The Red Mansion: From a Small Pawn to a Leader

Chapter 298 June
As the old saying goes, you should train hard in the coldest days of winter and the hottest days of summer. It was the hottest days of summer, and Li Hu, bare-chested, was bracing himself against the sun, carrying a thick bamboo pole with two huge stone locks on it on his shoulders, with one foot raised and the other standing on one leg, practicing horse-stance kung fu.

The Xiang curtain in the main hall was rolled up. Lin Daiyu sat on a bamboo chair in front of a large basin of ice, eating watermelon while watching Li Hu who was practicing martial arts.

Zijuan sat on a low stool beside her, fanning her gently, occasionally glancing at the shirtless Li Hu.

Suddenly, seeing Lin Daiyu trying to take the iced watermelon again, Zijuan hurriedly advised her, "Although iced watermelon tastes good, you can't eat too much. Eating too much will give you a stomachache. The girl has already eaten three or four pieces."

Lin Daiyu said unhappily: "Why do you care about me eating a watermelon? It's none of your business whether I have a stomachache or not!" She said this but still took her hand back.

Zijuan smiled and put down her palace fan. She went to the basin beside her and wrung out a face towel. She wiped Lin Daiyu's hands and said softly, "It's almost noon. Miss, why don't you remind the Second Master that it will be troublesome if he gets heatstroke."

Lin Daiyu: "He is not a three-year-old child. What's the matter? Are you worried? If you are worried, just tell me. Don't order me around."

Zijuan's face flushed, and she didn't know how to say it, nor did she know how to keep silent. After a while, she finally said, "I am considering this for the young lady."

Lin Daiyu smiled and looked at her, but did not pursue her. She shouted to the bedroom, "Amber~"

"Hey, girl, is there something wrong?" Amber walked out of Li Hu's bedroom.

Lin Daiyu: "Go prepare the bath water."

Amber: "Yes." She answered and walked out. When she passed by Li Hu, she smiled and said, "Miss, please take a rest, Master."

Lin Daiyu looked at Zijuan and said, "You have a lot to learn."

Zijuan curled her lips.

Lin Daiyu smiled.

Li Hu landed on the ground, propped up the bamboo pole with both hands and threw it on the ground, then walked into the house.

Zijuan stood up quickly and said with a smile, "I'll go get you a new basin of water."

Li Hu: "There's water here." He wrung out the face towel from the basin, shook it open, and covered his face with it. "Hey, why does this face towel smell like watermelon?"

Lin Daiyu and Zijuan looked at each other and smiled, neither of them spoke.

Li Hu wiped his face, rubbed the towel in the basin a few times, wiped the sweat off his body, and said to Zijuan, "Wipe my back."

Zijuan was stunned for a moment: "I am the girl's maid."

Li Hu smiled and said, "Even your daughter is mine."

Lin Daiyu rolled her eyes.

Seeing that Lin Daiyu didn't say anything, Zijuan took the towel and wiped the sweat off Li Hu's back.

Li Hu walked to the low stool next to Lin Daiyu and sat down. He picked up a piece of iced watermelon and started eating it, saying, "This watermelon is not bad. You should try it too."

Lin Daiyu picked up the palace fan and fanned Li Hu vigorously, "You eat."

Li Hu glanced at the watermelon rind and said, "Eat less cold food. Eating too much will give you a stomachache."

Zijuan burst out laughing, but quickly held it back.

Li Hu: "What's wrong?"

Lin Daiyu glared at Zijuan and said to Li Hu, "Don't you always say, 'No matter how good your martial arts skills are, you can still knock them down with one spear?' Why are you practicing martial arts again now?"

Li Hu spat out the watermelon seeds and replied calmly, "Not all places can carry muskets."

