The Hairpin of the Red Chamber

Baoyu Shengtang is not as majestic and majestic as in the drama, but there are ten or twenty Zaoli standing on both sides with wooden sticks, in a row, and a few knife and pen officials are writing on the side.

Baochai saw that Daiyu was in a good mood, so she asked the servant girls to set up a small table behind the screen, steamed a shad with rice wine and shredded ginger, simmered a plate of ham with fresh bamboo shoots, and had a jug of orange wine, and sat with Daiyu. Next, listen and eat.

Daiyu made a slip of the tongue after drinking last night, and she still had a headache this morning, so she pushed the wine away and used only one chopstick of shad fish, and after eating two slices of bamboo shoots, she removed the noodles from the table, and Baochai ordered someone to serve homemade sesame candies Daiyu should not use pine nut candy, rice dumpling candy, sweet-scented osmanthus candy, lard cake, goose pastry, etc., but heard that there are people selling sugar-fried chestnuts in the streets outside the door, and urged Zijuan to go out and buy two catties. Put it on the table, eat and listen with Baochai.

Baochai complained, "Like a greedy cat, I just eat these things all day long, and I've broken my teeth carefully." She kept peeling off a bunch of them in no time, but when Daiyu wanted to get them, she went to pick them up again. Only the ten with the best color and the best size were selected from the inside, and said: "This thing can't be digested, just a little bit is enough for the meaning."

Daiyu said: "I don't want to eat what you peeled, but I want to peel it myself." When I stretched my hand halfway, I stopped suddenly and listened attentively. To chop wood, not to kill..."

Daiyu raised her eyebrows and said, "I thought he had something to hide and got up in the middle of the night to chop firewood. This excuse is really far-fetched."

Baochai also found it strange, so she stopped and listened carefully to what was said before, but it was Zhu Da who insisted in front of the hall that he was getting up to chop firewood. Wang Cheng, Jia Lian and several masters were calling Baoyu to execute the sentence.

Daiyu frowned and said: "These people are so unreasonable. The case is not cleared, so they call it a sentence. Isn't this a trick of torture?"

Baochai smiled bitterly and said, "It's the same with officials outside, and they are all good." Because they were very close to Baoyu, Baoyu coughed slightly when he heard them talking, and said warmly, "Zhu Daddy, don't just cry out for grievances, and tell the story of that day again, right and wrong, you can judge for yourself."

Nazhu trembled tremblingly, trembling several times before saying: "That day, this Mr. Jia came to stay at my house. The reward was generous and he was kind. My mistress saw such a good guest and urged me to kill an old duck and make soup. , Good morning for the guests, who knows that there is not enough firewood, my wife forced me to cut firewood, my house is small, and the firewood is placed under the bed, so I came in with a hatchet, not to kill .”

Baoyu asked Jia Lian, "Is there really firewood under his bed?"

Jia Lian said: "I haven't noticed." He is the son of everyone, and he has lived in the worst place, and it is just a few big post stations. How can I pay attention to the bed if I have not even agreed to sleep on that bed?

Baoyu called the yamen servant to see if there was any firewood under the bed in Zhu's family, and he even drew the appearance of his house. "Ask him if Lian's second brother lives in his usual place, or a guest room?"

Baoyu asked in the same way, and Zhu Da trembled and said, "You guys don't pay attention to this at home, but Mr. Jia lived in the bed of two villains and his wife, and there was a firewood room. I really dare not wrong Jia." Master, so the little ones live by themselves." As soon as the words came out, she immediately regretted, and Jia Lian sneered, "Since you have a firewood room at home, why do you still put the firewood under the bed?"

Zhu Da said in a trembling voice: "Although the firewood room is called a firewood room, it is actually filled with daily carrying poles, bamboo bows and other small items, and there is no firewood."

Jia Lian just sneered.

Baoyu listened carefully to what Baochai had to say, and Baochai said, "Leave the hall first."

Baoyu asked someone to take Zhu Da down, turned around and talked to the two of them for a while, and then a yamen servant came to report: "The firewood is indeed placed under the bed board, and it is all stacked. There is no firewood in the firewood room, only some Sawdust to start a fire."

Baoyu frowned and said, "Could it be that he is a habitual offender who deliberately made up like this to deceive people?"

Baochai was angry and funny and said: "How brave is he, dare to take this bet? There are not many kind county magistrates like you, and someone else, after hearing the testimony of Lian's second brother, came up first. Knock him up, and the question will be a death sentence in an instant, why bother?"

Baoyu touched his nose and said, "But it's really strange to put firewood under the bed."

Daiyu thought for a while, then said: "As we came along, some of the houses we saw had firewood piled up outside, while others didn't, right?"

Baochai glanced at her approvingly, and said, "That's true."

Daiyu said: "Then... Could it be that you are afraid that someone will steal the firewood?"

Baochai nodded with a smile and said: "The villagers are ignorant, and a little firewood can easily cause disputes, so many people pile firewood in the house to avoid talking."

Baoyu said, "Then Zhu Da is not guilty?"

Daiyu shook her head and said, "No, if he is only afraid of people stealing things, why didn't he hide the hatchet together, after all, the hatchet is worth more than firewood."

Baochai laughed and said, "Didn't he carry the machete with him?"

Daiyu and Baoyu suddenly said, "According to this, he really didn't kill himself for money?"

Baochai said: "It's wrong. It's just like this, which shows that he originally had plans for Lian's second brother."

Baoyu said, "How do you say that?"

Baochai said with a smile: "You think that there are similar families next to each other. Why do some people love this pile of firewood, while others are not afraid of being stolen?"

Daiyu said: "Because some people care about it, and some people don't care about it—I understand."

Baochai nodded and said: "Zhu Da, who cares about every detail, suddenly says that he wants to cook duck for Lian's second brother, but he is still an old duck. The old duck is better than those old ducks." The ducks here are much more expensive, don’t you find it strange that he does this?”

Baoyu also understood: "He treats Lian's second brother so well, so he must have a plan."

Baochai said: "Exactly. I asked Lian's second brother, and he only gave a few hundred dollars in total. In Gusu, a place where merchants gather and come and go, it is by no means generous. A three-year-old Ducks are worth thousands of dollars, if they are five or seven years old, I’m afraid they won’t be able to buy them easily! It’s really strange that he mobilizes people like this to slaughter chickens and ducks.”

Daiyu said: "We are all conjectures like this. Maybe they just saw that the children of a family like the second brother Lian have a low face, and they must be rewarded if they entertain well, so they did this specially? Besides, Zhu Da looked rough. It's very, maybe there is a bit of boldness, that's why you are so enthusiastic about Lian's second brother?"

Baochai laughed and said, "If you say so, there are more than a hundred merchants who pass by his door in a year, and every one of them is entertained like Lian's second brother. How can he afford it?"

Daiyu stopped talking.

That Baoyu waited here to finish speaking, and went out again to be promoted. However, since the physical evidence was unfavorable this time, and Baoyu refused to use torture, he naturally could not continue the interrogation. Jia Lian saw that it took a long time without any progress. He smiled in his ear and said, "Brother, I have an idea."