[Red Mansions] The big maid struggles daily

"Sure enough, the scenery is beautiful, no wonder the ancients praised Yangzhou Road for ten miles of spring breeze!" Zhu Xiu tasted this famous ancient city in his heart, and couldn't help admiring it.

Grandma Zhu only pretended that she had never seen the spring scenery in the south of the Yangtze River, and let these little ones say something to each other, Juyue laughed and said, "Qiling Temple is right next to the Slender West Lake, where the hills are verdant and the scenery is beautiful." .”

Zhu Xiu leaned on the window edge, coveting this ancient and prosperous scene.Cars, sedan chairs, large and small boats, houses, bridges and pedestrians all have the lingering amorous feelings of Jiangnan water beauty, which is the scenery that later generations will never feel again.

Guiyue also said: "I heard that the master will take the girl to swim in the lake. The Slender West Lake has Changti Spring Willow, 24 Bridge, Taohuawu... and the Xichun Terrace built by the salt merchants when the old saint visited the south. , the girl said that there is 'biwa Zhudong, white jade and golden roof'! Many literati and scholars admire the moon there, but it's a pity we can't stay outside..."

It's hard for Mr. Lin to be so interested in taking this group of people for an outing.Madam Zhu smiled and shook her head.These children have not stopped since they got into the carriage, chattering, not only in the carriage they are in, but also in the carriage of the girl behind.In this way, this group of girls is not enough, and they are eager to stay outside: "Even if you don't go back today, you have to stay in another courtyard, or in the guest courtyard of Qiling Temple, it is possible that you can still live Go to Xichun Terrace and Xiaojin Mountain?"

Although these words are true, the girls pouted, what's so interesting about the other courtyard and the guest courtyard of the ancient temple, and it's not like they haven't lived in it before.They don't care much about Xichun Terrace, but if they can live on Xiaojin Mountain and enjoy the night view of Fengting, Chuitai, Qin Room, Osmanthus Osmanthus Bookstore, Moon View, etc., wouldn't it be very useful?

These few have been with Daiyu for a long time, and they are quite elegant, besides, even Daiyu is thinking about this at the moment.

It's just that Lin Ruhai absolutely couldn't agree, he really wanted to stay outside for a night, but he had already sent someone and Qiling Temple to book a guest courtyard for the young couple to enter.Qiling Temple is a thousand-year-old temple, and there are quite a few monks in the temple, and the guards are more reassuring than the other courtyards of the Lin family.

At the end of the day, although everyone's interest in traveling remained undiminished, the cars and horses were exhausted. What's more, they spent a day on bridges and visiting spring, painting boats, swinging and flying kites. Embroidery is a bit overwhelming.I had to go back to Qiling Temple and rest early after eating.

Because today is the Spring Dragon Day on February [-], all the ladies and gentlemen rushed out of the suburbs first, so it is called Tanchun, and Qiling Temple is in a hurry.Fortunately, the Lin family came back early, and the first dinner table was crowded with his family.Zhu Xiu looked at the table, in addition to vegetarian dishes made of yuba, winter bamboo shoots, fresh mushrooms, magnolia slices, etc., such as assorted vegetables and arhat dishes, as well as spring pancakes and noodles, but there was no porridge and rice that must be eaten on weekdays.

The two mothers, Zhu and Chen, ordered Xingyue to serve spring pancakes and noodles to the girl first, "Eat dragon scales, eat dragon beard, and have all the blessings, fortune, longevity, happiness." At that moment, Daiyu also laughed, and hurriedly let the mothers and sisters sit down too. .Because outside, everyone gathered around a table, which was more lively than before.

During the small banquet, Lin Ruhai also ordered someone to bring in a palm-sized bottle of vegetarian wine. The youngest child looked only seven or eight years old, with round face, round eyes and round head, very pleasing, reminding Zhu Xiu of his younger brother's childhood Come, take homemade snowflake crisps for him from your purse.The little Yaoer's hands were so fleshy that he couldn't hold much, so Zhu Xiu simply untied the purse and stuffed it for him, "Take it and eat."

Ever since the cloak was revealed, everyone was more careful about the things they wore. Seeing Zhu Xiu handing out the purse, they hurriedly asked a few questions.Zhu Xiu said: "It's okay, the tiger pattern is embroidered on it, and the ordinary stitches are used." There is no Zhu family's own technique.

The people didn't reason, and when they poured the plain wine, they found that it was wine like rouge.

