Red Mansion: Picking up a Lin Daiyu

Chapter 441 Everything is ready
"Miss Qin, are you serious about what you just said?"

Because Qin Keqing's description was so vivid, the young housekeepers' wives and maids around her were all fascinated by it. They couldn't help but ask Qin Keqing about it before she even stepped over the threshold.

Then Qin Keqing smiled and turned around, winking at him and saying, "Of course, everyone can go ahead."

Everyone was overjoyed and stood up to see Qin Keqing and others out.

It is considered inappropriate for servants to interrupt their masters without waiting for them to speak or receiving their orders.

Mrs. Wang attached great importance to etiquette, so she became even more concerned.

Before these confidants sat down again, Mrs. Wang couldn't wait to ask them how they had been won over by Qin Keqing to this state.

"What did you just talk about?"

Everyone laughed awkwardly, but didn't know how to explain.

It was not until Mrs. Wang looked at Caiyun and Xia that she learned some news from them.

It turned out that Qin Keqing had opened a lecture hall in the room, describing various magic techniques in a vivid and colorful way. It was truly unheard of and jaw-dropping.

After hearing this, Mrs. Wang, who was obsessed with Buddhism, couldn't help but feel amorous again and her face blushed.

The two inexperienced maids were extremely embarrassed. Whenever they came to the key points, they stumbled, which further aroused Mrs. Wang's interest.

"Alright, alright, stop talking nonsense."

Madam Wang frowned and looked at the housekeeper's wife beside her, "Tell me, what did you go to Fengzihao to get?"

……

Outside the door, after experiencing a thrilling lurking, all the women breathed a sigh of relief.

When he returned to his room and found Sanchun's old residence, he locked the doors and windows before he dared to ask Tanchun whether he had succeeded.

Qin Keqing sat in the middle, looking at Tanchun taking out a piece of rice paper that had been washed many times from her arms, her eyes shining slightly.

Qingwen, on the other hand, was breathing heavily, allowing the two maids from the opera troupe to relax their shoulders.

"Sister Keqing, you have no idea how thrilling it was at that time. It was only after the Second Madam came in that we realized there was a secret in the wooden box."

The girls who liked to eat melons all gathered around Qingwen and asked anxiously, "What's wrong? What's wrong?"

Qingwen said quietly, "At that time, the third young lady wanted to take down the wooden box again, and used a needle to pry open the inner layer, and that's where this piece of paper was found."

"Then, we heard the second wife knocking at the door. In a hurry, the third sister had to fold the paper on the table and put it back into the mezzanine, and spread the papers that were originally inside on the table. But we were shocked. If the second wife took a few more steps inside, she would have seen the clues."

"The third girl is really skilled and courageous."

When the girls heard this, they all thought it was very thrilling and nodded repeatedly.

Qin Keqing covered her mouth and laughed, "What are you afraid of? Even if we are seen, the worst that can happen is that we will find the master to deal with it."

After hearing this, they all thought it made some sense and that they didn't have to be afraid of the Jia family.

Tanchun shook her head and said, "This is a test given to us by the Marquis. We can only solve it by ourselves. If we ask the Marquis to intervene again, wouldn't we be no different from Lian Ge'er and other insignificant people?"

"The old ancestor mentioned time and again that the future of the Marquis will not be smooth. I think after getting rid of Sister Lin and Sister Bao, there will always be a chance for us to do something. If we can't sort things out this time, we will not have the face to work in the mansion just by relying on the mercy of the Marquis and Sister Lin."

Tanchun looked around at her sisters. Yingchun and Xichun, who did not say a word, both took her hands silently.

A row of maids stood behind her, and they unconsciously touched Tanchun's shoulders, as if to comfort her or to encourage her.

"Going forward is a road of no return, but this is the road we have chosen, so we have the final say!"

"it is good!"

……

Outside the corridor, under the hanging flower gate,

Xue Baochai gave the servant a few taels of silver as a reward, and then easily asked about the current whereabouts of Jia She and Jia Zheng in the mansion.

Jia She went back to the East Courtyard to teach Jia Lian a lesson, while Jia Zheng stayed in Mengpo Zhai to meet guests.

As for who the guest was, the servant couldn't tell.

However, at this hour, there are still foreign guests to be received, which must be closely related to the visit tomorrow.

Under the eaves, Ying'er followed behind Xue Baochai and couldn't help asking, "Miss, since someone is in the second master's room, should we go there?"

Xue Baochai pondered and said, "Wait a little longer. If there is still no movement after a quarter of an hour, we will return the same way we came so as not to alert the enemy. We will think of a way out tomorrow."

