Uроn hеаring this, Zhоu Shаojin’s little fасе instаntlу brightened, her еуes spаrkling like gemstоnеs аs shе sаid, “Rеally?”
Сheng Chi chuckled and раtted hеr on thе hеаd, sаying, “Whеn hаvе I еvеr lied tо you?”
“Ah!” Zhоu Shаojin rubbеd her head, smiling shуly.
Chеng Chi askеd, “Наs thе stоrm раssed and thе skу clеаrеd?”
Zhou Shаojin blushеd, thеn remembеrеd the рurpose оf her visit to Chеng Сhi. Shе quicklу tugged at his sleеvе аnd whispеrеd, “Unсlе Сhi, I… I’ll listеn to уоu and stаy in Ninе Prosрeritiеs Lаnе aftеr аll!”
Сhеng Chi was verу surprised. After pоndering for a mоment, he аsked, “Did sоmеonе say something to you?”
She had thought Uncle Chi would be pleased!
Zhou Shaojin couldn’t help feeling a bit disappointed and said, “I’ve thought it through! I don’t know what happened back then, nor do I know which minor details might be useful to you. It’s better for me to stay and help you sort things out. Once you find a clue, I’ll be able to leave with peace of mind.”
Cheng Chi felt a surge of emotion, as if something was about to burst forth, unfamiliar and unsettling.
This silly girl, having suffered such heavy harm that others would avoid at all costs, had instead run back on her own.
Cheng Chi remained silent for a while. When he spoke again, his voice carried a slight hoarseness. “Even if the Cheng family is to be raided, that won’t happen until eleven years from now. Staying now won’t be of much use. It would be better for you to return to Baoding with your stepmother. Besides, Cheng Xu will be back soon, and aren’t you unwilling to see him again?”
Zhou Shaojin twisted her fingers together and lowered her gaze, saying, “I… I’ll protect myself.” In her previous life, she had avoided thinking about this matter like an ostrich, and it was the same in this life.
She raised her head and changed the subject. “Precisely because the Cheng family’s raid is eleven years away, I should stay even more. Uncle Chi, you know nothing, but I know what major events will happen in the next eleven years. Isn’t there a saying, ‘Without accumulating small steps, one cannot travel a thousand miles; without gathering small streams, one cannot form a river or sea’? The downfall of the Cheng family surely didn’t happen overnight. If we start investigating now, we’ll surely gain more and be more secure than if we wait until the last moment to find a solution.”
Cheng Chi gazed at the face before him, which seemed especially bright due to her earnestness. He couldn’t help but purse his lips and said softly, “Shao Jin, you used ‘rebirth’ rather than ‘dreaming’ to describe your experience. Does that mean… in your previous life, your days were just like in this life, needing to pass every moment, every hour?”
“Yes!” Zhou Shaojin didn’t know why Cheng Chi was asking her this now, but she answered honestly nonetheless. “Sometimes the days felt especially long. I wished it was all a dream, that when I opened my eyes, I’d be back in the past, playing grass games with Chunwan on the spring meadow, sulking in my room because my sister had more new clothes than me… Back then, I thought, how wonderful it would be if I could return to the past… I never imagined that one day I would truly return to the past…”
Unfortunately, as Uncle Chi had said, she had to endure every moment, every hour, bit by bit.
Back then, it truly felt like a living death, yet she couldn’t die.
As long as she lived, she could at least comfort her sister, so her sister wouldn’t be so heartbroken.Cheng Chi's lips moved slightly before he smiled and said, "So don't be sad anymore! Look, how many people in this world are as fortunate as you? It seems even the Bodhisattva takes pity on you."
Zhou Shaojin nodded with a beaming smile, her large eyes curving into crescents.
Uncle Chi usually spoke crisply and decisively, never hesitating or faltering. Yet just now, his lips had moved before he spoke—he definitely hadn't intended to comfort her but rather wanted to ask her something. Yet, fearing she might be hurt, he had changed his mind at the last moment.
