Chapter 50: Once You Enter the Palace Gates, It's Like Entering a Deep Sea; From This Day On, Your Beloved Becomes a Stranger

Inside the House of Plantains, the two girls shared a lighthearted moment of banter and play.

Once things settled down, Shi Xiangyun finally brought up what had just happened: "That Lignan girl looking all sorrowful and weeping tears—she truly bore quite a resemblance to Sister Lin, who secretly sheds tears all the time on ordinary days!"

Daiyu remembered this Lingguan. On Xue Baochai's birthday, Xiangyun had teased Daiyu with Lingguan, comparing her to a humble little actress. Daiyu hadn't been angry, but Baoyu had mistakenly assumed she was petty and narrow-minded, exchanging meaningful glances with Xiangyun, which had upset Daiyu and made her cross.

When the two of them later made up, Baoyu had shared an interesting story with her: the previous year, he had seen Lingguan using a twig to draw the character for "Rose" on the ground, over and over again.

Now, upon hearing that the Jia family was about to have its estate confiscated, Lingguan was instead joyful and delighted. That silly girl probably thought that from then on, she and Jia Qiang would share the status of servants, thereby giving her the chance to be with him forever and ever...

And was she herself not just like Lingguan?

Thinking this in her heart, Lin Daiyu could not help but let her tears fall. When Xiangyun saw this, she anxiously said, "Why is Sister Lin crying again? Just a moment ago we were laughing and talking with each other, could it be that I have said something to make your heart ache?"

Daiyu used her handkerchief to wipe away her tears and said, "It has nothing to do with you. Lately, my tears flow even more easily than before; in the span of a single day, I always end up crying seven or eight times. There is a heaviness in my chest, and once I have had a good cry, I feel much better."

Xiangyun smiled and said, "Sister Lin really is someone made entirely of tears."

As she spoke, she let out a gentle sigh: "I shed a few tears myself last night. The old matriarch said many things to me, and my heart feels heavy too. Tonight, I want to sleep with Sister Lin, share some heart-to-heart words, and cry together with you."

"Cry together about what?"

Daiyu smiled through her falling tears: "Why don't you go find your Sister Bao instead of looking for me? My sleep at night is never peaceful, and I always toss and turn, unable to fall asleep until the third watch."

Seeing the crystal-clear, watery tears brimming in Daiyu's eyes, trickling down from her eyelids to her delicate chin, Xiangyun found her immensely pitiable.

Xiangyun hurriedly urged, "Sister Lin, please stop crying! The moment you cry, I'm going to cry too!"

Daiyu softly asked her, "Did your family send a message telling you to enter the palace?"

"Mm."

Xiangyun gave a soft assent, and the two sat facing each other in silence.

After a long while, Xiangyun slumped over the table, venting the grievances pent up in her bosom just like a complaint, saying a great deal.

From her words, Daiyu could tell that Xiangyun had already accepted her fate of entering the palace in order to secure King Gan's clemency for the Shi family.

Right at that moment, Fangguan arrived, led into the room by Xueyan. Holding a delicate little golden kylin trinket in her hand, Fangguan smiled at Shi Xiangyun and asked, "Is this thing something Yun Girl dropped?"

Shi Xiangyun patted her person, found it missing, and hastily stood up to take the golden kylin from Fangguan's hand. After looking it over twice, she happily smiled and said, "It is mine! It must have fallen out while we were kicking the shuttlecock just now!"

Fangguan also smiled and said, "I guessed as much, and it was such good fortune that I happened to pick it up. If someone else had found it, there's no telling if they would have quietly hidden it away... How are you going to thank me?"

Xiangyun smiled and said, "Another day I'll bring a gift to the Pear Blossom Courtyard to thank you!"

As soon as she finished speaking, she suddenly remembered that she would soon be entering the palace, with no knowing when she might ever be able to visit the Grand View Garden again.

