After hearing Zhou Shaojin’s words, Cheng Chi closed his eyes to think for a moment, then said, “Don’t worry about this matter anymore—I already know about it!”
Huh?!
Zhou Shaojin’s eyes widened.
Such an important matter, and Uncle Chi was resolving it so simply?
She was extremely curious.
She tugged at Cheng Chi’s sleeve, saying softly, “Uncle Chi, what do you plan to do?”
Her cautious gaze as she stared at him with clear eyes struck him as particularly interesting, and a mischievous impulse arose in his heart as he smiled, “I haven’t decided yet. If it were you, what would you do?”
Uncle Chi actually hasn’t decided yet!
Then why did he tell her “don’t worry about it, I already know”?
Zhou Shaojin’s almond eyes rounded.
Then she felt somewhat uneasy.
Who knew that Wu Baozhang was actually having an affair with Cheng Lu, and had inadvertently learned that someone in the Cheng family wanted to strip Cheng Lu of his scholarly achievements, and had told Cheng Lu about it… To strip someone of their scholarly achievements was tantamount to cutting off their future prospects. For someone like Cheng Lu, it would be more painful than killing him.
It would be strange if he didn’t desperately resist!
If the matter was exposed, regardless of whether they could determine who in the Cheng family wanted to strip him of his achievements, as long as it was proven to be the Cheng family’s doing, they couldn’t escape the charge of bullying the weak. Cheng Lu might even use this matter to enhance his own reputation, becoming someone the Cheng family would be wary of harming.
At that time, not only would they fail to suppress Cheng Lu, they might even implicate the uncle who had taken on this task for her!
Had she known it would turn out this way, she wouldn’t have told Uncle Chi.
Zhou Shaojin hung her head somewhat despondently.
Uncle Chi must be feeling very troubled now, right?
But because he’d previously promised her, he could only carefully maneuver around it?
If only she could give Uncle Chi some ideas!
Wasn’t it said? Three mediocre minds equal one brilliant strategist.
Zhou Shaojin racked her brain trying to think.
Watching her little face scrunch up into a ball, Cheng Chi felt inexplicably cheerful for some reason. Like when he was young and his father forced him to practice calligraphy, but he’d sneak out to run wild on the rooftops, then return without his father discovering he’d gone out—that kind of joy only he knew about.
He remained silent, watching her bite her lip, gradually stop fanning, and thoughtfully begin twirling the large red tassel hanging from the round fan.
A breeze drifted intermittently through the hall.
That bright red tassel wound around her pale white fingertips, creating an inexplicably vivid beauty.
The air seemed to crackle and heat up as if catching fire.
This little girl—he’d just been thinking how well she attended to people, and in the blink of an eye she’d shown her true colors.
What maid would dare to let her mind wander in the clouds while fanning, completely neglecting her actual duties?
Cheng Chi calmly took the fan from her hand and gently began fanning Zhou Shaojin himself.
Zhou Shaojin truly wasn’t accustomed to serving others, and when the fan was taken from her, she simply assumed the maids had taken over as usual, pouting as she pondered her own thoughts.
Nanny Shang, bringing in watermelon, nearly stumbled at the sight.
Who exactly was serving whom here?
Having served this Fourth Master for so many years, this was the first time she’d seen him fan someone else…
Nanny Shang steadied herself, held her breath and concentrated, then dared to walk over with light steps, placed the watermelon on a nearby small table, and retreated with equally light steps.
Zhou Shaojin finally came back to her senses and said quietly to Cheng Chi, “Uncle Chi, why don’t we just leave Cheng Lu alone? After all, evil gets its comeuppance—he’s done so many bad things, he’ll surely face retribution!”
Cheng Chi nearly choked on her words. He thought to himself, good thing I wasn’t drinking tea, or that mouthful would have sprayed clear to the middle of the hall.
He couldn’t help but glance at her coldly, saying, “This is the solution you came up with? You might as well not have thought at all!”
Zhou Shaojin also knew her solution was inappropriate.
Her face flushed completely red as she said, “I think he definitely won’t let this go. If he makes a fuss and the Second Branch Old Ancestor sees through some clues and traces it back to Uncle Chi, what would we do! Better to just forget it?”
Cheng Chi’s expression froze, and after a moment of silence he said, “You’re afraid the Second Branch Old Ancestor will catch me in a vulnerable position?”
His voice was somewhat hoarse.
Zhou Shaojin’s face was full of apology as she nodded repeatedly, saying, “The Second Branch Old Ancestor holds the proper status—if he wants to harm you, you’ll definitely suffer.”
In her view, the First Branch and Second Branch had been fighting for so many years. Since the First Branch still had some wariness of the Second Branch, the Second Branch Old Ancestor surely wasn’t someone to be trifled with. But she couldn’t say this to Cheng Chi—if she said it that way, wouldn’t she be saying Cheng Chi was incompetent!
That would break Uncle Chi’s heart!
Cheng Chi stared at her unblinkingly, his expression somewhat strange.
Zhou Shaojin immediately felt as uncomfortable as sitting on pins and needles.
Uncle Chi was such a clever person—could he have heard her underlying meaning?
She quickly said, “Uncle Chi, I think we don’t need to confront Cheng Lu head-on right now. Cheng Lu isn’t a good person. If he really passes the provincial examination, I’ll discuss it with Father and see if we can reveal what his father did. Then Cheng Lu’s prospects will be equally obstructed.” She added, “The government has case records of Lan Ting and Lan Xin’s testimony, and we can find a way to copy them—that should be enough to control Cheng Lu.”
But what about Madam Zhuang’s reputation?