Chapter 156: Gradually Decrepit and Behind the Times
Chapter 156: Gradually Decrepit and Behind the Times
Chapter 156: Gradually Decrepit and Behind the Times
Watching the figures of Sun Shaozong and Xue Pan, they disappeared into the darkness outside the door.
Jia Baoyu sighed quietly and felt that his experience of more than ten years was far less than the breathtaking absurdity and twists and turns in recent days.
After sighing, he turned to look at Xi Ren and Qing Wen. He saw two gorgeous women, who were as haggard as frosted eggplants.
"Master"
When Xi Ren saw him looking over, she hurriedly kneeled with her head down to the ground and sobbed, but she didn't know what to say. She just whimpered.
Qing Wen has an impatient temperament. She shouted, "Second Master, I don't have much contact with my Uncle and Brother. Although they use your name for their actions, I never ordered them. Why do I…"
Xi Ren hurriedly tugged at her and said in a low voice, "Don't say anything. Be careful, he is crazy."
Qing Wen then closed her mouth reluctantly.
Jia Baoyu looked at them again for a while, and all kinds of things from the past came to his mind. On the one hand, he was reluctant to give up on them, on the other hand, he was somewhat disappointed. He felt that it would be better to get rid of them as soon as possible, to avoid looking at them in the future.
Finally, he waved his hand and said, "Go back to your room and have a rest. My mind is a mess now. I really don't know how to treat you."
Qing Wen was still hesitating, but when Xi Ren heard that she could leave. She hurriedly picked Qing Wen up and walked to her house.
After walking a few steps, Xi Ren couldn't help turning back and whispering, "If you are unhappy, you can talk to Lady Lin."
Sister Lin…
Yes, of the hundreds of people in the mansion, she was the only one who, like herself, was the victim of being involved.
Jia Baoyu felt a little warmth in his heart. He wanted to talk to Daiyu immediately, but when he thought of what he would do tomorrow, he couldn't help sighing. He went back to his room and bolted the door.
Although he was anxious, he did not sleep for two days and a night after all, so he laid in bed for a while and fell asleep soundly.
Knock Knock Knock~
Vaguely, he heard someone knocking at the door, but Jia Baoyu couldn't get up. He shouted vaguely, "I’m sleeping, don't make any noise!"
The knocking at the door stopped.
It was quiet through the night.
When the rooster crowed three times and the dawn broke, Baoyu got up in disorder and stumbled to the door. He was about to open the latch when he suddenly found that a piece of letter, which was made of rice paper, was stuck in the crack of the door with a piece of jewelry, with a pattern of two diagonally overlapping squares.
Baoyu opened it suspiciously and found it was a piece of Li Bai's "Difficult Travel." Looking at the beautiful script, it was clearly written by Lin Daiyu.
So she came again last night!
He repeatedly read the last sentence, ”Sometimes when the wind breaks through the waves, the cloud sail will help the sea.”
Jia Baoyu's eyes were red, and he almost burst into tears. He quickly wiped it with his sleeve, put the piece of jewelry, with a pattern of two diagonally overlapping squares close to him, and then opened the latch and shouted, "Come on, tell the front to get the carriage ready. I want to go outside to relax!"
With only this voice, it seemed like a pot was boiling outside, and all the servant girls and nannies came up to serve him.
Not long after, even his mother arrived and advised her son to rest for a few days, so that nothing could happen again.
However, Jia Baoyu insisted on going out to relax, and his mother could not stop him. She was scared that he would go on a hunger strike again if she prevented him.
Jia Baoyu broke out of the gate of the Rongguo Mansion and saw Lai Da standing in front of the carriage!
"Second Master Bao."
Seeing Baoyu going out, he bowed and said, "The Old Lady is afraid that you might have an accident outside, so she asked me to follow you."
Oh great!
Jia Baoyu was at a loss for a moment. He wanted to change people, but when he saw Lai Da staring at him with a smile on his face, he was short of breath and did not know what to do or where to start.
"Second Master, get on the carriage."
Lai Da laughed and raised his chin, and immediately a boy raised the curtain.
Looking at Puppet Baoyu, he got into the carriage obediently. Lai Da was more proud.
It's a secret that the Master in the mansion were inferior to each other. If Jia Baoyu became the Master in the future, the Rongguo Mansion would become an arena for Master Lai.
Thinking like this, Lai Da asked respectfully, "Second Master, where do you want to spend your time, do you want to go to Master Xue's Mansion?"
"Go... Go outside the city... Take a look at the village outside the city."
