Xie Lin had noticed Zhou Gu, he was accompanied by a delicate lady who was stunningly beautiful and her skin was fair. As they walked side by side, their bodies were close to each other, whispering something and chuckling along.
Xie Lin was shocked, Zhou Gu never had been friendly with a lady before. Even when it came to Qin Luan, before the Qin family became infamous, the two of them could at least maintain a distance when talking. For other ladies, be it on purpose or not, he always kept a distance from them thinking his handsome looks and distinguished family background were irresistible to women. Unlike now, when he walked along with the lady, so close that their garments could touch each other.
Xie Lin doubted Zhou Gu’s introduction of his fiancée, who was a low-born girl, and was wondering if Zhou Gu boasted too much to show off to him. Maybe Zhou Gu was fearful of being a laughingstock for the little low-born fiancee? Otherwise, why would he show her off with all his strength? He was unable to understand his motive, even after knowing him from their childhood, Zhou Gu always wanted to be superior and never wanted to be made fun of. This was why he decided to stay home for many days after being beaten up by the Duke for unsuccessfully attempting to snatch Qin Luan from Zhou Gu, just like Xie Lin.
However, seeing Zhou Gu with their own eyes now, Xie Lin wasn’t sure if his initial judgments about Zhou Gu were wrong. He walked towards Zhou Gu and Su Rong, said, "You said Jiangning is good, so I came to see it.", he looked at Su Rong, "And this lady is..."
Zhou Gu stood up straight and introduced her, "This is my fiancee, Su Rong, whom I mentioned to you before leaving the capital city."
Xie Lin thought to himself that this woman was indeed Zhou Gu’s fiancée, the low-born girl born to the seventh lady of the Governor of Su’s Residence. Su Rong now lives in Jiangning, but she is quite famous in the Capital City because everyone knows that Zhou Gu has a low-born fiancée from the Governor of Jiangning’s Residence. it’s fair to say, it has shocked many people. Most people think that this marriage engagement is strange due to the huge social difference between the families and rumors predicting that it will be canceled sooner or later.
But looking at Zhou Gu now, he really doubted whether this marriage engagement could ever be canceled? They are already so close, even though they are only engaged.
Xie Lin looked closely at Su Rong. He was surprised by her appearance and temperament. Compared to his imagination of how the low-born girl would behave from the backyard of the Governor’s Residence, she stood by Zhou Gu’s side confidently, letting him take a good look at herself, while she was also looking at him. Her eyes were not timid at all, but rather warm.
This temperament is not at all inferior to the maidens from powerful families in the Capital City.
He did not expect that such an extraordinary girl would be raised in the small Governor’s Residence in Jiangning County. It’s no wonder Zhou Gu boasted about her to him. He didn’t want to admit that Qin Luan, though she also has such a temperament, lost to Su Rong in terms of appearance. Moreover, before the Qin family was condemned, Qin Luan’s demeanor in front of young masters like them wasn’t as open as Su Rong’s demeanor.
Xie Lin suppressed his thoughts and saluted Su Rong, "Lady Su Qi, I am Xie Lin from the Wang Residence."
Su Rong was also surprised, she didn’t expect Zhou Gu and Xie Lin to have a good relationship? This wasn’t like the deadly rivalry she had imagined. Seeing Xie Lin, Zhou Gu was overly enthusiastic and Xie Lin had said hello to Zhou Gu first, they seemed to be very friendly to each other?
Su Rong didn’t quite understand the relationship between men after fights. At least in her mind, she still didn’t like Chen Zhou, she felt a headache every time she saw him and wished she could beat him up again.
She nodded with a smile, "Hello to the young master Xie. I’ve heard of you from Brother Zhou. He said that you two are good friends, I did not expect that you would also come to Jiangning City."
Xie Lin was stunned by Su Rong’s casual mention of ’Brother Zhou’. He remembered that when they were young, Zhou Gu had warned a girl from a family that was friendly with the Duke’s family not to call him ’Brother Zhou’, thinking that it sounded nasty and asked the girl to call him by his name. Now after so many years, someone was calling him ’Brother Zhou’ again, and he looked proud and pleased, without any sign of discomfort.
It did, indeed, appear that "what goes around comes around" was true for Zhou Gu as well. Was this the special treatment that came with being a fiancee?
Xie Lin wanted to interject and say, "Who is good friends with him?", but seeing Su Rong’s friendly smile, he couldn’t say it. All he could do was nod. "I was getting bored in the Capital City, so I decided to travel. I arrived in Jiangning an hour ago."
