Cheng Ji's dull face immediately brightened up.
She grabbed Zhou Shaojin's hand and asked, "Really?"
"Of course it's true." Zhou Shaojin answered firmly and affirmatively, "Think about it, is this the truth I said?"
Cheng Ji fell into deep thought.
Zhou Shaojin said, "After all, if Pan Qing hadn't done such a thing, how could Aunt Xian be so angry? If there is guilt, it should be Pan Qing who is guilty. You are blaming yourself for everything, which may be exactly what Pan Qing wants, so that he can push the responsibility onto you. If it's your fault, it's your fault. We admit our mistakes and accept the punishment and correct it. But it's not our fault, why should we admit it? Why should we take the blame for others?"
What Zhou Shaojin said might not be right, but Cheng Ji could see Zhou Shaojin's intentions clearly.
She couldn't help but stop, held Zhou Shaojin's hand, and said seriously: "Shaojin, I know that you are the best person to me. I will listen to you. If it is my fault, I am willing to kneel in the ancestral hall and copy the "Legends for Women", but if it is not my fault, I can't just admit it and take the blame for others!" She spoke faster and faster, and her eyes became brighter. In the end, she smiled at Zhou Shaojin.
Zhou Shaojin felt a pang of sadness in his heart.
In her previous life, she treated Cheng Ji better than in this life.
Did Cheng Ji also feel her kindness like this
Cheng Xian fainted, and she took all the responsibility on herself; in her previous life, she was led to that cave by her, so what did she think afterwards
Afterwards, both of them were taken care of by the Cheng family and never met each other again.
She died of illness when she was less than twenty years old.
Leaving behind a baby son.
Compared with the two, Cheng Ji is more pitiful than her.
She was confused and didn't know how to judge people. Cheng Ji was like a little animal. She was well taken care of and pampered at ordinary times, but at the critical moment, she was pushed out without hesitation to be slaughtered...
Zhou Shaojin hugged Cheng Ji's arm and whispered, "I hope we will be fine in this life!"
Without the gloom, Cheng Ji became heartless again.
"Of course we will be fine!" She smiled when she heard that, then looked around mysteriously and whispered to Zhou Shaojin, "When the time comes, we will marry each other, or marry into the same family, and still interact like we do now... If I give birth to a son, I will marry your daughter, and if you give birth to a son, you will marry my daughter... We will be in-laws when we are old!"
"Ah!" Zhou Shaojin was stunned.
Cheng Ji found it amusing and ran away giggling.
Her footsteps are light, like a deer in the woods, leaping for joy!
Zhou Shaojin couldn't help laughing.
Suddenly I thought, if I remembered correctly, Cheng Ji’s husband Li Jing in her previous life would come to visit my great aunt, Old Lady Li, soon.
He fell in love with Cheng Ji at first sight.
However, Jiang disliked him because he was a businessman and was unwilling to marry Cheng Ji to Li Jing.
At that time, she felt that Jiang was a good mother who always considered Cheng Ji.
Now it seems that Cheng Ji is like a commodity waiting to be sold at a price.
In his previous life, Cheng Ji was in trouble. After hearing the news, Li Jing traveled thousands of miles from Luoyang and married Cheng Ji with 50,000 taels of silver as a betrothal gift. After Cheng Ji passed away, he did not remarry. He helped one of Cheng Ji's personal maids to be his concubine and take charge of the household affairs. He took Cheng Ji's son with him and raised him personally. Even when he left home to do business, he would take his son with him on the boat. He was reluctant to hand his son over to others, fearing that others would bully him, and even more afraid that others would teach him bad things...
Do you want to help Cheng Ji
Zhou Shaojin walked into the flower hall hesitantly.
Old Lady Li held Cheng Ji's hand and said with tears in her eyes: "How can you be so reckless, kid? If anything happens to your aunt, how can I live..."
I knew that the Third House would put the blame on Cheng Ji and make this matter seem like a prank between children!
Seeing Cheng Ji pouting in displeasure, as if she was about to refute Old Madam Li, Zhou Shaojin hurried forward and bowed to Old Madam Guo, Old Madam Guan, Old Madam Li and others with a smile.
"You're back!" Old Lady Guan laughed. "Why did you run away so quickly? You gave us a big scare."
Even if Old Lady Guan didn't ask, Zhou Shaojin would have to find a chance to explain, otherwise others would think that she and Cheng Ji did it on purpose.
"Aunt Lu was afraid that cousin Jia would run around," Zhou Shaojin said shyly, "so she sent a nanny to watch over us and not let us move around. We really couldn't sit still, so we..."
Someone nearby burst into laughter.
Zhou Chujin, who was standing nervously behind Mrs. Guan, also smiled.
The atmosphere relaxed.
Zhou Shaojin breathed a sigh of relief.
Old Lady Guan asked, "How is your virtuous aunt? Why didn't you stay there to take care of her?"
"Aunt Xian is fine." Zhou Shaojin said with a smile, "It seems that the weather was too hot and Aunt Xian walked too fast, so she fainted. Aunt Jing said that there are many people over there, and the two of us are too young and don't know anything, so we will only make things worse. So we came back first to report to you and the elders, so that you don't worry."
The flower hall was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.
Obviously everyone was listening attentively to what Zhou Shaojin said.
Zhou Shaojin's answer was flawless.
Old Mrs. Guan nodded slightly with satisfaction.
At first, Cheng Ji was afraid that Zhou Shaojin would reveal the truth.
