Red Mansion, Ningfu Scholarly Family

Chapter 10 The Bird in the Cage
……

After lunch, they enjoyed half a day of leisure in Hui Garden. Grandmother Jia had sent her maids to urge them five or six times, and even the maids who came to urge them had been changed five or six times.

"Miss Lin, it's getting late. We should go back. The old lady is a little worried." The little girl said with a smile.

Xichun curled her lips.

What old lady!
It must be Brother Bao who is anxious.

"You can go back now." Xichun waved her hand calmly: "Our master said that he would keep Sister Lin here for dinner before allowing her to go back."

"But……"

The little girl looked a little hesitant.

"But what?" Xichun sneered, "Is our family unworthy of serving Sister Lin?"

The daughter of the Duke's mansion and the legitimate daughter of the Minister of War, she is full of imposingness.

The little girl didn't dare to say a word. She quickly bowed and turned back to answer.

Lin Daiyu clapped her hands and laughed, "It's incredible. I just realized today that Sister Xichun is so powerful. She is truly as brave as any man."

Xichun snorted softly, "Sister Lin is not from their family, so what's wrong with coming here to play for a while? You won't go back tonight, stay and talk with me."

Lin Daiyu hurriedly said, "Respect the young lady's order."

It just so happened that she didn't want to go back to Bisha Kitchen and suffer the anger again today.

"whee……"

"Sister Lin, come here quickly, let me show you my stuff."

Xichun has two rooms, which are specially used to store various fun things.

……

Xichun guessed right!

Lin Daiyu had been out for most of the day, and Baoyu was as anxious as a monkey. He couldn't sit still and kept jumping up and down at home. This was the eighth time he had visited Grandmother Jia.

"Grandma, has Sister Lin come back?" Jia Baoyu asked coquettishly, pulling his grandmother's arm.

"Come on, come on..."

Grandmother Jia's face looked a little unhappy.

Just now the little maid came back and repeated Xichun's words verbatim, which made Lady Jia so angry that she had to take a precious Tianwang Buxin Pill before she recovered.

The fourth girl really doesn't know the rules!

"Grandfather, please call Sister Lin back quickly. Sister Lin is from our side. Why should their family invite her away?" Jia Baoyu said angrily.

Sister Feng was setting the table nearby. She winked at Baoyu and said, "Are you so anxious now? Haven't you been arguing so much these past two days? Don't you like each other?"

Jia Baoyu's face turned red and he said awkwardly, "How could we have quarreled?"

Tanchun gently picked up the tea bowl and said with a smile: "Second sister-in-law, I'm feeling sad right now, so don't add salt to my sorrow."

Sister Feng laughed and said, "You still don't understand, Third girl. This is not a matter of salt or not."

"what is that?"

Tanchun was drinking tea and was not in a position to speak, so Xiangyun asked on her behalf.

Fengjie pointed at the table and said with a smile, "Didn't you smell it? This dish of tofu skin must have been added with Shanxi aged vinegar. I could smell the sour smell from a distance."

"Giggle!"

Xiangyun bent over with laughter.

"Cough, cough, cough!"

Tanchun choked on her tea, dropped the tea bowl, and laughed until tears came out.

Yingchun frowned slightly, and moved forward to smell it: "What are you laughing at? Why do I feel like there is no smell of vinegar?"

"Pfft!"

Now even Fengjie herself couldn't help herself, and Xiangyun and Tanchun hugged each other with smiles on their faces.

Jia Baoyu didn't care when people made fun of him. Now let alone being jealous, he would eat anything as long as Lin Daiyu could come back!
"You're all right now." Grandmother Jia couldn't bear to watch any longer, so she waved her hand and said with a smile, "It's time to eat, so don't make a fuss, or you'll get a stomachache later."

Xiangyun and Tanchun quickly stopped laughing and prepared to eat.

