Red Mansion: Picking up a Lin Daiyu

Chapter 428 Is this also part of your play?
"give it to me."

Ignoring the burning gazes around her, Tanchun forced a smile and stood up to take it.

Although she had a premonition that the book might be related to something, she still held on to a glimmer of hope.

After all, that's the place where she was born and raised, so she should show some kindness to it.

Yue Ling nodded to the servant girl without commenting, then looked around at everyone at the table.

The girls understood what he meant and continued to eat obediently, as if nothing had happened.

Xichun pulled her chair a little further, moved closer to Tanchun, and whispered, "Third sister, this letter is not related to the matter of Second Brother Lian, is it?"

Tanchun's mouth twitched, she shook her head, and tried to appease him, "Maybe he was telling us that there is something we should pay attention to before the visit. After all, this is the biggest thing in the mansion."

Yingchun couldn't help but stand over and gently stroked Tanchun's back. Without saying much, she just nodded silently to show that she stood with Tanchun.

Although everyone at the square table had not put down their chopsticks, their earlier chat had long since stopped and they were all quietly paying attention to Sanchun's situation.

Taking a deep breath, Tanchun unfolded the letter and could tell at a glance that it was Jia She's messy handwriting.

The handwriting is not neat and the writing is flamboyant. If you don't consider the context, you may not be able to understand the meaning of some words.

There was no polite conversation face to face.

"I write to Ying, Tan, and Xi: You have been staying at the Duke Dingguo's mansion for many days. Although you have been taken care of by the Duke Dingguo, your family is about to visit your parents. Your eldest sister is expected to return home soon, and everyone in the mansion needs to cooperate."

After reading this, Tanchun couldn't help but feel a little more hopeful. If the eldest master Jia She could still distinguish right from wrong, she and her sisters would not have been so disappointed with the Jia family that they despaired.

But what happened next was not what they wanted. The first sentence was just to highlight the importance of the things listed later.

"Recently, there has been a lot of turmoil. Since you have witnessed what happened to Lian'er with your own eyes, why don't you put the prosperity of your family first and lend a helping hand to Lian'er?"

"The honor and disgrace of the family are tied together, and now is the time to tie the knot, and no changes are allowed. Even if you are loyal to the Duke Dingguo Mansion, you must put family affairs first."

"If you can ask Duke Dingguo to help eliminate the disaster, when your elder sister comes to visit, I will tell her about your achievements. The old lady will also be pleased to hear about it."

"No matter what happens, you can't get away from the word Jia. Remember this very well."

After reading the letter, Sanchun's foreheads were all twisted into knots. The three of them frowned, and a breath of anger sank in their chests, but they couldn't release it in front of so many sisters and Yue Ling.

Among the three sisters, Tanchun is the most experienced and good at making decisions. Whenever the three sisters encounter problems, it is usually her who makes the decisions. At this moment, Yingchun and Xichun couldn't help but look at her.

The hand holding the letter secretly exerted force, almost piercing the letter. Tanchun suppressed her anger and said nothing, but her heart was already in turmoil.

The last bit of hope for the Jia family also disappeared along with this letter.

Jia Lian got into trouble outside, but instead of holding him accountable, they came to blame them for not helping him. Have they forgotten their roots?

How can you bully people like this?

Even a clay man can get angry!

What's more, they were originally guests living in the mansion of Duke Dingguo. How could they have the face to ask Duke Dingguo to do things for them?

Tanchun had no idea what Jia She was planning, and she felt that compared with this kind of person being the head of the Jia family, the trouble Jia Lian had caused was nothing.

Unless in the eyes of the eldest master, Duke Dingguo has already wanted the three sisters, otherwise all this does not make sense.

But even so, how could they bring themselves to say this?

At this point, even though Tanchun was extremely reluctant, she couldn't help but secretly think that if she lived in the same mansion with such a life, why should she worry about the Jia family's failure?
People tend to laugh when they are angry. At this moment, Tanchun couldn't help but curl the corners of her mouth with a bitter smile.

The three of them remained silent for a long time. They just sat there blankly and did not show any interest in joining the dinner. This made Shi Xiangyun, who was eating and drinking at the same time, feel a little anxious.

She had a hot temper to begin with, and acted crazy all the time. After drinking Yue Ling's wine, she became even more angry, her face flushed, and she burped from time to time.

"What's going on? Why are you all so pale? Show it to me."

Before Tanchun could react, Shi Xiangyun slapped her hand away and snatched the letter from Tanchun.

Seeing that Shi Xiangyun was drunk, Tanchun was afraid that she would make trouble, so she raised her hand to grab it. However, she was not as agile as Shi Xiangyun and she dodged her with just one move.

"Let me see what's written on it."

After straightening the letter, Shi Xiangyun began to read it from top to bottom. The girls at the table unconsciously turned their eyes to her, looking as if they were enjoying watching the show.

