What does it mean to be unable to help yourself
It was not until the sedan chair stopped in front of the hanging flower gate of Yuqian Hutong and Zhou Shaojin was helped out of the sedan chair by Chunwan and saw the desolate appearance of the courtyard that he finally suppressed this thought in his heart and entered the main courtyard one after another with Li.
Li was very surprised. She looked around and whispered to Zhou Shaojin, "Why do the walls look newly plastered and the paint looks newly applied..." But there was no furniture in the house.
I was afraid that my relative, Mrs. Liao, would come to visit and I would lose face.
Zhou Shaojin was still a little dazed, and did not understand what Li said for a moment. However, Nanny Shang followed Zhou Shaojin as soon as she entered the room. She smiled and said, "Let the Madam know. This was originally the dowry that Madam Guo gave to the Second Miss, and it has been empty all this time. The Fourth Master had something to do, so he stayed here temporarily, and the Madam was about to move in, so she hired a craftsman to help with the repairs, and it was only completed two days ago."
Li and Zhou Shaojin were both stunned.
Didn't Uncle Chi say that this house was his? Why did he give it to her in the name of Old Madam Guo
Is he... afraid that others will know about their relationship
Zhou Shaojin's face flushed.
Why did he give her such a precious gift? How would she explain it to her father and sister if they knew about it
She muttered to herself, not thinking that if she had not had this relationship with Cheng Chi, it would be normal for the eldest son's family to buy her a box generously just because she had been brought up in Old Madam Guo's house before she got married and had pleased Old Madam Guo.
Zhou Shaojin felt guilty, so he thought too deeply about everything.
Li was more envious than curious. Seeing Zhou Shaojin's expression, she couldn't help but smile and asked her, "Don't you know it yourself?"
Zhou Shaojin shook his head subconsciously, and felt that he had to know about such a big thing. This answer would only make things more obvious, so he hurriedly said, "Uncle Chi told me about it before, but I thought he was joking. I didn't expect him... Well, Madam Guo really gave this house to me!"
The more dowry a woman has, the easier it is to find a marriage partner.
Li originally thought that the Zhou family had an ordinary background, and Zhou Shaojin had been educated by Old Madam Guo, so her marriage would definitely not be low. What should Zhou Shaojin bring as a dowry? Now Old Madam Guo helped her solve a difficult problem... She said happily: "Since it is your dowry, the things in the house must belong to you, so I will pay to help you decorate this house, and we will live more comfortably."
Although she is the icing on the cake, it sounds better when it is said to others.
How could Zhou Shaojin ask Li to pay for it? But she had no money, so she had to say, "I'll ask my father about this first. It's such a big house, you can't just take it away like that, right?"
Li smiled and nodded, thinking that since Mrs. Guo had said it, the matter must be set in stone. But it would be good to tell Zhou Zhen, where her private money went, she had to let him know, right
She didn't take Zhou Shaojin's words to heart. While the maids were moving boxes, she took Zhou Shaojin for a walk around the house.
Although it was clean and tidy, it was empty. Except for a few big trees that were as thick as a man's embrace, even the household items that Zhou Shaojin saw when he came here last time were gone.
Zhou Youjin, who is already two years old, likes it very much.
She giggled and ran around in the spacious courtyard, forcing the wet nurse and the maid to follow her.
Nanny Shang came over and said, "Ask for a meeting with the steward!"
"Manager Xiang?" Li and Zhou Shaojin looked at each other.
Nanny Shang smiled and said, "It is said that his given name is Yi. He used to work for the Fourth Master, but because he had been in the capital for many years, the Fourth Master made him the manager of Yuqian Hutong. He said that he came here to pay his respects to you and the Madam on the orders of the Fourth Master."
Zhou Shaojin blinked.
She thought of the last time Cheng Chi gave her a pair of orioles, and also gave her a servant named "Xiao Que" to help her feed the birds... Later, she asked Xiao Que to help her take care of Snowball, freeing Chunwan and the others...
Seeing that Zhou Shaojin was a little absent-minded, Li smiled and said to Shang Ma: "Since he has come, please invite him to the hall!"
She saw a Xiangfei bamboo door curtain hanging in the hall, so she just happened to greet him through the curtain.
Nanny Shang thought this arrangement was good. After Li and Zhou Shaojin entered the hall, she led the steward Xiang in.
Manager Xiang is in his forties, of medium build, a little fat, and has a very ordinary appearance, but his manners are steady and his eyes are bright. He should be a steady and shrewd person. He does not look like a manager of a mansion but more like the owner of a shop.
Maybe he is really a shopkeeper!
Zhou Shaojin was guessing in his heart.
The steward Xiang pulled out a few pieces of paper from his sleeve and handed them to Nanny Shang beside him, and said respectfully to Zhou Shaojin: "This is the list of things that need to be purchased for this house. Miss Second Cousin, please take a look and see if there is anything to add or subtract. I will go and buy them now."
Nanny Shang handed in the list.
Lee leaned over to take a look.
The furniture is all black lacquered, with the occasional tall cabinets or tables inlaid with black lacquer and ornaments. You can tell how beautiful they are when displayed without even looking at them.
Looking further, there are small red lacquer boxes, pink-colored teacups, filigree incense burners, red bowls and plates…even the “May Everything Go Well” is a pair.
Even when marrying a girl, no one would be so careful.
Zhou Shaojin felt dazzled.
The only thing she hadn't thought of was not on the list.
Let her see if there is anything added or subtracted, it was just a polite remark.
Zhou Shaojin handed the list to Nanny Shang and said, "Manager Xiang has thought of everything. Thank you for your hard work. You can just buy the things according to this list."
