Cheng Lu and Cheng Xu were both at the waterside pavilion.
What was Pan Qing going there to do?
Zhou Shaojin had a vague feeling that this matter should have something to do with Cheng Xu.
But why would she choose today to go see Cheng Xu?
Did the people of the Third Branch know about it or not?
She looked toward Cheng Xian.
Cheng Xian was smiling and chatting with Lady Yu’s wife, seemingly not noticing that Pan Qing, who had been by her side all along, was no longer in the flower hall.
She looked toward Old Lady Li.
Old Lady Li was cheerfully listening to Old Lady Guo and Old Lady Tang talking, appearing not to notice anyone around her at all.
Zhou Shaojin looked toward Jiang Shi again.
Although Jiang Shi’s face was full of smiles, she wasn’t as enthusiastic and proactive as usual. Instead, she stood quietly to the side, listening to others talk, with the corner of her eye occasionally darting quickly toward the eastern doorway leading to the waterside pavilion.
Zhou Shaojin understood.
So Pan Qing had the Third Branch’s support, or perhaps the Third Branch had instructed her to do this?
She sneered inwardly, tugged at Cheng Jia’s sleeve, and said in a low voice, “Pan Qing has gone to the waterside pavilion. Should we go take a look?”
“Go, of course we should go.” Cheng Jia followed Zhou Shaojin without hesitation as they slipped out of the flower hall again. “What’s she going to the waterside pavilion for?”
“I don’t know,” Zhou Shaojin said. “Let’s go look first and then decide what to do.”
Cheng Jia nodded.
The two carefully made their way toward the waterside pavilion.
Soon they spotted Pan Qing.
She was standing under a large banyan tree outside the waterside pavilion, her expression conflicted as she gazed at the pavilion, looking as if she couldn’t decide whether to go in or leave.
Cheng Jia immediately jumped up and said quietly, “She must be here to find Cousin Xu. Look at her like that—even if she admires Cousin Xu, can’t she be a bit more reserved? Must she chase after him so eagerly like this? If someone sees her like this, they’ll think she can’t get married… Where does this leave Grandmother’s, Aunt’s, and Mother’s faces? My mother praises her every day, but isn’t she just slapping my mother’s face? This is so embarrassing…”
Zhou Shaojin fell silent for a moment.
Cheng Jia… had inadvertently hit upon the Third Branch’s true intentions… Pan Qing did want to marry Cheng Xu, and the Third Branch indeed wanted to strengthen ties with the First Branch through marriage…
She recalled what the servants and women in Jiuru Lane had always said: “…Don’t be fooled by how active the Third Branch is. Their business is big and profitable, but that’s all just floating on water. As soon as they encounter the First Branch and Second Branch, they immediately wilt. You know why? Because the Third Branch has never produced any officials—without the First and Second Branches helping to smooth things over, forget about the Third Branch’s medicine shop merchandise, just the checkpoint taxes and levies from the northwest to Jinling alone could strip a layer of skin off the Third Branch, let alone talk about doing business.”
This was also why Zhou Shaojin hadn’t taken these words to heart.
The Third Branch’s old master, Cheng Jin, had also been a promising scholar who had smoothly passed the provincial examination together with the Second Branch’s second old master, Cheng Shao. Later, Cheng Jin had voluntarily given up the imperial examination path to focus wholeheartedly on managing the Third Branch’s business, making the Third Branch’s Yongshou Hall medicine shop the largest medicine merchant in Jiangnan. As for the Third Branch’s eldest master, Cheng Lu, he had been obedient from childhood and willing to study diligently, yet despite burning the midnight oil, he had only managed to pass the county examination to become a xiucai—he truly lacked the talent for scholarship. By all rights, Cheng Lu should have given up on the imperial examinations long ago, yet he still studied with books never leaving his hands, and Cheng Jin didn’t dissuade him but just continued supporting him. Instead, he let his son Cheng Zheng—Cheng Jia’s elder brother—take the lead, passing the county examination to become a xiucai at a young age…
Thinking of this, Zhou Shaojin’s heart skipped a beat.
