Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

Chapter 58 What is your heart?

Jia Cong was able to leave the East Courtyard and move to the West Mansion, and sisters such as Daiyu, Yingchun, and Tanchun were all very happy.

Tanchun and Yingchun were delighted, but Daiyu kept it in her heart and did not show it on her face.

Because she was a stranger, she was not as closely related to Jia Cong as Yingchun and Tanchun. Although she had developed a sense of closeness to Jia Cong's actions, she still kept her mind on him.

Baoyu actually didn't care. He even felt that it was optional for He Qian to visit Jia Cong.

The reason he followed was because Jia Cong had Qingwen here. Although he couldn't ask Lady Jia for her, it would be good to see her and talk to her.

At this time, Jia Cong also came out to greet them. A pair of clear and beautiful eyes looked at him. Among them, only Yingchun was older than him and was his sister, so he stepped forward and bowed, saying, "Hello, second sister."

Yingchun looked at him with gentle eyes: "Since you have moved here, you won't have those difficulties anymore. You will be the same as us in the future."

Jia Cong knew Yingchun was not good at speaking, and the fact that she said this showed that she cared for him carefully. He felt gentle in his heart: "We will all be in the garden from now on. If you have anything, just tell me."

Then he smiled and said to the others, "Sisters, we have arrived. I have not come to greet you. Please come in and take a seat. Wu'er Qingwen, go and make some tea."

Tanchun smiled and said, "Brother Cong, why are you being so polite? Just give me a copy of the poem "卜算子" written by yourself, which will be better than anything else."

Jia Cong also laughed and said, "That's not easy. I'll copy five or six pages for you to take."

Among these people, only Tanchun and Yingchun were familiar with Jia Cong, while others such as Daiyu, Baoyu and Xichun had only seen him a few times in Rongqingtang.

The impression that Jia Cong left on them was that although he was brilliant in literary works, he was always treated harshly and suppressed in the East Courtyard and rarely saw outsiders. It was thought that he was somewhat introverted and timid, and not good at getting along with others.

With so many people coming to my house, I was afraid that it would be difficult to cope with them, but I didn't expect that they were so harmonious and calm. I was secretly amazed.

At this time, Wu'er and Qingwen brought out the freshly brewed fragrant tea, and everyone felt that the scene before their eyes was beautiful.

Because Grandmother Jia likes girls who are good-looking, there are many pretty maids in the Jia family.

Only the two in Jia Cong's courtyard were more outstanding. Qingwen and the others had all seen the maid named Wu'er, who was no worse than Qingwen and even more quiet and proper.

Especially Daiyu, she felt more friendly and sympathetic when she met Wu'er.

Baoyu came along just to see Qingwen. Now he saw that Wu'er was actually a very good girl, especially her delicate and jade-like aura, which was a bit like Lin Daiyu.

She was stunned for a moment and couldn't move her legs. Feelings of pity and annoyance rose in her heart. How could such a good maid end up in Jia Cong's room? What kind of logic was this?

When Tanchun saw Baoyu's expression, she knew that her brother had suffered from his old illness. His face turned slightly red and he coughed gently a few times. She was thinking about how to wake him up.

Daiyu, who was standing by, touched the lid of her teacup with her cup and said, "Baoyu, have some tea. Third Brother Cong's tea is really good. Come and try it."

Baoyu shuddered and woke up from his dementia. Seeing Daiyu glancing at him, he felt embarrassed. He thought his previous description was a bit inappropriate and wondered if Sister Lin would be angry.

Baoyu didn't expect that the maids in Jia Cong's room were all so nice, and that Wu'er was even more lovely than Qingwen.

He thought to himself that Wu'er was not someone the old lady had pointed out to Jia Cong in court, so maybe it would be easier to ask for her. As long as he was willing, he could exchange her for anyone in his room except Xiren.

Daiyu grew up with Baoyu, so naturally she paid more attention to him. Seeing that his eyes were always on Wu'er, she knew what he was planning.

Jia Cong, who was in front of him with a handsome and elegant demeanor, felt a sense of disappointment for no reason when he saw Baoyu staring at the girl with an infatuated look in his eyes.

Seeing that Jia Cong was chatting with Tanchun at this time, she got up and went to Jia Cong's desk to see if there were any new words written, but saw a piece of rice paper full of words under the bamboo ruler.

