The Heavens Begin with Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 152 Sisterly Love
At first, everyone was watching happily, but when they saw Lady Jia's face stiffen, they just thought that she was frightened by the skeleton.

But soon, everyone saw that Lady Jia's face turned gray, her eyes were dim, and her whole body slid to one side.

"Ah, old lady..."

Mrs. Wang hurried forward to support the old lady and apologized:
"The old lady is frightened. It's all my fault..."

Unexpectedly, she had just said half of her words when she felt her touch was cold. The temperature was not right.

"old lady……"

Mrs. Wang was so frightened that her voice changed. She looked at Lady Jia, who had collapsed completely, trembling all over and her body stiffened.

Aunt Xue hurriedly touched the tip of the old lady's nose and screamed, "Quick, bring me the ginseng nourishing pills!"

Yuanyang hurried to get the medicine, Aunt Xue pinched Lady Jia's philtrum hard, and only Mrs. Wang had a blank mind. She stood there woodenly, her face even uglier than Lady Jia's.

But in a moment, Yuanyang brought the medicine, but she couldn't get it into Lady Jia's mouth.

After struggling for a while, they finally confirmed that this time, the old lady was really gone.

"Wow, old lady, why did you leave?"

The mandarin duck sat down on the ground and started crying loudly.

Mrs. Wang's knees went weak and she collapsed to the ground. Her mouth opened and closed, but like a fish that had been landed, no sound came out.

At this moment, Aunt Xue was the calmest. She went up to Mrs. Wang and grabbed her shoulders and shook her, shouting:

"Sister, you have to cheer up!"

"The old lady is so old, it's only a matter of time before this day comes. You have to come forward to preside over the funeral."

Madam Wang's eyes focused a little more and she said with a sad smile:

"What kind of funeral are you hosting?"

"I was the one who killed the old lady, so I have to be buried with her..."

Aunt Xue shouted sharply:
"nonsense!"

"The old lady was obviously pissed off by Master She. What does this have to do with you?"

This time, not only Mrs. Wang was stunned, but also the mandarin duck who was crying beside her was stunned.

Aunt Xue picked up the treasure mirror, hid it in her sleeve, and said with a sneer:
"The old lady is not in good spirits. Except for the eldest maid Yuanyang, the other maids are waiting in the outer courtyard. We are the only ones who saw my sister present the treasure mirror."

"As long as we all say the same thing, how the old lady died, that's how she died."

After finishing speaking, Aunt Xue suddenly turned around, looked at Yuanyang with a sneer, and said with a sullen face:

"Miss Yuanyang, you don't want to marry Master She as a concubine, do you?"

"Now that the old lady is no longer here to protect you, if Master She speaks again, it won't be that easy for you to escape!"

When Yuanyang heard this, she was shocked all over, and even her tears dried up instantly. She looked at Aunt Xue in horror.

Aunt Xue ignored her attitude and just sneered:
"Do you understand?"

"Now that you have figured it out, let me ask you, how did the old lady die?"

Yuanyang's face turned pale instantly. Her gaze moved to Madam Wang who was also limp on the ground, and then fell on Aunt Xue's stern face which was staring at her. There was an obvious struggle in her eyes.

Seeing that Yuanyang was ignorant, Aunt Xue snorted coldly and raised her eyebrows.

"Yuanyang, you have to think carefully. If this person doesn't work for himself, he will be punished by heaven and earth."

"This person's death is like a light going out. The living have to look forward. You should take care of your own family first."

"Of course, if you are willing to become a concubine in Master She's courtyard, then just pretend I didn't say anything."

Thinking of Jia She's old face, Yuanyang shuddered, lowered his head, and whispered:

"Last night, the old lady was mad at Master She, and she has not been feeling well ever since. She was feeling better earlier today, but suddenly she is no longer feeling well."

Hearing that Yuanyang did not speak according to her version, Aunt Xue frowned, but did not force it. She just snorted coldly, turned to look at Mrs. Wang, and said with a smile:
"Look, sister, this is because the old lady is in poor health and has been angered by Master She. That's why she is dying. What does this have to do with you?"

"I think the old lady is in such good spirits today, it's obvious that she is recovering from her illness. It's a pity that none of us understands it, otherwise everyone in the mansion would definitely come to see her off today."

