Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

Rongguo Mansion, Lixiangyuan.

The sunset glowed red and the light was dazzling. The flowers, plants and trees in the backyard of Xifu were all coated with warm golden color.

Near the entrance to Lixiangyuan, there is a tall and lush pear tree with slanting branches and deep green leaves, which are lush and green, like clouds.

Two graceful maids were standing under the tree, holding hands and talking, looking quite happy and intimate.

One of them was Baochai's maid Jin Chuan'er, and the other maid had a beautiful face, fair skin, thin eyebrows and big eyes, and was quite cute.

She looked somewhat similar to Jinchuan, but more childish and innocent than Jinchuan. She was Jinchuan's biological sister Yuchuaner.

Jin Chuanzheng said, "Sister, why are you here in the West Mansion today? I saw the Second Madam leaving the Second Gate from afar in the afternoon."

Yuchuan smiled and said, "I didn't come here with the Madam. I came here on the orders of the Master to pass on a message to Master Bao."

When Jin Chuan heard Baoyu's name, she frowned involuntarily and asked, "Why did the Second Master ask you to pass on a message to him?"

Yuchuan said, "Second Master Bao smashed the antiques in the West Palace, and the master was very angry and wanted to call him back to the East Courtyard to teach him a lesson.

But the old lady sent a maid to guard the east courtyard, waiting for the master to get off duty and pass on a message, to help Master Bao to plead for mercy, saying that Master Bao should stay by her side to be filial and not return to the east courtyard for the time being.

The master won't be too angry, but he won't let Master Bao off easily."

Yuchuan raised the small cloth bag in her hand, smiled mischievously, and said, "I know my sister doesn't like him, so it's not a good thing."

When Jin Chuan heard that it was not a good thing, she was too lazy to ask any more questions.

Baoyu got angry and smashed the antiques, wasting more than three thousand taels of silver. This matter had already spread all over the West Palace and everyone knew about it.

Jin Chuan felt uncomfortable whenever she thought of this matter. The Third Master went to Liaodong and Nanjing, fighting for his life and earning the property of the two governments.

Baoyu sat back and enjoyed the fruits of others' labor in the West Mansion, eating and drinking to his heart's content, refusing to leave, and even smashing other people's things without any sense of reason.

He smashed those valuable antiques, but they were all the property of the Third Master. She felt that it was unfair that Baoyu was not beaten by the Second Master.

……

Jin Chuan asked, "There have been a lot of troubles in the past six months. The Second Madam must be upset. Do you suffer any loss or hardship serving her?"

Yuchuan said: "Although my wife is often sad, she has never made things difficult for me.

Ever since my sister left, Caiyun, Caixia and I are the only ones left by Madam's side. As there were enough people and Madam didn't like to employ strangers, she had never been in a hurry to add more people.

Unexpectedly, something unexpected happened later. The Third Master inherited the West Mansion, and the Master and His Wife moved to the East Courtyard, and they had no intention of adding more staff.

Later, when Caiyun went to Master Bao's room, the lady felt that there were not enough people around her to serve her.

But now the Second House is still enjoying the share of the West Palace Public Bureau, and the monthly allowance is calculated per person, and the accounts on the Second Madam's side are very clear.

If the wife wants to add more staff, she has to add more money to the public treasury, which not only wastes her time and energy, but also causes worry about gossip.

Although it wouldn't cost much to add one or two people, my wife was unwilling to pay for it out of her own pocket, as she felt it would be embarrassing for outsiders to hear about it."

Jin Chuan sneered: "It's shameful to have a maid, but it's respectable for the Lord of the West Mansion to pay money. This is not right, it's ridiculous."

Yuchuan was a little discouraged and said, "So now Caixia and I are responsible for all the matters in the Madam's room.

Although the East Courtyard is not large and the work is not as heavy as that in the West Courtyard, it is still half the staff after all, so it is still busy on a daily basis.

But Caixia always makes trouble and always pushes me to take on more responsibilities. Sometimes I am so tired that my waist hurts. "

……

Jin Chuan was surprised and said, "I know Caixia. She has always been diligent, otherwise she wouldn't have served Madam for so many years. Why would she do something strange now?"