Daiyu was observant and, seeing her expression, guessed what she was thinking. She smiled and said, "Once you cross the palace gates, it is as deep as the sea; from then on, your beloved becomes a passing stranger. Don't wait for another day—let it be today. When Yun Girl comes back another day, you'll have to kneel to receive her favors!"

This remark was a playful tease hinting that Xiangyun was about to enter the palace as a royal consort.

Knowing that Daiyu was avoiding her father's taboo character of "Hai," Shi Xiangyun did not dwell on her slip of the tongue. Instead, she blushed and said, "I haven't even crossed the palace gates yet, so where on earth would this beloved stranger come from?"

"Why has Second Brother Bao come?"

Zijuan's voice drifted over. Turning their heads, Daiyu and Xiangyun saw Jia Baoyu standing at the doorway, tears streaming down his face as he repeatedly muttered, "Once the palace gates are entered it is as deep as the sea, from then on your beloved becomes a passing stranger... Sister Lin, are you still going to enter the palace?"

Upon hearing this, Daiyu turned her head and walked straight into the inner room, ignoring him completely.

Inside the House of Plantains, the two girls shared a lighthearted moment of banter and play.

Shi Xiangyun said, "The one entering the palace is me."

"Ah!"

Jia Baoyu was both startled and frantic, and hastily blurted out, "Yun Sister, do you truly intend to yield your body to that bandit king?!"

Shi Xiangyun knew his temperament well, so she advised him, "Second Elder Brother, please do stop saying such things. Who is the official and who is the bandit? A hundred years ago, our two families followed the Founding Emperor in taking up arms in revolt—back then, we were bandits too. It's just that now the tides have turned, and the imperial domain has become someone else's. Even if your heart aches for Sister Lin, you must no longer call him a bandit; you should call him King Gan."

Hearing this, Baoyu declared, "Young lady, please go sit in another room! I might sully you, the Consort of King Gan!"

Shi Xiangyun's face flushed bright red, half from embarrassment and half from anger. Ignoring him entirely, she turned and walked into Sister Lin's room, only to find her sitting on the bed, weeping bitterly as if she meant to exhaust every single tear she possessed.

In the letter Second Brother Lian had sent into the palace, only two names were written: hers, and Yingchun's.

She had heard from Madam Wang that Sister Bao's name was originally supposed to be included as well, but since Baochai was a guest in the Jia household, there was no logical reason to send her into the palace first.

"Sister Lin, please don't cry."

Shi Xiangyun hugged her tightly. "Once I enter the palace, I will beg King Gan for mercy on your behalf!"

She had already made her preparations to enter the palace.

Who would have thought that in the afternoon, when Dai Wei returned, he would bring back only a single piece of news.

"King Gan simply said he understood?"

Everyone high and low in the Jia household was left guessing at King Gan's true intent. Did he mean for them to wait, or was he utterly indifferent?

Lady Xing, Madam Wang, Wang Xifeng, and You Shi—who could not return to the East Mansion—all hurried over to the Old Matriarch's quarters.

Tanchun's mother, Concubine Zhao, went as well.

Jia Zheng, Jia She, Jia Lian, and the others also gathered in the study to discuss whether they should send more young ladies into the palace, or perhaps swap a few names out—substituting Tanchun, Baochai, Baoqin, and others who had already agreed to enter.

Inside the House of Plantains.

"This is sheer torture!"

Hearing the news, Shi Xiangyun paced back and forth inside the room, her small brow furrowed in utter grievance and vexation.

Earlier, when she had agreed to enter the palace, she had worried about what awaited her there. But now that King Gan was not making her enter, she grew worried about the Shi family instead, wondering if King Gan was dissatisfied with her status as a marquise's daughter.

"Sister Lin, do you think it's because that antique dealerLeng Zixing failed to mention me that King Gan took a dislike to me?"

Shi Xiangyun was even fretting over this.

Having spent her entire life from childhood within inner courtyards, people on the outside had no way of knowing her character or appearance. Perhaps King Gan found her name unfamiliar in the letter and thus no longer wished for them to enter the palace.

