Red Mansion: Picking up a Lin Daiyu

Chapter 398 A few people who don't fit in
The next day,

In the west wing, the only two girls left behind, Xueyan and Qingwen, showed two completely different states early in the morning.

Xueyan was lying in a big letter shape, her pajamas half opened because of her turning over and moving around, revealing her round white belly, which she would scratch from time to time in her sleep.

Next to the faint snoring sound was Qingwen with dark circles under her eyes. Wanwan was sitting on the edge of the bed, like a delicate flower reflecting in the water, with the fragrance of a lotus in spring, but her eyes were a little dazed.

"Xueyan is really broad-minded. Miss Lin didn't even mention us two last night, but she was able to sleep well."

Secretly complaining in her heart, Qingwen suddenly came back to her senses and quickly patted her cheek to sober herself up. "No, no, how could I have such a thought? If I use my beauty to please others, wouldn't I be the same as Xiren and Sheyue? In the past, I looked down on them the most!"

"But……"

Pursing her lips slightly, Qingwen was worried about her situation again.

She no longer had the capital and ambition she had when she was in Rongguo Mansion to show her uniqueness by making trouble.

In this mansion, she was just an ordinary second-class maid, serving tea and doing needlework. She rarely had the opportunity to get along with Yue Ling, not to mention that Yue Ling had some prejudice against her from the beginning.

Moreover, girls continued to enter the mansion, and in a blink of an eye, there were ten more people walking from the city gate to the mansion.

"Hey……"

As I was sighing softly in the room, I heard the sound of the door turning.

Zijuan supported Xiangling and walked into the room quietly.

As soon as they turned around the floor-length screen, they saw Qingwen sitting upright in the room, staring with her big eyes, looking up and down at them as they came in.

Zijuan's cheeks turned red, and she smiled awkwardly and asked, "Are you up so early? It's not even daybreak yet."

Qingwen's mouth twitched, and she said, "When you two went out last night, you asked me to leave the door open for you. Now that you're back, it's almost dawn!"

Zijuan helped Xiangling back to bed, and sat next to Qingwen, saying with a smile: "It was my fault last night, but I didn't expect that the master... no, it was sister Keqing, who grabbed both of us to sleep with him and let us leave now."

As she spoke, Zijuan took Qingwen's hand and rubbed it gently to comfort her.

As good sisters in the same room, taking the lead always feels like a betrayal of friendship.

Qingwen grabbed Zijuan's hand and scratched it with her nails. "You are so ungrateful! I asked you all those nonsense questions. You are so shameless. You told me so much. Why don't you tell me the whole process of sex?"

"Also, when you eat, you start to rank people by their sitting position. It's so easy to call you sister!"

After receiving a vicious stare, Zijuan was so ashamed that she lowered her head.

She was not a good talker to begin with, and when she met Qingwen, she would definitely not get the upper hand in the verbal battle.

Zijuan knew she was in the wrong, and Qingwen was a petty person, so she still patiently coaxed her, "Isn't that how people usually call in the room? Don't worry, sister. You have an outstanding appearance, and you have some similarities with the young lady. It's only a matter of time before you serve the master."

Qingwen snorted, "Who cares?"

At the beginning, I saw Xiangling hiding under the quilt with only a pair of eyes showing.

The hair on his forehead was tied into several wisps, as if it had been soaked with sweat and then dried by the wind.

But at this time, her forehead was still red, which made the color of the rouge mole fade a little.

A pair of eyes are as clear as autumn water, winding and touching.

Qingwen was very upset. It was obvious that this guy had eaten the forbidden fruit so many times, but both on his face and in his eyes, he was still as pure as a little white flower, so innocent and lovable.

But at that moment, Qingwen felt even more infuriated.

The insomnia last night was all due to her. She actually wore the bellyband that Qingwen had mended for her and went to help Yue Ling take a bath, making Qingwen feel involved.

"What's wrong with her? She's silent."

Qingwen gave Xiangling a glare, causing her to pull the quilt up again, trying to hide.

Zijuan was so embarrassed that her cheeks turned red and she wanted to say something but stopped herself several times.

Logically speaking, she was the first one to have a romantic relationship with Yue Ling, but in front of Qin Keqing and Xiangling, she seemed like a novice.

Xiangling stole Xue Baochai's underwear, and the smell of the Lengxiang Pills was unmistakable, as if they had been marinated.

Qin Keqing even called Yue "Big Brother" and "Uncle Yue" and was more open than anyone else.

