The Red Mansion: From a Small Pawn to a Leader

Chapter 63 Entering Li's Mansion

The snow had stopped, and the sky was clear and the sun was dazzlingly white.

The snow on the streets had been cleared away long ago, the main gate of Rongguo Mansion was wide open, and there were crowds of vehicles and people in front of the gate.

Accompanied by a group of stewards, Jia Zhen and Jia Lian checked and counted the gifts on the cart.

These gifts are New Year gifts from Rongguo Mansion to Li Mansion.

After counting the last cart, Jia Lian walked towards Jia Zhen and said, "Just now, my eldest sister-in-law went to talk to Feng Yatou, and I vaguely heard that Rong'er's wife was sick. What happened? Wasn't she fine yesterday?"

Jia Zhen glanced at him: "You ask me?"

Jia Lian suddenly came to his senses and realized that he had spoken rashly. How could he ask his father-in-law about his daughter-in-law? He could only smile awkwardly.

At this time, the sound of horse hooves was heard, and a group of more than thirty riders galloped towards the gate.

Jia Zhen took a look and said to Jia Lian, "The Li family's personal guards are here. Go and ask the old lady to come out."

Jia Lian: "Yes." He answered and strode towards the gate.

Looking at Jia Lian's back gradually disappearing through the gate, Jia Zhen sighed deeply.

After a while, Jia Mu and others came out.

Jia's grandmother rode in a large sedan chair that seated eight people, Wang Xifeng rode in a sedan chair that seated four people, Yingchun, Tanchun and Xichun rode in a carriage with a red wheel and a canopy, and Xue Baochai rode alone in a carriage with a emerald canopy and pearl tassels and eight treasures.

Jia Mu's maids Yuanyang and Yingwu, Yingchun's maid Siqi, Tanchun's maid Shishu, Xichun's maid Ruhua, Xue Baochai's maid Ying'er, and Wang Xifeng's maid Ping'er also had to follow and serve.

Wang Daniu took the lead, leading four personal soldiers in front, and the rest of the personal soldiers guarded on both sides of the carriage.

Jia Baoyu rode a horse in front of Jia's grandmother's sedan chair, and the group went to Li's Mansion.

It was only two streets away. Before the carriage in front of Rongguo Mansion had even passed, Jia Mu's sedan chair had entered the street in front of Li Mansion.

Li Hu had already led Zhang San and others to welcome them at the door. When they saw Lady Jia's sedan chair coming, they went to greet it.

Jia Baoyu quickly pulled the reins.

The whole group stopped.

Jia Baoyu dismounted, walked to the side of Jia's grandmother's sedan chair, and said, "Madam, the second brother Li is here."

"Go and welcome her." Grandmother Jia's voice came from the sedan chair.

Jia Baoyu: "Yes." He answered and walked towards Li Hu and others who were coming towards him.

"Second Brother Li!" Jia Baoyu bowed from a distance.

"Don't be so polite."

Li Hu stepped forward quickly and supported Jia Baoyu, who was wearing a sexy red outfit.

Li San: "Master Bao."

Jia Baoyu turned aside and saluted: "Third uncle."

This is why Li Hu likes him, because he is polite.

Li Hu said to Jia Baoyu: "Take me to see the Madam first."

Jia Baoyu: "Hey." He answered and led Li Hu to Jia's mother's sedan chair, "Madam, the second brother Li is here."

Grandmother Jia lifted the curtain of the sedan chair and said to Li Hu with a smile, "It's cold outside, let's talk about it at home."

Li Hu smiled and bowed deeply to Lady Jia, then replied, "Yes. Sister Lin is already waiting at the hanging flower gate. Madam, please go over first. I will accompany Baoyu to the front hall first."

Grandmother Jia smiled and nodded, "Okay." Then she said to Jia Baoyu, "Don't be naughty or make trouble. Listen to your second brother Li."

Jia Baoyu: "Yes."

Only then did Jia's grandmother lower the curtain of the sedan chair, and the group walked towards the gate.

Li Hu and Jia Baoyu escorted them to the ceremonial gate, and watched the team go to Lin Daiyu's courtyard before walking towards the front hall.

On the other side, there were many people standing outside the hanging flower gate. In addition to the maids and old women that Lin Daiyu brought from the Lin family, the families of the personal soldiers who were already working in the mansion had also come, forming a black crowd.

Lin Daiyu led Xueyan, Zijuan, Amber, and Qingwen and stood waiting inside the hanging flower gate.

Nanny Wang came quickly from the second door. "The Madam is here!"

Immediately afterwards, Jia's grandmother's eight-person sedan arrived, followed by Wang Xifeng's sedan, and the carriages of Yingchun, Tanchun, Xichun, and Xue Baochai. The maids' carriages did not enter the second gate, and the servants carrying the sedan and pulling the carriages were replaced by people from the Li Mansion.

The servants left and Lin Daiyu came out to greet them. Wang Xifeng knew that Yuanyang was behind and could not catch up to help Jia's mother, so she got off the sedan chair and hurried to help her, but Lin Daiyu had already helped Jia's mother get off the sedan chair.

