Zhou Shaojin asked Cheng Yi, “Do you know what other people are around Uncle Chi?”
“How would I know!” Cheng Yi continued tugging at Zhou Shaojin’s wolf-hair brush dismissively. “Uncle Chi is an elder—where would we juniors have any place to comment!”
That was true!
Zhou Shaojin’s plan had fallen through.
She could only ponder it secretly in her heart.
Cheng Wen’s brain hadn’t completely rotted away after all.
After making a fuss for over half a month, he ran to Hanbi Mountain House and knelt before Old Madam Guo, weeping and sniveling: “…In this Nine-As-One Lane, you’re the only sensible person. This nephew has a bad fate and terrible luck, marrying such a shrewish wife. But it was the command of my parents and the words of the matchmaker—I can’t let the two elders lose face! I beg eldest aunt, for the sake of being from the same branch, to help me reorganize the inner courtyard.”
Everyone was greatly shocked.
Even Old Madam Guo herself hadn’t expected this.
She tactfully declined: “I’m advanced in years and have long since stopped managing worldly affairs. As for reorganizing the inner courtyard, I think you should entrust it to someone else!”
Cheng Wen remained kneeling without rising.
Old Madam Guo had someone summon Cheng Chi: “Go tell Old Ancestor about this and see what he thinks.”
Cheng Chi went to Zelan Court where Cheng Xu resided and soon returned, saying, “Old Ancestor says this matter is entirely up to Mother’s discretion!”
Old Madam Guo thought it over and had Biyu summon Yuan Shi to speak with her.
“This matter has been handled too outrageously. Since Old Ancestor has also agreed, you’ll make a trip to the Fifth Branch on my behalf!” Old Madam Guo solemnly instructed Yuan Shi. “Temporarily put away those petty thoughts of yours. Don’t think this doesn’t concern you. The Fifth Branch adjoins the West Servants’ Quarters and faces the Fourth Branch across the water. From Jing’an Studio to my place is barely half an hour, and to your Yunzhen Hall is only an hour. These are all the heart of the inner courtyard—if someone really snuck in, we’re all weak women and children without the strength to truss a chicken. If something were to happen, the Cheng family’s reputation of several hundred years would be completely ruined. Even if Cheng Wen hadn’t come begging to me today, in a few days I would have taken this matter on myself.”
Yuan Shi wasn’t someone without sense. Upon hearing this, she immediately assured Old Madam Guo: “Rest assured, I know the gravity of the situation. A thousand-mile dike can collapse from an ant hole. The Fifth Branch is now like that ant hole—if we don’t repair it now, later we’ll all suffer the consequences. Since you’ve decided to send me, I won’t be soft-handed. I’ll first get the household tokens from Fifth Uncle Wen and establish clear rules with him. Those who should be driven out will be driven out, those who should be sold will be sold. One way or another, I’ll clean up the Fifth Branch and create a new situation.”
Old Madam Guo nodded with satisfaction and had Nanny Shi see Yuan Shi out.
When Zhou Shaojin heard about this matter, she hurried over anxiously to see.
Cheng Chi had already left. Yuan Shi was being escorted away from Hanbi Mountain House by seven or eight maids.
Her shoulders immediately drooped a bit.
Biyu smiled and said, “What’s wrong with Second Young Miss?”
Zhou Shaojin smiled sheepishly and said, “I missed the excitement!”
Biyu couldn’t help laughing. “Our Hanbi Mountain House is the quietest place. If Second Young Miss wants to see excitement, the Third and Fifth Branches have plenty of it.”
Zhou Shaojin naturally wouldn’t discuss these matters with her and listened with a smile, then turned and returned to the Buddhist hall.
Feicui tugged at Biyu’s sleeve and said, “Why are you saying such things to Second Young Miss? Be careful someone overhears.”
Biyu smiled. “I think Second Young Miss is quite nice. Chatting idly when there’s nothing to do—I’m sure Second Young Miss won’t take it seriously.”