She stood aside, like a minion, and even if she followed, it was only because Yue Ling deliberately treated her equally that she got a little benefit.

"She...she brought this upon herself. You don't have to feel sorry for her."

Qingwen snorted coldly and asked, "Where's the bellyband?"

Xiangling blinked her eyes, her eyelashes fluttering, as if she didn't understand Qingwen's words.

"Are you playing dumb? Then I'll search you. You went out once and even needed help to come back. You eat really well, girl. I won't cook for you next time! Give it back to me!"

“Eat well?!”

Xueyan sat up suddenly, opened her sleepy eyes, looked around, and finally fixed her gaze on Qingwen who had just spoken.

"Is dinner ready? Let me taste what you ate!"

……

In the main room,
There was an incident last night. Miss Sanchun, Shi Xiangyun, was so frightened that she was exhausted and fell into a deep sleep.

The warm sun shines into the windowsill. The girls have not woken up yet, but Lin Daiyu has gotten up first and is putting on makeup in front of the mirror.

"By this time, Brother Yue should have gone to the morning court."

"He is such a fool. He had to make such an embarrassing scene last night. I asked him to come in and talk to him, but he refused to listen. So many people saw it! I don't know how they will plot against me in the future!"

"However, I specially asked a few people to help Brother Yue take a bath. The girl who didn't get the chance will definitely be worried and unbalanced, and will definitely not turn her attention to me for a while."

"The art of weighing pros and cons, what Brother Yue taught me is still useful."

Looking back at her sisters who were still sleeping soundly, Lin Daiyu's lips curled up, "Fortunately, I drove them into the room and didn't see what happened in the courtyard. Otherwise, I would not be able to stay in the same room with my sisters today."

"But how could Brother Yue be so careless? Is the strength in my hands that strong? How could he be pushed away by me?"

Lin Daiyu pinched her palms, looking confused.

The person in the mirror is clearly a weak and fragile young girl.

Gathering her hair into a bun, Lin Daiyu pouted, feeling quite annoyed.

But when his eyes fell on her lips, she couldn't help but stick out her tongue and licked it, then she took it back in an instant, secretly complaining: "Brother Yue, you are a pervert, a filthy bastard!"

"If I had known he had bad intentions, I wouldn't have gone out to remind him."

"Let him in and be discovered by the sisters, and make a big fool of himself!"

"Sister Lin, you got up so early? You slept very late last night." Shi Xiangyun sat up, stretched, and yawned loudly.

Lin Daiyu gathered her thoughts, stood up with a smile, walked forward and asked, "Did you sleep well last night?"

While putting on her underwear, Shi Xiangyun casually replied, "I often don't live at home. I live in the rooms of my second, third, and fourth sisters in turn. I don't recognize any bed. Even if there is no bed, I can still sleep when I need to."

"I don't know if they..."

The two people's voices also woke up Sanchun, and the three of them slowly sat up from the quilt and dressed each other. Yingchun said: "It wasn't a thief last night, but it was the Marquis of Anjing who came back. But we slept in this room, what did the Marquis do in the end?"

"It's always our fault that we occupy the magpie's nest."

Lin Daiyu explained, "In fact, I have left a small room in the east wing. It used to be a warehouse for storing cloth and bedding. It won't be a problem to rest there for a night."

Yingchun nodded and said, "That's good, otherwise we should go and apologize to the Marquis."

"You admit your mistakes? He was the one who almost made a big mistake!" Lin Daiyu complained secretly.

Shi Xiangyun then asked, "Sister Lin, where is the Marquis now?"

Looking out the window at the bright day, Lin Daiyu smiled and said, "At this hour, we should go to the palace for the morning court."

"Today we are moving into a new house. Brother Yue has his own things to do, and it's time for us to do ours as well."

Shi Xiangyun raised her hand and said, "Okay, okay, I'll help!"

Lin Daiyu pressed her small nose and said with a smile, "Let's have breakfast first. After breakfast, you can clean up this room for a while, put all the things in wooden boxes, put a note on them, and wait for someone to come and pick them up."

After washing and dressing, Yingchun, Xichun and Shi Xiangyun followed Lin Daiyu out of the room, and everyone looked very relaxed.

Only Tanchun fell last among the group, with a lot on her mind.

"Since the Marquis came back last night, could it be that he has already entered the room? Otherwise, there is no reason for Sister Lin and the Marquis to be outside in the wind."

"Sister Lin said that an ornament fell into the pool, but I usually see Sister Lin without makeup, so how could she be wearing an ornament?"

