Seeing Zhou Shaojin’s face completely flushed red, even her neck tinged with a faint pink, Minghe felt too embarrassed to laugh anymore. She simply started chatting with Zhou Shaojin: “Has Second Miss decided what style to make? Niangzi Wang is an expert in this field—if you ask her, you can’t go wrong.” She added, “Unfortunately, the needlework in our quarters is managed by Sister Nanping. I’m all thumbs, only good for serving tea and pouring water. I can’t be of much help to you.”

These were merely polite words exchanged between casual acquaintances.

Zhou Shaojin thanked Minghe. After Minghe had given instructions about the summer socks, she rose and took her leave.

Hongrui, who served beside Cheng Shi’s wife, watched Minghe’s departing figure with somewhat vacant eyes: “I never imagined that such an outstanding girl like Minghe would just be an errand runner in Fourth Master’s quarters.” She laughed and said, “I wonder what kind of celestial being that head manager Nanping must be?”

Niangzi Wang couldn’t help but laugh at this, saying: “Do you think Minghe looks like an errand runner? Among the three head maids in Fourth Master Chi’s quarters, she’s one of them. She’s also the wildest, daring to go here and there, which is why everyone is most familiar with her!”

Three head maids?

Shouldn’t there be four?

Zhou Shaojin was surprised.

She asked Niangzi Wang: “Besides Minghe and Nanping, what’s the name of the other head maid in Uncle Chi’s quarters?”

“Her name is Ji Ying!” Niangzi Wang said, then turned to fetch several rice-grain-sized black jade stones and handed them to Hongrui, asking: “Will these work for you?”

“Yes, yes, yes!” Hongrui thanked her repeatedly, but stood there without moving, clearly waiting to hear Niangzi Wang gossip.

Seeing this, Niangzi Wang also became interested. She said: “Don’t think that just because I help Miss Minghe with needlework, with Nanping around, there’s no work from Fourth Master’s quarters that would fall to us. It’s just that Miss Minghe is generous and forthright by nature, often coming to visit us, and occasionally asks us for small favors. We can hardly refuse, can we? So we do these convenient favors… Even so, these things mostly aren’t for Miss Minghe herself—Miss Minghe isn’t so particular. Nine times out of ten, they’re tasks assigned by Miss Ji Ying. Miss Minghe finds them troublesome, so she passes them to us…”

Small items like summer socks were typically made casually by young maids as practice pieces.

Looking at her fawning and flattering manner, who would believe this story?

Zhou Shaojin’s mind was somewhat distracted.

Ji Ying was indeed Uncle Chi’s maid?

But she didn’t have the appearance of a maid at all?

She even ordered Minghe to run errands for her… and Minghe couldn’t refuse…

Could she be Uncle Chi’s…

For a moment, many thoughts flooded Zhou Shaojin’s mind… It wasn’t until she left the needlework room and Hongrui bid them farewell that she snapped back to attention.

“…I’m the Old Madam’s dowry servant, and I’ve been here for several years now. This is the first time I’ve walked such a long distance. May I come visit you in the future?” Hongrui asked Biyu.

What kind of person was Biyu?

How could she not see through Hongrui’s little schemes?

However, she never offended people easily, so she smiled and said: “If you can come visit me, I would naturally welcome you eagerly. It’s just that I usually serve before the Old Madam and rarely have occasion to walk around outside. If you want to find me, you’ll need to have a young maid send me word in advance, otherwise it will be very difficult to find me.”

Hongrui obediently agreed, smiling as she curtsied to Zhou Shaojin, and they parted ways at the crossroads.

Zhou Shaojin couldn’t help but ask Biyu: “Do you know why Uncle Chi’s quarters only have three head maids?”

Biyu smiled and said: “After Sister Jiale from Fourth Master’s quarters was married off, Fourth Master’s quarters never added anyone new. Perhaps there wasn’t anyone suitable?”

This answer was as good as no answer at all.

Zhou Shaojin said: “Doesn’t the Old Madam inquire about it?”

