Faced with Madam Guo's sincere concern, Zhou Shaojin was both moved and guilty. With a slightly blushing face, she thanked Madam Guo, took her wet nurse Fan Liu and others to the fourth room, leaving Xiao Tan to look after the house in Fucui Pavilion.
Mrs. Miao had just finished washing up and was about to go to Jiashu Hall to pay her respects to Old Madam Guan. When she heard that Zhou Shaojin was coming, she smiled and went out to greet him.
Zhou Shaojin hurriedly bowed to Mrs. Mian.
Mrs. Miao did not wait for Zhou Shaojin to bend her knees before she stepped forward to take her in. She said excitedly, "No need to be so polite! We are a family, so we don't need to be so particular." She added, "Last night you sent someone to tell me that you wanted to come and see Old An and me today. We were all very happy. Old An even ordered the kitchen to make your favorite crystal cake and mixed tofu soup overnight. I laughed at Old An and said that you had to accompany Old Madam Guo for breakfast before coming here. What mixed tofu soup would you make? Old An said that she didn't know how you were doing in the long house, so it's better to be prepared. If you have already had breakfast, you can have it as an afternoon snack. I didn't expect you to come so early. You haven't had breakfast yet, right? If Old An saw you now, I'm afraid she would be so happy that she couldn't stop smiling."
Zhou Shaojin smiled shyly.
Mrs. Miao just liked the way she was usually gentle and taciturn, but had her own ideas at critical moments. The more she looked at her, the more satisfied she was. She took her hand and went to Jiashu Hall.
Just as Mrs. Guo sent Zhou Shaojin away, Cheng Xu rushed in from nowhere.
As soon as he entered the room, he called out "Grandma" loudly and said with a smile, "I came here specially to have breakfast with you."
Madam Guo laughed, took his hand and looked him up and down, and said, "Huanxi was gossiping in front of Biyu a few days ago, saying that your fourth uncle assigned you 12 essays in one go, with words circled all over the essays, and you did each question at least three times before you could barely pass, and you have lost a lot of weight. I saw you today, not only have you not lost weight, but you are even whiter than the day you just came back, and you have the demeanor of a famous scholar in the south of the Yangtze River. Tell me, let Huanxi tell me what you are doing behind your fourth uncle's back?"
Cheng Xu knew that he could not hide anything from his grandmother. But since his grandmother knew that he had sent Huanxi to deliver a message and did not plead for him, he knew that this trick would not work. He simply said nothing and approached Old Lady Guo and said, "I just want to act like a spoiled child in front of Grandma!"
Mrs. Guo smiled and slapped his palms hard twice, saying, "You are so old and still act like a spoiled child. I wonder what you will become when your wife gets married in two years!"
Cheng Xu's heart skipped a beat, but he didn't dare to ask more questions. He said with a drooling face, "Even if I have a great-grandson, he is still a junior in front of my grandmother and can act like a spoiled child, right?"
"Then wouldn't that make me a very smart person?" Old Madam Guo and her eldest grandson joked with a happy look on their faces.
She thought Cheng Chi was just talking about teaching Cheng Xu craftsmanship, but she didn't expect Cheng Chi to personally correct Cheng Xu's essays. Seeing Cheng Chi teaching Cheng Xu so carefully, she felt relieved and happy just thinking about it.
Cheng Xu helped Mrs. Guo to the hall where breakfast was set.
Madam Guo pointed to the small bamboo steamer placed in the middle of the table full of dishes and said with a smile, "I had someone make a basket of your favorite soup dumplings. You used to love them the most, but after two years in the capital, I wonder if your appetite has changed."
Cheng Xu looked at the two tables of bowls and chopsticks on the table, and his heart suddenly felt as if it was doused with cold water. Not only did he not dare to show any emotion on his face, but he also had to cheer up and said happily: "Look at what you said! I have been thinking about the soup dumplings at home for two years since I went to Beijing. Sometimes I dream about it. There were several times when I was reading until midnight and wanted to eat the soup dumplings at home. I was so greedy that my mouth was watering. Even if I was full, I still felt hungry. The day I came back, I ate seven baskets of soup dumplings in one breath, and then I felt better.
"My grandmother loves me and knows that I like this."
He said with a smile.
Mrs. Guo smiled and patted his hands again, saying, "Just keep yelling at me! What do you mean you ate seven baskets of soup dumplings? You clearly ate four baskets..."
"So grandma knows everything?" Cheng Chi said angrily.
Why don't you plead for him in front of Fourth Uncle
He said, "Four baskets is not a small number. I thought at the time that if I went to the capital again, I would have to bring a cook with me. You don't know, the buns in the capital are thick-skinned and full of fillings. Eating one is enough for your meal. I thought it was quite interesting when I started eating it, but after a while, I couldn't stand it anymore..."
As they were talking, Cheng Xu and Madam Guo sat down in turn, and the maids brought hot towels to wipe their hands.
Seeing Cheng Xu still nagging, Old Lady Guo interrupted him with a smile and said, "As if Grandmother has never been to the capital? It's almost time for breakfast! Are you going to leave the city later?"
Cheng Xu had no choice but to pick up his chopsticks and stop talking.
Biyu served Mrs. Guo some white porridge.
Pearl smiled cheerfully and asked Cheng Xu, "Today the kitchen also cooked barley and black bean porridge and lily and lotus seed porridge, duck blood vermicelli soup, shredded chicken noodles, fried noodles with soybean paste and dandan noodles. What would you like to eat, uncle? Do you want the kitchen to make something else?"
