For a moment, Zhou Shaojin couldn’t distinguish whether the matter of Cheng Chi caring for her during her illness was her own imagination or had truly happened.
She couldn’t help but ask hesitantly: “Uncle Chi…”
Chun Wan said hurriedly: “Fourth Master just left… He watched over you all night. He kept Imperial Physician Cao here overnight too. This morning, Imperial Physician Cao took your pulse and said you were fine. Only after Fourth Master saw Imperial Physician Cao off did he return to the study!”
So it was all true!
Uncle Chi had truly stayed by her side the whole time.
Zhou Shaojin’s spirits immediately soared. She felt that the sky was wonderful, the earth was wonderful, and even that pot of asparagus fern on the flower stand in the corner seemed especially vibrant today.
She sat up at once and instructed Chun Wan: “Go to the study and see if Uncle Chi is asleep. If he is, come back quietly. If he isn’t, tell Uncle Chi to rest soon. Tell him I’m already fine here. Go report to Uncle Chi that I’m safe and well.” Only after saying this did she remember Chun Wan’s appearance earlier. Feeling somewhat embarrassed, she added, “You also haven’t slept all night! Let Bitao or Xiao Tan take care of me. You should also get some good sleep. You don’t need to worry about today’s matters.”
Chun Wan was indeed very tired. She smiled and replied “Yes,” saying: “You were seriously ill yesterday. Madam came to inquire every half hour…”
Zhou Shaojin smiled and said: “Then send someone to inform Madam as well.”
Only then did Chun Wan smile and call Xiao Tan in to take over, before heading to the study in the outer courtyard.
Perhaps because she had sweated after falling asleep, Zhou Shaojin felt sticky all over.
She decided to take a bath and go out for a walk feeling fresh and clean.
While serving Zhou Shaojin during her bath, Xiao Tan chattered on about what happened last night: “You wouldn’t wake up at all. Fourth Master had such a stern face that we were all trembling with fear. If Mama Fan hadn’t told us to go rest, we probably would have stood in the room all night long…”
Zhou Shaojin leaned against the bathtub. The rising steam flushed her face to a rosy hue as she laughed: “Stop exaggerating!”
“It’s true!” Xiao Tan added a few more ladles of hot water to the tub, saying, “If you don’t believe me, you can ask Bitao or Ji Xiang. Ji Xiang was so frightened she couldn’t even speak. After going back, she asked Bitao to rub her calves for her. She said her legs had gone stiff from standing!”
Zhou Shaojin giggled.
Uncle Chi wasn’t the kind of person they described at all!
But Uncle Chi was the master of the household. It was right for Xiao Tan and the others to develop a respectful fear of him. She needed to maintain Uncle Chi’s dignity before the servants. Some things couldn’t be said.
Fan Liushi came in carrying tea, smiling as she said: “I was just wondering whether I should come check on you when Ruyi told me you were awake. Looking at you now, you must be much better?”
Zhou Shaojin nodded with a smile, saying: “Thank you all for your hard work. I’ll have Chun Wan take out five taels of silver later. You and those prominent ones around Madam can all celebrate together.”
Fan Liushi smiled and said: “These are things we servants should do. How can we accept Second Young Miss’s reward?”
As she spoke, she placed the tea tray on the large kang by the window, then sat down beside the bathtub and tested the water temperature. She wanted to help Zhou Shaojin wash her back.
Ever since the incident in the garden in her previous life, Zhou Shaojin hadn’t let Mama Fan help her wash her back for many years.
Her mood was so good today that she simply lay there and let her do as she wished.
Fan Liushi’s movements seemed somewhat hesitant.
Zhou Shaojin smiled and asked: “What’s wrong?”
In her memory, she had always had flawless skin. Could there be some mark or pimple on her back?
“Nothing, nothing!” Fan Liushi smiled, her movements gentle yet efficient as she washed Zhou Shaojin’s back, saying: “Our Second Young Miss has grown into a young lady!”
Her tone carried wistfulness and a touch of reluctance.
Zhou Shaojin smiled with pursed lips, saying: “I’ve been a young lady for a long time!”
Once a girl had her first menstruation, she was considered an adult.
Fan Liushi smiled: “Yes indeed!”
She helped Zhou Shaojin dry off and dress in undergarments.
Xiao Tan directed the rough servant women to come carry out the bathtub. Fan Liushi draped a robe over Zhou Shaojin and sat on the kang helping her wring out her wet hair with a handkerchief, saying: “In northern winters, every household has either heated floors or fire walls. When these are stopped in April, it feels especially cold. Young Master Guan’s hundredth-day celebration is set for May twenty-second. Should we determine the local gift for the master early, or wait until after the Dragon Boat Festival? I’m afraid that when Grand Madam Liao comes over, the eldest young madam will pull you along to entertain the Fang and Liao family members, and you won’t have any free time.”
Zhou Shaojin nodded with a smile, saying: “I’ll speak with Steward Xiang. When the time comes, we can look at the gift list and make additions or subtractions. But you’ve reminded me—Father likes collecting inkstones. I’ll ask Uncle Chi later where we can find a good inkstone, so Madam can bring it back to Father. Though the items at Wende Pavilion are good, they lack distinction. For an inkstone to give Father, we should try to find something elsewhere.” She asked Fan Liushi: “I think Steward Xiang is very attentive and works diligently. I’d like to have Fan Qi work under him. What do you think?”
