Chapter 222: Chapter 224 - Marriage Talk (2)

When Zhou Shiya entered the house, she looked at the living room and frowned. “This place is too humble.” It was called a parlour, but there was nothing but a few tables.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Yuxi smiled a little. “We rarely used this area.” Even though she lived here, apart from her Dage and Er Ge, who would come over occasionally, no one else would step their feet here all year round.

Zhou Shiya said, “Then let’s go see your bedroom. It must be used every day, right?” It was the place for Yuxi to sleep. So there was no way she wouldn’t use it every day.

Landscape Screen

Image Credit | As stated in the picture

Yuxi’s bedroom was also straightforward, with only two wardrobes and a dressing table, in addition to the bed. To the right, there was a small space, separated by a landscape screen, in which a small desk with a pen, ink, paper, inkstone and books was placed. To the left of the desk was a bench where Yuxi put a blue and white fishbowl with two small fish on top.

Zhou Shiya looked at the furniture in the house. Yes, they were new, but they didn’t have any coherent patterns. At a glance, they looked cheap. Zhou Shiya’s face turned ugly as she asked, “What are these made of?”

Yuxi answered with a smile, “These woods are self-produced in my mountain, and it is more convenient to get materials from there.” Although Steward Chen’s family owned this courtyard, the furniture in it had been re-purchased. Because of the urgency and Yuxi’s requirements were not high, the wood on the mountain was directly used to make the pieces of furniture.

Zhou Shiya’s eyes were a little sour. Even a place that was worse than the place of her underlings was called good. Indeed, Yuxi was the type of person who reported good news but not bad. “You talk all day about how good life is in the hamlet. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I would have believed your words.” Living in this ravine, how could it really be good? She was the only one foolish enough to believe it.

Yuxi smilingly said, “There is no difference between furniture made of ordinary wood and furniture made of rosewood and huanghuali wood. They are both used the same way. I used to live in the Rose Courtyard, which was not much better than here, and it was not even as spacious as this place!”

Zhou Shiya said, “Then have you thought about how to spend the winter? It’s not like this place is paved with floor dragons, so what will you do when the cold winter comes?” It was not a problem now, but it would be hard for Yuxi to move even an inch during winter.

Yuxi smiled as she replied, “I’m preparing to build a kang. It’s warm to sleep on in winter.” Speaking of it，this solution was still a problem for her. If there were no floor dragon but a charcoal fire in winter, it would be problematic to read her books.

Zhou Shiya said in a not-so-good mood, “You can even try to look on the bright side of things.” She was frustrated that she could not do anything to help Yuxi.

Yuxi pulled her out of the bedroom and brought her to the backyard, “Let’s go and see the vegetables I planted.” Nowadays, most of the vegetables in the backyard were planted by Yuxi herself. Not to mention, with someone’s guidance, all the vegetables that Yuxi planted grew well.

Zhou Shiya looked at a few plots and asked with some surprise, “Did you truly plant all these?” Cucumbers, green beans and eggplants had already sprouted, and now on the ground, cabbages, radishes and celery began to appear.

Yuxi took the vegetable basket handed over by Kufu and said with a smile, “Let’s pick some small cabbages and stir fry them later. They taste delicious.”

Zhou Shiya was reluctant to go into the vegetable garden and said, “If you walk in there, won’t you be afraid of getting your clothes dirty?” It would be a big loss if the soiled clothes couldn’t be washed clean.

Yuxi smiled and said, “Just be careful, and you won’t get your clothes dirty.” After saying that, she went to a plot of land and squatted down to pluck a small cabbage, shook the soil off it, nipped its roots and put it in the basket. She did all these movements in one go.

Watching Yuxi’s skilled movements, Zhou Shiya didn’t even know what to say. “Go ahead and continue picking. I’ll just watch.” Just because Yuxi didn’t get muddy from picking vegetables didn’t mean she wouldn’t also. If she got her clothes dirty, her mother might not let her come here next time.