Everyone raised their glasses to congratulate, this was the first time Daiyu had wine since Jia Min left, because she said: "It smells better than the western wine from my grandmother's place."

Grandma Zhu smiled and said, "This is the wine that pays homage to gods and Buddhas, so it's naturally different. Besides, when you eat Western wine in the Rong Mansion, you have to scald it with a hot wine 'rotor' before you drink it. We ran seven or eight points."

Nanny Chen took a small sip in her mouth, tasted it, and said, "That's not true. I'm not afraid if the wine is hot, but the chef may not be hot enough when it's delivered, so the master can't be honest, so I'll take the hot one. Boil water to warm the wine. Good wine, after doing this, it will be in vain." Chen Nanny usually likes to have a drink or two by herself, and since she went to Rong Mansion, she has loved the mansion from top to bottom. It's disgusting to spoil things.

They are free to eat here.As soon as he entered Lin Ruhai's wing room, two unfamiliar young servants brought him in with a large lacquer three-layer suitcase. The two confidantes and Lin An obviously had never seen these two people before, but they called them in directly, which was a little strange. Didn't show either.

Lin Ruhai quietly put two ledger-like things into the vacated food box while the two were serving dishes.The two young servants lowered their eyes, pretending not to see it.Before and after half a cup of tea, the two servants bowed their heads and left, just like the rest of the guest house who were setting meals.

In the wing room, Lin Ruhai, who had been hanging on his heart for two years, let out a long breath, feeling relieved.When eating with chopsticks, I used a bowl of Longxu noodles more than usual.

After dinner, Lin An personally brought tea in, and Lin Ruhai said, "Dou and Zhang?"

Lin An hurriedly returned in a low voice: "Governor Yu of Liangjiang personally ordered people to ransack the house and put him in prison, and everything has been taken care of."

Lin Ruhai sighed, Dou and Zhang are well-known big salt merchants, known as "Yang Ban City", even the common people know the wild words of these two families: three parts of the moon in the world, one part belongs to the surname Dou Zhang.

As long as Dou and Zhang's family are cut off, one wing of the Zhen family, which controls the current money bag, will be cut off. Coupled with the account books handed over, the madness of the Zhen family will soon come to an end.

Lin An knew that the master chose to bring his family out today, in order to avoid wave after wave of lobbyists who begged for Zhen Yingjia's famous post.The master and the governor of Liangjiang, Mr. Yu, were not only in the same year, but they were also Jinshi and ranked in the same list. Mr. Yu was the second place in the list back then. Let's talk.

"Those two boys are still waiting in the corridor, is it alright?" Lin An asked in a low voice.

Lin Ruhai shook his head, "Just be an ordinary servant, and do what you need to do. Don't show any traces and let the outside see."

Lin An understood immediately, and he could arrange things like sweeping, feeding the horses, etc. according to his fingertips.Those two people mixed with the boys, they were diligent and quick, Lin An glanced at them coldly, and then he didn't care.

Because it was only February and it was still very cold at night, Daiyu personally held the hand warmer, Zhu Xiu carried the copper brazier, Xingyue and Taoyue carried the foot stove, and sent them to Lin Ruhai together.Lin Ruhai was really confident that he was not afraid of the cold, so he only wore a thin coat and read under the lamp.Seeing Daiyu acting like this, she couldn't help laughing, but also felt relieved, and hurriedly put the stove in her arms, and stepped on the foot stove under her feet.

Zhu Xiu poked open the covered white ash with a copper fire chopstick, and the fine red charcoal underneath immediately turned red when it touched the air.The ears of the copper brazier can no longer be touched with hands.These braziers, foot stoves, and hand stoves are all brought by the family. Only the smoker cage, because incense and paper are often burned in temples, is the most indispensable, so I didn’t bring it with me.The inner courtyard is very complete, and Zhu Xiu thought there should be some in the front, and was about to tell Xiaoyao'er outside.

Unexpectedly, he bumped into a young man holding a water basin head-on, Zhu Xiu jumped, and hurriedly said: "Young lady is inside, Mr. Lin is not in a hurry to wash up."

The young man looked up at Zhu Xiu, then walked out nonchalantly.Taking advantage of the lanterns and candles in the corridor, Zhu Xiu saw that pair of black and white eyes, and felt that this cold face looked familiar.Going all the way back inside, Zhu Xiu was still thinking, there are not many servants with such a cold face, where did he see it?

