Chapter 355: Noisy and Surprising
As mentioned earlier, Xue Pan brought Jia Baoyu and Xue Baochai to the back house to meet Aunt Xue and his wife Wang.
After the greetings, other people arrived. Wang had been in peace in the back house for a long time. When she saw Baoyu, such a fair, tender and handsome young man, she couldn't help but become infatuated again.
She didn't care that her man was present, and she stared at Baoyu from head to toe, her legs unable to close.
Xue Pan immediately became angry and dragged Wang into the inner room without giving a second thought. Soon, they heard some loud smashing and the couple swearing at each other:
"You stinky bitch, it's my birthday today and you dare to scratch my face!"
"Bah! Anyway, your ugly face doesn't look like a human being, so why not tear it apart!"
"Slut, I'm going to let you know how powerful I am today!"
"Ouch! You are such a cruel thief! I...I will fight you today!"
Jia Baoyu and Xue Baochai were outside, looking at each other in bewilderment. They wanted to go in and try to persuade Aunt Xue, but she was so calm and collected that she kept asking them about their well-being, not seeming to care at all.
"Brother and sister-in-law..."
"Leave them alone."
Aunt Xue said angrily, "Those two are crazy. The more people try to persuade them, the more they won't calm down. Let them make a fuss on their own and wait until..."
Aunt Xue suddenly stopped talking halfway, stood up anxiously and urged: "Baoyu , your elder brother Xue can't get away for a while, why don't you go to the front and make arrangements for him first - hurry up, don't let people say that we don't know how to entertain guests!"
As he said this, he pushed and shoved Jia Baoyu out of the door.
Although Baoyu was wondering why his aunt was so anxious, as a cousin, it was his duty to entertain Xue Pan's friends, so he did not investigate further and went straight to the front hall.
Aunt Xue watched Baoyu go away. Just as she heaved a sigh of relief, she saw Baochai coming out of the room with a red face, waving her handkerchief and scolding, "Mother, why don't you do anything? What will happen if this gets out? I...I'll go back to my room first!"
When Aunt Xue saw her daughter like this, how could she not realize that the fight had already spread from the head of the bed to the foot of the bed?
While secretly cursing these two enemies, who were indeed the demons in his life, he hurriedly called the maid to go to Xue Pan's room to get some clean clothes.
Because she was afraid of being caught by someone else, she didn't dare to leave easily, so she just stood at the door, not listening, and got used to hearing all the gossip...
Not to mention how the couple fought fiercely in Aunt Xue’s room.
But when Jia Baoyu arrived in front, he was naturally smiling when he saw his brothers. He laughed and joked with Feng Ziying, snatched his stick of incense that looked like a hammer, and agreed with Liu Xianglian that each of them would have one. They were just waiting for Xue Pan to arrive, and then they lit firecrackers in a lively manner.
Seeing how excited they were, Sun Shaozong hurriedly reminded them, "When you light the firecrackers later, remember to lead the two baby elephants to the backyard first. Otherwise, if they get startled and run around, it's no joke."
Others just agreed casually, but Baoyu, as half the owner, did not dare to be negligent. He hurried outside to call the elephant driver and ordered him to take the two baby elephants to the backyard.
When he returned to the living room again, everyone was talking about the stage set up in the Prison Temple on May 15th to perform "Sun Gong'an". When he heard that Liu Xianglian was going to play himself in the play, Baoyu was extremely envious.
However, he also knew that he had no singing skills and he dared not make a fool of himself in front of others, so he begged Jiang Yuhan to spare some time in the future to help the Rongguo Mansion's opera troupe rehearse, so that he could then close the door and satisfy his craving by himself.
Jiang Yuhan had always been on good terms with Baoyu, so how could she refuse his honor? Without waiting for him to say a few words, she hurriedly agreed.
Everyone was laughing and joking here when Xue Pan finally rushed over from the backyard. He bowed as soon as he entered the room, still apologizing, then sat down on the main seat at the top, anxiously holding the teapot and pouring tea into his mouth.
After drinking half a pot, he finally let out a breath of turbid air and said carelessly: "Damn it, I almost died of thirst after rushing all the way here!"
Liu Xianglian laughed and scolded, " What ? Why did you keep us waiting for so long, and you look so embarrassed?"
