The Hairpin of the Red Chamber

Baoyu looked at Baochai in a daze, and said, "Sister Bao, what's the matter with you today?" Even if there is an explanation for parting, such a step by step, pressing harder and harder, does not seem to be Baochai's temper.Baoyu was suspicious of Baochai's plans, asked this question, and said, "Sister Bao, if... my aunt forces you to part with me with death, what will you do?"

Baochai smiled wryly and said, "A son is different from a daughter. Mother...wouldn't force her to die." Seeing that Baoyu was a little depressed, she said again, "I'm not making things difficult for you. Ruyi, at least it’s better than rushing to deal with a temporary crisis. Dai’er and I are from a daughter’s family, and we don’t have any heirs to worry about. Our parents hinder us only for the sake of our family’s reputation and our own future. It’s easy to say about our own future. I saved a lot of money in [-], and bought a lot of land and manors. I also gathered many loyal shopkeepers and strong servants, enough to protect Daiyu and myself for the rest of my life. When the other family members met, they all knew that we must have a bright future. The matter of reputation has nothing to do with me. Daiyu is the only daughter, and the family is small. No matter how famous the family is, Uncle Lin may not be willing to do it for that illusory reputation. Abandoning this only flesh and blood, besides, we just made it clear to them, not to announce to the world, so there is still something we can do. But you are different. You are the official of the court, the heir of the government, and your every move How many people are staring at you? You are not like us, you can always hide in the inner courtyard. Whenever you are with Liu Xianglian, whether you tell your parents or not, they will definitely know. What will they do at that time, you can do it yourself Think about it."

Baoyu turned pale and said, "Father...he won't let it go."

Baochai shook her head and remained silent.

Baoyu himself knew that this was a fantasy, so he said in a low voice, "Then I will guard him and never leave him. If my father wants to hurt him, he must pass me first."

Baochai frowned, and said with a smile: "You have always feared Uncle like a mouse and a cat, but now you want to fight him because of Liu Xianglian? Are you not afraid that Uncle will really kill you?"

Baoyu clenched his fist and said, "I'm no longer a child with a yellow mouth. No matter what my father is, he won't really kill me... If he wants to kill me, that's fate."

Baochai stared at him and said, "You and Liu Xianglian are still undecided, so you are willing to die for him?"

Baoyu said: "You misunderstood, I am not willing to die for him because of my affection for him, but if it is true as you said, everything started because of me, so I naturally have to take responsibility."

Baochai said: "If this is the case, you can be regarded as an upright man. But no matter how hard you guard, the other end is your biological parents after all. You are irresistible in terms of emotion, reason and law. Emperor Hui of the Han Dynasty is noble." As the Son of Heaven, there is still no King Zhao Yin, let alone you? If your family is in decline, if your master and your wife want to find a way to arrest you, it will be easy to clean up a mere Liu Xianglian. If you don’t plan now, when the time comes... "

Baoyu was silent for a long time, and then said: "So you must let me choose between my parents and Liu Xianglian, because from the beginning, they have sworn to be incompatible."

Baochai nodded and said, "If you don't want to be clear about this matter, don't delay it."

Baoyu stood straight, frowning, pursed his lips, and said nothing.

Seeing his appearance, Baochai sighed, and said, "You don't have to answer in a hurry, it's better to think clearly, don't be like before, when you talk about it, you can't do it."

Baoyu didn't listen to what she said at all, his mind was already on Liu Xianglian - although Baochai asked about Jia Zheng and Mrs. Wang's death, but the words and sentences that followed clearly hinted at Liu Xianglian fate.

Baoyu remembered that Baochai had earnestly warned him not to get too close to the maids, especially his mother's maids, and to make fun of her, although it was unintentional, might harm her life.Although he didn't think so at that time, because of Baochai's repeated persuasion, he managed to keep it in his heart. Jin Chuan'er and Caixia in his mother's room, Baozhu and Ruizhu by Qin Keqing's side, Ping'er and Feng'er by Sister Feng's side, he all deliberately stayed away. However, he refused to get close to her, and when he met Liu Xianglian, his family suffered great changes. It was too late for him to worry and fear, and he had forgotten all these things far away.