Yuxi didn’t force Zho Shiya and asked for Kufu and Caidie to help her. The three of them moved quickly, and almost in the blink of an eye, they had picked half a basket of small cabbages.

As soon as Yuxi returned to the house, Zisu brought over a pair of shoes for Yuxi to change into, and a young maid brought a basin of water to clean her hands.

Zhou Shiya looked at the small cabbages inside the basket and asked, “Yuxi, you will do the cooking yourself for lunch?” Zhou Shiya knew that Yuxi was a good cook, but she had only eaten her pastries but never tried the dishes cooked by Yuxi.

Yuxi chuckled. “I’ll leave that to the cook! I’ll cook it myself when you come over next time.” It was almost time for lunch. If she were to do it, the lunch would have to be postponed.

Zhou Shiya responded with some bitterness, “I don’t know when the next time will be?” She wanted to stay overnight here, but unfortunately, her mother disagreed. [+]

Yuxi also had doubts in her heart. “Didn’t you say before that your mother forbade you from coming over here? Why did your mother suddenly agree to let you come see me this time?”

Zhou Shiya shook her head and responded, “I’m not sure. Yesterday, when I went to pay my respects to my Mother, she suddenly agreed to let me come over to see you. I think it must be because my Mother has come across something good.”

Yuxi’s heart jumped. Second Lady Zhou was the kind of person who would go after profitable people and avoid those who would cause trouble for her. There was no way she would agree to let Zhou Shiya visit her without any reason. Yuxi just smiled and said, “Maybe your mother is in a good mood and will let you come again in a couple of days! But next time you come, stay overnight here, and I’ll take you to collect chestnuts.” All the jujube had been harvested, but there were still quite a few chestnuts left on the mountain.

Zhou Shiya shook her head and said, “Forget it. I’ve heard that there is miasma in the mountains and people with bad health will get sick. I don’t want to go back and take medicine.” Not only were there many insects on the mountain, but she also worried that there were rats and spiders there. Thus it was scary when she thought about it.

Zisu gave a faintly invisible frown.

Yuxi laughed a little. “What you said is also true. It’s my lack of consideration.” Zhou Shiya wasn’t her. Zhou Shiya was a real lady. She obviously wasn’t going to climb the mountain. Furthermore, the mountain was indeed full of bugs. In case they bit her and gave her red bumps, Second Lady Zhou would definitely blame Yuxi. In the past, Yuxi did not feel it. However, this time, she felt that there was indeed a big gap between her and Zhou Shiya.

Their lunch was not too generous. It only had six dishes and one soup, namely eight treasures diced rabbit, jade shrimps, lion’s head cooked sweet and sour, steamed fish, stir-fried cabbage, mapo tofu, and chicken soup with dangshen and wolfberry.

After eating, Zhou Shiya asked, “Did you bring your cook from home?” She had eaten in Yuxi’s yard before, and the taste was the same as at that time.

Yuxi smiled and nodded. “I’m already used to Guo Daniang’s cooking. If she were to change with other people, I’m afraid I wouldn’t be used to it. So I brought her over.”

Zhou Shiya frowned and asked, “Yuxi, you can’t stay in the countryside all the time. Did Grandaunt tell you when you will return to the capital?”

Yuxi shook her head. “Not really. But it’s nice to continue living in the hamlet. I feel uninhibited and free.” Most importantly, the tranquillity she felt here.

Zhou Shiya said worriedly, “Yuxi, you’ll be fourteen next year. You can’t stay here all the time.” If you stay here all the time, your marriage will become a big problem.

Yuxi laughed bitterly. “In my current situation, who would dare to marry me? Forget about me, let’s talk about you? Who is your mother’s solution for your marriage?”

Zhou Shiya was silent for a moment and said, “My Er Jiumu came to visit us the other day and said she would like to match me to her zhizi, but my Mother refused.”