Mrs. Wang collapsed on the ground, and saw her sister making everything happen in a flash, freeing her from the crime of "matricide". She was so surprised that tears streamed down her face.

Just now she was so heartbroken, thinking that she was about to die, that she couldn't even think of crying. But now that she relaxed, her normal emotions burst out again. She hugged Aunt Xue's thighs tightly and burst into tears.

"Ahh... my dear sister... this time it's all thanks to you... if it weren't for you, I would be finished this time..."

Aunt Xue glanced at her sister coldly and curled her lips in disdain. She couldn't understand what was so special about this old woman that could catch the eye of her master. Could they be sisters?
Thinking of this, Aunt Xue blushed slightly and said soothingly:
"Alright, alright, sister, calm down and immediately have someone spread the news throughout the mansion and start arranging funeral arrangements."

"The tone of this matter has been set. Sister, please be careful and don't let anything slip."

Madam Wang shook her head hastily. "No, no, I will keep my mouth shut when I sleep next time. I will never let anyone know."

She struggled to get up from the ground, staggered out of the door, and explained to the people outside the yard. Not long after, the house was filled with crying and everyone was in mourning.

Daiyu was the closest, and after receiving the news, she came the fastest. When she came in, she saw Aunt Xue and Mrs. Wang busy helping the old lady put on her old-age clothes. She was deeply saddened, and thinking of how good Grandmother Jia had been to her, she immediately rushed over crying, knelt down in front of the bed, and wailed:

"Old lady, why did you leave like this?"

Aunt Xue signaled to Yuanyang with her eyes. Yuanyang had no choice but to wipe her tears and repeat what she had said to Lin Daiyu.

Sister Lin heard this and cried:
"It's a pity that my predictive dream was useless. I didn't even dream of this day. Otherwise, I would have prepared the imperial physician in advance and the old lady would not have passed away like this."

These words made Mrs. Wang and Yuanyang's faces turn pale, for they were afraid that she would really "dream" about the truth and bury her family in it.

Fortunately, Sister Lin was heartbroken at the moment. She said something casually and then threw herself in front of Lady Jia and cried again, without paying any attention to them.

Not long after, the monks, Taoist priests and others arrived and began to discuss matters such as setting up a water and land ceremony.

This time, Jia She, Jia Zheng, Jia Rong and others also rushed back and naturally took over the corresponding affairs from Mrs. Wang.

The old monk who was in charge of the funeral was the abbot of Tiekan Temple. He had also handled Jia Zhen's funeral before and was very familiar with the Jia family. He asked directly:
"Where should the old lady's coffin be placed?"

Jia She had also heard the gossip that the old lady was pissed off by him, so he frowned and said unhappily, without even raising his head:
"There's such a big garden behind, where can we put it?"

"No!" Jia Zheng hurriedly spoke up to stop them, "The Grand View Garden was prepared for the Madam to visit her parents. Now that the Madam has not even seen it, how can it be used as a place to rest her body?"

"No matter how old the queen is, can she be more important than filial piety?" Jia She glared.

Jia Zheng also frowned, and said with a flick of his sleeves:
"There's plenty of room in this mansion, why do we have to put it in the Grand View Garden?"

"I see that Rongqing Hall is large and spacious, so we'll stop here."

After hearing this, Jia She said:

"This Rongqing Hall is too far inside. If someone wants to come and pay their respects, do they have to walk through most of the mansion and enter the backyard?"

"Besides, in addition to this mourning hall, there are also memorial sheds, opera troupes and the like, which also need spacious places. Otherwise, if there are too many guests, how can we deal with them?"

Now that Grandmother Jia is no longer there to suppress them, the conflict between the two brothers broke out almost immediately. They each insisted on their own opinion and neither was willing to convince the other.

The abbot of Tiekan Temple did not dare to say anything and just lowered his head to chant the Buddha's name. However, Jia Rong could not just stand by and watch, so he hurried forward to smooth things over and said:

"This old ancestor is the common ancestor of our two families. My family should also show some filial piety."

"Although I no longer have a title, my family's house and garden have been preserved. The place is spacious and convenient for placing funerals or doing anything else."

"You two masters may also consider my house. As long as there is an arrangement, I will definitely not dare to refuse it."

The reason why he dared to take on such a big responsibility was, of course, with the instruction of Master Zhan.

