Red Mansion and Crimson Pearl

A good night's sleep.

Lin Daiyu, who was gently awakened in the early morning, finally began to feel how troublesome it was to have an aunt who was "taking care of the body" in the yard.

This aunt's surname was Meng, her maiden name was Hanyan, and she was the last disciple of the younger sister of Wang Junxiao, the former chief of the Imperial Hospital. She previously worked in the Imperial Food Bureau, and was a pharmacist of the sixth rank.

But in the middle of last year, he offended someone because of an inexplicable ingredient called licorice, and was demoted back to the Imperial Hospital, where he was only responsible for making medicine.

Because Doctor Wang had passed away many years ago, his sons still worked in the Imperial Hospital, but their power was not as great as before, and now they couldn't even help their junior sister. Meng Hanyan was thinking of leaving the palace, opening a pharmacy, and seeing patients, which was better than being bullied in the palace.

Unexpectedly, Tao Xingjian found out about this by accident and immediately kept her, asking her to review medical books and look up treatment methods for weak illnesses. He also arranged for her to go to the Shangyi Bureau to learn the etiquette of the ladies of the inner and outer courts.

Meng Hanyan knew that she would have to serve a noble lady from now on, so she was not happy about it and went to Tao Xingjian privately to refuse. But when she heard that she was going to be a tutor to Lin Ruhai's daughter, she agreed without hesitation:

"If it wasn't for Lord Lin's words of praise in front of the Emperor, I would have almost lost my life at the Qionglin Banquet. If his daughter doesn't care, who else can I care about?"

On the 16th day of the first lunar month, Aunt Meng got up as usual and walked around the Lixiang Courtyard. Everyone was asleep. Listening to the complete silence in the Jia Mansion, Aunt Meng sighed.

After waiting for the people in the small kitchen to get up, he looked at the millet porridge and purple rice buns that the kitchen was going to make today, and immediately frowned:

"Do you have milk? Pour a cup of it and cook it with the millet porridge. Also, give her less pickled vegetables in the future, and stir-fry one or two light side dishes. What about meat?"

The Liu family muttered, "The young lady is in mourning, and she refuses to eat any meat or dairy products."

"Don't listen to her. It's okay if she doesn't eat meat, but you must give her a bowl of milk and an egg every day. Make it in different ways for her, and don't make her annoyed."

After Aunt Meng finished speaking, she left and went to see Zijuan first. When she saw that the eldest maid had her own room, the door was locked and the windows were sealed. So she gave up.

Then I went to see Qingwen and Xueyan, who lived in the same room, sleeping soundly. Xueyan was even snoring!

How could this be tolerated?! If she were in the palace, the maids would beat her half to death just by sleeping like this!

Aunt Meng frowned and swung the rattan in her hand, which made a whoosh sound as it broke through the air!

Qingwen sat up with a somersault and looked out with wide eyes: "Who!"

"Now that you're awake, get up." Aunt Meng knocked on the door with her cane and walked out.

In the other room were Xiaohong and Chunxian. They were both alert and got up quickly when they heard the noise outside.

Chunxian ran out first and saw that Aunt Meng, who was supposed to serve her, was already dressed neatly with a frown on her face. She couldn't help but bow and greet him awkwardly: "Good morning, Auntie..."

Aunt Meng glanced at her sideways, said nothing, and passed by.

He turned into Daiyu's room again and looked into the inner room.

Lin Daiyu was wrapped in a plain silk quilt, sleeping soundly with her eyes closed. But her eyelids fluttered slightly, and it was obvious that she had woken up, but was too lazy to get up and was just lying in bed.

Aunt Meng smiled slightly, then her face turned serious again: "From now on, you have to get up at the beginning of the morning, then practice Qigong, wash your hands, read books and burn incense. Have breakfast at the beginning of the morning, and then do other homework."

Lin Daiyu heard someone coming and guessed it was this aunt. She opened her eyes and saw that it was indeed the aunt. She sighed, turned over, lay down in the quilt, and asked in a soft voice, "Aunt, how did you know I was awake?"

