I didn’t expect this child to be so smart!
In a few years, you will be able to stand on your own.
Zhou Shaojin was delighted and thought of keeping Mother Fan and Fan Qi by her side forever. She could even let Fan Qi be her chief steward after she got married, and Mother Fan would help her manage the inner house... However, this was not the time to think about these things.
She suddenly felt the wind under her feet and said, "Let's go, we'll talk while we walk."
This is the long house, does anyone know if there is anyone on the other side of the wall
Fan Qi happily replied "yes" and happily returned to Wanxiangju with Zhou Shaojin.
Zhou Shaojin asked Shi Xiang to wait outside the house and whispered to Fan Qi, and then Fan Qi left excitedly. Zhou Shaojin told Shi Xiang: "Let's go to bed early tonight."
Shi Xiang looked at the bright sun outside and didn't know what to say.
However, Zhou Shaojin called Chunwan in on his own and told her to ask the kitchen to serve dinner early. He also went to pay his respects to Old Madam Guan in advance, greeted Zhou Chujin, returned to Wanxiangju, had dinner, and went to bed.
It was too early to go to bed, but Shi Xiang tossed and turned in bed and couldn't fall asleep. She finally closed her eyes in a daze, but was woken up by Chun Wan: "The second young lady said that she had something to go out, and asked us to follow her."
Shi Xiang rubbed her eyes and it took her a while to wake up.
She thought of the time when Zhou Shaojin asked Fan Qi to do something, and felt a little uneasy. She asked Chun Wan quietly, "Do you know what it is?"
"I don't know." Chun Wan was busy tying her hair, biting a red string in her mouth, and said vaguely, "The Second Miss just told me to wear dark clothes, comb my hair up, and wear flat shoes."
Are you going to stop Erye
Shi Xiang's sleepiness suddenly disappeared. She got up in a hurry and went to Zhou Shaojin's room.
Zhou Shaojin wore a dark green jacket that she found from somewhere, and tied a belt of the same color around the middle like a man. Because the jacket didn't fit her well, the belt made her look even more vulnerable.
She was being helped by Fan Liushi to braid her hair.
“You are…” Shi Xiang stared blankly.
Zhou Shaojin ignored all this and said, "Go change your clothes quickly, we are going out."
"No!" Shi Xiang said hurriedly, "No matter how wrong Second Master is, we should go and tell Old An. How can we go and block Second Master privately? Where will Second Master's face be? How will the elders of the Cheng family see you? And what about the eldest lady..."
"Oh!" Zhou Shaojin said impatiently, "Why are you talking so much nonsense? Are you going with me? If you are going with me, go change your clothes now. If you don't want to go with me, just stay in the room and don't say anything. Pretend you know nothing. Don't forget, you are my servant. I don't want something in my room to cause a sensation in the city!"
Is this still the weak and indecisive Second Miss
Shi Xiang looked at Zhou Shaojin with wide eyes, at a loss as to what to do.
Mrs. Fan Liu smiled and pulled Shi Xiang out. After they were out of the hall, she gently advised her, "It's better for us to follow her than to let the second young lady be alone! Don't forget that the second young lady has grown up. She will have more independent ideas in the future. Should you stay with the second young lady to serve her, or leave early, make your own decision? Otherwise, you will do something bad with good intentions, which will not only make the second young lady dislike you, but also make the eldest young lady unhappy - the eldest young lady and the second young lady are sisters after all."
Her words were like a wake-up call, which woke Shi Xiang up.
I am already eighteen years old this year. According to the rules of the mansion, I will be married off in two years. The eldest lady has always valued the second lady. If it were in the past, the second lady would definitely not go against the eldest lady's wishes. But now... if the second lady is unhappy and insists on marrying me off to someone, will the eldest lady still break up with the second lady for me
Shi Xiang shuddered and tightly grasped Fan Liu's hand: "Mom, thank you for reminding me. I will change my clothes, comb my hair, and go out with the second young lady."
"What a smart person!" Fan Liu patted her hands with a smile, then went into the house to serve Zhou Shaojin.
Everyone was always afraid of his sister, and Zhou Shaojin was still a little unsure whether Shi Xiang would listen to him. When he saw Fan Liushi coming in, he asked, "What did Shi Xiang say?"
Mrs. Fan Liu smiled and said, "She went to change her clothes and said she would go out with the second young lady."
Zhou Shaojin felt relieved.
After a while, Fan Liu helped her tie her braids, and Shi Xiang and Chun Wan also changed their clothes.
Both of them were dressed in indigo muslin, with their heads covered and without any jewelry.
Zhou Shaojin nodded with satisfaction.
Fan Qi is coming.
He was wearing a brown short jacket and carrying a blue coarse cloth sling. He took something out of his sleeve and said, "This is a tinderbox. I spent three taels of silver. It is said to be made by some Pili Hall in Jiangnan. It is the best stuff. It will light up when you shake it in the wind. Once it is lit, it will not go out even in a storm. I heard about it when the idlers in the village were bragging about it. I didn't expect that they really sell it..." Then he showed Zhou Shaojin the things in the sling: "I touched it with my own hands. It is all dry. It is guaranteed to burn at a touch..."
Shi Xiang was terrified when she heard this.
What is the second young lady going to do
She wanted to find out what was going on, but when she thought about what Fan Liu had just said, she decided not to ask anything and followed Zhou Shaojin out the door.
