Lian Erye in the Red Mansion

After taking a bath in the stream, feeling refreshed, Jia Lian led Jia Baoyu, who was still soaking wet but refused to take off his undergarments, up the mountain path. From a distance, they could hear the sounds of their playful laughter coming from the clear pool.

"Go and tell the girls that the water in the pool is too cold and they shouldn't soak for too long. They should come up when they're done."

After giving Xiangling a few instructions, Jia Lian returned to the camp.

Jia Baoyu went to his private carriage to change his clothes, while Jia Lian got into the carriage belonging to Ping'er, Qingwen, and Xiangling.

Ping'er was the best at serving people. She first found a clean towel and carefully wiped Jia Lian's whole body, and then squatted down to take off the only shorts and robe Jia Lian was wearing.

As Jia Lian's only maidservant and the only woman with the title of concubine, Ping'er was naturally very familiar with Jia Lian's body and was unlikely to be curious about any part of him.

But at this moment, she couldn't help but steal a glance at the key two times.

Unfortunately, not to mention that Ah Qin had already cleaned up for Jia Lian before, he had just gotten out of the stream, and all traces had long since disappeared, making it virtually impossible to spot anything with the naked eye.

After changing his clothes, Jia Lian went to check on Zhen Yuhuan in the carriage again. As soon as he got off the carriage, he saw Jia Baoyu sneaking over.

"What are you doing?"

"No, it's nothing..."

Jia Baoyu dared not say that he had heard from a maid that Jia Lian had arrived at Zhen Yuhuan's carriage, and he was afraid that Jia Lian would do something indecent to Zhen Yuhuan.

By now, he had come to understand the domineering and greedy nature of his cousin, Jia Lian.

He even suspected that Xiren's red-clad cousin, whom Jia Lian had claimed was just a young lady from a humble family whom he was keeping safe, might have already passed into Jia Lian's hands.

Because whenever he secretly went to visit her, the girl would show great respect and admiration whenever Jia Lian was mentioned, and she was very proud to serve in Jia Lian and his wife's room.

However, he was too shy to admit that the other person was actually one of his own, so after a few attempts, he lost much of his enthusiasm to look for them.

Given Jia Lian's past offenses, Jia Baoyu was naturally worried that Jia Lian might also harm Zhen Yuhuan.

Fortunately, Jia Lian's quick alighting from the carriage dispelled his doubts. He hesitated for a moment, then pulled Jia Lian aside and whispered, "Second Brother Lian, could you think of a way to let Sister Yu Huan stay in our family?"

Jia Baoyu tried to persuade him to stay last night, but was met with opposition from various forces.

Although he was reluctant to admit it, he knew in his heart that if Jia Lian was willing to help, there was a high chance that he could accomplish it.

Lin Daiyu had already fallen for someone else and no longer paid attention to him. This Zhen family girl, who looked almost exactly like Lin Daiyu, was the only thing he could rely on to make up for his regrets.

He desperately wanted to keep the other person here.

Faced with Jia Baoyu's request, Jia Lian laughed and asked, "Why do you so want to keep her here?"

"Well, well... she and Lin Daiyu and the others are so close. If she goes back to Nanjing, Lin Daiyu and the others will be heartbroken."

Moreover, she's a veteran of our poetry club. If she leaves, our club will be forever short of someone.

Faced with Jia Lian's meaningful gaze, Jia Baoyu spoke evasively.

Seemingly finding these reasons insufficient to sway Jia Lian, he gritted his teeth and said, "Furthermore, Sister Yu Huan is so adorable. As her sworn brother, don't you want to keep her here?"

In Jia Baoyu's eyes, apart from Daiyu who ignored him for a special reason, all the sisters liked him very much.

Although they were also close to Jia Lian, he felt that with Jia Lian already having Feng Jie and Daiyu, and then going on to seduce Baochai, no matter how charming they were, they couldn't compete with him, right?

Especially since Yu Huan seems so clever, if she had stayed in the Jia family, she would definitely have been able to see through his true feelings.

Jia Lian knew Jia Baoyu so well that he didn't need to guess what the boy was thinking.

Instead of answering directly, he asked a question that went off on a different topic.

"I heard you and Qin Zhong have made up?"

Jia Baoyu paused, immediately recalling that painful past, and felt a pang of embarrassment. He nodded, though, and said, "Yes, Xiao Zhong'er has forgiven me..."

Aside from being a little weak in the face of major events, Jia Baoyu is definitely a warm-hearted man.

He felt deeply ashamed for betraying his brotherhood in order to evade responsibility.

Looking back on her time with Qin Zhong, she naturally tried her best to make amends.