"You look calm, but your breathing is rapid." Aunt Meng paused and continued, "You are weak, your liver and kidneys are weak, it's impossible for you to sleep well."

After saying that, he went out again.

The yard immediately became lively.

After finishing washing up, Lin Daiyu took Aunt Meng to see the small mourning hall of Lin Ruhai and Jia Min.

Aunt Meng looked at the tablet that read: The spirit tablet of my late father, Marquis Wen'an Lin Huihai, is respectfully erected by my unfilial daughter, Lin Daiyu.

He sighed in his heart, took a step forward, and regardless of Lin Daiyu's surprise, he also lit a stick of incense, performed a half-bow, and then perfunctorily bowed to Jia Min's spirit tablet before standing aside.

Lin Daiyu was surprised: "Aunt and my father have a past?"

"Yes. Mr. Lin served in the imperial court in those days, so naturally he had seen him before." Aunt Meng simply evaded the question and refused to say anything more.

Lin Daiyu thought about it and it made sense, so she didn't ask any more questions.

When the two of them came out, the outsiders had already known that the aunt from the palace had left, so Mrs. Wang came over in person.

Lin Zhixiao's wife was the messenger again. She came in trembling with fear and asked to see Lin Daiyu, then stole a glance at Aunt Meng and carefully expressed Mrs. Wang's intention to take Aunt Meng to the upper room to meet Lady Jia.

Aunt Meng frowned and looked at Lin Daiyu: "Is this what the palace said, your courtyard is sealed?! How can it be like this?"

Lin Daiyu curled her lips and looked at Lin Zhixiao's wife: "Please ask your aunt to go back and tell her: The queen came yesterday, and I believe the queen has told her everything she should and shouldn't say.

"Whether she didn't understand or the Queen didn't say it, I will only say it this time and never again:

"I have sealed this courtyard. I have to observe mourning. The next time I leave the courtyard is to perform a grand ceremony. Before that, please forgive my rudeness. I will not receive anyone.

"If aunt still doesn't understand what I'm saying, just go ask uncle. Once you've clarified, come back."

Aunt Meng did not wait for Lin Zhixiao's wife to speak, and continued Lin Daiyu's words, saying: "If no one in your family can understand, write a memorial to ask the emperor."

In front of Lin Zhixiao's wife, she complained to Lin Daiyu, "I always say that Concubine Jia is a confused person. The emperor shouldn't keep things vague for the sake of everyone's dignity.

"Like the last time, the Queen was very nice. She gave you the Ruyi token and gave her the female commandments training. Do you think she has been peaceful for a year?

"As a result, he became spoiled and ill again after being allowed to go home to visit his parents. I will send a letter to the Queen tomorrow and have him punished with a stick!

"This whole family has no memory! They only remember to eat but not to be beaten!"

Lin Zhixiao's wife was so frightened that she bent over repeatedly and ran out with weak legs and feet. She told all this face to face to Mrs. Wang who came in her gorgeous dress. She was so frightened that her voice changed and she urged people to leave quickly.

Aunt Meng also blamed Daiyu: "You are too weak. Just like the emperor, you always want to save face for them and refuse to speak out.

"Look, I used her most proud daughter as a target, and she immediately became obedient. You will be the same in the future.

"If she comes to you and says something irresponsible again, you can wave the token in front of her and tell her that you will report everything she said to the Queen. Do you think she will dare to say anything more?"

Lin Daiyu covered her lips and smiled - she dared not say anything good or bad, she only dared to smile.

No wonder Tao Dajian said that these female officials are all stubborn. It seems that they are really like that. They rush around recklessly and don’t care about methods at all…

"Where's your brand? That's great. Give it to me and see how it's different from mine." Aunt Meng held out her hand.

Lin Daiyu smiled and said to Zijuan: "Where is the token I asked you to put away yesterday? Go and get it out."

Zijuan agreed with a smile, walked to the outer cabinet, unlocked the door, changed the key, unlocked the small drawer inside, changed the third key, and opened a red sandalwood box -

Then there was a cry of extreme fear: "Where is the sign? Why is it empty? "