Love of Friends in the Red Chamber

It wasn't until the next evening, when Jia Cong came back, that Daiyu lazily got up and found that half of her body was numb.As soon as Jia Cong entered the door, he sighed. Dai Yu forced himself to ask him why, and Jia Cong said: "I went to give Mei Hanlin a farewell party today. I have such a poor family. They are so depressed when the matter comes. The emperor sent someone to check on him beforehand." Although the property of the family has not been said to be confiscated, it has already been robbed by the servants. Today I went there, but none of the old colleagues came. It's a mud bodhisattva, sitting on the ground helpless, all he could do was cry, but fortunately, the cousin of the Xue family was very virtuous, and she was rambling inside and out, barely able to gather three carts of luggage, and those servants were clamoring for severance pay, and gave it to the master. Adding fuel to the family fire. I went over, couldn't stand it anymore, yelled and threatened them, and wanted to send them to officials, which would be better, but Mei Hanlin was also chilled, saying that I don't need these slaves anymore, and drive them all out. There were three or five loyal servants who were loyal to the Lord, and then Cousin Xue went back to Xue’s house to bid farewell, and Aunt Xue also sent some agendas. Li took 1000 taels of cash and sent it over."

Daiyu nodded and said: "You are doing very well. Don't say that Mei Hanlin is innocent. He only looks at Sister Baoqin, so he should help. I only feel sorry for Baoqin, who has only been married and lived comfortably for two days, so..." Saying this, she shed tears again.Seeing her so sad, Jia Cong could only sit blankly, not knowing what to say for a moment.Daiyu wept for a while, seeing Jia Cong hesitated to speak, she asked, "Did you hear anything else today?"

Jia Cong hesitated for a while before saying: "I didn't want to tell you, but you have to know sooner or later, lest you will be sad again—then Xiangling from Aunt Xue's house may not survive these few days."

Daiyu was shocked when she heard this, and Jia Cong simply confessed: "I went to Mei Hanlin's house today. When I came out, I met Baoqin who came back from Xue's house with tears on her face. She told me that since Big Brother Xue was imprisoned , the Xia family humiliated Xiangling in different ways day by day, and in the end it was Baochai who made her her maidservant and cut her off from the front yard. However, after Baochai got married, Xiangling lost her protection, and Aunt Xue was kind. With a soft face and unable to control his daughter-in-law, Xia Jingui often chased her to the backyard to insult and bully Xiangling. How could Xiangling have suffered such grievances? She didn't ask a doctor to give her a serious diagnosis and treatment. Baoqin went home yesterday and saw her, and said that she was so thin that only a bone remained, and she seemed to be dying..."

Daiyu burst into tears, so she wanted to go see her in person, and said, "I don't believe my aunt is so cruel. She also watched Xiangling grow up, so why can't she save her life? If Xue's family is so poor that they don't even have life-saving money, So I took her to my Pear Fragrance Garden—even though we have different identities, we are like sisters, and we are half-teachers—I still teach her poems.”

Although Jia Cong comforted her in every possible way, Daiyu was concerned about Xiangling's life and insisted on going to see her. Jia Cong thought about how sad she would be if she didn't follow, so she didn't stop her, and ordered the maids to summon the servants to prepare the car, and then Daiyu put on brocade fur, took a group of nuns and daughters-in-law and two personal maids, and went to Xue's house in a car. The teardrops rolled down like pearls with a broken string.

Hearing that Daiyu was coming, Aunt Xue quickly led someone to pick her up, and before she could say hello, she took Daiyu's hand and let out a mournful voice: "But I have harmed such a good child. Suffered half a grievance? Suffered such a crime..." Daiyu comforted Aunt Xue, while going in to see Xiangling, she saw Xiangling lying on the bed in the wing room, already out of shape, with her arms resting on the thin The outside of the thin brocade quilt is like a reed stick, without any meat.But she didn't die yet, she was just panting, and when she saw Daiyu coming in, she still recognized her, so she shed a tear from the corner of her eye.

Daiyu sat in front of the bed, took Xiangling's hand, suppressed her grief and said, "I heard that you were sick, so I came to have a look—it's nothing serious, just take a few doses of medicine and you'll be fine—" Is there anything you don't want?" Xiangling smiled slightly: "The girl came to coax me again, our second girl said the same thing just now, but I knew that I would never get better. It's still a sin, I want I'm going home. You don't have to be sad, girl, I'm out of the sea of ​​suffering. These days I lie here, my heart is very quiet, I only think about the days when I was in the garden, learning poetry with the girl, such a fairy day I’ve passed it all, and I’m considered complete, so I don’t have any regrets.”

Saying this, Xiangling's expression changed, and her eyes disappeared in a blink of an eye. The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were afraid that something might happen to Daiyu, and urged Daiyu to come out to Aunt Xue's upper room. After a while, Xiangling's fragrance disappeared. Die, when everyone was crying together, they suddenly heard singing from outside the courtyard wall, and the words were clearly heard: "Everyone in the world knows that gods are good, only children and grandchildren can't forget them. There have been many infatuated parents since ancient times. Whoever sees filial children and grandchildren..." Everyone Surprised, the inner house here is far away from the street, and the voices from the street should not have been heard. Jia Cong didn't wait for orders, so he went out to have a look, and saw a tall old man dressed as a Taoist priest, coming from a distance with a whisk in his hand.Jia Cong's heart moved, he stepped forward to greet him and saluted, "Master Daoist, what are you doing here?"