No matter how you look at it, Pan Qing’s matter is a joke to the Cheng family. You can’t expose yourself to the public, right
After hearing what Zhou Shaojin said, she secretly gave Zhou Shaojin a thumbs up.
Zhou Shaojin pretended not to see it.
Soon, Cheng Xian walked in weakly, supported by Pan Qing and Jiang.
"Fourth Aunt." Cheng Xian's face was full of guilt, tears rolling in her eyes, "I'm so sorry. I feel like I have a heat stroke on your birthday..."
Old Madam Guan cried out, "Oh my!" and said hurriedly, "Why don't you go back to your room and rest! I've celebrated my birthday every year. You can't let it get you seriously ill!" She then asked Jiang, "Have you called a doctor? Go back with her! I'll go see her later!"
Cheng Xian really didn't have the face to stay here, so after exchanging a few words with the people in the room, she returned to the courtyard where the third room was staying, accompanied by Jiang and the siblings Pan Qing and Pan Zhuo.
Cheng Ji pretended to take a deep breath and whispered to Zhou Shaojin, "Do you feel a lot better?"
"Be careful, or you may end up in tragedy!" Zhou Shaojin warned her, "We have guests right now. When you return to the third room, you'll see how Aunt Lu will deal with you!"
Cheng Ji's face suddenly fell.
Zhou Shaojin chuckled.
The maid in charge came over and said the auspicious time had arrived.
The female members of the family hid behind a screen. After Cheng Mian brought the men to pay their respects to Old Madam Guan, Mrs. Mian brought the women of the Cheng family to pay their respects to Old Madam Guan.
The maids began to serve the food.
The excitement continued until the moon was up in the trees. Zhou Shaojin's flower screen and the big octagonal red lanterns were put out. The yard was filled with flowers, bright lights, music and laughter. Old Mrs. Guan was so happy that she couldn't stop smiling. Until the third watch struck, Old Mrs. Guan looked tired. Zhou Shaojin and her sister helped her to wash and dress. The smile on her face never stopped. She privately rewarded each of the sisters with an ingot of official silver.
The next day, the fourth room was busy packing up the things used for the birthday party.
Cheng Ji was confined for three months, and no one was allowed to visit him.
Zhou Shaojin was a little surprised, but he also felt that this was something that should be expected.
She took out two pieces of Chengxin paper, cut them into small pieces, and asked Shi Xiang to give them to Cheng Ji: "She can use them to write poems and draw pictures when she has nothing to do, to kill time."
In Hanbi Mountain House, Madam Guo sent away her servants and was talking to Yuan in private: "… I think Dalang's marriage should be settled as soon as possible. Otherwise, this one comes here and that one comes there, and we will offend relatives for no reason. It will easily lead to enmity."
Yuan smiled bitterly and said, "I do want to, but the Min family wants to discuss marriage after Xu'er passes the imperial examination... so as not to delay the children of both families."
Madam Guo sneered, "I think they are afraid of delaying their own children, right? You have to think about this matter carefully, lest someone takes advantage of you and leads you by the nose, and the girl you marry is worse than an ordinary girl. If the daughter-in-law you marry is not good, it will affect several generations! Look at your third uncle's daughter-in-law, she was also the daughter of an assistant minister, but what happened? She just looked like her illiterate mother, she couldn't even speak clearly, and the son she gave birth to looked exactly like her. Your second uncle's father gave him a lesson himself, and he barely passed the examination to become a scholar..."
"I don't need to." Yuan's eyes flashed coldly, and she said, "I have already sent someone to Fujian. The girl's character is so good that she will never make mistakes."
Madam Guo nodded and said, "Then you should go and see Cheng Xian! This is another daughter of Xiao's mother, the eldest daughter of an official family. She can't even control her husband who comes from a poor family, and she has to listen to her husband and act nonsense. See whose ancestral grave is buried in the wrong place, and marry into their family..."
Yuan hated Cheng Xian so much that she didn't want to say anything more. She just smiled and said "yes" and asked her personal maid to bring some medicinal supplements to visit Cheng Xian in the third room.
In the afternoon, Zhou Shaojin came over and brought some melons to the maids in Hanbi Mountain House.
Mrs. Guo looked at her red face, fanned her with a fan, and asked her with a smile: "Have you settled all the things at home?"
Zhou Shaojin was so frightened that she didn't dare to let Madam Guo fan her. She quickly took the fan from Madam Guo and said with a smile, "With my sister here, what can I do? I'm just here to meddle."
Mrs. Guo smiled slightly.
Pearl brought in the cut melon.
Madam Guo smiled and said, "Eat some melon before you go copy the scriptures."
Zhou Shaojin knew that Mr. Guo was old and no longer ate sweet things, so he smiled and agreed, sitting on the small stool next to Mrs. Guo to eat the melon.
Biyu came in and said with a smile, "Chief Steward Qin is here. He said he wants to see you for something."
Zhou Shaojin quickly stood up.
Seeing that there was still melon juice at the corner of her mouth, Mrs. Guo smiled and said, "Eat yours—Old Qin is already over sixty this year."
The implication is that she doesn't need to avoid it.
Zhou Shaojin had no choice but to sit down again.
Biyu went to bring Qin Shouyue in.
This was the first time Zhou Shaojin met Qin Shouyue.
He was of medium height, with a ruddy complexion, shiny black hair, and a straight back. He was wearing a royal blue silk gown with purple auspicious clouds, and looked very energetic. He looked ten years younger than his actual age.
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Today's update!
O(∩_∩)O~
40 pink tickets, plus one more update, I have fulfilled my promise! I plan to update twice a month...
※(To be continued)