The Red Mansion in its bustling glory

The old lady was overjoyed to see Aunt Xue and the others arrive.

She had another peculiar trait: she liked good-looking people.

He especially likes pretty girls.

You see, she favors Daiyu—Daiyu is beautiful.

In the original novel "Dream of the Red Chamber", when Xue Baoqin came to the Jia family, Grandmother Jia favored her more because she was more beautiful than Daiyu and Baochai.

She even considered having Baoyu marry Baoqin.

Of course, these are all things to be discussed later, so let's leave them aside for now.

Let's look at what's in front of us.

When Grandmother Jia looked at Baochai, she saw that Baochai was elegant, gentle, beautiful, and spoke politely. Naturally, she admired her greatly.

The group chatted in the outer room for a while before going into the inner room.

They chatted for a while in the inner room. After all, Grandmother Jia was getting old and her energy was limited. It was too much for her to keep entertaining guests all the time.

Aunt Xue noticed that Grandmother Jia looked tired, so she took the initiative to get up and say goodbye.

Seeing that Aunt Xue was so pleased with her, Grandmother Jia's opinion of her rose even higher. So she jokingly said, "You two sisters haven't seen each other for years. Now that you've met, you must have a lot of private things to say that you're too embarrassed to say in front of this old woman. Why don't you two chat by yourselves?"

Everyone laughed at his words.

Aunt Xue and Madam Wang declined briefly before taking their leave.

Seeing that Madam Wang had left, Madam Xing naturally did not want to stay there like a block of wood, so she found an excuse to get up and say goodbye to Grandmother Jia.

Grandmother Jia had always disliked her eldest son's new wife, believing that she came from a humble background, lacked manners and etiquette, and was vulgar and inconsiderate. She had long been impatient with her.

Seeing that Xing took the initiative to say goodbye, she was happy to go along with it and granted her request.

With both wives gone, all that remains here are the old lady, Jia Jue, Baoyu, Daiyu, Baochai, the three sisters Ying, Tan, and Xi, and the two young mistresses Wang Xifeng and Li Wan.

The rest were just maids and old women serving their masters.

With Wang Xifeng speaking here, there was no need for anyone else to lighten the mood; she alone kept the whole scene lively and bustling.

Unfortunately, since Lady Wang has gradually stopped interfering in affairs, and Sister Feng has handled Jia Rong's marriage in a very successful manner, most of the household management has been handed over to Sister Feng.

So she's usually very busy.

At this moment, a woman came over, wanting to get a token from Wang Xifeng to do something.

As everyone was chatting animatedly, Sister Feng suddenly felt someone poking her from behind.

She turned around and saw it was Ping'er, so she asked quietly, "What's wrong?"

Ping'er said, "Wang'er's family wants to collect a pair of tokens, saying they need to go to the treasury to get some silver."

Sister Feng said, "Why are you being so stubborn at a time like this? You could have just asked and looked around, and decided to give it to her in your mind. You know where the mahjong tiles are. I'm with the old lady right now, how can I go over there? You've done this kind of thing before."

Ping'er sneered, "If it were just about getting the matching tokens, that would be fine, of course I gave them to her. But Grandma, think about what day it is today..."

Wang Xifeng thought to herself – today is the day to collect the interest!

At this moment, Ping'er whispered again, "Grandma, don't forget, Second Master is still at home today."

Just as the master and servant were whispering to each other, Grandmother Jia saw them and asked, "What's wrong?"

Wang Xifeng quickly turned around and smiled at the old lady, "Oh, it's nothing, it's just that Wang'er's wife is here on business."

Upon hearing this, the old lady laughed and said, "Yes, you're quite the busy person these days!"

Then the old lady added, "I thought you two, master and servant, were having some private conversations!"

Everyone laughed again.

After laughing, the old lady said, "In that case, you should hurry up and go, lest you delay things!"

Wang Xifeng said "Hey," and then added, "It's nothing important, I'll just have Ping'er go."

The old lady pointed at her and laughed, "You little rascal, always thinking about shirking your duties, making Ping'er do everything for you. You'd better hurry up, there might be something important coming up. You're in charge of the household now, it's not good not to keep an eye on things."

Wang Xifeng then agreed, stood up, said a few words, and left.

After leaving Grandmother Jia's residence, Wang Xifeng asked Ping'er, "Where is Wang'er's wife? Isn't she in our courtyard?"

Ping'er said, "How could I let her wait in our courtyard? What would happen if Second Master Lian saw her? I'll just have her wait in the 'Council Hall'."

This "meeting hall" didn't actually exist in the Rongguo Mansion originally. It was only after Wang Xifeng took over the household affairs that she disliked conducting business in her own house. Instead, she would do it in another room, which the servants jokingly called the "meeting hall."

Over time, Ping'er and Wang Xifeng would sometimes call her that too.

But let's get back to the point.

Hearing Ping'er say this, Wang Xifeng nodded and said, "Let's go quickly."

With that, he took the lead and walked out.

When the two arrived, they saw Wang's daughter-in-law sitting in a chair in the room, with a large box on the table next to her.

Upon seeing Wang Xifeng arrive, Wang's daughter-in-law quickly stood up and respectfully greeted, "Hello, Grandma."

Wang Xifeng nodded, sat down on the kang (heated brick bed), and asked, "How much is this?"

Wang's daughter-in-law said, "Grandma, there are a total of seven hundred and fifty-nine taels of silver here."

"Seven hundred and fifty-nine taels?" Wang Xifeng frowned. "Why isn't that enough?"

Wang'er said, "It's Lai Xing who said he wants Grandma to give him two more days."

Wang Xifeng replied, "Go back and tell Laixing that the interest will be paid by the day after tomorrow at the latest. If he can't pay it back by then, consider it a reward from me."

Wang'er's family member immediately responded with an "Eh."

Wang Xifeng then asked, "What brings you here to collect the token?"

Wang'er's family said, "They're talking about the things in the clan school, the monthly allowance for Master Dairu, and the money for writing materials in the clan school."

Wang Xifeng nodded and said, "I understand. By the way, you don't need to worry about the clan school for now. I have other things to arrange for you to do."

Wang's daughter-in-law agreed and left.

Just then, Wang Xifeng heard someone calling in the courtyard, "Is Second Mistress there?"

Wang Xifeng remembered the voice; it belonged to Xiren.

She quickly gave Ping'er a meaningful look, and Ping'er understood, hurriedly taking a piece of red cloth from somewhere and covering it up.

Wang Xifeng said, "Yes, Sister Xiren, come here quickly!"

Hearing that Wang Xifeng was inside, Xiren breathed a sigh of relief and came in with Yinglian beside her.

Upon entering, Wang Xifeng saw a young maid standing next to Xiren. She was pretty and had a cinnabar mark between her eyebrows. Wang Xifeng realized that this was a new maid that Jia Jue had taken in from Jinling.

She also understood why Xiren had come here at this time.