She couldn't help but bite her lip.
What exactly did Uncle Chi want to ask her?
Could it be related to the humiliation she had suffered?
If not for the fact that the Cheng family had ultimately been executed to the last member, with none escaping, she would have suspected that the family's downfall was the result of secret struggles between the second and third branches.
But she felt the Cheng family's destruction couldn't have been simply due to personal grudges or favors.
No matter how much the second and third branches quarreled, they wouldn't have dragged the entire Nine Prosperities Lane into ruin.
But what if the fate of Nine Prosperities Lane was the result of conflict between the eldest and second branches?
Then the matter of the garden would have to be told to Cheng Chi.
Zhou Shaojin's mind grew muddled.
Cheng Chi had already said, "Shao Jin, it must have been quite some time since you last saw your father, right? Baoding is a rather nice place. Why don't you follow your original wish and return to Baoding with your stepmother? Spend some good time with your father, and when spring comes next year, I'll bring you back to Jinling to stay with my mother for a while..."
Why did he want her to go to Baoding for a while?
Traveling back and forth was troublesome and exhausting.
Otherwise, why would the elders say, "A lifetime without leaving home is a blessed life"?
Zhou Shaojin looked at Cheng Chi in confusion.
Cheng Chi's eyes were as clear and bright as stars in the night sky, untouched by dust, yet at this moment they seemed somewhat dim.
Suddenly, Zhou Shaojin understood.
The autumn imperial examinations in August.
To avoid the summer heat and to allow both body and mind to adjust to their best state before the exams, Cheng Xu should return to Nine Prosperities Lane in spring.
Uncle Chi knew everything, didn't he?
Whether she spoke of it or not?
With Uncle Chi's intelligence and sharpness, how could he not know?
Her eyes grew moist again uncontrollably, unsure whether it was due to Uncle Chi's silent care and thoughtful consideration or because of those unbearable memories that, though suppressed deep in her heart, surfaced once more with recollection.
Zhou Shaojin lowered her head.
She didn't want to appear so weak in front of Uncle Chi, yet for some reason, she repeatedly lost control of herself.
To prevent Cheng Chi from noticing, she quickly wiped the corners of her eyes with the back of her hand.
Cheng Chi looked at Zhou Shaojin, who was clearly heartbroken yet struggling to hide it, and sighed helplessly in his heart.
He reached out, wanting to comfort her by patting her head, but halfway, he felt it inappropriate.
She was a delicate young girl, not one of his friends who roamed the jianghu.
Cheng Chi paused, then finally let his hand rest on Zhou Shaojin's head. He affectionately stroked her hair and said in a deep voice, "Be good. Listen to me. I'll come fetch you next spring. Spend the New Year well in Baoding with your father." Thinking of his promise, he added, "If I pass through Baoding, I'll definitely visit your home. Remember to make pastries for me. And make them well—I won't eat poorly made ones.""Uncle Chi!" Tears from two lifetimes, heavy as a thousand weights, burst forth as Zhou Shaojin threw herself into Cheng Chi's embrace. Clinging to his waist, she sobbed, "Uncle Chi... Uncle Chi..."
Cheng Chi's heart also ached with sorrow.
Unspeakable suffering is the most tormenting.
That kind of loneliness and isolation is something only those who have experienced it can truly understand.
"Alright, alright, don't cry," he gently stroked her dark hair, tender and patient.
But Zhou Shaojin only cried harder.
Cheng Chi let her cry, merely softening his comforting gestures.
Zhou Shaojin wept freely until she was utterly spent.
Yet the suspicion in Cheng Chi's heart grew deeper.
Finally, when Zhou Shaojin had cried her fill and lowered her head in embarrassment to wipe her tears, he couldn't help but ask, "Shao Jin, why didn't you marry Jiashan?"
Shao Jin wasn't the daughter of some poor, lowly family, and Zhou Zhen wasn't the kind of man to sell his daughter for glory. If something had happened, the Cheng family couldn't have suppressed it. The only option would have been to muddle through.