He turned to Zhou Gu, "After getting settled, I came out for a wander and ran into you. I’m staying at the Eight Directions Inn, where are you staying since you’ve been here for so long?"
Zhou Gu modestly replied, "I am naturally staying in the Governor’s Residence. Uncle Su and Auntie Su have been so hospitable that I couldn’t refuse their kindness."
Xie Lin: "..."He regretted asking. He didn’t have a father-in-law and mother-in-law that he could stay with and be warmly treated.
Zhou Gu invited Xie Lin, "We are going to the Brocade Pavilion, would you like to join us?"
"The Brocade Pavilion only sells clothes, what’s there to see?" Xie Lin looked at him, let his eyes slide over to Su Rong and understood, "Are you going to buy clothes for Lady Su Qi?"
"No, she is accompanying me to buy," Zhou Gu feared that Xie Lin would refuse, "Join us to buy clothes, and then I can show you around Jiangning afterward. I’ve been here for several days and have visited everywhere. I can be your guide."
Since Xie Lin was unfamiliar with Jiangning and had followed Zhou Gu out of curiosity and to avoid being bored in the capital, he had no objection to Zhou Gu’s proposition, "Alright!"
Zhou Gu was overjoyed at Xie Lin’s agreement, as he had plans in mind.
Su Rong naturally didn’t know about Zhou Gu’s gloomy thoughts, only that he seemed overly excited upon seeing Xie Lin. Could this be a consequence of their fight? Or had their relationship always been good? Was he so thrilled because he hadn’t seen his close friend in so long that it felt like an eternity? That they had become noticeably emotional upon seeing each other?
But that didn’t fit. After all, Zhou Gu didn’t seem overly happy when he saw Xie Lin from the window at the Drunken Goose.
Xie Lin noticed something was off too, thinking that Zhou Gu might have gone nuts, probably from the beating he got from his grandfather after seizing Qin Luan. On the day of their departure from the Capital City, Zhou Gu was incredibly enthusiastic, initiating a reconciliation. Now, he was even more friendly towards him. They had never been this close before, not even since their childhood.
Could it be that he genuinely had feelings for his fiancée and so he was in high spirits, treating everyone like family?
The three of them quickly arrived at the Brocade Pavilion. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢
Since the Brocade Pavilion was partially Su Rong’s property, as soon as she entered, the shopkeeper immediately came out to greet her with a smile, "Miss Su Qi, it’s been quite some time since you last visited."
Smiling, Su Rong replied, "My mother has been teaching me how to manage the household, and I haven’t had the time to visit."
The shopkeeper had heard rumors that Su Rong had been kept busy learning protocols. He responded with a smile, "No bother if you’re too busy, as long as you let us know and we’ll send the fabric samples to your residence. There’s no need for you to take the trouble to come here."
"I have enough clothes, but today I’m here to make a batch for my fiancé, as he didn’t bring many clothes to Jiangning." Su Rong grabbed Zhou Gu’s arm and pulled him to the front. "Choose the best quality cloth... Choose about... ten different ones to make ten sets."
When she finished speaking, she looked at Zhou Gu, "Ten suits should be enough, right?"
Zhou Gu was silent for a moment before replying, "That’s enough."
In fact, he wanted to say it was too much, but with Xie Lin there, he didn’t say it.
Su Rong nodded to the shopkeeper, "Just ten sets."
The shopkeeper sized up Zhou Gu and then broke into a big smile. "Young Master Zhou and Miss Su Qi are indeed a perfect match, a talented lad and a beautiful maiden."
Zhou Gu coughed lightly into his hand but didn’t refute his words.
Su Rong smiled and nodded, "Everyone says that."
The shopkeeper’s eyes sparkled, smiling and saying, "Young Master Zhou looks good. He would look better than others even in ordinary clothes. But we had a new batch of top-grade material delivered just last night. They are comparable to the ones supplied to the Imperial court. Ordinary people can’t handle them, but Young Master Zhou can. What do you think, Miss Su Qi..."
Zhou Gu immediately replied, "We’ll take the ordinary ones."
Almost simultaneously, Su Rong interjected, "We’ll take the new batch you mentioned."
Zhou Gu turned to look at Su Rong.
She spoke in her soft voice, "Please, Zhou Brother, listen to me."
Zhou Gu fell silent.
Seeing Xie Lin out of the corner of his eye, he agreed, "All right, I’ll listen to you."
Su Rong saw him relent and told the shopkeeper with a smile, "Bring it all to the counter, I’ll pick them myself."
"Alright!" The shopkeeper agreed, instructing his shop assistants to carry them over.
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