I remember that when Brother Zhen's body was laid to rest, Master Zhan and Mrs. You played the widow game in front of the coffin. Thinking about it now, I miss it even more.

If Lady Jia's body was to be kept there, the people who would keep vigil would most likely have to take turns from one family to another. It was unknown whether Mrs. Wang would dare to keep vigil alone.

If Madam Wang was afraid, would Mr. Zhan, a kind gentleman, really just watch this beautiful woman tremble in fear?

After listening to Jia Rong's mediation, Jia She and Jia Zheng each gave in half a step and temporarily suppressed the conflict. But just looking at their eyes and expressions, one could tell that this conflict would not be suppressed for long.

As the news spread, more and more people knew about it, and more and more people came to pay their respects.

Needless to say, the families of the four kings and eight dukes, the imperial palace also sent eunuchs over to express their condolences and give them some rewards.

After Jia Zheng stuffed some silver into the eunuch's pocket, the eunuch pulled him aside and gently said,
"The Imperial Concubine was originally scheduled to visit her parents during the Lantern Festival next year, but now that the old lady has passed away, the palace may be considering moving up the date for the Imperial Concubine's visit."

"The procedures in the palace are relatively slow, but they will probably be finalized before the funeral, so that the Imperial Concubine can see the old lady for the last time."

After receiving this news, Jia Zheng felt mixed feelings of joy and sorrow. He thanked the eunuch profusely and respectfully saw him off.

After a busy day, Jia Zheng dragged his heavy body back to his own courtyard.

Today is the first day of the wake, and the eldest son is in charge of keeping vigil, so it is not his turn yet.

Just as I sat down, before I could even take a sip of water, I saw Mrs. Wang come in.

"Master, do the guests have anything to say?"

Mrs. Wang was guilty and afraid that some bad news would spread. When she saw Jia Zheng coming back, she couldn't wait to come over to inquire about the news.

"What else can I say? It's just all kinds of comforting words!" Jia Zheng answered casually without taking it seriously.

After carefully looking at the expression on her master's face and confirming that Jia Zheng's face had not changed, Mrs. Wang felt slightly relieved.

She knew her master's pedantic character very well. If he knew that the old lady was killed by her, he would definitely not be so indifferent.

She hurriedly lowered her head, hid her emotions, and came over to help Jia Zheng change clothes, bathe, and go to bed to rest.

Jia Zheng was tired after a long day and didn't pay any attention to his wife's mood. He went to bed early and fell into a deep sleep.

Mrs. Wang tossed and turned for a long time before finally falling into a drowsy sleep.

Half asleep and half awake, Mrs. Wang was dazed and seemed to have returned to the daytime. Grandmother Jia was sitting in the hall, smiling and waving at her, "My dear daughter-in-law, what good things have you brought for me?"

Mrs. Wang smiled and took out the treasure mirror from her sleeve and handed it to her, "Old lady, this is a good thing. As long as you shine it on a person, he will turn into a skeleton..."

As she looked up, she saw that Jia's head had been replaced by a skull, with a grin showing its black mouth. She smiled at her, "Is it like this?"

"what……"

Mrs. Wang screamed and woke up from her dream. She was still in a daze and screamed:

"I didn't mean it, don't blame me..."

Jia Zheng was awakened by the shouting, and angrily slapped him in the face, shouting:

"What do you mean by intentional or unintentional? What are you doing in the middle of the night?"

Mrs. Wang was awakened by the slap in the face. She was stunned for a moment, then quickly stopped talking and looked at her master in panic. She didn't dare to continue talking for fear of accidentally revealing the truth.

After Jia Zheng finished beating and scolding him, his temper also ebbed, and he frowned and asked:

"What nightmare did you have? Why are you so scared?"

"I..." Mrs. Wang hesitated for a moment, then lied, "I dreamed of Feng'er. She blamed me for not helping her before, which led to her divorce and going home. In the dream, she took a knife and wanted to kill me, which scared me."

"She brought this upon herself, didn't she? Who can she blame?" Jia Zheng muttered, turned over and lay down, ignoring her.

Mrs. Wang also lay down carefully, but did not dare to sleep again, for fear of talking too much in her dream, and also for fear of seeing the old lady who died in vain again in her dream.

