How could Zhou Shaojin know what First Madam Mian was thinking? She and her sister nodded with smiles, both happy for Cheng Gao. However, when Cheng Gao came to pay his respects to Old Madam Guan after seeing Cheng Mian, he couldn’t help becoming somewhat bashful, causing the Zhou sisters to giggle continuously. This made Cheng Gao’s face flush bright red, unable to advance or retreat.
“You two!” Old Madam Guan smiled and chided as she defended her eldest grandson. “Come, come to me. Don’t mind your two cousins—they’re happy for you!”
Cheng Gao nodded and, under Zhou Shaojin and Zhou Chujin’s smiling gazes, steeled himself to sit beside Old Madam Guan.
“Once engaged, you’re an adult. From now on, you must act even more steadily. Beyond honoring your parents and caring for your wife and children, you must also look after your younger siblings. Do you understand?” Old Madam Guan held Cheng Gao’s hand and expressed her expectations for her eldest grandson.
“Yes!” Cheng Gao rose and respectfully performed a grand salute to Old Madam Guan.
Old Madam Guan smiled with satisfaction, then told Cheng Gao about the engagement arrangements. “…On our side, your father has decided to ask your Fourth Uncle Chi and Master Gu to serve as matchmakers, Madam Gu to serve as the woman of complete fortune, and your Aunt Lu to help with the proposal.”
Zhou Shaojin started and couldn’t help saying, “Fourth Uncle Chi has returned?”
“No.” Old Madam Guan took no offense and smiled. “Last night I went to see Old Madam Guo, and she has already agreed.”
No wonder!
Zhou Shaojin breathed a long sigh of relief internally.
She had sent Fan Qi to watch for when Cheng Chi returned home. When Fan Qi came to see her yesterday, he had said he still hadn’t returned…
But having Fourth Uncle Chi serve as matchmaker…
Just thinking about it felt strange to her.
Yet among the Cheng family’s men currently at home, only Fourth Uncle Chi and the old ancestor of the second branch had passed both examinations. The old ancestor of the second branch certainly wouldn’t do such things, so they could only ask Fourth Uncle Chi.
Master Gu was currently the headmaster of Gu Family Academy—she just didn’t know what his temperament was like. If he was smooth and tactful, that would be fine. But if he was rigid and pedantic, then Cheng Gao’s wedding… Just thinking about it made Zhou Shaojin worried for Cheng Gao.
After that, she didn’t pay much attention to what else Old Madam Guan instructed Cheng Gao, only knowing that he kept nodding.
It wasn’t until after Cheng Gao left, when First Madam Mian was comforting Old Madam Guan not to worry, saying “Gao’er stayed in Pukou for some time, and everyone in my family, high and low, likes her very much. You can rest assured they won’t make things difficult for him,” that she came back to her senses.
According to propriety, when making the proposal, the prospective groom must accompany the matchmaker to the door.
Zhou Shaojin, having lived two lives, had no mind to manage her own wedding, and had only attended others’ weddings as a guest. She had never participated in one before.
Cheng Gao was like an older brother to her. With her brother getting married, she was naturally very curious.
She recalled that in her previous life when Cheng Gao got engaged, her sister had accompanied First Madam Lu to the He family to deliver the gold hairpins. She asked Old Madam Guan, “During the initial betrothal, can I go to Pukou with Sister and Aunt Lu?”
During the initial betrothal, the groom’s side would go to the bride’s home to deliver gold hairpins, and at this time the groom’s female relatives could send someone to accompany the matchmaker to see the bride.
Those who went to see the bride could be the bride’s future aunts-in-law, sisters-in-law, or young sisters-in-law.
Zhou Shaojin and Zhou Chujin could barely be considered young sisters-in-law.
Old Madam Guan hesitated somewhat.
Zhou Shaojin was too beautiful. If she went there, she would definitely outshine the bride by one or even several measures. She feared the He family would misunderstand this as the Cheng family giving the bride a show of force.
First Madam Mian didn’t think it mattered.
