Cheng Yi couldn’t help asking Zhou Shaojin, “What kind of temperament does she have?”

Zhou Shaojin quickly suppressed the tangled mess in her heart and smiled, saying, “She has a very cheerful disposition, is considerate of others, and speaks quite humorously… You’ll understand when you meet her. I wouldn’t lie to you. Speaking of which, both Grandmother and Eldest Aunt personally evaluated her. If she weren’t good, they definitely wouldn’t have arranged this match for you.”

Cheng Yi’s face flushed as if it could drip blood, yet he looked toward Hanbi Mountain Manor with melancholy and murmured, “If only Ji Ying weren’t Fourth Uncle’s maidservant…”

So he was eating what was in his mouth while eyeing what was in the pot!

Zhou Shaojin was extremely angry and said with a stern face, “Miss Seventeen of the Gu family is a good young lady. If you’re not satisfied, tell the elders early on, lest when she marries into the family you still have someone else in your heart—being fickle and capricious, harming Miss Seventeen Gu.”

As she spoke, she couldn’t help recalling her previous life, and her eyes glistened with moisture. “We women aren’t like you men. If you’re uncomfortable, you have places to hide in every direction—north, south, east, and west. Otherwise, you find a confidante outside or set up another household with a concubine. We can only come and go within this courtyard, only able to live our lives guarding this courtyard. Even if we seek death, we fear hurting our elders’ hearts, fear bringing a bad reputation and infamy to those who love us. I’m telling you now—if you don’t make things clear with the elders at this moment, and after Miss Seventeen Gu enters the family, if you do even half a thing wrong to her, I’ll immediately tell Grandmother, Eldest Aunt, Eldest Uncle, and Cousin Gao. If they don’t beat you until you’re bedridden, they’ll at least make you lose a layer of skin… No, that would still be letting you off too easy. I’ll ask Ji Ying to come forward then and give you a thorough thrashing…”

Cheng Yi’s scalp tingled as he shouted, “Hey! When did you become so vicious! Like a flower that’s grown thorns. Could it be that you’ve spent too much time with that wicked woman Ji Ying and your heart has turned bad along with hers…”

Before he could finish, Zhou Shaojin glared at him fiercely.

Though this glare was gentle and soft without the slightest威慑力, her pampered manner still made Cheng Yi touch his head and stammer, “Don’t always think of me so badly… I was just talking! Haven’t you ever liked something but couldn’t have it in the end and could only occasionally think about it in your heart?”

Zhou Shaojin fell silent.

She thought of Cheng Chi.

Cheng Chi and she were people who could only be thought of in her heart for a lifetime.

Placed in the deepest corner of her heart.

Not letting anyone discover.

No one would know even after death.

As the thought flashed by, she couldn’t help feeling sorrow arise from her heart, and large teardrops began to fall.

Zhou Shaojin had been delicate since childhood, but she was also stubborn. Even when falling to the ground and scraping the skin off her palm, she wouldn’t make a sound. For her to suddenly cry like this—Cheng Yi was encountering it for the first time.

He panicked.

He wanted to pull out a handkerchief to wipe away her tears, but found nothing in his pocket. He then wanted to use his sleeve to wipe them, but looking at her white jade-like warm face, then looking at the auspicious cloud border embroidered on his sleeve, he feared leaving marks on her face.

Cheng Yi could only circle around her, circling while defending himself: “Don’t cry anymore! I swear to treat Miss Seventeen Gu well, won’t that do? I swear not to think of Ji Ying anymore, won’t that work? I’m really not as bad as you think! A few days ago, Cousin Lu came to find me, saying that Madam Bai was ill and he had quietly returned to see her. He brought back some local specialties for you and asked me to pass them on, but I didn’t even agree…”

Zhou Shaojin’s teardrops suddenly hung suspended on her cheeks.

