After the rebellion was successful, I realized that this place was the Red Mansion

Chapter 63 Lin Daodu shows his prowess for the first time

When Chu Yan entertained meritorious officials and favored Yuanchun, the Jia family.

In the kitchen of the Grand View Garden, the cook Mrs. Liu saw that there was no one in the kitchen, so she quietly took out the two steamed eggs she had hidden in the morning, put them in her arms, and wrapped a few pieces of steamed meat in oil paper. After taking them all, she went out and walked home before it got dark.

When I passed by Yihongyuan, I saw a few little girls gathered under a tree outside. When I got closer, I heard them talking about Master Bao.

"Second Master hasn't eaten for two days. How can you bear this?"

"You must have heard wrongly. How could he not eat? He's not used to stale rice, but the old lady and the mistress have given him food."

"The old lady doesn't have it either, it must be Miss Lin's!"

"Miss Lin didn't send anyone to deliver anything. I guess the two of them are angry again."

"I heard that Aunt Zhao went to Miss Lin to ask for something for Third Master Huan to eat. Miss Lin was taking medicine when Second Master happened to come over and started arguing with Aunt Zhao!"

"How's Miss Bao doing? The maids are all looking for her."

"It's a mess!"

The maids chatted about the past two days' events in the mansion. Sister Liu pretended not to notice and hurried back home. She found her daughter Wu'er, stuffed some food into her hands, and said, "Eat the eggs quickly. You can save the steamed meat for tomorrow morning. Things are not as good as they used to be. It's hard to even get a few eggs. Miss Bao is very strict and won't let anyone steal them. She said it was an order from Prince Qian."

Liu Wu'er wasn't feeling well either. She had never liked eggs, especially those that had been stale for a day. She said, "Mother, I don't want to eat them. I'll have someone send the eggs to Fang Guan later. She told me last night that she couldn't eat a single bite of the rice."

After hearing this, Sister Liu forced an egg into her mouth and said, "My dear, you don't know what the situation is like right now. You may never get to eat eggs again. If you don't want to eat them, I'll give them to your father. Fang Guan and the others can eat whatever they want."

Liu Wuer asked curiously, "Even Dad doesn't have eggs to eat?"

She seldom goes out and always stays at home to recuperate.

Sister Liu said, "Not only your father, but even the master and mistress didn't have anything to eat. Now there are only three people in the mansion who are still masters. The others have all had their property confiscated and become slaves!"

Liu Wuer had no choice but to eat an egg steamed in the morning, which tasted very bad.

Just as Sister Liu was about to leave, a maid suddenly ran up and, upon seeing her, hurriedly called out, "Oh no! Sister Liu, the kitchen has been robbed! Mrs. Lin Zhixiao wants you to return quickly!"

"What?! How could it be stolen?"

Mrs. Liu was startled. After hurriedly giving her daughter a few words, she followed the maid back to the Grand View Garden.

When we got to the kitchen, we saw the door was wide open. All the vegetables in the cabinets had been turned out, and some prepared gluten, pickled radish, pickled duck, etc., as well as a few live chickens and ducks, were taken away!

Fortunately, Mrs. Liu locked the door before going out, and the lock was broken, so she cannot be blamed.

"Who is so bold as to steal things in the house?" Everyone was so angry that they kept cursing.

After a while, Ping'er, Ying'er, Yuanyang and others came. Ping'er was Wang Xifeng's maid, and Yuanyang was the old lady's maid. In the past, there was no problem that could not be settled with the help of these two people.

But now we have to add one more person, Ying'er, who is Xue Baochai's maid. Now with the two Bao girls and Miss Lin, the three of them are the real housekeepers!

Ping'er and the other two asked them, then went back to report.

After hearing this, Wang Xifeng laughed and said, "Now we won't take care of the family anymore. Let's wait and see what Lin and the others will do!"

Ping Erh said, "Miss Lin is ill, and only Miss Bao is in charge."

"Bao girl is in charge..."

Wang Xifeng thought for a long moment before she smiled and said, "Prince Qian has chosen to arrange for two of our relatives to take charge of household affairs. Those who don't know might think my wife and I are behind this, deliberately embarrassing them. Well, Ping'er, go ask Lin Yatou and then Bao Yatou, and see what they have to say."

Ping'er went to Xiaoxiang Pavilion first.

