Chapter 81: Longing for return with deep affection (Please collect, please follow!)

Shi Shu entered Yingchun's room and saw Yingchun sitting facing the morning light. The harmonious sunlight shone on her graceful and exquisite body, reflecting a layer of soft and quiet beauty.

She was sewing a shoe upper, and judging by the style and size, it was a pair of men's boots.

Shi Shu stepped forward and stared at the needlework in Yingchun's hands: "Young Lady, are you making shoes for Cong Sanye Cong again?"

Yingchun looked up and saw Shi Shu, smiling slightly: "Indeed. Brother Cong has been growing fast these past two years, and he goes through shoes quickly."

Although Jia Cong had been studying outside for the past two years, he was well-served by Wu'er and Qingwen, and he had started a perfume business with Qu Hongxiu, so he was never short of silver.

His life was well-fed and clothed, no longer as dire as before, and having lived well, he had hit a growth spurt.

Every time he returned to the mansion, Yingchun saw that he had grown taller, and the shoes on his feet would look small after half a year.

Yingchun had a gentle and soft temperament. Although she wasn't abused like Jia Cong, her biological father and legal mother had always ignored her. The old lady raised her by her side, also just to have someone around for liveliness.

Because Yingchun's biological father and legal mother were not liked by Jia Mu, she didn't value Yingchun as much as she did Seeing Tan Chun.

Although Yingchun had the company of her sisters in the garden, her heart was not without a sense of emptiness.

Yingchun said happily, "That's wonderful. I haven't seen Brother Cong for several months. Last time, word came that he was going to take the Prefectural Examination; I don't know how he did."

Later, when the Princess of Nan'an came to Jia Mu's eightieth birthday, she wanted to see the young ladies of the Jia family.

Shi Shu saw that her young lady's eyes were smiling and her mood seemed quite good; it must be because Cong Sanye Cong was returning today.

Jia Mu called out Baochai and her sister, Daiyu, Xiangyun, Seeing Tan Chun, and others to meet the guests, but she didn't call Yingchun, which showed how much she was valued.

In these few years, Seeing Tan Chun had grown even more heroic, charming, and pretty, with sloping shoulders and a slender waist, her body like a willow in the wind. Her young girl's figure was already graceful, and her crisp and slender bearing was beginning to show.

"Brother Cong is returning to the mansion today. I'll take out the pieces I've written that I'm proud of and let Brother Cong take a look."

Shi Shu said, "It was our young lady who sent me to say that yesterday the Master sent a servant to the academy, asking the Cong Sanye to return to celebrate the old lady's birthday. Cong Sanye Cong can return to the mansion today."

Since that time in the East Road Courtyard, her young lady had been on good terms with this cousin, even closer than with her own biological brother, Bao Er Ye.

Yingchun asked, "You don't serve your young lady early in the morning, why did you come? Is there something the matter?"

Only between her and her cousin Jia Cong was she most natural and generous, and they shared similar interests, so they had the most to say when together.

She always kept her younger brother Jia Cong in her heart, feeling somewhat sympathetic, and Jia Cong had been very close to her, his older sister, these past few years.

Every time Jia Cong returned to the mansion these past two years, he was always pulled by Seeing Tan Chun to give pointers on calligraphy. When he had free time, she would copy the calligraphy books Jia Cong made himself, amusing herself, and she could actually copy them to seven or eight parts of the original spirit.

……

"It's in the painting box on the third shelf of the bookcase. Why is the young lady looking for these writings at this time?"

……

She was not like Yingchun's gentleness and silence, nor was she like Daiyu's spiritual clarity and introversion.

"Shi Shu, where did I put that 'Hardships of the Road' I wrote last month?"

Every time Jia Cong returned, she would always take out her recent proud works, waiting for him to critique them.

Every time he rarely returned to the mansion, he would come to her room to keep her company and talk. The shoes and socks he wore were also made stitch by stitch by Yingchun. She couldn't help her brother with anything else, so she could only do these small things.

Shi Shu came out of Yingchun's room and had just returned to Seeing Tan Chun's room when she saw her young lady organizing the rice paper on the desk.

In Daiyu's room, Hearing Zi Juan saw her young lady taking out the letter that Cong Sanye Cong had someone bring a few days ago. Her young lady didn't know how many times she had read this letter.

Every time she read it, she would also flip through books on the shelf to look at it, and she couldn't help but feel curious.

She also saw Daiyu neatly copying that letter, and she put the original manuscript away in her vanity box.

At this time, Baoyu entered, wearing a purple gold crown inlaid with treasures, dressed in a moon-white sword-sleeved robe with silver patterns, tied with a silk flower-knotted long-tassel palace cord, still looking like that wealthy young master.

