The one who spoke was the playful little girl.
Cheng Zheng and others all laughed.
Seeing this, the little girl ran over happily, took Cheng Zheng's hand and called her "Sister Zheng" sweetly, then greeted Cheng Xiao and Cheng Sheng, then waved to her companions and said, "Sister Jia, these are the sisters from the Cheng family in Jiuru Lane, Jinling!"
The woman's face suddenly turned red as if blood was about to drip out, and her expression became a little embarrassed.
How could such a generous woman suddenly become shy
Zhou Shaojin secretly felt something was wrong.
Sure enough, the woman stepped forward, bowed to them respectfully, then stood aside with her head slightly lowered.
The playful little girl smiled and said, "Sister Jia is the eldest daughter of the Min family in Fujian! Her brother is the former number one scholar, Master Min."
Everyone showed a look of sudden enlightenment.
Zhou Shaojin frowned.
Isn’t the eldest daughter of the Min family in Fujian the one who is going to marry Cheng Xu
What day is today
You may even meet Cheng Xu’s fiancée when you go out to the flower market!
In her previous life, she had never met the eldest daughter of the Min family, but she didn't expect to meet her so soon in this life.
I hope we will have less contact with each other in the future.
I just don't know why the eldest lady of the Min family is so familiar with the young lady of the Fang family
Cheng Zheng introduced Zhou Shaojin to the two young ladies, and then introduced the two little girls to her: "This is the sixth young lady of the Fang family, her maiden name is Xuan, and this is the eldest young lady of the Min family..."
Fang Xuan smiled and said, "Sister Min's given name is just one character, 'Jia'. Both of us are grass."
Cheng Zheng and others all laughed.
Zhou Shaojin also curled the corners of her mouth, but the smile did not reach her eyes. Fortunately, she looked like a gentle and docile girl. In addition, Min Jia's attention was on the three Cheng sisters, and the three Cheng sisters were also paying attention to Min Jia, so no one noticed her.
Cheng Xiao smiled and asked Fang Xuan: "Why did you choose to go to the flower market today? Didn't your uncle force you to write?"
That tone is very familiar.
It can be seen that the Yuan family and the Fang family are very close.
Fang Xuan sighed and said, "Sister Xiao, you are really talking about something that is not relevant! Why would my father let me out? It was Sister Jia who came from Fujian, and my mother asked me to accompany Sister Jia to go shopping everywhere. My father finally said that I can copy 500 fewer characters every day." As she spoke, she walked over and hugged Cheng Zheng, followed behind her politely, and listened to Gu Ning and Gu Zhong, and smiled, "Sister Zheng, why did you come to the flower market today? Dalang, Erlang, we haven't seen you for a while, did you miss me?"
Gu Ning and Gu Zhong both smiled cutely and called Fang Xuan "Auntie". Gu Zhong even asked, "Why haven't you visited us for such a long time?"
Fang Xuan blushed, hesitated for a moment, and said with a smile: "Next time when auntie comes to visit you, I will bring you some Wosi candy and Muli water!"
They both nodded with a smile.
Cheng Sheng laughed and whispered to Zhou Shaojin, "She is my second uncle's daughter. She is the sixth among the sisters, but she is actually my second uncle's only daughter. He got this baby when he was over 40 years old. He dotes on her very much. She is a bit lively and speaks directly, but she has a good heart."
It seemed as if he was asking her not to take it to heart if Fang Xuan said something wrong.
They just met by chance, so Zhou Shaojin would never get angry with her.
She smiled at Cheng Sheng.
Cheng Sheng suddenly sighed and said, "Shaojin, you are so beautiful. You have such a good temper, you need to change it, otherwise you will be controlled by your mother-in-law or sister-in-law when you marry into another family..."
Cheng Sheng had told her before not to endure and give in to everything. At that time, she just thought that Cheng Sheng was a gifted girl and it was easy for her to say that... Now that she thinks about it, her words are very reasonable and they were spoken from the bottom of her heart.
Zhou Shaojin felt apologetic.
Seeing that everyone was familiar with each other, Wang Madam heaved a sigh of relief and hurriedly invited everyone to the pavilion outside the greenhouse for tea: "… Ladies and grandmothers can also take a look at my flower garden."
Cheng Zheng smiled and said "OK", and the others followed her lead and naturally had no objection. Only Zhou Shaojin smiled and said, "I want to see the other flowers in their house. Sisters, go first, I will come over later."
Since she met her future sister-in-law here, the three sisters of the Cheng family must be very interested in Min Jia. Instead of sitting there and watching idly, she should take a closer look at what flowers the Wang family has for sale. She came to Fengtai with great hope, hoping to find some good flowers to take back.
Uncle Chi said that if possible, he would rush back to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival with her.
It was already very hot by then.
It would be cooler if we could plant a few trees.
I wonder if Uncle Chi has stored ice
Or, should we persuade Uncle Chi to move to the house near Chaoyangmen
Since there is enough space to raise several horses, it must be very spacious.
Zhou Shaojin was thinking about all sorts of things. He saw Cheng Zheng and the others off and walked around the Wang family's greenhouse.
The daughter of the Wang family accompanied her and introduced the flowers and plants in the greenhouse to her from time to time: "... These are camellias... These are wintersweets, which have just bloomed and are being pruned... These are peonies, the two-color peonies that my grandfather grew at that time, and these few pots are Clivia, which is not a very rare variety, but it sells very well. Everyone who comes to our house will bring one back... This row is all Jianlan, sent from Fujian." She paused here and said, "Miss Fang came here to buy Jianlan."