Zhu Xiu stayed in the Rongguo Mansion all day long, and had seen only a limited number of foreign men, so after talking about it a little bit, it seemed that the answer was right in front of him, and he could find it everywhere, but he just couldn't think of it.

She strained her ears to listen to the movement in the front yard, but she heard Steward Lin say: "...the Douzhang family has collapsed, and it will be a matter of time before they are convicted. My son, once the little girl from Princess Zhongshun’s family sued the old sage, I’m afraid I’m going to commit the old sage’s heart disease...even the boat and the people are gone.” Princess Zhongshun’s mother is the princess of the clan, and their sisters are the emperor’s cousin The niece, that little lady is especially favored, and often goes in and out of the palace.

Lin Ruhai immediately sneered, and said harshly: "It's really great to have a nurse in the family and a concubine in the inner palace?" If you dare to use such dirty methods on Yu'er, you really think that the Lin family is dead.

Lin An is also rarely bitter: "That Concubine Zhen is not a titled imperial concubine more than ten years ago. She has not even earned the position of a noble concubine, so she forgot how she was deprived of her position back then. Empress Xianhui's niece was killed on the door of the palace concubine, causing the old sage to be criticized, how dare he do this! The rampant is too rampant, naturally there will be retribution."

Lin Ruhai lowered her eyes, the Zhen family chose people with upright families who loved their daughters, this kind of family valued women's boudoir reputation, the Zhen family took advantage of their weaknesses, and it was really a success several times.But he really didn't dare to do anything to those nobles.

Didn't Zhen Yingjia think that if she could control the daughters of each family, she could do whatever she wanted.But with a little push from the Lin family, some people simply took this work and cast it under the command of Prince Zhongshun.It's just that King Zhongshun actually gave up his wife and sister. That girl is probably around Yu'er's age. I'm afraid there are other schemes involved.

Sure enough, I heard Lin An's reply: "Just now there was a letter from Beijing, the girl from Princess Zhongshun's natal family was married to the son of An Nanguo, and many civil servants and dignitaries went to add makeup. The same is true. If the girl goes to Beijing, she should also bring some rituals with her."

This is what should be done, and besides, Daiyu really accepted her kindness.It's just that the girl must have been accused of getting married a long time ago, An Nan is thousands of miles away, and the girl's reputation cannot be passed on, Zhongshun is using this matter to win a lot of support for the Yue family.Although Lin Ruhai also wanted to praise King Zhongshun for his good methods, but he would never be willing to do such a thing with Daiyu if he put himself in the same situation.

Seeing Lin Ruhai frowned, Lin An thought about it, and expressed his concerns: "Yangzhou City has lost the Douzhang family, and I don't know how to make a fuss. It is only close to the salt merchants in various places, so I have to be active." After all, it is a mountain of silver, who can not be tempted.

"The more this is the case, the more violent the Zhen family is. I'm afraid they will jump over the wall... Besides, those people will only protect you. The master can't take care of the girl here. At least Beijing can be stable for this year. Master, you See?" The Zhen family's behavior annoyed the master, and the master secretly joined hands with Mr. Yu to overthrow the two largest salt merchants under the Zhen family's control, and handed over the account books—now they send servants to guard the master, but they don't know how to guard the girl. .

How could Lin Ruhai not understand this truth, Jiangnan's short-term peace has been broken.The outstretched hand of the Zhen family was cut off by two saints together, and the safest place now is Duzhong.He stomped hard on the stove under his feet. If Yu'er never came back, it would be fine. How could he be willing to say goodbye to his family just now?

Lin Ruhai's old eyes were slightly wet, and he finally acquiesced.Lin An was also very sour, but if the girl stayed here, not only would the misfortune and fortune be unpredictable, but she also feared that the master would be distracted.

...Zhu Xiu listened carefully, fortunately the guest house was cramped, even if it was windy outside, she could still hear clearly.At this moment, my heart also felt uncomfortable.

Grandma Zhu glared at her daughter: "The law is not passed on to the six ears, so don't do this!" As she spoke, she cut off a section of the candle wick with copper scissors.

The candlelight suddenly lit up and shone on Zhu Xiu's eyes, reminding her of the bright knife light of Wanshou that night, "It's him?"

"Who is it?" Nanny Zhu asked.

Zhu Xiu thought, that person must be the one sent by the steward Lin to protect Master Lin.She shouldn't know what happened here, Zhu Xiu hurriedly suppressed her thoughts, and just said to her mother: "Maybe we have to go back to Beijing soon."

