You pretend quite well!
Cheng Chi kept laughing in his heart.
Zhou Shaojin glanced at Cheng Chi.
Her eyes, as moist as black jade, seemed to be immersed in a pool of spring water, and her slightly upturned eyes with flowing eyeliner were as charming as delicate flowers in May.
Cheng Chi's heart seemed to be hit by something. With a "bang", ripples were created and he couldn't calm down for a long time.
Fortunately, he has always been able to hide his emotions, and his face is gentle and not revealing at all.
Of course, Zhou Zhen did not notice Cheng Chi's abnormality. He was in a hurry to return to the inner house. Yesterday, Liao Shaotang had already left for the capital to clean up the house that Mrs. Liao had given them. Zhou Chujin stayed here temporarily and would come to pick her up after Liao Shaotang had settled everything. Now Zhou Chujin was in the backyard to take care of her pregnancy. Li was accompanying Zhou Chujin. Zhou Shaojin was an unmarried girl. If Zhou Chujin had any problems, Li would definitely not tell her. Now that Li agreed to Zhou Shaojin to come to him, he was afraid that Zhou Chujin had something wrong, and Li deliberately sent Zhou Shaojin away.
Zhou Shaojin smiled and said, "Then shall I send Uncle Chi off for you?"
Zhou Zhen was thinking about Zhou Chujin and wanted to get rid of Zhou Shaojin, so he naturally agreed and hurried back to the inner house with the servant.
Zhou Shaojin accompanied Zhou Zhen out.
On both sides are bare towering trees and lush holly trees with low branches.
Zhou Shaojin smiled and said, "When will Uncle Chi come to live in the capital permanently?"
Cheng Chi smiled and said, "I will go to Beijing after I have arranged the affairs of Baoding Prefecture."
Zhou Shaojin took a few steps forward, stood in front of Cheng Chi, and said with a smile: "My sister is also going to live in the capital, and she wants to take me with her!"
Cheng Chi stopped walking, looked at the little girl whose eyes were only as high as his shoulders, and said with a smile: "That's great! Come visit me when you are free!"
Zhou Shaojin's smile gradually faded and he frowned slightly.
She is going to the capital!
Shouldn’t Uncle Chi be very happy
Why is your tone so indifferent
Zhou Shaojin's mood suddenly became depressed.
This little girl can't stand being teased at all.
I just responded to her normally and she became unhappy.
There were sparkling stars in Cheng Chi's clear eyes.
"Silly!" He raised his hand and put it down again, his voice as gentle as the wind, and said, "Dangui Hutong where your sister lives is very close to Shuangyu Hutong and also very close to Yuqian Hutong."
"Really!" Zhou Shaojin opened his eyes wide.
Many of the Beijing city's alleys are named after the surrounding scenery.
Shuangyu Hutong usually means there are two elm trees in the alley.
Most of the trees in Yuqian Hutong are also planted with elm trees.
Maybe the two alleys are next to each other!
Zhou Shaojin became happy again and said, "I knew it, Uncle Chi is the best!"
It would have been best if she had bought an alley adjacent to her sister's. If she had known that she had recommended Liao Shaotang to her second uncle and asked Liao Shaotang to help him compile the "Beijing Geography", her second uncle would have written to Liao Shaotang, asking him to return to Beijing immediately after the Chinese New Year. It was because of this letter that Mrs. Liao saw that, thinking that if her son's name could be printed in the "Beijing Geography", he would have a place in the literati circle in his life. She couldn't let her son's future be delayed, and she couldn't let her son's reputation be ruined by these messy things, which would damage her son's future official career. That's why she decided to send her son and his daughter-in-law who was about to give birth to live in the capital. Only then was Liao Shaotang able to pull himself out of the quagmire at home... I wonder if the little girl will smile as cutely as a cat that has stolen fish
The thought flashed through his mind, and Cheng Chi felt a slight chill in his heart.
