When Ji Cheng returned to Jing Garden with the others, she naturally had to report her safe return to the Old Madam first. Having caused such a commotion with people sent out to search for her, Ji Cheng’s face was full of apology.
How could the Old Madam not see the young girl’s remorse? She pretended not to notice and pulled Ji Cheng into her embrace, comforting her, “It’s good that you’ve returned safe and sound. That’s what matters most. Where did they find you?”
Shen Jing stepped forward and said, “When we arrived, Sister Cheng was waiting on that hillside.”
The Old Madam let out a sigh, “Why did you have to be so stubborn at this time, child? Your brother and Jing’er are at an age where they’re playful and lack focus, especially when it comes to polo. They get so excited they forget everything else.”
“Great-grandmother…” Shen Jing pleaded, somewhat embarrassed.
The Old Madam paid no attention to Shen Jing’s plea, “It’s all your Fourth Brother’s fault for dragging your brother away. But don’t blame them too much. When the Old Duke was their age, he would risk his life for polo. Men just love such excitement. Don’t think your Eldest Brother and Second Brother don’t play anymore; they used to be just as crazy about it, not even coming home to play polo.”
“Great-grandmother, why bring up me and Big Brother? Haven’t we improved enough over the years?” Shen Che said with a smile.
Hearing this, the Old Madam immediately glared at Shen Che, “You dare speak. Don’t you remember your past embarrassments? That year when you won the top scholar title, how many young ladies tried to bump into your horse on the way? There were even girls trying to sneak into your courtyard in the middle of the night. Tell me, isn’t that true?”
Shen Che could only smile helplessly and shrug.
The young ladies around, like Ji Cheng, Su Yun, and Lu Yuan, who had never heard of these stories before, were all shocked, their mouths agape.
“There were even ladies sneaking into the mansion?” Lu Yuan couldn’t help but repeat, astonished. She had seen bold girls in the frontier regions but never imagined such things happening in the capital.
“Indeed,” Shen Qin whispered from the side, “She was caught by the patrolling servants and started shouting ‘Shen Che! Shen Che!’ loudly. The whole mansion knew about it, and by the next day, the entire capital had heard the news.”
Lu Yuan and Su Yun burst into laughter upon hearing this.
The Old Madam then turned to the embarrassed Ji Yuan, “Yuan’er is also quite handsome, no less than your Second Brother. If he becomes too good at polo, I’m afraid young ladies might just drag him off the streets and into their homes.”
Ji Yuan had indeed inherited his mother’s delicate good looks, with a gentle and refined handsomeness different from Shen Che’s clear-cut and distinguished features.
Ji Yuan’s face turned red at the Old Madam’s words, stammering and unsure how to respond. But when he had initially agreed to join the Chuyang Society, hadn’t there been a part of him that wanted to emulate Shen Che?
After all, what man doesn’t want to be dashing and romantic? Especially scholars. Shen Che’s romantic exploits weren’t limited to ladies sneaking into his home at night; his treatment in the Mifendai brothel was what truly inspired envy.
In times of peace, scholars led the fashion, and soft, sensuous verses were particularly favored. The courtesans in brothels relied on these poems and songs to increase their value, so one often heard stories of them using their earnings to support scholars, only to be betrayed in the end. Yet, they never tired of this practice.
Over generations, these young women developed quite an attitude. If a man’s literary talent was poor, they would merely humor him, regardless of his wealth, and mock him behind his back with other clients. But if a man had excellent literary skills, they would willingly serve him three meals a day and help spread his fame everywhere.
Thus, for those without literary talent, trying to win the favor of a top courtesan was a fool’s errand. The only shortcut was polo. Those haughty courtesans, besides their love for scholars, only fancied polo experts. Whenever there was a polo match, they were always the most enthusiastic cheering squad.
Some flower courtesans who particularly loved polo would even start refusing business from other polo clubs once they became fond of a certain club. Even if offered high prices to perform, they would firmly refuse.
The year Shen Che won the polo championship, his polo club became incredibly popular. They were treated as VIP guests in every brothel, with flower courtesans canceling other appointments to entertain them. As for Shen Che himself, he could stay in brothels 365 days a year without spending a single coin. Courtesans would even fight amongst themselves, bloodying each other just for the chance to sing or dance for him. It was truly a glorious time.
Who wouldn’t want such treatment?
Jokes aside, the Old Madam and the younger generation couldn’t do just about everything. Her reason for bringing up these amusing stories today was that she was once again thinking about Shen Che’s marriage prospects.
Speaking of Shen Che, he was indeed popular among young ladies, but when it came to actual marriage discussions, things were different. For such a romantic young master, families who truly cherished their daughters were unwilling to marry them to him. As for families who didn’t care much for their daughters, the Old Madam and the Princess didn’t approve of them.
This situation has created quite a dilemma, causing delays until now.
How could Shen Che not know that the Old Madam was using the teasing of Ji Yuan to reproach him? He could only pretend not to notice and laugh it off.
Due to the incident caused by going out horseback riding, Ji Cheng faced the wall in reflection for a full two hours. After painful consideration, she realized she had overestimated herself. She was like a wild horse – obedient when confined in a luxurious stable, but unable to control her true nature once released onto the grasslands.
