The little girl was truly perceptive!

Last time when he went to the capital to ask Yuan Bieyun about the little girl’s marriage prospects, Yuan Bieyun had laughed at him for always busying himself with such trivial, boring matters, saying “you don’t break laws, you don’t bully the weak with strength, you don’t frequent pleasure quarters—you’re not like a scholar, not like an official’s son either. What did you take the imperial examination for?”

Cheng Chi had thought he hadn’t taken it to heart, but it turned out he had remembered it all along and had just spoken it in a teasing manner!

He gently shook his head and smiled nonchalantly. “Even if someone is talking about me, they’re doing it behind my back. How would I know?”

That’s true!

Zhou Shaojin felt embarrassed. “Whatever I’ve heard about Uncle Chi has all been praise. Uncle Chi can rest assured.”

The little girl was actually comforting him now!

Cheng Chi chuckled, his voice unknowingly softening. “I’ll speak to Magistrate Wu about this matter. No matter how much he struggles, he can’t change the outcome.”

Zhou Shaojin said, “What if he goes around making a fuss…”

Cheng Chi interrupted her with a smile. “His father died early, and he grew up depending on Nine-As Lane. The Cheng clan school never charged him tuition and supported him all the way to becoming a xiucai. If he becomes desperate and makes a fuss, who would be in the right—him or our Cheng family?

“When that time comes, I only need to remain silent, and people will have all sorts of speculations. Between a xiucai who’s been stripped of his scholarly status and a double-ranked jinshi, who do you think people will believe more? This is also one of the reasons why Magistrate Wu and Instructor Lin dared to promise me.

“Since he’s received the Cheng family’s kindness, he must pay a price for it!”

It was just that Cheng Lu probably hadn’t expected he would have to pay such a heavy price!

Zhou Shaojin’s heart brightened as if dark clouds had dispersed.

She nodded with a beaming smile and couldn’t help saying, “Uncle Chi, you’re truly amazing! I was worried all along that Cheng Lu would use despicable means to scheme against you.”

Her delicate features were like spring flowers in full bloom, bright and radiant.

Watching her, Cheng Chi’s smile grew even broader.

Could it be that the little girl had held back and not come to find him all this time because of this reason?

He said gently, “In the future, don’t brood alone. If something comes up, come find Uncle Chi, understand?”

Zhou Shaojin obediently agreed and asked about Cheng Chi’s experiences on the journey.

Cheng Chi often went to Huai’an, and this trip had been rather hurried without any particularly special events, so he selected stories about Huai’an’s local customs and culture to tell Zhou Shaojin.

Zhou Shaojin listened with great interest, her pair of clear, bright eyes gazing at him without blinking, like a curious little animal.

Cheng Chi suddenly felt somewhat inadequate.

Like an elder who encounters a younger relative during New Year’s but has no gift money to give.

His gaze swept toward the treasure cabinet where he had placed gifts, then passed over the abacus he had just used for calculations.

Cheng Chi’s spirits lifted.

How could he have forgotten about this?

While talking with Zhou Shaojin, he retrieved a small golden abacus from a drawer and handed it to her with a smile. “I left in a hurry on my return and didn’t have time to buy you anything. This golden abacus was originally something I planned to give someone, but later I found something better. I just casually left it in my desk drawer. You can take it to play with!”

The golden abacus was about palm-sized, made with exquisite craftsmanship. Each bead could be moved, and they were solid, no different from a real abacus. A corner even had a bright red tassel about an inch long attached—very beautiful.

Zhou Shaojin loved it at first sight.

Seeing that Cheng Chi had casually taken it from a drawer, she knew it wasn’t a particularly precious gift to him. She smiled and said, “So Uncle Chi’s room has been hiding such a fine thing all along without taking it out earlier. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have needed to commission a set of head ornaments to add to Cousin Jia’s trousseau—I could have given her this instead.”

Seeing her accept it generously, Cheng Chi was in quite a good mood and smiled. “Did you spend a lot of silver?”

Zhou Shaojin tried to amuse him, pouting. “A total of fifty taels of silver.”

Cheng Chi laughed derisively. “Short on money?”

“Who isn’t short on money!” Zhou Shaojin complained to Cheng Chi, half-seriously. “When you have silver head ornaments, you want gold ones. When you have gold ones, you want jewel-encrusted ones… The old woman who sweeps the courtyard is short on money, and so am I!”

Cheng Chi laughed heartily.

Zhou Shaojin wrinkled her nose.

Ever since rewarding Fan Qi, she felt she had never caught her breath—she really was short on money.

But there was no need to tell Uncle Chi all this, lest he misunderstand that she was crying poverty to him.

Neither Zhou Zhen nor Zhou Shaojin’s stepmother Li Shi would ever shortchange Zhou Shaojin.

However, given Zhou Zhen’s wealth, it would be impossible for Zhou Shaojin to spend freely.

In Cheng Chi’s eyes, anything involving money wasn’t really a problem.

He thought for a moment, then turned to take from the treasure cabinet compartment a tightly tied, palm-sized indigo pouch and handed it to Zhou Shaojin with a smile. “Hold it carefully—don’t drop it.”

“What is this?” Zhou Shaojin reached out to take it.

Cheng Chi raised an eyebrow.

Zhou Shaojin held out both hands, and only then did Cheng Chi place the pouch in her hands.

It was heavy. Despite being mentally prepared, Zhou Shaojin still stumbled and nearly dropped the pouch on the floor.

“What’s all this?” Zhou Shaojin placed the small pouch on the tea table. When she opened it and looked, it was full of golden beans.

No, calling them golden beans wasn’t quite right.

They should be called golden kidney beans.

They were the same size and shape as real kidney beans. Held in hand, they were heavy—all solid gold.