"It's the Marquis who won't wake me up, right? The Marquis is standing beside my bed at night?"

Thinking of this, Tanchun couldn't help but shudder.

"If I'm not mistaken, the Marquis had already come over and was about to lift my quilt. If the Marquis treated me as his maid, then... then..."

Tanchun's cheeks quickly turned red, as bright as a blooming flower.

Lin Daiyu looked back and noticed something was wrong.

Tanchun, who had usually been very confident, lowered her head and looked at her shoes, as if she was worried about something.

"Third sister, you didn't rest well, why do you look so bad?"

Tanchun nodded slightly, then quickly shook her head, "It's okay, it's okay. Maybe I'm not used to it on the first day. I'll get used to it in the future."

Lin Daiyu blinked suspiciously, "Strange, what are you hiding?"

"Something is wrong. I need to put Sister Xiuyan on the agenda of the housekeeper of the inner house's atmosphere. I will observe her again today to see if there are any mistakes. I cannot expect another Qingwen to appear."

……

imperial city,

Cining Palace,
The bed curtains were carved with dragons and painted with phoenixes, and the draperies were tightly closed, but the coughing sound from inside continued.

There were many braziers under the tent for heating. Some had been burnt to ashes overnight, while others were still crackling, but they could not drown out the coughing.

"His Majesty."

"This servant greets your majesty."

"Everyone, get up and go out first."

"Yes."

Emperor Longyou walked slowly into the Cining Palace, came to the bedside of Empress Dowager Sun, bowed and saluted, "My son pays respects to the Empress Dowager."

With his hands clasped in front of him and bowed deeply, Emperor Longyou maintained this posture, waiting for no response.

Empress Dowager Sun was awake. She was heard coughing just now, but it has stopped now.

The mother and son were in a stalemate, which made Emperor Longyou feel a sense of déjà vu.

When he was still a prince, he was extremely restrained in the face of many provocations, difficulties, and even rebellions from his elder brother.

When he arrived at his mother's tent, his mother still blamed him for the crime, ignored him, and even showed some resentment towards him.

To this day, this is still a knot in the hearts of both mother and son.

After a while, an old and weak voice finally came from the curtain, "Stand up, why did you come to see me today?"

Emperor Longyou stood up and said truthfully, "The imperial physician of the Imperial Hospital said that the Empress Dowager is not in good health."

"It's not good. It's been more than a day or two. Why don't you finish what you're saying? Just tell me straight. How many days do I have left to live?"

Emperor Longyou softened his heart and advised: "The Empress Dowager has been blessed with long life and will live forever. How can there be a saying that she can only live for a few days?"

After these words were spoken, the room gradually quieted down. After a long pause, Queen Mother Sun responded, "You also know how to lie, don't you? You also know how to fool people. How come you didn't know this in the past?"

Emperor Longyou lowered his head and sighed, "Everything is different. There are some things that cannot be deceived from the Queen Mother."

"Okay, okay, okay, you are a filial son."

After a pause, Queen Mother Sun asked again, "I heard that the boy who helped you ascend the throne, Yue Ling, is back, is that right?"

There was no surprise on Emperor Longyou's face. After all, Yue Ling had been to the palace before, so it was normal for Empress Dowager Sun to know the news.

"Yes, I'm back."

"Then how are you going to reward him?"

"I have promised him the title of Duke and the Qin Palace as his residence."

"So, you want to reuse him?"

"Ah."

"Then what does the Consort Jia, whom you conferred upon me before, count as?"

Emperor Longyou took a deep breath, bowed again and said, "Your son does not need to explain, the Queen Mother has made up her mind."

"Hehe, hehe."

A few sneers came from the curtains, "My son, you have a cruel heart. You want them to have one last party, then get rid of them all together, to establish the power of your new law!"

Emperor Longyou bowed but could not stand up, and not answering was also an answer.

"Chess pieces, these are all your pieces! What about me? Which piece of your chess can I be?"

Emperor Longyou replied: "The Queen Mother doesn't need to know about this matter. Just take good care of your health."

The woman in the curtain seemed to be exhausted, panting softly, "I thought you established Consort Jia because you wanted to be close to the nobles again for my sake, and I told them so, but in the end you just took advantage of me."

"Aijia, I am already your chess piece!"

Emperor Longyou shook his head and said, "What my mother just said is wrong. Not all of them are pawns. Yue Ling works for the country and the people, has no selfish desires, and is my friend and confidant..."

(End of this chapter)