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◎Thank you, father and mother, for your trouble.◎

The next day, before dawn, Lan Zhu knocked on the door with a basin of steaming hot water. "Miss, Miss, are you awake? It's already the morning hour."

It’s only six o’clock at the hour of Mao.

Chu Yufu, wrapped in the quilt, opened her eyes woodenly. After a long pause, she replied in a hoarse voice, "I'm awake."

In the Great Yan Dynasty, daily morning and evening visits were essential. When it was just light, they would go to the mistress's courtyard to pay their respects, and then return to their rooms for breakfast.

It’s really annoying to get up so early in such cold weather.

At exactly 2:15 AM, Chu Yufu stepped into Yunxi Hall and saw a table set up inside with dim sum, porridge and cakes on it. Chu's father and Mrs. Wu were sitting in the main seats, and Chu Jinhe had also arrived.

She walked forward and greeted respectfully: "Greetings to father and mother." Then she turned sideways and bowed to Chu Jinhe as an equal.

Father Chu nodded in agreement, closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair while Wu straightened his clothes.

After a while, the third brother Chu Junze and the fourth daughter Chu Linglan, born to Aunt Bai in the mansion, arrived. After greeting everyone, everyone sat down together.

Chu's father's name was Chu Changru, he was 41 years old, and he was a doctor in the Ministry of Works. On weekdays, the younger generations would greet each other and then go back, but like today when he was on a day off and didn't have to go to court, he would keep the children to have breakfast together.

At the round, carved mahogany table, everyone was engrossed in their meal, with only the occasional clink of bowls and chopsticks. When they were almost done, Father Chu began to examine his third son's lessons: "What has the teacher been teaching lately?"

Chu Junze put down his chopsticks and replied honestly, "The Master was lecturing on the Great Learning, and he came to the line 'The sound of soup's dish says: 'If you continue to improve, you will continue to improve day by day, and again day by day.'"

Father Chu nodded, took the cloth handed to him by the maid and pressed the corner of his mouth: "Then you explain what this means."

“…”

Chu Junze glanced up at his father, then looked at his mother for help. Seeing the look her son gave her, Wu suddenly lost the mood to eat porridge.

Seeing his mother remained silent, Chu Junze scratched his head and stuttered, "King Tang of Shang once inscribed on a soup basin: 'If, if one can be renewed every day, then one can be renewed every day, always renewed.'"

"What else?" said Chu's father.

"Anything else?" Chu Junze was at a loss, racking his brains but unable to think of anything. He only heard the teacher talk up to this point and then his attention became distracted.

Chu Yufu lowered her head and picked up a piece of date cake for herself, curling her lips inwardly.

The Yan Dynasty where she is currently living is based on the Tang and Song dynasties, and the history before the Tang Dynasty was moved here by the original author, so one still has to read the Four Books and Five Classics.

She had learned this passage from "The Great Learning" when she was in middle school. The key to King Tang of Shang overthrowing King Jie of Xia and establishing a new regime was to make continuous progress through reform and innovation, so she engraved that sentence on the bathtub to encourage herself not to forget her original intention.

This third brother of hers is really not good at studying. What's the point of just explaining the meaning? How can such a guy be worth spending her whole life with?

Then, Father Chu sighed and tilted his head to ask, "How was the banquet yesterday?"

Mrs. Wu secretly glared at her son, picked up a piece of dessert and put it on Chu's father's plate, and said with a smile.

"I've met the third son of the Li family. He's a good boy with both good character and good looks. Madam Li also has a crush on our girl Fu. She sent a message after dinner yesterday, saying she'd send a draft invitation in two days."

As soon as the words fell, everyone present looked at Chu Yufu who was concentrating on eating.

The girl was wearing a pale yellow skirt with copper coin patterns, and a moon-white satin blouse. Her demeanor was soft and pure, completely different from yesterday. Upon hearing these words, she froze in disbelief, her face blank. After a moment, her eyes revealed an uncontrollable joy. She immediately stood up, blushing and bowing to her father and stepmother.

"Thank you, Father and Mother, for your concern."

She looked shy and touched.

The people at the table had different expressions. The fourth girl, Chu Linglan, who just turned twelve this year, looked at her second sister with eyes full of envy.

The third brother Chu Junze opened his eyes wide, first looked at his second sister, then looked at his mother, and couldn't help grinning and laughing.

As for Miss Chu, her expression was a little complicated, with a mixture of pity, happiness, and dissatisfaction. She curled her lips, reached out to pick up the white porcelain spoon, scooped up a spoonful of mung bean porridge and put it into her mouth.

Father Chu said with relief: "That's great. Thank you, Madam, for taking care of it."

Chu Yufu's eyes swept across everyone's faces one by one, and she lowered her head and sat down without saying a word.

After breakfast, everyone left, but Miss Chu stayed. She sat by the small window, took the embroidery quilt on the table and started doing needlework.