Although Qin Zhong initially acted as if he would break off all ties, he was not a particularly hot-tempered man after all. After seeing such a noble person as Jia Baoyu repeatedly beg for forgiveness, he eventually made up with him.

Moreover, perhaps due to subtle changes, Qin Bangye in this life, though also old and sick, and angry that Qin Zhong had disgraced the Qin family at the Jia family, only suffered a serious illness and did not die.

Qin Zhong, who did not anger his elderly father to death, also did not die from illness and remorse as in the original story.

Although Qin Bangye has retired and is currently at home, he and his son are living a very comfortable life thanks to the support of his adopted daughter, Keqing.

Jia Lian then laughed and said, "I'm very curious, back at the Water Moon Nunnery, did you two actually enter the alley?"

Although Jia Baoyu was a refined young man, he was born into an aristocratic circle where he could easily come into contact with vulgar culture. He also privately associated with all sorts of people, so he could easily understand Jia Lian's meaning.

His round face immediately turned bright red, and he even glared at Jia Lian with a girlish air, saying angrily, "Second Brother Lian, what are you saying... Xiao Zhong and I are just good friends, we, we didn't do anything like that..."

"Really not?"

Faced with Jia Lian's highly suspicious gaze, Jia Baoyu's face paled and he felt guilty, finally stamping his foot angrily:

"I'm not talking to you anymore!"

After saying that, Jia Baoyu turned and ran. But he stopped abruptly after only a few steps.

It turned out that Xiangyun and her sisters, along with about ten maids, walked up the mountain path together, chatting and laughing.

The ladies were alright; most were neatly dressed and wearing shoes and socks, though there were slight damp patches on their bodies.

However, the maids were much more casual. Not only were their clothes all wet, but some of them were also barefoot, carrying embroidered shoes and silk stockings in their hands, their every move revealing their slenderness and purity.

Looking at this group of youthful and graceful girls is like seeing a group of forest elves who have just returned from a bath.

Not only was Jia Baoyu stunned, but even Jia Lian was greatly encouraged and couldn't help but step forward to stand beside Jia Baoyu.

Upon seeing Jia Lian and his companion, the girls, who had been cheerful and chatting, naturally reacted in various ways.

Those who were shy immediately covered up any parts of their bodies that might be exposed and quickened their pace toward their carriages.

Those who weren't so shy simply glanced at Jia Lian and the other woman, their pretty faces slightly flushed, and quickened their pace.

Only Tan Chun stepped forward, blocking Jia Lian and Bao Yu's path, and said coquettishly, "Oh dear, Second Brother Lian! Brother Bao! What are you looking at? Turn around!"

When his sister scolded him, Jia Baoyu blushed, gave an apologetic smile, and quickly turned his back.

Jia Lian smiled slightly, taking the opportunity to glance at her a few more times. Under Tan Chun's increasingly reproachful gaze, he turned slightly to the side and said seriously, "Go and change your clothes quickly. It's getting late. After the poetry club is over, we'll have to prepare to return to the city."

Are we going back to the city so soon?

Tan Chun murmured something, then glanced at the sky, looking somewhat lost.

Today's experience was unlike anything she had ever experienced in over a decade; it was the happiest and most joyful day of her life.

She believes many of her friends feel the same way.

Unfortunately, after today, who knows when the next time Brother Lian will take them out to play will be.

With a slight sigh, she saw that all her sisters had successfully entered the carriage. Then she glanced down at her own thin clothes, her pretty face slightly flushed, and turned to leave quickly.

……

The theme of the poetry club was very fitting, reflecting the scene and the sentiment, and as expected, Daiyu won first place.

In terms of cleverness of mind and ability to describe scenery and express emotions, Daiyu was the best among all the women.

Seeing Daiyu, who was clearly pleased with herself but tried her best to appear humble, everyone gave her face and came forward to congratulate her.

Only Xiangyun, who had been studying all the poems copied by the scribe Tanchun, suddenly stood up and said, "I'm not surprised that Sister Lin is first, Sister Zhen is second, and Sister Baoqin is third. How come Sister Bao also failed?"

Having organized poetry clubs many times, the sisters naturally became clear about each other's abilities.

Excluding the weaker ones like Li Wan, Yingchun, Xiuyan, Xichun, and Xiangling, the remaining people are all formidable competitors.

Among these powerful contenders, Baochai and Daiyu are widely recognized as the strongest.

Of course, this excludes Jia Lian. Because Jia Lian is usually only average among the crowd, but once he gets serious, no one can beat him, even more so than Jia Baoyu, whose performance is often unbalanced.

