Of course, what Mrs. Guan said was a bit exaggerated, but it was true that Mrs. Wen from the fifth room had never been very good at entertaining guests.
Everyone listened and burst into laughter.
Afterwards, Mrs. Guan ordered lunch: "… We won't wait any longer. Let's have a good gathering in the evening."
Cheng Mian was invited over by the second branch early in the morning. He just came over to tell them that the second branch's ancestor had kept some food for them and asked them not to wait.
Zhou Shaojin and Zhou Chujin were helping the maids serve the dishes when Madam Mian grabbed them and pressed them down on a stool: "There's no outsider here, so there's no need to be so polite."
The two sisters knew that their grandmother and aunt were not such particular people, so they thanked them with a smile and sat down to have lunch together.
The weather was hot at this time, and everyone felt drowsy after drinking tea. Without saying a few words, they went their separate ways.
When Zhou Shaojin woke up, the sun was already setting.
She didn't expect that she would sleep so soundly, and hurriedly asked Shi Xiang, "Has grandma started preparing dinner?"
"Miss, it's been a while since you've had such a good sleep." Shi Xiang said with a smile, "I was afraid of waking you up and being late for dinner, so I kept an eye on Jiashu Hall - the two masters haven't come back yet, so I'm afraid we'll have to wait for dinner."
Zhou Shaojin asked his sister again: "…Are you awake?"
"Wake up!" Shi Xiang served her tea and said, "Seeing that you were not awake, I went to the eldest wife's place and said that I wanted to play a few cards with her."
Zhou Shaojin nodded, thinking that if Cheng Gao and Cheng Yi came back, they should pay their respects to their grandmother first. He might as well go to his aunt as well. Following his sister would not be wrong and could also avoid suspicion.
Shi Xiang helped her change into a lake-colored jacket with a lotus flower pattern. She combed her jet-black hair into two buns, put on a silver pearl hairpin, and took a Xiang Fei mud-gold and white gauze round fan and went to Hanqiu Pavilion.
There is a half-pond of lotus flowers at the entrance of Hanqiu Pavilion, with green leaves and pointed lotus leaves, creating an elegant scene.
Zhou Shaojin stood there admiring the lotus flowers for a while before following the maid to the water pavilion.
Besides Zhou Chujin, there was also a personal mother named He and a personal maid named Xianglian who played cards with Madam Mian. The four of them had just finished a round of playing cards, and the maids were serving snacks. Madam Mian waved at Zhou Shaojin and said, "Come, help me look at the cards. The melons are especially sweet this year, so you should eat more."
Everyone knew that she didn't know how to play cards yet, and since they were frequent visitors, Madam He and the others didn't bother to be polite with her. Xianglian went to ask the maid to serve Zhou Shaojin the melon, while Madam He stood up and greeted her: "Second Miss, this jacket is really beautiful. Was it the material that Master Gu sent over?"
Zhou Shaojin didn't remember much and responded vaguely.
A little maid ran in and said hurriedly, "Madam, the second master is here."
Everyone in the room was stunned.
If Cheng Gao and Cheng Yi had paid their respects to Old Lady Guan, she would have kept them there for dinner in such a hot weather. If they had come directly... it would not be in accordance with etiquette, and they rarely did so... most likely because they had something to do.
Mrs. Miao hurriedly asked, "Why don't you invite the two gentlemen in?"
The little maid ran out in a flash.
Zhou Shaojin hid behind the screen.
Mrs. Miao and others didn't pay any attention to these little things. Only Zhou Chujin frowned and looked thoughtful. Then the brothers Cheng Gao and Cheng Yi walked in together.
Cheng Gao was better, his clothes were neat, but his face was as red as Guan Gong. Cheng Yi was obviously drunk, and he had to rely on his brother to support him when walking. His eyes were blurry and he was mumbling something. Zhou Shaojin could smell a strong smell of alcohol from behind the screen.
Mrs. Miao was shocked and anxious. She kept asking, "What happened? Why did you drink so much? The family will have dinner together later. What if the master and Mrs. An see this?" Then she called Xianglian, "Go and tell the kitchen to make some sobering soup."
Cheng Gao said angrily, "I met Cheng Ju and Cheng Lu at the Fifth House, and they invited us to dinner. Uncle Wen kept urging us to drink, and Cheng Nuo was also there to make trouble, so we couldn't not drink. I even blocked a few cups for my second brother, but it didn't stop him. If I hadn't said that the family would have dinner together tonight, I'm afraid I wouldn't have been able to get away. Mother, I'm afraid the sobering soup won't work. I remember you have some sobering medicine here, give it to my second brother, at least it can sober him up."
Today is a festival, and Mrs. Miao was afraid that her son would get drunk and make her husband angry, and she was also afraid that her mother-in-law would blame her for not disciplining the two brothers. Upon hearing this, she immediately asked Mother He to get some sobering medicine, and then she and Cheng Gao helped Cheng Yi to rest on her bed. She personally fed him the sobering medicine, and instructed the little maid to bring a copper basin and serve him at the side.
After a while, Cheng Yi vomited.
The maids and servants were busy bringing him clean water to rinse his mouth, clearing out the waste, and making tea.
After Cheng Yi had finally vomited most of the time and was almost sober, Madam Mian began to nag: "You know what the situation is over there. Whenever your Uncle Wen has wine, he will drink a few glasses with anyone he catches, and he drinks slow wine. He won't let you go until you finish a meal, which will take an hour or two. How can you keep him company? You are not smart enough. If that's the case, you should have sneaked back earlier. Why are you staying there for dinner? You've learned your lesson now, right? I was wondering why Madam Wen suddenly asked you to stay for dinner. It turns out that your Uncle Wen is at home..."
