After discussing with Miss Huo, Jiang Zhi and Miss Huo finalized their plans for next year. Just as they were about to ask the waiter to reserve a private room at a restaurant so they could have dinner together, someone came to deliver a message: "Master Xiang from the yamen is here!"
Miss Huo was slightly surprised, but after thinking for a moment, she said to Jiang Zhi, "Master Xiang from the yamen is probably here to see Madam Jiang."
So much time has passed that she now knows that Jiang Zhi is not only valued by Magistrate Zhang, but also has close ties with several yamen runners.
Merchants in the city all know that the most troublesome people to deal with when getting things done at the government office are the petty clerks and runners.
A single word can make someone suffer in front of the county magistrate; it's best not to offend him if possible.
While others rarely befriend even one or two people, Madam Jiang always has two or three people to receive her whenever she comes to the city. The yamen runner who is coming now is a favorite of Magistrate Zhang.
When Jiang Zhi heard that Xiang Dejin had come looking for her, she knew that Xiaoman had seen him, so she stood up and said, "There may be something else going on, so I won't bother you any longer, Miss. I'll go see him now!"
Xiang Dejin, dressed in his official uniform, was waiting in the front of the pharmacy. As soon as he saw Jiang Zhi, he said, "Aunt Jiang, I didn't believe Xiaoman when she said you were here. Why don't you come home and sit down first? Come on, I asked your nephew's wife to cook a good meal today. You must come home for dinner."
They've come to pick her up for dinner at their home.
Jiang Zhi smiled and said "okay," then bid farewell to Miss Huo and left Huo Family Pharmacy with Xiang Dejin.
It was already afternoon, and there were few pedestrians on the street, but customers were still visiting the shops on both sides of the street.
Jiang Zhi and Xiang Dejin talked as they walked toward the house he had bought.
Xiang Dejin had prepared the courtyard in the summer, but Jiang Zhi had never been there.
The two walked across the main street and entered a side road, quickly disappearing behind houses of varying heights.
"Second Aunt, do you think this piece of fabric is nice? I want to make a summer shirt from it!"
"Second Aunt! What are you looking at? Second Aunt!"
On the main street that Jiang Zhi and Xiang Dejin walked along, a mother and daughter, along with servants and maids, were selecting fabrics in a cloth shop.
Wearing a small brocade jacket, Du Jinying placed a piece of cloth on herself and gestured with delight.
A maidservant held the bronze mirror for her, moving it up and down to allow for a full-range observation.
Du Jinying called out several times but received no response. Turning around, she saw her stepmother looking at the street and not hearing her at all.
She frowned immediately, threw the fabric on the counter in a huff, and shouted, "Second Aunt, what's wrong with you? You keep looking at what's outside. Are you just unwilling to buy me fabric?"
The woman, who had been called "Second Aunt" by Du Jinying, snapped back to her senses and saw Du Jinying glaring at her angrily. She quickly tried to appease her, saying, "Jinying, if you like it, then buy it! But you already have several bolts of cloth for summer clothes, so why not choose a thicker one for winter clothes?"
Du Jinying pouted and shook her head: "I don't want thick winter clothes. Wearing thick clothes makes it hard to move around. Summer clothes are much nicer!"
Second Aunt frowned: "You can't just prepare summer clothes and then, after you get married, not even have a winter garment in your trunk..."
Du Jinying grew impatient and interrupted her directly: "Alright, alright, I knew it. I wasn't born of you. You're in charge of the household, and now that Dad isn't at the old house, you think you can fool me however you want?"
Second Aunt's expression changed drastically. She held back for a moment before saying, "Jin Ying, you have grown up on my milk all these years. I have always treated you as my own daughter. Even your younger brother Du Xiao is not as favored as you."
Du Jinying snorted coldly, her pretty sixteen or seventeen-year-old face full of meanness: "My younger brother? Haven't you always said that my mother died a long time ago?"
"Since my mother is dead, there's no way I have a younger brother; he's just the child you had with my father."
"No matter what you think, he's still your own brother!"
The second aunt's face also looked grim. She couldn't understand how her daughter, whom she had raised with her own hands and who used to be well-behaved and sensible, could become so willful and capricious after her engagement, and even dislike her only younger brother.
But... there are some things that can't be said.
Du Jinying pulled out a handkerchief, habitually covered her nose, and whispered, "Who knows whose child that little brat is? If you hadn't given birth to him, my father would never have married you as his second wife."
The second mistress's face was beyond ugly; fortunately, the servants around her were used to the second mistress's forbearance in front of the eldest young lady and did not react.
The second aunt, her face dark, picked up the silk cloth that had been tossed aside and said in a low voice, "If Jin Ying really likes this cloth, then wrap her up! I'll persuade your father to add another fifty taels to your dowry!"
Du Jinying immediately became happy: "I want a hundred taels, or I'll ask Father to buy me a shop in Jincheng!"
"Okay, your dad only has you as his daughter, he'll definitely agree."
Seeing her daughter happy, "Second Aunt" smiled again, but her gaze still drifted toward the intersection where Jiang Zhi had walked.
The place was now deserted, except for a man selling tung oil umbrellas who came out from the intersection, the umbrellas he carried on his shoulder having dark blue canopies...
"Second Sister" breathed a sigh of relief: she must have been seeing things, mistaking the umbrella for a blue cloth garment, and thus mistaken the person.
It seems I was really frightened when I saw it on the street last time. I had nightmares for days afterward, and I'm still in a daze.
My sister-in-law is a stupid person who only knows how to shout and work like an ox. How could she be in the city at this time, and with a yamen runner by her side? This is absolutely impossible.
Xu Yuxian touched her head full of jewels, then looked at Du Jinying beside her, lowered her eyes, and said gently, "Jinying, now that we've bought the cloth, let's go back!"
Even though your wedding is still more than half a year away, it's not good to keep showing yourself in public like this. If the Gu family finds out, they'll gossip about you after you get married.
Upon hearing the name Gu family, Du Jinying frowned and stamped her foot, saying, "Really, why did Father insist on arranging this marriage for me with the Gu family? I don't like Gu San. He has more rules than hair, and he's so old-fashioned. I just find him annoying!"
Despite saying that, she still obediently turned around and went out.
Although Gu San looks old, the Gu family is wealthy and has helped the Du family a lot over the years. If I marry into the family, I will be the young mistress.
Seeing that Du Jinying obediently left, Xu Yuxian was finally relieved.
To completely escape Pingchuan County, he hid in Jincheng for more than a decade.
If it weren't for the strict rules of the Gu family, which required the new bride to live in the old house for a year, she would never have come back.
Jiang Zhi and Xiang Dejin walked across the intersection and through several alleys before stopping in front of an ordinary house.
Just as Xiang Dejin was about to knock, the gate opened from the inside, and Xiaoman poked her head out with a grin: "Sister-in-law Suqing said that Brother Xiang has returned, and it really is!"
When Jiang Zhi entered the courtyard, Wu Hongmao and several others were already sitting inside. As soon as they saw Jiang Zhi, they greeted her, "Aunt Jiang!" "Aunt Jiang!"
These people included those who had previously recuperated at Laoyun Cliff, as well as Xiang Dejin's colleagues from the yamen.
The Suqing sister-in-law that Xiaoman mentioned is Xiang Dejin's wife.
Jiang Zhi had said that she would attend the wedding, but Xiang Dejin felt that his hometown was too far away and unsafe to go to, so it would be better to meet her in Pingchuan County.
At this moment, the new bride was cooking in the kitchen.
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