The Famous Detective of the Red Mansion-Chapter 384 - In Straitened Circumstances
A sleepless night.
When the first ray of sunshine in the morning slanted into the boudoir, the Sisters of You family were busy in front of the dresser.
First, they dyed the thick but not glamorous rouge with a fine halo on their lips, and used the pen tip to outline a pleasing curve; They then took out some apricot powder, broke it, and ground it into a fine powder, mixed it with some warm water, and evenly applied it on their face.
The eyebrows, the eyes, the temples, they were all finely polished, striving to be exquisite in every aspect, yet appearing plain and not charming.
It was not an easy task to expertise the scale of this. Fortunately, Third Sister You has always been skilled in this field, and with her skills, dressing up could be considered twice the result with half the effort.
But when they finally were at the part of choosing clothes, Second Lady You had some disputes.
But with the help of her Younger Sister, the Second Lady You propped up a long dress that was all snow satin white and only slightly dyed with light blue at the corners. She took a few steps back and posed in front of the bronze mirror, and her pretty face suddenly turned red. She shook her head decisively and said, "This dress won't do, let's change it."
"Why not?"
Third Sister You said in dissatisfaction, "It was you who said you wanted to dress up plainer that I lent you this dress. Isn't this dress not plain enough?"
At first glance, it seemed quite innocent
Second Lady You blushed and said, "But when you wear this skirt on me, it's a bit too tight. If you don't believe me, look.”
As she spoke, she leaned over and showed to her sister, only to see the slender waist drooping and the back hem of the skirt bulged with two plump contours. Although it couldn’t be called a perfect moment, it was even more alluring in the hazy air.
Second Lady You straightened herself up again and went to unbutton the collar, saying, "I'd better wear my own one, at least it fits better.”
Unexpectedly, Third Lady You stopped and clasped her wrist. She curled her lips and said, "They can’t help to see how festive you're wearing. How can they even care about what you’re wearing? I just want to show off your buttocks, so they won’t bully you recklessly relying on their children.”
How would Second Lady You be willing to listen to her absurd and heretical remarks?
She insisted on changing the skirt, but Third Lady You stopped her. The two sisters were making a lot of noise here. Old Lady You came in with a bowl of chicken soup. Seeing this, she quickly scolded, "Calm down, you are all going to leave the cabinet soon. How can you still make such a fool of yourself?"
As she spoke, she drove away Third Sister You and placed the chicken soup on the dressing table. She pinched her earlobe and urged, "I asked Nanny Wu to stew an old hen before dawn. You should drink some while it's hot so that you don't have time to eat.”
Second Sister You looked at the chicken soup, but her face was embarrassed. She hesitated and said, "It was not easy for my sister to put rouge on my face. If I drank the chicken soup, she would have to start again..."
“Don't be afraid, my good daughter. I have already prepared here.”
As Old Lady You spoke, she took out a reed pole from her sleeve and inserted it into the chicken soup. She proudly said, "As long as you are careful with it, you won't be afraid of affecting your makeup.”
Second Lady You was relieved and picked up the reed pole to stir up the chicken soup. When the heat subsided slightly, she pursed her tender red lips and sucked in without revealing it.
After drinking about half a bowl of chicken soup, she became increasingly uncomfortable with the tight and narrow skirt on her body and was about to change her clothes first before continuing to drink the remaining chicken soup.
Unexpectedly, as soon as she unbuttoned two buttons, she heard a woman outside raise her voice and say, "May I ask if the Second Lady in your family is at home? Our Second Master invited the Second Lady to the Wangjiang Tower to listen to the opera.”
“Yes, she is at home!”
Then came the cheerful voice of Old Lady You, "Second Sister, Second Sister, come out quickly.”
Second Lady You immediately panicked inside and quickly asked her Younger Sister to help her add some rouge, but she couldn't change any clothes anymore. She only inserted the golden hairpin given by Sun Shaozong into her head and hurriedly welcomed her out.
The woman was chatting with Old Lady You in the courtyard, and when she saw Second Sister You coming out of the house, she quickly looked up and down and praised her, "Second Lady is indeed a beauty, no wonder she can enter the eyes of our Second Master.”
Second Lady's face turned red.
She bowed and said, "Thank you for your praise.”
The Nanny quickly returned the greeting and consulted with Old Lady You to see if she could set off immediately, so as not to delay for too long and avoid any changes at the Wangjiang Tower.
Old Lady You naturally agreed with all her heart, and then carefully urged Second Sister You to be cautious and not offend the two Concubines with children by their side.
When her daughter obediently responded, she and the woman helped Second Lady You out of the courtyard.
Outside, there was only a sedan chair carried by one or two people, standing on the stone steps in front of the door.
The sedan chair driver in green clothes and a small hat lowered the horizontal bar, while Second Sister You lifted the hem of her skirt and, with some difficulty, crossed the bar and sat down in the sedan chair.
The woman once again said goodbye to Old Lady You and loudly ordered, “Let’s go!”
The sedan chair trembled and climbed onto its shoulder, heading towards the Wangjiang Tower.
When it came to the Wangjiang Tower, the seats were already full both upstairs and downstairs. Although Second Lady You followed the woman through the corner gate, she still had to pass through the lobby to the second floor.
