Chapter 1 Yesterday's News
This article was inspired by reading "A Dream of the Red Chamber: Awakening from a Dream of Red Mansions: Swallowing Gold and Passing Away." It was a dream, and upon waking, I felt that life was absurd and playful, and wealth and honor were impermanent. This inspired me to write this piece, hence the title "A Dream in the Boudoir." This work is inspired by the absurd and tragic life of You Erjie, and every word and sentence is fictional. Any similarities are purely coincidental. Please do not take them personally.
After days of heavy rain, the road leading to the outskirts of the imperial city was a sludge of mud. Ruts clung to the ground, and the thick, yellow mud splattered onto the horseshoe-shaped wheels, making the already dilapidated and narrow carriage look even more shabby. You Yanbao struggled to cling to the painted wall, clutching the window sill to prevent herself from falling. She didn't know whether to curse the rotten road for her or blame her sister's divorce, forcing her to rush from one suburb to another so early in the morning. Blaming everything, tracing back to the source, You Yanbao felt that all the fault lay with her brother-in-law. If he hadn't been so incompetent and heartless, kicking her sister out, she wouldn't have had to go to that desolate place to clean up the mess.
Brother-in-law? Oh, help! An ugly, vulgar, and grotesque face appeared before her eyes. The stench of decay seemed to hit her face. You Yanbao's stomach churned, her throat tightened, and she couldn't help but let out a loud "vomit!" The old driver heard it from the front and mistakenly thought the road was difficult and the young lady was nauseated by the bumpy ride. He comforted her, "Just bear with it, girl. We'll be there soon!"
Sure enough, in less than half an incense stick of time, the swing of the carriage became much smaller. A slender hand lifted a corner of the curtain, and bamboos surrounded the high blue brick wall. It moved towards the distance and depth, and finally stopped in front of a gate that was hard to tell whether it was gorgeous or dilapidated. Above the main gate hung a large plaque with the words "Daiyuan" written in large letters.
Arriving, You Yanbao breathed a sigh of relief, adjusting her hair and dress. Unlike her sister, who was always keen on maintaining her noble and ladylike demeanor, she climbed out of the carriage without waiting for the old driver to help her. Normally, her sister would come out to greet her, but today, she looked up and saw a servant emerge from the door. He secretly hid the melon seeds in his hand and said to You Yanbao without any politeness, "Second Miss You, the Madam is here today. She told you to go directly to Sister You and not to meet her."
The "madam" he was referring to wasn't his sister, but his brother-in-law's mother, his sister's mother-in-law. You Yanbao felt a surge of anxiety: With this old witch around, her sister wouldn't be able to take anything valuable with her when she left today. And knowing she knew the way, he'd arranged for someone to meet her—wasn't that to prevent her from stealing anything? Ugh! He'd always been flaunting his love for his sister, and now his true colors were finally revealed! You Yanbao spat bitterly, but then immediately changed her mind and felt relieved. From now on, that temple-headed brother-in-law would never lay a finger on her again. She felt relieved and overjoyed, her pity for her sister easing considerably. She followed the servant inside. The Dai Garden was vast, filled with numerous unusual rock formations, rockeries, flowers, and plants. Every step revealed a new scene, every courtyard a new wonder. You Yanbao navigated the route with ease, skirting two large courtyards and passing several verandas until she finally reached the small courtyard in the northwest corner, near the back door.
"Wuwuwu, Xue Jia, you heartless bastard! Both my parents are short-lived! Are you worthy of me?! Wuwuwu..." Before even entering the courtyard, I could hear my sister's wailing. Her voice was shrill, her words venomous, as if she were accusing her in-laws of heartlessness while also trying to elicit her husband's pity by shouting at the top of her lungs. Unfortunately, human nature is hard to change, and the heartbreak of an abandoned woman is always ignored by her husband. As You Yanbao passed through the screen wall, she saw a man sitting on a stone bench in the courtyard. His short, thick neck supported a head that resembled a misshapen broad bean. On the stone table before him lay two plates of meat, a plate of salted edamame, and a green wine cup. The man devoured a large roast duck leg with relish. A stranger in the scene would have suspected he was a giant toad spirit that had just transformed into a human form, imitating its own eating habits. Seeing You Yanbao coming in, her greasy mouth curled into a smile: "Oh, my aunt is here." Because they were not far away, the aroma of roast duck, the smell of alcohol, and the bad breath gushed out of that mouth and penetrated her nose, making You Yanbao's eyes full of stars and stepped back. Fortunately, she held on to the stone bench and did not fall. She held her breath, trying not to look at that ugly face, and asked: "Xue Jia, where is my sister?"
