The Red Mansions

Chapter 657 Daiyu: Why does he like her? (Ask for a monthly pass!)

Chapter 657 Daiyu: He...why does he like her? (Ask for a monthly pass!)

Rongguo Mansion, Rongqing Hall

"Uncle and Master Shi are here." At this moment, a nun entered the hall with a smile on her face, and said to Mother Jia and several people who were talking in the room.

Mother Jia smiled profusely, and greeted: "Hurry up and let someone come in."

Saying that, Xunsheng looked at Jia Heng and Shi Ding who came from the outside.

"Brother Heng, Ding'er, come and sit down." Mother Jia called out with a smile, her eyes were kind, seeing that Shi Jia and his family were very close, the smile on her face couldn't be overwhelmed.

Jia Heng and Shi Ding greeted Jia's mother one after another.

When Jia Heng and Zhong Jing Hou Shi Ding were seated, Jia's mother smiled and said, "You two are both serving in the Military Aircraft Department, and it is rare for Brother Heng to come back. You two have a good talk together."

Jia Heng put down the teacup and said softly: "I have talked a lot with Shi Shibo before."

Shi Ding also had a smile on his face, and said softly: "Brother Heng has been doing a lot of things for the court outside, and I look a lot thinner, so I should rest at home these few days."

Yuan Chun sat gracefully by the side, cast her soft and charming eyes on Jia Heng, pursed her cherry lips, and there was a trace of worry in her charming and rippling eyes.

Brother Heng looked really haggard.

Mother Jia looked at Jia Heng and said, "Brother Heng has lost some weight. I heard that there was a heavy rain in Henan. Brother Heng ate and slept on the river embankment in order to save the emergency. This is not good for eating or sleeping. Alright, I guess my bones have been tossed hard, so I'll take good care of it when I get home."

Aunt Xue said with a smile: "Brother Heng is younger, young people have a strong physique, just take care of them."

"What my aunt said is that it will be fine after a few days." Jia Heng said softly.

Jia Mu nodded and said, "These days you will be born and raised at home, and that's what I mean when I look at the palace. It's always a relief."

Jia Heng said: "The palace gave me a few days off, but if there is something wrong in the yamen, I still need to go to the yamen to ask questions."

Mrs. Zhou said with a smile: "Old lady, Brother Heng is a very busy man, this court cannot be separated from him even for a moment."

Several people were talking, Shi Ding sat for a while, took his wife Zhou Shi, and left.

When Jia Heng came back to see Shi Ding off, Mother Jia asked curiously, "Brother Heng, just now I heard from Aunt Ni that your uncle wants to be released to Henan?"

Jia Heng was stunned for a moment, and said, "There is such a thing."

"Then... what do you think?" Mother Jia's old eyes showed curiosity.

Jia Heng said: "The southern part of Henan is in chaos, so it needs a military hero to sit in charge."

As he said that, he didn't continue to extend down, but said softly: "Old lady, it's not easy to talk about these court affairs at home."

Mother Jia's heart moved, she nodded quickly and said, "It's not easy to talk about things in the court at home."

Jia Shi Wang Xue's four big families are connected with each other, so they seem to help each other.

Mrs. Wang frowned, and couldn't help but tighten her hand holding the Buddhist beads, and she really asked the second master of the historian to go to Henan to be a feudal official.

It stands to reason that he can't write two Jia characters in one stroke, so why doesn't he think about the good thing like sealing off the border?

Because no one knew about Mrs. Wang's "whimsical" thoughts, no one paid attention to Mrs. Wang's face.

Jia's mother asked again: "Brother Heng, when will you worship your ancestors for your promotion?"

Jia Heng thought for a while, then said: "The day after tomorrow, it seems to be an auspicious day, open the ancestral hall to worship the ancestors, by the way, prepare for these two days."

Jia Mu smiled and said: "Okay, don't forget to inform the people in each room later that you and Feng girl have a good discussion about kindness, and you have to prepare well."

Jia Heng glanced at Sister Feng, but saw that the smile of Hua Xinfang's beautiful young woman was as bright as yesterday, and she didn't want to look at it too much, so she said softly: "Then there will be Sister-in-law Feng."

Sister Feng smiled, looked at the straight-clothed young man with a calm demeanor, and said, "Brother Heng, there is also Yuanzi's account book for this period, I will bring it to you later, we will reconcile the account."

Jia Heng nodded, and then saw Mother Jia talking for a while in the afternoon, she was obviously tired, she needed a lunch break, and everyone didn't want to disturb each other, so they dispersed from Rongqing Hall.

Just as Jia Heng was about to return to Ningguo Mansion, he walked along the chaoshou verandah to the flower wall in Dongshan, his steps stopped, his face moved, he suddenly thought about it, and planned to sit in the Daiyu courtyard.

