The Heavens Begin with Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 125 Another member joins the "husband-fighting" army

The gold sand that Mr. Zhan donated was specifically for Baoyu to use to pay off his debts. Although Mrs. Wang was reluctant, she still took out most of the gold sand and repaid the loan from the Xue family.

Although Mr. Xue II secretly cursed Mr. Zhan for meddling in his affairs and seriously affecting his future marriage with the Jia family, it was not a good deal to ask for help. He could not force others to lend him money, so he had to give up and think of looking for another opportunity in the future.

Mrs. Wang's friendly attitude was already very obvious, and of course he could see it clearly, so there was no need to worry about the possibility of marriage between the two families in the future.

After knowing that the debt had been cleared, Baoyu was immediately relieved and ran to Lin Daiyu to report the good news.

"Sister, sister, I have solved the problem!"

"Now that my family no longer owes the Xue family any money, you don't have to worry about me marrying Miss Baoqin in the future!"

Seeing Baoyu's cheerful and smug look, Daiyu was also shocked. She hurriedly asked what was going on. Only then did she find out what was going on. She immediately said in disappointment:
"That gold is not yours, it belongs to Brother Zhan. You are just robbing Peter to pay Paul. Don't you have to pay it back in the future?"

Baoyu said complacently:
"Sister, I don't know. Brother Zhan is a rare noble man in the world. He is generous and righteous. He doesn't care about these things at all."

"If the master and his wife hadn't insisted on signing a contract with him to pay interest, he would have given the gold directly to me without having to pay it back."

"..." Daiyu was speechless after hearing this. She didn't believe it at all. "You believe him if he says he won't return it?"

"You two have a good relationship now, so he may not want you to pay it back. But if your relationship becomes bad in the future, and he wants you to pay it back, what will you do?"

"When you have no gold, should I use you as collateral or me as collateral?"

At this point, Daiyu suddenly remembered that she later became a concubine in the Zhan mansion. Could it be that she was used to pay off debts?

She was panicked and asked hurriedly:
"How was the interest later agreed upon? Have you seen it, Master and Madam?"

Baoyu briefly explained the agreement, and Daiyu felt relieved after listening to it.

"The interest rate isn't that high, or if you really calculate it carefully, it's quite low."

"If this is the case, I'm afraid that Brother Zhan is really helping out of kindness and has no other bad intentions."

Seeing Daiyu being so suspicious again, Baoyu became unhappy and said with a frown:
"Sister Lin is too suspicious. I have known Brother Zhan for many years and we have always been good friends. I know he is not that kind of villain. How could he have any bad intentions?"

"I'm not worried about anything else, it's just..."

Daiyu was halfway through her words when she glanced at Baoyu and hesitated for a moment. Finally, she decided to speak out, so she waved her hand to dismiss Xueyan and the other two and said to Baoyu:

"It's just that Brother Zhan is a little bit lustful. It's very possible that he doesn't like gold and silver but loves beauty."

Baoyu's heart skipped a beat at these words, and he immediately became annoyed. He jumped up and shouted:

"What did Sister Lin say!"

"How can Sister Lin know whether Brother Zhan is a lecher or not?"

"Sister Lin, please don't go out and say such things, lest people misunderstand you!"

Daiyu blushed at Baoyu's words, but she couldn't bring herself to tell him about the many women and things she had seen in her dream. She only said with a slight grumble:

"Who in the two prefectures doesn't know that Brother Zhan is a lecher? Do I need to tell you?"

"Are there any beautiful maids in the mansion who can go to the Zhan Mansion who are staying here now?"

The facts were before his eyes, and Baoyu had no way to defend Mr. Zhan, so he could only mutter:
"Brother Zhan is a bit sympathetic to women, but I've never seen him have bad intentions towards women, let alone thinking about other people's women!"

"Ha ha……"

Daiyu sneered, looked at him with a squint, and said in a low voice:
"If everything is really as you said, then what about Sister Wan?"

"what!"

Baoyu screamed and jumped up. Seeing Daiyu's mischievous expression, he was so frightened that he didn't know where to put his hands and feet. He said incoherently:

"W-what sister-in-law Wan, I, I don't know what you are talking about?"

Daiyu curled her lips in disdain and sneered:
"Brother Bao, you don't know how to lie. Others can tell the truth from your words at a glance."

"Besides, Brother Bao, you forgot that it was only after Sister Wan learned about the future disaster from me that she decided to make changes."

"Now I won't hide it from you. I learned about your matchmaking for Brother Zhan and sent him a girl in my dream, and I told Sister Wan about it. That's why she said those words in front of you."

