Chapter 274: Chapter 274: So, Turns Out You’ve Got Someone Else
Right now is the time for lunch, so the number of tourists on the road has halved. The noise on the street also quietened down.
"Tomorrow’s spring hunt, Wei Zhuzhu will also attend, and Daddy actually wants me to introduce her to the noble ladies of Shengjing at the hunting ground."
She sarcastically said, "Just for Wei Zhuzhu, he’s actually willing to be all smiles with me. Such fatherly love and filial piety, truly enviable."
Wei Yingying was feeling stifled.
"This time, she withdrew a silver note at the accounting office and went to the third floor of Yunxiang Pavilion to buy clothes again."
"What sort of man from a noble family would go blind to fancy someone like her?"
The more she thought, the angrier she became. She then looked down at herself.
The clothes she was wearing were last year’s style.
"Ji Teng."
Her face flushed as she said to Ji Teng next to her, "The silver I gave you last time, have you spent it all?"
She felt awkward about asking for it back but didn’t want to be completely trampled underfoot by Wei Zhuzhu.
Wei Yingying steeled her heart.
"Lend me fifty taels first."
"Twenty taels will do, too."
"I just want to get a new piece of clothing."
Not from Yunxiang Pavilion, but at least it would be new clothes.
Ji Teng bowed his head, "I only repaired the house I live in, the rest of the silver was all saved."
Just as Wei Yingying felt a rush of joy, she heard Ji Teng continue.
"I don’t dare to spend too much, always thinking that the need for silver in the future might be greater. You know my situation, not favored by the Emperor, I can’t expect much from the Imperial Family. After being skimmed layer by layer, the monthly salary of the Prince that reaches my hands can’t even afford to buy you a silver hairpin. I think about bearing the hardships myself, but I can’t let you and our future children suffer."
Wei Yingying felt inexplicably ashamed hearing this.
She, blinded by vanity, only thought about competing to buy clothes, never considering such distant concerns...
Right, she would have children with Ji Teng in the future.
Children are gold-eating beasts!
Ji Teng: "I will go back to the mansion and get it for you now."
"No!"
Wei Yingying stopped him.
"I don’t want clothes anymore."
Ji Teng felt ashamed: "But that was your silver."
"I’ve already given it to you!"
Wei Yingying: "Keep it safe! I can do without new clothes, but your daughter needs to wear them."
Her thoughts weighed heavy, and as she looked up inadvertently, she saw the wide-open window of a private room on the second floor of the restaurant.
The lady sitting inside was Xie Yining.
Wei Yingying was about to retract her gaze when it landed on another familiar face.
Shen Hua!
She was furious.
"All these days, I sent her so many invitations to come out, and she has been refusing them all!"
"Good, it turns out there’s someone else outside!"
Ji Teng: ...
"If it were Marquis Cui, I would accept it, but why Xie Yining! Anyway, I’ve known Shen Hua longer than her."
Hearing the term ’Marquis Cui’, Ji Teng’s eyes flickered.
He followed Wei Yingying’s gaze.
Shen Hua, the daughter of the Shen Family’s Embroidery Workshop, fifteen years old. A master of embroidery, she not only inherited her mother’s skills but also surpassed her.
Ji Teng didn’t care about all that.
What he cared about was one thing.
Shen Hua was a lady favored by Marquis Cui.
He quickly withdrew his gaze, once again humbly lowering his head.
Wei Yingying entered the restaurant, headed straight to the second floor, but bumped into Shen Hua who just ran out of the private room.
Wei Yingying snorted, "What, planning to run upon seeing me?"
Unexpectedly, Shen Hua’s eyes were red, her tears glittering clearly.
Wei Yingying was stunned: "You—"
Shen Hua, like a soul-lost person, did not spare a glance at Wei Yingying and ran down the stairs.
Wei Yingying sensed something was wrong and stormed into the private room. She saw Xie Yining holding a maid’s hand, timidly asking, "What’s wrong with Miss Shen?"
"Did I talk too much, making her unhappy?"
"What should I do?"
Wei Yingying thought. Such a Xie Yining probably didn’t have the capability to make Shen Hua cry like that.
————
East Courtyard,
Taking advantage of the strong sunlight, Nanny Cheng brought out the bedding to air out in the yard. She said to Yicui, who was embroidering a handkerchief,
"Our Miss Shen is generous. She gives gifts during festivals and in daily life, and I’ve saved those silver pieces. In the future, they will be used for Cheng Gui to find a wife."
Yicui burst into laughter upon hearing this.
"What are you laughing at, girl? I think it’s about time you got married too."
At this, she became interested.
"How about I find someone for you?"
Ningzhu, nibbling on snacks, said: "That won’t do."
"Madam said that Sister Yicui is already betrothed."
Nanny Cheng was shocked, "Yicui, why haven’t I heard you mention this??"
Yicui, lowering her head to embroider, replied, "What’s there to say? It was just a joke about being betrothed from childhood."
That year, the rivers dried up leading to countless destitute famine victims, bodies stretched across a thousand miles.
"I was fortunate to meet Madam, only then could I have today."
"Them... They are probably long gone."
"Still, Miss Shen mentions them every now and then."
She smiled softly.
"Last time Miss Shen woke up in the middle of the night and rushed to my room. In my half-asleep state, I saw she hadn’t even thrown on her outer garment. In a hurry, I pulled Miss Shen under the blanket to warm her freezing hands. Guess what she whispered in my ear?"
Ningzhu: "What did she say?"
"Miss Shen said she had saved all my dowry."
She continued,
——If he is one day late, I’ll add ten taels to the dowry. If ten days late, then a hundred taels.
Yicui laughed then.
——He won’t come.
——Yes, he will! Trust me.
——Well, I hope not, then he won’t come at all.
——That won’t do, my purse would be empty.
As they were speaking, they saw the maid, head bowed, quickly enter from outside.
With a bang, she kicked open the door and went straight to her room.
Ningzhu and Nanny Cheng looked at each other in puzzlement.
Yicui, pulling Yingwu along: "Everything was fine when she went out, what happened to her?"
Yingwu: "I don’t know."
"Just 15 minutes ago Miss Shen joyfully ordered three chickens for me!"
Yicui, worried, hurried after her, only to see Shen Hua biting her lip frantically rummaging through the cabinets.
Shen Hua’s movements were rigid, and the more hurried she became, the less progress she made.
"Can’t find it, why can’t I find it."
Her voice carried a tone of helplessness and a sob.
"Miss Shen, what are you looking for? Let your servant help you."
Shen Hua clutched Yicui desperately, as if grasping a lifeline.
"The gift from Heir Xie at our meeting."
"I placed it, it’s not in this cabinet."
Yicui didn’t know what was wrong with Shen Hua, but refrained from asking too many questions, quickly opening the corner cabinet and retrieving it from the bottommost layer.
"What Miss Shen is looking for is right here."
Shen Hua forcibly calmed herself and took the keys to unlock it.
Inside laid a delicately crafted step-shake.
She had mistakenly called it a hairpin last time, and Xie Xun didn’t even clarify or oppose.
Attached to the step-shake was a blooming Yulan and a delicate bell, which produced three rings when shaken.
Soon, she noticed something unusual.
At the fingertips, the base of the hairpin was uneven as if engraved with words.
She leaned closer, holding her breath, her eyes inching over.
The engraving barely contained two characters.
——Ancestor.
She could almost see, the eyes of the writer held resignation and affection.
Shen Hua covered her mouth, crying and laughing at once.
Shen Zhi had one flaw. To make his handwriting look elegant at the end, he always extended the last stroke.
Previously this was the case, and now, the step-shake was the same.