Shi Xiang sent Song Qing away and came back. Seeing that Zhou Shaojin's face looked a little strange, she felt a little uneasy.
The second young lady usually speaks kindly and generously to others, but if she becomes stubborn, even the eldest young lady has to tolerate her.
What if the Second Miss said she wanted to draw a line between herself and Young Master Lu and then regretted it... That would be petty temper, and flirting is inappropriate!
She couldn't help but call out "Second Miss" softly, and said, "What are you thinking about?"
Zhou Shaojin came back to his senses and saw her cautious look. He couldn't help laughing and said, "Why are you still standing here? I'm waiting for you to buy some plums and apricots so that I can taste the new ones!"
"Yes, yes, yes." Shi Xiang smiled happily and said repeatedly, "I'll go right away, I'll go right away!"
Zhou Shaojin shook his head and watched her leave the door, feeling a little emotional.
It’s no wonder Shi Xiang didn’t believe her.
In fact, she had always lived in a very confused state. She listened to her elder sister about all the household affairs. Her father and uncle took care of the outside affairs. She only cared about enjoying the cool under the big tree. How much grain was harvested in the farm, what happened in the mothers' homes, why the maids quarreled, none of them had anything to do with her, and she never asked. How could the maids and old women around her expect her to help them out? How could the housekeepers expect her to help them make decisions? So although everyone respected her, it was only because she was the second daughter of the Zhou family, or even because she was Zhou Chujin's sister. Unlike her elder sister, in addition to respect, there was also a sense of complete trust and submission.
Thinking of this, Zhou Shaojin couldn't help but smile awkwardly. He got up and went to the study in the west wing, ready to find a book to pass the time.
The study was still the same as she remembered. The three-room open hall was divided into three rooms by two six-panel agarwood openwork floral screens. The east side was her sister's study, and the west side was her study. Both had a piano table by the window, and a treasure cabinet bookshelf against the wall. The desk was in the middle of the east and west rooms, with a large vase of pastel flowers. Her sister's study had scrolls, but her study had a tank of goldfish in the winter and a tank of water lilies in the summer.
It is early summer now. Only a few lotus leaves the size of a palm are floating on the water, and a few black and gold goldfish are swaying under the leaves.
She found a bag of fish food from the drawer next to the desk with familiarity and lowered her head to feed the fish.
The fish swarmed over, creating layers of ripples in the water.
Zhou Shaojin smiled.
Suddenly a stone fell into the jar, splashing water and wetting Zhou Shaojin's clothes.
She turned around and saw a fair-skinned young man in a green cloth gown and a green bamboo hairpin lying on the windowsill of the study, grinning at her.
"Cousin Yi!" Zhou Shaojin cried out, "Why are you here?"
Uncle Miao had only two sons, the eldest son Cheng Gao and the second son Cheng Yi. The young man lying on her windowsill was the 15-year-old Cheng Yi, the second master of the fourth room of the Cheng family.
He smiled, turned over and jumped into Zhou Shaojin's study, and said, "Are you really sick? I saw that you were fine. You don't want to study with Aunt Shen, so you pretend to be sick, right?"
Zhou Shaojin's mind flashed back to the bitter moment when he went to her farm in Daxing and got drunk because he failed the imperial examination.
That was her last impression of him.
It was also at that time that she learned that the fourth and first branches had fallen out. The fourth branch had no one to guide it in the imperial examinations, and no one to promote it in its official career. Second uncle Yuan had been stuck in the seventh-rank position, and cousin Gao had a difficult life, and he didn't get his name on the imperial examination until he was 27 years old. Cheng Xu was an alcoholic and couldn't even hold a pen steadily, and it seemed that he would never make a comeback. Cheng Shi of the second branch wanted to take over the family tree. The first branch wanted to promote Cheng Wei's son Cheng Rang, but Cheng Xu's mother Yuan disagreed. Cheng Zheng of the third branch was two-faced and tried to please everyone, causing unrest in the family. Without the constraints of the first branch, the fifth branch began to quietly sell off the ancestral property. The fourth branch knew about it but couldn't say anything, and the third branch knew about it but kept it secret from the first and second branches... This family is bound to break up sooner or later!
But when her cousin Gao passed the imperial examination and came to visit her, he didn't mention anything...
Zhou Shaojin looked at that youthful and energetic face, and his heart felt so soft that it seemed like water could drip out of it.
She chuckled and said, "Why did you jump in through the window instead of just going through the main door? Did you skip class again? Be careful or I'll tell grandma."
Cheng Yi chuckled, sat down on the armchair in her room, and said, "Mrs. Jiang who guards the second gate has very sharp eyes. It's not easy for me to come in." He then asked, "Are you still going to take lessons with Aunt Shen?"
Zhou Shaojin hadn't made up her mind about this matter, but Cheng Yi was obviously not someone she could discuss things with. She wasn't prepared to discuss this matter with Cheng Yi, so she simply avoided answering the question and asked, "You sneaked in from the small garden over at Room 5 again?"
One bad apple spoils the whole barrel, and she felt that this was referring to the fifth branch of the Cheng family.
The Cheng family is a typical Jiangnan farming and reading family, with an ancestral motto that "a man can only take a concubine if he is 40 and has no children." The eldest master of the fifth room, Cheng Wen, has a son, Cheng Nuo. He does not take a concubine, but keeps an actress and a mistress outside. Mrs. Wen was jealous at first, and later she felt sorry for the money. She kept an eye on Cheng Wen's movements every day, so how could she have the mood to take care of the family affairs? She handed over all the household chores to the housekeeper whom she trusted, and she lay in bed pretending to be sick all day. The house was full of smoke and smoke, and the master and servant were not the master and the servant were not the servant. There was no rule.