However, when I think about it now, I realize that behind those warnings, every word and every word, are the blood and tears of others—these maids in the past, but now it is Liu Xianglian.

Baochai saw that Baoyu couldn't understand for a while, so she left Baoyu in the house, and gently pushed the door out by herself. As soon as she stepped out, she saw Liu Xianglian completely forgot to cover her figure, standing outside the window in a daze, looking in through the window.

Baochai coughed lightly, and Liu Xianglian woke up like a dream. She quickly pulled a Zhaojun suit tighter on her body, bowed her head and bent her legs, curled up, and followed Baochai step by step.

Although he didn't see anyone along the way, Baochai still hurried back to the backyard, entered the small study, and then heaved a sigh of relief and said, "Has your heart been fulfilled?"

Liu Xianglian forced a smile and said: "From now on, he should have figured it out, and I will be clean too."

Baochai laughed and said, "If you really think so, you won't be so frightened that you want to leave immediately."

Liu Xianglian said: "Ms. Xue's words are strange. How can I get away as a fugitive in the magistrate's mansion in such broad daylight?"

Baochai said: "If you don't want to go, you just looked around all the way, what are you doing to find out the way out?"

Liu Xianglian took off Zhaojun's suit and a peach red jacket inside, and put on a red cotton robe. Most of the clothes Baoyu brought for him were Jia Lian's old clothes, but this one was Baoyu's old clothes, even though it was cotton. It is made of beautiful flowers, rich and luxurious, which is very conceivable.

Liu Xianglian stared at the clothes, rubbed her hands on them, and sighed quietly after a long time, said: "I am also a child of the old family, and I have also entered the rich and gentle village, and then the family was defeated. Every day is not as good as every day. I I was also anxious, and I thought about working hard to revive my family, but unfortunately it was always in vain.”

Seeing that he was about to have a long conversation, Baochai sat down on a chair beside her. Before Liu Xianglian could speak again, she suddenly heard a knock on the door. Both of them were startled, and Liu Xianglian hurried to the bed. Pulling out the sword, Baochai hurriedly said, "There is no one else at home, so don't panic." Sure enough, Daiyu outside the door raised her voice, "Xue Baochai, are you in?"

Baochai heard that Daiyu's tone was not good, and she didn't know where she was offended, so she hurriedly opened the door and let Daiyu in.

Daiyu was wearing a homely honey-colored padded jacket, a rose-purple two-color gold and silver mouse shoulder-to-shoulder jacket, and a scallion-yellow satin cotton skirt. Stepping in, she caught a glimpse of Liu Xianglian and Baochai in the room, and snorted, Baochai Seeing her first, he said: "Although the snow has stopped, it's still freezing one after another that day. Why don't you even wear a cloak?" After a closer look, he laughed again and said, "Why did you put me on the ground?" Are you wearing your clothes? They are still old clothes that are not known how many years old."

Daiyu said: "I'm only talking to Zijuan, so you don't know where you have gone. I don't think our house is big, so why are you getting lost? Ask Ying'er and you won't know, and you won't know if you ask others." No, I turned around for a long time before I found this place."

Baochai laughed and said, "Didn't I tell you that I was coming here in the morning? You can't remember it yourself, so you complained to me instead." As he spoke, he put her hands in his own and covered them, and complained again. : "When I'm not here, you don't even know how to wear clothes, and you don't even bring a hand stove. You just walk around the garden by yourself. It's a good thing our house is not big. Otherwise, if you look around like this, you won't be frozen." !" She wanted to ask the servant girl to pour hot tea for her, but Liu Xianglian was not allowed to enter here, so she glanced at Liu Xianglian——Liu Xianglian snorted, raised her hand lightly, and put the sword in The sheath lay across the head of the bed, and Fang came to pour a cup of tea for Daiyu.Baochai took it and took a sip. It turned out to be good tea, and the water was still hot, so she handed it to Daiyu. Daiyu looked at Liu Xianglian, but raised her head and said, "My hands are freezing, I can't hold them."

