Sanbao had a confused look on his face, and he kept calling out "Second Miss" and didn't move for a long time.
Zhou Shaojin glared at him - although he was still as gentle as water and had no killing power at all, and even surprised Sanbao a little, but he was angry after all, and Sanbao didn't dare to disobey him openly. He quickly replied "yes" and ran away.
Zhou Shaojin breathed a sigh of relief.
A few people stood by the willow tree waiting.
But after two quarters of an hour, there was no sign of Cheng Yi, but there were more and more mosquitoes, and Shi Xiang's cattail leaf fan made a rustling sound.
Zhou Shaojin was so angry that he pursed his lips and twisted the handkerchief hard.
Shi Xiang smiled and advised: "Second Miss, it will take two quarters of an hour to come here from the fifth room even if you take the shortcut. It will take at least half an hour to go there and back. Why don't you let Chun Wan stay here and I will accompany you around?"
Zhou Shaojin thought about it and felt that what she said made sense, so he asked Chunwan to wait by the willow tree, and he and Shi Xiang went for a walk in the garden.
In the previous life, Cheng Xu came in from the small garden over at the fifth room. In this life, she had to plug this loophole no matter what. Otherwise, without Cheng Xu, who knows if another Cheng Ju would appear
The two walked silently in the garden for about two quarters of an hour, but Cheng Yi had not come yet.
I guess he won’t come!
Zhou Shaojin felt indescribable disappointment in her heart. She told Shi Xiang, "Let's go back!"
Shi Xiang comforted her, "Not to mention the men walking around outside, even the ladies have to maintain their dignity when they get together. Second Master can't just leave the table when San Bao calls him like that, right? They must be keeping a tight rein over there, and they are either your classmates or your brothers, so you have to consider everyone's dignity. It's getting late now, let's go back and rest first, or we can talk about it tomorrow. If Second Master sneaks in from this side, if he is caught by the night watch mothers, I'm afraid something will happen, which is not a good thing."
Zhou Shaojin didn't say anything, called Chunwan, and went back to Wanxiangju with Shi Xiang.
But after returning, she immediately called the night watchwomen in and repeatedly reminded them: "You must keep a close eye on the door. If you find anyone disobeying the order, don't blame me for not giving them face. I will hand them over to Chief Steward Qin for punishment."
The maids who served Zhou Shaojin and Zhou Chujin in Wanxiangju were from the Zhou family, and the maids who did the rough work were from the Cheng family. These days, Zhou Shaojin was copying scriptures in Bihanshanfang, and she mentioned Qin Shouli, the chief steward of Jiuru Lane, without mentioning the fourth room. They thought that Zhou Shaojin had won the favor of Mrs. Guo and could have a say in front of Qin Shouli. Everyone was frightened and their faces changed drastically. They rushed to show their loyalty and even swore poisonous oaths like "God will hit me with five thunders". Zhou Shaojin felt relieved and went to bed with Shixiang's help.
Early the next morning, before Zhou Shaojin got up, Cheng Yi came over.
Zhou Shaojin was still thinking about the small garden in the fifth room, and he didn't sleep well at night. When he heard that he was coming, he asked Shi Xiang to invite him to the study for tea, and said, "Can you ask the second master if he has had breakfast? If not, ask the kitchen to prepare breakfast for the second master first. I'll go over after I finish washing up."
Shi Xiang went to the study.
Zhou Shaojin was angry that he had made her wait in vain yesterday, so she slowly dressed up and went to the west wing.
Cheng Yi had already finished his breakfast, but Zhou Shaojin had not arrived yet. He was very bored and flipped through a few books, all of which were about growing flowers and raising trees. He was not very interested. Seeing a little maid coming in to feed the fish, he simply took the small blue and white porcelain plate and started feeding the fish.
As a result, when Zhou Shaojin walked in, he saw him looking relaxed and contented.
She couldn't help but get angry and asked, "How much did you lose yesterday?"
"Hehehe." Cheng Yi turned around, casually pinched the fish food, and said, "It's just a meal. What are you worried about?"
Zhou Shaojin snatched the fish food from his hand and said, "These fish are very stupid. They will eat whatever you feed them. Be careful not to bloat my fish to death." She put the small dish of fish food on the desk beside her and said, "I asked Sanbao to look for you yesterday. Why didn't you come?"
Cheng Yi was evasive and said, "I'm here now, what can I do for you? The teacher needs to review the Great Learning lesson he taught yesterday this morning, so I have to go early."
"You still know you need to study!" Zhou Shaojin said bluntly, "If you hadn't gone to play with them last night, why would you have to cram today? I came to you because I want you to have less contact with them in the future. Why don't you let your cousin and cousin Zheng play with you? Grandmother is still hoping that you will study hard and earn a phoenix crown and bridal robe for her!"
"I know, I know." Cheng Yi admitted his mistake with a smile, but his tone was a little disapproving, "I promise that I will never hang out with them again. Are you satisfied now?"
After all, Cheng Yi is Zhou Shaojin's cousin. If you speak too harshly, it will hurt his self-esteem; if you speak too lightly, he won't listen.
She didn't know what to do. She could only say softly, "It's not that you can't get together, but Uncle Wen and Aunt Wen are making a fuss, so it's not good for you to play in the small garden of Room 5. And if you play until the middle of the night, it will delay your studies, so it's better to have fewer gatherings."
"Don't worry, don't worry." Cheng Yi said with a smile, "When everyone saw Sanbao calling me, they all knew that you knew and decided not to play in the small garden of the fifth room anymore."
