Chapter 144 Unable to Reunite
“Miss, my family is all in the capital, each with their own duties. The New Year is the busiest time, how can we possibly have a family reunion? It would be best if I stayed home with you, Miss.” Zijuan had never thought about “family reunion.” They were born servants, how could they be worthy of the family reunion like their masters!
“Then we are the same. My father is in Yangzhou, and I am in the capital. We are also unable to be reunited,” Daiyu said casually, without any sadness.
She had already been overjoyed to see her father briefly last month, so whether it was a yearly reunion or not, it didn't really matter to her.
Daiyu was only eight years old when the New Year came. Her younger brother died when she was four, and her mother died a little over a year later, leaving her and her father alone.
She was already in poor health and wouldn't even leave the house during the winter. She would especially fall seriously ill around the Lunar New Year...
In this situation, how could anyone in the family possibly be in the mood to celebrate the New Year?
Their family never really had a lively New Year celebration, so Daiyu never had much anticipation for the New Year.
“Miss, the matriarch has sent people several times to invite you to celebrate the New Year together at that mansion. The sisters and brothers there are all playing together, and it will surely be lively during the New Year. Why did you refuse?” Zijuan was very puzzled.
Daiyu is not very old, and she only has the Rongguo Mansion as a relative in the capital. To outsiders, Daiyu should be spending the New Year at the Jia Mansion.
Since Daiyu returned from her trip to Rongguo Mansion, Grandmother Jia has sent people over every two or three days, and the three sisters have also come over once a week. They all say that they want Daiyu to go back to Rongguo Mansion to live, or at the very least, to spend the New Year together.
Daiyu declined them all.
She now keeps her distance from the Jia family.
"Aren't we comfortable celebrating the New Year at home? If we go there, we'll be restricted by others, and they'll think we're going there to freeload. We'll have to endure their disdain," Daiyu said leisurely.
"The eldest daughter of the Xue family still lives in Pear Fragrance Courtyard. A few days ago, when the second daughter and the others came over, I heard from the fourth daughter's maid that the Xue family's eldest daughter and Xiren are now very close, doing needlework for Baoyu every day." Xueyan carried a stewing pot over and put it down in front of Daiyu.
"Why should we concern ourselves with other people's business? You should also refrain from asking about these things in the future, lest you offend your ears." Daiyu was utterly disdainful of the two's actions. It wasn't like they didn't have a skilled seamstress in their household. To have a young lady staying at their house do needlework for a young master, and for that to have it spread to their household, was truly astonishing!
"Miss, maybe they're just spreading rumors on purpose? Ever since you left that manor, we've heard quite a few interesting stories when we went to deliver things," Xia Ye added.
"The most famous thing is that Miss Xue suddenly started wearing a gold lock around her neck with eight characters on it. Her maid said that these eight characters sounded like a pair with the characters on the jade piece that Master Bao had. She also said that the monk and Taoist priest who gave the gold lock to the young lady said that the lock should be matched with someone who owns jade. Isn't this obviously her way of trying to climb up to Bao Yu..."
"Stop talking nonsense. Just let it go after you've heard it, and don't ever mention it to our family again," Daiyu said, stopping him.
“Girl, only you are kind enough to save them face. But in that mansion, what face do they have left? Everyone can see through their intentions. The old lady has tried to expel them several times, but they just pretend they don’t understand.”
"You found out again?" Daiyu glanced at Tingxia. "Alright, let's not talk about them anymore. Xueyan, bring out the bird's nest."
The group chuckled and shut up. Xueyan scooped up the bird's nest and stirred it slowly to cool the piping hot bird's nest down a bit so it would be easier to eat.
But Xueyan kept talking even while her hands were busy.
“Miss, it’s fortunate we didn’t stay in that mansion for long. When we went there, we brought a huge chest of bird’s nest, enough for you to eat for several years. But there were those short-sighted girls who came to ask for it every day. We couldn’t refuse the host’s request while staying at someone else’s house. We really gave away a lot of our good bird’s nest.” Xueyan was furious when she mentioned this, but the young lady said it was all a small matter and not worth getting angry about.
Xueyan, who oversees the flow of these bird's nests, knows the situation perfectly well.
"Xueyan, stop nagging. We're back now, so let's not bring this up again." Although Daiyu was generous, she wasn't one to give money away to just anyone. But she really couldn't refuse this person. Even Granny Yuan, after hearing about it, said she never expected Daiyu to be like this. She simply sent her a box, saying it would be enough for the mother and daughter to eat for two months. That made them too embarrassed to come to their courtyard asking for bird's nest again.
The simplest thing to do would have been to bring the matter to Grandmother Jia's attention and embarrass them, but Daiyu refused. Seeing how pitiful the widow and her orphan were, she wanted to save them some face. She offered them a small gift, as if she were simply taking care of her nephew's widow on behalf of her mother.
The bird's nest had cooled slightly, just right for eating, and Xueyan picked it up and handed it to Daiyu.
"What novel way is this bird's nest prepared today? It tastes so fresh." Daiyu took it and saw that the light brown broth inside smelled sweet with a hint of camphor.
Daiyu took a bite and found it to be sweet and refreshing with a mellow aftertaste, quite different from the bird's nest she usually ate.
“I eat bird’s nest every day. In the past year, I’ve probably tried every way in the world to prepare bird’s nest. But this is the first time I’ve ever tasted bird’s nest prepared this way. It’s really novel.” Daiyu took a few more bites. In the past few days, she had felt a slight discomfort in her throat and would occasionally cough. After swallowing the bird’s nest, she felt that the slight discomfort in her throat miraculously disappeared immediately.
“This is bird’s nest stewed with dried tangerine peel. Our family has never had any good aged dried tangerine peel. Yesterday, I happened to meet a merchant from Lingnan on the street who was selling fifty-year-old dried tangerine peel. It’s amazing that no one recognizes such a good thing. I’ve really hit the jackpot.” Yuan Hongqu walked over. Today, she finally had time to personally stew bird’s nest for Daiyu.
I happened to get some good dried tangerine peel yesterday. Daiyu has been coughing a bit these past few days, so I stewed a bowl of bird's nest with dried tangerine peel.
Daiyu found the food very refreshing, and her sore throat was completely cured after eating it. So she ordered a few people to go to Rongguo Mansion early the next morning to deliver New Year's gifts.
"Granny, are you going tomorrow too?"
"I won't go; I'll stay home with you."
"What about Sister Feng? I heard she's too busy at the end of the year to go out, but she sends someone to invite you over to help with things almost every day. Why don't you go see her..."
“They have so many people in their family, they don’t need to hire outside help. We only have you in our family. If I leave you alone at home and you get exhausted, I’ll feel bad for you.”
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