Cheng Chi walked into the house with a grim face and met Zhenzhu who was full of joy.
When Zhenzhu saw Cheng Chi's look, she was so scared that she quickly restrained her expression, walked up to him respectfully and called him "Fourth Master".
Cheng Chi couldn't help but look at her.
She shivered with fear and explained hurriedly, "Fourth Master, the old lady said that she would go with the old lady from the fourth room to buy some boxes for the eldest daughter of the Zhou family in a few days. She selected some old items and asked us to help her check them out..."
Zhenzhu subconsciously thought that if she brought up this matter, Cheng Chi's mood would be better.
Cheng Chi glanced at her coldly.
Is this also something to talk about
He went straight back to Tingli Pavilion.
Jiying was talking to Nanping: "You will take my place on duty that day, and we will go to Pingqiao Street for the wedding banquet."
Qingfeng, who was standing next to him, heard this and said noisily, "Is the second cousin's sister getting married?" He asked covetously, "I'm not on duty that day, can I go with you?"
Cheng Chi was a little impatient, but he never showed it. He said to Qing Feng in a gentle voice, "Take out the white tea that Gu Liuye sent a few days ago and brew it!"
Qingfeng replied "yes" with a smile and ran away.
Ever since Ji Ying returned to Cheng Chi's side, she has become more cautious towards Cheng Chi. In addition, she is smart and can observe Cheng Chi's mood better than Qingfeng and Langyue.
She bowed respectfully to Cheng Chi and stepped aside with her head lowered.
Cheng Chi entered the study.
Ji Ying breathed a sigh of relief and asked Huai Shan in a low voice: "Who made him angry? Why does he seem to be unable to control his temper and about to reveal his true identity?"
Huaishan gave him a warning look and followed him into the study.
The study in Tingli Pavilion was temporarily modified after Cheng Chi moved in. The second wide wing was separated by a floor-to-ceiling cover and hung with parrot green Hangzhou silk curtains. The ice-cracked window frames in the inner room were inlaid with transparent glass, and when the window was opened, there was a verdant bamboo grove.
A few sparrows were chirping and jumping on the ground.
Cheng Chi closed the window with a "click", which scared Huaishan who followed in.
"Has the silver from the Thirteenth Bank been delivered?" Cheng Chi asked.
Huaishan lowered his head and said, "There are only three days left until the agreed date."
"Go and urge them." Cheng Chi said, "Do they have to wait until a certain day to send the money?"
Huaishan replied "yes", left the study and went to the tea room.
Nanny Shang was making tea in the tea room.
She is from the mountains of Qianxi, and still retains the habit of brewing tea for drinking.
Seeing Huaishan coming in, she smiled and said, "How come you have time to sit in the tea room?"
Huaishan did not answer, but said to Nanny Shang: "Give me a cup with a few olives in it."
Nanny Shang went to the cupboard to look for olives.
Huaishan sat on the stool by the window.
If I really listened to the Fourth Master and went to the Thirteenth Hong to collect the money, the people in the Thirteenth Hong would laugh to death.
Maybe he thought that something had happened to the Fourth Master and he was waiting for the money!
He decided that if Cheng Chi asked again later, it would not be too late for him to go to Shisanhang again.
Cheng Chi regretted it the moment he finished speaking.
When did he become so impatient
It seems like nothing he sees is pleasing to the eye.
He sat down and drank a cup of tea, and his mood gradually calmed down.
Zhou Shaojin looked like he had something grievance to express.
If she wanted to deceive him, she could just keep staring with her big eyes and pretend to be innocent, or she could pretend to know nothing until he saw through her... But she chose to remain silent.
Sometimes, silence is also an answer.
What's more, they were in Pingqiao Street at the time, and her stepmother Li and her aunt Mrs. Mian were all there, as well as the steward named Ma Fushan. If anyone was interested, their every move could not be hidden from them.
He thought of Zhou Shaojin's hesitation when he talked about Cheng Jing and Huang Li's competition for the position of Minister of Rites... Or maybe, she wasn't hesitant at all, but wanted to tell him but was afraid of the consequences, so when he said he wanted to thank her, a hint of trepidation flashed in her eyes...
Cheng Chi stood up suddenly.
How can he be so stupid!
The little girl was as timid as a mouse to begin with. Although she trusted him, she was also afraid of him. This might be because she was afraid that he would not trust her. But he glared at her. What else could she do except be scared by him!
"Huaishan! Huaishan!" He strode to the door and shouted loudly.
Huaishan had just picked up the cup, but when he heard the sound, he put down the teacup without even having time to take a sip of tea and hurried out of the tea room.
But when Cheng Chi saw Huaishan's cold face, he realized that it was not suitable.
Zhou Shaojin was a young lady from a wealthy family who was raised in seclusion. It would not be appropriate for Huaishan to deliver messages or do anything else.
Jiying was even less suitable - if she knew about it, the entire Tingli Pavilion would know about it.
If Zhou Shaojin was instructed by someone, then there is no way she could hide it from the person behind her.
Cheng Chi changed his mind in a flash, and said gently, "Ask Mrs. Shang to come over."
It turns out that he was looking for Mrs. Shang!
Mrs. Shang is in the tea room, why are you calling me
Huaishan muttered to himself, but went to the tea room with a normal expression.
Nanny Shang was drinking the tea she had just made for Huaishan. As she drank, she murmured, "This tea tastes really good! I even put two extra olives in it... Is it not to Huaishan's taste?"
Huaishan was very angry.
As soon as he turned around, his tea was gone!
