After the Spring Festival Gala sent Nanny Zhong away, Zhou Shaojin excitedly walked back and forth in the room twice.
When my sister marries into the Liao family in the future, it will definitely not be as difficult as in her previous life.
But how could she tell this to Mrs. Guo
Zhou Shaojin felt a little embarrassed again.
Especially when Fang had previously proposed that the two uncles from the eldest house help guide her brother-in-law's father when he took the Spring Examination, Old Lady Guo agreed...
Just as she was worrying, Madam Lu came over and said with a smile, "Mr. Song has agreed to let Madam Song and Young Master Song visit our house. We will change to a pleasure boat this afternoon, travel overnight, and return to Jinling City tomorrow afternoon!"
Although the outside world is nice, home is where you belong. The joy of returning home is beyond words.
The images of his sister, grandmother and others flashed through Zhou Shaojin's mind, and his heart suddenly jumped with joy.
"I'll let Chunwan and the others pack up right now." She called Chunwan excitedly and started packing, temporarily putting aside the worry about how to explain to Liao Shaotang.
After changing boats, Mr. Song brought Huang Yijun to see them off. The Gao, Liu, Liao and other families who had heard the news also sent people to see them off. The dock was extremely lively and noisy for a long time until the pleasure boat left the Zhenjiang dock and disappeared. Only then did those people greet each other and leave.
The happiest person was probably Song Sen. He was running around in Zhou Shaojin's room, holding her powder box and asking her, "Sister Zhou, what is this?"
Zhou Shaojin replied that it was a powder box.
He turned it over and over in his hand, saying, "Why is it different from my mother's and my sister's?"
After a while, he opened the tall cabinet beside Zhou Shaojin's bed and looked around.
Chunwan hugged him away.
He ran over and hugged Zhou Shaojin's waist, and kept shouting "Sister Zhou", saying, "Spring Festival Gala sister bullied me!"
The Spring Festival Gala was so angry that its face turned blue.
Zhou Shaojin told him softly, "I am a woman, and you are a man. It is wrong for you to open my cabinet and look around casually. The Spring Festival Gala is good at bullying you!"
Song Sen looked bitter.
Zhou Shaojin asked him, "I'm going to pay my respects to the old lady. Do you want to go with me?"
"Yes, yes, yes." Song Sen said hurriedly, as if he would be fine with anything as long as he was with Zhou Shaojin.
Zhou Shaojin shook his head helplessly and took Song Sen to see Mrs. Guo.
Mrs. Guo had already packed up. She was talking to Mrs. Song. When she saw the two people come in, Mrs. Song immediately stood up and said with a wry smile, "The child disappeared in the blink of an eye. I thought he went to your place, so I quickly asked his nurse to go find him."
"He's just too bored." Zhou Shaojin politely made excuses for Song Sen, saying, "I can still chat with you and the old lady, but Young Master Song doesn't even have anyone to talk to. It's already good enough that he can stay on the boat obediently and not clamor to go ashore or go fishing."
All mothers in the world who dote on their children are the same.
Mrs. Song felt that what Zhou Shaojin said couldn't be more right. Not only did she think that what Zhou Shaojin said made sense, but the look in her eyes when she looked at her son became much softer. She felt that her son was just as Zhou Shaojin said, and was very obedient in comparison.
She smiled and chatted with Zhou Shaojin for a few polite words before sitting down again with her son.
Madam Guo asked her, "Have you taken all the things? If not, it doesn't matter. This is our own boat. When they are cleaning the cabin, if they find anything that is not on the boat, they will send the steward to inform us."
Zhou Shaojin laughed and said, "I wanted to say 'I've taken all the things', but after hearing what you said, I can only answer 'I think I've taken all the things'. Otherwise, if the ship's steward finds out that I still have things on board, you'll laugh at me."
She was always serious and had never made such a joke. Mrs. Guo was stunned at first, and then she burst into a hearty laugh.
Zhou Shaojin pursed his lips and smiled.
It seems that telling some witty remarks is not that difficult!
Because Mrs. Song was there, Cheng Chi had dinner in his own cabin.
At night, thinking about meeting his sister, grandmother and others tomorrow, Zhou Shaojin was so excited that he couldn't fall asleep. He repeatedly asked the Chunwan who was on duty: "Have all the gifts I bought been distributed? Is anyone missing? Are there any mistakes?"
Chunwan had no choice but to answer her repeatedly: "Everything has been sorted out and put in boxes with a note outside. There will be no mistakes. The list has also been carefully checked against the list you wrote to me before. There will be no mistakes."
Zhou Shaojin nodded and didn't fall asleep until almost dawn.
Naturally, she got up late the next day.
Fortunately, everyone was preparing to disembark. Except for Song Sen who came to see Zhou Shaojin twice but was stopped outside the cabin, no one else noticed.
After lunch, not only Zhou Shaojin, but also Chunwan and others could not sit still. The whole pleasure boat was filled with the joy of returning home and seeing their relatives. On the way, they met the black-sailed boat sent by the Cheng family to greet them. Everyone's mood was extremely high, and the feeling of going home was even stronger. When they arrived at Jiangbei Bridge, everyone couldn't help but cheer.
Zhou Shaojin suddenly understood why people in Jinling City called Jiangbei Bridge the No. 1 Bridge in Jinling.
As long as you see this bridge, you know that you are back in Jinling. It is the symbol of Jinling and the place where home is.
Zhou Shaojin stood in front of the boat window, watching the pleasure boat slowly sail into Jiangbei Bridge, and watching Jiangbei Bridge gradually move away behind him.