The Taoist priest chuckled, and said, "What do people from outside the world do? It's just that the fate of the impoverished Taoist priest has not yet been fulfilled. There is still one woman who is here, and the fate of the world is full. Come to meet him." He ignored Jia Cong as he spoke. , raised his legs and entered the gate, but the crowd couldn't stop him in time. Seeing that he had entered the second gate, when he rushed in to see, there was no sign of him.

Everyone was shocked, and they searched more and more, but finally disappeared.Jia Cong knew that this Taoist priest must have a background, so he only explained to Aunt Xue and Daiyu, and told everyone that everyone was dazzled, and he had never seen the Taoist priest come in, so he hurriedly arranged Xiangling's funeral.The Xia family just gnawed bones and drank in her room, yelling three times and four times, but Aunt Xue got angry but couldn't stop it.

Daiyu was secretly sad in her heart, she said goodbye for a while, and felt relieved when she returned to Sixue's house--in this way, Xiangling has really escaped from the sea of ​​suffering.

But she said that Baochai was really sad when she heard the news of Xiangling's death, but she had a lot of affairs in Jia's house, not to mention that she was busy raising money to atone for her brother recently, and she was sad that Baoqin's husband's family had suffered disasters... All kinds of unsatisfactory things made her unable to often Go home and help with cooking.Only at night, thinking of all the benefits of Xiangling's life together, she wept sadly, but some of them dared not let Baoyu know, for fear that the idiot would hear about it and cause trouble again.Poor girl who is as beautiful as a flower, her soul has returned to Lihentian before she reached her [-]th birthday.

However, in a few days, Baoyu still found out, how could such a thing be kept hidden from others?Hearing this, he recalled how happy everyone was when they were enjoying flowers and fighting grass in the garden and composing poems. He also helped her hide the soiled pomegranate skirt, so he couldn't help crying.Seeing that he was a little crazy, Ying'er hurried back to Baochai, and Baochai came to see, but saw Baoyu lying on the bed, holding a half-worn pomegranate skirt in her arms, tears streaming down her face.

Seeing his stupidity, Baochai couldn't help laughing angrily, and scolded him, "You are not afraid of being laughed at. Why is a big man crying while holding a woman's clothes?" Baoyu cried, "How do you know this? The skirt was from my birthday that year, we were fighting weeds in the garden together, Xiangling’s skirt was stained, she said that this skirt was given to you and her by sister Qin, if it was ruined, I was afraid that my aunt would say her, so I asked for it Someone, help her change this skirt—who wants a person who is as delicate as a flower to be destroyed in a blink of an eye, and now it is a dead body..." Before she could finish speaking, she burst into tears.

When Baochai heard this, she was sad and depressed: "You can't tell others what you said, it's justified by emotion and reason, who is Xiangling, who are you, what right do you have to cry for her? Baoyu then said: "I take her as a friend and sister. She is the most upright person and is not afraid of others' words. If you are not so afraid of wolves and tigers, and always use people's words to prevaricate me, then I will follow my idea." , when you married, you brought her here, how could Xiangling die?"

Baochai was too lazy to talk nonsense with him, so she just told Ying'er and Sheyue to watch over him, and came out to do business by herself.Now it will be March, and Tanchun's wedding is approaching. Although the side concubine's ostentation is limited, because of the dignity of the mansion, and in order for Tanchun to enter the Beijing Palace so that no one will look down upon her, Mother Jia and Mrs. Wang have ordered Come down and prepare a dowry for her.Therefore, Baochai has been busy with this matter these days.

Fortunately, Mother Jia took out a lot of jewelry from her own body to fill Tanchun with makeup. Daiyu and Sister Feng also gave generous gifts to Tanchun for their affection, so Tanchun's dowry is still a good one. rich.Today, the embroiderers handed in the bed curtains and quilt covers, etc. Baochai personally checked them one by one, let them hold them, and personally went to Mrs. Wang to report. Mrs. Wang was sitting in her room listening to the palace. The little eunuch who came out was very happy for a moment, and when she saw Baochai coming in, she didn't avoid her, but just whispered the good news to her: "The noble concubine is happy."

Baochai was taken aback, and quickly asked the little eunuch, "Is your father-in-law sure? Has your majesty invited an imperial physician? Have you reported it to the empress?" The little eunuch smiled and said, "Second grandma, don't worry, your master is happy. It's absolutely true, it's been more than two months since your master's letter has been lost. There is a nanny in the palace who is in charge of delivering babies. She has already shown it to your master. It's a sure thing. It's just that it hasn't been released On the bright side, firstly, it’s been more than two months, I’m afraid of being unstable, secondly, the empress’s empress has been ill recently, and your lord doesn’t want her to worry about it, and thirdly, Concubine Zhang Shu is in charge of the palace now, if the imperial physician is summoned, it’s natural It also needs to go through the hands of Concubine Zhang Shu..."

He didn't say any more, Baochai already understood the danger, her heart was awe-inspiring, but she didn't dare to say a word.Madam Wang ordered Caiyun and others to prepare the medicine to protect the fetus and calm the nerves, and asked the little eunuch to take it into the palace, and after a thousand instructions, he let the little eunuch go.Here Mrs. Wang couldn't sit still, she just said: "I hope the noble concubine will give birth to a dragon son, and everything will be fine." Baochai thought to himself: What if a prince is born?The emperor is in the prime of life, there are more than a dozen princes, and the position of the prince has been determined. Is Mrs. Wang coveting the seat of the prince?Thinking about it this way, and thinking that Mrs. Wang gave up Tanchun to make friends with King Beijing, I couldn't help being shocked and frightened.