The Red Mansion in its bustling glory

Everyone looked at Jia Jue when he spoke, wondering what funny thing he was going to say.

Tan Chun, standing nearby, asked, "What new tricks has Second Brother come up with this time?"

Jia Jue smiled and said to a maid beside him, "Could you please go to my room and find Musk Moon, and tell her to bring me my playing cards?"

Upon hearing this, the little girl hurried off.

What good games could he possibly have?

He wasn't usually interested in the games that young ladies liked to play, and he didn't know what they liked.

However, he was, after all, a time traveler from a later era.

Before he transmigrated here, his ancestral home was in Shandong. He had played cards and card games since he was a child. Now that he is here, he has made a few decks of cards in his spare time and plays with Musk Moon, Qingwen and the other maids in his room.

Now, among those present—Shi Xiangyun, Lin Daiyu, Yingchun, Tanchun, Xichun, and Jia Jue—there are exactly six people.

He then thought he'd give it a try.

Since they've never played it before, they won't find it annoying to experience something new.

Amidst the expectant gazes of the crowd, the little girl who had left earlier pushed open the door and entered, carrying a wooden box in her hand.

Inside the box were the "playing cards" made by Jia Jue.

Jia Jue took the box and took out the cards.

When the crowd gathered around to look, they saw that the cards were made of cardboard with the characters "贰", "僄", and "肆" written on them.

There were also some strange symbols, the meaning of which is unknown.

Jia Jue took the cards and began to talk eloquently.

The discussion naturally revolved around the rules of the game.

There were no fools among those present. Even if Yingchun was a little slow-witted, it was a result of adapting to the environment in the Jia family. In essence, she was also an intelligent person.

Therefore, it didn't take long for the group to understand.

Shi Xiangyun laughed and said, "Brother Ai, I don't know where you heard about this game, it's really novel."

Daiyu, standing nearby, said, "We really have to thank Sister Yun. If it weren't for you, we wouldn't have known."

Everyone laughed when they heard that.

Without further ado, this banquet was originally intended to send off Xiangyun. Although the atmosphere was somewhat disrupted, everyone was trying their best to make it lively again.

In the first few rounds, Jia Jue naturally took the lead, since the others had only been playing for a short time.

But after a few times, Tan Chun and Dai Yu gradually began to take turns managing the affairs with Jia Jue.

Jia Jue knew that Daiyu was exceptionally intelligent, and he could have predicted that she would be in this situation.

However, Tan Chun surprised Jia Jue.

Although Tan Chun is the most talented among the three sisters of the Jia family, according to the novel "Dream of the Red Chamber", she is still a little inferior to Daiyu, Baochai, Xiangyun and Miaoyu.

However, it was unexpected that Tan Chun possessed such a high level of mathematical and statistical talent.

Perhaps in this respect, she is even better than Daiyu. The only ones who can compare to her are Wang Xifeng and Xue Baochai, who is still in Jinling.

Jia Jue was secretly surprised.

Before they knew it, the group had been playing for two hours, and it was time for Xiangyun to leave.

The group saw her off all the way out.

Before leaving, Xiangyun said to them, "Remember to tell the Ancestor to bring me here as soon as possible, don't forget!"

After saying that, he left in tears.

Based solely on Xiangyun's words, it is clear that she was not happy living in the Marquis of Baoling's mansion.

After everyone returned, Jia Jue suddenly noticed Daiyu giving him a cold smile.

After the others left, Jia Jue followed Daiyu to her courtyard.

"Why is Second Brother following me?" Daiyu asked, turning around.

"Naturally, I've come to talk to my sister," Jia Jue said with a smile.

Daiyu sneered, "I'm stupid, unlike Brother Jue who can come up with novel games. I'm also not as lucky as Sister Yun, who can see and obtain Brother's novel things."

Jia Jue felt a chill run down his spine.

broken!

I guess the deck of cards I just gave to Shi Xiangyun was shown to Daiyu.

Actually, the fact that he gave these things to Xiangyun didn't mean that he had any special feelings for Shi Xiangyun.

He knew that Shi Xiangyun was not having a good time in the Shi family, so out of sympathy, he gave her a deck of cards and a copy of the rules of Dou Dizhu (a card game) handwritten by Musk Moon, just so she could relieve her boredom when she had nothing to do.

The reason she delivered it secretly was because none of her sisters had given her anything at this time, and it wouldn't be appropriate for her to do it alone.

Secondly, it was to prevent Daiyu from overthinking.

Now it's better to just give it away openly.

Jia Jue sighed inwardly and smiled at Daiyu, "Why do you say such things, sister? Let me explain in detail."

Lin Daiyu didn't speak, but just looked at him with a half-smile.

Looking at Daiyu's expression, Jia Jue chuckled and said, "Sister, you can tell from the way Yun'er left that she wasn't having a good time at home."

Daiyu nodded; she could naturally see that.

Jia Jue then said, "Sister, you haven't been to the Shi family mansion, so you don't know. When I went to her house, I heard from the servants that Yun'er has to do needlework every day, from the moment she gets up until night, with very little rest. You know that her parents died early, and to put it bluntly, which of the elders in her family truly treats her well? Although she has a few sisters, they are not truly close to her. Often, Yun'er has to do things for her sisters out of necessity."

Jia Jue continued, "So I gave her a deck of cards, hoping she could relieve her boredom when she had some free time."

Daiyu was a sentimental person by nature. When she thought of Xiangyun's life story, she couldn't help but think of herself—also a lonely and helpless person living under someone else's roof. Therefore, she couldn't help but shed a few tears.

Suddenly, she remembered telling Jia Jue not to cry a few days ago, so she forced herself not to cry, but her eyes were still red.

After calming herself down, she said to Jia Jue, "Of course I know and understand that you gave her the gift, but why are you being so secretive?"

Although she asked the question, Daiyu thought to herself, "Of course I know you're hiding it from me in private because you don't want me to overthink it, but don't you know that the more you do that, the more people will overthink it? You're afraid I'll get angry because of this, but you don't understand my heart!"

Upon hearing this, Jia Jue immediately understood why Daiyu was angry: she was angry that he had kept it a secret, and she was also angry that he felt she was too narrow-minded.

But don't worry, Jia Jue had prepared his explanation from the beginning, just in order to deal with the situation at hand.

Jia Jue then said, "Giving her this deck of cards was a spur-of-the-moment decision. Giving it to her secretly was also a last resort; after all, if I were the only one giving her something, what would that leave you all?"

After listening, Daiyu thought about it and realized that it made sense; she had been a little too emotional.

A mischievous thought suddenly welled up in Jia Jue's heart, and he said, "I know what you're thinking, sister. You just think I'm overthinking things and that I'm being too narrow-minded. But you don't know my heart if you think that way."

As soon as she finished speaking, Daiyu was at a loss. She thought that Jia Jue had always been the one to relieve her worries, which showed that he was her confidant. However, she was not his confidant. Wasn't this the greatest sorrow?

It turns out that it wasn't that he didn't know her heart, but that she didn't know his heart!

At this thought, tears welled up again.

Jia Jue took one look and realized something was wrong.