She wouldn’t take it seriously.
Just didn’t know when she would take it seriously.
Feicui was somewhat wary of Zhou Shaojin from the bottom of her heart. When encountering her, she naturally wasn’t as casual and friendly as before.
But Biyu quite liked Zhou Shaojin.
When Zhou Shaojin received watermelon bestowed by Old Madam Guo and invited Biyu to the Buddhist hall to share it, Biyu told her: “…After such an incident, how could Wen First Madam have the face to show herself? She’s hiding in her room playing deaf and dumb. Everything in the Fifth Branch is left entirely to our madam. Except for the two second-rank maids serving Wen First Madam personally, eighty or ninety percent of those on duty in the Fifth Branch have been replaced. As for Wen First Madam’s wet nurse and personal senior maid—one was driven out, the other dragged out to be married off. When they left, they weren’t allowed to take anything but a few sets of clothes, it’s said…
“Now Fifth Master Wen is quite pleased. Inside and outside the house, he alone has the final say. Everyone in the Fifth Branch acts according to his mood. Others say our madam made a wedding dress for Fifth Master Wen. But our old madam also said, even if it’s a wedding dress made for Fifth Master Wen, that wedding dress isn’t so easy to wear. In the future, if anything else happens in the Fifth Branch, it will all be Fifth Master Wen’s responsibility. If Fifth Master Wen truly can’t manage even these household trifles, we might as well open the ancestral hall and let the Fifth Branch separate and establish their own household.
“After Fifth Master Wen heard this, his face turned white with fright. These past few days he hasn’t gone out drinking, gambling, or visiting flower houses. He goes home to rest every night, and sometimes even gets up in the middle of the night to patrol!
“But it’s benefited the Second and Third Branches. With the Fifth Branch replacing people, they’re desperately stuffing their people in. Now everyone in the Fifth Branch is either someone from the Second Branch or someone from the Third Branch.”
So the Fifth Branch was like a sieve?
Was the First Branch helping the Fifth Branch or harming it?
Zhou Shaojin giggled.
Biyu knew she understood and winked at her.
Zhou Shaojin’s heart stirred. She very much wanted to ask her about Cheng Chi. The words came to her lips several times, but she always felt it somewhat inappropriate, fearing it would arouse Biyu’s suspicions. In the end, she didn’t ask.
Even so, her mood was still quite cheerful as she happily copied scriptures in the Buddhist hall.
Old Madam Guo happened to pass by the Buddhist hall and saw this. She couldn’t help laughing and said to Nanny Shi, who served her closely, “This child is truly carefree and able to keep her composure.”
Nanny Shi didn’t really understand Zhou Shaojin, but she went along with Old Madam Guo’s words, smiling as she said, “That’s also because Second Young Miss is deeply blessed and kind-hearted.”
Old Madam Guo didn’t respond. She stood outside the window lattice watching Zhou Shaojin for quite a while without letting Zhou Shaojin know, then quietly left.
Zhou Shaojin happily returned to Jiashu Hall.
Who knew that Cheng Ju’s mother, Yu First Madam, was speaking with Old Madam Guan.
Zhou Shaojin withdrew to the tea room on the side, waiting until Yu First Madam left before going to pay respects to Old Madam Guan.
Old Madam Guan’s expression showed slight displeasure. Seeing Zhou Shaojin, only then did she show some smile. She asked about her scripture copying, then let her return to her room to rest.
Zhou Shaojin found this strange and quietly asked her sister.
Zhou Chujin smiled and said, “Don’t concern yourself with it!” But she still couldn’t help telling her. “The First Branch Second Old Master’s cousin-in-training didn’t he pass away? Yu First Madam, who knows who encouraged her, actually came to Grandmother wanting to send one of her clan younger sisters to serve Cousin Fen in the capital where Second Old Master is…”
Zhou Shaojin was dumbfounded.
