Song Mu chatted with Zhou Shaojin across a bluestone corridor with a coin-shaped pattern: "When did you arrive in the capital? I heard that your sister married into the Liao family in Zhenjiang. When will your nephew's full moon be celebrated? There is a temple fair on the first and fifteenth day of every month at Daxiangguo Temple. Have you ever been there, Miss Zhou?"
How come Mr. Song knows her so well
Zhou Shaojin was secretly puzzled, but he did not show it on his face and answered them one by one calmly.
Seeing Zhou Shaojin's gentle expression, without the slightest displeasure, Song Mu breathed a sigh of relief, but his ears were burning red. He continued, "There are actually many fun places in the capital. In addition to Daxiangguo Temple and Baiyun Temple, Shichahai is also fun. You can play on the ice in winter and go boating in summer. There is also a place called Goldfish Lane in the south of the city, which specializes in selling fish and birds. There is also a place called Fengtai, which sells flowers and plants. It is said that all the flowers and plants in the palace are bought there. Especially in winter, they can grow flowers that bloom in spring and summer. Every household has to move a few pots for the New Year. The business is so good that even the carriages can't move..."
Zhou Shaojin originally knew all of this.
But out of respect for Song Mu, she still sat there and listened with a smile.
This not only made Song Mu feel that Zhou Shaojin was very virtuous and quiet, and he liked this marriage very much, but also gave him a lot of courage and encouragement. He paused and said, "Second Miss, I have a younger sister. Because I am not engaged, although she has found a marriage partner, she has never been engaged. My mother plans to take her to Daxiangguo Temple to burn incense in two or three days. I heard that the second young lady is very sincere in worshipping Buddha, so why not let your mother, my mother, and sister go to Daxiangguo Temple to have a look. Daxiangguo Temple was a royal temple of the previous dynasty, and the current emperor also highly respects it. Last year, in December, we went to Daxiang Temple to burn incense. The incense was very prosperous, and there were many small things for sale outside the temple. Every time my sister and my mother went there, they would bring back a lot of things..."
The more Zhou Shaojin listened, the more he felt something was wrong.
Song Mu... This means he wants to ask her out on behalf of his mother... But he is a humble gentleman, how could he do such a thing
She looked towards Song Mu.
Song Mu's eyes were clear, yet slightly shy.
Zhou Shaojin's heart skipped a beat, and a bold idea suddenly popped into her mind.
The eldest son of the Jiuru Lane family has always had a rule for marrying off their daughters... Could it be that she has also encountered this rule
But why didn't her sister tell her
She looked at Song Mu's wide clothes, the four-sided Buddhist seal of Shoushan stone hanging around his waist, and the purse engraved with the words "prosperity step by step". She suddenly realized that Song Mu was also the son of a wealthy family... and her family was only a fourth-rank prefect... So they had to meet first... Otherwise, once the marriage was settled, it would be impossible to change it... Uncle Chi must be afraid that she would be dissatisfied... so he arranged it this way...
For a moment, Zhou Shaojin's hands and feet felt cold, and it took him a long time to come back to his senses.
She stood up suddenly, her behavior was a bit rude, and she almost knocked over the teacup on the table beside her.
Song Mu, who was about to speak, didn't know what was happening, so he quickly stood up.
Zhou Shaojin looked a little pale. He took a deep breath to calm himself down. He smiled and said to Song Mu, "Mr. Song, I, I remembered something. Please sit here for a while. I'll be right over."
Song Mu was suspicious, but he didn't want to ask about a girl's affairs, so he smiled and bowed.
Zhou Shaojin bowed, then hurried out of the yard with Chunwan, holding onto the osmanthus tree in front of the gate with hanging flowers, and he no longer had the strength to move another step.
Chun Wan was very anxious and whispered: "Second Miss, what's wrong with you? Are you not being served? You look so pale..."
"I'm fine." After a long while, Zhou Shaojin said, "I just thought of something."
Her voice was a little hoarse, as if she was about to cry.
Chunwan hurried forward to help her.
Zhou Shaojin's mood slowly calmed down.
The most urgent thing is to figure out what is going on... And to figure out what is going on, the letter that her sister asked her to deliver becomes the key... But how do you know what her sister wrote in the letter
Zhou Shaojin bit his lip and told Chunwan: "Go and quietly invite Langyue over, I have something urgent to do!"
Chunwan didn't dare to delay and hurried to find someone.
Fortunately, the house was not big, and after a while, Langyue hurriedly followed Chunwan over.
Zhou Shaojin begged him: "My sister asked me to take a letter to Uncle Chi, and there was a string of Buddhist beads in it," she said, taking off the Buddhist beads wrapped around her wrist, "I forgot to put it back after reading it, can you quietly put it back for me later?"
Lang Yue responded with a smile, and comforted her, "It's okay, the Fourth Master won't be angry even if he knows."
There are many things that the second cousin can do in front of the fourth master that others cannot do. She just secretly read the letter that the second cousin's sister wrote to the fourth master. Even if the fourth master was angry when he knew about it, the second cousin would just make a joke and it would be over.
Zhou Shaojin nodded absentmindedly and told Langyue what the letter looked like.
Seeing that she was very worried, Lang Yue did not dare to delay and went to the study with a tea tray.
