Uncle Lai in the Red Chamber

Chapter 367 Undercurrent
That evening, Tanchun came to Aunt Zhao's house and saw Xiao Jixiang squatting on the ground. He had just peeled off Aunt Zhao's tender feet and soaked them in the copper basin on the ground.

"You go down first!"

He dismissed the maid and asked, "Auntie, do you know that Brother Lai was promoted again a few days ago?"

"Hmph!" Aunt Zhao snorted coldly: "You call the maid away, how can I soak my feet?"

Tanchun immediately came to the couch, squatted in front of the basin, helped Aunt Zhao wash her hands carefully, and then carefully wrapped her in a towel to dry her.

Holding the crescent moon like a tender rhombus, she thought to herself, no wonder a person like Brother Lai is willing to work on a person like my aunt, who has no ideas. These tender feet, which are evenly fleshed and tender like a crescent moon, are even better than mine. Not to mention more concessions.

Thinking of this, An spat, and her hands wrapped in towels involuntarily reached towards Guo Lu's white and greasy legs.

While feeling the dough-like softness of her calf, she said, "Auntie hasn't told me yet!"

Aunt Zhao's calf was so pinched that the bones and muscles were numb. She retracted her two pairs of long, evenly fleshed legs, sat down cross-legged, and breathed heavily: "What...what's the matter?"

Tanchun had no choice but to stand up and ask again.

"He hasn't been here for a month, and I can't leave the house. How can I know about these outside things?"

"Brother Lai has a lot of work to do every day, and it's common for him to miss it when he's busy. If he doesn't come, why don't you let Huan'er invite him?"

"Bah! This girl is up to no good. Tell me! What are you doing in such a hurry?"

"What happened to the thing I asked you to ask last time? The old lady was troubled by Sister Bao on her birthday, and she didn't have the chance to ask Brother Lai for advice. Now that he has been promoted again, the matter has not been finalized. I'm afraid of long nights and many dreams!"

"The uncle said he would consider it, but how could I dare to push him!" Aunt Zhao complained, and then asked doubtfully: "What trouble did Bao Yatou make with you? Doesn't she also have that idea?"

She may be slow to react to other things, but she is very familiar with jealousy.

"Isn't it possible?" Tan Chun bit his lower lip and said, "Didn't the wife and concubine intend to bring her and her second brother together? I'm afraid the wife called me housekeeper because she was afraid that I would steal her limelight, right?"

Aunt Zhao said disdainfully: "Your mother and I have been fighting with people for half my life. How can you still compare to me for this kind of thing? You are a girl who will get married sooner or later. Why should she be angry with you if she has nothing to do? If you want to fight, you are also with me. Grandma and Feng Lazi are competing for the top spot!"

In the past, if Aunt Zhao regarded herself as her own mother, Tan Chun Shao would have to retort, but this time she pretended not to hear it.

He said hurriedly: "Auntie, please hurry up and ask Brother Lai to come over and ask, so that the matter can be implemented as soon as possible!"

Aunt Zhao said with lingering fear: "Although the Dahua Hall is not considered a wilderness, it only provides shelter from the wind but not warmth. It's not like Uncle Lai can stop being frozen in this icy and snowy environment. Last year he almost didn't freeze to death." I have half a life, and you just think about your own affairs and don’t care whether I live or die!”

"This..." Tanchun thought of the severe cold outside the house and took off his clothes... Thinking of this, he couldn't help but shudder.

"Auntie, drink two more bowls of ginger soup before you go, and I will hire a doctor for you..."

"Bah! Why did I give birth to such a heartless thing like you!" Aunt Zhao spat: "It's just jealousy! I dare not say anything else, but I can give you detailed information about this. You can talk about her first. What have you been busy with lately?"

"There's nothing else. He just goes against me and interferes with my efforts to increase revenue and reduce expenditure. He also goes around trying to win over those maids and women."

Having said this, he paused and said doubtfully: "If she has that intention, why would she need to win over the servants in the mansion?"

"What do you know? She is already in charge of all the entrances. She can't hide when Uncle Lai comes or leaves. Now she has won over the ladies and maids everywhere. As long as Uncle Lai enters the house, she will be afraid of where he goes. Know better than anyone else.

The man is chasing the girl, and the girl is chasing the man. She just needs to pretend to meet him by chance, and show off her charm in front of the uncle, and the uncle will..."

