From the Red Mansion, you can travel through the world of martial arts

Chapter 337 Birthday
It was not until the auspicious time that the two official ships weighed anchor, left the shore, and slowly sailed into the canal.

Life on the boat was peaceful, and before I knew it, it was the next day, April 26th.

This day was Baoqin's birth day, and Baochai hosted the party and invited her family and Daiyu.

The banquet in the hall was decorated with tortoise shells and lotus bedding. Although there was no opera troupe, the food and wine were rich.

Chai Dai, Bao Qin, Xing Xiuyan, Ding Baiying, and their maids filled the hall. Mu Wanqing made an excuse that she had not arrived yet.

Baochai and Daiyu both asked the birthday girl Baoqin to sit at the head of the table. But when Baoqin saw Jia Wei was there, she naturally did not dare to do so. Chai and Dai knew Jia Wei's temperament, so they forced her to sit down.

Then Xiaoluo, Baoqin's maid, kowtowed to her, and the other maids also paid their respects. When the banquet began, Jia Wei lazily lay aside, Ping'er brought him a pillow and a backrest, tapped his legs, and served him tea and fruit.

Jia Wei pulled her hand and said with a smile: "The older girl is more caring, while the younger girl only cares about eating for herself."

Ping'er smiled and said nothing.

Jia Wei said, "Okay, today is your day to give birth to a child, so you should take a rest."

Ping'er felt puzzled, because the girls present, such as Chai, Dai, Baoqin, and the servants Ying'er, Zijuan, Xiangling, and Qingwen, were not old people in the West Mansion, so it was normal for them not to know her birthday.

She didn't care much about these things, and was too lazy to say them out loud to cause trouble to each other. She was surprised that Jia Wei, a man, still remembered her life.

Jia Wei had never lived in the West Mansion, and she had never celebrated her birthday when she came to the East Mansion. He couldn't have heard it from somewhere, he must have specifically inquired about it...

When Ping'er thought about it this way, the look in her eyes became a little complicated.

Jia Wei just smiled, pointed to the seat at the top of the east, and said, "Go sit there."

He certainly didn't remember these birthdays or anything like that, but Baoyu, Baoqin, Ping'er and Xing Xiuyun had their birthdays on the same day, which was so special that he must have an impression of it.

Baochai and Baoqin heard this and realized what was going on. Baoqin quickly stood up and bowed to Ping'er, saying, "So today is also your sister's birthday." She then pulled her to sit at the top seat.

Ping Erh continued to bow, but she declined the seat arranged by Jia Wei for her and sat down facing west.

Baochai, who was standing by, quickly told Ying'er to prepare another gift and send it to Ping'er's room.

Jia Wei then looked at Xing Xiuyun, who was wearing an elegant dress and sitting next to Daiyu with a calm expression.

She and Baoqin have the same birthday, and today is her fifteenth birthday. Baoqin has become the focus of everyone, and even Ping'er, a maid, has a group of maids coming to pay their respects. Only she is ignored, but she still looks natural, without the slightest sign of envy.

Suddenly Xing Xiuyan noticed Jia Wei's gaze and nodded quickly. Seeing that Jia Wei was still looking at her, she was about to stand up and walk closer, but Jia Wei raised his hand to stop her.

The banquet was lively and bustling for a while. As they were on Jia Wei's official ship and were not subject to the supervision of their elders or the outside world, the girls enjoyed themselves as they pleased, shouting and yelling.

In the hall, red and green are flying and dancing, jade and pearls are swaying, it is really very lively.

Suddenly Daiyu said, "It's boring to sit there quietly. We need to play some music."

Baoqin and Xing Xiuyun were both stunned when they heard this and looked at Baochai.

It is common to recite couplets at banquets, but they knew that Jia Wei was the top scholar in martial arts and had no idea about his literary talent, so they certainly did not dare to propose or agree with him.

Baochai didn't know Jia Yu's literary talent, but when Daiyu suggested it, she responded immediately, "Okay! How do you do it?"

Daiyu thought for a moment and glanced at Jia Wei. "In my opinion, we should take the pen and inkstone and write down all the colors, then draw lots and we will pick the one that comes out."