"I wonder if the girls have found any clues."

Xiangling nodded repeatedly, and said with certainty: "Of course they can do it."

At this moment, another sedan chair came in from the corner gate in the distance. It did not stop in the outer curtains, but went straight to the second gate. The three women knew that they were the female relatives outside.

But now it was night, and it was impossible for any female relatives to come back from outside at this time. Xue Baochai couldn't help but pay more attention.

When the sedan chair came closer, I could vaguely make out some people talking inside.

"Girl, are you sure you want to go look for the old lady of the Jia family?"

The little maid replied fiercely, "What else? Don't you know what we do? Tomorrow is the imperial concubine's visit to her parents. If we are not there, won't all our efforts be wasted?"

After just this one quarrel, the sedan chair fluttered to the ground, the curtains opened, and a master and servant pair of about the same age as Xue Baochai walked down.

As soon as they met, the other side was stunned for a moment. They had never thought that there was still someone guarding the second gate at this time. But after taking a closer look and recognizing that it was the Xue family of "heavy snow in a good year", they naturally regained their composure and put on a playful look.

"Miss Xue, how are you?"

Xue Baochai's face was calm, as if she hadn't seen this person. She just shook her head slightly and replied in a low voice: "Who are you?"

Seeing Xue Baochai's contemptuous attitude, Xia Jingui was really annoyed. She said with a fake smile, "The daughter of the Xue family is really forgetful. I come from the Xia family in the capital, so I must have met Miss Xue."

"So you are the Guihua Xia family?" Xue Baochai smiled gently, "This is the Rongguo Mansion. I wonder why Miss Xia came to visit so late at night?"

Xia Jingui wanted to ask Xue Baochai why she was still waiting at the second gate at night, but Xue Baochai took the lead and she was unable to open her mouth.

She was not here to quarrel, she had more important things to do, so she could only say indifferently: "You are here to honor your ancestors."

"Respect the ancestors? There are only the ancestors of the Jia family here." "You!" Seeing Xue Baochai pushing her too far, the hot-tempered Xia Jingui rarely controlled her anger and turned to sarcastically: "Oh, you don't know yet, the ancestors have already agreed to my marriage with Master Baoyu, and are waiting for the imperial concubine to return home to be a witness to us."

Hearing this, Xue Baochai was a little stunned at first, but only for a moment.

The reason she was surprised was that she knew how much Lady Jia looked down on merchants. She even ignored her relatives who came to the north for refuge, and was even cold to her mother, Aunt Xue. How could she give her heart to the Xia family, who were also merchants?

The only possibility is that the Jia family really spent a lot of money to build the villa for the royal family to visit their parents, and they were attracted by the strong financial resources of the Xia family.

But despite this, Xue Baochai still thought that Grandmother Jia would not easily pawn Baoyu for silver.

Seeing Xue Baochai fall silent, Xia Jingui smiled and said, "How is it? You haven't heard about it yet, have you? I heard that the second wife in the mansion had long wanted to match you with Baoyu, but now I have snatched it away. You must feel bad, right?"

"Now, you know how it feels to have your things robbed by others, right?"

Xue Baochai said coldly: "It's inexplicable."

Then she turned around and wanted to go back to her room, but Xia Jingui thought she was on the right track and took another step, grabbing Xue Baochai's sleeve and insisting, "What? You have nothing to say? This is the second master Bao, the favorite of the old ancestor and the second wife, the brother of the current imperial concubine, uncle of the emperor, do you regret it in your heart?"

Xue Baochai couldn't help laughing and said, "It's ridiculous. No wonder the Xia family has been declining under your leadership. You're fighting for a jade like it's a treasure. When we are doing business, the thing we fear most is not having good vision. I think you should go back and open your eyes more."

Xia Jingui said angrily: "Why are you lecturing me? Don't think I don't know that Feng brand has spread all over the country, is it because of your own ability? Isn't it because you sacrificed your beauty for men?"

"You don't really think that Duke Dingguo will welcome you into his family, do you? You're just a businessman, and your brother has been to prison. How can you, with your despicable family education, have the nerve to step into the gate of Duke Dingguo's mansion?"

After looking Xue Baochai up and down, she was found to have a very good appearance. She was young and beautiful, but she also had the charm of a mature woman. Her plump waist was streamlined, which was visible even under the cover of loose clothes, which made the jealous Xia Jingui jealous again.

"You are just a plaything of Duke Dingguo. How can you compare with me marrying into the mansion and becoming the principal wife?"

"you!"