If Zhou Shaojin married Cheng Yi, could He Fengping avoid seeing Zhou Shaojin for her entire life?
Moreover, she had already informed her sister-in-law that the two cousin misses at home were both first-rate in appearance. Her sister-in-law had even said to bring them to see, and if they were truly as good as she said, the two families could forge an even closer bond by marrying the unengaged Zhou Shaojin to her eldest nephew. If she hadn’t given a hint, her sister-in-law might really have come to appraise Zhou Shaojin!
First Madam Mian smiled and said, “Let them go! Our Shaojin is so beautiful, we’re not afraid of others seeing her.”
Zhou Shaojin knew she was beautiful but had never felt she was prettier than her sister. Therefore, she heavily discounted exactly how beautiful she was. She also didn’t catch what Old Madam Guan was really concerned about, thinking instead that Old Madam Guan feared she was too playful and would embarrass the Cheng family. Hearing First Madam Mian’s words, she quickly said, “Grandmother, I’ll definitely be obedient and stay right behind Sister.”
“All right then, you can go with your sister!” Seeing that her daughter-in-law had spoken thus, Old Madam Guan was sure she was confident the He family wouldn’t have any objections. She didn’t notice at all that she hadn’t mentioned Zhou Chujin accompanying them to deliver the gold hairpins, yet Zhou Shaojin had definitively stated that Zhou Chujin would go to deliver them.
The people in the room didn’t notice either.
Everyone was happily discussing Cheng Gao’s engagement when First Madam Lu arrived.
Coming with First Madam Lu was Cheng Jia.
She burst in shouting, “I want to go deliver the gold hairpins to Eldest Sister-in-law Gao too!”
“Don’t listen to her nonsense.” Jiang Shi touched her forehead with a headache, saluted Old Madam Guan, and said, “She just delights in chaos. If she goes, who knows what laughingstock she’ll create, and we’ll lose all our family’s face in Pukou.”
Cheng Jia felt so aggrieved upon hearing this that tears nearly came out.
First Madam Mian looked at Cheng Jia with her bright eyes and white teeth, and her heart stirred. She quickly embraced Cheng Jia and said to Jiang Shi, “Sister-in-law, really! Our Jia girl has already had her coming-of-age ceremony—how could she be as immature as you say?” As she spoke, she shot Jiang Shi a meaningful look.
Only then did Jiang Shi swallow the reprimand that had reached her lips and took out the proposal gift list she had prepared at home to give to Old Madam Guan. “Please see if this will do.”
Zhou Chujin took it and read it aloud to Old Madam Guan word by word.
Cheng Jia had long since pulled Zhou Shaojin aside to whisper privately.
She wanted to persuade Zhou Shaojin to go to Pukou together as well.
The long list was finally finished. Old Madam Guan praised Jiang Shi with satisfaction for “handling matters properly and carefully,” and smiling, had Zhou Chujin pass the list to First Madam Mian, saying, “Look it over again. If there’s nothing to add or subtract, prepare things according to this list!”
First Madam Mian was also very satisfied. Smiling, she thanked Jiang Shi and wanted to take her to Hanqiu Pavilion for tea to discuss some specific matters.
Except for Old Madam Guan, everyone went to Hanqiu Pavilion.
On the way, First Madam Mian left Zhou Shaojin and the others behind, constantly whispering with Jiang Shi. Several times Jiang Shi even looked back at Cheng Jia.
Cheng Jia thought her mother was warning her not to be mischievous. Each time her mother looked back, she smiled ingratiatingly at her, only hoping that seeing how she was currying favor, her mother would agree to let her go to Pukou with Zhou Shaojin to deliver the betrothal gifts to young Madam He.
Little did she expect that when they returned home, before she could even open her mouth, her mother had already told her, “I can take you along, but if you do even the slightest inappropriate thing, don’t ever expect me to take you out again.”
Cheng Jia was overjoyed and repeatedly assured her mother.
The next day, Jiang Shi called in a tailor to make clothes for Cheng Jia, selected several pieces of jewelry suitable for young girls from her own dowry, admonished her once more, and only then went to attend to Cheng Gao’s engagement matters.