After hearing this, Baoyu suddenly realized what was going on, but then he felt even more embarrassed.

Arranging for his sister-in-law to commit adultery with an outsider was a serious violation of current moral customs and practices no matter how you looked at it. What's more, the person who knew about it was his sweetheart, which made him feel even more embarrassed.

Seeing Baoyu's face flushed, his head lowered, his eyes darting around the ground, as if he wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl into, Daiyu couldn't help but pursed her lips and wanted to laugh.

When love has become a thing of the past, Daiyu suddenly finds that the communication between her and Brother Bao is less pretentious and more tolerant. Even though he did something so immoral, she actually didn't care much.

"Alright, who are you showing this expression to, Brother Bao?"

"If I wanted to betray you, I would have told my wife about it long ago. Why would I wait until now?"

When Baoyu heard the name of Madam, he was startled at once, and without caring about the embarrassment, he hurried over with a smile and said:

"My dear sister, thank goodness you didn't betray me, otherwise my legs would have been broken by the madam."

"Humph!"

Daiyu snorted coldly, stretched out her hand and twisted Baoyu's waist hard. As he kept begging for mercy, she said angrily:
"It's better to interrupt you, so you don't have to do bad things all the time!"

"Do you think I care about your legs?"

"I'm afraid that after my wife finds out about this, she will force my sister-in-law to death!"

Baoyu, who was bowing to Daiyu, was stunned for a moment after hearing this, and stammered:

"Although this matter is serious, the most we can do is to cut off contact between the two of them. Madam has always been kind, how could it be so serious that someone died?"

"Hehe... kind?"

Daiyu glanced at Baoyu, but she didn't say anything bad about his mother in front of him. Instead, she said:
"If this happened in the countryside, the woman would most likely be thrown into a pig cage."

"You have read so many books by sages, but don't you know the importance of etiquette?"

"Well..." Baoyu hesitated for a moment and whispered, "Why do I remember that in the stories in those vernacular novels, the lovers should always get married in the end?"

Daiyu was angry when she heard this:
"You only read these idle books, no wonder you have developed so many strange habits!"

"Look at those who eventually became wives. How many of those men were ordinary people? Didn't they all pass the imperial examinations and become officials in the end?"

When Baoyu heard this, his eyes went blank and he became infatuated. He was stunned for a long while before he came to his senses and said with an unpleasant expression:

"Could it be that only the corrupt officials can have affairs with women, and ordinary people can't do the same?"

"It's okay for them to do such immoral things, but ordinary people should be executed if they do it?"

Seeing that Baoyu was about to have another attack, Daiyu quickly interrupted him and said:
"You're just daydreaming again!"

"If you think that way, Brother Zhan is now a viscount, and he should be married to Sister Wan!"

"Ah!" Baoyu suddenly realized, and suddenly his left fist hit his right palm, and he suddenly realized, "It turns out that the key is the attitude of the master and the mistress!"

"It's because the master and his wife are old-fashioned and can't accept these things at all. That's why everyone hides it for fear of being blamed by the master and his wife."

"If the master and his wife could be more open-minded, then Brother Zhan could live openly with Sister Wan without worrying about being blamed by others."

Daiyu was speechless about Baoyu's conclusion.

"How did you come to this conclusion?"

"Sister Wan wanted to prevent Brother Lan from dying a violent death in the future, so she gave herself to Brother Zhan, but she didn't lose her virginity to someone willingly."

"And this isn't just a problem with the master and his wife. There's also the gazes and gossip of other people in the mansion..."

When Baoyu heard that the matter was too complicated, he became irritated and frowned and shouted:

"After all, isn't it just a question of etiquette?"

"Isn't it said that women are virtuous even if they are not talented? How come women seem to know so much about etiquette, even more than I do!"

Seeing that Baoyu was getting bored, Daiyu knew she couldn't continue the conversation, so she waved her hand and said:

"Forget it, whatever you think!"

"The reason why I brought this up with you is to stop you from doing this kind of 'giving away girls' thing again. How can someone like you push the girl next to you into the arms of someone else?"

"Brother Zhan is a lustful man. He got the sweetness from you, so won't he want more next time?"

"You pushed Sister-in-law Wan over this time, are you going to push Sister-in-law Lian over next time?"

"After all the sisters-in-law have pushed past, who else will you push?"

"Are they the younger sisters, or the first and second wives?"

Hearing Daiyu questioning Brother Zhan, Baoyu was even more dissatisfied than hearing himself being blamed, and he immediately stretched his neck and shouted:

"That's not someone else, that's Brother Zhan!"

