Chapter 168 Baoyu is clever
"Master Bao's method is quite good," Yuan Hongqu praised.
"Granny Yuan, it's been a long time since Lin Daiyu visited. When will she come to see the ginseng she planted herself?"
"Tomorrow we'll visit the old lady and also take a look at the ginseng."
Upon hearing this, Jia Zheng glanced at Baoyu.
This rebellious son wasn't entirely useless; with just a few words, he managed to invite Daiyu to his home.
Little did he know that Daiyu had planned to visit Grandmother Jia at Rongguo Mansion in the next couple of days. When Baoyu casually asked about it, Yuan Hongqu casually replied, which made Jia Zheng wonder if he had offended Yuan Hongqu, which is why Yuan Hongqu treated Jia Baoyu and him completely differently.
On his way back to Rongguo Mansion, Jia Zheng couldn't care less about anything else; he was only thinking about whether it was because he hadn't done a good job in the last snow disaster relief and hadn't followed Yuan Hongqu's suggestions for disaster relief that Yuan Hongqu's attitude towards him had changed so much.
If I hadn't listened to others' instigation and had followed Yuan Hongqu's disaster relief plan, wouldn't my family have received the same rewards as the Prince Xian's family?
Instead of just giving Yuan Chun a concubine title as a token gesture, it was a different matter.
Jia Zheng felt a pang of regret.
After seeing Jia Zheng and his son off, Yuan Hongqu returned to her study as usual.
Zijuan was about to leave after seeing off the guests when Yuan Hongqu called her back.
"You've been following Jia Baoyu the whole time. What was he doing in the courtyard?"
"In response to Mr. Yuan, Master Bao was in the garden and didn't go anywhere else. He stood by the plum tree in the southeast corner for a while, and then went to see the swans for a bit. When he was leaving, he saw that the red plum blossoms in our garden were in full bloom, and suddenly said that he wanted to cut a few branches to take back for the old lady to put in a vase. Mama Luo, who was in charge of the garden, picked out a few branches and cut them. After he left the garden, Tingyu brought some things over and asked Master Bao to take them to the young ladies first."
Zijuan explained it clearly, but Yuan Hongqu still felt that something was wrong.
"Has he not said anything to you at all?"
"Master Bao didn't say anything to me, he just said that the plum blossoms in our garden were rare and praised the courtyard for its unique design... People would say things like that when they visit other people's homes."
"Don't you notice anything different about him?"
"She's much more sensible than before, and she's not so childish in her speech and actions anymore," Zijuan blurted out.
Since he hadn't had any special experiences, how come Baoyu suddenly wasn't stupid anymore? Yuan Hongqu couldn't figure it out.
Yuan Hongqu had to admit that the world of Dream of the Red Chamber was somewhat fantastical. External things were easy to control, but what if these supernatural things happened to Daiyu? How could she control them? This was one of the problems she had always been worried about.
What Yuan Hongqu didn't know was that she used the water from her space to feed the animals in the yard and used the soil from her space as fertilizer for the Longyou plum tree. This resulted in the Lin family's garden containing a small amount of spiritual energy from her space. Moreover, the soil from her space had also absorbed the Spirit Jade.
Ordinary people wouldn't feel anything special visiting the Lin family's garden, but someone like Jia Baoyu, who had descended to the mortal realm to undergo tribulation, immediately felt refreshed and invigorated upon arriving at the garden.
His mind, which had become confused after losing the Jade of Spiritual Communication, immediately became clear.
Jia Baoyu was originally the master of the Spirit Jade, but he was later influenced and ashamed to show the Spirit Jade to others. So the Spirit Jade lost itself and eventually ended up in the hands of Yuan Hongqu.
Yuan Hongqu was only puzzled by Jia Baoyu's sudden change. She couldn't possibly imagine that the reason for the change was caused by the water and soil in her space.
In the short time he spent in the garden, Jia Baoyu seemed to have been recharged, full of energy and high spirits.
Upon returning home, without even asking Jia Zheng for leave, he took the plum blossoms to Grandmother Jia and gave the hand-held items to his sisters.
Jia Zheng had no interest in paying attention to him and let him go on his own.
Grandmother Jia looked at Baoyu and saw that he seemed just like before, and she couldn't help but feel happy.
"Grandma, Mr. Yuan said he's bringing Lin Daiyu to visit you tomorrow!"
As Baoyu played with his hand-held object, he said, "It's a radish-shaped object, no more than an inch in size."
The most peculiar thing is that the radish is entirely white, except for a cluster of short radish leaves on top that are emerald green. However, the radish and the green radish leaves on top are completely integrated, and you can't see any joint at all.
Jia Baoyu was overjoyed as soon as he got his hands on it.
He recalled how he had foolishly asked Lin Daiyu, "Do you have any jade?" It was utterly absurd. How could Lin Daiyu not have jade? The jade that her family casually gave away was of the highest quality.
When Jia Baoyu thought about the foolish things he had done in the past, his face turned completely red.
"Sister Lin is coming tomorrow, so why did you ask me to bring a gift today? Wouldn't it be the same if you brought it tomorrow?" Xichun was young and spoke very directly.
Upon hearing this question, Baoyu seemed to run out of energy and left Rongqing Hall in a daze.
Alas, it's not that Lin Daiyu is coming at all; it's probably just an excuse that Granny Yuan made up to get rid of her.
No one else noticed the change in Baoyu, only Baochai secretly noticed that Baoyu was different, but she could not imagine that the little bit of spiritual energy that Baoyu had absorbed in the Lin family garden had now been exhausted.
The Lin family, Jiaoyun Garden.
After reviewing the gift list for tomorrow's visit to the Rongguo Mansion, Daiyu added or removed a few items before sending someone to prepare them.
"Granny, I heard that Second Uncle wants me to live in the Rongguo Mansion?" Granny Shi had already told Daiyu about what happened in the outer study today. Yuan Hongqu would explain these things to them in advance if she didn't want Daiyu to know, but only very rarely.
"That's right, Master Zheng has this plan."
"Granny, I don't want to live at my maternal grandmother's house anymore."
"Why?"
"Don't laugh at me, Granny. I was bored the other day and picked up the account book to look at it. I happened to see our expenses at Rongguo Mansion last year. At that time, we lived in Rongyue Courtyard, and the number of people was less than half of the number of people at home now, but the expenses were almost the same as now." Daiyu said earnestly about her discovery.
“Granny, at first I thought it was because my father hadn’t sent any money after we came home, so we had to be more frugal. But I noticed that our daily food, clothing and other necessities haven’t gotten worse; in fact, they seem to be even better than when we were in the Rongguo Mansion?” Daiyu frowned as she pondered.
Yuan Hongqu remained silent, listening quietly to Daiyu's discovery and analysis.
"I carefully examined the ledgers, comparing the two discrepancies, and finally I discovered the clue..."
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