The head of the Red Mansion

Good grief, so the marriage was a sham.

Jia Yue was furious. She had gone to great lengths to suppress the message sent to her mother from home so that her sister could become her sister-in-law!

result~
She puffed out her cheeks, wanting to argue with Sister Lin, but her sister acted like she was coaxing a child. Jia Yue got angry, stomped her foot, and turned to leave.

Lin Daiyu was amused by her cousin's appearance and quickly caught up with her.

The two sisters, one huffing and puffing, followed behind, bowing and scraping, "Good sister, I was wrong, there will never be a second time. Don't you like the sachets I make? Can I make you three?"
Sister Lin's sachets are always unique, like paintings with special artistic conception. Jia Yue loves them very much. She shamelessly wants to agree, but her sister has a smile on her face, as if she is sure that she will agree.

Oh dear, are you still treating her like a child?

This was the first time in her life that her mother had punished her by making her go to the ancestral hall. Humph, she thought she could get rid of her with three sachets?

dream!

"That year, we wrote a total of twelve poems about chrysanthemums."

Her mother was really angry with her this time.

Jia Yue suddenly remembered how happy her mother was when she received the poems. "Make the twelve chrysanthemum poems into a set of twelve small kang screens, and as for the sachets... I only need two."

She almost said she didn't want the sachet.

Unfortunately, I couldn't bring myself to do it.

The three were changed to two.

But compared to a sachet, twelve kang screens with poems and paintings are definitely ten times more difficult to make!

How could Lin Daiyu dare to take on this task?
If she really accepts it, she'll be buried in her embroidery room for the next two years.

"Sister Lin, this is my first time entering an ancestral hall."

Seeing her like that, Jia Yue quickly put on a crying face, "I was punished by my mother and went in. When has my mother ever been willing to punish me? If it weren't for you..."

Her mother kept repeating herself for a long time because she called her sister first.
Jia Yue was completely convinced.

“My mother loves poems about chrysanthemums, and she even came back from the hot spring resort ahead of schedule because of you.”

Lin Daiyu: "..."

So it's all her fault?
Good heavens, twelve screens on a heated brick bed...

She finally stopped laughing, gritting her teeth, "You embroider the chrysanthemums on the kang screen, I'll take care of the rest."

Jia Yue: "..."

Although the gentlemen all said that she was very talented in painting, the kang screen had to be embroidered!

"I can only embroider six chrysanthemums for you on the kang screen."

Jia Yue bargained.

She still has a lot of homework to do.

Even while accompanying her mother at the hot spring resort, she would still write several large characters every day.

"Good sister, then you can skip the sachet!"

Lin Daiyu made a crying face at her younger cousin, "Otherwise, my hands will be ruined."

"..."

Jia Yue looked at her sister's fair and delicate hands and felt a pang of heartache, reluctant to see the needle marks on them.

When she first learned to embroider, she pricked several needle marks on her hands. Her older sisters felt sorry for her and secretly helped her embroider, cheating for her. Later, they were all punished by the teacher.

"Make me a sachet. Also, I'll help you figure out how to decorate the three chrysanthemums on your kang screens."

Qingwen, the young lady from the Western Mansion, embroiders everything beautifully.

If all else fails, she will paint a picture of her according to the imagery of the poem.

"Good sister, can you help me think of four screens for the kang (heated brick bed)?"

Lin Daiyu is so pitiful.

Jia Yue is a straightforward girl, and what she can't stand the older sisters playing the victim for her is, "Fine!"

There's nothing we can do; she's the older sister.
The two sisters reached an agreement and happily held hands again.

Shen Ning, who had a headache, was enjoying the breeze at Tianxiang Tower when she saw them chatting and laughing all the way, which made her headache even worse.

She didn't know how to raise Jia Yue.

I always felt that this child was particularly easy to coax.

No matter which older sister calls her, she'll happily run over. Sigh~
Forget it, let Lin Ruhai and Jia Min worry about the annulment of the engagement themselves!

It's because they had a daughter who was particularly opinionated and daring.

Of course, while shifting the blame, Shen Ning couldn't help but doubt the problems with her own parenting. She thought about Lin Daiyu in Dream of the Red Chamber, and after a while, she patted her head and finally extricated herself from the situation.

Because Daiyu in Dream of the Red Chamber was also a bold, meticulous, and capable girl.

While everyone was talking about a perfect match, she fed Baoyu wine at the Lantern Festival family banquet in front of everyone, asserting her dominance.

Thinking of this, Shen Ning patted her chest, thankfully, it wasn't her fault.

Neither Lin Ruhai nor Jia Min can be said to have corrupted their daughters.

hum~
If Lin Ruhai dares to shirk responsibility, she'll calculate the health conditions of both the Lin and Jia families.

In this life, he was lucky to have a wife, children, and a son, all thanks to her.

Shen Ning had mentally prepared herself and was about to go downstairs when Bao Yu arrived.

"Auntie~"

He had a little wine, and his face was slightly flushed. "If you're coming back, just let your nephew know, and I'll come pick you up!"

It was he who persuaded his aunt to go to the hot spring resort this time, and he personally escorted her there.

"pick me up?"

Shen Ning's eyes were complicated. "Baoyu, tell me honestly, are you hiding something from your aunt?"

uh~
Baoyu's heart pounded. "Auntie, I was wrong, I..."

He didn't know what to say.

He could never bear to refuse Lin Daiyu when she asked him for a favor.

In addition, my aunt was indeed sick during that period.
"Please don't be angry. I will take full responsibility for breaking off the engagement with Lin Meimei. I will never let her reputation be tarnished."

He's a man, so he can take on more responsibility if anything happens.

"...You're all grown up now, and you have your own ideas about what you want to do. I have nothing to be angry about."

On the contrary, she felt a hidden sense of relief.

Shen Ning said, "However, you should think about how to tell the old lady about breaking off the engagement!"

The old lady was getting on in years.

She passed away around the year or two after the events of "Dream of the Red Chamber".

"The old lady is getting old, so whatever you do, you have to take it slow."

"……Yes!"

This is also something that worries Baoyu.

He had thought about it at the time.

He and Lin Daiyu were cousins, and their kinship was too close, so breaking off the engagement was a good thing in his aunt's eyes.

But what about the old lady...?

The old lady was overjoyed to learn that he and Lin Daiyu were engaged.

Baoyu felt a pang of sadness. If it weren't for their close kinship, he really...

"I will definitely speak gently to the old lady."

He helped Shen Ning downstairs, saying, "My older brother will help too."

When I asked my older brother to help me propose marriage, he hesitated.

He taught at the tribal school, but he also paid close attention to the lesson plans and other things at the girls' school.

When the girls' school taught the Zuo Zhuan and the Tang Code (Commentary on the Household and Marriage Law), he also read them and encouraged everyone to speak freely in the clan school.

He explained the reason, and that's why my older brother agreed to help.

"It's good that you brothers know what's going on."

Thinking of the old lady, Shen Ning felt that it was indeed not appropriate for her to interfere.

If things go wrong, the old lady might even think that she is hindering Baoyu and the second wife's future.

"The old lady dotes on your fourth aunt. If she really wants to break off the engagement, it might be better for your fourth aunt to speak about the difficulties she faced in her quest for a child." (End of Chapter)