"Brother Zhan is a saint of the time. He is the best at nourishing women. He can keep them full of vitality and preserve their innate rare spirituality."

"I have seen the concubines and maids in the Zhan Mansion. They don't have to worry about anything every day. They are happy every day. They are like flowers in full bloom, without any signs of withering."

"Speaking of Sister Wan, it has only been a short time since she entered Brother Zhan's arms, but she already smiles all the time and is full of life. She seems to be reborn. In the past few years, I have never seen her so happy."

"I am acting as a matchmaker, but I have never done it for any personal gain. I just want to see Sister Wan's smile from the bottom of her heart. That's all!"

"If I can make all the women in the mansion as happy as Sister Wan, then I will push them all to Brother Zhan, what's wrong with that?"

Hearing this nonsense, Daiyu was so angry that her face turned pale. She slammed the table and said angrily:

"Married women have their own men to love them, it's not someone else's turn to feel sorry for them!"

Baoyu also slammed the table angrily and shouted:
"It's because their men don't cherish them, so I thought of asking Brother Zhan to help cherish them a little!"

"What's wrong with that?"

"Those beautiful women, even if they are married, are still living people, not sold to their husband's family. Don't they even have the right to pursue happiness?"

"Besides, Sister Wan is now a widow. Even if she wants to find someone to take care of her, she can't bring my brother out of the grave!"

Daiyu was choked by his words and didn't know how to refute him for a moment.

She clearly knew that what Baoyu said were heresies, but these views formed their own logic in Baoyu's mind, and ordinary people really couldn't argue with him!
You only regret not having read enough books when you need them. At this time, Daiyu regretted her decision and felt that she had not read enough books and could not even win an argument!
She stayed there for a long time, and finally sorted out Baoyu's thoughts. Then she looked up and sneered:

"If this matter doesn't fall on you, you can naturally be there to help others."

"But let me ask you, if you get married in the future and your wife doesn't feel happy enough around you, what will you do?"

"You can't say that you don't try hard to make your wife happy, but you put your hopes on Brother Zhan!"

When asked this question by Daiyu, Baoyu could not help but lower his head, ask himself, and carefully think about this hypothetical situation.

After a while, Baoyu finally understood his true intention, raised his head, and answered with a firm gaze:

"Of course I want to do my best to make my wife happy, but I am just an ordinary person with limited abilities, and I may not be able to really do it." "And if I can't do this, then it's not unacceptable for me to ask for help from Brother Zhan!"

"Brother Zhan has always been kind and gentle to women, and considering me as his good brother, he will definitely not treat my wife badly!"

"What?" Daiyu was stunned when she heard Baoyu's words.

She originally thought that this was a question that would kill Baoyu, but in fact she was killed by Baoyu's answer!
"you……"

Daiyu pointed at Baoyu, her fingers trembling for a long time, and finally angrily threw the teacup at him, cursing:

"roll!"

"Whoever wants to marry you can marry you, but I won't marry anyway!"

Baoyu dodged in time and was not hit, but he was splashed with tea and was driven out of the yard in embarrassment.

He didn't think too much about it at the time, but now that he came to think of it, he realized that his words were too hard to accept. He didn't dare to retort and had to escape in disgrace, thinking that he would come back to apologize and admit his mistake after Lin Daiyu had calmed down and make things right.

Not long after coming out of Lin Daiyu's courtyard, he "accidentally met" Xue Baoqin who had been paying attention to what was going on here.

"Oh, Brother Bao, did you make Miss Lin angry again?"

Baoyu was the easiest to coax. He only remembered to eat but not to be beaten. When he heard Baoqin's voice, he looked up and saw Baoqin smiling with her eyes curved. The pent-up anger in his heart immediately dissipated. He smiled and came over, saying randomly:

"Sister Lin gave me a cup of tea. I saw that this dress had been with me for a long time and had no benefit at all, so I gave it to her."

Hearing Baoyu talking nonsense, Baoqin laughed so hard that her body shook with laughter and said:

"Brother Bao is talking nonsense again. You deserve to be beaten by Miss Lin."

His eyes flickered to Baoyu's wet clothes, and he said:
"Your clothes are all wet. Why don't you come sit with me and change into clean clothes to avoid catching a cold?"

Seeing Baoyu hesitate for a moment, Baoqin frowned and said angrily:

"Brother Bao is alienating me, is it because of the rumor in the mansion about 'paying off debts with one's body'?"