Unlike the anxiety she felt about the unknown future when she left Jinling City, when she returned to Jinling City, her heart was calm and peaceful.
Only then did she realize that in her two lifetimes, no matter how much hurt Jinling City had caused her, she still loved this big city.
There were a lot of people on the road. When they left, they wore summer clothes, and when they came back, they wore winter clothes. But the market was still as prosperous as before. However, when Zhou Shaojin lifted the curtain and looked at them again, he was less happy and curious, and more calm and composed.
Was it because she had seen something more moving
But she had lived in the capital before she was reborn. In terms of the size of the city-state, who else in the country could compare with it except the capital? Why didn't she have this feeling at that time
It was not until the sedan chair entered the Cheng family's side door in Jiuru Lane and those familiar scenes passed by her eyes one by one that she realized that it was not about the size of the city-state, nor the complexity of the scenery, but her mentality and her perspective on things had changed a lot. In the past, she went from one house to another, and no matter how beautiful the scenery was, it was just like this. This time, she followed Mrs. Guo and Uncle Chi, saw the splendor of the Haitian Buddhist Kingdom, the magnificence of the Qiantang River tide, the prosperity of Hangzhou Prefecture, rode a sand boat, went to Yutai's branch, and drank tea brewed with Zhongling Spring water... She realized how big the world is and how small she is.
All the pains that I had experienced in the past seemed not so painful at this moment.
As Zhou Shaojin was thinking, the sedan chair stopped and the curtain was lifted by the maid sent by the Cheng family. People dressed in red and green were standing in front of Tingyuxuan, but she saw her sister who was supporting her grandmother at a glance.
She wore a pink brocade jacket with a large kingfisher flower on it, looking gentle and quiet.
Zhou Shaojin's tears fell unexpectedly.
"Sister!" She threw herself into her sister's arms regardless of anything.
All the height and smallness disappeared, and now she just wanted to rely on her favorite sister.
Zhou Chujin hugged her sister whom she hadn't seen for more than four months, and couldn't help but shed tears.
This was the first time her younger sister had left her since she grew up. Traveling by boat or horse was always dangerous. Since her younger sister left, she had burned three incense sticks in front of the Bodhisattva every day, praying to the Bodhisattva to bless her with safety and success.
Everyone was surprised.
Tang Laoan from the second house raised her eyebrows and smiled meaningfully, "This child has not made any progress since she went out with her eldest sister-in-law. With so many elders here, she threw herself into her sister's arms and started crying, as if she had been wronged."
Mrs. Guan frowned immediately after hearing this, but before she could say anything, Mrs. Guo smiled and said, "When a child sees her mother, she will cry three times even if there is nothing wrong. The fourth room is just like her mother's family. It is normal for a child to cry a few times when seeing her mother. You are the elder, so don't worry about it so much. Shaojin, come here and kowtow to your great-uncle first. Apart from me, she is your oldest elder."
Tang Laoan's face turned blue and red, and he felt very uncomfortable.
She didn't expect that Mrs. Guo would protect Zhou Shaojin like this, and she didn't expect that Mrs. Guo would confront her as soon as she entered the house and would not give in at all.
Zhou Shaojin was shocked to realize that she had lost her composure, but inexplicably, she no longer had the fear she had before, only the embarrassment of being rude.
She quickly wiped her tears and walked obediently to the mat that someone had placed in front of Mr. Tang Laon. She bent her legs slightly and was about to kowtow to Mr. Tang Laon.
Hong hurried forward and grabbed Zhou Shaojin, saying with a smile: "You kid, why did you take the elders' joke so seriously?" Then she glanced at Nanny Shi who had placed the cushion, and hugged Zhou Shaojin, "I'm glad you're back safely! Your grandmother and sister are thinking about you every day!"
Madam Guo certainly didn't really mean to make Zhou Shaojin kneel down. Seeing that Hong came to the rescue, she didn't pursue the matter any further. Instead, she introduced Madam Song to everyone: "… I happened to meet her on the road and found out that she was the wife of Mr. Song, the Grand Secretary of the Eastern Pavilion and the Minister of Revenue. Now that the eldest master is also an official in the cabinet, Madam Song is not an outsider, so I invited Madam Song to be a guest at home."
The Song family was very simple, and Song Jingran's mind was not in the boudoir. In addition, due to her personality, Mrs. Song did not see the waves between Mrs. Guo and Mrs. Tang. She smiled and went forward to greet the old ladies and wives of the Cheng family.
Cheng Chi, who escorted his mother in, stood on the periphery, looking coldly at the group of people surrounded by flowers not far away, feeling very disgusted.
Many years have passed, but the second wife has not made any progress. She just keeps talking nonsense. The third wife is always a fence-sitter, thinking that she can get away with it by not saying anything. The fourth wife is not much better. She lives her life with a blind eye and pretends that everything is fine. She is even worse than the fifth wife. She gets whatever she wants and does whatever she wants...
He told Huaishan in annoyance: "Let's go back."
Huaishan asked, "Aren't you going to pay your respects to the old ancestor?"
"I just got back." Cheng Chi said lazily, "I'm a little tired, let's go tomorrow!"
Huaishan agreed.
The group walked around Tingyu Pavilion and returned to Hanbi Mountain House.
※
Sisters, today's extra update.
Updated around 11pm.
PS: My father is sick, I was feeling anxious and forgot to wish you all a happy new year. Sorry, sorry!
Fortunately, no other problems were found and he was discharged smoothly.
Thank you for your concern!
I wish you all good luck and happiness in the Year of the Sheep.
O(∩_∩)O~
Typos and such will be corrected later...
※(To be continued)