The Hairpin of the Red Chamber

Although Aunt Xue agreed to Xue Pan's study in Lin Hai for the time being, her love for her son was just worrying, and it happened that Xue Pan's birthday was going to be in May, so she packed a whole cart full of clothes and articles, and sent a servant to come down People, sent in a mighty way.She wanted to send a few maids, but Baochai dissuaded her.Baochai also made clothes, shoes and socks herself, and asked someone to collect a box and send them away.

Xue Pan was at ease in Lin Hai's place at first, but later he got to know him well in the mansion and made friends with the subordinates, so he took advantage of Lin Hai's business trip to Jiangning that day and slipped out of the gate.Yangzhou has been prosperous since ancient times, the streets and alleys are full of pedestrians, shoulder to shoulder, and Xue Pan's restraint for a month, even this kind of street scene is also on the rise.He thought he had a plan, so he went out every day when Lin Hai was sitting in the office, and gradually he became familiar with teahouses, big and small, and knew a few local helpers, knowing that he was a son of the Yan government, and wanted to flatter him, and wanted to seduce him there. Go to Zhangtai Liu Lane.Unexpectedly, when Xue Pan came out, all the money was exchanged for goods, and the goods were brought into Beijing by Wang Er. He only had one or two hundred taels of change with him, and he spent them all in a few days. He goes to the casino.

People's luck is strange to say, when Xue Pan is at home in the capital, when he has inexhaustible money, he can win or lose in the casino, but at this moment, he is at the end of his rope, and the more he gambles, the more he loses. The sachets, sweat towels, and even the paper, ink, pens and inkstones that the Lin Fugong gave out were all pawned, and he still owed three to five hundred taels of gambling debts, so he hid a royal merchant in the Lin Mansion worryingly, and dared not go out all day long.

He was worried, but Wang Er's journey went smoothly. He brought the goods into Beijing and sold them to the silk and satin factory. Baochai helped him with the calculations. It took only two months to come and go, and he made a net profit of at least 5000 yuan regardless of travel expenses. Many, although there is Lin Hai's help in it, it is much more profitable than the usual visits by the servants of the family. When I whispered to Aunt Xue, Aunt Xue fell silent.

Baochai asked Aunt Xue's thoughts, and said in a low voice: "I can't help reasoning, but they are too much. My brother brought less than three thousand capital, and went back and forth, and the capital and interest doubled. When he sent them, Not to mention the time-consuming, often only [-]% to [-]% of the future, such a big hole, Mom must take care of it."

Aunt Xue also replied in a low voice: "There are a lot of goods, what to buy, and where to sell, there are many things to pay attention to, and there are complicated things on the way back and forth, customs and defense, and the rules of different places and officials are different. There are so many picks, but we don’t know how much we can earn next time. We are all women, living in Beijing, and don’t know the prices in various places, so how do we know whether they are taking money from them, or is it just a bad market?” sighed again. Said: "Your brother is not here, otherwise, asking him to buy and sell is better than asking outsiders."

Baochai pressed it down for the time being.

It was hot at that time, so she only went to see Daiyu in the morning and evening, and this day, when the sun was setting, she hurried over, first looked at Daiyu's face, and said with a smile: "It's better these few days." The servant was taken care of by Lin Hai, thanked her, and Daiyu smiled and said, "It's worth talking about some small things."

Baochai said, "How can it be a trivial matter to have one or two times the future?"

Daiyu sneered, and said: "A good daughter's family, you can keep your mouth open for money, and you won't be afraid of being laughed at."

Baochai knew that she was from a scholarly family, and she didn't like this business, so she just smiled, and said to her first the letter brought by Wang Er: "Uncle Lin asked someone to bring you some boxes, and Local products from Yangzhou and other places, I will send people to distribute them tomorrow, I will bring you this letter first, my servant has seen your father and said that he is still healthy, only coughs occasionally, I don’t know if it is a cold or a weak disease.”

Daiyu frowned and said, "Daddy coughed a little when I came. Is he still not healed? He didn't say anything in his previous letter, but only said he was well." Baochai said, "I asked my brother to bring some medicine. The medicine for phlegm and cough is prepared according to the prescription of the imperial hospital, I don't know if it will work well." He took out a bottle and said: "I also have someone make some there, you give me your usual pulse and prescription , I asked someone to see if you can use it."

Daiyu said: "I've been feeling better recently, but it's a bit bitter in summer. I want to eat something cold."

Baochai said: "Even if it's hot, don't be greedy for ice. The cold invades the heart and lungs, and it's even worse to pile up slowly."

Daiyu said: "It's such a hot day, I can't eat anything but ice cold."

Baochai hurriedly said: "The small dishes we cook in the kitchen are very good. I will ask someone to bring some tomorrow. You can soak them in porridge in the morning and evening, and you can kill two meals. If it is not good, ask someone to freeze the watermelon. It is not very good to pick it up." It's enough to eat a little bit in the ice place." After speaking, he looked at the sky again and said, "I'm afraid the door will be locked, so I'll go back first."

Daiyu grabbed her and said, "I just said a few words, are you going to leave?"

Baochai said: "I'll come to see you tomorrow morning. Don't go to bed late at night. If you can't get up in the morning, you will be sleepy during the day."

Daiyu responded sullenly, and walked her to the door before going back to read the letter.On the left, however, Lin Hai reminded her to take good care of her body, respect her elders, and love her sisters. He only added a few words to tell her to pay attention to outside men, and said that Baoyu was so old, but he still didn't move out of the inner courtyard. He should be more careful when they live next to each other, don't be too close.Daiyu looked at her father's handwriting, sighed quietly, folded it again, and put it away in the box.Then he took out the book that Baochai had given him and looked through it.

