Chapter 156: Old and Fading
I watched Sun Shaozong and Xue Pan disappear into the darkness outside the door.
Jia Baoyu sighed quietly, feeling that his muddled experiences over the past decade were far inferior to the thrills, absurdities and twists and turns of the past few days.
After sighing, he turned to look at Xiren and Qingwen, and saw that the two women who usually looked so gorgeous were now as haggard as eggplants hit by frost.
"Master~"
When Xiren saw him looking at her, she quickly bowed her head to the ground and called out with sobs, but she really didn't know what to say, and could only sob.
Qingwen, however, had a bad temper. She stiffened her neck and shouted, "Second Master, my uncle and I don't have much contact on a daily basis. Although he is using your name, it is definitely not my order. Why..."
Xiren hurriedly pulled her and whispered, "Stop talking, or you might make him crazy."
Only then did Qingwen reluctantly shut her mouth.
Jia Baoyu looked at the two of them for a long while, and all the past memories came to his mind. On the one hand, he was reluctant to leave them, but on the other hand, he was a little bored. He thought it would be better to break up as soon as possible to avoid getting tired of each other in the future.
Finally, he waved his sleeves dejectedly and ordered, "You can go back to your rooms and rest. I'm... I'm so confused now. I really don't know how to treat you."
Qingwen was still hesitating, but Xiren sensed a wave of relaxation in her words and hurriedly pulled Xiren up and walked towards their residence.
After walking a few steps, Xiren couldn't help but turned back and whispered, "If you feel unhappy, go talk to Miss Lin."
Sister Lin...
Yes, among the hundreds of people in this mansion, she is probably the only one like herself, an innocent victim involved in this.
Jia Baoyu felt a little warmth in his heart, and wanted to go talk to Daiyu immediately. But when he thought about what he had to do tomorrow, he couldn't help but sigh, returned to the room in a daze, and bolted the door.
Although he was anxious, he had not slept for two days and one night after all. So he fell asleep in a daze in a short while after lying on the bed.
Knock knock knock~
In a daze, he vaguely heard someone knocking on the door, but Jia Baoyu really couldn't muster the interest to get up, so he shouted vaguely: "It's time to go to bed , don't make noise!"
The knocking on the door really stopped.
No words were spoken that night.
When the cocks crowed three times and the morning glow broke, Baoyu got up, put on his clothes hastily, and staggered to the door. Just as he was about to pick up the bolt, he suddenly found a square box made of rice paper stuffed in the crack of the door.
Baoyu opened the letter with doubt, and saw inside was a poem called "Hard to Travel" by Li Bai. Judging from the beautiful running script, it was clearly written by Lin Daiyu.
It turns out she came again last night!
I chewed over the last sentence again and again: There will always be a time to ride on the wind and waves, and set sail to cross the vast ocean.
Jia Baoyu's eyes were red, and he almost shed tears. He wiped them with his sleeve, carefully put the Fang Sheng close to his body, then unbolted the door and shouted , "Come on, tell the carriage to be ready. I want to go outside to relax!"
With just this shout, the outside was like a boiling pot, and all the maids and old women came up to serve.
Soon, even Mrs. Wang arrived and urged her son to rest for a few days and not to cause any more trouble.
But Jia Baoyu insisted on going out to relax. Mrs. Wang couldn't stop him, but she was also afraid that if she tried to stop him too harshly, the debt collector would try to commit suicide, so she had no choice but to let him go.
But Jia Baoyu struggled for his life and rushed out of the gate of Rongguo Mansion, only to see Lai Dazheng guarding in front of the carriage!
"Master Bao."
Seeing Baoyu leaving, he bowed and said, "The old lady was afraid that you might have an accident outside, so she asked me to stay by your side and take care of you."
It’s bitter!
Jia Baoyu was a little at a loss for a moment and wanted to ask to change people, but when he saw Lai Da staring at him with a smile, he became flustered and didn't know what to do. How could he make a fuss?
"Second Master, get in the car."
Lai laughed loudly and raised his chin, and immediately a servant lifted the curtain of the carriage.
Seeing Baoyu getting into the carriage obediently like a puppet, Lai Da felt more and more proud.
He secretly thought that the masters in this mansion were getting worse and worse. If Jia Baoyu became the master in the future, he would be the one who had the final say in Rongguo Mansion.
Thinking this in his heart, Lai Da remained silent on the surface and asked respectfully: "Second Master, I wonder where you want to go for fun, but do you want to go to Master Xue's house?"
"Let's go... go to the farm outside the city... and take a look around."
Jia Baoyu said it hesitantly, and when he saw the driver was about to whip the horse, he hurriedly added: "We are tired of seeing all the ones in our mansion, so let's go to the farm in the East Palace this time."
