Red Mansion: Picking up a Lin Daiyu

Chapter 312: The Lin Family is Jealous
When Jia Yun learned that one of the masters from Panxiang Temple was currently in the mansion, he breathed a sigh of relief. He thought he had said something wrong and that had surprised the girls in the room.

Immediately afterwards, Miaoyu was called over and accepted the letter from Jia Yun, which had not yet been delivered to the mountain, in confusion.

Jia Yun politely bowed to the female teacher in front of him, who was dressed in a sea-blue robe and had her hair tied up. He explained, "This is the arrangement of the Marquis. I hope the teacher can make it convenient for me."

Miaoyu had imagined that she and the Marquis would have another encounter, but she had never thought it would be under such circumstances.

The eyes of the girls around her were all on her. Miaoyu was a little at a loss as to whether she should open it here or not.

At this moment, Lin Daiyu, who had been sitting upright, spoke up in a bad tone, "Open it and see what it says."

Seeing this, Xue Baochai on the side couldn't help but cover her mouth and laugh, then she raised her head and regained some composure.

Qin Keqing, who was sitting next to her, couldn't help but ask, "What were you laughing at just now?"

Xue Baochai said calmly, "I want to eat dumplings tonight."

This irrelevant answer made Qin Keqing even more confused.

Xue Baochai tilted her head to look over, smiled and whispered to Qin Keqing, "This room smells so strongly of vinegar. If there are no dumplings, wouldn't it be a waste?"

Qin Keqing understood what she meant and secretly glanced up at Lin Daiyu. She saw that although there was no anger on her face, her eyebrows were raised, so she immediately stopped smiling.

He winked at Xue Baochai, more like reminding her not to let Lin Daiyu hear this, otherwise she would definitely make a fuss.

After Lin Daiyu spoke, Miaoyu opened the letter and began to read its contents with an inexplicable feeling.

She hoped that there would be some words in it that would bring them closer together, but if there really were any, she would be ashamed to let so many young girls in the hall see them.

The facts did not go as she wished. It only described the current situation facing Suzhou Prefecture and asked her to properly place the maid in the room and guard the mountain gate.

Miaoyu secretly breathed a sigh of relief. There was nothing out of the ordinary about it, so she was not convicted of being a foxy woman. As a practitioner, she still had to maintain some dignity in public.

After reading it, Miaoyu handed the letter to Lin Daiyu and asked her to read it as well. Then she said, "Since the Marquis is worried about the safety of the girls, please follow me to the mountain."

"The conditions in the mountains are a bit harsh. If the girls have anything they prefer, they need to bring it with them. It will be difficult to go down the mountain to buy it."

After listening to Miaoyu's reminder, Lin Daiyu also finished reading the letter. It only stated official business without any other unnecessary words. Lin Daiyu's expression relaxed a lot.

"In this case, we should act without further delay. It will be inconvenient if we go up the mountain in the dark."

Jia Yun also thought that what Lin Daiyu said was well considered, so he said goodbye and went out to communicate with the city defense troops and the escort troops.

The girls returned to their rooms and started packing their luggage.

I don’t know how long I will be staying in the mountains, so I must have some spare clothes and dressing supplies.

Every room was bustling with activity, but something was different in Qin Keqing's room.

Qin Keqing looked at the Ruizhu beads busying around, but she herself was unmoved, as if it had nothing to do with her. She just sat at the table without saying a word.

Holding the locked drawer, Qin Keqing was very conflicted about whether to take the things inside up the mountain.

If it were to stay here, once it was lost and the content that named and exposed people was spread out, the consequences would be something she could not imagine at all.

But if she carried it with her, it would be too deliberate. Just like now, she couldn't even take the orange booklet out of the drawer.

In fact, Ruizhuzhu had long been curious about what was inside, because this was the only locked drawer in the room, and there was only one key, which was in Qin Keqing's hand.

And they had never seen Qin Keqing take anything out of it.

Ruizhu and Zhuzhu were both maids who had followed them all the way from the Qin residence. They had never expected that their own lady would be wary of them.

While they were angry, they also wanted to find out what was going on.

