The Hairpin of the Red Chamber

Mrs. Wang has always been fond of Baochai. This is not only because Baochai is her niece, but also because Baochai has always been aware of general principles and etiquette. With a coquettish and timid character, she is always the most conspicuous one in the crowd.

However, at this moment, Baochai, in the eyes of Mrs. Wang, has gradually changed into Daiyu's appearance—intelligent, sharp, with a kind of arrogance unique to young people, which cannot be concealed no matter how restrained.

Mrs. Wang hated Baochai like this very much. When she heard Baochai's greeting, she only turned her face slightly, and didn't even bother to hum.

Baochai didn't take it too seriously, she sat next to her mother, and said with a smile, "Mom has already told my aunt about us, so I won't bother with my aunt. The reason why I told my aunt about this is because of this. After all, the matter has something to do with Baoyu, and Auntie is Baoyu's mother, so you should know both emotionally and rationally."

Mrs. Wang sneered and said, "You carried Baoyu on your back, and you did this kind of thing with Baoyu's wife, can you take Baoyu with just a light word of relationship?"

Baochai laughed and said, "Auntie is wrong. Baoyu knew about this before Daiyu got married."

Mrs. Wang's face became more and more serious, and Baochai only had to look at her face to know that she must be thinking of other things, and explained with a smile: "Baoyu has no affection for Daiyu, and this matter is not What we forced him to do, he was just... grateful."

Mrs. Wang sneered and said, "Thank you for blocking his father's scolding for him?"

Baochai smiled lightly and said, "Thank you...for saving your family from the catastrophe."

Mrs. Wang's face suddenly turned livid like a ghost's face, she stared at Baochai, and said word by word: "Baochai, there are some things that should not be said indiscriminately."

Baochai said with a smile: "If my aunt doesn't believe it, just ask my uncle quietly, and ask him who came up with the idea of ​​avoiding disasters and pleading guilty, and you will know the truth."

Mrs. Wang heard her citing Jia Zheng as circumstantial evidence, she squinted her eyes and did not answer.Baochai said again: "The second reason we told Auntie is that Daiyu is Baoyu's wife after all, and Auntie will have to take care of many things in the future."

Mrs. Wang sneered and said, "Dream!"

Baochai said with a smile: "Auntie, don't refuse in a hurry. We can ask Auntie to do things, and we can't do anything. Today, as long as Auntie agrees to help us, we can do three things for Auntie."

Mrs. Wang just sneered, but Baochai was not in a hurry, and said slowly: "The first thing, since your house has been ransacked, and the lives of the whole family are in their hands. According to the practice of raiding houses in the past, it is probably more disaster than blessing. This calamity can be eliminated without any worries—Auntie, if you don’t believe me, since we can help you avoid one disaster, we can help you a second time.”

Seeing that she was full of words, Aunt Xue stretched out her hand and patted her from the side. Baochai patted Aunt Xue's hand to express comfort, and said: "Second thing, after the house is confiscated, even if all the belongings are returned, your house may be full of vitality." Seriously injured and unable to make ends meet, we can take out one hundred thousand silver to buy property for your family so that your family will not have to worry about expenses."

Madam Wang remained silent.

Seeing that she seemed to be moved, Baochai smiled slightly and said, "The third thing is that we can settle an old concern for my aunt."

Mrs. Wang said with a smile: "Don't care about the above, whether you can do it or not, just talk about my old thoughts, how do you know?"

Baochai smiled and said nothing, dipped her hand into the tea, and wrote the word "Min" stroke by stroke on the table, but there was a stroke missing to show that she would avoid the taboo of honoring relatives and relatives. Then he changed again, and said sharply: "You...you are talking nonsense!"

Baochai said with a smile, "Auntie's words are strange. I didn't even say anything. Why talk nonsense?"

Mrs. Wang's face was pale, she turned her head to stare at Aunt Xue and said, "Did you tell them?"

Aunt Xue asked suspiciously: "Tell them what?" According to the rules of the Wang family, the daughter does not teach reading, so she and Mrs. Wang are not very literate. Mrs. Wang can recognize the words written by Baochai on the table, but Aunt Xue cannot. .

Baochai said from the side: "You don't need to ask, Auntie didn't tell us, we found it in Suzhou. When Uncle Lin sold the property in Suzhou, I happened to have some savings, so I bought all the mansions of the Lin family. When I was hanging out with Daiyu, I accidentally found a letter written by that person to my aunt, so I knew what was on my aunt's mind."

When Aunt Xue heard her talking about Suzhou and the Lin family, she vaguely guessed what was going on, her face also changed, she didn't care to cry, she just stood up, looked around the door quietly, but didn't come over.

Baochai looked at Mrs. Wang and said with a smile, "What does Auntie think?"

Mrs. Wang was already trembling all over, and her eyes were full of tears. After a long while, she opened her mouth and said, "She... wrote me a letter?"

Baochai nodded and said: "When she was dying, she wrote a letter and put it in the embroidered pattern. She went there before she could send it out. Somehow, no one found the letter. I bought the old house of the Lin family because I bought it. It was for Daiyu to pay her respects, so everything was left untouched, and Daiyu found it when she searched for old things in her bedroom."

Mrs. Wang sneered and said, "You treat her...it's really nice."

Baochai said with a smile: "I like her, so naturally I want to treat her well, not only to treat her well, but also to treat her well for one life, two lives, and life after life, and never separate."

