Mrs. Guan thought for a moment and said, "Gao'er's wedding is scheduled for the tenth day of September next year. From what the Liao family said, Mr. Liao will attend the Autumn Taboo Festival and wants to choose a date between March, April and May next year. They will send someone to discuss the specific date in a few days. Having two weddings this year, although it is a good thing to have the first out and the last in, I think it is better to wait until Gao'er's wedding is done and Shaojin is one year older, and then we can sit down with Mr. Gu to talk about Shaojin and Yi'er."
Mrs. Miao always respected her mother-in-law's decision. She smiled and said, "We will be almost done with the things we have at hand by then, so we can spare some energy. You are really thoughtful."
Old Madam Guan smiled slightly and wanted to say something, but the Zhou sisters had already changed their clothes and came over. She quickly winked at her daughter-in-law, and the two of them smiled and stopped talking, and took the Zhou sisters to Tingyu Pavilion.
People from the second and third rooms had already arrived and were talking to Madam Song.
Zhou Shaojin couldn't help but sigh inwardly when he saw that Jiang looked calm and composed, without any regret or anxiety about having betrayed her daughter.
It was unknown whether Jiang Shi was unaware of the seriousness of the matter or whether Jiang Shi had already come up with a foolproof plan to deal with Cheng Ji's marriage. On the other hand, Cheng Ji was like an eggplant hit by frost, following her mother listlessly, with a hint of sadness in her eyes even when she smiled. She couldn't help but feel sad for Cheng Ji.
After the banquet began, Zhou Shaojin was arranged to sit at a table similar to that of Madam Guo and Madam Song. Since there were also elders such as Mrs. Tang and Mrs. Li, Zhou Shaojin hardly ate anything as he was taking care of them. Even so, Grandma Zheng felt uncomfortable watching this.
I thought Cheng Sheng would be the one to take the lead when he went to Beijing, but unexpectedly, Mrs. Guo brought up Zhou Shaojin again. Was Mrs. Guo doing this intentionally or unintentionally
After lunch and tea, Mrs. Guo took Mrs. Song to visit Jiuru Lane.
Zhou Shaojin was accompanying him.
Mrs. Song was full of praise for the simplicity and generosity of the eldest house, the elegance and beauty of the second house, the splendor of the third house, the simplicity and plainness of the fourth house, and the brilliance of the fifth house. Only then did she feel the wealth of the Cheng family.
Zhou Shaojin was still sitting at the main table for dinner.
After dinner, they went to Siyi Tower to listen to a night show.
Although it is winter, there are warm curtains hung everywhere, lanterns are lit, pink oleander, white hosta flowers, and bright red pomegranate flowers are in full bloom, making one wonder if it is spring.
Madam Song couldn't help but say, "It is said that the noble families in Jiangnan are like oil boiling in a raging fire and flowers blooming in a brocade. I believe it now after seeing it with my own eyes."
Madam Guo laughed and said, "We are all thanks to you. If you hadn't come, we wouldn't have been able to find an excuse to get together like this."
"It seems like I should come here more often." Mrs. Song joked.
Jiang continued, "It's winter now. When you come in spring, there are spring scenery. When you come in summer, there are summer scenery. I'm just afraid that you won't come."
"If I have time, I will come to visit the old lady." Mrs. Song said with a smile, and everyone sat down on the armchairs.
Biyu sent a list of plays and asked Mrs. Song to choose one.
Mrs. Song tried to refuse several times but failed and ordered "Dream in the Garden". Mrs. Guo ordered "Silang Visits His Mother". With these two plays, they would have to listen to the opera until midnight. Mrs. Tang and Mrs. Li were very tactful and did not order any plays.
The gongs on the stage began to sound "clang clang clang".
Zhou Shaojin placed the tea and snacks brought by the maid on Madam Song's tea table and began by explaining to Madam Song which troupe sang the play, who the female role and the Qingyi role were, what plays they had sung, and what their status was in the opera world of Jinling City. When the play became more and more popular and Madam Song was fascinated by it, she replaced the tea and snacks for Madam Song, quietly winked at Cheng Ji who was sitting not far away playing with his nails, and went downstairs.
After a while, Cheng Ji also came downstairs.
She asked Zhou Shaojin with a straight face: "What are you doing?"
Maybe she was still angry about Zhou Shaojin's perfunctory treatment to her that day.
Zhou Shaojin pulled her hand.
Her face brightened slightly, and she said, "Just tell me what's the matter. If you want to comfort me, you don't have to. Anyway, I'm already like this, and it won't be worse than it is now. I'm not afraid of you laughing at me..." But her tone was much softer.
Zhou Shaojin smiled.
Cheng Ji always has a sharp tongue but a soft heart.
She said softly, "So what are your plans for the future?"
Cheng Ji was depressed. He lowered his head and said, "I don't know either. Mom said that people will forget about it after a while. But I feel...very annoyed when people talk about me like this!"
Zhou Shaojin understood.
She patted Cheng Ji's hand gently and said, "Come to my room tonight! I brought a lot of things for you."
Cheng Ji nodded absentmindedly and went back upstairs.
But when she saw the gifts Zhou Shaojin bought for her at Wanxiangju, she suddenly came alive: "Shaojin, where did you buy these things? They are so beautiful! Why don't you buy more? And this set of combs, it's painted with a dream in the garden... How dare they think of it!" She pressed Zhou Shaojin: "You must have bought gifts for Ah Zhu and Miss Gu's seventeenth daughter too. Show me quickly, I want to see what patterns you gave them."
