Chapter Twenty-Two Each with Their Own Thoughts

  At night, the ladies were all dressed up and ready for the arrival of Master Zhou Shiming at any moment, just like the concubines in the palace waiting for the emperor's favor, and it was unknown how many nights they had spent like this.

  The second watch had just passed, and the maidservants came to report to their mistress that the master had gone to Madame Wang's room. The fourth wife was still as expressionless as before, her face without a hint of emotion, she began to tidy up, preparing to rest.

  The fifth lady was combing her hair in the room, sighing and saying: "Alas, I didn't expect Master's novelty to pass so quickly..." Xia Qing joked on the side: "Don't forget about me? Miss, your novelty towards me will never fade!" Seeing that the fifth lady wasn't very pleased, she added: "Alright, alright! With me by your side, you won't be lonely. Oh, right, why don't I go to the main lady's quarters and listen in?"

  "What's pleasant about an old couple? Don't forget what you're supposed to be doing?" The Fifth Lady showed a look of disdain.

  The second lady heard that the old master had gone to the first lady's place, and she couldn't help but feel resentful. She thought: "This damned old woman must have used some trick to tame the old master." Although she was not young anymore, her charm was still undiminished! With nothing better to do and feeling empty inside since the old master hadn't visited for a long time, she suddenly remembered the pipe and tobacco that Manager Song had given her that day. She took them out and started playing with them... She thought: "They say this stuff is addictive, but I just don't get it." So she decided to try it out, opening the package and taking a few puffs. The first puff didn't taste good, making her cough violently and feel very uncomfortable. She wanted to throw it away, but felt reluctant since she had heard that this stuff was very valuable. So she tried taking a few more puffs, feeling nauseous, dizzy, and experiencing headaches, but also getting a sense of euphoria accompanied by wild hallucinations...

  She had just smoked for a while when she heard someone knocking at the door. "Who is it?" The second lady stopped smoking and asked hurriedly.

  "It's me, Second Sister, Little Wu." someone shouted from outside the door.

  "Anything wrong?" asked the second lady.

  "There's nothing much, just feeling a bit bored and wanted to talk to you." said the fifth lady outside the door.

  "Just a moment." The second lady hastily put away the smoking set and responded. After she finished, she messed with her hair again and hurriedly opened the door for the fifth lady.

  "What's going on here?" Fifth Lady complained.

  "I'm already in bed and was just about to fall asleep. Why are you still awake?"

  "Can't sleep. Sleeping all day, sigh, where did so much sleep come from!" The fifth lady sighed. She suddenly smelled a strange smell in the house and asked: "Second sister, there is a fragrant smell in your room."

  "I just smoked out the house a bit earlier." The second lady was slightly nervous and quickly changed the subject, teasingly saying, "The old master can't sleep without going to your place for even one night."

  "You're really something, who talks like that? But I'm actually a bit scared?"

  "What's there to be afraid of? We're not kids anymore."

  "Second sister, I heard a few days ago that two people died in the hospital, is it true?" asked Fifth Lady.

  "What's wrong with you, bringing up the dead? Trying to scare me to death?"

  "You see, you're also scared, aren't you?" The Fifth Madam couldn't help but burst out laughing. She suddenly asked seriously: "Our Zhou household is mysterious enough too. I've heard that our master has a secret, is this true?"

  The second lady also sighed and said: "I've heard people say that too." She turned to ask the fifth lady: "Since Master loves you so much, didn't he tell you?"

  The fifth lady asked back: "I've heard that Master also doted on your second sister before, shouldn't he have told her first if he wanted to tell anyone?"

  The second lady felt a chill in her heart and said: "Master never mentioned this matter to me."

  The fifth lady sighed and said: "I'm new here, how would the master tell me? Maybe only the first lady knows about this."

  The second wife asked why. The fifth wife whispered: "Don't look at the old master going to the big wife's room less often, but when speaking, he never lets others get close, I guess there must be a secret in this."

  The second lady joked: "You, really a little clever person, don't look at ordinary times not speaking or silent, but observe very carefully." She sighed and said: "Heaven knows..."

  "Alright, it's getting late, if I'm any later, I'll have to trouble you, Second Sister, to see me off." The Fifth Mistress got up and left the Second Mistress' room.

  Ya Tou Xiao Qing wanted to sneak close to the mansion of the madam, she wanted to listen to what the two old men were saying, but unexpectedly ran into the night patrol manager Liang Xingchu. Liang Xingchu saw Xiao Qing's nervous expression and asked her: "You girl, why are you still not sleeping so late, running around everywhere?"

  "Oh, it's the steward. Alas, how can we underlings get to sleep early? During the day, my mistress left her comb in the courtyard, and now she's remembered it again, so I've been sent to fetch it..."

  "Hurry back and go to sleep after fetching it. Don't run around in the yard!" Liang Guanjia reminded.

  "Ah." Xiao Qing replied hastily and left. Seeing that she couldn't get close to the madam's room, she walked around the corridor for a while before returning to her own house.

  Liáng Guǎn jiā zhāo hū zhí bān jiā dīng jì xù xún yè…

  Translation:

  Liang's family summoned the duty household servant to continue patrolling at night...

  In the inner chamber of the mansion, the old couple was having a conversation, and the maids had already withdrawn. The series of events that had occurred in the Zhou household over the past few days made it difficult for Zhou Shiming to calm down. Perhaps only with his wife could he speak from the heart.

  His face was gloomy, as if nothing pleased him. He said to the madam, "Alas, this world is so chaotic, the court is muddled, and corrupt officials are everywhere. Lately, I feel that something is not quite right in the Zhou household, there are too many strange things happening. It's possible that it's all because of our family secret. Madam, you must be more careful from now on, or else our Zhou family will be doomed."

  "Nowadays, it's a busy autumn season, and the people in the mansion are also worried. Although on the surface, everything seems normal as usual. But what I'm most worried about is you, Master. Every day like this, if time goes on, how will your body hold up?" The madam said with concern.

  Zhou Shiming was talking to his wife when he heard a noise outside, so he went out to take a look. As soon as he stepped out of the door, he heard a "whooshing" sound, and a flying knife was stuck in the pillar in front of the house. Zhou Zhuang took down the flying knife and found that it was a letter. He looked around but didn't see anyone. He hurried back inside and opened the letter under the lamp light, which turned out to be from General Liu Zongmin. It said that after the silver was stolen that night, a female hero in disguise with high martial arts skills intercepted the thieves halfway, and Liu Zongmin's envoy arrived later and took back the stolen silver, killing all the bandits. Later, after identifying the corpses, it was confirmed that the silver thief was from outside the pass of Shanhai, a Manchu person. Zhou Shiming read this with great joy in his heart, thinking that the thing he had been worried about most during this time had finally been settled, and at least it wasn't done by government officials, so the Zhou family wouldn't be in danger for the time being. After his initial excitement, he couldn't help but worry again, wondering if there were any Manchu spies around him.