Moving by herself!
Zhou Shaojin’s eyes widened. Seeing that Ji Ying was speaking to a man opposite her, she couldn’t help but look toward him.
The man wore a brown Luzhou silk robe. He was twenty-two or twenty-three years old, tall, with fair skin. His features looked six or seven parts similar to Qin Zi’an. He seemed to smile before speaking, appearing not only more refined and scholarly than Qin Zi’an, but also more amiable and approachable.
Could this be Qin Ziping, whom Ji Ying often mentioned?
Zhou Shaojin speculated.
The man seemed to sense her arrival and looked toward Zhou Shaojin.
Their gazes met directly.
Having so boldly examined someone else and been caught in the act, Zhou Shaojin’s face flushed. She quickly nodded at the man and smiled sheepishly.
The man was slightly stunned and was about to say something when Ji Ying had already walked over happily: “Second Miss, why have you come? Why didn’t you have a maid come ahead to announce your arrival? Everything here is in such disorder…” As she spoke, she frowned and said quite impolitely to the brown-robed man, “Qin Ziping, go find me some tea and refreshments. We were just moving, and who knows where the tea leaves ended up.”
Qin Ziping said “Oh” and obediently left.
Ji Ying then pulled Zhou Shaojin inside to sit.
As they passed through the main walkway, Zhou Shaojin finally saw two servants helping to pack things.
She asked: “What’s going on? Moving house is such a major matter—how can only these few people be arranged to help? From your tone, this is Uncle Chi’s idea. Has Uncle Chi decided not to add more people? If not, I’ll have people from Wanxiang Residence come help you move. It’s not such a big deal—no need to be angry.”
Ji Ying was obviously very annoyed by this matter. Looking relieved, she pulled Zhou Shaojin’s hand: “Oh my, it’s good you came. Otherwise I really wouldn’t know what to do. When Qin Ziping comes back, I’ll ask him—if we can’t hire people from outside, using your Cheng family’s servants should be acceptable, right? If even these people can’t be trusted, then I have no choice but to move a little today, a little tomorrow, and whenever we finish is whenever we finish. Who cares what the orders were.”
Zhou Shaojin nodded with a smile.
Qin Ziping came over. He not only brought tea leaves for them, but also brought celadon tea ware.
Zhou Shaojin invited Qin Ziping to have tea.
But before Qin Ziping could speak, Ji Ying had already said: “Where does he have time to drink tea? Your Uncle Chi wants us to move everything to Lixue Study by the twenty-second. My side is fine—apart from that sword, there’s nothing too valuable. If it breaks, it breaks; if it’s stolen, it’s stolen. But Nan Ping’s side is incredible—besides the flower shed, there are clothing cases, tracing paper, painting powder, fabric scraps… all sorts of things. Just the trunks filled two or three dozen. He needs to go help Nan Ping move things.”
Zhou Shaojin then smiled: “Then we won’t keep you.”
Qin Ziping glanced at Ji Ying, cupped his hands in salute, and left.
Zhou Shaojin said: “Is Steward Qin angry?”
“Angry?” Ji Ying said cluelessly. “Why would he be angry?” After finishing, she seemed to suddenly understand: “Could it be that because I ordered him around in front of you, he got angry? That’s not right… I’ve often ordered him around in front of Nan Ping or Uncle Huai Shan before, and he was fine…” She couldn’t figure it out, so she simply stopped thinking about it: “Let’s not worry about him. He’s actually a decent person. Even if he’s angry, the anger will probably dissipate soon.” She then personally poured Zhou Shaojin a cup of tea: “You came to find me—is there some urgent matter?”
“It’s not really urgent…” After all, Cheng Yi was her own cousin. Zhou Shaojin felt somewhat embarrassed: “On Laba Festival, I invited you and Cousin Jia to drink Laba porridge, right? At that time, Cousin Yi was also present…”
She haltingly told Ji Ying the whole story.
Ji Ying seemed to have been hit in the head with a stone and didn’t react for a long while. When she did, she jumped up in anger: “That bastard! Which eye saw me looking like Cheng Zichuan’s bed servant?” As she spoke, she turned to retrieve the sword hanging on the wall for warding off evil.
Zhou Shaojin was so frightened her face turned white.
If Ji Ying charged over with a sword like this, even with Uncle Chi’s protection, she probably wouldn’t survive!
If she accidentally and unintentionally injured Cheng Yi… she and her sister would have no face to see Grandmother and Eldest Aunt.
Without thinking, Zhou Shaojin hugged Ji Ying’s waist and said urgently: “Ji Ying, I know this matter is my Cousin Yi’s fault, but please, for my sake, don’t hold it against him. My grandmother and eldest aunt aren’t the kind of people who bully the weak. As long as you’re unwilling, they absolutely won’t force you to follow my Cousin Yi. You can rest assured…”
Ji Ying twisted her waist and Zhou Shaojin’s arms fell empty.
Zhou Shaojin was stunned.
Ji Ying had already turned around and said with a mixture of tears and laughter: “I’m going to find Cheng Zichuan! Not your Cousin Yi!”
Hearing this, Zhou Shaojin couldn’t bother pursuing how Ji Ying had so easily and lightly escaped from her embrace with one twist. She quickly said: “You, you’re not going to find Cousin Yi!”
“Right!” Ji Ying looked at Zhou Shaojin speechlessly: “What would I go find him for? Just as you said, your grandmother and eldest aunt aren’t the kind who bully the weak. As long as I’m unwilling, they absolutely won’t let Cheng Yi act recklessly. I blame your Uncle Chi… if not for him, why would everyone think I’m his bed servant!”