Cheng Fen was the only son of First Branch Second Old Master Cheng Xun.
These people really dared to scheme!
She discovered that the more she understood about the Cheng family, the more complex she found it.
In her previous life, how had she muddled through living in the Cheng family for over ten years?
“What did Grandmother say?” Zhou Shaojin asked her sister.
“How could Grandmother intercede for her?” Zhou Chujin also greatly despised Cheng Ju’s mother’s actions and spoke quite bluntly. “The First Branch’s Old Madam Guo and Madam Yuan haven’t said anything—where would it be our turn to meddle!”
Zhou Shaojin deeply agreed.
She suddenly felt that if the Fifth Branch were separated out, it might actually be quite a good thing!
Time flew by and it was already June. Zhou Zhen’s birthday was approaching.
Zhou Shaojin had Ma Fushan’s wife send to Zhou Zhen’s post in Nanchang the two garments, two pairs of socks, one fan case, one mirror case, and two pouches she had personally made for her father, as well as a skirt she had made for her stepmother Li Shi, along with other birthday gifts she and Zhou Chujin had prepared together.
Barely half a month after sending the things, Zhou Shaojin and Zhou Chujin received a reply letter from their father Zhou Zhen.
In the letter, besides instructing the sisters to be filial to their elders, careful about their safety, and not to quarrel with their cousins, Zhou Zhen also mentioned that the clothes Zhou Shaojin sent fit very well and that Li Shi was very pleased. Finally, he sent each of the sisters a two-hundred-tael bank note, saying it was pin money from Li Shi for them to buy rouge and powder.
It seemed that getting along peacefully with a stepmother wasn’t so difficult after all.
Zhou Shaojin put the bank note away in her trunk.
But Zhou Chujin felt heartache. She put her arm around Zhou Shaojin’s shoulder and said, “If you’re unwilling, you don’t have to do this at all! Our ancestral home is in Jinling—we should naturally be married from Jinling.”
If at first Zhou Shaojin had such a plan, the past few months since her rebirth had given her different feelings.
She said, “Sister, making a skirt is just a small effort for me, yet it makes Father happy. Isn’t that quite nice?”
Zhou Chujin was startled. Then her eyes became somewhat moist. She touched Zhou Shaojin’s head, pressed her lips together and smiled at her, saying, “Since it’s such a small effort, make me a skirt too. I want that begonia-auspicious-paired-butterflies-round-flower-longevity-character-brocade pattern you drew last time…”
“Oh my!” Zhou Shaojin jumped up. “That’s for embroidering sock bands—how could it be embroidered on a skirt? Wouldn’t that blind people’s eyes?”
“Didn’t you say it was very easy? What now? When I ask you to embroider, you make all sorts of excuses?”
“Then I’ll embroider a five-colored cloud-brocade round-flower pattern for you. That’s also very beautiful…”
“I don’t want anything else—I just want that begonia-auspicious whatever brocade pattern…”
“Sister, isn’t this making things difficult?”
The sisters laughingly pushed each other around in the room.
But Zhou Shaojin found it strange.
By rights, Cheng Chi wasn’t yet married, so the needlework for his room should be managed by his mother, Old Madam Guo. Why was it that his maids never came to Old Madam Guo’s side to get patterns or ask for tailoring?
Perhaps she just hadn’t paid attention normally.
Zhou Shaojin became more attentive.
She discovered that not only did Cheng Chi never have contact with Hanbi Mountain House for these daily trifles, even his regular provisions were not managed by Hanbi Mountain House either.
If she didn’t know there was such a person as Cheng Chi, she would think Old Madam Guo had only given birth to the two brothers Cheng Jing and Cheng Wei.
Zhou Shaojin recalled the scene when she last saw Cheng Chi and Old Madam Guo together.
When mothers and sons of any family met, didn’t they chat about household matters and show concern for each other? Yet they sat together playing Go…
The relationship between Old Madam Guo and Uncle Chi was so strange!