But after a few seconds, Shi Xiangyun was furious. She tore the letter into pieces on the spot, threw it on the ground and stepped on it a few times.

"Pah! What has the misfortune caused by that lustful bastard Second Brother Lian got into trouble with you? He's even making things difficult for you, asking you to forgive him for not helping. That's 100,000 taels! As the head of the Jia family, doesn't he know how much 100,000 taels is?"

"Does the Jia family have an annual income of 100,000 taels? Even Second Brother Lian dares to ask for such a high price. Could it be that he wants to sell you for the silver?"

"He just thinks you have no temper and are too easy to bully, so he dares to make things difficult for you. If it were Sister Lin or Sister Bao, who wouldn't scold them?"

"I think you didn't hit him lightly. Not only will Second Brother Lian be beaten, but the eldest master will be beaten too!"

As she spoke, Shi Xiangyun started to show her teeth and claws like a little tiger, which really made Yue Ling laugh.

It was only because Lin Daiyu fed him a piece of meat at the right moment that he stopped laughing out loud.

The two looked at each other, understood the expression in each other's eyes, and lowered their heads, ignoring the excitement in the room.

If the two of them couldn't hold back, the little girls below would probably make a scene.

Tanchun blushed and stood up quickly. She endured the pungent smell of alcohol on Shi Xiangyun's body and pulled her down from the chair. She turned around and saw that all the girls and maids were looking at her. Her face was even hotter. She said in a gentle voice, "Sister Yun, you are drunk. Come down quickly and don't make a fool of yourself."

Shi Xiangyun stood up and poured the teapot herself, then took a big sip from the spout and swallowed it. A warm current rose from her stomach, and she felt even more relentless on the tongue.

"I am a joke? He is a master and he doesn't feel ashamed, but he has the nerve to write such a letter? He is the biggest joke!"

Pushing away Tanchun's hand, Shi Xiangyun continued angrily, "Don't pull me, I'm not drunk. Do you think I don't know what they are thinking?"

"Whether it's Second Brother Lian or the eldest master, they all thought that you were given to the Marquis, so they dared to be so shameless and ask for this favor."

"Bah! Even if this is true, are they worthy of the Marquis to clean up their mess?"

At this moment, not only Tanchun's face was as red as a lantern, but even Yingchun and Xichun could not escape it.

When she secretly glanced at Lin Daiyu, she saw the ambiguous smile on her face, and Sanchun felt even more ashamed.

"Sister Yun, I beg you. Please come down quickly, okay? Please don't say anything more. I beg you."

But when Shi Xiangyun got drunk and went crazy, there was no way she could stop her.

Even though he was pulled down by Tanchun and pressed on the chair, he was still sharp-tongued.

"None of them can handle the situation, and yet they think of asking the women to step up when something happens. What a shameless thing!" Tanchun's face was filled with fear and trepidation. Shi Xiangyun, who was drunk, dared to say anything.

The next moment, Shi Xiangyun pointed a finger at herself and said, "Second sister, you only have two choices. Let me ask you, do you consider yourself a member of Dingguo Mansion?"

Tanchun gritted her teeth and said awkwardly, "How can I be considered as a member of the Duke Dingguo's mansion?"

"Well then." This answer seemed to suit Shi Xiangyun's heart, and she continued, "Since you don't consider yourself as a member of the Duke Dingguo's mansion, how can you let the Duke Dingguo work for you?"

Tanchun lowered her head helplessly. How could she not know this truth? She stammered in response, "Of course it is so. What about the second one?"

Shi Xiangyun was even more pleased with herself, as if she had calculated every word accurately, and said directly from her heart: "It would be fine if you didn't become the emperor, but it would be even better if you did!"

"It would be easier if you thought you were from the Duke Dingguo's Mansion. Sister Xuelin and Sister Bao, he is just the eldest master of the Jia family. How can he ask you to do something? How can he threaten you?"

"Let him, let him go..."

After saying this, Shi Xiangyun seemed to have exhausted all her strength. She slowly lay down on the table, motionless.

Tanchun went forward and touched her philtrum, only to find that she was so drunk that she had fainted and fallen asleep.

It would have been a good thing that she fell asleep, but she left Sanchun with such an embarrassing scene.

Tanchun suppressed her embarrassment and looked around again. The gazes of the girls were even hotter than before, as if they could set her skirt and hairpins on fire.

Zijuan, Qingwen, Siqi, Shishu, Ruhua and Cuilu, who knew the situation in the Jia family very well, watched their excitement calmly.

Xing Xiuyun, Miaoyu, and Xiangling, who seldom spoke, pretended not to care but kept glancing at him out of the corner of their eyes.

Ying'er, Ruizhu and Baozhu were so lively that they did not hide anything and stared at her without blinking.

There are also difficult girls like Qin Keqing, who look jokingly as if there are hundreds of ways to humiliate them.