Although the two were busy with their hands, they would glance back from time to time to see if Qin Keqing took anything out.

When the two sides were in a stalemate, Xue Baochai arrived.

After entering the room, she looked around and saw the embarrassment on Qin Keqing's face. She smiled knowingly and said, "Ruizhu, Baozhu, there are too many things in my room. Ying'er and Xiangling can't handle all the jars and pots. Can you come to my room and help?"

Ruizhu looked at each other and there was really no reason to refuse.

Qin Keqing looked at Xue Baochai with hope, as if she had seen a savior, and of course she would not stop them from leaving.

The two of them secretly sighed and had to give up this time. The battle to find out what was inside would have to be put off until next time.

After Ruizhu and Zhuzhu were sent away, Qin Keqing quickly took out a key from her purse, opened the drawer, and quickly put away the booklet and several pieces of paper.

Holding them in her hands, Qin Keqing was dumbfounded again. Where should she put these things?

She looked to Xue Baochai for help, "I can't put these things with my luggage. If they take my luggage, they will definitely look through the things inside. If they see me..."

Xue Baochai seemed to have anticipated this day. She stretched out her hands behind her back and saw that she was holding a wooden box.

"Put it here first and lock it with a padlock. When you get up the mountain, tuck it under your blanket or pillow. Now you can rest assured."

Qin Keqing took it with great joy, "Sister Bao is really smart."

"By the way, once we get to the mountain, do we still have to write one article a day? It shouldn't be easy to go down the mountain to deliver the article."

Qin Keqing asked tentatively, with her head slightly lowered, only her eyelids raised, and a guilty look on her face.

Hearing this, Xue Baochai put away her smile, hugged her shoulders and said, "Sister Keqing, please don't forget our agreement. I have always given you a lot of money. You are smart and you should know how much loss it would be if you miss one day."

Qin Keqing sighed and said, "Okay, I knew it would be like this."

Qin Keqing, who had not held out much hope in the first place, stood up shakily, put the wooden box into her bag, and sighed unconsciously.

But when she unpacked a bundle, she found a stack of newspapers inside. These were the newspapers published by Fengzihao, in which her article was published.

Qin Keqing was suddenly startled and quickly called Xue Baochai over.

"How did this appear in the bag? Did everyone in the room know about it?"

Xue Baochai pinched her chin lightly, thought deeply, and shook her head, saying, "It's impossible. My sister's information is flawless. They can't know it."

"The Feng-branded newspaper is very famous nowadays. It's not impossible that they bought a few copies just to join in the fun. It must be a coincidence."

"If they all knew, not only would you be in trouble, but I, who was behind this, would also not have a good ending. Don't worry, even Ying'er and Xiangling don't know about this now."

After hearing Xue Baochai's comfort, Qin Keqing felt much more at ease. She packed her bag and put the wooden box in it.

According to Xue Baochai, Ying'er and Xiangling, who were unaware of this, also breathed a sigh of relief when they saw the girl go out alone.

The two of them quickly packed all the newspapers they had bought during this period into a wooden box, which was found by Ruizhu and Baozhu.

Ruizhu poked her head forward and said with a smile, "Miss Ying'er has watched it quite a lot. She hasn't missed a single issue."

Ying'er was not ashamed, and she pinched her waist and retorted, "It's as if you two are innocent and never read. Let me guess, have you already put those newspapers into your bag while Sister Keqing isn't noticing?"

The two little girls blushed when their little secret was discovered.

Xiangling came to smooth things over and said, "I don't know where this 'Master of Qimeng Pavilion' came from. Indeed, every article he wrote is very interesting. Apart from those explicit descriptions, the writing itself is also very exciting."

"When I went shopping today, people reading the newspapers said so."

Ying'er didn't let the topic change, and continued: "Others would go to brothels and wine houses after reading it, how could they see the beauty of the article. What about you? Where do you go after reading the article? Are you looking forward to climbing onto the Marquis' bed one day and putting all the knowledge you have learned to use?"

Ruizhu was speechless and ashamed by Ying'er's teasing.