Nothing happened during the whole night. They finally made it to dawn. Mrs. Wang got up again, helped Jia Zheng get up, dressed, washed, and ate, and then followed him to run errands.

Although she was very sleepy, as soon as Mrs. Wang closed her eyes, she seemed to see the old lady grinning at her with her big skull mouth, which made her unable to fall asleep.

After a few days like this, Mrs. Wang became thinner.

Everyone else thought she was just too sad, and everyone praised her for being filial. Only Mrs. Wang herself knew that she had pain in her heart that she couldn't express, so she could only force a smile to deal with it.

One day, Mrs. Wang was using her busy work to numb herself when she saw her younger sister suddenly coming.

As soon as Aunt Xue came in, she drove everyone out, came over and held her hand with concern, and said angrily:
"I heard that my sister hasn't had a good rest these days. What if she's exhausted herself?"

When Mrs. Wang saw that there was no one in the room, her body softened and tears flowed down her cheeks.

"My dear sister, you don't know, these days whenever I close my eyes, I feel like the old lady is staring at me."

"If I had known it would be so painful, I would have just accepted it!"

"At worst, I'll just give my life to the old lady as compensation!"

"What are you admitting? What are you paying for?" Aunt Xue raised her eyebrows and said coldly, "Do you think that you'll be done with it if you admit it?"

"Sis, when did you become so stupid?"

"Don't you think about Baoyu?"

"Having a mother who killed her mother, Baoyu's life is ruined!"

Mrs. Wang was just under great psychological pressure, and her mind was a little confused. Now, after Aunt Xue's reminder, she suddenly came to her senses, wiped away her tears, and sighed:

"Forget it. After all, it is my own fault. I cannot implicate Baoyu."

"My dear sister, I have been busy with the funeral these days and have not paid attention to the outside world. Have you ever paid attention to whether there are any gossips from the outside world?"

Aunt Xue smiled and said:

"Don't worry, sister. I had someone spread the word on the first day that the old lady was pissed off to death by Master She."

"Yuanyang has been under my surveillance these past few days, and there is no way any other news could have leaked out."

"As long as Yuanyang and I don't go back on our words, who can know what happened that day?"

"But recently, Master She has been restless and obviously still has evil intentions towards Yuanyang. Sister, you have to make plans early."

Mrs. Wang was startled and asked hurriedly:
"What is Yuanyang's attitude? Do they want the money or do they want to leave the house and go home?"

Aunt Xue said:
"She hasn't made up her mind yet, but she definitely won't be willing to marry Master She."

"I will use the money to appease her later, but I will never let her leave the house."

"If she leaves our sight, it will be hard to control her. She might accidentally leak something."

Mrs. Wang also agreed with this, but she didn't know what to do for a moment, so she asked her "smart and capable" sister for advice.

"Sister, do you have any good ideas for Yuanyang's arrangement?"

Aunt Xue smiled and said:

"But just give her some reassurance."

"If we make random arrangements, and we don't know what she means, it will make her worry."

"Your Baoyu is the one who cares the most about her sisters. You should let her serve Baoyu first. She knows that Baoyu has a good temper and will not refuse."

Mrs. Wang hesitated for a moment, then nodded and agreed.

Aunt Xue continued:
"Now that the old lady is gone, it will probably be Master She who has the final say in this mansion. Sister, you must make plans early, otherwise if there is a conflict between the two families in the future, I'm afraid your family will suffer."

Mrs. Wang thought about it and decided to tell her sister about the seizure of the title. Anyway, her sister already knew about things that were a hundred times more serious than this, so she didn't mind letting her know more.

After hearing this, Aunt Xue was startled at first, then she smiled happily and said:
"If that's the case, now is the best opportunity."

"One is lending money at high interest, and the other is making his mother angry to death. Just these two things are enough for the court to take back the title."

"If those four princes and eight dukes are really capable and ask for mercy from His Majesty, I'm sure His Majesty won't mind who gets the title for the sake of your queen."

"If you need help, just ask. I will do my best to help you, no matter if it means helping others or doing something else."

After hearing this, Mrs. Wang felt even more that she had to rely on her sister at the critical moment. Her sister was indeed a sister with deep sisterly love, reliable and trustworthy, so she took her sister's hand and promised:
"From now on, my sister will be half of the family. Whatever I have, my sister will definitely have."

