Zhou Shaojin couldn't figure out what Madam Guo wanted to say to him.
She went to Hanbi Mountain House with some trepidation.
Hanbi Mountain House was being dusted. On the walkways, under the verandas, and in front of the windows were maids and old women holding rags, and they all looked unfamiliar.
Biyu smiled and told her: "It's from Yunzhen Hall, come over to help."
Zhou Shaojin said "Oh".
Biyu led her to the backyard of the main house.
It was quiet there, with not many people around. Old Madam Guo was sitting on the couch, bending over and talking to Madam Shi who was sitting on a small stool.
Seeing Zhou Shaojin come in, the old man waved at her with a pleasant face.
Zhou Shaojin stepped forward and knelt to pay his respects to the old lady. Biyu brought a brocade stool and placed it opposite Nanny Shi.
"I heard that something happened in your family." Madam Guo motioned Zhou Shaojin to sit down and talk, and said, "Your father is not in Jinling City. Does the government need your uncle Jing to come forward and say hello?"
Zhou Shaojin was very surprised.
Mrs. Guo was known for not caring about other people's affairs, so she really didn't expect that she would be treated like this.
She hurriedly thanked Madam Guo: "... Uncle Mian has already been to the Fu Ya, and the two maids have been imprisoned."
The implication is that there is no need for Mrs. Guo's help.
Madam Guo raised her eyebrows, glanced at Nanny Shi, and said with a smile, "What an honest maid."
Is this a compliment or an insult
Zhou Shaojin was a little unsure.
Mrs. Guo had already taken out a large red purse embroidered with auspicious cloud patterns from the black gilded lacquer box beside her and handed it to her: "Here, I'll give it to you for the New Year."
Zhou Shaojin was stunned.
It’s not even the New Year yet!
Mrs. Guo started laughing and said, "It's New Year's Day, I bought you some snacks."
I dare not refuse the gift given by the elder.
Zhou Shaojin thanked him repeatedly, and when he took the purse, he almost dropped it because of its heavy weight.
When he returned to Wanxiangju and opened the bag, he found that it was full of golden beans.
Zhou Shaojin was a little amused.
Why didn't Mrs. Guo reward her with twenty taels of silver like her grandmother did
There is no need to worry about using the silver, but how can she use the gold beans
After Mrs. Mian knew about it, she tapped Zhou Shaojin's forehead and said, "You are really like what Mrs. Guo said, a really honest girl - how can your uncle Mian's reputation compare to your uncle Jing's reputation? Mrs. Guo means well, you just take the name card. Even if you can't use it this time, you can use it next time if there is anything!"
"Can business cards be used like this?" Zhou Shaojin was very surprised.
Mrs. Miao smiled and said to Mrs. Guan: "Listen to this, listen to this, what are you talking about? How could she be brought up to be ignorant of everything?"
Old Lady Guan laughed, hugged Zhou Shaojin and said, "Don't listen to your aunt, you did the right thing. Although we are women, we must act uprightly, look up to the heavens and bow down to the earth, and be worthy of our words and deeds."
Zhou Shaojin nodded repeatedly.
She thought so too.
I will not give up what is mine, but I will not covet what is not mine. This way I can sleep peacefully.
Mrs. Miao was not happy with what she said and laughed, "I just said one sentence and you said ten sentences to me. If I scold Shao Jin in front of you, wouldn't you punish me by making me kneel in the ancestral hall? You are too partial."
Everyone in the room laughed.
Zhou Shaojin was also smiling as he held Zhou Chujin's arm.
There was a hint of moisture in her eyes.
She likes such a grandmother and such an aunt.
We are like a family, we can talk without restraint and laugh heartily.
Cheng Mian discussed the New Year's Eve with Mrs. Guan: "… From the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month to the 4th day of the first lunar month, it's the same. On the 5th day, I'm afraid He will take Dalang and Erlang back to Pukou - He's third room's eldest aunt and several nephews will spend the New Year in Pukou this year, and will set off for the capital after the Lantern Festival."
Mrs. Mian was a daughter of the He family in Pukou. In the early years, the family was also well-off. However, in recent years, apart from He Mian, who was appointed as the Left Minister of Public Administration, there were no other outstanding figures in the third branch, and it was no longer as prosperous as it was in the past. The "third branch aunt" mentioned by Cheng Mian was He Mianzhi's wife.
Before Zhou Shaojin was reborn, He Mianzhi was the Chief Justice of Dali Temple. It was he who told his brother-in-law the news that Cheng family was raided.
She also knew that Mrs. Mian brought Cheng Gao and Cheng Yi with her this time because she wanted to ask for Cheng Gao to marry He Mianzhi's eldest daughter He Fengping.
In her previous life, she didn’t know about this until Cheng Gao and He Fengping got engaged.
But in this life... She looked at Cheng Gao and smiled.
Cheng Gao was puzzled.
Cheng Yi pulled her sleeve and whispered, "Second cousin, who was the guest in your room that day? She was so beautiful! Was it Miss Seventeen from the Gu family? I heard from cousin Jia that you two once went to release river lanterns together during the Ghost Festival."
It turns out that he is still thinking about Jiying.
Zhou Shaojin said with some gloating, "She is the head maid in Uncle Chi's room, her name is Jiying."
"Impossible!" Cheng Yi jumped up.
The sound was deafening.
Cheng Mian and others who were talking to Old Lady Guan all looked over. Cheng Mian said solemnly, "How old are you? You are still so clumsy and impatient! Copy the "Encouragement to Study" chapter of the Analects of Confucius a hundred times for me."
