Ch. 144 - Childhood Friend Speaks Words from Heart

Ping'er's face turned white with fear, and she thought about what had happened to him.

Fortunately, Baoyu turned around and got up again. He muttered out of his wits, "What a family of noble Lords and Dukes who have performed meritorious deeds. They were originally a bunch of bandits!"

Ping'er was relieved. She went forward to help him wipe the dirt off his body, half complaining and half admonishing, and said, "Is this all you can say? If you still have a bit of kindness, don't talk nonsense when you leave this door, just treat it like you have never known this matter!"

"Don't worry, Sister."

Jia Baoyu reluctantly tugged at the corners of his mouth and gave a smile uglier than crying, "Even if I were dead, I would never involve you."

With these words, he walked out of Wang Xifeng’s yard like a corpse. He didn't know where to go, so he just wandered around the house.

"What's wrong with you? Why do you seem to have lost your soul?"

Suddenly, a laughing voice came into his ears. Jia Baoyu looked up and saw a master and a servant flashing in front of him. Who else could they be other than Lin Daiyu and Zijuan?

At first sight, Lin Daiyu was in front of him. Jia Baoyu felt ashamed and wronged. He lowered his head slightly, and a few drops of ”golden beans” fell to the ground.

"Ah!"

Now Daiyu was shocked by him. She went up to him and asked softly, "What kind of crazy disease have you committed, or are you angry with that girl again? Wipe that tear quickly, or someone else will see it and think I have provoked it."

The more comforting she was, the more Jia Baoyu cried.

At last Lin Daiyu couldn't stand it. She paused and said, "What are you doing here? Tell me about it anyway! I'm so worried!"

After saying this, her eyes also become red.

Seeing that she was going to cry, Jia Baoyu wiped his tears with his sleeve carelessly, pulled Daiyu behind the rockery without saying a word, and then asked Zijuan to go somewhere else.

He then told Daiyu that the Jia family had misappropriated 600,000 silver taels from the Lin family for the sake of the construction. He only hid the statement that, "one man made deals with two families".

After saying that, he swore again with gnashing teeth, claiming that he would fight to the death and would return the silver to Daiyu!

Lin Daiyu listened for a moment in amazement and then saw that he swore to fight to the death for her. Her two thin eyebrows frowned slightly and said, "You didn't spend the money. Who wanted you to pay back? Besides, you are not the type to work part-time outside, even if you were to sell yourself away, it’s not worth much."

Who knew that the word "sell" hit the heart of Baoyu!

He then looked at Daiyu, and tears poured down again.

Daiyu knew that there was a drama with, "one man making deals with two," but the thought of him being worried and sad for her, she felt very relieved and said, "Actually, you don't need to tell me. I already knew about the silver."

"You... Do you know this?!"

Jia Baoyu was stunned and stopped crying.

Lin Daiyu sighed again and murmured, "When I went south last year, there were still many treasures in the State of Yang, which were not inferior to the furnishings in this mansion. However, when I returned to the Capital, there were only two carts of worthless sundries..."

"Then why don't you tell me?! The old ancestor loves you most, she will definitely... Definitely..."

In the middle of the conversation, Jia Baoyu suddenly remembered that his mother must have also approved the use of the silver to leave the monastery, and he could not go on for a moment.

Lin Daiyu smiled bitterly and said, "That's hundreds of thousands of silver taels. How many pairs of eyes have become red? Even if the old ancestor loves me, can he offend all these people?"

Seeing Lin Daiyu's face full of sadness, a small figure of hers has seemed to get used to the inconstancy of the world. Jia Baoyu became more and more irritated, but he didn't know how to vent it out.

He suddenly raised his hand and slapped himself in the face!

Crackle!

Just this once, half of his cheek swelled up!

Jia Baoyu, as if he did not feel pain, slapped his face again.

"What are you doing?!"

Daiyu hurriedly grabbed his arm and said, "It's not your fault!"

"Who said it wasn't my fault?!"

Jia Baoyu, however, burst into tears and sniveled, "If I am capable, will they dare to take your properties without asking me? If I am capable, I will never let them bully you like this, but I am not!"

