Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 441 A Series of Schemes to Seize the Private Treasury
Chen Siyuan was puzzled. He glanced at the servant, while Madam Xing urged him on. The two of them then took a sedan chair to the east courtyard.

On the way, Madam Xing pursed her lips and said, "They're probably here to ask for money again. That Aunt Fu is not a frugal person."

Chen Siyuan was too lazy to concern himself with Jia Zheng's private affairs, but thinking of the sisters in the garden, he decided to inquire about Xichun, even if he didn't care about the others. So he asked, "How is Xichun doing these days?"

"Her?" Madam Xing was surprised at first, then realized. Chen Siyuan had become close to Fourth Sister as soon as he entered the garden, so it was only natural that he would show concern for her now. Madam Xing thought for a moment and said, "It's strange, the East Mansion has never cared about Fourth Sister before, but recently, for some reason, on the Old Madam's birthday and the Mid-Autumn Festival, Zhen's daughter-in-law went to see Fourth Sister twice in a row."

Chen Siyuan said, "You're close to Sister-in-law Zhen, haven't you asked her about it privately?"

"Why didn't you ask?" Madam Xing said, "But every time she would say that it was Zhen-ge'er who instructed her, saying that Xi-chun is now grown up and if she is raised in the West Mansion, it would be inappropriate for her brother and sister-in-law to ignore her."

Chen Siyuan said coldly, "A night owl doesn't come unless he has a reason."

Madam Xing said, "You say that too? I heard the servants gossiping behind my back that the East Mansion isn't exactly flush with cash these days, and they're eyeing Fourth Miss's dowry!"

Dowry? Yes, regardless of Xichun's true background, she is still a young lady of the East Mansion, so her marriage will naturally take place there. But Grandmother Jia had previously stated that the three sisters, Daiyu, and others would all receive a standard dowry of ten thousand taels of silver. Is this money coming from her private treasury...? That doesn't seem quite right?

Even if Jia Zhen were incompetent, he would never scheme to take advantage of Xi Chun's dowry money. As the clan head, Jia Zhen still controls the Jia family's ancestral lands; why would he go to such lengths to misappropriate money?
I'm afraid this action was taken by the You family on their own initiative!
Chen Siyuan considered asking You Erjie to pass on a message to You Shi, but then he changed his mind... The Jia family is already on the verge of collapse, so who knows how much of Grandmother Jia's private treasury will be left when Xichun gets married? Let You Shi do whatever she wants, because with Xichun's shrewdness, she won't suffer a great loss.

While they were thinking, the sedan chair entered the black lacquered gate, and Chen Siyuan and Madam Xing got out of the car together and hurried to the main house at the back.

Before long, they passed through three layers of ceremonial gates and entered the inner chamber. Yingchun and Daiyu had already seen Jia She and were now covering their mouths and noses as they withdrew from inside.

Daiyu was alright, her face showing neither sorrow nor joy; the second young lady at least had tears welling up in her eyes. Both women sighed deeply upon seeing Chen Siyuan.

Madam Xing then said, "It's enough to have seen her. I know you are filial, but you have maids and servants to take care of you, so you don't need to lift a finger. You've come all this way, so go and see the old lady. She hasn't been feeling well these past few days."

Yingchun and Daiyu agreed, exchanged glances with Chen Siyuan, and then went together to Grandmother Jia's courtyard.

As Chen Siyuan followed Madam Xing into the main room, the overwhelming smell of excrement and urine filled the air!

Chen Siyuan frowned, then heard a series of crackling sounds from the east, followed by indistinct cursing sounds.

Chen Siyuan turned to look at Madam Xing, who pursed her lips and said in a low voice, "Ever since she fell ill, her temper has become increasingly violent. She throws tantrums at the slightest thing. Unfortunately, she can't even speak properly these days, so everyone can only guess wildly."

The two walked around the screen, and Madam Xing said again, "The small study on the east side has been tidied up. Fourth Brother has moved to the back room to stay with the wet nurse."

Chen Siyuan nodded, endured the pungent smell and entered the room, where he immediately saw Physician Wang with a worried expression.

Upon seeing the two enter, Physician Wang cupped his hands in greeting and couldn't help but sigh, saying, "The master cannot bear the pain, yet only this kind of acupuncture is effective. Perhaps the madam should persuade him?"

"Me?" Madam Xing nearly rolled her eyes. She wished Jia She were dead right now; why would she go and make a fool of herself? She immediately said, "Physician Wang, if we follow your method, what are the chances that Master will recover?"

"This... I dare not speak presumptuously. The master's qi and blood are in a reversed state, and his symptoms are extremely severe. I can only do my best now."

