Cheng Jia fawned shamelessly and called for Cui Huan to brew a pot of early spring West Lake Longjing tea.

Zhou Shaojin teased her, “So you have such good tea here! Why did you serve me Da Hong Pao when I came last time? And you said I could take whatever I fancied of yours—you won’t even part with tea leaves, yet you make such grand promises!”

It wasn’t that West Lake Longjing was necessarily better than Da Hong Pao, but West Lake Longjing was best enjoyed as spring tea while Da Hong Pao was best as autumn tea. Now that it was already summer, last autumn’s Da Hong Pao naturally couldn’t compare to this spring’s West Lake Longjing.

Cheng Jia laughed sheepishly. “No, no. Those servants made their own decisions. You know I’ve been confined here—how could I have the mood to drink tea!” By the end of her words, her tone carried a hint of resentment.

Zhou Shaojin didn’t believe her.

“How can you doubt me?” Cheng Jia pretended to be angry and lunged at her.

Zhou Shaojin stood up to escape.

The two played around for a while.

Cheng Jia asked about Zhou Shaojin’s visit to the Gu family.

Knowing she was very bored, Zhou Shaojin told her about the visit to the Gu family in great detail.

Cheng Jia listened with keen interest. One moment she’d say “According to what you say, that Wu Baozhang was ostracized by Miss Sun and the others,” the next moment “What does that Miss Ah Zhu look like? What’s embedded in her collar,” and then “How many young ladies does the Gu family actually have? Is that Seventeenth Miss really as wonderful as you say”… When the story reached the part about Old Madam inviting them to play cards, Cheng Jia burst out laughing. “It seems that poor card skills have their advantages. Old Madam will definitely remember Sister Chujin. Who knows, maybe one day she’ll think of it and specially send an invitation asking Sister Chujin to come play cards!”

That would be wonderful.

The Gu family had an excellent reputation in southern scholarly circles. As the Liao family was also a family of literary tradition, having her sister maintain close ties with the Gu family would only bring benefits, no harm.

Zhou Shaojin thought for a moment but ultimately didn’t tell Cheng Jia about the ghost marriage. Instead, she took the opportunity to inquire about Cheng Chi, saying, “…According to Old Madam, Uncle Chi often visits her… Do you know anything about Uncle Chi?”

“No idea.” Cheng Jia wasn’t particularly interested and smiled. “I’ve only heard my father say that Uncle Chi is very capable and excellent at business. He even has ships going north and south. Whenever our family’s shops acquire good medicinal materials, we entrust Uncle Chi’s ships to transport them back.” As she spoke, she winked at Zhou Shaojin. “Anyway, the main branch is very wealthy. Old Madam Guo is even wealthier. If you copy scriptures well for Old Madam Guo, she won’t treat you poorly.”

Zhou Shaojin didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Cheng Jia beckoned a servant over, handed the invitation to her, and said, “Take this quickly to show my mother. Ask her whether I’m going or not?”

The third branch had always been keen on courting the powerful and noble.

Zhou Shaojin was quite confident that Jiang Shi would agree to let Cheng Jia visit Duke Liangguo’s household—this was why she had asked Ah Zhu for the invitation.

The servant hurried off.

Zhou Shaojin didn’t want to encounter Jiang Shi, so she stood up to take her leave.

But Cheng Jia held onto her, refusing to let go. “You got this invitation for me—you should at least see my mother before leaving.”

In her view, her mother had always been somewhat vain. That Zhou Shaojin could obtain an invitation from Duke Liangguo’s household was an extremely respectable matter for her mother, who should thank Zhou Shaojin. But in Zhou Shaojin’s view, Jiang Shi was not only concerned with appearances and competitive, but also hard-hearted. When there were no conflicts of interest, she treated Cheng Jia wonderfully, but when interests clashed, she showed no mercy. She didn’t like this type of person and preferred to have as little contact as possible.

“Who knows what Aunt Lu will say?” She joked. “I don’t want to stay here and watch you mother and daughter quarrel. Should I help you or help Aunt Lu? I’d better return to Wanxiang Residence first. When you’ve decided, just send a maid to tell me.”

Cheng Jia felt Zhou Shaojin’s reasoning made sense and reluctantly let her go.

But on the road, she still ran into Jiang Shi, who was surrounded by a group of maids and elderly servants.

“Shaojin!” Jiang Shi greeted Zhou Shaojin from afar. “I heard you got an invitation to Duke Liangguo’s household for Jia. You’re so thoughtful! No wonder our Jia always says you’re her good sister, not forgetting her when good things come up.” When she drew near, she pulled Zhou Shaojin’s hand with a beaming smile. “I wonder what customs Duke Liangguo’s household has? What should we prepare for her? We mustn’t embarrass Jiuru Lane.” She added, “Shaojin, your aunt received several pairs of jade hairpins a few days ago. The carving and jade quality are quite passable. Later I’ll have a maid send them over for you and your sister to wear and enjoy.”

Zhou Shaojin was slightly stunned.

In her previous life, despite being so close to Cheng Jia and doing so much for her, Jiang Shi had never thanked her once or given her so much as a needle or thread.

She suddenly understood a bit why Old Madam Guan didn’t much like dealing with the third branch—in the third branch’s eyes, there were only interests, no family affection. Even if there was family affection, it was subordinate to interests. The feeling it gave was too cold.

Zhou Shaojin felt she and Jiang Shi had nothing in common. She smiled and thanked her, saying, “My eldest aunt is helping prepare clothes and accessories for my sister and me. I don’t know what the customs are either.”

Let Eldest Aunt deal with her—she didn’t think she had that ability.

