Old Madam Guan laughed and said, "Since the second house has someone to take care of it, we won't join in the fun. I will take my daughter-in-law, grandson, and granddaughter with me when the time comes."
Mrs. Guo laughed and discussed travel arrangements for the Buddha's Birthday with Mrs. Guan.
Zhou Shaojin was a little depressed.
I wonder if I can find an excuse not to go
But if he really found an excuse, I wonder if Mrs. Guo would suspect that the fourth wife was two-timing like the third wife
She has a headache.
The Cheng family is really complicated!
If she gets married in the future, she will never marry into a family like the Cheng family.
Thinking of this, she was a little dazed again.
I don’t know what will happen to her in the future
If I meet Yuan later, should I greet her? Or should I just smile and stand behind my grandmother
Zhou Shaojin listened absentmindedly to the conversation between the two old ladies, but Yuan did not show up until lunch was served on the table.
Didn’t Yuan say in front of me that she was in her forties and still setting rules in front of her mother-in-law
Was she fooling herself at that time
Zhou Shaojin couldn't help but smile bitterly.
After returning to Jiashu Hall, her grandmother gave her a few more reminders like "be obedient" and "be good" before Si'er helped her to take a nap.
Zhou Shaojin returned to Wanxiangju, and Zhou Chujin had to ask her about her experience in Hanbi Mountain House. Zhou Shaojin answered one by one, and was amazed: "The maids are raised like young ladies, Madam Guo is really generous." She teased Shi Xiang, "You will follow and serve Shaojin in the future, are you afraid?"
"What should I be afraid of?" Shi Xiang brewed a pot of Maojian liquor for the Zhou sisters. "I am here to serve the Second Miss, not to compete with the sisters from Hanbi Mountain House. If they do something good, I will learn from them. If they do something bad, I will just ignore it."
"Huh!" Zhou Chujin laughed, "I didn't expect a girl like you to have such insight."
Shi Xiang giggled.
Everyone talked for a while before dispersing.
The next day, Zhou Chujin continued to follow Mrs. Mian to learn how to be a housekeeper, while Zhou Shaojin helped her sister make summer clothes at home.
After a few days, it was the eighth day of April.
In the end, she couldn't find an excuse not to go, so she got up with her sister before dawn, washed and dressed, and went to Jiashu Hall.
Old Madam Guan had already gotten up, the entire upper room was brightly lit, and Madam Mian was in the hall checking the utensils and snacks for going out. Seeing Zhou Shaojin and her sister come in, she took the time to greet them: "Have you had breakfast? Old An is having breakfast, do you sisters want some more?"
"We've already eaten." The two sisters exchanged greetings with Madam Mian and paid their respects to Old Madam Guan. Then Zhou Chujin went to the hall and skillfully helped Madam Mian count the belongings for going out. Seeing that he could not help much, Zhou Shaojin stayed in the room with Si'er and others to help Old Madam Guan comb her hair.
Since Old Lady Guan chose a turquoise silk jacket with a round flower pattern of five blessings holding longevity to worship Buddha, she helped Old Lady Guan pick out a royal blue forehead scarf inlaid with white chalcedony and a double-strand gold and kingfisher-embellished hairpin with the pattern of "May Everything Go Well".
Mrs. Guan looked at it and said "OK", and asked the little maid to check at the west side door - according to Mrs. Guo's suggestion, everyone agreed to meet at the west side door at the hour of Mao, and then go to Ganquan Temple together.
The little maid trotted all the way to the west door.
Mrs. Miao hurried to pack her things.
By the time the little maid came back, Madam Mian had also finished cleaning up.
"No one has arrived yet." The little maid said breathlessly, "But when I came back, I saw the sedan chair of the third room."
In other words, the third room was the first to arrive.
Mrs. Guan smiled and said, "We are neither the first nor the last, so let's go now!"
There are still three quarters of an hour before the morning.
Everyone should say “yes”.
Zhou Chujin helped Old Madam Guan onto the sedan chair. Zhou Shaojin became more cautious and followed his sister's example to help Madam Mian.
Mrs. Miao was very surprised, then she showed some emotion and said hurriedly: "No, no. I can do it myself."
Zhou Chujin didn't expect this either, but she was happy to see her sister being liked by the elders, so she smiled and supported Chu Shaojin: "Aunt, please don't be polite. She is a junior, and it is her duty to help you."
Zhou Shaojin smiled and nodded, his expression very sincere.
Mrs. Mian nodded with a smile, and it was obvious that she was very happy.
Zhou Chujin and Zhou Shaojin followed the sedan chair of Old Lady Guan and Madam Mian to the west gate.
As expected, the third room has arrived.
The old lady Li from the third room was wearing a royal blue silk jacket with a round flower pattern inscribed with the words "May everything go well for you" and a gold-studded hairpin. She was sitting in the flower hall next to the west door, drinking tea.
The morning light shone on her body, so bright and golden that it was hard to open one's eyes.
Zhou Shaojin's gaze fell on Cheng Ji, who was sitting beside Old Lady Li, twisting a handkerchief, bored.
Just like the girl in her memory, she pouted and looked unhappy, as if this moment of waiting had exhausted all her patience.
Zhou Shaojin felt a sudden pain in his heart.
Cheng Ji is the apple of the eye of the third wife's family. She can never stand any grievance. Even Cheng Sheng from the first wife's family will give in to her. How did she survive during the years when she was married
Could her early death be related to this
Zhou Shaojin thought of the letter Cuihuan gave him in his previous life.
However, just one short sentence, "Shaojin, please forgive me," seemed to express all her regret and sadness.
