Zhou Shaojin took a deep breath.

Now, these hands were in a position of submission, humbly supporting Old Madam Guo.

Just as in her previous life, the owner of these hands could not cover the sky with one hand. There were still people who could make her lower her proud head, still people who could make her keep her eyes lowered and swallow her anger while restraining her temper.

At this moment, Zhou Shaojin suddenly found herself rather liking Old Madam Guo’s severity.

In her previous life, if Old Madam Guo hadn’t been keeping her in check, who knows what Yuan Shi might have done to her.

She took another deep breath and summoned the courage to raise her head.

She was no longer that weak and incompetent Zhou Shaojin. What right did Yuan Shi have to humiliate her?

What met her eyes was Yuan Shi’s face that was beautiful whether angry or annoyed, appearing to be only in her blooming youth.

Her jet-black hair made her skin appear even fairer and cleaner. Her sparkling eyes made her look radiant and full of vitality.

Yuan Shi, no matter when, was always so dazzlingly beautiful and outstanding in bearing.

Zhou Shaojin, however, had the state of mind of standing in a tall building viewing the scenery.

When it came time to pay her respects to Yuan Shi, she stepped forward neither humbly nor arrogantly to perform the courtesy, her smile calm as she softly greeted her.

The look in Yuan Shi’s eyes contained unmistakable amazement. She smiled and said, “We haven’t seen each other for just a few days, and Second Young Miss has become even more beautiful.”

She made it sound as if they hadn’t seen each other for several years.

In reality, the Cheng family gathered together every year for New Year and the Lantern Festival, but with Zhou Shaojin’s previous temperament, she would either hide behind her sister or shrink into a corner of the hall, her features blurred. It was only natural that Yuan Shi had never noticed her.

She smiled slightly, her smile gentle and gracious.

A flash of surprise crossed Yuan Shi’s eyes. She was about to say something more when heavy and chaotic footsteps came from the distance, mixed with an elderly woman’s low scolding: “…Hurry up, hurry up… I told you long ago to prepare the sedan chair. Where have your ears gone…”

Everyone looked toward the sound and saw two sturdy women carrying a sedan chair, panting heavily as they hurried over.

The old woman on the sedan chair had a head full of silver hair and wore an autumn-fragrance colored headband with a thumb-sized emerald inlaid on it. From her ears hung emerald earrings of the same size. She wore a kudzu-yellow auspicious clouds embracing blessings patterned jacket with three soybean-sized South Sea pearl buttons on the standing collar. Though her figure was plump and round, the skin on her wrinkled face was white, delicate, and rosy like a young girl’s. Her eyes were even more sharp and piercing, bright and spirited.

This was the Second Branch’s Old Madam Tang.

The Second Branch’s old master Cheng Li had died young. She had observed widowhood in the Cheng family, not only raising her son Cheng Yi and helping her mother-in-law manage the household, but also occasionally handling the Second Branch’s general affairs. After her mother-in-law passed away, she grasped both internal and external matters with one hand, managing the Second Branch prosperously. She earned the respect and regard of the Second Branch’s old ancestor Cheng Xu, and was a figure who had a say in both the Second Branch’s inner and outer courtyards. Although in recent years she had handed over household management to her daughter-in-law Hong Shi, whenever important matters arose, Hong Shi still had to ask her to make decisions.

“My apologies, my apologies, I’ve come late!” Old Madam Tang laughed heartily as she was helped down from the sedan chair by an accompanying maid, saying, “When we get to Ganquan Temple later, I’ll treat everyone to a vegetarian meal.”

She offered no explanation for why she had come late.

There was rather a low-key arrogance of “I’ve come late, so what can you do about it?”

First Madam Wen of the Fifth Branch immediately looked toward Old Madam Guo.

Old Madam Guo, however, said nothing. She merely remarked indifferently that it was “not too late,” then instructed Nanny Shi to notify the carriages waiting at the second gate to prepare to depart.

First Madam Wen’s face was full of disappointment.

Zhou Shaojin found it quite amusing.