All the items on the desk were arranged by Wu'er. The piece of paper was also what Jia Cong had just written in the outer study last night. Wu'er was worried that he would need it, so he placed it in a conspicuous place.

Daiyu saw the following words written on the paper:

The killing spirit gathers at the beginning of winter, and the clear frost meets the morning.

The plains are cleansed and the thorns are burning fiercely.

An eagle is willing to serve when it is hungry; a horse becomes even more arrogant when it is cold.

The flags and banners are flying in the forest, and the horns are blowing with the wind. Girls like Daiyu are used to seeing the words of jade snow flying, and rarely read such sharp and murderous sentences. This half poem is also far from the charm of Jia Cong's "Bu Suan Zi".

But I couldn’t remember who he copied it from. Could it be the new work of Brother Cong San?

Daiyu asked, "Is this a new composition by Third Brother Cong?"

Jia Cong smiled and said, "I wrote this casually last night when I was free in the study outside. It won't be pleasing to Sister Lin." As he said this, he took the paper from her hand and was about to tear it up.

Daiyu hurriedly stopped him: "This poem is novel and interesting, and the calligraphy is excellent. Since you don't want it, just give it to me."

When Tanchun and Xichun heard that Jia Cong had written a new work, they also gathered around to see the curiosity.

When Baoyu saw Daiyu carefully fold the piece of rice paper and put it into her sleeve, he felt disgusted again.

……

Rongning Hall.

Not long after Lady Jia had finished her meal, a maid came with a message saying that an official from Zhen'an Prefecture had come to the house and asked to see the second master. No one knew what they said.

The second master became furious when he heard this, and went to the East Courtyard with many servants and officials from Zhen'an Prefecture.

When Lady Jia heard this, she was shocked. What was going on? The second son was angry and brought many servants to the eldest son's residence. Could it be that the brothers were going to fight to the death?

He quickly took the maidservant with him, asked Lady Wang to come along, and asked the housekeeper Lai Da to lead the way, and hurried to the East Courtyard.

On the way, Wang Xifeng and Jia Lian got the message and followed.

In an instant, the entire Rongguo Mansion was alarmed.

When Grandmother Jia rushed to the east courtyard, she heard Jia Zheng's angry voice and Jia She's angry roar.

The maids and old women in the east courtyard all looked frightened and trembling with fear.

Grandmother Jia was suddenly panicked. The most taboo thing for aristocratic families was brothers fighting against each other. Whenever a family fell, it was not because of an attack from the outside, but mostly because of this kind of collapse from within.

He knew that his eldest son felt uncomfortable because he had raised Jia Cong under the second wife's care.

Could it be that Jia Cong had caused trouble again, causing a rift and dispute between his two sons?
That's right, this evildoer never stops making trouble. It must be him who caused the trouble and caused the two sons to quarrel.

Thinking of this, Jia's mother was angry and said to Yuanyang beside her: "Go and call Congge'er over. I want to ask him if he has done anything strange again."

Yuanyang also found this a little abrupt. She was familiar with Qingwen and knew that Jia Cong had been recuperating from his injuries these days and had hardly gone out.

They moved to Qingzhizhai early this morning and were not seen out and about. How did they get involved in the Dongluyuan incident again? I guess the old lady is worried about her son and is a little angry.

But she was just a maid, so it was not easy for her to say such things. She still had to go and call them.

When Grandmother Jia entered the main hall of the east courtyard, she saw Jia Zheng sitting there with an angry look on his face, and there was another man in official uniform sitting there.

Jia She, who was at the top, blushed and roared at the man kneeling on the ground: "How dare you, you dog slave, do such a thing? Confess now!"

Mrs. Xing stood aside with a gloomy face, as if a disaster was about to happen.

Grandmother Jia also recognized the woman kneeling on the ground and trembling. She was Wang Shanbao, the housekeeper of Mrs. Xing.

When Jia Zheng saw his mother coming, he stood up quickly and said, "Mother, why are you here?"

Grandmother Jia said angrily, "If I hadn't come, you brothers would have started a quarrel in broad daylight. It's really getting more and more outrageous. Are you trying to piss me off to death?"

Jia Zheng hurriedly explained, "Mother, you are wrong. It was my elder brother and I who were making trouble. Today, the officials from Zhen'an Prefecture came to our house and said that there was a witchcraft incident in our family!"

(End of this chapter)