Love of Friends in the Red Chamber

It is said that Daiyu secretly rejoiced that she also had relatives to rely on, and her health was getting better and better. Every day, she would just sing poems with her sisters in the garden for fun, enjoying the years.In addition, there are many sisters in the garden. In addition to the original three sisters Baoyu, Baochai, Daiyu, Yingchun and Li Wan, there are more girls from the Xing family Xiuyan in the Yingchun place, Xiangyun and Xiangling live in Baochai, and Li Wan lives in the garden. There are more sisters Li Wen and Li Qi, both of whom are talented women who know how to read and write well.Among them, Baoqin, the second daughter of Xue, is the most outstanding, and she is very favored by Jiamu, and she has always stayed in the upper room to live with Jiamu.

In the twelfth lunar month, after a few heavy snowfalls in the capital, the weather suddenly became cold. Baoyu simply stopped going to school because her father was not at home and had no one to supervise her. She hang out with her sisters in the garden every day.Aunt Lin and Jia's mansion are also frequent now, and she must come to every big banquet and small gathering. This day, Mother Jia invited several relatives to go to the house to enjoy the plum blossoms in the snow. During the dinner, Aunt Lin saw Baoqin wearing a The golden and emerald cloak was praised by everyone, so Jia Mu proudly introduced that it was woven from the feathers on the wild duck's head, and it was called "Fuji Qiu". she.Everyone flattered Jia's mother for having good things, but Aunt Lin sneered in her heart: I don't know how long the Maodiqiu has been pressed in the box, and the luster has dimmed, so she is willing to give it away-it seems that Jia's family is really poor. .

Two days later, Mother Jia rewarded Baoyu with another cloak she had kept, "Finch Gold", which was woven from peacock feathers, which were more precious than "Fuji Qiu". Suave, so that everyone said that if Baoqin hadn't been promised to the Mei family, Jia Mu would have promised Baoqin to Baoyu.But Daiyu didn't take it to heart, she knew her grandmother's intentions - if it was just for Baoyu and herself, it would not only cause a lot of gossip, be complained about favoritism, even Mrs. Wang would not be used again.

But Aunt Lin still knows the deeper reason why Jia's mother did this - even the Xue family is not as powerful as before. Baoqin was originally promised to Mei Hanlin's son. With the intention of regretting the marriage, she rushed to Beijing, hoping to use the power of the Jia family to facilitate the marriage, otherwise Baoqin would be in trouble for life.However, Jia Mu entrusted someone to tell the truth, the Mei family just dragged it, and did not give any confirmation, let alone the date of marrying Bao Qin.In order to appease the Xue family, Jia's mother deliberately loved Baoqin in every possible way, and gave Baoqin her collection.No one knew what was going on, only Aunt Xue, Mrs. Wang and Baochai were secretly worried.

This year, Jia's family is getting tighter on money. It is the middle of the twelfth lunar month, and Sister Feng has not packed everyone's New Year's clothes and jewelry properly. Newly made, the green color is shining, and it is lighter, softer, thicker and more dazzling than Baoyu's one.When Daiyu put it on, she became lighter and more delicate, as if she was going to fly in the air, like a fairy concubine.Jiamu was overjoyed, and others could only admire her.

Because Daiyu is a girl who has not yet reached the age of ji, it is not easy to give a complete set of head and face jewelry, and it is necessary to take care of the face of the Jia family and maintain Daiyu's dignity, so the annual gift for Daiyu is small but delicate, which makes people feel at ease. Seeing the dignity of the eldest daughter of the Lin family, she will not attract gossip and the displeasure of the head of the Jia family.

That day Aunt Lin came to visit Jia Mu in person, had tea and talked, and then sent her eldest daughter-in-law Dong Yao to give Daiyu a new year gift.So accompanied by Sister Feng, Dong Yao came to the Xiaoxiang Pavilion in the garden with her maid and wife, holding a box, a cage and a bag.In Daiyu's room, Baochai sisters, Baoyu and Xiuyan were all there, sitting around the smoked cage and gossiping about family affairs. Seeing Sister Feng coming in with Mrs. Dong, they all got up and gave up their seats.