Cheng Yi and his friends took advantage of this loophole and often borrowed the small garden in the inner courtyard of the fifth room to secretly bring their friends in to compete in poetry and painting, drink and have fun. The elders of the Cheng family did not know about this. It was after she got into trouble that Yuan searched Jiuru Lane and found that the second gate of the fifth room was useless. Fortunately, Cheng Nuo was the only son of the second room and no daughters, so nothing happened. However, the unclear things between the maids and servants kept coming up, which made Yuan so angry that she almost died. In front of the Cheng family and the maids and servants, she scolded Grandma Wen without thinking.
Zhou Shaojin probably didn't know this at the moment.
Cheng Yi was frightened and broke into a cold sweat. He sat up straight and looked at her with a vigilant face. He asked nervously, "How did you know?" After that, he showed an expression of sudden enlightenment and shouted, "I know, it must be Cheng Lu who told you!" He angrily scolded Cheng Lu, "This traitor! We agreed to keep it a secret! How can he be so talkative? I will never ask him out to play again in the future."
Cheng Lu is actually hanging out with them
Zhou Shaojin was surprised.
As far as I can remember, Yuan family found out about Cheng Yu from the second house, Cheng Yi from the fourth house, Cheng Nuo from the fifth house, Cheng Ju from the side branch of the Cheng family, and Cheng Xu who was finally dragged into the water by them... but there was no Cheng Lu.
Now that I think about it, they must have concealed the truth about Cheng Lu out of loyalty to their friends.
However, Cheng Yu from the second house and the eldest uncle Cheng Shi from the second house are brothers from the same mother. The eldest uncle Cheng Yi from the second house does not care much about the family affairs, and Mrs. Yi is a person who always prays to the Buddha. Cheng Yu and Cheng Shi are ten years apart in age, and Cheng Shi takes care of everything from academic studies to food and clothing. Cheng Yu and Cheng Yi are having fun like this, Cheng Shi should not be unaware of it!
The more Zhou Shaojin thought about it, the more confused she felt. The only thing she was sure of was that although one thing in her memory matched, there was a slight deviation from what she knew.
She stared at Cheng Yi and asked, "So, you really took your friends to drink and have fun in the small garden of the fifth room? Cheng Lu was really with you? Then why did you hide this from Cheng Lu?"
Cheng Yi jumped three feet high when he heard that, and said, "What do you mean we cover up for Cheng Lu? We agreed at the beginning that no matter who committed the crime, we should deal with the matter on its own merits and not involve others." He muttered, "I didn't expect Cheng Lu to go back on his word." After saying that, he felt a little cowardly in front of Zhou Shaojin, and couldn't help but hold his head high and defended loudly, "We were not having fun, we were unrestrained, straightforward and free-spirited, the style of a celebrity, okay?"
Cheng Yi at this moment was just like Zhou Shaojin before, he didn't know the seriousness of this matter. He spoke confidently, but Zhou Shaojin couldn't help but refute: "To be unrestrained, you have to drink. To be straightforward and free and easy, you have to dress untidy? I think that is arbitrary and unrestrained! Why doesn't the second room's cousin act like this? Why doesn't the third room's cousin act like this? Only you guys..."
"Oh, oh!" Cheng Yi interrupted Zhou Shaojin uncomfortably, saying, "What do you, a girl, know about men's affairs? Just follow Aunt Shen and study your "Nujie" and "Lie Nu Zhuan"." Then he threatened her, "You are not allowed to tell anyone about this! Otherwise, I will hand over Cheng Lu." Then he asked, "Are you still going to take classes with Aunt Shen?"
Zhou Shaojin was furious.
Unexpectedly, in everyone's eyes, she was so nervous about Cheng Lu.
She couldn't help but say, "Don't mind my business. Just don't go to the fifth room's small garden to drink and have fun. Otherwise, I will definitely tell my grandmother!"
Cheng Yi opened his eyes wide and asked, "Aren't you afraid that I will drag Cheng Lu out?"
"Cheng Lu is Cheng Lu, and I am me. What does he have to do with me?" Zhou Shaojin quickly clarified, "Don't always talk about the two of us together. People who don't know would think there's something going on between him and me! Is there anyone who treats you like a brother?"
Cheng Yi's eyes widened even more, and he said, "Then Cheng Lu asked me to ask you if you are going to take classes with Aunt Shen."
Zhou Shaojin understood immediately.
Jiuru Lane was full of Cheng family members. The Cheng family school was located at the end of Jiuru Lane. It was expanded from a remote courtyard of the Cheng family and separated from the Fifth House by an alley. All the men of the Cheng family went to school at the Cheng family school. The girls had a study called "Jing'an Zhai" next to the bamboo forest in the backyard garden, where they studied and practiced calligraphy with a female teacher. The small garden of the Fifth House's inner house and the Cheng family's inner house garden were across the water, connected by a stone slab nine-curve railing bridge. If she went to "Jing'an Zhai" for class, Cheng Lu could vaguely see what was going on in Jing'an Zhai from the waterside pavilion of the Fifth House. Although she couldn't speak, she could ask the maid of the Fifth House to greet her.
He wants to meet me in private!
Zhou Shaojin sneered.
She had never met him privately before, let alone now.
Zhou Shaojin looked at Cheng Yi's heartless look, feeling angry and amused at the same time, and said, "Did I have an enemy with you in my previous life? Why do you want to harm me like this? You don't believe a word I say, but you don't doubt anything Cheng Lu says. What benefit did he give you? Why do you want to run errands for him like this? If you do this again, I will really go to my grandmother to complain!"
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There will be more later.
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※(To be continued)