Red Mansion: Picking up a Lin Daiyu

Chapter 93 Oath
After having several boxes of silver moved and placed on the cart, Yue Ling and Lin Daiyu reminded them, "Just go through the accounts briefly. It's not something urgent. If you're tired, go to your room and take a rest."

Although they are not expected to do much work, it would be beneficial to Lin Daiyu's health if she could move around more instead of staying in the room.

After all, she was in a very good mood.

After Yue Ling left, Xueyan sat on a box beside her and wanted to go on strike.

"Miss, here are more than one million taels of silver. It's so much, how can we count them all? Yesterday, you were talking about living a life of idleness and living a life of idleness, but I'm just going to eat and eat and eat, and I'll never run out of money even if I live for several lifetimes."

Lin Daiyu looked at the wall full of silver and was so surprised that she couldn't come back to her senses.

"This... I didn't expect there to be so many."

If they had to open each box, check the silver and then put it back, it would be a huge project that three little girls could not accomplish.

Lin Daiyu thought for a moment and said, "Let's start with the simple things first. Brother Yue said there's no rush anyway, and there will be helpers coming later. When there's more money, we should check the accounts, otherwise it will be hard to know if there's any loss or shortage."

Zijuan was even more frightened by the scene before her. She had never seen such a bright scene in Rongguo Mansion.

"General Yue is only a young man, but he has more financial resources than the Rongguo Mansion, and he is already a fourth-rank official. It is really amazing. With General Yue's ability, he may have a chance to be granted a title in the future. When that time comes..."

Zijuan thought of her own insignificance again, "General Yue and the girl are a perfect match."

Lin Daiyu called Zijuan several times but there was no response, so she stepped forward and patted her, saying, "Sister Zijuan, what are you thinking about?"

Zijuan turned around quickly and said, "I didn't think much. I was just surprised that there was so much silver in the mansion."

Lin Daiyu said proudly: "This is what Brother Yue is capable of. Of course, Brother Yue is great in everything!"

Zijuan smiled awkwardly and nodded, rubbing her sore thigh secretly.

……

In front of the gate of Yue Mansion were Ni Er’s former brothers.

Their original job was to collect usury from gamblers. They were all big and strong, looked fierce and ferocious, and being doormen really made the best use of their talents.

"I've met the master."

In the old days, they all stood guard outside the courtyard gate, rain or shine. Now, they have been incorporated into the official system and have a small courtyard to live in the mansion, so they naturally call him Master Yue Ling.

Yue Ling nodded in response, and saw Ni Er and Jia Yun coming not far away, each holding a gift in their hands.

Seeing Yue Ling about to leave, the two who were talking hurried forward and bowed to Yue Ling, "Greetings, General Yue."

Yue Ling smiled and talked to the two of them, "You two are really quick to come, arriving early in the morning. Just come later, no need to bring any gifts."

Jia Yun scratched his head and smiled innocently, "We know that your mansion doesn't lack anything, but we feel embarrassed to come empty-handed. It's at least a token of our appreciation."

Yue Ling nodded in agreement and ordered the doorman beside him to take it away.

Ni Er looked at his former younger brother, who was now dressed in uniform in the mansion, and said with envy, "I wish I had been the gatekeeper for General Yue."

Yue Ling couldn't help but laugh and said, "You sent a few smart people to release the wild cat in Prince Kang's mansion, which is a great achievement. The housekeeper of the mansion is naturally left for you two. Come to the mansion to work some other day."

Hearing this, they were pleasantly surprised. They bowed to the ground to express their gratitude, but were lifted up by Yue Ling again.

"Well, stop bowing. I'm younger than you are. If I keep doing this all day, I'll shorten my life."

Ni Er smiled awkwardly, "General Yue, that's not right, the master is the one who is growing in ability, we are just growing in age."

"Hahaha." Yue Ling pointed at Ni Er. Jia Yun said, "After being with Yun brother for a long time, you will also be able to say sweet words."

Patting the two on the shoulders, Yue Ling said, "Okay, we have something important to do today."

Yue Ling pursed his lips and signaled to the two of them, "See the carriage behind us. Today we are going to visit the families of those who died in the palace coup in the Prince of Qin's mansion. I have already thought about this, especially the one who sacrificed himself to block the arrow for me."

Yue Ling sighed, "I heard that he only has his mother left at home. Let's go to his house first."

Hearing this, the two did not dare to delay and hurriedly pulled the carriage behind them and set off with Yue Ling.

After many twists and turns, Yue Ling left the inner city and went to the outer city before he finally found his destination.

This area is the dilapidated houses where the poor families in the capital city live.

The home of that personal guard was the most dilapidated among them.