Cheng Yi replied "yes" in a low voice without saying a word of defense. He lowered his head dejectedly and stood there alone in a daze. He did not stop until everyone was about to leave. Then he silently followed Cheng Gao out of Jiashu Hall.
Is it because my words were too harsh
But I didn’t say anything!
Zhou Shaojin returned to Wanxiangju anxiously.
As a result, Cheng Yi came early the next morning before she got up.
He wore a purple-red robe with blue silver silk auspicious cloud patterns. His face was rosy and he looked very energetic. He stood in her hall with his head held high and said to her, "Second cousin, I have made up my mind. Even if Jiying is the head maid in Uncle Chi's room, so what? There are elders who give their personal maids to the younger generation as concubines." He was afraid that Zhou Shaojin would not believe him, so he took out a copy of the family tree from somewhere, pointed to a page and said, "Look, the birth mother of the seventh generation ancestor's eldest son was given by my uncle. I can ask Uncle Chi to give Jiying to me."
Another one who mistook Jiying for Uncle Chi’s concubine.
Zhou Shaojin looked at Cheng Yi with sympathy.
She felt that if Cheng Yi said this to Uncle Chi, even if Uncle Chi didn't say anything, Ji Ying would still punish him severely.
Just like Jiying also knew about "lighting sky lanterns".
She asked Cheng Yi: "When are you going to go?"
"I'll go in a minute." Cheng Yi stepped back a few steps, pointed at his clothes, and said, "How do you think I look? Do I look okay?"
"Then have breakfast here first!" Zhou Shaojin said, "If you go over at this time, Jiying might not have gotten up yet!"
"No way?" Cheng Yi asked doubtfully, "Isn't she the head maid in Uncle Chi's room?"
"Isn't it the head maid's turn to be on duty?" Zhou Shaojin asked him impatiently.
"That's right!" Cheng Yi was afraid that his clothes would wrinkle, so he carefully sat on the armchair beside him and said, "Then you can ask the maid to bring me a bowl of white porridge... No, it's better to bring me some steamed dumplings, so that I don't have to go to the official room later."
Zhou Shaojin went out and whispered to Shi Xiang to call Madam Mian over, and then asked the maid to serve breakfast. She then returned to the hall and said to Cheng Yi calmly, "Please sit down for a while. I have only combed half of my hair!"
"Okay, okay, okay." Cheng Yi said with a beaming face, "Go wash up quickly, I can handle it by myself."
Zhou Shaojin said "hmm" and went back to the inner room, listening to the noise outside.
Mrs. Miao arrived quickly, grabbed Cheng Yi's ear and dragged him out of Zhou Shaojin's room.
Cheng Yi screamed "Ouch" and loudly accused Zhou Shaojin: "You actually betrayed me. From now on, we will have no ties with each other and will never have any contact with each other again..."
"What did you say?" Mrs. Miao said viciously, "Who do you want to break off all ties with? I'll tell you if I can tell your father to break your legs..."
Cheng Yi and Mrs. Mian left Wanxiangju amidst a quarrel.
Cheng Chi burst into laughter upon hearing this and said, "Did Cheng Yi really say that the birth mother of the seventh generation ancestor's eldest son was given by his uncle?"
Huaishan was terrified.
The Fourth Master has been very irritable these days. He won't really give Jiying to Cheng Yi just because he's unhappy, right
He couldn't help but pursed his lips and said carefully: "I don't know whether the words that were spread out are true or false?"
Cheng Chi looked at him without comment.
Huaishan broke out in a cold sweat.
Cheng Chi asked, "Did those two maids really kill Zhuang?"
"It's absolutely true." Seeing that he changed the subject, Huaishan relaxed and said, "Ma Fushan, the manager of the Zhou family, bribed the jailer in the prison, and the jailer arranged the old woman who abused her daughter-in-law to death with the two maids. The old woman saw that one of the two maids had her tendons cut and was half disabled, and the other was as skinny as a bamboo and had no strength, so she soon started to bully the two maids... This was what the old woman asked after the two maids were scared of being beaten."
Cheng Chi tapped the table with his fingertips and said, "After returning home to worship their ancestors during the Duanxing Festival, the sisters frequently left the house. In the end, they found out the real cause of their mother's death and even had someone trick the maid back..." He asked Huaishan, "Do you think this is a coincidence?"
"I don't know." Huaishan said honestly, "I don't think the two young ladies of the Zhou family are sinister and cunning."
"Really?" Cheng Chi said calmly, "If you can see the insidiousness and cunningness, then it can't be called insidiousness and cunningness."
Huaishan wanted to say something but stopped.
Cheng Chi didn't even look at him, and changed the subject, saying, "Have all the things for Liu Yong been delivered to him?"
"It's delivered." When talking about business, Huaishan shuddered and said, "Liu Yong thanked you and said that if you go to Beijing someday, don't forget to visit his villa. He also said that he would ask you to bear more of Wan Tong's matter. That's his personality. If you give a papaya, you will get a jade in return. He will make up for your losses, so you can rest assured."
Cheng Chi raised his lips in disdain and said, "My loss? How can he make up for it? He can just say hello to the Lianghuai Salt Transport Commissioner and ask him to give us this year's salt permits. But Jiangnan is so big, if we take it all, those censors will be so angry that they will spit all over. You go and tell him that there is no need for compensation. I just want a vacancy of the fourth rank."
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Sisters, there are only two updates today.
O(∩_∩)o
※(To be continued)