Lian Erye in the Red Mansion

Jia Baoyu's interest was completely piqued. Seeing the dice set right in front of Jia Lian, he hurriedly said, "Last round they covered and we shot. This round it's our turn to cover. They shot, right?"

"Second Brother Lian, hurry up and roll the dice!"

Jia Lian could naturally see Jia Baoyu's eagerness, but unfortunately, he rolled a four, which meant that Tan Chun should be the official in charge.

He handed the dice and dice cup to Aunt Xue and asked her to roll them. Unexpectedly, Aunt Xue rolled a four on her first roll, which matched Tan Chun's.

Aunt Xue laughed and said, "I'm not as young as you, and I don't remember many poems and allusions. If you make me guess, it will inevitably spoil your fun."

"Why don't you guys keep rolling? I'll just watch you play."

"That won't do. Auntie loves us so much, how can we neglect her?"

Auntie, there's no need to worry. With Bao-jie here, no matter how difficult the order, it won't be as difficult as Bao-jie's.

Daiyu was very picky about people; among her elders, only a few received her special attention.

Among them was Aunt Xue, because although everyone knew that the Xue family was extremely wealthy, Aunt Xue never acted ostentatiously.

Most importantly, Aunt Xue was always very kind to her...

That's why she suggested detaining Aunt Xue. But fearing Aunt Xue might misunderstand, she quickly turned to Tan Chun, pretending to whisper, but actually speaking in a normal voice: "Look at Sister Lian, she's only focused on eating. She probably hasn't understood how we play yet. Tell me an easier one so Sister Lian can participate too."

Wang Xifeng, who was all smiles and focused on eating and watching the show from beginning to end, never imagined that she could be trampled on while sitting down!

She knew that Daiyu was using her to maintain Aunt Xue's dignity, so she just rolled her eyes at Daiyu, smiled, and said nothing.

Seeing this, Aunt Xue felt relieved and said, "In that case, you can give me the riddles, and I'll try. If I can't guess them, you mustn't laugh at me."

Everyone said they dared not.

Tan Chun originally intended to compete with Daiyu and others for the limelight. When she saw Jia Lian call her name, she wanted to come up with an extremely difficult and clever idea. However, she did not expect that Aunt Xue would come to answer the call, which disrupted her plan.

Ultimately, respecting seniority and hierarchy is paramount, so Tan Chun decisively gave up the opportunity to shine. Her gaze swept around the table, lingering for a moment on the potted crabapple tree in the open space behind Jia Baoyu, before she smiled and said, "Green leaves are lush, red flowers are faded."

Aunt Xue laughed; these children were all quite interesting.

To underestimate her by letting the water out like this is a gross underestimation.

So he simply smiled and said, "Rouge."

Everyone originally thought that even if Tan Chun deliberately revealed the secret and the hint of covering her face was obvious, Aunt Xue would still think about how to shoot.

Unexpectedly, Aunt Xue shot without hesitation and hit the target.

Wang Xifeng, along with Jia Lan and Xiangling, were all somewhat confused and waited for others to explain.

Jia Baoyu praised, "It seems we all underestimated Aunt. Aunt not only responded to the command quickly, but also shot it very well."

The color of begonia has always been used to imitate the color of rouge.

Examples include: "Crabapple blossoms in the wind, rouge-colored rain"; "Crabapple blossoms do not hesitate to display their rouge color"; "Pear and crabapple leaves fall, rouge-colored".

My aunt has used both classical allusions and poetic phrases.

Aunt Xue smiled, raised her wine cup and clinked it against Tan Chun's in the air, took a sip, then picked up the dice and continued shaking them.

In the third round, Xichun faced off against Jia Baoyu, a clearly unequal match in strength.

Xi Chun managed to come up with one, but Jia Baoyu deliberately played a trick on her, replying with a particularly obscure line of poetry. Xi Chun, unaware of this, naturally couldn't determine whether Jia Baoyu had actually matched it correctly...

Baochai couldn't bear to see Jia Baoyu bullying the younger one, so she told Xichun that Jia Baoyu was right and explained the source of the story. Xichun then understood and, seeing Jia Baoyu's smug look, couldn't help but glare at him angrily.

Brother Bao is so bad, Sister Bao is the best.

Jia Baoyu simply wanted to tease Xichun and liven up the atmosphere; he didn't necessarily want Xichun, the orderer, to be punished with a drink.

In the fourth round, Li Wan faced off against Xiang Ling.

"I've heard that you've studied under a famous teacher. Today, I'll test you on her behalf and see how much skill you've actually acquired."

Faced with Li Wan's oppressive aura, the cautious Xiangling sat even straighter, placing her hands on the edge of the table, looking like a primary school student listening to a teacher's lecture.

"Listen carefully, my mask is shaped like the character 'gourd'," Li Wan said with a smile.