Lin Daiyu was reclining on the heated brick bed, her delicate frame radiating the fragile beauty of a sickly Xishi. After a long moment, she finally spoke:

"Yun Sister, do you truly believe he learned about the young ladies of the manor from Leng Zixing?"

Because King Gan had not summoned them into the palace, Jia Lian had spilled everything about the questions King Gan had asked during that meeting while he was with the Old Matriarch.

Daiyu had also learned that King Gan knew her family background, had inquired about her temperament, and had even asked whether she was betrothed to Baoyu.

When Second Brother Lian blurted out those words, the entire room had stared straight at her, leaving Daiyu so mortified and vexed that she had covered her face with her handkerchief.

Fortunately, King Gan had also asked about many others—Baochai, Baoqin, Xiuyan, Miaoyu, and even Qin Keqing, who was already married.

He seemed to know practically everything about the Ning-Rong households and the Grand View Garden!

Inside the House of Plantains, the two girls shared a lighthearted moment of banter and play.

Shi Xiangyun said, "If it wasn't Leng Zixing who told him, how else could he know so much about the inner affairs of the manor?"

Daiyu did not reply, harboring a lingering doubt in her heart:

How did he know about the scabby-headed monk? Was the scabby-headed monk he mentioned the very same one who had come to her home in her early childhood, trying to persuade her to leave the secular world and become a nun?

King Gan had asked about many things, and while no one else had paid attention to such a trivial detail, Daiyu alone felt deeply suspicious.

Could he be an immortal, capable of foretelling the future through divination?

That night, Lin Daiyu and Shi Xiangyun slept together. Each absorbed in her own heavy thoughts, they fell asleep very late.

Rising the next morning, Daiyu and Xiangyun were standing before the mirror to comb their hair and apply makeup when a wet nurse suddenly cried out from outside: "Terrible news! The Jia family estate has been confiscated!!"

The hairpin in Daiyu's hand slipped from her grasp, clattering sharply against the table twice.

Her face drained completely of color.

Shi Xiangyun tossed aside her rouge box, rushed outside to stop the wet nurse, and returned a moment later to tell her: "King Gan has issued an imperial decree ordering the confiscation of the estates of all princes, nobles, and titled personages throughout the city without exception."

Zijuan and Xueyan also halted their tasks, staring at her in stunned silence.

"Baoyu—"

Lin Daiyu tried to rise to her feet, but her legs were too weak to support her.

Xiangyun said, "The men are sentenced to hard labor, and the women are to be relegated to the inner palace courts."

"Ah!"

Xueyan covered her mouth in shock.

Zijuan could not help but glance at Daiyu. Would her young mistress also be degraded to humble status and forced into the inner palace courts?

Within the Jia household—from the Old Matriarch, Madam Wang, Wang Xifeng, and Li Wan down to the young maidens of the boudoir like Jia Yingchun, Jia Tanchun, Jia Xichun, and Shi Xiangyun—were they all to be sent into the inner palace courts as maidservants?

"What about the Lin family? What about the Xue family?" Zijuan asked.

Strictly speaking, Lin Daiyu, Xue Baochai, Xue Baoqin, Xing Xiuyan, and the others were not members of the Jia family.

"King Gan's decree didn't mention them... Presumably, not a single one will escape; everyone must enter the palace."

Shi Xiangyun said.

Her mind was buzzing, as though she were floating untethered in the sky. Her limbs refused to obey her, and she had no idea what she was doing.

Only a single thought echoed overwhelmingly in her mind: Confiscation of the estate... confiscation of the estate...

"I'm going to see the Old Matriarch!"

Lin Daiyu swayed as she forced herself to her feet, and Zijuan hurried forward to steady her.

Leaving the House of Plantains, stepping out of the Grand View Garden, and entering the main residence, even before drawing close to the Old Matriarch's quarters, the sounds of mournful weeping drifted in from every direction.

At this very moment, how many people within the Jia household were weeping bitter tears?