The Maid's Strategy in the Red Chamber

慧纹

Ever since Lin Ying went out, Qiuyue has been feeling up and down in her heart, worrying about whether he will wear too little clothes, and worrying about whether he will have enough to eat. In short, she has been restless all day long.

After finally waiting for her son to come back, seeing him being held in the arms of the wet nurse, Qiuyue felt a "thump" in her heart, and asked nervously, "What's the matter, sir?"

The nurse hurriedly replied: "Brother is fine, he just fell asleep."

Qiuyue saw Lin Ying sleeping peacefully with her eyes closed, and scolded: "It's so windy outside, you don't know how to wrap a piece of clothing for my brother, in case you catch a cold, you will look good."

The wet nurse curled her lips a little aggrieved, the sun was high outside, and the wind was sunny, how could there be wind?She also knew in her heart that Qiuyue was looking for an excuse to vent her anger, so she didn't dare to hit the gun.

It's just that Lin Zheng, who is over three years old, is not light. It was already very difficult for her to carry her all the way from the second door. Now that Zi Qiuyue is still stopping here to make irresponsible remarks, the wet nurse also has some grudges in her heart.

Seeing that the nurse was silent, Qiuyue felt that she was being obedient to her, so she shouted again: "Okay, what are you doing standing there stupidly? Hurry up and take my brother into the house."

The wet nurse was about to go in and put Lin Ying down as if she had received an amnesty, but Lin Ying was awakened by Qiuyue's roar at this moment. He opened his sleepy eyes and looked, and suddenly burst into tears with a "wow": "I want my sister!" I want my sister..."

Hearing this, Qiuyue gritted her teeth secretly, and asked the nurse with red eyes: "What did the eldest girl say? Let the eldest brother cling to him like this?"

The nurse shook her head obsequiously: "The eldest girl didn't say anything."

It's a pity that Qiuyue didn't listen to these words, she made up her mind that Daiyu had other ideas, and she couldn't help feeling resentful.

From that day on, Qiuyue took Lin Ying very seriously, and every time Daiyu came to visit, she found various reasons to decline. After the number of times increased, Daiyu also noticed something, and gradually stopped coming.

Seeing Daiyu's uneasy expression, Xueyan couldn't help persuading her: "Everyone has their own destiny, no matter what happens, the uncle is the girl's brother. Besides, there is still the master here, and the girl doesn't need to be sad for some people who can't be clear. "

In her opinion, Qiuyue really couldn't see her identity more and more clearly. After all, she was just an aunt. No matter whether Lin Ruhai married a second wife or not, she would never be the mistress of this family.Now that she is still on the shoulders with Daiyu, an aunt, is it possible that Daiyu can still harm her younger brother?I don't know what to worry about!

Fortunately, Qiuyue can only think about it in her mind. Since Jia Min left, Lin Ruhai still attaches great importance to the back house, for fear that the backyard will catch fire.Therefore, even though Qiuyue gave birth to a son, Lin Ruhai didn't have the slightest intention of letting her be the housekeeper. The people in charge of the backyard have always been a few housekeepers whom he trusted.No matter how flattering the servants are, at most they are eating more delicately, and she can't do anything to Daiyu if she doesn't have real power in her hands for a while.

What's more, Daiyu is now the butler of the Lin family's backyard.It turned out that it was Lin Ruhai who saw that Daiyu had managed well the small village and several shops under his name. Taking this opportunity, Lin Ruhai asked her to try to manage the entire backyard to gain some experience.

Thinking of this, Qiuyue felt even more depressed, and wanted to have a hand in the housekeeper's matter even more urgently.

On this day, Xueyan made a stack of sweet-scented osmanthus and lotus root flour cake, and Daiyu praised it well, so she asked her to send a copy to Lin Ruhai.

Xueyan went to the study with the food box, and saw Lin Ruhai's servant, Zaide, arguing with a young man from a distance.

As they got closer, Xueyan realized that the person standing with Zaide was clearly Lin Ming. Looking at Zaide's fingers pulling Lin Ming's sleeve, Xueyan groaned in her heart: There must be some adulterous relationship between these two people, right? !

When she was hesitating whether to pretend not to see her, the two of them also saw her.Seeing Zaide, he went straight to Xueyan as if he had met a savior: "My sister came just in time, and the little one is in a difficult situation. I still need your help."

"What's the matter?" Xueyan's eyes shuttled back and forth between the two, full of raging fire of gossip.

Zaide said anxiously: "I came out too hastily just now, and I accidentally bumped Mr. Ming, and his sleeve caught on the rose flowers by the roadside, and he made a big hole. Talking to a few stewards inside, I will take Uncle Ming to visit an old man outside in a while, and I don’t have time to go home to get the clothes, so you can show me if you can sew them?”

So that's the case?Xueyan was a little disappointed, but seeing Zaidelian yell out the honorifics, she knew he must be very anxious, so

Putting the food box in his hand aside, he said to Lin Ming, "How about letting this servant take a look at the sleeves of the uncle?"

Lin Ming was quite calm, he stretched out his arms with a smile, revealing his ripped sleeve.

Xueyan saw that the material of the clothes was brocade with Sihe Ruyi patterns, and there were dark patterns in the damaged places, so it was not easy to repair.

Seeing her frowning, Zaide couldn't help but said anxiously: "Sister Xueyan, can this be fixed?"

