Chapter 79 The Way is Ordinary This time the plot seemed more coherent and Mei Chengan was quickly engrossed in it. This chapter mainly tells the story of Jia Yuanchun, who, after returning from her visit to the Grand View Garden at home, felt that it was a pity that the Grand View Garden was uninhabited and feared that it would become desolate and deserted, so she ordered the eunuch to tell Jia Zheng to let her sisters, Baoyu, and the female elders move in together. After that, it describes some of Jia Baoyu's daily life when he lived in the Grand View Garden. You can't help but read those charming and enchanting poems written by Jia Baoyu about the four seasons and nights. They are quite appropriate to the scene. A spring night. The cloud tent is spread out, but the sound of toads in the alley is still not real. There is a slight chill on the pillow and rain outside the window, and the spring scenery in front of me is like the person in my dream. For whom are the candles weeping? The flowers are angry at me. The little maid was spoiled and lazy, and she couldn't help laughing and talking while lying in quilt. It happened on a summer night. The beautiful lady who is tired of embroidering has a long dream, and the parrot in the golden cage calls for tea.
The window is bright with the musk moon opening the palace mirror, the room is hazy with sandalwood clouds and the imperial incense is tasted. The amber cup is slippery with lotus dew, and the glass window lets in the cool willow breeze. The silken clothes are swaying everywhere in the water pavilions, and the curtains are rolled up in the red towers as the evening makeup is finished. An autumn night. There is no noise in the Crimson Yun Pavilion, the light of the moon shines through the red gauze. Moss locks the stone patterns and accommodates sleeping cranes, while dew from tung trees floating in the well wets the roosting crows. The maid holding the quilt comes to Shu Jinfeng, and the man leaning on the railing returns to Luo Cuihua. I can't sleep in the quiet night because I am thirsty, so I light a cigarette and make some tea. It happened on a winter night. It is already three o'clock in the morning, and I am still not asleep on my brocade and bamboo quilt. Only cranes can be seen in the courtyard amidst the shadows of pines, and no orioles can be heard amidst the ground covered with pear blossoms. The girl's green sleeves are filled with coldness in her poems, and the young man's golden mink is drunk with little strength. Fortunately, the maid knows how to taste the tea, and she sweeps the new snow to make the tea in time. As he read this poem, Mei Cheng'an somehow thought of Guo Shao Guo Baokun. You have to say that he is quite similar to Jia Baoyu. Of course, not in appearance, nor in growing up among women, but both of them are children of wealthy families and have innocent personalities. Even the poems they write are in the same style, with gorgeous words. The poems written by Jia Baoyu have a faint scent of fragrance, while Guo Baokun spends all day lingering by the Liujing River. Wow. Next time he comes, let him read these poems. I'm sure he will like them. Maybe he will even regard Jia Baoyu as his confidant. Oh, no, the book was written by Jia Baoyu, but it was Fan Xian who "wrote" the book. Maybe he will regard Fan Xian as his confidant, and the two of them will inexplicably put an end to their hostility ahead of time. That would be wonderful. Thinking of this, Mei Chengan couldn't help but laugh. After having fun for a while, I continued watching. What follows is a scene where Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu chat about burying flowers, and after Jia Baoyu is called away, Lin Daiyu cleverly listens to The West Chamber.
Mei Cheng'an had no recollection of ever having heard of The West Chamber. But the few lines of opera written here seem particularly familiar. For example, this sentence, originally all the beautiful flowers are blooming, but now they are left to the broken wells and dilapidated walls. There is also this line, "What a beautiful day, what a beautiful weather, who can enjoy the pleasure in the yard?" This line is not only familiar, Mei Cheng'an even feels that he can sing it, and his mind automatically gives this line a melody. The vague melody felt like it was sung by Faye Wong. After thinking about it for a long time, I somehow remembered Faye Wong's song "Fleeting Time". As for whether this line was in that song, Mei Cheng'an really couldn't remember. He shook his head, stopped worrying and continued reading. Daiyu was just sighing with emotion when she was suddenly slapped on the face from behind. Daiyu turned around and saw that it was... Stay tuned for the next chapter for more details. Depend on! ! ! Mei Chengan was so angry that the whole thing was interrupted here. It was so annoying that the whole thing was interrupted. After some complaints, Mei Cheng'an took a deep breath and let out all the depression in his heart. After calming down, I sorted the new chapters I had read neatly, put them together with the previous chapters, and carefully put them into a wooden box. He put it in the wooden box, not because the manuscript was so precious, but because it was just a bunch of scattered papers. It was too early to staple them together, as there would be new chapters coming out later. If he put it on the table, it would feel messy, as a breeze from the window in front of the desk would blow the manuscript into pieces like rain. The most important thing was that if he put the manuscript in front of his eyes, it would remind him all the time that he still had to wait for new chapters, which really affected his mood. So he just put it in the wooden box, out of sight, out of mind. After putting the wooden box on the shelf beside him, Mei Chengan stood up and stretched lazily. Fan Xian's updates of the Dream of the Red Chamber are really slow. It has been several years, and he has only updated to the 23rd chapter. I wonder what he is busy with all day. He can't be busy being a fool all day. He deserves to be locked in a small dark room. If he doesn't update 70, 80 or 90 chapters a day, he won't be given food, and he won't be allowed to come out until he finishes writing. Mei Chengan thought viciously, with the corners of his