Xue Pan did not hide anything. He first told her about the fight between himself and Wang, and then pointed at the scratches on his face that had not yet healed, and said proudly: "That woman scratched and scratched me at first, but after I prodded her without caring, she kept calling me 'dear man' and 'good brother'. She was reluctant to leave me when I left!"
Except for Baoyu, who was hearing this for the first time, everyone knew about the couple's quirks, so they all laughed together. Feng Ziying even said mischievously, "So it's not that you were delayed for a long time, but that you came too quickly."
Everyone burst into laughter again. Xue Pan scolded Feng Ziying in a threatening manner and then started laughing himself.
Liu Xianglian usually loved lively occasions. Seeing that the birthday boy had arrived, he urged people to light the firecrackers with 200,000 bangs. After hearing the noise, everyone would stop thinking about it.
Baoyu, Xue Pan and Feng Ziying also joined in the fun, and the group of six left Xue's house again.
When they arrived at the gate, Xue Pan exclaimed, "Where are the two elephants I raised?"
Baoyu explained hurriedly, "My second brother was worried that the firecrackers would scare them, so I asked the elephant driver to lead them to the back first."
"oh."
Xue Pan was relieved, and proudly said: "I had them trained for more than half a month, and finally taught them a new skill. They will be indispensable for the banquet later."
Feng Ziying and Liu Xianglian both asked what this "new skill" was, but he just kept them in suspense.
When we arrived outside the mansion, we saw a dozen servants sweating profusely as they worked to spread out the firecrackers under the scorching sun.
When Xue Pan saw them, he shouted in dissatisfaction, "Damn it! It's fine on normal days, but today is my birthday, how dare you dawdle here? Do you really think there are no family rules in our house?"
As he said this, he blew his beard and glared, and wanted to call for the "house rules", which frightened the servants so much that they fell to their knees.
"It's a great day, and you don't even bother to be quiet."
Sun Shaozong helplessly reached out his hand to hold him down, and advised: "Although the firecrackers on Lao Feng's cart are not tangled into a knot, it is so long, how can it be easy to spread them out completely?"
Hearing that it was his second brother who had spoken, Xue Pan suppressed his temper and just stared at the workers on the steps with eyes as big as bells.
Seeing this, the servants below hurriedly got up and tried their best to speed up the process.
But even so, it still took another half a quarter of an hour to fully unfold the firecrackers along the south wall - from east to west, it was more than 40 meters long!
Baoyu and Liu Xianglian lit the fuse on the top of the incense sticks, ran to the east and west ends holding them like torches, shouted to each other, and lit the fuse together.
Boom boom boom…
These 200,000 "thunder in a dry land " were much more powerful than the "Red Earth" in later generations. The rumbling sound continued, just like rumbling thunder on the ground.
only……
The rising smoke and dust was extremely powerful. At first, Sun Shaozong and others were still watching at the door, but gradually they could not stand any longer and had to retreat back to the yard.
Seeing the smoke rising up and covering most of Zijin Street, even Feng Ziying, the instigator, couldn't help but smack his lips in amazement - fortunately, before setting off firecrackers these days, one must notify the nearby patrol officers in advance, otherwise it would definitely be misunderstood as a fire.
When the firecrackers finally stopped, everyone's ears were buzzing. They were rubbing their ears and grimacing as they walked into the living room when they suddenly saw two old women running over like the wind, and they started shouting something from a distance.
The crowd couldn't hear clearly, and only when they got closer and listened carefully did they finally understand what they were shouting: "It's terrible, the two elephants in the backyard are running around like crazy, and even the mahout broke his arm!"
"Now my wife, grandmother and daughter are all trapped in the house, for fear that they might break in!"
When everyone heard this, they were all shocked.
Xue Pan stamped his feet anxiously and said, "Damn it! How could they be startled by the firecrackers even though they were so far away? Could it be that the two elephants have developed the ability to see and hear from afar?!"
Feng Ziying was embarrassed and was about to take the responsibility, but she heard the old woman shaking her head and saying, "It wasn't the firecrackers that scared it. It was the pug that Madam raised that went up to it and barked a few times. Who would have thought that such a big creature would be frightened by a few barks?"