It was already past the middle of the month, and although there was a moon, it was too hazy to be clearly seen.
They did not light any lamps, but followed Fan Qi quietly, moving lightly through the inner courtyard. When they met the night watchwomen, they would try to avoid them.
Shi Xiang became more and more frightened as he walked.
They actually went from room four to room five without anyone noticing.
She looked at the lake behind her, which was rippling with cool waves. It was a hot day, but her hands and feet were cold.
Fan Qi, who was walking in front, whispered "We're here" and looked around vigilantly.
The people from the Fourth House seldom interacted with the Fifth House, so Shi Xiang had no idea where this place was. She only saw flourishing flowers and trees, vines hanging down, and a waterside pavilion that was half on land and half in the lake. The scenery was very pleasant.
Zhou Shaojin directed them to squat under a silver-leaved willow tree with an umbrella-like crown and silky branches. Fan Qi tiptoed to the foundation of the waterside pavilion alone.
He took out the things in the bag and piled them beside the foundation of the house. He shook the tinder in his hand, and Shi Xiang realized that Fan Qi's bag was filled with dry straw.
It turns out that the Second Miss is going to set a fire!
Shi Xiang's guess was confirmed, and immediately her palms and forehead were covered in cold sweat.
She wanted to stop him, but when she looked up, she saw Zhou Shaojin, who was squatting next to her, staring at Fan Qi without blinking. His black and white eyes were like black crystals soaked in mercury, so bright and dazzling that she looked like a gem in the moonlight, radiant and brilliant.
Shi Xiang was stunned. Before she could say anything, Fan Qi had already set the dry straw on fire with a "bang".
The flames burned quickly in the darkness, and were so bright in the night sky that it was frightening.
Fan Qi came over with his back bent, and said excitedly: "Second Miss, it's done. We can go now!"
"We can't leave!" Zhou Shaojin stared at the fire, his fingers tightly twisted together, "We have to wait until someone sees the fire and shouts to come over to put out the fire before we can leave. We can't let anything really happen to them. Otherwise, how can I live in peace in this life?"
Everyone understood.
Mrs. Fan Liu immediately said, "Second Miss is right. Let's wait until someone comes to put out the fire before we leave."
Everyone nodded.
The fire was getting bigger and bigger, making crackling sounds in the dry air and quickly spreading to the grass nearby.
The waiting time seemed particularly long.
I don't know how long it took, but someone from the fourth room across the river shouted, "Quick! There's a fire in the fifth room! Hurry up and call for help to put out the fire!"
Zhou Shaojin and others all breathed a sigh of relief.
Shi Xiang said nervously, "Second Miss, can we go now?"
"Wait a little longer." Zhou Shaojin frowned and muttered, "Why is there no movement in the waterside pavilion? Didn't they gamble? Or were they so engrossed in the game that they didn't hear any movement?" She said to Shi Xiang and the others, "Wait a little longer. It won't be too late until someone runs out of the waterside pavilion."
Shi Xiang was extremely anxious.
The Second Miss ran to the Fifth Room to set fire... The Cheng family elders knew about it. No matter how they punished the Second Miss, those of them who worked around her would not be able to escape the blame... They would not have a good ending.
But since Zhou Shaojin had spoken, they could only wait with him.
A big tree next to the water pavilion caught fire.
Someone from the fourth room was running towards this side with drums and gongs beating, and there seemed to be a light on in the long room to the east, but there was no movement in the fifth room.
Zhou Shaojin suddenly felt a little uneasy.
She didn't expect that a fire would cause such a big commotion.
This would alarm the fourth and eldest rooms, but there was no sound from the fifth room. What should she do
Is he going to jump out and shout "Fire!"
While Zhou Shaojin was hesitating, the people from the fourth room had already rushed over here, and among them was a strange but rather majestic voice: "What happened? How did the fire break out in the fifth room? Where are the people patrolling the fifth room?"
Someone from the Fourth House called out "Manager Qin" and said, "We don't know either. We saw the Fifth House was flooded on the other side of the river, so we came over to put out the fire."
"Beat the gong," said the man called "Manager Qin," "Wake up the people in Room 5." He added, "The fire isn't big, send someone to tell the people in the other rooms to guard their respective doors and not to move around. Also go and tell Guan Lao'an."
Someone responded and ran away.
That Manager Qin came over here and said, "Hurry up and put out the fire!"
Someone in room four said "Oh" and started beating the gong.
The people in the pavilion were finally alarmed. Someone lifted the curtain and looked outside. Zhou Shaojin could clearly see that the room was brightly lit and several young men were sitting in front of a round table, staggering from side to side.
"The fire is breaking out!" the people in the pavilion finally shouted.
The house is in a mess.
More people crowded to the window.
Seeing Mo Zhong's face, Chief Steward Qin shouted, "Who are you? Why are you not sleeping in the waterside pavilion in the middle of the night?"
Zhou Shaojin's anxious heart finally settled down at this moment.
If they were not gambling in the pavilion, she would not have dared to set the fire.
What if it really catches fire
Zhou Shao couldn't hide his joy and said to Fan Qi and the others with a smile, "Let's go!"
But before she could get out, she found that their location had become very delicate—people from the fourth room who came to put out the fire were crowding around them. If they wanted to leave, they had to get out of this crowd!
But how is this possible
Zhou Shaojin was dumbfounded.
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Tomorrow's update will still be at the same time... I will try not to be late... O(∩_∩)O~
※(To be continued)