The Overlord of the Red Mansion

Chapter 185 Playing House

Lin Daiyu went back and took a nap, then woke up after a while.

"Miss is awake!" The maid who was responsible for fanning her to cool her down shouted quickly.

The maids began to come in to help Lin Daiyu get up and help her put on shoes and change clothes.

It is already May in the lunar calendar, the Dragon Boat Festival is approaching, and the weather is hot.

Lin Daiyu changed into a cool and comfortable skirt and tidied up her troublesome hair.

After yawning lazily, Lin Daiyu glanced at the golden clock nearby.

It was already half past one in the afternoon.

Lin Daiyu asked, "Don't you need to pay your respects to the old lady?"

Zijuan came over and said with a smile, "No, just twice a day, morning and night. We have to go over for dinner in the evening. We can't play too late these days."

Lin Daiyu touched her stomach and said, "I'm hungry, but I don't want to eat. It's too hot."

Zijuan smiled and said, "The prince had thought of it a long time ago and had people prepare cold noodles. They were all cold noodles cooled with spring water and served with minced meat, eggplant and vegetable soup. Xueyan and I both ate two bowls. Xueyan was also a spendthrift girl and bought a few cucumbers to eat."

Lin Daiyu quickly became interested. "Really? Bring it here so I can try it. I like cucumbers, too. How many did the kitchen give you?"

Xueyan ran over and said, "We maids all cut our cucumbers into strips. The eldest girl got half a cucumber, and the young lady got one. They are good-looking cucumbers."

Lin Daiyu quickly packed up and went out to eat. She only had one bowl of noodles, but it came with three kinds of toppings: minced meat and eggplant, chicken and mushrooms, and egg and sweet sauce, as well as a pot of vegetable soup.

Lin Daiyu ate two small bowls of noodles and a cucumber and then she was full. She gave the remaining side dishes to the other maids.

Xueyan and Zijuan are Lin Daiyu's personal maids. Although Xueyan's salary is lower, her status is not low. It's just that Lin Daiyu didn't want the child to spend as much money as Shi Xiangyun, so she didn't promote her, but helped her save the money.

After eating and drinking her fill and rinsing her mouth and cleaning her teeth, Lin Daiyu finally remembered what had happened.

"Aren't Ling'er and Qiao'er here?"

Zijuan replied, "The girls are all in Tianxiang Tower, studying with the Majesty. The Majesty said that they will take over for a day today. They should not be lazy in the future. The Majesty is too busy to handle it."

Lin Daiyu stuck out her tongue, obviously feeling ashamed.

"We have indeed been having too much fun recently." Lin Daiyu thought for a moment and could not help but say, "It is because Baoqin and Xiangyun always drag us along to have fun that I forget to have fun."

Zijuan smiled and said, "Miss, please don't blame others. It's already three or four o'clock. Let's go to Tianxiang Tower early."

Xueyan went over to make the bed and helped Lin Daiyu tidy up the bed.

When they were chatting, a maid ran in and said quickly, "Miss, Tianxianglou got a box of lychees, and the ladies from other courtyards have all gone there!"

Xueyan quickly got off the bed and said, "Miss, let's go!"

Lin Daiyu smiled and said, "What are you afraid of? Can we be left behind?"

Xueyan was so disappointed that she said, "Miss, you are so confused! There are a bunch of ladies and children in that building. If you are too late, they will be gone! Even if the queen keeps it for you, the young masters and young ladies will not listen!"

Jia Rong has many sons...

Lin Daiyu was reminded by Xueyan, and she felt that the girl had grown up and become a little more sensible.

"Let's go! Zijuan, Xueyan, follow us!"

Lin Daiyu quickly called someone over.

If I bring too many people, there won’t be enough to share, so I only brought two of my closest ones.

Sure enough, when I got there, the young master and the girls had already started eating.

The emperor sent quite a few, but Jia Rong's family was too large, so each person could only get a few at most.

Just a dozen children alone would be a bottomless pit, and add a dozen aunts and their respective maids, and there would be only a few left when the average is calculated.

Lin Daiyu got five, gave two to the maid and ate three herself.

Wang Xifeng brought many maids with her, so there was not enough to go around. So she ate one herself and gave the remaining four to her children who were not full.

Wang Xifeng looked at the allocation table and said with a smile, "Qingwen and Ping'er also have five. Our prince is so kind and treats everyone equally."

Qingwen was eating lychees and felt embarrassed when being praised.

Ping'er was tactful enough to give one or two to the second wife's children.

Yuanyang was not given to her, but she was not afraid of Wang Xifeng.

I was not afraid when I was at the Jia family, I was not afraid when I was at the Ning Mansion, and I was even less afraid here in the Wang Mansion.

Yinglian and Xiaohong are also not afraid of that side.

Xiaohong looked at Yinglian, "Yinglian, why did you only eat two?"

Yinglian said, "I'll keep it for my mother." Jia Yuanchun came over, touched Yinglian's hair and said, "Good girl, come and sit with me. What are you busy with recently?"

Yinglian has been taken care of by Jia Rong and Jia Yuanchun since she entered the mansion. Jia Yuanchun is like Yinglian's mother and sister.

Yinglian replied, "I don't know much about housekeeping. I just clean the master's pharmacy and alchemy room and help take care of the things inside. In my spare time, I chat and play with my sisters, read some books, and learn poetry."

Xue Baochai came over and asked, "Whose poems are you reading recently, sister?"

