Red Mansion: Picking up a Lin Daiyu

Chapter 320 So this is the style of Anjinghou Mansion...

Canglang Garden,
The maids were busy preparing for the celebratory banquet, while in another room, Lingguan and other twelve maids were also discussing closely what piece of music to perform.

They were born in Suzhou and Hangzhou, where people loved Kunqu Opera the most. Rich families would be too embarrassed to receive distinguished guests if they did not have a small troupe at home that could perform good operas.

Kunqu Opera draws on a wide range of materials, including Tang poetry, Song lyrics, and Yuan opera. Its word choice is sophisticated, implicit, and poetic, and was praised by people of the time as the most elegant hobby.

But they didn't know what kind of opera An Jinghou would prefer, and they couldn't make up their mind for a while.

Fang Guan said worriedly, "Marquis Anjing is a prestigious commander-in-chief. If we rashly sing a love story, I'm afraid it won't be well received."

"This is the opportunity Miss Lin gave us, and she also asked us to please the Marquis, but we don't know what the Marquis likes yet."

Rui Guan said, "We don't dare to talk to the young lady, why don't we ask the maids?"

Lingguan thought about it, and for the sake of her sisters' survival and no longer suffering, she, who had talked to Lin Daiyu before, decided to take on the responsibility, "Okay, I'll go ask. You guys go help clean up the house first."

……

The side room of the main hall,
This place was assigned to Qin Keqing to live here, but she was not in the room at this time. Instead, she was coaxed by the maids to go and stroll around the garden with Xue Baochai and Miaoyu.

Although Qin Keqing was a maid, the other maids still respected her background as a family of officials. Moreover, Qin Keqing was the oldest and often looked after them, so she was not burdened with any work.

In fact, the little maids also had their own selfish motives. They gathered in Qin Keqing's room, eager to find the little box they had been longing for.

Qingwen, who was about to go out to do something, was of course dragged here by them.

At that time, Ying'er and Xiangling were catching up on the short stories they had missed during this period. For convenience, they cut up the newspapers and bound them into a small booklet.

The two of them read with great interest. Qingwen was also very curious about what story was in the book, but they were not very familiar with it. Qingwen did not want to join in rashly and just stood alone aside.

The room was silent for a moment, and suddenly Ruizhu shouted happily from inside the hanging flower tent, "Found it, found it, Qingwen, come quickly!"

Having had the previous experience, in order not to disappoint her sisters, Qingwen went back and painstakingly studied how to open the lock.

After experimenting with her own copper lock for a long time, she finally understood that it was difficult to poke it open with just one needle, and that another needle was needed to press down on the key mechanism in order to activate it.

Qingwen was quite confident this time. She came to the bed, rolled up her sleeves and said, "Don't worry, I've practiced many times before, I will definitely be able to open it this time."

The girls cheered her on, and Qingwen confirmed, "There really isn't anything important in there. If it's something valuable, you'll be punished if you rashly open it."

Baozhu nodded repeatedly, "Don't worry, we are here to keep my sister's valuables. These are not important things."

Qingwen took a deep breath, slowly inserted the needle into the keyhole, trying to activate the key mechanism, and soon she heard a click.

Qingwen's brows relaxed and she smiled, "Okay, it's open."

The girls were delighted. Ying'er and Xiangling, who were studying at the side, put the booklets on the table and came over to join in the fun.

But there was only an account book lying alone in the wooden box, nothing special about it.

Qingwen said with emotion: "So it's the accounts of the mansion. I'm very familiar with this. It's no wonder that Miss Lin asked Sister Qin to be the housekeeper when she kept the accounts so carefully."

Ruizhu and Zhuzhu were a little unwilling to give up. They had helped to sort out the accounts many times, so why would they just lock the accounts in a box?
Ruizhu still took out the booklet and opened the title page. As expected, the accounts were not clear. She turned over another page of white paper and saw densely packed small handwriting with the date recorded on it.

"It's the tenth day of August. I'm going to see the master tonight. I've washed myself clean, wiped myself with flower petals, and put on a new bellyband. The master will definitely like it..."

Surprisingly, it was the girl’s daily records?

After reading a few sentences, the girls realized that Qin Keqing wanted to put on Lin Daiyu's clothes to serve the master. What a bold and shameless statement.

