Chapter 221 Birthday Gift
Ping'er's words obviously had a hidden meaning.
The secluded place in the villa naturally refers to the small courtyard where they had the tryst that day.
Yes~
It seems I have to revisit the old place today.
But if you want to enter the palace where the emperor comes to visit his mother, you have to find a suitable reason.
While he was thinking, someone suddenly pulled his sleeve. He looked down and saw Jia Lan asking seriously, "The ancestral courtyard is in front of us. Master, do you have anything to tell me? I can go in and tell you."
Seeing his serious look, Sun Shaozong couldn't help but laugh and patted him on the head: "There's nothing to explain. After you go in, just call your precious uncle out."
"I understand."
Jia Lan agreed obediently and then skipped into the yard.
Sun Shaozong waited outside the door for a long while, and then saw Jia Baoyu hurriedly coming out, with one foot in and one foot out, and asked anxiously: "Second brother, I heard that Brother Wei is going to take over your position as the judge of criminal law, is it true?"
Without waiting for Sun Shaozong's response, he stamped his feet and said, "What are you talking about? Since the two families don't get along, it's fine for them to just avoid each other. Why do they have to rush to get together and fight?!"
Although Jia Baoyu's friendship with Sun Shaozong has grown stronger recently, he has also known Wei Ruolan since childhood, so he doesn't want to see the two of them become enemies.
But if things were as simple as he thought, there wouldn't be so much hatred in the world!
Sun Shaozong didn't agree in his heart, but he smiled and said, "Why mention him? Here, this is a birthday gift from my family. You can pass it to Miss Lin for me later."
As he said this, he stuffed the gift box into Jia Baoyu's hand.
Jia Baoyu was a little overconfident at first, but he didn't expect that the box would be surprisingly heavy in his hands, almost causing him to sprain his waist. He hurriedly changed to holding it with both hands, wondering, "What's in it? Why is it so heavy?"
"A Duan inkstone from the previous dynasty, and dozens of gold beans engraved with the word 'Fu' - they were made in our house to be used for the full moon banquet. We also packed some for Miss Lin to give as a gift on her birthday."
Last year, when Lin Daiyu received the immortality tree made up of ninety-nine gold leaves, Jia Baoyu laughed at her behind her back, saying that Ruan Rong was a foreign woman after all and only knew how to give vulgar things as gifts.
But now that I understand Lin Daiyu's difficulties, I feel differently when I look at this "vulgar" gift.
All the relatives in this house are not as caring as a godsister who was met halfway!
Especially when Xue Baochai celebrated her fifteenth birthday a few days ago, there were opera performances and banquets in the mansion. The scene was many times more lively than that of Daiyu's birthday celebrations in recent years.
Jia Baoyu judged others by himself, and felt even more upset. His eyes turned red, but he couldn't free his hands to wipe them, so he lowered his head and said in a muffled voice: "I've let my second brother and sister Rong spend money again."
"It's not your turn to say that right now."
Seeing him like this, Sun Shaozong hesitated for a moment, and couldn't help but hinted, "It may not be your turn to speak in the future!"
Jia Baoyu looked up in surprise, opened his mouth and seemed to want to say something but stopped.
He suspected that Sun Shaozong had seen through the dirty deeds of the Nan and Xu families.
It can be said that Jia Baoyu's suspicion was not entirely wrong.
However, the reason why Sun Shaozong was convinced that he and Lin Daiyu would not have a good ending was mainly because of the physique and figure of the Jia family's daughter-in-law.
Let’s not talk about others for now. He had already peeled off Li Wan ’s delicate body and measured it with his own hands.
The gourd-shaped body that looks nice and slender is completely different from Lin Daiyu's slender figure that is as swaying in the wind as a willow.
But how could Sun Shaozong dare to say these words openly?
So he could only change the subject again and said, "Brother Bao, although our new troupe has famous teachers to teach, we still feel that something is missing, so we wanted to learn from your family, but we didn't know..."
This was naturally a temporary excuse. Those actors were now in the provincial palace, and their residence was not far from the small courtyard, which made it convenient for Sun Shaozong to act secretly.
After hearing this, Jia Baoyu finally came to his senses and said hurriedly, "Second brother, please wait outside. Once I have given you this gift, I will take you over to have a closer look."
Having said that, he hurried into the yard holding the gift box.
Originally, he wanted to temporarily give the gift to Zijuan who was warming by the fire in the corridor for safekeeping, but when he thought about how Daiyu looked depressed when Xue Baochai celebrated her birthday a few days ago, he simply lifted the curtain and brought the gift directly into the main room.
Facing everyone's curious gazes, he said with a grin, "It seems that Brother Sun is here to give a birthday gift. Look, this big box is so heavy, and I don't know what's inside. Sister Lin, open it quickly and let everyone have a look."
As he said this, he was about to put the box on the kang table next to Lady Jia.
Lin Daiyu hurried forward to stop him, stamping her feet and saying, "Sister Rong gave me a gift, why are you staring at it? Give it back to me now!"
Baoyu was afraid that she was weak and might drop something unexpectedly, so he reminded her, "Be careful, be careful. My second brother said there are a lot of gold beans in it. Don't let them spill!"
He had just said he didn't know what was inside, and now he was talking about golden beans. Plus, two people and four hands were holding the box tightly and pulling it, and everyone couldn't help laughing.
Shi Xiangyun was quick-witted and joked, "Just a few golden beans, are they worth fighting over like this?"
Just with this one sentence, Daiyu's face turned a little unhappy.
Jia Baoyu knew that Xue Baochai had just had a quarrel with Shi Xiangyun when she had her birthday a few days ago, and was afraid that something might happen again, so he said hurriedly, " The gold beans were only prepared for Sister Lin to give as a gift. The real gift is actually a piece of excellent Duan inkstone."
In fact, he didn't see the quality of the inkstone, but he thought that with Ruan Rong's current status in the Sun family, she would not be stingy when she spent money on it, so he started to brag about it for her.
Lin Daiyu was the most attentive person and immediately knew why he was so anxious.
Although she was extremely happy, she still pretended to be angry, snatched the gift away , and said angrily, "What are you talking about? What are you talking about? You have ruined the originality of the gift my sister gave me!"
Jia Baoyu kept apologizing, and the clouds for the day finally dispersed.
He then asked for leave from his grandmother and prepared to accompany Sun Shaozong to see the opera troupe.
"Grandfather, I have also written the answer to this riddle. I will send it to the palace later." He made a face at Jia Huan and said, "Third brother, you didn't guess the riddle correctly last time. You have to work harder this time."
Jia Huan raised his head, his face full of anger.
Feeling disappointed, Jia Baoyu left the yard in a huff and led Sun Shaozong straight to the villa where his mother was staying.