Seeing his self-reproach, Lin Daiyu felt touched. Holding Baoyu's hand, she said with a straight face, "This is a big stone that was oppressed in my chest. But today, seeing you facing me like this, I am much more enlightened. The amount of money doesn't matter much anymore."

She then laughed again and said, "If these 600,000 silver taels can save the entire people in the mansion from deceiving the King, it's worth it, in my opinion!"

She was only referring to one precious jade in her eyes!

"Sister Lin..."

Jia Baoyu was so moved that he wished he could marry her right away. But when he thought of the saying "one man made deals with two families," he felt like there was a knife stabbing his chest.

"That's right."

Lin Daiyu was somewhat genuinely curious, so to divert the topic, she asked, "Where did you hear that?"

Baoyu stammered, "I... I promised that I would never betray her."

"Even if you don't tell me, I've probably already guessed who it was!"

Lin Daiyu twisted her forefinger and tapped her lips. She suddenly blurted out, "It's the Second Brother of the Sun Family, isn't it?"

"Brother Sun?"

Jia Baoyu was stunned and said, "He... Does he know this?"

Looking at his expression, Lin Daiyu knew that she had guessed wrong, but nodded, "She came back from the State of Yang with Second Brother Lian at the beginning. How could these secrets have been hidden from him? Just because she knew that her Dad's silver had been emptied, Sister Rong sent me a pile of gold for my birthday."

With that, she couldn't help but stare at Baoyu and angrily said, "At that time, you said that Sister Rong was a village folk who would only send useless things!"

Jia Baoyu scratched his head awkwardly, but suddenly said, "I see! Brother Sun asked me to check the account, in fact, he wanted me to find out the matter myself!"

Lin Daiyu said suspiciously, "The Second Brother of the Sun Family asked you to check the accounts. What's the matter?"

Jia Baoyu quickly explained the causes and consequences.

After hearing this, Daiyu shook her head and said, "I'm afraid it's not that simple. Besides, he may not know that the silver has been misappropriated. As I see, he seems to be aiming at other matters."

"For other matters? What other matters?"

"Of course, it's the good slaves in your family who eat people without spitting out bones."

Lin Daiyu cocked her mouth and said disdainfully, "Sister Rong said that when the Sun Brothers were seeking gratuitous financial help from the Rongguo Mansion, they were wronged by many of your slaves!"

"How could that be?"

Jia Baoyu's eyes widened, and his face was unbelievable, "The Sun family has been our family friend for generations. How dare they?"

"Friends for generations?"

Lin Daiyu sniffed, intending to take herself as an example, but fearing that Baoyu would make trouble, she hesitated for a moment and said, "Not to mention a family friend for generations, do you remember Jiao Da in the East Mansion?"

"Is it the old man who likes to swear when he is drunk?"

"Old man?"

Lin Daiyu glared at him and said, "If he hadn't given up his life and carried the Duke of Ning back from the battlefield, I'm afraid there wouldn't have been any Ningguo Mansion at all!"

"I heard that when he escaped back, he had no food to eat, and he was so hungry that he helped steal food for his Master. He had no water to drink. He drank horse urine himself and gave his Master half a bowl of water!"

"When the Duke of Ning was alive, he was a little better than his son. But now what? Once he lost his dependence, even the second-class slaves of his family dared to trample him!"

"When the Sun Brothers were down and out, in the eyes of your servants, I was afraid they were not as big as Jiao Da!"

Lin Daiyu said this for a moment and then pulled back to the main topic, "I guess the Second Brother of the Sun Family probably got some news. He knew that your good slaves had made moves when they were repairing the garden, but it was not convenient to tell, so he tricked you, a fool, to stab the horse's nest."

"This is not a joke. In my opinion, you should pretend that you know nothing and don't be serious..."

“No!”

She still wanted to persuade, but Jia Baoyu was already furious. He gnashed his teeth and swore, "I will find out who dares to do this! Let alone the slave who is greedy for money, I want him to spit out everything!"

The silver of an important person "making deal with two" has been coveted by a slave. No wonder he was so angry.

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