Xia Jingui insulted her own girl in every way. Ying'er couldn't stand it, so she rolled up her sleeves and wanted to fight with her, but was stopped by Xue Baochai.

With her eyes wide open, Ying'er said unhappily, "Miss, she has insulted you like this, how can we endure it?"

Xue Baochai said: "A summer insect cannot talk about ice. Why bother arguing with her so much? Let her stay with Baoyu."

Pushing Xia Jingui away, Xue Baochai pulled away and was about to leave.

Seeing her victory, Xia Jingui became even more delighted, and said sarcastically with a smile: "Don't worry, as long as Duke Dingguo is not tired of you, you will still have a good life. After all, you have so many underwear, just find ways to please the Marquis."

Xue Baochai suddenly stopped walking, turned around and said, "The Xue family is indeed relying on the Duke to have what it has today, but your Xia family is not good at making grain, has no way to transport timber, and has no way to make salt and iron. It has long been on the decline. How can you only rely on the mountain of osmanthus flowers that your father left for you?"

"Flowers bloom and eventually wither. You may be happy today but you will also be sad tomorrow. What is there to be happy about?"

"To be honest, even if I am the Duke's mistress, it is better than being the principal wife in the Rongguo Mansion. I really don't know how to write the word 'death'."

"Besides, you can't become the wife of Rongguo Mansion. You have to pass the test of the old lady first!"

Then Xue Baochai withdrew and left, ignoring her again.

Ying Er spat, "What's wrong with being Duke Ding's plaything? There are so many things he wants to do. With your looks, it's not even your turn!"

"Let's go Xiangling, we will go and serve the master together another day."

The two maids walked away in a swagger, which really made Xia Jingui very angry.

"Baochan, look at these unfaithful little bitches. Are they saying anything human? It's really disgusting!"

Baochan was more concerned about what Xue Baochai said at the end, and could not help but persuade her daughter, "Girl, let's go see the old lady as soon as possible, otherwise if we stay in the room, it will delay many things."

Xia Jingui frowned and said, "Why? Do you think I can't be the lady of this mansion?"

Baochan shrank his neck and shook his head repeatedly.

Xia Jingui pinched her waist and said, "If they dare to regret the engagement, I will tear the roof off the house. It depends on whether they are afraid of being embarrassed or not!"

……

"Miss Bao is back, come in and sit down."

All the girls from Duke Dingguo's Mansion gathered in the room, waiting for Xue Baochai to come back and preside over the party.

When Xue Baochai looked around, she found that Miaoyu and Xing Xiuyan were missing, so she asked, "It's this hour, why haven't Master Miaoyu and Miss Xing come back yet?"

Everyone around shook their heads, not knowing where the two had gone.

Qin Keqing replied, "We went to the house where they stayed and looked for them, but there was no sign of them returning. Perhaps they are still in the Buddhist temple."

"Has anyone been to the temple to take a look?"

"I have looked inside. There are only the night watchman and the maid on duty. There is no movement."

Xue Baochai nodded slightly, "Then let's ignore them for now. They are very important to the Jia family. They have to take care of the funeral tomorrow morning, so they should be fine."

Qin Keqing was thinking the same thing as she handed over the items that Tanchun had brought back first.

"They took this out from a wooden box. How come it's a page of accounts? If it's nothing special, it shouldn't have been put in the box."

"Sister Bao, come and take a look, is there anything strange about it?"

From this, Xue Baochai understood why the girls in the room all looked at a loss when she returned to the room.

Spread out in front of her, Xue Baochai glanced up and down and could not help but recite silently, "A green jade dragon paperweight, a vermilion lacquer chrysanthemum-petal plate, a pair of Xuande incense burners ..."

As she was reading, Xue Baochai suddenly said, "No, why are they these objects?"

Tanchun asked, "Sister Bao, what's so special about these?"

Xue Baochai's eyes widened unconsciously, "You two have never met before, so you shouldn't know."

"To put it simply, when the late emperor went to the south of the Yangtze River, he had a temporary palace in Jinling. The various artifacts inside were all tributes from merchants in the south of the Yangtze River. Both the Xue family and the Wang family had them. This is something I heard my mother mention."

"This jade dragon paperweight is the gift from the Zhen family to the late emperor. Other than this, all the other items are artifacts from the imperial palace."

Qin Keqing was stunned and said, "So, this is the private collection of the Zhen family, but the account is in the hands of the second wife of the Jia family, then..."

"It must be an important clue revealed by the sisters."

The girls in the room all breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that all their hard work was not in vain. Just this piece of paper was enough for them to wait for their mother's visit with peace of mind.

(End of this chapter)