Cheng Xu couldn't help but ask: "How come my family makes noodles with soybean paste and dandan noodles? My favorite is duck blood vermicelli soup!"
Pearl said, "It was the Fourth Master's order. He said that the Master is filial and will definitely come early in the morning to have breakfast with the old lady when he sets off for Zaoyuan today. I was afraid that the Master would like fried noodles with soybean sauce after two years in the capital, so I asked Sister Feicui to tell the kitchen. The people in our kitchen are not very authentic, so we asked the chef from the outer courtyard kitchen to help make the soybean sauce. But the Fourth Master likes dandan noodles."
Cheng Xu was shocked when he heard this.
When he was young, his fourth uncle lived with his second great uncle in the capital, and he had no impression of him at all. Later, his fourth uncle came back to take care of the chores, and every time he went out, he would bring him some fun things such as windmills and pulleys, and he immediately fell in love with his fourth uncle.
But Fourth Uncle had a strange temper and became cold towards him for some reason.
At that time, his homework became more and more demanding, and he had less and less time to play. He learned the difference between studying and not studying, and gradually, the two of them became distant.
But just when he thought that his illiterate fourth uncle would be lost in the crowd and become a country squire who depended on his family for survival, his fourth uncle seemed to have accumulated a lot of experience and made great progress every year. In the end, he was listed in the imperial examination and became a Jinshi.
He was stunned.
I couldn't help but admire my fourth uncle.
Not everyone can do this!
Especially since he had just passed the county examination and was preparing to take the provincial examination the following year, he knew a lot about what happened in the examination room and also knew how difficult the imperial examination was.
Passing the first subject might be due to diligence, passing the second subject might be due to luck, but passing three subjects in a row, especially the last one in spring, which is held once every three years and only about 300 people are admitted, is not just due to diligence and luck... Just like a child who suddenly discovers a hero, he began to feel close to his fourth uncle.
Fourth uncle became increasingly cold towards him.
But he couldn't find the reason!
I want to talk to my father, but I don’t know how to start.
Although the fourth uncle and he didn't have much contact, he never missed out on red envelopes during festivals and daily necessities. It's not right to say that he didn't treat him well. But if you say he treated him well, several uncles and uncles said that the fourth uncle had a solid foundation and profound knowledge, but the fourth uncle never cared about his studies and never gave him any advice like an elder.
Just like now, everything Fourth Uncle did seemed to be for his own good, but in his opinion, it was building an invisible fence between him and Zhou Shaojin, separating him and Zhou Shaojin.
Was this intentional or unintentional, Fourth Uncle
Did he see something or was it just a coincidence
Cheng Xu really wanted to ask Cheng Chi.
He asked Mrs. Guo: "Grandma, won't Fourth Uncle have breakfast with us?"
Madam Guo said kindly, "Your fourth uncle spent the whole night calculating accounts last night and didn't go to bed until dawn today. I told the people in his room not to wake him up. Let's eat first. When your fourth uncle wakes up, I'll have someone make him a new meal."
Cheng Xu thought about it and said, "What about the second young lady of the Zhou family? Doesn't she usually have breakfast with you?"
"She usually accompanies me." Mrs. Guo said, "There was something going on at Jiashu Hall today, so she went there."
"So early?" Cheng Xu was very suspicious.
Madam Guo smiled and said, "Maybe there's something urgent. I had already gone to bed last night before I sent a maid to deliver the letter."
Cheng Xu tightened his grip on the chopsticks.
He knew that he would never see Zhou Shaojin again this time.
He bid farewell to Mrs. Guo in frustration and was escorted to Zaoyuan by Qin Ziping.
※
In Jiashu Hall, Zhou Shaojin, who had just finished breakfast, was sitting around the Luohan bed with Mrs. Mian and talking to Old Madam Guan.
Old Lady Guan said, "The weather is getting hotter day by day. I have discussed with your uncle and we are going to buy a piece of land in the Qinglong Mountain area and build a house there so that we can escape the heat in the summer. You can come and live with us for a few days!"
When the weather gradually gets cooler, Shao Jin will be sent to Baoding.
This way, we can give an explanation to the eldest son's family and also pull Shao Jin out of the quagmire.
Zhou Shaojin was shocked and asked, "Grandma, why did you suddenly think of buying land and building a house in Qinglong Mountain?"
Old Lady Guan and Madam Mian exchanged glances and said solemnly, "Shao Jin, even if you don't come to see us today, I am going to bring you a letter to come back. The first and second houses are now at loggerheads. The fourth house has received favors from both the first and second houses, and it is not good for us to stand on either side. But you saw it a few days ago, Old Lady Li from the third house sat here with me, and insisted that I go to Old Lady Guo to speak for the second house. I didn't go, and she seemed to want to sit there and tell the second house. A gentleman deceives others with his own way. Old Lady Guo is a gentleman, but the third house is a villain. In the end, although I went, I felt bad here.
"After much thought and discussion with your uncle and aunt, I decided to use the excuse that the weather is too hot to temporarily move out and come back during the Spring Festival.
"I don't want you to get involved, so you can just come with us to escape the summer heat!"
Zhou Shaojin felt something was wrong, but he couldn't tell why. He hesitated and said, "How about you talk to my father about this? He is an official in the government, and the fourth room should avoid him or make a choice. Dad is an outsider, so he may see it more clearly."
※
Update, sisters!
O(∩_∩)O~
※(To be continued)