The Heavens Begin with Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 103 Precognitive Dream

But Yuanchun, after waking up the next day, recalled what she had dreamed last night and felt somewhat confused and doubtful, half believing and half doubting the immortal's words.

The education she received since her childhood was that the emperor was supreme, the Son of Heaven, the Purple Star who came down to earth, and even the gods in heaven had to obey his orders.

Moreover, since ancient times, the matter of deifying has been the authority of the emperor.

For those virtuous ministers and filial sons, the emperor could deify them immediately with a single order and make them city gods and land gods. Even many top gods, such as Guan Gong, Mazu, Wenchang Emperor... weren't they also canonized by the emperor?

If an immortal angered the emperor, he would issue an imperial edict to demote him from an immortal to a demon, all his temples would be demoted, and he would be forgotten by people a hundred years later.

But the "god" she saw last night showed no respect for the emperor in his words and was not worried about being punished by the emperor at all.

But his words seemed to make some sense, and Yuanchun even began to doubt the emperor's so-called "Son of Heaven" identity.

Especially when that "immortal" asked the emperor to make her a royal concubine, his attitude was very nonchalant, just like eating and drinking water.

how can that be!

She is now the female historian of Fengzao Palace, a female official of the sixth rank. There are dozens of such women in the palace. After entering the palace for several years, the emperor has visited her only a handful of times. At most, the emperor knows of her existence and has some impression of her in his heart, but she is not favored at all.

Above the female historian, there are many ranks such as noble lady, concubine, and imperial concubine. She wants to become a noble concubine in one leap. Isn't that just a foolish dream?

Unless she suddenly became pregnant with a dragon seed, it would be impossible for her to be promoted to the position of a noble concubine all of a sudden based on her current status and position.

Although this was most likely just a joke by the "immortal", Yuanchun couldn't help but feel a little bit of anticipation.

There was actually nothing to do in the palace. After she finished her own business, she had some free time. She found a book and read it from time to time, but her mind was not on the book at all.

It was not until the afternoon, when Yuanchun was about to feel disappointed and discouraged, that the imperial edict suddenly arrived.

That "immortal" really had great magical powers, and he actually made the emperor issue an edict to confer the title of imperial concubine on her!

Yuanchun suppressed her excitement and kowtowed to thank the emperor for his kindness, then went to the harem to thank the empress, the empress dowager and others.

After he came back, other concubines, imperial concubines, and noble ladies came to pay their respects and show their goodwill in various ways.

After tossing and turning for a long time, it was finally night again. Yuanchun suppressed her emotions and forced herself to fall asleep, waiting to see the "immortal" again and thank him.

But who knew that we waited in vain for a whole night and the "immortal" did not come!

Of course, Mr. Zhan would not come here to collect interest so easily, that would be too cheap!
You can't be too proactive with a very rational woman like Yuanchun who has been in the palace before. You have to let her come to you on her own!

Fairy fate, just like luxury goods, must be cherished and must be limited edition. It would be bad if it was too common.

He will now focus on Lin Daiyu.

This kind of girl who has never left the house is the easiest to deceive. She never goes out of the main door or the secondary door, and has no knowledge at all. No matter how smart she is, she can't compare to a seasoned man like Zhan Ershisi.

He ran to Rongguo Mansion early in the morning, met Baochai first, assigned her a task, and then ran to Master She to drink.

Of course, Sister Yingchun will definitely come out to keep us company.

Here, Master Zhan was secretly touching Sister Yingchun's thigh while drinking and chatting with Master She.

Baochai has already arrived at Lin Daiyu's residence with a mission.

"Oh, sister, what's wrong with you? You have such heavy bags under your eyes. Did you not sleep well last night?" As soon as Baochai came in, she screamed in surprise.

"Is it so serious?" Lin Daiyu was startled and hurriedly took the mercury mirror to look at it, but she felt that it was just a slight pain and not very serious.

Baochai said:

"If you don't pay attention, you won't be able to see clearly, but if you look carefully, it's very serious!"

"What happened to my sister?"

"Could it be that because good things are about to happen, you can't wait?"

Hearing Baochai's teasing, Sister Lin couldn't help blushing and said angrily:

"Sister Bao comes over to tease me again, as if I really want to get married!"

"I want to stay at my grandmother's side for a few more years. Who would want to marry him?"

Seeing that Sister Lin's pretty face turned slightly red when she mentioned Baoyu, but she pretended to be reluctant and awkward, Baochai covered her mouth and laughed, which made Sister Lin almost angry. Finally she stopped talking, sat up straight and said:
"Mr. Zhang is indeed a miracle doctor. After taking a few doses of medicine, I really feel much better."