To punish herself, Ji Cheng stayed in her room every day practicing calligraphy and painting. Even when Shen Yuan and others invited her out to play, she would only shake her head. However, with the sun being too harsh outside and the young ladies caring about their complexions, and not wanting to get tanned, they didn’t go out much either.
On this day, Shen Yuan and Shen Qin came to Ji Cheng’s room to play. Ji Cheng was at her desk, painting flower letter paper.
Flower letter paper was an elegant item, used for correspondence between friends. The young ladies liked to compete in everything, whether it was composing poems, writing music, or sending invitations – the beauty and elegance of the flower letter paper was always a point of comparison.
Although printed flower letter paper is available nowadays, it has become less precious when produced in large quantities. The most valuable were still hand-painted ones, rare in number and with unique charm.
Ji Cheng knew that her painting skills were not practiced enough, as Madam Yu had pointed out that her foundation was still lacking. But painting the same things day after day was too boring, and the resulting waste paper didn’t align with the Jis’ merchant sensibilities.
So Ji Cheng switched to painting flower letter paper. It was still painting practice, but the finished product could be used for writing letters, making it useful.
When Shen Qin entered the room, her sharp eyes immediately spotted the newly painted flower letter paper that Ji Cheng had casually set aside.
“Oh, this flower letter paper is painted so uniquely,” Shen Qin said, admiring it fondly.
Shen Yuan took a look and saw that Ji Cheng had used a variation of the small seal script characters for “lovesickness” as the border of the letter paper, with the twelve earthly branches representing the hours of the day written in a circle on the border.
“It’s quite interesting,” Shen Yuan said. “Does this flower letter paper have a name?”
Ji Cheng smiled and replied, “I was just painting it for fun, I hadn’t thought of a name.”
Shen Yuan lowered her head to look at the letter paper, muttering softly and gesturing with her finger. Finally, her eyes lit up, and she smiled brightly, “How about calling it ‘Twelve Hours of Daily Lovesickness’?”
Shen Qin immediately cheered, “What a great name! This letter paper paired with this name is perfect. Third Sister, you’ve named it so well.”
It was indeed the age of lovesickness, but proper young ladies couldn’t speak of such things openly. However, using flower letter paper to subtly express feelings was both elegant and suggestive.
Shen Yuan glanced at Shen Qin and smiled, “Your Sister Cheng must have already thought of the name before painting this letter paper.” She didn’t dare to take all the credit.
Shen Qin was overjoyed and tugged at Ji Cheng’s sleeve, “Dear sister, please paint a few more. I want them all.”
How could Ji Cheng refuse? She painted twelve sheets in succession, each almost identical as if they were printed. Shen Yuan watched from the side, sighing in admiration, “This speed, this skill, Cheng, you’re truly exceptional.”
“Indeed, indeed. With such a unique skill, you could make a living,” Shen Qin laughed.
“Qin’er, what are you saying? How could Cheng need to make a living?” Shen Yuan scolded Shen Qin, fearing that Ji Cheng might feel hurt about her background or lose self-esteem.
Shen Qin regretted her words as soon as they left her mouth.
Ji Cheng had never felt inferior to her merchant background. On the contrary, she always thought it was wrong for the Emperor and ancestors to look down on merchants. Her current desire to join a noble family was only to protect herself and the Ji family’s wealth.
So when Ji Cheng heard this, her face remained calm, “Sister Yuan, please don’t scold Sister Qin. I think what she said is correct. No matter what, I won’t have to worry about starving.”
Shen Qin quickly added, “Exactly! Some families may be arrogant when they’re doing well, but when they fall on hard times, those people don’t even know how to make a living and can only starve to death.” When noble families were punished and had their properties confiscated, losing their sources of income, even those madams and young ladies had to rely on their own hands to make a living. At that time, they would regret not having any skills.
Shen Yuan looked helplessly at Shen Qin; this girl had no filter.
Shen Qin not only took twelve sheets of the “Twelve Hours of Daily Lovesickness” from Ji Cheng but also picked many other sheets from Ji Cheng’s previously painted letter papers.
“She just loves collecting all kinds of flower letter paper,” Shen Yuan said with a helpless smile.
“What a coincidence, I also love collecting various flower letter papers and enjoy painting them myself,” Ji Cheng said with a smile. Heaven knows Ji Cheng had never dabbled in these little things that young ladies liked. But that didn’t hinder her determination to build a rapport with Shen Qin.
When Shen Qin heard that Ji Cheng also enjoyed this hobby, she held her hand and started listing famous letter paper makers. To be honest, Ji Cheng was completely lost, but fortunately, Shen Qin had a naive personality and chattered on endlessly, saving Ji Cheng the trouble of having to interject.
Ji Cheng was a good listener and could cater well to Shen Qin’s interests. They ended up talking for most of the afternoon.
After Shen Qin left, the first thing Ji Cheng did was inquire about the styles of various famous letter paper makers. Additionally, she had Liu Ye’er pass a message to the Ji family’s people in the capital, asking them to quietly collect some famous letter papers for her. Since she claimed to be a collector, she needed to have some inventory, right?