Did she actually expect Old Madam Guo and Old Madam Tang to start fighting?

In her previous life, Zhou Shaojin had only had eyes for her own small plot of land and had never paid attention to matters outside the Fourth Branch. She hadn’t expected the relationships between the various branches of the Cheng family to be so intricate and complex, with hidden undercurrents surging.

What moved her even more was the meeting with Yuan Shi—it turned out to be so simple, so calm and peaceful. It gave her a sense of powerlessness like a fist hitting cotton, yet she couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Let the matters of the past remain in the past!

Others didn’t even know about them, and she should try hard to forget them too.

Zhou Shaojin followed her sister onto the carriage, and the procession made its way grandly to Ganquan Temple.

Ganquan Temple was located in the eastern part of Jinling City. During the previous dynasty it had been an imperial temple, but was later destroyed by war. It was rebuilt during Emperor Taizong’s reign. The tiles on the main hall were the bright yellow glazed tiles bestowed by Emperor Taizong—leftover from when the Qianqing Palace was built. When sunlight shone on them, they gleamed magnificently with brilliant colors. Ganquan Temple quickly became Jinling City’s foremost Chan temple.

The Cheng family had sent a steward to the temple a few days earlier to arrange for the incense offering. The Cheng family’s carriages drove straight past the mountain gate and stopped at the main entrance.

The young novices at the temple had already opened the side door. The abbot of Ganquan Temple, Master Shihui, along with several eminent monks from the guest reception hall, waited at the entrance to receive them. After they went to the main hall to offer incense and had tea in a side hall, Master Shijue from the guest reception hall personally accompanied them to the great hall where Master Shihui gave his dharma lectures.

In the great hall, female family members were already waiting. Whether old or young, they all wore splendid clothing and carried an air of well-fed ease and leisure.

Seeing the Cheng family women enter, several matrons looked at them while whispering to each other, but most of the women rose to greet the Cheng family women. Among them was an old woman dressed in the attire of an external first-rank noblewoman.

Zhou Shaojin guessed that this old madam was from Duke Liangguo’s household.

Seeing how the old woman chatted and laughed with Old Madam Guo, Yuan Shi, and Old Madam Tang, they should be quite familiar with each other.

No wonder in her previous life Duke Liangguo had sent a warning to the Cheng family!

Zhou Shaojin also saw several familiar faces, though she didn’t know whether she had seen them in her previous life or before her rebirth.

She quietly followed behind her sister when a gaze swept over her like a knife’s edge.

Zhou Shaojin turned her head and saw Cheng Jia’s face, livid with anger.

She really didn’t know where she had offended her.

Zhou Shaojin pretended not to see.

The cloud board sounded.

Everyone quieted down and returned to their seats.

Zhou Shaojin sat shoulder to shoulder with her sister behind Old Madam Guan and First Madam Mian.

In her previous life she had often gone to Dazhao Temple to hear sutras. Though Dazhao Temple was not an imperial Chan temple, it was not lacking in high officials and nobles from prominent families. In her view, Master Shihui’s lectures were better than those of Dazhao Temple’s abbot, Master Jingkong—Master Jingkong’s lectures were relatively simple and easy to understand, while Master Shihui’s lectures were more profound yet very witty and engaging, which was quite remarkable.

She looked around. Everyone was listening very attentively.

This perhaps had to do with the fact that women in the north had less education while the south had more renowned literary families with generations of scholarly tradition.

Zhou Shaojin’s thoughts wandered, but she soon became immersed in Master Shihui’s Buddhist teachings.

Someone tugged at her sleeve.

She turned her head.

Cheng Jia had somehow come to sit beside her.

“What’s wrong with you?” she said in a low voice, her tone unable to hide her indignation. “When I look for you, you always make excuses and won’t come out. When you do come out, you don’t talk to me. Is it because you’re going to copy sutras for Old Madam Guo? If you keep acting like this, we’ll see if I still play with you in the future!”

Threatening words, yet full of childishness.

This kind of Cheng Jia made it impossible for Zhou Shaojin to hate her. But she didn’t want to say much to Cheng Jia either, so she said in a low voice, “Don’t talk, listen to the master’s lecture!”

