Cheng Jia had been talking for quite some time, yet Zhou Shaojin showed no response.

She couldn’t help but lift her head.

Only to see Zhou Shaojin sitting there with a distracted expression, lost in thought.

Cheng Jia was greatly dissatisfied. She forcefully patted Zhou Shaojin’s shoulder and pouted, saying, “Hey! What’s the matter with you? I’ve been treating you as my closest and most trusted person, telling you things I haven’t even told my mother, and you’re listening absentmindedly. You’re really not being considerate!”

Only then did Zhou Shaojin snap back to attention. She hurriedly apologized, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! It’s my fault. When I heard you talking about how good Li Jing is to you, I felt envious, so my mind wandered.”

Upon hearing this, Cheng Jia smiled with pursed lips.

She decided to forgive Zhou Shaojin.

A hint of bashfulness flashed in her eyes as she whispered, “Shaojin, you’re my best sister. Let me ask you, do you think Cousin Jing is reliable?”

Zhou Shaojin asked curiously, “Don’t you trust him? If you don’t trust him, why would you test him?”

Cheng Jia responded coquettishly, “It’s precisely because I don’t know whether his feelings are genuine or false that I need to test him!”

Zhou Shaojin didn’t understand.

Apart from her father and elder sister, she only trusted Uncle Chi.

Cheng Jia didn’t expect her to understand either. She said anxiously, “What if he’s just deceiving me into speaking to Grandmother? I’ve already become the laughingstock of Jinling City anyway, so one more incident doesn’t matter. But whenever I think about being fooled, my heart feels piercing pain… and I feel somewhat hesitant… Should I speak to Grandmother or not? If I do speak to Grandmother, how should I say it? I can’t just pour everything out like beans from a bamboo tube as I did with you, can I?”

She let out a long sigh and stood up, pacing back and forth in the room.

Zhou Shaojin watched helplessly. Suddenly, she remembered her previous life.

When Cheng Lu said he liked her, she too had been this anxious and unsettled.

Clearly, she hadn’t truly believed what Cheng Lu said back then, but had been confused by the illusions she herself had imagined.

That kind of agonizing pain of tossing and turning, needing to make a decision within just a few days—even now, thinking about it still filled her with lingering fear.

However, these painful experiences from her previous life should still be fresh in her memory. How was it that after being reborn for just a year or two, she actually needed to make an effort to remember them…

Had she been living too comfortably these days, unconsciously trying to forget all these things?

Zhou Shaojin frowned.

Which Cheng Jia happened to see as she turned around.

Cheng Jia said discontentedly, “Shaojin, what are you thinking about again? I tell you everything, yet you’re like a sealed gourd, keeping everything bottled up inside. If you continue treating me this way, I won’t pay attention to you anymore! I won’t share any intimate words with you either.”

Zhou Shaojin quickly gathered herself and said, “Didn’t you ask me what to do? I was just thinking of a solution for you!”

Upon hearing this, Cheng Jia was both delighted and surprised. She quickly sat down beside her, grasping her hand and saying, “Good sister, please tell me quickly—should I trust Cousin Jing or not?”

Based on events from her previous life, Li Jing was actually quite reliable.

But so much had changed in this life that Zhou Shaojin didn’t dare to pat her chest and say he was definitely a good match for Cheng Jia.

Thinking quickly, Zhou Shaojin said, “Why don’t you test him again? Otherwise, how will you know if his feelings are genuine?”

Who knew Cheng Jia would respond coyly, “What if he gets angry?”

“Ah!” Zhou Shaojin’s eyes widened.

Cheng Jia’s face immediately turned crimson as she said, “You, you just said that if I trust him, why would I test him? If I continue testing him, wouldn’t I be telling him I don’t trust him…”

Zhou Shaojin covered her forehead and said, “You can do it without him noticing!”

Cheng Jia pressed on, “Then how can I keep him from noticing?”

Zhou Shaojin thought and thought, then said, “Why don’t you take it back, say last time doesn’t count, and make him start over again?”

Cheng Jia suddenly pushed her, saying angrily, “What kind of suggestion is that? How can I take it back!”

Zhou Shaojin smiled awkwardly. But in her heart, she was thinking about Cheng Chi.

She spoke very freely in front of Uncle Chi, and didn’t know if she had ever done this kind of thing, going back on her word at the last moment. But Uncle Chi seemed to have never truly been angry with her… Like that time when she set fire in the Fifth Household, Uncle Chi had protected her.

At that time, Uncle Chi had only met her twice…

Zhou Shaojin’s heart began pounding like a drum.

Since childhood, everyone had praised her as a gentle and beautiful good child. Later, as she grew up and her thoughts became more complex, although people’s gazes when looking at her were still amazed, they rarely praised her anymore.

Back then, having just been reborn, she hadn’t yet become as solitary as in her previous life. Uncle Chi—might he also think she was… very good?

At this thought, her heart felt as if wrapped in honey… She couldn’t help but smile.

Cheng Jia asked curiously, “What are you smiling about?”

“Nothing, nothing!” Zhou Shaojin waved her hands repeatedly, somewhat regretting that she hadn’t been able to control her emotions.

Cheng Jia muttered softly. Zhou Shaojin neither heard clearly what Cheng Jia was muttering about, nor did she have the mood to ask.

Even if Uncle Chi liked her, it was only because she was a junior who pleased him. He would eventually marry and have children.

Because of this, Old Madam Guo had been extremely happy these days. She had even rewarded everyone serving beside her with two taels of silver to buy treats, and even she herself had received two gold ingots.

When a new aunt came through the door, Uncle Chi wouldn’t treat her as well as he did now.

