The Black Chamber Dream: Daiyu's Revenge

It seems that both the Imperial Concubine and Princess Rui, this mother-in-law and daughter-in-law pair, have a good appreciation for paintings.

Sure enough, the Imperial Concubine continued, "What I like is the composition of this painting. It's really innovative. Among the four branches of flowers, one of them is deliberately arranged to lean horizontally, looking like the chrysanthemum under the fence. It grows too tall and doesn't find support in time, so it falls over like this. Such a clever arrangement makes the whole painting full of natural charm."

Daiyu smiled and said, "Sister Ge is still the best. Her chrysanthemums are completely outlined and painted with ink, which further highlights the noble and elegant charm of the chrysanthemums."

The emperor was very pleased to hear this: "Your works are all good. Come, send them to the painting academy and have them framed. I will hang them in my study."

The emperor hoped his sons would live in harmony. Today, while admiring the chrysanthemums, it seemed that all three pairs of children were very sensible.

"Your Majesty is really something, not even giving us a single painting. I was thinking of asking for Miss Lin's painting to take back." The more Consort Wu looked at Daiyu, the more she liked her. First of all, the girl's attire today was very appropriate. It was obvious that the Ge family's daughter had come here to stand out.

Moreover, judging from Daiyu's painting just now, her brushstrokes and demeanor clearly showed that she was usually engrossed in poetry and painting. She and the third brother were truly a match made in heaven. It would be good to win over such a couple and have them help the second brother.

Consort Xu also shared this idea.

Although there weren't many people, the Mid-Autumn Festival was lively and joyous, which pleased the emperor greatly. In his satisfaction, he bestowed many gifts upon Song Huilan, Lin Daiyu, and Ge Xijia.

The Empress was also very satisfied with Daiyu's performance today: when Daiyu entered the palace in the morning, the Empress's eyes lit up when she saw her attire.

This girl is clever; she knows how to hide her brilliance. Lin Yatou was originally the most beautiful of the three, but she showed no intention of stealing the spotlight today. As for Princess Rui and the Ge family girl, they were dressed up meticulously from head to toe.

Moreover, it seems that the third brother still has feelings for Lin Yatou.

Although the princes' marriages depended more on the girl's family background and character, it would be very disadvantageous if the two had no feelings for each other and became an unhappy couple in the future.

In the evening, the Empress led Daiyu and the Third Prince Xiao Tingjun to enjoy the moon in the garden of Fengyi Palace.

"Has Jun'er visited your residence?" Although the Empress has lived in the inner palace for many years, she lived in the Prince's Mansion before the Emperor ascended the throne. As a princess at that time, she had plenty of opportunities to travel around and was very familiar with all parts of the capital.

A few days ago, the emperor conferred titles of kings upon his three sons and bestowed upon each of them a mansion. When Xiao Tingjun heard the empress ask, he nodded: "I went once with my second brother and fourth brother. It's quite a coincidence that our three mansions are next to each other. My second brother's and my mansions are on the same street, and my fourth brother's is diagonally opposite."

After hearing this, the Empress sighed and said, "Of your three residences, one was once the residence of the Protector General, another was once the residence of a Grand Secretary of the Wenyuan Pavilion, and the third was once the residence of a princess. Unfortunately, they took the wrong position in the struggle for the throne. In their early years, they were corrupt and wielded immense power. After their downfall, they ended up with their families destroyed and their lives ruined."

For some reason, Daiyu thought of the Rongguo Mansion and the Ningguo Mansion, which together occupied an entire street.

The people in their household were equally unscrupulous. Back then, the second sister-in-law dared to lend money at exorbitant interest rates, and her eldest uncle, Jia Yucun, even beat someone to death over a fan.

Thinking of this, Daiyu suddenly had a flash of inspiration and immediately spoke up: "Your Majesty, I have something to ask of you."

The Empress and Xiao Tingjun were both taken aback.

Chapter 27: The Prince Reveals Old Stories and Devises New Plans

The Empress and Xiao Tingjun were both surprised to hear Daiyu apologize.

Daiyu met the two probing gazes with complete candor: "The eldest son of the Xue family, a royal merchant family, was sentenced to be executed in the autumn. Jia Yucun, who protected him and presided over the trial when he first killed someone in Jinling, was once my teacher."

The Xue family, the imperial merchants, the Empress, and Xiao Tingjun all pondered for a moment.

Xiao Tingjun was the first to react: "I do know the gist of this matter. Jia Yucun was highly regarded by Prince Teng back then, wasn't he?"

Daiyu nodded. Although she was confined to her chambers, she could understand some things after thinking about them more.

“Now, Prince Teng sacrificed a pawn to save the king, and Jia Yucun has been dismissed from his post and sent back to his hometown.” Xiao Tingjun understood Daiyu’s meaning; she was probably afraid of being implicated. So he comforted her, “In the past, after the main culprit was dealt with, the rest depended on the mood of the emperor. This matter has already passed before the emperor, and I think Father Emperor has no intention of investigating it further. You don’t need to worry.”

Daiyu shook her head: "I am a weak woman, so I have nothing to worry about. I'm just afraid that some people might deliberately try to frame me. It would be bad if it puts His Highness and the Empress in a difficult position."