They really climbed into the master's bed together, but they didn't do anything intimate.

If they hadn't started learning so late, perhaps they would have known what to do that night.

Ying'er kept chattering on the side, and Ruizhu couldn't stand it anymore, so she retorted: "You want to clear yourself of all blame? You don't even have a master yet, but you're also watching, aren't you? Do you want to serve your master on behalf of Miss Bao in the future?"

"Even if I don't read these, I can still serve the Marquis well."

Ying'er said this without thinking, but her confidence was not as strong as before, and the last two words "OK" were as soft as a mosquito's hum.

Just because she had seen Yue Ling's bedroom affairs being so obscene, Ying'er really had no confidence that she could take care of it.

But the pearls were stunned when they heard it, and then they all burst into laughter after a while.

Baozhu added: "She was talking about your master, not my master. It turns out that you are obsessed with climbing into the master's bed."

Ying'er's face suddenly turned red with embarrassment and she stood there at a loss. She looked at Xiangling beside her, who also turned her head away with an embarrassed look on her face. Ying'er knew that she could not take back what she had blurted out.

"Okay, you two little girls, you deliberately set a trap for me, today I will teach you a lesson on behalf of Sister Keqing!"

After saying that, Ying'er, who was unable to refute, rushed towards the two little girls with her teeth and claws bared.

Ruizhu laughed and dodged, and the room was in chaos.

……

When Lin Daiyu saw the many girls in the room again, she found that each of them had a flushed face. Not only Qin Keqing and Xue Baochai, but the other maids were also breathing heavily. It was really strange.

Lin Daiyu frowned and could not help but remind him, "After leaving Fengqiao Posthouse, you should be careful when going up the mountain. The mountain is different from here. Don't run around and make a fuss, or you might get bumped into something."

The girls all nodded in agreement, indicating that they had followed Lin Daiyu's instructions, and then loaded their luggage onto the carriage, and the group set off. Lin Daiyu had not been out for a long time, and at the moment she was in no mood to see the scenery.

At this moment even they had to stay out of the spotlight, so Lin Daiyu didn't even dare to think about the dangerous situation Yue Ling would be in at the front line.

However, this time they are going to the Buddhist temple on the mountain. Then they can chant sutras and pray for Yue Ling in the Buddhist hall, which is much more convenient.

Thinking about the female master again, she didn't seem to be as undisciplined as he had originally thought. She was very well behaved in the room.

Now she had to stay at someone else's house, so she would have to treat others coldly in the future.

Lin Daiyu made up her mind that after going up the mountain, she would find an opportunity to open her heart to her and ask her what she thought. As a practitioner, how could she do such an impolite thing? Should she continue to practice? It was a taboo to get involved in the secular world.

"Don't be another vixen who doesn't know how to control herself."

Lin Daiyu secretly complained in her heart, and leaned against Zijuan, exhausted, and slowly closed her eyes.

The carriage took more than an hour to reach the halfway point of the mountain. To go further up the path, one had to walk along the stone steps.

The girls have difficulty going out all year round, so they were all very excited to go mountain climbing this time. Moreover, the weather was only a little cold in late autumn, and there were no mosquitoes to bother them, which made them even happier.

They supported each other all the way to the gate of Panxiang Temple, which had already been arranged with lodgings by the abbot.

The host is Miaoyu's master, who is now bedridden.

Out of courtesy, Lin Daiyu called Miaoyu over and took her to visit the abbot.

"I came here without knowing that the abbot was ill. I feel very uneasy for bothering you so much. I hope the abbot will show mercy and forgive me."

The old nun looked at Lin Daiyu, then looked at her unworthy disciple beside her, and couldn't help but sigh.

This evil creature said he had gone down the mountain to perform a ritual. When she asked around, she found out that he had moved into the inn of Marquis Anjing again.

This cheap look was really hard for her to accept.

Now, it was only because Marquis Anjing had a request that he came back with such shamelessness. Even if the old nun wanted to teach him a lesson, she didn't know where to start.