He smiled and replied "yes" to the steward, then stepped back.
Li was extremely anxious, but it was difficult for her to refute Zhou Shaojin's words, so she had to wait until the steward left and whispered to her, "The items on the list will cost at least three or four thousand taels. The second young lady should reduce the number of items."
"Ah?!" Zhou Shaojin was a little dazed.
However, Chunwan and the others all smiled, and Xiao Tan said, "Madam, you don't know, but the things our fourth master sent to the second young lady were all complete." She talked about Cheng Chi sending a bird to Zhou Shaojin.
Li blushed, thinking that this was the custom for sending gifts to people like Jiuru Lane. So when the gifts were delivered in the afternoon, she only prepared a reward, and then started to clean up the house with the maids.
Zhou Shaojin was sitting in the patio in the backyard in a daze.
Nanny Shang brought in a plate of apricots and plums and said with a smile, "Steward Xiang has already left his name at the fruit shop. They will send peaches and cherries over tomorrow. Miss, please make do with them for now."
Zhou Shaojin picked up a plum and asked, "Isn't Uncle Chi back yet?"
At noon, a restaurant not far from here sent over a table. After they had lunch, Nanny Shang took them to the front yard to rest.
Zhou Shaojin suddenly felt unwell.
People in the capital city live in a quadrangle courtyard, where the houses are square. Usually, the front yard is the one that goes around the wall. The houses in the front yard that face south and north and are opposite to the main house are called back houses.
The eaves walls of the back houses all face the alley and usually have no windows. As a result, the doors and windows can only face north, so the lighting is very poor. They are either used as guest rooms or as group rooms for servants.
The place where Nanny Shang took them to rest was at the easternmost part of the back house, which was the study room that Cheng Chi used to entertain guests.
He moved out of the main room and moved the inner room to the study.
Not far from him, to the west, were the rooms where the servants lived.
How can Uncle Chi live here
Zhou Shaojin's eyes were wet at that time, and he wanted to find Cheng Chi.
But Cheng Chi went to Shisanhang and has not returned yet.
She asked Madam Shang, "How much money did Uncle Chi invest in the Thirteenth Bank?"
Nanny Shang said, "It should be about 200,000 taels..."
Zhou Shaojin was stunned at that time.
When Manager Xiang bought the things back, she really wanted to ask Manager Xiang to return all the things, but she didn't dare to say it for fear of embarrassing Cheng Chi. So she had to sit here and wait for Cheng Chi without seeing or being bothered.
Nanny Shang smiled and said, "Fan Qi is guarding the door! He will come to inform you as soon as the Fourth Master comes back..."
The people in this room are either hers or Cheng Chi's people, and most of them are hers. Zhou Shaojin feels very at ease and is particularly comfortable giving orders.
Zhou Shaojin pinched the plum in his hand.
A servant ran in and said, "Second Miss, the Fourth Master is back!"
Zhou Shaojin ran out holding up her skirt.
Li, who was in the main room, saw this and hurriedly sent her maid to follow and see what was going on.
There were several men Zhou Shaojin didn't recognize standing in the outer courtyard. Some were tall and some were burly. They were talking in low voices, making the outer courtyard suddenly seem small.
She didn't care about anything else and ran into Cheng Chi's study with her head down.
Huaishan stood aside with his hands clasped, while Qingfeng was helping Cheng Chi change his clothes.
Seeing Zhou Shaojin rushing in, Cheng Chi hurriedly closed his collar, but as soon as he closed his collar, he seemed to remember something, paused, and began to slowly tie his belt.
Zhou Shaojin didn't notice all this at all. Before she could say anything, tears started falling.
Before Cheng Chi could wink at Huaishan, Huaishan had already glared at Qingfeng and walked out.
Qingfeng hesitated for a moment, looked at Zhou Shaojin with an unclear expression, and then followed Huaishan to retreat.
Cheng Chi thought about it, walked over and put his hand on Zhou Shaojin's shoulder, and said softly, "What's wrong?"
Zhou Shaojin was very sad and choked up, "You, you can't live here! You should live in the upper room, I'll live here..."
"Nonsense!" Cheng Chi laughed and scolded her softly, "How can I live in the inner house when you and your wife are here?"
Zhou Shaojin knew it very well, but she felt uneasy whenever she thought about Uncle Chi, who used "Ru Wo Wen" incense, and the maid living next to each other.
"Then you can live in the back room." She said desperately, "Enter and exit through the back door."
What would happen if he was allowed to enter and exit through the back door
Cheng Chi felt soft in his heart.
The little girl was really anxious and couldn't bear to see him suffer even the slightest bit of injustice.
He hugged Zhou Shaojin gently and said with a smile, "Nonsense again, I'm just staying here for a few days. When I'm done with my business, I'll move to Chaoyangmen... It's okay! Hmm?"
yes!
How could she have forgotten about this
Zhou Shaojin wiped her tears embarrassedly, feeling extremely stupid.
Cheng Chi hugged her again and said, "Go back! Come over to play chess with me in the evening!"
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Brothers and sisters, catching up on yesterday’s update.
O(∩_∩)O~
PS: I was not feeling well a few days ago, and I had to go to the provincial capital for a checkup as ordered by the doctor. I have an appointment with a specialist on Monday. If the results of the checkup are good, I will be able to return on Monday. If not, I may have to stay for another day. In order to keep updating, I can't add more updates. Today, Monday, and Tuesday are all scheduled at around 11pm.
We apologize for any inconvenience caused.
※(To be continued)