The Red Mansion Big Liar

I thought to myself, as the saying goes, a man without desires is strong, and indeed Tanchun is still open-minded.

Little did she know that when Tanchun saw the pearl hairpin on her head, she unconsciously glanced at Xue Baochai standing beside her, and she had already regretted it in her heart.

She originally wanted to avoid suspicion, but she didn't expect that even Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai wore it, and she became the most unique one.

Yuanchun had already come forward, took Lin Daiyu's arm and said, "Sister, you are weak, you should get some more sleep! The play has been rehearsed, the old lady must be waiting anxiously, we should go over there!"

……

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 385 Asking for trouble

As he was scheduled to visit the mansion at noon, Zhang Yun逸 also asked for a day off.

After practicing a set of boxing and having breakfast in the morning, Xiangling brought Jinchuan to Dengxian Pavilion.

"Sir, do you want to go over there before you go out?"

“No!” Zhang Yunyi waved his hand and said, “Brother Yucun will come to meet me later. If he comes back early, I will go there in the evening.”

After saying that, he winked at Jin Chuan.

Jin Chuan immediately understood and said, "I will help you change your clothes."

Arriving upstairs, Zhang Yunyi made preparations to help Jinchuan put on her clothes, while instructing, "Go to the West Mansion today, and tell Sister Zhu when you see her..."

There are too many lice to be afraid of. Anyway, Mrs. Wang and Aunt Zhao already knew about it, so they didn't care that they knew she had caught the second wife in one fell swoop.

Jin Chuan helped her put on her clothes while nodding repeatedly until she was done.

Fang sent Xiangling into the east corner gate of the Grand View Garden.

Xiangling and Jinchuan entered the east corner gate and just as they stepped onto the bamboo path, they ran into the people who had just finished rehearsing.

After they exchanged greetings, Baochai glanced behind Xiangling and asked, "Where's Brother Yi? Why didn't he come with you?"

When she asked this, Xiangling suddenly felt a little embarrassed. She took out the red musk beads from her bosom and said, "Master has something urgent to do, so he asked me to bring the gift to the girl."

As soon as these words were spoken, some people were happy while others were sad.

Tanchun and Lin Daiyu couldn't help feeling delighted.

However, Tanchun felt that Zhang Yun逸 deliberately avoided meeting Yuanchun.

Although Lin Daiyu no longer has the intention to compete with Xue Baochai, it can be seen that she is not polite to Baochai, which forms a sharp contrast with Jia Baoyu's vicious and treacherous behavior, and she feels somewhat comforted.

In addition, she had just learned why Yuanchun started busying herself so early in the morning. Obviously, she did not know in advance that Zhang Yunyi could not be present.

These two points undoubtedly confirm Zijuan's statement.

In comparison, Yingchun and Shi Xiangyun are much simpler.

Yingchun was simply disappointed, while Shi Xiangyun felt relieved.

Yuanchun had gone to great lengths to mobilize a large group of people early in the morning just to have Zhang Yunyi inspect the recent achievements, but she did not expect that he could not come. All her efforts had gone to waste, and she could not help feeling a little embarrassed.

But, it wasn't her birthday after all.

Only Baochai looked gloomy, worried that Zhang Yunyi still remembered the previous quarrel, but she had no choice but to take the beads from Xiangling and said with a forced smile: "Business is more important! Brother Yi is busy, and it's the same for you, Xiangling."

As the group had just left the Grand View Garden, they ran into the impetuous Li Wan.

People are in high spirits when happy events happen. Although she was simply trying to save money, the fact that she arranged for the little actors to perform happened to be what Grandmother Jia wanted.

She didn't pay attention to the expressions of the crowd. Seeing the little actor following behind her, she smiled and said, "They followed me so I don't have to make another trip! The old lady just said that the show should start earlier so that we can see something new!"

As he was speaking, he suddenly felt someone tugging at his sleeve. He glanced sideways and saw Jin Chuan winking at him.

Li Wan's face suddenly flushed with a strange blush. She stood still and called out to everyone, "The old lady is on her way to the Grand Hall. Hurry up and we may meet on the way!"

She landed last without making a sound. Jin Chuan quickly came over and whispered something to her.

After hearing Jin Chuan's words, Li Wan was stunned at first, and then her face showed half surprise and half disappointment.

She nodded slightly at Jinchuan, then quickly caught up with the main force.

When they entered the grand hall, they found that not only Lady Jia, Aunt Xue, and Madams Xing and Wang had arrived, but even Wang Xifeng had come to join in the fun.

A group of younger generations hurried forward to pay their respects.

Yuanchun, who was at the head of the crowd, wore a pearl hairpin on her head that was very dazzling to Mrs. Wang.

I felt better when I saw Lin Daiyu wearing the same one.

