The Second Master of the Red Chamber

Chapter 854: Eat the marrow and know the taste
Everyone moved to the desk to observe Baochai's calligraphy.

Baochai picked up her brush and wrote:

Cinnabar adorns the crimson jade plate, its snow-white skin and icy texture withstand both heat and cold.

Ice melts easily, thin and frail, and leaves the branch; the fading glow of sunset is difficult to taste.

Sweet and delicious foods should be enjoyed in abundance, but those who are ill know the value of light meals.

Dewdrops on branches reveal their true colors; the greatest joy in life is simple pleasure.

Upon seeing this, everyone couldn't help but nod in approval.

Tan Chun praised, "As expected of Hengwu Jun, her poems are more upright than others, and she can use the simplest words to explain the profound truths of things."

Unlike us, who only know how to make far-fetched connections and pile up fancy words.

Li Wan nodded in agreement, then looked at Xiangyun and Baoqin and said with a smile, "Did you hear that? Even if it's something good, you can't be too greedy. What if you get sick from eating it?"

Baoqin felt slightly embarrassed upon hearing this.

Xiangyun had been targeted countless times and was already immune to it.

She even argued, "Hengwu Jun said, 'The fading colors of the sunset are hard to eat,' meaning that we don't eat things that aren't fresh. But what we're eating today is all freshly picked from the branches, so we can eat as much as we want."

She said, "It's delicious and you should eat more of it," but I disagreed. Why can't I eat more of it if it tastes good?
Others want to eat it but can't get any!
There's also the saying, "The greatest joy in life is simple pleasure," which has a good meaning, but I don't like it.

As the saying goes, "A true scholar is naturally elegant." We don't need to imitate these hypocrites. We, who indulge in lavish feasts, can still produce exquisite poetry with a beautiful and refined mind!

"Right, Baoqin, little sister?"

Seeing Xiangyun finish speaking in a mumbled voice and then raise her eyebrows at Baoqin as if to indicate that she was a comrade, everyone felt helpless.

Especially Baochai.

Previously, her cousin was also pampered and spoiled by her uncle's family.

Since arriving at the Jia family mansion, especially after moving into Hengwu Garden and living with Xiangyun, he has been completely influenced by Xiangyun.

She used to be afraid to eat much fried food. But after she got together with Xiangyun, she ate everything from roasted meat and fish to wild fruits from the mountains and fields.

She seems to have completely accepted Xiangyun's theory:
Since we've only been here once, why not try more of these "delicious" things?
As for Li Wan and her sisters-in-law, although they wanted to give them a lecture, they were helpless because Xiangyun and Baoqin were indeed better at writing poetry than them.

She was so eloquent that it was difficult to speak, so she could only laugh it off.

Then, everyone gave their opinions on Baochai's and Daiyu's two poems.

Although both sides had their own reasons, in the end, because Li Wan, the president of the poetry club, preferred Baochai's poem, she named Baochai as the winner.

Daiyu is second, and Xiangyun is third.

Although Daiyu was somewhat upset about this, she didn't say anything.

After all, Li Wan was quite frank. She said directly, "Although Lin Xiaoxiang's poetry is elegant and clever, I prefer Hengwu Jun's poetic style, so I named her first."

The poetry gathering ended, but the enthusiasm of the participants remained.

Led by Xiangyun and Tanchun, who were the most poetic, it was said that Hengwu Jun and Lin Xiaoxiang had both written regulated poems, so they were not willing to fall behind.

Therefore, they strongly requested an additional match, which can be likened to a regulated verse.

Seeing that no one objected, Jia Lian was naturally happy to agree.

After everyone had made some preparations, Li Wan ordered someone to relight an incense stick and began the second round of the competition.

They continued like this until the sun began to set, before finally returning home, their excitement exhausted.

When Jia Lian returned home, Feng Jie happened to be there. Upon seeing Jia Lian's drunken state, she rushed over to help him up and asked with a smile:
"Why did you drink so much? Did they force you to drink?"

Jia Lian didn't say anything, and let Feng Jie help him to the kang in the next room, where he lay down directly.

Feng Jie sat down next to him, took the cool tea handed to her by a maid, and gave it to Jia Lian to help him sober up.

Jia Lian followed her lead and drank half a cup.

Just as he was about to lie down and stretch, he heard Sister Feng say, "Don't sleep yet, there's something I want to discuss with you."

"Today you're hosting a lychee banquet... I don't know what's going on with the two trees you moved to the boat, but I had someone check the eight trees that were left in the hall, and most of them still have about 70-80% of their fruit left."

Although they're all hanging on the trees now, I've heard that they'll wilt soon.

So I wanted to ask you, what are your plans for the rest of these?

Upon hearing this, Jia Lian casually replied, "I'm going to Tianjin tomorrow, so I won't be able to handle these matters. You can deal with it yourself."

Whatever can't be finished, whether it's given away or rewarded to the servants...

"Oh, right, have someone pick two baskets first, and I'll have them sent to the Princess's residence and my maternal grandfather's place."