Xueyan comforted him and said, "It's a bit troublesome, but you can try."

Hearing this, Lin Ming took off his coat and handed it to her.

Xueyan took out her sewing kit, selected silk threads of similar colors, and sewed them quickly.She was sitting on the stone steps outside the yard, her eyes focused on the work in her hand, a row of long eyelashes lined up thickly, like a fan, slightly fanned, and fanned directly to the hearts of some people.

The girl lowered her head and just exposed a section of her fair neck. Lin Ming saw this scene unintentionally, and felt that a certain place was inexplicably hot. He silently recited "Boundless Heavenly Venerable" several times in his heart before he gradually calmed down.

Xueyan didn't realize all this, she was very fast, and she sewed it up in just one bag of cigarettes.Seeing the finished product in her hand, Xueyan was a little dissatisfied, and sighed: "If you're not in a hurry, it will take half an hour to mend the clothes to make them finer. This is the only way to do it now. It's not very conspicuous under the sleeves, what do you think?"

Lin Ming took over the jacket, and saw that the damaged parts had already been sewn up. Even those dark-patterned snow geese had been mended a few times according to the texture. Unless he checked it specially, it would be impossible to tell that it had been mended at all. .He couldn't help but smiled and said: "It's been sewn very well. My mother often praised the girl for her ingenuity. Today I finally saw it. Thank you, girl."

Xueyan smiled and said: "My lord, you are being polite. The slaves and maidservants are just a little effort. You don't think my sewing is crude."

Then, she asked Zaide again: "You said that the master will go out soon, so what about the snacks in this food box, but the girl personally told me to bring it to the master."

Zaide patted his chest and smiled: "Leave this to me, and I will take it directly to the carriage in a while. The master can eat on the way to fill his stomach."

"Okay then." Xueyan had no other choice, she couldn't sneak back all the way, so she handed the food box to Zaide, and Shi Shiran went back.

Looking at her back, for the first time, a young man with a spring heart felt empty in his heart.

On this day, Daiyu went back to Jia's mansion to greet the old lady and send some fresh melons and fruits along the way.

Mother Jia was very happy, and immediately asked the maid to wash a plate and serve it.Xueyan jokingly said: "These fruits are fresh fruits that have just been delivered from Zhuangzi, and there are still dewdrops in them when they arrive in the morning. Our girl is thinking that the old lady likes to eat this, so I will always send it to you."

Tanchun, who was sitting on the side, didn't take it seriously when he heard this, thinking that this girl is more and more able to talk sweet words. She used to only work hard on Sister Lin, but now she comes to the old lady to find ways. Flattery, who would like it!

Well, maybe some people just don't deal with it naturally.For example, Xueyan and the third girl Tanchun have always looked down on each other. Tanchun thinks that Xueyan likes to put on a show, and Xueyan thinks that Tanchun is sometimes too strong.In short, the eyes are wrong.

Xueyan felt that she was not gold, and it was normal for some people to dislike her, so she never took it seriously.

Daiyu stayed in the old house for nearly a month, but she had a bad idea of ​​Jia's mother and insisted that she stay here for one night before going home.Daiyu couldn't hold back Jia Mu, so she had to stay.

After lunch, Daiyu and Sanchun both chatted in front of Jia Mu.Xueyan was eating in the side hall when she saw Xiaohong coming from outside and giving her a wink.

Xueyan hurriedly pulled out the rest of the rice, then wiped her mouth and said, "What's the matter? What do you want me to do?"

Xiaohong whispered: "It's not me looking for you, it's my wife looking for you for something."

After explaining to Zhu Mei, Xueyan went to Mrs. Xing's place.

After seeing her, Mrs. Xing didn't say too much nonsense, she just showed her a somewhat damaged embroidery piece: "Look, how about this embroidery picture?"

Xueyan took the embroidered piece and saw a few branches and leaves of wisteria trees embroidered on it. The white and light purple wisteria flowers were incomparably beautiful.The focus of this picture is not on the flowers, but on a pair of magpies on a horizontal branch in the middle. The birds are embroidered so vividly that they seem to come to life.

After reading it, Xueyan couldn't help but praised: "It's really a wonderful workmanship, where did my wife get such a treasure?"

Mrs. Xing pursed her lips and smiled: "Don't worry about this, I just ask you, if you ask you to embroider this picture, can you embroider it?"

Xueyan looked at it carefully for a while: "The master's skill of this embroidered picture is not inferior to mine, and the servants can only try their best. There is still a [-]% certainty."

Mrs. Xing nodded: "Well, this embroidery picture is yours. After you go back, help me embroider a similar one carefully. I have prepared all the things I need, and I will let Xiaohong bring it to you. It's just that It's not appropriate to publicize this matter, even your girl, it's better not to tell. You can do it slowly when you have free time. If you can't do it in three months, you can do it in five months. Only slow work can produce fine work. I'm not in a hurry, and neither are you. .”

Xueyan didn't know what kind of medicine was sold in her gourd, so she nodded in response.In the past few years, Mrs. Xing has always treated her well, added a lot of good things to her private house, and is also very kind to Daiyu, Zi Xueyan can't say no to excuse her now.

If she guessed correctly, this piece of embroidery should be the legendary Hui Wen, but I don't know what purpose Mrs. Xing asked her to embroider it for?