Beneath the covered bridge of the marketplace—
Zhang Chuxiao had already figured out that the girl Zhang Zhaoming had secretly watched that day was Lin Jingchu.
Seeing that Lin Jingchu seemed to have forgotten him entirely, he recalled how, before leaving home this morning, his aunt had already prepared lavish gifts to formally propose marriage at the Pingyang Marquis Manor.
Very soon, the two families would become relatives.
So, he lowered his posture somewhat.
“I’m from the second branch of the Zhang family. I visited the Pingyang Marquis Manor not long ago.”
If nothing unexpected happened, this girl would soon become his future sister-in-law.
When Zhang Chuxiao’s servant finally caught up, he saw his young master once again chatting up a young lady and immediately stopped in his tracks.
Zhang Chuxiao loved beautiful women.
Everyone said this young master was hopelessly flirtatious, disgracing the Zhang family’s centuries-old reputation.
The servant inwardly suffered greatly and silently prayed that his master would not provoke the wrong person this time.
Lin Jingchu gave a slight curtsy in return, merely acknowledging him before leaving with her maids.
Watching her departing figure, the servant clicked his tongue.
“Young Master, even your face doesn’t seem to work anymore. Usually, those young ladies are nowhere near this cold toward you.”
This time, instead of joking around, Zhang Chuxiao smacked the back of the servant’s head.
“You’re not allowed to gossip about ladies behind their backs.”
The servant stared at him suspiciously.
As if this man himself hadn’t spent years gossiping about countless women already.
Today he suddenly pretended to be refined.
“Young Master, Fifth Young Master Liang and Eldest Young Master Xue are waiting for you at Zisheng Gate to look at antiques and paintings,” the servant reminded him.
Zhang Chuxiao narrowed his eyes while watching Lin Jingchu disappear into the distance.
“I heard the Pingyang Marquis Manor recently gained a Second Young Lady…”
Before he could continue, the servant interrupted:
“Young Master, didn’t you just say people shouldn’t discuss ladies behind their backs?”
Zhang Chuxiao glared at him and tossed the cat he had been carrying into the servant’s arms.
“Too much talking from you!”
After Lin Jingchu left, the young maids accompanying her kept turning back to sneak glances at the handsome Zhang Chuxiao.
Having spent most of their lives confined within the inner household, they had rarely seen such an attractive man before.
Nanny Fei scolded sternly,
“Behave yourselves!”
She was round-faced and plump, and whenever she spoke, the flesh on her cheeks trembled three times over, making her especially authoritative.
The maids were so frightened they hurriedly turned back around.
Lin Jingchu wandered through several other stalls before a strange young woman suddenly approached and handed her a box.
“Someone asked me to give this to you, young lady. He said you’d understand once you saw it.”
The girl left immediately afterward.
Lin Jingchu frowned in confusion.
Still, considering she had four maids accompanying her and two retired military servants following behind, she felt somewhat reassured and opened the box.
On the blue cover were three large characters:
Playful Mandarin Ducks.
Lin Jingchu flipped through it.
It was just an ordinary romance storybook.
A man and woman fall in love; the heroine is a princess who meets the male lead—a scholar traveling to the capital for the examinations—during a temple fair. They fall in love at first sight, and naturally the story ends happily ever after.
Lin Jingchu clicked her tongue in annoyance and casually tossed the box to Nanny Fei.
“This thing came from an unknown source. Throw it away.”
Nanny Fei had originally been Xia Ning’s trusted servant. Before leaving the manor, Madam Xia had specifically instructed her not to let Lin Jingchu interact with suspicious people or objects.
She had intended to warn her young mistress, but seeing how little Lin Jingchu cared about the box, she relaxed considerably.
An old vendor nearby had been watching the group for quite some time.
Seeing the box in Nanny Fei’s hands, he stepped forward cautiously.
“Honored lady, that box looks quite nice. Could you perhaps gift it to me?”
The wooden box was glossy yellow brown, made of rosewood.
