Red Mansion: Picking up a Lin Daiyu

Chapter 339 This Kiss Is Returned to You
To be honest, the moment Lin Daiyu turned around and smiled, the playful and lovely color of the hibiscus flower made Yue Ling lose his mind for a moment. He wanted to hug her in his arms and hide her in the tent.

But when he held Lin Daiyu's wrist, a cold touch reached his fingertips, which made Yue Ling calm down quickly.

This kind of beauty cannot be desecrated.

After stroking his forehead, Yue Ling had no choice but to obey Lin Daiyu and said, "Since you are here, I certainly shouldn't chase Sister Lin out."

"Besides, it's already this hour."

If Lin Ruhai knew that Lin Daiyu was here, he would have chased after her immediately. But now it was cloudy outside, even the moonlight was blocked. Lin Ruhai was drunk, so he might have fallen asleep long ago.

Yue Ling secretly breathed a sigh of relief, then looked at Lin Daiyu's smiling face, with a thousand thoughts in his mind.

It took eight years for the two of them to go from being respectful to each other to being in love today. After five years in Cangzhou, he got used to eating at the same table and sleeping on the same bed with Lin Daiyu. When he leaned on the bed alone, he did feel a little lonely.

It seems that Lin Daiyu, who is more sensitive, has already regarded him as her lifelong support, and this feeling is deeper than his.

Taking Lin Daiyu's hand, Yue Ling led her to the bedside, poured her a cup of hot tea, and put it in her hands to warm her body.

"Xiangling, go down and have a rest. Come back to the room when I call you tomorrow morning."

Xiangling nodded reluctantly, and then said goodbye to Lin Daiyu.

Lin Daiyu looked at Xiangling with great interest and said jokingly, "Brother Yue actually called Xiangling to serve him. I thought it would be someone else. Could it be that Brother Yue saw that Xiangling had become more beautiful and that he couldn't wait to take her into his room?"

Yue Ling shook his head calmly, "Of course not, I have my considerations. But as for opening her face, I am looking forward to when Sister Lin can open her face."

Lin Daiyu's face immediately turned red with embarrassment. How could her talkativeness compare to Yue Ling, who was so shameless in front of her? Her earlobes even turned pink.

Turning her head away, Lin Daiyu muttered softly, "In private, you can tease me at will, but when you see daddy, you become a quail again."

After finishing the tea, Lin Daiyu stuffed the teacup into Yue Ling's hand, pouted her lips, kicked off her embroidered shoes, and lay down on the bed familiarly.

Yue Ling did not hear Lin Daiyu's mumbling to herself. After placing the teacups on the table beside her, he closed the curtains, leaned closer and asked, "What's wrong? What's bothering you again?"

Lin Daiyu, who was with her back to him, slowly turned around when Yue Ling asked, and then changed the subject and asked, "Why is Brother Yue so cold to me in front of Daddy? I thought that when we came back this time, Brother Yue had already thought about how to explain these things to Daddy."

"Dad criticized Big Brother Yue, and I always defended Big Brother Yue. But when the three of us were present, Big Brother Yue deliberately ignored me. What would Dad think of me?"

Lin Daiyu felt more and more aggrieved as she spoke, her eyes turning red. "I thought that Brother Yue had no intention of staying with me for a long time, which made me feel scared. If I don't sneak over here tonight, how can I sleep peacefully?"

Unexpectedly, Lin Daiyu actually thought this way. Yue Ling lowered his head in guilt, "It's not what Sister Lin thinks. I'm not neglecting Sister Lin, it's just..."

Lin Daiyu rubbed her eyes, frowned and asked, "Just what?"

Yue Ling gritted his teeth and revealed the truth to Lin Daiyu, saying: "Lord Lin seems to have known that we have a close relationship, and His Majesty seems to have made preparations for our marriage, granting the Lin family a thousand acres of land as your dowry..."

Hearing this, Lin Daiyu felt as if a thunderclap sounded in her head, causing her ears to tinnitus. She originally thought that she was the only one who knew the news.

But she also heard it from the Queen herself, saying that Emperor Longyou had the idea of ​​granting a marriage for the two of them, but he never mentioned anything about granting land.

"Give, give, give the land when?"

Lin Daiyu asked hesitantly.

Yue Ling replied distressedly: "It should be after Cangzhou."

"Cangzhou?"

When they were in Cangzhou, the two of them were not sure about their feelings for each other, but at that time, my father had already received the news that they were going to get married.

This is used to connect the following story. Lin Daiyu was surprised and said: "In Daddy's eyes, we went south without passing through our home, and I wrote a letter of resignation. This is..."

"Resignation letter? What resignation letter?"

Lin Daiyu folded her hands, pointed her index fingers in the middle, and stammered like a child who had done something wrong, "Daddy sent us an invitation, but I declined because I had to focus on work. The letter... was written by me personally..."