Sister Lin was delighted when she heard this. She came over quickly, took her hand, and exclaimed with great delight:

"This is the best news I have heard today!"

"I was saying that God would not be so cruel to such a good person like Sister Bao."

"Before Sister Bao was in poor health, we didn't dare to say anything, for fear of upsetting Sister Bao and affecting her health."

"Now it's all right!"

The two sisters immediately held hands affectionately and talked many intimate words.

As she was talking, Sister Lin suddenly remembered something. She snorted, rolled her eyes at Baochai, and smiled, pursing her lips:
"Humph!"

"Sister Bao has been teasing me these days, and now it's my turn to speak up!"

"Now that Sister Bao is well again, I wonder when she will marry Brother Zhan?"

Baochai had long been taught many ways to play with Master Zhan. Apart from not being eaten, she had learned countless other tricks. How could she be affected by such words from Sister Lin? She was not ashamed after hearing these words, but teased back:

"When will Brother Zhan and I get married? Why does Sister Lin care so much?"

"Could it be... Sister Lin is also planning to join the fight for a husband?"

"It's too late for you to enter now. Looks like you can only be a concubine!"

Hearing Baochai's teasing words and looking at her playful expression, for some reason, Sister Lin suddenly remembered what she had dreamed of last night. She couldn't help but blush and spit repeatedly:

"Bah bah bah!"

"Sister Bao is so abominable!"

"I clearly care about you, but why do you say it in such a terrible way?"

Seeing that she was angry, Baochai stopped joking and sighed deliberately:

"This fight over a husband has caused unrest in both houses. How can I pretend that I don't see it and it will disappear?"

After hearing this, Sister Lin suddenly felt sad. She frowned, threw the handkerchief in her hand on the table, and snorted:

“Sisters are really something!”

"So is Brother Zhan so good?"

"For a man, the sisterhood has been ruined!"

Baochai magnanimously replied:

"It's not the sisters' fault."

"If we really think about this matter carefully, isn't it all the intention of the masters?"

"Although Brother Zhan is indeed a rare son-in-law, do you really think that your sisters will marry him?"

"It's because the masters wanted to find a good match for the couple, so they kept trying to bring them together behind the scenes, forcing the sisters to come up with this farce of fighting for a husband!"

"You see, after Brother Zhen passed away, didn't Sister Xichun just withdraw?"

"After Master Zheng and Brother Zhan broke up, didn't Sister Tanchun also withdraw?"

"In this world, marriages between men and women are based on the will of their parents and the words of the matchmaker, so isn't it the masters and mistresses who make the decisions?"

"Even if there are really couples in this world who are in love, how many of them are separated by their parents?"

"We two are lucky!"

"My parents chose a good son-in-law for me, and you and Brother Bao have been childhood sweethearts. This makes you a hundred times more powerful than any other woman in the world!"

These words may seem like Baochai's spontaneous emotion, but implicitly and explicitly she is emphasizing that the final decision on marriage does not lie in the hands of the man and woman, but in the hands of their parents.

After hearing this, Sister Lin couldn't help feeling sad again.

Ever since the marriage was revealed that day, everyone in the mansion looked at her differently at first and tried to curry favor with her in various ways. However, she was not an easy person to get along with and was impatient with these trivial matters, so she soon offended everyone.

More importantly, she had no money at home now, no reward, and no way to win over the servants.

These profit-seeking guys, seeing that there was no benefit in their pockets, looked down on her in every way. Then, knowing that Mrs. Wang did not like Daiyu, they changed their attitude and became all kinds of mean servants bullying their master.

Not to mention all the usual neglect and so on, but also a lot of rumors were spread, specifically picking out the unpleasant things.

Many of the words that Mr. Zhan heard in his dream last night were spread by this group of gossips.

Seeing that Sister Lin was depressed, Baochai was just about to lick her again when she heard footsteps and Baoyu slipped in from outside like a thief.

He was now under house arrest by Master Zheng, who ordered him to concentrate on his studies and not to run around to Sister Lin. But he couldn't bear it, and often sneaked out when Master Zheng was away at court.

Although the people around Baoyu have been replaced, the new ones are not much more loyal than the original ones. They still dare not offend their masters. Naturally, they turn a blind eye to such things and allow Baoyu to secretly desert and have to conceal it from Mrs. Wang for him.

When she saw Baoyu coming in, Sister Lin immediately put aside her annoyance and felt happy.

But she had a weird personality. She was obviously happy in her heart, but she was stubborn. She just turned her head to the side and snorted coldly:
"How come you have time to come to my place today, Master Bao? If you are caught by Master Er, won't he say that I led you astray?"

