The Second Master of the Red Chamber

Chapter 872 Willful or Not Willful

In Sister Feng's courtyard, all the old women, wives, and maids were busy as bees.

When Jia Lian walked in, he saw Qingwen directing the old women to move the flowerpots outside.

Seeing Qingwen approaching, Jia Lian asked, "Where is your second mistress?"

"Second Grandma is over there in the main building!"

Second Master didn't know that moving was not an easy task.

Today was exhausting.

I've run back and forth between here and the main building of the garden seven or eight times already!

As Jia Lian walked into the house, he heard this and laughed, "Why don't you call more people in to help? With more people, it would be much easier!"

"Second Master makes it sound so easy..."

Qingwen glanced to the side, then suddenly leaned close to Jia Lian's ear and whispered, "Second Master knows how many good things Second Mistress has in this room."

Especially those ten chests of gold, those were Second Madam's lifeblood!
If someone manages to take some of it, wouldn't Second Madam go crazy?

"Don't even mention Second Madam, take me for example... Xiangling and I have quite a few good things in our west wing. We wouldn't feel at ease unless we watched them move them ourselves."

Upon hearing this, Jia Lian laughed and said, "Alright, alright, I know you are all very rich women and very wealthy women."

"Let's see if I ever need money again and have to ask you for it. Who among you will have the nerve to refuse?"

"Look at what Second Master is saying, I saved that money just for the sake of celebration."

If Second Master needs it, he can take it anytime.

Qingwen said very generously.

Over the years, Jia Lian and Feng Jie have bestowed upon her quite a few gifts, so she can be considered to have some assets.

She sealed away most of her money, except for some she used for gambling.

Moreover, she's incredibly skilled at playing cards, and she almost always wins more than she loses.

If this is the case, her assets have not only not been depleted, but have also grown slightly.

As they were talking, they had already entered the west side room.

Seeing the house was now noticeably empty, Jia Lian sat down on a recliner and beckoned to Qingwen.

Qingwen naturally sat down in Jia Lian's lap.

"Second Master, after we move over there, which room do you think I should choose?"
Second Grandma said that Ping'er, Xiangling, and I can choose any room except for Jiaying Hall.

"What's there to hesitate about? Just choose whichever one you like."

"Hmph, I knew it was pointless to ask you. Anyway, Xiangling and I have already made our choices."

It was still the west wing room, right behind the main hall.

Xiangling is a bit silly; she still wanted to choose from the buildings on the front, but I stopped her.

Doesn't she even consider what's so good about living in the front?
Every time Second Grandma goes out, you might run into her. If you do, you have to pay your respects, which is exhausting.

I'm clever; I live in the back so my second grandmother can't see me, which makes it convenient to keep any kind of bird.

And as long as I don't go out of my way, Second Grandma won't easily get caught if she gets into trouble, how carefree...

Unfortunately, Sister Ping'er chose the east-facing attic, saying it would be more convenient for Qiao'er.

Hearing Qingwen's scheming words, Jia Lian laughed and said, "All that talk is just because you want to slack off."

"What do you mean by slacking off? She's not a real maid, she doesn't have to do those chores... Second Master, don't try to fool me anymore."

Qingwen was once completely fooled by Jia Lian, and at one point believed that being a maid was indeed better than being a concubine.

Now she understands.

It's better to be Jia Lian's maid than someone else's concubine.

Being a concubine in Jia Lian's household would be far better than being his maid!
Jia Lian smiled and then said, "By the way, since you and Xiangling have both chosen the back rooms, will you still be staying together?"

"How come they're still together?"

The houses over there are much emptier than those here, and there are more side rooms.

Xiangling and I each have our own room.

Jia Lian sighed, "It's a pity, I still prefer you living with Xiangling."

Qingwen spat and said, "Pah, you just want to make it easier for me and Xiangling to bully each other..."

Jia Lian chuckled, pinching Qingwen's cheek and saying with a smile, "What, you don't want me to bully you?"

Qingwen blushed and after a long while said, "At worst, you can just combine my room and Xiangling's room. Anyway, we'll still be next to each other."

There are so many empty rooms over there, why not use them?

Anyway, I don't want to be crammed together with other people anymore; I want to live in a more spacious place.

She was quite satisfied with the west wing when she first moved in, as it was much better than any of the houses she had lived in before.

Even after Xiangling was forced into this position by Jia Lian, she didn't feel anything.

But over the years, especially after she accumulated more of her own possessions, she gradually became unable to let go.

Just like how she likes to keep all kinds of small pets, but Xiangling doesn't really like them, which makes her room crammed full.

She was very happy. She was thinking that after moving there, the place would be so spacious that she could keep whatever she wanted.

Jia Lian laughed and said, "Not a bad idea. I'll have someone smash down the wall between you two later."

Hearing that Jia Lian had actually adopted her suggestion, Qingwen felt both ashamed and angry.

It's just that they weren't satisfied with just messing with one of them, so they wanted to mess with both of them at the same time!
But after thinking about it, she felt relieved.