However, Fan Liushi’s hands paused while wringing Zhou Shaojin’s hair. She asked irrelevantly: “Second Young Miss, you’re not returning to Baoding Prefecture with Madam?”
She wanted to stay at Elm Coin Lane.
Zhou Shaojin smiled sweetly.
She still had to help Uncle Chi guard this foundation of gold bricks!
“I want to stay in the capital a while longer to keep my sister company,” Zhou Shaojin said. “If I return to Baoding Prefecture, I’ll have to deal with Madam Huang and the others again. How tiresome. I’d rather stay in the capital where I’m more at ease.”
Fan Liushi said: “But staying in the capital… Elm Coin Lane is after all Fourth Master’s property… Who would give someone a residence for no reason? This residence isn’t cheap! Even if someone were to give it, it should be Old Madam Guo…”
In Zhou Shaojin’s view, Old Madam Guo wasn’t safe either.
She had three sons, and Cheng Chi was only one of them.
Parents loved all their children equally—sometimes they might not be able to wholeheartedly support Cheng Chi.
Otherwise, why would Cheng Chi have run away from home in her previous life?
Zhou Shaojin smiled and interrupted Fan Liushi, saying: “Old Madam Guo gave me lots of jewelry. Uncle Chi can hardly give me jewelry too, can he?” She didn’t want to discuss this matter further. “Besides, Uncle Chi has given this residence to me. Then it’s mine. You just need to follow me and settle down here with peace of mind.”
She’d better go ask her sister and brother-in-law later to see how this residence could be registered under her name.
If one day Uncle Chi had no way out, since this residence had become hers, the Cheng family couldn’t take it back. Uncle Chi would still have a place to stay. At worst, if the residence were sold, Uncle Chi would have capital to start over.
Having made up her mind, Zhou Shaojin grew anxious. She said: “Go ask Madam whether she’s going to my sister’s place later. If she is, I want to go along too.”
Fan Liushi was burning with anxiety.
Second Young Miss… how could she be so confused?
She had said this much, yet Second Young Miss had no sense of vigilance whatsoever!
However, this matter wasn’t Second Young Miss’s fault.
If she hadn’t witnessed it with her own eyes last night, she would never have imagined in her dreams that Fourth Master… would attend to Second Young Miss that way… Fourth Master clearly was… was… And he did it so naturally.
This frightened her.
She was afraid that something might happen when she wasn’t watching… If that happened, even jumping into Mochou Lake wouldn’t be enough to face the deceased Madam Zhuang!
She turned and walked to the doorway, instructing Ji Xiang: “Guard the door for me. Don’t let anyone in. I have something to say to Second Young Miss.” Then with a “snap,” she closed the door, her expression grave. Like a warrior heroically sacrificing herself, she walked before Zhou Shaojin and dropped to her knees with a thud. Her face flushed bright red as she said: “Second Young Miss, let’s return to Baoding Prefecture with Madam! No matter how disagreeable Madam Huang is, she only wants to arrange a marriage for you. But yesterday… Fourth Master personally cared for you… Not only did he hold you in his arms, patting and coaxing you, but he also… also wiped your body… Even when Madam wanted to come see you, he wouldn’t let go, so that Madam had to send people to inquire… Second Young Miss, let’s return to Baoding Prefecture! There isn’t a single good person in the Cheng family!”
Those weren’t things an uncle should do for his niece!
Zhou Shaojin’s eyes widened.
Her heart surged like ocean tides, wave after wave roaring past.
Uncle Chi hadn’t avoided impropriety… Was he also unable to control his emotions?
But what kind of person was Uncle Chi!
He had once told her not to let all her emotions show on her face.
Yet how could he make such a mistake himself?
She couldn’t help but recall how he had asked her softly by her ear that day, “Am I really that wonderful?”… She hadn’t known how to answer him then.
Now, she wanted to ask him, “Am I really that wonderful?” That he would abandon so many years of restraint…
Zhou Shaojin gripped the handkerchief in her hand, feeling waves of heat rushing to her face.
Seeing that she wasn’t angry, Fan Liushi urged in a low voice: “Second Young Miss, Fourth Master was so obvious about it. If I can see it, naturally others can see it too… I know you’ve always respected Fourth Master and never thought in this direction. But by the end of this year, you’ll come of age and be old enough to marry… Before, we could still say you were young… But if someone notices something, how will we handle it then? In such matters, it’s always the girl who suffers…”
So that was why Uncle Chi had said to forget.
To forget his inability to control his emotions.
Could it be that Uncle Chi, like her, knew they had no tomorrow or happy ending, so when he could see her, he couldn’t help but indulge himself?
Tears streamed down Zhou Shaojin’s face like rain.
So she wasn’t alone after all.
They had been together all along.
She had just been too ignorant to see his true heart.
Zhou Shaojin collapsed onto the large pillow and cried her heart out.
Fan Liushi panicked.
These were only her speculations after all.
What if she had guessed wrong?
No, even if she had guessed correctly, given the Cheng family’s prestige and the Zhou family’s reputation, they probably wouldn’t allow such gossip. She was the one caring for Second Young Miss.
She would be the first to die!
Her death wouldn’t matter, but she couldn’t ruin Second Young Miss!
Fan Liushi stepped forward and embraced Zhou Shaojin, crying: “Second Young Miss, Second Young Miss, just pretend nothing happened. From now on, keep your distance from Fourth Master. Hold on until after Young Master Guan’s hundredth-day celebration, and we’ll return to Baoding Prefecture…”