Baoyu had long been accustomed to Lin Daiyu's temper, so he approached her with a playful smile and said self-deprecatingly:
"I'm a bad kid to begin with, why do I need a little sister to take care of me?"

"Sister, you still need to be careful. Don't let me lead you astray."

When Sister Lin heard him talking like this, she burst out laughing, turned her head to look at him, and continued to criticize him:

"If you knew you would lead me astray, why did you come here?"

When Baoyu saw Sister Lin smile, his whole body softened. He came forward, took out the flowers he had just picked from behind her and handed them to her, saying:

"My master always tells me to make progress, but I am so stupid, how can I know how to make progress?"

"Now that I know my sister is fine, I will learn from her and make some progress."

Sister Lin took the flower, bent her head to smell it, and said with a smile:

"You are indeed a red-hearted person, but am I not a black-hearted person?"

"And this flower is growing peacefully in the garden and has never offended you."

"You came so soon, but why did you pick so many flowers?"

Baoyu said:

"If you follow the teacher in the school, you have to pay some tuition. Now that I come to my sister's place to study, of course I should pay some tuition."

"This flower has certainly not offended me, but I think it would be better to move it to the vase in my sister's room, rather than letting it grow in the garden and be ignored by many vulgar people every day. At least it will be elegant."

"Sister, this quiet place is the best place to nourish people. Just look at your complexion and you will know that it is getting better and better. I think the flowers here will definitely become more fragrant."

After hearing this, Sister Lin suddenly became unhappy. She stared at Baoyu with wide eyes and asked:
"You said I look good today?"

"Would you like to see it again?"

Baoyu didn't know what he had said wrong for a moment. His eyes moved around Lin Daiyu's face for a few times. He didn't know how to respond, so he just stammered:

"Sister, your complexion does seem to be a little pale, lacking some blood color. I will have someone send some bird's nests over to nourish your body."

Seeing that Baoyu hadn't noticed anything, she remembered what Baochai had said when they first met: "If you don't pay attention, you won't be able to see clearly." Lin Daiyu immediately became annoyed, threw the flowers down, and sat back on her back. Baoyu hurriedly picked up the flowers and tried to coax her, but he was in the wrong direction, and no matter how he spoke sweet words, it was useless.

The more Lin Daiyu listened, the angrier she became, and the less she wanted to pay attention to him. Baoyu was so anxious that he was sweating profusely, but he didn't know what to do.

Baochai saw this and smiled and whispered:
"Look at Sister Lin's eye bags."

Baoyu took a quick look and found that it was indeed slightly swollen. If you didn't look carefully, you wouldn't be able to see it. Then he suddenly realized what was going on. He slapped his head and blamed himself:
"It turns out my sister didn't sleep well last night!"

"Blame me!"

"I was so focused on my sister's complexion that I didn't notice this!"

"I'll have someone send some calming spices over later. Light them before bedtime to help you sleep better."

Unexpectedly, not only did Lin Daiyu not calm down, she became even angrier.

Sister Bao saw it as soon as she entered the room, but he hadn't noticed it for such a long time and had to wait for Sister Bao to remind him before he noticed it.

If he still couldn't see it for a long time after Sister Bao reminded him, it could be said that he has poor eyesight and is blind, which means he didn't see the problem of the bags under his eyes.

But after being reminded, he immediately noticed the problem of eye bags, which meant that the eye bags were indeed very serious as Sister Bao had said before.

But how come he didn’t notice such severe eye bags before?

This also proves what Sister Bao said: "If you don't pay attention, you won't see clearly!"

For Lin Daiyu, the problem has now become very serious.

This is no longer a question of eye bags, but a question of whether Baoyu really cares about her!
The thinking of this love-brained and pretentious girl is so unique and weird!
Men can never guess what women are thinking, and a veteran bootlicker like Baoyu is no exception!

How could he understand what Lin Daiyu was thinking now?

Isn’t it obvious that the problem of eye bags has been discovered?

Hasn't this already been apologized for?

He even proposed remedial measures, so why is Lin Daiyu still angry?
Just when he was getting anxious, he suddenly heard a chaotic sound of footsteps outside, and someone rushed in breathlessly, shouting excitedly:
"Second Master!"

"What a happy event!"

"The imperial edict just came, saying that the eldest daughter of our family has been promoted by His Majesty to the position of Minister of Fengzao Palace, and has been given the title of Consort Xiande!"

"The old ancestor has already brought the master and the ladies to the palace to express gratitude."

"My wife asked me to come over and call everyone to gather in front and pay respect to the imperial edict."