Biyu thought carefully and said: “Our Old Madam seems to never manage affairs in Fourth Master’s quarters.”

Unable to find an answer, Zhou Shaojin returned to Wanxiang Residence somewhat dejected.

Seeing her, Old Madam Guo smiled and said: “What’s wrong? Didn’t they have any good styles?”

“No, no.” Zhou Shaojin quickly said, “That Niangzi Wang is quite nice. She found several styles for me and said if I don’t understand anything, I can go find her anytime. I plan to consult her when I encounter something I don’t understand in a few days.”

In her judgment, this Niangzi Wang did indeed have her own methods in tailoring.

The difference between her and Niangzi Wang was only in experience—but after all, Niangzi Wang specialized in tailoring while she only did it occasionally. In the future, if there were issues with measurements, she could just ask; there was no need to make special trips to consult her.

Old Madam Guo smiled and nodded.

Biyu said: “We encountered Minghe from Fourth Master’s side at the needlework room.”

Old Madam Guo said: “What was she doing at the needlework room? Hasn’t the needlework for Fourth Brother’s quarters always been managed by Nanping? Why would they still need help from the needlework room?”

“They said they needed help making several pairs of summer socks.” Biyu smiled. “Looking at the style, they’re for women. Presumably for themselves. Since they didn’t have time to make them, they took them to the needlework room for help. If they were things for Fourth Master, they wouldn’t leave them to the needlework room.”

Old Madam Guo nodded slightly and said to Zhou Shaojin: “Speaking of needlework skills, Nanping from Fourth Brother’s quarters is truly first-rate. Unfortunately, she did too much in her early years and damaged her eyes. In recent years, Fourth Brother hasn’t let her do much needlework, otherwise why would Minghe and the others have the needlework room help them with things.”

Zhou Shaojin didn’t know what to say.

Women skilled in needlework were all like this. Because they were good at it, they did a lot when young, but by the time they grew older, their eyes gave out… Fortunately, they only did it occasionally.

Zhou Shaojin took the clothing patterns Niangzi Wang had given her back to Wanxiang Residence.

Zhou Chujin and Zhou Shaojin opened the storeroom to find fabric for Zhou Zhen and Li Shi.

News came from the prefectural office.

Cheng Lu placed fifth in the prefectural examination and was ranked as a stipend student.

Zhou Shaojin’s hand holding the needle paused and didn’t fall.

Now Cheng Lu no longer needed to depend on the Cheng family to be exempt from corvée labor.

But what exactly was Cheng Lu planning to do?

Whenever Zhou Shaojin thought of that mansion on Official Street, her heart felt as if it were on fire.

And Cheng Lu proved to be a man of his word.

After paying respects to his teacher at the prefectural office, he went to see Cheng Mian and took back all the properties and farmland that had previously been registered under the fourth branch.

Privately, Cheng Mian couldn’t help but sigh with Old Madam Guan: “Looking at his manner, he’s probably destined for greater things. Are we doing the right thing or the wrong thing?”

“Foolish!” Old Madam Guan said with displeasure, “Those vicious and evil people are mostly talented but lacking in virtue. Such people—the farther away the better. What’s there to regret! As for holding grudges, if he’s a gentleman, he should repay even the smallest kindness with abundant gratitude. If he’s a petty man, even if we preserved goodwill between us in this matter, we’ll inevitably offend him in other matters. Better to make a clean break early on.” She also instructed Mian’s wife, “In the future, we should also reduce our contact with Madam Bai.”

The two women acknowledged this in unison and began preparing for Old Madam Guan’s birthday.

Since this was customary, the gifts from the fourth branch’s estate stewards arrived earliest, giving Cheng Yi some breathing room. He was allowed to reduce his copying of the Spring and Autumn Annals by one hour each day to run errands for the stewards as a form of practical training.

Cheng Yi reverted to his old habits. When the stewards weren’t paying attention, he would sneak into Zhou Shaojin’s study to slack off, always bringing a sweet melon with him and ordering Shi Xiang to chill it in well water to distribute to Zhou Shaojin and others to relieve the heat.

