But how could she get close to Fourth Uncle Chi?

Even if she wanted to force her way in, she had to be able to actually squeeze through!

Zhou Shaojin sat at the large painting desk in her study, chin propped on her hand, pondering this problem.

Send shoes and socks?

That didn’t seem feasible.

Fourth Uncle Chi had Nan Ping at his side, whose needlework was probably even better than hers. Very likely, after she painstakingly made something, with Nan Ping as comparison, her work wouldn’t amount to anything at all.

Send food?

She’d already tried that.

And failed!

Thinking of this, she couldn’t help but sigh.

Fourth Uncle Chi didn’t seem very interested in snacks.

Cook dishes?

Wouldn’t that be overstepping her bounds… and it would be too obvious. Fourth Uncle Chi might think she’d lost her mind.

Just thinking about it made Zhou Shaojin feel dejected. She had no idea what good approach to take.

She thought and thought, then asked Cheng Jia, “If you wanted to please someone, what would you do?”

Cheng Jia said, “Who do you want to please? Old Madam? I can see she quite likes you already.”

“No.” Zhou Shaojin certainly wouldn’t tell the truth, or else Cheng Jia would question her endlessly and might even tell Jiang Shi, which would make things troublesome. “I’ve just been thinking about this matter these days and wanted to know if you have any experience with it.”

“Oh!” Cheng Jia considered seriously. “I’ve tried to please my mother, my grandmother, and also my brother—does that count? I don’t think I did much, just acted a bit coquettish, and they all indulged me…”

Act coquettish?

No way.

Zhou Shaojin immediately rejected this idea.

Just imagining that scene made her feel it would be very jarring.

“Apart from that, you have no other methods?” Zhou Shaojin asked unwillingly.

“No.” Cheng Jia found Zhou Shaojin very strange. “We’re girls—why would we need to please people? Just get along well with others. Pleasing someone is too degrading.”

Zhou Shaojin fell silent.

She didn’t want to either!

But not degrading herself wouldn’t work.

Fourth Uncle Chi was practically impervious to all approaches.

Most importantly, he could go to the capital at any time.

This meant he could see Cheng Jing whenever he wanted.

That evening when she returned to her room to rest, Shi Xiang crouched by the bathing tub helping her wash her feet.

Zhou Shaojin watched and suddenly had a thought. She asked Shi Xiang, “What do you think it takes to make someone like you?”

Shi Xiang smiled. “Of course, serve them wholeheartedly and diligently.” After thinking for a moment, she added, “And be utterly loyal.”

All right!

Zhou Shaojin had to admit she’d asked the wrong person.

She went to ask her sister.

Zhou Chujin smiled. “Of course, you cater to their preferences!”

“Cater to their preferences!” Zhou Shaojin said thoughtfully.

Zhou Chujin smiled and didn’t engage further.

The next day, Zhou Shaojin went to Hanbi Mountain Villa a quarter hour earlier than usual. After paying her respects to Old Madam Guo, instead of going directly to the Buddhist hall, she went to Liyin Pavilion.

With Cheng Chi away in the capital, only Nan Ping and a few junior maids remained at Liyin Pavilion.

When Zhou Shaojin arrived, Nan Ping was leading those junior maids in making autumn robes for Cheng Chi. Seeing Zhou Shaojin, she set down her work and came forward with a smile. “Second Cousin Miss has come? Though it’s spring, the sun feels warm on one’s body but can easily cause sunburn. Second Cousin Miss, please sit here—it’s shadier on this side.”

It was already mid-summer, and the sun beating down on people carried real warmth.

Zhou Shaojin sat down with a smile.

Nan Ping personally served her tea and snacks.

After exchanging a few polite words, Zhou Shaojin broached her business with Nan Ping. “These coming days are my father’s birthday. I want to make him a few garments. Everyone says that with you in Fourth Uncle Chi’s household, even the Mansion’s sewing room has to hide its inadequacy. So I wanted to come see if there are any special styles or fabrics. I’d like to try making one for my father.”

Many people knew of Nan Ping’s excellent needlework. At first, many people asked her to make things for them. As a maid, she couldn’t afford to offend anyone, so she agreed to almost every request. Finally, Cheng Chi couldn’t stand it anymore and clearly showed his displeasure, and only then did those people stop seeking her out.

Perhaps Zhou Shaojin didn’t know about this?

Nan Ping thought to herself and, smiling, went to fetch several newly cut garments.

Zhou Shaojin could tell at a glance that Nan Ping was a master. The cutting of the sleeves and shoulders was extremely refined—she had only learned about this technique by chance when entering the palace once.

This showed that talented people were always hidden among the common folk. The Emperor’s life wasn’t necessarily more comfortable than those century-old prestigious families.

Thinking of her father’s health, she selected one with wide sleeves and a narrow body, and one with a straight collar—both dignified yet with a touch of liveliness.

Nan Ping praised with a smile, “Second Miss Zhou has excellent taste. These are styles that were popular in Hangzhou Prefecture last year. No one in Jinling has worn them yet!”

You never step foot outside—how do you know no one in Jinling has worn them?

Zhou Shaojin very much wanted to ask this, but she could never feel as comfortable around Nan Ping as she did around Ji Ying. She smiled and asked if there were fabrics here to match these two styles.

Nan Ping then led her to the adjacent side room.

The cabinets were packed full of bolts of fabric.

“These are all new fabrics from Songjiang, Huzhou, and Hangzhou this year. These are from Guangdong and Qinghuan…” Nan Ping introduced them to her, pulling out a bolt of bright blue Songjiang triple-shuttle cloth. “I think this bolt would work very well for the wide-sleeved style you liked earlier. That autumn robe worn on the body has a somewhat ethereal quality. This type of fabric is best. Moon-white Songjiang triple-shuttle cloth is very common, but if dyed this bright blue color, from afar it looks like a Daoist robe, and up close it’s a straight robe—that would be quite striking.”