Wu unbuttoned her thin jacket, revealing only an apricot-colored, narrow-sleeved shirt. She half-leaned on the beauty couch, fiddling with flowers and plants with silver scissors in her hand.

After a while, the maids cleared away the dishes and left the main hall. Chu Jinhe looked up at her mother and said gloomily, "My eldest sister hasn't even discussed marriage yet, but it's the second girl's turn. I don't know what people outside will say about it."

Without even looking up, Wu cut off half of the chrysanthemum stem with a snap and said nonchalantly, "Then I'll give you Mr. Li San. Are you willing to take him?"

Chu Jinhe put down the embroidery tent, pursed her lips and said nothing.

The sound of scissors rang out intermittently in the quiet room. After trimming the flowers and plants, Mrs. Wu stood up, brushed off the debris on her body, walked to the table and sat down, smiling helplessly.

"Well, isn't this also for your own good? If your brother can successfully enroll in the Imperial College, be taught by famous teachers, and make some connections, he will definitely rise to prominence in the future. If your brothers on your mother's side are promising, you will have the confidence to marry anywhere."

"Who came first, who came later? What's there to discuss? Could it be that our famous 'Little Lotus Fairy' in the capital is inferior to a little maid born out of wedlock?"

As she spoke, she raised her hand and brushed away the strands of hair at her daughter's temples.

Miss Chu looks like her mother, with phoenix eyes, long eyelashes, fair skin and willow eyebrows. She likes to wear white dresses, which makes her look quite elegant at first glance. In addition, she is good at poetry and painting and has dignified manners, so she is quite famous in Beijing.

She was the one that the Li family had their eyes on at first. Wu asked someone to inquire and learned that the third son of the family had a bad reputation and was a playboy. Of course, he was unwilling to let his own daughter marry her, but he was reluctant to give up the marriage, so he let the second girl take the place.

"Don't worry, Mom will pick a better one for you."

Hearing this, Chu Jinhe's expression brightened. She bit her lip as if she wanted to say something, but in the end she just stood up and sat next to her mother, leaning against her and saying, "Thank you, mother."

After comforting her daughter, Mrs. Wu stood up, picked up the cut flowers one by one, and placed them in a celadon vase. Then she called out to the outside, "Mother Meng."

"Madam." The door was pushed open and Mrs. Meng, who had a plump figure and a bun, walked in.

Mrs. Wu raised her chin and pointed at the vase on the table. "Go, take these flowers to Third Brother's study and tell him to go and ask the teacher for advice so that he can understand what he didn't understand in class."

"yes."

"Hey, wait."

Mother Meng picked up the vase and was about to leave when she was stopped. Mrs. Wu raised her index finger and tapped the table twice, then thought for a moment and gave instructions again.

"I'll pick a smart maid from our room and send her to the Zhuyu Courtyard to serve. Keep a close eye on the second young lady and make sure she doesn't do anything naughty again."

"Yes." Mother Meng replied.

Mrs. Wu sat back on the beauty couch and took a sip of tea, her tone stifled, "Whenever I mention this second girl, I get irritated. I couldn't even bear to look at the looks from Madam Zhang and Madam He at the banquet yesterday."

Chu Jinhe walked to her mother's side, put her hands on her shoulders, and smiled as she recalled her second sister's blushing face at the dinner table.

"It's not the first day you've known she's stupid. In fact, it's okay for her to be a little stupid. Look how happy she was just now. Who knows how touched she must be! When she gets married, you won't have to worry about your brother anymore."

The other end.

After Chu Yufu stepped out of Yunxi Hall, she did not rush back to the courtyard to catch up on her sleep. Instead, she turned around and went straight to Cishou Hall.

Last night she thought over and over, wondering who in this family was most likely to be her support. Apart from Mrs. Wu, the ones who had a say in the family included her father, Mr. Chu, and her grandmother, Mrs. Wei.

Just now at the dinner table, her stepfather first asked his son about his homework. Seeing that he was not doing very well, he turned to ask about her marriage. It was obvious that he knew what Wu was planning, and it was even very likely that the two of them had planned this together.

Then the only person she could rely on was her grandmother who ate vegetarian food and chanted Buddhist scriptures all day long at Cishou Hall.

She originally wanted to stay as far away from her cousin as possible to avoid trouble, but now it seems that the situation does not allow it. Not only can she not stay away, but she has to rush to build a relationship with her and use her cousin to talk to her grandmother.

When you get close to Cishou Hall, before you even walk through the hanging flower gate, you can smell a faint scent of sandalwood, and the sound of knocking wooden fish comes from the small Buddhist hall on the west side.

Chu Yufu walked lightly to the outside of the east wing, touched the sachet in her sleeve, and smiled sweetly at the maid guarding the door: "Is my sister awake?"