Lian Erye in the Red Mansion

Grandmother Jia and the others went back to their respective places to dress up according to their rank, and everyone else subconsciously walked into Rongqing Hall.

Seeing that Feng Jie looked at him with envy, Jia Lian said, "Why are you looking at me like that? Even if you have an imperial title, you can't go to the palace today."

Jia Lian and Wang Xifeng were already the focus of the crowd, and everyone had already seen what Feng Jie looked like. When they heard Jia Lian say this, they immediately cast mocking glances at Feng Jie.

"Go away, who said I wanted to go..." Sister Feng said shyly, giving Jia Lian a reproachful look, and pretended to walk away.

Just then, the women from the clan, seeing that Grandmother Jia and Lady Wang didn't have time to pay attention to them, exclaimed in amazement and sighed for a while before bidding farewell to Li Wan and Feng Jie. Li Wan and Feng Jie then got up and saw them off briefly.

As a result, the number of people in the hall was reduced by more than half.

The three sisters, all with rosy cheeks, were clearly the most affected by the joyous news of Yuan Chun's elevation to imperial concubine. After Feng Jie left Jia Lian's side, they came over and chattered around him, partly to share their joy and partly to ask him how he knew about Yuan Chun's upcoming imperial concubine appointment.

Jia Lian casually answered Tan Chun and the others' questions, his gaze passing over their bodies to look behind them.

Compared to the joy of the three sisters and the other maids and servants, Daiyu and Jia Baoyu, sitting quietly on the stools, seemed somewhat out of place.

The two of them seemed unable to feel the joy of those around them.

Even with Daiyu's situation, Jia Lian could still understand. Perhaps, for Daiyu, happiness belonged to the Jia family, and had nothing to do with her, Lin Daiyu?

However, for Jia Baoyu, his elder sister, who had "finally become a mother-in-law after many years of hardship," had become an imperial concubine. He should have felt happy and joyful for her. His unmoved attitude was indeed refreshing.

Even with Jia Lian's ability to see through people's hearts in his two lifetimes, he still found it somewhat incomprehensible.

Perhaps, Erbao is expressing his unique personality that doesn't follow the crowd, and his noble character that doesn't fawn over the powerful and wealthy.

In this light, it is not surprising that Jia Baoyu and Daiyu do share some similarities in personality, and thus consider each other as kindred spirits.

In this life, Jia Lian would not let Daiyu fall into this quagmire again, so he smiled and said to Jia Baoyu, "Brother Bao, now that you've become the emperor's brother-in-law, why do I see such a bitter look on your face, and not a trace of happiness?"

Looking at the chaotic scene around him, with people in a state of inexplicable euphoria, Jia Baoyu was already thinking to himself, "How vulgar!" "Extremely vulgar!" Suddenly, Jia Lian asked him a question. He glanced at the crowd, smiled shyly, and said nothing.

A few years ago, when he was younger, if he could have said things like "Men are made of mud and flesh, while women are made of water" and "Those men who study to become officials are all parasites," given his unbridled and willful attitude at the time, he would certainly have said what he truly felt.

But now, after being brutally beaten by society (Jia Zheng), he knows that people are all vulgar. If he speaks his "profound theories," the vulgar people will not only disagree but also spread them as jokes. Why should he speak and let them laugh at him?

I should only say those things to those close to me.

Even though Jia Baoyu didn't say anything, his attitude was enough to convey something. Those present were probably all people who knew Jia Baoyu's temperament, so they all started to tease him, but they didn't dare to make fun of him or offend him because of the doting on him by Grandmother Jia and the others.

As a result, everyone toned down their joy a little. After all, the other person's own brother hadn't even celebrated yet, so what was the point of them, who were completely unrelated, being happy for him?

Aunt Xue then smiled and smoothed things over for Jia Baoyu, saying to Jia Lian, "When the Empress entered the palace, your brother Bao was still young, so he doesn't remember his sister very well."

I heard your wife say that when the Empress was at home, her favorite child was Baoyu.

Because the Empress was nearly ten years older than Baoyu, she treated him like both an older sister and a mother. From a young age, Baoyu always loved to cling to the Empress.

But your Bao brothers probably don't remember these things anymore.