After saying that, he stole a glance at Lai Da, and seeing that he didn't seem to be very wary, he felt relieved.
No conversation along the way.
However, the two carriages left the city one after another. When they saw that they had captured the manor of Ningguo Mansion, a servant had already rushed over to inform them, and then more than a dozen slaves came out to greet them.
Baoyu saw that there was no old man among them, so he asked, "I heard that Jiao Da from the East Palace was here, why didn't I see him?"
It turned out that the loyal servant he talked about with Sun Shaozong yesterday was Jiao Da from Ningguo Mansion!
Speaking of someone who would risk his life for the Jia family, the only person he could think of was Jiao Da - although he also felt that it was not reliable to rely on an old man, he really couldn't think of anyone else.
When the farmhands heard him mention Jiao Da, they quickly sent two people out to find an old man with white hair and beard and trembling hands and feet from the fields.
"Where is the brother from Xifu?"
The old man tried hard to lift his eyelids and looked longingly for a long while, and finally his eyes fell on Baoyu. He grinned with uneven teeth and said vaguely: "Oh, isn't this the son of Master Zheng? It's rare that you still remember to come and see me, Jiao Da."
After not seeing him for more than a year, Jiao Da seems to have aged ten years!
When Jia Baoyu saw his frail appearance, his heart suddenly sank even more. Yesterday, Sun Shaozong said that he was not even strong enough to tie a chicken. This old man in front of him might be even weaker than himself!
If it were someone more mature and prudent, he would definitely not take rash risks at this time, but would choose to take a long-term view.
But Jia Baoyu has always been a rash person, and he feels that since he has come here, the arrow is on the string and he has to shoot it!
So he gritted his teeth and went ahead with his original plan: "A few days ago, I heard someone mention your experience, so I thought of coming over to take a look - can you tell me in detail about what happened when you followed the old man to fight in the war?"
That period of turbulent times was what Jiao Da liked to talk about the most, so when he heard this, he immediately smiled and said, "That's great! Come on, come on, brother, follow me back to the room, and I'll tell you everything from beginning to end!"
Seeing the old man and the young boy enter the farmhouse, Lai Dalue hesitated for a moment and ultimately did not follow them. Instead, he called two servants and asked them to follow them from a distance so as not to let Jia Baoyu cause any trouble.
However, Jia Baoyu had not walked far with Jiao Da when he felt the force on his hands becoming heavier and heavier, and Jiao Da's steps became more and more unsteady, so he quickly reached out to support Jiao Da.
"The body of this balloon is becoming less and less useful."
Jiao Da laughed at himself, turned around to look at the two servants following behind him, and suddenly lowered his voice to ask: "Brother, are you looking for me? Is there something wrong?"
Jia Baoyu was originally in a state of panic. How could this dying old man help him get rid of Lai Da? He was in a state of panic when he heard Jiao Da's question and blurted out his thoughts: "I want to kill Lai Da! "
After saying that, he immediately regretted it.
Sun Shaozong had clearly told me not to explain things too thoroughly...
"hehe."
Then Jiao Da grinned, with a hint of understanding flashing in his cloudy eyes, and then he lowered his voice and said, "Then wait for a quarter of an hour, and then ask Lai Da to leave. Then I will kill him for you !"
Jia Baoyu was regretting deeply when he suddenly heard Jiao Da's nonchalant words, as if Lai Da was made of paper. He felt even more regretful and was afraid that the old man would make mistakes due to his confusion.
But he couldn't openly question it, so he just said awkwardly: "Old man, why don't you even ask the reason?"
Jiao Da tried to straighten his chest and said, "When we followed the master, we only asked who to kill, not why!"
Then he hunched his back again and muttered, "Besides, my ears are not deaf. My brother checked the accounts in the mansion and caused a death. I already had my ears full of water."
As they were talking, they had already arrived at Jiao Da's residence, but the cramped room was dark and emitting a faint smell of decay and old age. Baoyu, who always liked cleanliness, immediately shrank back.
"Go ahead."
Jiao Da suddenly broke away from Jia Baoyu's support and shouted, "Since you think my room is dirty, then don't listen to my story!"
As he spoke, he scratched off a few strands of his gray hair and walked slowly into the room.
Looking at his slow movements, it seemed as if time had stood still. The uneasiness and regret in Jia Baoyu's heart reached their peak.
"Second Master!"
When the two servants heard the shout, they hurried over and said comfortingly, "Don't pay attention to this ungrateful old man! If you really want to know what happened to the two old masters, go to the teahouse and listen to a few stories, and you'll know everything!"
Jia Baoyu stared at the dark room, let out a long sigh, and said dejectedly: "Come on, accompany me to the fields, and then we will set off to return home."
