said, "Let's have a bowl of porridge to warm ourselves up." After saying that, she picked up the spoon in the bowl, scooped half a spoonful of porridge into her mouth.

The snowy day in December turned dark in a blink of an eye. Li Hu watched Jia Yucun's carriage disappear in the snow and shook his head. The plot of the original novel was completely messed up. Jia Yucun actually wanted to join him, no, to join the prince.

Li Hu suddenly discovered that since his soul traveled through time and space, everything seemed to have changed, and he didn't know what would happen next.

Putting aside his character, Jia Yucun was indeed a capable and talented person, otherwise he would not have been promoted all the way and eventually became the Minister of War, assisting in military affairs and advising the government.

Li Hu understood what he was thinking. The prince had not been deposed yet and was still the crown prince. He also held the Ministry of Personnel in his hands. The future of relying on the prince was much better than relying on the Jia family.

As for the future, Jia Yucun will definitely betray the prince just like he betrayed the Jia family in the original novel, in order to gain greater benefits for him.

Li Hu is not Wang Ziteng, nor is he Jia She or Jia Zheng, so he will not trust Jia Yucun. Moreover, as long as he has enough troops, he will not be in trouble even if the prince falls.

In addition, Jia Yucun is still a polite, modest, knowledgeable and modest gentleman. He is a Jinshi and can help the prince win over civil servants.

Only when the position of the prince was secure, Li Hu would have time to plan for the future. Therefore, Li Hu decided to recommend Jia Yucun to the prince and help him get an official position.

Alas, the position of Shuntian Prefecture Governor just happened to be vacant. No, the position of Shuntian Prefecture Governor is of the third rank, and Jia Yucun is not qualified.

Li Hu's eyes lit up. Didn't the Fourth Prince keep saying that he didn't want to cause trouble for the Crown Prince? Then Jia Yucun would be put in the Ministry of Rites, as the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, a third-rank official (both the Left and Right Vice Ministers of the former Ming Dynasty were third-rank officials, but the Dashun government changed this, with the Right Vice Minister being one level lower than the Left Vice Minister). He was barely qualified.

I think the prince must be very happy.

Thinking of this, Li Hu was slightly startled. If Jia Yucun didn't go to Jinling, what would happen to Feng Yuan's case? If the case couldn't be solved, how could the Xue family enter Beijing? If Xue Baochai didn't show up, wouldn't the golden marriage be over?

"Second Master." Li San's voice sounded behind Li Hu.

Li Hu turned around and was immediately surprised: "Wow, why are you dressed like this?"

Li San grinned and said, "This is a gift from Miss Lin." He turned around and asked, "How is it?"

Li Hu smiled and gave him several cloaks, but he never wore them, saying that they were "not suitable for work."

Li San: "Miss Lin sent a message that the luggage and other things have been packed."

Li Hu nodded: "Let's eat."

Li San: "Where is it?"

Snowflakes floated down from the dark sky. Li Hu stretched out his palm to catch them. A large snowflake landed in his palm. Li Hu looked at the snow and said, "It's cold, so I'll put it over there with Miss Lin."

Li Hu's courtyard was separated from Lin Daiyu's by only a wall, so a moon door was opened outside the hanging flower gate for easy entry and exit.

In the heavy snow, Nanny Wang stood on the stone steps outside the Chuihua Gate, looking towards the Moon Gate.

As soon as she saw Li Hu, Nanny Wang hurried down the steps, bowed and said, "Greetings to the Second Master!"

Li Hu waved his hand and said, "Let's skip these empty formalities in the future." Then he looked behind her and asked, "Where is the person?"

Nanny Wang stretched out her hand and made a gesture of invitation: "Please come in, Second Master." After saying that, she actually walked straight in.

What the hell?!

Li Hu was slightly stunned, and said to the servant carrying the food box: "You wait here." After that, he strode in.

When he turned the screen, Li Hu was stunned.

The Lin family's maids and servants filled the yard.

Seeing Li Hu coming in, Nanny Wang knelt down and said, "Greetings to the head of the family."

The maids and servants knelt down in unison: "Greetings to the master of the house!"

Li Hu smiled and said, "Okay, everyone get up."

Nanny Wang and the others kowtowed and stood up.

Li Hu: "Tomorrow I will pay you back the monthly salary for the past three months, and give you another month's salary as a bonus."

Everyone responded in unison: "Thank you, Patriarch!"

Li Hu said to Nanny Wang: "Please bring in the dinner." Then he walked towards the backyard.

Nanny Wang asked the maid to go out and get the food boxes, and Xueyan led the maids to follow quickly.

From the hanging flower gate to the backyard, lanterns were lit everywhere.

Lin Daiyu was already standing on the corridor outside the door with a smile, obviously waiting for Li Hu.

Li Hu quickened his pace when he saw this, saying, "What a heavy snowstorm! It would be terrible if we caught a cold."

Lin Daiyu still came out to greet him, bowed slightly at the foot of the stone steps, and said softly, "Second brother."

"Okay, okay, okay, come in."

Li Hu stretched out his hand to support Lin Daiyu's arm, but paused halfway and ended up just giving it a useless support.

Lin Daiyu had seen it, blinked her eyes a few times, and said, "Second brother, please."

Xueyan had already opened the cotton curtain, and the two of them walked in.

(End of this chapter)