Cheng Jia snorted and didn’t take Zhou Shaojin’s words to heart, but when she looked up she saw the Second Branch’s Old Madam Tang shooting her a severe glance.

She had no choice but to swallow the words she wanted to say.

After the lecture ended, the Zhou sisters and Cheng Jia were called over by Old Madam Yuan to be introduced to the old woman.

Zhou Shaojin hadn’t guessed wrong. The old woman was Duke Liangguo’s birth mother—Grand Madam Qu.

Being their first meeting, the Grand Madam of Duke Liangguo’s household gave each of them a jewel-inlaid ring, then rose to take her leave.

Master Shihui and Old Madam Yuan and others personally escorted Old Madam Qu to the temple gate and watched the Duke Liangguo household’s carriages and retinue depart before going to Ganquan Temple’s dining hall.

Because the temple would have opera performances and a temple fair in the afternoon, most of the women, like the Cheng family, stayed at the temple for the vegetarian meal.

The temple had arranged a small courtyard with a garden for the Cheng family. Besides a place to eat, there were also several side rooms where they could rest.

The Cheng family’s stewards and servants had already cleaned it. During the lecture, the managing matrons from each branch had also arranged the old madams’ customary utensils. After the vegetarian meal, everyone rested for about half an hour before visitors came calling.

These people were all influential matriarchs from prominent families in Jinling City. Some were meeting for the first time, some had been seen during New Year. Some Zhou Shaojin remembered, some she had no impression of at all. Regardless, Zhou Shaojin and the others received quite a few meeting gifts—gold rings, gold hairpins, and silver bracelets—amounting to a small windfall.

Before long, the sound of clanging gongs came from outside.

The opera was about to begin.

Not to mention Cheng Jia, even First Madam Wen couldn’t help but perk up her ears to listen. Only the several old madams still sat steadily as mountains. But Old Madam Li still instructed her personal matron, “You accompany young Jia out for a look, and absolutely don’t lose track of her.”

The matron quickly smiled and respectfully responded “Yes.”

Cheng Jia then invited Zhou Shaojin, “Let’s go together!”

Zhou Shaojin shook her head and said, “I’ll stay here to keep Grandmother company.”

Old Madam Guan smiled. “We old women are talking here. What do we need you to accompany us for? You just go and have fun.” She also instructed Zhou Chujin, “Keep a good eye on your younger sister. You two sisters absolutely must not separate, or you’ll be careful of being tricked away by child traffickers.”

Zhou Chujin smiled and agreed, showing some yearning in her expression.

So this was what her sister was like at eighteen.

Zhou Shaojin smiled slightly. She had no intention of going to see the excitement.

Where there were many people, there was much trouble.

In her previous life when she went to Dazhao Temple, she had even attracted the attention of lechers. In this life she wanted to live quietly and unobtrusively, and really didn’t want to stir up any complications.

“I don’t want to go.” She borrowed First Madam Wen’s excuse, “It’s so noisy outside. Just hearing it gives me a headache, let alone being there in person. You all should go!”

Hearing this, Zhou Chujin naturally wanted to stay and accompany Zhou Shaojin.

Zhou Shaojin persuaded her, “If Elder Sister stays because of this, I’ll have to go too. Does Elder Sister have the heart to see me uncomfortable?”

Zhou Chujin couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re getting better and better at talking now. You even know how to use words to block me.”

Zhou Shaojin deliberately made a fuss, smiling as she pushed Zhou Chujin outward, saying to First Madam Mian, “First Aunt must keep a good eye on my sister. You two absolutely must not separate, or you’ll be careful of being tricked away by child traffickers.”

She was good-looking and had an air of innocent playfulness about her, which made the several old madams laugh heartily. The slight awkwardness caused by Zhou Shaojin’s refusal immediately dissipated like smoke.

Old Madam Guo nodded secretly, and Yuan Shi also looked at her a few more times.

Zhou Shaojin, who was seeing her sister off, didn’t notice.