My severed limb was reattached after all, so updates have been unstable. Please forgive me; I'll try to improve gradually—though they were never very stable before.
Because they were besieged by a large number of creditors—mostly people who had once fawned over the Jia family, but now, in their eagerness to distance themselves, sent people to the door almost daily to threaten them—it had become difficult even to enter or leave Rongguo Mansion.
However, given Sun Shaozong's current reputation and power, no one foolish enough to come forward and make noise dared approach him.
Including the renowned physician he had invited, three carriages drove in one after another as if no one else existed. Only after the side gate slammed shut did the creditors, who had been keeping silent on both sides, gather beneath the gate tower like flies to shelter from the snow and wind.
From the side gate to the inner gate, he hurried along as though merely taking in the sights. Others might not have noticed anything, but someone like Sun Shaozong, who came and went here often, could not help feeling a pang of sadness.
The mansion was indeed deserted, with few carriages or visitors.
Yet when he arrived at the Small Courtyard where Baoyu had shut himself away to study, he felt something entirely different.
Wasn't this the place where he had stayed several times before?
Ping Er, Lin Hongyu, Li Wan...
And Aunt Xue.
"Why did this have to trouble Second Master too?"
As he was thinking of those random old memories, a sweet voice suddenly rang out from the courtyard. Li Wan had come out with Madam You to greet him.
The Rong and Ning Mansions had always stood together. Since Rongguo Mansion had suffered disaster, Ningguo Mansion naturally could not escape unscathed.