Upon hearing this, Sister Feng laughed and said, "Of course, we should send one to the old master. But as for the princess, she's the emperor's daughter, would she lack something like this?"

Seeing that Jia Lian had no intention of arguing with him, Feng Jie didn't want to make a fool of herself, so she said, "Alright, alright, I'll have someone pick some in a bit. Perfect timing, I'll pick another basket and send it to my second uncle!"

Jia Lian ignored him. After a long and tiring day, he was also sleepy and soon drifted off to sleep.

……

I woke up and it was already dinnertime.

After the meal, Jia Lian came into the garden to see Daiyu. While he was coaxing Daiyu to laugh, he heard the maids outside talking about how Baochai had moved out of the garden.

Daiyu was somewhat puzzled, so she sent someone in to inquire.

Zijuan smiled and said, "I found out that the news came from Madam's room."

However, the original message was misrepresented. Miss Bao wasn't moving out of the garden; rather, Aunt Xue told Madam Xue that there was an urgent matter at home and that Miss Bao needed to return home for a few more days.

"What's the emergency?"

"I don't know about that."

Seeing Daiyu frowning and looking worried, Jia Lian smiled and said, "Sister Lin, there's no need to worry. Look at how Aunt looked at noon; it didn't seem like anything bad was going to happen."

Perhaps Auntie misses her daughter and wants Bao'er to come back and stay with her for a few days.

Daiyu didn't suspect Jia Lian, but after thinking about it, she couldn't come up with anything and could only give up.

Perhaps because of this interruption, Daiyu's mind became much clearer.

She, who had been laughing heartily at Jia Lian's antics, actually moved away a bit to maintain a safe distance from him.

Seeing that Jia Lian was about to follow, she immediately straightened up like Daiyu and glared at him.

Jia Lian laughed and said, "Why be so heartless, sister? I'm leaving tomorrow, and I wanted to spend some time with you before I go."

"Pooh."

Are you trying to get closer? You're clearly...

Daiyu was too embarrassed to expose Jia Lian's evil intentions, so she simply stood up and walked towards the west window.

Seeing Daiyu's resolute attitude, Jia Lian touched his face, feeling utterly helpless.

He knew that when he and Daiyu were deeply in love and their affection reached its peak, he had repeatedly been too soft-hearted to completely win her over, and that this would inevitably backfire.

as predicted.

Now that Daiyu has gone through those experiences, she is clearly much more clear-headed and has a much higher resistance. She will no longer be easily fooled by his words and become completely disoriented and at his mercy.

This is actually why Jia Lian decided to take Baochai with him this time, without considering Daiyu.

There's nothing we can do; Daiyu needs to rest and recover further.

Baochai, on the other hand, was just at the right age, at the peak of her charm, and he had truly tasted the sweetness of her.

……

After leaving Xiaoxiang Pavilion, Jia Lian still decided to go to Qiushuangzhai to see Tanchun.

But as he had expected, under the watchful eyes of the maids, Tan Chun dared not show any unusual behavior in front of him.

Because of time constraints, Jia Lian had no intention of doing anything futile at this moment.

Therefore, he stayed in Tan Chun's room for a quarter of an hour, expressed his concern, and then went elsewhere.

at the same time.

Baochai had also returned home and met with Aunt Xue.

Seeing Aunt Xue bustling around preparing many things for her to use after going out, she didn't even have time to pay attention to her.

Baochai couldn't help but advise, "Mother, there's no need to rush. It's not too late to prepare tomorrow."

"How could that be? Lian-ge'er is leaving tomorrow. What if he leaves in a hurry? Won't you be unable to keep up?"

Baochai blushed and said, "I'll leave the day after tomorrow..."

Seeing Aunt Xue's confusion, she explained in a low voice, "He just left, and if I leave too, wouldn't that arouse suspicion?"
Therefore, I will wait until he leaves a day earlier before I leave.

Anyway, I can find some people in Tianjin. Mom can just arrange for more people to go with them.

Aunt Xue thought about it and realized that made sense.

However, she shook her head and said, "We need to discuss this with Lian-ge'er. It would be best to have his people come to pick us up."

I'm worried about you going to Tianjin alone.

Aunt Xue was thinking that if more people were arranged to escort her, more people would inevitably find out that Baochai had gone to Tianjin, increasing the risk of exposure.

Although Baochai was nominally Jia Lian's woman, it was still not good if word got out.

It won't matter in the future. Even if this matter is exposed in the future, everyone will only think that Jia Lian dotes on Baochai too much, and it may even solidify Baochai's position as a result.

But it's best not to spread it for now.

After all, her daughter will have to return to the Grand View Garden after she comes back, and she might find it difficult to face the situation then.

Baochai also felt that what Aunt Xue said made sense, so she nodded in agreement.

At the same time, my heart started pounding.

Really, do you want to go out with him?

What will happen once we get there?
Baochai's heart began to yearn for it.

(End of this chapter)