Furthermore, due to his status, Jia Lian is no longer participating in the rankings.

Therefore, it wouldn't be surprising if either Baochai or Daiyu came in first place, but it is quite astonishing if either of them fell behind, or even if Baochai ended up in fifth place as she is now.

Baochai explained this by saying, "I am not good at describing scenery."

Everyone just chuckled at this. If your Baochai sister isn't good at describing scenery, then who is?

Some insightful people quickly realized that this was probably because Baochai did not want to compete with Daiyu for attention.

If others could figure it out, Daiyu would naturally be able to notice it as well.

She glanced at Baochai, who seemed completely at ease, and a hint of doubt flashed through her mind: Could it be that she really intended to give way?

What a boring person.

Seeing the joy fade from Daiyu's eyes, Tanchun, not wanting the conversation to continue, tapped Xiangyun on the head and laughed, "You still have the nerve to talk about Sister Bao? What about you? You're one of the few among us who can rival Sister Bao and Sister Lin, how come you failed too?"

Xiangyun said shyly, "How could I possibly compete with Sister Bao and the others? Don't talk nonsense..."

However, Tan Chun was not lying. Although Xiang Yun's strength was slightly weaker than that of Daiyu and Baochai, she was clearly stronger than the second tier.

However, she is an agile player, or you could say a natural talent. Sometimes, when an inspiration strikes, even Daiyu and Baochai feel great pressure, so she often surprises everyone as a dark horse.

At this moment, Baoqin suddenly said, "Sister Lin winning first place is what everyone expected. I'm just curious about one thing."

Seeing that everyone was looking over, Baoqin continued, "Sister Zhen was injured this morning and spent almost the entire day in the car, missing out on almost all the sightseeing activities. Logically, she should be disappointed and regretful."

How come her poems are more relaxed and joyful than all of ours? Especially her poems about the relationship between fish and water, which seem to make readers feel as if they can see the fish's joy and elation, which is truly unbelievable.

Logically speaking, Sister Zhen shouldn't have even walked to the stream!

Everyone who heard this shared the same sentiment.

Although Zhen Yuhuan is also very strong, this time it was a realistic portrayal of the situation. As an injured person, she actually won second place, which is truly admirable.

Faced with the admiring yet questioning gazes of everyone, Zhen Yuhuan, who had already stepped down from the carriage and was sitting with them chatting about poetry, suddenly became nervous.

She quickly replied, "A scene in the heart is worse than a scene in the eyes. Although I didn't see it with my own eyes, I kept an eye on everyone from inside the carriage. Seeing everyone having so much fun naturally made me happy, and that's how I ended up writing it down..."

The saying "It's better to have a view in your heart than a view in front of you" is widely agreed upon.

Often, when standing before a beautiful view, one is speechless; it is only after leaving that one is suddenly moved and able to compose a beautiful line.

However, everyone is just a little curious: why are you in such a hurry?

Seeing that Zhen Yuhuan might be exposed in front of everyone, and seeing that the maids had also returned from the hillside as ordered, Jia Lian stood up and said, "Alright, the maids are back from their 'fishing' spree. Let's go down and see which team won first place."

"Great! If we hadn't already agreed to start a poetry club, I would have gone downstairs with the girls to go fishing just now. What a pity..."

Xiangyun was the first to stand up, and from her tone and expression, no one doubted the truthfulness of what she said.

Many people are like her.

You can compose poems anywhere, even in the Grand View Garden, but once you miss the experience of fishing in a muddy stream, it's hard to have another chance.

So everyone stood up and followed Jia Lian down the hillside.

At the foot of the hillside, a picnic campsite.

Qingwen, Ying'er, and other maids carried buckets of spoils to this place.

Every maid's face was beaming with a joyful smile.

The girls were about to start their poetry club, so they didn't need the girls' service. Just then, Qingwen noticed there were many fish and shrimp in the stream below the mountain, so she led some people to catch them.

Upon seeing this, Jia Lian waved his hand and suggested that they have a fish-catching competition as well.

So the ladies competed in reciting poems on the hillside, while their maids below divided into groups for a fish-catching contest.

Jia Lian even said that the team that touched the most would receive a reward.

This spurred the maids on, and they used every trick in the book in that small stream, just to catch more fish and get Jia Lian's reward!

It started as a reward from Jia Lian, but gradually, the fun of catching fish took over, and almost all the maids, except for Ping'er, participated.

These maids, though not as delicate as the young ladies, were still pampered and rarely had the chance to enjoy such rustic fun.

Since this was something Jia Lian allowed them to do, they all went wild with it.

So much so that...

