Behind them came Cheng Xu’s voice: “Wait!”
Not only did Ji Ying not stop, she walked even faster.
Zhou Shaojin and Shi Xiang jogged to barely keep up with her pace.
Looking back again, Cheng Xu and the others had already been left far behind. Da Su was blocking Cheng Xu and saying something, and Cheng Xu’s expression looked very unpleasant.
In two lifetimes, this was the first time Zhou Shaojin had so cleanly and efficiently shaken off Cheng Xu. She couldn’t help feeling pleased and thanked Ji Ying.
Ji Ying replied indifferently, “I’m merely carrying out Fourth Master’s orders!”
“But I still must thank you.” Zhou Shaojin said while running and gasping for breath. “Even if you were following Uncle Chi’s orders, if you had stood aside and let Cousin Xu stop me to talk, it wouldn’t have gone against Uncle Chi’s intentions!”
Ji Ying glanced at her coldly without speaking and continued walking forward.
Zhou Shaojin felt Ji Ying walked so fast she could barely keep up, but thinking that Cheng Xu was right behind them, she felt that walking faster was good—she could return to Wanxiang Residence sooner.
After walking for about the time it takes to drink two cups of tea, Zhou Shaojin was panting heavily.
Ji Ying suddenly stopped.
Zhou Shaojin asked curiously, “Why did you stop?”
Ji Ying stared at Zhou Shaojin for a moment, then abruptly walked forward again.
This time, she walked more slowly.
Zhou Shaojin had been walking too fast earlier. Although still somewhat tired, she wasn’t jogging along like before.
She asked Ji Ying, “How old were you when you entered the manor to serve? Are you hereditary servants of the Cheng family? What do your parents do? Do you have brothers or sisters?”
Ji Ying was silent for a while before saying, “I was eighteen when I entered the manor to serve. My parents farm at home. I have two older brothers, no younger brothers or sisters.”
“You didn’t enter service until you were eighteen?” Zhou Shaojin was somewhat dumbfounded. “How could your family bear to send you into service? You’re so beautiful, you could have married…”
Since she wasn’t a hereditary servant, usually only families too poor to support their children would sell them to other households as servants or maids. Someone like Ji Ying could completely have married into a family with some means and would equally have been free from worry about food and clothing.
Could it be that Ji Ying entering the manor wasn’t merely to be a maid for Uncle Chi?
Zhou Shaojin was startled by her own thought.
Ji Ying looked at her with a half-smile and said, “You think I’m beautiful?”
“Yes!” Zhou Shaojin didn’t know what she’d said wrong. “Hasn’t anyone told you you’re beautiful?”
A trace of confusion flashed through Ji Ying’s eyes. After a long while she said, “Yes! Someone has told me I’m beautiful.”
Then why would she doubt it?
Zhou Shaojin felt that Ji Ying, like Jiuru Lane itself, was full of mysteries everywhere.
Since she couldn’t see through it, she might as well not puzzle over it for now. When the time came, she would naturally understand.
Zhou Shaojin had studied Buddhist teachings for several years, and her mindset had become much more open than before.
They traveled the rest of the way to Wanxiang Residence in silence.
Zhou Chujin was waiting eagerly at the entrance.
She quickly pulled Zhou Shaojin over and looked her up and down. Seeing she was fine, she chided, “You were just delivering tea leaves. Why did you only return at this hour?”
Zhou Shaojin grinned and introduced Ji Ying to her sister.
Hearing that she was a senior maid serving Cheng Chi and that she had escorted Zhou Shaojin back, Zhou Chujin politely invited her to have some tea before leaving.
“Thank you, Eldest Miss.” Unlike her coldness toward Cheng Xu, the corners of Ji Ying’s mouth carried a slight smile. Her cold and beautiful face melted like ice and snow, revealing her dazzlingly gorgeous true appearance. “Fourth Master is still waiting for my report. I’ll come visit Eldest Miss another time.”
Zhou Chujin didn’t insist. She personally escorted Ji Ying to the entrance and only after her figure disappeared from sight did she put her arm around Zhou Shaojin’s shoulder and head inside, saying, “Is she really a senior maid serving Uncle Chi? Not only is she beautiful, but her bearing—where does she seem like a maid? I was too embarrassed to give her a reward!”
Zhou Shaojin suddenly understood. “That’s why! I was wondering how Sister could have forgotten this. I originally wanted to remind Sister, but Ji Ying left too quickly and I didn’t have time. It’s good I didn’t say anything, or the embarrassment would have been enormous.”
The same thought floated unbidden into both sisters’ minds.
Could this Ji Ying have been given to Uncle Chi as a chamber maid?
What a waste!
She could completely have properly married someone else as a wife.
Both sighed inwardly.
Returning to the room, Zhou Chujin asked her sister in a low voice, “Did something happen? Cousin Xu came by just now. He personally delivered local products, saying he brought them back from Hangzhou. And you were escorted back by Uncle Chi’s maid…”
Zhou Shaojin recounted the whole sequence of events.
Zhou Chujin said, “Father really! Why did he have you pass along a message? And you too—you could have just told Old Madam Guo, why did you run to Xiaoshan Conggui Courtyard…”