[Red House + Space] Falling Spring

Xue Baochai came in from the outside with a teapot, Luochun got up quickly, reached out to take the teapot over, and said, "Sister Bao, let me come." Baochai turned to one side, avoiding her outstretched hand, Said: "Let me do it. It's filled with water, it's so heavy, you can't do it, and the water inside has just boiled, so if you accidentally scald you, it will be bad."

Luo Chun was dissatisfied with Baochai's words "I can't do it", and was about to refute, when her eyes fell on Baochai's hand who was holding a teapot and was pouring tea, she was stunned.What kind of hands were those, no longer white, delicate, and soft as in memory, but turned yellowish black, very rough, with tiny scars all over the back of the hands and palms.

Looking at Baochai's hands, Luochun couldn't say anything when the words came to his lips.At this moment, her heart couldn't tell what it was like, and she felt inexplicable.After looking at Baochai's hands, he lowered his head and took a peek at his own hands, which were not much different from those in Rongguo Mansion. Of course, it was because of the space that they were well maintained, but after coming out of the mansion, they have never suffered much. real.Even if she cooks a few times, someone always prepares the ingredients for her, and someone else cooks the fire. All she needs to do is chop and stir-fry. As for the countryside, with Mrs. Zheng around, she only needs to use her mouth. .

Luochun suddenly thought of Scarlett Scarlett in the novel "Gone With the Wind" after she had an accident in the manor. In order to raise money and pay taxes, she wore a new dress made of velvet curtains to visit the captain in prison, and lied to the captain that she was doing well. Take her rough hand and you know she is lying.So to see whether a girl who was once rich and well-off is doing well after her family has fallen, you can tell the clues from her hands, and Baochai's hands, you can tell at a glance that they have suffered a lot.

Judging from the tiny scars on her hands, it didn't happen in a day or two. It was because he, their mother and daughter moved out, but there were servants. Luo Chun cast her eyes on the empty yard. Just now she lamented that the yard was silent. People, thinking that it might be because they want to follow Xue Pan to the northwest, they sent everyone away, but judging from Baochai's hands, it seems that it is not a recent incident.

Luochun was very curious, and wanted to ask Baochai what happened after their mother and daughter moved away from Jia's house, but when she thought of her becoming like this, she knew that life must be difficult without asking, and those memories would never be forgotten. It's not a pleasant memory, she can't do this kind of thing to expose other people's scars because of her own little curiosity, so Luochun suppressed her curiosity and didn't ask.Luochun suddenly remembered the days when Baoyu was sent by Mrs. Wang to look after Xue's family. I don't know if Baoyu knew what happened to Xue's family. He should know, but he didn't see him go back and confide a word. His tone was really serious. .

She reached out to pick up the teacup and took a sip, Luochun's face immediately became contorted. Although she kept saying that she couldn't drink the tea, the tea was really too bad to drink, it was bitter and bitter. Astringent, hard to drink.Luo Chun resisted the urge to spit it out, swallowed the tea in his mouth, put the teacup aside, and refused to drink any more.

Just when Luochun was searching for something to talk to Baochai about, the door leading to the main room was pushed open, the curtain was raised, and Aunt Xue came out from inside.When Luochun heard the movement, she turned her head and looked over. When she saw Aunt Xue, she was stunned.Because Baochai always appeared as a mature and considerate big sister when she was in Jia's house, so when Luochun saw her, except that her demeanor became more stable, she didn't feel much change. She still judged from her hands that their life after they moved out of Jia's house was not good, but seeing Aunt Xue shocked her beyond measure.

When Aunt Xue was in Jia's house, although she lost her husband and was a widow, and her son was not worried, and her daughter's election failed, she was still a middle-aged beautiful woman with still charm at that time. He didn't take those troubles to heart.But Aunt Xue in front of her has gray hair, many wrinkles, and a stooped figure.If she used to look younger than her actual age, then she now looks at least ten years older than her actual age.

In less than a year, Aunt Xue has aged to this point. This change is too great, and Luo Chun can't accept the big change.Luochun looked at Aunt Xue in surprise, stuttered rarely, and said, "Aunt...Auntie, hello Auntie, I..."

"Oh, it's Luochun." Aunt Xue saw Luochun's surprise in her eyes, greeted her with a smile, stretched out her hand to brush the broken hair on her temples, and said, "Am I too old to see people now? If you met me on the street, I'm afraid you wouldn't dare to recognize me, right?" Luo Chun nodded subconsciously when she heard the words, but quickly realized that she shook her head again, realizing that her actions just now were inappropriate, and hurriedly explained: "Ah , that, that..." After eating and eating Ai Ai for a long while, she didn't say anything, because Luo Chun really didn't know how to justify her behavior just now.

"Hehe." Aunt Xue smiled and said, "You don't have to think about how to explain it, I understand. In fact, don't say you are surprised, even when I look in the mirror, I don't dare to recognize the person in the mirror as me. This year , I’m getting old so fast, I’ve been someone else for ten years.” Laughing at herself, her eyes fell on Liu Xianglian who was beside her, she narrowed her eyes slightly, and asked, “This is it?”

Luochun hurriedly introduced Liu Xianglian to Aunt Xue: "Oh, auntie, this is Liu Xianglian, a friend of Brother Lian and Brother Bao. My mother and I came to the city with Mrs. Zheng, and my mother was worried. Entrust, send us into the city." After explaining why Liu Xianglian was here in a few words, she said with a serious face: "Auntie, I have something very important to tell my aunt when I come to the city this time. .” Glancing at Liu Xianglian, he beckoned him to speak.