Yuchuan said, "Sister, you don't know, ever since the second branch moved to the East Courtyard, many people have been feeling uneasy.

Once when the madam was taking a nap, Caixia and I were eating melon seeds and chatting on the porch. She said that the second house was not as good as before and would probably become even more financially strained in the future.

Everyone should find a supportive person as soon as possible to avoid being embarrassed and ending up with a bad result in the future.

He also said that the third young lady of the second house was the most proud one at the moment. She had been good friends with Third Master Cong since childhood, and now she was a young lady in the East Palace and was the most favored by Third Master Cong.

Master Huan San is the third lady's younger brother, and will surely be the most powerful brother in the second house in the future.

I didn’t take these rumors too seriously at first, but I didn’t expect her to actually do something like that.”

Jin Chuan asked curiously, "What on earth did she do?"

Yuchuan blushed slightly and said, "Sister, you also know that Caixia has always been close to Master Huan San. When they were still young, they mostly just joked around.

But now it has become a bit serious. Whenever the Madam takes a nap or takes the little girl for a walk to the West Mansion, the inner courtyard becomes empty.

Either Master Huan San was secretly looking for Caixia to play, or she would sneak into Master Huan San's room, and every time she would beg me to take the blame.

You know Aunt Zhao. She always thinks that the maids around Baoyu are outstanding, and Xiren is a first-class maid who was personally awarded by the old lady.

She always felt that Master Huan San was treated too badly, and now that the lady's personal maid was rushing to get close to her, she felt extremely proud.

She never interfered with Caixia's interactions with Master Huan Sanye. Sometimes Caixia would sneak over and Aunt Zhao would go out to chat, leaving them time.

This Caixia is getting more and more powerful. She often stays for a long time and pushes all the things to me. Sometimes I am really exhausted. "

……

After all, Jin Chuan was a few years older and had understood the ways of the world. It was no wonder that she found something strange wrong when she heard this, and her pretty face turned a little red.

I secretly called out "bad luck", but seeing that my sister looked innocent and naive, as if she understood something but not quite, I couldn't help but feel alert.

In the past two years, Caixia and Master Huan San were still in contact. They were both still young, and the maids in the backyard played around with the masters, so even if others knew about it, they didn't take it seriously.

But Caixia is already fifteen years old this year, and has reached the age of marriage. There is nothing a girl doesn't know, and Master Huan San is only two years younger than Baoyu.

These two are messing around like this. If anything happens and the lady investigates, wouldn't even my sister be implicated?

"Yuchuan, please don't be careless. Have you mentioned this matter to anyone else besides me?"

Yuchuan looked silly and cute, and said, "Caixia told me not to tell anyone. I haven't mentioned it to anyone except my sister."

After all, Jin Chuan had suffered a great loss and almost lost her life, so her mind was much more profound than before.

She had been Lady Wang's maid for ten years and was very familiar with her personality. This lady had always been extremely cautious and careful about matters concerning the inner court.

Her personal maid behaved strangely and was secretly having an affair with the illegitimate son in the room. Given the Second Madam's shrewdness and ability, how could she really be unaware of this?
Jinchuan's face was tense, and she said to Yuchuan, "You can't tell anyone about this. Just pretend you don't know anything. If the wife asks about it in the future, just deny it.

Even if you are tired from work every day, you are just a child. Just sleep a little longer at night. Don't complain in front of others and don't let anything slip.

Although I left the second house and seemed very embarrassed at first, I was actually very lucky, thanks to the Third Master and Miss Bao who saved me.

Now that I'm leaving you alone in the East Courtyard, I'm a little worried, but I don't have any way to pull you out and find you a safe place to live.

Just remember one thing I said: don’t learn from Caixia and don’t get involved with the second room master, or you will be ruined in the future.”

Yuchuan understood what was said at this moment, and nodded, saying, "I understand what you mean, sister. Master Bao was the one who didn't take responsibility for the situation, and he almost killed you.

