Alternative Telling of Dream of Red Mansions: Cherishing Spring

Chapter 6
It was getting dark, and when it got darker, the lanterns in the mansion gradually lit up.Lai Yi'er huddled on the bed, her heart was confused, she wrapped herself up tighter and tighter, this autumn night was really cold, cold to the bone.

There were rustling footsteps, and I looked again, outside the window, several people were coming here with lights on.

Lai Yi'er was bored and put on a dress, opened the door to welcome her.

It's wrong, Lai Yi'er's lazy look, in Jia Zhen's eyes, is actually a little more charming than usual.

"This is very good." Jia Zhen hugged Lai Yier as soon as she entered the door, and blew out the lantern.

Laiyi'er closed her eyes and let out a moan, which bit him.He knew that he would once again sink into the bottomless darkness, even though his body was riddled with holes, he was powerless to sink.

He has been sinking... because, like a broken flower branch, he has never been able to pull it up, and naturally he is also unable to break free.

There was some light in the room again, and after a storm, Jia Zhen fell on the bed with Lai Yier in her arms without being too tired. She still missed her so much that she couldn't have sex with women, and would try to be in each of them. Look for traces in the corners of the eyes, eyebrows, body, hair and skin.Once, once, very hard to find.Yet he was convinced that he was blind.He never saw her again.

I can only have vain lingering with a man, and the pain will remind him that he is alive.

"Come on, are you in pain?"

"I don't know how to say it if I go back to my father."

"I know you're in pain, and you're unhappy." Jia Zhen caressed his body, and said slowly, "You're still young, so I wronged you."

Laiyi'er didn't dare to respond, she fell on him, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Master, I don't dare to say I am wronged, I am lucky to be able to follow my master." He remembered that day when he was selling pears on the street, he was surrounded and teased by a group of rogues.They bullied him for being slender, and they bullied him more than others.They sold a few coins that day, and they came to blackmail them again, which is fine in normal times, but not on that day, mother was waiting to use the money to grab medicine to save her life, so naturally they couldn't take it away.He ran and bumped into Jiazhen's horse.She thought she was going to die, but unexpectedly, Jia Zhen stared at him for a while, then ordered her servants to protect him, and before leaving, she threw another ingot of silver to him.

Immediately, Jia Zhen's leaving figure was stalwart and resolute.Lai Yi'er stood blankly on the street, and suddenly understood that only such a man with such power as shade can protect herself.The next day, he waited at the door of Jia's mansion until Jia Zhen appeared...

"What a coincidence." Jia Zhen moved her fingers to caress Lai Yier's face, remembering that he followed her when she was 13 years old, and it has been two years since she saw the handkerchief in Lai Yier's hand, and couldn't help smiling, "This thing It’s a coincidence that Yu Lu is here with you again, and he is going around with my things.”

"If Master doesn't like it, I'll return it to him tomorrow."

"It's a shame that he has the heart to match you. He's a rough man, so it's not suitable to use it." Jia Zhen picked up the veil, "Your tears are on it, and it's old if you wash it back. Such a thing , What’s the value, there’s a car for now. You keep it, and I’ll pay him back for you later, and keep him for your kindness.”

"Thank you."

Jia Zhen looked at the sky, it was still dark outside the window.He is tired, but he has to get up early tomorrow, and the princes of various mansions will send people to pay tribute, big and small, and they have to entertain one by one.He struggled to lean up, and said to Laiyier: "Go, open the red box over there for me, take two pills, and I'll sleep after taking it."

Lai Yi'er got out of bed, took the medicine, looked under the candlelight, exclaimed, hurriedly threw away the medicine, and knelt down.

Jia Zhen opened her eyes and looked at Lai Yier: "What's the matter? Bring the medicine quickly."

"Master Hui, you can't take this medicine. The slave's father died after taking this medicine." Lai Yier kowtowed.

Jia Zhen turned over and sat up, looked at him squarely, and said, "What's the matter, get up and explain in detail."

