After hearing Cheng Jia’s lengthy discourse, Zhou Shaojin was dumbfounded. After a long while, she finally said, “Does Wu Baozhang have something wrong with her brain? This is the Cheng family’s wedding. Although the main branch and Jiuru Lane have divided the clan, they ultimately share the same ancestor. How dare she speak such nonsense about me without fearing it would bring shame to the Cheng family? She wasn’t this kind of person before!”

In the past, even when she did bad things, she did them quietly, digging pits for others behind their backs. If you fell in, she would still hypocritically extend her hand to pull you up and help you.

This time, however, she came out fighting with bare arms, exposing her intentions under everyone’s watchful gaze.

Zhou Shaojin chided Cheng Jia again, “You too—why lower yourself to her level? When you said she was Cousin Nuo’s chamber maid, weren’t you ruining Cousin Nuo’s reputation? You should have called for Madam Yuan to handle it—she caused this trouble, she should clean it up herself. Or you could have gone to find the Old Madam. She wouldn’t dare turn a blind eye. Instead, you got yourself implicated.”

Cheng Jia just snorted and said, “I don’t have your good temper! I had to scold her to my heart’s content first. Anyway, I’m a married daughter who won’t return to my maiden home once in eight hundred years. Even if I do return home, it’ll be to Jinling. Whatever they want to say about me, let them say it. I can’t hear them, and their words are wasted.”

Zhou Shaojin pursed her lips in a smile and thanked her, “I know you did this all for my sake!”

“Good that you understand!” Who knew that Cheng Jia would glance at her sideways, just having adopted an expression of “you’re so useless, but I won’t hold it against you,” but then her shoulders drooped and she said dejectedly, “So… I got thrown out by Grand Madam Guo…”

Grand Madam Guo was Cheng Chi’s eldest maternal aunt.

Zhou Shaojin was surprised and asked, “Grand Madam Guo was there too at the time?”

“Yes!” Cheng Jia said listlessly. “When I said those things, she remained silent, but after I finished speaking, she finally stepped forward. Smiling, she came up and said something like, you and I grew up together, I was busy with my wedding preparations when Wu Baozhang married in, so I only saw her twice. Before marriage, I was the third branch’s only daughter, and I married into a centuries-old prestigious family in Luoyang, so I was spoiled. I speak without thinking about the weight of my words, so Wu Baozhang shouldn’t hold it against me. She had people drag me out of the banquet hall, while she herself took Wu Baozhang’s arm and said she would introduce her to the Grand Madam of the Shen family from Jinling. She said the Grand Madam of the Shen family and Aunt Wen’s maternal family were cousins, and since Aunt Wen hadn’t come, Wu Baozhang as the daughter-in-law should at least go pay her respects to the Shen family’s Grand Madam… Cousin Zheng is at Tingxiang Courtyard with the Old Madam helping her entertain several elderly ladies. Cousin Xiao is helping Madam Yuan entertain the noble ladies. Cousin Sheng is busy discussing tomorrow and the day after’s banquets with the household stewards. I had nowhere to go, so I came here to find you.”

As she spoke, she giggled and said, “I ran into Cousin Xiao’s husband, Brother-in-law Yuan. Brother-in-law Yuan is quite interesting. He’s also outside helping to receive guests, and he was joking with Li Jing, saying that in other families, when sons-in-law and married daughters return to the maiden home, they sit at the head table. But here, each of them works themselves to death helping out, and when the banquet starts, they just gulp down a bowl of rice by the kitchen door. When the wedding is over, they’ll have to ask the Old Madam for a big red envelope, or it’ll be a huge loss.”

When families have joyous occasions, sons-in-law and maternal uncles sit at the head table.

If you had to blame someone, you could only blame the household for relying too heavily on Cheng Chi for domestic affairs, so that when Cheng Chi himself got married, there were surprisingly no capable people to help.

