The maid of the red house

By the time they left Lin Ruhai's courtyard, the moon was already in the sky, and the begonia's flowers and branches could not conceal the desolation and coldness of the night.

Daiyu walked silently on the road leading to her own courtyard, her brows and eyes were full of undeniable sadness, and after half a year since her return, she became thinner, and under the moonlight, she looked thinner and thinner, and her clothes were too weak.

At this moment, no words can comfort Daiyu, Xueyan didn't say anything, and followed Daiyu holding the box, looking at the distant figure of Zijuan holding a lantern, reminding Daiyu: "Sister Zijuan Come to meet the girl."

Daiyu raised her head, with a touch of warmth on her face, and said in a low voice, "Fortunately, you are still with me."

In the next few days, Daiyu served soup and medicine in front of Lin Ruhai's bed every day, she was very dedicated, and no one advised her not to leave.

Lin Ruhai knew that her fate was not long, and was afraid that Daiyu would be wronged because of her ignorance of the world, so she kept using the remaining time to teach her some human affairs. Fortunately, Daiyu lived alone in the Rongguo Mansion since she was a child, and she has already seen through people's hearts, but she just disdains the world. Naturally intelligent, Lin Ruhai can understand most of Lin Ruhai's earnest teachings, and even if there are some things she doesn't understand, she will keep them all in her heart.

Every time Daiyu was in Lin Ruhai's room, Xueyan followed her, which was in line with Lin Ruhai's wishes.Zijuan stays in Daiyu's room as in the Rongguo mansion, and is rarely as active in the eyes of everyone as Ying'er Xiren and others, and now she doesn't go out much, she understands that although she is the most proud of Daiyu's side But Xueyan grew up with Daiyu in the Lin family, so in the name of being in charge of all kinds of household items in the house and teaching the new maidservants to perform their duties, Xueyan was asked to serve Daiyu every step of the way.

Lin Ruhai couldn't help admiring, and said, "She's a smart girl."

Speaking of Zijuan, Xueyan rarely had a look of admiration in his eyes, and said with a smile: "Sister Zijuan is naturally excellent. In Rongguo Mansion, thanks to sister Zijuan who takes care of the affairs around the girl, no one underestimates her." Girl. It was snowing when the girl went out, and sister Zijuan was the first to think of sending snow geese to give the girl a hand stove, in case she would be cold."

In the original novel of Dream of Red Mansions, Zijuan and Xiaohong are Xueyan's favorite girls, not to mention Xiaohong, Zijuan is really a sincere Daiyu, she is not like Qingwen relying on Jiamu's power, nor is she like Xiren voted for Mrs. Wang, not like Ying'er who made a network today and recognized her as a relative tomorrow, and then satirized Jia Huan and fought with the population. In Daiyu's difficult situation, she still treated Daiyu He never left, nor did he try to cater to Jia Mu, Mrs. Wang, and all the masters, big and small. All his thoughts were on Daiyu.

It can be said that Zijuan has never been seen on the occasions in the original work, and the jade test is even more willing to take great risks. Yu's sincerity, the second is to make it clear and open, and put pressure on Mrs. Wang, mentioning that Daiyu has left Baoyu, so what if the two are separated?

"Although there are many princes and grandsons, none of them have three households and five concubines. Today they face east, and tomorrow they face west. It takes only three or five nights to marry a fairy, and they are put behind their necks. Even pity the new and abandon the old, and turn against each other. There are a lot of them. It’s good to have someone to rely on in the mother’s family. If there is a girl like a girl, it will be better for a day if there is an old lady. If there is no old lady for a day, it’s just bullying by others.”

"One thousand taels of gold is easy to get, but it's hard to find one with the heart."

"Everything else is easy. The most rare thing is that we grew up together, and we know each other's temperament and temperament."

"I'm saying good things, but I'm telling you to be careful, and I'm not telling you to do evil."

Which one of these words is not a heart-to-heart good word?She has truly seen through the disadvantages of marriages of high-ranking officials, dignitaries and aristocratic families. She chose Baoyu to be like-minded and have opposite temperaments, so that she would not meet people like Sun Shaozu who beat or scolded their wives.In particular, even if Daiyu, who is powerless and powerless, marries another prince and grandson, without her mother's support, she will never be able to compare with Jia Baoyu. same destruction.

It's a pity that when Qianhong cried, Wanyan felt the same grief. Whether it was Baodai's love, or the relationship between her and Daiyu's master and servant, they were crushed to pieces by reality after all. Crying blood cuckoo, lone goose in the snow", presumably the final outcome is that Daiyu died in tears, Zijuan vomited blood and died, only the snow goose helped the spirit back home in the vast snow.

After hearing this, Lin Ruhai hurriedly said: "You should all work together, and don't make Yu'er feel wronged after I leave."

Xue Yan responded, and took the opportunity to put forward her own suggestion: "We are a bit young after all, and we don't understand many things. In the mansion, we can only take care of the girl's daily necessities. If the master has a gift list from our family in the capital Famous posts are fine, giving gifts during the New Year and holidays is better than breaking friendship."

