Chun Wan and the others were so ashamed their faces turned red as if blood would drip out.

Old Madam Guo silently nodded in approval and said privately to Nanny Lu, “This child is becoming more and more willing to speak up. Given time, she’ll be another capable household manager.”

Nanny Lu didn’t think so.

She always felt Zhou Shaojin lacked a certain dignity and would find it difficult to make those capable stewardess mothers submit to her. She probed tentatively, “Her temperament is just a bit too weak.”

Old Madam Guo disagreed, saying, “Do you think being relentlessly forceful is always good? Most of the time, softness overcomes strength.”

Nanny Lu dared not say anything more.

In the past, Old Madam Guo always felt that if women didn’t stand up for themselves, they shouldn’t expect to live the life they wanted.

But now she was favoring Zhou Shaojin.

She would have to be more polite to Zhou Shaojin in the future.

“Old Madam truly has keen insight!” Nanny Lu said flatteringly with a smile.

After hearing Zhou Shaojin’s words, Chun Wan and the others couldn’t help but feel secretly cautioned. Afterward, they no longer dared harbor dissatisfaction. Their attitude toward the Song family servants became much warmer, and everyone traveled cheerfully all the way to Changzhou.

Beyond that would be Zhenjiang.

They would part ways at Zhenjiang. Old Master Song’s family would continue north, passing through Zhenjiang, then Yangzhou and Huai’an to disembark at Tongzhou and enter the capital. They would head west, returning to Jinling.

Cheng Chi rubbed his swollen eyes and raised his head, sighing to Old Master Song, “Listening to you speak is worth ten years of reading. I was like a frog in a well before, thinking highly of myself, believing that few under heaven understood geomancy as well as I did. Only after meeting you, sir, did I realize there are heavens beyond heaven, people beyond people. Now I truly want to meet the renowned Minister Song Jingran and see what kind of remarkable person he is!”

He had dealt with Song Jingran before but never had an in-depth conversation. In his eyes, Song Jingran was merely a rather accomplished scholar-official.

Looking at it now, their acquaintance had been too shallow for such deep discussions.

Song Min laughed heartily and said, “What difficulty is there in that? The Song family’s gate is always open to you. My only worry now is that you’ll be very disappointed after meeting Jingran—I’m not good at managing finances, and Jingran had no choice. At such a young age he learned to be meticulous about every penny. Fortunately he later joined the Ministry of Finance, which could be considered putting his learning to use, so his talents weren’t buried.”

Cheng Chi silently mourned for several moments for that Song Jingran whom he’d never met.

There were plenty of people in the world who could do calculations, but those who could enter the cabinet through mathematics—from ancient times to the present, there weren’t many!

Song Min clearly didn’t think much of his son and said, “We’ve been calculating the entire journey. Let’s rest today! Two years ago I spent some time in Changzhou. South of the dock there’s a small shop called Wang’s. They make very authentic Liyang braised liver. I still have a bottle of Luzhou Laojiao in my trunk that I treasured from years ago. I didn’t even bear to drink it when my eldest grandson was born. This time going to live permanently in the capital, I don’t know if I’ll be able to return to our old home in Changsha in my lifetime, so I brought that wine out—let’s drink it today!”

“We’ve already reached Changzhou?” Cheng Chi was astonished.

“Yes!” Song Min smiled. “Do you feel a bit like ‘time passes differently in the mountains’? Sometimes when I’m calculating water flow and sediment, I also become deeply immersed and can’t extricate myself!”

The corner of Cheng Chi’s mouth twitched.

He had promised Zhou Shaojin that on the return journey he would let her walk around everywhere…

But now the light boat had already passed ten thousand mountains. In the blink of an eye they had reached Changzhou.

After seeing Song Min back to his cabin to change clothes and wash up, he quietly asked Qin Ziping, “What have Old Madam and Second Cousin Miss been doing these past days?”

Qin Ziping said, “Old Madam has been chatting with Madam Song. Second Cousin Miss has either been sitting nearby doing needlework or looking after Young Master Song.”

“Looking after Young Master Song?” Cheng Chi frowned. “In what way?”

Qin Ziping thought for a moment and said, “Either teaching Young Master Song to write characters, or explaining to Young Master Song the allusions in the Three Character Classic and Thousand Family Poems. Or else playing Chen San chess with Young Master Song.”

Cheng Chi couldn’t help but purse his lips, saying, “With her level of skill, she can only play Chen San chess to amuse children!”

Qin Ziping smiled and agreed, waiting for Cheng Chi’s instructions.

However, Cheng Chi paced back and forth in the room twice before stopping, his expression hesitant as he said, “Besides accompanying Old Madam, listening to Madam Song talk, and looking after Young Master Song, didn’t Second Cousin Miss say anything else?”

Qin Ziping’s heart trembled slightly.

Fourth Master rarely asked about someone in such specific detail. Those whose situations Fourth Master asked about in such specific detail were all people Fourth Master regarded as opponents or people and matters that played key decisive roles in certain affairs.

Second Cousin Miss didn’t seem to have anything to do with “key” or “decisive.”

But he understood very clearly in his heart.

The more this was the case, the more it showed this Second Cousin Miss was not simple.

He quickly said, “I haven’t particularly noticed. Should I fetch Pozi Shang?”

Cheng Chi hesitated for a moment and said, “Then go call Pozi Shang in.”

Qin Ziping finally managed to suppress the stormy waves in his heart and walked out with a calm expression.