Zhou Shaojin's eyes were a little moist.
The girl in the hall suddenly turned around.
She had bright eyes, white teeth, fair skin and fair bones, and she wore a red brocade jacket with gold weaving, as hot and bright as the scorching sun.
Zhou Shaojin couldn't help but murmured softly: "Cheng Ji!"
Cheng Ji, however, snorted coldly and turned his head away angrily.
It was just like many days and nights in the past when Zhou Shaojin offended her.
Inexplicably, Zhou Shaojin felt relieved. All the vows he had made in the past, such as "keeping a distance from Cheng Ji" and "having less contact with Cheng Ji in the future", were thrown out of his mind. He couldn't help but smile.
As if she felt Zhou Shaojin was laughing at her, Cheng Ji turned around.
Then he glared at Zhou Shaojin fiercely.
In the previous life, Zhou Shaojin would have apologized to her anxiously without asking why, and asked her why she was angry. But now, Zhou Shaojin was calm, and looked at Cheng Ji as if she was a child who knew nothing about the world, with a tolerance that she herself did not realize.
She just smiled and followed the elders.
Except for Zhou Chujin, no one noticed the turbulent situation between Cheng Ji and Zhou Shaojin. Zhou Shaojin's unharmed condition made Zhou Chujin remain silent.
The elders greeted with a smile and called the younger generation to come over and pay their respects.
Mrs. Sun, the wife of the fifth room, came over.
She wore a scarlet gold-woven jacket with a phoenix-tail flower pattern, and a red gold ornament of Guanyin inlaid with a jadeite jade. The large embroidered flowers and emerald feathers made her powdered face look even more haggard and bleak.
The old man and old lady of the fifth room passed away a few years ago. Now Cheng Wen and Sun are in charge of the fifth room.
She was helped down from the sedan chair by her maid. Before she could stand still, she rubbed her temples tiredly and said, "Are we going to Ganquan Temple again this year? It's so noisy there, and we can't have any peace. Can't we go to another place to worship Buddha?" After that, she shouted to her personal maid, "Xiang'er, bring the rose water quickly, I feel dizzy." Then she complained, "Why haven't the people from the second house come yet? We wait for them every year. If I had known this would happen, I should have slept a little longer!"
Ever since she found out that Cheng Wen was living a life of debauchery outside, she has been complaining all the time.
The people in the fourth room pretended not to hear.
When she was young, Mrs. Li, the third wife, listened to her mother-in-law. After her mother-in-law passed away, she was sidelined by her daughter-in-law, Jiang, who had a rich dowry and was smart and capable. They fought several times, but Mrs. Li was defeated every time. Fortunately, Mrs. Li was a smart person. She gritted her teeth and simply let go, handing over all the affairs of the third wife's inner courtyard to Jiang. She no longer cared about these trivial matters at home and lived her own life in her widow's Siyongzhai.
She narrowed her eyes and smiled when she heard that, and her plump and white appearance looked like a Maitreya Buddha.
Cheng Ji raised his eyebrows and pursed his lips.
Zhou Shaojin could guess what she was mumbling in her heart.
In his previous life, Cheng Jia had privately despised Madam Wen more than once: "Don't you look at your own background? You don't like this, and you don't like that. If she was a girl from a wealthy family, I'm afraid she would be disgusted and choke after drinking the Cheng family's water."
Mrs. Wen's father only served one term as county magistrate before dying of illness. It is said that when she got married, her family tried their best to gather together only a dowry of 24 pieces of silver. It was only because the old lady of the fifth room of the Cheng family secretly gave her 2,000 taels of silver as a dowry that she was able to marry into the Cheng family in a respectable manner.
Zhou Shaojin used to look at Mrs. Wen in the same way. But after two lives, she looked back at Mrs. Wen and felt that she was pitiful. If Cheng Wen could live a good life with her, how could she become like this
While Zhou Shaojin was thinking, the people from the eldest house arrived.
Mrs. Guo was wearing a dark blue jacket with a silver crane pattern on a dark blue background. Her jet-black hair was tied neatly into a bun, and she wore a dark blue headband with a red coral the size of a pigeon egg inlaid on it.
She walked towards me slowly, her back as straight as the birch trees on the northern plateau, her chin slightly raised, with an arrogance that looked down on the world.
The people in the flower hall hurried out to greet them, and even Mrs. Wen from the fifth room put away her dissatisfaction.
Madam Guo glanced at the people present and asked, "Is everyone here?" Without waiting for anyone to answer, she asked Biyu beside her, "What time is it now?"
Biyu's voice was gentle and steady as she said, "It's already the morning hour."
"Since the time has come, let's set off!" Mrs. Guo said lightly, stretching out her hand which was extremely white and delicate, not inferior to that of a young woman.
Someone nearby supported Mrs. Guo.
The sleeves were decorated with indigo-colored phoenix-tail flowers, the hands were slender and well-defined, and the pink nails sparkled like pearls in the sun.
Zhou Shaojin lowered his head.
She would never forget those hands.
When he pointed the emerald handkerchief at her... When he slapped the enamel tea bowl on the rosewood table, making a bang... When he slapped her in the face, making her ears buzz... Those were the hands of Cheng Xu's mother, Yuan.
She will never admit her mistake!
※
Sisters, regarding the issue of typos affecting reading, since it is difficult for me to spot typos, I asked my book friend Xingxingbing to help with proofreading. Due to the time difference, sometimes I can only post a draft first. I will try to save a chapter in the next few days to solve this problem.
Thank you for your support and tolerance.
※(To be continued)