Old Madam Guan laughed heartily and said, “Come back after a few years when you’re older!”

How could this work!

Zhou Shaojin had no choice but to pull at Old Madam Guan’s sleeve and act coquettishly: “I don’t want to follow Old Mistress Guo. I want to stay with Grandmother.”

“Silly child!” Old Madam Guan was both happy and gratified, but still said, “When you’re older you’ll understand—your grandmother is doing this for your own good. Be obedient. I’ll have your eldest aunt make you several new outfits, and you just go happily to Hanbi Mountain Lodge to attend to Old Mistress Guo.”

What if she happened to run into Cheng Xu?

Zhou Shaojin looked at the smile covering her grandmother’s face and really couldn’t bear to dampen the old lady’s spirits, so she could only return to Wanxiang Residence in low spirits.

When Zhou Chujin returned and saw her bent over the desk copying sutras, she couldn’t help asking curiously, “Is the time very tight?”

She had also copied sutras before. In her view, it was just one scroll of sutras—it should be possible to finish copying it before the Buddha Bathing Festival.

“No,” Zhou Shaojin said listlessly. “Grandmother wants me to also copy a few pages of sutras for Old Mistress Guo.”

“Ah!” Zhou Chujin was both surprised and delighted. She walked excitedly to the writing desk. “Really? Grandmother really wants you to also copy a few pages of sutras for Old Mistress Guo? How did Grandmother suddenly think of having you copy sutras for Old Mistress Guo?”

Zhou Shaojin told her sister about what had happened.

“Amitabha!” Zhou Chujin couldn’t help but put her hands together and bow toward the west, saying, “Just as I said, Grandmother is blessed. Staying by Grandmother’s side, you’re sure to turn misfortune into fortune. Look—not too early, not too late, you just happened to meet Old Mistress Guo. Though Old Mistress Guo can’t be said to look down on everyone, not just anyone can catch her eye. Just as Grandmother said, this is your good fortune. You must be obedient and attend to Old Mistress Guo well. Perhaps…”

You might even find a good marriage match because of this.

But these words shouldn’t be said in front of her younger sister, so she swallowed them back with a smile.

If this were the Zhou Shaojin of her previous life, she wouldn’t have noticed these details, much less guessed what her sister was thinking. But the Zhou Shaojin of this life, having put her heart into it, naturally saw her sister’s thoughts clearly.

Was she being so cautious and careful just to get married?

Could marriage guarantee her a smooth, healthy, and peaceful life?

Feeling somewhat uncomfortable, she said to her sister almost petulantly, “I won’t go!”

Seeing her reluctance, Zhou Chujin thought she was afraid of having to watch the main branch’s reactions. After thinking for a moment, she said, “What nonsense are you talking? Uncle Yi’s wife has always wanted to send Cousin Jia to Old Mistress Guo’s side for instruction. She even asked the second branch’s old lady to speak on her behalf, but it didn’t work out. You’ve obtained this without any effort—you should cherish it.”

Zhou Shaojin was astonished to hear this.

In her previous life, she and Cheng Jia had been inseparable, yet she had never known that Cheng Jia’s mother, Jiang Shi, had such plans.

Zhou Chujin smiled.

It seemed her younger sister wasn’t without ambition. It was just that the Cheng family’s servants all saw the third branch as wealthy and powerful and were accustomed to flattering Cheng Jia. Over time, her younger sister had inevitably become somewhat unconfident and spoke without conviction, which only made those servants even more fond of flattering Cheng Jia.

Now that she had used Cheng Jia to goad her younger sister, it had indeed worked perfectly.

She continued to console Zhou Shaojin: “Moreover, Cousin Zheng and Cousin Xiao from the main branch have already married. Though Cousin Sheng from Second Uncle Wei’s family grew up in Old Mistress Guo’s household, after she became engaged Old Mistress Guo sent her to Second Uncle Wei’s family in the capital. The main branch only has Cousin Xu to bring joy to her knees. Cousin Xu is a man with scholarly honors. Even though he’s young, when he goes out others must respectfully address him as ‘Master.’ Aside from morning and evening greetings, he won’t enter the inner courtyard. You only need to deal with Old Mistress Guo alone. With Old Mistress Guo’s strict household rules, who would dare slight you?”

