Red Mansion: Picking up a Lin Daiyu

Chapter 472 Lin Daiyu uses a clever scheme, and the wise mandarin ducks reveal their true feelings.

As the maids vividly described the recent happenings in the mansion, Yuanyang snapped out of her reverie and secretly noted down all the important matters mentioned.

She never expected that even the servants in the mansion had such a strong academic atmosphere, which was so different from the atmosphere of the old Rongguo Mansion.

Not to mention the servants, even the young masters in the mansion, such as Baoyu and Jia Huan, are all ignorant and incompetent. They look down on economics and spend their days playing around inside and outside the mansion.

If it were the Second Master Jia Zheng who were disciplining him, Grandmother Jia and Lady Wang would use the excuse that Baoyu was still young and that it wouldn't be too late for him to learn when he became more aware. But now, Yuanyang sees that none of the young girls in this room are much older than Baoyu. Aren't they all around the same age?
It is truly said: "One who does not study diligently in youth will regret it when one's hair turns white."

If the upper beam is crooked, the lower beam will naturally be crooked as well. The servants of Rongguo Mansion can be described in one word: complete chaos.

Everyone had to steal from the mansion from time to time to supplement their household income. They even competed to steal more than they could, as stealing less was considered a loss. This had become their only legitimate business in the mansion.

The pristine state of the Duke of Dingguo's mansion was something Yuanyang could hardly imagine.

"Sister's black hair deserves a fine hairpin, but we don't have any precious items that match her hair, so we can only use the wooden carvings in this mansion for now."

Two maids helped Yuanyang out of the bath, and she combed her hair and put on makeup in front of the mirror.

The two maids, in particular, were extremely outgoing, showering her with praise: "Sister, with your looks, you're definitely qualified to come into the room. Your status is different from ours."

"Yes, if you have a proper title in the future, don't forget to take care of us."

"My name is Cui'er."

"My name is Ling'er."

The two were so enthusiastic that Yuanyang could only smile wryly and agree, no longer refusing.

Seeing that Yuanyang agreed without hesitation, they cheered, jumped for joy, and clapped their hands in celebration.

Yuanyang felt even more bitter inside.

She was new here and hadn't figured out anything, so how could she take care of others? Right now, she was like a clay Bodhisattva crossing a river, barely able to save herself.

Although she had entered the mansion, it was all Lin Daiyu's idea. She had not yet met Yue Ling and did not know what Yue Ling thought of her.

Could it be that because Yue Ling hates Grandmother Jia, he might also vent his resentment towards Grandmother Jia on her?

Even if such a thing were to happen, Yuanyang would only silently endure it.

After all, these things were related to her. Grandmother Jia had already passed away, so it was reasonable for her, as a servant, to atone for her sins.

Anyway, she wouldn't be so narcissistic as the old woman said, thinking she could gain a foothold in the mansion just by relying on her body.

Putting aside the fact that the young ladies in this mansion are much prettier than her, is Yue Ling some kind of lustful beast who would be so thirsty as to take her as a concubine?
Thinking of this, Yuanyang shook her head helplessly.

After the maids dressed her in a brand-new moon-white dress and applied light pink to her cheeks, Yuanyang was helped to her feet.

"Thank you for your help."

“Of course, of course,” one of the maids said readily. “Sister, you can go do your own thing and don’t need to worry about us.”

"Yes, yes," another chimed in. "While you were taking a bath, your stomach was growling the whole time. You were leaning against the tub, looking drowsy. You must have been starving."

"Go out this way, walk along the corridor to the end, turn the corner, and the second fork in the road leads to the entrance to the kitchen. Sister, you can go and get some food to tide you over. There's always food there, and anyone who's hungry can take some. One sister takes the most; I hope you won't bump into her when you go."

"Alright, alright, stop gossiping and come wash the bucket."

The two little girls ran off happily, leaving Yuanyang standing there with her cheeks flushed.

She had lost her composure in front of the two young maids, which was a disgrace to her former status as a head maid.

Without lingering any longer and delaying their cleaning, Yuanyang went out alone.

But she wasn't in a hurry to fill her stomach; reason still took over her mind.

She still remembers what the old woman told her: after bathing, she should go to the main hall to pay her respects to the lady of the house.

"The Duke of Dingguo is not yet married. The so-called 'madam' should refer to Lin Daiyu, the daughter of the Jia family's son-in-law, Imperial Censor Lin."

Yuanyang nodded secretly and then headed towards the hall in the center of the courtyard.

