Before they knew it, it was time for Madam Xiao to host a banquet for Zhu Jiayu.
Perhaps it was because Zhu Jiayu truly caught her eye, or perhaps it was because Zhu Jiayu had spoken up for them at the Yu residence. In any case, the purpose of the banquet hosted by Old Madam Xiao today was only one thing: to give Zhu Jiayu face.
The four families she invited today—Sun, Wang, Li, and Zheng—are all prominent families in Yujing City.
The Cold Dew Banquet hosted by Yu Qinglan was merely a small-scale gathering among young ladies; the Xiao family's banquet, however, was a blatant declaration of an agreement between several major families—
Although Zhu Jiayu was not a member of the Xiao family, from that day on, she was also a member of the Xiao family. Not only would the Xiao family protect her, but the Sun, Wang, Li, and Zheng families would also take good care of her.
The banquet ended in the evening. After lunch, Zhu Jiayu, at the behest of Madam Xiao, accompanied the ladies to watch several plays. The ladies then chatted with Madam Xiao for a long time until everyone was satisfied before returning home.
After accompanying Madam Xiao to see off the ladies, Zhu Jiayu also bid farewell to the old lady and prepared to return to the Zhu family.
A carriage was parked in front of the Xiao family's house. The carriage itself was simple and plain, without any luxurious decorations, but the horses pulling the carriage had glossy coats, showing that they were well cared for by their owners.
Zhu Jiayu glanced at it again, but didn't think much of it. After all, the Xiao family was a powerful and influential family, so it wasn't unusual for carriages and horses to come and go in front of their gates.
She was about to walk past the carriage when she heard a familiar voice from inside: "Ayu".
Zhu Jiayu stopped in her tracks and turned her head to look.
The autumn wind stirred the curtains, revealing the young man's face, as noble and beautiful as jade.
Zhu Jiayu asked in surprise, "Lord Wei?"
She hadn't heard a word of it in Yujing City and was unaware that Wei Qinglou had already returned.
She looked at Wei Qinglou and felt that he seemed to have changed.
This change is not a change in clothing or appearance, but rather a change in his entire demeanor, from his eyes to his facial expression.
He became more reserved and peaceful. In the past, he always had a flamboyant smile on his face, but now he just smiled faintly at her.
When I first met Wei Qinglou in Suiping, he was like a river in spring, vast and boundless, with lotus and reeds growing along its banks. In spring, cherries ripened red; in summer, banana trees turned green; and in autumn and winter, crows and plum blossoms appeared, blanketed in white snow. In the end, everything was clear: grudges, affections, joys, sorrows, and everything in between.
But today, Weiqing Tower is more like a deep pool. The surface of the deep water is calm, but beneath it are swift currents and sharp reefs, preventing any person or ship from stopping or sailing here. This deep pool exists silently, swallowing up drifting catkins and all trembling and sorrow.
Wei Qinglou smiled and nodded: "I just happened to be passing by the Xiao residence, and I didn't expect to meet you here."
He smiled, but there was a hint of weariness in his eyes.
After Zhu Jiayu left Songjiang, Songjiang City welcomed a new magistrate named Shen Zhao. He was forty-eight years old this year.
He had the ambition to serve his country and the talent to achieve great things, but unfortunately, his official career was always unsuccessful. Over the years, he was constantly being promoted and transferred, moving from one county magistrate to another.
He had met Shen Zhao and they had drunk together a few times. Gradually, he learned the reason for Shen Zhao's bad luck—it wasn't bad luck, but rather that he had offended someone.
It happened twenty years ago. Shen was summoned to Yujing to participate in the imperial examination. He accidentally stepped on someone's shoes and dirtied them. Later, although he learned that the person was the eldest son of the Zhang family, he didn't take it to heart—after all, he had already sincerely apologized at the time.
At that time, the Zhang family had a favored concubine. When one person attains enlightenment, even their chickens and dogs rise to heaven. Not to mention that the favored concubine was the eldest son's own sister, which naturally made the eldest son's status in Yujing City soar.
The eldest son was arrogant and didn't care whether the country bumpkin from out of town had apologized or not. In addition, he later heard Shen Zhao's grand talk in the Wen Guan study: "If I can become an official, I will do my best to make the rivers clear and the seas calm, the world peaceful and prosperous, and there will be no poor people suffering injustice or powerful people bullying others..."
With the encouragement of his cronies, the young master quickly concluded that the poor scholar was targeting him. He made up his mind that if the scholar failed the exam, so be it, but if he did pass, he would make this arrogant poor scholar understand what it meant to be rich or poor, noble or lowly by birth.
—He only studied for a few years and wants to become an official in the imperial court, stepping on the heads of these powerful and wealthy families. Keep dreaming!
Shen Zhao was indeed young back then, and he never imagined that his unintentional act and his words of determination to serve the country would lead to so many hardships for him in the years to come.
Wei Qinglou was unwilling for Shen Zhao to continue to be buried in obscurity. He wanted to give Shen Zhao justice, and the first thing he did was to make the former Young Master Zhang, now Lord Zhang, pay the price for what he had done. Therefore, he had people collect and compile evidence of Zhang Jingxuan's crimes in Yujing, planning to personally impeach him after returning to the capital.
Unexpectedly, although Zhang Jingxuan dared not touch him, he directly reached out to Songjiang.
Wei Qinglou still remembers that morning when the chrysanthemums in the courtyard were in full bloom. A few days ago, Shen Zhao said that when the chrysanthemums were in their best bloom, they would go to the farmers' homes in Yuxi to buy crabs, and he would show off his skills to Wei Qinglou.
But when he pushed open the door that day, he only saw Shen Zhao, who was always smiling and cheerful, hanging in mid-air, his face swollen and purple, and his eyes wide open.
However, he did not hang himself. The coroner later determined that he had been injured by being struck with a blunt object, and while he was still alive, he was hung up to make it look like a suicide.
The chrysanthemums were almost finished blooming, but he would never again see that person with a pure heart, who was meticulous and stingy, eat crabs with him.
He was supposed to return in October, but Zhang Jingxuan had an accident in Songjiang, and he couldn't sit still any longer, so he urged people to set off early and returned to Yujing.
Zhu Jiayu was unaware of these details. She simply looked at him with concern, hesitated for a long time, and then said, "Lord Wei, you are busy with official duties, but you must remember to take care of your health."
Wei Qinglou smiled and agreed. Zhu Jiayu didn't know if he had taken her words to heart, but she didn't really care.
For her, she had done her best as a friend, and that was enough.
The two soon parted ways in front of the Xiao residence. Zhu Jiayu returned to the Zhu residence, while Wei Qinglou went to see Song Baopu.
After hearing about Shen Zhao's matter, Song Baopu naturally understood the purpose of his visit. He sighed and said, "Do you know what the most important thing I've learned over the years is?"
Wei Qinglou sat forlornly in his usual spot, drinking tea, completely disregarding whether it was reasonable for him to send Song Baopu, the host, aside.
Without even looking up, he asked, "What?"
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