"It's you!" Zhou Shaojin said with a smile, "I'm sorry, I don't remember people very well..."
The little girl laughed and explained for her: "I know that Miss Wu wronged you... You didn't care about anything else at that time..." She asked, "Who did you come with? I came with my grandmother. My grandfather was once a student of the Gu family. What about you?"
Zhou Shaojin briefly talked about his own story.
Someone called her, "Second Miss Zhou!"
Zhou Shaojin turned around and saw Wu Baozhang walking towards her.
Miss Sun lowered her head quickly, seeming to be avoiding Wu Baozhang.
Wu Baozhang's attention was all on Zhou Shaojin and he didn't notice Miss Sun.
"Second Miss Zhou," she smiled and knelt down to give Zhou Shaojin a blessing. "I was really wrong about what happened last time. I was just making up stories and talking nonsense. Please don't take it to heart. You are the first person I met after coming to Jinling City. I hope we can still be good friends like before. Can you forgive me?"
The tone was very sincere.
Zhou Shaojin found that everyone around him was listening with their ears perked up.
She couldn't help but sneer in her heart.
Seeing that coaxing didn't work, he changed his strategy and pretended to be guilty
Regardless of whether Wu Baozhang was telling the truth or lying, if she rejected Wu Baozhang's apology under such circumstances, it would inevitably give people the impression that she was unreasonable and narrow-minded.
Since we are going to compare generosity, let’s see who is more generous!
Zhou Shaojin simply smiled and said, "Miss Wu, you are too kind! I have never blamed you, so how can I talk about 'forgiveness'? What happened is over, please don't take it to heart. I go to class, copy scriptures, and do needlework every day. When you are free, you can come to my house and sit down. I welcome you to visit me."
"That's good!" Wu Baozhang heaved a long sigh, as if her heart had finally settled down, and said with a smile, "I was worried that you were blaming me, but now it seems that I was too worried." As she spoke, she took a few steps forward and tried to take Zhou Shaojin's arm.
Zhou Shaojin turned around and took Miss Sun's arm as if he hadn't seen it, and said with a smile: "Miss Sun, this is the daughter of Lord Wu, the parent official of Jinling Prefecture. You have met her last time when the second ancestor celebrated his birthday. Do you remember?"
There were faint whispers coming from all around.
Miss Sun gritted her teeth and greeted Wu Baozhang.
Wu Baozhang was very enthusiastic and asked about what had happened between the two of them since they had last met.
Miss Sun stammered a few words in response and then looked at Zhou Shaojin for help.
Zhou Shaojin was just about to rescue Miss Sun when the people crowding in front of the door of Miss Gu's sixteenth family suddenly split into two sides as if washed away by a flood. The eldest wife of the Gu family came out accompanied Miss Gu's sixteenth family's in-laws.
Miss Sun whispered in Zhou Shaojin's ear: "My grandmother doesn't allow me to play with people from the Wu family."
Zhou Shaojin was surprised.
Miss Sun had changed the subject and pointed to the boudoir of Miss Gu's Sixteenth Family and said, "Miss Second, look."
Zhou Shaojin looked over.
It was a hot day, and the woman accompanied by the eldest wife of the Gu family was wearing the attire of a third-rank lady, and her flower hairpins and flowers sparkled in the sun.
It is very common to invite the most influential person in the family to attend weddings and funerals.
Zhou Shaojin couldn't tell any difference.
Miss Sun sighed: "The girls of the Gu family all married well. When Miss Fourteen got married last time, the one who came to put the hairpin in her hair didn't have an imperial decree, but she wore a string of 18-beaded mutton-fat jade bracelets. My grandmother said that it was an inherited antique and priceless..."
Zhou Shaojin laughed and whispered, "Don't worry, you will have it too."
Miss Sun blushed.
Wu Baozhang, who was standing by, joked with Miss Sun: "It seems that Miss Sun wants to get married, right?"
Miss Sun's face turned red and then pale when she heard this. After a while, she said, "Miss Wu is so strange. A girl actually said such things to me... I really don't know how to answer!"
Wu Baozhang's face suddenly turned red.
She grew up in the countryside, and the sisters often joked like this...
"I, I was just joking with you!" Wu Baozhang's forehead was sweating.
Zhou Shaojin could say the same thing, but she couldn't.
It wasn't like that time at Cheng's house.
She is a smart person and naturally understands the reason behind this.
Her stepmother punished her by confining her to her house, and gave her a thick Buddhist scripture to copy. She also said that she should purify her mind and reflect on herself. Just like in a temple, she was only provided with two vegetarian meals a day, and no food after noon. She fainted several times from hunger. If her brother had not secretly sent her some food, it would be hard to say whether she could see her father alive. And the reason why her father let her out to socialize with her stepmother was just to marry her to someone who could help his father's career... She was different from the other young ladies present. When they made mistakes, they were tolerated, but when she made mistakes, she had no choice but to die!
"Miss Sun," Wu Baozhang couldn't help but grab Miss Sun's arm, "I, I really didn't mean it..." She couldn't help but reveal a pleading look in her eyes.
Miss Sun was not a mean girl. Seeing Wu Baozhang's humble attitude, she became a little flustered and said hurriedly: "Don't blame me, I don't blame you..."
Wu Baozhang breathed a sigh of relief.
Zhou Shaojin felt vaguely uneasy.
When Wu Baozhang reappeared after being confined by Mrs. Wu, he no longer had the noble pride in his bones compared to his previous life, and instead became even more servile!
If a person loses his self-esteem, he can do anything.
Someone next to me burst out laughing.
Wu Baozhang's face suddenly changed and he looked in the direction of the voice.
Zhou Shaojin also looked over curiously.