Liu Xianglian hurriedly said: "Mrs. Xue, it's like this. I accidentally heard from Jia's family that you and your daughter sold your property and wanted to follow your son on the road to the northwest. There are some inside stories that are unknown to outsiders." He He told the Xue family mother and daughter what he had said to Mrs. Xing again.

Hearing this, Xue's mother and daughter turned pale with shock.Aunt Xue was in such a mess, she murmured in a panic: "Well, what should I do, what should I do?" Baochai quickly collected her emotions, walked up to Liu Xianglian, and faced him. He saluted generously, and then said: "The little girl thanked Mr. Liu for sending the sixth younger sister here to tell her the inside story. But as the saying goes, 'help people to the end, send Buddha to the west', since Mr. Liu If you understand the inside story so well, you must know a thing or two about how to deal with such a thing, and please ask Mr. Liu to tell me the solution for the sake of my widow and weak daughter, the little girl here is very grateful."

Aunt Xue also realized that she lived more than twenty years longer than Baochai. Although Luochun and Liu Xianglian both said that Liu Xianglian was the relationship between Baoyu and Jia Lian, she still saw Liu Xianglian's love for Luochun. She knew that her family had no friendship with Liu Xianglian, and it might not be effective to ask Baochai for help, so she went forward and took Luochun's hand and cried, "Liu girl, when I was in the mansion, , although Auntie has no good in front of you, but there is nothing wrong with it. Now that you have fallen into this situation, you should take pity on me as an old woman. Auntie worked hard and lost all her family fortune to save your cousin. After all, the family reunion is just around the corner, we can’t let our family be buried in a foreign country without knowing why? Auntie knelt down for you, please help me.” As she said that, Aunt Xue was about to kneel down on Luochun before.Baochai also came over and said, "My dear sister, I kneel down for you too."

In the past, Luochun was most annoyed by people who knelt down and waited for reasons to coerce the other party to help. She always felt that this kind of behavior meant moral kidnapping, and it was simply forcing people to agree.Now that Aunt Xue and Baochai have resorted to this trick against her, although she knows that this is due to the close relationship between the two, it still makes her feel uncomfortable.What's more, Luochun also saw why Aunt Xue came to beg her for such a boudoir girl, which made her a little annoyed.

Regarding Liu Xianglian's thoughts about her, if Luochun didn't know about it before, then Liu Xianglian showed so clearly along the way, if she didn't know, she would be a fool.But knowing it, Luochun felt very vague about the relationship between himself and Liu Xianglian, but he didn't know what position to give in his heart.But no matter what, according to the rules of this world, as long as she and Liu Xianglian are not engaged, then the relationship between them can only be very pure. The intersection is Jia Lian and Baoyu.But what Aunt Xue said and this kneeling was equivalent to binding the two of them together to some extent.Luochun's complexion turned ugly all of a sudden, but she really wanted to argue with Aunt Xue and couldn't. She resisted her unhappiness, held Aunt Xue and Baochai one by one, and said, "Aunt Xue and Sister Bao , why do you bother to do this, if I can watch you have an accident and ignore it, why bother to come here and tell you the inside story?"

Although Aunt Xue's words made Luochun not very happy, but Liu Xianglian just wanted to win people's approval, so after Luochun said that, she hurriedly interjected: "That's right, that's right, Mrs. Xue, don't worry. It’s fine if we don’t know about it, since we know it, we won’t stand by and watch.” Hearing what he said, Luo Chun couldn’t help but give him a sideways glance, muttering in his heart, you’re really thick-skinned, who is “we” with you? ", where it says "we", you just say you are yourself, why bring her with you.

Hearing Liu Xianglian's words, Aunt Xue let go of half of her heart, wiped her tears with a handkerchief, and said: "I am relieved to have Mr. Liu's words. Since Mr. Liu can know the inside story, he must be in the officialdom and There should be friends on the street, so please ask Mr. Liu and your friends to help out. As for the expenses, please rest assured, Mr. Liu, I will never make things difficult for you."

These days, Aunt Xue has been busy with Xue Pan’s affairs. She knows that in such matters, even if you talk about smallpox, it’s not as effective as real money, so she hastened to confess her love and signaled that the silver taels in it are not needed. Liu Xianglian came to worry about it.Of course, she also knows that this is not something you can do with money. If you want to worship the Bodhisattva, you must find the temple gate. Without Liu Xianglian's guidance, they will be useless even if they have money, so I am still very grateful to Liu Xianglian of.

Hearing Aunt Xue's words, Luochun subconsciously looked at the empty room, then at Aunt Xue and Baochai, feeling very suspicious in her heart, whether Aunt Xue's words were slapping a swollen face to pretend to be fat. Do you have any money?No wonder she thinks so, although Aunt Xue and Baochai still wear half-worn silk and satin, but after careful identification, they can see that the pattern and style are old styles, and they must be new clothes made in the early years. At that time, there were a lot of clothes, so I put them at the bottom of the box without wearing them.Now that the family is in a poor state, the materials of these clothes are not top-notch fabrics, and the patterns and styles are old, even if they are sent to a clothing appraisal shop, they are not worth a lot of money, so it is better to keep them and wear them at home.

It can be said that, at present, the Xue family, except for the clothes on the two of them, which seem to be able to bluff people, the rest looks poor no matter how you look at it. It can be explained by the sale of all the valuable belongings in the family. After all, Baochai's hands are actually placed there, secretly revealing this information.I just wanted to go back to thinking, but Luochun didn't ask this question stupidly, let alone what she asked, would Aunt Xue say it? With Aunt Xue's frightened appearance, she was still worried, and asked After that, Aunt Xue will suspect that she has some bad idea?She didn't want to cause trouble for no reason.