Master Huan San is younger and looks confused, so naturally we shouldn't mess with these people, so don't worry, sister."

……

The two sisters were talking in private when someone suddenly laughed and said, "Why are you two standing here talking? Jinchuan, are your aunt and Baojie at home?"

Jin Chuan quickly turned her head and saw Jia Cong and Yingchun, a brother and sister, walking side by side. The man was handsome and the girl was graceful, and they looked very charming and beautiful, which made a great contrast.

She saw Jia Cong wearing a soft light blue robe with dark floral patterns, a warm smile on his face, and bright eyes, as deep as autumn pools, that seemed to be able to shine into people's hearts.

Jin Chuan's heart felt slightly hot, and her pretty face flushed. She said, "The madam and the young lady are at home. Third Master and Second Young Lady, please come in."

Then she saw Jia Cong carrying a bamboo basket filled with strange red fruits that Jin Chuan had never seen before.

Yuchuan was younger and more curious, so she asked, "Master Cong, what kind of fruit is this? It's so red and beautiful. I've never seen it before."

When Jia Cong lived in the West Mansion, he naturally recognized Wang Fu-ren's maid Yuchuan.

He smiled and said, "This is something from the outer sea. It's called persimmon in the south. It tastes slightly sour and juicy, and is very refreshing."

……

Just now, Jia Cong returned home and saw the gifts sent by Jinling Xinchun, two of which were boxes of exotic fruits brought by Wang Dequan from overseas.

There were sticks stuck on each of them, labeled tomatoes and corn, which were actually tomatoes and corn in later generations.

These things are delicious to eat, not only easy to grow, but also very high in yield.

Jia Cong thought about the current tight winter garrison situation in the nine border areas, the trend of transporting grain and grass to the north, spring floods and summer droughts in various places, poor harvests in the south, and rising rice prices in the market.

The Zhenjiahai fleet can find tomatoes and corn from the open sea, so potatoes, sweet potatoes, peppers and other things may not be difficult to find either.

This gave me some ideas, but due to the limited conditions, I couldn't rush into it.

He asked Lingguan to send these things to the kitchen, and told him some cooking methods, asking the kitchen to make food and send some to the sisters in the mansion to taste. When Yingchun heard that Miss Qu from Jinling had sent gifts, she came to see what was new and to help her brother prepare an appropriate return gift.

When she saw the festive red persimmons, she started talking about the goose feet and duck intestines that Aunt Xue had given her last time, which tasted very delicious.

It would be more interesting to take rare tomatoes as a return gift. Jia Cong thought about this and felt it made sense.

Since he had nothing to do, he accompanied his sister for a walk. As they just arrived at the gate of Lixiangyuan, they happened to meet Jinchuan and her sister, who were chatting in private.

……

Seeing that Yuchuan was quite curious about the tomatoes, Jia Cong took one and handed it to her.

He smiled and said, "Wash this thing with clean water, peel off the skin and you can eat it. It tastes delicious. I'll give you one to try."

Yuchuan happily took the gift, thanked Jia Cong, played with the tomatoes for a while, and then went to Baoyu's room to pass on the message.

Jin Chuan led Jia Cong and Yingchun into Lixiang Courtyard. When Aunt Xue and Baochai heard the news, they came out to greet them.

Aunt Xue smiled at Jia Cong and said, "You go out early and come back late every day, and you are rarely seen. It's a rare visitor to come here now."

Jia Cong smiled and said, "Last time, my second sister and I got goose feet and duck tongue from my aunt, which were very delicious. Today, I got some fruits and sent them to my aunt to taste."

Aunt Xue was happy to hear this. Last time, because of the incident between Baochai and Jia Cong, Aunt Xue was bullied by Mrs. Wang and was almost forced to move out of Rongguo Mansion.

It was Jia Cong's sincere words of persuasion that allowed Aunt Xue to save her face and made her feel grateful and close to Jia Cong.

In addition, in the past two years, Jia Cong has been making great progress and becoming more and more successful, which makes Aunt Xue very envious and respectful of him.

