[Red House Chai Dai] Salted Pork Knuckle, Crab Rice Wine

Baochai woke up from the nightmare, dripping with cold sweat, with chest tightness and shortness of breath.

Yinger and Qianxue were two maidservants who happened to be accompanied by Qianxue at the bedside that night. When they heard the movement and got up to look, they saw sweat dripping from Baochai's forehead and nose, and asked in surprise, "Miss, what is going on?" gone?"

Baochai shook her hand in a daze, and replied, "It's irrelevant, let me be alone for a while." The voice was low and inaudible, totally different from usual.

Ying'er heard the movement outside, took the lamp and came in. Seeing Baochai's appearance, she also hurriedly asked: "Miss, did you have a nightmare again? Or that kind of illness again. Don't panic, Qianxue. Go to the kitchen first and ask for hot water, it's serious." He put his hand into Baochai's close-fitting jacket and said, "Young lady sweated a lot, this jacket is already wet, you should change it."

Baochai was still in a trance, wondering and uncertain, and said to himself: "I often hear people say that they think about it during the day and dream at night. But this dream is really strange. The scenes in the dream are clear and the colors are different from those in the past. It's like I've been through a lot. But what has I to do with Baoyu? Sheyue is the girl in his room, why did she serve me instead? Why did the house in the dream fall and the clothes were bleak, and it looked like the end of the world. Think about it carefully It's frightening to hear. If you think about it, the dream is the opposite, and you must do it without counting. Otherwise, how could he marry such a daughter-in-law if his mother loves his brother so much, and he doesn't even care about his mother!"

After thinking about it for a while, it was really difficult to calm down in my heart, and I couldn't help but tremble.Seeing her next to her, Ying'er was very distressed, and hurriedly urged Qianxue to find hot water, while she waited on Baochai to change out of her little jacket.

Baochai only cared about her own thoughts, and let Yinger do her best. After a while, she packed herself up and sat wrapped in a big honey-coloured padded jacket that she usually wears at home.Ying'er poured another bell of water from the thermos and offered it to Baochai. Baochai drank it, still thinking about the dream and Aunt Xue's complaint in the dream, and felt very uncomfortable.

Qianxue knew that Ying'er had served Baochai since she was a child, and knew Baochai's daily habits, so she obeyed her. After hearing Yinger's words, she hurriedly went to the kitchen to find hot water. On the corridor, I only felt the cold wind blowing against my face, and I secretly called out "what a strong wind!" I felt that there were snow particles mixed with it and hit my face. When I hurriedly raised the lantern to look closely, I saw that the trees on the ground had already been covered with a thin layer. up.

Thinking of Baochai's illness, Qianxue couldn't help sighing to herself: Seeing that it is almost the twelfth lunar month, it is the deep winter season, and others are afraid of the cold weather. Sweating all over, suffering from such a weird disease, fortunately the girl is generous, so no one complains.It's just that this kind of illness is unheard of. If you marry someone in the future, what should you do? Wouldn't it make your in-laws disgusted? No wonder Aunt Xue rushed to cater to Mrs. Wang when she saw that Mrs. Wang wanted to kiss her.

Qianxue was thinking wildly, when suddenly there was a black figure standing there motionless at the corner in front of her, she was taken aback, and when she was about to call out loudly, the wind lamp on the porch shook, and she just saw that place, and saw that it was exactly A graceful girl stood there in a daze, who else could it be if it wasn't Xiangling?

Qianxue was in shock for the first time, and she ran up with a smile and said, "Who am I? Going to serve your wife, what are you doing standing in this wind? Could it be that you are so happy that you can't sleep? You are weak, be careful not to catch a cold."

At that time, based on the knowledge of maids such as Qianxue and Wen Xing, as maids, after a certain age, most of them were pulled out to play with boys, and their ancestors have been slaves and servants for generations.If someone like Xiangling could be accepted as a concubine by someone like Aunt Xue, who would openly accept her as a concubine, and would eat and drink spicy food from now on, it would be a bit decent, it would be a high incense in her previous life.Although Xue Pan's character is slightly lacking, it is still rare.Therefore, this statement is not intended to ridicule Xiangling.

Xiangling also knew that Qianxue had good intentions, so she hurriedly smiled and covered it up: "Get up at night, come out at night and stand for a while, then I'll be back."

Qianxue believed it was true, so she went to the kitchen, and when she directed the two women to carry two buckets of hot water and turned back along the original road, she saw Xiangling still standing there in a daze, and moved away embarrassedly when she saw Qianxue. After moving around, he said blankly, "I'll be back now."

Qianxue felt surprised in her heart, before she had time to think about it, she entered the house not long ago, Ying'er heard the movement early, greeted her, and asked with a smile, "Why have you been here for so long?" Seeing two large buckets of hot water again, she was speechless Said: "This water is enough for bathing. It's hard for you to work hard in the middle of the night."

Several people hurriedly waited for Baochai to wash, and Qianxue casually mentioned: "Go out just now, girl, guess who I met? The new aunt must have been in a daze, and she didn't sleep in the middle of the night, blowing the air in the corridor! Outside It's starting to snow, so I'm not afraid of freezing her!"

After hearing this, Baochai looked at Yinger.Ying'er had been with Xiangling longer than Qianxue, and knowing that she was deeply influenced by Baochai, she might not have taken Xue Pan's concubine's place seriously, but when she was worried, she heard Baochai order: "Yinger , you go out and have a look, if she is still there, tell her to pay attention to herself, if she wants to tell me something, just teach her to come here."