Cheng Chi was talking to Old Master Song: "… I appreciate your kindness. As you said, we are not doing this for fame, let alone for the limelight. If the court intends to dredge the Yellow River, it would be a good idea to give me some river works to do, but forget about river management! I can neither bear this annoyance nor this hardship. You, old man, have done something bad with good intentions this time."
Old Lady Song advised him earnestly: "You can't just hang around like this for the rest of your life, can you? People live for the sake of doing things. If you don't want to leave your name in history, you should at least do something that is beneficial to the country and the people, right? I don't know how your family has arranged it, but I feel so sorry to see you like this. I'm also planning to go to Jinling in person after I finish this matter, meet the old lady, and have a good talk with her about your situation..."
Cheng Chi suddenly realized that he had moved a stone and hit his foot. Naturally, he did not notice that Lang Yue's eyes had been rolling around for a while, and finally his gaze fell on the letter that he had casually thrown into the trash can. Then, when he was not paying attention, she picked up the letter, read it, put it back into the trash can, walked out pretending to be calm, and ran towards the Chuihua Gate.
Zhou Shaojin was cheered up when he saw him.
Lang Yue, however, panted heavily and returned the Buddhist beads to Zhou Shaojin in a panic, stammering, "Second cousin, the letter you mentioned is in the trash can... It hasn't been opened yet... I don't dare put anything in it..."
He didn't know what his second cousin wanted him to do.
But he would never dare to take anything from the Fourth Master's room.
Zhou Shaojin was stunned and said, "The letter was not opened? It was thrown into the trash can? Impossible! Did you see it wrong?"
Lang Yue was also a little surprised, and said: "I should be right! It clearly says 'from my uncle', the handwriting is beautiful, and it is obviously written by a woman. I touched it, it is thin and crumpled into a ball... It doesn't look like there is something stuck in it..."
Is there nothing written in that letter
This was just an excuse agreed upon by my sister and Uncle Chi to send her here!
Zhou Shaojin's body went limp. If Chun Wan hadn't been quick to support her, she would have made a fool of herself.
Lang Yue saw that she didn't seem to be faking it, so she whispered, "Second cousin, could it be that you remembered me wrongly? The letter that Mrs. Liao wrote to the fourth master was not like that..."
Zhou Shaojin said bitterly: "Then have you ever seen the second letter with beautiful handwriting?"
"No, no." Lang Yue touched his head awkwardly.
Zhou Shaojin said, "It's okay, go and do your thing first! I'll go talk to Uncle Chi in person later."
Lang Yue nodded and walked away, looking back every three steps.
It took Zhou Shaojin a long time to calm down.
Chun Wan asked worriedly, "Are you okay? Did something happen?"
She knew that Zhou Shaojin had never opened the letter from beginning to end.
Zhou Shaojin shook his head, thought about it, and told Chunwan his guess.
Chun Wan was overjoyed when she heard this, but she only regretted not looking at Song Mu carefully just now: "Eldest aunt is really something, why didn't she explain it to you clearly. Such a good marriage, are you afraid that you don't want it? If I had known that the second young lady was here to see someone, I should have dressed her up well... I'm not saying that your current dress is not good... Our second young lady is naturally beautiful, even if she wears an old dress, she is more eye-catching than those women who have carefully dressed up... I mean, if she is dressed up well, Mr. Song will never forget her after seeing her... Oh, what should I do!" She was so anxious that she turned around and around, "The fourth master doesn't have any female relatives here, so there is nowhere to borrow anything. I don't know if it will be too late for me to rush back and bring some perfume and jewelry..."
Despite such a festive occasion, Zhou Shaojin couldn't smile.
She said, "Do you think this marriage is a good one?"
"Of course!" Chun Wan only then noticed Zhou Shaojin's mood. She smiled slightly and said seriously, "Is the second young lady dissatisfied? Mr. Song is Madam Song's stepson, right? He is also the son of a talented man. I just don't know if he has any achievements, but his birth is no worse than that of Mr. Xu... He is also good-looking. Didn't Madam Yuan want to marry the eldest daughter of the Min family as her daughter-in-law? Our second young lady is no worse than the eldest daughter of the Min family. She can also marry into the old man's family as a daughter-in-law..."
Zhou Shaojin suddenly felt that the Spring Festival Gala was a bit noisy, and interrupted her unhappily: "What kind of wife Cheng Xu marries has nothing to do with me? Why should I compete with him!"
Chunwan quickly shut up.
Zhou Shaojin stood under the osmanthus tree for a long time before he said to Chun Wan, "Let's go in! Uncle Chi asked me to help entertain Young Master Song. We can't just leave Young Master Song there."
Chun Wan's eyebrows fluttered again when she heard that, and she said hurriedly, "That's right, that's right. Mr. Song is a guest after all, and it would be too rude to leave him there like this."
Zhou Shaojin said nothing and walked in slowly.
Song Mu picked up the teacup and put it down again.
There was no tea in the teacup any longer, but no one came to refill it.
I don't know where the second daughter of the Zhou family has gone? She hasn't shown up for such a long time. Is she dissatisfied with me? But the second daughter of the Zhou family is a well-mannered lady. Even if she is dissatisfied with him, she can't just leave him here... It seems that I am more satisfied with this marriage than I expected, otherwise why would I be so worried
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Sisters and brothers, make up for tomorrow’s update.
O(∩_∩)O~
※(To be continued)