Zhou Shaojin felt as if she had been struck by enlightenment.

She was unwilling to go copy sutras for Old Mistress Guo entirely because of what had happened back then.

But those things hadn’t happened yet.

If she couldn’t overcome this inner demon, how could she talk about saving the Cheng family and protecting these relatives who cared for and loved her?

As long as she carefully avoided those things that had happened in her previous life, she might not be unable to forge a bright future for herself.

Zhou Shaojin’s heart, which had been drifting uncertainly since her rebirth, seemed to take root and suddenly settled down.

She smiled and took her sister’s hand, saying, “Sister, you see how busy I am—at Jing’an Studio, could I maybe not go?”

So she had agreed!

Zhou Chujin laughed lightly and flicked her younger sister’s forehead: “Don’t even think about it! Don’t think that just because Grandmother dotes on you, you can be lazy. Do you want people to say you’re ‘illiterate’ in the future?”

“Illiterate is illiterate!” Zhou Shaojin muttered. “It’s not like I can’t read account books.”

Like Grandmother—though she also didn’t know many characters, she was resilient and generous. She not only supported the fourth branch but also raised younger generations like Uncle Mian and Cousin Gao who were kind-hearted and sincere with people. This showed that how one conducted oneself was most important.

“You dare say that!” Zhou Chujin flicked her younger sister’s forehead again. “Grandmother is already at the age of knowing heaven’s mandate and still regrets not reading more books when she was young. Do you want to be like Grandmother and regret it when you’re old? Don’t even think about this matter!”

This won’t work, that won’t work!

Zhou Shaojin grumbled inwardly, then thought of something and hurriedly said, “Sister, Nanny Fan’s Qi’er has no one to look after him. I asked Nanny Fan to bring Qi’er over and find him a position in the mansion…”

Zhou Chujin had already heard about it from Chi Xiang. She thought that since Zhou Shaojin was approaching the age to discuss marriage, if she could have a loyal person accompany her to her husband’s family when she married, she would have someone to rely on in the future. She was very much in favor of having Qi’er come work at the mansion.

“Then let him follow Ma Fushan first!” she said with a smile. “After he’s properly trained, it won’t be too late to promote him to serve by your side.”

Zhou Shaojin nodded repeatedly and said with a smile, “Then I’ll pay his monthly wages.”

“That works too!” Zhou Chujin thought for a moment and said, “Since he’s taking your wages, he’ll be your person. When you have matters to assign him, he’ll run even faster.”

Exactly this reasoning!

Zhou Shaojin smiled sweetly.

Her sister teased her: “Are you satisfied now?” She added, “Who did you learn this from—making three requests, knowing full well I wouldn’t agree to the first two, just waiting for me to agree to the third one…”

Zhou Shaojin felt very wronged.

She hadn’t thought that way at all… but as the thought flashed through her mind, she became pensive.

In her heart, had she really not thought this way?

When had she already started using methods to achieve her own purposes?

And toward her sister, no less…

Zhou Shaojin’s face reddened.

Not only did Zhou Chujin not mind, she even instructed her, “In the future when you speak and act, you should use your brain like this time.”

Zhou Shaojin’s face grew even redder.

Shi Xiang walked in and reported, “Nanny Fan has brought Fan Qi back!”

So quickly!

Zhou Shaojin glanced at her sister.

Zhou Chujin smiled and said, “Have them come in to speak!”

Shi Xiang acknowledged and left. Before long, she brought in Fan Liushi and Fan Qi.

Fan Qi was dark and thin, not even as tall as Zhou Shaojin. He wore a coarse brown cloth plain short jacket with fresh creases still visible on the clothes—clearly this was new clothing Fan Liushi had bought him at a ready-made clothing shop to bring him to the mansion.

No wonder Fan Liushi said he couldn’t do other things.

With this physique, in the countryside he really couldn’t do anything.

However, Fan Qi’s eyes were jet-black and bright, rolling around alertly. At a glance, he was clearly a very clever child—perfect for working in the mansion.

