Chapter 465

Rong Guo Mansion.

Baoyu Courtyard.

The Baoyu Courtyard is located on Xi Lu of Rong Guo Mansion, originally a very exquisite courtyard adjoining Jia Mu's upper residence.

Until last month, seven or eight maids kept watch at the courtyard gate day and night, and the courtyard was lush with flowers and trees.

The corridor displayed cages of various parrots and painted‑eyebrow birds; the maids, servants, and old women coming and going totaled no fewer than thirty, bustling like a miniature Rong Qing Tang.

At that time, whenever Lady Wang came, just standing at the courtyard gate she could hear the laughing and chattering of Xi Ren, She Yue and other maids inside, and her heart felt soothed.

But now the courtyard gate is desolate, not even a single old woman guarding it.

The two vermilion‑painted lintels, which originally bore a plaque reading "Jiang Yun Xuan," seem to have gathered a layer of dust from lack of cleaning, casting a dull glow in the noon sun.

Pushing the door open, the flower beds along the passage were already overgrown; a few wilted, yellow peonies leaned in the soil, and on close inspection the leaves were riddled with insect bites.

The cages of parrots and painted‑eyebrow birds in the corridor were all empty, leaving only a bare horizontal rod that rattled in the wind.

After Lady Wang caused a scene in Rong Qing Tang, she was helped by Jin Chuaner, Yin Chuaner, Cai Xia and others to Baoyu's courtyard, intending to see her bedridden beloved son and pour out her sorrows to him.

It is said that Baoyu received a severe beating last month; he has been lying in bed recuperating for a month, the wound on his buttocks has scabbed over but any movement still tears it painfully, and it has not fully healed.

At this moment, Baoyu lies on a wooden bed, covered with a thin quilt of bright red silk woven with golden python patterns, the quilt drawn up to his chest, revealing a half‑worn pine‑rose colored silk inner garment whose collar is open at two buttons, and a faint sheen of sweat remains in his collarbone hollow.

After a month of convalescence, his face, as round as a full moon, has not thinned; rather, it is a few points fuller than before the beating.

The previously angular jawline is now wrapped in a soft layer of flesh, his cheeks have become plumper, and his once dark complexion has brightened considerably, like a freshly steamed longevity peach brushed with a light rouge.

Only his lips lack some color, a pale pink, slightly pursed, bearing a faint languor of early recovery.

When Lady Wang arrived at the doorway, Baoyu's despondent gaze was fixed on the large four‑season auspicious screen beside the door; the screen remained the same, but the delightful maids like Xi Ren and She Yue who once laughed and played before it were gone.

"It's also her fault, Madam, for insisting on making a fuss and driving Xi Ren away; it ended up implicating me."

"All the maids in the courtyard have been driven out, not even anyone to chat with. This courtyard used to be bustling, now only a few coarse old women, like dead fish eyes, remain, desolate as a nunnery."

"If only I hadn't been obstructed back then, I wouldn't have been beaten thirty times and ended up in this condition!"

Baoyu inwardly mutters, feeling some resentment toward Lady Wang for always causing trouble!

As for blaming Jia Jing, he truly lacks the nerve!

"Now none of the sisters or maids at home can be approached; even if my health recovers, I can only seek companionship with Jing Qing, and the Intelligent Boy he mentioned, and the younger sisters of my uncle are also wonderful…"

Creak…

Just as Baoyu was counting which people he could still be close to, the room door slowly opened!

The sound of the door being pushed startled Baoyu; first he felt joy, then, seeing Lady Wang enter, his eyes dimmed, and in a tone tinged with mild boredom he whispered a greeting:

"Madam, why are you here at this hour?"

Usually Lady Wang visits him morning and evening; such a visit at high noon is extremely rare!

At this moment Lady Wang's eyes were slightly reddened, and looking at the bedridden, listless Baoyu she seemed to see her future support,

The grievances she had just endured in Rong Qing Tang surged to her heart, recalling all the hardships her family had faced; tears instantly welled up, she flung her arms wide, lunged to the bedside and wept heart‑rendingly:

"My son! How can mother and daughter's fates be so miserable!"

Jia Baoyu was startled by the sudden scene, his face bewildered as he asked:

"Madam, what's wrong now? Yesterday afternoon you came and everything was fine, wasn't it?"