Daiyu looked at the composed maid Zijuan walking towards her and took a step back with obvious disdain: "Where did this beggar come from? Don't come any closer!"

Zijuan felt very wronged. She looked down at herself and found that apart from a few specks of mud, she was covered in mud, which was much better than Qingwen and the others who had their sleeves rolled up and their faces covered in mud!

Qingwen walked up to Jia Lian with a grin and pointed to two small wooden buckets on the ground, saying, "Second Master, look, these are all things that Shishu, Manxue, and I caught!"

Seeing Qingwen's upturned face, looking happy and proud, Jia Lian didn't show any disgust. Instead, he reached out and brushed away a dried mud stain from her forehead, laughing, "I heard you all playing so wildly on the slope. Did anyone get hurt?"

"No, I warned everyone to be careful... It's just that Ying'er was careless and cut her foot, but we've all checked, it's just a little scrape, nothing else, not even bleeding. She's still not giving up and wants to compete with us."

Jia Lian glanced at Ying'er, noticing that she seemed a little embarrassed as she pulled her leg back, but showed no signs of discomfort. He nodded and then smiled, "So, who won in the end?"

"Of course we won, then Ying'er and the others, and finally Xiren, whose group had the fewest wins."

Qingwen really had a lot of fun. In order to win first place, she even ran to a tenant farmer's back garden and, amidst the helpless barking of the chained dog, took several bamboo baskets to use for fishing...

Seeing that she was cheating, the other two groups also used their own methods, so the competition to slack off was indeed very intense. No wonder even the usually composed Zijuan couldn't help but join in and became what Daiyu called a "flower girl".

Jia Lian glanced down at the fish catch in front of the maids, knowing Qingwen wasn't lying, and asked Ping'er, "What about the money Xiangyun and the others didn't use at noon?"

Ping'er naturally understood his meaning, and went to the carriage to give Jia Lian the bag of remaining money.

"You, you, and you all step forward."

Jia Lian selected Xi Ren, Ying Er, and Qing Wen, and they all stood in front of Jia Lian, some shy and some excited.

Jia Lian then grabbed a handful of money from his purse, and Xi Ren quickly took it with both hands.

Similarly, Jia Lian grabbed two handfuls of money and handed them to Ying'er. Ying'er couldn't catch them with both hands, so she quickly used her skirt to catch them.

Finally, Jia Lian placed the entire money bag into Qingwen's hands and then smiled, "The reward has been given to your captain. You can divide it equally or according to your contributions, but one thing: no fighting."

The maids chuckled and knelt down to kowtow and express their gratitude.

Actually, this half-bag of money wasn't much; at least for these most favored maids of their masters, it meant nothing.

Take Qingwen, for example. Compared to Fengjie, she was the real miser.

Aside from gambling, he never spends money recklessly.

Last time, this girl accidentally let slip that she had a fortune of several thousand taels of silver!

She was undoubtedly the richest woman among the maids in the Jia family.

After the maids got up, Tan Chun finally couldn't hold back anymore and said to Shi Shu and the others, "Why don't you all go to the carriage and tidy yourselves up? You're all filthy, what kind of behavior is this?"

The maids exchanged glances and dispersed in a commotion.

Then Tan Chun scolded Jia Lian, "Second Brother, you're too lenient with them! They're acting like this, how can they possibly resemble proper maids from a respectable family?"

In response to Tan Chun's criticism, Jia Lian shook his head and smiled, then asked in return, "Life is short, what does Third Sister think is most important?"

Everyone was taken aback and involuntarily stopped to listen.

Although Jia Lian disliked lecturing and rarely gave them personal instructions, they all knew that Jia Lian was a wise man who often spoke profound truths in just a few words.

They really wanted to know what was most important in Jia Lian's eyes.

Seeing Tan Chun's eager and inquisitive gaze, Jia Lian patted her head and smiled, "Silly girl, it's just fun. They're only teenagers, it's a rare treat for them to come out and play for a day, why restrict them?"

Is it happiness? The crowd seemed to be deep in thought.

Tan Chun felt quite ashamed for a moment.

Yes, am I being too old-fashioned, rigid, and too strict with others?

Today, since there were no other elders around, these young ladies did such outrageous things as swimming in the pool. Compared to that, what did it matter if the maids went fishing in the stream?

Without giving the girls much time for philosophical reflection, Jia Lian instructed, "Alright, let's keep it simple for dinner. We'll use the fish the girls caught, along with the leftover fruits and vegetables from lunch, for one last picnic, and then we'll head home!"

"Okay, I'll clean the fish!"

When it comes to food, Xiangyun is always the most enthusiastic; she even dares to kill fish!