Governor Su quite liked Xie Lin, thinking he and Zhou Gu were good kids. At the very least when he had several of his unmarried, exquisite daughters sitting there, Xie Lin didn’t fix his gaze on any of them specifically, save for an initial glance at them all. This showed he wasn’t lustful. After all, his daughters were as beautiful as flowers and jade. Su Rong had the most outstanding looks, but the others weren’t much far behind.
Even though Xie Lin couldn’t hold his liquor well, his gaze was always clear and righteous, which was very commendable.
He didn’t understand how he and Zhou Gu could end up fighting over a woman, causing such a commotion.
With the Governor’s fondness for talented young men, he invited Xie Lin to stay after dinner, "Dear nephew, why don’t you stay here in our residence? There’s no need for you to return to the inn. Our place may not be all that big, but we can squeeze a bit, and there will be a place for you."
The wife of the governor also quite liked Xie Lin, "Exactly, just stay one! We still have a place for you in our residence."
Xie Lin didn’t want to leave after hearing their words, but would it be appropriate to stay like this? He looked towards Zhou Gu, "Should I stay?"
Zhou Gu felt that ever since Xie Lin arrived, his favor with the Governor and his wife was waning, "Stay if you’d like to stay."
Xie Lin made the decision quickly, "Then thank you, Uncle and Auntie, I won’t shy away and will stay." After saying this, he quickly added: "There is no need to arrange a separate courtyard for me, I can share a courtyard with Zhou Gu."
The wife of the governor laughed, "There is no need for you to squeeze."
Zhou Gu didn’t have any objections, "Alright, Auntie, don’t go to the trouble of arranging separately, let him stay with me in the same courtyard."
The wife of the governor smiled and nodded at their words, "Alright then."
So after dinner, Su Xingze escorted Xie Lin to the guesthouse where Zhou Gu was staying. Xie Lin took a few steps, not seeing Zhou Gu follow, he asked Su Xingze, "Brother Su, why isn’t Brother Zhou coming along with us?"
"He has something he wants to discuss with my sister." Su Xingze said. "I’ll take Brother Xie to rest first."
Xie Lin nodded, wondering if Zhou Gu was so clingy? He still needed to have a private chat with his fiancée after dinner late at night? This was really an eye-opener.
Zhou Gu was already accustomed to taking a post-dinner stroll with Su Rong, so he didn’t think anything of it.
It was only now that Su Rong got the chance to ask Zhou Gu, "You and Xie Lin, your relationship is quite good?"
Zhou Gu shook his head, "Who has a good relationship with him?"
Su Rong was taken aback, "It seems like you get along quite well, if even this doesn’t count as a good relationship, then what does?"
Zhou Gu opened his mouth, the thoughts in his mind about setting up Xie Lin obviously couldn’t be disclosed to Su Rong, otherwise he would seem very bad. He touched his nose and came up with an excuse, "That, our relationship wasn’t good before, we didn’t see eye to eye with each other, and didn’t play together. Now, isn’t it because that day I snatched the person he liked, Qin Luan, right under his nose? It could be considered that I ruined his good situation, and I feel a bit sorry for him."
Su Rong finally understood. "So that’s how it is, no wonder..."
Su Rong actually believed him, after all, this reason was foolproof. Zhou Gu had already told her that when he snatched Qin Luan it was because someone entrusted him to do so and he ended up regretting it deeply. Xie Lin, not being able to snatch Qin Luan, could only accept his bad luck.
Zhou Gu, since he regretted it and felt he was in the wrong, it wouldn’t be strange for him to compensate the victim.
Seeing that she believed him, Zhou Gu let out a sigh of relief and quickly changed the topic, "That, today when I took Xie Lin to Zuihua Building, your reputation was quite strong. They even gave me face. When I left, I intended to leave some silver behind but Miss Yuniang wasn’t there. They told me to just leave."
Su Rong blinked and nodded with a smile, intentionally misinterpreting his meaning, "Congratulations, Brother Zhou. You’ve finally learned to go on your own and have some fun there."
Zhou Gu’s face turned red and he glared at her, "What are you talking about?"
He coughed awkwardly and turned his face away, "I just felt that the place wasn’t too bad, so I thought of taking Xie Lin there to broaden his views since he had never been there before. That way I could also get some information out of him, to understand why he came to Jiangning. Unexpectedly, he truly came just because he was bored and wanted to take a tour of Jiangning."
Naturally, he didn’t mention that Xie Lin actually came to see the entertainment after Duanhua, he didn’t even want to mention Duanhua’s name.
Su Rong nodded, "In the past, not many people visited Jiangning, but this year there are indeed a lot of distinguished guests, one after another."
On hearing this, Zhou Gu turned his head back, "Besides Ning Chi and Xie Lin, who else is there?"
Su Rong wanted to say that there was also the Crown Prince, but she held it back and laughed, "And there’s you. Isn’t that enough? Anyway, I’m sure there are others I don’t know about. I always feel that this year is busier than previous years, with many more people coming and going."
