The Red Chamber begins with a bastard

Chapter 400: I didn’t understand the meaning of the song when I first heard it, but I was the composer when I heard it again

There is a saying: There is heaven above and Suzhou and Hangzhou below. Gusu City is located on the fertile Wuzhong Plain, with Taihu Lake in the west and the Yangtze River in the north. It has been a prosperous place since ancient times. It is a famous Jiangnan water town and a gentle place. It is rich in talented men and beautiful women. For example, the four well-known Jiangnan talents came from here. In addition, among the so-called Qinhuai Eight Beauties, almost half were from Suzhou.

The Lin family's ancestral tomb is located on the shore of Taihu Lake outside the city of Gusu, with beautiful scenery and clear water. Jia Huan ordered people to dig up Jia Min's tomb, put Lin Ruhai's coffin in it, bury the couple together, and re-carve a monument and write a biography, and hold a memorial ceremony.

"On the ninth day of the ninth month of the Xinwei year, my father's illness relapsed and he died at the age of fifty-three. He was buried in his hometown, outside the city of Gusu, by the Taihu Lake. The bright moon expressed my feelings, and I poured wine on the soil. The grass withered, and the yellow earth covered my father, who was sleeping in the wilderness, looking at both life and death. My clothes were filled with tears, and my heart was broken. I would like to express my grief for my father and offer sacrifice to his spirit...

My father, Mr. Lin, whose real name is Hai and whose courtesy name is Ruhai, was born in XX and won the title of the third place in the imperial examination at the age of 18...

Thinking of the past years, I feel sad, and thinking of the past dreams, I feel sad. At the moment of life and death, the world is forever separated, and between looking up and down, the yin and yang are separated into two worlds. Alas, please enjoy! "

Lin Daiyu burst into tears. After reciting the memorial, she knelt in front of the tomb, covered her face and sobbed. Jia Huan took the memorial and threw it into the brazier. In an instant, it turned into wisps of green smoke, along with the tears on it, and went straight up to the sky.

Jia Huan lit three incense sticks and silently offered three bowls of wine. Then he knelt down beside Lin Daiyu and said softly, "Sister Lin, please accept my condolences. Now that my aunt and father-in-law have reunited, let's kowtow and leave. We shouldn't disturb them to rest in peace."

After Jia Huan finished speaking, he kowtowed three times. Lin Daiyu also subconsciously followed him. After she finished kowtowed, she realized that something was wrong. Her cheeks flushed and her heart was beating fast. She glanced at Jia Huan and saw that the latter had a solemn expression and did not seem to pay attention to her. She breathed a sigh of relief, but also felt a little lost.

After Jia Huan finished bowing, he stood up, bent down to help Lin Daiyu up, and said softly, "Sister Lin, let's go back and come to visit my aunt and father-in-law in two days."

Lin Daiyu nodded, and with the help of Xueyan, she got on the carriage. Jia Huan also climbed on the horse and headed towards the Suzhou city gate along the dirt road beside Taihu Lake.

It was already early October, autumn was about to end and winter was about to come. The lake breeze was chilly, blowing the straw, and everything was a scene of withering. Lin Daiyu looked out through the car window and saw such a scene, and she couldn't help but shed tears silently.

Seeing this, Jia Huan rode his horse to the carriage and pointed to a distant mountain and asked, "Sister Lin, look, that mountain is dark green, I wonder what it's called?"

Lin Daiyu raised her red and swollen eyes, looked in the direction Jia Huan pointed, and said softly, "It's just an unknown hill, what's the point of calling it that?"

Jia Huan laughed and said, "This is Daishan. Sister Lin didn't even know about it. You are from Gusu, but you are worse than a foreigner like me."

Lin Daiyu was puzzled and said, "I have never heard of it. I am afraid that you, Brother Huan, made it up again."

Jia Huan smiled and said, "I didn't make it up. Sister Lin, haven't you heard the story of the rat spirit? The Dai Mountain in the story is the mountain in front of us. There is a Linzi Cave on the mountain."

Lin Daiyu then suddenly remembered the story that Jia Huan had told her before, about a rat spirit turning into a beautiful young lady. She couldn't help but burst out laughing, and the sadness in her heart was instantly diluted a lot.

Jia Huan also laughed: "This Xiangyu is not that Xiangyu, this Xiangyu is Daiyu from the Lin family!" After saying this, he quickly leaned forward, sniffed Lin Daiyu's hair from a distance, and sighed: "It smells so good!"

Lin Daiyu was very ashamed and reached her hand out of the window to grab Jia Huan, but the latter had already ridden away with a smile, making Lin Daiyu so angry that she felt like teeth itching.

Xueyan chuckled and said, "Master Huan San is now a juren, but he is still so naughty."

Lin Daiyu lowered the car window, feeling bittersweet in her heart, and sighed, "How could I not know that Brother Huan was just trying to cheer me up."

Xueyan smiled and said, "Isn't it good to be happy? A young lady should be happy. I believe that if the master is still alive, he would also hope that the young lady would be happy."

Lin Daiyu said nothing, but just silently fixed her makeup that was smudged by her tears.

About half an hour later, the carriage entered Gusu City and moved slowly along the street. Suddenly, it passed a place with pink walls and black tiles. There were bursts of pleasant sounds of stringed instruments coming from it, and the sound of opera singing was also heard.

Lin Daiyu felt that the singing was somewhat familiar, so she listened carefully, and suddenly smiled knowingly, lifted the carriage curtain, and waved to Jia Huan.
Jia Huan quickly stepped forward and asked, "Sister Lin, do you want to change clothes?"