Xiangling hurriedly asked which character it was.

Li Wan then explained that it was the "piao" in "water ladle," and Xiangling understood.

Perhaps it was good fortune, but she almost knocked over her wine glass because she was nervous, and quickly went to straighten it.

Suddenly, a thought struck her: she remembered seeing phrases like "gourd and wine vessel" in the anthology of Song Dynasty poems that Daiyu had given her.

谷楾

Could it be that the eldest mistress's command was a wine glass?

With this guess in mind, it wasn't difficult, and he quickly tentatively replied, "Green?"

Li Wan thought for a moment, then looked at Xiangling with admiration and raised her wine cup to Xiangling.

Xiangling knew she had hit the target, and quickly raised her cup in return.

Upon seeing this, Baochai laughed and said, "Only now do we have our first real 'guessing game' today."

The one who covers up the cover does not say a word else.

After the archer shoots, the person covering the shot judges whether the shot hit the target. From beginning to end, the outcome is never revealed; this constitutes a complete game of archery with the target covered.

Jia Baoyu nodded and said, "It is indeed more interesting than other games. My sister-in-law and Xiangling only said two words in total, and the game was already over. I'm afraid many people here are still confused."

Wang Xifeng curled her lip and said, "Baoyu, stop making veiled accusations. I really don't know what riddle they were playing. Instead of explaining it to us, you're mocking us?"

Jia Baoyu, who had been intentionally trying to manipulate things, chuckled, apologized to Wang Xifeng, and then said loudly:

"The gourd that the eldest sister-in-law covered was probably only matched by a wine cup throughout the banquet."

This is because the ancients often used wine vessels as ladles, hence the saying "ladle wine vessel".

Sister-in-law, this is a reference.

The "green" character that Xiangling shot is also related to wine, as the ancients often referred to it as "green wine vessel." This is because in ancient times, the fine wines brewed by the ancients were mostly green, as in the sayings "When you open the jar, the duck's head is green; when you sharpen the knife, the fish's eye is red" and "A thousand cups of longevity wine are green, and ten thousand layers of official flowers are red."

There is also Liu Xiyi's line, "Tears fall with the yellow leaves, sorrow arises in the green wine cup."

The most ingenious part is that Du Fu has a poem that says, "The gourd is discarded and the wine cup is empty, but the stove is still burning red." Doesn't this string together the bottom of the game, the cover, and the shooting game?

Therefore, the eldest sister-in-law's order was good, and Xiangling's response was also excellent.

Wang Xifeng nodded as if she suddenly understood... In reality, she didn't quite understand.

……

The masters sat in a circle in the courtyard, having a great time.

The maids on the sidelines were also enjoying the show, although they were mostly confused. They just felt that the young ladies and mistresses were very capable and knowledgeable.

I also envy Xiangling, who gets to sit and play games with her masters!

Therefore, whether they were the guards waiting to retrieve the items or the head maids sitting on the corridors eating, they all chose to watch the commotion quietly, not daring to make a sound and disturb their masters.

The atmosphere was very joyful.

An old woman peeked into the courtyard and walked up to Jia Lian. "Second Master, this was sent in by someone outside the second gate."

Jia Lian took it; it was a letter with sky blue as the main color, and he glanced at it casually.

"Second brother, what are you looking at?"

Although everyone was playing drinking games, the chief Jia Lian's every move still couldn't escape everyone's watchful eyes.

"It's nothing, just a gift from someone."

Jia Lian casually tucked it into his sleeve, clearly not intending to share it with anyone.

Jia Lian's actions only increased suspicion.

"Who would send you this invitation out of the blue?"

Wang Xifeng pressed for an answer.

She noticed it too; the color of the post from earlier was wrong!

Because Jia Baoyu was sitting close to Jia Lian, he laughed and said, "I just saw it. 'Miaoyu, an outsider, respectfully sends her greetings on your auspicious birthday.' Judging from the handwriting, it looks like it was written by a girl..."

Since Xue Pan arrived, Jia Baoyu, along with Qin Zhong and a few others, often went out to eat and drink with courtesans.

In reality, it's far from as simple as it seems on the surface.

He was clearly enjoying the drama and trying to sow discord between Jia Lian and Wang Xifeng, as if he was afraid Wang Xifeng wouldn't cause trouble for Jia Lian.

Jia Lian glanced at the young man, then said frankly, "It's Miaoyu, as you know."

Wang Xifeng secretly breathed a sigh of relief. She knew of this Miaoyu, although she had never met her.

When Jia She died, Jia Lian was in a state of turmoil and went to the Muni Temple to find the nun Gao Ni to deduce cause and effect and his future. He heard that he was impressed by the Buddhist teachings of this nun Miao Yu and even became her Taoist master.

It seems rather strange that a Buddhist would give someone a birth chart.