Yue Ling's mind was spinning as well. He had long forgotten about this matter.

If we look at it from Lin Ruhai's perspective, Lin Daiyu is a clerk who rejected the invitation from her father-in-law with a very unconvincing excuse.

The two missed the opportunity for their first conversation.

Moreover, it was he, the future husband, who first gave his father-in-law a warning.

"See? Sister Lin is closer to me. You are just her father."

Yue Ling covered his face with his hands, a feeling of powerlessness spread throughout his body, and he fell into the bed, saying faintly: "What else can I do? It's been so long, and I wasn't on the boat at the time. It's not your fault that you did this."

"It's just that, by some strange coincidence, I happened to be here."

"Now I finally understand why your father never came to the dock to pick us up."

Lin Daiyu pondered and said, "Do you want to save some face?"

Yue Ling smiled bitterly, "But Sister Lin, we didn't give your father any face at all. He said such a warning after the dinner, but you still came here at night. If Lord Lin knew, the consequences would be disastrous."

Lin Daiyu pursed her lips, "Daddy must have mentioned Mom. If he hadn't mentioned Mom, I wouldn't have mustered up so much courage to come here."

Yue Ling blinked, "What's the connection between these two?"

Lin Daiyu started off by saying something, not wanting to reveal the full meaning of butterflies to her, so she changed the subject and asked, "Well, what should we do from now on? Tomorrow, I really don't know how I'm going to face my father."

Yue Ling smiled bitterly and shook his head, "I don't know either. It would be better to keep everything as usual. It would be bad if Lord Lin found out something. He would think that we must have met in private and were plotting something together."

Lin Daiyu spread her hands, lay flat on the bed, and let out a long sigh, "It's so difficult, I really want to go back to the capital directly."

Yue Ling also sighed secretly, but couldn't help but complain in his heart: "Dear Sister Lin, Yangzhou Prefecture is your home."

The two of them sat in silence for a while. Lin Daiyu turned sideways again, looked at Yue Ling, slowly stroked his arm, and held his broad palm.

"There will always be a way out. I have become accustomed to being with Brother Yue. I don't want to be separated from him."

Lin Daiyu's voice became softer and softer, and finally she closed her eyes drowsily.

She was already exhausted from the long journey and busy all day, and was extremely sleepy.

When she sneaked in just now, she was stimulated by the cold wind and felt a little more energetic. When she entered the tent, surrounded by the warm basin, and with Yue Ling by her side, it was already the most comfortable sleeping environment.

Without any worries, Lin Daiyu fell asleep.

Yue Ling shook his head in distress and raised his hand, wanting to tuck the corner of the quilt for Lin Daiyu, but she clenched his hands so tightly that he couldn't pull them free. He had no choice but to twist his body, turn his face to Lin Daiyu's, and use his other hand to pull the quilt tightly with great effort.

When his face passed Lin Daiyu's head, his steady breath gently blew on Yue Ling's jaw, which was slightly cool and a little itchy. Yue Ling looked down and his lips were only an inch away from Lin Daiyu's cheek.

He remained in this stiff posture for a moment. After the struggle between his conscience and his desires was resolved, Yue Ling gently lowered his body and touched Lin Daiyu's cheek lightly.

"I'm paying you back. Of course I don't want to be separated from you."

With a slow sigh, Yue Ling blew out the lamp and slowly closed his eyes, but he didn't notice Lin Daiyu beside him, with a faint smile on her lips...

……

The next day,

Early in the morning, Lin Ruhai, who was always diligent, overslept.

When Lin Ruhai suddenly opened his eyes, he found himself still in bed, and began to breathe heavily.

Rubbing his swollen head, Lin Ruhai said to himself, "It turned out to be a dream. I really got into trouble because of drinking. I shouldn't do this again in the future."

The sound of Lin Ruhai getting up quickly attracted two concubines into the room to serve him.

Seeing that Lin Ruhai looked unwell, Aunt Bai couldn't help but said with concern: "Master, you didn't sleep well last night, or you caught a cold when you went out. Your face looks a little yellow today."

Lin Ruhai sighed and spoke frankly to the two concubines, "I don't know why, but I had a nightmare last night. I dreamed that Yu'er was secretly with Yue Ling in the mansion without my knowledge, and then she got pregnant before marriage. I was really shocked."

Aunt Zhou covered her mouth and laughed, "No matter how close the relationship between the two is, the young lady is still a boudoir lady, how could she do such a disrespectful thing? Besides, there is Nanny Wang watching over there, so Master can relax."

Aunt Bai also comforted him: "Master, you have been thinking about something during the day and dreaming about it at night. There is no need to be so anxious."

Lin Ruhai nodded slightly and asked the two people, "Have you found out today how Yue Ling takes care of Yu'er?"

