Zhou Ziyou invited, "Sister Xu, our Meilan Poetry Society will have a gathering on May 8th. You should come too. You're such a good chess player, so you must be a good poet too."
Xu Lanyin smiled and said, "Unfortunately, we are going home soon." Even if she was not going home, she was not willing to attend any poetry reading.
Zhou Ziyou felt a little regretful and added, "My fourth cousin likes the teahouse my sister opened so much. It must be very unique. I also want to go there, but it's a pity that I can't go."
Xu Lanyin smiled and said, "I will open another Xinyun Teahouse in the capital in the future. You are all welcome to come and have fun when it opens."
Zhou Ziyou was about to say "OK" when Zhou Zimei spoke up first, "Master Xu is no longer a secret guard. He's an official now, and Miss Xu is a daughter of an official family. Why does she still have to go out and do business to make a living?"
Her presumptuous decision to have a chance encounter with Zhao Wulai had infuriated Madam Zhou, who gave her a good scolding. She felt deeply wronged. She was the daughter of the emperor's uncle and the granddaughter of the Grand Tutor. Even a widow from a prominent family shouldn't have been married off to a poor young man, especially a warrior. If she really had to marry down, a humble scholar was better than an uneducated warrior. Unfortunately, her parents were far away in Shaanxi, leaving no one to truly plan for her, and the head of the family only cared about her as a pawn...
Hearing that Xu Lanyin was very close to that poor boy, she disliked Xu Lanyin as well. She also looked down on Zhou Ziyou in her heart. She had a good family background, good looks, and future in-laws, but she still pretended to be a good person. The Fourth Prince was a fool. No matter how much he valued that girl, he would not show his affection like this and lower his own status.
Xu Lanyin glanced at Miss Zhou San, who was condescendingly educating her, and smiled, "Miss Zhou is lucky to be born into a wealthy family. My father passed away and never returned. As the eldest daughter, if I didn't go out to earn a living, not only would we not be able to support my younger brothers' education, we wouldn't even be able to afford food."
Grandma Zhou glanced at Zhou Zimei. No wonder her mother-in-law said she was short-sighted. She looked smart, but she was actually a fool. Grandfather had invited Miss Xu to show his favor to Xu Qingyan and Zhao Wu. Why bother inviting someone here and then offending them?
She smiled and said, "Third sister was born in our family, so she doesn't know the suffering of the common people. It was difficult for Miss Xu during Master Xu's absence. Alas, Master Xu's identity must be kept secret. I heard that your family has land and houses, so you should have no worries about making a living. So our family didn't dare to take care of your family."
Xu Lanyin said with a smile, "Although I am the daughter of a poor family, I also know that I can't lose the big picture for the sake of small things."
He thought to himself that Xu Qingyan had been gone for many years, and the Zhou family hadn't even helped his family secretly. Not only was they afraid that the Yi Ju Restaurant would notice, but they also didn't regard the secret guards as human beings.
Secret guards and assassins were all bought by their masters at a very young age. While they were working for them, their bodies and lives belonged to their masters, completely severing ties with their former families and often not even knowing where their families were. Xu Qingyan was unique, having become a secret guard at the age of thirteen and even marrying and having children.
These wealthy families didn't consider their secret guards and death squads human, so how could they possibly care for his family members? Only after Xu Qingyan completed his mission, becoming a hero and gaining greater value, did they begin to consider him human. Some of the secret guards and death squads who died were reduced to a pile of earth, perhaps without even a coffin.
Privately kept secret guards and death squads, such bizarre and human rights-defying professions only existed in ancient times.
Perhaps there was another reason, which was that the Zhou family valued Zhou Xin and her feelings more. When Grand Tutor Zhou arrived today, he took Xu Lanyue with him, probably to see if she had been wronged.
Grandma Zhou was very satisfied with Xu Lanyin's attitude and nodded with a smile.
The servants brought the chess set, and Xu Lanyin and Liu Zhaohou started playing chess. Xu Lanyin was no match for him and lost every game.