Zhou Chujin rewarded Fan Qi with several silver ingots as a meeting gift, explained the arrangements for him, then had Shi Xiang take him to kowtow to Ma Fushan, keeping Fan Liushi behind to talk: “This is Second Miss’s grace. You must serve Second Miss well in the future.”

Fan Liushi immediately knelt down to kowtow to the Zhou sisters.

Zhou Shaojin quickly had Chun Wan help Fan Liushi up.

Zhou Chujin picked up her teacup and blew on the tea leaves floating on the water’s surface, saying indifferently, “You may go now! Remember to work well.”

Fan Liushi respectfully answered “Yes,” hesitating as if wanting to say something.

Zhou Shaojin smiled and said, “Does Mama have something to say?”

Fan Liushi’s face flushed bright red as she said, “The matters at my home aren’t settled yet… I’d like to ask for a few more days off…”

Zhou Shaojin was surprised.

Fan Liushi murmured, “Lu’er’s uncle… is unwilling to return the fields to us…”

Zhou Shaojin frowned and said, “Then what do you plan to do?”

Fan Liushi lowered her head shamefacedly and said, “I’ve already asked the clan elder to intervene. It will take at most a few more days.”

Zhou Shaojin pondered and said, “Then report it to the authorities!”

“Report, report to the authorities!” Fan Liushi’s eyes widened like copper bells.

They were law-abiding citizens—how could they go to court with anyone?

“Yes, report to the authorities!” Zhou Shaojin said decisively. “Since he won’t be reasonable, we can only have the government judge.”

“But the common saying goes well: the yamen’s gates open in the shape of the character for eight—if you have right but no money, don’t enter. I’m afraid that even if we sold our few mu of poor farmland, it wouldn’t be enough to pay for a lawsuit!” Fan Liushi said anxiously.

Zhou Shaojin was exasperated and said, “Lu’er’s uncle is just a commoner. You at least work as a servant in our household—can you really not prevail over him?”

“No!” Fan Liushi shook her head. “If this got out, the master would surely gain a reputation for ‘encouraging servants to do evil.’ I can’t ruin the Zhou family and Cheng family’s reputation.”

“Oh!” Zhou Shaojin was frustrated at her lack of spirit and said, “We’re not asking you to actually go to court—it’s just to frighten him. Can’t you even do that?”

“Oh, oh, oh!” Fan Liushi came to her senses and hurriedly said, “I understand—I’ll tell the clan elder that if he returns the fields to us, I’ll ask the young miss to intervene and report them to the authorities.”

“Yes, yes!” Seeing that she understood, Zhou Shaojin said happily, “Your uncle definitely won’t want to fight over these few mu of land with you.”

Fan Liushi nodded repeatedly and said cheerfully, “Then I’ll go back first!”

Zhou Shaojin had Chun Wan see Fan Liushi out.

Zhou Chujin pointed at Zhou Shaojin’s nose and said, “Who gave you this idea? You actually know how to use borrowed authority now?”

Zhou Shaojin blinked and said with a smile, “Sister told me!”

“When did I tell you?” Zhou Chujin pursued the question. Zhou Shaojin just smiled.

It truly was her sister who had told her.

In her previous life, she had relied on her sister and brother-in-law’s influence to marry into the Lin family.

Zhou Shaojin felt tears within her laughter.

Fan Qi was indeed suited to working in the mansion. In just a few days, he had become familiar with all the maids, pozi, young servants, and stewards up and down the Cheng household.

Shi Xiang told Zhou Shaojin, “I don’t know whose temperament he follows—his mouth is as sweet as if it’s been dipped in honey. He’s charmed Pozi Qin who guards the second gate into wanting to adopt him as her godson.”

Zhou Shaojin laughed and said, “Did Fan Qi agree?”

“That boy is very slippery,” Chun Wan said with a smile. “How could he agree? He said a fortune teller had told his fortune and he can’t acknowledge a godmother or godfather until after he turns thirty and his Heavenly Net destiny is complete.”

“By the time he’s thirty, Pozi Qin will probably have gone to find Old Man Qin already.”

Master and servants joked together for quite a while. Zhou Shaojin changed into a pale jade-green vest with dark grapevine patterns and wore a string of red agate prayer beads. She had Chun Wan carry the copied Buddhist sutras as they went to Jiashu Hall.