Chapter 101 Daiyu Returns Home
The 18th day of the 11th lunar month is an auspicious day for moving into a new house, setting up a bed, consecrating a sacred object, offering sacrifices, and hanging plaques.
It was a rare day without even a breath of wind. If it weren't for the lack of greenery and the presence of withered trees and lonely vines, the warm feeling of spring would make one mistakenly believe that it was already the beginning of spring.
All the large items of luggage and belongings in Rongyue Courtyard have been moved to the Lin family's residence in the past two days.
They traveled light today.
After breakfast, Daiyu bid farewell to Madam Xing and Madam Wang, and then went to Rongqing Hall. She boarded a sedan chair with Grandmother Jia, and when they arrived at the second gate, the carriages had already arrived. They changed carriages and then left the gate.
A long procession of carriages slowly made its way to the Lin family's residence.
The Lin family had already received the news and made ample preparations.
The old lady of Rongguo Mansion personally escorted Miss Lin home. For ordinary families, this is just a grandmother escorting her granddaughter home. Is such a small matter worth making such a big fuss about?
For the Lin family, it was worthwhile.
Miss Lin was born and raised in Yangzhou. She had finally returned to her hometown, but she had never lived there before. This trip was different from her last visit.
This time I'm going home to stay for a long time, so the welcoming ceremony should naturally be more grand.
Servants gathered at the door, keeping quiet and waiting for Lin Daiyu's carriage to arrive.
If Daiyu hadn't been still in mourning, they would have planned to stretch the red carpet all the way to the street corner; now it's only stretched to the doorway, making it less ostentatious.
Although the residents here are not like the Rongguo Mansion, where two mansions occupy an entire street, they are still all wealthy and noble families.
Therefore, although the Lin family had set up such a grand display at their gate, seemingly to welcome distinguished guests, they did not stop to watch like ordinary people would.
They usually send their household servants to inquire.
After all, the Lin family's old house had been uninhabited for many years, so why would they suddenly start hosting guests?
Could it be that Lin Ruhai has returned?
If Lin Ruhai were to return to Beijing, that would be a very big deal!
However, before they could investigate, they heard the respectful voices of the servants at the Lin family's gate:
"Kowtowing to Old Madam Jia, we respectfully welcome Miss Lin back to the mansion."
Upon hearing this sound, the surrounding families understood that Lin Ruhai's daughter had come home to stay.
I heard that she was living in Rongguo Mansion. It's almost Chinese New Year, and it's not good to spend the New Year at someone else's house, so she came back.
The surrounding residents were speculating, after all, they were old neighbors living on the same street as the Lin family, and when Miss Lin first returned, she had sent them Yangzhou specialties!
She's a very polite girl!
This is the first impression many people have of Lin Daiyu.
Now that Miss Lin has returned home, we will inevitably have to visit her more often in the future. After all, Lin Ruhai is now a close minister of the emperor, and every family has an official in their ranks.
If we can get the favor of Miss Lin, we might even get a helping hand from Lin Ruhai in the future, which would save us a lot of trouble!
This girl was personally escorted back by Old Madam Jia of the Rongguo Mansion, so it seems she's quite well-regarded there...
The surrounding families had all sorts of thoughts, but they all agreed that even though the Lin family girl lived alone in the capital, she still had powerful backers and should not be offended easily.
After the servants knelt and bowed at the door, a clear, childlike voice came from inside the carriage. The voice wasn't loud, but the servants outside could hear it clearly:
"It's so cold outside, why are you all at the door? Come on in."
The carriage drove straight into the main gate and stopped at the second gate. The coachman left and was replaced by maids and servants.
After Daiyu and the others got off the carriage, a sedan chair was already prepared on the side.
After changing to a sedan chair and walking for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, they finally arrived at the inner courtyard.
Daiyu led Grandmother Jia to the main hall to sit down, which was originally the residence of Lin Ruhai and Jia Min.
Grandmother Jia had visited several times in the past, but she hadn't been here for so many years. Returning to this place felt like a lifetime ago.
At that time, after Jia Min got married, the couple invited Grandmother Jia to come and play. Grandmother Jia was happy because she had married well. She was a lively person and would come to join in whenever her daughter held a flower viewing banquet or a garden party.
However, after only three or four years, Jia Min went abroad with Lin Ruhai...
The past is gone.
The maids and servants who were important in the inner courtyard came over to kowtow to Grandmother Jia and explained one by one what they did in the mansion.
When these maids and servants reported things, their eyes were clear and they were respectful, showing no sign of disrespect.
They were very knowledgeable and articulate about the things they were responsible for.
If there's something you don't understand, you won't pretend to know it; instead, you'll immediately point it out to the person in charge.
These people were very organized in their work, and Grandmother Jia sighed inwardly, realizing that her own servants were far inferior to them.
She originally thought that the Lin family members in Rongyue Courtyard were deliberately cultivated by Yuan Hongqu, but she did not expect that everyone in the Lin family was like that. Moreover, even though there was no master by their side, these people in the Lin family mansion behaved the same way, being self-disciplined and loyal, which was truly rare.
Grandmother Jia thought to herself that when Min'er was alive, she didn't seem to manage the people under her so easily.
Seeing that the Lin family had arranged everything perfectly, Daiyu felt no discomfort at all upon returning, which put Grandmother Jia at ease.
They sat in the room for a while, drank tea, and ate some snacks.
Since there were no outsiders, the warm room was filled with joy and harmony, seemingly no different from the Rongqing Hall of Grandmother Jia.
However, upon closer inspection, there are differences. In Rongqing Hall, the maids and servants all take Grandmother Jia as their leader, but here, although they respect Grandmother Jia, they take Daiyu as their leader.
This is the difference between host and guest.
Grandmother Jia naturally understood and deeply agreed, thinking that this was exactly how it should be done, which put her mind at ease.
Wang Xifeng suggested taking a walk in the courtyard, and everyone agreed.
Although the Lin family's courtyard was not as large as the Rongguo Mansion, the Lin family had a small population. Now that Daiyu had returned with twenty or thirty people, plus the people from the original house, there were only sixty or seventy people in total.
With only Daiyu as the master, sixty or seventy people were quite a lot, but when placed in this courtyard, the Lin family seemed really small.
The Rongguo Mansion has three or four hundred people, so even though the courtyard is large, it's only so-so. Therefore, the courtyard can't be built as grand and expansive as the Lin family's courtyard.
Before they entered the courtyard, Jia Baoyu had already led his men to stroll around inside.
I felt that the Lin family's garden was beautiful and elegant at every turn, and I could never get enough of it.
What's even more amazing is that Jia Baoyu actually found several excellent places to grow ginseng in the Lin family's courtyard.
If I plant ginseng here next spring, wouldn't I have even more excuses to visit Lin Daiyu?
Jia Baoyu thought to himself with a delighted feeling.
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