Pan Qing?!
Zhou Shaojin was surprised and said, "I don't know anything! Is she here?"
Cheng Ji pouted and pointed inside.
Zhou Shaojin was silent.
I’m afraid Pan Qing didn’t come here to attend the class, but to find out whether I heard what she and Pan Zhuo said
She took a deep breath, smiled, and walked into Jing'an Zhai with Cheng Ji.
Another desk was added next to Zhou Shaojin's desk. Pan Qing was wearing a rose-colored gold-woven jacket, a plain white silk spring shirt with a stand-up collar, and her jet-black hair was simply tied up. She was sitting quietly in front of the newly added desk, reading a book.
Hearing the noise, she looked up and greeted Zhou Shaojin and Cheng Ji with a smile. Two lotus seed-sized pearls swayed in her ears, revealing a bit of liveliness in her elegance.
What a beauty!
What a pity that she is a beautiful woman wearing a mask and having a double appearance!
Zhou Shaojin sighed in his heart and walked forward to greet Pan Qing.
Cheng Ji sat down in his seat without looking around.
In this way, Cheng Ji was on Zhou Shaojin's left and Pan Qing was on his right, and she sat in the middle.
This is the first time in my two lifetimes that I have attracted so much attention and become so important.
Zhou Shaojin was laughing at himself in his heart when Aunt Shen came over.
She was not surprised to see Pan Qing. She smiled and exchanged a few words with Pan Qing before starting her lecture.
It can be seen that someone has already greeted her.
The three people listened quietly to Aunt Shen telling a chapter of "Biographies of Virtuous Women".
During the break, Pan Qing poured Aunt Shen a cup of tea and talked to her about what happened after they parted.
The next lesson is writing big characters.
Zhou Shaojin spread out the rice paper and prepared to practice calligraphy.
Cheng Ji ran over and whispered to her, "Why don't you come to my place for lunch after school? I asked someone to roast a wild pheasant."
Zhou Shaojin just felt powerless and said, "I promised my grandmother to have lunch with her at noon."
Cheng Jia still didn't give up, and asked, "How about you come to my place for dinner?"
"I'm going to Hanbi Mountain House to copy scriptures. I don't know when I'll be back."
"Well, when you come back, ask the little maid to say hello to me, and I'll go play with you."
"It's too late. Why don't we wait until we have a day off?"
The two were talking to each other when Pan Qing came over with a smile and said, "What are you talking about? You are so affectionate. I really envy you."
In her previous life, she and Cheng Ji were even closer than in this life, but Pan Qing never envied her!
As soon as Pan Qing opened his mouth, Zhou Shaojin became a little more alert.
"Let's discuss where to go during the break?" Cheng Ji looked at Pan Qing provocatively and said, "Shao Jin said that we should go boating in the garden."
Pan Zhi served in the north most of the time, while Pan Qing was a landlubber.
"Really?" Pan Qing smiled, showing great interest. "I rarely have the opportunity to go boating, so I might as well join one when the time comes."
Cheng Ji puffed up his cheeks, wanting to refuse but suddenly seeming to remember something, his eyes rolled around a few times, and he smiled sweetly, "Okay! I will definitely not forget Sister Qing when the time comes."
Pan Qing smiled slightly, lowered his head to look at the words Zhou Shaojin wrote, then showed a look of surprise, and hesitated: "This, is this the words written by Shaojin's sister?"
Before Zhou Shaojin could answer, Cheng Ji said proudly: "Of course it was Shaojin who wrote it! Otherwise, why would Mrs. Guo let Shaojin help her copy the scriptures! So Shaojin usually has no time to practice calligraphy."
Pan Qing said "Oh" and looked at Zhou Shaojin thoughtfully.
Cheng Ji chattered and praised Zhou Shaojin.
Soon, it was time to practice calligraphy and Jing'an Zhai became quiet.
Aunt Shen looked at each of their desks, gave a few pointers, and then went to the next room accompanied by a little maid to read a book and drink tea.
The study immediately came alive again.
Cheng Ji asked Zhou Shaojin: "My brother brought me some orchid stems from outside. Do you want them? Otherwise, I will ask my wife to send you a few plants later. You can grow them in Xianyang pots and they will bloom during the Spring Festival."
Pan Qing smiled and said, "I didn't know that Sister Shaojin liked calligraphy. I just got a few ingots of ink from Wende Pavilion. I'll ask the maid to send a few ingots to Sister Shaojin to try and see if she is comfortable with it."
Zhou Shaojin was speechless.
But it feels really good!
She thought for a moment and said to Cheng Ji, "Don't bother. I'll ask Chun Wan to get it later." She then said to Pan Qing, "Thank you, cousin Pan. I'm practicing calligraphy very hard now, so I won't be polite to cousin Qing."
She accepted things from both sides and didn't offend either side, but there was one difference after all—she spoke much more casually to Cheng Ji.
Then Zhou Shaojin put down his pen, stood up, and said with a smile, "I'm going to the toilet." Without inviting anyone, he walked straight out of the study.
Cheng Ji glared at Pan Qing fiercely.
Pan Qing looked around and saw Cheng Ji's maid sitting far away under the eaves embroidering. His face darkened and he sneered, "Cheng Ji, don't make trouble for me, or I will be rude to you. I'm just a guest in the Cheng family for a few days, but you may stay in Jinling for the rest of your life. You are not young anymore, you should be able to tell the difference!" After that, he glanced at Cheng Ji with disdain and left.
Cheng Ji was so angry that he jumped up and down.
Pan Qing left the study and went to the toilet.
The bluestone path twists and turns, with green bamboos swaying gracefully on both sides.
Zhou Shaojin, wearing a pink plain Hangzhou silk jacket, stood quietly and calmly in front of a clump of mottled Xiangfei bamboo, as elegant as orchid.