Now that I have decided to treat her as my niece, I have to learn to restrain myself in some things.
It was as if a basin of cold water was poured down on his head, and his mood slowly turned cold.
He smiled and said, "Then we'll see you in Beijing!"
Since she would live with Zhou Chujin in the future, given Zhou Chujin's temperament and Liao Shaotang's character, they would definitely not treat her badly, so she had nothing to worry about.
Zhou Shaojin nodded with a smile, not knowing that Cheng Chi had already arbitrarily drawn a huge gap between him and her.
※
In the evening, Zhou Chujin came to Zhou Zhen and Li, saying that she was pregnant and was afraid to go to the capital alone. She wanted Zhou Shaojin to go with her and stay to take care of her for a few days.
Zhou Zhen was reluctant to leave the unmarried Zhou Shaojin, and was also worried about the pregnant Zhou Chujin. He hesitated and said, "Why don't you give birth in Baoding Prefecture?"
This is very against the rules.
What's more, it is possible that Zhou Chujin is pregnant with the Liao family's legitimate son and eldest grandson. Even if he is not the legitimate son and eldest grandson, he is still the first child of Liao Shaotang, the eldest son, and his status in the family is also very honorable.
But in Zhou Zhen's view, there are exceptions to everything.
For example, Zhou Chujin was about to give birth, but she followed Liao Shaotang to the capital city.
Zhou Chujin was immediately tempted by the idea of giving birth at her mother's home, with her father and sister.
But my mother-in-law...
She shook her head gently and said, "My uncles, aunts and uncles didn't approve of me going out. It was my mother-in-law who took care of it. That's why I could follow Shao Tang to the capital and meet my father, wife and sisters..."
But Zhou Zhen was unwilling to let Shao Jin live with his eldest daughter who was married.
He was very happy. He originally placed them in Jiuru Lane because he wanted them to receive a better education. Why did he want his daughters to live under someone else's roof now
But before he could utter any words of objection, Li had already pulled his sleeve and winked at him.
Li had never cared about his daughter and him. Now she had something to say, so Zhou Zhen changed the subject: "Let me think about this carefully before I answer you."
Zhou Chujin had seen Li's actions. She felt a little unhappy, but she didn't show it on her face. She smiled and said goodbye to Zhou Zhen.
Zhou Zhen looked towards Li.
Li said, "Master, are you planning to let my eldest aunt go to the capital like this?"
Zhou Zhen was puzzled and asked, "Didn't I give Chu Jin two hundred taels of silver as a gift?"
Li smiled and said, "She is a new daughter-in-law, a mother for the first time, with neither her mother nor her mother-in-law around her. How will she feed the baby after it is born? What should she eat during the confinement period... She has never experienced any of this, how can you let her go to the capital alone?"
Zhou Zhen said: "Don't we have a wet nurse? We will also hire a midwife or something when the time comes."
"How can they be the same!" Li laughed, "No matter how loyal those maids are, they are still separated by the difference between master and servant. Some things are hard to say, and we can't let the eldest aunt have her temper..."
"Then what do you mean?" Zhou Zhen said.
"If the master agrees, I would like to bring Youjin with me to accompany my eldest aunt and the second young lady to Beijing!" Li said sincerely, "Not only can she accompany my eldest aunt, but she can also take care of her during childbirth. It can also allow Youjin to spend more time with her two sisters, so that the sisters will have a better relationship."
"You're going to take care of Chu Jin during her childbirth?" Zhou Zhen asked in surprise, "You, can you do it?"
Li smiled and said, "No matter how incompetent I am, I have experienced it all. It would be good for me to go and give my eldest aunt some courage! And..." She pointed in the direction of Mrs. Huang's residence, "We can also avoid that person."
When dealing with Chang Xiucai, it is also possible to avoid people associating him with Zhou Shaojin.
Zhou Zhen thought about this matter seriously.