Baoyu hastily shook his head to deny it, but Baoqin refused to listen and pretended to be angry and said:
"If it weren't for this, my yard is next to Miss Lin's, and you came here these days without even mentioning to come and see me."

Baoyu hurriedly bowed and admitted his mistake. After much persuasion, Baoqin changed her anger into joy and pulled him into the yard.

A sharp-eyed servant had already seen it and hurriedly reported it to Daiyu. After hearing it, Daiyu was no longer angry. She just sighed and waved her hand tiredly.

"Forget it, let him do whatever he wants!"

"Anyway, his wife will be prepared for Brother Zhan sooner or later, so I won't get involved!"

Daiyu was just speaking out of inspiration, but Zijuan and Xueyan, who were serving nearby, heard it and couldn't help but gasp, knowing that they had heard something they shouldn't have heard.

The two looked at each other and asked cautiously:

"Miss, if you don't marry Master Bao, who will be your future husband?"

Daiyu was exhausted by Baoyu's torment. She lay on the table, holding her chin with both hands, not wanting to move at all. When the two asked her this question, her brain did not react, so she complained with a sad face:

"I'm even worse off!"

"I will become Brother Zhan's concubine in the future!"

"what?"

Zijuan and Xueyan jumped up immediately, not caring about anything else, and rushed over to ask in unison:

"How did you become a concubine?"

"With your status, even if you were to marry into a powerful official's family in the capital, you would definitely be the legal wife. How could you become a concubine?"

"Could it be that Master Zhan used force on you, young lady?"

"That's not right. If that were the case, the old lady would definitely help the young lady!"

"So, young lady, are you willing in the future?"

"Of course it is! Otherwise, if the young lady could change the future, she would have changed this result long ago!"

"Then will Mr. Zhan treat you well in the future?"

"Will the two of us continue to stay with you, Miss, in the future?"

Daiyu was stunned by this series of questions. After a moment, she realized that she had done something stupid again. She regretted it and slapped her face, covering up the blush on her face. She shouted like crazy:
"Ah...don't ask me these questions!"

"I'm almost getting fed up with it!"

"Who knows what that dream is about?"

"I have no idea how this happened, or how to change it!"

Zijuan and Xueyan looked at each other and suddenly said in unison:

"Since it can't be changed, why not just not change it?"

"Actually, marrying Master Zhan is pretty good!"

"Although being a concubine is not a good thing, isn't Miss Baochai in poor health now? Since the other young ladies can participate in the competition for a husband, then of course you can also join in!"

"Yes, yes! In terms of status, you are a legitimate daughter, aren't you much better than other illegitimate daughters? Moreover, you have magical powers, which is even more of a powerful weapon in your fight for the throne!"

It has to be said that this girl has a natural interest in themes such as "fighting for succession" and "competing for favor". Zijuan and the other girl seemed to have learned everything by themselves and began to talk a lot to help Daiyu come up with ideas.

"Why, why did it suddenly transition to the topic of 'fighting for a husband'?"

Daiyu blushed and waved her hands repeatedly, but she did not resist very much in her heart.

For several months in a row, she would meet Master Zhan in her dreams from time to time. She witnessed all of Master Zhan's methods of pursuit, and even lost the first, second, and third bases one after another. She had already developed strange feelings towards Master Zhan.

However, due to the years of affection between Brother Bao and the concubine's identity, she always felt a little resistant.

Today, Baoyu's words completely dispelled the remaining thoughts in her heart. Moved by the methods of Zijuan and the others, Daiyu finally decided to face her feelings, completely give up brother Bao, and turn to the arms of brother Zhan.

But... Daiyu doesn’t know how to pursue a man!
She blushed when she told Zijuan and the other two about this. Zijuan and the other two were also very confused as they had no experience in this area.

"How about we go and ask Sister Wan for advice?" Zijuan said hesitantly.

"This... isn't right!" Daiyu shook her head slowly. "What Sister-in-law Wan did was, it was an affair. It's totally different from a normal marriage."

"Then...how about we copy the plot from the vernacular novel?" Xueyan came up with this idea after slapping her head.

"It's a storybook... But Mr. Zhan is not a poor scholar. Those methods of giving money or clothes are useless!"

"What should we do?"

After a few people whispered to each other, Zijuan suddenly clapped her hands and shouted in surprise:

"How about we just say that the young lady had a prophetic dream, dreaming that she would become the eldest lady of the Zhan Mansion in the future?"

"Hey, this is a good idea!" Xueyan nodded repeatedly.