Mammy Zhu sighed, butler Lin had already shown her intentions earlier.The times are like this, there is no other way.

-

But in Rong's mansion, Xiren came back from home on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month and saw Jia Baoyu sick, crying like tears by his bedside.Unexpectedly, instead of teaching his wife to see loyalty, he was reprimanded. The attacker dared not disobey, so he had to hold back his tears.

Since that day, things have gotten worse in this room.Bihen was sneaky, not knowing what to do.Baoyu is also strange, often chatting with her in whispers, and the attackers are foolish and coquettish, but they don't find out a little bit.

Xiren knew that Qingwen was angered by his wife for not staying in the room, and had taught her a lesson, so he didn't care about her momentary depression, and just stared at Baoyu and Bihen.Suspected that these two made a mistake while she was away.

From that day on, Jia Baoyu felt as if he had lost something. Although he heard about Bihen's fate and other things outside, he still couldn't get rid of his depression.Baochai and Xiangyun often came to visit him, how to chat and laugh, how to relieve boredom, all the girls and girls in the room gave their best support, but he was the only one who ignored everything and didn't care about it.

Xiren became more and more flustered, and asked Qingwen in private. Qingwen sneered and said, "I know all about your tricks, don't expect me to say anything good!" She endured the grievances and stood guard outside, and she was about to come out early.It's a pity that Bihen's little hoof doesn't know what to do, and he will only fail to learn well. If this happens, what will happen to the people in this room in the future.

For the first half month, Xiren remained calm, only paying attention to everything.Who knows what Baoyusu is like. In the past, girls were required to sleep with the kang, but now they are not even allowed to lie on the foot.

Xiren was taken aback, and had many suspicions in her heart. She was no longer an ignorant girl, and she also had some experience in matters of men and women in the past two years.Seeing Baoyu like this, struggling in every possible way, but gradually he only guessed at that one reason.

What about a man, the person next to his pillow has always been the most aware of it.Xiren teased Baoyu again and again with pretexts, but he was lazy and chatting, and his temper was no longer as sympathetic to girls as in the past.No matter how weird he was in the past, if there was a quarrel, he must first be a little low-key to coax people.But now, if you say you don't care about people, then you don't care anymore. Even if Miss Bao said something wrong, he immediately dumped his face at others.

On this day, Jia Baoyu was lazy and didn't like to move. Xiren came in with a bowl of longevity noodles, and said with a smile: "Today is my good day, good second master, can I have a bite for my face?"

Only then did Jia Baoyu realize that today is the twelfth day of the second lunar month, which is Xiren's birthday. After all, he treated Xiren differently, so he stood up and bowed.The attacker hurriedly blessed him.Baoyu said: "I said why there was so much noise outside just now. It turned out that birthday worshipers broke our door."

Xiren's heart is sore and depressed, so there is no need to say more.Everyone in this room wanted to intervene, and after finally taking everyone off their horses, they thought about the boss, and suffered from this world's malice, and their hearts were already half ashamed.With a smile on his face, he said: "This birthday noodle is only one bite. Squeeze out the juice from fresh and tender wild vegetables to knead the noodle, and it becomes this strange and handsome noodle. It's a bit wild, do you want to eat it?"

Baoyu couldn't help it, so he had to accept it, and said for a while: "This is still a new method thought up by sister Zhuxiu in the old lady's room... Let it go, don't say it."

After a pause, he said again: "There are so many money dicks piled up under the bed, you go and play with them, you worry about it all day, and today is also a lively day. The old lady came to ask, I just sent it away." .”

Seeing him eating, the attacker made an excuse that he had just been drunk. He leaned back on the kang and thought secretly, and said with a smile, "I have asked the old Qin's mother here to set up a table for them. It's just that they made a big fuss and pulled me away After drinking several cups, I couldn't take it anymore, so I came out to hide for a while. Since you are here, if you stay here for a while, wouldn't it be good for the two of us to talk and joke?"

Baoyu was not very interested, and because of some unspeakable thoughts, she was a little evasive and aggressive, and she didn't want to be alone with her.It's just that seeing Xiren's earnestness softened his heart, so he could only speak casually.

Xiren's heart became more and more miserable, but he still cheered up and teased him in every possible way.Jia Baoyu was impatient, and wanted to send her out, but there was a slight movement in the place that could not be said. He was startled for a while, and then he was overjoyed: So what Bihen said was true, and so was the story about the old man who was rumored outside. real.