It happened that Shi Xiangyun came to visit Lin Daiyu. After hearing the news, she said angrily, "It must be those people who practiced martial arts in the garden before. We even caught one of them sneaking in yesterday. They must have come here to steal chickens and ducks and secretly killed and ate them!" Ping'er also knew about this. The servants who came to practice martial arts became more and more restless. They originally lived outside and were locked up in the mansion for several days and could not go out. Now their food was reduced, which made them even more resentful.

Daiyu was not feeling well, so after hearing about this, she simply asked more people to patrol at night and sent some food to the old maids at night.

Ping'er smiled and said, "It's not a big deal. I'll send Zijuan to pass on the message later. Miss, take good care of yourself. I'll go sit with Miss Bao for a while."

Shi Xiangyun also said: "Sister Lin, take good care of yourself. I will come to see you tomorrow!"

After they had all left, Zijuan prepared some medicine and brought it to Daiyu. She looked into her dewy eyes and advised, "Young lady, you are right. Prince Qian shouldn't have given you the housekeeping job. Now that you are not well, you can't afford to worry about these trivial matters. It would be better to ask Second Master Lian to report back and resign from the housekeeping position."

Daiyu was stirring in the medicine bowl with a spoon, her slender body looking even thinner because of recent events.

She whispered, "I'm very ill now, and I'm afraid I won't be able to hold on for much longer. If I quit my job as housekeeper, the cruel King Qian will definitely take away my medicine, and I will die faster."

Zijuan didn't believe it. King Qian obviously knew the girl and would definitely leave medicine and food for her, just like before.

After taking a sip of the bitter medicine, Daiyu's face wrinkled up. After a while, she asked her, "Did he accept the lotus leaf and lotus seed soup you sent him?"

"No, the Second Master said he wouldn't eat anything from the Qian King."

Daiyu drank the medicine silently, and after a while she sneered, "In his eyes, I'm afraid I've become the Qian Wang's too!"

Another angry remark.

Zijuan sighed in her heart. Not only the young lady, but Master Bao was even more angry. These foods were obviously earned by the young lady's housekeeper. What's more, since the house was searched, everything in the mansion belonged to Prince Qian, including the meat and vegetable food eaten by the maids.

Not to mention, the girl is still taking medicine. Without the favor of King Qian, if Miss Xu still eats the same food as before, she would have collapsed long ago.

What’s the point of just being angry?

after a little while.

Daiyu finished the medicine with difficulty, smoothed her chest with her hand, and rinsed her mouth with tea. Just as she was about to lie down to rest for a while, Xiren came hurriedly with a report: "Miss, Master Bao has fainted from hunger!"

"what!"

Daiyu woke up with a start, and Xiren hurriedly said, "She didn't faint from hunger. She was so hungry that her eyes were dizzy and her legs were shaking. She banged her head on the table and is now crying out in pain."

Daiyu had just regained consciousness when Zijuan asked curiously, "Didn't Prince Qian give everyone in the mansion one meat and one vegetable?"

Xiren said helplessly, "Second Master also took a bite and said the rice had a stale and rancid smell and he couldn't eat it."

The maids who were paid 200 coins a month all ate stale rice. Jia Baoyu, who had always been spoiled, ate green-stemmed rice and occasionally had the imperial field rouge rice with his grandmother. How could he have eaten this kind of stale rice?

Zijuan glanced at Daiyu and said to Xiren, "Miss, you don't have any extra rice either. You gave it all to the old lady and the madam."

In fact, the kitchen would send three bowls of green-stem rice for every meal. Two bowls were given by Daiyu to Lady Jia and Mrs. Wang, and the remaining bowl was eaten by Daiyu herself, so there was no extra for Master Bao.

"Oh, that's all I can do." Xiren was about to go back.

"You wait."

Daiyu stopped her and said, "Go back and tell him I'm going to ask him one last time if he wants to eat what I'm giving him."

Xiren said, "Second Master will certainly not agree. He will only agree if you go and talk to him."

Daiyu sneered, "I gave him something, and he still wants me to go and persuade him in person. Why should I persuade him? I don't need to coax him. Now that Prince Qian has ordered me to take charge of the garden, he can't stand it and thinks I'm going to enter the palace. No matter what I say, he won't listen. Why should I go to him and make things difficult for him? What kind of person have I become?"

The frail Lin Daiyu said some sarcastic words. Xiren didn't dare to say anything more and hurried back to the Yihong Courtyard.

(End of this chapter)