She was a little girl about the same age as Wu Baohua. She wore a scarlet burnt cloth bodice and a fine white cloth embroidered skirt. She had delicate features and a bright gold necklace inlaid with hundreds of precious stones on her chest. It was dazzling and quite eye-catching.
When the little girl saw them looking at her, she not only did not avoid them, but also smiled at them very generously.
Zhou Shaojin couldn't help but be stunned.
There was a commotion in the yard—the eldest wife of the Gu family and the in-laws of Miss Gu's sixteenth daughter left the yard, and Grandma Gu Qi called everyone to go to the flower hall to play cards and listen to the female teacher tell stories.
Zhou Shaojin saw Mrs. Mian standing on the steps looking for her.
She asked Miss Sun, "Will you come with me to the flower hall or wait for your grandmother here?"
"I'd better wait for my grandmother here." Miss Sun said softly.
Zhou Shaojin nodded towards Wu Baozhang, walked quickly towards Mrs. Mian, and reunited with Yuan and his sister.
Several people went to the flower hall.
Zhou Shaojin couldn't help but look back at where the little girl was standing.
The little girl has disappeared.
The Gu family had many relatives by marriage. Zhou Shaojin seldom went out for social events in her previous life, and she didn't recognize many of them in this life. She just thought that the girl was very generous, so she looked at her a few more times. But since she had already left, she didn't take it to heart anymore.
The female relatives who came were divided into two groups, one group played cards, and the other group listened to the female teacher's storytelling.
Mrs. Yuan and Mrs. Mian originally wanted to listen to a story, but they were dragged away to play cards. When Grandma Gu Qi saw that Zhou Shaojin and Zhou Chujin were left alone, she called Miss Gu's Seventeenth to accompany them.
Miss Seventeen asked them, "Where should we go? How about going to listen to a book?"
Zhou Chujin didn't care. Zhou Shaojin saw Wu Baohua playing cards with Mrs. Wu in the hall, and Wu Baozhang and a girl she didn't know standing in the veranda listening to a story. She thought for a moment and said with a smile, "Can we go for a walk in the yard?"
"Okay!" Miss Seventeen said with a smile, "Not far from here is our waterside pavilion, the wind over there is especially cool."
Zhou Shaojin said something to Mrs. Yuan and Mrs. Mian, and followed Miss Seventeen to the water pavilion.
Although it is made of rockery and rivers, it is still a beautiful sight of lakes and mountains, and it is quite pleasing to the eyes at a glance.
The Zhou sisters and Miss Seventeen sat on the beauty chair on the waterside pavilion and chatted: "…Mrs. Nineteen, is she your aunt?"
Miss Seventeen nodded and said with a smile: "Our previous generation all called her 'Niang'. Our generation all calls her 'Gu'. My maiden name is Seventeenth Aunt."
Zhou Shaojin was very surprised.
Miss Seventeen laughed heartily, and said, "There are too many people in our family. If we don't rank them this way, we can't tell who is who."
Someone outside the waterside pavilion said, "Seventeenth Aunt, is that you? My voice sounds like you!"
Miss Seventeen jumped up, poked her head out and shouted, "Azhu, my Sixteenth Sister asked about you before she put on the hairpin, asking why you didn't come? When did you come? Where did you go just now? Why didn't I see you?"
Zhou Shaojin followed Miss Seventeen's gaze.
I saw a jeweled necklace.
It turned out to be the little girl who laughed at Wu Baozhang.
Unexpectedly, they bumped into each other again.
From the tone of voice, this little girl's name is "Azhu" and she is very familiar with the young ladies of the Gu family.
As soon as the Xiangfei curtain was lifted, Ah Zhu came in with a servant who was about forty years old, smiling: "I followed my mother here early in the morning, but was stopped by your eldest lady and talked for a long time. I finally got away, but it turned out that the people from the Sixteenth Sister's in-laws had already arrived, so I had to lie on the window and watch for a long time." She said proudly, "I knew that the Sixteenth Sister would ask about me, so after the person who inserted the hairpin left, I ran in and talked to her for a while. Later, I heard that you were here, so I brought Madam Gong here." She greeted Zhou Shaojin and Zhou Chujin in a familiar manner: "Are these two sisters from the Zhou family? You are so beautiful! Just now everyone said that two beautiful women came to the Gu family, and I couldn't find you two after searching for a long time. Fortunately, I was smart and thought of the Seventeenth Sister." She introduced herself, "My maiden name is Zhu Zhu, I am twelve years old this year, so I should be younger than all of you. You can call me Ah Zhu. Everyone in our family calls me that."
Zhou Shaojin and Zhou Chujin both have relatively quiet personalities, while Ah Zhu is cheerful, lively, enthusiastic and generous, and both of them like her. Zhou Shaojin and Zhou Chujin stepped forward to greet Zhu Zhu. Zhou Chujin smiled and said, "I am indeed older than you, so I will honor you and call you 'Ah Zhu'! Ah Zhu, my sister is also twelve years old this year, but she was born in winter, so she should be younger than you!"
"Really!" Ah Zhu smiled happily and said, "I was born in April, so I am the elder sister!" She asked Zhou Shaojin to call her elder sister and said, "The elder sister wants to give the younger sister a meeting gift."
Zhou Shaojin was embarrassed.
Nanny Gong, who followed Ah Zhu in, coughed and said gently, "It's our first meeting, and you haven't prepared a gift, Miss. Let's talk about it next time!"
"That's right!" Ah Zhu's eyes smiled into crescents, and she said, "This is my first time being a sister, so I have to prepare a good gift for meeting someone." Then she went to hold Zhou Shaojin's hand, "When are you free, come to my house as a guest."
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Sisters, today's extra update... Please give me a pink vote...
※(To be continued)