After hearing the news, before Baoyu could react, Sister Lin was startled and jumped up from her seat, screaming:

"what?"

"Big sister really became a concubine?"

Her reaction was so big that everyone turned their eyes to her.

Baochai had known about this from Master Zhan a long time ago, but she didn't know when it would happen. Now that the prerequisites were met, she smiled and asked:

"How come Sister Lin seems to have known about this for a long time?"

Lin Daiyu's mind was filled with last night's dream, and she was in a state of confusion. She answered blankly:

"I...I had a dream last night. I dreamed that someone told me about my elder sister's title of consort."

"But after I woke up, I just thought it was a dream."

"But who knew that this would actually come true!"

"This is really... really..."

Baochai smiled and said:
"What am I supposed to be?"

"It's just a prophetic dream!"

"I have heard that some people in this world have sharp spiritual perceptions and can dream about things in the future. When encountering happy events or dangers, they can often be alerted in advance, just like the innate divine prediction, which is extremely accurate."

"I used to think this was just a legend, but I never expected that there would be such a strange person around me!"

"Sister Lin actually has this ability. I am really impressed by her."

After hearing this, Sister Lin said in bewilderment:

"Is what Sister Bao said true?"

"Is this really not a random dream, but a precognitive dream?"

Baochai smiled and said:
"Of course it was a precognitive dream. Otherwise, how would you know what was written in the imperial edict without leaving your house?"

Baoyu, who was standing by, was originally worried about Sister Lin's anger. Seeing that Sister Lin's attention had been diverted, he quickly spoke up to corroborate:

"I've heard of this kind of thing before. It's recorded in the Book of Jin that Wang Dao of the Eastern Jin Dynasty dreamed that someone wanted to buy the life of his eldest son Wang Yue with a huge sum of money. He thought it was a joke and agreed without thinking."

"A few days later, when his family was renovating their house, they dug up a million copper coins. He remembered what he had dreamed about and didn't dare to take the money, so he had it buried again."

"But his son soon fell ill, and he dreamed that the man of God came to him and said, 'Your son has been sold to me.'"

"A few days later, his son Wang Yue died of illness."

"This is recorded in history books, it's true and correct!"

"So sister, that must be a prophetic dream!"

Sister Lin couldn't help but recall that in her dream, Master Zhan not only told her about Yuanchun's promotion to the imperial concubine, but also about Brother Bao and his lover Jia Rong's affair in Ningguo Mansion...

She stared blankly at her brother Bao, who was speaking with certainty and trying every means to prove to her that she had a precognitive dream and that everything in the dream was real and trustworthy... She felt an inexplicable bitterness in her mouth.

Unfortunately, she had not told everyone what happened in her dream before, and it was even more inappropriate to tell them now. She could only grit her teeth and swallow the bitter pill, but she still had some doubts in her heart.

Could this really be a precognitive dream?
If the words in this dream are true, then...

No no no, impossible!

Is Brother Bao the type of guy who likes homosexuality?
My ancestors would never harm me!

Even if I don't marry Brother Bao, I will definitely not marry Brother Zhan as a concubine!
From this we can see that even if it is a precognitive dream, not everything in the dream may be true. Maybe only the fact that the eldest sister was made a princess is true, and everything else is false!

Lin Daiyu prepared herself mentally for a while before she heaved a sigh of relief and changed the subject:
"Let's not talk about whether it's a dream or not. Let's quickly gather at the front and don't keep everyone waiting for too long."

Seeing that Sister Lin had recovered, Baoyu was eager to turn the page and said hastily:
"Yes, yes, let's go."

Seeing this, Baochai said no more. She just stood up with a smile and followed them out.

When they arrived at the front yard, they saw that it was full of joy and there were lights and decorations everywhere. Not only did everyone in the mansion come, but even people from the neighbors came as well.

When the imperial edict arrived, Master Zhan was drinking with Master She. After receiving the message from the front, he also came over to congratulate.

When she saw Mr. Zhan, Sister Lin couldn't help but slow down her pace, and the things in her dream came to her mind again.

She quickly turned her head away from him, but then she saw Rong Ge'er next door, who was sitting together with Brother Bao holding hands and chatting intimately. She suddenly felt even more uncomfortable.

Rong'er is now Master Rong, but he has lost his title, so he never went to the palace with Lady Jia and others to express gratitude, but just sat here idly.

The masters and mistresses of the two mansions followed the old ancestor into the palace. Now in the two mansions, only Wang Xifeng is busy running around, and Keqing is helping her.

