Jiуing wаs silеnt fоr а lоng while.
Zhou Shаоjin didn’t dаrе urgе her, simply sitting quiеtlу beside hеr.
After а gооd whilе, Jiуing suddеnly let оut a bitter laugh and said, “Forgеt it, whу am I tеlling yоu аll this? Тhеre аrе sоmе things уou wоuldn’t understand anуwаy!” Тhen she toоk Zhou Shaоjin’s hand and sаid sinсеrеlу, “Тhаnk you fоr сoming tо sее me. I fеel muсh bеtter now.” Shе smilеd wrylу, “I’m afraid I’ll havе to stay аt thе Сheng rеsidence fоr а fеw morе уеаrs. I hорe уоu won’t find mе annоying!”
“Hоw cоuld I?” Zhоu Shаojin didn’t knоw hоw tо сomfort her, sо she simply said eаrnestly, “If yоu ever fеel stiflеd аnd miserаble, come talk to me. Even if I don’t understand, sometimes just saying the words out loud makes the heart feel less burdened.”
Just like those years she spent at the estate in Daxing—outwardly appearing unaffected, but inwardly suffering unbearable pain. If she hadn’t set up a small Buddhist shrine at home, where she could pour out all the unspeakable words to the Bodhisattva, she might have gone mad long ago.
Yet Zhou Shaojin’s gentleness and kindness made Jiying hesitate.
Indeed, what did it matter whether Zhou Shaojin understood or not? She was someone who genuinely cared about her, and that was enough.
Suddenly, she felt the urge to speak again.
“Our Ji family once escorted Fan Qi all the way to the capital,” Jiying thought for a moment and said, “You must have known for a long time that our Ji family is different from ordinary households, right?”
Zhou Shaojin nodded.
She suspected the Ji family made their living in the martial world.
“Among the four major martial arts schools in Cangzhou, our Ji family is one of them, and we’ve been around for nearly two hundred years,” Jiying said. “The poor study literature; the wealthy practice martial arts. To have a strong body for martial arts, one must eat well. But how much money can you really earn from running a martial arts school, working as a bodyguard, or serving as a household guard? So, our family secretly deals in smuggled salt…”
Zhou Shaojin was startled.
Jiying smiled and continued, “In the past, smuggling salt meant finding ways to steal it from the salt fields. That was risky and easily caught the attention of the authorities. By the time of my great-grandfather, our family started doing this business with the Cao Gang. Jiao Ziyang’s family is one of the three major leaders of the Cao Gang. That’s how I met Jiao Ziyang.
“You know what happened after that.
“But what I didn’t expect when I returned this time was that your Uncle Chi had made an enemy of the Cao Gang. The Cao Gang couldn’t do anything to your Uncle Chi, so they set their sights on our Ji family. Jiao Ziyang and I are engaged—not just the Cao Gang, but the entire martial world knows about it. After your Uncle Chi let me go, the Cao Gang started scheming against me. They actually wanted Jiao Ziyang to trick me into marrying him, and after I bore him children, they would force my father to join them in dealing with Cheng Zichuan. That scoundrel Jiao Ziyang even claimed he agreed to his father’s plan just to be with me, saying that once we had children, they would be both my father’s grandchildren and his father’s descendants. For the sake of the children, his father surely wouldn’t force me to do anything I didn’t want to do…”
“And you believed him?” Zhou Shaojin instinctively felt that Jiao Ziyang was unreliable. If he truly loved Jiying, even if he had misunderstood that Jiying had become Uncle Chi’s concubine, after his anger subsided, he should have confronted Jiying or asked for an explanation. Instead, he turned and left without a word, disappearing without a trace. Then, when Jiying returned home, he tricked her into eloping with him. Such actions were hardly those of a responsible man."If I believed him, why would I have come back?" Jiying said, her eyes reddening. "A proper marriage makes a wife; elopement makes a concubine. If I had truly run away with him, once we had children, I would have followed Jiao Ziyang without any rightful status. To the Jiao family, neither I nor my children would have meant anything. They might even have used it as another reason to threaten my father! I was so furious..." She glanced guiltily at Zhou Shaojin, her voice dropping. "I cut off the arm Jiao Ziyang used to hold his sword... He is the Jiao family's only son... If his son cannot stand on his own before his father steps down, the Jiao family will surely lose their position as one of the three great leaders... My father couldn't protect me either... So I had no choice but to follow your uncle back."
So she had returned to avoid disaster!
Zhou Shaojin widened her eyes and said, "Well done! Someone like Jiao Ziyang deserves to be taught a harsh lesson, to know the consequences of casually bullying women!"
She admired Jiying deeply.
Jiying was much stronger than her. When faced with trouble, Shaojin only knew how to cry, but Jiying had taken revenge for herself.
Zhou Shaojin looked at Jiying with deep respect.
Jiying was a bit bewildered. "Aren’t you afraid I might bring trouble to your family?"
This was something Zhou Shaojin hadn’t considered.
She answered honestly, "Since your father let you follow Uncle Chi back, he must believe Uncle Chi can protect you. Otherwise, even if he shifted the trouble elsewhere, it wouldn’t save you. He might as well have hidden you in some temple or nunnery!"
Jiying burst into laughter and couldn’t help pinching her cheek. "How did you suddenly become so clever? You usually seem quite foolish!"
Zhou Shaojin swatted her hand away, displeased. "I’m not foolish. I just don’t always want to think the worst of people."
Jiying gazed at her, still smiling.