And then change place
Zhou Shaojin was not the type to push people into a corner, so she swallowed the words that were on the tip of her tongue. She joked, "That's great, so I don't have to complain to my grandmother." She thought of Cheng Yi's miserable past life, and felt sorry for him. She said, "How much money did you lose yesterday? I still have some money here. If you are in a hurry, you can borrow money from me first, which is better than borrowing money from Cheng Nuo, Cheng Ju, and your classmates."
The fourth house was very strict with its offspring. Even though Cheng Yi was the second master and his food, clothing and other expenses were not ordinary, the pocket money he could freely spend was not as much as Zhou Shaojin's.
As the saying goes, if you eat from others, you will be soft-hearted, and if you take from others, you will be short-handed. What's more, if you borrow money from others and cannot pay it back for a long time
Cheng Yi knew that his cousin was kind and gentle, and treated people sincerely. Seeing that she took the initiative to bring it up, he did not hesitate to ask, "Do you have twenty taels of silver?"
Zhou Shaojin was shocked. He didn't expect that he would lose so much.
She didn't want Cheng Yi to be unable to hold his head up in front of Cheng Ju.
"Yes!" She said without hesitation, called Xiang Shi to get the silver, and advised him again, "You'd better play with them less in the future."
Cheng Yi nodded and said shyly, "It's all a matter of face, so it's not easy to just say no."
That's true.
Zhou Shaojin said nothing more.
Cheng Yi took the silver and left.
Zhou Shaojin personally saw him out and then returned to the hall.
After a while, Zhou Chujin came over and asked Zhou Shaojin, "Why did cousin Yi come to see you so early?"
Zhou Shaojin said distressedly: "Don't mention it. Cousin Yi was gambling with Cheng Nuo, Cheng Ju and others last night..."
She told her sister what had happened.
Although Zhou Chujin was a little surprised, he was not as nervous as Zhou Shaojin. Instead, he smiled and said, "In the future, you should stop nagging in front of your cousin Yi. No one likes a sister who always dislikes him."
"I don't want to either," Zhou Shaojin muttered, "I just can't control myself sometimes."
She didn't notice the brief pause her sister made when she spoke of her dislike.
Zhou Shaojin was worried that Cheng Yi was just trying to please her.
She called Fan Qi in and asked him to pay attention to Cheng Yi: "Especially if he doesn't go back to his own courtyard after school every day, what does he do?"
Fan Qi smiled and retreated.
The next day, he told Zhou Shaojin mysteriously: "Second Master, Master Nuo from the Fifth House, Master Ju and a few classmates were gambling in the waterside pavilion in the Fifth House's small garden."
Zhou Shaojin's blood rushed up.
Cheng Yi didn't take her words to heart at all.
Then she felt strange again.
How can Cheng Yi use the money to gamble
She thought about it again and again, called Sanbao over, and asked him, "How much silver did the second master lose the night before last?"
Sanbao knew that Zhou Shaojin had lent money to Cheng Yi. He thought that since the second cousin could lend money to the second master, she must be very close to him. Everyone knew how much money the second master lost. Even if he didn't tell her now, the second cousin could find out by asking outside. Besides, it wasn't a big amount. So he didn't hide it from Zhou Shaojin and said with a smile, "I lost six taels of silver."
Zhou Shaojin almost jumped up.
No wonder Cheng Yi could continue to gamble with that group of people. It turned out that I lent him twenty taels of silver.
Seeing her annoyed expression, Sanbao hurriedly said, "Second Miss, the Second Master won two taels and three cents of silver yesterday, and he will be able to win it all back soon."
Zhou Shaojin listened for a long time before coming back to his senses and said, "So the Second Master wants to gamble with them?"
"No, no." Sanbao realized that he had said the wrong thing, and he kept saying, "I said the wrong thing. The Second Master said that we can't just let them laugh at us like this. When we win the money back, we'll treat them to a meal at Jiuxianglou and never play with them again."
As he spoke, he carefully observed Zhou Shaojin's expression.
Zhou Shaojin didn't even want to say anything and asked Shi Xiang to send Sanbao out.
When she was conscious at night, she deliberately walked a few steps slower and met Cheng Gao and Cheng Yi.
Zhou Shaojin smiled and greeted Cheng Gao, then pulled Cheng Yi aside to talk: "If you can't win all the money back this time, will you continue to gamble with them?"
"How is that possible!" Cheng Yi glanced at Cheng Gao and whispered, "I have lost several games in a row. Once you lent me the money, my luck changed. It seems that you are lucky. I will definitely win back all the money I lost this time."
Seeing Cheng Gao staring at them with an uneasy look on his face, Zhou Shaojin didn't know what to say to Cheng Yi, so he smiled and said goodbye to Cheng Yi.
At night, she asked Fan Qi to continue keeping an eye on Cheng Yi.
Cheng Yi and Cheng Ju played until the third watch. Some of their classmates even stayed in Room 5.
Zhou Shaojin knew that it was useless for her to persuade Cheng Yi in this way.
But what else could she do besides persuade
Zhou Shaojin was wandering in the bamboo forest of Jing'an Zhai, staring at the waterside pavilion of Room 5 opposite in a daze. She didn't even notice Pan Qing coming over. If Pan Qing hadn't asked her with a smile, "Sister Shaojin, what are you doing here?", she would have not noticed that Pan Qing was standing beside her.
※
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※(To be continued)