Dream of the Red Chamber: Daiyu and I swapped clothes

Chapter 30 Happy Enemies
Lin Daiyu didn't immediately connect the dots to her own situation, so she didn't catch the hidden meaning in Wang Xifeng's words.

However, this does not mean she has become dull-witted.

Instead, she now devotes all her energy to compiling lecture notes for Li Chen. In her spare time, she worries about the situation of the Zhenyuan Marquis's mansion, wondering if the trouble she caused that day has ultimately put the mansion in a difficult position.

With so many entanglements, she had no time to care about anything else.

It wasn't until late at night, when she was leaning against her embroidered pillow, that Lin Daiyu belatedly realized and murmured, "Hmm? Could what Sister Feng said today be a veiled reference to me?"

Xueyan, who was resting her head next to Lin Daiyu, could no longer contain herself and burst out laughing. "So you really didn't know, Miss? I thought you were just pretending."

Lin Daiyu's delicate eyebrows furrowed slightly.

The bed, which wasn't spacious to begin with, felt even more cramped with another person sleeping next to it. Xueyan was also a bit restless and didn't sleep well, tossing and turning, which annoyed Xueyan.

Seeing that Lin Daiyu remained silent, Xueyan quickly suppressed her smile and apologized, "No, no, no, I didn't mean to mock you. I just couldn't help myself when I thought of how angry Second Mistress Lian was."

Daiyu glanced at her and said, "Are you still laughing?"

"I won't laugh anymore, I won't laugh anymore, please don't send me away, miss." Xueyan quickly wrapped herself tighter in the brocade quilt and snuggled comfortably into the warm bed. "Miss's bed is exceptionally soft, I can sleep a little longer in the morning and get up with you..."

Xueyan closed her eyes contentedly, especially since the girl had stopped bothering her with her hands recently, which made her sleep more soundly.

But Lin Daiyu couldn't sleep. Gazing at Xueyan's profile, she became increasingly restless.

"This纨绔 (wan ku, a spoiled brat) is incorrigible! I told him not to cause trouble in the manor, but he only made things worse and even pushed Sister Feng to this point."

“He even lied to Zijuan, saying that Xueyan took turns serving him while he rested, which made it difficult for me to send them back.”

"Why should I follow the rules I set in the past, which he broke so easily?"

Lin Daiyu thought to herself, feeling annoyed, then remembered something else, "Right, the Xue family's financial assistance to the Zhenyuan Marquis's mansion, could it also be related to him? Did he deceive Sister Bao... or..."

Or is it that the Xue family truly intends to form a marriage alliance with the Zhenyuan Marquis's family?
After Lin Daiyu returned, she forgot to investigate this important matter.

Coincidentally, she also took the opportunity to ask Xue Baochai about the recent events at the Zhenyuan Marquis's residence.

"No, I have to find a way to teach this spoiled brat a lesson! He's always causing trouble in the manor, and it's bad enough that he used my body to take liberties with Zijuan and Xueyan. But if he deceives the other sisters and does the same to them..."

As soon as Lin Daiyu thought about it, she gritted her teeth in hatred and couldn't help but kick the brocade quilt a few times.

Perhaps because her health was gradually improving, Lin Daiyu was unable to control her strength, and a large part of the brocade quilt was kicked off by her, which immediately startled Xueyan so much that she sat up.

"Girl, what's wrong now?"

Xueyan hurriedly pulled the quilt up and carefully tucked the corners of the quilt into Lin Daiyu's bed.

"Girl, according to the calendar, your menstrual period is coming soon, so you mustn't catch a cold again."

"Ok?"

Upon hearing this, Lin Daiyu's eyes suddenly lit up.

She was born weak, with poor blood and qi from birth, and her body was overly sensitive, so she suffered unbearable pain every time she had her period.

Moreover, he felt weak all over and had no choice but to lie in bed and endure the pain to rest.

Counting the days, there are only three days left until the time for the body to be changed.

As long as I get through these three days peacefully, that纨绔 (a spoiled brat) will have to suffer the consequences, which will be a good opportunity to punish him.

Instantly, most of the pent-up frustration in Lin Daiyu's heart dissipated.