She said in astonishment, “What did you say? Cheng Lu came to find you? When did he find you? What did he say to you…”

“Shh! Shh! Shh!” Cheng Yi nervously looked around in all directions. “Keep your voice down! I haven’t told anyone about this. I promised Cousin Lu I wouldn’t tell anyone…”

This brainless fool!

How did she end up with such a cousin!

Zhou Shaojin kept a straight face, quickly wiped the corners of her eyes, grabbed Cheng Yi, and headed toward the pavilion atop the Taihu rock hill.

“Ow!” Cheng Yi didn’t dare struggle and begged for mercy all the way. “Whatever you want to say, say it nicely. Where are you dragging me? I snuck over here—if someone sees me, I’ll have to sleep on my stomach tonight…”

He would be beaten by Cheng Mian until he couldn’t lie in bed.

Zhou Shaojin ignored him, panting as she climbed to the pavilion. She stood for a long time before catching her breath and said, “What exactly happened? Explain it clearly to me! Otherwise, I’ll go tell Eldest Uncle right now, and you’ll still have to sleep on your stomach tonight!”

“You, how did you become like this?” Cheng Yi’s face was even paler than Zhou Shaojin’s.

If Zhou Shaojin had a whip in her hand, she would have lashed him with it, saying, “I became like this because of you. Won’t you quickly tell me what exactly happened?”

Cheng Yi mumbled, “He said they went to study elsewhere, and Yuelu Academy was afraid something would happen to them being far from home, so they were only allowed to return once a year. But Madam Bai fell ill, and he really couldn’t rest easy, so he quietly ran back. He also said that among the cousins, only my mouth was the tightest and I wouldn’t talk carelessly, so he wanted to come see me and brought some local specialties for me. I let him stay for a meal. Who knew he’d say he hadn’t seen you in several years, and when you were young you always liked talking to him—could I call you over…”

At the time, he had thought he would be getting engaged to Zhou Shaojin soon—his cousin becoming his wife made him somewhat embarrassed. Plus, he felt Cheng Lu’s request was a bit excessive, so he had refused quite decisively.

“Cousin Lu pleaded with me for a long time, but I didn’t respond,” Cheng Yi murmured. “I’m not as unreliable as you say. I just feel that we all share the same roots and origins—if there’s something I can help with, I’ll help. If I can’t help, at least don’t embarrass him…”

What was Cheng Lu trying to do?

Was he trying to continue being ambiguous with her like in her previous life, deceiving her? Or had he detected in this life that he might lose his degree and suspected her, wanting to find some clues from her?

The more Zhou Shaojin thought about it, the more annoyed she became. She couldn’t wait until the end of the year to strip Cheng Lu of his degree and see how he scrambled then!

She also resented how Cheng Lu’s smooth words had deceived even Cheng Yi.

But she couldn’t tell Cheng Yi the truth.

Cheng Yi was still too young. She feared he couldn’t keep the secret and would inadvertently speak out and ruin everything.

Taking several deep breaths to suppress the anger in her heart, she tried to speak to him in a voice as calm as usual: “He ran back behind the academy masters’ backs. You knew about it but didn’t tell the elders—that was your mistake! You must never associate with him again. Otherwise, if Eldest Uncle finds out, he’ll definitely punish you to kneel in the ancestral hall again!”

Cheng Yi said bashfully, “He’s already returned to Yuelu Academy… I won’t meet with him again!”

“Is that what he told you?” Zhou Shaojin asked.

Cheng Yi nodded.

Then Cheng Lu probably wouldn’t come looking for Cheng Yi again.

Zhou Shaojin breathed a sigh of relief and gave him a few more warnings about “don’t get into trouble” and such. Only when she saw it was getting late, nearly time for the noon meal, did she part ways with Cheng Yi.

Unexpectedly, when returning to the main quarters, she saw Cheng Chi, whom she hadn’t seen for several days.

She couldn’t suppress the joy in her heart and called out, “Uncle Chi.”

Cheng Chi smiled and nodded at her, which counted as a greeting.