Lin Daiyu was silent. Although Li Hu said nothing, she understood that the things that happened half a month ago were all related to Li Hu. Especially the explosion, the emperor suffered heavy losses, and almost all his confidants in the Imperial Household Department were wiped out. The furious emperor turned the capital upside down. Not only the common people, but also the nobles were in trouble. Anyone whose family had no one leading troops in the army was not allowed to privately raise soldiers, and they were forced to dismiss the old soldiers in their families.

Moreover, she suspected that Zhang Cheng was not dead. Li Hu suddenly remembered: "How long has it been since our father wrote to us?"

Lin Daiyu came back to her senses: "It's been almost a month, what happened?"

Li Hu: "Nothing, I just miss him a little bit."

Lin Daiyu sneered after hearing this and said, "You sound like you are so filial."

Li Hu smiled: "It's enough as long as my father thinks I'm filial."

Lin Daiyu curled her lips.

Li Hu: "Oh, by the way, did Tanchun mention the second master yesterday?" As he said that, he picked up another piece of watermelon and started eating.

Lin Daiyu looked at Zijuan greedily and picked up a piece of watermelon as well. "I feel sorry for you eating alone, so I'm going to eat some with you." As if to make it more convincing, she cut a small half and handed it to Zijuan.

Li Hu laughed: "Thank you!"

Lin Daiyu smiled complacently, eating a small bite of watermelon while saying, "I heard from the envoy that my second uncle sent a letter saying that the water level of the Yellow River is still rising, and many sections that have not burst before have collapsed. There are many places to repair, and there are not enough people." At this point, she sighed slightly, "If it can't be repaired in time, it will collapse immediately after a heavy rain."

Li Hu nodded and thought to himself: Zhang Cheng and others should still be in Henan. Let them not go to Shaanxi for the time being, but go to Kaifeng first.

Lin Daiyu: "I have a feeling that something is going to happen in Henan, something big."

Li Hu threw the melon rind away and said, "The emperor is not anxious, but the eunuch is."

Lin Daiyu: "Bah! A dog can't spit out ivory." Still feeling unsatisfied, she stretched out her hand and twisted Li Hu's waist, but Li Hu had no clothes on and was covered in sweat, so the twist only grabbed some of the smelly sweat and left no marks on Li Hu.

Lin Daiyu was stunned at first, then she started laughing.

Zijuan also laughed. Her eyes obviously saw something from the direction of the moon gate in the courtyard. She immediately walked to the clothes rack, picked up Li Hu's clothes, and walked back to Li Hu, "Second Master, Aunt Feng is here." As she said this, she shook out the clothes.

Li Hu also saw Feng standing outside the courtyard gate with her head down. He stretched out his arms and put on his short coat. He stood up and asked Zijuan to button it for him.

After helping Li Hu put on his clothes, Zijuan called out to Feng, "Auntie Feng."

Feng came in with an envelope, bowed slightly, and said to Li Hu, "Second Master, a letter from the Wu family."

The foreigner was found? Li Hu's eyes lit up, he took the letter, tore it open and read it, and after reading a few lines, a smile appeared on his face.

Lin Daiyu spoke: "Found it?"

Li Hu smiled and nodded: "The Wu family is quite reliable. The people have already entered the capital on the ship carrying fruits, fish, shrimp and other fresh goods to the palace."

Lin Daiyu: "We still need to tell the palace about this matter."

Li Hu was silent for a moment. The emperor had just crossed the river and demolished the bridge, but he was still eager to upgrade the firearms for others. Forget it, just treat it as being bitten by a dog! No, it is to contribute to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

Hey, the situation has opened up all of a sudden!

Thinking of this, Li Hu felt much better and said to Lin Daiyu with a smile, "I will go to the palace now."

Lin Daiyu blinked her eyes: "Not feeling aggrieved anymore?"

Li Hu: "I'm not upset anymore."

At this moment, Nanny Wang came in from the courtyard gate, sweating profusely.

Nanny Wang: "Second Master, someone from the front yard came to report that the Prime Minister is gone."

Li Hu was shocked. The Prime Minister is dead?!
(End of this chapter)