There was a moment of silence in the room. Finally, a servant girl who was waiting on the side noticed Xue Baochai's expression and asked Lin Daiyu weakly, "Miss Lin, the Jia family's people are still waiting for a message outside. I don't know how to reply to them..."

Lin Daiyu put the bamboo chopsticks on the jade stand, smiling as usual, and said, "This is the Jia family's family affair, so let the second, third, and fourth sisters make the decision. It's not convenient for us to get involved."

Come up with an idea. What idea does Tanchun need to come up with at this moment?

The three of them sat side by side, lowered their heads in shame, and looked at the letter from home that had turned into pieces at their feet, and couldn't help but shrink their necks.

Tanchun stood up again, coughed lightly, and said with a stern face, "Just go back. The book has been torn into pieces by us. Don't dream about it. You should think about how to end it! Also, tell the master that we are innocent in the mansion and the marquis. Don't worry about it and cause criticism."

"If even our own family is talking about this, how can we sisters deal with it?"

The servant girl took note of it and nodded repeatedly. When Tanchun had nothing else to say, she bowed to everyone and left.

Although the farce seemed to end with a happy ending, the malice from Jia She still broke Tanchun's bottom line, making her feel heavy in her heart. She no longer had much appetite when looking at the delicious food on the scene.

Lin Daiyu spoke crisply, "It's been quite busy today. If you are tired, you can go and rest. Zijuan, Cuilu, take Sister Yun back to rest. Go to the kitchen and prepare some hangover soup for her to drink if she wakes up in the middle of the night."

"Yes."

As the two women supported Shi Xiangyun as she left the scene, they could still hear her mumbling in her sleep.

"None of the Jia family's male members are worthy of honor. Compared to the Marquis, none of them look like real men!"

The two of them laughed awkwardly, not knowing how many people around them heard it, so they had to quickly carry her away.

Sanchun finally had a chance to escape, so she apologized to her sisters and left.

"Brother Yue, can I go and comfort them?"

Yue Ling nodded slightly, "Okay, it's time."

Lin Daiyu smiled and whispered in Yue Ling's ear, "When Sister Yun praised you just now, the corners of your mouth were almost unable to close. Do you care so much about their opinions?"

Yue Ling shook his head and said patiently: "Miss Yun is quite cute. I don't know if she will remember what happened tonight when she wakes up."

Hearing Yue Ling's funny point, Lin Daiyu couldn't help laughing and secretly said, "Having a bad memory may not be a bad thing."

Xue Baochai and Qin Keqing looked back and forth at the two of them, their eyes met and they sighed in unison.

In this mansion, it seems that these girls are just part of the two people's fun...

……

Rongguo Mansion,
The provincial residence,

The Jia family's two mansions spent huge amounts of money to build the villa for the visit of relatives, which was extremely luxurious.

As soon as you enter the garden, you can see the five main entrances, covered with blue bricks and black tiles. The door rails and window lattices are all finely carved with lifelike flowers, without a single blank space, even the bricks and stones under your feet.

Further ahead is a range of green mountains with jagged rocks, lush trees, and a clear stream flowing through them.

When you arrive at the main hall, you will see the towering pavilions and high-rise buildings. The jade archway is decorated with dragons and chisels, all of which are exquisitely carved by masters and are very impressive.

The flowers, plants and trees in front of the palace were all transplanted with money and labor from the Xia family, and are certainly not inferior to those in the back garden of the imperial palace.

At that moment, a group of people from the Jia family and Xia Jingui, the eldest daughter of the Xia family, were standing in front of this palace as they accompanied Jia's grandmother to visit the garden.

The golden and magnificent colors reflected in Grandmother Jia's eyes were like the glory of the Jia family yesterday, reappearing today, making her recall the past.

"Yes, yes. It is already about 70% as magnificent as when the old master was here."

Mrs. Wang smiled and responded, "It's all thanks to the blessing of our ancestors. If it weren't for your good fortune that blessed the younger generation, how could we have such a good life today?"

Grandmother Jia shook her head and sighed, feeling quite unhappy.

"These young men in the mansion are really poorly disciplined. They haven't even passed down one tenth of the old master's skills. It's your fault."

Grandmother Jia looked at Lady Xing and Lady Wang and spoke in a less polite tone.

There were outsiders here today, and Madam Xing didn't want to lose face, so she had to make amends, "Grandfather, it's good for us to have peace and stability in this mansion. You always say that great achievements can also lead to great disasters."

"Look, things have been pretty peaceful in the mansion lately. How could a boy go out and cause trouble?"

Hearing this, Grandmother Jia felt that it made some sense and nodded.

Just at this moment, Wang Shanbao, the maid who came with Mrs. Xing's dowry, ran over in a panic.

"Madam, madam, something bad has happened!"

(End of this chapter)