The Red Chamber: Starting from Saving Xue Baochai

Chapter 80: Preparing to Suppress Bandits Before the Wedding

April 12, the 17th year of Yuanzhen.

There are still about twenty days left until the Dragon Boat Festival, and everyone in the Shen family is busy preparing for the upcoming wedding.

Jiang Qiuer has also been staying in Huifang Garden these days, working with Qin Keqing and the others.

There are many courtyards in the Shen Mansion. Shen Yuan originally planned to let Jiang Fan move in directly, but was politely declined.

Shen Yuan also agreed with the reasons given by Jiang Fan.

After all, their relationship now is different from before. They are both core generals of the new army, and they are also superiors and subordinates. If Jiang Fan lives in the Shen Mansion, it will definitely give others a handle to accuse him of turning the new army into a private army.

To be cautious, they should live separately. They will see each other every day when they go to the yamen anyway.

After leaving the government office that day, Shen Yuan went to Lixiangyuan. The preparations for suppressing the bandits were ready, and he was about to lead the new army to set out. He needed to tell Baochai in advance to prevent her from worrying.

When she arrived at Lixiangyuan, she found Xiangyun was also there, and it seemed that she was helping Baochai embroider something.

Shen Yuan walked closer and saw that Baochai and Xiangyun both looked a little tired, obviously they had been embroidering for a long time.

He felt distressed and said in a serious tone: "You don't have to embroider every piece by yourself. For those that are not for personal use, you can find an embroiderer or buy them directly."

"Brother Shen!"

When the two girls heard Shen Yuan's voice, they realized someone was coming. They looked up quickly and greeted him happily.

"It's okay, Brother Shen, I want to do these myself."

In Baochai's heart, she regarded her wedding with Shen Yuan as extremely solemn. Not only did she have to embroider the veil and quilt, which were close to her body, but she also had to embroider the curtains and even the patterns on the red wedding lanterns.
Daiyu and the three sisters-in-law all expressed their desire to come and help, but were politely rejected by Baochai one by one, even though she knew that they all cared about her.

If she hadn't been unable to deal with the stubborn Xiangyun, she wouldn't have planned to ask Sister Yun for help.

Shen Yuan looked at his fiancée who had lost a lot of weight. His tone did not soften, but became a little tougher. He said solemnly: "No, Sister Xue, didn't you notice that you have lost a lot of weight? The most important thing on the wedding day is you and me, husband and wife. Why should we be obsessed with these external things?"

It was the first time that Baochai saw her lover so serious and strong. She was stunned for a moment and didn't know what to say.

Xiangyun felt sorry for Bao-jie when she saw this, so she opened her mouth to say something: "Brother Shen, Bao-jie..."

Shen Yuan glanced at the loli and saw that her round apple face had become thinner. Before she could finish, he interrupted her and said, "Sister Yun, you have also lost a lot of weight."

Xiangyun was suddenly touched by the words of concern. When she met those warm eyes, she swallowed back the words she was about to say.

Shen Yuan looked at Baochai again, his tone became gentle, and he said softly: "Sister Xue, I feel distressed when she behaves like this, and it becomes a burden to the wedding."

As he spoke, he reached out and stroked the girl's fair face, and said softly, "Be obedient and let the embroiderer do it."

Baochai looked at those bright eyes that were as gentle as water, and seemed to feel a power in them that slowly dispelled the obsession in her heart.

After a moment of silence, she smiled on her gentle and fair face and said softly, "Well, Brother Shen is right. The most important thing is you and me. I am paranoid. I am sorry."

"It's okay, Sister Xue, you can live a more comfortable life in the future." Shen Yuan caressed the girl's cheek lovingly.

After thinking about it carefully, he could actually understand Baochai's psychology and why the girl was so serious about their wedding.

After losing her father at a young age, Baochai has been dependent on her mother and brother. Her brother Xue Pan is an ignorant man, and there is no one to take care of the huge family business.

It would have been fine if Baochai didn't know, but she had read books, knew things, understood principles, was gentle and virtuous, and was well versed in human nature.

If she were not a girl, she might be able to become an official and make the Xue family prosperous. However, the world is always harsh on women. No matter how much Baochai is obsessed with official career and economy, she can only hide her ignorance and accept the fate of marriage arranged by her mother.

Although I no longer have to worry about running a household business, I am still happy.

Otherwise, he would not have written the poem "Good wind, with its power, carries me into the blue sky".

More than half a year ago, she met Shen Yuan, the young man who changed her destiny.

They fell in love, and the boy was good enough to protect her and even the Xue family.

How could Baochai not cherish this hard-earned love? She even regarded this wedding as the redemption of her own destiny, which led to her previous obsession.

"I can protect my sister and let you be free without too many shackles."

Baochai hummed lightly, her smile bringing dimples to her face, and her heart felt relieved.

Xiangyun, who was standing by, saw this. Although she didn't understand the deeper level of the exchange between the two, she saw that Baochai no longer insisted, and the little girl said happily: "In this world, the only person who can convince Sister Bao and make her obedient is Brother Shen."

Shen Yuan glanced at the embroidery in Xiangyun's hands and said jokingly with a smile: "I never thought that Sister Yun's embroidery was so good."

"Humph, Brother Shen, please stop looking down on me." Xiangyun puffed up her cheeks and said, "When I was in Jinling, I often embroidered with my aunt until late at night."

It seems that this little girl really is like what is said in the original book, often doing needlework until very late, but the wife of the Marquis is also like this, which shows that she does not treat her harshly.

"I'll talk to Lord Shi later. I hope he'll be more lenient with you."

"It doesn't matter. Anyway, I'm having a great time here and I don't plan to go back to Jinling anytime soon."

"Aren't you afraid that your uncle and aunt will be sad to hear this?"

Xiangyun stuck out her tongue, smiled sweetly, and stopped talking.

While Shen Yuan was chatting and laughing with Xiangyun, she was also keeping an eye on Baochai, and felt that the girl's thoughts had been completely relieved.

He took out a prescription from his bosom and handed it to Baochai, saying, "This is the prescription developed by Imperial Doctor Li and the experts in the Imperial Hospital. It simplifies the recipe of Lengxiang Pills. Sister Xue can try it."

After Shen Yuan got the prescription, he asked several doctors to review it and only handed it to Baochai after confirming that it was harmless.

"Thank you for your help, Brother Shen." Baochai took the prescription and said with a smile, "I'll have someone send some money to Doctor Li as a reward some other day."

Shen Yuan said softly, "I'm with the imperial doctors, so you don't have to worry."

Baochai likes to think a lot at all times, which is the habit of a young girl.

After saying this, Shen Yuan finally told Baochai about sending troops to suppress the bandits.

After hearing this, Baochai and Xiangyun beside her were both shocked, and they said in unison, "Brother Shen is going to suppress the bandits?"

Shen Yuan nodded and said, "It will only be a few days. We won't go too far. We will stay within a hundred miles of the outskirts of Shenjing. Everything is ready. We will make a quick decision and will not delay the wedding with Sister Xue."

"If we can't make it in time for the wedding, it doesn't matter if we postpone it, but..." Baochai only cares about her lover's safety.

Shen Yuan stroked the back of the girl's hand and comforted her, "There won't be any danger. Whether it's Aomen Village or Liaocheng, when have you ever seen me get hurt?"

After a pause, he added: "Besides, this time we are outnumbered and have special means, so don't worry, sister."

(End of this chapter)