Daiyu and Baochai both agreed, and the other girls also agreed, and immediately ordered a pair of pens, inkstones and flowery paper.

Xiangling had been learning poetry from Daiyu and Baochai for more than half a year, and she also learned calligraphy every day. She was eager to see the writing brush and inkstone, and immediately stood up and said, "I'll write."

So Qingwen was asked to grind the ink and Xiangling to write. After thinking for a while, the girls came up with a dozen or so to recite. Xiangling wrote them down one by one, rolled them into a ball of paper, and put them in a pottery jar. When Jia Wei saw this, he thought something was wrong and quickly made an excuse to leave.

Daiyu knew that he was very talented and was unwilling to let him go.

Jia Wei knew his role, so the topic was limited to him composing a poem in seven steps. If he was lucky enough to meet someone he had learned before, he might be able to rack his brains and come up with a great poem that would be passed down through the ages, and show off in front of the girls.

But the topic was randomly chosen and the rhyme was limited. He didn't have the talent for writing, so he didn't want to make a fool of himself. He said he had to go to the bathroom and forced himself to leave. Daiyu's plan failed and she could only sulk.

Jia Wei left the hall and went outside to sober up in the river breeze. He then went to the kitchen and ordered someone to prepare a table of wine and food, which were sent to Xing Xiuyan's room.

Several ladies in the hall exchanged several couplets. At this moment, Daiyu and Baoqin were playing chess, while Baochai and Xiuyan were watching the game.

Suddenly, Xing Xiuyan's maid came forward and leaned over to whisper something. Xing Xiuyan hesitated for a moment, then went forward and said goodbye to Baochai.

She left the hall, feeling somewhat puzzled, and hurried back to the house, where she saw Jia Wei sitting at the table with delicious food and wine.

When Jia Wei saw Xing Xiuyan coming in, he stood up and bowed to her with a smile: "Congratulations on your birthday, sister."

Xing Xiuyan was flattered. She didn't even think about how Jia Wei knew her birthday. She quickly knelt down to return the greeting, "Thank you, Master..."

Jia Wei lifted her arms, held her soft waist and sat down at the table, smiling and saying, "You are the oldest today, why are you kneeling? They don't remember your birth, but I do. Let them have fun, and we can just shut the door and spend the day by ourselves."

He took out a box from his sleeve, "This is a gift from me. Open it and take a look."

Xing Xiuyan is still a young girl after all. Facing Jia Wei's surprise and warm attitude, her heart felt as sweet as if she had eaten honey.

She took the box and opened it. "How did the master know?"

Of course Jia Wei told the truth: "I knew it in my last life."

Xing Xiuyan took it as a love talk and lowered her head in shame. She opened the box and saw a pair of gold-thread eight-treasures pearl buns and a Chaoyang five-phoenix pearl hairpin lying inside. Her hands stopped moving immediately.

"do you like it?"

Xing Xiuyan looked up at him, and her eyes softened. She pursed her lips and nodded: "I like it."

"Then I'll bring it to you."

Jia Wei skillfully inserted two pearl buns and pearl hairpins on her head, and then held her chin to admire her for a while.

"it's beautiful."

Seeing Xing Xiuyan's pleasing look, he smiled and said, "You didn't eat anything just now, did you? Let's eat first, and then I'll eat you."

When Xing Xiuyan heard this, she felt her face burning.

Looking at the table again, in front of her was a bowl of bird's nest soup, as well as fried wolfberry sprouts with oil and salt, shrimp balls and chicken skin soup, steamed duck with rice wine, rouge goose breast, and crispy rolls with pine stuffing... the whole table was filled.

In the past, how could she afford to eat these things? Even that bowl of top-quality bird's nest was her family's monthly ration.

Xing Xiuyan was content with her poverty and of course didn't care about these external things. However, this was the first time someone celebrated her birthday and gave her gifts, so she would remember this night for the rest of her life.

After dinner, Jia Wei really carried her to the bed.

It was a love affair and full of affection, no need to describe in details.

(End of this chapter)