Only then did Xiao Tingjun understand what Daiyu was worried about. On the one hand, he was pleased with Daiyu's intelligence, but on the other hand, he felt somewhat frustrated by his own arrogance: she was afraid of implicating him and the Empress.

The Empress finally understood and felt even more gratified: she knew that the woman was thinking of the Third Prince and herself, the Empress, and that she had truly made the right choice in her.

"Don't worry, this is a small matter and won't affect us." Xiao Tingjun looked at Daiyu. "But I'd like to ask, how much do you know about your husband, Jia Yucun?"

Daiyu and Xiao Tingjun are now in cahoots. She is very direct and tells them all about how Jia Yucun obtained the position of prefect of Yingtian Prefecture, how he protected Xue Pan, and how he drove someone to their death because of her uncle's fan.

“There might be others, but I don’t know. I heard all of this from…” Daiyu said, a slight sadness creeping into her voice. It was Baoyu who told her about Jia Yucun driving someone to their death over a fan, but she forced back that sadness. “I heard it all from people in the Rongguo Mansion.”

After hearing this, Xiao Tingjun knew even more that it wouldn't affect them at all: "Then there's no need to worry. Father Emperor uses Prince Teng, and Prince Teng uses Jia Yucun. Since Prince Teng isn't worried, we have even less need to be nervous."

The Empress nodded and said, "That's exactly right. Your father used Prince Teng because he valued his ruthlessness. Officials can't always play the good cop; someone has to play the bad cop."

After hearing the Empress's words, Daiyu finally understood: the Emperor's heavy reliance on Prince Teng was different from his heavy reliance on other honest officials.

To put it bluntly, it's a vicious dog, good at guarding the house, and most importantly, it obeys its owner.

However, after hearing Daiyu talk about everything concerning Jia Yucun, Xiao Tingjun had an idea. In front of the Empress and Daiyu, he felt there was no need to hide it, so he said directly, "Since Jia Yucun has now been abandoned by Prince Teng, perhaps we can have someone make contact with him."

Both the Empress and Daiyu were intelligent and immediately understood the implication behind Xiao Tingjun's words: Jia Yucun currently harbored hatred towards Prince Teng. Capturing him would be useful in dealing with the four great families in the future.

Daiyu shouldn't have said anything more, but she decided to test the waters: she wanted to see if Xiao Tingjun disliked the four great families.

So she said, "But what if he turns against you? Wouldn't that be bad for Your Highness?"

Xiao Tingjun had also considered this: what if Jia Yucun turned around and betrayed him?

The Empress laughed and said, "This is too simple, because the Third Prince doesn't need to lift a finger. I will arrange it myself."

Seeing that Daiyu seemed a little confused, Xiao Tingjun explained to her: "Jia Yucun's ancestral home is in Jiangnan. He is the current Governor-General of Liangjiang, and he is my uncle."

Uncle? Ever since her arranged marriage, Daiyu had gone to great lengths to gather information. The current Governor-General of Liangjiang is Lord Li Ji.

The Empress's surname is also Li. Yes, the Governor-General of Liangjiang is the Empress's own brother. Therefore, it's perfectly fine for Xiao Tingjun to call her "uncle".

Once Daiyu understood this, she realized what it meant: the Empress would ask her brother for help.

But Daiyu immediately thought of another point: Does this mean that the Empress and the entire Li family are on the side of the Third Prince?

It is said that the Governor-General of Liangjiang is one of His Majesty's most trusted officials, and it is also rumored that it was this newly appointed Governor-General of Liangjiang who led troops to raid the Zhen family.

It seems that the things I will face in the future will become increasingly complicated.

"Speaking of Jiangnan, some members of the Zhen family have come to the capital. We should keep an eye on them." The Empress disliked the Zhen family.

They made no attempt to hide these words from Daiyu. For the next two days, Daiyu stayed in the Empress's palace and occasionally overheard them discussing the court or the inner palace.

The Empress bluntly told Daiyu, "You've lived in the Duke's mansion for so many years, you must have seen a lot of infighting within the household, but this is nothing compared to what you've seen. Once you become the Princess Consort of Yi, you'll find that the relationships among the royal family are far more complex. Prepare yourself early. You're a smart person, and I trust you completely. If you want to know anything or are unsure about anything, you can ask Granny Gu and Granny Xu."

When Daiyu left the palace, the Empress gave her a book. It had a blue cover but no title. When she opened it, she was startled to find it was titled "The Admonitions and Maxims of the Holy Ancestor Emperor".

Emperor Shengzu Ren was the retired emperor who had only passed away two years prior.

Daiyu's hand trembled as she remembered what the Empress had said: "This book is something all the princes must study. You should read it more often; it will be of great benefit to you."

After calming themselves down, the carriage arrived at the gate of Rongguo Mansion.

After resting at Xiaoxiang Pavilion for a while, Daiyu called Chunxian over to ask if anything had happened at Rongguo Mansion in the past two days.