Obviously he didn't want to say that Lai Shangrong was lustful, so he changed his words and said: "Uncle Lai is not on guard, so there is no guarantee that he will not fall into her trap."

"Then what are you waiting for, aunt? Tell Brother Lai quickly and ask him to be more careful!"

"You girl, you are usually very clever. Why did you become so confused when this happened?"

"how do I say this?"

Aunt Zhao looked Tanchun up and down and said: "Now you are just competing secretly, but once you tell the uncle, you will be sure that you will be better than Bao Yatou?" When Aunt Zhao said this, Tanchun suddenly fell into deep thought.

In terms of appearance, Baochai does have a slight advantage, but it is also very limited. Generally speaking, fat and thin have their own merits.

As a young lady from the Rongguo Mansion, the Xue family did not even have an official status, so she still had an advantage over Jianxi's wife.

But as Aunt Zhao said, once she warned Lai Shangrong to be careful, it would reveal Xue Baochai's thoughts, which might not lead to complications.

It would be better to hide this matter.

She was already very astute, but she had no experience in this area. After Aunt Zhao gave some advice, she immediately understood: "After all, paper can't keep fire. She takes advantage of being in charge of the door. It's impossible to guard against it. You have to think of something." The way is to relieve her of her errand!"

After a pause, he added: "If you can get this errand into my hands, it will be safe!"

…………

At the same time, a woman from Hengwuyuan came to Xiaoxiang Pavilion holding an umbrella.

He handed over a pack of high-quality bird's nests and a pack of snowflake marshmallows and said, "Miss, I told you to ask someone to deliver them after you finish eating."

"Oh!~" Xue Baoqin laughed and said: "My cousin is too careless. I don't think I bought this snowflake marshmallow from Brother Lai's house, right? How can Sister Lin be so embarrassed to accept it!"

"Uncle Lai hasn't been here for a while. I heard he was promoted. Miss was afraid that he would be busy and not take care of it for a while, so she asked me to bring a bag."

"How do you know this?" Xue Baoqin asked in surprise.

"Hey! Look what Miss Qin said, we are all here to watch the door at night. Is it unclear whether Uncle Lai is here?"

"Go back and tell Sister Bao not to bother. Brother Lai sent someone to deliver it. I won't be able to finish it until next year."

Lin Daiyu glared at Xue Baoqin and said, "Why don't you go out and drink a cup of hot tea to warm yourself up before going back!"

The mother-in-law smiled and said: "I don't want to have tea, I have something else to do!"

Lin Daiyu said with a smile: "I know you are busy. Now that the weather is cold and the nights are long, it is even more time to have a night game and enjoy two bets."

"To tell you the truth, girl, I have gained a lot of glory this year. Anyway, I work every night everywhere. It's not a good idea to miss it. It's better to have a night game. Today, I am in charge again. It's time to go on stage after closing the garden gate. .”

"It's hard for you. I've missed you from getting rich. Even if it's snowing, I'll bring it to you."

Then he said to Xue Yan: "Take a few hundred dollars to buy some wine for grandma to eat to drive away the cold."

The mother-in-law hurriedly kowtowed and said, "I'm wasting my time to give you wine and food!"

Lin Daiyu asked casually: "What has Sister Bao been busy with recently? It seems she hasn't been here for a while."

"I'm not busy at all. Thanks to the lady, she thought about us and asked the gardeners to give a few coins to those of us who were not sent on errands. Now everyone is grateful to her and considers us servants, she explained Do your work carefully and don’t go to various places every day to go through the motions.”

Ever since Mrs. Wang revealed to Aunt Xue that she intended to match up Lai Shangrong and Xue Baochai, Aunt Xue had been panicking. She quickly found Xue Baochai and told her everything in detail.

Xue Baochai also agreed with her mother's guess. Although she was unwilling to do so, she did not dare to blatantly do it again.

Therefore, although I did not neglect my relationship with Lin Daiyu, I stopped visiting her door to give gifts this month.

Looking at her mother-in-law's retreating back, Lin Daiyu turned around and smiled at Xue Baoqin: "You little girl, why are you trying to cause trouble for your cousin?"

"No way! My cousin is not careful enough in what she does. It's better if I say it than what others say!"

…………

(End of this chapter)