[Red Mansion] The third master of jade-like stone treasures

"Come!" Bao Cong took Lin Daiyu's hand and led her to grope in the crevice of the bed.

Then, her fingertips touched a round stone ring with patterns.

"Do you know about the secret room of the organ?" Bao Cong looked at Lin Daiyu with bright eyes, and taught her how to turn the stone ring. "When I was remodeling this house, I specially built this."

Compared with the idea of ​​hiding things, Bao Cong wants a secret room more.

A place that only he and Lin Daiyu can open, how interesting.

"Secret room?" Lin Daiyu had seen this in the storybook travel notes, but this was the first time she saw it with her own eyes.

She stared in amazement at the inside of the bed, behind the bed curtain, the wall slowly moved and opened like a door.

Bao Cong sat up and opened the inner bed curtain, and Lin Daiyu saw a narrow passage.On the ground of the passage, a layer of plain carpet was laid, which was very clean and refreshing.

Although it was a bit dark inside, the end could be seen at a glance. It was just a narrow passage of seven or eight steps.

Bao Cong excitedly pulled Lin Daiyu up, "Come on, go in and have a look." Seeing the darkness inside, he asked her again, "Are you afraid?"

Lin Daiyu shook her head, but her small face was full of excitement, and even her eyes lit up, "Don't be afraid, it's because of you!"

She tightened the hands they held, smiled at Bao Cong, and then waved her hand to urge: "Go!"

Bao Cong laughed helplessly, and said dotingly: "Be careful where you step."

As he said that, he took the lead in entering the passage, and turned his head to pay attention to Lin Daiyu.

But a few steps, soon to the corner.

"This is a staircase going down, please walk slowly." Bao Cong reminded in a low voice.

Lin Daiyu responded, turned the corner, and saw the staircase.

Obviously stretching down, there are no candles on both sides, but there is still a faint warm light in the stairwell.It came in through the hollow carved windows on one side of the wall.

Lin Daiyu looked through the hollowed-out window and saw the view of the small courtyard outside, as well as the lanterns hanging on the porch for lighting.

There were no less than ten lanterns hanging around the corridor, illuminating the entire small courtyard and making the stairwell hidden in the corner less dark.

The two went down the stairwell, but Bao Cong stopped after only a dozen steps.

"It's here." Bao Cong stretched out his hand, creaked, and pushed open the wooden door in front of the stairs, "Wait a minute."

Lin Daiyu stood obediently in the distance and waited, and after a while, she saw Bao Cong lighting up the lampstand next to the door, and then the lampstands in various places in the small room.

The lamps and candles shone, and the whole room was lit up. Lin Daiyu finally saw the whole picture of this secret small room clearly.

The whole room is very simple, without any amazing decoration.There is still a layer of plain carpet on the ground, which looks very warm.

On the right are a few empty Bogu racks and a few drawer boxes for storage.These are all made by Bao Cong according to the modern storage racks and storage cabinets in memory.Let the carpenter take it apart and finish it, and he will move it in and assemble it slowly.

The small passages and stairs can't hold these big things.

On the left is a single bed and a low wooden desk, which looks like a tatami mat at a glance.

It was obviously a secret room, but Bao Cong subconsciously placed things like arranging a room, as if without a bed and a desk, it would not be a complete room.

He felt that he must have lived in rented houses a lot when he was studying and working in his previous life, otherwise he wouldn't be so obsessed with beds and desks.

Even the layout of the secret room has also appeared the shadow of the rented room.

But Lin Daiyu didn't know about the rented house, she just thought it was quite simple and simple, and all her attention was attracted by a lyre on the desk.

Under Bao Cong's arm were still several brocade boxes containing silver bills and contracts. At this time, he took them all and put them in the first floor of a wooden storage cabinet. You don't have to be afraid of losing it."

The house was unobtrusive, and the secret room was cleverly hidden. It was under the master bedroom, and the entrance was hidden behind the bed.If things can still be stolen in this way, it can only be said to be God's will.

When he looked back, he saw that Lin Daiyu was already sitting in front of the desk, reaching out to lightly pluck the strings of the guqin.