To someone of Nanny Fei’s experience, it was nothing impressive. However, city regulations prohibit littering in the streets.
It wasn’t expensive for red sandalwood, but ordinary blackwood lacquered yellow—something common households could afford.
Opening it briefly, she saw only a widely sold storybook inside.
Nanny Fei casually handed it over.
“Someone probably delivered it to the wrong person. It’ll make decent firewood.”
The old man was overjoyed and repeatedly thanked her.
A box of this quality could sell several hundred copper coins in a shop—enough to serve as part of his daughter’s dowry.
After carefully storing the box away, the old man gratefully offered a handful of dates from his stall.
Nanny Fei refused several times before finally allowing one of the younger maids to accept them.
Catching the old man’s expression from the corner of her eye, Lin Jingchu sighed inwardly.
Big cities really did offer more opportunities.
In a distant restaurant upstairs, Lu Qingyu watched Lin Jingchu’s actions from afar.
His dark eyes grew even deeper as he murmured softly,
“So, you want to draw a line between us? Jing-meimei really is disobedient.”
Meanwhile, Lin Jingchu continued strolling through nearby stalls while waiting for the clay figurines to be finished.
The artisan was remarkably skilled.
Both she and Lin Shuyi wore relatively plain clothes and concealed themselves beneath veiled hats, yet the craftsman creatively redesigned their outfits entirely for the figurines.
Lin Jingchu’s figurine wore a pale jade-green flowing lotus-leaf dress adorned with elaborate floral hairpins. Its features were cold and ethereal—and astonishingly resembled her by at least seventy percent.
Lin Shuyi’s figurine, meanwhile, wore a bright red feather-satin ruqun dress. Tiny pearls decorated her falling-horse hairstyle, while her oval face carried smiling crescent-shaped eyes, making her appear playful and lively.
If the figurines hadn’t resembled them so strongly, Lin Jingchu would have suspected the artisan had mixed them up.
Shouldn’t Elder Sister be the cold and elegant one while she herself was the playful type?
She collected the figurines and paid them.
A servant then arrived to report that Lin Shuyi had already wandered near Zisheng Gate and was currently waiting for her upstairs in a restaurant for lunch.
Lin Jingchu: …
No wonder Lin Shuyi had been so enthusiastic when she begged to go out shopping.
Apparently, regardless of ancient or modern times, shopping truly was a woman’s instinct.
Great Xiangguo Temple sat within Bianjing itself, near the Imperial Street beside the palace—closer to the emperor’s residence than even the Pingyang Marquis Manor.
Following the principle of cultivating oneself amidst worldly life, the temple’s restaurants all served vegetarian cuisine.
Su Yun Studio.
However, when Lin Jingchu arrived, she did not see Lin Shuyi.
Instead, she encountered a familiar servant—
Shuxiang.
He was the personal attendant of the cousin whom the original Lin Jingchu had adored most.
Shuxiang wore a smug expression and made no attempt to approach.
Back then, to see Lu Qingyu, the pampered young miss had groveled even before servants like him.
So now he simply stood there waiting.
Waiting to see when this noble young lady would lower herself and speak softly to him in the crowded restaurant.
Lin Jingchu turned to the servant who had previously delivered the message.
“Was the person who came with Elder Sister’s message someone familiar from the manor?”
The servant thought briefly.
“He was unfamiliar to me, but only people from the manor knew we were out today, so this servant didn’t question him.”
Nanny Fei immediately sensed something was wrong.
“Young Lady, should this servant send someone to look for Eldest Young Lady?”
Lin Jingchu cast Shuxiang a long, cold glance from behind her veil.
Thirty percent icy calm.
Seventy percent disgust.
She finally realized that the book from earlier had been meant for her.
That disgusting social-climbing parasite!
“Send someone to find Elder Sister. We’ll eat somewhere else.”
Lin Jingchu ordered.
Damn it all.
It was one thing that she had no intention of taking advantage of others—
but this shameless “phoenix man” wanted to use her as a steppingstone to climb upward while still acting arrogantly about it.
Utterly revolting.