At the end of the alley, there was a small courtyard surrounded by a fence. The fence was in tatters, but in the vegetable garden in the courtyard, a few vegetable seedlings were growing well, which should be the support for the old man's life.

"Old man? Are you home?"

Yue Ling stood outside the fence, greeting people inside.

I shouted but there was no movement inside.

Ni Er said: "Maybe he went out of the city to work in the fields?"

Yue Ling shook his head. "The well is still wet. It has just been used."

After that, Yue Ling raised his voice a little more and shouted, "Old man, are you home?"

After a while, there was a response from the room.

A white-haired old woman, dressed in coarse linen, with seemingly poor eyesight, came to the door holding a branch as a walking stick.

"Who is it?"

Yue Ling said, "I am Yue Ling, the commander-in-chief of the personal guards of the Prince of Qin's mansion. Your son died in the palace coup a few days ago. I came to see you on his behalf. To be honest, your son died protecting me in the final battle. I don't know if you are still in good health. Why don't you come with me to my mansion to retire and let me take care of you on his behalf?"

Seeing that the old woman was hunched over and looked unwell, Yue Ling was afraid that she was ill. He changed his mind, took the silver, and took over the care of his mother in her old age instead of the guard.

"What? You said Erniu is gone?"

The old woman's grip loosened and the walking stick fell to the side.

Yue Ling hurriedly said: "Don't get excited..."

After taking a few deep breaths, the old woman calmed herself down, bent down with difficulty to pick up her walking stick, slowly moved her feet, and opened the fence gate for Yue Ling and others.

The old woman smiled and said, "General, please come in and talk first."

When Yue Ling entered the mud house, he saw that it was really bare and he couldn't help feeling sad.

The old woman poured a cup of freshly boiled hot water into a clay bowl, presented it to Yue Ling, and said, "General, please don't be disgusted. I really don't have any tea to treat you at home."

Yue Ling held the earthen bowl in his hand and shook his head, "It's okay, it's okay."

The old woman sat on the edge of the bed, crossed her legs, and sighed, "His father and Erniu both died on the battlefield. I had expected this day to come."

She took out a wooden box from the bed, opened it and said, "I had saved some money to marry him off, but now it's useless."

Yue Ling looked inside and found a silver note and some small change and copper coins, about twenty taels in total.

"These are enough for my retirement."

The old woman smiled and put it away again.

"Originally I thought that so many men coming to the door so early in the morning would be bad guys, but they turned out to be generals from the Qin Palace. When his father died, no one came to visit him, but now that he is dead, the general came to visit him. It seems that Erniu followed the right person than his father." "I think the general is not too old, and he will have great potential in the future. Erniu did the right thing."

Some of the strong men who came with Yue Ling felt sorry for him and their eyes were red.

Yue Ling also said: "Come back with me, I will take care of you in your old age on behalf of Erniu."

The old woman thought for a moment and said, "I have been feeling unwell these days. General, please go out and wait for me while I clean up."

Yue Ling nodded and agreed, "Okay, we'll wait for you outside the courtyard."

Yue Ling and others walked out of the yard, and soon they saw the old woman coming out in clean clothes with a bright smile on her face.

Yue Ling also smiled in response, but the next moment, the old woman walked to the well, but suddenly dropped her walking stick and fell into the well.

Yue Ling rushed forward and was about to jump into the well to save people, but he was stopped by his men who arrived, some of whom held his waist and some of his legs.

"Master, you can't go down! It's too narrow to get up!"

Yue Ling broke free and said, "Erniu's mother jumped in! What else can we do?"

"You can't go down there alone! You need to find a skinny person to go down and fish it out!"

Yue Ling, who was overwhelmed by his emotions, came to his senses a little, "Hurry up and find someone!"

By the time a young man was found, he went down into the well in a basket and fished the old woman out, but she was already dead.

Yue Ling sat on the ground as if exhausted.

Everyone around was silent.

After a long while, Yue Ling slowly stood up and said, "Take the wooden box and bury it with her. Then take the 500 taels of silver from the cart and seal it in her tomb. Find someone to take care of it, clean it and show respect."

Ni Er and others quickly responded, "Yes."

The King Kang who had coup was dead, so the blood debt could only be put on the head of the northern barbarians who instigated the coup. Yue Ling staggered out of the fence gate, his eyebrows raised, and silently said in his heart: "Tuji Khan, if you dare to attack me, I will let you know what blood debt is paid with blood!"

After obtaining the King of Qin's permission, the families of the many guards that Yue Ling visited received rewards.

The reward for the dead was three hundred taels of silver, and the reward for the injured was one hundred taels of silver. This money was enough for a family to live in abundance for a while.

Not only that, Yue Ling also discussed with each family that those who were willing to work in the mansion could come to live in the mansion. So many elderly people from kind families came to the mansion to act as nannies.