Zhou Shaojin knew she couldn't avoid this topic.
But as long as she didn't have to recount it herself, she could endure it.
"I didn't want to marry him!" she whispered, her voice as faint as a mosquito's hum.
Cheng Chi found this even more puzzling. Afraid of frightening her, he asked gently, "Why didn't you want to marry him?"
Wouldn't most people in such a situation have resigned themselves to fate? Especially someone as gentle and obedient as Shao Jin.
Zhou Shaojin murmured softly, "Madam Yuan wanted to marry a daughter of the Min family from Fujian as her daughter-in-law. I didn't want to live under her scrutiny."
This answer greatly surprised Cheng Chi.
Shao Jin actually had such a stubborn side... but she was also very clever!
Madam Yuan was the type who, the more she couldn't have something, the more she would desire it.
Shao Jin's persistence would only earn Madam Yuan's contempt.
So, in the end, Shao Jin married Lin Shisheng and became a false couple with him.
Thinking of this, Cheng Chi fell into deep contemplation.
The room fell silent, so quiet one could hear a pin drop.
Zhou Shaojin couldn't help but lift her gaze to look at Cheng Chi.
Cheng Chi's brow was slightly furrowed, his expression stern, as if he had encountered some great difficulty.
Zhou Shaojin felt a pang of worry. Softly, she called out, "Uncle Chi."
Cheng Chi snapped out of his thoughts and smiled at her reassuringly. Then, weighing his words carefully, he said, "Shao Jin, I was thinking... the Cheng family is large and influential, with disciples and old connections spread throughout the court and the countryside. For the new emperor to deal with the Cheng family, he would have to use swift and decisive measures, striking with lightning speed to execute them on the spot. Those in the capital would surely be handled by the Court of Judicial Review. The women and children in Jinling would be dealt with by the Jinling Prefecture. As for those serving as officials elsewhere, most would likely be executed on the spot by their respective garrisons..."
Zhou Shaojin's gaze toward Cheng Chi was filled with admiration.
Uncle Chi had only heard a few words from her, yet it was as if he had seen it all himself—his guesses were spot on!
She nodded repeatedly.
But then Cheng Chi shifted the topic, asking, "Shao Jin, when you were reborn, what official position did your father hold?"
Zhou Shaojin, aware that she lacked Cheng Chi's wisdom, didn't overthink his intentions. She simply needed to answer his questions honestly.
Obediently, she replied, "Governor of Guangdong."
Cheng Chi was stunned.
After a long pause, he asked again, "Then what official position did your brother-in-law hold?"
Zhou Shaojin opened her mouth, feeling like a fish thrown ashore, struggling for breath.
Before her rebirth, her brother-in-law Liao Shaotang had been the Vice Minister of the Household of the Heir Apparent, a fourth-rank official, and also held the position of Lecturer in the Hanlin Academy.
Thirty-two years old!Liao Shaotang was a successful candidate in the imperial examination of the Xinchou year during the twenty-fourth year of the Zhide era.
He then passed the selection for Junior Scholar Candidate and spent three years observing administrative affairs in the Ministry of Personnel.
After completing his training, he remained directly in the Ministry of Personnel as a supervising secretary.
In other words, he rose from a seventh-rank official to a fourth-rank official in just four short years.
“No, no, no!” Zhou Shaojin murmured, grabbing Cheng Chi’s hand with such force that he wondered if she had mustered every ounce of strength in her body. “This isn’t true, it can’t be! My brother-in-law is a good man—he couldn’t possibly do such a thing…”
The Liao family had long been in decline. Without the Cheng family’s support behind the scenes, even if her brother-in-law were exceptionally talented, he could never have achieved in just a few years what others might spend a lifetime accumulating.
How had she never noticed this before!
※
Sisters, here is today’s update.
o(n_n)o~
※ (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, welcome to…)
!!
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