Hearing Aunt Xue say this, the remaining old women in the room also laughed and said, "What Aunt Xue said is true. Back then, our mistress treated our Master Bao very well."

Back then, our wife was always busy, and the old lady wasn't very energetic, so our second master was raised by our empress herself.

From that tiny little bundle of joy, I held him until he could speak and run around on the ground...

The day the Empress entered the palace, our Second Master Bao cried his eyes out, clinging tightly to her and refusing to let her go. Even our strong-willed Empress couldn't help but shed tears.

As the old woman spoke, she seemed deeply moved and couldn't help but wipe her eyes.

Jia Baoyu's face grew increasingly hot. Although he couldn't remember much about his childhood, he instinctively knew that they weren't lying, which made him feel increasingly choked up.

If she were truly such a good sister, why would she need to go to the palace? Wouldn't it have been better for her to stay at home and take care of me?

Thinking about it, she couldn't help but glance at Baochai sitting next to Aunt Xue, thinking to herself, "She's also an outstanding and rare beauty, but unfortunately, I heard they're going to send her to the palace to suffer..."

I've tried many times to persuade her not to go to such a dark and gloomy place. But she has a difficult personality and if I try to persuade her like that, she'll definitely misunderstand me and get angry with me.

I really hope she won't repeat the same mistake and won't have to go to the palace.

Everyone was watching Jia Baoyu, so his every move was being observed. His sorrowful and resentful gaze toward Baochai caused Baochai to furrow her brows.

Others couldn't tell what Jia Baoyu was thinking, but Baochai could see right through him.

This was because Jia Baoyu had once told her that entering the palace was not a good destination, but a bottomless abyss, and that she should never jump in...

She ignored his rude remarks because Jia Baoyu was her cousin and he meant no harm.

At this moment, Jia Baoyu's rudeness once again annoyed her. She noticed that, following Jia Baoyu's lead, many people were casting scrutinizing glances at her.

Baochai knew that many of these people also knew that she was a candidate for selection.

Therefore, when their gazes fell upon her, it was as if they were comparing her to their own Consort Yuan, as if they were considering whether Xue Baochai had the same good fortune as their Consort and could also become a supreme and noble imperial consort!

This feeling made Baochai, who was in her teens, feel extremely embarrassed.

Even if she no longer belittled herself, she knew that entering the palace was an extremely difficult path. Even with the power of their Jia family, her cousin Yuan Chun had to wait eight or nine years to finally reach the top.

Even if she manages to enter the palace by chance, she will probably need a stroke of good fortune to bring glory to and protect her family!

So, some of the old women seemed to shake their heads silently.

At this moment, even with her broad-mindedness, Baochai couldn't help but feel a heavy weight in her heart.

Daiyu felt the surroundings suddenly quiet down. She turned her head to look at the dazed Jia Baoyu, then glanced at the indifferent Baochai. Suddenly, she felt a surge of joy and covered her mouth to laugh...

To be honest, even though Jia Baoyu, Baochai, Daiyu, and others exchanged glances many times, most people present still didn't know what interesting thing had happened, nor did they know why Daiyu suddenly smiled so sweetly.

Jia Lian, of course, understood perfectly. When Daiyu's gaze swept over, he rolled his eyes at her, as if to say: Hey, Lin Daiyu, you've gone too far.

Daiyu frowned slightly, seemingly letting out a dissatisfied hum, and then her smile gradually faded.

Aunt Xue also noticed the spiritual communication between her youngest daughters, but she didn't do anything more. She simply put one of her daughters' hands in her palm, giving her warmth and a sense of security.

Just then, Li Wan and Feng Jie returned. To ease Baochai's predicament, Jia Lian stood up and said to Li Wan, "I'll have to trouble you again, sister-in-law. Feng Jie and I are both in mourning and cannot escort the old lady and the others to the palace, so I'm sorry to trouble you."

Li Wan was slightly taken aback. Not wanting to say much in front of everyone, she simply nodded and said politely.

The fact that Jia Lian, the younger brother-in-law, took the initiative to talk to his sister-in-law was much more interesting than Jia Baoyu and Baochai, so everyone's attention turned to the two of them.

Jia Lian and Li Wan only said a few words casually, and then behaved very properly, without anything seeming amiss.