Dong's temperament is gentle, he came in to say hello to everyone and sat down, then greeted Daiyu with warmth, very humble.She saw a jade pot in the Nuan Pavilion, in which a pot of single-petaled narcissus was planted in threes and fives, lit the Xuan stone, and said with a smile: "What a flower! And it is elegant, it is very suitable to put this flower in the girl's room. " Dai Yuyin said: "This is given to me by the second girl of the Xue family. I also have two pots in my house, but they are not as good as this one. When I got this flower, I asked the servant girl to take the original one to the outer room." He smiled and said: "This is because these maids are careless. The girl likes this, why don't you hurry home and talk about it. In the past two days, the family also got a few pots of high-grade narcissus, all of which are jade platform marigolds. What are they called 'Thousand Petal Suying' Yes, I’ll bring it to the girl tomorrow.” Daiyu smiled and said, “You don’t need to bother, this is enough for me to have in my house, and my sister-in-law can keep it for herself.” Then Dong asked her servant to give it to Daiyu Jewelry, clothes and some New Year's items were brought up for Daiyu to have a look, and she saw ten pine and oak double orioles of the same color painted in a holding box containing:

Jewelry: a red phoenix peony inlaid with oriental beads and a gold hairpin, a pair of suet jade lily-patterned bamboo hairpins, a pair of emerald ridged flower double-joined long hairpins, a golden silk necklace inlaid with southern beads, a jasper bead necklace, There are three bead necklaces of varying lengths, a pair of high-quality mutton fat jade bracelets, a pair of green jadeite bracelets filled with ice seeds, and a pair of agarwood bracelets.

Clothes: a bird-gold woolen crane cloak, a leader's padded jacket inlaid with green calyx plum fox fur on a silver background, a soft silver cotton skirt with light silk threads and gold flowing colors, and a white fox fur wrapped in satin.

Silver coins: Ten pairs of gold and silver zippers in the new style, and one hundred strings of clear money.

Rao, Sister Feng has seen the big world, and her eyes are eager to see it, because the oriental pearl embedded in the Danfeng gold hairpin is worth thousands of gold, and the bird gold crane cloak is even richer and has no place to buy it. , she estimated in her heart that this annual gift was no less than 3000 taels of silver.So Sister Feng said with a smile: "My sister-in-law and aunt are too careful. The clothes and jewelry for the New Year here have already been prepared by Sister Lin. Because I have a lot of things in the past, I didn't take care of them for a while. How can our wife be ashamed?" ?”

Dong said with a gentle smile: "It is precisely because I know that the family must be well-prepared that I only send some playthings to our girl sporadically, for the girl to reward." Rough, what do you like, just tell the maids to go back and talk about it, don't wrong yourself." Daiyu didn't care about these mundane things, but felt Dong's sincere attitude, so she hurriedly smiled and thanked.Mrs. Dong smiled at Sister Feng again and said, "Speaking of which, our girl will reach her birthday next year. She is born on the February Flower Festival. Our wife has already prepared her birthday clothes and head jewelry, so it's not too much trouble for the house." It cost money."

Although Sister Feng wanted to do this because of the tight money in the house, she was afraid that Mother Jia would be displeased, so she didn't dare to agree. I feel something.Although Xiuyan was born in a poor family, fortunately she had seen people before, and after only feeling a little bit, she was fine, but Dong Shigao took a look at her, Baochai was always stable, happy and angry. Only Baoqin is young, and the other has recently known that her marriage is rough, and she has never started to hurt herself about the family affairs, but she just refuses to show it on her face.Dong thought to herself: No wonder my mother-in-law often praised the few girls in Jia's mansion as rare in the world. She really knew people and behaved calmly, so she didn't dare to underestimate them.

When the Lin family saw off the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law in the evening, Sister Feng followed Mrs. Wang to the upper room and told her that today the Lin family said that they would arrange their own clothes for Daiyu's birthday.Mrs. Wang sighed: "That being said, the difficulty is not on your sister Lin alone. If you do not look good, I am afraid that the old lady will not agree. No matter how the Lin family prepares, our side is still the same, and we have to make it thicker. ——Actually, it's just clothes, and the old lady who wears jewelry will give some of her body to Miss Lin." Sister Feng was in a dilemma, so she agreed.

Mrs. Wang sighed: "Speaking of which, these sisters of yours are living wrongedly now, how can they compare with the past. Let's not talk about it, just say how pampered and pampered your sister Lin's mother was when she was not out of the cabinet. Now Your sister Lin was able to catch up because of the old lady's love for her, and the fact that the Lin family was also at a time of smoldering. I only pity your other sisters, who are only slightly better than other girls-you should give them a little bit. I've bought some clothes, and I'm going to talk about marriage, don't just rush to make clothes now, it will make people laugh, and the old lady won't agree."