As she climbed the stairs, she stepped out step by step, feeling her buttocks tightly wrapped around her. It was obvious that she had already revealed her true appearance. Although no one could truly see it, she was already ashamed and almost fell off the stairs. In her heart, she had complained hundreds of times about her Sister’s insistence.
When she finally got upstairs, Second Lady You, with a pink face already red in flames, followed the woman into a private room in a daze. Seeing several beautiful women sitting at the front of the balcony, she couldn't think much and quickly bowed down and said, "Greetings to the 2 Concubines.”
As soon as she finished speaking, she heard a tall and strong servant girl sneer and say, "You are so unreasonable. Our Eldest Madam is here, why did you first greet the two Concubines?”
Madam Sun was also here?!
Second Lady You became increasingly flustered, unable to distinguish which one was Jia Yingchun for a moment. She was only flustered and deeply greeted, saying, "Greetings to the Eldest Madam.”
Unexpectedly, she made such a big move that her tight and narrow skirt couldn't bear the weight, and a two-finger wide slit opened in response!
Although it was still covered with a lining inside, so as not to let out the spring light, it was still embarrassing, and she didn't know what to do with her buttocks.
The several intimate maids in the room couldn't help but cover their mouths and snicker, pointing at her buttocks again. As a result, the even more shy Second Lady You shed tears.
Only Xiangling could see it next to her, with a hint of unbearable expression on her face. However, in front of Jia Yingchun and Ruan Rong, she didn’t take the initiative to rescue Second Lady You.
“Enough.”
At this moment, Ruan Rong let out a loud reprimand, and all the maids stopped snickering. However, Siqi not only refused to restrain herself but also laughed loudly as if demonstrating dominator.
“Siqi!”
Jia Yingchun quickly reprimanded her and wanted to explain a few words to Ruan Rong, but after all, her identity was different, so she could only give her an awkward and apologetic smile.
Although Ruan Rong was dissatisfied with Siqi's behavior, she couldn't care about her. She had to pretend that nothing had happened and walked forward to hold Second Lady You. She comforted her softly and said, "There are no outsiders in our room, so you don't have to be ashamed like this. I'll have someone pick up two clothes and change them with you in a moment
As she spoke, she pulled Second Lady You to the balcony and instructed the maid to take a chair, allowing Second Lady You to sit next to her.
Ruan Rong didn’t pity Second Lady You, but rather for the sake of Sun Shaozong's face. After all, Second Lady You would be carried into the mansion as a Concubine in two days, and if she was allowed to be ridiculed by the servants at this time, Sun Shaozong might not have a look good on his face.
As Second Lady You borrowed a chair to cover up her ”shame,” which could be considered as a relief and she quickly thanked Ruan Rong without any hesitation.
Ruan Rong saw that she was submissive and thanked her sincerely, unlike a seductive woman who used to be jealous of others. She breathed a sigh of relief in her heart.
As someone who had just passed by, she was reminding Second Lady You of some rules for being a Concubine, but suddenly she heard a loud clatter from the next door. It turned out to be a cup and plate that someone had dropped!
Ruan Rong immediately forgot about Second Lady You and jumped up, exchanging glances with Jia Yingchun, who was also standing up straight.
Seeing the ”Elder Madam” clenching her cherry lips and not intending to give an order, Ruan Rong had to step in and order, "Shiliu, quickly go to the next door to inquire and see what happened between the Big Master, the Second Master, and the Old Master Jia.”
It turned out that besides Sun Shaozong, his Big Brother also came to make a scene today. If it weren't for this, Jia Yingchun wouldn't have come alone.
When he heard that all the Sun family brothers were here, Jia She hurried over to prove that the Sun and Jia families had not been separated by the conflict of the previous two days.
That was why Jia Yingchun and Ruan Rong were so nervous when they heard the sound of something falling next door.
Shiliu took the order and hurriedly went to the next door to inquire about the news. Shortly after, she returned to report and said, "Old Master Jia seems to have been deceived by some unscrupulous merchant. Now he is very angry and has smashed his wine glass, urging our Second Master to quickly take someone to catch that merchant.”
It turned out that after Jia She arrived, he mentioned the business of ”pottery, pearls, gold, and shells” in a few words, urging Sun Shaozu to bring out the silver quickly and make a big profit while he was in the market.
Sun Shaozong listened and asked what the quality of those ”golden shells” was, whether they were of top quality or medium quality.
But Jia She was stunned by this remark. He only knew that someone had made a lot of money selling ”pottery, pearls, gold, and shells.” He wanted to make a fortune, but he didn't know anything about it.
After listening to Sun Shaozong's brief explanation of the difference between the three kinds of golden shells, Jia She realized that he had met a traitor who was ”shoddy.” He was immediately upset. He smashed his glass and urged Sun Shaozong to catch him.
Sun Shaozong might not have done as he wanted if he had changed his routine. But now Sun Shaozong was also pursuing the ”pottery, pearls, gold, and shells” issue, so he hit it off with Jia She. When he asked the merchant's name and whereabouts, he called several soldiers nearby to get him.
