A total of 6,500 words, plus a poem. Task complete.
Living room.
Sun Shaozong and Jia Baoyu took their respective seats as host and guest. Sun Shaozong raised his chin with an air of solemnity. "Tell me, then. What hurdle is it that you can't get past?"
Jia Baoyu immediately opened his mouth, yet as the seconds ticked by, he still had no idea where to begin.
Unlike the times he had sought Sun Shaozong's advice before, he had already thought through the rights and wrongs, the gains and losses.
He knew even better that, given his position, if he truly saved Qiu Wen, he would be making an enemy of everyone in the household. Even if word got out, no one would support him.
And when he had paced outside the woodshed before finally turning away, he had in fact already made his choice.
The reason he had come to Sun Shaozong was merely because that choice had left him deeply uneasy.
"Alas."
Seeing Jia Baoyu sitting there like he was performing a mime, mouth open without a sound, his expression only growing more anguished, Sun Shaozong sighed. He casually poured a cup of tea and pushed it before Jia Baoyu, then said seriously, "In my view, what you ought to do most right now is return to YiHong Courtyard and drink yourself into a stupor!"
Though he actually wanted Jia Baoyu to leave as soon as possible so he could get back to what he had been doing inside, drowning one's sorrows in drink was indeed quite effective.
Yet Jia Baoyu merely gave a bitter smile at this, followed by another long silence.
Just as Sun Shaozong could no longer resist speaking again, Jia Baoyu finally asked faintly, "Second Brother, am I too cowardly? When Qingwen was driven