People don't go out often in summer, and she was sleepy during the day, so she read books late at night. Today, because she missed her father, it was even more difficult to sleep, and she didn't fall asleep until the middle of the night, and she slept soundly in the morning. Not wanting to be gently pushed by someone, she slowly opened her eyes and saw Baochai standing in front of the bed, her eyes full of helplessness, so she rubbed her sleepy eyes and said, "Why did Sister Bao come so early?"

Baochai said: "It's already at this point, why don't you get up?" Looking at the book next to her pillow, she frowned and said, "How long did you read last night?"

Daiyu was a little guilty, and said with an excuse: "I fell asleep at the beginning of the child." Baochai said: "You don't count." Turning her face to Zijuan, Zijuan said: "When I get up at night, the girl is still watching. Woolen cloth."

Baochai turned dark, shook Daiyu and said, "You are not allowed to sleep during the day. If you sleep too much, you won't be sleepy at night."

Daiyu grabbed the quilt and refused to come out, she said in a coquettish voice, "Let me sleep for a while today."

Baochai refused, so she dragged her out. Daiyu sat up feebly, washed up a bit, and Baochai watched her eat breakfast again. Daiyu was forced to drink half a bowl of porridge, and wanted to lie down again. Pulling her back, she said: "The sun is not poisonous now, just follow me." After she finished speaking, she didn't care whether she wanted to or not, and she walked around the mansion slowly, and everyone from far and near saw them one by one, until the sun was completely Come out before allowing her to enter the house.

On the one hand, Daiyu was in poor spirits, and on the other hand, she was really tired from walking. When she came back, she was half lost and leaned on the bed, and said to Baochai, "The sun is out. Sister Bao, go back quickly, or it will be hot in a while, and the sun will burn." It makes people dizzy."

Baochai said, "I'll stay with you today, and I won't go back." Daiyu opened her eyes in shock, and said with a smile, "I'm afraid it's strange for my aunt not to see my sister for a day."

Baochai said: "Mom is going to worship the Buddha with the second wife for a day today, and I can't think of me."

Daiyu had no choice but to watch Baochai sit down on the bed, having a conversation with her, her eyelids gradually felt heavy, and she couldn't help being bit by bit like a chicken pecking at rice. Baochai woke up by poking her finger on her arm. Baochai said, "I will let you take a nap later, but not now."

Has Daiyu ever been wronged like this since she was born?Looking pitifully at Baochai with dewy eyes that seemed to be crying but not crying, Baochai hardened his heart and said, "I tell you to stay up at night and get up in the morning, and act like a rotten tree in the daytime. Sit down quickly, and we Play chess."

Daiyu said: "Playing chess is troublesome."

Baochai talked about Shuanglu again, but she also rejected her, and said Jiulianhuan and other things, but Daiyu refused. She only wanted to sleep, Baochai was anxious, grabbed her arm and scratched: "I don't think you can sleep yet." sleep."

Daiyu had no choice but to beg for mercy, and cheered herself up until noon, when she leaned on the bed, Baochai was fine, so she sat outside, the surrounding area was quiet, and all the little girls went to bed by themselves, only Mother Wang sat outside doing needlework .

Baochai probed her head and saw that it was Daiyu's close-fitting dress, and there were other styles in the basket, which were not very common in ordinary days. The nanny hurriedly said, "How can I ask Miss Bao to do this?"

Baochai smiled and said, "It's okay." As he said so, he had already threaded the needle and thread in his hand, and needlework took the most time. Half an hour passed in the blink of an eye. Woke the girl up?"

Baochai nodded, put down the half-finished needle and thread, got up and pushed Daiyu's shoulders inside. Daiyu was shaken awake by her, but deliberately pretended to be asleep, her eyes were closed tightly, and the eyeballs were still rolling.

Baochai suddenly became playful, and stretched out her hand to pinch her nose. Daiyu held back for a while, then opened her mouth and said, "I'm suffocating!" She sat up and looked at Baochai angrily. The light gauze dress slipped off her shoulders, Baochai was quick-eyed, and when she saw it, she reached out to tuck it in, patted her on the shoulder and said, "Get dressed quickly, just now Sister Feng asked someone to deliver some sherbet, to untie it." heat."

When Daiyu heard that there was sherbet, she whetted her appetite, so Zijuan helped her up, put on a white plum blossom summer dress for her, and loosely pulled her hair. The little girls mixed two glasses of water, and Daiyu So I sat down at the desk with my shoes on and read and talked with Baochai. It was fun all afternoon.

Baochai didn't go back until after dinner in the evening, and took all the books away before leaving, saying, "I'll bring them to you when I come tomorrow."

Daiyu couldn't keep the books, and said fiercely: "I remember the titles of the books. I will ask Baoyu to buy them for me tomorrow. I don't care about your few books!"

Baochai laughed and said, "Brother Bao must be of one mind with me, do you believe it or not?"

I hated Daiyu so much, and had no choice but to go to bed early at night. The next morning, Baochai came again, but this time he invited Yingchun and Tanchun. The three of them talked and laughed, and came to greet the old lady. Afterwards, he came back to see Daiyu and said, "We have an appointment to set up a bookstore, do you want to come?"

Daiyu asked: "What is a book club?"

Baochai replied: "It's not far from the Poetry Club, but we don't write poems, we only read books and discuss together."

Daiyu is also fine, and she is willing to do so.Baochai said with a smile: "I will be the host for the first time. You will come over early in the morning. I will arrange iceberg tea and stay in the house all day to avoid the sun."

Daiyu agreed, and Baochai saw that her complexion was better than yesterday, so she disturbed her for a while, and went back when it was still not very hot. I asked Wang Er's daughter-in-law to tell the story of Wang Er's stay in Yangzhou, and had lunch.