Through the Ring of Red Mansions

Since Tanchun brought a message and told Jia Huan to go earlier, there was still something to discuss. In addition, although it was not the day of the first and fifteenth day of the Lunar New Year, there was no reason not to go back to Jia's mansion and pay his respects to the elders, so Jia Huan really got up early in the morning, and entered the main courtyard of Rongfu early in the morning when the heat was not rising.

Mother Jia felt young and woke up early. Hearing that Jia Huan was called back by Tanchun and his brothers and sisters started a poetry club together, she laughed and said, "This is a good thing. You are still young, so you should relax like this." You really don’t need to hold yourself back every day, and tell your third sister, your elder sister-in-law is responsible for the outside affairs, so tell me what you want to eat and use, I can still support a bunch of your grandchildren us."

Jia Huan laughed and said, "The old lady is joking again. Starting a poetry club is just to eat some tea and snacks, and use a few pens and inks. How much can it cost? I can make a round by myself, but we haven't agreed yet. According to the charter, it may not be possible to take turns to be the host at that time."

For a while, I resigned Jiamu and went out, and went to Mrs. Wang's courtyard. Mrs. Wang still said she was sick, so she asked Caixia, the eldest girl, to come out and say, "My brother has a heart, but I had a heartache a few days ago, and it didn't get better. I just disappeared." That's it. Let me go to the garden to hunt for treasures, and the second master can talk to the girls."

Jia Huan then came to Tanchun's Qiu Shuangzhai. He thought it was just a matter for the housekeeper, and didn't want Tanchun to say, "Do you still think about the chess player in the second sister's room? Her grandparents are accompanied by the eldest wife." Fang Wang Shanbao and his wife, even though you don’t live at home now, you should know what kind of behavior the eldest wife is a few years ago. Wang Shanbao’s family listened to the words and went back, and talked nonsense in front of the eldest wife. In other words, the eldest lady called my aunt to go that day, and said something about the two masters, this is a serious family, my brother only thinks about climbing high branches, and forgets what my aunt has suffered for him."

Jia Huan couldn't help laughing and said, "What are you talking about? She heard that Big Stupid Xue set up Jinxiu Pavilion for business?"

Tanchun sighed, "Isn't it just for this family! It's not just that, the eldest wife usually doesn't see the second sister very much in her eyes, and even Lian's second brother's son doesn't pay much attention to him. One time, I asked Wang Shanbao's family to come and tell my second sister that my second sister came to find me, but my second sister refused to come, so I sent Siqi to come with Wang Shanbao's family. I said I was just going out of the gate. A young girl's family, what do the men know about the affairs of the men, even if they can't get in the mouth, and the whole family can't be cleaned up, and they are tired of being dizzy with the sister-in-law all day long, and from time to time Huan'er came to help, after all, I don't have the face to ask any more questions, Kuang Huan'er is the eldest wife's nephew, so if there is anything to do, just tell me what to be afraid of."

Jia Huan nodded with a smile and said, "You are so good at pushing, you don't have to worry about them so much, and she doesn't ask if Big Idiot Xue is making any money. With manpower, it's just letting him lose money and make money." .But the Xue family is worthy of being from generations of imperial merchants, and their foundation is really solid. Now I also have a too big shop, so I don’t have the heart to pay attention to them.”

Tanchun laughed and said, "I don't argue with others, I really feel sorry for the second sister, but she has such a temperament, it really makes people hate iron and steel. You don't know, there is another ridiculous thing Well, after being instigated by the eldest wife for a while, my aunt didn't come to make trouble with me, she just learned from me quietly, and said that she wanted to use me as a weapon, and she didn't look in the mirror to see if they were worthy, laughing I flattered her for a long time, and finally sent her away."

Jia Huan knew that Aunt Zhao's scolding was not as elegant as Tanchun's, but Tanchun certainly couldn't learn from Aunt Zhao's swearing. Sure enough, when she inquired later, Aunt Zhao's original words were, "I want to use my old lady as a gun." Even if you don’t piss and take care of yourself, you are not worthy of playing tricks with your old lady, they are just leftovers from my old lady’s play, and now I am ashamed to show off in front of your ancestors..."

Hearing this, Jia Huan could only lean forward and back with laughter.

The siblings wentssip again, Tanchun remembered something again, and said, "The money you gave me, I quietly put it into the public account with my sister-in-law. The family has no savings of several hundred taels of silver, and it is difficult to get out from me, so it is the name of the sister-in-law's dowry. For this reason, the sister-in-law is always embarrassed, saying that I spent your money, But let her earn a good reputation."

Jia Huan laughed and said, "Sister-in-law is a kind person, so I just told her that she doesn't need to see outsiders."

Just as he was talking, the servant said in the yard, "Miss Bao and Miss Lin are here."

After a while, Yingchun, Xichun, and Baoyu led by Cuimo arrived, but it was a pity that Li Wan didn't live in Daoxiang Village for a few days because he had to take charge of the government's affairs. She moved out with Jia Lan again, and Tan Chunyuan also sent a post to invite her, but she was no better than Tan Chun, the young lady of Yunying, who was the serious grandson-in-law in Jia's mansion, so she didn't dare to be lazy, so she just made a fool of herself. The little girl came to Tanchun and said, "There are too many things on my body, I really don't have the time, girls go and play by themselves." The little girl said again, "Third Miss, don't patronize Qishe, at least don't forget that Grandma still has serious business. Waiting!"

Having said that, Baochai and others all laughed, "My sister-in-law is tired outside, but the third girl is playing around here. If she can't write a good poem, she must be sent out to replace her and let her rest for a month." The girl laughed a few more times, and then went.