Cheng Jia hurried to tell Zhou Shaojin.
Zhou Shaojin was quite happy too, but at the moment she had no time to attend to Cheng Jia. “I have to go to Hanbi Mountain Villa to copy sutras. Let’s talk in detail when I get back!”
Cheng Jia looked at the water clock in the room. “It’s just past noon… What are you going there so early for?”
Zhou Shaojin had a flash of inspiration. “If I go early, I can come back early!”
Cheng Jia didn’t suspect anything amiss and quickly said, “Then go quickly and come back quickly.”
Zhou Shaojin had Shi Xiang keep Cheng Jia company while she hurriedly went to Hanbi Mountain Villa—she had just received word that Cheng Chi had returned.
She urgently wanted to know whether Ji Ying had returned to Cangzhou or had come back with Cheng Chi.
At Hanbi Mountain Villa, Huai Shan was directing young servants in unloading trunks and cases. Cheng Chi was in the room talking with Old Madam Guo.
Zhou Shaojin turned into the nearby tea room.
Biyu and Zhenzhu were sitting in the tea room talking.
Zhou Shaojin quickly asked, “Have you seen Ji Ying?”
“Yes!” Biyu smiled. “She went to her room with a dark face. I called to her but she didn’t respond.”
Zhou Shaojin’s heart sank. “Then I’ll go to the Buddhist hall to copy sutras first.”
Biyu saw her out the tea room door.
Zhou Shaojin went around from the back into Liyin Pavilion.
The door to Ji Ying’s side room was tightly shut. Several junior maids stood helplessly under the corridor, looking at each other.
Zhou Shaojin covered the distance in quick strides. She nodded composedly at the junior maids and gently tapped on Ji Ying’s window lattice. “Ji Ying, it’s me. What’s wrong? Open the door quickly!”
She thought she would have to tap on the window several times, but unexpectedly, as soon as her words fell, the window lattice opened with a creak.
Zhou Shaojin barely dodged in time to avoid hitting her face.
But how could she care about that? Ji Ying looked like vegetables that had been dunked in water—her whole person wilted. Her eyes were especially red and swollen. Fortunately, she spoke quite calmly. “You’re here! Come in and sit.” As she spoke, she went to open the door for Zhou Shaojin.
Zhou Shaojin quickly asked, “What happened?”
Ji Ying closed the door again and sat with her on the arhat bed by the window, saying in a low voice, “When I went back, I saw Jiao Ziyang. He said our two families had already broken off the engagement, but that was his father’s idea. Other than me, he won’t marry anyone. He also told me to elope with him…”
“Absolutely not!” Zhou Shaojin’s face went white. She quickly said, “Those who are formally betrothed become wives; those who elope become concubines! You absolutely cannot do such a foolish thing. If you really want to marry him, you’d rather kneel and beg your parents than leave with him in such an unclear manner.”
Seeing Zhou Shaojin’s anxious expression, Ji Ying’s tense face showed a long-absent smile.
“I know.” Her voice was still low but carried more warmth. “I’m not stupid. Whatever he says is what it is. When I heard him say that, I thought, the reason I agreed to break off the engagement was because I had to serve as your Fourth Uncle Chi’s maid for ten years. Now that I’ve returned, Jiao Ziyang is unmarried and I’m unwed. Rather than elope with him as he suggested, I might as well persuade Jiao Ziyang’s father to agree to restore the engagement between Jiao Ziyang and me…”
Zhou Shaojin couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief and praised, “You’re really capable! You immediately thought of a solution.”
Ji Ying smiled slightly. “Guess what I discovered when I went to the Jiao family?”
Zhou Shaojin, thinking of how she would rather return to the Cheng household than stay at home, felt her heart grow cold. She murmured, “Could it be, could it be he’s already married?”
Ji Ying smiled. “Marriage is normal—what’s so strange about that?”
That smile only hung at the corners of her mouth, but her gaze was ice cold, like an unsheathed sword, radiating cold light.
Zhou Shaojin shivered. “Then, then what happened?”