Zhou Gu said, "That’s a good thing. Your father’s achievements should be known by more people. He should also be transferred elsewhere. Having interacted with your father these past few days, I feel that the Imperial Court needs people like him. Keeping him in Jiangning all this while is a waste."
Su Rong laughed, "That’s true."
Anyway, she had also grown up now, and her father and Uncle Xie had protected her for so many years, which was enough.
After the two of them took a stroll for a while, they sat down in the pavilion of the Water Pavilion. Zhou Gu spoke to Su Rong about the matter he had been concerned about, "Today, the clothes you gave me, I had Zhou Xi calculate the price, and I can compensate you."
Su Rong paused as she reached for her teacup, "What do you mean?"
Zhou Gu looked at her, "It’s truly too much and too valuable, I can’t accept it."
Su Rong understood, speaking seriously, "If I said it’s a gift for you, then it is. Once I’ve gifted it, there is absolutely no need for you to repay me. If I asked you to pay me back, wouldn’t I just be selling you something? After all, I do have shares in the Embroidery Square."
"I’ve never received gifts from anyone, let alone such valuables." Zhou Gu said.
Su Rong smiled, "Is that so? Can a fiancée be considered `someone else’?"
Zhou Gu choked a little, wanting to say that indeed a fiancée isn’t ’someone else’, but all we have so far is a paper marriage contract. However, the words never left his mouth.
Su Rong poured two cups of tea, pushed one to Zhou Gu, and said leisurely: "Brother Zhou, don’t feel burdened, it’s really nothing. I wanted to give it to you, so just accept it."
Zhou Gu opened his mouth, wanting to say, you’ve given me such an expensive gift, what am I supposed to give you in return? Just like Xie Lin said, his savings were a far cry less than what those clothes were worth.
Seeing his expression, Su Rong knew what he was thinking, and smilingly said: "Gold and silver have a price, clothes have a price, but the sentiment is priceless, isn’t it?"
Zhou Gu’s heart suddenly skipped a beat, his ears turned a little red, and for a moment, he didn’t know whether or not he should agree with a "yes".
"Have some tea!" Su Rong picked up her own cup of tea.
Zhou Gu also picked up his tea cup by reflex, only to feel that today’s tea seemed hotter than usual. He held it up to his lips, then set it down again. Suddenly, he asked, "So, you have a lot of savings?"
"Hmm, quite a lot."
Zhou Gu looked at her, puzzled, "If you have so much in savings, why did you secretly take fifty taels of silver from your older brother? Can you bear to do that?"
Su Rong: "..."
She coughed once, "He is my elder brother!"
Zhou Gu was puzzled, "So what if he’s your elder brother?"
Su Rong defended herself, "What are older brothers for? By nature they are born to be exploited by their younger sisters. If sisters don’t take advantage of them, other women will."
Zhou Gu: "..."
Well, her argument actually made sense. As her elder brother, Su Xingze was really unlucky.
Zhou Gu was speechless for a moment, he looked around, no one was approaching the water pavilion, he asked, "So, what valuable gifts have you given to elder Brother Su?"
"Candy roasted chestnuts, roasted goose, roasted duck, grilled fish, I’ve sent all of these." Su Rong counted a bunch of food items, using her fingers.
Zhou Gu: "..."
He emphasized, "I’m referring to valuable ones."
"Isn’t the grilled fish that I caught and cooked with my own hands valuable?" Su Rong looked at him, "The rest, I carried back to the residence myself, aren’t they valuable?"
Of course, Zhou Gu couldn’t say they weren’t valuable. He was speechless for a while.
Su Rong beamed, "I understand what you mean, there aren’t any."
Zhou Gu wasn’t sure whether to feel happy for himself or feel sorry for Su Xingze, but at that moment, his feelings were extremely complicated.
After spending a while drinking tea, the two of them each returned to their respective courtyards.
When Zhou Gu returned to the inn, Xie Lin was still awake, sitting in the drawing room drinking tea, waiting for him. Upon seeing Zhou Gu return, he asked, "Why are you returning so late?"
Zhou Gu glanced at him, sat down, poured a cup of tea, took a sip, and said, "I was out walking with my fiancée."
Xie Lin: "..."
Late into the night, they were out walking for an hour? What’s wrong with the Su family? They’re not even officially married yet, don’t they pay any heed to proper etiquette between men and women? They’re so relaxed about letting the two of them stay together so late at night? He initially thought that the ’discussion’ Su Xingze mentioned would just be over a cup of tea; he didn’t expect to wait for an hour.
He was shocked, "Does the Su family not care?"
Zhou Gu paused while drinking his tea, "What would they care for? We were just strolling along the water pavilion within the residence. The residence is full of people at all times, and even late at night, there are lamps everywhere. There’s absolutely no pitch-dark place. What’s the matter with us staying together?"
After all, they didn’t do anything inappropriate. Su Rong wanted him to hold her that day, he didn’t even dare to.
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