Pan Qing was stunned.
Zhou Shaojin greeted her with a smile: "You're here! What do you want to talk to me about?"
Pan Qing was choked by the question and looked at Zhou Shaojin with a somewhat obscure expression.
Zhou Shaojin looked at her with a smile, his black and white eyes were like a clear spring in a mountain stream, crystal clear.
Pan Qing sneered.
Suddenly, I felt ashamed of myself because there were so many pearls and jades around me.
Since we are all smart people, it would be too low to use such means.
She walked over slowly and stood beside the Xiangfei Bamboo.
"You should know that my father was promoted to the position of Shandong Provincial Surveillance Commissioner, right?" Pan Qing said, pulling off a piece of bamboo leaf fiercely. "But you probably don't know that my father was promoted because he followed Uncle Jing's path, right?"
You can guess it.
Cheng Jing is a person who likes to help others, especially his relatives and in-laws. As long as they are not doing anything wrong, he will do his best to help them when they come to him for help.
Zhou Shaojin didn't say anything. She guessed that Pan Qing didn't need her to say anything.
"If it weren't for my uncle, how could he be where he is today?" Pan Qing's eyes flashed coldly, "But even so, he was still not satisfied. He repeatedly asked my mother to write to my uncle, either telling him how dedicated he was as an official, or how difficult his tenure was. If my uncle wrote back and made him even slightly dissatisfied, he would humiliate my mother..."
She stopped talking here.
Obviously, Pan Qing felt unable to speak out about what Pan Zhi had done to Cheng Xian.
Zhou Shaojin was very surprised.
In their previous lives, Pan Zhi and Cheng Xian had always been a good couple who respected each other, and Pan Zhuo and Pan Qing were also enviable children of officials.
"This time, my father heard from someone that Uncle Jing got the job of the Imperial College's chief academic officer. He actually asked my mother to write a letter to Uncle Jing, asking him to recommend him for the position." Pan Qing said with a bit of sarcasm on her face, "He didn't even think about it. How could he, a fourth-rank prefect who was sent out to other places, be recommended to the Imperial College over those old Hanlin scholars who had been in the Hanlin Academy for more than ten or twenty years? He simply..." She paused, swallowed the words "ignorant of life and death", and continued, "Of course this thing won't work! He lost his temper at home, saying that mother was useless and couldn't please Uncle Jing, after all, they were separated by a family and were five degrees of mourning. If he had known this would happen, he should have asked to marry Aunt He back then. At least he had an uncle who was a fellow Jinshi. Unlike Uncle Lu, who studied all his life but was only a scholar..."
Cheng He
Zhou Shaojin opened his eyes wide.
"You didn't expect that?" Pan Qing said with a bitter smile, "My mother and Aunt He were both still married at that time, and he saw that the third house was rich, so he married my mother... Over the years, whenever he got angry, he would bring up this matter again..."
Who doesn’t have a difficult sutra to recite
Pan Qing definitely didn't come to me to talk about these family matters.
She had no intention of wasting time with Pan Qing on this matter.
However, Pan Qing's words made the few words she heard at that time suddenly come alive.
Zhou Shaojin understood.
She said, "That is to say, your coming to pay respects to the second house's ancestor was just a side job, and your real purpose was to marry cousin Xu from the first house. What does this have to do with me? That's what made you so nervous that you couldn't wait to come and warn me the day after the birthday banquet."
"You misunderstood!" Pan Qing hurriedly explained, "I didn't mean to warn you. I was just worried about my mother... My brother thinks highly of you, but my father is a calculating person, so my brother is destined not to get what he wants..."
Pan Zhuo?!
Value yourself?!
Zhou Shaojin was so angry that his hands and feet turned cold after hearing this.
What did Pan Qing mean by this? Could there be something going on between him and Pan Zhuo
This is ridiculous!
The Pan siblings looked like a prosperous and bright family, but unexpectedly they acted in such an outrageous way.
Who does Pan Qing think she is
She was furious and her face turned cold. "Since ancient times, marriage has been decided by parents and matchmakers. I didn't know that the children of your Pan family don't care about these things. Whether you want to marry Cheng Xu or your brother wants to marry a rich girl, you've found the wrong person!" She turned around and left. "Just pretend I haven't heard of this. Don't mention it again!"
"Shaojin!" Pan Qing held Zhou Shaojin's hand and said sincerely, "I don't mean anything else. As you said, my parents have their own say on the matter between cousin Xu and me. I'm just worried about my mother. If my father's wish cannot be fulfilled, he will torture my mother twice as much... I know this matter has nothing to do with you, and I shouldn't look for you, but you also know that no matter what I do, Cheng Ji always looks angry when he sees me, and I don't even have anyone to talk to... A family like the Cheng family is impossible to 'exchange marriages' no matter what, even if they are cousins, it will always be bad to tell others about it. I'm worried that my brother will make a fuss and we will all lose face..."
Zhou Shaojin couldn't help but sneer in his heart.
In the final analysis, it was just that he was afraid that she would fall in love with Pan Zhuo, which would affect her marriage with Cheng Xu.
This must be the real reason why Pan Qing was looking for her!
No wonder in his previous life, Cheng Xian left the Cheng family in disgrace with Pan Qing and Pan Zhuo, and never returned to Jinling for the next ten years!
Without even understanding the key points, she's dreaming of marrying into the Cheng family's family. She's really... courting death!
Zhou Shaojin almost laughed out loud when he knew the ending.
※
Sisters, I have asked Yan Jiu, it is my cousin...
PS: I will be joining V tomorrow, but I promised to write 50 public chapters, and there will be another chapter around 11pm...
※(To be continued)