Lin Daiyu, Shi Xiangyun and Xue Baoqin also came over. The three giants of poetry seemed to be willing to give guidance to the newcomers.

Li Wan, Li Wen and Li Qi also came over with smiles. Although the three of them were low-key, they were all talented and they just didn't want to steal the spotlight.

Now that we are all on an equal footing, we can give it a try.

Yinglian replied gently, "I'm reading Xin Youan's poems. I like the one about the east wind blowing thousands of flowers at night, and blowing them down like raindrops."

Xue Baochai smiled and said, "Xin Qiji's poems are a bit bold and unrestrained. Do you like the poems of Su Shi and Li Qingzhao?"

Yinglian replied: "Although we are both women, I don't know why I don't like the poems of Yi An."

"I liked Su Shi's poems at first, but later, when I learned that he abandoned his pregnant concubine and traded a woman who loved him for a horse, I started to hate his poems. I don't want to learn any of his poems anymore."

Xue Baochai smiled. Although she found it a little funny, when she thought carefully about the identities of many people here, she also began to dislike this literary giant.

Jia Yuanchun consoled him, saying, "People are people, poems are poems, and besides, he has been dead for hundreds of years. Our prince is not a heartless person. You sisters don't have to empathize with those poor women."

Xue Baoqin said, "Most men in the world are heartless. Those so-called scholars out there are not even as good as our prince!"

Shi Xiangyun smiled and said, "Baoqin must have remembered something sad!"

Xue Baochai also joked, "Don't be sad, it's not a bad thing. If it weren't for the Mei family's regret of the engagement, Baoqin wouldn't have met our wonderful man!"

Li Wan asked curiously, "How is the Mei family doing now?"

The others obviously didn't know what was going on outside. Jia Yuanchun said, "They are all dead. A case two years ago implicated several men, some died, some were exiled. If Baoqin were still alive, she would definitely be a widow now."

Shi Xiangyun smiled at Xue Baoqin and said, "Little widow~"

"Bah!" Xue Baoqin cursed, "You keep saying unlucky things. I remember your family originally planned to arrange a fiancé for you, but he died two years ago."

Shi Xiangyun said angrily: "Nonsense! That's not true!"

Xue Baochai hurriedly tried to stop the fight, pulled Shi Xiangyun and said with a smile: "Alright, alright, don't quarrel just because you're full. Sister Yun went to see the prince this afternoon and said something. Hurry up and ask the prince to take you in, otherwise you won't have a place in the future~"

Shi Xiangyun said shyly, "Who would say that? I just wanted to play with big brother and borrow some books to read. Big brother said he was busy cleaning up the medicine storehouse and didn't have time to play with us these days."

Xue Baochai smiled and said, "Then you better hurry up. Master always says that big butts can give birth to babies. You should be more proactive. Our master likes proactive women."

Shi Xiangyun quickly sat down next to Jia Yuanchun and said coquettishly, "Big sister, look, she said those dirty words to me, help me scold her!"

Jia Yuanchun smiled and said, "If Sister Bao did something wrong, I would have told her a long time ago. There are no outsiders here, so you guys should stop being so dull. When you should follow the rules, give some face to the elders and me. It's not a bad thing to be more free and proactive at other times. We are all women, no one will laugh at you, so be more proactive."

Jia Yuanchun knew very well what kind of women her man liked, and she treated Shi Xiangyun and Lin Daiyu as her own family, so she naturally would not harm them.

Shi Xiangyun frowned and said quickly, "Yinglian didn't take the initiative either, could it be that she took the initiative in private?"

Yinglian usually doesn't cause trouble, but after hearing what Shi Xiangyun said, she said anxiously, "Miss Yun, don't talk nonsense, I didn't do that!"

Seeing Yinglian was about to cry, Jia Yuanchun smiled and said, "Sister Yun is joking with you. It's a good thing for our family to have one or two quiet girls, but if they are all quiet and can't talk, there will be no one to make the master happy. The master is usually so tired, you should also pay more attention to the master."

Wang Xifeng came over and said with a smile: "Madam, look at you, you said it wrong again, what master? Now it's the prince~"

Jia Yuanchun smiled casually and said indifferently: "It's okay as long as you don't make mistakes all the time. We don't have so many rules in our family. We all live a more relaxed life. Go and have fun. Sister Feng will discuss things with me."

Shi Xiangyun asked curiously, "What's the matter? Can't we know?"

Jia Yuanchun smiled and said, "We need to discuss the official positions in the palace. The palace is not a duke's palace, so we can give official positions to people below us."

"Sister Feng and I will discuss this first, and then we will ask a few wives, mothers-in-law and housekeepers to come over to discuss this tomorrow. You girls should stay away tomorrow afternoon and come back for dinner."

Xue Baochai, Xue Baoqin, Li Wan and others all became concerned and found a place to sit down and listen quietly.

Xue Baochai and Xue Baoqin have brothers, Li Wan has a son, and Lin Hongyu also has a father and brother.

Jia Rong's title of prince was no longer just a change of title, it also brought a huge increase in power and status.

The most critical thing is the allocation of resources to subordinates and vassals.

The women discussed it intently for several days, but it turned out that Jia Rong had already made the assignment.

Not only the allocation of official positions, but even the household registration issues of his subordinates had long been resolved.

Jia Rong never expected a woman to manage the household, and even to teach his children he hired a teacher.

The women in the garden are only suitable to play house games with Jia Rong.

(End of this chapter)