Zhou Shaojin looked at Cheng Chi in bewilderment.

Cheng Chi smiled. “These were for rewarding people during New Year’s. I didn’t use them all—they’re yours now.”

Zhou Shaojin was startled.

A full pouch of golden kidney beans must be worth at least several thousand taels of silver.

She didn’t want to take them, yet didn’t want to appear petty. “Just give me two—that’s enough. With so many, I’d have to guard against thieves in my room!”

Rather than saying Cheng Chi wanted to give her golden kidney beans, it was more that he wanted to compensate for her not receiving a gift. He smiled and said, “Would keeping them at my place mean thieves won’t covet them? Since I’m giving them to you, keep them safely! When you need silver, you can have Ma Fushan’s wife exchange them for silver or copper coins. What an elder gives cannot be refused!”

Zhou Shaojin really liked this pouch of golden kidney beans.

Even the stem ends were there, very realistic.

Individually they seemed merely exquisite, but all together they were brilliant gold, dazzling to the eyes.

This was the first time she knew gold could be used this way… Thinking of the things Old Madam Guo had given her… Zhou Shaojin calmed down and smiled. “All right, I’ll accept them then.” She added, “Thank you, Uncle Chi!”

At worst, like Cheng Jia, when Uncle Chi married, she could prepare something of equal value to give back to him.

Zhou Shaojin’s mood dipped slightly, but she quickly pushed these thoughts aside.

Thinking that this was a gift from Cheng Chi and that it was small, she couldn’t let someone casually pocket it. So she asked, “How many are there?”

“I don’t know!” Cheng Chi smiled. “I just grabbed a handful at the time. Why don’t you count them?”

Since there was nothing else to do anyway.

More importantly, she could continue staying here.

Zhou Shaojin happily agreed. She ran to the nearby arhat couch, poured all the golden kidney beans from the pouch, and arranged them one by one on the tea table.

Cheng Chi watched her play as happily as if with toys, his mood greatly improved.

He remembered the two shops he had acquired on his last trip to the capital.

They were over twenty-year-old establishments specializing in rouge and powder, backed by the former Minister of Personnel and Grand Secretary of the Wenyan Pavilion, Shen Minzhi. The business had been very prosperous. After Shen Minzhi retired from office, expenses had increased over the past two years, so the owner decided to quit while ahead and had a broker transfer the shops.

Yuan Bieyun kept an actor as his mistress outside and borrowed money from him wanting to quietly take over the two shops to cover that mistress’s expenses. Who knew that after acquiring the shops, the mistress learned that Yuan Bieyun’s wife was still alive and well. They had a complete falling out, and she returned to her Shandong hometown to resume her former profession. Yuan Bieyun was so furious he nearly burst with rage. He ran off to Shandong to find her and didn’t want the shops anymore.

Cheng Chi had always felt that collecting rent from shops was too slow and didn’t like keeping many storefronts in hand. Combined with his lack of expertise in things like rouge and powder, he had planned to transfer them or give them to someone… Why not give them to the little girl?

The shops already had managers and clerks in place. Finding her a source of income would also give her something to occupy her time.

Having made up his mind, Cheng Chi thought about the shops’ size, customer base, and merchandise.

He pulled out a sheet of paper and listed out all the issues he could think of, pondering how to make improvements.

Zhou Shaojin, meanwhile, arranged the golden kidney beans one by one on the tea table. Seeing that Cheng Chi was busy, she put the golden kidney beans back into the pouch one by one, occasionally stealing glances at Cheng Chi from the corner of her eye.

Cheng Chi was completely focused and didn’t notice Zhou Shaojin’s behavior at all.

Zhou Shaojin quietly smiled to herself.

She thought Cheng Chi looked really good when he was concentrating.

His eyebrows were dark as ink, elegant and refined. His gaze was clear as water, gentle and calm…

She took the golden kidney beans out of the pouch again one by one and arranged them on the tea table.

When Nanny Shang came in to serve tea and snacks, she saw Zhou Shaojin sitting on the arhat couch playing with golden beans while Cheng Chi sat behind the large desk writing rapidly. One appeared gentle yet lively, the other steady and reserved, yet the atmosphere was surprisingly harmonious and warm.

She considered for a moment, then quietly withdrew again.

When it was time to sleep that night, Zhou Shaojin poured out the golden kidney beans to play with them for a while before putting them back in the pouch and placing it under her pillow.

Chun Wan couldn’t stop laughing. “Second Young Miss, it’s a whole pouch of golden beans after all. You should really store it in a trunk! Each one is worth more than ten taels of silver. You never lock your cabinets or anything, and with people constantly coming and going here, what if one goes missing?”

Zhou Shaojin just wanted to keep them at hand to play with for a few days. “Once the novelty wears off in a few days, I’ll let you put them away.”

Chun Wan was beside herself with worry.

Fan Liushi and the other maids all knew about the pouch of golden beans by Zhou Shaojin’s pillow. They actually didn’t dare enter her room casually anymore. Even if they needed to go in for something, they went in pairs, all hoping she would quickly put these golden beans in a trunk.

From the Third Branch, Old Madam Li personally came to deliver a message to Old Madam Guo, saying that Li Jing was getting on in years. Because Li Jing hadn’t married yet, the Luoyang Li residence had been managed chaotically these past years by Li Jing’s second aunt with no proper order. They were hoping that once Cheng Jia came, she could take over management of the inner courtyard. Therefore, they had set Cheng Jia’s wedding date for the sixth day of the tenth month.

This made things very rushed.

Fortunately, the Third Branch had money and spared no expense in preparing the trousseau. Old Madam Li also privately supplemented it considerably. Though it wasn’t as spectacular as when the eldest Miss Liu married into Duke Liangguo’s residence, it was still a ten-mile bridal procession in red, illustrious for a time.