She was well aware of the Xue family's troubles, and was not surprised that Xue Baochai gave her such face. However, she was concerned about the maverick Tanchun.

Unlike Lady Wang, Grandmother Jia was not as concerned about the pearl hairpin. Seeing Xiangling in the crowd, she hurriedly asked, "Where is Brother Yi?"

Xiangling had no choice but to repeat what Zhang Yunyi had said about having something urgent to do.

Although Grandmother Jia felt disappointed, she was fine.

This undoubtedly shows that he doesn't care much about the Xue family.

From now on, if the Xue family wants to ask him for help with their problems, they will probably have to go through their own family.

However, Zhang Yunyi's absence meant that Li Wan's efforts to arrange for the young actor to perform were in vain, and her interest in watching the new play was greatly reduced.

Wang Xifeng was very smart. She had originally rushed to Rongqingtang and wanted to flatter Li Wan, but when she saw Lady Jia making a fuss and clamoring for Li Wan to find the little actor, she gave up.

At this moment, noticing the change in Grandmother Jia's attitude, she immediately stopped worrying and sneered, "Oh! Let me say that the eldest sister-in-law is too frugal. She has saved more than a hundred taels of silver. Food and drink are all ready in the mansion. It doesn't cost much to hire a troupe. Why ask these half-grown children to come out and perfunctorily?"

Li Wan was stunned when she heard this, but then she was no longer angry but happy. She complained: "Old lady, Madam, please understand. This silver is only one hundred taels at most. Brother Yi is very busy, so he may have forgotten the twenty taels of silver. There is no reason to remind him of this little silver. I paid it out of my own pocket..."

Zhang Yunyi asked her to talk about the twenty taels of silver in front of Lady Jia. She was a little hesitant, wondering if it would displease Lady Jia.

Seeing Wang Xifeng coming towards him, how could he miss her?

It was understandable that something happened suddenly on his birthday, but he didn't even pay the 20 taels of silver as a payment. Zhang Yun逸 had always been generous, so it couldn't be said that he did it on purpose.

Aunt Xue and Xue Baochai refused to believe it, and they looked at each other with worry on their faces.

Xiangling, who was standing by, was immediately embarrassed when she heard this, but before she could say anything to make up for the loss, she was grabbed by Jinchuan.

Seeing Jin Chuan shaking her head at her again, she remembered that she had mentioned this money to Zhang Yunyi the night before. At that time, he only asked her to bring a gift for Baochai, but did not ask her to bring the money for Li Wan.

Although she didn't know the reason behind this, Jin Chuan obviously knew the inside story, so she had to swallow the words back.

This pause gave Jia Baoyu an opportunity to seize it and said indignantly: "As far as I'm concerned, he doesn't take Sister Bao's birthday seriously. He promised..."

Before she could utter the word "light", she heard Lady Jia and Mrs. Wang shout in unison, "Shut up!"

Jia Baoyu was so frightened that he quickly shrank his neck.

Mrs. Wang glanced at Lady Jia guiltily, and seeing that she didn't seem to react, she felt relieved. However, she was also worried that she would say too much, so she didn't dare to say anything else.

Grandmother Jia had no time to care about her strangeness. She glared at Jia Baoyu and Wang Xifeng, then said to Li Wan warmly, "You are right! It's hard for you to think so carefully! Yi'er is a man who can do great things. How could he remember these little things? He must have forgotten them."

At this point, she turned to look at Yuanchun and the others and said, "Let's not talk about other things. The monthly expenses of the small kitchen alone are more than just this little money. There are also the lanterns you carry at night and the ones you wear on your heads!"

Rather than speaking to Yuanchun and the others, her words were intended for Xiangling.

Although what she said was true, Xiangling couldn't help feeling uneasy as she still owed money.

After lunch, I couldn't sit still anymore and left early.

Wang Xifeng gave the twenty taels of silver casually. She never thought that Zhang Yun逸 would actually forget about it.

The look that Lady Jia gave her was obviously blaming her for being nosy. Not only did she fail to take advantage of someone's misfortune, but she also caused trouble for herself and allowed Li Wan to show off. She regretted it so much.

So he made an excuse that he was not in good spirits and went back early.

……

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 386: Comfort Each Other

Gu Dashou's residence.

Seeing that dusk was approaching, Zhang Yunyi stood up and said goodbye, "Lord, it's getting late, we'll go back first!"

Gu Dashou stroked his long beard with his hand, smiling, and said meaningfully: "Let Lord Jia go back. Why don't you stay for a night, little friend Yun Yi? The last time Yudie came back, she talked about you to me a lot!"

"Uh..." Zhang Yunyi's face froze.

He didn't believe that a concubine would dare to mention another man on her own initiative. It would most likely be this old man who would dig into the matter and ask all kinds of questions.

He couldn't hide his embarrassment and declined politely, "I appreciate Elder Gu's kindness, but I didn't inform my family in advance, so I'm afraid they will be worried."