Today is the Dragon Boat Festival, and there are lights and decorations everywhere. Given Cheng Wen's personality, he didn't go out to have fun, so it's no wonder that Mrs. Mian was surprised.
Zhou Shaojin knew about this.
In the previous life, Cheng Wen's mistress was pregnant at this time. Cheng Wen wanted to give his mistress a status, so he went home to discuss it with Mrs. Wen.
Mrs. Wen certainly disagreed. Not only that, she even went to the second wife's ancestor Cheng Xu to make a scene the next day.
Mrs. Cheng Xu was so annoyed that she couldn't even control her husband's concubine that she didn't want to pay any attention to her. She directly called Cheng Wen to Chunze Xuan and made him kneel in the hot sun for a whole day without eating or drinking. He almost fainted.
From then on, Cheng Wen and Mrs. Wen had a complete falling out.
Not only did the concubine give birth to a child, but it was also a boy. Except for Qingming Festival and New Year's Eve, Cheng Wen spent all other festivals with his concubine. The concubine was also a thoughtful person. When the child grew up, his literacy was far better than Cheng Nuo, who was born to Mrs. Wen. Cheng Wen wanted the child to recognize his ancestors and made another fuss. In the end, although the child was not included in the family tree, Cheng Wen transferred most of the family's property to the child's name. When Cheng Yi went to see Zhou Shaojin, he talked about the situation of the fifth room: "... It has long been an empty shell! Uncle Wen wanted to secretly sell the ancestral property for the one born outside."
Cheng Wen certainly hadn't told Mrs. Wen yet, so she could still happily entertain her nephew. When Mrs. Wen found out why Cheng Wen was at home in the evening, she was afraid that the family would be in an uproar.
Zhou Shaojin is most afraid of these things.
It gives me a headache just thinking about it.
When Cheng Yi was able to walk, they went to Jiashu Hall.
On the way, Cheng Yi said to Zhou Shaojin embarrassedly: "I'm sorry to make you laugh."
If it were in the past, Zhou Shaojin would definitely comfort him, but now whenever she thought of Cheng Yi's drunken appearance, she felt very annoyed. She couldn't help but say, "Since you know that you are losing your composure, why do you still drink so much? Others won't think you are a hero just because you drink a lot. You will only make people think that you have no perseverance and can't control yourself. How can such a person achieve great things? How can they take you to heart? You should drink less in the future, and don't drink when others persuade you. What's the point of that?"
Although her voice was soft, Madam Mian and Cheng Gao, who had been paying attention to Cheng Yi, heard it clearly.
Mrs. Miao nodded continuously, thinking that Zhou Shaojin was becoming more sensible as he grew older.
She thought about the few words she heard in her mother-in-law's room that day, and felt that if Zhou Shaojin could take care of Cheng Yi, even keeping her at home might not be a bad thing.
Cheng Gao thought about the scene when he was drinking, and felt that Zhou Shaojin's words were directed at him, and his face suddenly turned red.
Cheng Yi didn't think so much. He chuckled and followed Zhou Shaojin attentively to Jiashu Hall.
When Old Lady Guan and Cheng Mian saw him, they had to say something to Cheng Yi. Cheng Yi admitted his fault very well, so Old Lady Guan and Cheng Mian did not pursue the matter further. They just warned him: "If you can't control yourself like this next time, you are not allowed to go out for social events again."
Cheng Yi nodded repeatedly.
Seeing that it was getting late, Old Lady Guan asked the maids to serve the meal.
Since they were all family members, although there were two tables, they were in the same room and there was no screen.
After eating rice dumplings, the women followed Old Lady Guan to the courtyard to admire the moon. Cheng Gao and Cheng Yi were called to the study by Cheng Mian to ask about their homework.
The Dragon Boat Festival in the eighteenth year of Zhide passed quietly and warmly.
The next day, Cheng Wen’s incident broke out.
In his previous life, Zhou Shaojin only hung around in the fourth room and only heard the news afterwards.
In this life, Zhou Shaojin copied scriptures at Old Lady Guo's place in Hanbi Mountain House.
When Mrs. Wen burst into Zelan Courtyard, where the second branch's ancestor Cheng Xu lived, crying and yelling, the old woman serving in Jing'an Zhai had already whispered something in her ear.
She knew about this earlier than Cheng Ji.
Pan Qing didn't hear her mother Cheng Xian mention it until the afternoon.
She asked her mother: "The ancestors have already punished Uncle Wen, so they should let the concubine in, right? No matter what, she is pregnant with the Cheng family's child..."
Cheng Xian sneered and said, "If the family rules can be changed at will, what kind of family is that?"
Pan Qing lowered his head as he listened.
Cheng Xian didn't see the gleam in his daughter's eyes.
Cheng Nuo came to Cheng Yi to complain: "She's just a woman, why can't my mother tolerate her? Rather than making a scene like this and making everyone embarrassed, it's better to quietly bring her home so that my father won't be wandering around outside all the time."
Cheng Mian and his wife were in harmony. Cheng Yi really couldn't understand such a relationship, so he said, "The elders have eaten more salt than we have walked over bridges, so why should we gossip about them? You'd better not care. I believe the ancestors will give your family an explanation." Then he changed the subject and talked about the family school, "Who will have a fate this year? Cousin Pan will leave for his hometown tomorrow, and cousin Lu seems to have said that he wants to take leave to study at home... Should we see them off?"
Cheng Nuo became interested and said, "Okay, okay! Let's go to the old place. I'll be the host. I went back to my mother's home with my mother these days, and my grandparents and uncle all gave me some tips."
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The additional update for 90 pink tickets is still scheduled for around 1 o'clock tomorrow.
O(∩_∩)O~
※(To be continued)