Chapter 24

I don’t know if it was because he was tired during the Chinese New Year, but Shen Yu had been ill intermittently since the beginning of the spring after the Chinese New Year. After the palace examination in March, he suddenly fell seriously ill.

As the eldest son of the Shen family, Shen Yue consciously set an example. During this period of time, he and his two younger brothers have been serving their father by his bedside.

Shen Ruojin also heard from Shunpin that her father was seriously ill, so she asked for leave from the Crown Princess and came back to take care of him.

Although Shen Yu’s illness seemed severe, it was actually not that serious. He was in good condition within a few days.

Shen Ruojin served the royal family and had no choice but to take care of herself, so this time she only had three days of vacation.

Shen Yu cared about his daughter and was afraid that she would be tired, so he only let her come to serve him for two days and asked Shen Ci to take her sister out for a walk.

After the palace examination, Tao Sheng’s reputation in the capital rose rapidly. At one point, her fame almost rivaled that of the newly crowned number one scholar, Ji Yanming. Almost every day, she received invitations from dignitaries to join them.

Tao Sheng’s major was composition rather than performance, so she thought it was a bit strange for someone to come to someone’s house to play the zither, and she didn’t want to make a living this way. She declined most of the invitations and only visited a few families she was on good terms with.

Among these “friendly families,” there is naturally Zhang Xinyue, a big customer of the zither store.

It was only after Tao Sheng went to Zhang’s house that she learned that it was the Zhang family that held the lantern festival and riddle guessing event on that day, and that the painting “Blue Cloud Road” that she had drawn was also a private collection of Zhang Xinyue’s father.

This is also a rare fate.

At Zhang Xinyue’s repeated request, Tao Sheng played two Qingping tunes of her own new composition for her.

Zhang Xinyue sat beside her with her right hand on her chin, looking intoxicated: “Is this the sound of the zither that the top scholar usually listens to? No wonder everyone says it’s good. This sound makes me feel clear-headed. It’s really extraordinary, like heavenly music.”

Tao Sheng pinched Zhang Xinyue’s cheek helplessly: “Didn’t you say you were going out for a walk today? You just tricked me into your home to play the zither for you, and you haven’t even left yet at this hour.”

Zhang Xinyue hummed, as if she had just returned from another world: “I have booked a private room at Guangjuzhai ^[1]refers to a popular restaurant in the capital that specializes in Sichuan cuisine. It’s still early; let’s go have lunch first, and then go to Liulichang ^[2]refers to a famous cultural street known for its antiques and traditional Chinese goods. and Zhenbao Pavilion ^[3]refers to a place known for its collection of cultural artifacts. in the afternoon.”

Tao Sheng has been quite busy these past few days. The zither store is full of customers, her home is full of guests, and there are many strange posts that she needs to reply to and reject. Today she finally got some time, so she agreed to go out and relax with Zhang Xinyue.

I don’t know if it’s because enemies meet on a narrow road or because I can’t escape the law of gravity of the protagonist in the book, but not long after the two of them went out, they happened to run into Shen Ruojin and Shen Ci, brother and sister.

Guangjuzhai is a newly opened restaurant in the capital that specializes in Sichuan cuisine. It has an elegant environment and exquisite dishes. It is very popular throughout the capital. Its positioning is a bit like the Internet celebrity restaurant in Tao Sheng’s later life, attracting many young men and women from wealthy families to check in and take pictures.

Shen Ci and Zhang Xinyue have both reserved seats here today.

When Shen Ruojin saw Tao Sheng and Zhang Xinyue together, she remembered that when they went to Ningyuan together before, she had told Tao Sheng not to get too close to Zhang Xinyue, as it would lower her and her family’s status. Unexpectedly, Tao Sheng didn’t listen to her at all and became closer and closer to Zhang Xinyue, choosing to ignore her good advice, and her face immediately became a little bad.

Shen Ci also felt the subtle changes between his two sisters.

After seeing them, Tao Sheng simply nodded and greeted them, and then her expression was normal, but Ruojin’s face turned very ugly in an instant.

In Shen Ci’s opinion, Ruojin was in a bad mood because Tao Sheng made things difficult for her. Ruojin was wronged by Tao Sheng, so she was sad.

But this time, the two parties had just met and hadn’t even spoken a word to each other, so there was no such thing as Tao Sheng making things difficult for Ruojin.

In other words, Ruojin’s expression was not bad because of something unclear, but she looked unhappy when she saw Tao Sheng. It was indeed very different from her previous perception.

Shen Ci began to think again, wondering if Tao Sheng was too reckless and left a psychological trauma on Ruojin, which made her act like this.

The boy who used to speak without thinking unexpectedly grew some brains in such an atmosphere. Shen Ci directly avoided the conflict and said to Tao Sheng evasively: “I didn’t expect such a coincidence that I actually met you here.”

Tao Sheng smiled slightly.

Come to think of it, it had been nearly two years since she came to the capital, and this was the only time she had run into him on the street, so it wasn’t too coincidental.

After entering Guangjuzhai, Shen Ci waved to the waiter from afar and said, “Give us four a bigger private room.”

The waiter was no longer surprised to see acquaintances when dining out, so he immediately said, “Okay, please come in, my four guests.”

Tao Sheng: …

Who wants to eat with you? Who allows you to make your own decisions?

She suddenly felt that it was not a bad thing for her brother, who was so short-sighted, to have ended up like that.

But since Shen Ci had already mentioned this and the waiter had prepared the room, Tao Sheng found it difficult to refute.

If Shen Ci lost face in front of Ruojin and Zhang Xinyue, he would definitely jump up.

Zhang Xinyue was relatively calm and didn’t know Ruojin was dissatisfied with her. She felt that she had met Tao Sheng’s relatives and wanted to behave well in front of them. She smiled and chatted with Ruojin: “I heard that Miss Shen has been accompanying the princess to study in the East Palace. How come you have time to come out today?”