After all, she had worked with Xiangling for so many years. Suddenly being separated from her and having to serve Jia Lian alone from now on was something she was really not used to.

Feeling Jia Lian's hands becoming increasingly restless, Qingwen, fearing he might do something to her, immediately struggled free.

"Second Master, you rest inside first, I'll go outside and take a look."

After saying that, Qingwen took off running. Firstly, she didn't really like being intimate with Jia Lian in the main room, because it was easy for Fengjie to see them.

Secondly, she suddenly remembered that she had run back and forth in the garden so many times that morning, and she must have been sweating.

Although Jia Lian had said he didn't mind if she was sweaty, she herself couldn't accept it.

In her mind, every time she served the Second Master, she should be clean and smell nice.

Jia Lian didn't care that Qingwen had run away.

After thinking it over, I realized I had nothing to do, so I got up and walked into the garden.

Our first stop was naturally to visit Daiyu.

She had to go and see if Daiyu had calmed down after what she had done to her last night.

Daiyu was probably not expecting Jia Lian to come. At that moment, she was hiding on the swing set behind the swing and reading a book, completely unprepared.

She was only surprised when Jia Lian approached.

She snapped in a sweet voice, "You damned bastard, how dare you come here..."

Upon seeing this, Jia Lian laughed loudly: "Look at what you're saying, sister. Why wouldn't I dare to come?"

Then he saw Daiyu hiding her hands behind her back, so he interrogated her: "What are you hiding, sister? Show me."

Daiyu's originally raised eyebrows immediately became flustered, and she shook her head and said, "There's nothing there."

"You still dare to say you didn't? I saw it all."

As Jia Lian spoke, he went to grab Daiyu.

Daiyu was so frightened that she jumped down and turned to run away.

But there was no way he could escape; Jia Lian caught him red-handed.

The book in her hand was also ruthlessly taken away after Jia Lian had her body under his control.

Daiyu was furious and kicked and punched Jia Lian while yelling, "Give it back to me!!"

Ignoring the furious Daiyu, Jia Lian restrained her with one hand while raising his book to look at it.

I only read the first page before losing interest:
"Oh, it's The Romance of the Western Chamber. I thought it was some other book."

Daiyu, who was about to bite Jia Lian, trembled upon hearing this and stammered, "What, that...book..."

Seeing this, Jia Lian released Daiyu.

Seeing Daiyu standing there helplessly, her eyes darting around, Jia Lian's face slowly broke into a smile.

To Daiyu, that smile was both utterly detestable and terrifying.

"Bring it!"

She snatched the west wing from Jia Lian's hands with a fierce expression, turned away, and ignored Jia Lian, not daring to acknowledge him.

I was internally cursing myself.

How could you be so stupid as to expose such a huge flaw for no reason?

He probably didn't notice, right?

No, his smile was so awful; he must have guessed it.

He must be laughing at me and insulting me in his heart...

As she thought about it, tears welled up in her eyes, and she was about to cry.

Jia Lian, who had already gone around to observe Daiyu's movements, dared not tease her any further upon seeing this, and quickly went up to hug her and comfort her:

"Alright, alright, it's just that we read Wang Shifu's 'The West Chamber,' what's the big deal?"

Many of us have seen it, there's no need to cry.

"I like to cry, so I'll cry, it's none of your business."

Jia Lian chuckled, led Daiyu to the swing and sat her down. Looking at the little maid standing in front of him, he smiled and said:
"You're so old, yet you're still so willful. Aren't you ashamed?"

Daiyu pouted, "It's none of your business..."

Seemingly feeling that repeating words like this was beneath her dignity, she looked up at Jia Lian again and said quietly, "I'm already so willful, and you still bully me like this."

If I weren't so willful, I don't know how badly you would have bullied me... Waaah!

As Daiyu spoke, she involuntarily sobbed, and tears streamed down her face.

Jia Lian quickly wiped her eyelids and admitted his mistake: "Okay, okay, I misspoke."

My Yu'er wasn't being willful. It was all my fault; I shouldn't have treated you like that last night.

If you're really angry, just hit me. I won't fight back.

"Pah, who cares to hit you?"

Daiyu turned away haughtily, and her tears actually stopped.

She was still upset about what happened last night.

After throwing Jia Lian out last night, she was afraid the maids would come in and notice the traces, so she immediately locked the door.

Then she washed her face and lay on the bed cleaning up the traces. It took her a long time to completely remove all the traces left by Jia Lian.

In order to find out exactly what Jia Lian had done to her, she secretly took out her treasured items to study.

However, Wang Mama only gave her a few books, and there were no examples in them at all, leaving her alone in the room feeling ashamed and frustrated, racking her brains for a long time.

She wouldn't even let Zijuan in when she knocked on the door several times, and only opened the door early the next morning.

She had thought that Jia Lian would feel guilty towards her when he came to see her, but she didn't expect him to not only deceive her but also accuse her of being willful.

Others can say she's willful, but how can Jia Lian say that about her too?

Fortunately, he admitted his mistake quickly, otherwise she would have definitely given him a good cry to show him how willful she really was.

(End of this chapter)