Zhou Shaojin felt sorry for Cheng Chi and couldn’t help but grumble internally about Madam Yuan: Cheng Xu was also a successful candidate from two imperial examinations. If he could manage the Cheng family’s domestic affairs, when Cheng Chi got married, couldn’t she make a little effort to help Cheng Chi arrange things?

In the future, when Cheng Xu got married, she wouldn’t ask Cheng Chi to help either.

Why always treat Cheng Chi like someone with nothing to do and order him around!

This showed too little respect for Cheng Chi!

She asked, “Are there many guests at the house?”

“Very many!” Cheng Jia nodded. “Just in the outer courtyard alone, over a hundred tables were set up. I heard Grand Secretary Yuan, Grand Secretary Song, Grand Secretary Qu… and also Grand Secretary Wu of the Hanlin Academy, Minister He of the Court of Imperial Entertainments, Chief Censor Zhou of the Censorate all came!” As she spoke, she giggled again. “Li Jing said it was like a grand court assembly. Besides the several Grand Secretaries, the Six Ministries and Three Courts each sat in their own groups, each finding their own superiors to talk to…”

Zhou Shaojin was astonished. Imagining that scene, she also laughed.

Cheng Jia then said, “Are you hungry? Do you want me to secretly get you something to eat?”

“No need!” Zhou Shaojin looked at Zhenzhu, untied a pouch from her waist and opened it, smiling. “Sister prepared sweet cakes for me, saying if I got hungry, I could eat a few pieces.”

Cheng Jia giggled.

Zhenzhu and the others also smiled, but all kept their heads lowered, adopting an expression of “I know nothing.”

Zhou Shaojin asked, “Will the family still have opera performances tomorrow and the day after?”

In her memory, the day after the wedding, after the bride paid respects to the relatives, they would start dismantling the celebration canopy.

Cheng Jia nodded and smiled, “I heard the steward say they’ll perform grand opera for three consecutive days.”

This was too high-profile!

Cheng Jia chattered away with Zhou Shaojin for a long time.

Although most of the time it was Cheng Jia talking and Zhou Shaojin listening, with Cheng Jia’s company, time passed especially quickly. In what seemed like the blink of an eye, they heard Cui Huan calling to Cheng Jia through the bridal chamber window, “Grand Madam, the Master has been looking everywhere for you. He says it’s getting late, and you should come back tomorrow.”

Only then did Cheng Jia blink at Zhou Shaojin and say suggestively, “I’ll come see you again tomorrow, and we can have a good private chat.”

If you’re just going to have a private chat, why put on that kind of expression?

Zhou Shaojin suspiciously had Zhenzhu see Cheng Jia out. Thinking about how Cheng Jia had just said there were many guests in the outer courtyard, and figuring Cheng Chi wouldn’t return this early, she instructed Zhenzhu to clean up the peanuts, red dates, longans, and other things scattered on the bed. She had been worried about the wedding night for days now, and had gotten up before dawn today to wash, dress, and apply makeup. Feeling very tired, she decided to rest against the bed and wait for Cheng Chi to return.

Zhenzhu and the others, having received instructions earlier from Old Madam Guo and Cheng Chi, smiled and agreed. They helped her remake the bed, brought in a bowl of sweet soup, then withdrew to the outer room to keep watch in the sitting area.

Zhou Shaojin leaned against the headboard, dozing lightly in a half-asleep state.

She didn’t know how much time had passed when she heard sounds outside, and Cheng Chi’s low voice came through, “Is the Fourth Madam asleep?”

She immediately woke up completely, stood up, and walked quickly to the door, lifting the curtain.

Cheng Chi’s face was slightly flushed. He was standing there while Zhenzhu directed Yuanyuan and Manman to help him change clothes.

Inexplicably, Zhou Shaojin’s face suddenly turned red.

Cheng Chi immediately looked over at her.

Zhou Shaojin was still wearing her bright red wedding gown. Though she had removed her hairpins and ornaments, she still wore her hair in the wedding style, with kingfisher-feather flowers in her hair and gold hairpins inlaid with various colored gemstones. Under the lamplight, her face appeared radiant as a red lotus, delicate and exquisite, with eyes like black jade.

