Ming He saw Zhou Shao Jin's face flushed, and even his neck was lightly pink, so he was too embarrassed to laugh anymore, and simply started talking to Zhou Shao Jin: "Second Miss, have you decided what to do? Madam Wang is an expert, you can definitely ask her." He added, "Unfortunately, the sewing in our house is managed by Sister Nan Ping, and I am clumsy and can only serve tea and water, so I can't help you much."
Even though we are not close friends, we still talk in a profound way. These are just polite words.
Zhou Shaojin thanked Minghe. After Minghe took care of the summer socks, he stood up and said goodbye.
Hongrui, who was serving beside Grandma Shi, looked at Minghe as she walked away, her eyes fixed on him. "I didn't expect that such an outstanding girl like Minghe would just be an errand boy in the Fourth Master's room." She smiled and said, "I wonder what kind of fairy-like figure Miss Nanping, who is in charge, is?"
Madam Wang couldn't stop laughing when she heard this and said, "Do you think Ming He looks like an errand boy? She is one of the three maids in Master Chi Si's house, and she is the craziest one. She dares to go everywhere, so everyone is most familiar with her!"
Three big maids
Shouldn't there be four
Zhou Shaojin was surprised.
She asked Lady Wang, "Besides Minghe and Nanping, what is the name of the other big maid in Uncle Chi's room?"
"Call Jiying!" Lady Wang said, and turned around to get a few black jade stones the size of rice grains and handed them to Hongrui, saying, "Do you think this is okay?"
"Okay, okay, okay!" Hongrui thanked him repeatedly, but stood still, as if waiting to listen to Lady Wang's gossip.
Seeing this, Lady Wang also became interested. She said, "Don't think I am helping Miss Minghe with needlework. With Nanping here, it's not our turn to do the work in the Fourth Master's room. It's just that Miss Minghe is generous and open-minded. She often comes to visit us. She asks us for some small things. We can't refuse, right? This is just a favor... That's it. Most of these things are not Miss Minghe's own - Miss Minghe is not so particular. Most of them are from Miss Jiying. Miss Minghe doesn't like the trouble, so she pushed them to us..."
Small items like summer socks are usually made by little maids to practice.
Looking at her fawning manner, who would believe this
Zhou Shaojin was a little absent-minded.
Jiying, is she really Uncle Chi’s maid
But she didn't look like a maid at all.
She also ordered Minghe to run errands for her... Minghe had no choice but to respond...
Could it be that she is Uncle Chi's...
For a moment, many thoughts popped up in Zhou Shaojin's mind... It was not until she left the sewing room and Hongrui said goodbye to them that she came to her senses.
"… I'm Grandma's companion. I've been here for several years. This is the first time I've walked such a long distance. Can I come to visit you in the future?" Hongrui asked Biyu.
Who is Biyu
How could she not see Hongrui's little thoughts
But she never offended anyone easily, and smiled and said, "If you can come to play with me, I will naturally welcome you with all my heart. But I usually serve the old lady, and it is rare for me to go out. If you want to find me, you must ask the little maid to bring me a message in advance, otherwise it will be difficult to find me."
Hongrui responded obediently, smiled and knelt down to greet Zhou Shaojin, then parted ways with them at the fork in the road.
Zhou Shaojin couldn't help but ask Biyu: "Do you know why there are only three maids in Uncle Chi's room?"
Biyu smiled and said, "Since Sister Jiale in the Fourth Master's room got married, there has been no one added to the Fourth Master's room. Maybe there is no suitable person?"
Such an answer is equivalent to no answer.
Zhou Shaojin asked: "The old lady doesn't ask about it either?"
Biyu thought about it carefully and said, "It seems that our old lady never cares about the affairs in the fourth master's room."
Zhou Shaojin couldn't find the answer and returned to Hanbi Villa in frustration.
Mrs. Guo smiled and said, "Why? Don't they look good?"
"No, no." Zhou Shaojin said hurriedly, "That Madam Wang is a very nice person. She found several examples for me and told me that if I don't understand something, I can always go to her. I plan to ask her for help if I encounter something I don't understand in the next few days."
Judging from her vision, Lady Wang does have her own way of tailoring.
The only difference between her and Lady Wang was experience - but after all, Lady Wang was a tailor, and she was only doing it occasionally. If there was a size that was not right in the future, she could just ask, and there was no need to go out of her way to ask for advice.
Mrs. Guo smiled and nodded.
Biyu said, "We met Minghe from the Fourth Master's side in the sewing room."
Madam Guo asked, "Why is she going to the sewing room? Isn't Nanping always in charge of Silang's sewing? Why do they need help from the sewing room?"
"They said they wanted me to make a few pairs of summer socks." Biyu smiled and said, "Looking at the style, they are for women. They must be their own and they don't have time to make them, so they took them to the sewing room for help. If it was the fourth master's stuff, they wouldn't leave it to the sewing room to make."
Madam Guo nodded slightly and said to Zhou Shaojin, "In terms of needlework, Nanping in Silang's room is first-rate. It's a pity that she did too much in her early years and hurt her eyes. Silang has rarely let her use needlework in recent years. Otherwise, why would Minghe and the others ask the needlework room to help them make things."
Zhou Shaojin didn't know what to say.
Women who are good at needlework are like this. Because they are good at needlework, they do a lot when they are young, but when they get older, their eyesight is not as good... Fortunately, they only do it occasionally.
Zhou Shaojin took the clothes sample given by Madam Wang and returned to Wanxiangju.
Zhou Chujin and Zhou Shaojin opened the warehouse to find rulers for Zhou Zhen and Li.