He said in a muffled voice: "Mrs. Shang, the Fourth Master is calling you!"
"Oh!" Mrs. Shang put down the teacup and hurried out, saying, "If you don't like the tea, leave it to me. I like it. The olives are given to the Fourth Master by Jiang Qin. They are authentic Chaozhou olives. If you don't like them, I do."
Huaishan kept staring at Nanny Shang as she entered Cheng Chi's study, then he snorted coldly.
Cheng Chi instructed Nanny Shang: "Isn't the second cousin's elder sister, Miss Zhou, about to get married? When I came in, I heard that the old lady would go with the fourth room's Guan Lao'an to add a box to Miss Zhou's eldest daughter in a few days. I was thinking whether I should also give a gift. You go and tell Feicui to go with you to Pingqiao Street and invite the second cousin to come over. She can take my gift privately and separate it from the public gift. It can also be regarded as my thank you gift to her for serving the old lady once!"
Nanny Shang hadn't figured it out yet, thinking that Cheng Chi hadn't gotten married yet and didn't know these etiquettes, so she smiled and said, "If you want to give a gift privately, you don't have to invite the second cousin to come over. We can find an excuse to visit the second cousin, and then give the gift to the second cousin and explain it to the second cousin..."
Cheng Chi stared at her.
Nanny Shang shuddered and understood.
What does Cheng Chi do
In charge of the miscellaneous affairs of Jiuru Lane!
Given his personality, even if he didn't understand, he would find out beforehand if he wanted to do something. How could he act like he knew nothing in front of other people
She added hurriedly, "However, if the Fourth Master's gift includes some valuable ornaments, it would be better if you hand it over to Second Cousin personally. I will tell Feicui right now and ask her to go with me. After all, Second Cousin has been copying scriptures in Hanbi Mountain House for more than a year, and she gets along well with the girls around the old lady. It is also respectful to the old lady if you give something to the eldest lady of the Zhou family."
At least this old lady Shang has kept her head clear!
He knew that he asked her to bring the jadeite with her so that people in Pingqiao Street would misunderstand that his mother had asked Zhou Shaojin to come over to discuss the matter of adding another box for Zhou Chujin.
Cheng Chi's expression eased slightly.
Nanny Shang forced herself not to wipe the sweat from her forehead and quickly walked out of the study.
What happened
Could it be that the second young lady of the Zhou family did something to anger the Fourth Master
However, the Fourth Master is not such a petty person. You can tell from Ji Ying that he would never cause trouble for the Second Miss of the Zhou family.
I was just overthinking it!
Nanny Shang suddenly remembered that she seemed to have heard someone say yesterday that Qin Zian sent someone to invite Dong Ting over.
Or maybe there is some serious business.
The Fourth Master has always been mysterious in his actions.
Nanny Shang stopped speculating and went to Hanbi Mountain House with a smile.
When Feicui heard that Cheng Chi specifically asked him to go and invite Zhou Shaojin over, she felt very uneasy.
Last time, Madam Yuan asked her to accompany Zhou Shaojin to see Cheng Xu, which caused such a big incident that made her and Zhou Shaojin alienated. Now the fourth master asked her to invite Zhou Shaojin over... She always felt like she would find out something, and she was terrified. Looking at Nanny Shang's half-smiley face, she didn't dare to say a word. She said something to Biyu and followed Nanny Shang to Pingqiao Street.
When Cheng Chi heard Qingfeng coming to report, he just nodded slightly.
When he was on the boat, he discovered that Zhou Shaojin had the best relationship with Biyu, followed by Zhenzhu, then Agate. On the contrary, he had the least relationship with the eloquent, smart and clever Feicui. If he let Feicui go with Nanny Shang, she would definitely not tip off anyone.
On Pingqiao Street, Zhou Shaojin asked Chunwan to boil eggs and secretly apply them to his eyes, and told Chunwan: "You can't tell anyone!"
Chun Wan said anxiously, "I don't need to tell you, but you have to tell me what happened. Why did the Fourth Master suddenly come to see you? And why did he make you so sad?"
Zhou Shaojin said: "I got sand in my eyes and rubbed them like this!"
"Just lie to me." Chun Wan said angrily, "When the young lady finds out, let's see what you will say."
Zhou Shaojin said with a guilty conscience: "I really have sand in my eyes..."
I'm too lazy to listen to the Spring Festival Gala.
Zhou Shaojin closed her eyes obediently and let the Spring Festival Gala take care of her. But she couldn't help but think of the breakup when Cheng Chi left the Zhou family, and she felt her eyes begin to moisten again.
Ever since she scared her sister, she never thought of telling anyone about what happened.
Those past events were so embarrassing that she had no way of talking about them.
Even if she reminded Cheng Jing, she would only think of an idea like helping Lin Shisheng, but now... one thing always leads to another. She repaid Lin Shisheng's kindness in his previous life, but Uncle Chi discovered that she was different... It's like lying. You told the first lie, and in order to make it up, you had to start telling the second lie. In order to make it up, you started telling the third or even the fourth lie. In the end, it was like a snowball that rolled bigger and bigger until it bent you, crushed you, and buried you in the snowball.
Her rebirth was like a lie. In order to cover up this lie, she had told many lies without realizing it... She now felt that she was about to be bent, crushed, and even buried in a snowball by these lies...
So when Zhou Shaojin heard that Mrs. Guo asked her to come over, she jumped out of bed, terrified and at a loss.
※
Sisters, please update for 44 Xixi’s spirit beast egg!
O(∩_∩)O~
※(To be continued)