The two looked at each other, both with awkwardness on their faces.

Lin Ruhai was confused and worried, so he asked, "What's going on? Is there something unknown here?"

Aunt Bai quickly shook her head, lest Lin Ruhai get suspicious, and immediately replied, "No, no, it's just that we didn't get anything special from Xueyan."

"She said that the three of them were strangers at first, but then the girl got seriously ill on the ship. Because An Jinghou knew some pharmacology, he cured the girl's illness, and the three of them became closer."

"Later, it was just ordinary things like taking care of the girl's health and playing with her."

"Once upon a time, the girl really liked the swing that Marquis Anjing made for her, and she would often sit on it for the whole day, leisurely."

"However, Xueyan also mentioned one most crucial thing."

Lin Ruhai became more interested. "Oh? So he really has his own unique ideas?"

Aunt Bai nodded, "Xueyan said that the food cooked by the Marquis is very delicious and can stimulate the girl's appetite. Dietary supplements are the most respected method of recuperation in traditional Chinese medicine. I think he must have made a lot of medicinal food to slowly restore the girl's health."

"Medicinal food."

Lin Ruhai sighed.

Although he was not the kind of scholar who stayed away from the kitchen, he still didn't know enough about cooking.

But Yue Ling did it himself. In fact, according to the concubines, as Yue Ling's official position became higher and higher, he no longer put on airs and stopped doing these little things. Instead, he became more attentive.

This reflects the character of this person.

"It's a sign of something."

Even Lin Ruhai couldn't help but praise him.

Aunt Zhou blinked and asked, "Then Master, this...what should we do?"

Lin Ruhai frowned and said, "I don't believe that Yue Ling, who was born a military commander, can do such a delicate job as making medicinal food so well. Go hire two chefs from outside, the most famous ones in Yangzhou, and I will learn from them so that I can surpass Yue Ling."

Seeing the master so high-spirited, the two concubines didn't know what to say. They were actually looking forward to seeing what kind of medicinal food the master, who never cooked, could make.

After a while, a maid came in and said, "The young lady and the marquis are here to greet you."

Lin Ruhai's eyelids twitched, and he secretly wondered in his heart: "Why are these two people together again so early in the morning?"

"And why do you come to see me this morning as if you were serving tea? You two aren't married yet!"

The two concubines stood aside, waiting for Lin Ruhai to speak. Lin Ruhai didn't want to hit someone who was smiling, so he nodded helplessly and said, "Let them come."

Lin Ruhai's head ached at the thought of meeting this evil pair.

After a while, two more people came together, both with rosy faces and extremely energetic. Lin Ruhai felt indignant that he had not rested well, but these two were full of energy.

As soon as they entered the room, Yue Ling came to the tea table first and served Lin Ruhai a cup of tea before sitting down beside the table. "Brother drank a lot of wine yesterday. I came to visit you today to ask if there is anything I can do for you, so that you can have a good rest for a day."

Lin Ruhai looked at the clear tea, his mind was full of thoughts, and he hesitated for a moment, "I am indeed not feeling well today, and it is almost the New Year, so I have nothing else to do except for the exams. Besides, Yue Ling is the governor of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, so he has the qualifications to inquire about the salt tax. It is only right for him to do something for me."

"For this reason, I can use the remaining time to learn more about the medicinal diet and ask Yu'er about her preferences. It would be great if I could get Yue Ling out of the way with some serious business."

"It's only about half a day, nothing will happen."

Picking up the teacup casually, Lin Ruhai nodded slightly and said, "Well, I do feel a little sore today. You can go to the salt factory to help sort out the accounts. You have been dealing with salt a lot in Cangzhou. I will feel relieved if you can take care of it for me for a day."

Yue Ling bowed in response, exchanged a few words of greeting, and then left.

Only Lin Daiyu was left in the room, standing in the hall in a shy manner, with none of her usual temper.

Lin Ruhai took a sip of the tea, then realized that it was Yue Ling who offered it to him, and spat it back, saying, "What bad luck! You always smiled at me all day, and I became careless again."

He raised his eyebrows and looked at Daiyu again. It seemed that she wanted to say something. Lin Ruhai's expression tensed up again.

Sure enough, the next moment Lin Daiyu opened her mouth and said, "Dad, I have something to explain..."

Lin Ruhai stood up quickly and waved his hand, saying, "No need, no need to explain yet, I will argue with you later, I have something else to do today."

Lin Daiyu's face froze, "Ah? Daddy is in pain, so he wants to rest in the room? Is there anything else?"

Lin Ruhai exchanged glances with the two concubines.

Aunt Zhou and Aunt Bai pulled Lin Daiyu together and helped her sit inside. "Miss, you are lucky today. Wait in this room for a while. There will definitely be something good that you can't imagine."

(End of this chapter)