Yuxi was unfamiliar with Second Lady Zhou’s maternal family and was not in a position to comment. “What about your father? What is your father’s opinion?”

When Zhou Shiya heard these questions, she shook her head helplessly and said, “My father had his eye on a family before, but it turned out that my mother didn’t like it. My father simply left the matter alone and said he would let my mother worry about finding my future husband instead.”

Yuxi knew that Second Lady Zhou had a high standard when it came to her son-in-law, but her requirements were just too high. Yuxi worried that if the Second Lady Zhou were picking too much, she would delay Zhou Shiya’s marriage. “I think as long as the person has a good family style and is self-disciplined and motivated, it doesn’t matter if they are a little less than yours.” All of the candidates that Second Lady Zhou took a liking to were highly sought-after. Second Lady Zhou’s maiden family was quite powerful. Her father was a high ranking Governor-General of the border who held absolute power. Even if her maiden family was good, it was useless if Second Lady Zhou couldn’t benefit from it. The Zhou family was in a situation where they would value other families, but other families despised them. [+]

Zhou Shiya shook his head and said, “I have said it many times, but my Mother just won’t listen. Forget it. My Mother is also doing it for my good. Anyway, I am not in a hurry now. I can just let her worry for another two years.” For families like theirs, marriage proposals for marriageable aged young ladies were common.

Yuxi laughed. “Look at you, you are not in a hurry with your marriage, but you are anxious for mine instead.”

Zhou Shiya glared at Yuxi for a moment. “Your situation is different from mine, alright!” She had delayed settling because her mother was too demanding. But in Yuxi’s case, it was a headache.

Yuxi was having a hard time responding to her statement.

Zhou Shiya didn’t think much of it and continued, “Did you know that Chiang Xin is already engaged? She has been set to marry Ji He, the son of Left Imperial Censor Ji. I didn’t expect that she would be the first of us three to get engaged.”

Yuxi thought for a moment and said, “I remember that the Third Madam Ji family is related to Lady Chiang.” As for what kind of relatives between those two, she could not remember much.

Zhou Shiya laughed. “You really have a bad memory. Third Madam Ji is Lady Chiang’s zumei, a distant relative of her. I haven’t seen Chiang Xin for almost three months? She’s probably buried herself in embroidering her dowry right now!”

Yuxi, lacking interest in the topic, responded, “Maybe!” Her friendship with Chiang Xin had ended. When they met in the future, they would only just be greeting each other.

Zhou Shiya saw something wrong with Yuxi’s expression that she asked, “What’s wrong? Are you having a difficult time with Chiang Xin?”

Yuxi shook her head and said, “I’m not. I haven’t spoken to her in five months, so how could I possibly have a difficult time with her?” There was no way for them to get into a fight, even if she wanted to.

Zhou Shiya blushed as she looked at Yuxi but finally swallowed back the words on her lips. Saying more would only make Yuxi even more upset.

Yuxi didn’t care much about it. Many people in this world went after someone for profit and avoided them when they would harm them. She and Chiang Xin never had a close friendship in the first place anyway. It was only natural that Chiang Xin would avoid her when Yuxi were in trouble. Looking at Zhou Shiya’s ugly face, Yuxi smiled and said, “I’m fine, don’t overthink about it.”

The two of them lost track of time as they talked. Zhou Shiya’s wet nurse came in and urged, “Miss, we should go back. If we depart a bit later, it will already be dark.”

After sending Zhou Shiya away, Yuxi went back into the house, sat on a chair and thought for a while before putting her brush to a paper as she wrote a letter to Han Jianming. Zhou Shiya said that Second Lady Zhou was in a good mood, so she had let Zhou Shiya come over for a visit, which Yuxi did not believe. The Second Lady Zhou was so forthcoming. Thus, it must have something to do with Yuxi. As for what it was about, not even the brow’s tail could be seen. Without a clue whatsoever, Yuxi couldn’t even make a guess.