As a result, a lot of people gathered in Yue Ling's mansion, and they were all trustworthy enough.

Back at the mansion, Yue Ling said to Jia Yun and Ni Er, "Bring your family members to the mansion to work. Brother Yun, isn't your mother not feeling well? It's good for you to come to the mansion to plant some flowers and plants all day, and live in the back room to recuperate. Otherwise, if you work by my side, and only your mother is at home, I'm afraid it will be hard for you to feel at ease."

The two were stunned when they heard this. Being able to get a job in the mansion was already a great thing, and now they could even live in the mansion with their families and enjoy themselves. This kind of thing could probably only come true in dreams.

The two of them bowed and thanked him, "Thank you, Master."

Yue Ling nodded in agreement and went back to his room.

As soon as I entered the hall, I saw several little girls sitting around a round table.

Xueyan was so tired that she slumped over the desk, panting heavily, while Zijuan rested her face on her hand, wondering what she was thinking. Opposite them, Lin Daiyu picked up a pen and dipped it in ink, scribbling on an account sheet and writing a new one.

Hearing the noise, Zijuan stood up first, lowered her eyebrows, and saluted Yue Ling, "General Yue."

Yue Ling nodded slightly and came to Lin Daiyu to look at her.

"Have you checked so much?"

Hearing Yue Ling's praise, Lin Daiyu felt a great sense of accomplishment and nodded happily, "Yes, with so much property, we will definitely be able to check it all within a month."

Yue Ling smiled and said, "Don't get too tired. Tomorrow, some servants will come to the mansion to do odd jobs. You can pick some people to do the work. They are all family members of the Qin Wang Palace's personal guards, and they are all good people."

Lin Daiyu rolled her eyes and said, "If there are enough people, we can reconcile the accounts within ten days."

Xueyan lay on the table, feeling a little distressed and said: "General Yue took away 10,000 taels as soon as he left. 10,000 taels, who would be willing to give such a reward."

Lin Daiyu tapped Xueyan's head with her pen. "Although it's a bit much, this money still needs to be spent. It's because Brother Yue is kind and pure that he would do such a good deed."

Yue Ling also sighed, "A general's success is the result of the sacrifice of thousands of men. I have received so many rewards, but I really can't bear to accept them calmly. This way, my heart can be at peace."

"By the way, I was planning to make milk tea for you yesterday. I just brought back the ingredients from outside. You guys wait for me in the room."

"milk tea?!"

Xueyan suddenly became energetic and followed Yue Ling out, "I'll help!"

Yue Ling rubbed her hair and said, "Okay, come here."

Lin Daiyu and Zijuan looked at the two of them and couldn't help laughing.

In the kitchen in the yard, Yue Ling cleaned the copper pot, Xueyan added firewood into it, and Yue Ling poured the prepared jelly grass bought from the pharmacy into the pot to boil.

As it was stirred continuously, the water gradually turned gray-black and thicker, and the scent of vanilla filled the entire room.

Xueyan asked in confusion: "General Yue, what is this? Isn't this milk tea?"

Yue Ling added honey into the tea and replied, "This is called grass jelly, it can be considered as a condiment for milk tea."

Xueyan shook her head and said, "I've never heard of it."

After taking the copper pot aside to cool, Yue Ling started another pot and poured in green brick tea and milk. There were too few seasonings in this world, so he could only use rock sugar or honey and continue to boil.

After working for more than an hour, Yue Ling took out a small bowl, put a spoonful of milk tea in it, and scooped a spoonful of roasted grass jelly into it, then handed it to Xue Yan and said, "Try it and see how it tastes."

Xueyan followed out, also to have the first bite.

Xueyan happily took it, scooped a spoonful with a spoon, blew on the hot air, and said, "So sweet and delicious!"

Yue Ling also laughed and filled another copper pot with milk tea and a large bowl of grass jelly.

Back in the hall, Yue Ling shared the food with Lin Daiyu and Zijuan.

"Try it."

The two little girls also took it curiously.

Lin Daiyu poked the herbal jelly with a spoon and said, "What a strange thing."

Lin Daiyu scooped a spoonful and put it in her mouth. She tasted it carefully. It had the sweet taste of vanilla, as well as the aroma of milk and tea. The complex flavors hit her taste buds. It was really a novel experience.

"It tastes so good! Thank you, Brother Yue!"

Seeing the girls eating happily, Yue Ling thought to himself, "Without the straw, it still lacks soul. By the way, isn't Lin Daiyu the incarnation of the fairy grass? It seems a little strange to eat the fairy grass jelly so happily."

　Ten thousand on the second day!

　　I’m going out to eat, so I’ll post this a little earlier. Thank you all for your support!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)