Zhou Shaojin didn't think this was a joke.
She took the invitation with a smile and said, "I'll talk to my sister."
Hongrui left satisfied.
Zhou Shaojin threw the post addressed to himself into the trash can, took the post addressed to Zhou Chujin and went to her.
Zhou Chujin took the post and looked at it, then asked her sister, "Are you going?"
"No preparations." Zhou Shaojin said, "If I don't accept the invitation, Hongrui will probably keep nagging, and may even attract Grandma Shida. I won't go then."
Zhou Chujin smiled and said, "Then I won't go either."
Zhou Shaojin said, "I'm going to hide in Hanbi Mountain House. Sister, do you want to come with me?"
"No need." Zhou Chujin smiled, winked at her and said, "I have somewhere to go too!"
Zhou Shaojin was surprised.
Zhou Chujin told her: "The He family will come over to discuss the dowry in the next few days. I have to help my aunt entertain them."
When people in Jiangnan get married, the bride has to bring dowry and the groom has to buy a house. When the wedding date is set, the family who is going to marry their daughter will come to the groom's house to look at the house, and then buy a full set of dowry according to the size of the house.
Zhou Shaojin smiled and said, "Then I'll go and help."
"You'd better hide in Hanbi Mountain House." Zhou Chujin said meaningfully, "Grandma Shi mainly invited you. If you are ambiguous, she will definitely do it again."
That's right. If she went to help her aunt, my grandmother would think it was a coincidence. But if she hid in Hanbi Mountain House, she would have made her attitude very clear.
Zhou Shaojin's eyes lit up and he said, "I wonder what grandma would say?"
Zhou Chujin reminded her: "If grandma was afraid of offending the second house, why would she listen to you and investigate the matter of the sacrificial field?"
Only then did Zhou Shaojin feel relieved.
On the day when Grandma Shida held a poetry reading, she had breakfast and went to the Liyin Pavilion to play chess with Cheng Chi.
Cheng Chi dropped the book he was reading and asked her, "Do you want to play Gobang or Chengsanqi?"
Zhou Shaojin blushed slightly and whispered, "Can we play Go?"
"Okay!" Cheng Chi agreed readily, and told Qingfeng to fetch the chessboard, and placed it under the corridor of the Oriole Hall, and said, "I'll let you play with two pieces."
Five pieces are connected to form a piece, so that two pieces...
Zhou Shaojin was eager to try and readily agreed.
Cheng Chi smiled and said, "You're welcome."
Zhou Shaojin laughed: "Uncle Chi is an elder, why should I be polite in front of an elder!"
They had played Go before, so Uncle Chi must know each other's level.
Cheng Chi smiled slightly.
In the first game, Cheng Chi won after the tenth move.
Zhou Shaojin smiled awkwardly.
In the second set, she responded carefully, and by the seventeenth move, Cheng Chi won.
Zhou Shaojin was greatly encouraged.
In the third set, she played more carefully.
When they were at the twelfth step, Qingfeng came over and whispered something in Cheng Chi's ear.
Cheng Chi nodded and continued playing chess with Zhou Shaojin.
Zhou Shaojin suspected that it was someone from Grandma Shi who came to find her, but since she came here to avoid disaster, not to mention that Cheng Chi didn't say anything, even if his tone was unclear, she would pretend not to understand and refuse to leave.
She continued to play chess with Cheng Chi.
Mrs. Guo heard the news and asked with a smile, "Are the two of them playing chess under the veranda?"
"Yes!" Biyu laughed, "It is said that the second cousin always loses."
Madam Guo laughed and said, "It shows that the second cousin is good at chess, otherwise Si Lang would not have played with her all the time." She added, "The veranda of the upper room of the Oriole Hall faces north and south, and there is an alley on the east side, which is the coolest in summer. It is a good place to play chess." Then she instructed Biyu, "Give twenty taels of silver to the kitchen and ask them to prepare some snacks for the fourth master and Shao Jin."
Jade responded crisply, went to Jadeite to weigh the silver and took it to the kitchen.
The people in the kitchen were so scared that they didn't dare to accept the money. It was only after Biyu's persuasion that they took the silver with trepidation. They made a few of her specialty snacks and brought them over. A little maidservant brought some fruits and vegetables to serve them.
Cheng Chi was enjoying snacks leisurely.
Zhou Shaojin was so engrossed in playing chess that he reached out and picked up a plum and slowly ate it.
The two of them played ten games leisurely.
Zhou Shaojin won a game.
Her eyes curved immediately, and she brushed the chess piece aside with great morale, saying, "Let's play another game."
Cheng Chi leaned lazily on the back of his chair and said, "It's getting late, don't you have to go back for lunch?"
Zhou Shaojin smiled bitterly, stood up and said, "I have something to do and need to go find Jiying."
Cheng Chi raised his eyebrows with a smile.
Zhou Shaojin's face was burning. He didn't dare to look at Cheng Chi any longer and quickly went to the room at the back.
Jiying was taking a bath. When she heard that she had arrived, she asked the maid to invite her to the inner room for tea.
Zhou Shaojin asked curiously, "It's broad daylight, and it's not the dog days yet. Why are you taking a bath?"
The little maid didn't know either.
As he was talking, Ji Jian came in with wet hair and said vaguely, "I got up this morning and moved around, and I was sweating all over." Then he said, "Weren't you playing chess with the Fourth Master? Why did you come to me?"
Zhou Shaojin told Jiying that her grandmother invited her to attend a poetry reading.
Ji Ying laughed loudly, patted her shoulder and said, "Don't worry, don't worry, just stay here, no one can take you away."
Zhou Shaojin hurriedly thanked her.