Liu Zhaohou was so happy that he danced with joy and said, "I won but no one else was so happy. I was the happiest when I won against Sister Xu."
Xu Lanyin smiled and patted him twice.
Xu Lanyin doesn't talk much, but every word she says touches Liu Zhaohou's heart, which makes Liu Zhaohou even happier. He always monopolizes Xu Lanyin to play chess.
Seeing that Zhou Ziyou was unhappy, Xu Lan suggested playing military chess, with the loser winning, and she also pulled Zhou Ziyou in.
The three of them played chess until lunch.
After dinner, Liu Zhaohou asked Xu Lanyin and Zhou Ziyu to play chess again.
Zhou Zimei was unhappy and said a few unpleasant words, but was stopped by Grandma Zhou with a look.
The Zhou family didn't dare overtly interact with the Wu Palace, maintaining a good relationship with the royal family. They relied mainly on the Fourth Prince occasionally visiting the palace to play with Zhou Ziyou. As long as Liu Zhaohou was happy, he would play with anyone.
At the beginning of the afternoon, Xu Lanyin was about to leave and asked someone to call Xu Lanyue over.
Liu Zhaohou was very reluctant to leave and said, "Sister Xu, if you come here to play again, please ask my fifth cousin to go to the palace and tell me."
Xu Lanyin thought to herself, how could she be so shameless? She didn't dare to promise and just smiled.
When Xu Lanyue came over, Grandma Zhou gave the Xu family four pieces of embroidered satin and two jade hairpins for each sister.
After the Xu sisters left, Grandma Zhou had the chess sets opened. The chess and military chess sets were made of fine wood and exquisitely carved. The checkers were especially beautiful, with tiny marbles made of white jade, topaz, and red agate. They were brightly colored and unique, and extremely beautiful.
She didn't dare to keep such a unique gift, so she sent someone to deliver it to Old Master Zhou and told him about Xu Lanyin's performance today.
Old Grand Tutor Zhou hadn't expected Xu Qingyan's eldest daughter to actually be Miss Xu, the owner of the Xinyue Teahouse in Ningzhou Prefecture. Thanks to Liu Zhaohou, he'd also heard about Xinyue Teahouse and learned it offered three new chess styles. He particularly liked Western chess and military chess. It was said that military chess was derived from Luboqi by that girl and her brother.
Thinking about Xu Lanyue's fondness for her eldest sister, Grand Tutor Zhou felt that Xu Qingyan's eldest daughter was not only intelligent, but also generous and forward-looking. Of course, she was also lucky, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to pick blackroot grass and receive guidance from the old doctor to sell medicine at the Herbal Medicine Hall.
Especially after hearing Xu Lanyin's words, reported by the servants, which were both profoundly righteous and hinted at the Xu family's past difficulties, Grand Tutor Zhou blushed. He felt that even though he had been shrewd and calculating, he had still made mistakes in his old age. He should have known earlier that he would pay more attention to the Xu family...
Back at the Zhao family compound, Xu Qingyan asked the sisters about their trip to the Zhou Mansion.
Xu Qingyan was delighted to learn that his daughter was acquainted with the Fourth Prince. The Fourth Prince was not only favored by the Emperor and the Queen Mother, but also greatly loved by his brother, the Prince of Wu.
Xu Lanyue received a few jade ornaments from the old Grand Tutor and generously gave them to Xu Lanyin. Xu Lanyin refused and said with a smile, "Keep them. When you have your own boudoir, they'll look great on your desk or antique shelf."
Xu Lanyue continued, "Grandpa Zhou asked me if I was willing to stay in the Zhou Mansion, and I said I couldn't bear to leave my father and eldest sister."
Xu Qingyan was so happy that he smiled and praised, "Good girl." Then he winked at Xu Lanyin.
Xu Lanyin knew that he was going to tell Xu Lanyue about Zhou Xin, so she got up and left.
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