She looked at Lin Daiyu for a moment longer. Under the candlelight, her affectionate eyes sparkled, with a hint of tenderness between her brows. She must be a little tired after traveling along the mountain road, but even so she came to visit the abbot first. This showed how kind this child was.

"You must be Lin Daiyu, the daughter of Lin Ruhai. You look exactly like your mother."

Lin Daiyu looked over in surprise and asked, "Has the abbot seen my mother?"

The old nun didn't say anything first, but glared at Miaoyu.

Although Miaoyu didn't know what she had done wrong, she still came over obediently and helped her master sit up.

The old nun took another deep breath and said, "I have seen Jia Min, the daughter of Rongguo Mansion, but when she was your age, she was not as pretty as you."

Lin Daiyu lowered her head subtly.

The old nun asked again, "Is my evil disciple not causing you any trouble?"

Of course, she caused trouble for Lin Daiyu, and even made her upset for a while, but in front of Miaoyu, Lin Daiyu couldn't say anything unpleasant. Under Miaoyu's pleading eyes, she had to bite the bullet and said, "No, Master Miaoyu is proficient in Buddhism and is planning a memorial service for my mother."

The old nun sneered, "She, is proficient in Buddhism? You really flatter her. If she is really proficient in Buddhism, she would not be unwilling to shave her head until now."

Miaoyu said angrily, "Master, there are outsiders here, how can you expose my shortcomings? Besides, this is not what Miss Lin wants to know."

The old nun rolled her eyes at her and said, "The Jia family, with four kings and eight dukes and two dukes in one family, was famous and prosperous when I was young. Both of our ancestors were high-ranking officials, commanded large armies, and fought wars in the south and the north, making immortal contributions. This is why the Jia family is so rich and prosperous today."

"Your mother comes from such a family. She is the only legitimate daughter of the Rongguo Mansion. She is an expert in poetry and literature, and is proficient in playing the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting. Of course, she is quite famous in the capital."

"I met her once when I was traveling in the capital, but I didn't expect her to be so beautiful but so tragic. What a pity."

The old nun looked at Lin Daiyu again and saw that her face was white, rosy and healthy, so she said, "Your mother was born with a weak constitution, and logically you should be the same. Now looking at your complexion, there is nothing wrong with you."

Lin Daiyu nodded and said, "I left home when I was six years old and have been with my father-in-law... Marquis Anjing ever since I left Yangzhou Prefecture. The Marquis has taken good care of me."

"Marquis Anjing."

The old nun repeated it in a low voice, and then sighed, "He is a military officer who was not selected through the imperial examination, but he really wants to bring peace to the world, and he and the emperor hit it off immediately. I really don't know what happened to this pair of military officers."

Although the old nun was complaining, she had a gratified smile on her face...

……

Dinghaiwei,
In the military tent, Yue Ling looked at the map spread out on the table with a frown on his face.

He was looking at the map of Shuangyu Island.

Shuangyu Island is a gathering place for Japanese pirates. It is close to the shore, less than ten miles away at the closest point, and has many conveniences.

However, even though they were rooted like nails in the coastal areas, no soldiers or officers could wipe them out in one fell swoop.

The terrain of Shuangyu Island can be described as easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Shuangyu Island is not one island, but a general term for two islands and countless surrounding islands and reefs.

The two islands, big and small, form a gap, and there are many good harbors and mudflats between the two islands for ships to dock.

Moreover, the entrance is narrow and the interior is vast, so it is not easy to attack but easy to hide ships.

What's more, there are many defensive facilities along the coastline, even simple trenches and fences have a significant impact on landing operations.

There were too many reefs and large ships could not sail through, so even though everyone knew there were Japanese pirates, no one came to wipe them out, especially because it was impossible to wipe them out.

But Yue Ling refused to believe it and wanted to do things that ordinary people could not do. This was his ability.

For example, he guarded the capital, expelled the barbarians, and governed Cangzhou in just three years.

The same goes for the Japanese pirates. Yue Ling now regards them as easy prey.

Based on the latest defense map of the island sent back by Zhao Hao, Yue Ling marked it again on the map and considered the strategy for attacking Shuangyu Island.