Mrs. Wang said: "You are only so old, you know the word forever. You must know that people in this world talk like a knife. Even if we know about your situation and acquiesce, it may not last for a long time. "

Baochai said: "It's up to man to plan things, but it's up to Heaven to make things happen. We just try our best, and that's it. If it doesn't work, then there's nothing we can do. What's more, we will die together, and we will be husband and wife in the next life."

Mrs. Wang was surprised to hear that her tone was flat, and she talked about the death of love as if she was talking about eating and drinking.

After a long time, Mrs. Wang said: "You just want me to ignore you? Is there any other request?"

Baochai smiled and said, "Auntie is wise, we do three things for Auntie, and I hope Auntie can do three things for us."

Mrs. Wang waited for her to continue, but Baochai stopped for a while, until Mrs. Wang became impatient and said, "Which three things?" Then she smiled and said, "First, hide it from uncle and others for us. Second, whenever Baoyu goes out, try to persuade his uncle to let Daiyu follow him to the post. Third... If Baoyu doesn't speak up in person in the future, don't point anyone to Baoyu. "

Mrs. Wang frowned when she heard the first two things, You Ke, and the last one, and said, "You two are together, and you control Baoyu. If I agree to this again, won't Baoyu have no heirs for life?!"

Baochai laughed and said, "The last thing is Baoyu's request. We don't know what's hidden in it. Although we are with Baoyu, we live and eat separately, and we don't control it. Auntie If you don't believe me, just ask people who come and go to Suzhou to find out. After all, Baoyu is the head of a county, and we two weak girls don't have such great abilities."

Mrs. Wang said: "I can promise you the first two things, but not the third one."

Baochai said: "If we all take another step back, my aunt promises that no matter what, Daiyu will be the head grandmother of the family, and there will be no change. Whether Baoyu takes a concubine or not, she must get her consent. It also needs to be dealt with by her, so how does my aunt feel?"

Mrs. Wang was silent.

Baochai said again: "Baoyu's future is bound to be often away. If Daiyu goes with him, she will be a serious grandmother in charge. Any business will be up to her. I just want to ask my aunt more." It’s just a guarantee, and this requirement is not harsh.”

Mrs. Wang pondered for a moment, then Fang said: "I promise you. However, you must ensure that you can do these three things. If you can't do one of them, then you can't blame me."

Baochai nodded and said with a smile: "Since I dare to say such a thing, I am sure of it. Since my aunt has agreed, please draw a mark on this silk handkerchief."

Seeing her take out a silk handkerchief from her bosom, Mrs. Wang opened it and saw that it was Baoyu's handwriting at a glance. She felt sore, but raised her face and said, "I can still write my own name. I can write it with pen and ink." .”

After Baochai heard this, she grinded the mill herself and handed it to the side. Mrs. Wang took the pen and wrote down her name in an upright manner. Although the handwriting was not very beautiful, it could be seen that she had practiced it carefully. Watching Mrs. Wang sign her name and press her fingerprints, Fang smiled and said, "Auntie has a handle on us. If she wanted to punish us afterwards, it would be easy. That's why I specially wanted to leave a proof. Don't blame Auntie."

Mrs. Wang didn't answer, but said: "You also have to give me a proof."

Baochai took out another silk handkerchief from her bosom earlier, dipped it in the pen and ink, wrote down her promise, signed and marked it as it was, and handed it to Mrs. Wang. Madam Wang put the two silk handkerchiefs together, She took out a yellowed Buddhist scripture book and opened it to compare them one by one. It turned out that she used that Buddhist scripture as a dictionary, and there were notes under each word on it.

Mrs. Wang read the words on the two silk handkerchiefs one by one, nodded, and said: "You said that the letter that can solve my problem is that letter? Where is it?"

Baochai then took out another letter from her bosom and handed it to Mrs. Wang respectfully. Mrs. Wang asked eagerly, but when she really saw it, she hesitated for a long time and reached out her hand several times before taking the letter over. Shaking his hands, he wanted to open it. After trying several times, he still put the letter and the silk handkerchief in the Buddhist scriptures, put the Buddhist scriptures away again, and said coldly, "I'm leaving." He went out a few steps, and when he reached the door, he glared at Xue. Aunt Xue glanced at Aunt Xue, and when she thought of her son, the tears flowed down again, and she led the women to send Mrs. Wang out of the house. When she came back, she saw that Baochai was still there, and she stomped her feet and said bitterly: "Since you promised her so many things, why don't you do them?"

When Baochai called "Mom", Aunt Xue glared at her and said, "Don't call me Mom, it's serious to go and plan for your brother and your good sister Lin! How many things have you promised from yesterday to today?" If things go out, if there is one thing I can't do, I...I...I will just pretend that you have never been born!" Then she covered her face and began to cry, Baochai couldn't persuade her, she couldn't argue with her , and saw Xue Pan winking and beckoning to himself outside the door, knowing that he was worried about Zhang Jing, smiled wryly, and while rubbing his temples, came out slowly, and said to Xue Pan: "Brother, don't worry, everything is according to our I want to go."

Hearing what she said, Xue Pan immediately put on a smiling face and said, "Look at what you said, I must have something to look for you! Why don't you allow my brother to visit my sister?"

When Baochai saw him looking like a rascal, she gave him a sideways look, but she really didn't bother to pay attention to him.