Seeing Daiyu flipping through books on the desk, he smiled and asked, "Younger sister is so diligent, what new book are you reading? Bring it here so I can take a look too."

Ever since that year when Baoyu smashed the jade and made Daiyu vomit blood, Daiyu hadn't spoken to Baoyu for a long time.

It tired the big-faced Bao to go to Daiyu's room to beg for forgiveness. After all, they were cousins who grew up together, and it was only after a long time that the two began to have words again.

In these two years, Lin Meimei had also grown up, becoming more beautiful day by day, with a fairy-like appearance and jade-like posture, incomparable. Jia Mu treasured her even more.

Although there were many outstanding sisters in the garden, in Baoyu's heart, all the essence and spirit of the world had gathered on Lin Meimei; there was no one more pleasing than her.

But in these two years, Baoyu clearly felt that Lin Meimei was different from before; she wasn't as close to him as she was when they were young, always appearing distant.

When he went to her room to talk, she was always busy reading, and the two couldn't chat for more than a few sentences before it was left there.

Only when she was with her sisters did Lin Meimei have more to say, returning to the old state of lively conversation.

This made Baoyu very depressed, but after that time he made Lin Meimei vomit blood, he never dared to lose his temper in front of her again.

He really had nowhere to vent his grievances and often felt melancholy alone.

However, later when Lady Wang found out, she didn't think it was a bad thing and even scolded Baoyu several times. Now that the sisters in the family were all grown up, they had to be more proper and couldn't be like they were when they were young.

The big-faced Bao went through his usual bout of melancholy, but helplessly could only be so.

……

Baoyu saw a sheet of rice paper on Daiyu's table filled with writing.

He curiously stepped forward and read: "The gentleman's learning values quality, and he must exhaust its Dao. For if the quality is not imposing, what is learned cannot be firm. Yet if the Dao is not exhausted, how can there be success?..."

It looked somewhat familiar, but he couldn't remember where it came from.

In these two years, he had gone to the Imperial Academy less than ten times in total. He had memorized the Great Learning once, but forgot half of it after a while.

Although Jia Zheng strictly disciplined him, it was like a broken gong that wouldn't ring; the results were minimal.

Baoyu saw Daiyu holding a copy of the "Analects Collected Commentaries" and reading it carefully, and his face stiffened.

What has happened to Lin Meimei now? Such a fairy-like figure should be reading poetry about hairpins and snow; why is she reading such filthy books of fame and merit?

He felt somewhat depressed in his heart, only feeling that the world was vast and his soulmate was far away. For a moment, he stood blankly to one side.

If only he could read with more focus, he wouldn't be such a straw bag; he would be able to see that what Daiyu wrote on the paper was an eight-legged essay on the Analects.

Two years passed, and Baoyu remained the same. Except for learning more about the delicate melancholy of young women, he understood nothing else.

Daiyu saw Baoyu standing beside her, looking like he was having another bout of hysteria, and felt a bit of trepidation in her heart.

"Baoyu, I'm tired and want to rest for a while. You go play with the other sisters for a while."

Seeing Baoyu leave in a daze, Daiyu breathed a sigh of relief, but she didn't go to rest, continuing to read the "Analects Collected Commentaries" in her hand.

Hearing Zi Juan, who was to one side, was a bit curious and asked, "Young Lady, you don't know how many times you've read this letter from Cong Sanye Cong, and you even copied it out. What exactly is written on it?"

Daiyu smiled slightly, "This letter from Third Brother Cong contains the eight-legged essay he wrote during the Prefectural Examination."

Hearing Zi Juan found it rare. The Cong Sanye was also strange; sending a letter to the young lady without writing anything else, just sending his own examination essays. The young lady wasn't bored and even read it with great interest.

Hearing Zi Juan smiled, "Young Lady is so learned; after reading the Cong Sanye's essay, is it good or bad? Can he gain merit this time?"

"I also read the Four Books when I was young. Although I am not as proficient as Third Brother Cong, I have read many of the current essays my father wrote. In these few days, I have read the 'Analects Collected Commentaries' carefully again."

"Comparing the two, Third Brother's essay is written very well. It is certain that he can gain the merit of a scholar!"

Hearing Zi Juan saw that her young lady's eyes were bright and shining when she spoke, and her expression was proud, as if she herself had passed the scholar examination.

Hearing Zi Juan had been observing carefully for these two years. That year when the young lady vomited blood, it wasn't just because Bao Er Ye angered her, but because Bao Er Ye's words touched the young lady's heart.

From that moment on, the young lady lost her heart. Perhaps it was even before that, but the young lady herself didn't know it.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 82 =====