Baochai glared at her, and tilted the teacup to let Daiyu take a sip in her own hand. Baochai also talked for a long time, watching Daiyu drink tea, but also remembered that her mouth was dry, because she was drinking again after Daiyu drank tea. After taking a sip from the glass she had passed, she turned her head and smiled at Liu Xianglian: "She has such a temperament, don't mind, let's continue."

Liu Xianglian shook her head and said, "There's nothing to talk about. I... have made up my mind, and Baoyu probably does the same."

Daiyu said: "You are not Baoyu, how do you know what he thinks? How do you know what he finally made up his mind?"

Liu Xianglian said displeasedly: "Although Liu and Baoyu are not as good as the two of them, cough, they have the same mind. After all, they were once close friends. Liu is confident that he can still figure out a thing or two about his thoughts."

Daiyu raised her eyebrows and said, "You know?" Looking at Baochai again, Baochai said, "The two of us, that is, those village folks and foolish women who don't understand, and the others who have a little understanding of the world, who can't tell ? Even Lian’s second brother knows what I don’t want to do, so he went to knock the wooden clock at your place, what do you think?”

Daiyu wrinkled her nose and said, "No matter how others speculate, it's just speculation. If he makes such a conclusion, you must be the one who told him."

Baochai said with a smile, "I always ask people to do things. If you are not honest, how can you win people's trust?"

Daiyu said: "You are always right!" Then she said to Liu Xianglian: "If you compare the two of us, then I will also compare the two of us - just like we have been getting used to each other for a long time. Yes, many things may not necessarily be what the other party thinks. It seems that sometimes I am not cold and want to wear plain and refreshing clothes, but she always feels that my clothes are thin and she wants to wrap me in thick clothes. Sometimes I was sleepy during the day, and my eyes were loose when I spoke, but I thought she was dissatisfied with me, and I was always suspicious in my heart. How many years do you think we have been together, and there are still times like this, you How dare you say that you must know what Baoyu thinks?"

Liu Xianglian remained silent.

Daiyu said again: "I know what you want to say. It's just that you don't want to delay him or something. If people in the world are a little bit inappropriate, it's a lot to say such things, but I don't believe them at all. If people are really sentient, they must stay together wholeheartedly, even if they are strangled by ropes, hacked by knives, or blocked by sticks, they will not separate, eat and drink, think about them all the time, and even fall asleep. If you really can't be with you, not to mention those who died in love, just the pain that you can't ask for, it's enough to make people haggard, mournful, heartbroken, and even die Buyong, this is where lovers in the world are infatuated. If you think Baoyu really has such thoughts for you, you think you are thinking of him, but in fact you are destroying his heart and taking his life. Life is in the future , which is more important, do you still need me to say?"

Liu Xianglian said she was no good, raised her head and said: "You talk about it, it's just that I heard Miss Xue say that I want to go, I'm afraid that I will escape and miss you two - don't worry, although I, Liu Xianglian, am not What a well-known person, but he has also read books and published books since he was a child, and he knows the truth of what he says, and he will never change it when he says he will help you."

Baochai pushed Daiyu lightly, and said with a smile, "Young Master Liu's word is better than anything else. How can we be worried? Because Dai'er knew Baoyu since she was a child, it is inevitable that she is very enthusiastic about his affairs." Some, don't mind."

Daiyu said: "Look, you guessed wrong again, right? I say that not because of Baoyu, but because of you, Mr. Liu."

