Red Mansion and Crimson Pearl

Emperor Zhaoming asked Lin Daiyu to sit down and eat with him. Tao Xingjian and Aunt Meng were standing by to serve the dishes. Four maids lined up beside them waiting to be called.

It was the first time that the room was so solemn during a meal.

Lin Daiyu ate carefully.

Emperor Zhaoming looked at her with some dissatisfaction, and turned back to blame Aunt Meng: "How did you prepare this for her? She only eats a little bit, like a bird pecking at rice."

"This is the first time the girl is having dinner with you. It's not because she has a weak stomach that she eats little, but because she is nervous and can't eat." Aunt Meng did not shy away from the topic and spoke frankly.

Emperor Zhaoming then snorted, "Then how did you teach her the rules? She remained calm even when Mount Tai collapsed in front of her. She is the only beloved daughter of the late Marquis Wen'an. She doesn't need to be so timid when meeting anyone. How petty!?"

Trembling with fear?!

Petty?!

Lin Daiyu was unhappy, and it showed on her face. The gratitude and awe that had been hanging on the corners of her eyebrows and eyes suddenly disappeared, leaving only the straight corners of her mouth and a faint look in her eyes.

When Tao Xingjian saw it, he couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Emperor Zhaoming didn't understand.

"Your Majesty, do not talk while eating or sleeping. Please eat." Tao Xingjian winked and asked him to look at Lin Daiyu.

Emperor Zhaoming raised his eyebrows with some doubt, but didn't see anything when he looked over. However, he still listened to Tao Xingjian's words, said no more, and continued to eat.

Unconsciously, Lin Daiyu had finished half a bowl of rice and regained her normal mood. She straightened her back and picked up the dishes she liked with her chopsticks. She had completely forgotten that there was an emperor sitting next to her.

Accidentally, both of them used their chopsticks to pick up the Longjing shrimps and they bumped into each other.

"Ding".

The two pairs of silver chopsticks were placed together, and both were stunned.

Lin Daiyu paused, without raising her head, moving her body, or looking at anyone, she just tilted her wrist, picked up the shrimp next to her, put it steadily into her mouth, and chewed it quietly.

Emperor Zhaoming looked at her with a smile on his face. He pointed to the big bowl of hot mountain soup and told Tao Xingjian: "Soup."

Tao Xingjian scooped him a bowl of clear soup and added two slices of matsutake mushrooms at the end.

Emperor Zhaoming tasted it, frowned, drank it in big gulps, put down the small soup bowl, and waved his hand to indicate that he didn't want any more.

The two of them ate in silence, and soon, only the soup base was left of the three dishes and one soup on the table.

The two people put down their bowls and chopsticks and gestured to rinse their mouths.

Xueyan and Zijuan hurried forward to serve.

Qingwen was still in charge of cleaning up the mess. Looking at the empty plates, she couldn't help but smile with joy. She said, "The girl is eating delicious food today! This is the first time she has finished her meal since she came here!"

"Your Majesty has been busy these days, and this is the first time you have a good meal." Tao Xingjian smiled and looked at Qingwen kindly.

Qingwen happily left with the big tray.

"This girl is brave and capable. What's her name?" Emperor Zhaoming asked, looking at Qingwen's back.

Daiyu was rinsing her mouth with her head down, and did not say anything.

Aunt Meng quickly added, "She's Qingwen. She used to serve Jia Baoyu. She's very naughty and reckless. The young lady said that Qingwen had offended too many people and was afraid that she would not have a good ending in the future, so she asked her to come and teach her. Now the rules are much better."

Emperor Zhaoming laughed: "Is this better? If this kind of person were in the palace, he would be beaten to death in three days!"

These few words made Zijuan and Xueyan's faces lose all color!

Lin Daiyu glanced at the two maids and then spoke slowly, "Qingwen is straightforward and honest, good at needlework, and loyal. For a small family like ours, such a maid is very good."

Zijuan and Xueyan breathed a sigh of relief.

"You challenged me to a duel the first time you saw me. It seems that my two carts of books were fed to the wolves in vain." Emperor Zhaoming looked at the little girl with amusement as she lost her temper.

