"What good does she have? Humph, she's just a vixen."
"Luoyu, we can dislike her all we want, but we have to admit that she's better at dealing with people than our mother."
"Better at dealing with people? Sister, have you been addled by something?"
"Our mother always has a straight face. If you were our father, would you like that?"
"But we can't learn from that vixen. Who knows what dirty tricks she uses."
"Luoyu, sister just wants to tell you that before doing anything, you should think about your goal. That mistress of our father has only one goal in doing things: to please our father, so of course our father likes her. But what about our mother? She likes our father, yet she can't let go of her airs as a gentlewoman of a noble family and still has to maintain the dignity of the main wife. She wants too much, so she ends up neglecting one thing while trying to hold on to another."
"Is that so? Then should we ask our mother to learn from that mistress?"
"Our mother can't learn it in this lifetime. But Luoyu, you should pay attention to protecting yourself. Don't be as stupid as our mother and get tricked by others." Zhao Luoning looked at Zhao Luoyu seriously and said, "If one day you also encounter a situation where two women have to compete for one man, I hope you'll be like that mistress of our father, not our mother. Sister doesn't need you to be a proper gentlewoman like mother. Sister hopes you can protect yourself and not get hurt."
Zhao Luoyu looked at Zhao Luoning, half - understanding.
However, as long as it was an order from Zhao Luoning, she would follow it.
"Okay, sister, don't worry. Luoyu remembers."
...
Zhao Luochun went to inspect the Ji family's shop. It was indeed a shop of the Ji family.
He didn't see the eldest young master of the Ji family. He only heard that Zhao Luoyu was arranged to work there by the eldest young master. The shop assistant suddenly realized, "Oh, you're the girl who owes the young master money, right?"
Zhao Luoyu: "..."
Thankfully, the work arranged by the eldest young master of the Ji family wasn't heavy, and they even provided lunch.
The servants of the Ji family had good food. There were two steamed buns for each meal.
Zhao Luoyu only ate one by herself. When she was hungry, she just drank more water and then saved the other one to take back to Zhao Luoning.
Zhao Luoning was very smart. She would break the steamed bun into pieces and cook it with water and wild vegetables to make steamed - bun porridge, which was enough for the whole family to have a meal.
After that, Zhao Luoyu never saw Ji Shijun again.
Until the old master of the Zhao family stepped in and asked Lord Zhao to welcome the first - wife's branch of the family back to the Zhao mansion.
Zhao Luoyu regained her identity as the third young lady of the Zhao family and could no longer work as a shop assistant.
Zhao Luoyu took out silver from the Zhao family, waited at the shop entrance for a whole day and night. The shop assistant couldn't bear to watch and went to inform Ji Shijun.
Only then did Ji Shijun appear.
Actually, he had almost forgotten about this person.
He was the eldest young master of the Ji family and had saved countless little beggars casually. At that time, he thought this little girl was stubborn and had a unique personality. Also, he was worried that she would go begging again because she couldn't get enough to eat and might be bullied. So he arranged for her to work in his own shop. Anyway, she said she wanted to "repay the debt", and he didn't need to pay her wages. He just needed to provide her with enough food and clothing.
When Zhao Luoyu returned a bag of silver to Ji Shijun as promised, Ji Shijun was stunned.
"Where did you get so much silver?"
Zhao Luoyu respectfully bowed to Ji Shijun. Only then did Ji Shijun notice that this little girl, Zhao Luoyu, seemed different.
She wasn't a little beggar. Little beggars didn't know such etiquette.
Sure enough, Zhao Luoyu introduced her identity.
"Thanks to the young master's timely help. Now my mother and I have returned to the Zhao mansion, so I'm returning the silver. But the young master's kindness, I will remember for a lifetime."
"The Zhao mansion?"
"Yes, I forgot to tell the young master. I'm the third young lady of the Zhao family."
Ji Shijun was very familiar with the Zhao mansion!
Wasn't this the family that was engaged to his younger brother, Ji Shisu?
Counting it up, they would be in - laws of the Ji family in the future.
Ji Shijun never expected that the little girl he had casually saved was actually a girl from the Zhao family.
Only then did Ji Shijun look at Zhao Luoyu seriously.
Different from the first time they met, when Zhao Luoyu was wearing dirty clothes and had just fought with someone, looking disheveled.
At this time, Zhao Luoyu was properly dressed, clean and decent. And after not seeing each other for a few years, she had grown a lot taller and vaguely showed the appearance of a little beauty.
It was said that the mistress of the Zhao family was a beauty. It was a pity that Lord Zhao didn't know how lucky he was. He doted on his mistress and even married her into the family as the second wife not long ago.
Moreover, it was said that the Zhao family intended to let the concubine - born daughter of the second wife marry his younger brother.
The Zhao family had good plans.
Although Ji Shisu wasn't born to his mother, he had always been registered under his mother's name and could be regarded as half of a legitimate son of the Ji family. Sending a concubine - born daughter from the Zhao family was an insult to the Ji family, wasn't it?
Looking at Zhao Luoyu again, Ji Shijun felt even more pity.
However, he only regarded Zhao Luoyu as a little sister. After all, the only significance of the Zhao family to him was that they would be his younger brother's in - laws in the future. He had no other thoughts.
The Ji family liked to form alliances through marriage with other families. Ji Shijun's marriage was the first to be decided.
Ji Shijun didn't like that girl at all, but it was the order of his parents and the matchmaker's arrangement. He had no say in it.
Thinking of this, Ji Shijun felt very annoyed. He took the silver and said to Zhao Luoyu, "I've received the silver. If you have any trouble in the future, just come to me. If I can help, I will surely do my best."
Ji Shijun was just being polite.
But Zhao Luoyu was young and didn't understand the meaning of polite words. Instead, she took it seriously.
A few years later
Ji Shijun had a plan that he never told anyone about.
He wanted to escape, far away from the Ji family. He didn't want the identity of the eldest young master of the Ji family and wanted to get rid of the shackles of the arranged marriage.
He had planned everything well. He would pretend to be kidnapped by human traffickers. After he "disappeared", someone would go to the Ji family to deliver the bad news.
Everything was ready. One day before Ji Shijun was going to carry out his plan, he saw Zhao Luoyu again.
This girl really didn't treat him as an outsider.
"Brother Ji, the promise you made before that I could come to you for help if I had trouble, is it still valid?"
Ji Shijun didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"What's wrong? Did you encounter any trouble? Do you need my help?"
Zhao Luoyu shook her head, and a flash of fierceness passed through her eyes. "You can't help."
"Ah?" Ji Shijun didn't expect this little girl to show such a fierce expression. He suddenly had a bad premonition and asked, "What on earth do you want to do?"
"I wrote a letter to my family. It's inconvenient for me to give it to them now. If I leave it at home, I'm afraid it will be searched out. So could you please help me deliver it to them, Brother Ji?"
"Why do you want me to help? Can't you deliver it yourself?"
"I'm afraid it will be inconvenient by then."
Looking at this girl's expression as if she was going to kill someone, Ji Shijun had a bad feeling in his heart.
"Then when should I deliver this letter?"
"If there's news from the Zhao family that something has happened to me, could you please deliver this letter to my eldest sister, Zhao Luoning?"
"Something happened?"
These two words made Ji Shijun's heart tremble. What did this girl want to do?