Zhou Shaojin thought her thinking was very strange.
At this time, shouldn’t she be thinking of ways to clarify things with Grandmother and Eldest Aunt?
Why was she single-mindedly thinking about settling accounts with Uncle Chi?
Besides, what did this have to do with Uncle Chi!
It was Cousin Yi himself who took a fancy to her, and it was also Cousin Yi himself who assumed she was Uncle Chi’s bed servant… Could it be that all these years, whenever such things happened, Ji Ying blamed everything on Uncle Chi?
“I don’t know about past incidents, but this time you’re wrongly blaming Uncle Chi.” Zhou Shaojin said. “If Uncle Chi said or did something in front of my Cousin Yi that made him misunderstand that you’re Uncle Chi’s bed servant, then that’s Uncle Chi’s fault. But my Cousin Yi rarely sees Uncle Chi even once a year—he assumed it on his own. How can you blame Uncle Chi? On my way here, I thought of an idea. I don’t know if you’ll agree? If you agree, I’ll go tell Cousin Yi. If you don’t agree, I think you should tell Uncle Chi about this matter and let him decide for you. If he doesn’t care, or if what he says isn’t good to hear, then it won’t be too late to blame him!”
Ji Ying didn’t speak, but she didn’t rush outside either.
Zhou Shaojin breathed a sigh of relief: “I think the reason Cousin Yi dares to speak so boldly about asking Uncle Chi to give you to him is mostly because he feels his affection for you is genuine and he’ll give you a proper status. Just based on this point, he thinks following him would be better than following Uncle Chi. We just need to let him know that even if you follow him and he wants to give you status, besides needing to see whether Grandmother and Eldest Aunt are happy about it, he also has to see whether his future wife agrees. But Uncle Chi is different. He has the ability to establish his own household. If you follow Uncle Chi, even as a bed servant, as long as Uncle Chi still keeps you by his side, even if Uncle Chi later marries, his wife won’t casually give you grief… If he truly cares for you, he shouldn’t pester you anymore.” She said this and looked at Ji Ying uneasily: “It’s just that it would wrong you… you’d bear a reputation… I’m afraid there will be such misunderstandings in the future…”
Ji Ying didn’t mind: “I have to stay by your Uncle Chi’s side for ten years. Even if he doesn’t misunderstand, others will. Even if there’s no misunderstanding now, there will be in the future. Since you think this is a good idea, then go tell Cheng Yi!”
Zhou Shaojin hadn’t expected Ji Ying to be so easy to talk to. She gratefully put her arm around her shoulder: “Thank you. I’ll definitely make Cousin Yi swear not to spread rumors about your relationship with Uncle Chi.”
Ji Ying smiled: “What’s there to be grateful for? It’s just a small matter.”
Zhou Shaojin knew she truly didn’t take this matter to heart and couldn’t help saying: “You’re truly magnanimous.”
Ji Ying smiled mockingly: “This counts as magnanimous?”
Zhou Shaojin said seriously: “If it were me, I’d definitely be worried sick.”
“No, you wouldn’t!” Ji Ying patted her head with great confidence and smiled: “Just look at the idea you came up with—you’re not someone who sits and waits for death. If this matter happened to you, you’d quickly think of a solution too.”
Zhou Shaojin was stunned.
In her previous life, she had been panicked and at a loss—never mind thinking of solutions, she didn’t even dare face Grandmother and the others…
In this life, had she truly changed?
On the way back, Zhou Shaojin kept thinking about everything she’d done since her rebirth, trying to find evidence of her changes.
Meanwhile at Lixue Study, after hearing Huai Shan’s report, Cheng Chi was astonished for quite a while: “Did Second Miss Zhou really say that?”
“Yes!” Huai Shan said. “Second Miss Zhou said that you have the ability to establish your own household. Even if you later marry, as long as you still keep Ji Ying by your side, even your legitimate wife won’t casually give Ji Ying grief…”
Cheng Chi looked at Huai Shan strangely: “That’s not what I was asking about. Why are you going on and on about this?”
Huai Shan said uncomprehendingly: “Then what are you asking? I felt that in all that Second Miss Zhou said, only these few sentences were most pleasant to hear—though she’s young and the second daughter in her family, she doesn’t have that stinking attitude of those young masters and misses who know nothing of economics…”
“Enough!” Cheng Chi impatiently interrupted Huai Shan: “I’m asking whether she had Ji Ying tacitly acknowledge being my bed servant in front of Cheng Yi, and Ji Ying actually didn’t get angry enough to draw her sword and stab someone?”
“No.” Huai Shan said. “Nanny Shang said she saw Second Miss Zhou hug Ji Ying’s waist in the hall and was quite startled, afraid Ji Ying would hurt Second Miss Zhou. She had rushed to the partition screen when she saw Ji Ying use their Ji family’s secret technique ‘Golden Cicada Sheds Its Shell’ to break free. Fortunately, Second Miss Zhou knew nothing and didn’t pursue the matter, otherwise something would definitely have happened. What do you think—should we have Ji Ying stay at Zao Garden for a while?”
Cheng Chi didn’t speak, his fingertips lightly tapping the desk.
Huai Shan then said carefully: “Fourth Master, there’s one more thing… that Fan Qi has returned from the capital. He should arrive in Jinling in the next two or three days.”