At night, Mrs. Guo and Zhou Shaojin slept on the lacquered bed in the inner room. Behind a screen was the Luohan bed where Song Sen slept.
Song Sen's wet nurse sat by the bed and coaxed him.
He tossed and turned, unable to sleep, and kept looking inside through the screen.
Mrs. Guo frowned.
Zhou Shaojin said softly, "I'll go and comfort him. You should go to bed early. Tomorrow morning, Lao An from the Zong family will come to greet you!"
Mrs. Guo had always been worried and had trouble sleeping since she was young. She was not sleepy at all. She sighed and said, "Don't worry about him. Just take a rest. If he cries, his nurse will take care of him."
This sounds good, but if Song Sen starts crying, it will be Madam Guo who will not be able to sleep well.
Zhou Shaojin smiled and said, "I'll be back soon after I take a look. This child seemed to be fine before, but he suddenly became stubborn when he was eating. Maybe he wants to be petted. If this child is obedient, it's fine. If not, I won't spoil him."
Otherwise, wouldn't it be a waste of Mrs. Guo's protectiveness
Mrs. Guo disagreed.
Biyu, who was on night duty, winked at Zhou Shaojin.
Zhou Shaojin walked over pretending to drink tea.
Biyu whispered, "If you can comfort the child, please do so! The old lady has never had a good sleep."
Zhou Shaojin understood, drank some tea, tucked in the quilt for Mrs. Guo, and insisted on going to see Song Sen.
Mrs. Guo couldn't stop her by force, so she had to let her go.
When Song Sen saw Zhou Shaojin coming over, he scratched his head with joy, pulled Zhou Shaojin's hand and said, "Sister, you are so beautiful! Do you have a sister? Can you let your sister go with me? I will treat her well!"
Zhou Shaojin smiled and touched his head, saying, "I don't have a younger sister, only an older sister."
Song Sen was very disappointed and said, "I have many sisters, but none of them is as pretty as Sister Zhou. Are you going back to Jinling tomorrow? I still have to go to Haining with my grandfather. Sister, will you go to Beijing in the future? My family lives in the fifth house from east to west in the four alleys next to Di'anmen. Sister, if you go to Beijing, you can come to visit me. If you encounter any difficulties, you can also come to me."
Zhou Shaojin replied with a smile, "Okay," and said, "Go to sleep! You still have to go back to the city tomorrow!"
Song Sen nodded obediently, as well-behaved as a girl, without any of the rudeness he had just shown.
Song Sen's nurse whispered, "Usually the Fifth Master is very obedient. He just likes the Second Cousin too much."
Zhou Shaojin just smiled and said nothing.
The room became quiet.
Just when Zhou Shaojin thought Song Sen had fallen asleep and was about to leave, Song Sen suddenly opened her eyes again and called out "Sister" to Zhou Shaojin.
Zhou Shaojin smiled and asked, "What's wrong?"
Song Sen asked, "Sister, are you betrothed to someone?"
Zhou Shaojin blushed slightly and said, "Little kid, don't talk nonsense."
"I'm not talking nonsense." Song Sen pouted and said unhappily, "My eldest brother is going to marry my sister-in-law. My father wants my eldest brother to marry the niece of my deceased eldest aunt, but my brother doesn't want to. He came to my mother, but my mother didn't dare to tell my father. Sister Zhou, my brother is also very handsome. My third cousin wants to marry my eldest brother, but I don't like her. When no one is around, she has a stern face and looks like someone owes her money. I told my mother, and she didn't want her to marry my eldest brother. You marry my brother! Then you can go back to the capital with me. My mother is very good. My mother has no daughter. My mother often says that she wants to give me a sister. I don't want a sister, I want Sister Zhou..."
Zhou Shaojin was both amused and annoyed. He patted him gently and said, "Alright, alright. Go to sleep! We'll talk about this later."
Song Sen crawled out of the quilt in dissatisfaction, his face tense, and said, "Sister Zhou, are you going back to the capital with me?"
"I can't go back to the capital with you." Zhou Shaojin saw that the child was obsessed with this matter, and said to him seriously, "I have parents and family, so I naturally want to be with them. As for going to your house, I grew up in Jinling, and my relatives are all in Jinling. I'm not planning to go to the capital. I appreciate your kindness."
Adults always think that children are young and that their problems are usually not that important, so they either treat them carelessly or perfunctorily. Few people talk to Song Sen like an adult, like Zhou Shaojin does.
Although Song Sen was sad after hearing this, he also felt that what she said made sense and he couldn't afford to cheat.
"You really can't go?" he asked unwillingly.
"I really can't go!" Zhou Shaojin said seriously, "Think about it, if someone likes you and thinks he can give you a luxurious life, and takes you away from your mother, making it difficult for you to see your parents and brothers again, will you follow that person just for the luxurious life?"
"Of course not." Song Sen said without hesitation.
"You won't either!" Zhou Shaojin said with a smile, "No matter how good your family is, I won't feel good if you keep me away from my parents and sister!"
Song Sen stopped talking.
Zhou Shaojin smiled and tucked him into the quilt: "Go to sleep! Stop thinking about it. If you miss me, you can ask your grandfather to take you to Jinling City to see me!"
"Okay, okay!" Song Sen's face lit up, and he stretched out his finger to make a pinky promise with Zhou Shaojin, "... You are not allowed to deny it for a hundred years."
"Okay!" Zhou Shaojin and Song Sen made a pinky promise.