Madam Xing then said, "You've seen the master's condition yourself. Who dares to go against his wishes? I only ask that Physician Wang can make the master feel a little better."

"This..." Physician Wang thought about it and agreed. Given the master's condition, it would be difficult enough if he could last for a year or two, let alone expect anything more. So he said, "In that case, I will go back and think of a way."

"Thank you for your help, Physician Wang."

After sending Lü'e away to see off Physician Wang, Madam Xing led Chen Siyuan to the bedside.

Jia She's mouth and eyes were crooked, drool was dripping from his mouth, his right hand was waving wildly, and he was muttering incomprehensible words.

Chen Siyuan sighed, thinking to himself, "What a fine sir he was, and now he's about to be finished!"
Feigning deep sorrow, he turned to Madam Xing and asked, "Is Taishan now clear-headed or confused?"

Madam Xing said, "Nobody knows. He keeps muttering to himself, muttering with his eyes closed during the day and with his eyes wide open at night. He hits people whenever he's unhappy. Nobody knows what he's up to."

After a pause, Madam Xing suddenly turned her eyes and instructed those around her, "You may all leave now. Yuan-ge'er and the master have something to say to each other."

Chen Siyuan was taken aback. When he looked at Madam Xing, he saw a fleeting hint of seductive charm in her eyes, and a thought immediately crossed his mind. He thought to himself: We've been husband and wife for a while, Madam Xing, to pull something like this... isn't that a bit too much?
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Mrs. Wang’s courtyard.

Zhou Rui's wife presented the accounts, and Tan Xin handed them to Madam Wang.

Madam Wang put down her eighteen sons, picked up the accounts, glanced at them, and suddenly frowned, saying, "Why is there so much less this month?"

Zhou Rui's wife hurriedly protested, "Madam knows that business is not easy these days. Last month, a shop went out of business, and Ni Er led his men to Tongzhou to chase after it, only to recover half of the money. Along the way, people and horses were fed and clothed, so it was better not to chase after it at all."

Madam Wang frowned and said, "Never mind, I'll send the money to Zhu Ge's wife later. I'll distribute the allowances for the past two months along with the Mid-Autumn Festival bonus, so that the servants won't gossip."

Zhou Rui's wife breathed a sigh of relief and quickly agreed with a smile. She wasn't in a hurry to leave, but took two steps forward and whispered, "Just now, Master Yuan brought Miss Lin and Second Miss Lin here, and they've gone to the east courtyard together."

"Oh," Madam Wang replied indifferently.

Zhou Rui's wife said, "Madam doesn't know, when Master Yuan first arrived, the First Madam was arguing with the Second Madam."

Madam Wang perked up and asked, "What's the matter this time?"

"What else could it be? If it weren't for the eldest son of the Wang family offending the master, how could the master have suffered a stroke? The first wife blocked the door and berated the second wife, saying that the eldest son of the Wang family was invited by the second wife to deliberately anger the master so that the second son, Lian, could inherit the title."

Madam Wang was overjoyed! She thought it was just a case of dogs fighting and getting nothing in return.

Forcing herself not to smile, but her face still showed some relief, Madam Wang said, "Let's not interfere too much in the affairs of the eldest son's family. You also keep an eye on things and make sure the servants don't give anyone a handle to use against us."

“Don’t worry, Madam, I understand.” He paused, then frowned and said, “It’s just that… last time we found fault with that old hag from Wang Shanbao’s family, but it seems that Madam is not very willing to deal with it.”

After thinking for a moment, Madam Wang said, "Wang Shanbao's wife alone can't cause any trouble. You should deal with her two daughters first."

Zhou Rui's wife agreed.

Just as they were about to leave, a woman suddenly rushed in, bowed, and said, "Madam, the master has sent a message from Huai'an!"

Yu Chuan'er took the letter and hurriedly delivered it to Madam Wang.

Madam Wang unfolded the letter and glanced at it. Her face immediately changed, and she said sternly, "Where is the messenger? Bring him to me at once!"

The old woman agreed and hurriedly turned to look for him. After a while, she brought in a travel-worn young servant to kowtow to Madam Wang.

Before the servant could get up, Madam Wang, leaving only Zhou Rui's wife behind, anxiously asked, "What exactly happened? How did Master get into trouble with the law?"

The servant, with a mournful face, said, "Master received the imperial decree to inspect disaster relief matters in Huai'an, but Huai'an was plagued by continuous floods, so he had to repeatedly request the allocation of disaster relief funds. Master diligently inspected the area, and some time ago he vaguely noticed that the accounts were not right, so he sought out the prefect of Huai'an to confront him face to face."

