Uncle Lai in the Red Chamber

Chapter 288
After sending Xue Pan and Xue Biao away, Aunt Xue did not rush to send someone to deliver the letter. Instead, she sent someone to the garden, called Xue Baochai, and repeated the twists and turns of Xue Baoqin's marriage and Mrs. Wang's meaning to her daughter.

"Although your aunt's heart is towards you, I still don't feel at ease with the way Baoyu's child looks at Qin Yatou. You should also be more careful and don't really cause any trouble."

"Hey! My daughter will save it!" Xue Baochai agreed: "Then my daughter will go to the old lady's place and take Sister Baoqin to the garden."

When they came to Jia Mu's Rongqing Hall, they saw Jia Baoyu and Xue Baoqin, sitting beside Jia Mu like guardians, pointing at a cloak held high by Hu Hue.

"Hey! Sister is here!" Seeing Baochai come in, Xue Baoqin hurriedly stepped forward, took her hand, and said with a smile: "Sister, come and see, the old lady just rewarded my sister with a fur coat."

It had been two or three years since Baochai entered the mansion, but Jia Mu had never received any reward. Xue Baoqin had just entered the mansion and had given him generous gifts. Thinking of her mother's worries, she couldn't help but feel mixed emotions in her heart.

Pretending to be nonchalant, he bowed to Jia Mu first and then said to Xue Baoqin, "You girl, I don't know where I got my good fortune to be able to please the old lady. Why don't you thank the old lady quickly!"

Mother Jia waved her hands and said with a smile: "It's not a problem! It's not a problem! I've thanked you a long time ago. This girl is my favorite, and she matches this fur coat very well."

She originally only kept Xue Baoqin because of Jia Baoyu, but then she heard Aunt Xue say that she had a marriage contract with Mei Hanlin's family, so she thought of forming a good relationship.

Although the fur coat looks bright and valuable, it is only made of wild duck feathers after all. It has a bad connotation to others, but it feels just right to Xue Baoqin.

It's just that although the Xue family is rich, they are not really powerful. Jia Mu and Wang Xifeng often make fun of the Xue family in various ways about their food and clothing expenses.

As the second wife of the Xue family, Xue Baoqin would not be aware of the problem.

After listening to her sister's words, she obediently bowed deeply to Jia Mu.

"Thank you, old lady!"

He turned to Xue Baochai and said, "Why is sister here?"

Baochai glanced at Jia Baoyu, staring at Xue Baoqin naively, and thought to himself, my eyes will fall out if I don't come back.

He said: "You are clamoring to go to the garden to see it, and you have forgotten about the association?"

Xue Baoqin naughtily stuck out her lilac tongue towards her sister, and said with shame: "I was just talking to the old lady, but I forgot about this!"

Xue Baochai complained: "Even if I forget, I shouldn't always be here with the old lady and disturb her rest."

Then he saluted Jia's mother and said, "Old lady, rest a while. I'll take Baoqin for a walk in the garden!"

Jia Mu smiled and waved her hands: "Go!"

After leaving Rongqing Hall, Baochai saw Jia Baoyu and followed him out with a silly smile on his face. She ignored him and walked towards the Grand View Garden with Xue Baoqin on her arm.

After entering the garden, he turned back to Jia Baoyu and said, "Brother Bao, let's go back first. We are going to Sister Lin's place. I'm afraid it won't be convenient for you to go."

"This..." Jia Baoyu pouted and said with a sneer: "Why do you have to go there? Wouldn't it be nice for us to take Sister Baoqin for a stroll in the garden!"

"We made an agreement yesterday. While Sister Xing was discussing the association, you two didn't show up. If you don't take her there today, will Baoqin be able to join the association?"

These words made Jia Baoyu speechless, and he could only walk towards Yihongyuan angrily.

When Jia Baoyu walked away, Xue Baoqin pulled the corner of Xue Baochai's clothes and said in surprise: "Why, is there a place in this garden that Brother Bao cannot go to?"