The maids all blushed and covered their eyes, not daring to read on. But curiosity drove them to spread their fingers apart, leaving only their eyes exposed, to look at the contents above.

The most shocked person was Qingwen. The lofty image of Qin Keqing in her mind had collapsed. "So, it turns out that Sister Qin relied on this to get to the top. This... isn't this Xiren's method?"

Qingwen still couldn't associate the usually very serious Qin Keqing with the image recorded in the booklet, or rather, she didn't want to.

After all, she regarded Qin Keqing as a role model and wanted to learn from her, but now that she knew the truth, should she still learn from her...

Ruizhu helped the sisters turn the pages. The more they read, the more they realized something was wrong. The contents recorded in the booklet were very similar to what they saw in the newspaper.

The story line is the same, but the characters are different, especially the image of the female master, who is exactly Miaoyu who is still in the room.

It's connected, everything is connected.

Ying'er was surprised and said, "So, the owner of Qimeng Pavilion is Sister Keqing?"

The amount of information today was a bit overwhelming, and the maids were all dizzy.

At this moment, Lingguan came in and said something flattering: "Are you busy? Do you need help?"

Lingguan walked into the room, but didn't see anyone in the hall. When she entered the inner room, she saw the little girls gathered around the bed, seemingly looking at something.

When she came in, no one noticed her presence.

Lingguan, who was also very young, was also curious about what they were doing, but she did not go over. Instead, she saw a book on the table and picked it up.

The outer cover of this book was carefully hand-wrapped, but the paper inside was a little strange.

But you can tell from the looks of it that it must be something they treasure.

Lingguan read two sentences casually, and her cheeks quickly turned red. She looked at the maids beside the bed, and they all looked back with their cheeks burning.

Moreover, there was a book in front of them.

"Is the atmosphere in Anjing Marquis's Mansion so... so open? Isn't it too embarrassing for everyone to read a book like this together?"

Lingguan shuddered and quickly put the book back to its place. Without waiting for the girls to speak, she said, "Excuse me, since you have nothing to do, I will go to the next room to do my work."

Lingguan quickly ran away and stood under the eaves, constantly stroking his chest and breathing heavily.

Although the girls in the small opera troupe were all innocent little girls, they were taught the skills of pleasing others since they were young, and they also knew a thing or two about the relationship between men and women. And today, Lingguan had to think more.

Could this be what Marquis Anjing likes, so they watch it together?

Otherwise, if only one or two people like it, they can just watch it secretly in the room. It is not a glorious thing, so why gather together?

When Lingguan thought of Lin Daiyu's advice to them to please the emperor and think carefully about what Marquis Anjing liked and what play they were performing, she couldn't help but get goose bumps.

"I was so naive at the time that I didn't understand what Miss Lin meant. But we have been learning Kunqu opera since we were little, singing pink operas... I don't know if you sisters can sing it..."

Lingguan left with a sad heart, but the maids in the room didn't take it seriously at all.

Xiangling advised: "Let's just let him go. If this matter is exposed, it will be embarrassing for everyone. How will we meet in the garden in the future?"

Ying'er also nodded repeatedly, "Don't let Sister Keqing notice that something is wrong. We can still open it and read it from time to time in the future."

Seeing the girls looking over, Ying'er said guiltily, "After all, this is the first version of the story. The ones in the newspaper have been revised. They are not as interesting as what's in here."

They all agreed with this point, so Ruizhu put the booklet back to its place and locked the box again.

"Then let's do this for now. From now on, we'll come here every ten days?"

Ying'er shook her head repeatedly, "Ten days is too long, seven days, no, how about five days?"

……

At the pavilion in the center of the lake,

Xue Baochai, Qin Keqing, and Miaoyu stood together at the pier, looking at the small island in the center, but their moods were completely different.

Miaoyu didn't expect to have the opportunity to revisit the old place. The sight of the scenery reminded her of the person. She immediately thought of the literary meeting that day. She kissed the Marquis in front of everyone in the pavilion.

Besides, the Marquis will be back soon. How should she face him?
Miaoyu's heart was beating like a drum, and she couldn't come to a conclusion for a while.

Xue Baochai and Qin Keqing were standing far behind her, whispering.

Qin Keqing begged, "I just moved down today, and I don't have any manuscripts saved. Can I take a day off? Inspiration doesn't come every day, and updating every day is really exhausting."