As this thought flashed through her mind, it felt as if a piece of her heart had been gouged out, the pain piercing to her core.

It hurt even more than when she had seen Cheng Lu’s shoes hidden under the flowering trees in the garden.

Zhou Shaojin couldn’t help but clutch her chest.

Why was she like this?

Uncle Chi getting married and being good to his wife and children—wasn’t that as it should be?

There were distinctions between close and distant relations. She was merely a relative by marriage living temporarily in a neighboring branch of the family.

Once Uncle Chi married and had someone he held in his heart, naturally he would grow distant from her.

Just like in her previous life, no matter how well Cousin Gao treated her, once he had his own wife and children, he naturally put them first.

This was common sense.

But why did she feel as if she would die from heartache just thinking about Uncle Chi taking back all the kindness he showed her and giving it to someone else?

Was it because during this period Uncle Chi and Old Madam Guo had treated her like family, and she had begun to take advantage, demanding more and more, becoming increasingly unsatisfied?

When had she become the kind of person who didn’t know gratitude?

Zhou Shaojin’s vision began to blur, and her face became wet.

Cheng Jia suddenly jumped up, exclaiming in astonishment, “Shaojin, what’s wrong with you? I didn’t really blame you, so why are you crying?”

Was she crying?

Zhou Shaojin wiped her eyes. Her hand was covered with moisture, and her eyes stung as if pricked, tears falling unstoppably.

“I, I’m not crying!” she murmured.

“Go fool a ghost!” Cheng Jia said as she took a handkerchief and stuffed it into her hand, pretending to be disgusted to cover her concern. She said fiercely, “Quickly wipe your tears. You’re even using the back of your hand to wipe your tears? Where did all the proper etiquette the nannies taught you go? I’m not even crying, so why are you crying?”

Zhou Shaojin hurriedly wiped away her tears.

Cheng Jia then called her maid Chun Wan in to help her wash her face.

She allowed Chun Wan to attend to her mechanically, her heart feeling ice-cold. Suddenly she couldn’t muster any energy to do anything.

Afterward, whatever Cheng Jia said, she remembered only vaguely. She only knew that Cheng Jia kept her for dinner, but she had no appetite at all and firmly declined. She staggered back to Floating Jade Pavilion, and when entering the door somehow bumped into the doorframe, leaving a large red mark on her forehead.

She completely broke down.

Things were already like this. No matter what she did, Uncle Chi would eventually marry and have children, Old Madam Guo would eventually dote on her grandchildren, and they would all forget about her… Why should she try to please them!

Zhou Shaojin lay down on the bed somewhat self-destructively. She listlessly instructed Chun Wan, “Go tell Old Madam that I’m somewhat tired and won’t be paying respects to her tonight. I’ll accompany her in chanting sutras tomorrow morning instead.”

Chun Wan asked worriedly, “Should I call a physician to check your pulse?”

“I’m not so sick I can’t get out of bed, what pulse is there to check?” Zhou Shaojin said weakly. “Don’t forget, there’s an elderly person in the household, and the elderly are most averse to such things. Don’t mention such things again in the future. Understand?”

Chun Wan responded, “Yes.” She became even more worried.

The Second Young Miss had a gentle and compliant disposition, and everyone liked her very much.

She smiled gently at everyone. She had never been this dejected before.

She wondered what Miss Jia had said to the Second Young Miss.

Chun Wan pondered this as she went to the main quarters to report to Old Madam Guo.

Old Madam Guo was just about to have dinner with Cheng Chi. Hearing that Zhou Shaojin had returned, she pushed dinner back, planning to ask Zhou Shaojin when she came to pay respects whether she had eaten and if she wanted to eat together. Unexpectedly, Chun Wan came to say Zhou Shaojin was somewhat tired and had already retired to rest.

Before Old Madam Guo could inquire further, Cheng Chi already said, “Did Miss Jia say something to your family’s Second Young Miss?”

Before Chun Wan could answer, Old Madam Guo asked curiously, “Didn’t Shaojin go to Jia Tree Hall? How did she end up getting involved with that girl Jia?”

Cheng Chi said, “It seems Miss Jia and Sister-in-law Lu quarreled about something again, and Sister-in-law Lu asked Shaojin to come mediate.”

But that shouldn’t have resulted in Zhou Shaojin being dragged from Jia Tree Hall all the way to Ruyi Pavilion, should it?

Old Madam Guo still had some doubts in her heart, but Chun Wan already said, “I don’t know either. As soon as the Second Young Miss entered Ruyi Pavilion, Miss Jia dismissed all of us and kept only the Second Young Miss to talk. When the Second Young Miss came out, her eyes were red, as if she had been crying. We servants didn’t feel it appropriate to say anything…”

“How could this happen?” Old Madam Guo had no time for further contemplation. The little doubt in her heart completely dissipated. She stood up and said to Cheng Chi, “Come, let’s go see Shaojin! I was worried earlier that your Aunt Guan might say something to upset that child. I never expected your Aunt Guan to say nothing, but that girl Jia… Ai…”

However, Cheng Chi smiled and said, “Mother, with young ladies, don’t you often say they’re like one moment wind, one moment rain? Since she feels uncomfortable, just let her be alone and quiet for a while. If you go, not only will she have to dress up again to receive you, she’ll also have to muster her spirits to talk with you.”

“That’s true!” Old Madam Guo smiled and sat back down. She said to Chun Wan, “Go back and tell your young miss to rest well. If she’s still very tired tomorrow, she needn’t accompany me in chanting sutras. Tomorrow I’m going to the Gu family as a guest and won’t take her along.”

Old Madam Guo is so kind!

Chun Wan gratefully withdrew.