Min Jia is from Fujian, so it is easy to understand why Fang Xuan wants to buy Jianlan.
She smiled and nodded, and looked carefully at the Wang family's Clivia.
The leaves are lush and the stamens are about to bloom, and the color can already be seen.
Zhou Shaojin smiled and said, "It is indeed better to bring a pot back."
Miss Wang smiled, looking hesitant.
Zhou Shaojin was never a nosy person, so he pretended not to see anything and lowered his head to carefully select seven or eight pots of Clivia.
The young lady from the Wang family couldn't help laughing and said, "So the Sixth Miss from the Fang family brought the eldest Miss from the Min family! I also watched her brother parade in the streets, but I was too far away to see clearly. The eldest Miss from the Min family is so beautiful, so the champion Min must be very handsome too." She looked very interested. Just like those wives and grandmothers who support the actors in the opera theater.
Zhou Shaojin laughed and said, "I haven't seen it either. I don't know."
Miss Wang blushed and hurriedly called the maid to help move the pots of Clivia that Zhou Shaojin liked to the side and load them onto the carriage for Zhou Shaojin later.
Zhou Shaojin selected a few pots of plum blossoms, camellia and kumquats, and asked her if she had any flowering trees like crabapple.
Miss Wang took her to another greenhouse.
Zhou Shaojin was busy for a long time and finally visited the Wang family's flower garden. She found that the flowers grown by the Wang family were better than the trees. She did not force herself, but just looked and decided to visit other flower farmers next time she came - since they could sell flowers in Fengtai, each family had their own good flowers.
On her way back, she met Cheng Zheng.
She was admiring flowers with her two sons. While admiring the flowers, she said, "... Do you see that pink flower? It's an aster, and that bright red flower over there is an immortelle. Do you find the difference between them?"
Gu Ning looked carefully at them, while Gu Zhong smiled and said, "Mom, don't chrysanthemums bloom in September? Why are they blooming now? Is it because of the greenhouse?"
"No." Cheng Zheng explained patiently, "These two flowers bloom in this season. They are relatively common flowers. Only the more expensive flowers are grown in greenhouses. As for why they bloom at this time, mother doesn't know. When you go back later, can you ask our gardener?"
They both nodded.
Gu Ning said: "Mother, I understand. The petals of the aster have all opened, while the petals of the immortelle have always held the stamens..."
Cheng Xiao touched Gu Ning's head encouragingly.
Zhou Shaojin's heart softened when he saw this.
The other boys of this age she saw were all very reckless, but the two children of the Gu family were very self-controlled. Cheng Zheng had taught them very well!
It turns out that what people in Jiuru Lane said about Cheng Zheng looking like Old Madam Guo was not false!
However, why did she bring her children out to appreciate the flowers instead of talking with Miss Min and others in the pavilion at this time
She walked over with a smile.
The two little ones saluted her.
Cheng Zheng smiled and said, "I heard from your sister that you grow your flowers very well, so finally someone has come to help. I was almost speechless because of these two guys' questions."
She said this, but her expression showed a sense of pride.
Zhou Shaojin walked forward with a smile and admired the flowers with Cheng Zheng and her son.
A little maid ran over panting and said, "Grandma, the Sixth Miss Fang and the First Miss Min are leaving, and they said they want to say goodbye to you!"
Cheng Zheng smiled and said to Zhou Shaojin: "Then let's go and see them off together!"
This is basic etiquette, so Zhou Shaojin naturally followed suit.
Fang Xuan seemed to have the best relationship with Cheng Xiao. She tried her best to invite Zhou Shaojin and others to her home as guests, and said to Cheng Xiao: "You didn't even tell me that my sister was coming. If you keep delaying, I will complain to my aunt!"
Cheng Xiao responded kindly and sent Fang Xuan and Min Jia away.
Cheng Sheng said, "The eldest daughter of the Min family seems to be quite good. Auntie made a good choice of daughter-in-law."
Cheng Xiao, who was very enthusiastic just now, turned cold and said, "Fang Xuan is not serious. I don't know if she met me by chance or she came prepared... I'm afraid we have to wait and see."
She has always been resentful about the Min family's suggestion that only Cheng Xu, who has passed the imperial examination, could be considered for marriage.
Cheng Zheng did not comment, but smiled faintly and said, "It's getting late, we have to go back."
Cheng Sheng felt the coldness from Cheng Zheng and her sister, and looked towards Zhou Shaojin in confusion.
Zhou Shaojin didn't know what was going on and shook his head gently.
Mrs. Wang, who had seen Fang Xuan and Min Jia off, ran over and asked them if they had taken a fancy to any flowers.
Cheng Sheng chose a few pots of Jianlan, Cheng Xiao chose a few pots of holly trees and the like, while Cheng Zheng chose some common grass flowers such as tobacco, dahlia, and half-flowered lotus.
When loading the carriage, Cheng Sheng admired Zhou Shaojin's foresight. Seeing that Zhou Shaojin bought a lot of Clivia that were about to bloom, he smiled and said, "Even if you want to give it to your sister, you bought too much."
Zhou Shaojin smiled and said, "I have a few pots for you. This is the first time I'm out with my cousins, and I don't know what to buy for you. So I'll just give you a few pots of Clivia as a birthday gift."
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Brothers and sisters, catching up on yesterday’s update.
There are typos and they will be corrected at noon.
Everyone just watch it for now!
PS: The update will still be around 12 o'clock in the evening... ~~~~(>_