Lai Yi'er turned around and picked up the medicine, and when she handed it to Jia Zhen, she said with tears: "This is a elixir that is often refined in Taoist temples outside. It is said to strengthen the foundation and cultivate the original, refreshing and refreshing. But you can't take it regularly, otherwise you will be poisoned and die The servant's father died on this, so the servant remembers clearly."

Lai Yier's words are so convincing that people can't help but believe them.Jia Zhen's face changed color, and she reached out to flick off the pills.The medicine rolled to the corner, as if there were two people's eyes peeking at it in the dark.Jia Zhen calmed down, looked at the medicine for a while, reached out and hugged Lai Yier, wiped his tears, and said with a smile: "Good boy, you saved my life, tell me, what does your father do? Eat well." What does the pill do?"

"Hui lord, the slave's father is a failed scholar. He couldn't think about it for a while, so he went to practice in a Taoist temple. Hearing that one person attains the Tao, chickens and dogs ascend to heaven, so he wanted to practice Taoism and become immortal. Unexpectedly, he died after taking the elixir, leaving me and me behind." Mother is not alone."

Lai Yi'er sobbed, he recalled his father's ups and downs and his own misery, tears spread like a river.In the mottled shadows of tears, he was gradually able to see the silhouette of his childhood, as well as his father's emaciated appearance.A man in a gray shirt was holding a book with clear knuckles.Leaning against the door, I gazed at the vast river in the distance.

He has a sense of despondency, like those women on the high-rise buildings of the cruise ships that come and go in this river day and night, throwing away the thin tissue, even the red lip marks are dirty and old, never entering the night with the wind, falling into the river, no matter how trampled.

He looks at the river, the water, the people, and those discarded thin silks every day.His eyes seemed to be condensed into lead water, which was the pain of heavy iron ashes.

Finally one day, he disappeared, and everyone thought he had thrown himself into the river.Lai Yi'er and his wife cried to death, so they had to say goodbye.But one day, the two of them saw him in the Taoist temple on the mountain. He didn't die, but he ended the relationship in his own way.

"You said, your father was also a Taoist, so he ate this to death?" Jia Zhen laughed after hearing the story of the failed scholar.Lai Yi'er was so frightened that she knelt down again: "Master, did the servant say something wrong?"

Jia Zhen was taken aback for a moment, he inadvertently looked up and saw himself in the bronze mirror in front of the bed.The person in the mirror looked gloomy and distorted.Are you just laughing?Maliciousness emerged from his facial features one by one.

is this me?Jia Zhen shivered.But he calmed down quickly.

"I'm fine, I want to kill people. Kill those who want to harm me!" Jia Zhen jumped out of bed and picked up the medicine. The huge balls, like eyeballs that have been gouged out, hide bloody malice, making people shudder.

"Lai Yier." Jia Zhen turned around and looked at the restless Lai Yier, with burning eyes, "From tomorrow onwards, you will follow Yu Lu. I asked him to take you with him and learn how to be a director. After all, he is the son of a scholar, so It's really wasted."

"I don't know anything about today's affairs." Lai Yi'er looked at Jia Zhen, suddenly blissful, and knocked her head on the ground until it was black and blue. "The slave only knows to thank the master for his kindness in rebuilding."

Jia Zhen was noncommittal, turned around and looked out the window, thoughtful.In the sky, the morning star is already bright.

Lai Yi'er was kneeling, when he suddenly heard Jia Zhen sigh with infinite weariness.He looked up at Jia Zhen's back. In the bleak morning wind, Jia Zhen's figure was as thin as a cold bamboo. He looked so lonely and desolate.

I don't understand why a person who has everything looks like he has nothing?
He saw that cold bamboo spread its body in the wind, making a lonely sound.The voice said, "Get up and change my clothes."

Entering the painting went to Ningfu.This is the first time she has left the mansion since she was sold into Rong Mansion for five years.Accompanied by Zhou Rui's family, he delivered things to Uncle Zhen for the fourth girl.