Cheng Chi couldn’t help but smile at her.

Zhou Shaojin’s face grew even redder.

She wondered whether she should step forward to help him change, but feared it wouldn’t be proper.

While she hesitated, Cheng Chi smiled and said, “Go back inside quickly. I’ll just wash my face and come in.”

Zhou Shaojin shyly retreated to the inner chamber.

All around was quiet and silent. Only the tick-tock of the Western clock could be heard, making the silence even more profound.

Zhou Shaojin sat anxiously on the wedding bed, her mind wandering chaotically. So there was a Western clock in the bridal chamber too. She just didn’t know if it was a grandfather clock or one placed on a long table. This must be an imported item, right? In her previous life, she had seen one from afar in the palace. She wondered how that clock was made, that it could replace the water clock…

Her hands were tightly clasped together.

Cheng Chi, having changed into an ordinary precious blue cotton robe, walked in.

Zhou Shaojin immediately stood up.

That awkward manner made it seem as if he was about to do something terrible to her.

Cheng Chi couldn’t help but smile and said gently, “Are you tired?”

Was Cheng Chi laughing at her for being too forward?

But she really was very happy to see Cheng Chi…

Zhou Shaojin nodded, then felt that complaining about being tired on her wedding night wasn’t good, so she immediately shook her head.

Cheng Chi walked toward her.

Outside, the second watch drum sounded faintly.

Zhou Shaojin was quite surprised.

She thought it was already the third watch.

Why had he returned so early?

With so many guests outside, could he afford not to attend to them?

Cheng Chi seemed to see through her thoughts and smiled, “I’m the groom today. I’m the most important one. If I can’t even decide when to return to the bridal chamber, what kind of groom would I be!”

That self-important swagger made Zhou Shaojin laugh.

Cheng Chi then said, “Let’s rest quickly! We’ll still be busy tomorrow!” As he spoke, he moved the lamp that had been at the bedside to the tea table by the window.

Across the screen inlaid with precious materials that separated the bed from the platform, the large pomegranate split open its mouth, revealing red pomegranate seeds, blocking the dragon and phoenix wedding candles and lamplight.

The inner chamber grew dark.

Zhou Shaojin began to feel nervous again.

She murmured “Oh” and turned her back to Cheng Chi to begin removing her wedding gown.

Her hands trembled badly, taking a long time to undo just one button.

A warm presence approached from behind.

Cheng Chi whispered in her ear, “Let me help you!”

“No!” Zhou Shaojin’s voice was somewhat sharp.

The sound in her own ears startled even herself.

Cheng Chi immediately understood.

A flash of pained sympathy crossed his eyes.

Then he smiled with forced lightness, “Alright then, hurry up. I’m going to close the bed curtains.”

The warm presence moved away from her side.

Zhou Shaojin suddenly felt her eyes moisten.

She quickly and somewhat roughly removed her wedding gown, bit her lip, and gently lifted the curtains of the black lacquered bed inlaid with precious materials.

Inside the curtains was even darker.

It took her a while to adjust to the light within the bed.

She saw that Cheng Chi was already lying on the outer side of the bed.

She carefully climbed onto the bed from the foot end near Cheng Chi, her fingers cold as she quietly lifted a corner of the quilt and lay down on the inner side of the bed.

A long arm reached out.

Zhou Shaojin was pulled into Cheng Chi’s embrace.

Through the thin sleeves, she could feel Cheng Chi’s warmth and his solid arms and chest.

She couldn’t stop trembling.

Cheng Chi had originally wanted to tease her a bit, but now he knew that wouldn’t be appropriate.

She was truly afraid!

Not nervous or at a loss, but genuinely frightened!

Cheng Chi held her tightly in his arms, kissing her forehead and saying softly, “Shaojin, I promised your father that I would wait a few years before consummating our marriage. You’re still too young right now…”

Zhou Shaojin’s eyes widened in astonishment.

In the dim light, they gleamed bright as jewels.