This time when they went to the palace, Zijuan and Xueyan came along, leaving Chunxian to look after the house. This little girl is a bit younger than Xueyan and was transferred here after the garden was built. Under the care of Zijuan and Xueyan, she is becoming more and more intelligent.

"I was worried that you might be tired after returning from the palace, so I thought I would come to report to you tomorrow." Chunxian continued after Daiyu had taken a sip of tea. "Master Bao has laid off a lot of people in his room, and Xiren has also been sent away."

Upon hearing this, not only Daiyu, but also Zijuan and Xueyan, who were standing nearby, were all startled.

Xueyan, being younger, blurted out without thinking, "How could that be? Everyone else has gone out. Sister Xiren is the head of the household in Master Bao's courtyard, so she certainly doesn't want to leave, right?"

Chunxian nodded hurriedly: "It probably wasn't Sister Xiren's own choice. Although I don't know the details, I heard that it was Madam who made the decision to kick Xiren out. But since she had served Master Bao for so long, she was given face and wasn't told to say that she was kicked out."

They were kicked out? Well, there must be a big story behind that.

Chunxian was still too naive and couldn't find out the details. Zijuan, on the second day, figured out the whole story and told Daiyu about it.

Chapter 28 Baochai Uses a Scheme to Drive Xiren Away (Part 1)

Zijuan found out the whole story of why Xiren was kicked out.

Ever since Baochai married into the family, she discovered that everything was completely different from what she had expected. First of all, there was Baoyu. In Baochai's eyes, Baoyu, who had always been the most tender and considerate man, had now managed to keep a cold face towards her. From the time they got married until now, he had never touched her, and hadn't even exchanged more than a few words with her.

Sometimes, when Baoyu had something to say, he would often relay it through Xiren.

Then Baochai discovered the second thing that was different from what she had thought, or more accurately, it was people.

Xi Ren was a shrewd maid, a fact that Baochai knew when she tried to win Xi Ren over, but Baochai still underestimated Xi Ren's methods.

Xiren is very good at manipulating Baoyu, and even the Madam values ​​her highly. This is not a good thing for Baochai. To put it bluntly, if Xiren is promoted to become Baoyu's concubine in the future, she will have a lot of trouble.

Since it might be a scourge to oneself, it's best to get rid of it as soon as possible.

Just as Baochai was pondering how to get rid of Xiren, Qiuwen, who also wanted to become Baoyu's concubine, handed her a pillow.

This news shocked Baochai greatly: Baoyu and Xiren had already been intimate. In other words, although Xiren was not officially Baoyu's concubine, she was already his concubine in body.

This made Baochai even more worried, and it strengthened her resolve to get rid of Xiren as soon as possible.

However, Xiren was given to Baoyu by Grandmother Jia, and she also won the favor of the mistress. Even everyone in the mansion praised Xiren highly.

Baochai called Ying'er over, and the two whispered to each other for a while.

Before the Mid-Autumn Festival, Xiren went home. She had consulted Baochai about this matter beforehand, and Baochai generously rewarded Xiren with a few things: "This is just a small token, take it back and have a reunion meal with your family."

Xiren had always thought Baochai was generous, so she accepted the reward, expressed her gratitude, and happily went home.

Unexpectedly, when I returned in the evening, I overheard a dispute between two old women who were gossiping about Aunt Zhou's illness.

"Speaking of which, Aunt Zhou was really pitiful, she had no children her whole life."

“Being a concubine is never easy. Look at Concubine Zhao, she gave birth to the Third Miss and the Third Master Huan, but what good is that? She’s not as well-regarded as Zhou Rui’s wife.”

“Aunt Zhao can be said to have been given to her by the old lady, and she was a servant born into the household. As for Aunt Zhou, she wasn’t even a servant born into the household. Who told her to be like a vixen and climb into the master’s bed back then?”

"I wouldn't dare to talk nonsense, what if someone overheard?"

"It's no secret. In the end, it's all because Aunt Zhou was ignorant. Now that she's fallen ill, I'm afraid she won't make it."

"That's right, she's so sick, and no one can even get her a doctor. I'm afraid she's not going to make it."

“If the lady won’t allow it, who dares to call a doctor for her?”

......

Xi Ren turned pale and dared not listen any longer. She stumbled back to her room and lay on the bed, thinking about those few words.

Xiren had naturally met Aunt Zhou. Compared to Aunt Zhao, who would cause trouble from time to time and made Madam Wang grit her teeth in hatred but there was nothing she could do, Aunt Zhou had always been well-behaved.

Xiren had heard the maids and servants praise Aunt Zhou more than once, saying that Aunt Zhou was sensible. Even Madam Wang had said that Aunt Zhou was a worry-free person.

But how could this be? Madam won't let us call a doctor for Aunt Zhou? Thinking of having no children, Xiren became even more dazed. She remembered the year Baoyu kicked her in the heart, and she even vomited blood later.

Could it be that she, too, would end up like Aunt Zhou, childless? Thinking of her past intimacy with Baoyu, Xiren blushed, her mind becoming increasingly muddled.

I drifted off to sleep.

"Sister Xiren, Sister Xiren..."

Hearing someone call her, Xiren, though very sleepy, quickly opened her eyes.