News came from the government office.
Cheng Lu ranked sixth in the provincial examination and was rated as a gifted student.
Zhou Shaojin's hand holding the needle and thread was reluctant to put down.
Cheng Lu no longer had to rely on the Cheng family and was exempt from corvée and taxes.
But what exactly does Cheng Lu want to do
Whenever Zhou Shaojin thought of the house on Guan Street, his heart felt like it was on fire.
And Cheng Lu was a man of his word.
After going to the government office to pay homage to his teacher, he went to see Cheng Mian and took back all the real estate and land that had been registered in the name of the fourth room.
Cheng Mian and Old Lady Guan couldn't help but sigh in private: "Looking at his appearance, I'm afraid he is not an ordinary person. We don't know whether this is right or wrong?"
"Stupid!" Old Madam Guan said displeasedly, "Those extremely vicious people are mostly talented but immoral. The farther away from such people, the better. What's a pity! As for holding a grudge, if he is a gentleman, he should repay a drop of kindness with a spring. If he is a villain, even if we preserve our relationship in this matter, we will inevitably offend him in other matters. It is better to get rid of each other as soon as possible." She also instructed Madam Miao, "In the future, we should also visit Madam Bai less."
The two of them responded in unison and began to prepare for Mrs. Guan's birthday.
As it was customary, the gifts from the heads of the four farms arrived first, and Cheng Yi had some time to breathe, so he was allowed to copy the "Spring and Autumn Annals" for one less hour every day and help the managers run errands as a form of experience.
Cheng Yi returned to his old ways and would go to Zhou Shaojin's study to slack off when the stewards weren't paying attention. Every time he did so, he would bring a melon, instruct Shi Xiang to cool it down with well water, and then distribute it to Zhou Shaojin and the others to cool them down.
Zhou Shaojin nagged him, but he didn't care. He said, "It's enough to have my eldest brother at home. I'm going to take over from my father and manage the household affairs."
There are some things that are useless if you don't experience them yourself.
Zhou Shaojin looked at his naivete and could only sigh.
Two days later, Cheng Xian's guest, Pan Zhuo, also successfully passed the provincial examination. Although his score was not as good as Cheng Lu's, he also changed his white robe into a long shirt, gained fame, and became a scholar.
This was something that happened in his previous life, so Zhou Shaojin didn't take it seriously. He took out some money and pooled it with his sister to give her some writing brushes, inkstones and paper as a gift.
On the day of the main banquet, Pan Qing and Cheng Xian entertained the guests in the waterside pavilion, while Zhou Shaojin and Cheng Ji hid in the corner and ate melon.
Pan Qing, wearing a turquoise Huhang jacket, was smiling brightly.
Cheng Ji was so angry that he smashed the melon into the plate, and pulled Zhou Shaojin to leave: "Let's go to Ruyixuan to play cards."
"I'm not going." Zhou Shaojin continued to eat her melon. "After we sit down at the table, I'm going back to Wanxiangju. I've been doing needlework every night these days, so I want to go to bed early."
Cheng Ji was angry at him for not fighting back and asked, "Can't you be more ambitious?"
He had to pull her away.
Zhou Shaojin suddenly held down Cheng Ji.
Cheng Ji was dragged so hard that she was dizzy. She held up the shaky hairpin on her head and said, "What happened to you..." She said nothing, stunned.
A large group of men walked over here... Cheng Shi, Cheng Zheng, Cheng Xu, Pan Zhuo, Cheng Gao, Cheng Yi, Cheng Nuo and others were among them.
Cheng Ji only saw Pan Zhuo.
She whispered, "When will Pan Zhuo come back? Why haven't they left yet? Are they going to live here forever?"
Zhou Shaojin was thinking about Cheng Xu.
She had finally had a few days of peace and quiet, so why did Cheng Xu start walking around in the inner courtyard again
Neither of them spoke, but saw Pan Qing walking over.
She greeted Cheng Xu and others with a smile, pointed at the water pavilion and talked for a long time, then knelt down to salute and turned back.
Cheng Ji and Zhou Shaojin both breathed a sigh of relief.
The former didn't want to appear as a foil in front of his cousin, and the latter didn't want to be seen by Cheng Xu.
Pan Qing looked at Cheng Ji and Zhou Shaojin and smiled slightly, then said to Cheng Xian: "My cousin is holding a piano concert at Yu Cui Pavilion, let's go over and listen..."
She looked at her mother, her eyes full of expectation.
Cheng Xian was a little hesitant.
Mrs. Li said, "Go, go! Listen to what your brothers have to say, and you can learn a lot from them."
Jiang also thought it was good.
Zhou Chujin was also very interested.
Zhou Shaojin and Cheng Jia went to Yuchi Pavilion reluctantly.
Cheng Zheng and his group sat on the grass beside the Yuchi Pavilion, while Zhou Shaojin and others sat inside the Yuchi Pavilion with Xiangfei bamboo curtains hanging on all four sides.
Cheng Shi played a piece of music called "Wild Geese Flying over the Plain Sand".
He has skillful fingering, fluent melody and lofty artistic conception.
At first Zhou Shaojin was a little worried that Cheng Xu would disturb her, but later when she saw Cheng Xu not even looking at her, as if he didn't know her, she gradually calmed down and immersed herself in the sound of Cheng Xu's piano.
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Sisters, Chapters 65 and 66 have been overhauled. If you can't keep up with the content, you can go back and read it. Mobile phone users can just refresh the screen.
O(∩_∩)O~
※(To be continued)