The guqin rang a few notes in a low voice, and it sounded a little pleasant, like a kind elder muttering.

Bao Cong shook his head and smiled, walked over and sat down beside Lin Daiyu, watching her pluck the strings.Obviously she has never learned how to play the Guqin, but now she seems to be able to play it well.

Bao Cong sighed while listening, he really is a talented person.When I bought this guqin at the beginning, I wanted to give it to Lin Daiyu, and it so happened that she could play with it today.

After hearing the sound of the qin, Lin Daiyu suddenly felt moved, so she went to take a closer look at the guqin.

This piano is very simple, so simple that it is almost inconspicuous.The wood is not the best wood, and the workmanship is also very ordinary, not to mention, it is a bit old.

There is no carving on it, only the word "Jiaowei" is engraved.

That's what makes it puzzling.

It is obviously an old guqin with ordinary materials and workmanship, but it has traces of being carefully wiped and cared for.Although it is old, the body of the piano is very clean, the ordinary wood has a soft luster, simple and simple, and has a lot of stories.

Touching the word "Jiaowei" with her fingertips, Lin Daiyu asked unconsciously: "Where did this Qin come from? Why did you keep it here?"

Hearing Lin Daiyu's question about her background, Bao Cong had an intuition that she must have remembered something.

He slightly hooked his lips, reached out his hand and plucked a deep sound on the strings, and said slowly: "Sister Lin must know, right? Mrs. Jiao Wei, a female musician in the previous dynasty, I heard that this piano was learned by her at the age of seven." At that time, the first piano I used."

In the previous dynasty, there was Mrs. Jiaowei, who was born in a poor family and entered the palace to study music at the age of seven.For 20 years in the palace, he became the number one musician in the court, and his best skill is the lyre.

Later, the former dynasty was destroyed, and Mrs. Jiaowei was also living among the people.

Bao Cong bought this violin not because of the story of the first court musician.It's because, after the fall of the previous dynasty, Mrs. Jiaowei was not downcast even though she was living among the people.

With the most common Jiaowei guqin in the world, she played the astonishing song "Phoenix Seeking the Phoenix", and since then she has supported herself with her piano skills.

Not only did she support herself, she even took many beggars as apprentices and taught them various music theory skills, so that those beggars also had skills and could live on their skills like her.

Those beggars all called her Mrs. Jiaowei, and as word of mouth passed on from these people, the name of Mrs. Jiaowei was handed down among the people.

Such a woman, the rich people said, no matter how good she played the piano, she was just a prostitute.

But Bao Cong felt that this woman was not only kind-hearted, but also quite smart and capable.She is not confined to the framework of a traditional woman at all, but has really lived out her own life.

Of course, Lin Daiyu also knew the story of Mrs. Jiaowei, recalling the few sentences in the storybook, which summarized the life of a legendary woman like a gossip story, she felt a little melancholy.

She sighed: "Why is it just the first qin? I'm afraid this qin is the one she has used all her life?"

Bao Cong nodded, "Indeed, I heard that she was exiled from the palace to the common people, and the only thing she brought with her was this qin, and she has always played it since then."

This is the ordinary, not expensive Jiaowei Guqin.

Unknowingly, the two chatted for a long time in the secret room. Lin Daiyu rubbed her eyes and felt drowsy. Only then did Bao Cong realize that a long time had passed.

He hurriedly pulled Lin Daiyu up, "Don't rush to study this piano, I will move it out, and you can play it later when you are free."

Lin Daiyu rubbed the corners of her eyes, dozed off all day long, but she still had the time to glance at Baocong, and said angrily, "What's the matter? This Guqin is Mrs. Jiaowei's, how can it be called a plaything?"

The little girl began to be serious again, and Bao Cong knew that she had slipped her words, so she quickly apologized, hugged Guqin in her arms, and stretched out her hand to Lin Daiyu: "Come on, let's go back."

"Well," Lin Daiyu put her little hand in Bao Cong's, and followed him back to the bedroom in a daze, not forgetting to tell him: "Put the qin on the desk first, be careful, don't knock it."

