Raiders of the maid who crossed the Red Mansion

The capital, Bodhizi Lane, Beijing Palace.

Under the half-supported carved checkered bed, two young people were playing chess against each other, both about 22 or [-] years old.

The person on the left is wearing a homely moon-white satin gown with dark bamboo patterns, a jade belt is loosely tied around his waist, and a half-moon-shaped dark green jade ring hangs on a double-strand red silk sash. He has a handsome face and a warm expression. Looking at the chessboard with lowered eyebrows and a smile, he gently played with two Moyu chess pieces between his fingers.

The young man on the right is slightly taller and stronger than him, with a dark face, thick eyebrows and big eyes. He also wears a blue light robe and a square scarf, but he can't hide his heroic spirit.

He stared at the chess game with piercing eyes, furrowed his brows, and seemed to be thinking very seriously, but after all he got nothing, so he had to push the chess board and admit defeat heartily: "Forget it, the prince is better, I lost this game. "

While sorting the pieces, the young man in white robe asked with a smile, "Lord Mu has also improved a lot in chess, do you want to play another game?"

The green-robed youth waved his hands again and again: "If I play a few more matches with the prince, I will definitely lose. If the prince is really interested, why don't we go to the back yard and shoot a round. Maybe I still have a chance of winning."

Now it was the white-robed young man's turn to shake his head: "Hehe, when it comes to riding and shooting, who is as handsome as the young man in the court? I haven't led troops in recent years, and this skill has long since become unfamiliar."

This white-robed young man is the King of Beijing County among the "Four Kings" of the current dynasty, and the one who played against him just now is Mu Ran, the younger brother of Mu Shi, the king of Dong'an County, who is currently the commander of Jinyi's army. I know, acting as Beizhen Fusi.

Because the East and the North have been friends for generations, Mu Ran's age is similar to that of the King of Beijing, and they have similar temperaments, so they have been friends for many years.

Listening to Shui Rong's humility, Mu Ran was about to speak, when she heard someone standing outside the door, calling in a deep voice, King Bei Jing, who was a tall, thin and capable middle-aged man in his 40s.

Mu Ran recognizes this man. It is Wei Renbo, the steward of the Prince's Mansion in Beijing. He looks dull and dull, but he is extremely skilled. joke.

Shui Rong nodded, motioned for Guanshi Wei to come in, and asked him what's the matter.

Steward Wei replied respectfully with his hands down: "The lord sent someone to send a congratulatory gift to Mr. Jia's second son the day before yesterday. Today, someone from Jia's mansion came to thank him. Does the lord want to see him?"

"Oh, someone from Jia's mansion?" Shui Rong raised his eyebrows, seemingly interested, "Is it Jia Baoyu?"

"No, it's Second Young Master Jia's cousin, Jia Lian, who said that Second Young Master is ill and is not in good health, so he can't personally come and kowtow to thank the prince."

Shui Rong smiled, and told Guanshi Wei: "Since that's the case, you say that I don't have time to spare at the moment, treat me well, and take care of Baoyu's illness along the way."

"Yes." Steward Wei bowed again before retreating.

Shui Rong turned his head and saw Mu Ran's surprised expression, so he explained: "The day before yesterday, the second son of Mr. Jia from the Ministry of Industry got married. Because during the national funeral, we only gave a big gift at home and did not invite guests. I sent someone to send a congratulatory gift. , Brother Ling is also polite."

"My elder brother is a good man, needless to say." Mu Ran smiled, as if disapproving, "I'm surprised that a family like Jia's is worthy of the prince's befriending?"

He has an upright personality, and he is always on good terms with Shui Rong, and he never beats around the bush when he speaks.

The king of Beijing Jing heard it, and he only smiled slightly, not thinking of disobedience: "Everyone in Jia's mansion behaves occasionally, but the second master, Jia Zheng, is upright and upright. His I have met the second son Jia Baoyu a few times, he is indeed a handsome and elegant person."

