Xie Lin had gotten quite drowsy, but now chatting with Zhou Gu, his drowsiness had evaporated.
He looked at Zhou Gu, "Even so, isn’t it still against propriety?"
"Where do all these proprieties come from? We are engaged after all, we don’t need to avoid each other that much." Zhou Gu, seeing his surprised looks, added, "Grandfather said we should cultivate our feelings."
In other words, he was simply following his grandfather’s orders, not disregarding propriety.
Xie Lin tsked, "Since when have you been so obedient to your grandfather?"
"When it comes to my fiancee, of course, I have to listen to my grandfather." Zhou Gu shot him a meaningful look.
Xie Lin: "..."
Previously, Zhou Gu gave off the impression of an indifferent person, now he kept mentioning his fiancee at every opportunity, as if to rub in the fact that he himself had none.
After having nothing to say for a while, Xie Lin asked him in a low voice, "Don’t you think that the people from the Su family... are quite strange?"
"Strange how?"
Xie Lin looked at him, "Do I really have to spell it out? The whole Su family, they all exude something peculiar. They’re different from other families."
Zhou Gu put down his teacup, "Happy and harmonious, lively and cheerful, no conflicts, no overbearing rules, parents, daughters, wives, and concubines all interact naturally and casually in a positive atmosphere, is that what you mean?"
Xie Lin paused, then nodded.
"What’s wrong with that?" Zhou Gu raised an eyebrow.
Xie Lin shook his head, "There’s nothing wrong, it’s just that I’ve never encountered such a family before."
Zhou Gu stood up, patting Xie Lin on the shoulder, "Since there’s nothing wrong, this means that it’s very good. The families you’ve seen before, they are the ones who don’t act like real families, they are the ones with problems. We at Duke Residence also live harmoniously."
After he finished, he yawned, "Off to bed!"
Xie Lin opened his mouth, wanting to say "Your Duke Residence is not like this, I’ve been there. The Duke Residence still has heavy rules and isn’t so casual." But obviously, Zhou Gu was no longer listening. Xie Lin had waited for him for an hour and only got a few words in return. Feeling disappointed, he too got up and went to sleep in the next room.
Zhou Gu returned to his room, after a simple wash, he was about to lie down when Zhou Xi found him.
Zhou Xi whispered to Zhou Gu, "Young Master, the fabric sent over from the Brocade Pavilion today..."
Zhou Gu knew what he was about to say, waving his hand, "Gifted from Su Rong."
Zhou Xi was stunned.
Zhou Gu naturally couldn’t just accept so many valuable gifts from Su Rong, but since she sent them without asking for silver in return, and he had already accepted them, he couldn’t exactly return them to the Brocade Pavilion. So be it, he’d make it up to her later by giving her some nice things from his residence. That would be fair.
So, he said to Zhou Xi, "I offered to pay her back in silver, but she refused, said they were gifts for me. Let’s keep them for now. Whenever I have something nice, I’ll give it to her."
Zhou Xi looked at Zhou Gu, "Those fabrics are all very valuable. It won’t be easy to repay her..."
"No worries. We’ll deal with it later. If I don’t have anything suitable, doesn’t my grandfather’s private treasury?" Zhou Gu, having accepted the gifts, did not dwell on it anymore and waved his hand dismissively.
Zhou Xi thought about it and agreed. If Duke Residence couldn’t come up with nice things, where else could they come from? Since the Young Master had said so, he had no further business and took his leave.
Next day, people kept arriving at the Su Residence.
Some were distantly related to the Su Family, some were friends of Governor Su, and some were relatives of Madam Su. Since they were afraid of missing Su Rong’s coming-of-age ceremony due to distance, they arrived a day early to celebrate with Su Rong.
Early in the morning, the Su Residence became quite lively.
After Zhou Gu woke up, hearing the bustling sounds, he asked the servant cleaning the room, "Why is it so lively? Isn’t your Young Miss’ coming-of-age ceremony tomorrow?"
The servant replied with a grin, "Young Master, it’s our Master and Madam’s friends and relatives. Due to the long journey, they arrived a day early."
Zhou Gu nodded in understanding, "Are all the coming-of-age ceremonies of the Su Family’s Misses this festive?"
A coming-of-age ceremony treated with such importance! It wasn’t a great wedding!
"No, only our Seventh Miss’ coming-of-age ceremony is this festive. The previous Misses didn’t have so many guests at theirs." The servant said in a low voice.
Zhou Gu raised his eyebrows, "Why so?"
Weren’t all concubine-born daughters treated the same? Could it be because Su Rong was more beautiful and more likeable?
The servant leaned closer to Zhou Gu, whispering even lower, "It’s because everyone knows that the Seventh Miss is the apple of the Master and Madam’s eyes."
Zhou Gu: "..."
So, it was indeed because he preferred Su Rong.