Sitting in the car, swaying.The sun is smoky, coming in through the veil, scattered into colorful light and shadow, like a person who has stepped out of a dark prison, the worldly beauty makes the painting feel slightly dizzy.

In fact, this is just an ordinary and short Rongning Street.And she, from here to there, is only a hundred steps away.

Entering the painting into the inner courtyard, walking slowly on the verandah. She first entered the East Mansion, and saw the halls and pavilions here, all of which are majestic and majestic, and the flowers and trees are also lush and moist. It has a different style than Rong Mansion, so it is necessary to take a closer look. .It just so happened that Lai Yier followed Yu Lu out to do some business, and when she came over, she was slightly taken aback when she saw Ru Hua.Seeing him in the painting, a handsome young man stared at him, his heart beat violently, he bit his lip, retreated behind the pillar, and couldn't help but look at him again.

Lai Yi'er walked over, breathed a sigh of relief into the painting, feeling lost, feeling uncertain, and couldn't tell what was wrong.Thinking this way, he looked back again, and it happened that Lai Yier also turned his head, and the eyes of the two of them collided firmly.

It was another surprise, a thrilling surprise.

Lai Yi'er suddenly turned around and walked over, looked at her, and asked nonchalantly, "Do you recognize me?"

"No..." Ru Hua was frightened and at a loss.A face so close, a man's face.His breath hit her face.God, tell her how to react?

"I recognize you, Sister Hui. We've been engaged, haven't we?" Lai Yi'er looked at her, his eyes strangling her tightly.

Engaged!Ruhua looked at him carefully and carefully, his palms were sweating!Now her mind is extremely pure and clean, only the ladies and gentlemen of the Rong Mansion are left.

The past is like the previous life.Good or not?

"Cousin. Are you cousin? I...we..." Ru Hua suddenly recognized who he was.Recognized, such as Meng Po soup no longer works, the past and the past come one after another, the smooth heart is galloping, and the flames are everywhere.

"Damn it, Ms. Hui, have you sold yourself into slavery too? Where's your tall branch? Broken, burned, uprooted? You still have today! It turns out that life is just like this..." Lai Yier smiled sullenly, Turned around and went out.

The sound of people is far away, and the noise is silent.Only his voice bit by bit, fell into the heart, clear to the bottom.Enter the painting and let him taunt, hesitantly, stay, stand.My heart is hot, cold, like suffering from typhoid fever, suddenly very sad, but I want to laugh wantonly.

Although we don't meet each other anywhere in life, why should we meet here and now in this life?It was impenetrable.God, you have to let people meet swordsmen, fight hand to hand, and let blood flow into rivers before you stop?

Lai Yi'er walked out resentfully, with mixed feelings in her heart.Does she have today?However, humiliating the painting did not make him happy.

He couldn't forget her, so five years later, he recognized her within two eyes.What he couldn't forget was that his aunt and uncle hated the poor and loved the rich.

Trivial but valid reason.His father was selected as a scholar, so he rushed to make an engagement, but when his father failed in many trials, he hurriedly betrothed his daughter to someone else, fearing that he would suffer a disadvantage.

Laughing at the poor and not laughing at the prostitutes, he understood this sentence, and he was determined to commit himself to Jia Zhen, thanks to her family.

However, life is nothing more than that.

He didn't want her to fall too, he didn't want to.If she was still that glamorous and precious sister Hui, maybe his struggle and his reluctance would really be meaningful.However, even she has been degraded, reduced to a slave... Maybe the old saying is true: Since ancient times, everything has been determined, so is there no destiny for separation and reunion?How can there be iron-clad wealth and lingering seats?
The life of him and her is like a piece of iron that has cooled down, dark and heavy, shaped by fate, no matter how you beat it, it is meaningless.in vain.