The next day, when Zhou Chujin and Zhou Shaojin came to the main room for breakfast, Zhou Zhen told Zhou Chujin what Li meant and said, "Shaojin hasn't married yet, what does she know? I feel more at ease with a wife following me."
Zhou Chujin was very surprised. After a moment of silence, he said, "It's just that my wife followed me. Father..."
Zhou Zhen laughed and said, "I lived a good life for several years after your mother passed away."
In the Zhou family, "mother" refers to Zhuang.
Zhou Chujin thought about it and it made sense.
She also laughed and said to Li: "I'm sorry to trouble you, Madam."
Li said hurriedly, "I don't deserve it," and said, "We are one family and we don't have to talk about different things. I just hope that my eldest aunt can give birth to a baby boy smoothly."
They exchanged a few polite words with each other. Although it was not as close as a real family, the atmosphere was warm.
Zhou Zhen was very relieved.
Zhou Shaojin was overjoyed.
This way I can take good care of my sister and meet Uncle Chi at the same time...
The whole family was happily busy packing up the boxes.
On the other side, Mrs. Huang and Mr. Chang had been waiting so long that blisters formed on the corners of their mouths.
It’s such a big lantern festival, and the second young lady of the Zhou family didn’t come on the first day, didn’t come on the second day, so will she not come on the third day either
But who would have thought that it was such a coincidence that the lantern festival lasted for six consecutive days and cost thousands of taels of silver, but the second young lady of the Zhou family did not even step out of the room.
Mrs. Huang is in a difficult situation now.
She has heard a lot of flattery from Mr. Chang and received a lot of respect from him!
"It seems that the second young lady of the Zhou family is indeed very gentle and virtuous." She had no choice but to comfort Chang Xiucai, "She is worthy of being raised in the Cheng family in Jiuru Lane, Jinling Prefecture. She has the character of a young lady from a rich and powerful family. She can keep her composure and remain calm."
Chang Xiucai thought so too.
So after hearing what Mrs. Huang said, he scratched his head and begged Mrs. Huang, "If this can be accomplished, I will give out two thousand taels of silver as a thank you gift." Then, he felt that Zhou Shaojin was worth more than just this price, and hurriedly said, "No, I will give out three thousand taels of silver as a thank you gift."
Mrs. Huang's eyes turned green.
The prefect of Zhouzhen only received an annual salary of 192 dan, or 42 taels of silver... 3,000 taels of silver!
"Don't worry." She assured impatiently, "I will definitely get it done for you!"
Chang Xiucai breathed a sigh of relief.
After Mrs. Huang saw Mr. Chang off, she started walking around the room.
She clearly felt that Li was becoming distant from her.
Most likely, she was blamed for what happened to Master Miao.
When Mrs. Huang thought about this, she felt a lump in her chest.
Who knew that Mr. Miao was so vulgar! His father was a high-ranking official in the imperial court, and he looked like a man without family education. It was no wonder that Li was dissatisfied with her.
Even if Chang Xiucai had not asked her to do this, she would have to find a way to ease the relationship with Li.
Although her master follows the path of Lord Song, how can he compare to the relationship between Lord Zhou and the Cheng family
Fortunately, these are all matters involving the women in the inner house, and she means well. I think Lord Zhou would not be so heartless as to show no regard for others.
She pondered it for a long time, and finally decided to ask Mrs. Tan to help test Li's tone.
At worst, I can give Mrs. Tan fifty taels of silver after the matter is accomplished.
Having made up her mind, Mrs. Huang went to Mrs. Tan.
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Brothers and sisters, today’s extra update.
Thank you Diudiu Jianjian for the Xianlangyuan Xianpa, and thank you all for your support!
O(∩_∩)O~
PS: The update is still the same as before, everyone please check it out tomorrow morning!
I won't have time to correct typos until after work... If you are rereading the article, it is best to refresh it, as this is said to be the only way to display the modified content.
※(To be continued)