“I see!” Jiang Shi smiled. “Then I’ll go ask your eldest aunt later.”

Zhou Shaojin parted ways with Jiang Shi.

Returning to Wanxiang Residence, her sister hadn’t come back yet, but Ma Fushan’s wife delivered letters from their father to her and her sister.

The letter sent in mid-June had only arrived in mid-July.

It had taken nearly a month round trip.

Yet normally, when her sister wrote to their father, there would be a reply within half a month at most.

Could it be because Father found this letter difficult to answer?

Zhou Shaojin rubbed the envelope, hesitating for a long time before cutting open the seal with scissors.

Father very briefly answered what colors and styles of clothes she liked to wear, but spent two-thirds of the letter discussing the Zhuang family’s old residence on Official Street.

He didn’t mention the disputes between the Zhuang and Cheng families, only telling Zhou Shaojin which of the Zhuang family’s assets were inherited by Uncle Zhuang and which were left to Zhuang Shi—all decided by her maternal grandfather, Old Master Zhuang. Although Old Master Zhuang was only a scholar, he had traveled far and wide and possessed great wisdom. His decisions naturally had their reasons, and as juniors, they shouldn’t question them. Therefore, regardless of how Uncle Zhuang ultimately disposed of this residence, it wasn’t appropriate for Zhou Shaojin to interfere or buy back the house. Uncle Zhuang was a person of poor character, and she was best off not having contact with him. If anything came up, she could tell him directly or ask him directly—rumors stop with the wise.

Father must have understood what she meant, telling her not to concern herself with the Official Street residence…

Which meant Father knew about Mother’s situation.

Mother had been honest and forthright with Father. This made Zhou Shaojin’s heart relax, and her gaze fell on the letter Father had written to her sister.

What would Father say to her sister?

Zhou Shaojin was eager to see that letter.

She picked it up and put it down, put it down and picked it up again. Finally, she thought of a solution that would kill two birds with one stone—she put away Father’s letter to her, and when Zhou Chujin returned, she could read Father’s letter to her sister together with her.

Thinking of how she was hiding things from her sister, she felt very uneasy, but Zhou Chujin didn’t suspect anything and smiled as they read the letter together.

In the letter, Zhou Zhen took a different tone about this matter.

He instructed Zhou Chujin not to let Zhou Shaojin leave the household casually, and especially not to buy the Official Street residence. Finally, he said that after the autumn harvest, when the yamen wasn’t so busy, he would send one of his advisors back to Jinling. If there were any matters, they could discuss them then.

Zhou Chujin and Zhou Shaojin looked at each other.

It was just a residence near the Cheng family, yet Father was actually sending one of his own advisors back to Jinling.

Zhou Chujin didn’t understand, but Zhou Shaojin knew that Father had become suspicious and wanted to send his trusted confidant back to see for himself.

This was actually good.

Perhaps through Father’s advisor, they could investigate and clarify some matters, saving her from wandering around blindly without direction.

Zhou Shaojin smiled as she put away the letter and comforted her sister. “Since that’s the case, let’s leave it to Father. It saves you and me from worrying.”

Zhou Chujin was exasperated. “This is our own matter—what does it mean to hand it to someone else? You just muddle through everything, never worrying about anything.”

Zhou Shaojin laughed sheepishly and changed the subject, asking about the gift for Ah Zhu. “…What is it?”

“A unique edition set of writing implements from Wende Pavilion.” Zhou Chujin showed it to her and sighed. “It was found in Uncle Mian’s study. They said only one hundred sets were sold at the time, and each set was different. Uncle Mian’s set was originally intended to be passed down to Cousin Gao. It features the Three Friends of Winter. This time they took it out for us to give as a gift, saying that since we’re a family of literary tradition, these things are most appropriate to give.”

“Isn’t this improper?” Zhou Shaojin was very grateful to her uncle and aunt but said, “Doesn’t this take away what belongs to Cousin Gao?”

“I said the same thing.” Zhou Chujin said somewhat helplessly. “But Eldest Aunt said that objects are dead but people are alive. She told me to find something even better for Cousin Gao in the future.”

Zhou Shaojin worried. “Where would we find something? Why not write to Father and have Father think of a solution!”

Her sister’s face reddened as she said vaguely, “Don’t worry about this matter. I’ve already agreed. When the time comes, just take the gift.”

But in her mind, she was thinking of Eldest Aunt’s words, half-joking and half-serious: “Today we give to others, tomorrow others may well give to us. As long as you can marry good husbands, what’s a set of writing implements? Even antiques and precious stones wouldn’t pain your eldest aunt.”

Zhou Shaojin thought that if worst came to worst, she’d find a way to buy another set from someone at a high price.

The two sisters each had their own plans. For the moment, neither brought up the topic again. They invited Eldest Lady Mian over to help them select jewelry to wear on the Ghost Festival.

Guo’er came on Jiang Shi’s orders to deliver jade hairpins, smiling as she said, “…She said two pairs for Eldest Miss and two pairs for Second Miss.”

The boxes were carved red lacquer with exquisite lotus patterns, making one feel at a glance that the contents must be extremely valuable.

Zhou Shaojin smiled and thanked her, inviting Guo’er to stay for tea and refreshments.

Guo’er refused, smiling. “Eldest Lady over there is still helping Eldest Miss select clothes and jewelry for the Ghost Festival, and they’re waiting for me to return to open the storeroom!”

Zhou Shaojin didn’t insist. She had Shi Xiang take out a purse containing a pair of silver ingots shaped like “rising higher step by step” and give it to Guo’er as she saw her out.