Well, it's been a while since I went to see Daiyu.

At this moment, in the courtyard where Daiyu lived, Daiyu left the Rongqing hall, and just sat behind a mahogany desk in front of the window, and took out a book from the bookshelf. Button-breasted printed trousers, pink-collared white-bottomed jacket, and a red pleated skirt. Perhaps because of her quietness, her posture is rather demure and dignified.

Zijuan poured a cup of tea from the teapot and said softly, "Girl, let's drink some tea."

Said, handed over the teacup.

Hearing this, Daiyu turned her beautiful and quiet face towards her. The warm sunlight in the afternoon passed through the window and fell on the girl's jade cheek. A faint shadow appeared, under the slender eyebrows that seemed to be slightly frowning, the starry eyes were shining, "Sister Zijuan, just let it go."

Zijuan put down the teacup and said, "Girl, I'll take a nap later, I didn't sleep well yesterday."

At this time, it was after midsummer, and the sky was long and people were sleepy.

"I'm reading for a while, and I'm taking a nap at this time, and I can't sleep at night." Daiyu said softly, lowering her eyes again, looking at the pages of the book in her hand. A little focused.

At this moment, the servant girl Xueyan walked around a screen made of bamboo and painted with patterns of hibiscus blooming, and the melodious voice of the oriole coming out of the valley was filled with joy: "Girl, Master Heng is here."

When Daiyu heard this, she was startled, her hand holding the book paused, Qiu Shui's starry eyes were like dew, and she was about to stand up to greet her.

I really didn't expect that he would come to find me. After he came back, shouldn't he be with his sister-in-law and the others?

Well, of course Daiyu doesn't know, the husband and wife have already been reunited.

At this time, Jia Heng stepped into the wing room, looked at the girl sitting behind the mahogany desk with exquisite eyebrows and eyes, and called out: "Sister Lin."

Dai Yu stared at the green-clothed youth opposite, and asked, "Why is Big Brother Heng here?"

Jia Heng didn't hide anything, just smiled, and said softly: "Walking over to the flower wall, I faintly felt that something was wrong, and suddenly remembered that something important had happened."

Daiyu: "..."

Fangxin was both happy and ashamed for a moment, her starry eyes seemed angry and annoyed.

Faintly felt that something was wrong, something important happened, this person...

Jia Heng said a few jokes on the plain, the kindness and naturalness in the tone overflowed, but it was imperceptibly seductive.

At this time, Zijuan handed over a cup of tea, with a slight smile on his face, and said, "Master, drink tea."

Jia Heng looked at the smiling girl and said, "Zicuckoo, long time no see."

Zijuan smiled, and said softly: "I haven't seen you for several months, uncle is back, my girl..."

Dai Yufang's heart skipped a beat, thinking that Zijuan was about to say something "shocking the world", she whispered: "Zijuan..."

When Zijuan reached the words on her lips, she immediately changed her words: "My girl was talking about a few days ago, when will Uncle Heng come back?"

Well, they are relatively common words, much more peaceful than thinking about it day and night, tossing and turning.

Jia Heng picked up the teacup, took a sip of tea, and said slowly: "If you return to Beijing after the pacification of the chaos, you may come back early, but there was a flood in the middle, and it rained at home, right?"

As he spoke, the young man's warm eyes turned to Daiyu, asking questions.

Daiyu gently stroked the strands of hair hanging from her ears, braided with red hair ropes, met Jia Heng's gaze, her starry eyes drooped slightly, and said softly: "It rained a few times at home, but it's really raining." It’s not that big, I heard from Third Sister and Sister Yun that during that time, there was a heavy rain on Big Brother Heng’s side?”

Tanchun and Xiangyun returned to Beijing one step earlier, and when they were talking with Daiyu, they told Daiyu what they had seen and heard in Luoyang and Kaifeng.

Jia Heng nodded and said: "It has been raining for a long time. For nearly a month, the water level of the Yellow River has risen sharply. Originally, the water on the course of the Yellow River was less than knee-high, but when the flood came, the water of the Yellow River poured down. , Roaring like a blue dragon, my sister should be able to figure it out."

Daiyu listened quietly, under her black eyebrows, her bright eyes seemed to hide stars and moon, shining brightly, as if she had outlined a scene in front of Jia Heng's eyes in a few words.

"Brother Heng lived on the embankment for more than half a month." Daiyu said softly.

Jia Heng pondered for a moment, then said: "You can't let your brothers suffer hardships, and enjoy the blessings in the rear, otherwise, people's hearts will be scattered."