Mu Ran was not interested in these official interactions, so she stood up and bid farewell to Shui Rong: "My lord has a lot of things to do recently, so I won't bother you too much, so I will leave now."

Hearing Mu Ran say "a lot of things", Shui Rong's expression seemed to be dark, but it was only for a moment, and then he showed his face and stood up to see him off.

Although Mu Ran is a bold person, she is very considerate of her friend's feelings, and she was silent for a moment, trying to comfort Shui Rong: "Life and death, reunion, separation and reunion are always predestined. It is a good thing to become an immortal, the prince need not be sad."

Shui Rong was deeply impressed by his best friend's kindness, and deliberately made fun of him: "I'm nothing at first, but when you say that, I feel a little sad."

Mu Ran helplessly spread her hands: "It's done, it's fine if I say too much, if the prince can think like this."

Neither party was bound by red tape, and King Beijing also sent them to the door of the study. Just as Mu Ran walked out, she met another person head-on, Wei Renbo who had just left.

Mu Ran also couldn't help laughing: "Old Wei, you are very busy. Why don't you return all the coming and going?"

Shui Rong was still standing by the door, so he asked Guanshi Wei: "What's the matter?"

"Returning to the prince, Qingxu Guanguan advocates seeing real people, and now they are serving tea in the hall."

"Zhang Zhenren?"

"Daoist Zhang?"

Shui Rong Wang and Mu Ran spoke in unison, and looked at each other again, and they both saw puzzlement in each other's eyes.

Mu Ran thought to herself, although famous people from all over the world often gathered in the palace of Beijing Jing, they seldom interacted with monks and Taoists. This Taoist priest is quite popular and powerful in Beijing. Why did he suddenly come to visit?

What Shui Rong was concerned about was that Taoist Zhang was entrusted with the matter a few days ago, could it be possible that there will be some clues so soon?He said excuse me to Mu Ran, and followed Steward Wei to the front hall where the guests were received.

"My lord Beijing, Xiaodao is over." Daoist Zhang got up first to salute when he saw Shui Rong walk in.

"Master Zhang is a master, Xiao Wang dare not accept the gift." Shui Rong returned the gift, and invited Taoist priest Zhang to sit down.

The two exchanged pleasantries with each other first, and said a few irrelevant polite words before Daoist Zhang said: "Thanks to the great blessing of the lord, I happened to meet a very suitable person for what I asked Xiaodao to do a few days ago."

Hearing this, Shui Rongben was a little downcast, felt a little happy, and quickly asked, "Which treasure temple is the female Bodhisattva practicing?"

Daoist Zhang shook his head slowly with a smile: "No, this girl hasn't become a monk yet, she just wants to take advantage of the prince's clean place to raise her body and accompany the concubine by the way."

Shui Rong was slightly surprised: "Oh? Whose girl is it?"

Daoist Zhang twirled a few white beards, and said proudly: "In terms of appearance, character, talent and learning, this girl is very outstanding among the young ladies in Beijing. Speaking of her background, It has some relationship with the prince."

Shui Rong became more and more curious, he thought about it, among the beauties in Kyoto that he knew, was there such a character?

Seeing that Shui Rong seemed to be thinking very hard, Daoist Zhang asked mysteriously: "About sixteen or seventeen years ago, the old prince invited a teacher for him. Do you remember?"

After Daoist Zhang mentioned this point, Shui Rong suddenly realized: "Ah, the real person is talking about Mr. Lin Hailin? He is the Tanhua Lang of Xinke. The emperor has appointed a Hanlin Bachelor. He has just been married and has only taught me for more than a month. He was let go of his job again, so he had to leave the capital in a hurry with his newlywed wife, even though Xiao Wang was young at that time, he was very reluctant to part with Master Lin."

Daoist Zhang patted his knees and said excitedly: "Yes, the girl mentioned in the novel is the only daughter of Master Lin, the daughter of Daiyu with a small character. After the death of Master Lin and his wife, she was alone and had no one to rely on, so she first lived in her uncle's house." , is the Jia family of the hereditary Duke Rong."