Sister Feng lowered her head and thought for a while, then said with a smile: "Of course my wife is worried about it, but it's hard for a smart woman to cook without rice. Madam sees that every family in Beijing is as good as us now, which one is not like this, it's just putting on airs, and it's all in Yinnian. If you don’t save money as soon as possible, you will lose your money. Needless to say, the Xue family is empty now..." She peeped at Mrs. Wang's expression, thinking of admonishing Mrs. Wang, Don't be so stubborn that Baoyu must marry Baochai. Now it seems that Daiyu is more suitable.

Mrs. Wang frowned and said: "How can the Xue family compare with ours? The Xue family is not up to date, and it has ruined such a huge family business. There is no way. Speaking of this, I I can't help but sigh that Bao girl is really a steady and good child. Her family used to be so good, so I don't see how proud she is. Now that her family is ruined, she is calm and calm-this is the young lady of the big family, who can bear it. Wealthy, keep poor. I think she is also frugal now, she is not even willing to wear pearls and jade jewelry, you should persuade her, give her a few pieces, so as not to be compared to others——The old lady is I like to see the rich and colorful makeup of girls the most."

Sister Feng sighed in her heart, knowing that there was no way to persuade her, so she had to agree to come out.The sadness in my heart cannot be brought out on the face, and I have to work hard to prepare for the New Year.It's so easy to pass the New Year's Eve in a lively manner. Because of financial constraints, Sister Feng is worried, and she is tired of work, and she is a little month old.She had been married to Jia Lian for ten years and had only one daughter. She felt that her status was unstable. In addition to this crescent month, Jia Lian not only refused to greet her tenderly, but blamed her for not taking good care of herself.Sister Feng was also discouraged. In addition, the people in the house only wanted to enjoy the present and didn't care about the future. Even if she had three heads and six arms, she couldn't support the basic necessities of this big family. After discussing with Xiaoyue, he took advantage of Xiaoyue to take a complete rest and refused to take charge of things, which also meant to save himself.

Mrs. Wang felt that she had lost her arm, so she had to hand over all the trivial matters at home to Li Wan, Tanchun and Baochai to help them.Li Wan is wise and protects himself, so of course he doesn't want to stand out. Although Baochai is talented, he is also an outsider, so Tanchun took care of the family affairs vigorously and resolutely.The third girl is the most shrewd, and naturally knows the truth of her family's financial difficulties, so she abolished the status of the most respectable members of the family as soon as she came up, and showed everyone what Sister Feng, Baoyu, Jia Huan, and Jia Lan did. Daiyu's birthday is also planned to be frugal, the theater troupe is not invited, just want everyone to gather at Jiamu's place to eat noodles and laugh for a day.

Daiyu knows the bottom line very well, and has always been on good terms with Tanchun, without any complaints.Although Jia Mu felt sorry for Daiyu, she also knew that her family's financial difficulties were difficult, so she could not blame Tanchun, so she just found two sets of beautiful and expensive head and face jewelry for Daiyu from her own body.On the contrary, Aunt Lin knew that it would be so ordinary, and prepared a congratulatory gift in advance. This time, it was delivered directly to Jiamu's main room, and explained to Jiamu that she would borrow the Grand View Garden for her daughter's birthday, and that Daiyu's It was displayed with honor and dignity.Mother Jia likes to be lively and honorable the most, so she immediately changed her words and said that she would celebrate Daiyu's birthday in person.

These days Jia Cong is only concentrating on studying, preparing to take part in the children's examination in May after the beginning of spring. He only goes to the big and small banquets on weekdays. After that, except for the morning and evening sleep with Jia Mu, Jia She and Mrs. Xing, it is the study And the two-point one-line life of the family school.However, during the routine activities to greet Mrs. Xing, he discovered that Aunt Lin's public relations activities had reached Mrs. Xing's place.

Mrs. Xing is an uncalculating and narrow-minded person. When she met a top black-bellied public relations expert like Aunt Lin, it was really late. She soon became a middle-aged best friend who talked about everything.Aunt Lin consciously or unconsciously led her to think about her future: her husband, Jia She, was a mean and ungrateful person, hard to count on; the eldest son, Jia Lian, and his wife had always followed his second uncle's side, and didn't take her as an aunt seriously; She herself has no children and no one to rely on, except for Jia Cong, a concubine who has no mother.Mrs. Xing looked at Jia Cong as if she had been enlightened.Not only has his attitude become more pleasant since then, but he also cares about the diet and daily life of this half-old son from time to time, which makes Jia Cong feel a little goosebumps all over the ground.But he is a smart person, so he naturally understood Aunt Lin's intentions, so he deliberately flattered Mrs. Xing and coaxed her to say something nice to Jia Mu and Jia She.