Cheng Jia laughed dismissively and took her hand, saying: “Good sister, don’t be angry anymore. I’ll compensate you however you want!”
Zhou Shaojin said ungraciously: “Then give me your maid Cui Huan?”
“That won’t do!” Cheng Jia wasn’t angry at all and still said with a smile: “How about I give you my zither ‘Autumn Parasol Tree’ instead.”
Autumn Parasol Tree was Cheng Jia’s favorite zither.
She actually wanted to give this zither to her!
Zhou Shaojin was very surprised and only then looked at Cheng Jia properly.
Cheng Jia’s smile gradually faded and her expression became serious. Allowing Zhou Shaojin to stare directly into her eyes, she said candidly: “Shaojin, I know I was wrong. I’ll compensate you however you want!”
She spoke so earnestly that Zhou Shaojin was very surprised.
For a moment the two stood confronting each other, the atmosphere tense.
Zhu Zhu quickly walked over, putting one arm around Zhou Shaojin’s shoulder and the other around Cheng Jia’s, smiling: “Hey! I heard the lotus flowers in your mansion have all bloomed. I’m at home worrying about having nothing to do. Why don’t one of you send us an invitation to admire the flowers? Everyone present gets a share—how about it?”
Zhou Shaojin felt very ashamed.
Today she was half the host. Instead of entertaining her friends, she was here quarreling with Cheng Jia—what kind of behavior was this?
Fortunately there were Zhu Zhu and Gu Seventeenth Aunt. They were true friends who came to help her when they saw she was in difficulty!
She glanced at Zhu Zhu gratefully and smiled: “Then let’s have Cousin Jia be punished by hosting! She has plenty of fine wine and delicacies. We must go feast at her expense before we’ll be satisfied.”
Zhu Zhu, Gu Seventeenth Aunt and the others all laughed heartily.
Cheng Jia patted her chest: “No problem. I’ll take care of this matter. As soon as I get home, I’ll send invitations to everyone.”
“Then we’ll be waiting!” Gu Seventeenth Aunt joined in the fun with a delighted expression.
The two Miss Guos smiled with pursed lips, clearly very interested in being able to go out visiting.
Zhou Shaojin sighed as she watched.
The Miss Guos were too reserved.
If Uncle Chi married a young lady from the Guo family, two taciturn people together—how dull those days would be!
In the dragon boat race finals, the Shen family took the championship.
Shen Qingyun was extremely happy and said he would treat everyone to drinks.
“Everyone” referred to those who had private rooms at Qingyan Tower.
Everyone congratulated him one after another.
Zhu Pengju wanted to pull Cheng Chi along to drink.
Cheng Chi politely declined.
Zhu Pengju wouldn’t accept this. Knowing Old Madam Guo was in the adjacent private room and relying on the close relations between the two families, he ran over with a grinning face to pay his respects to Old Madam Guo, wanting her to agree to let Cheng Chi go out drinking with him: “Zichuan must be concerned about you. I’ll have our household’s chief administrator personally escort you home. What else does Zichuan have to worry about!”
Old Madam Guo laughed and called Cheng Chi in, saying: “Silang, just go out and have fun with them. Second girl will keep me company!”
In front of outsiders, Old Madam Guo usually called Zhou Shaojin “second girl.”
Cheng Chi thought for a moment and smiled: “It’s not that I don’t want to drink with Pengju. I have some matters here. After I finish with them, it won’t be too late to come find you.” This last sentence was said to Zhu Pengju.
A trace of something unusual flashed through Zhu Pengju’s eyes. He smiled: “Do you have guests? Why not invite your guests to join us for the festivities! Surely Qingyun wouldn’t begrudge us this bit of wine?”
“That’s not it.” Cheng Chi smiled: “We have business to discuss and we’re at a critical point. Don’t make trouble for me. I’ll come after I see off my guests.”
Zhu Pengju couldn’t say more. After repeatedly instructing Cheng Chi several times “you must come,” he finally left.
Old Madam Guo hadn’t expected Cheng Chi to have guests. With some guilt she said: “Then you go attend to your business! Having Shaojin keep me company is enough.”
Cheng Chi smiled at Zhou Shaojin and said “Take good care of Mother,” then rose and went to the adjacent private room.
Zhou Shaojin thought of when she had gone to find Cheng Chi earlier and his action of closing the door. She was extremely curious.
As they were leaving, she couldn’t help but glance at Cheng Chi’s private room.
The private room door remained tightly closed, with Langyue standing guard at the door.
Seeing Zhou Shaojin and Old Madam Guo approaching, he quickly bowed respectfully and whispered in Zhou Shaojin’s ear: “Fourth Master went to see off a guest. He’ll be back very soon!”
Zhou Shaojin’s heart jolted.
What kind of guest would make Uncle Chi put on an appearance that he was still entertaining in the private room?
Since this person was so important, why had Uncle Chi brought him to Qingyan Tower?
Zhou Shaojin couldn’t figure it out. As they exited through Qingyan Tower’s side door, she couldn’t help but look around.
Suddenly, her eyes widened. Craning her neck, she looked toward the bustling street outside the alley, as if she had seen some rare person or event. This drew Old Madam Guo to look her way as well, saying: “Shaojin, what’s happened?”
Zhou Shaojin thought for a moment but still couldn’t suppress the shock in her heart. She said: “I think I saw an acquaintance. Wait for me a moment—I’ll go have a look!”
With that, not caring what Old Madam Guo might think of her, she took off running to the alley entrance.
Outside, the crowd surged.
Zhou Shaojin searched for quite a while before finally seeing that familiar face wearing a blue straight robe in front of a stall selling incense and candles.
It really was him!