The main gate was wide open, and it was noisy inside, as if a lot of people had gathered. Yuanyang, being very tactful, entered the warm pavilion through a side door, waiting for Lin Daiyu to have some free time.

Although it was called a warm pavilion, it was actually only separated from the main hall by a carved floor screen, so Yuanyang could naturally hear the discussions in front of the hall.

Yuanyang originally thought that the girls in front of the hall were sitting and playing, just like in the Jia family, playing chess, drinking tea and chatting, or doing needlework.

Upon closer listening, she discovered that it was completely different from what she had imagined.

“In recent years, while translating Western literature, we have also discovered that their system of selecting and employing people is not more sophisticated than the imperial examination system. It is just that they select people based on their talents and assign them to specific positions, which is much more flexible than the Confucian scholars of today who only know the classics.”

"In particular, they valued practical knowledge, and even a commoner could receive honors and awards for an invention, which fostered this trend among the people."

"No wonder they are now able to build powerful ships and cannons, surpassing our dynasty by a significant margin."

Another female voice chimed in, "This is Brother Yue's proposition: classical studies as the foundation, practical learning for application. However, Brother Yue is still keeping it hidden and hasn't revealed this statement yet, leading students to believe that he wants to carry out sweeping reforms, which has resulted in such a strong protest."

A slightly languid female voice, gentler than the previous two, spoke up: "The Marquis did this intentionally. Only by suddenly pouring a bucket of water on the crowd when they are in a state of agitation can someone possibly understand the deeper meaning and become more clear-headed."

"Now, our official gazettes are everywhere in the capital, and the matter has even spread beyond the capital region. Many students have spontaneously rushed to the capital to support the students who caused trouble earlier."

"The situation is even more dire in Jiangnan. Some of the four great masters have even come to the capital to help these students. Now it remains to be seen how the Marquis will make his next move."

The first woman to speak rang out with a silvery laugh, "Sister, you must have made quite a bit of money selling coffins to these students these days."

A nonchalant voice came from behind, saying indifferently, "The Xue family has always been in the timber business, but they hadn't been involved in funerals before. This incident has indeed made them a lot of money, but after secretly encouraging them to sponsor students and covering your expenses, there's not much left."

"Isn't this enough? We didn't lose any money; instead, my sister made a profit. It's already a good thing that we broke even!" The messages from next door seemed to come in like a tidal wave.

Yuanyang realized that the girls were not gossiping, but rather discussing important national and familial affairs, and even debating what would happen next.

Especially now that the capital is in such chaos, and it turns out it was all their doing and Yue Ling's doing, it was intentional, they are even more horrified.

Logically speaking, Grandmother Jia should have been a high-ranking and powerful manager.

When Yuanyang was with Grandmother Jia, she had never heard of such a thing, let alone heard it have such a big impact on the outside of the mansion. But now it was being said so casually by several young ladies. Yuanyang was not used to it.

However, before the conversation could end, Lin Daiyu, who seemed to be in charge of maintaining order, spoke up again, "The situation is exactly as you described. The recent progress in the manor can be considered optimistic."

"My third sister has made progress in her research on the ever-burning lamp, but she is short of the so-called 'fuel' and cannot provide it at the moment. In particular, my third sister also said that the object has the risk of exploding and is not suitable for home use at the moment."

"Is it that dangerous?"

"Third Sister wouldn't exaggerate such a thing on purpose. If there are any more books on this topic in the future, Baoqin, please keep an eye out."

"Okay, Sister Lin, don't worry, I'll take care of it."

"By the way, has there been any progress on the book translation project lately?"

"Now I can finally say goodbye to the heavy responsibility of translating books. Xiangling's growth has really exceeded my expectations. Some of her translations are even more professional than mine. She studies very hard, working day and night. Now she has such dark circles under her eyes, I'm afraid she's not getting enough rest at night."

"That's true. She's the most diligent one. Not only does she go to school during the day, but she also comes to me at night to ask for new books to read, and she reads them until the wee hours of the morning. When she gets up in the morning to sweep the floor, she sometimes falls asleep leaning against the broom. I don't dare to use her anymore, so I just let her rest for a while and let Ying'er do more work. Ying'er was annoyed by this for a long time, but she wasn't as diligent as Xiangling. She would scratch her head in frustration every day when she was flipping through books, and there was nothing she could do."

The three women burst out laughing.

Lin Daiyu casually remarked, "It seems that the matter of raising one's social status will soon fall to Xiangling."

The woman next door could clearly feel the other two pause in their breathing. She even held her breath and pressed her ear against the screen to listen to their conversation.

"To gain more status?"