These are all connections. Who would marry a daughter-in-law without looking at the daughter-in-law's social skills and connections?Even if Daiyu can't go out at that time, as long as she gives gifts every year, no matter how expensive or not, even if it's melons, fruits, snacks and silks, people will remember Daiyu as a person. People's hearts are fleshy, and love is accumulated from you coming and going. There will always be people who are kind, and Daiyu will not be alone and helpless by then.

Lin Ruhai is a man, not used to domestic affairs, so he didn't think of this for a while, but now when Xueyan said it, his eyes lit up, but Daiyu hesitated for a moment, and said softly: "We live in grandmother's house, how can we decide to give gifts?"

Xueyan sneered, and said: "Miss is crazy, she forgot what the master left for the girl? The master just let the girl pretend that she didn't know the amount of things entrusted to the Rongguo Mansion, but he didn't say that we didn't know that our family had something. My heart is like a bright mirror. Could it be that they can’t stop the girl from giving gifts? That’s not the case. Even if the time comes to stop the girl from giving gifts under the pretext of not having money, there will still be income from the farm floor below, thousands of dollars a year Is the silver not enough for the girl to eat? Not enough for the girl to give gifts?"

In the past few days, Lin Ruhai has seen Xueyan's sharp edge hidden between his brows and eyes. He is definitely a master who refuses to suffer, and he is more considerate about the future affairs than even himself. He couldn't help but smiled at Daiyu: "Xueyan It makes sense, I will ask the housekeeper to give you the account books of each family's gift-giving, you are old, and it is time to learn how to socialize."

Daiyu responded in a low voice, and Xueyan said again: "I also ask the master to give Xueyan a copy of the dowry list of the wife and the old lady above."

Lin Ruhai asked, "What do you want this for?"

Of course Xueyan would not say that it was just in case, and said with a smile: "The master asked the girl to pretend not to know the amount of things in the storeroom, but wives and old ladies should know something about the dowry list, and it is also for the future. .”

Although Lin Ruhai still didn't understand why, she knew that this girl was very good at strategizing, so she asked someone to make a copy of the dowry list and bring it to her for her to keep.

When Xueyan saw the dowry list, she was greatly shocked.The dowry of the five generations of matrons, except for the dowry of the first generation, which was thinner. At that time, the old master of the Lin family had not yet made a fortune. From the second generation of matrons, every generation of daughter-in-laws had a red dowry when they entered the house. Although a part of it was lost over a hundred years, But the remaining generations accumulated, the number is still considerable.

It's a pity that apart from Jia Min's dowry, most of it was brought over when Lin Ruhai was in office, the rest of the large and bulky furniture was in the old Suzhou mansion, and the Tianzhuang shops didn't have time to discount it, which made it cheaper for the hungry wolves in Rongguo Mansion.Fortunately, most of the lightweight headgear, calligraphy, painting and antiques in the dowry of several generations were brought to work, and she has already collected most of them and put them in mustard seeds.

After Xueyan read the list, she squinted her eyes and flashed a cold light. She was not a weak person to be bullied. Dare to bully Daiyu half a point!

Two days later, it was the third day of September. Xueyan knew that this was the time of Lin Ruhai's death, so when she got up early in the morning, she felt uneasy. Zijuan asked suspiciously, "What's wrong with you? Are you out of your mind?"

Xueyan forced a smile, how could she tell Zijuan that Lin Ruhai was dying?It's strange if others don't call her crow's mouth.

Daiyu hastily used it early, and smiled at her: "Don't think so much, accompany me to Daddy's place, yesterday Daddy said that the rent on the farm should be delivered, and I want you to help me look at the list, look at it." How to allocate."

Although Daiyu didn't learn much in the Rongguo Mansion, she was enlightened at the age of five. She was taught by Jia Min's precepts and deeds since she was a child. The affairs of the Lin family's back house were all ordered by her after returning.Lin Ruhai is a man, no matter what happened later, since Jia Min passed away, it was the wives of the big housekeepers and Lin Ruhai's wives who took care of him. All in all, few concubines were allowed to be housekeepers.

When I arrived at Lin Ruhai's courtyard, I saw Cuiping, the girl in Lin Ruhai's room, come out to stop her, led Daiyu to sit in the side room, and said quietly: "People from the clan are talking to the master, girl and Xueyan, please don't go in. "

Xueyan's heart skipped a beat, and before Daiyu could ask any questions, she said, "They have been here for half a month, except for the first day when they came to see the master, they never came again, what are you doing today?"

Daiyu was also a little puzzled and looked at Cuiping.

Cuiping shook her head lightly, watching Daiyu hesitate to speak.

Seeing this, Daiyu suddenly had a flash of inspiration, and she couldn't help but add three points of grief and anger on her face, and said, "Although Daddy is sick, he is still alive. Now they are thinking about how to divide our family's things?"

Cuiping sighed, and said: "It's not necessary for the master to leave a statement of the rules first, saying that the girl is young, and she is a girl, and the family can't go out, and the inside and outside should be in charge of the girl, so as not to fall into the hands of outsiders. inside."

Daiyu's cheeks were flushed with anger, and she was about to speak when she heard another announcement from the courtyard: "Second Master Lian is here."