Lai Yi'er turned back to look at the mansion lonely, the strong sunlight shrouded the huge mansion, it looked extraordinary.But he saw the white banner hidden in the high wall at a glance, and the sad and numb people.He suddenly had a hallucination, a hallucination caused by the sun on this sunny afternoon.He seemed to see the ancestors of Ning Mansion and Rong Mansion, the two princes in python robes and jade belts, with blurred and old faces.He heard a strange and mysterious voice sighing in the dark——ah...

A burst of heart palpitations, bone-chilling chill.He thought how could he feel that this was the funeral of the entire Jia family?Those busy people who come and go, come and go, mournful, seem to pay tribute to this century-old family.

It's just that Grandma Zhen died, what am I thinking about?Lai Yier hastened to shake off these bad premonitions.Even if the song is destined to end, please wait later.The purpose of coming is inexplicable.He understood that he was the hozen on the tree, the vine attached to the tree.

On Rongning Street, people came and went, and there was a lot of traffic in front of the Ning Mansion.Who would have thought that the prophet who heard the sad sound of the century, the Hehejia Mansion collapsed slightly, and peeked into the future ending was actually a servant.The sun is all over the ground and it's cold, and I stand there in a daze.In my heart, it hurts so much.The blood flowed out little by little, and the stagnant pain that stagnated in my heart was still there and has always been there.

Standing like this for a long time, until Zhou Rui's family came to call her: "Oh, my girl, grandma, why are you still here? How can the uncle have so much time to wait for you, hurry up and hand over the fourth girl's things with me go up."

Ruhua regained his soul, and was dragged by Zhou Rui's family to meet Jia Zhen.The previous life was broken, she fell from the huge gap, and in this life she is a slave.To be a slave is to abide by the duty of a slave.At that time at home, she also listened to her father and mother scolding the servants like this.The world my mother told her was stripped apart.

Don't think that people in this world live in one world and coexist in one world. In fact, it has been divided into small pieces by mysterious hands. It's not that nothing happened. It was arranged when you couldn't see it.

"Son, you and your cousin are already in two worlds, forget about him. Remember what mother said, people in two different worlds are cursed to live together, happiness cannot last long, and tragedy will eventually sprout. "

The mother's words were so earnest, she couldn't help but not believe her.Then forget the pale and fuzzy cousin in the memory, anyway, it is not difficult, anyway, there will be better ones waiting ahead.

Who taught the proverbs?You have to give up something so you can get something new.

Jia Zhen didn't blame her, maybe she was too busy, and she couldn't take care of herself. Who has the time to worry about these trivial matters with a little maid, so she just picked up the things, looked at them, raised her brows slightly, and asked, "Miss Si Handwritten?" He said again, "Go back, I'm so busy these days." He waved his hand to let her back down.

She resigned, got in the car and went back to Rongfu, and went to see Jia Mu again, and replied.

The old lady was always kind, and asked with a smile: "Have the things been delivered? Does Mr. Zhen have anything to say?"

She returned one by one, hands down.

"It's hard for Si Yatou to have a heart. She spends so much time on her sister-in-law. Even ordinary children are not so filial. The blood on the tongue pierces the sutras... but how much pain is it!"

As the old lady spoke, she glanced at Ruhua and the wives who were standing on the ground, and said angrily, "You people, don't pay close attention to it. Why do you allow her to do such things that hurt her body? She died. Mother knows how to be sad."

The old lady's tone was not smooth, and everyone around her stood up together in fright, and lowered their hands to receive the instruction.When they entered the painting, they had already knelt on the ground, restless, waiting to be punished.

After a long while, Fang Wang Xifeng tried to persuade her with a smile, "The old ancestor felt so sorry for his granddaughter that he was confused. This young lady, a girl, how can the girl manage the young lady? The old ancestor was not happy, so I sent someone to take the bamboo pieces." Beat them up or deduct a few months of salary, how to deal with them, let the old ancestors decide."

"You!" The old lady laughed when she heard the words, "You are as smart as a cat, and you are used to pretending to be a tiger." The old lady pointed into the painting, "Such a small child, with a dewdrop-like body, can support you? How much money do these people have in total? You just withhold it, do you have the heart?"