This time, Shui Rong was even more surprised: "This Miss Lin is Mrs. Jia Zheng's niece Ling. Are she and Jia Baoyu cousins?"

King Beijing suddenly mentioned Jia Baoyu, Taoist Zhang did not know why, but also nodded happily.

"I heard Baoyu mention in accordance with the agreement that he has a cousin who is extremely talented but frail and sick. Miss Lin has lived in Jia's mansion for many years, why did she choose another place to rest?"

Taoist Zhang didn't answer right away, but only glanced at the two maids standing beside him.

Shui Rong immediately understood, and waved his hand, signaling the maids to retreat.

There were only the King of Beijing Jing and Taoist Zhang in the hall. The former raised his hand and made a "please" gesture: "Master Zhang, but it's okay to say."

Daoist Zhang leaned slightly, lowered his voice and said: "There are indeed some twists and turns here. I dare not hide it, so I can only tell everything. Whether or not to take this Miss Lin is up to the prince and the concubine to decide."

Then, Taoist Zhang told the king of Beijing Jing about Daiyu and Zijuan, how the master died of illness, the girl committed suicide, and then both died and came back to life.

It's just that Jia's mother didn't mention the love and resentment between Daiyu and Baoyu, so Taoist Zhang knew nothing about it.

Although the incident happened with twists and turns, the king of Beijing had never heard of it, but Daiyu's tragic life experience and the deep love between master and servant moved him quite a lot. In addition, Taoist Zhang repeatedly exaggerated and added oil and vinegar. At the end, Shui Rong was already sobbing .

After the story was told, Daoist Zhang called "Prince" twice before waking up Shui Rong who was in his dream.

"My lord, to tell you the truth, Xiaodao has been practicing for decades in vain, and I have never seen such a miracle. Only Miss Lin, Xiaodao has heard Mrs. Jia Tai mention that she is very quiet and spiritual, and Baoyu The same, the wife likes it the most. If you only ask about Xiaodao, you will definitely not believe any evil rumors."

Zhang Daoshi said it very firmly. In the impression of water melting, Lin Tanhua's peerless demeanor is still there. He also believes that what Jia Baoyu admires in his heart must also be a beautiful person, plus Daiyu Zijuan's love for life and death , also moved him deeply, and he was quite willing at the moment.

It's just that he didn't discuss it with the concubine, and it was inconvenient to agree rashly, so he bowed to Daoist Zhang: "I'm going to bother you about this matter. How about giving the real person a letter after discussing it with my wife?"

Hearing what King Bei Jing said, Daoist Zhang knew that the matter had already been settled, so he hurriedly stood up and saluted: "Since that's the case, Xiaodao will take the place of Mrs. Jia and Mrs. Jia first, and thank the prince and concubine for their mercy."

After seeing Taoist Zhang off, Shui Rong walked back to the study in the backyard alone, with his hands behind his back and his head bowed, frowning, not because he just heard an unhappy story.

It was his Yuan concubine, Shen, who had moved out of the palace a few days ago and went to the Lotus Nunnery to practice on Daifa.

Concubine Shen is also his aunt and sister, a childhood sweetheart since childhood, although there is no strong love between men and women, they get along very harmoniously.

It's just that Shen was weak and sickly since she was a child, so she believed in gods and Buddhas. After the two got married, she spent most of her time in rest alone, burning incense and chanting scriptures, so that the two married for more than three years and hadn't had any children yet.

Since last year, Concubine Shen insisted on becoming a monk to practice. Although Shui Rong begged repeatedly, but her will was extremely firm, and she even went to the palace to beg the Queen Mother, and the Queen Mother would personally talk about the matter, so the King of Beijing Jing refused.

That's why he chose a quiet and secluded place on the outskirts of the capital, built a lotus nunnery, let the princess come in to practice, and selected a few sincere and prudent nuns to serve her.

Even though everything was well arranged, after all it was a relationship of many years, once they were separated, Concubine Shen especially told him not to come to visit him if there is nothing to do, so as not to affect Qingxiu, how could it not make Shui Rong feel sad.