Zhou Shaojin had no choice but to take out all the things he had given to Ah Zhu and the others and show them to Cheng Ji.
Cheng Jia took the glass hairpins and combs to look at them, and finally asked Zhou Shaojin: "Can you only give them the hairpins and give me all these combs?"
"Of course not!" Zhou Shaojin said with a smile, "I didn't know you liked combs so much. If I had known, I should have brought back a few more sets. However, I heard from people around Uncle Chi that there is a shop called 'Hua Xiangrong' in Jinling City that specializes in selling Changzhou combs, but we just didn't know about it. Let's go there one day to have a look."
Only then did Cheng Ji let go.
However, her mental state is much better than before.
In the next few days, Zhou Shaojin and his sister Zhou Chujin, led by Old Madam Guo, accompanied Madam Song to travel all over the mountains and rivers of Jinling City. Although the Zhou sisters were from Jinling, they were strictly governed by the boudoir and had never had the opportunity to travel like this. This time, they experienced the scenery they had seen in books in person, which was thanks to Madam Song.
But it was tiring to go out and play every day like this. When Mrs. Song looked tired, Mrs. Guo suggested holding a tea party at home to introduce Mrs. Song to the noble ladies in Jinling City: "… You can take this opportunity to meet some people."
Mrs. Song felt that Mrs. Guo's arrangements were extremely thoughtful and appropriate, and she kept saying "good".
Mrs. Guo asked sisters Zhou Shaojin and Zhou Chujin to help arrange the tea party.
Under the guidance of Mrs. Miao, Zhou Chujin was already able to independently manage the household affairs of the fourth room, so these matters were naturally no problem for him. Compared with the banquets of the fourth room, the banquets of the eldest room were just a little higher in standard, but the eldest room had plenty of money, and Zhou Chujin was no longer bound by any constraints, so there was no difficulty.
Zhou Shaojin found an opportunity to go to Tingli Pavilion.
Cheng Chi and Ji Ying were not at home, and Nan Ping was making spring clothes for Cheng Chi.
Zhou Shaojin was very disappointed.
Nanping smiled and asked Zhou Shaojin: "Second cousin, is there anything I can do for you?"
Zhou Shaojin said: "Nothing, just came to see where Uncle Chi and Miss Jiying went?"
Nan Ping smiled and asked the maid to serve tea to Zhou Shaojin, saying, "It was said that someone was celebrating a birthday, and the Fourth Master took Miss Jiying to celebrate. How about I send the maid to ask Manager Qin to see who the Fourth Master went to celebrate..."
Zhou Shaojin was too embarrassed to ask, so he quickly said, "No, no. I just asked casually."
Nan Ping did not get suspicious, but smiled and said, "Second cousin, you came at the right time. I want to embellish the fourth master's Taoist robe with a bud border, but I can't decide what color to use. Second cousin, please help me."
Zhou Shaojin readily agreed.
Nanping made a light grey Songjiang three-edged fine cloth Taoist robe for Cheng Chi, which was prepared to be trimmed with white or brown bud edges.
Zhou Shaojin asked: "Can it be inlaid with dark gray?"
"Inlay with dark gray?" Nan Ping was stunned. After thinking for a while, he clapped his hands and said with surprise, "Second cousin, that's a good idea! Why didn't I think of inlaying with the same color? I'll go find a darker fine cloth to match the color."
Zhou Shaojin smiled.
This edging method did not become popular in Yangzhou until seven or eight years later.
The two of them compared for a long time, and finally decided to use dark gray gauze to lightly inlay it.
"It will definitely look good." Nan Ping said with satisfaction, "I think it can also be used on women's clothing."
Zhou Shaojin really liked this kind of edging, and said with a smile: "Then I'll try it too."
Nanping was very interested and said, "My second cousin's clothes may be ready. Let me also open my eyes."
Zhou Shaojin smiled and said, "It's not a difficult thing. Just go and see when the time comes."
As they were talking, there was a slight noise outside, and a little maid ran in and said, "Miss Nanping, Miss Second Cousin, the Fourth Master is back."
Zhou Shaojin and Nanping went out to greet them.
The weather was already a bit cold, but Cheng Chi was still wearing autumn clothes. Although the tight cloth belt around his waist outlined his good figure, he looked a bit cold.
Zhou Shaojin couldn't help but said, "Why don't you put on more clothes? It was a north wind this morning!"
Cheng Chi was a little surprised and asked, "Why are you here? Don't you need to accompany Madam Song today?"
Zhou Shaojin said embarrassedly, "The old lady said she wanted to hold a tea party and asked me and my sister to help. My sister is always capable, and I can't help much, so I ran over... to play a few games of chess with Uncle Chi..."
What is this little girl up to again
Doesn't she understand the so-called chess game even if others don't know about it? Is that playing chess? It's just acting for her mother. Now her mother is busy entertaining Mrs. Song, so how can she care about him! Is it necessary for them to play chess together again
Cheng Chi said to Zhou Shaojin: "Come with me!"
Go to the academy first.
Seeing his serious and stern expression, Zhou Shaojin felt a little nervous and asked Ji Ying who followed him back quietly, "Did he get bullied outside?"
Ji Ying rolled her eyes and said, "I've only seen him getting angry at others, but I've never seen others getting angry at him."
"Oh!" Zhou Shaojin followed Cheng Chi to the study room nervously.
Cheng Chi sat down in the armchair behind the large case and asked Zhou Shaojin, "Tell me! What's the matter?"
※
Sisters, please add more chapters to the story of the spirit beast egg from the celestial being.
O(∩_∩)O~
※(To be continued)