This is what I said...

Very wide and thick.

Tao Xingjian and Aunt Meng looked at each other, quietly called Zijuan and others, and quietly retreated.

Emperor Zhaoming and Daiyu were the only ones left in the room.

Daiyu stood up, lowered her head and said nothing in anger.

"I see that you seem to have read quite a lot?" Emperor Zhaoming didn't care at all. He stood up and looked at the bookshelf, and took out a few books to read.

Daiyu was naturally worried, but seeing the attitude of Emperor Zhaoming, which seemed to be very tolerant of her, she became a little suspicious. She raised her head and answered softly:

"Yes. I read it when I had nothing to do in the past three months. After finishing the Records of the Grand Historian, I read the Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government and skimmed through it. I was a little hesitant because of the move these days, so I plan to read these history books in a few days."

Emperor Zhaoming didn't care: "Why are you in such a hurry? The book won't go away. Reading too much will also drain your mind. You need to take care of your illness. Now you have your own house, and no one will manage your affairs. When it rains or snows, you can play at home. When the weather is fine, you can go out and play."

As he spoke, he slowly walked to the back window, stretched out his hand to push it open, and looked out at the garden. His expression softened, and he pointed with a smile:

"When Ru Hai lived in Beijing, I came here a few times. We loved the jujube trees in the corner of the yard the most. I often climbed up to pick jujubes when your mother wasn't paying attention.

"One year, before the Mid-Autumn Festival, we had already picked almost all the dates on the tree. I heard from Ru Hai that your mother took it seriously and even called the gardener to get angry, saying that he was not taking good care of the tree and that it must be because there was not enough fertilizer.

"The next year we didn't dare to pick them anymore. We just stood around the tree and sighed. We wrote a lot of good poems because of it."

Emperor Zhaoming said, and then he thought of something else. He turned around and looked at Lin Daiyu and said with a smile, "I heard that several girls in the Jia family have set up a poetry club and have written a lot of poems. How about it, do you usually write?"

Thinking of this past life's favorite pastime in the Grand View Garden, Lin Daiyu subconsciously yearned for it. After a moment's pause, she hurriedly shook her head, "No."

"I don't believe it. You hesitated just now." Emperor Zhaoming held the bookshelf with his hands and looked at her with sparkling eyes. "Ruhai is so talented in writing. I don't believe that his daughter can only read but not write!"

Daiyu was silent for a moment, then took out a pen and paper and wrote down two poems from her past life, one about crabapples and one about chrysanthemums:

"Ode to the White Begonia: door, basin, soul, trace, and darkness.

"The Xiang curtain is half rolled up and the door is half closed. Ice is ground into soil and jade is used as a basin. Three parts of white are stolen from the pear flower, and a wisp of soul is borrowed from the plum blossom. The fairy in the moon cave sews a white sleeve, and the resentful girl in the autumn chamber wipes the traces of tears. To whom can I tell my shyness silently? I lean tiredly against the west wind as the night turns dark.

“Ask Ju.

"I want to tell you about my feelings in autumn, but no one knows. I knock on the eastern fence with my hands behind my back. Who will I hide with, my proud and lonely self? Why are the flowers blooming so late? How lonely is the garden in the dew and frost? Can the crickets who are returning home feel homesick? Don't say there is no one in the world to talk to, why not say a few words to me if you can understand me?"

Emperor Zhaoming looked at the poem, his eyes lit up, and he nodded with a smile, extremely satisfied. After savoring it for a while, he sighed and pointed at the words "steal" and "borrow" in the poem about Begonia, sighing:

"Why are you so weak, kid? When you recover from your illness, have your own wealth and I'll be your backer, you can go anywhere in the world. There's no need to complain and be so humble!"

He looked down and chuckled, "What? This was written in the Jia Mansion? You don't like any of the people you've seen? There's no one in the world who would talk about this?!"

It was the first time that Daiyu had her poems criticized and questioned in person. Her face turned red. "There is a title! I just wrote according to the title, and it didn't reflect my own meaning..."

Emperor Zhaoming laughed: "Which poem with a title doesn't reflect one's own meaning?"