mouth curled up. But it was just a thought. If he dared to do that, his fathers would tear him into pieces. Alas, he could only wait. I looked down at the desk, feeling bad and having no mood to read. Mei Cheng'an strolled out of the house and went to the side room to check on Hongshu, who was sewing new clothes for him at the moment. When she saw Mei Cheng'an come in, she stopped what she was doing and looked up at him. "Master, didn't you say you wanted to read a book? Why are you here? Do you need any service? I'll get it done right away." Mei Chengan waved his hand. "No, no, go ahead and do your thing. I've finished reading Dream of the Red Chamber and I'm not in the mood to read anything else for now, so I just came here to walk around and take a look." Hongshu said "oh" and lowered his head to continue working. Mei Cheng'an walked to her desk, saw the clothing pattern placed on the side of the table, picked it up and took a look. Hiss~ You know what, it was a wise decision for him to let Hongshu learn painting. This picture is so beautiful, it outlines his figure perfectly, and matched with the unique style of clothes. Mei Chengan automatically imagined himself wearing this clothes in his mind, so handsome. Mei Cheng'an was extremely satisfied. The only thing that made him feel a little inappropriate was that the person in the painting had no face. Mei Cheng'an took the pattern and walked around to the other side, put it on the table, picked up a thin wolf hair brush, dipped it in ink, and began to draw his facial features. Hongshu glanced at him speechlessly and said, "Young master, you are really too idle. You are so idle that you even draw facial features on a clothing pattern. Forget it, just do as you please. I just hope you don't ruin the pattern you have drawn in your mind." Mei Cheng'an started painting on his own. The eyes were okay and quite lifelike, but the nose was not so good as it was a little short. Mei Cheng'an sighed and continued to extend it downwards. After the extension, the nose looked a little big. The more he looked at it, the more awkward it looked. In anger, Mei Cheng'an scribbled all over the face and even drew a big cross.
Hongshu was attracted by Mei Chengan's "tsk" and his face turned black after he looked over. This philtrum was longer than his life. Oh, how could the young master extend it like this? You have to... Then he couldn't even complain in his heart because his face became a mess. Mei Cheng'an put down his brush in disappointment. He was just a little bit away from having a perfect face. What a pity, what a pity. Just as I was expressing my feelings, Sweet Potato spoke through gritted teeth. "Master, if you really have nothing to do, go and teach Bluebird how to practice martial arts, and don't mess with me here, okay?" Mei Cheng'an looked at Hongshu who had an angry face, touched his nose, and still felt uneasy. "Ahem, well, if you think it's ugly, just paint your whole face black, maybe it will be better. Well, you go ahead and do your thing. I suddenly remembered that I have something else to do. Well, I'll leave first." After saying this, Mei Chengan left Hongshu alone to look at the pattern with heartache, and slipped out of the side room at an extremely fast speed. After slipping out of the door, he was not in a hurry to leave. He took a peek inside. Hongshu really listened to his advice and was painting Tupat's face vigorously with a brush, muttering to himself. She must be praising me for being smart, Mei Chengan thought. Contented, Mei Cheng'an strolled to the yard. Qingniao was practicing swordplay there. After watching for a while, Mei Cheng'an felt bored. Qingniao's swordplay had already reached a high level and had his own style. He had nothing to teach him, so he turned around and went back to the kitchenette. In the small kitchen, Huanggua was making snacks, while Mei Yuxi was standing opposite the workbench, watching Huanggua working intently and chatting with her. When Mei Chengan came in, they both looked at him. "Master." "Brother? Have you finished reading it?" Mei Chengan nodded. "I've finished reading it. The snacks are... not ready yet?" Mei Yuxi pointed at the steamer. "Sister Cucumber said it will be done soon, maybe in a cup of tea." Mei Cheng'an walked closer and took a look at the cucumber that was being pressed into patterns on the snacks using a mold. He glanced at the workbench and actually saw tea leaves. He spoke in surprise. "What kind of new snack have you invented? It actually uses tea leaves." Before Huanggua could say anything, Mei Yuxi spoke up to answer. "Sister Cucumber just had a sudden idea to combine the scent of tea with the snacks. Brother, don't you smell the faint scent of tea?" Mei Cheng'an sniffed gently upon hearing this, and it seemed that there was indeed a scent of tea coming from the steamer, but the smell was very faint, and one might not be able to smell it if one did not smell it carefully. The only tea-related foods he had tried were tea eggs and tea-flavored melon seeds, both of which tasted very good. This made him very much looking forward to this new tea-flavored snack made from cucumber. This cucumber dessert is somewhat similar in color to matcha flavored desserts because tea leaves are added to it, but the color is darker, emerald green. The dessert knocked out of the mold is in the shape of leaves with clear textures, and looks particularly realistic. Cucumber's fingers are long and thin, but not bony. When operating the mold, they slightly tilt their fingers. Their movements are elegant and smooth, which looks pleasing to the eye. Mei Cheng'an found that compared to doing handicrafts himself, watching others do handicrafts seemed more interesting. Whether it was watching cucumbers being made into snacks or watching Emperor Qing making bows and arrows, he liked it very much. He could watch quietly for a long time without saying a word. Don't ask, the answer is that it's interesting. I watched as Cucumber knocked the snack out of the last mold, gathered six of them and placed them on the bottom layer of the steamer rack, then lifted the top lid.
Along with the mist of steam, Mei Cheng'an smelled an extremely strong tea aroma. Looking closely, it looked like leaves were displayed in a steamer. (End of this chapter)