Red Mansion and Crimson Pearl

The vegetarian meal finally looked like a funeral banquet.

Li Wan offered a sacrifice on their behalf. Everyone stood up and poured themselves wine, then filed in to pay their respects to Daiyu. They then sat down again, ate a few bites of food in a hurry, and waited for Grandmother Jia to give the order to end the banquet.

But Grandmother Jia was reluctant to part with Lin Daiyu. She just held her hand tightly and chattered about the past when Jia Min was young. She also talked about how Lin Ruhai sent little Daiyu to her and how he raised her like the apple of his eye.

Finally, Mrs. Xing became impatient and stepped forward to smile: "It's almost noon, old lady, do you want to take a nap today? I see that Sister Lin's face is pale and she can't sit still anymore. Why don't we all go back and take a nap?

"No matter how much we close the courtyard and observe mourning, Sister Lin can't fail to give gifts to her grandmother and uncle during the New Year! At least let the child recuperate quietly in the courtyard. We'll see them again in a month or two!"

A month or two?

Everyone looked at each other quietly: I'm afraid it will take at least a year!

The palace made it clear that Jia Min's mourning period alone would have to be extended by nine months. Considering the moods of the emperor and empress in the palace, as well as all kinds of major and minor events, she had indeed missed this opportunity for the concubines to go home to visit their families. Who knew what would happen in the future?

It was just that at this time, Mrs. Xing's polite words just happened to resolve the deadlock, and no one was stupid enough to expose her.

Aunt Xue and others came up to persuade her, and Grandmother Jia let go of her hand with tears in her eyes, and told Baoyu: "Follow your sister Bao and send your sister back."

Lin Daiyu looked at the family gently, willing to believe that they were all sincerely sad for her. She bowed gracefully and left gracefully.

On the way, Xue Baochai held Lin Daiyu tightly and whispered about the miserable situation of her family when her father had just passed away, and how difficult it was for her and her daughter to survive.

Lin Daiyu listened carefully, thinking that she was really giving her some advice. But after walking halfway, the topic was still entangled in "how miserable" and "how difficult". Then she realized: Baochai just wanted to keep her and make the scene look better!

I actually thought that Sister Bao from the past was beginning to take care of me, a child without a father or a mother, in advance!

Ha, childish!

Lin Daiyu laughed at herself in her heart, so she stopped listening to her chatter and instead paid half of her attention to listening to the two people talking behind her.

Baoyu walked side by side with Li Wan behind with an unhappy look on his face, talking about Jia Lan in a random manner.

"Lang'er has said several times that he wants to go to school. But he is still young and the master won't let him, so I had no choice but to take him to the room to learn to read first." Li Wan hinted to Baoyu.

Baoyu was absent-minded and naturally did not understand: "When I was young and before I went to school, it was my elder sister who taught me to read and recite. When my elder sister entered the palace, I had already finished reading the Analects."

"What about now?" Li Wan couldn't help but asked, but then she felt like she was meddling too much, so she pursed her lips and said nothing more.

Baoyu was quite annoyed by this question. He coughed and was about to hurry forward when he saw Baochai turning around and smiling gently, saying:

"In fact, Brother Bao, why don't you take this opportunity to take Brother Lang to school with you? When the queen comes back, he will have made some progress to comfort his elder sister."

Li Wan hurriedly smiled and said, "This is the correct way."

Baoyu sneered and ignored them both. He strode forward, stood on Daiyu's other side, and asked in a low voice:

"You live alone in that courtyard, and I'm afraid you'll be lonely. The other day they said they wanted Qingwen to go and serve you, so I quickly asked her to go, and she also brought you a lot of things. Did you keep them?"

Lin Daiyu stepped aside and politely shook her head, "No. Sister Yuanyang personally sent Qingwen here. Because she was going to be a maid in my Lin family, I asked her to return all her luggage to their original places before she came in. Now, everything from her head to her feet, from food to things, is all bought by me."

Baoyu was startled, thought about it, and then smiled and said, "You are very thoughtful. This way, others can't take advantage of her, and they can't take advantage of you either. This is the best."