He thought about the other six young ladies of the Su Family. During his stay at the Su Residence, he had noticed that they were all indeed well-behaved and followed the rules. They didn’t cause any trouble and pushed on with their own things every day. Although they didn’t seem too close to Su Rong, they didn’t show any signs of jealousy either. If one harbored jealousy in their heart, they wouldn’t be able to hide it. But from what he saw, there was none.
He sighed inwardly, wondering whether he should praise the Lady of the Manor for raising her daughters well or praise Su Rong for not inciting others’ jealousy.
He waved at the young servant, not wanting to be surrounded by the hustle and bustle today. Dealing with it the next day would already be enough. So, he turned back toward the inner chamber and called out to Xie Lin, "Are you ready? I’m taking you out of the city to have fun, will you come with me?"
"Yes, yes, yes!" Xie Lin eagerly responded.
So, the two got ready and left the city.
Su Rong was dragged by the Lady of the Manor to attend to the guests. Hearing that Zhou Gu and Xie Lin had left the residence to have fun, she felt extremely envious. She didn’t want to join in the fun yesterday, but now that she wanted to, she couldn’t.
After sending off another group of guests, she let out a secret sigh.
The Lady of the Manor turned and glanced at her, lowering her voice to ask: "What are you sighing about? Is this too many people for you? Wait until you marry into the Duke Residence - that’ll be a real Aristocratic Family. You’ll face many more people then. Why not take this opportunity to practice, to prepare yourself for those hair-raising moments in the future?"
Su Rong reminded her, "Mother, when Zhou Gu is of age, welcoming and sending off guests should be the responsibility of the legitimate eldest daughter-in-law of the Duke Residence, and that has nothing to do with me."
The lady of the manor chuckled dismissively, "Don’t think like that. That eldest grandson, Zhou Wei, is Zhou Gu’s elder brother. If there’s a big feast at home, wouldn’t you, as a sister-in-law, help your elder sister-in-law instead of standing around doing nothing?"
Su Rong blinked, "No way!"
The Lady of the Manor glared at her, "Those who are sensible should lend a helping hand."
Su Rong tilted her head, "But I’m not very sensible, so I can slack off, right?"
The Lady of the Manor: "..."
With such a rotten mindset, she really worried about her future!
The Lady of the Manor felt that she couldn’t teach Su Rong any longer. She simply didn’t have the consciousness. She was serious about learning etiquette and how to interact as an aristocrat from her wet nurse Zhao, but she had always been a bit crooked. Even if she had learned these things, she was inherently lazy and would at most keep up appearances in the future.
Her greatest expectation for her was that she would keep up appearances. That would be good enough.
The Lady of the Manor sighed. Indeed, the limits parents set for their children could be lowered again and again.
Su Rong leaned onto the Lady of the Manor’s arm, half of her body leaning against her to conserve her strength from standing, she comforted her lackadaisically, "Mother, why worry? After all, I am just a humble girl, so expectations of me will not be too high anyway."
The Lady of the Manor got irritated, "Can’t you let people look up to you a little, and let them be dumbfounded?"
"Being too outstanding isn’t good, the tall tree catches the most wind." Su Rong was serious, "Especially when it doesn’t match your social status, there’s only harm and no benefits."
The Lady of the Manor: "..."
These words did make sense, and she was almost convinced by her.
She glared at her, "What about when you have to establish your own household? Do you still not need to welcome and send off guests then?"
"Zhou Gu will be there." Su Rong seemed unconcerned, "He understands all that."
"He is a man, he has his own responsibilities. Do you want him to worry about household matters and manage diplomacy with the other ladies every day?" The Lady of the Manor disapprovingly retorted, "If you weren’t my daughter, I would really want to dunk you underwater and thoroughly wash your brains. How do you even dare to say such things? What on earth are you thinking of every day?"
"Then find an efficient wet nurse to handle the household." Su Rong imagined.
The Lady of the Manor admonished her, "A wet nurse is a wet nurse. How can she compare to a wife?"
Su Rong continued to imagine, "Then find him a few good concubines, the kind who can manage the household."
The Lady of the Manor was speechless, "When ladies visit each other, would you really let your concubines take the lead, wouldn’t that offend everyone?"
Su Rong continued to imagine, "Then find Zhou Gu a concubine wife, A concubine wife should be well-qualified."
The Lady of the Manor was so mad her nose was almost crooked, "Su Rong, you are really something."
Just to avoid work and trouble, she had even suggested that Zhou Gu should take a concubine wife. It was fortunate that Zhou Gu couldn’t hear this, or else who knows what he would think?
The Lady of the Manor was so angry she couldn’t choose her words carefully, she lowered her voice and asked angrily: "Are you willing to share Zhou Gu with others?"
Su Rong: "..."
Um, that’s something she really can’t bear to do!
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