Cheng Chi clasped his hands behind his back and paced back and forth in the room twice more.

He had never broken his word to anyone, especially now when he had actually broken his word to a young girl not yet of age, and moreover this young girl had helped him before…

Cheng Chi couldn’t help but recall the way Zhou Shaojin looked at him, and he felt even more uncomfortable.

The little girl’s eyes were full of trust!

And such firm belief!

Firmly believing he would never harm her, firmly believing he would never break his word to her, firmly believing he would never deceive her… as if she had never doubted him, even believing in him more than he believed in himself!

Yet he had betrayed that trust.

He wondered if the little girl had cried?

However, with her temperament, even if she wanted to cry, she wouldn’t cry in front of others. She would certainly hide away when no one was around and quietly shed tears of sadness alone.

She rarely got to come out, and who knew when she could come out again. Watching helplessly as the boat stopped at the docks of various prefectures but unable to disembark and look around—how disappointed and sad must she be feeling?

Cheng Chi rubbed his temples.

That little girl looked as soft and compliant as a willow, but when she got stubborn, she had quite a temper too.

How could he make her stop being angry?

Buy her a complete set of precious jewelry?

Judging from the little girl’s clothing, food, and daily necessities, it was clear Zhou Zhen doted on these two daughters very much. She might not care about such things at all!

Apologize?

But he was an elder.

He couldn’t very well have an elder apologize to a junior—what authority would he have before her in the future!

Or perhaps compensate her later, find a way to bring her out again?

Cheng Chi thought this was a good idea.

Compensate for what was lost. Most people would be satisfied with that.

His mind was greatly settled.

He sat behind the writing desk waiting for Pozi Shang to arrive.

Pozi Shang came even faster than he had imagined.

Cheng Chi explained the reason. Pozi Shang was surprised and said, “Fourth Master, Second Cousin Miss has been no different than usual these past days. Her maids had some complaints about Madam Song, but Second Cousin Miss even scolded them for it!”

She told Cheng Chi about Zhou Shaojin reprimanding Chun Wan.

Cheng Chi was very surprised and said, “You dare to confirm these were Second Cousin Miss’s own words?” But before Pozi Shang could answer, he already believed seventy or eighty percent in his heart.

The little girl he knew was exactly this kind of person—only remembering others’ kindness, not remembering others’ faults.

Pozi Shang said, “In any case, this servant observed it secretly with her own eyes!”

Cheng Chi waved his hand at her, feeling somewhat uncomfortable inside.

If the little girl had come of age and was a grown young lady, he would still have an excuse to absolve himself. But now… wasn’t she just a child?

Cheng Chi thought it over and finally decided to go find Zhou Shaojin.

Zhou Shaojin was sitting in Old Madam Guo’s cabin listening to Old Madam Guo tell anecdotes about Jiangnan’s prominent families: “The clan leader of the Li family’s younger sister-in-law is the third young miss of the Wu family. The father of the Wu family’s third young miss was once my father’s student. Later, the second son born to Lady Wu married the sixth aunt of the Gu family. After Sixth Aunt Gu married in and had no sons, when adopting an heir, she took the youngest grandson of the Li family’s eldest mistress, who then married a young lady from the Gu family. So not only am I very familiar with the eldest mistress of the Wu family, but also because of this, I’m very familiar with the eldest mistress of the Li family…”

Madam Song had already been completely confused by the Li family, Wu family, and Gu family. She quickly said, “Wait, let me think about this.”

Old Madam Guo couldn’t help but laugh.

Madam Song said with a flushed face, “I came from a humble market background. After arriving in the capital, I only socialized among those few Huguang official families. But the most numerous in the capital are still Jiangnan scholars. I’ve never heard of what you’re talking about. I was wondering how they’re all relatives to each other. You’re so kind to people, so I dared to ask you boldly…”

Zhou Shaojin also couldn’t help but smile with pursed lips.

Old Madam Guo smiled and said, “These things can’t be accomplished overnight. Never mind that your master is a Huguang official—even local Jiangnan officials don’t know much about these matters. Like our family’s three girls, if they hadn’t followed me and been influenced since childhood, if I told them all this at once like this, they also wouldn’t be able to remember.”

However, Madam Song felt this was Old Madam Guo trying to ease her embarrassment—children from ordinary families and children from generations of official families were just different. They knew from childhood who was related to whom. When they needed to ask someone to handle matters, they could always find related people to come forward and help them navigate the situation.

Her master’s disadvantage was precisely that he had no support and had always fought alone. Otherwise, how could the position of Grand Secretary have fallen to Yuan Weichang?

Thinking of this, her heart jumped in alarm.

Yuan Weichang seemed to be Cheng Jing’s maternal uncle… and she was actually asking advice from Cheng Jing’s mother…

Madam Song suddenly felt very awkward.

But how could her expression escape Old Madam Guo’s notice?

Old Madam Guo smiled and said, “With families like ours, if you trace back far enough, you can find connections to several families of relatives. But as the saying goes, distant relatives are not as good as close neighbors. Whether relations are close or not still depends on whether you interact closely and whether you’re compatible in temperament!”

“Exactly as Old Madam says.” Hearing this, Madam Song was overjoyed.

Clearly Old Madam Guo didn’t think her behavior was childish or laughable.

Looking at Old Madam Guo, she felt there couldn’t be anyone more tolerant, magnanimous, and knowledgeable than this old woman before her.

“If only I could have met you earlier!” Madam Song said with feeling.

A little maid came in to report, “Fourth Master has arrived.”