Although the daughter Baochai is an outstanding person, the family backgrounds of both parties are not harmonious, so the desire to have children is mostly a fantasy.

But Aunt Xue, encouraged by her son and brothers, had another thought in her mind, but due to her status as a noble family in Jinling, some things were really difficult for her.

Although Baochai has passed the age of marriage, she can still delay for a year or two. Aunt Xue is in a dilemma and can only live one day at a time.

No matter what, she was still very happy that Jia Cong brought Yingchun to visit.

Baochai invited Jia Cong and Yingchun into the inner room and chatted with them for a while. Aunt Xue insisted that they stay for dinner and asked the kitchen to prepare the banquet.

……

Aunt Xue had fruit and tea served. In just two cups of tea, the kitchen was ready and food and wine were served.

The Xue family’s cook was brought from Jinling. She cooks southern-style dishes that are delicate, exquisite, colorful and fragrant.

During the past six months, Lingguan often cooked for Jia Cong, and they made southern dishes. Jia Cong was already used to them, and the Xue family's dishes were quite to his taste.

Since there were only Jia Cong and his siblings present, Baochai had fewer concerns and sat below Jia Cong. Seeing him eat with relish, she felt happy.

After all, Jia Cong was different from other people at that time. He was more open-minded and fearless than ordinary people when he got along with people he got along with.

While drinking and eating, Baochai asked him about anecdotes of the Hanlin Academy and interesting stories about court appearances. The two of them talked and laughed happily, and what they said was very interesting.

When Aunt Xue saw her daughter's happy expression, she felt somewhat dazed and sighed, not knowing what the situation would be like in the future.

Seeing that Jia Cong had only had three or four glasses of wine and was a little tipsy, Baochai asked the maid to serve him some food and was quite restrained about what she drank.

She thought of Baoyu who had come to stay for dinner. Although he could not drink much, he was a little greedy. His wet nurse, Madam Li, tried to persuade him, but Baoyu was unwilling to listen.

Every time after a banquet, Baoyu was drunk and had to send more maids to accompany him to make him feel at ease.

Baochai felt a lot of emotion in her heart. The two of them were the same age, but they were completely different in everything from their talents and character to their diet and other small matters.

Baoyu is more reckless and idle, while Jia Cong is more self-reflective and restrained.

……

She was worried that Jia Cong would stop eating because the rice was too hard after drinking, so she served him a bowl of green-stem rice porridge and personally scooped a bowl of sour bamboo shoots and chicken skin soup to go with it.

Although Yingchun was chatting with Aunt Xue, half of her attention was on her brothers.

Seeing that he and Baochai were in tune with each other, smiling and talking in a friendly manner, Baochai was also quite different from the way she got along with the sisters in her daily life, and seemed to have become more energetic.

We also see Baochai serving porridge and soup for Jia Cong, doing it herself and taking good care of him, showing an indescribable intimacy.

Yingchun suddenly realized something. She was also a girl, so she could understand the meaning to some extent.

She blamed herself for not paying enough attention to this and not noticing it. The corners of her mouth curled up slightly, but she forced herself to hold back her smile.

She thought of Daiyu in the East Palace and Miss Zhen San whose whereabouts were unknown. She felt a little sad. I'm afraid that Brother Cong will have a lot of trouble in the future...

……

Rongguo Mansion, Baoyu Courtyard.

Yuchuan'er was playing with a red tomato in her hand and walked quickly to Baoyu's courtyard. As soon as she entered the courtyard, she met a man.

She wore a sleeveless round-necked gown with a bright red flower pattern of golden lotus, a bright red belt inlaid with seven treasures of jade, and a purple gold crown inlaid with jade and a bright red pompom on her head.

Wearing such bright red and flashy clothes, even the most coquettish maid would not dare to be so ostentatious, and it was naturally Baoyu.

He saw Yuchuan's pleasantly surprised expression and said with a smile: "Isn't this Sister Yuchuan? How come you have time to come and visit today?"