Liu Xianglian sneered and said: "Miss Lin's words are becoming more and more irrelevant. You persuade me to stay in this place of tigers and wolves, and do the mediocre things of cutting off children and humiliating ancestors with others. Why are you doing it for me?"

Daiyu heard him speak harshly, looked at him sideways and said: "I haven't said anything yet, and you know that this matter will kill off children and humiliate ancestors? You are very familiar with these things."

Liu Xianglian was startled, waved her right hand, rolled her sleeves behind her back, let out a cold snort from her nostrils, and said nothing.

Daiyu said: "When I came in, I vaguely heard Mr. Liu saying that he used to be a noble son of the Hou family, from the Zanying Lian clan?"

Liu Xianglian sneered and said, "Of course it's not comparable to Miss Lin's family."

Daiyu laughed and said, "I know what you mean. I'm an irrelevant person. Of course I can't be compared with you. You mean Baoyu by saying this, don't you?"

Liu Xianglian didn't answer, but poured a cup of tea on the table and drank it all in one gulp, and put the tea bowl on the table, although there were no servants around to make fun of her, her face clearly showed the expression of serving tea to see off guests.

Daiyu smiled and tilted her head, Baochai understood, and passed the tea with both hands, Daiyu took a sip very slowly, and then swallowed it very slowly, seeing Liu Xianglian's expression was upset, she laughed even more, saying: " Your thoughts are nothing more than that you are the son of a family, and Baoyu is also a son of a family. Your family has fallen, and you have been lingering until now. You regret that you did not work hard to revive your family. Is it right to indulge in unethical feelings and destroy your official career?"

Liu Xianglian said: "Since we enjoy the wealth and honor earned by our father and grandfather, we naturally have to take on the great responsibility of revitalizing the family."

Daiyu said with a smile: "If you really think so, why don't you study hard and go to be an official, so as to restore the reputation of your Liu family?"

Liu Xianglian's face changed color, she sneered again and again, and said, "Miss Lin, why is she targeting me everywhere? Could it be that you have feelings for Baoyu, so you can't see him falling in love with me? Yes, if I remember correctly, the relationship between you and Baoyu is still in Xue Girls and you before, boys and girls, face each other day and night, even if you happen to be greedy for something new in the middle of the journey, and you like someone else, I'm afraid that in the end, you will go back and forth and return to this childhood companion."

Daiyu laughed and said, "You don't have to talk about him. Xue Baochai and I know each other well. It's useless for you to say these words a thousand or ten thousand times."

Seeing that she did not forget to smile at Baochai while she was talking, Liu Xianglian stretched out her right hand to caress Baochai's knee. Baochai didn't have to look down. He clasped his fingers with her, squeezed her fingers with his right hand jokingly, then opened his big palm to wrap her hand from below, and then turned his head and smiled back at her—the two looked at each other, as if they were talking about infinity Like a whisper, Liu Xianglian frowned tightly, and said: "Miss Xue, is it your intention that Miss Lin is so aggressive?"

Baochai smiled at Liu Xianglian: "Mr. Liu, Daiyu was born with a bit of laziness, so I deal with many things outside, but even though I deal with it, she knows and approves it." You probably always see me coming to interact with you alone, so some of you can't grasp what we mean, and say such nonsense - Daiyu and I are one body, what she wants to say is mine , what she means is also what I mean.”

Seeing that Baochai's expression changed after Daiyu's arrival, Liu Xianglian saw that now that the conversation had changed, it turned out to be Qin Zhaogao who was turning a deer into a horse, her face became more and more ugly, and she said coldly: " I am a useless person, not as good as your darling Baoyu, who can read and write, and has a good father-in-law. Even if I want to be an official, I have no connections, and now I am still a water bandit— —People like me, don’t delay your young high-tech Mr. Jia, I say this, are you satisfied?”