Her elated mood was like having a bucket of cold water thrown on it, which also made her much calmer.

The two of them accompanied Old Madam Guo for the noon meal. When they moved to the sitting room for tea, Cheng Chi spoke of divesting shares with the Li family.

No wonder Uncle Chi had been nowhere to be seen these past few days!

Zhou Shaojin’s heart settled down.

Old Madam Guo, however, was somewhat surprised.

Her younger son rarely told her about these things.

She couldn’t help saying, “If you divest the shares, will it affect Yutai Bank’s business?”

Cheng Chi said, “I don’t want to expand the business any further. When a tree stands out in the forest, the wind will surely destroy it. The Cheng family has reached this point today—it should restrain itself.”

Old Madam Guo nodded, her expression solemn as she said, “During the transition between two dynasties, corpses of the starved littered the outside while the Cheng family still wore silk and ate jade—in the end, it invited disaster. The cart ahead overturns, serving as a warning for the cart behind. You’ve considered this very correctly. You should also remind your elder brother—I’ve heard that your elder sister-in-law is lending money at usurious rates together with the Yuan family. This is not a good thing!”

Zhou Shaojin was startled.

She hadn’t expected that Madam Yuan also lent money at usurious rates.

No wonder she had been so wealthy in her previous life!

Could Uncle Chi have been angry about this matter?

What exactly was the “disaster” that Old Madam Guo mentioned?

Zhou Shaojin pondered this as Cheng Chi stood up with a smile and said, “I understand! The midday sun is fierce—you should rest first! I’ll go back and rest a while, then head to the shop. Tomorrow I still need to handle the money from divesting the shares.”

Zhou Shaojin helped hold up the curtain for Cheng Chi without waiting for Old Madam Guo’s instruction.

Cheng Chi smiled and nodded at her, then quickly left the main quarters.

Zhou Shaojin felt a chill in her heart. With lowered eyelids, she returned to the main quarters.

Seven or eight days later, Madam Yuan’s wet nurse and several stewards arrived first, escorting luggage and bringing several little maids. After bathing and grooming, Madam Yuan’s wet nurse came to pay respects to Old Madam Guo. Seeing Zhou Shaojin serving beside Old Madam Guo, she showed no surprise.

Zhou Shaojin’s heart grew vigilant, and she took note of this.

After performing the grand ceremony before Old Madam Guo, the wet nurse smiled and said, “Madam caught a cold while in the capital and felt somewhat unwell. Fearing she would delay the time, she ordered this old servant to bring the local specialties for everyone in the family ahead of her. Madam estimates it will take another seven or eight days before she can arrive.”

In another seven or eight days, the Mid-Autumn Festival would already be past.

Zhou Shaojin saw Old Madam Guo’s brow furrow almost imperceptibly as she said, “Since she decided to return, why didn’t she set out a few days earlier?”

The wet nurse glanced at Zhou Shaojin.

Old Madam Guo’s brow furrowed.

The wet nurse quickly stepped forward a few paces and said in a voice like a mosquito’s buzz, “The chief examiner and deputy examiner for the provincial examinations in South Zhili have already been decided—they’re just waiting for His Majesty to stamp the memorial. Madam was delayed because of this matter.”

So my daughter-in-law wants my son to place first in the provincial examinations!

Old Madam Guo made a sound of acknowledgment and said, “Jiashan has been arranged by his Fourth Uncle to study at Zao Garden. I know you’re concerned about him. Once you’ve settled the household matters, have the sedan chair hall send a sedan to take you there!”

The wet nurse thanked her repeatedly before withdrawing.

Zhou Shaojin felt even the air had become much lighter.

She really disliked Madam Yuan’s people.

That afternoon, the wet nurse delivered the gifts Madam Yuan had brought for everyone.

Needless to say, there were gifts for Old Madam Guo, Biyu, and the others. Surprisingly, there was even one for Zhou Shaojin.