Chapter 13

Shen Ruojin stood there, regretting so much that her head hurt.

When she heard that Luo Xin had sent someone to pick up Tao Sheng early in the morning, Shen Ruojin volunteered to go out and welcome her “third sister.”

Shen Ruojin arrived on time. Tao Sheng had told Luo Xin’s mother that they would leave at 2:15 PM, so she came at just the right time to meet them.

Unexpectedly, the carriage that went to Tongguang Lane to pick up Tao Sheng returned particularly slowly, arriving two quarters of an hour late. She had to stand there for a long time, and her heart ached from the cold.

The servants at the gate noticed her predicament and repeatedly suggested she go inside to rest.

The concierge, usually staffed with several maids and servants, was where they typically rested. Shen Ruojin couldn’t stand such an environment. She waved her handkerchief gently, saying, “You will feel constrained if I go in. It’s better for me to wait outside for a while.”

At that moment, another maid approached Shen Ruojin with an apologetic smile and said, “Young lady, why don’t you go inside to the flower hall and warm up first? When the carriage arrives, I will send someone to invite you out.”

To show her sisterly love for Tao Sheng and to demonstrate her understanding, Ruojin had told her parents and grandmother during breakfast that she would come to greet Tao Sheng. Now, of course, she couldn’t do anything that would embarrass herself, so she gritted her teeth, had her maid Biqin change her cloak to a crane cloak, and stood outside waiting.

During the two quarters of an hour she stood there, Shen Ruojin thought a lot in the cold wind.

On one hand, she felt well-liked by Old Madam Shen and Marquis Wenyuan Shen Yu, and now she was chosen to be the companion of the eldest daughter of the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace. Her position as the eldest daughter of the Marquisate felt secure.

But even so, she couldn’t help wanting to please her family and comparing herself to Tao Sheng, wanting everyone to see the differences between them. Every time she heard her grandmother and father discuss Tao Sheng’s upbringing and behavior, she felt a rush of satisfaction.

She knew her thoughts were somewhat wrong and extreme, but she couldn’t help falling into that cycle, wanting to appear understanding and courteous in every way while trying to outshine Tao Sheng.

Tao Sheng noticed that Ruojin’s face was pale from the cold and her body was shaking like a daffodil swaying in the wind. She couldn’t help but shrink her neck.

It was so cold!

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The Great Zhou Dynasty has always attached great importance to the New Year, especially wealthy families who do not have to work. From New Year’s Eve to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, they are in a relaxed state of “celebrating the New Year.”

The Wenyuan Marquis Mansion was also lively today, with all the relatives coming.

The elders gathered in the front hall to play cards and chat, while the younger ones gathered in the warm room to drink tea and talk.

When Shen Ruojin and Tao Sheng arrived at the warm room, Shen Ci was playing dice with several cousins, Shen Yue and her cousin Shen Qiuran were looking through a collection of poems, and Shen Huan was discussing outings after the New Year with his two cousins.

Shen Ci noticed the two sisters coming in first. Seeing Shen Ruojin looking pale and holding her chest, he immediately said to Tao Sheng with concern, “Sister Ruojin wasn’t in good health to begin with, and now she’s freezing because she went out to meet you. If you could have left two quarters of an hour earlier, she wouldn’t have been like this.”

Shen Huan looked at Tao Sheng with some hostility. He pulled Ruojin to sit down by the stove and poured her a cup of hot tea: “Second sister, please sit down and warm up. Don’t get frozen for someone who has nothing to do with you.”

Seeing this, Shen Yue whispered to Tao Sheng, “Grandma originally said Ruojin should stay in the room to keep warm. She was thinking about you all the time. When she heard you were coming, she went outside to wait for you. It was really not easy.”

The implication was that Tao Sheng should be grateful to Shen Ruojin.

Tao Sheng had basically seen similar scenarios in the original text. Although they were not exactly the same, they were very similar.

Whenever there was a dispute between Tao Sheng and Ruojin, everyone would side with Ruojin. Even if she did nothing, it would be her fault if Ruojin frowned just because she was present.

Tao Sheng didn’t intend to indulge the family’s temper. So, she picked up an empty chair and sat down at the bottom: “In that case, I really should thank Second Miss Shen. But there is one thing I don’t understand. Did anyone tell me in advance that Second Miss would go outside the door to greet me?”

Shen Ruojin bit her lower lip and, after a long pause, replied, “Never.”

Tao Sheng added, “That’s because Second Miss Shen is smart. She’s faster than the gatekeeper who led the way. With Second Miss leading the way for me, I was able to come in earlier to warm up, so I should be grateful.”

Tao Sheng’s two sentences immediately made everyone understand the relationship.

Firstly, Tao Sheng didn’t know that Shen Ruojin was going to meet her outside the door, nor did she know that Ruojin had waited outside for a long time. Secondly, Shen Ruojin’s act of picking up Tao Sheng didn’t bring her any real benefits but instead caused complaints from several brothers, which was not good for Tao Sheng at all.

Several sisters from the second branch of the Shen family found it strange. Shen Ci said that Miss Luo was a distant relative of the Marquis’s family. She didn’t seem to know Shen Ruojin well, and they probably hadn’t met often before.

In this case, it wasn’t necessary for Shen Ruojin to wait in the cold to greet her. It seemed excessive and more about making herself feel good. If Miss Luo appreciated it, that would be fine, but now it looked like a joke.

Thinking this way, the way they looked at Ruojin and the Shen brothers changed.

Shen Qiuran, the cousin who didn’t know the details, spoke up, “I haven’t met this sister from the Luo family before, but I think she seems kind. I heard she is an important guest of our family. Sister Ruojin greeted her out of kindness; she wasn’t forced to. Hospitality is a tradition in our Shen family. So, we shouldn’t blame this incident on the Luo family sister. Protecting her isn’t the right way to treat guests.”

After Shen Qiuran finished speaking, Shen Yue and the others realized something important.

They knew Tao Sheng’s true identity and brought their feelings into it. They thought she was the real Second Miss Shen, who stubbornly refused to go home. However, they didn’t expect that Tao Sheng was a guest invited by her mother to the Marquis’s Mansion.

Their earlier behavior was indeed too much. They didn’t understand the basic principles of hospitality that their elders taught them.