Lin Daiyu shook her head and whispered, "Brother Huan, listen, what is this song?"

Jia Huan listened carefully for a moment. The Kunqu opera singing was soft and pleasant, but he did not understand a word. He shook his head in confusion and asked, "What is it singing?" Lin Daiyu scratched her face and said shyly, "Just now you were flattering Daishan and laughing at me, a local, for not knowing it. Now you can't even understand the script you wrote. Aren't you ashamed?"

After hearing what he said, Jia Huan listened carefully again and finally got a general idea. It turned out that the play being sung was "Peach Blossom Fan" which he "wrote" that year. It seemed to be really popular and spread all over the country. It was a pity that there was no concept of copyright now, let alone IP operation. Even the royalties were a one-time deal, otherwise he would have made a fortune.

Seeing Jia Huan's expression, Lin Daiyu knew that he had heard it, and said with a smile: "Brother Huan wrote this play and sold it to Sister Bao for two hundred taels of silver. Now that this play is known to everyone, I wonder how Brother Huan feels about it?"

Jia Huan pondered for a while, then sighed, "It's too cheap!"

Seeing Jia Huan pondering for a long time, Lin Daiyu thought that he was deeply touched and was waiting for him to express his feelings at length. Unexpectedly, he felt that he had sold at a loss. She was stunned for a moment, and then she laughed so hard that she almost choked.

"Brother Huan, you are really money-minded... No, my stomach hurts from laughing." Lin Daiyu rubbed her stomach and lowered the curtain to avoid laughing when she saw Jia Huan's expression.

Jia Huan himself could not help laughing. At this moment, he turned the corner and passed by a door. The sound of opera singing was floating out from the door. Now it sounded even clearer, like the chirping of an oriole, and was extremely beautiful.

Jia Huan looked up and saw a plaque hanging in front of the black lacquered gate with the words "Liyuan" inscribed on it.

Jia Huan's heart was moved, and he thought to himself: "So this is the Pear Garden!"

Please don't get me wrong, Liyuan is not an orchard where pear trees are planted. It is a very famous opera troupe in ancient times, originating in the Tang Dynasty. It has a long history and has a great influence on the Chinese opera world. Opera artists who come from Liyuan are very proud to call themselves "Liyuan disciples." Of course, actors had a low status in ancient times and were not as highly respected and admired as they are now. Many of the ancient actors were prostitutes who sold their art and bodies for the entertainment of others.

Of course, there were also highly sought-after and respected musicians and dramatists in ancient times, such as Li Guinian of the Tang Dynasty and Guan Hanqing of the Yuan Dynasty. We cannot generalize, but can only say that there are top talents in every profession. No matter which industry, as long as one reaches the pinnacle, he or she can shine brightly.

The crowd walked farther and farther away along the street, and the sound of opera was slowly forgotten. After walking for about a quarter of an hour, they finally returned to the Lin family's ancestral home, but saw the gatekeeper grabbing a man by the collar, the two were arguing, and two baskets were overturned on the ground, with all kinds of small objects scattered all over the ground.

Seeing this, Jia Huan asked Jin Bao to stop the carriage, and he rode forward and asked, "What happened?"

When the doorman saw Jia Huan, he quickly let go of his hand and bowed, saying, "Third Master, you have returned just in time. This fellow has been lingering in front of our house, looking around, acting suspiciously. I don't know what he is up to. I approached him to investigate, but he turned and ran away. He must have had bad intentions, so I caught him and prepared to interrogate him thoroughly."

Jia Huan's heart moved and he looked at the man. He saw that the man was about thirty or forty years old, with a weather-beaten face, very tattered clothes, and a wave-beating drum in his hand. He should be a peddler walking around the streets.

The peddler saw Jia Huan dressed elegantly, riding a tall horse, with a gorgeous carriage behind him and a group of followers. He couldn't help but show fear and stammered to defend himself, "No... I didn't, I was just passing by to sell goods, and this man grabbed me and overturned my goods."

The doorman hurriedly said, "Who knocked over your goods? You fell down while running. If you want to scam me, you should ask where this place is first. Our master is the Left Censor-in-Chief, a posthumous title conferred by the Emperor, and a Special Advancement Doctor of Ronglu, a first-rank official. How can we allow you to cheat here? You'll have to pay the price."

The peddler didn't dare to say a word when he heard that. He quietly packed up his goods and was about to leave.

Jia Huan asked Daiyu and her servant to return to the back house first, and then he called to the peddler who was about to leave and said, "Stop!"

The peddler said tremblingly, "I am just passing by, I have no bad intentions. Sir, please be magnanimous and spare me. I have a bunch of old and young at home who are waiting for me to support them."

"Third Master, this guy's eyes are flickering and he's timid, like a weasel. He's not very honest." Shitou leaned close to Jia Huan's ear and said, "Why don't we arrest him and interrogate him?"

Because of the unexpected look that Yi Hong revealed that day, Jia Huan had become more alert, and the Jinyiwei's spies were omnipresent, so Jia Huan was a little suspicious of the guy in front of him, so he nodded.

Shitou immediately stepped forward and snatched the basket from the man's shoulder without saying a word, while grabbing the back of his collar with one hand.

The peddler was so frightened that his face turned pale and he cried out, "What are you going to do?"

Shitou smiled and said, "Aren't you selling goods? My third master wants to buy some. Come on, go inside and take your time to choose." After that, he held the basket in one hand and the peddler in the other, and carried them into the house like an eagle catching a chick.

(End of this chapter)