Asking for monthly ticket, afternoon update incoming

  Compared to playing with Pearl and Jade, Xia Zhi would rather chat with Aunt Xia. However, she didn't say that, only saying she'd help Aunt Xia finish her tasks before going out to play.

  "Fourth sister, come over quickly." Yuhuan smiled and seemed to welcome Xia Zhi and the others to play together. As she spoke, she went upstairs to find Pearl.

  "Sixteen, you don't have to accompany me." Xia Dagu figured out that Xia Zhi wanted to accompany her, so she advised Xia Zhi.

  "I'm willing to talk with Big Aunt." Xia Zhi smiled, not arguing. In fact, what she said was still the truth. Chatting with Big Aunt can learn a lot of things. This is much better than playing with Pearl and Yuhuan, two little girls who are not nutritious.

  "This child of yours." Xia Dagu felt that Xia Zhi was even more sensible and the two continued to chat about their previous topic.

  Upstairs in the west wing, Pearl and Jade were sitting together intimately talking.

  "...You all went to Old Wang's silk store early this morning?" Yuhuan was asking Zhenzhu.

  Pearl nodded and asked Yuhuan: "How did you know?"

  "What's difficult to know, many people have seen it. I heard that Auntie made a lot of clothes for the two children who came to your house." Yuhuan looked around and saw that everyone was busy outside, so naturally there was no one inside. However, she still spoke in a low voice.

  "Yes." Zhenzhu felt a bit down.

  "This is the trouble with poor relatives coming to visit." Yuhuan glanced at Zhenzhu, her tone surprisingly mature. "I saw them when they came back with you that day. Your uncle's clothes are still passable. But Xia Zhi, what she was wearing...her family must be incredibly poor! Zhenzhu, how long is she going to stay at your place? Let me remind you, you'd better keep an eye on your belongings. She probably hasn't seen so many valuable things in her entire life, and if she happens to 'borrow' one or two items, do you plan on pretending not to notice or asking for them back?"

  She was just talking to Xia Zhi with such intimacy, and even more so than when she was with Pearl. However, behind Xia Zhi's back, while talking to Pearl, she clearly looked down on Xia Zhi because of her poverty, treating her like a thief.

  Pearl was still a bit down and didn't feel like answering Yuhuan's words, so she simply said: "The two of them shouldn't be staying at my house for long... My old aunt is actually okay, Xia Zhi, I'm not familiar with her." She didn't even refute Yuhuan's slanderous words about Xia Zhi.

  "It's just," Yuhuan looked at Zhenzhu and continued in the same tone, "Auntie letting her little brother come stay for a few days is fine, no one will say anything. Xia Zhi isn't even Auntie's own niece, she's never been allowed to come before..."

  "It was my grandma who said so." Pearl explained to Yuhuan, "She said she's very good to my uncle. My grandma even specially instructed my mother to treat her well and at least make a new set of clothes for her."

  "Oh, it's because of your uncle." Yuhuan's eyes rolled around, "Don't mention it, this Xia Zhi is quite good at coaxing people. Look at her helping Auntie with chores and talking to Auntie, she's got Auntie all delighted. She must have buttered up your grandma. That's just so she can bask in the glory of being related to you guys!"

  Zhenzhu didn't think so much before, but now feels Yu Huan is quite right.

  "Zhenzhu, I'm telling you, with so many Summer Solstice Heart Eyes around, you'd better be extra careful." Yuhuan leaned in closer to Zhenzhu, her voice becoming even softer as she warned her.

  Although Zhenzhu didn't have any feelings for Xia Zhi, she still felt that Yuhuan had gone too far. She didn't echo Yuhuan's words, but instead muttered: "She didn't do anything..."

  "Hey, my silly sister. You've never seen a wicked person before. She can do whatever she wants and still put on a show in front of you!" Yuhuan lightly tapped her finger on Zhenzhu's forehead.

  The pearl was somewhat uncertain again.

  Yu Huan immediately gave her advice: "For such poor relatives, you'd better not give them a good face. Otherwise, they will think you are easy to bully and there will be more trouble in the future. Today Auntie can make clothes for her, tomorrow she will be even more flattering to Auntie, and Auntie may give all your things to her."

  These words hit Pearl's heart. She looked at her dresser, where two dressing boxes were placed side by side, one was hers and the other was Xia Dagu's gift to Xia Zhi.

  Yu Huan followed her gaze and also saw the two dressing boxes. She probably guessed what was going on, but deliberately smiled and asked Zhen Zhu: "Your uncle and aunt really dote on you, these few taels of silver for a dressing box, and they gave you two."

  "That's not mine." Pearl puckered her mouth and told Yuhuan that the one with the broken branch plum blossom was for Xia Zhi.

  "Oh my, really? Auntie is so generous!" As she said this, she slipped down from the kang, her eyes gleaming with mischief as she glanced out the window to make sure no one was coming. Seeing that the coast was clear, she opened up Xia Zhi's dressing box and began to carefully examine each layer, commenting as she went along.

  Knowing that the things in the dressing box were also prepared by Xia Dagu for Xia Zhi, Yu Huan's heart felt a little sour, but she just spoke up for Pearl: "Such poor relatives, they have nothing themselves, everything here looks good to her, really knows how to scrounge around!"