The prefect initially made all sorts of excuses, but seeing he couldn't refuse any longer, he finally hosted a banquet, saying he would have the master open the storeroom to inspect the grain that very night. However, before the banquet was even over, the storeroom caught fire. Not only that, the very next day, the prefect of Huai'an turned the tables, claiming the master had released seven thousand taels of silver worth of rice and grain too much, and threatened to impeach him.” Madam Wang frowned deeply; she knew perfectly well that Jia Zheng had been tricked. She quickly asked, “What did the master say?”

"The master said that once the storeroom and account books are burned, it's impossible to distinguish right from wrong now, so we have no choice but to... we have no choice but to... use silver to cover the debts."

Madam Wang was annoyed and said, "With the household in such a state, where would we find the money to cover the accounts?"

The servant lowered his head and remained silent.

Knowing she couldn't reason with him, Madam Wang exhaled a sigh of relief and asked, "Did Master say when he wanted it?"

"The sooner the better...at the latest, it can't be later than the end of next month."

After saying "I understand," Lady Wang gave him no reward whatsoever, only sending the servant away to rest. He was filled with resentment and had nowhere to vent it. Other officials all amassed wealth for their families, but Jia Zheng, having just been appointed to a post outside the capital, was already causing his family to constantly fill the financial hole… What kind of official is this?
Having been husband and wife for most of their lives, Lady Wang knew that Jia Zheng was arrogant, upright, and pedantic. Such a temperament meant he could neither excel nor conform to the world. If he remained in the capital, at least they could rely on their past connections. But now that he was being sent away, what use would the wolves and tigers of the outside world have to the Rongguo Mansion?

Money, money! We're already struggling to make ends meet by robbing Peter to pay Paul, where am I supposed to find seven thousand taels of silver?
With the public funds running low, they couldn't touch their own personal savings, and they also had to smooth things over for Yuan Chun. As a result, they had no choice but to set their sights on the old lady's private treasury.

Madam Wang knew all too well her mother-in-law's ways. If word got out, she'd make it sound better than anyone else, implying that she was the one to raise the money. So, it was better to keep it a secret and secretly pry into the old lady's private treasury.

After Zhou Rui's wife also took her leave, only Tan Xin remained to serve her.

After a while, Madam Wang suddenly remembered something and said, "I seem to have heard someone say that Baochan and Hu Po are very active together?"

Tanxin then said, "Madam is probably mistaken. The one who frequently interacts with Amber is Musk Moon, not Baochan."

"Oh." Madam Wang nodded meaningfully, pondering to herself.

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Meanwhile, Daiyu and Yingchun kept Grandmother Jia company for quite a while. Grandmother Jia was old after all, and she had been thinking all night, so she was a little tired now.

She then said, "Yun'er just came by, eager to spend time with you sisters. I'm tired now, so you can go to the garden and find your sisters to play with."

Yingchun and Daiyu agreed and, after bidding farewell to Grandmother Jia, headed towards the Grand View Garden. The two originally intended to take a look at Fengjie, but Ping'er said that Fengjie had gone to sleep. The two knew something was amiss, so they didn't press the matter and continued on to the Grand View Garden.

As soon as they entered the Grand View Garden, they saw Xiangyun skipping and hopping around behind the green hills.

Upon seeing the two, Xiangyun was overjoyed and ran over, calling out, "Second Sister, Sister Lin!"

The second young lady smiled in response, while Daiyu scolded her, "Look at you, still so disrespectful."

Xiangyun also felt it was inappropriate. Thinking that Daiyu was no longer a young lady after getting married, she should rein in her usual playful behavior. So she smiled apologetically and said, "Who said that? How has Sister Lin been?"

Daiyu couldn't help but laugh and said, "You're like a monkey, but I'm perfectly fine."

Xiangyun frowned and said, “You are all doing well, but I am not. Now that you have left, even Qin'er and Sister Xing have gone, leaving only my third sister, fourth sister, and me in the garden. Every day is incredibly boring. Come on, let’s go to my place first, so that my third sister and fourth sister don’t intercept us.”

After crossing the Emerald Smoke Bridge, they indeed saw Tan Chun and Ying Chun coming hand in hand. The sisters chattered excitedly upon meeting, and Xiang Yun, shouting "First come, first served," dragged everyone towards Hengwu Garden.

After a short while, they entered the room. Daiyu glanced around and smiled, "It's definitely not the same."

Xiangyun said with a smile, "Before, when I lived with Sister Bao, I couldn't just arrange things haphazardly. Now that I'm living alone, and I even went to ask my great-aunt for help, I can arrange things however I want here."

The sisters all covered their mouths and laughed, then looked closely. They saw a wooden plaque above the door that read "Old Friend of Zhenxia". Inside the room was a walnut canopy bed, covered with a moon-white cotton mattress and a sapphire blue silk quilt, with some candied fruit crumbs still stuck to the edges—surely from when she was eating snacks.