The imperial edict had already been enshrined, and everyone took turns to pay homage to it, and then returned to the hall to chat.

This was a big event in the mansion, and all the young masters and young ladies gathered together, even Li Gongcai and his mother were there.

What made Daiyu happiest was seeing her sister Xichun again.

Ever since elder brother Zhen passed away, younger sister Xichun has never appeared again after returning home. Many rumors have been spread in the mansion, but Daiyu, who has suffered greatly from them, of course does not believe a word of them. Instead, she blames Xichun's absence on these rumors.

In addition, the sisters in the mansion fell out because of the dispute over husbands, so even the poetry gatherings of the past were no longer held, and there were no more so many sisters gathering together.

Now, taking advantage of the opportunity of the eldest sister being crowned as a princess, many sisters have gathered together again.

Sister Lin happily went over to Xichun, took her hand, and said angrily:
"Today I finally see a living one!"

"If my sister doesn't show up again, I'll start to suspect that she's long gone and the people in your house are keeping it a secret."

"What have you been busy with these days, sister?"

Xichun heard this but couldn't bring herself to tell the truth, so she smiled awkwardly and just evaded the question:

"Before, my brother died of illness and I wasn't feeling well. I took a break for a while and haven't been here since."

"I just got better a few days ago, and today happened to be my eldest sister's wedding, so I came out for a walk again."

Daiyu Lin took Xichun's hand and looked at her complexion carefully. She saw that her lips were red, her teeth were white, and her face was radiant. She seemed to be much better than the depressed feeling she had when they met before. She believed it immediately.

But then Xichun asked:
"I heard that Sister Lin and Brother Bao are already discussing marriage, and the old lady has already agreed. But why does Sister Lin not look very well, as if she didn't sleep well? Is there any setback?"

After hearing this, Lin Daiyu thought of Baoyu's previous behavior and became angry again.

Even sister Xichun could tell that she didn’t sleep well, her eye bags must be very serious, but brother Bao didn’t notice it!
Does he really care about me?

Seeing Daiyu getting angry for no reason again, Xichun was speechless.

Although Xichun now regrets her past behavior, it is not easy to change her selfish and cold character.

She didn't care about the marriage between Baoyu and Daiyu at all, and her previous words were just casual remarks. Now that Daiyu was angry again, she didn't want to offend her, so she just pulled her towards Baoyu and said:
"Brother Bao has always loved you. If Sister Lin is not satisfied with anything, just scold him as much as you can. I guarantee he won't dare to talk back."

When Sister Lin saw Mr. Zhan over there, she felt uncomfortable for no reason and didn't want to go over there. Unfortunately, Chun didn't care about her and just grabbed her arm and pulled her over there.

At this time, Xichun had been moisturized by Mr. Zhan many times, and her strength had increased a lot. How could Lin Daiyu resist? She was led by Xichun to Baoyu and pushed into Baoyu's arms.

Although the others saw Daiyu being pulled over by Xichun and seemed to be resisting, they did not know that Sister Lin was unable to resist. They just thought that she was trying to push but also to refuse. Only Daiyu was wondering how Sister Xichun could have so much strength now.

Seeing Xichun and Daiyu coming, Jia Rong let go of Baoyu's hand, stood up, and respectfully called Xichun "Little Aunt".

When his father Jia Zhen was around, he never cared about Xichun, but now he knew that this "little aunt" had become Mr. Zhan's possession, so how could he dare not be respectful?
Others don't know and just think he is truly filial.

Baoyu took Sister Lin's hand with a smile. Just as he was about to say something funny, he saw Sister Lin's stern face. He immediately became nervous again. His mind raced, and he remembered the topic he had used to divert her attention. He smiled and said to everyone around him:

"You may not know that Sister Lin is a rare person who can predict dreams."

"Before my elder sister was crowned as a concubine, Sister Lin had dreamt about this event."

After hearing this, everyone hurried to ask what had happened, and Baoyu told the story with some exaggeration.

As he spoke, he glanced at Lin Daiyu's expression.

Sure enough, as soon as this predictive dream was mentioned, Lin Daiyu's attention was diverted.

But he didn't know that the more he spoke, the more strange Lin Daiyu felt.

Every time he said it, it was equivalent to strengthening the memory in Lin Daiyu's mind.

Seeing how hard Brother Bao was working, Sister Lin felt even more uncomfortable, so she waved her hand with a cold face and said:

"This is the only thing that came true in the dream. The others are just nonsense, so there's no need to mention them."

Seeing that she was unhappy, everyone stopped talking about the matter, but turned around and spread the matter of the predictive dream as gossip, and everyone in the house knew about it.

(End of this chapter)