  But it was locked at the very bottom.

  The jade ring fiddled with it for a while and couldn't open it. She asked the pearl, "Do you have the key?" It turned out that she wanted to unlock it and take a look at what was inside.

  "It's something that belongs to Xia Zhi, I don't have the key," said Pearl. She vaguely felt that Yu Huan was doing something wrong, but since it belonged to Xia Zhi, she didn't point it out to her.

  "She locked things up in your house, is she taking precautions against someone? Does she think you're a thief?" Yu Huan had no choice but to give up and walked back to sit beside Zhen Zhu again.

  Pearl originally had no thoughts on Xia Zhi locking her dresser, but after Yu Huan mentioned it, she became annoyed too, feeling that Xia Zhi shouldn't have done so. She didn't say anything, but was already visibly upset. She thought to herself, the dresser had a lock from the start, hers was locked too, why couldn't Xia Zhi's be locked?

  "You two are just nominal sisters, not genuinely caring for each other. I shouldn't be saying these things. If Auntie finds out, she'll probably blame me." Yuhuan glanced at Zhenzhu's expression and deliberately said another sentence with caution.

  Although Zhenzhu was angry with Yuxuan, she was very grateful to her. "What elder sister, I and she actually have no relationship at all! I understand that, no matter what, you are close to me. You did it for me, I definitely won't tell my mother about your words."

  Yu Huan just wanted her to say that. In fact, his father and Guo's uncle were not biological brothers, but cousins who lived in different houses. However, the Guo family only had these two households left, and they lived next door to each other, so they often got along well.

  Because as soon as the summer solstice is mentioned, it's all annoying things, Zhenzhu told Yuhuan about Xia Dagu making clothes for her: three skirts, all made of fabric she liked. The little girl thought that she would be able to wear new skirts soon, and her face was filled with joy.

  She was delighted, but Yu Huan felt a little uneasy in her heart, however, there was no sign of it on her face. His family business is wine estimation, also an old brand, previously comparable to Guo's father's house. However, in recent years, Xia Dagu's business has been booming.

  "My mother made two new sets of clothes for me two days ago, Zhenzhu, do you know why?" Yu Huan suddenly said.

  "What's going on?" Pearl felt a bit strange. Yesterday, Yuanyuan came to see her and mentioned the new clothes, but didn't say what it was for.

  "Wang's sister told me a secret." Yu Huan's face immediately showed a shy and proud expression, but it wasn't entirely due to shyness, as there was also a hint of boasting in her demeanor.

  The little girl's expression was subtle, but Zhenzhu immediately saw it. However, someone had spoken to Yuhuan about marriage, and this matter she must ask about no matter what. Zhenzhu hastily asked Yuhuan: "Did Wang Shu say something about a match? Which family did he speak of?"

  Yu Huan seemed reluctant to speak, and after being asked by Pearl several times, she finally spoke reluctantly: "It's the young master of the Tian family in Jiajia Hutong."

  Zhenzhu thought for a moment, and finally remembered who the young master of the Tian family was: "Isn't that the second son of Gui Xiang Ci?" Then she complained to Yu Huan, "You could have just said it was the second son of Gui Xiang Ci, why did you say something about Jia Family Alley? I almost couldn't figure out which family it was."

  Yu Huan smiled, she enjoyed the pearl's deep thought, and then revealed a somewhat surprised and envious expression.

  "So, when are you two going to get engaged?" Pearl asked after a moment of silence.

  Yu Huan shook off the handkerchief in her hand. "What engagement? My mother didn't agree!"

  "Why didn't you respond?" Pearl asked hastily. On this street, there were countless large and small shops, but Gui Xiang Zhai was one of the most prosperous ones. The Tian family of Gui Xiang Zhai was a wealthy household, a side branch of the Western City Tian family, not someone that these small business owners could compare to.

  "You don't know, although they are surnamed Tian, they are just a side branch of the Tian family's side branch. What people outside say is a big family business, but it's actually an empty shell. Guixiangzhai used to be okay, but now it's been squeezed by others and is almost losing money. And that current matriarch of the Tian family, you think she's some kind of dignified person? She's just a rural, broken-down household, very overbearing. My mother wouldn't bear for me to go suffer at their house."

  After saying so much, Yu Huan almost didn't need to breathe. She still remembered to remind Zhen Zhu: "The people outside don't know about this yet, although the engagement is off, we can't let others find out, that would be terrible. Zhen Zhu, I'm only telling you this, you must keep it a secret for me."

  The pearl nodded.

  Yu Huan's eyebrows danced with color: "Wang Shuo said that she would find me an even better door..."

  In the attic, Xia Zhi and her aunt were discussing the shops on Xishi Street, and they happened to mention Gui Xiang Zhai. Gui Xiang Zhai was also located on Xishi Street, but it was a bit far from Xia Dagu's home.

  "It's an old brand in the city, even older than your uncle's shop. Their pastries are really good, and it's very impressive to order two boxes for visiting relatives during holidays... Not far from their house, they also opened a Guilin Fangzhai recently."

  "Is it also a pastry shop? Isn't that going to compete with their family business?" Xia Zhi's heart skipped a beat.

  (。)