"Everyone in the mansion knows that the young lady's 'precognitive dream' is not wrong, and they will definitely believe this."

"As long as everyone believes it, Mr. Zhan will definitely believe it."

"This..." Daiyu thought carefully about what she understood about Mr. Zhan in her dream, and was sure that Mr. Zhan must be full of covetousness for her and would definitely not refuse her initiative to marry him. However, she was not sure whether he could become his legal wife.

After all, in that dream, there were too many women in Master Zhan’s mansion.

"Hey, Miss, why are you still thinking so much?"

"Anyway, you've been willing to be Master Zhan's concubine in your dreams, so you might as well give it a try now."

"If I win the bet and become his legal wife, I will make a fortune."

"Even if I lose the bet, I will just continue to be Master Zhan's concubine. What else can I do?"

Lin Daiyu was just a little girl, without any opinion of her own. After being instigated like this, she was immediately moved. After considering it over and over again, she gritted her teeth and stamped her feet.

"That's it!"

"In that case, then let's try telling a little lie!"

"Okay!" Zijuan immediately jumped up excitedly, "I'll spread the news!"

"Those gossipy women in the mansion will definitely want to hear this. I can definitely spread this news to everyone in the two mansions within a day."

After Zijuan skipped out, Daiyu became a little timid for no reason. She twisted her handkerchief with both hands and asked Xueyan shyly:
"Xueyan, tell me, if Master Zhan really comes to find me, then, then what should I do?"

"Well..." Xueyan thought for a moment, then leaned over and whispered, "Just do as Zhang Sheng and Cui Yingying did, just tell me straight!"

"Ah?" Daiyu was shocked and hesitated, "Isn't it progressing too fast?"

"Hurry up!" Xueyan looked at her young lady with a look of disappointment and reminded her, "Young lady, you forgot that Miss Yingchun has always been the most popular candidate for the Zhan family's legitimate wife. Master Zhan also goes to Master She's courtyard to drink from time to time."

"Recently, the relationship between Master Zheng and Master Zhan has been restored, and Miss Tanchun's popularity has also begun to pick up."

"Even Xue Baoqin intends to replace Miss Baochai and marry Master Zhan!"

"Compared to these three, you are the last one to arrive. If you don't take the initiative, there is no chance that you will win!"

As she spoke, Xueyan clenched her fist, made an encouraging gesture, and encouraged:
"In order not to be a concubine, you must work hard!"

After hearing what Xueyan said, Daiyu realized that even if she wanted to marry Mr. Zhan as his legal wife, it would not be that easy. So she pulled herself together, clenched her fists, and said firmly as if she was taking an oath:

"You're right. In order not to be a concubine, I have to take the initiative!"

Seeing Daiyu's enthusiasm, Xueyan also became excited and pulled Daiyu towards the dressing table.

"Come here, miss, I'll help you dress up properly."

"No matter how beautiful a woman is, she can't go out without makeup. Miss, you can't just put on some rouge like before. You have to wear full makeup when you go out to meet people from now on!"

Daiyu sat down and patiently began to learn how to put on makeup from scratch with Xueyan, and she dressed herself up.

She is already stunningly beautiful, and with this carefully crafted make-up, she is even more radiant, rare in the world and hard to find in the world.

However, all the time she spent doing this every day was in vain. For several days in a row, Master Zhan did not come over once.

The reason is very simple, Mr. Zhan thought the news was fake!
What exactly is the so-called "precognitive dream"? Does anyone know it better than Mr. Zhan?

Without his secret manipulation, how could Daiyu have dreamed of becoming the eldest lady of the Zhan Mansion?
Besides, even if he was secretly controlling her, Daiyu could not be her legal wife!

That was Baochai's position. For this position, Aunt Xue was willing to sacrifice herself and become a monster. What a huge price she paid!
The demons of the “Veil Society” can testify to this!
There were so many fox spirits and rabbit spirits, how many of them had been beaten with Master Zhan’s stick!
It’s horrible, horrible!

So when Mr. Zhan got the news, he immediately concluded that this must be a rumor released by Mr. Xue II in order to separate Bao and Dai.

Anyway, due to Aunt Xue's firm resistance, it is impossible for Xue Baoqin to replace Baochai and marry Master Zhan. So it would be a wise move to tie Daiyu to Master Zhan, give up the position of Baoyu's wife, let Baoqin take the opportunity to take the position, and let Master Xue's family establish a relationship with the empress in the palace.

Master Zhan saw through this simple trick at a glance. Of course, he would not believe it, and he would not come to Daiyu to be her lapdog.

(End of this chapter)