Chapter 959 - 953: Family Letter
Su Jin was pleased.
Fourth Son-in-law Zhou was even more pleased.
The two were indeed a perfect match.
Su Jin offered Fourth Son-in-law Zhou half a cup of tea before rising to leave.
Fourth Son-in-law Zhou laughed, "Why is the Second Steward leaving in such a hurry?"
Su Jin looked at him, "If you linger too long, aren’t you afraid Housekeeper Zhou might grow suspicious?"
Fourth Son-in-law Zhou thought Su Jin was exceedingly cautious.
However, as a son-in-law, did he really need to fear a mere steward of the Zhou family?
Su Jin turned and left.
Xingxing cheerfully followed behind.
If they had known someone would bring money to them along the journey to the border, they wouldn’t have needed to carry so many silver notes.
Fourth Son-in-law Zhou assumed Su Jin was returning to the inn, so he prepared to send someone to fetch the secret recipe. Unexpectedly, Su Jin and her maid continued shopping and didn’t seem worried about the silver notes at all.
Although Su Jin agreed, without having the secret recipe in hand, it didn’t count as completed.
He also had to be wary of any problems with the secret recipe, as he couldn’t end up spending fifteen thousand taels only to be cheated.
But surely she wouldn’t dare deceive him.
Su Jin strolled through half the street, then saw a stall for letter writing and walked over.
The stall owner was a scholar, fairly young.
Su Jin had already sat down across from him, yet he was still engrossed in his book.
Su Jin looked at him, then at the bustling street, and couldn’t help but admire his ability to find peace amidst chaos.
If he didn’t end up a bookworm, he would surely succeed in exams eventually.
Xingxing called out, "Are you doing business or not?"
The scholar turned a page and only then noticed someone was sitting opposite him.
He closed his book and asked, "Do you want a letter written?"
"Just borrowing some paper and pen," Su Jin smiled.
The scholar handed the paper and pen to Su Jin.
Su Jin wrote a prescription, then handed it to the scholar saying, "Please, could you transcribe a copy for me?"
The scholar was puzzled, "Brother, you can write yourself, why do you need me to transcribe?"
"I don’t help others do bad things."
"I just find my handwriting ugly," Su Jin said.
"...."
The scholar glanced at the writing.
Silently, he dipped his brush in ink.
Though he said nothing, Su Jin felt inexplicably uneasy.
Why didn’t he question the fib she came up with on the spot?
Was her handwriting really that bad?
The scholar copied it out, dried the ink, and handed it over to Su Jin.
Xingxing asked, "How much is it?"
"One silver."
Xingxing produced five taels of silver and placed it on the table.
The scholar seemed troubled, "I can’t make change."
Xingxing was also troubled, "This is the smallest silver I have."
The scholar, "...."
Afraid the scholar wouldn’t believe her, Xingxing took out a bunch of silver notes from her bosom.
The scholar, feeling utterly defeated, muttered, "Never flaunt your wealth."
Xingxing put the silver notes back into her bosom.
The scholar took the silver ingot and said, "Please wait a moment, I will go buy some rice."
Su Jin sat there waiting for him.
The scholar’s business was quite good; as soon as he left, an old lady came over and said, "I want to write a letter home."
Su Jin did not move; the old lady looked at her, "I want to write a letter to my son."
Su Jin chuckled.
Had the old lady mistaken this stall for hers?
She had never written a letter home for someone else. Su Jin sat in the scholar’s place and asked, "What would you like to write, ma’am?"
The old lady’s face was filled with loving-kindness, her smile spilling over, "Write to my son, tell him his wife has given him a big, healthy son, that everything is fine at home so he need not worry while fighting at the border. Tell him to take care of himself during the battle and not to charge ahead recklessly."
"By the way, remind him to write back when he has time."
Hmm.
Having never written a letter home for someone, Su Jin didn’t know how to embellish.
She wrote exactly as the old lady dictated.
After finishing, she read it back to the old lady, who laughed and said, "You’ve written the letter well, I understand it, and it’s what I wanted to say to my son."
Su Jin, "...."
Was that a compliment?
Su Jin folded the letter, put it in an envelope, and wrote the recipient’s name on it.
When handing the letter to the old lady, the old lady asked shyly, "Could you help me name my grandson?"
"What’s the surname?" Su Jin asked.
"Zhang."
Su Jin pondered for a moment, dipped her pen in ink, and wrote two characters on the paper—
Zhang Yi.
The old lady couldn’t read but recognized the Zhang character; she pointed to the other and asked, "What’s this?"
"Yi, signifies uprightness, firmness, and stability."
The old lady nodded repeatedly, "Uprightness is good, let’s go with that."
"Then add my grandson’s name to the letter and tell my son."
Su Jin obliged.
The old lady pocketed the letter and took out a handful of copper coins, placing them on the table, "Thank you, sir, for bestowing a name. You will surely top the imperial examinations."
The old lady, after giving her thanks, left cheerfully with the written name.
So overjoyed was she that she didn’t see the carriage coming.
Luckily, the driver reined in in time to avoid an accident.
However, the sudden halt presumably shook those inside the carriage.
A maid lifted the curtain to check the situation; inside, a young madam held a child.
The child happened to see Su Jin outside with her mask on and exclaimed joyfully, "Daddy, it’s Daddy."
The young madam quickly looked outside.
Seeing it was Su Jin, a hint of disappointment flashed in her eyes, "That’s not Daddy."
"That’s Daddy," the little boy insisted.
The young madam didn’t know how to explain it.
Just wearing a mask didn’t make someone Daddy.
The driver drove the carriage onward, and the cries spread, "I want Daddy, I want Daddy!"
Su Jin sat there idly, completely unaware that someone had mistaken her for someone else.
After waiting a short while, the scholar returned with a bag of rice.
He handed the change to Xingxing.
Su Jin got up, and the scholar looked at the copper coins on the table, asking, "What are these?"
"Just now an old lady came to have a letter home written; I wrote it for you," Su Jin said.
The scholar’s expression turned dark.
He had asked him to transcribe a prescription, yet ended up helping him write a letter home instead?
Why wasn’t he still complaining about his handwriting?
The scholar expressed his thanks, and Su Jin strode away.
After having a cup of tea at the inn, Fourth Son-in-law Zhou’s servant arrived.
A silver note of fifteen thousand taels was exchanged for a prescription.
Seeing the servant leaving Su Jin’s room, Steward Zhou furrowed his brows tightly.
How did Fourth Son-in-law’s servant know the Princess Consort Zhenbei?
The servant quickly descended the stairs, and Steward Zhou called out to him, but he glanced back only to sprint away.
Steward Zhou instantly sensed something was amiss.
He didn’t dare ask Su Jin directly, as he had to deliver a birthday gift to the Prefect’s wife.
At the Prefect’s Mansion, Steward Zhou met with Fourth Son-in-law Zhou, saying, "It’s one thing for Fourth Son-in-law to poach business from the Zhou family, but I must advise you not to covet the Second Steward of Beauty Pavilion, she’s not someone you can afford to provoke."
Fourth Son-in-law Zhou chuckled dismissively, "The backing of Beauty Pavilion is strong, but she’s just a second-class manager. Housekeeper Zhou, you’ve traveled far and wide with your father-in-law and seen much; there’s no need to be so obsequious towards her, is there?"
Steward Zhou maintained a calm expression, "Because you are the Fourth Son-in-law of the Zhou family, I am offering this advice. Along the way, I’ve witnessed the Second Steward’s capabilities; even the master would concede her superiority. It would be wise for Fourth Son-in-law not to court trouble."