The two of them talked about their sisterly love for a while. Aunt Xue saw that Mrs. Wang was not in good spirits, so she smiled and called Hongye over and said to Mrs. Wang:

"Good sister, Hongye is very good at massage, which is very effective in relaxing bones and relieving fatigue."

"I will leave Hongye by your side. At night, you can ask her to give you a massage. I guarantee you will sleep well tonight and won't have nightmares."

Mrs. Wang knew that her heart disease was difficult to cure and could not be improved by massage, but she could not resist Aunt Xue's kindness, so she agreed and kept the red leaves.

When it was time for dinner, she went to find Jia Zheng, told him about Aunt Xue's worries, and advised him:
"Master, since the two families have completely torn their faces apart, you should quickly ask the censor to impeach them!"

Jia Zheng was very hesitant when he heard this. He said hesitantly:
"It is really wrong to cause civil strife while our family is in mourning. Even if the court does not say anything, they will definitely be unhappy and laugh at our family in secret."

"Besides, Yuanchun will be back home soon, so before that, it's better not to cause any trouble!"

Mrs. Wang stamped her feet and said:
"Master, it's already this late, how can you still care about so many things?"

"Of course I didn't want to cause any trouble before Yuanchun came back, but who would have thought that the old lady would suddenly be gone?"

"After all, the one who really holds the title in this mansion is Master She. It's just that the old lady was in charge before, so he didn't dare to say anything."

"After the old lady's funeral is over, if Master She insists on taking over the keys to the old lady's treasury and managing this family, I won't be able to refuse!"

"To put it bluntly, if he insists on kicking us out of the house, don't we have to accept it obediently?"

"If we wait until then to launch an attack, it will be too late!"

"Now the arrow is on the string and has to be shot. We can't care about any consequences!"

"Even if we fail to seize the title in the end, as long as we can deprive Master She of his title, we won't lose anything!"

"As long as he doesn't have a title, even if he wants to be the head of the family, we don't have to care at all. At worst, we can split up and live our own lives. It's better than having everything swallowed up by him!"

Jia Zheng was not a man with his own opinions, but after hearing what Mrs. Wang said, he was quickly moved. So he nodded and agreed, and decided to officially start the action of seizing the title.

Seeing that the matter was settled, Mrs. Wang left the room and returned to her own courtyard to rest.

Ever since she woke up from her dream that night, she was afraid that her sleep talking would reveal the news and be heard by Jia Zheng, so she made an excuse to live separately from Jia Zheng. Jia Zheng was busy every day and never cared about these things.

After returning to her room, Mrs. Wang sat in the room, not wanting to sleep. Hongye came over with a smile and said to Mrs. Wang:

"Madam, would you like to try my skills?"

Mrs. Wang thought it wouldn't hurt to give it a try, so she agreed.

So Hongye asked Madam Wang to take a bath and change her clothes first, and then lie on the bed. She drove all the outsiders out, changed into a thin pajamas, sat barefoot on Madam Wang's back, and started to knead her shoulder blades with her hands.

Mrs. Wang closed her eyes, feeling the movement of Hongye's fingertips, and felt a warm and gentle force gradually seeping into her tense muscles.

The gentle pressure is like a spring breeze blowing across the lake, stirring up layers of comfortable ripples.

Every time the fingertips move, they seem to accurately find the hidden fatigue nodes in the body and release them one by one.

The technique of painting red leaves is simple but very precise, sometimes as delicate as drizzle, sometimes as turbulent as the tide. Every increase and decrease in strength is just right, making people feel as if they are in the clouds, feeling an indescribable sense of floating.

As the massage deepens, every cell in the body seems to cheer, and the stress and fatigue accumulated over the days gradually dissipate like dewdrops illuminated by the sun.

Before she knew it, Mrs. Wang had become addicted to Hongye's massage.

……

Hongye ignored all this and just used all her strength to concentrate on massaging Mrs. Wang.

Hongye blew out the light with a smile, pulled the quilt over the two bodies, put her arms around Madam Wang, smiled gently, and whispered in her ear:
"Madam, please have a good dream tonight!"

However, at this time, Mrs. Wang had already relaxed physically and mentally, was in a coma, and was in a state of half sleep and half wakefulness, so how could she hear what she said?

(End of this chapter)