Red Mansion and Crimson Pearl

The next day, Tao Xingjian came over in the morning as expected, bringing with him a lot of food and drinks, including Matsutake mushrooms, abalone, bird's nest, Longjing tea, Biluochun tea, Longfeng tea, and even a bucket of fresh milk, as well as two new cars, one large and one small.

By the way, there was also the manager who had always managed Daiyu's shop in the capital, as well as several servants, both men and women, old and young, who all brought their indentures and handed them over to Daiyu.

"Don't settle for the furnishings in your room or the flowers and trees in your garden. Pick what you like and arrange them however you like. The emperor has a weird temper. If he doesn't like something, he likes to make decisions for others. Don't pay any attention to him."

Tao Xingjian walked to the window, picked up the stone stove, weighed it, and looked at it carefully. He smiled and said, "It's actually quite simple and rustic. I don't think it's ugly."

"Isn't the seal that His Majesty gave me earlier also of this shape? If you say mine is ugly, then does that mean his is beautiful?"

After leaving the Rongguo Mansion, Lin Daiyu seemed to have regained some of her girlish innocence, but her temper had also improved a lot.

But Tao Xingjian loved to hear these things. He smiled until his eyes narrowed and nodded repeatedly: "That's right!"

Lin Daiyu then called all the servants together, and starting with the housekeeper Lin Zhixiao, taught them to address Tao Xingjian as "Eunuch Tao" in front of others, and "Uncle Master" when only their family members were around.

Tao Xingjian was so happy that he couldn't stop smiling. He asked Daiyu if her family needed any servants and asked her if she could understand these things.

Daiyu smiled and waved her hands: "I don't understand. And I don't plan to master this line. Now I have a former housekeeper of Rong Mansion to help me, so I'll just be lazy."

Tao Xingjian frowned and said, "What will you do when you become the head of the family? Will you have to rely on others for the rest of your life?"

"I'm going to be lazy this New Year. I promise to start learning when spring comes, okay?" Lin Daiyu quickly expressed her opinion.

Tao Xingjian was relieved then. He called Lin Zhixiao and his wife, and discussed in front of Daiyu who should be placed in this position and who would be more suitable for that job. In the end, they decided to add three men and reduce two maids or old women.

"Forget it, go buy it." Tao Xingjian said.

Lin Zhixiao's wife was hesitant to speak.

Lin Daiyu remembered and asked her, "Doesn't your second cousin have a daughter? What is she doing now?"

"She's working at home. Her parents and brothers are all lazy. If she doesn't do it, who will?" Lin Zhixiao's wife frowned.

Lin Daiyu then looked at Xiaohong.

Xiaohong understood immediately and said hurriedly, "I noticed that among the people sent by Uncle, there is a tall and pretty girl who is not married yet. My cousin is hardworking, why don't you help me and marry her to work in our house? Isn't that good?"

"Of course that's a good idea. But you can't just say you're marrying your aunt, you have to say you're buying her." Lin Zhixiao's wife had already thought about it and made the decision immediately, asking the unmarried young man to pretend to be a merchant buying a wife and buy Xiaohong's cousin.

Lin Daiyu nodded with satisfaction: "Okay, let's do this for now. These men will stay for now. We may need to buy more farms and shops in the future, and we will need people everywhere. The ones brought by our uncle are better than those bought from outside."

The plan was decided, and Lin Zhixiao and others withdrew.

Qingwen came up to him and asked, "It's almost noon, Uncle, are you going to have dinner here? Last night, His Majesty disliked our food. Sister Liu didn't dare to say anything, but she was unhappy in her heart.

"Today, I heard that my uncle was coming, so I specially made his specialty eight delicacies and boiled a pot of clear chicken soup, with peony-shaped pastries. I smelled it anyway!"

Tao Xingjian happily stayed to have dinner and returned to the palace with a full belly.

Emperor Zhaoming didn't see him at lunch, so he guessed that he had eaten at the Lin residence. He asked with a pout, "What did you eat today? It didn't taste very good, did it?"

"It's a home-cooked meal, and the taste is OK. It's certainly not as good as the imperial chef's, but it's enough to feed someone like me." After saying that, he deliberately burped and pretended to apologize, "Ah, my old servant has lost his manners in front of you, my Lord!"

Emperor Zhaoming glared at him and said, "Get lost!"

Tao Xingjian ran away happily with his head in his hands.

After another three or two days, the Lin residence was well organized and everyone was vying for the top position. The reason was simple: Lin Daiyu and Aunt Meng both loved to reward people. If they saw someone doing a good job or working hard, they would reward him without thinking.

In just one or two days, three maids, four old women, two coachmen, and six guards on night duty had all received rewards, ranging from a handful of coins to two silver dimes.

When Qingwen heard this, she smiled and showed off by shaking her wrist outside: "Look at this!

"I stayed indoors for seven days without going out, and caught a snow-covered curtain on the cold river. The girl liked it and took a gold bracelet from her dressing box as a reward for me!"

Everyone was so greedy that they almost got conjunctivitis.

Lin Zhixiao's wife smiled and explained: "The girl is not short of money, and there is no shortage of jobs at home. As long as you follow the rules and have eyes for work, the girl will not treat you unfairly. Work hard, and good days are ahead!"

Everyone cheered!

When the two returned to their room, Daiyu asked curiously, "Did you spend seven days making this door curtain? Did I give you the gold bracelet for this?"

"Hey! Isn't this what I embroidered last year? I never had a place to hang it, so now I can use it. Aunt Lin asked me to find an excuse, so I made one up." Qingwen smiled and went to grab the pomelo from the plate from Lin Daiyu.

Aunt Meng moved the plate in front of Qingwen and warned Daiyu: "This is cold. You can taste it, but don't eat too much!"

Daiyu made a face.

Zijuan, Xueyan and Xiaohong were sitting together making the net for the tablecloth. They smiled when they saw this.

A few people were talking and laughing when someone outside came to announce: "Miss Yuanyang from Xifu is here!"

"Please come in!" Daiyu stuck her head out and looked outside.

Zijuan and the others also hurriedly put away the work in their hands and went out to answer it.

In a moment, Yuanyang really came into the yard wearing a Guanyin hood and a bright red cloak. She took them off outside and came in smiling. She first bowed to Daiyu and Aunt Meng, rubbing her hands and saying with a smile, "Your room is actually warmer than the old lady's!"

"Not really." Daiyu's long coat with a front opening only had one button fastened. She smiled and asked Yuanyang to sit down, and asked her to take off her coat as well, "Otherwise you'll sweat." Then she asked her, "What are you doing here?"

“Although the twelfth lunar month is busy, it is the housekeepers’ wives and grandmothers who are busy, and the old lady is idle every day.

"Now Master Bao is studying hard in his room, and he comes to sit here every morning and evening. The girls are in the garden, and when the weather changes, the old lady feels sorry for them and won't let them out. The ladies are busy with their work, and they can't sit still for a moment.

"Yesterday the old lady was complaining that people disliked her when she was old, that it was boring to be alone, that there were not enough people to play cards, that she had a lot of grandchildren, but none of them were truly filial, and so on.

"I'm really troubled by her nagging, so I have to come and ask you, young lady, if you can save me? Before the 23rd, can you pick a date and let the old lady come to your place to play for a day?"

The mandarin ducks' eyes were full of pleading.

Lin Daiyu smiled and took a stack of invitations from the bookshelf and showed them to her: "I was just thinking about a suitable day!"

Yuanyang was surprised and took it to have a look. Sure enough, the names of all the female members of the Jia family were written down, with only the days left blank.

"How about the 19th of the twelfth lunar month?"

“Excellent!”