Among Mrs. Wang’s maids, the sisters Jinchuan and Yuchuan are the most beautiful, but the two sisters have very different personalities.

Sister Jin Chuan is lively and cheerful, loves to talk and laugh, and is very popular. Yuanyang, Ping'er, Xiren, Sheyue, Zijuan and others are all good friends of her.

My younger sister Yuchuan is naive and introverted. She doesn't talk much, doesn't like to joke, keeps a low profile and is easy to get along with.

Baoyu found Yuchuan very cute and often tried to tease her.

But he found that she was not as easy to talk to as her sister. She was like a closed-door clam whose mouth could not be pried open, which made him feel quite bored.

But Jia Zheng and Mrs. Wang both thought that Yuchuan was a good girl, honest and dutiful, not fond of making trouble, and hardworking.

If Mrs. Wang had not been concerned about Jinchuan's matter and worried that Yuchuan had already developed resentment in her heart, it would not have been Caiyun who entered Baoyu's room.

Mrs. Wang liked to bring along the attentive Caiyun and Caixia when she went in and out.

But when Jia Zheng needed to run errands or pass messages, he liked to order Yuchuan, who was reliable and tight-lipped.

……

When Yuchuan heard Baoyu calling her "sister", she felt a little annoyed, because it was common for the masters in the mansion to call the older maids "sister".

But there is no reason to call a little maid "sister". Everyone should call her by her name. A man would only call a younger girl in the family "sister".

This Master Bao is becoming more and more effeminate. He doesn't even keep his mouth shut. He's yelling at people in such a disgusting way. If his wife hears it, he will be in trouble.

Baoyu saw Yuchuan's delicate eyebrows slightly frowned, her pretty face was as pretty as jade, and she was speechless. Although she was still as unhappy as usual, she had a different kind of charm.

He didn't know why, but even though he was lying on the bed like a silver-plated spear head, he was more and more attached to his good daughter, and was always sighing with emotion about how good she was.

Yuchuan saw the red velvet hydrangea on Baoyu's purple gold crown trembling and shaking in front of her eyes, and she couldn't help feeling dizzy.

Baoyu smiled and said, "Sister Yuchuan, come in and sit for a while. I'm just about to go to Lixiang Courtyard for a walk. I haven't seen Sister Bao for a long time. Come back and we'll talk."

When Yuchuan heard this, she felt something was wrong. She had heard from her sister Jinchuan that Master Bao often wandered around in Lixiangyuan.

A man who is about to get married is still thinking about flirting with Miss Bao, and often flirts with her sister. Her sister was almost killed by him, but he still has this character.

……

Yuchuan said, "I advised the Second Master not to go there at this time. When I came here, I talked to my sister and happened to meet the Third Master Cong who came to see Miss Bao and his concubine.

The concubine has always valued Master Cong, and now it is dinner time, so the concubine must ask Master Cong to save some food for him.

I'm afraid that they have already eaten, and Miss Bao will also be there to entertain the guests. It would be boring for you to go now, so it's better to go another day."

When Baoyu heard this, he was shocked and felt very aggrieved.

Sister Bao is his aunt's sister and has nothing to do with Jia Cong. Why does he insist on visiting her? What is his intention?

He said with an unpleasant expression: "Sister Bao is fine. Why does he go to see her instead of being an official?"

Yuchuan felt a little dizzy after hearing this. Was Second Master Bao going to teach Third Master Cong how to be an official?

He said: "Second Master, what you said is true. It is a good thing for brothers and sisters in the family to be close to each other and get along harmoniously.

There's nothing strange about Third Master Cong visiting Miss Bao, it's just like Second Master visiting her often."

Baoyu looked sad and said, "This won't work. Don't you know that Jia Cong is a troublemaker..."

Fortunately, he still knew his limits and swallowed his words back halfway through.

Yuchuan was getting a little impatient and said, "Second Master, please don't say anything else. I'm here to pass on a message from the Master. The Master has some work for you to do."

When Baoyu heard the word "homework", his face changed drastically... (End of this chapter)