Ji Ying asked her, "What do you like to eat? I'll ask the kitchen to make it. After lunch, you can take a nap here so that you can go copy the scriptures in the afternoon."
Zhou Shaojin nodded repeatedly and told Chunwan: "Go and see how Grandma Shi is doing."
Chunwan turned around and left the room.
Nanping heard that she was coming and came over to say hello. She heard that Jiying had invited Zhou Shaojin to have dinner with her and Zhou Shaojin had accepted. She smiled and asked the kitchen to add a few more dishes and left the space for Zhou Shaojin and Jiying.
The two had just sat down at the table when Chunwan came back. She said, "Mrs. Shi's family just had a banquet, and all the ladies came. I sent people to look for you this morning, but later I heard that you were playing chess with the fourth master, so I didn't look for you again. But I left a message for the maid at Wanxiangju, asking you to go there after you return, because there are a few ladies I want to introduce to you."
Zhou Shaojin said nothing.
This was what she had hoped for, but for some reason, when she heard the Spring Festival Gala say this, she felt very complicated.
She thought of Cheng Chi's slightly nonchalant behavior when he played chess with her.
Uncle Chi must have known the reason why she went to play chess with him.
That's why I agreed so readily.
Then, just like accompanying a naughty child, not only was he very tolerant and did not expose her, he also patiently accompanied her in the play and helped her out of the situation without making a sound.
Just like treating fireflies.
Because he knew that Jiao Ziyang was not someone Jiying could trust for life, he did not say a word when the Ji family changed people, and even when Jiao Ziyang misunderstood that Jiying was his concubine, he did not explain, so that Jiying always misunderstood him. When Jiying got into trouble and returned to the Cheng family, he still remained silent, took in Jiying without saying anything, and let the people of the Ji family use him as a shield. And the second room plotted against him like this, but he just smiled and said nothing.
Is it because of this that Uncle Chi left Jiuru Lane in his previous life
There are some things that cannot be said, and if they are said, it would be disregarding the relationship between brothers; there are some things that cannot be done, and if they are done, it would be disloyal and unfilial... Even though he was obviously unhappy, for the sake of Mrs. Guo, he spent the whole morning sitting there playing Gobang with her, just to tell Mrs. Guo that he was living well and happily in Hanbi Mountain Villa.
He must be very depressed.
Just like my previous life, I only wanted to get married quickly - after getting married, I could leave here legitimately and live a brand new life...
Zhou Shaojin felt a dull pain in his heart, and the joy of refusing to meet the first wife also disappeared.
Zhou Chujin was very happy and said, "My eldest cousin's wife's dowry is estimated to be eight thousand taels of silver. I thought that since she is the eldest daughter and has younger brothers, Mrs. He would have to be frugal. I didn't expect that she would be so generous. It shows that she is very satisfied with her son-in-law, cousin Gao..."
She talked for a long time but no one responded. When she turned around, she found Zhou Shaojin sitting there with his elbows on his chin, looking dazed.
Zhou Chujin smiled and patted his sister's head, saying, "What are you thinking about? Do you regret not eating the delicacies at Jiangbei Building and Meiyan Building?"
"How could that be?" Zhou Shaojin said with a smile, "I was thinking about how to repay Uncle Chi... He has helped me so many times, but I can't do anything for him... I always feel like I owe him..."
"This debt of favor is the hardest to repay." Zhou Chujin sighed and comforted her, "There is still a long time to go. We can talk about it when we have the chance in the future."
Zhou Shaojin nodded solemnly.
Zhou Chujin talked about Chixiang and Shixiang: "… Both of them are family-born children. I have already asked Chixiang, and she is willing to follow me and marry into the Liao family. Shixiang is much older than you. I want to ask you, do you have any plans for Shixiang? If not, I want to take a letter to her mother and father, and ask them to come over and arrange Shixiang's marriage."
Zhou Shaojin said: "Then call her mother and father over! I'm afraid her own mother and father are more reliable in this matter."
In her previous life, Shi Xiang married a boy who lived on the same farm as her mother and father. His surname seemed to be Shi, and they lived a pretty good life.
In this life, it is best not to change good things.
Zhou Chujin gave orders and asked someone to take a letter to invite Shi Xiang's mother and father over.
Later, Shi Xiang received the letter and was so excited that she burst into tears.
What she was most worried about was being randomly picked out by Zhou Shaojin. Now that she had her mother and father to manage the household for her, she would never marry a man with missing limbs, no matter how poor he was.
In this way, Zhou Shaojin would have one less servant by his side.
Chunwan has always been capable. Zhou Chujin plans to promote Chunwan to be the head maid in Zhou Shaojin's room after Shi Xiang is released, and then pick one from among the current servants to fill Chunwan's vacancy.
Zhou Shaojin directly chose the maid named Bitao.
In her previous life, after Shi Xiang left the mansion, her sister chose Bitao to serve her. Later, when she got into trouble, Chunwan and Bitao served her wholeheartedly. If it weren't for these two maids helping her run around, she would not even be able to drink water.
This was Zhou Shaojin's idea, so Zhou Chujin did not interfere. He directly brought Bitao to Zhou Shaojin's room and asked Chunwan to take her with him.
Seeing that the two young ladies were kind and easy-going, the servants in Wanxiangju felt that they had a purpose. They worked with a smile on their face and looked more energetic than the people in the other courtyards.
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Today's update, sisters.
O(∩_∩)O~
It's snowing heavily here. I wonder how the weather is in your area? Everyone should keep warm. Many people around me have caught a cold.
PS: I don’t know why, I can’t log in to Qidian these days, so I can only ask my friends to post for me…
※(To be continued)