Jia Baoyu didn't want to eat yet, and pouted his lips and said, "I don't want to eat. I want to wait for Sister Lin to come back before I eat!" Grandmother Jia hurriedly hugged her vitals and said with a smile, "Okay, okay, go and call someone, and we'll eat when your Sister Lin comes back, okay?"

Jia Baoyu was immediately delighted.

"Ancestor is the best!"

Grandmother Jia said to the back: "Yuanyang, you go and tell them in person, and tell them that I said that Yu'er should come home quickly for dinner."

"Ai."

Yuanyang bowed and agreed, then went out with a headache and headed towards the East Palace.

As he walked, he thought: Miss Xichun and Miss Lin are not people who can be easily messed with. The old lady's words may not have much effect here.

She had to choose her words carefully...

"Yuan girl!"

"what……"

Yuanyang was startled and looked up in the direction of the voice. She saw Xiaoxiao standing under a tree not far ahead, dancing with a wooden sword in his hand and smiling at her.

"You're so good, Xiao Xiao, you scared me!"

Xiao Xiao smiled and said, "You are so good, mandarin duck. I just reminded you kindly because I saw you were distracted. Otherwise, you might have bumped into someone's arms while walking and thrown yourself into their arms!"

Xiaoxiao's original surname was Jin, and she and Yuanyang were cousins, so the two had no scruples when talking and joking around in private.

"Bah!" Yuanyang spat with a red face, gritting his teeth and said, "You can't spit out ivory from a dog's mouth. If I want to throw myself into your arms, I will go to your uncle Xiaorong.
Xiao Xiao clapped her hands and said with a smile: "Great, it just so happens that our master has just got two taels of good tea from the south, would you like to try it?"

Yuanyang waved his hand and said, "I have something to do today, so I don't have time to drink tea with you. Let's do it another day."

Xiao Xiao asked: "What's the matter?"

Yuanyang said, "Go find Miss Lin and go back. Master Bao is almost going crazy."

"Oh." Xiao Xiao nodded and smiled, "Is it the Bao Tian Wang over there? You are not serving him, what does he have to do with you?"

Yuanyang said helplessly: "He is anxious, so the old lady is anxious. If the old lady is anxious, shouldn't we be anxious? Who is as idle as you, doing nothing all day long?"

Xiao Xiao laughed and said, "This is really unfair. I was doing needlework in the house all afternoon. I just came out to play for a while and saw you coming over. Oh, you have to help me with something."

"what's up?"

"I still need a lot of clothes for this summer. Don't forget to come and help me when you have some free time, or you can take the material back and make it in the evening."

"Whose clothes?"

"Our Lord."

"It's your grandfather's, don't involve me!"

"Hehe, thank you very much."

"I haven't agreed yet!"

"I'll treat you, okay?"

"That's better. Let's find someone to take it over later. I'll go see Miss Lin first."

"Okay, Miss Lin should be at the Fourth Miss' place now, go over and take a look."

……

Xichun Courtyard.

Yuanyang had been here many times and was familiar with the place. As soon as he stepped into the door, he saw Xichun's maid Ruhua feeding the birds in the cage in the corridor.

"Is Miss Lin here?" Yuanyang walked forward and asked with a smile.

Ruhua looked up and saw that it was Yuanyang who came. She quickly put down the bowl she was feeding the bird and said with a smile, "Sister Yuanyang is here. Miss Lin is inside."

Xichun and Daiyu were playing chess on the desk under the window. Xichun held the white piece and placed it elegantly on the chessboard. She smiled and said, "Look, someone has come to 'invite' us again."

Lin Daiyu frowned!
She is not a bird in a cage. She just came out to play for half a day. Are you so anxious to put her back in the cage?

"No." Seeing that the two looked unhappy, Yuanyang waved her hands and said with a smile: "The ancestor asked me to ask if Miss Lin had taken medicine today to make her cough better. We can't delay."

Xichun raised her chin and said, "Zijuan, go get the medicine. Sister Lin wants to talk to me here tonight. Go back and pay your respects to the old lady tomorrow morning."

(End of this chapter)