Ying'er agreed, and when she hurriedly put on her coat and went out to look, she saw that Xiangling was still lingering there, not knowing what she was thinking, and the cold wind was blowing the corners of her clothes, making her look very lonely.Busily told Xiangling what Baochai wanted, Xiangling hesitated for a long time, but said: "I have nothing to say to the girl. It's late at night, please rest early, I'll go back now."

Ying'er couldn't help it either, and when she came back, she told Baochai that this was the case. Baochai was stunned for a while, and smiled wryly, "If she has any ideas, she has to say it herself, so that others can help her. Otherwise, the name will not be right, How can someone say it. Even if she is forced to make decisions for her, if something goes wrong in the future, it is inevitable that she will regret it."

Ying'er seemed to understand but not understood, so she had to agree.After Baochai said this, his mind seemed to calm down a lot, and when he thought of that terrible dream, he was not as frightened as before.The three masters and servants cleaned up and rested.

Ying'er only thought that Baochai made such a fuss, and when she got up the next day, she was afraid that she would suffer from that kind of illness, but who knew it was good, and the next day she was still refreshed, went to Aunt Xue's room early to greet her, and stayed with Aunt Xue again. Had breakfast.

Aunt Xue felt happy because she had settled the matter of Xiangling consciously, she ate more food than usual, talked and laughed with Baochai, her spirits were much better than before.I can't find Xiangling anywhere, I just think that she is going to be a new aunt, and she feels ashamed on her face, so it is not good to come to serve her.For slaves and maidservants, it is natural that they do not know how to measure. Aunt Xue is displeased, but she has always treated her servants leniently. She is not easy to get angry about this matter. She was a little uncomfortable when she saw Wen Xing come in and said: " It snowed a little bit in the middle of the night last night, Xiangling thought she had caught a cold, but in the morning her forehead was scorching hot, so she couldn't come and take care of her wife."

Aunt Xue was surprised when she heard the words: "There is such a thing! I just said that she is usually diligent, and I am afraid that she will be tired. Last night, Tete ordered her not to serve. The original intention was to teach her to take care of her body, and I didn't want to be sick! "

Baochai knew the basics, and felt a little sad when he heard the news. As he was thinking about it, he heard Aunt Xue sneer and said: "There is such a coincidence in the world! I just said I would give her to your brother last night, and she fell ill. Don’t be mad, Baochai, is this your idea for her?”

Baochai hurriedly said: "Mother has wrongly blamed her daughter. Although my daughter has doubts about my brother's taking a concubine, I have something to say to my mother in a short while, but what does this have to do with Xiangling? She has always been timid, I thought she was suffering from the cold, so I begged my mother to send a doctor to see her and give her a few doses of decoction, which would not be in vain for my mother's promotion and cultivation of her."

It is the custom of all big families that when a serious master gets sick, and if someone suffers from a headache, he will naturally ask a doctor for careful diagnosis and treatment.Ordinary maids and servants, where there is such good luck, they have to be strong, if they are seriously ill and do not recover, they have to move out of the second door and let them fend for themselves, so as not to pass on the anger of illness to others.Now that Xiangling is suffering from the wind and cold, according to the rules, she can only rest in rest, so Baochai has to mention it specially.

Since Aunt Xue planned to assign Xiangling to Xue Pan, she agreed to Baochai's words and ordered the women below to hurry up to do it.When Aunt Xue fell ill last time, Xue's family specially reported to Mrs. Wang, and Mrs. Wang asked Mrs. Wang to arrange for Dr. Zhang, who is familiar with Jia's family, to come for diagnosis and treatment. It was an unexpected grace.

When Baochai saw that everything was in order and there were no outsiders around, she slowly said to Aunt Xue: "My daughter thought about what my mother said last night. This is certainly Xiangling's good fortune, but before marrying a regular wife, she took a concubine first. In the future, if my elder brother marries a new wife and enters the house, I'm afraid it will cause trouble. If you meet someone who is virtuous and virtuous, it's fine, but if you meet someone who is jealous, I'm afraid..."

Aunt Xue didn't wait for Baochai to finish, she sneered and said: "I think you have something new to say! You said these words yesterday! I don't understand. Whose family didn't come here like this, whose new daughter-in-law is like this?" If you are not virtuous, you dare to make a scene? Even your elder sister Feng, who married into Jia's mansion, just secretly dismissed a few people in the house. "

It turns out that it is the custom of the wealthy families to put a few people in the house to serve them before they get married.The four major families, Jia, Wang, Shi, and Xue, could not be better.Aunt Xue also suffered a lot that day.Now that her daughter-in-law of many years has become a wife, she regards it as the right way, thinking that since she has gone through this, it is reasonable to wish that all the women in the world have gone through this, so she can calm down her feelings.Therefore, the mentality of maintaining bad habits is much firmer and more urgent than those sons and brothers who are vested interests.

Baochai was just talking about human affairs, and seeing Aunt Xue being so stubborn, she had no choice but to do so.She talked with Aunt Xue for a while, went back to her room and looked at the account books for a while, and after inquiring about it, the doctor she invited took Xiangling's pulse. She still told her to rest on the bed without sitting up, and slowly said: "Do you have anything to say to me? You have to make up your own mind about this matter. Whether you leave or stay, you must always take care of yourself If you spoil yourself like this, if you hurt your origin, what can you do, what good will it be?"