Jia Baoyu hesitated. Seeing the coachman, who was going to shake off his horsewhip, he hurriedly added, "I’m tired of seeing everything in our family. This time, we should go to the East Mansion."
After saying that, he took a peek at Lai Da. Seeing that he didn't mean to be vigilant, he relaxed.
It was a quiet journey.
Two carriages had left the main cities one after another, and they had reached the Rongguo East Mansion. A boy had already rushed to inform them, so more than a dozen slaves grandly welcomed them.
Baoyu saw that none of them was old, so he asked, "I heard that Jiao Da of the East Mansion is here. Why didn't I see him?"
It turned out that the loyal servant he told Sun Shaozong yesterday was Jiao Da from the Rongguo East Mansion!
Speaking of the people who could spare their lives for the Jia family, he could only keep in mind that this was the most important thing. Although he also vaguely felt that it was not reliable to expect an old man, he really could not recall others.
When all the servants heard him mention Jiao Da, they quickly separated two people and found the old man with white hair and trembling hands and feet in the field.
"Where are the children of the West Mansion?"
The old man tried to lift his eyelids and looked at Baoyu for a while, then his eyes fell on Baoyu. He grinned his jagged gums and said vaguely, "Isn’t this the Old Master Zheng Young Master? It's rare that you even know how to visit me."
After more than a year's absence, Jiao Da seemed to have aged ten years again!
Jia Baoyu's heart suddenly turned cold when he saw his old age. Yesterday, Sun Shaozong said that he had no power to bind a chicken. The old man in front of him might not be as good as himself!
If he were a mature person, he would not take risks at this time but choose to take the long view.
But Jia Baoyu has always been reckless, and he felt that since he arrived here, he had no choice but to shoot at the target!
So he gritted his teeth and said according to the original plan, "A few days ago, when I heard about your old experience, I wanted to come and see. Can you tell me more about the war with the Old Grand Master?"
That eventful period was what Jiao Da was most willing to mention, so he immediately smiled and said, "That's great! Come here, Young Master, come inside with me. I'll tell you from beginning to end!"
Seeing this old man and young man enter the mansion, Lai Da hesitated but did not follow them after all. Instead, he called for two young servants to follow them far away. Don't let Jia Baoyu cause any trouble.
Jia Baoyu was dragged away by Jiao Da. He felt that his strength was getting heavier and heavier, and Jiao Da's feet were also getting more and more staggered, so he quickly reached out to hold Jiao Da.
"This body of mine is becoming more and more useless."
Jiao Da laughed at himself and looked back at the two servants who followed them. Suddenly, he lowered his voice and asked, "Is there something you want to do?"
Jia Baoyu was terrified at first. He was thinking how could this dying old man help himself to get rid of Lai Da? When his thoughts were far, he suddenly heard Jiao Da's inquiry and blurted out his thoughts, "I want to kill Lai Da!"
With that, he immediately regretted it again. Sun Shaozong clearly told him not to make things too clear.
"Hehe."
Just listening to Jia Baoyu’s remark, a little clarity flashed in his muddy eyes, and then he lowered his voice and said, "Please wait for 15 minutes, and then ask Lai Da to leave. Then you can see how we kill him for you!"
Jia Baoyu regretted it from then on. Suddenly, Jiao Da said that calmly. It seemed that Lai Da was just a piece of paper. He was even more regretful, lest the old man be confused and prone to mistakes.
But he was not easy to question, so he just said, "Elder, why don't you even ask the reason?"
Jiao Da tried hard to straighten his chest and said, "When we followed the Grandmaster, we never asked who to kill, and why!"
He then hunched back again and muttered, "Besides, I'm not deaf yet. The matter of you checking the accounts in the mansion and having caused chaos in people's lives has gone to my ears."
While talking, they had already arrived at Jiao Da's residence, but the cramped house was dark and full of rotten old people's style. Baoyu, who had always liked it clean, immediately shrank.
"Go ahead."
Jiao Da broke away from Jia Baoyu's support and said at the top of his voice, "Since you think my room is dirty, then you don’t have to listen to the story!"
As he spoke, he scratched a few withered white hairs and walked slowly into the room.
Looking at his slow movements. It seemed that time had frozen. Jia Baoyu's uneasiness and regret have become more and more intense.
"Second Master!"
When the two servants heard the cry, they hurriedly came up and comforted, "Don't pay attention to the ungrateful old man! If you want to know about the experience of the Old Grand Master and him, you can go to the teahouse to listen, and it's all there!"
Jia Baoyu stared at the dark room. He took a deep breath and said dispiritedly, "Come on, go to the fields with me, and then we'll go back to the mansion."