Cheng Chi entered the house with an ashen face, immediately encountering Zhenzhu, whose face was full of joy.

Seeing Cheng Chi’s expression, Zhenzhu was so frightened that she quickly restrained her facial expression and stepped forward respectfully to address him as “Fourth Master.”

Cheng Chi couldn’t help but glance at her.

She trembled in fear and hurriedly explained: “Fourth Master, the Old Madam said that in a few days she would accompany the Fourth Household’s Old Madam to add to Miss Zhou’s dowry trousseau, and selected some old items for us to help appraise…”

Zhenzhu instinctively felt that bringing up this matter would improve Cheng Chi’s mood somewhat.

Cheng Chi glanced at her coldly.

Was this even something worth mentioning?

He went straight back to Tingli Hall.

Ji Ying was talking with Nan Ping: “That day you cover my shift for me, we’ll go to Pingqiao Street to attend the wedding feast.”

Qingfeng beside them chattered nosily: “Is it Second Cousin Miss’s older sister getting married?” He said covetously, “I’m not on duty that day, can I go with you?”

Listening to this made Cheng Chi feel restless and irritable, but he had always been composed and said mildly to Qingfeng: “Take out the white tea that Sixth Master Gu sent a few days ago and brew it!”

Qingfeng cheerfully responded “Yes” and ran off in a flash.

Since returning to Cheng Chi’s side, Ji Ying had become more cautious around him. Being clever and perceptive, she was better than Qingfeng and Langyue at observing Cheng Chi’s moods.

She respectfully saluted Cheng Chi and withdrew to the side with lowered eyes.

Cheng Chi entered his study.

Ji Ying breathed a sigh of relief and asked Huai Shan in a low voice: “Who upset him? Why does he look like he can barely control his temper and is about to lose his composure?”

Huai Shan gave her a warning glance and followed into the study.

The study in Tingli Hall had been temporarily converted after Cheng Chi moved in. Two spacious side rooms were opened up and separated by floor-to-ceiling screens, hung with parrot-green Hangzhou silk curtains. The inner room’s ice-crack patterned window frames were fitted with transparent glass. Opening the window revealed lush green bamboo groves.

Several sparrows were hopping and chirping on the ground.

Cheng Chi shut the window frame with a “bang,” startling Huai Shan who had followed him in.

“Has the silver from the Thirteen Hongs been delivered?” Cheng Chi asked.

Huai Shan lowered his head and said: “There are still three days until the agreed date.”

“Go urge them,” Cheng Chi said. “Must they wait until the exact date to deliver the silver?”

Huai Shan responded “Yes” and left the study for the tea room.

Nanny Shang was brewing tea in the tea room.

Being from the mountains of western Guizhou, she still maintained the habit of boiling tea to drink.

Seeing Huai Shan enter, she smiled: “How do you have time to sit in the tea room?”

Huai Shan didn’t answer. He only said to Nanny Shang: “Give me a cup. Add a few olives to it.”

Nanny Shang went to the concealed cupboard to look for olives.

Huai Shan sat down on the stool by the window.

If he really followed Fourth Master’s instruction to urge the Thirteen Hongs for the silver, wouldn’t the people there laugh themselves to death?

They might even think Fourth Master’s side had some problem and was desperate for the money!

He decided that if Cheng Chi asked again later, it wouldn’t be too late to make a trip to the Thirteen Hongs then.

Meanwhile, Cheng Chi regretted his words as soon as he spoke them.

When had he become so impatient?

As if everything looked wrong to him.

He sat down and drank a cup of tea, his emotions gradually calming.

Zhou Shaojin’s appearance clearly showed she had difficulties she couldn’t express.

If she had intended to deceive him, she could have continued staring with wide eyes pretending innocence, or she could have feigned complete ignorance until he exposed her… but she chose silence instead.

Sometimes, silence was also an answer.

Moreover, they had been on Pingqiao Street at the time. Her stepmother Li Shi and aunt, the Grand Lady of Mian, were both there, including that steward called Ma Fushan. If anyone had intended to observe, their every move couldn’t have escaped notice.

He thought again of Zhou Shaojin’s hesitant manner when mentioning the competition between Cheng Jing and Huang Li for Minister of Rites… Perhaps she wasn’t hesitant at all, but wanted to tell him yet feared the consequences of telling him. So when he said he wanted to thank her, a trace of unease flashed in her eyes…

Cheng Chi suddenly stood up.

How could he be so stupid!

That little girl had always been timid as a mouse. Though she trusted him, she also feared him—and this fear surely included fear that he wouldn’t believe her. Yet he had glared at her angrily. What else could she do but be frightened out of her wits!

“Huai Shan! Huai Shan!” He strode to the door, calling loudly.

Huai Shan had just picked up his cup when he heard the call. Without even time to take a sip, he set down the teacup and hurried out of the tea room.

But when Cheng Chi saw Huai Shan’s cold face, he realized it wasn’t appropriate.

Zhou Shaojin was a proper young lady raised in the inner quarters. Whether conveying messages or doing anything else, Huai Shan wasn’t quite suitable.

Ji Ying was even less suitable—if she knew, it would be the same as the entire Tingli Hall knowing.

If Zhou Shaojin was being manipulated by someone, there would be no hiding it from whoever was behind her.

The thought flashed through his mind and Cheng Chi changed his plan, saying mildly: “Have Nanny Shang come here.”

So it was for Nanny Shang!

Nanny Shang was right there in the tea room—why call me then?

Huai Shan grumbled inwardly but went to the tea room with an unchanged expression.

Nanny Shang was drinking the tea she had just brewed for Huai Shan, muttering as she drank: “This tea is quite good! I even added two extra olives… Could it not suit Huai Shan’s taste?”