Yes, that's right. Not only did he want to lure the Japanese pirates to attack Suzhou, but he also wanted to completely destroy Shuangyu Island at the same time, making it impossible for the Japanese pirates to take care of both ends.

The strategies used in Jiangnan to suppress the Japanese pirates were all the same.

The garrisons in each place only guarded their own cities and would not fight the Japanese pirates until they arrived. If the Japanese pirates retreated, they would chase them.

However, the Japanese pirates were few in number and had gone deep into the mountains and forests or crossed the river by boat. In the intertwined water network of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, the main army could not catch up with them and was overwhelmed to deal with them.

Such a strategy is simply incapable of dealing with the Japanese pirates. Yue Ling intends to find the opponent's pain point and deliver a fatal blow.

Shuangyu Island, as the enemy's base, is the most suitable target.

"My Lord, the news has been sent back to Suzhou City, and your family has been arranged to take refuge in the mountains."

After hearing the report from the visitor, who referred to the girls in the room as his family, Yue Ling felt an indescribable sense of weirdness in his heart, but he couldn't say that what the visitor said was wrong.

Nodding, Yue Ling responded: "Okay, thank you for your hard work."

Not long after, Zhao Hao and Liu Xianglian walked into the big tent together, bowed their hands and said, "Greetings, Lord Marquis."

Seeing that both of them had washed off the dust from their journey, changed into clean clothes, and put on armor, looking very majestic, Yue Ling nodded secretly, his admiration was beyond words.

"You have done a good job. Now everything is ready except for the east wind. I have sent someone to deliver the message to lure the Japanese pirates to attack Suzhou Prefecture in ten days."

"The internal support of Suzhou Prefecture will be provided by the former prefectural chancellor Fan Pengcheng. He is an old employee of the Suzhou prefectural government and has a close relationship with the provincial government. He is the least likely to arouse the suspicion of the Japanese pirates. When the time comes, Zhao Hao, you will cooperate with him."

Zhao Hao bowed and responded, "As you wish."

Yue Ling looked at Liu Xianglian again and asked, "Have you been to the dock to see how the boat is being built?"

Liu Xianglian cupped his hands and replied, "At the request of Lord Ying, the ship has been modified to disguise it as a small cargo ship as much as possible."

Yue Ling nodded and said, "Okay, we captured a Japanese before, his name is Watanabe Nobunosuke, and he has been confirmed to be a Japanese envoy. It's just right that we can make more use of him this time. He will be in your care when the time comes."

Liu Xianglian also bowed, "Yes, sir."

"Ten days from now, we will board the ship to attack Shuangyu Island. During this period, let everyone recuperate and gather strength. This is the first battle for our Cangzhou soldiers, and I hope to minimize casualties."

"Even if one of us dies, I will not be able to see the elders of Cangzhou when I pass through Cangzhou on my way back north."

Zhao Hao clasped his fists and said, "Your Majesty, you are worrying too much. When a man from Cangzhou enlists in the army, he is prepared to die on the battlefield. Otherwise, he would not follow you. Moreover, the battlefield is ever-changing and swords and guns are blind. How can there not be casualties in a war? Your Majesty, please take all the responsibility on yourself."

Zhao Hao changed the subject again and said, "I just don't know whether the war situation in Suzhou Prefecture can be safely handed over to the general from the Beijing camp."

Yue Ling trusted the old generals of the Qin Palace very much, and with the new artillery support, there was nothing to worry about, so he said: "You can assist General Yang more, and learn how to command troops more."

Liu Xianglian also explained: "After all, they are the elite troops of the Beijing Camp. If we can't defeat the Japanese in an ambush, wouldn't it become a joke?"

The words were rough but the truth was there. Zhao Hao had nothing more to worry about, so he bowed again and left with Liu Xianglian.

Everything was arranged properly. Yue Ling picked up his pen and circled the location of the general's mansion on Shuangyu Island on the map and put a cross on it.

This battle will resolve the situation in which the southeastern coast has been harassed by Japanese pirates for the past 30 years, and the control of the offshore waters will be completely recovered, laying a solid foundation for opening up the sea.

(End of this chapter)