Yuanyang was deeply shocked. "Does studying harder really turn a maid into a concubine? Does Miss Lin even approve of that? Xiangling is Miss Xue's maid, what is Miss Xue thinking?"

Unexpectedly, while he was standing guard, he overheard that maids in the Duke of Dingguo's mansion had such a promotion channel, which was far more sophisticated than using one's looks to serve men.

To Yuanyang's disappointment, the topic did not continue. Instead, Lin Daiyu broke the silence and asked again, "Has a final decision been made on which content is suitable for the imperial examination?"

The little girl with the clearest voice seemed to have been deep in thought for a while before replying, "This is indeed not something that can be accomplished in a day. There are many foreign countries overseas, some as large as the province of Dachang, and some even smaller than the capital."

“Every place has its own knowledge, which may be related or contradictory to each other. There is no definitive conclusion in many cases, and we still need to verify them.”

"This will take a lot of time. If this kind of knowledge is used for the imperial examination, the most obvious shortcoming is that it is impossible to establish a standard for evaluating 'excellent, good, and poor'. We still need the Marquis to come back and let him make a decision."

"However, what is certain at present is that mathematics, criminal law, water conservancy projects, etc., can all be tested and used in teaching, and are more beneficial to local governance than the so-called Four Books and Five Classics."

“If His Majesty truly intends to hold a ‘grand debate on the classics,’ then the Marquis certainly has many things he can make a big deal out of it.”

"Especially for students from poor families, the newly added subjects represent new opportunities for officialdom, giving them a better chance to compete than being monopolized by academic elites."

Another person chimed in, "That's right, I've heard about it too. Although many students went to the capital to 'besiege' the Marquis, quite a few students from Qingfeng Academy spontaneously went to the capital to protect him. There were some minor clashes between the two sides, but the soldiers from the Military Command arrived in time to prevent the conflict from escalating."

It was clearly Lin Daiyu's voice, sighing softly, "The tree that Brother Yue planted with such care back then is now laden with fruit..."

“Sister Bao, we can’t let those who support Brother Yue be disheartened. To ensure their safety, we’ll have to trouble you to arrange accommodations for them and send people to watch over them. If there’s any sign of conflict, report it to the authorities immediately.”

"it is good……"

……

The conversation next door lasted for a long time, almost an hour.

The mandarin ducks listened intently, their mouths dry and their stomachs empty, completely unaware of their hunger.

It seemed that Lin Daiyu already knew she was in the warm pavilion. After seeing the others off, she came here and sat down next to Yuanyang with a smile.

"Sister Yuanyang, it's been a long time."

Although Lin Daiyu's tone was extremely amiable and the two had indeed interacted before, Yuanyang's body instincts compelled her to quickly stand up, bow, and say, "This servant, Yuanyang, thanks Madam."

As if sensing some key word, Lin Daiyu's eyes lit up, and then her smile became even more radiant as she warmly invited Yuanyang to sit beside her.

"Don't be shy, make yourself at home. I have something I'd like to ask you. Please sit down."

Lin Daiyu raised her hand to help Yuanyang sit down, and then poured tea with her delicate hands, pushing it in front of Yuanyang.

The mandarin ducks accepted the drink with trepidation and immediately took a sip, only then did their lips regain a little color.

"Actually, I did act on my own initiative. I've already sent someone to retrieve your indenture." With that, Lin Daiyu placed a stack of papers from her sleeve onto the table.

“I know that Sister Yuanyang is loyal to the old lady of the Jia family. Everything in the Duke of Dingguo’s mansion may not suit you, and it may not be the best place for you. So, it is entirely up to you to decide whether to stay or leave. This is a contract of sale. You can take it directly. Then someone from the mansion will go to the government to remove you from the status of a servant in the name of the Duke of Dingguo’s mansion, and no one will make things difficult for you.”

"Of course, the household will assist with the funeral arrangements for the old lady. They won't concern themselves with these minor details, so you don't need to worry about them."

The mandarin ducks hunched their chests and lowered their heads, remaining silent throughout.

After a moment of silence, Lin Daiyu gave her ample time to think before asking, "So, what is Sister Yuanyang's wish?"

Yuanyang slowly raised her head, her voice timid, and stammered, "I want to stay here. I wonder if Madam would allow me to, even if I start as a lowly maid."

Lin Daiyu smiled broadly, took Yuanyang's hand and said with a smile, "Sister Yuanyang used to help manage the entire Rongguo Mansion. Wouldn't it be a mistake of me to make her a lowly maid? Right now, the mansion is in need of a head maid to manage things. As for Sister Ke'er, let's not mention her..."

(End of this chapter)