Wang Xifeng was slightly startled, then walked over with a big smile on her face and took Jia's other arm, "It can be seen that Miss Lin really wants the old lady to come here to relax, and she has been waiting here long ago in such a cold weather."

Grandmother Jia smiled and nodded at her.

Nanny Wang came over and saluted: "Greetings to the Madam!"

Xueyan, Zijuan, Hupo and Qingwen: "Greetings to the Madam and the Old Lady!"

The maids and servants followed suit and bowed, shouting, "Greetings to the Madam!"

Grandmother Jia smiled and nodded continuously: "Don't be so polite, don't be so polite."

Everyone stood up in a mess.

At this time, Yuanyang, Ping'er and others outside the second gate had already got off the carriage, rushed in, opened the curtain of the carriage, and helped the girls get off.

After not seeing each other for a few days, the sisters' feelings not only did not fade, but they even missed each other a little, and they held hands and talked for a while.

Grandmother Jia smiled lovingly: "It's windy here, let's talk inside."

"Yes." Lin Daiyu supported Jia's mother and walked towards the steps of the hanging flower gate. "I asked the kitchen to cook a pot of eight-treasure porridge. Old lady, have a bowl of porridge first to warm yourself up and take a rest. Then we will go to the back garden to enjoy the scenery."

"Today, follow Lin girl's arrangements." Grandmother Jia smiled and looked at Wang Xifeng and others who were following behind her.

Everyone laughed and replied, "Yes."

Lin Daiyu: "Knowing that the old lady likes to watch plays, my second brother specially invited a troupe of Su Kun."

As they were talking, the group entered the Chuihua Gate. From the Chuihua Gate to the main courtyard, the snow on the road had already been cleared away.

Entering the main courtyard, Wang Xifeng looked at the five upper rooms in front, then at the side rooms on both sides, and said to Jia's mother, "If I hadn't heard from Yingge and Zijuan, I would have really thought I had come to Rongqing Hall."

Grandmother Jia smiled and nodded without saying anything. Although the overall layout was similar to that of Rongqing Hall and was also magnificent, it was ultimately inferior to the solemnity and exquisiteness of Rongqing Hall and lacked heritage.

The three beauties of the Jia family were talking in low voices as they walked, and they were obviously in a good mood.

Xue Baochai also looked at it carefully and was secretly shocked. This Li family is not only powerful, but also rich!
Lin Daiyu supported Lady Jia as they walked up the steps to the main room. Amber and Zijuan had already opened the felt curtains, and the warm fragrance caressed their faces.

When they entered the room, they saw at first glance a soft couch at the front, covered with a large white fox fur cushion and pillows. At the bottom, there were twelve chairs facing each other on both sides, all covered with cushions, and under each chair there was a large copper foot warmer.

Lin Daiyu invited Lady Jia to sit down, and also asked Yingchun and other sisters to sit down.

Lin Daiyu first bowed to Lady Jia, and then personally served tea to Lady Jia on a tea tray.

Grandmother Jia took a sip of tea and said with a smile, "We know you have prepared delicious food, but we all came here with empty stomachs." Everyone laughed.

Lin Daiyu smiled with her hand covering her mouth, and asked Wang Ma and others to set the table.

The square table in the dining room was temporarily replaced with a large ebony round table.

In a blink of an eye, a delicious breakfast was placed on the table, and Lin Daiyu personally served a bowl of porridge to Lady Jia.

When Wang Xifeng arrived here, she was a guest, but she still had to serve Jia's mother and sister-in-law, and the daughter-in-law could not eat at the same table with the mother-in-law and the elders. After serving porridge to Yingchun and her three sisters, she stood aside and served them.

Lin Daiyu picked up a dish for Jia's mother with chopsticks and said, "The chicken marrow bamboo shoots I tasted at the old lady's place the other day were delicious. Old lady, please try ours."

Grandmother Jia tasted it and said with a smile, "Not bad, the bamboo shoots are crisp, tender and refreshing, and the chicken is also tender." She then said to Yingchun and the others, "You can try it too."

Wang Xifeng hurriedly served them food.

Lin Daiyu smiled and looked at her, then said to Lady Jia, "We'll need Sister-in-law Lian to serve the old lady when we go to the garden later, so let her go to eat too."

Wang Xifeng was slightly stunned after hearing this and looked at Lady Jia.

Grandmother Jia was also stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "I didn't think it through. You are also a guest when you come to Lin girl's place. Besides, we can eat delicious food by ourselves. You should go and eat too."

Wang Xifeng was about to say something when Lin Daiyu spoke up: "I'm sorry, second sister-in-law. The food is already prepared on the kang in the warm room."

Everyone then realized that it was no wonder that the maids had just brought a lot of food boxes into the warm room; it turned out that they were going to set the table for Wang Xifeng.

Grandmother Jia smiled and nodded.

Wang Xifeng looked at Lin Daiyu with gratitude, bowed slightly to Lady Jia, and followed Nanny Wang into the warm room.

Grandmother Jia smiled and said, "After dinner, let's go to Lin's room first."

(End of this chapter)