Zhou Shaojin nagged at him, but he didn’t care at all, saying: “With Elder Brother in the family, that’s enough. I’m preparing to take over Father’s work managing the household affairs.”

Some things, unless one experiences them personally, no amount of talking by others will help.

Zhou Shaojin looked at his naive innocence, ignorant of worldly affairs, and could only sigh.

Two days later, Cheng He hosted a banquet—Pan Zhuo had also successfully passed the prefectural examination. Although his results weren’t as good as Cheng Lu’s, he had exchanged his white robe for the scholar’s襕衫, gained official status, and become a scholar.

This was something that had happened in her previous life. Zhou Shaojin viewed it calmly, taking out silver to pool together with her sister to send a set of writing materials as a congratulatory gift.

On the day of the formal banquet, Pan Qing and Cheng He entertained guests in the water pavilion while Zhou Shaojin and Cheng Jia hid in a corner eating sweet melons.

Pan Qing, wearing a jade-green Hangzhou jacket, smiled radiantly.

Cheng Jia angrily threw her sweet melon into the plate and pulled Zhou Shaojin to leave: “Let’s go to Ruyi Pavilion to play cards.”

“I’m not going.” Zhou Shaojin continued eating her sweet melon. “After we sit for the banquet, I’m going back to Wanxiang Residence—these days I’ve been doing needlework every evening and want to sleep early.”

Cheng Jia was exasperated at her lack of ambition, saying: “Can’t you have some backbone?”

She insisted on pulling her away.

Zhou Shaojin suddenly grabbed hold of Cheng Jia.

Cheng Jia was pulled dizzy and held onto the swaying hairpin on her head, saying: “What’s gotten into you…” Before she could finish her sentence, she stood there dumbfounded.

A large group of men were walking this way… Cheng Shi, Cheng Zheng, Cheng Xu, Pan Zhuo, as well as Cheng Gao, Cheng Yi, Cheng Nuo and others were all among them.

Cheng Jia only saw Pan Zhuo.

She exclaimed in a low voice: “When did Pan Zhuo come back? Why aren’t they leaving yet? Are they planning to live here for the rest of their lives?”

But Zhou Shaojin was thinking about Cheng Xu.

She had finally enjoyed a few days of peace—how was it that Cheng Xu was starting to move about the inner courtyard again?

Neither of them spoke, but they saw Pan Qing walk over.

She greeted Cheng Xu and the others with smiles and laughter, pointing toward the water pavilion and talking for quite a while before curtsying and returning.

Both Cheng Jia and Zhou Shaojin breathed sighs of relief.

The former didn’t want to appear as a supporting role before her own cousins; the latter simply didn’t want to be seen by Cheng Xu.

However, Pan Qing looked at Cheng Jia and Zhou Shaojin with a slight smile and said to Cheng He: “Cousin Shi is hosting a musical gathering at Yicui Pavilion and has invited us to come listen…”

She looked at her mother, her eyes full of anticipation.

Cheng He hesitated somewhat.

But Old Madam Li said: “Go, go! Listen to what your brothers are discussing, and you can learn and broaden your knowledge too.”

Jiang Shi also thought it was good.

Zhou Chujin was also very interested.

Zhou Shaojin and Cheng Jia reluctantly went to Yicui Pavilion.

Cheng Zheng and the others were seated on the grass beside Yicui Pavilion, while Zhou Shaojin and the others sat inside Yicui Pavilion, which was hung with bamboo curtains on all four sides.

Cheng Shi played a piece called “Wild Geese Descending on a Sandy Shore.”

His finger techniques were skilled, the melody smooth, and the artistic conception lofty and profound.

At first, Zhou Shaojin was somewhat worried that Cheng Xu would disturb her, but later seeing that Cheng Xu looked straight ahead as if he didn’t recognize her, she gradually relaxed and immersed herself in the sound of Cheng Shi’s strings.