If she remembered correctly, Cheng Zheng had passed the county examination at sixteen, after which he never participated in the imperial examinations again.
Even if his fundamentals weren’t solid, four years had passed, yet he didn’t try taking the exam… For a family like the Chengs that had elders who could guide the younger generation in their studies, this was somewhat unusual.
In her previous life, Cheng Zheng had only started participating in the imperial examinations after Cheng Xu’s downfall, when he began drinking heavily and became despondent with no hope left. Moreover, through Cheng Jing’s guidance, he quickly surpassed Cheng Shi who had passed the provincial examination before him, achieved success on the golden list, and entered the Hanlin Academy…
Zhou Shaojin felt her breathing becoming difficult.
Could it be—could it be that the First Branch and Second Branch had been working together all along to suppress the Third Branch, preventing them from achieving success in the imperial examinations… So in the matter of Pan Qing and Cheng Xu’s marriage, they took desperate measures… If Pan Qing married into the First Branch, besides forming an alliance, from a certain perspective, perhaps it was more of a signal of reconciliation… Was this why her maternal grandmother was unwilling to be a matchmaker and reveal to Yuan Shi that Cheng Xian wanted to marry her daughter to Cheng Xu?
What exactly had happened during the family division back then?
Zhou Shaojin looked at the splendid glory before her and felt as if what she saw was all a mirage, when in reality there crouched before her an enormous monster that would reveal its true form and devour them all at the slightest misstep.
“Shaojin, Shaojin.” Cheng Jia gently pushed her.
Zhou Shaojin came back to her senses.
Cheng Jia complained, “I’m talking to you and you can space out—I’m truly impressed with you! Didn’t you say you had a way to make Pan Qing lose face? What do we do now?”
What to do?
In her previous life, even if the Third Branch hadn’t directly participated in her humiliation by Cheng Xu, they had certainly handed over the knife from the sidelines.
In this life, she would expose the Third Branch’s true face.
At the very least, she had to let Old Lady Guo know the Third Branch’s true purpose.
Pan Qing’s actions weren’t just her own idea—she had the Third Branch’s support.
“We’re going back to the flower hall,” Zhou Shaojin said. “We can’t let the people at the waterside pavilion discover Pan Qing.”
In her previous life, a major reason Yuan Shi hated her was because her appearance had destroyed the marriage alliance between the Cheng and Min families and ruined Cheng Xu’s prospects.
Pan Qing’s family circumstances weren’t any better than hers. Marrying Pan Qing to Cheng Xu would likewise prevent Cheng Xu from forming a marriage alliance with a more prominent family. Both Cheng Zheng and Cheng Shi would benefit from this.
At the waterside pavilion were Cheng Zheng, Pan Zhuo, and that Cheng Shi who was watching from the sidelines, ready to fan the flames at any moment. Right now their interests aligned—with them helping Pan Qing, she couldn’t possibly catch the Third Branch in any wrongdoing.
Zhou Shaojin pulled Cheng Jia back toward the flower hall.
Caught off guard, Cheng Jia stumbled along, chiding, “What are you doing? How did you suddenly become so strong…”
Zhou Shaojin didn’t have time to explain—and couldn’t explain clearly anyway. As soon as they entered the flower hall, she took it upon herself to grab a supervising nanny serving in the hall and brought up Pan Qing: “…She’s been gone for such a long time without returning. We just went to the privy and didn’t see her either. You should quickly send someone to look for her.”
The privy was a refined way of referring to the toilet.
Her voice wasn’t loud, but it wasn’t soft either—gentle and温温柔柔, full of concern.
Many people looked over and discovered Pan Qing wasn’t in the flower hall.
Old Lady Li appeared somewhat uncomfortable and said, “This child, who knows where she’s gone?” Seeing Cheng Jia and Zhou Shaojin together, she added, “Jia girl, weren’t you with your cousin? Do you know where she went?”
This was really talking nonsense with eyes wide open.
Cheng Jia had clearly been with her the whole time, yet Old Lady Li insisted Cheng Jia had been with Pan Qing.