Bao Cong responded with a wry smile: "Understood, you go to bed quickly."

In the afternoon of the next day, Baocong led the crowd back to Rongguo Mansion. As soon as they entered their small courtyard, Qingwen came up to meet her and said, "Third Master, Second Mistress Lian seems to have something urgent to ask you. Sister Ping'er came to ask you several times this morning. Yes, I told you to go to her place when you come back."

Wang Xifeng had nothing good to do with him, so she didn't want to go...

Bao Cong took Lin Daiyu straight back to the room, changed clothes, and planned to dawdle for a while.

Lin Daiyu asked Qingwen curiously: "It's enough to call a little girl to spread the word. Why did Sister Ping'er come in person?"

Not only came, but also came several times in the morning.

Qingwen helped Zijuan pack her things, and replied: "She has been suffering from anger at both ends these days, and I don't know why. Maybe it's because Lian's second grandma and Lian's second master are angry again. Both of them are unhappy, so they both want to find her." Her stubble, she can hide away when she comes to spread the word."

It's not easy for Lin Daiyu to ask too much about other people's husbands and wives, so she urged Baocong: "Hurry up, sister Feng has been waiting for a long time, and she will vent her anger with Ping'er later."

Bao Cong changed his clothes and said with a smile: "What are you urging me to do? I'll go later, Ping'er can still catch her breath here, and she will be aggrieved when she goes back!"

Seeing Bao Cong's anxious appearance, Lin Daiyu just shook her head and said, "How do you know these things, you'd better go quickly."

If Ping'er hides for a while longer, will Sister Feng not be able to settle the score?It was just an excuse to scold her.

Baocong couldn't resist, so he had to go out and go to Wang Xifeng's place with Ping'er.

Wang Xifeng was very irritable and upset, she was scolding a little girl and told her to go and urge Ping'er to come back.

It happened that Ping'er led Bao Cong back, so she snorted at Ping'er in a strange way, and said to Bao Cong with a smile, "I've been waiting for you all day, and I have something important to tell you."

Bao Cong didn't talk nonsense, and asked directly: "What's the matter?"

Wang Xifeng smiled, and waited for Ping'er to serve the tea before slowly opening his mouth and saying, "It's really thanks to you..."

Isn't the matter of the Sun family settled?Why did Wang Xifeng talk about it again?

Oh, that matter was settled externally, but when he paid 4000 taels of silver, Wang Xifeng should take it out of the silver in the public office and return it to him. This matter has not been resolved yet.

However, according to Wang Xifeng's temperament, it was too late to avoid this matter, so why would he bring it up?

Bao Cong became alert all of a sudden, and asked Wang Xifeng with a smile, "What? Is there any money in the palace? Sister Feng wants to return the 4000 taels to me?"

Hearing this, Wang Xifeng froze for a moment in embarrassment, and then forced a smile, wondering: "In order to support the government's expenses, I even pawned a lot of my own dowry. How can there be any money in the palace!"

Bao Cong was puzzled, "Then why are you talking about this?"

Wang Xifeng said: "That's right. Yesterday the old ancestor and the second wife said that apart from copying scriptures and praying for blessings, they are also going to give porridge and rice to some poor families in the city and outside the city, so as to accumulate more merits and let the Buddha see them. bless you."

"But there is a fixed amount of money in the public house every month. I can only use my own dowry to pay for the extra money, and then deduct the money when the money comes next month. But the money that was given to the Sun family a while ago really put this The monthly expenses are covered."

"I pawned the dowry, and I can only support the expenses of the mansion. A few days ago, the eunuch in the palace came and asked for 1000 taels of silver. I really don't have any money here. You, your son took so much money a while ago. How many bank notes do you have left?"

"Let me take care of this matter first, and I will pay you back as soon as the public has money."

Bao Cong understood that Wang Xifeng wanted to be strong, and wanted to do everything according to Jia Mu and Mrs. Wang's wishes, so the old debt was not cleared, and a new one was borrowed.