Because there was a shortage of Li Wan in the poetry club, Jia Huan made up for her absence, and said that he could not write poetry, so he went out alone with Ying and Xi to take charge of the articles of association of the poetry club. Although Jia Huan couldn't write poetry After reading the original works of later generations and commenting on the poems in the original works, it is still possible to be a "brick family" criticizing poems, so I recommended myself as the deputy head of the club. Yingchun is the eldest of the three and is the president. Xichun also As the vice president, everyone called each other nicknames, and they all said that Jia Huanqi's role as the owner of Langhuan Manor was very good and appropriate.The aliases of the rest of the people are the same as the original ones.

"Tanchun said: 'It's just my intention. I have to be a host first, so that I can live up to my interest.'"

So according to her idea, the Haitang club was set up, and everyone went to write poems. Jia Huan ordered the little girls to put out the banana slices, dried mangoes, chestnut kernels, pine nuts, raisins, etc., and brew them again. Serving good tea, while watching the leisurely and pretty figures of Sister Lin and Sister Bao, there is also Baoyu, a rich man, looking at others for a while, and walking up and down the corridor with his hands behind his back, because he said: Great! There is only one inch of incense left, and I only have four sentences.' Then he said to Daiyu: 'The incense is over, so what are you doing squatting in the tide?'"

Jia Huan knew that Sister Lin had a well-thought-out plan, but she didn't write it, so she first commented on Tanchun Baochai and Baoyu's poems with Yingchun Xichun, and then saw that Daiyu accomplished it overnight. Now it is very difficult to choose Daiyu's poems again. Jia Huan imitated Li Wan's words in the original work, "Xiaoxiang is romantic and chic, and the manuscript is reserved and thick. I will temporarily decide that the two will be equally divided. Yes." After speaking, he only looked at Baoyu and smiled.

Everyone couldn't understand what he meant, so they all laughed immediately. Baoyu also laughed and said, "My song is not good, but this is a fair review. It's just that the two songs of Heng and Xiao are really indistinguishable. I feel that the concubine Xiaoxiang The phrase 'Three points of the pistil is stolen, and the soul of the plum blossom is borrowed' really makes people love it."

Tanchun said, "After all, we started this club not to judge the rankings for sure. If that's the case, it's better to let Xue and Lin be the chiefs side by side. You don't have to be so rigid."

Jia Huan laughed and said, "I have no opinion, how do Lingzhou and Ouxie judge?"

Ying and Xi couldn't tell which poem was better, so they decided that Baochai and Daiyu knew that they were rivals in chess, but they would not lose face in front of each other, so they laughed and said that it was not very exciting. , who cares about this.Everyone joked again and used some wine and fruit, saying that the dried melons, fruits and kernels prepared by Tanchun are delicious, and even the small dishes in the shape of flowers and butterflies are exquisite.

Baochai recognized that these were fruit snacks in Jinxiu Restaurant that were only served in-house and not taken away, so she said with a smile, "It's really the ingenuity of the masters in Jinxiu Restaurant who make these snacks, and the ingredients they use are also very expensive. Last time, I heard from my brother that there are freshly squeezed fruit juices, various jams, and Western ways to eat them. It really makes people unable to finish eating them in different ways for ten days and a half months. It’s just that These things have never been taken out, and this time we have taken all of Brothers Huan."

After hearing this, Baoyu asked, "So rare and precious? I don't go out much these days. Every time I pass by, the private rooms of Jinxiu Restaurant are fully booked, and they don't like to sit on the first floor, so I went out I’ve never been inside, I only heard that the food, wine and food inside are really expensive.”

Jia Huan said with a smile, "It's all about reputation."

Baochai said, "It's a pity that the food and wine inside are not taken away, otherwise we can also taste the Western food inside."

Baoyu came up and put his arms around Jia Huan and asked, "Is it really not possible to take out? I can go in and eat it sooner or later, but that's all for today. At least I can get some for my sisters to try."

Jia Huan glanced at Baochai and said with a smile, "If it's hot today, the food in the restaurant will change its taste after being transported around. In a few days, I originally wanted to invite old ladies, wives and brothers and sisters to go to the mountain villa together." Just for fun, wouldn't it be better to just invite the chef from the restaurant to the villa to cook and eat now."

Baoyu clapped her hands in praise, Jia Huan was also very moved when she saw Sanchun and Daiyu, and she couldn't be sure whether Baochai did it on purpose, and she couldn't think of why she brought the words to Jinxiu Restaurant specifically, so she just ignored it , everyone talked for a while, and then they dispersed. "

When Jia Huan came out of the gate of the garden, he saw a boy from afar filially around the inkstone, fanning and handing water. They couldn't help being amazed.

Jia Huan then asked, "What are you two doing here?"

Mo Yan said with a toothache on his face, "I've been pestered by this kid for a long time. He is Sheng'er who served in front of Second Master Lian. He said that Second Master Lian ordered him to stay here and wait for Master Lian to come out. Anyway, please go to Lian Erye's study."

That Sheng'er hurried over to greet Jia Huan.

Jia Huan saw that he was a thirteen or fourteen-year-old boy about his own age, and he was very small and handsome. He looked like a girl if he didn't look carefully. At that time, "Jia Lian had to move out of the outer study to fast,... After sleeping alone for two nights, it was very difficult, so he temporarily selected the handsome ones among the boys to go out of the fire."

Now this Sheng'er is serving in the study outside, and he was born like this, so Jia Huan couldn't help but look at him suspiciously a few more times.