Song Sen fell asleep peacefully.
Behind the screen, Mrs. Guo listened to their whispers and couldn't help but smile with relief. She turned sideways and fell asleep with a smile.
※
Mrs. Song was so upset about her son's disgrace that she couldn't sleep all night. She got up and dressed at dawn the next day and walked around the house. She finally waited until the morning glow dyed the sky red. Only then did she go to Mrs. Guo with dark circles under her eyes.
Everyone in the main room had washed and dressed neatly. Old Madam Guo wore a yellow rattan-dyed silk jacket with a pattern of four seasons of peace. Her graying hair was neatly tied behind her head. She looked refreshed and was having breakfast. Song Sen wore a dark red gown with a cloth belt of the same color tied around his waist with two or three pouches hanging from it. He sat on the embroidered cushion below Old Madam Guo like a little adult, and Zhou Shaojin was feeding him breakfast.
When he saw his mother, he swallowed the food in his mouth, jumped off the embroidered cushion, respectfully bowed to his mother and said good morning.
Mrs. Song was a little confused.
Her usually obedient and sensible son suddenly started crying and making a fuss as if possessed by a demon. He insisted on sleeping with Zhou Shaojin, whom she had only met once. She was worried all night. When she saw her son again, he seemed to have been cast under a spell and suddenly returned to his original state.
Was she possessed by a demon or was her son possessed by something
She opened her mouth and stammered, "Are you okay?" After that, her eyes turned red, and she hugged her son, choking with sobs, "Sen'er, are you okay? You scared me yesterday..."
"Mom, I'm fine." Song Sen said with a happy and somewhat proud smile, "Sister Zhou promised me that if she goes to the capital, she will come to visit me. When I am free, I can also go to Jinling City with my grandfather to see Sister Zhou."
Mrs. Song's face flushed.
My son is still making trouble for Miss Zhou.
"Madam, second cousin," she said with a blushing look on her face, "children are ignorant, please don't take it to heart."
Madam Guo laughed and said, "You also said that he is a child, why would we bother with him? Haven't you had breakfast yet? The kitchen made soup dumplings today, and they taste pretty good, you can have some too!"
Mrs. Song only felt hungry at this time. She thanked him embarrassedly and sat down to have breakfast with Mrs. Guo.
Not long after breakfast, Cheng Chi, Song Min and others came back.
Madam Guo hurriedly urged Madam Lu to go and ask.
Zhou Shaojin, contrary to his usual behavior, stopped Madam Lu and said, "Madam, please ask the Fourth Master and Mr. Song if they have had breakfast. If they haven't had breakfast, please tell the kitchen staff."
Madam Lu looked towards Old Madam Guo.
Madam Guo nodded and said, "Second girl, you are very thoughtful. Remember to ask Silang and Mr. Song if they have had breakfast first."
Nanny Lu smiled respectfully and responded, then went to the outer courtyard.
After a while, she came back and reported, "The Fourth Master and Mr. Song have already had breakfast. The Fourth Master said that Mr. Song and he had something to do in the morning and he would go out. Mr. Song would return to the city after lunch. He asked you to stay with Madam Song for a while."
In other words, Song Sen will have to stay at home for a long time!
Zhou Shaojin was a little afraid of this child's persistence.
She asked, "Do you know what the Fourth Master and Mr. Song are doing?"
Madam Lu smiled and said, "The fourth master hired a boat and said he and Mr. Song wanted to go to the center of the Qiantang River to measure the water. It would take half a day."
This must have been my father-in-law's idea.
Mrs. Song wished she could just disappear at this moment.
Zhou Shaojin breathed a sigh of relief and said, "It's nearby, that's good..." She originally wanted to ask Aunt Lu to help run errands, but when she thought about how she had overstepped her bounds in asking Aunt Lu to convey a message to Cheng Chi in a hurry, she decided to let Chunwan run errands for her.
Mrs. Guo and Zhou Shaojin thought the same thing.
She invited Mrs. Song to meet the women of the Zong family with her.
How could Mrs. Song have the nerve to continue staying here? She hurriedly said, "I didn't sleep all night yesterday, because I was afraid that Sen Ge'er would cause you trouble. I won't accompany you to visit the courtyard. I will take Sen Ge'er back and talk to him."
Madam Guo did not force it, and Song Sen did not cry like he did yesterday. After paying his respects to Madam Guo and Zhou Shaojin, he followed Madam Song back to the guest room.
At the beginning of the day, the clan members arrived as agreed.
Zhou Shaojin quietly instructed Chunwan: "Ask the kitchen to make some refreshments and send them to Uncle Chi and Mr. Song. I think Mr. Song is a tea lover. They will stay on the boat for a whole morning, so they will definitely drink tea together."
Chunwan went to the kitchen, where there were dishes prepared in advance to entertain the female members of the clan. Chunwan packed some and had them sent to the Qiantang River, then went to reply to Zhou Shaojin.
The old man from the Zong family brought seven or eight female relatives with him, some in their early thirties, some in their twenties, and two young ladies, one eighteen and one fifteen years old. And each of them prepared very expensive gifts for her. She was busy recognizing people, and when she heard this, she just said "hmm" and quickly put the matter behind her.
※
Today's update, sisters.
I didn’t expect that the fairy from outer space would send me a Valentine’s Day gift. Thank you, fairy from outer space.
O(∩_∩)O~
※(To be continued)