The unknowing Fen Mian was ashamed and said angrily, "I'm telling you something serious, and you're like this again!" After finishing speaking, he twisted his waist and got off the kang, picked up the bowl, turned around and ran out.

Jia Baoyu didn't care about her, panting for a long time before he calmed down.Xindao, since this is the case, it is indeed the reason of Bihen, and also the reason for my collision with the flower god, so I have to pay homage to the flower god, and it will surely get better.

Now that he has changed his mind, his heart is even hotter, tossing and turning, he just doesn't know how to be happy.Suddenly remembered that today is Huachao Festival, Huachao Festival is Baihua's birthday, Xiren has such a good fortune to be born on this day, no wonder he feels better when he meets her.

Jia Baoyu believed that it was because of Xiren's birthday, and when he learned that Daiyu was also born on this day, he couldn't help going back and forth, and he had another thought in his mind.I just feel that although sister Lin is not very close to me, it is really a match made in heaven.The piles and piles can fit together.

Let's say that Xiren ran out shyly and timidly, but for some reason, he almost tripped over the threshold and was seen by Qingwen who was hiding.

Qingwen's heart was also a little more lenient, that day when the imperial physician checked the pulse, no one was left in the room, she and Yuanyang were sent out, and the imperial physician only called in after the examination.Therefore, although she guessed it herself, she was not sure that Baoyu had hurt the root.Still, listening to the vague words of the old lady and the wife later made her more confused, thinking that there would be no one to be reliable in her life, so she was disheartened.

At this moment, even though he despises the behavior of attacking people, he is secretly happy.

Xiren didn't know that he was hitting right, so Baoyu and Qingwen were relieved.When she came to a secluded place, she smashed the bowl to pieces and buried it under the root of the flower, and then she hugged her head and started to cry. She shed tears for a while, and suddenly she cried and cursed: "Shentian Bodhisattva, you have killed me!"

But it turned out that Xiren saw Baoyu always like this, and secretly made up her mind to test it out. She secretly asked her brother Hua Zifang to go to the Tongzhou pharmacy to buy epimedium.Hua Zifang was half ashamed and frightened to death. She wanted to grab the attacker and ask her to understand, but she was afraid that she might ruin her sister's affairs if she wasn't careful.

What's more, the Hua family was able to recover, thanks to Xi Ren, since Xi Ren became the deacon girl in Jia Baoyu's room, she gave away many inconspicuous gold and silver valuables to her brother, and the Hua family was able to live better day by day.Jia Baoyu and all the girls, big and small, were used to seeing good things, and usually dropped the agate bowl and crystal plate, so they never found anything wrong.

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Hua Zifang and his mother tested Xiren's intentions, but Xiren only said that he would die and would not go out.Hua Zifang knew most of it, and only thought that the Epimedium also came for Cheng Ban's master.Although I was sweating for his sister, it was finally done.The birthday noodles that Jia Baoyu ate today were also sent by someone from the Hua family. There was only a little bit of green noodles, and the so-called wild vegetable juice was wild vegetable juice mixed with epimedium.

This epimedium, Xiren once heard people say, just a little bit can make... But Baoyu ate those, and there was only a slight movement.Unknowingly, most of the heart of fighting for glory and boasting on weekdays has been discouraged.

After a while, the attacker raised his face and thought about what happened just now. Baoyu's behavior must be due to the blue marks.Can't help but hate Bihen deeply, even more than Qingwen.In this way, what will happen to him in the future is really sad and frightening.Thinking of this, she burst into tears unknowingly, thinking secretly how to deal with it so that it can last for a long time.

Xiren lived here with Jia Baoyu and was used to a life of gold and jade. In the past two years, even if he only stayed at home for half a day, he felt that everything was not enough. Therefore, even if Jia Baoyu was not useful for a while, Xiren had no desire to ask for it.She was just thinking about the way out in the future, and in her heart, she only hoped that Baoyu would be better in the future even though she was still young.

But she only used her meager knowledge to use drugs indiscriminately.Not only did it hurt Jia Baoyu's [-]% to [-]% hope because of the sudden rise of yang energy, but it turned into [-]% to [-]% in the middle; it also stabbed Madam Wang's heart. After that, he became more suspicious and paid more attention to Baoyu.Unexpectedly, he gradually became suspicious of the attacker.

"Today is your good day, why are you hiding here and wiping your tears? But Brother Bao, can you bear the anger of you?"

A voice suddenly came from behind, and the assailant's eyes went black.