After a pause, he whispered, "We haven't had a good talk since you came back from the south. You've been gone for almost a year, and I got a lot of good things waiting for you to come back, but you didn't accept them. Aren't you letting me down?"

"You and your sisters should share your second brother's good things. I am in mourning now, so the fewer external things I have, the better. This way I won't be obsessed with them and won't be enslaved by them. I can devote myself to filial piety, study and observe the rules."

Lin Daiyu looked at Baoyu calmly, "Since Second Brother was personally taught by the Empress, there is no need for me to nag at you about these principles."

Baoyu was stunned and couldn't help but stop.

"Second brother, I am the only one in the family who has never advised you to take the exam to become an official or to pay attention to the official career since you were young. That's because my eldest sister has entered the palace, and you are her younger brother. You have already been in the limelight because you were born with a jade in your mouth. If you stand out more, it may not be a good thing for our family.

"But not taking exams, not being an official, and not engaging in official careers and economics does not mean not reading books, not learning etiquette, and not experiencing the world. That is not the Wei and Jin style, that is a playboy and a rice borer!"

Daiyu looked at him with disappointment, "I thought you understood everything, so you acted like this, but you have not improved at all year by year. I think it will be difficult for us to go on together."

These words were so painful and fierce that they even mentioned external affairs of the palace. Li Wan and Xue Baochai were so shocked that they covered their lips in shock.

Li Wan looked Lin Daiyu up and down, awe flashing in her eyes, and then a hint of uncontrollable joy: This time, she turned out to be a blessing in disguise! Such a smart and clever person, with the support of the palace, will definitely have a bright future in the future!

Even if Lang'er could not receive Miss Lin's dedicated teaching and protection, as long as they lived together for these three years, the affection between them would make her take care of them, and maybe even bring them a lifetime of wealth and peace!

Thinking of this, Li Wan's heart was burning with joy!

When Xue Baochai looked at Daiyu again, she closed her lips tightly and a cautious look appeared on her face.

This girl has been back home for more than ten months. Apart from the Palace Eunuch who appeared after Lin Ruhai's death, what other masters has she met?

How could a little girl of eleven or twelve learn such vision and knowledge? ! If Xue Baochai said that her father could teach her to be so transformed in just three to five months before his death, she would never believe it!

However, this person must not be an enemy...

Xue Baochai subconsciously took half a step back, causing Li Wan to take a closer look at her.

However, no matter how much the two of them were upset, it was nothing compared to Baoyu's horror!

He looked at Lin Daiyu with surprise on his face, and blurted out: "Are you Sister Lin? Sister Lin would never say such nonsense in her life..."

How could Lin Daiyu, who was so ethereal and like a fairy from another world, persuade herself to study, learn etiquette, and experience the world in such a blatant and harsh way! ?

Baoyu's expression became more and more strange as he stared at Lin Daiyu, and he even revealed a hint of wariness and alienation!

So, in fact, Baoyu is still the best friend after all... at least he is my previous life's self...

Lin Daiyu looked at him, her heart softened, but a sneer immediately appeared on her face: "I advise cousin Jia to think clearly before you speak! Just because you don't want to study, you slander me like this!

"If I were a monster with a replaced core, what good would that do to you? What good would that do to your Jia family? What good would that do to the four surnames of Jia, Wang, Shi, and Xue!?"

Walk away.

The four people broke up unhappy.

Baoyu burst into tears and went back to his grandmother, while Baochai walked slowly towards Mrs. Wang. Li Wan looked around and had to catch up with Lin Daiyu and whisper something to her, then hurriedly chased after Baochai.

At this time, the maids who were following far behind and serving the four people finally hurried forward to serve the masters of each family.

Zijuan pulled Lin Daiyu's cloak and carefully looked at her indifferent face. After a while, she whispered, "I see, you don't look very happy."

Lin Daiyu said nothing, and walked slowly forward until she reached the gate of Lixiang Courtyard. Then, with a hint of loss in her eyes, she said, "Your Master Bao and I have parted ways."