Daiyu laughed and said, "So after all, you are still interested in him, but you are just afraid of delaying him. As I said earlier, you may not know his thoughts on the one hand, and you are delaying it on the other." He, I'm afraid it's better than letting him suffer there alone, you think about it here, you feel that you are reluctantly giving up love and sacrificing yourself for others, but in fact you are harming him, don't you think so?"

Liu Xianglian said: "Who is interested in him? Miss Lin, don't talk nonsense, the man's family is also famous!"

Daiyu said with a smile: "You have no intentions for him. Why do you want to follow him to see him? If it were someone else, I would be a prisoner of crime. Now I meet a grandfather who is willing to help me. If I am in a hurry, I will go to him." Well, after listening to this grandpa's heart-pounding words, I can't even drive you away. You are the only one. When I heard that Baoyu likes you, not only would you run away on the spot, but you would also help him plan his future and his official career. Yes, this is not intended for him, what is it?"

I don't know if it's because she was next to Baochai and she opened her mouth again, but her voice was a bit more comfortable than when they met first, and she tilted her head to look at Liu Xianglian again, which was half innocent and half innocent. Liu Xianglian's soft and charming demeanor, even Liu Xianglian's self-proclaimed heart is as hard as a stone, can't help being startled, and she lost the meaning of blaming her first, and didn't argue with her much, she just frowned and said: "You just talk about things that don't make sense. I don't believe the nonsense on the side. Besides, I only made friends with him for a while a few years ago, how can it be as good as you said?" As he said, he thought of the intimacy between Baochai and Daiyu, and his heart was sour. , pretending to dislike the sweltering heat in the house, got up and opened the window to open a gap, covered the corners of his eyes with his sleeve, and when he turned around, Daiyu smiled and said, "You know it yourself." Making a grimace, he said, "Idiot, have you heard enough?"

After Liu Xianglian was stunned, she immediately turned her head and pushed the window completely open, only to see Baoyu standing outside the window. Looking at the sun after the snow, it was actually the coldest, but Baoyu stood there wearing only a padded jacket. After being sent away by Baochai, the surroundings were empty, making a small courtyard as lonely as a cottage.

Baochai laughed and said, "It's freezing, brother Bao, come in and sit down."

Daiyu had already gone to open the door to call Baoyu, but Baoyu just stood there blankly looking at Liu Xianglian from the window. Liu Xianglian leaned against the window and was stunned for a while, then said: "What are you doing standing there stupidly? Come in quickly."

Baoyu came in as if waking up from a dream, and Baochai saw that the two of them had a lot to say, so she took a cloak and other things, dragged Daiyu out, walked a few steps, and then reproached in a low voice: "It's not like you don't know Baoyu's temper. We took Liu Xianglian's words, and it's the same when we repeat them. What are you doing to provoke Baoyu?"

Daiyu said: "I just know his heart is left-handed, so I asked him to listen to it in person. After all, what others tell is not as reliable as hearing it with one's own ears. Besides, I think they should have a good talk in person. Only when you talk about it, you will know whether it is a separation or a combination, otherwise it will always be muddy and unhappy."

Baochai sighed: "The two of them are no better than us..." Before she finished speaking, Daiyu interrupted her: "You are here again! Ever since we met, you have always been hesitant about these important matters. Thinking that you are so knowledgeable and have died once, you should see through everything and indulge yourself, how can you be against your mother-in-law."

Baochai smiled wryly and said, "That's all, you've done everything, what else can I do to you?"

Daiyu said coldly, "You just said it well there. You and I are one body. My words are your words. I believed them all, but they were just deceiving people! As soon as I walked out of the door , you will only blame me!"

Baochai had no choice but to cup his hands and said, "Yes, yes, you and I are one. You just said what was in my heart. You said it well, and you said it well. I, Xue Baochai, feel Mu Dade, and I don't think so. If you want to repay, you can only promise with your body—are you satisfied with this?"

Daiyu glanced at her with half anger and half smile, and said, "It's not far away." But she took her hand and went all the way to enjoy the snow again.