Speaking of her familiar domain, Nan Ping’s eyes brightened considerably.

Zhou Shaojin smiled. “I can see that Miss Nan Ping’s needlework is excellent not only due to talent but also because you’ve devoted tremendous effort to it.”

This recognition made Nan Ping very happy. Moreover, since usually no one could discuss these matters with her, compared to normal, she spoke much more.

Zhou Shaojin would occasionally interject with “mm” or “ah” to keep Nan Ping’s conversation flowing. When Nan Ping brought out several treasured patterns for Zhou Shaojin to see, Zhou Shaojin smiled and asked, “When did you enter the Mansion? How many years must it take to develop such skill? Where did you serve when you first entered the Mansion?”

Nan Ping was a hereditary servant, and the questions Zhou Shaojin asked could be discovered with a little inquiry anyway. Zhou Shaojin didn’t take it to heart. “I entered the Mansion when I was seven. When I first entered, I served in the tea room at Hanbi Mountain Villa. Later, when Fourth Master returned to Jinling, Old Madam saw that Fourth Master had no one meticulous to care for him, so she assigned me to Fourth Master. At that time, it was fortuitous—I shared a room with Jincheng, a senior maid who originally served Old Madam. She was specifically in charge of Old Madam’s clothing and jewelry. Her needlework was extremely outstanding, and she rewarded me to Fourth Master. I’ve stayed in Fourth Master’s household ever since.”

So Nan Ping hadn’t served him since childhood either.

Yet aside from Ji Ying, the person closest to Cheng Chi was Nan Ping.

Zhou Shaojin felt somewhat disappointed, but she still persisted in continuing her chat with Nan Ping. “I never imagined there was someone even more skilled than Miss Nan Ping! Where is she now? Can I meet her?”

Nan Ping shook her head with a bitter smile. “She passed away long ago. Otherwise, how would it be my turn to serve Fourth Master? Fourth Master doesn’t select people based on appearance. He only looks at whether you’re suitable or not.”

The two chatted back and forth, and the topic soon turned to the pastries Zhou Shaojin had sent some days ago.

Zhou Shaojin said embarrassedly, “I originally wanted to join in the fun, but I didn’t expect Fourth Uncle Chi not only doesn’t eat fish but also doesn’t like eating snacks. I was so embarrassed!”

Nan Ping smiled. “Don’t be embarrassed. When I first came to serve Fourth Master, I also made many blunders. For instance, Fourth Master always wore Daoist robes. At first, I thought it was because he liked wearing them, so I painstakingly made him many different ones. Then he asked me why every Daoist robe was different. He liked wearing Daoist robes because they were convenient and all exactly the same… So all my effort was wasted. I had to remake ten identical Daoist robes for him. And those two autumn robe styles you selected—if I actually made them, though Fourth Master wouldn’t say anything, he would never wear them.” By the end, she sighed a bit, not knowing if it was because her talents had no place to be used or because she found Cheng Chi’s temperament strange.

Zhou Shaojin felt the former was more likely than the latter.

The conversation gradually expanded from clothing, food, housing, and transportation. When she left Liyin Pavilion, it was nearly the hour of You. But she felt even more confused than before.

It turned out Fourth Uncle Chi wasn’t averse to eating fish. He only ate coldwater fish.

He didn’t dislike sweets; he just didn’t like granulated sugar but preferred rock sugar.

He also didn’t avoid soft, glutinous things. He just didn’t like them thinly wrapped in a layer… In short, his lifestyle was both simple and extravagant…

She felt that some things he liked, even in two lifetimes, she had only heard of… She probably wasn’t as knowledgeable about them as he was, so how could she possibly please him?

Zhou Shaojin felt her future was pitch black.

Far away in the capital, Cheng Chi hadn’t moved into Xinglin Alley but was staying at Cheng Shao’s residence in Shuangyu Alley.

With elders present, after Cheng Fen’s five-week memorial ceremony concluded, the white mourning cloth hanging in the house was taken down.

Cheng Shao had always been a rather taciturn person, and now he became even more silent. With his elderly wife having passed away two years prior, he lived alone in his study, paying no attention to anyone.

Cheng Chi didn’t force the matter. As on previous visits to the capital, after meeting with the various managers of Yutai Bank in the morning, he met with Li Dejiang, the head manager of Weizi Bank, in the afternoon.

Li Dejiang was in his forties. He had started as an attendant to Old Master Li of the Li family in She County. At his age, to have reached this position was already considered quite formidable in the industry.

But before Cheng Chi, he only took half a seat.

This wasn’t only because Cheng Chi was not just the major shareholder of Yutai Bank but also the fourth-largest shareholder of Weizi Bank, but also because over these years, Cheng Chi had never made a mistake—worthy of such respect.

Cheng Chi was already too lazy to bother with these formalities and said directly, “The old ancestor of our second branch wants to join hands with the Luo family of She County to establish a bank as well?”

“Yes!” Because this might involve internal conflict within Jiuruyi, Li Dejiang said with some caution, “At first, the Luo family thought it was your idea. Later they learned it was your old ancestor’s idea. Unable to meet with you, the Luo family specifically sent someone to visit our old master, wanting him to relay a message to you, saying that since the Luo family promised you they would withdraw from the banking business, they will keep their word. Please don’t misunderstand!”

Cheng Chi sneered. “He’s been an official too long!”

Li Dejiang said nothing.

Officials assumed that merchants pursued profit, and as long as there was profit to be gained, they would break their word. In reality, merchants were the most trustworthy—their status was already very low. If they still didn’t keep their word, how could they survive?