As he asked, his eyes involuntarily drifted to Jin Chuaner, Yin Chuaner and the others standing behind Lady Wang.

Now all the maids in his courtyard have been ordered away by Jia Jing, so he can only indulge his eyes whenever Lady Wang or Jia Mu comes by to glance at the maids beside them.

Lady Wang, her face wet with tears, did not notice Baoyu's absent‑mindedness, and mournfully spoke to herself:

"My son, you don't know, there's a great incident in your uncle's family; he caused the bastard of the main branch to be ruined…"

"It was merely an attempt to regain his position; your uncle bribed the ministers of the Cabinet with several tens of thousands of taels of silver, but yesterday that short‑lived bastard of the main branch was ordered to be captured, and he was sentenced to Zhao Yu."

"Today the Son of Heaven even issued a decree to have him… to skin him alive…! That bastard of the main branch is a black‑hearted, poisonous, cold‑hearted scoundrel."

"He rules the mansion with impunity, beating whomever he wishes, punishing whomever he chooses, devising all sorts of ways to bully you and me, and now he even threatens your uncle's very life!"

"I originally wanted to demand an explanation from him, but your foolish, unfeeling father, and that unripe bastard third maid all turn their elbows outward, only caring to defend him."

"Also the matriarch, your elder sister, Yun maid, Lin maid, the mother‑in‑law who has a worm in her heart for the main branch, each one worships his foul feet; that damned Feng Jie even seems eager to lick his anus."

"And your aunts, whose own elder brother fell into trouble and they don't know how to support him; to help their own precious maid climb the ranks, they dare not offend that man, and they watch the Wang family's misfortunes with open eyes… refusing to lift a single finger."

"The people in this mansion are all no good…"

At this moment Lady Wang could no longer maintain the dignified demeanor of a matriarch of a great household; she blurted out all the vulgar, disgusting words directly,

spilling all her pent‑up bitterness in one breath, and nearly cursing everyone in Jia Mansion.

Here it must be mentioned,

why Lady Wang keeps stirring up trouble nonstop, her actions seeming increasingly thoughtless, placing herself opposite everyone!

Is it because she cannot see the situation clearly?

Clearly it is not!

Rather, since Jia Jing's rise, she has indeed lost too much; in a short span, the contrast before and after is too stark!

One should know that she was originally the housekeeper's wife of Jia Mansion, residing in Rong Xi Tang Zheng Yuan, holding great authority.

Outside, she had her elder brother Wang Ziteng supporting her, a daughter delivering happy news in the palace; inside, she had the phoenix‑egg Jia Baoyu by her side.

Without exaggeration, aside from Jia Mu, she is the most esteemed person in Jia Mansion!

Even among the four great families of Jia, Shi, Wang, and Xue, who would not grant her some face?

But since Jia Jing returned to the mansion last year, what then?

First, the housekeeper's authority was stripped, Baoyu's eye was struck, and the attached household of Zhou Rui's family was expelled!

Then the highly‑anticipated eldest daughter Yuan Chun was recalled, and Mrs. Xing, Feng Jie and others all climbed onto her head, repeatedly confronting her openly and covertly.

Moreover, Baoyu was beaten again recently, his jade shattered, his status as the legitimate son was revoked, and even the courtyard maids were sent away.

Not to mention she herself was punished to copy books, and was publicly rebuked by Jia Zheng multiple times, even slapped!

These matters, one after another, in less than a year's time, the situation directly fell from heaven to hell—who wouldn't go mad if it happened to them?

Perhaps to an outsider, these aren't big deals, but experiencing them firsthand is another feeling altogether!

So, Lady Wang is not unaware that Jia Jing is currently in the limelight, that she herself is no match, and should endure!

But saying it is easy, doing it is hard!

Just like now, letting her watch helplessly as her last reliance, Wang Ziteng, meets misfortune—or dies such a miserable death—while she says nothing, endures humiliation and bears the burden, can that be easily done?

Wang Ziteng is her elder brother; if he were just gone like that, what would she do? What about Baoyu's future?

Thus, she has no way to retreat, and inevitably she feels resentment that everyone in the Jia Mansion are wicked people, bullying her and Baoyu's mother!

At this moment, she and Jia Baoyu are speaking of these matters, which is to hope that Baoyu can muster some spirit, that she and Baoyu, united against a common enemy, together prop up a sky for themselves in the Jia Mansion!