Huai Shan was quite annoyed.

In just the time it took to turn around, his tea was gone!

He said sullenly: “Nanny Shang, Fourth Master is calling you!”

“Oh!” Nanny Shang quickly set down the teacup and hurried out, still saying, “If you don’t like that tea, leave it for me. I like it. Those olives were sent to Fourth Master by Jiang Qin—authentic Chaozhou olives. If you don’t like them, I do.”

Huai Shan kept watching until Nanny Shang entered Cheng Chi’s study before giving a cold “hmph.”

Cheng Chi instructed Nanny Shang: “Isn’t Second Cousin Miss’s older sister, Miss Zhou, about to be married? When I came in, I heard that in a few days the Old Madam will accompany the Fourth Household’s Old Madam Guan to add to Miss Zhou’s dowry trousseau. I was thinking my side should also send a gift. Go tell Feicui and have her accompany you to Pingqiao Street to invite Second Cousin Miss over. The gift from my side can be privately delivered through her, separate from the official household gift. Consider it my thank-you gift for her service to the Old Madam!”

Nanny Shang’s mind hadn’t caught up yet. Thinking Cheng Chi wasn’t yet married and didn’t understand these protocols, she smiled: “If you want to send a private gift, you don’t necessarily need to invite Second Cousin Miss over. We could find an excuse to visit Second Cousin Miss, then give her the gift and explain everything clearly…”

Cheng Chi stared at her.

Nanny Shang shivered and understood.

What did Cheng Chi do?

He managed the household affairs of Jiuru Lane!

With his personality, even if he didn’t understand something, if he wanted to handle this matter, he would inquire about it first. How could he appear ignorant in front of others?

She hastily added: “However, if Fourth Master’s gift includes some valuable jewelry and such, it would be better for you to personally hand it to Second Cousin Miss. I’ll go tell Feicui right away and have her accompany me. After all, Second Cousin Miss copied scriptures at Hanbi Mountain Lodge for over a year and got along quite well with the young ladies serving the Old Madam. Your gift to Miss Zhou is also credit to the Old Madam.”

At least this Nanny Shang’s brain wasn’t completely waterlogged!

She understood that by having her bring Feicui along, he wanted the people at Pingqiao Street to mistakenly think his mother was inviting Zhou Shaojin over to discuss matters regarding Zhou Chujin’s dowry trousseau.

Cheng Chi’s expression softened slightly.

Nanny Shang barely restrained herself from wiping the sweat on her forehead and quickly left the study.

What had happened?

Could Miss Zhou the Second have done something to anger Fourth Master?

But Fourth Master wasn’t such a petty person—just look at Ji Ying. How could he go looking for trouble with Miss Zhou the Second?

She was overthinking it!

Nanny Shang suddenly remembered hearing yesterday that Qin Zi’an had sent someone to invite Dongting over.

Perhaps there was some serious business involved.

Fourth Master always worked in mysterious ways.

Nanny Shang stopped speculating and went smiling to Hanbi Mountain Lodge.

Hearing that Cheng Chi had specifically requested her to invite Zhou Shaojin over, Feicui felt very uneasy.

Last time, Madam Yuan had assigned her to accompany Zhou Shaojin to meet Cheng Xu, which had caused such a major incident. It had created distance between her and Zhou Shaojin, and now Fourth Master was specifically asking her to invite Zhou Shaojin over… She kept feeling something would be discovered, making her nervous. But looking at Nanny Shang’s ambiguous smile, how dare she say another word? She told Biyu and followed Nanny Shang to Pingqiao Street.

When Qingfeng came to report, Cheng Chi merely nodded lightly.

On the boat, he had noticed that Zhou Shaojin’s relationship was best with Biyu, followed by Zhenzhu, then Manao, while she was most distant from the eloquent and clever Feicui. Having Feicui accompany Nanny Shang, she would definitely not tip anyone off.

At Pingqiao Street, Zhou Shaojin had Chun Wan boil eggs to quietly apply to her eyes and instructed Chun Wan: “You mustn’t tell anyone!”

Chun Wan said urgently: “I can keep quiet, but you have to tell me what happened! How could Fourth Master suddenly come looking for you and make you this upset?”

Zhou Shaojin said: “I got sand in my eyes and rubbed them into this condition!”

“Go ahead and lie to me,” Chun Wan said with frustrated disappointment. “When the Eldest Miss finds out, let’s see what you’ll say?”

Zhou Shaojin said guiltily: “I really did get sand in my eyes…”

Chun Wan couldn’t even be bothered to listen anymore.

Zhou Shaojin obediently closed her eyes and let Chun Wan busy herself. But her mind couldn’t help but replay Cheng Chi’s departing figure of complete severance when he left the Zhou household. She felt her eyes beginning to moisten again.

Since frightening her older sister, she had never thought of telling anyone else about her experiences.

Those past events were too humiliating—she simply had no way to speak of them.

Even when warning Cheng Jing, she would only think of an approach like the one she used to help Lin Shisheng. But now… one thing always led to another. She had repaid Lin Shisheng’s kindness from her previous life, but it allowed Uncle Chi to discover her abnormality… It was like lying—once you told the first lie, to cover it, you had to tell a second, and to cover the second, a third or even fourth, until finally, like a snowball, it grew bigger and bigger, pressing down on you, crushing you, burying you inside the snowball.

Her rebirth was like a lie, and to conceal this lie, unknowingly, she had already told many lies… She now felt she was about to be bent, crushed, even buried inside the snowball by these lies…

Therefore, when Zhou Shaojin heard that Old Madam Guo had invited her over, she jumped up from the bed, terrified and at a loss.