"As long as he's not so smug in the mansion, that's fine."

For the first time, Lin Daiyu felt that menstruation was a good thing.

Lin Daiyu lay down happily, gently patted Xueyan's shoulder, and said, "You've finally come in handy."

"?"

Xueyan opened her eyes in confusion, but Lin Daiyu had already turned her back to her and fallen asleep...

...The cotton wadding case was resolved sooner than Li Chen had expected.

When the Earl of Zhongxin received this assignment, he knew that his secret had been exposed and there was no way to reverse it. Within a few days, he confessed to the powerful eunuch Liu Bing, with whom he worked.

He first tricked the son of Steward Qiu of the Zhenyuan Marquis's mansion into going to a gambling den and incurring huge debts. Then he met with Steward Qiu in private, coercing and enticing him to tell him about his methods of embezzling military supplies, thus setting a trap for the Zhenyuan Marquis's mansion.

Left with no other choice, Butler Qiu had to comply.

However, they were out of their depth, as the Marquis of Zhenyuan's mansion discovered the plot first and it reached the Emperor's ears.

Then, upon hearing his father's account upon his return, he learned of another minor incident that occurred in the imperial court.

Originally, Emperor Tai'an only fined him for one year and ordered the Earl of Zhongxin to return all the embezzled money to the national treasury.

The exact amount wasn't precise; it was simply a very large sum, a disguised form of confiscation.

But the Eighth Prince stepped forward, first giving a very long and compassionate performance, and then, without targeting the Earl of Zhongxin, he simply lamented the state of the military camp, saying something like, "If this continues, the country will cease to exist," which won the praise of most of the civil officials.

Then, saying that "it does not implicate many people," he sentenced the Marquis of Zhongxin to a more severe punishment, stripped him of all his powers, leaving him with only an empty title, thus clearing the names of the other nobles and helping the eldest prince to shirk responsibility.

Ultimately, at the behest of Emperor Tai'an, the authority to oversee military procurement was transferred to the Ministry of Revenue, resulting in a complete victory.

Even Li Chen couldn't help but sigh, "What a wise king!"

The Zhenyuan Marquis's residence, however, was not mistreated.

Emperor Tai'an promoted his father to Deputy Commander of the Beijing Garrison, a fifth-rank official position with a quota of three thousand soldiers, a position of real power, which can be considered a considerable gain.

It's not impossible to gradually rise to the rank of Commander of the Nine Gates in the future.

"Having learned from this incident, if you ever become involved in court affairs again, you should first use the excuse of careful consideration to delay, write to me to discuss it, or wait until the day of your transfer to another body for me to decide. You must never act rashly again..."

After compiling today's information, Li Chen leaned back in his chair, let out a long sigh, and began to look forward to life at the Rongguo Mansion.

"It will be fine in three more days."

Li Chen muttered to himself, then suddenly remembered something and quickly picked up his pen. “We are meant to be in the same boat, how can we hide anything from each other and cause one of us to fall into a predicament? From now on, I will record everything in detail in the book, and I hope that Miss Lin can be open and honest with me.”

After finishing his writing, Li Chen wrote a few more small characters in the gap.

"On the 22nd of the twelfth lunar month, we need to visit the Rongguo Mansion to return the gifts to the Xue family."

"I was being too sincere," Li Chen thought to himself.

……

The next day, at the Rongguo Mansion,

The first thing Lin Daiyu did upon waking was to rub her lower abdomen. Everything was normal, and there was nothing unusual. She couldn't help but feel secretly relieved.

"Alright, alright, we just need to get through two more days peacefully."

Lin Daiyu clenched her little fist as if to encourage herself, and then followed Zijuan to wash her face, change her clothes, and comb her hair.

"Miss, after breakfast, would you like to take a stroll in the plum grove?"

Zijuan spoke up, waking Lin Daiyu from her reverie.

"No, I want to see Sister Bao first."

"Miss Bao?" Zijuan gave a wry smile. "Then will Xueyan and I have to avoid this place again?"

Lin Daiyu nodded guiltily.

The process of testing someone's feelings for another, and whether they are truly interested in marriage, must not be overheard by a third person.

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(End of this chapter)