Sister Feng bit her lips and smiled, her pair of watery phoenix eyes were watery, and between looking around, clouds and smoke were everywhere, hiding how much shrewdness and dexterity.

"Thank you for the teachings of the ancestors. Even I am grateful for the mercy of the ancestors, let alone them." Sister Feng squatted down with a smile, stood up and kneaded for the old lady, and said with a smile, "That's how it is. You can only take care of this family, if there is any inappropriateness, I hope the ancestors will point it out."

"It's a coincidence that thousands of people don't want you to go." Jia Mu smiled and looked at Sister Feng, "I don't know if you look at her, are you pleading for them? I am an old villain, you are a good person. This is what you should ask, I really don’t know the person carved out of Si Yatou’s ice? I ordered you not to disturb me while drawing the scriptures. No wonder they. Who would have thought that Si Yatou... Sigh! It’s just gold powder. It’s easy to get, how much is it, what is it? Why are you so persistent, thinking of using tongue blood to pierce the meridian.”

Mrs. Wang nodded to persuade: "Old lady, don't worry, this is also the fourth girl who is devout and has a relationship with the Buddha. If someone else has this heart, she will definitely not be able to. The Buddha sees the merits of the fourth girl, and she will definitely have future blessings." .”

Jia Mu nodded and sighed: "It's good to have future blessings..." She closed her eyes and said, "I'm tired, so let's go."

The crowd dispersed slowly.

Not as clever as Sister Feng, she took a few steps behind and whispered in Jiamu's ear, "Don't worry, old ancestor, I will take care of my fourth younger sister. The imperial doctor came to see her in two days, and the food has been ordered to be prepared by the kitchen. It is all bland."

"It's a coincidence for you! You are good." Mother Jia smiled, stretched out her hand to touch Sister Feng's face, and sighed, "But they are all as smart as you, and you are so caring. I am so happy that I don't care about anything." , to be an old idiot who only knows how to be silly. It's a pity that you can't. You are a top-notch person, which is really rare. In the past few years since you entered the mansion, people say that I dote on you, but I only know that you are bitter. In this mansion Up and down, who is easy to deal with? But it’s difficult for you. You are young and well-groomed inside and out. Even at your age, I can’t be so perfunctory. Many people say that you strive for the top and climb high branches. Who knows that you are "Huanglian makes a stick—it's bright on the outside and bitter on the inside". There are people in charge of this house, but you don't care about it. Who wants to cause this trouble, and only you are willing to take it. You work hard and are not afraid of people's words. .”

Sister Feng's tears fell all over the ground a long time ago. She has been in charge of the house for three years, and even cats and dogs hate it.There was nowhere to tell her sufferings in the past few years, but unexpectedly, her ancestors, who hang high above the mirror, understand her better than her own parents.

Sister Feng, who had always been strong, also fell on Jia Mu's pillow and cried and became weak.

"Feng girl, it's hard for you." Mother Jia stroked her back and sighed, "It's good to be competitive, but I don't like your aunt's solemnity and prudence. It's just that you are still young, listen to my advice." , calm down when things happen, the sky won’t fall, and in the final analysis, I cherish my body. Don’t worry, as long as my old bones are still there, no matter who he is, I can’t wrong you.”

"Understood, old ancestor." Sister Feng suppressed her tears, tucked the quilt tightly for Mother Jia, and said with a smile, "You can take a rest, I'm going down."

Sister Feng got up and said goodbye, and the maids dispersed.Jia Mu opened her eyes in a half-dream and half-awake state, and she looked at the spacious and lonely main room.When people are gone, you will smell the old and precious old utensils emitting an old fragrance, faintly, like the immersed years, the stored sorrow, lingering on the old man for a long time.

The old man's eyes gradually brightened, and she seemed to see the faces of some long-gone people in the air. She could see things that young people couldn't see. Old people, because of old age, sometimes have some inexplicable abilities.

(End of this chapter)