"Brother Heng looks really haggard." Daiyu heard the young man on the other side say in a soft voice, and suddenly pursed her pink lips, slightly frowned her eyebrows, and fixed her gaze on the stern face of the young man on the other side.

Jia Heng said, "It's fine."

Daiyu nodded lightly, and said, "Brother Heng, it's better to pay attention to some bones."

Jia Heng stared at Daiyu, lowered the cardamom girl's gaze again, and said, "Sister is also, younger sister looks much better than before, with curved eyebrows and cheeks, and eyes full of radiance, looking at my sister like this, I'm relieved too."

Daiyu listened to the soft-spoken young man, and the extremely sincere words sounded in her ears. For a while, her mind was inexplicable, and there was a burst of warmth.

Is Brother Heng really caring for her so much just because of his father?

Seeing that Daiyu's eyes were lost, Zijuan smiled and said, "Thanks to Mr. Heng, our girl's body is much better than before after being recuperated."

Compared with the original book, Daiyu doesn't have to be troubled by love and sheds tears every day, but now she hides one thing on her mind, she is almost carefree, and she often has to eat to take care of her body.

Jia Heng smiled and said: "Sister Lin has been weak since she was a child, and she has been separated from her uncle, so it is inevitable that she will worry a lot. However, as long as she takes good care of her, she will be free from illness and disaster in the future."

Daiyu saw a trace of joy in her gentle brows and eyes, and said softly: "But I didn't let Big Brother Heng worry too much."

Jia Heng picked up the teacup, took a sip, and said softly: "It should be."

When Daiyu heard this, her heart trembled slightly, and she gently clenched the jade hand holding a corner of the handkerchief on her knee, wanting to ask, why is it the right thing to do?

But when it came to his mouth, he couldn't say it, and asked instead: "Brother Heng saw his father in Yangzhou?"

Jia Heng said: "I met my uncle. My uncle is doing well, but I miss my younger sister. After a while, I will take my younger sister to Yangzhou to see my uncle."

There has been no progress in Yangzhou's salt affairs, and he probably wants to go there. However, there is still a matter of preparing captives in Beijing, which still needs to be arranged in advance to prepare for a rainy day.

Daiyu's face changed slightly, her bright eyes fixed on the young man, and she asked in surprise, "Brother Heng is going to Yangzhou?"

Jia Heng sighed, and said: "This year, all the provinces in the north have been hit by disasters, and the imperial court needs to allocate money for all kinds of military and administrative expenses. Yangzhou Salt Affairs has been procrastinating for a long time, which is not an option."

During Chen Han's 15 years and one and a half years in Chongping, the northern provinces had almost no good harvests.

Then there was the establishment of the Beiping Economic and Strategic Appeasement Department. Li Zan supervised the frontiers, reorganized the military equipment, and spent a lot of money on the military.

In addition, in order to facilitate the reorganization of the army, the northern border town appeases the frontier generals who led the troops, and the Nan'an County King and others who went to rectify military affairs first stopped pursuing the frontier generals who had emptied their quotas in the past. The servants of the frontier generals and the young and strong in the fields of the guards were recruited.

The King of Nan'an County and Marquis Baoling later put forward the idea of ​​"learning from the Beijing camp and paying the real soldiers", and once again asked the imperial household department for payment to appease the generals of the frontier army. See the bottom.

It is equivalent to the huge frontier army after reorganization, the composition of the generals has not changed much, and the number of troops has not been reduced much. Of course, the advantage is that the number of troops on paper is a little more, and the border defense has been strengthened to a certain extent.

However, it is quite different from Jia Heng's big change of blood and large-scale disarmament.

Therefore, in the face of the frontier army begging for wages again, the Ministry of Households could not keep arrears with military expenses. Otherwise, when the Beijing camp army rebelled against the Central Plains, no matter how unstable the frontier army was, it would be double ghosts knocking on the door.

Another large expenditure is that after the collapse of the imperial mausoleum, the household department allocated some silver to build the imperial mausoleum.

And during this period of time, the salaries of officials of the Han Dynasty...

All kinds of things, the treasury bottomed out again.

As for fighting against the Ministry of Internal Affairs?

The Ministry of Internal Affairs also has no money.

The Chen-Han imperial family’s own expenses were provided by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. While they did not ask for money from the Ministry of Household Affairs, they also provided military expenses for the soldiers and horses of the Beijing camp.

It can be said that it is not a long-term solution for the big man to continue like this.

Daiyu's eyes sparkled, and she asked, "When will Big Brother Heng go?"

"I'm not sure about this. It depends on the movements of Nanbianer, but I think it will be during this period of time." Jia Heng said softly.

This time the squadron returned to Beijing, mainly to bring back the tens of thousands of troops who had fought abroad.