Thinking of Cheng Chi’s dignified and elegant demeanor, Zhou Shaojin belatedly began to worry. "Uncle Chi... he should be able to protect you, right?"
This sent Jiying into another fit of laughter.
Zhou Shaojin, embarrassed and angry, said, "I’m being serious with you. If you keep this up, I’ll ignore you."
"Alright, alright, alright. I won’t laugh at you." Jiying finally managed to stop laughing and lowered her voice. "Cheng Zichuan has another name in the martial world. No one knows his background. The Cao Gang targeted me because they knew I served as Cheng Zichuan’s maid, thinking I must know where his family lives, hoping to capture his relatives to threaten him." She showed a look of disdain. "My father said that as long as I stay close to Cheng Zichuan, even if the Cao Gang finds out, they can’t do anything to me."
Zhou Shaojin’s heart skipped a beat twice before calming down.
In her past life, the Cheng family had been executed by imperial decree, not slaughtered by martial artists.
She couldn’t help saying, "Then you must be careful from now on. Don’t wander outside anymore. Just stay at home." After a moment’s thought, she added, "Why not learn some needlework with me? It can pass the time, and when you marry later, you can make little things for your children."
Jiying’s expression turned strange, as if she were holding back laughter.
Zhou Shaojin asked, "What’s wrong?"
"Nothing," Jiying quickly replied.She thought that once the ten-year period was over, who knew if Cheng Zichuan would still protect her? Rather than spending time learning embroidery, it would be better to find a way to practice martial arts properly—self-defense and survival were more important than anything else!
But she knew that Zhou Shaojin was not part of her world. Telling her these things would only make her worry, so she simply went along with what Zhou Shaojin said.
Zhou Shaojin couldn’t help but ask curiously, “How did Uncle Chi get involved with people from the jianghu?”
Was it because of this that, when the Cheng family was later executed to the last man, Uncle Chi was able to command those jianghu figures to raid the execution ground and rescue Cheng Xu?
Jiying laughed. “What do you think the jianghu is? The jianghu is the world of all walks of life! Scholars, merchants, sailors, and travelers—they’re all part of it. If Cheng Zichuan wants to trade across the realm, how can he avoid dealing with people from the jianghu?”
Zhou Shaojin still found it strange.
So many people in business—did they all have to be like Uncle Chi?
But the merchants she knew were all cautious and careful, not daring to take a single wrong step.
Perhaps it was because Uncle Chi’s business was exceptionally large?
Zhou Shaojin comforted herself inwardly and asked Jiying, “Will those people come looking for us? Was the person we saw at Jiangbei Bridge that day also from the jianghu?”
Will those people come looking for them?
Jiying didn’t know either.
For now, she was just instinctively trusting her father’s words and Cheng Zichuan’s abilities.
So she avoided answering the question and instead said with a smile, “You have a pretty good eye. The person we saw at Jiangbei Bridge that day is named Xiao Zhenhai. He’s from the northeast, and his family deals in medicinal herbs and furs—they’re quite formidable. Years ago, Cheng Zichuan, for some unknown reason, went to dig for ginseng in Changbai Mountain. He ended up running into the Xiao family. Since it was their territory, and he hadn’t even bothered to greet them before digging, the Xiao family naturally wasn’t pleased. Later, he destroyed their ginseng fields. The Xiao family had no choice but to issue a gag order, and after that, Changbai Mountain became Cheng Zichuan’s backyard. Whenever he’s in a bad mood, he goes there for a stroll, and the Xiao family is utterly fed up with him.”
“Then, that person must be very powerful, right?” Zhou Shaojin recalled the scene when Jiying saw Xiao Zhenhai.
“Mm!” Jiying said. “Even my father has to be on high alert when he encounters him.” As she spoke, she slowly began to understand her father’s intentions, and her words slowed down. “Cheng Zichuan is actually quite formidable. He’s offended so many people, yet no one can do anything about him, mainly because he’s so good at business. The Mi family of Guizhou, for example, doesn’t dare to provoke him. When he went there, they treated him with the utmost hospitality, and whatever he said went. In the end, he led the Mi family to partner with the imperial court in mining silver, and the court even granted the Mi family a hereditary fourth-rank Xuanfu Envoy title…”
Zhou Shaojin gradually began to grasp the underlying meaning. She asked, “Are families like theirs usually very poor?” Thinking of Jiying’s family, she added, “Or perhaps they have money, but it comes from dubious sources? So they want to ask Uncle Chi to find a way for them to earn money or help them transition to legitimate business?”
“That’s exactly it,” Jiying said, relieved that she didn’t need to explain further. “Anyway, whether through threats or inducements, that’s what most people are after.”
As for the minority, she thought it best not to tell Zhou Shaojin.
Zhou Shaojin breathed a sigh of relief.As long as there is something to ask for, it's fine. Since Uncle Chi holds the trump card, there's no need to worry too much.
Jiying made a bet with Uncle Chi and even ended up sending her daughter to serve as a maid for him—perhaps this was also for that purpose... somewhat like the tokens of allegiance or hostages described in books from the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods.
She cheered up again and was about to ask Jiying about the journey when someone coughed outside the door and said, "Miss Jiying, the Fourth Master requests your presence!"
Zhou Shaojin quickly stood up and gave Jiying a meaningful look, signaling her to yield a little later and not confront Cheng Chi head-on.
※
Sisters, today’s bonus update!
o(n_n)o~
Still asking for pink votes...
PS: I have something to attend to this afternoon and will be out for a while. The evening update will be around 21:00.
※ (To be continued. If you like this work, please vote for recommendations and monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
!!
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