"Hey! Just send someone back to tell them the news!" Gu Dashou tried to stop him, "If you don't enjoy your youth, you're wasting your time. At your age, it's time for you to stay away from home."

Although the two did not say it explicitly, Jia Yucun was a slick man and understood the riddle they were playing.

He smiled and advised: "It is said that it is hard to refuse a kind invitation, why don't you just follow the host's wishes, brother Yi?"

Although Yudie was indeed as beautiful as her name, Zhang Yunyi had no interest in satisfying Gu Dashou's bad taste and refused again and again.

Seeing that he was determined to leave, Gu Dashou did not force him any more. He sent the two of them to the front yard, and then Zhang Yunyi got on the carriage to go back.

When he returned home, it was already dusk. Although he could still make it in time for Baochai's birthday dinner, Zhang Yun逸 did not rush to Rong Mansion, but went straight to the pavilion on the mountain.

Although he didn't know that Xiangling had returned early, he still decided to come over to be on the safe side.

When he stepped into the courtyard, he saw Jinchuan and called out to her, "What's wrong?"

Jin Chuan quickly recounted what happened in the morning and said, "Auntie is in a bad mood."

Zhang Yunyi nodded and said, "Go to Dengxian Pavilion. There is a box of pearl hairpins in the storage room on the first floor. Bring it back for me."

After all, Li Wan is a widow, unlike Wang Xifeng who has Jia Lian to help cover up.

Even if she could give her some hairpins, rings or jewelry privately, it would not be convenient for her to show them to others.

The day before yesterday, Xiangling's words reminded him that he might as well go with the flow. He originally wanted to complain to Lady Jia about Li Wan behind her back, but he didn't expect that it would be made public, which made Xiangling a little embarrassed.

Given Xiangling's personality, she wouldn't be in a bad mood if she was just embarrassed. The key point is that Jinchuan knew everything but deliberately hid it from her.

He was thinking about how to comfort Xiangling, and he almost bumped into someone without paying attention. When he looked up, it was Jiao Xing.

Jiao Xing didn't know that he was worried, and she couldn't help feeling a little flustered when she saw him bumping into her.

Xizi held her chest tightly with her fists as if she was holding her heart, but she ignored the fact that her body was slightly deformed due to the pressure in front of her.

Zhang Yunyi saw this and felt a little embarrassed. He bowed and said, "I was just thinking about something and bumped into my sister-in-law. Please forgive me!"

After saying this, he went into the inner room to avoid suspicion.

But Jiao Xing waited for him to enter the room, was stunned for a while, then followed Zhang Yunyi's footsteps and walked towards the inner room.

Zhang Yun逸 wanted to help with the introduction, so Jia Yucun naturally would not hide it from Jiao Xing. He also repeatedly asked Jiao Xing to visit Zhen Shiyin and his parents and Xiangling more often.

It was for this reason that when she saw Zhang Yun逸 enter the room just now, she stopped and planned to ask Jia Yucun whether he was going home.

Unexpectedly, Zhang Yunyi bumped straight into her arms.

In his panic, he forgot to ask Jia Yucun whether he wanted to go back.

Arriving at the door, she just raised her hand to knock, but she heard Zhang Yunyi's voice from inside: "I was wrong in this matter, but it's not that I don't trust you, it's just that you are naive... The eldest lady of the West Mansion is a widow, so this matter is always difficult to explain..."

"Master just doesn't believe me. Didn't Master hide the matter of Sister-in-law You and Keqing from Xiangling for a long time?"

"Then I'll tell you everything this time... Lian's second sister-in-law in the West Mansion is also one of us..."

Hearing this, Jiao Xing's face became uncertain, and she became more and more certain that Zhang Yunyi had done it on purpose.

She secretly spat in her heart, afraid of being seen, and quickly retreated quietly.

He came to Feng's house, said hello, and got on the carriage to go home.

When she got home, she saw Jia Yucun in high spirits, drinking alone in the courtyard. While she was hesitating, Jia Yucun waved at her and said, "Madam, why didn't you stay a little longer? You came back so early?"

Jiao Xing calmed down a little, came to the pavilion in the courtyard, and asked, "Did everything go well today?"

Jia Yucun said with emotion: "Thanks to Brother Yi's recommendation! I didn't expect that he would be favored by the elder!"

At this point, he complained, "Why didn't you stay there for a while longer? At least have dinner with the two elders before coming back?"

"This..." Jiao Xing said hurriedly, "My brother-in-law has also gone back. I'm afraid it will be inconvenient for me to be there."

"Hey!" Jia Yucun waved his hand and said, "That's just right. It's rare to have such a relationship, so we should get closer to them."

Hearing this, Jiao Xing hesitated and said, "It's okay as for my brother-in-law, but..."