Zhou Shaojin saw Jiang Shi’s brows furrow almost imperceptibly, wanting to say something, but Cheng Jia beat her to it: “No! I’ve been with Shaojin the whole time. If you don’t believe me, you can ask Shaojin—we just came back from the privy together.”
She had a completely innocent, uncomprehending look that left Old Lady Li speechless for quite a while.
Zhou Shaojin almost laughed out loud.
Pan Qing hurriedly walked in from outside with a young maid.
Seeing everyone looking at her, her face turned slightly red, her expression embarrassed as she said, “Did something happen?” Then she explained in a way that seemed to reveal more than it concealed, “I just went to the privy, and when I came out I saw that several orchid plants by the flower hall were blooming beautifully, so I went over to look at them. Is there something wrong?”
“What could be wrong?” Jiang Shi immediately said with a smile, “It’s your cousin Shaojin—she didn’t see you and was somewhat worried about you, so she asked us to look for you…”
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and the atmosphere in the flower hall immediately became lively and festive again. Everyone resumed their conversations and activities.
Pan Qing smiled and came forward to thank Zhou Shaojin for her concern.
However, Zhou Shaojin noticed that the young maid by Pan Qing’s side wasn’t her usual one, but rather the little maid who had been whispering to her in front of the waterside pavilion earlier.
She said nothing, just smiled at Pan Qing.
Pan Qing coldly glanced at Cheng Jia.
Cheng Jia was baffled.
But Zhou Shaojin understood—Pan Qing had misunderstood Cheng Jia. She thought it was Cheng Jia who had been watching her closely and made a fuss when she disappeared.
Cheng Jia… was sometimes really quite wronged…
Zhou Shaojin lowered her eyelids.
Cheng Jia was extremely angry and was about to say something when Jiang Shi called her over.
Zhou Shaojin thought for a moment. Seeing Lady Mian’s wife talking with someone in the southern corner of the flower hall, she smiled and walked over, saying gently, “When I went out just now, I discovered there were people at the waterside pavilion. I asked the supervising nannies and learned it’s Cousin Shi and the others cooling off there. Look, shouldn’t we send people over there to serve them? There’s still an hour until the birthday celebration!”
Lady Mian’s wife nodded repeatedly, instructing a supervising nanny to handle this matter, and praised her with a smile: “Shaojin is still the most thoughtful—otherwise I wouldn’t have known about this!”
Several nearby women also praised her upon hearing this.
Zhou Shaojin’s face couldn’t help but turn red. She mumbled a few pleasantries in response before turning to find Cheng Jia.
A pozi by Jiang Shi’s side was watching Cheng Jia, not letting her move around freely.
Zhou Shaojin sat with Cheng Jia in a corner where Jiang Shi could see them at a glance, united in their resentment as they quietly spoke ill of Pan Qing.
The sun gradually rose higher.
Nearly all the guests had arrived.
The flower hall was filled with cheerful voices and laughter, becoming even more lively.
Pan Qing, who had originally been sitting in a corner with Cheng Xian, disappeared.
Zhou Shaojin remained calm and continued talking with Cheng Jia.
After a while, the little maid who had been watching Pan Qing made eye contact with her.
Zhou Shaojin sat for a bit longer, then said to Cheng Jia, “I need to go to the privy. Are you going?”
“Yes!” Cheng Jia had been sitting there full of resentment for a while and wanted to move around.
A little maid ran to tell Jiang Shi.
Jiang Shi nodded.
A pozi from the Third Branch accompanied Zhou Shaojin and Cheng Jia out of the flower hall.
Zhou Shaojin signaled for the pozi to stand farther away, then whispered to Cheng Jia: “Do you dare go to the waterside pavilion with me?”
Cheng Jia’s bright, clear eyes blinked.
Zhou Shaojin smiled and nodded.
“Run!” Cheng Jia suddenly grabbed Zhou Shaojin’s hand and ran toward the waterside pavilion. “What’s so scary about it! At worst we’ll get beaten with boards by Mother when we return! I’d rather be beaten by Mother than see Pan Qing’s hypocritical face!”