A rosewood desk sat by the window, two wolf-hair brushes lying askew beside an inkstone, and an unfinished poem, "Xi Jiang Yue," lay spread on gold-flecked paper. A pile of "Du Fu's Collected Works" and "Dongpo's Anecdotes" lay on the corner of the desk, dried red water chestnuts tucked between the pages. A watercolor painting of crows hung on the wall, and beside it hung her frequently used old pipa, its strings loosened by half a turn, indicating it had been played recently.

A small charcoal stove sits in the corner of the room, with chestnuts and red dates in a bamboo basket beside it. A coarse porcelain teapot warms on the stove, wafting the delicate fragrance of Lao Jun Mei tea. A small rattan table sits in front of the couch, with a celadon brush washer on it, and a few dried reeds stuck in it, creating a truly rustic scene.

Before Cuilu could even lift a finger, Xiangyun trotted over and said, "Knowing that Second Sister and Sister Lin were coming, I brewed Lao Jun Mei tea early this morning. Come quick, come quick, let's roast some dates and chestnuts on this charcoal stove, they'll be delicious!"

The second young lady teased, "Yun girl is still so greedy. To be honest, I really want to eat some red dates right now."

Xichun chimed in, "Second Sister doesn't know, if Cuilu hadn't been watching over things all the time, who knows when Sister Yun would have set the house on fire."

Everyone laughed and joked, but Xiangyun didn't get annoyed; she just smiled sweetly. Daiyu, however, was perceptive and sensed that Xiangyun was deliberately trying to please her, which made her feel very lonely.

Thinking of Xiangyun's background, Daiyu felt deeply sorry for her and couldn't help but feel even more sorry for her—she had finally entrusted herself to a good man, but Xiangyun had been arranged to have such an unreliable marriage so early on... Sigh!

Daiyu was looking for an opportunity to have a private chat with Xiangyun, but Xiangyun suddenly became quite wild, telling jokes and reminiscing about the past, her little mouth never stopping.

Around 11:30 AM, Hongyu came back and said, "Master is having tea with Second Master Lian in the front hall. He said that the two ladies can stay together and there's no rush to go back."

Daiyu and Yingchun both agreed, knowing full well that even if there was no rush, they should set off before noon. With such a major incident at the Rongguo Mansion, it was really best not to cause too much trouble.

As it was nearing noon, the second young lady and Daiyu, despite Xiangyun and Tanchun's attempts to persuade them to stay, insisted on getting up to say goodbye.

Seeing that Xiangyun was biting her lower lip and seemed unhappy, Daiyu leaned over and said, "After a while, I'll send out invitations and invite all the sisters over for some fun."

Xiangyun replied earnestly, "Really? Sister Lin, you can't just brush me off."

Yingchun chimed in, "We certainly won't be perfunctory. Just wait a few days, and we'll definitely send out an invitation."

Xiangyun cheered up and said hopefully, "Then I'll be waiting... Hey? When everyone's all here again, shall we start another club?"

Daiyu felt sorry for Xiangyun, so she smiled and said, "I'll do whatever you want. It doesn't matter if it's the Begonia Club or the Plum Blossom Club. We just need to have a good time playing around."

Xiangyun nodded repeatedly.

When they arrived at the ceremonial gate, Xiangyun watched as Chen Siyuan led Yingchun and Daiyu away. Xiangyun peered out from her room, unwilling to return.

Tan Chun and Xi Chun exchanged a glance, both knowing that Xiang Yun was feeling unwell, so they teased her a bit and then pulled her away together before turning back.

On the way back, Chen Siyuan and Daiyu squeezed into the same car. Daiyu frowned and said, "Yun'er doesn't look well."

Chen Siyuan sighed, unsure of what to say.

The marriage was arranged by her parents and the matchmaker, and the betrothal gifts had already been given. Unless something unexpected happened to Chen Yejun, Xiangyun's marriage was unchangeable. He was just a newly appointed scholar, and no matter how powerful he was, he couldn't interfere in other people's affairs.

Daiyu added, "It's a pity that Yun'er seems to have a boyish nature, but she is a girl at heart. Otherwise, she could have just packed her things and left. The world is so big, and she might have had a different experience."

Chen Siyuan smiled and nodded, his gaze fixed on Daiyu. He couldn't help but wonder if Daiyu had also harbored such thoughts when the vow of love between wood and stone in the original text could not be relied upon? Or perhaps the Jia family and others were keeping a close watch on Daiyu as if she were a thief, which was why Lin Daiyu had not escaped?

(End of this chapter)