Xue Baochai looked at his sister and said seriously: "It's not that he can't go, it's just that Brother Bao has always been used to indulgence. Now that Sister Lin has made a marriage arrangement with Brother Lai, she naturally has to avoid taboos, so Auntie doesn't allow him to go to Xiaoxiang Pavilion." In fact, it's also true. No one stipulates that you have to go to Xiaoxiang Pavilion first. No matter whether it is Daoxiang Village or Qiu Shuangzhai, or whether you go to those two places first and then go to Xiaoxiang Pavilion, no one will talk about it.

However, on the one hand, Baochai wanted to take the opportunity to separate the two, on the other hand, he also reminded Xue Baoqin that Lin Daiyu's wedding was still early, and she was going to Beijing to be married.

Xue Baoqin also heard what her sister meant, but unlike Baochai and others, she never left the door or took a step forward. Instead, she followed her father around since she was a child, and she never shied away from this.

Therefore, although she heard what Baochai meant, she didn't take it seriously.

But when it came to Lin Daiyu, she remembered her doubts the day before yesterday and asked, "Isn't this family treating Brother Lai too kindly? Why did they marry both Sister Xing and Sister Lin to him? Although there is no order of succession, But there is a difference in which one takes charge, why do I see Sister Xing and Sister Lin getting along so harmoniously?"

"Jiancai? What do you mean concurrently?" Baochai exclaimed, and then warned: "Where did you hear this nonsense? You can't talk nonsense. If Sister Lin hears it, I don't know what to do..."

But when he said this, he suddenly remembered that the Ning Mansion ransacked their homes and ordered them to be executed, but even Lai Sheng's family was wiped out. Could it be that Lai Shangrong sent them into the mansion the day before yesterday and revealed that he wanted to elevate Xing Xiuyan and his second wife?

If this is the case, then for Xing Xiuyan...

Xue Baoqin was also taken aback by her, and asked weakly: "Brother Lai is not in the same family as Sister Xing, and you call him brother-in-law Lin, then... what else can it be if it's not a concubine?"

Xue Baochai suddenly realized that there was a misunderstanding.

But Xue Baoqin's words reminded her that the Lai family did have the conditions to have a second bedroom. Now her mother and aunt were worried about Baoqin. If she went to the Lai family to have a second bedroom, then why would she need to take other paths in the future?

Even if the Lai family has no such plan, they can still persuade their mother and ask their aunt to test it out, just in case...

Thinking of this, he hurriedly warned: "Don't say this nonsense. Sister Xing is a concubine. Tell her how to handle herself!"

Xue Baoqin exclaimed: "Concubine? Isn't she the niece of the eldest lady? I see that the old lady attaches so much importance to her, how can she be a concubine?"

"You also see the difference? Isn't it because she is Brother Lai's concubine? Do you think anyone can get this treatment? She is the aunt of the second master and the biological mother of the third girl. How has the old lady ever looked at her differently?"

"Ah!~ Is the rumor wrong? Didn't my brother say that he was originally from the mansion..."

Before Xue Baoqin could finish speaking, Baochai waved his hand and said, "That was all in the past. The hero still doesn't ask where he came from. Don't you understand this?"

After a pause, he continued: "Originally, the eldest grandmother in Ningguo Mansion, her sister was also given to Brother Lai as a concubine. If it weren't for this reason, I'm afraid she wouldn't be able to live there with peace of mind now."

Then he told Xue Baoqin a series of things such as the confiscation of Ning's house, the emperor's rewards, etc., in an irritating manner.

It's not that she stepped on one hand on purpose, but that even if she was married, she was prioritized. Lin Daiyu was proposed by Lai Shangrong himself, so even if her cousin was married, she could only be the second wife.

She was afraid that her cousin would be resistant, so she deliberately promoted Lai Shangrong.

This is quite different from Xue Baoqin's guess. I thought Lai Shangrong was a fake tiger, but I didn't expect that he earned it based on his strength.

Glass, rubber, and snowflake candy, she had seen all of them in Jinling, and unexpectedly they were all made by Lai Shangrong.

Unlike the sisters in the Grand View Garden, she never leaves or takes a step forward. Having followed her father all over the world, she understands the value of his creation better.

When Xue Baochai saw his cousin, his eyes flashed with light and he felt relieved.

(End of this chapter)