Xue Baochai snorted softly. She was the one who paid the laborer, so of course she was reluctant to let her rest. However, there was already big news today, which would have sold out the newspapers for several days.

Xue Baochai raised her eyebrows and said, "Well, I'm not unkind. For the sake of our sisterhood, I'll let you rest for three days. How about that?"

Qin Keqing held Xue Baochai's arm, fell on her, and said coquettishly: "Sister Bao is the best. Don't worry, I will definitely repay you in the future."

Qin Keqing curved her brows, and a plan had already come up with in her mind to regain the initiative.

Xue Baochai didn't think too much about it, and asked, "Where is your book? I haven't looked at it for a long time, so I don't know what you wrote down."

Qin Keqing raised her eyebrows and said, "The master hasn't come back yet, what else can I remember? Besides, I wrote that for myself, not for you. It's not written in the contract."

Xue Baochai curled her lips and said, "What you write down is for others to see, isn't it? You better be careful not to let the maids in the room find out. If they see the story you wrote, I'm afraid you won't be able to keep your pen name."

Qin Keqing said nonchalantly, "They are all so childish and ridiculous, what can they know?"

……

Suzhou government office,

When the news that Marquis Anjing swept through Shuangyu Island and wiped out all the Japanese pirates spread throughout Suzhou, the first group of Jiangnan noble families came to the government office in Suzhou and several other prefectures nearby to ask to see Marquis Anjing.

These noble families were surprisingly unanimous and all prepared generous gifts for meeting the guests. They even started competing outside the government office. Those who did not bring enough silver at first even asked people to go home to get it. It really became a strange sight on the street.

However, they did not meet Marquis Anjing as they wished, as they were turned away by the yamen runners and were simply told that Marquis Anjing was not in Suzhou Prefecture at the moment.

All the children of the noble families thought that this statement was too fake. Tens of thousands of people welcomed Marquis Anjing into the city at the Changmen Gate, so how could he not be at the government office?

I just returned from victory, where can I go?
The many noble families who were originally competing with each other in front of the door discussed it and thought that Marquis Anjing thought that the gifts they brought were too little and did not show their sincerity, so they sent people to the local bank to exchange silver and then came to ask for an audience again.

They all knew that if they did not pay blood to satisfy Marquis An Jing at this moment, when the wealthy people from Hangzhou and other places came, their silver would be nothing.

By then, the money spent will not just be one or two percent of the family fortune.

But in fact, Yue Ling was not in the government office at the moment, but had secretly left the city and rushed to Ningbo Prefecture, only because he had not finished the final scene.

Yue Ling never tires of using this tactic of escaping from his shell, and its effectiveness is unquestionable.

The bait has been thrown to the Hangzhou government office, and as a fisherman, of course he has to rush to the fishing spot as soon as possible to pick up the rod.

Watanabe Nobunosuke was a real envoy from Japan. Of course, he had a Japanese official ship to take him back and forth across the sea, and this ship was docked in Ningbo Prefecture.

The identity and facts are true, Yue Ling is not worried at all that Zhao Deyong will not join the game.

Yue Ling boarded the new gunboat transferred from Bohai Bay for the first time and inspected it back and forth.

This was a ship that Emperor Longyou had built a few years ago following his advice to open up the sea. He saved money and raised huge sums of money from the capital to have Westerners supervise the construction of the ship. The artillery on the ship was the latest type of Portuguese cannon and red cannon that had been purchased previously.

The ship was powered by a four-masted ship with dozens of sails and cross sails. It carried forty guns, including red cannons as the bow guns and falconets as the broadside guns. There were nearly five hundred crew members on board.

For this reason, the royal family did not hold any banquets for three years. Under the leadership of the empress, the imperial concubines removed complicated jewelry decorations and kept all clothing and belongings simple. Emperor Longyou did not even have a dragon robe made for many years. If it was worn out, the empress would sew and repair it personally.

What this ship carries at this moment is not only today's elite soldiers, but also Emperor Longyou's determination to open up the sea, strengthen the country and enrich the people.

Yue Ling led his troops eastward, down the Yangtze River, and headed for Ningbo Prefecture at full speed, waiting for the opportunity.

This time, he not only wanted to make things bigger, but also to make his reputation known, so that all the noble families in the southeast could see that no one could resist Dachang's military force, and that they would have no choice but to cooperate with the court in the future and never think about bending the law for personal gain again.

(End of this chapter)