As Jia Heng said, he looked at the thoughtful cardamom girl on the opposite side, and said in a gentle voice, "When the time comes, take sister Lin to Yangzhou, and then go to my hometown in Gusu to pay homage to my aunt."

Daiyu paused for a moment, faint ripples appeared in the lake of her heart, her starry eyes flickered, she seemed a little yearning, she said softly: "I haven't been back to Yangzhou for many years, and I still have my hometown in Gusu."

Jia Heng said: "This time I took my younger sister to see it, but when I arrived in Yangzhou, my younger sister also did her best as a landlord to be a guide or something, and took me around."

Daiyu looked calm, and said softly: "I was still young at that time, and I had never been to other places."

Jia Heng looked at the girl whose eyebrows and eyes were like Xiaoxiang's water, and said softly: "It's okay, let's go and have a look around together then."

Daiyu let out a "hmm", her eyebrows were smoky, her eyes drooped slightly, and for some reason, she suddenly felt her heart beating a little faster.

The two were talking, when suddenly bursts of silver bell-like laughter came from outside the room, and the innocent voice came through the screen, asking, "Is Sister Lin in the room?"

While talking, I saw Xiangyun and Tanchun arm in arm, surrounded by maids such as Shi Shu and Cui Mo, they came to the wing.

Daiyu got up to meet her, and looked at Xiangyun and Tanchun with a faint smile while holding a handkerchief, and asked, "Sister Yun, third sister, why didn't you take a nap?"

Just as Xiang Yun was about to answer, he looked at Jia Heng who was at the side in surprise, and said in surprise, "Hey, Brother Heng is here too?"

Under Tanchun's beautiful eyebrows, a pair of bright eyes stared at the young man in green.

Jia Heng approached, reached out and rubbed Xiangyun's bangs, and said with a smile: "Come over from the old lady and have a few words with your sister Lin."

Seeing the smile on Xiangyun's red face, he said angrily, "Brother Heng likes Sister Lin, and he talks to Sister Lin as soon as he comes back, and he doesn't come to me either."

Brother Ai used to be the same way, always surrounding Sister Lin.

As soon as these words came out, Daiyu's cheeks flushed red, and her misty eyebrows frowned, her heart was filled with embarrassment for a while.

Secretly thought, Xiangyun is always so outspoken, why...why does he like her?

Seeing that Daiyu's expression was not right, Tanchun rounded up the situation, smiled and said: "Brother Heng stayed with us when he was in Luoyang and Kaifeng, and this time we haven't seen Sister Lin for a long time, so we must have the first time." Come here for a while to talk."

Jia Heng pinched Xiangyun's pink face, and felt that Xiangyun's apple skin was more plump and radiant than Baochai's pink face, and said with a light smile, "Sister Yun, I'm looking for you, Sister Lin, right?" For the sake of fun, I just told her about Uncle Lin, we went out to play a lot when we were in Luoyang, did Sister Yun forget?"

Xiang Yun nodded, pursed his teeth, and pursed his lips, as if his heart beat faster in his chest, and said: "Brother Heng, if you are free these two days, teach me how to ride a horse."

"Sister Yun already knows how to ride a horse?" Tanchun smiled and continued.

Xiangyun spoke a little faster, and said: "I can't ride fast, I want brother Heng to teach me, by the way, there is also archery on horseback, I didn't learn it that day with sister Xianning, brother Heng also taught me when he was free. Teach me."

Daiyu listened to Xiangyun talking with Jia Heng, her starry eyes flickered, and she sighed inwardly.

It's like this every time, and it's not enough to just talk to him.

Well, in fact, in most cases, Daiyu is among the crowd, and rarely has the experience of "just talking to me".

Finally, Jia Heng came over, and Xiang Yun also ran over to talk "coincidentally".

Jia Heng frowned, looked at the girl who looked like a mantis-shaped crane, and said: "Sister Yun, you are still young, and riding a fast horse is too dangerous after all. If you fall, it is not a joke. , have you made a note of it?"

"Brother Heng, I've made a note." Seeing Jia Heng's serious exhortation, Xiang Yun obediently responded.

She doesn't usually ride a fast horse, she just wants Brother Heng... No, she just wants to ride a horse with Brother Heng.

As Jia Heng said, he turned his eyes to Daiyu, whose starry eyes were filled with hopeful light, and said in a gentle voice: "Sister Lin is weak, so she shouldn't learn these things. I will teach my sister to do other things in my spare time."

Daiyu is definitely not suitable for riding a horse, but she can walk slowly, kick the shuttlecock and so on.

Daiyu nodded, and said in a low voice, "Brother Heng, I know."

(End of this chapter)