"Your sister? She's in there." Xue Jia narrowed his eyes, the light in his small eyes licked You Yanbao's face unscrupulously, and poured her a glass of wine, "It's been several days since the Double Ninth Festival, and it's late autumn. Did your aunt catch a cold when she came here? Drink some warm wine to warm yourself up. This is the fine wine your sister used to use to entertain guests!" Xue Jia forced the cup to his nostrils. The fragrance of roses covered all the bad smells. You Yanbao didn't think much about it. She pinched the cup that was not greasy, raised her head and took a sip. The spicy liquid suddenly The wine slid down her throat, and the sweet smell of alcohol rushed straight to her head. She spat out, "It's so spicy." She quickly took out her embroidered handkerchief and wiped her face of snot and tears. She looked carefully and saw that the note on the bottle clearly said "Huadiao Chengui Niang". She was so angry that she cursed, "You dirty-hearted bastard! You want me to drink the cooking wine that my parents use to stew meat? It's hard for my sister to serve you for so many years! Who are you disgusting with such a despicable method!" Then she threw the cup to the ground and ran into the larger ear room in the east.
Xue Jia held up the roast duck leg with only tendons left, looking innocent, and scratched his scalp with fingers as thick as a rice pestle: This is really the wine your sister used to entertain guests. I remember that when celebrities from the capital came to our place, they drank a whole glass!
It's strange to say, although this courtyard is small, it has everything it needs, including a main house and east and west wing rooms. However, my sister and brother-in-law do not live in the real main house, but live in a bedroom converted from an ear room.
The room was a mess, with four or five large camphorwood boxes scattered about the floor. Her elder sister, You Yanru, sat half-lying on the floor. Finally hearing the sobbing, she clutched a pinewood stool and sobbed. Looking up, she saw her younger sister's face crashing into her, and she was plunged into even greater anguish. There's a saying in their hometown of Lingnan: "A youthful foundation makes even the most beautiful look beautiful." Yanbao was only seventeen, in the prime of her youth. Her face, undeceived by men and marriage, was now rosy and delicate. But what about her? The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine states: "Salt enters the kidneys and moves the blood." Excessive salt damages the yang and kidneys. Over the years, from frequently indulging in the greasy, salty dishes of Xue Jia's family, her face had become like a steamed bun soaked in water, swollen, black, and bloodless. A life of self-suppression, servile obsequiousness before her husband and mother-in-law, had dulled the luster of her once-bright eyes, turning them from "pearls" into "dead fish eyes." She was like yesterday's flower, haggard and withered. Resentment, envy and hatred surged in her heart. She screamed, "Why do I have to suffer this?" and couldn't help but feel sad.
"You Yanru, you're sobbing!" Xue Jia yelled outside like a mad pig. "Pack up your junk now! Get the hell out of here today!"
Yanbao angrily helped her sister up from the ground and looked around. "Don't cry! You'll have more to cry about when you get home and see Mother! Sister, where are your things? Why haven't you packed them yet?" Seeing You Yanru pointing at the camphorwood boxes on the ground, she went forward to examine them one by one. She had assumed that while the Xue family's interior wasn't as glamorous as it appeared, Madam Xue was shrewd and capable, and they had some wealth. Her sister had painstakingly entered the Xue family, and despite her daily frugal lifestyle, she could have managed to scrape together some good things. The moment she opened the box, what she saw wasn't a pile of tattered scrolls or a box of exotic, cheap, and crudely made dresses. Instead, she found a single, framed scroll that looked like it might be worth something. You Yanbao opened it and saw a painting of a young girl. A few thick strokes of ink sketched the girl's round head and tall figure, unbuttoning her dress, her charming smile radiant—it was exactly her sister, You Yanru, from ten years ago. There was no seal on it, only the name "Ji Mingxiu" was signed lightly and hastily.
Coincidentally, Xue Jia seemed to have thought of something and suddenly rushed into the side room. Seeing Yan Bao standing in front of the box holding the painting, he instantly changed back to his original form like a giant toad vomiting into a fat pig, and shot towards Yan Bao, pretending to snatch it away: "Damn it! This is something I bought with my own money! My Xue family paid for this masterpiece! Don't you dare take it away!"
You Yanru, weeping from covering her face, leaped up with lightning speed upon hearing this: "Bullshit! This painting is of me! It's mine!" The couple, who used to clip their toenails together in the warmth of the red gauze tent, now parted ways, hurling insults and tusslings, like the mythical silver carp demon and the toad monster. Disgusted by Xue Jia's disgust, You Yanbao didn't intervene, retreating outside, clutching the painting. Outside, the weather cleared, the soft, warm autumn sun bathing the figures in the painting in a sweet, golden glow. In a trance, You Yanbao imagined her fifteen-year-old sister, barefoot, playing and frolicking by the stream. She glanced back, catching sight of Yanbao, grinning foolishly at her.
Yanbao looked at her smiling face and asked, "You Yanru, do you regret it?"
She did not answer, but just bent her eyebrows stupidly, then turned and left, hugging the arms of a middle-aged scholar, leaving only a mess on the ground.
Perhaps the story has to start from ten years ago.
[Random Thoughts]: As a child, my heart was broken for Daiyu. As an adult, I was heartbroken for Sister Feng and Second Sister You. If Second Sister You hadn't been so beautiful, if she'd known the East Palace wasn't a peaceful place, if Zhang Hua had been a good man, if Old Lady You had been more sober, if she'd married someone other than Jia Lian or Xue Bawang, if she and Third Sister You could have figured things out together, if Sister Feng had hated her husband more than she hated me, would the ending have been different?
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