Before Luo Cuiwei could speak, Luo Fengming rolled his eyes at his younger sister, annoyed: "Luo Cuizhen, why don't I give you a broken bowl? Go beg for whatever you want to eat on the street! You're so dramatic, you scared me to death."
"You, Luo Fengming! You're the one who's going out to beg for food, I..." Luo Cuizhen grinned at her brother, making a funny face, but her little hands quietly reached for the small bowl of porridge.
Zhuo Yu said gently, "Luo Cuizhen, keep your hands away. The porridge is your sister's. If you really want to eat it, ask the chef to make it again tomorrow. Eldest sister, you eat yours. Don't indulge her bad habit."
Despite her gentle nature, Zhuo Yu was quite adept at managing the household and raising her children.
Although Luo Cuiwei was not Zhuo Yu's biological daughter, and was the eldest of the three children in the family, Zhuo Yu never talked about the idea that "the older one should give way to the younger one." What belonged to someone else belonged to them.
Perhaps it was precisely because she treated everyone fairly that the three children, despite their constant bickering and fighting since childhood, developed a very close bond.
Luo Cuiwei turned her head and coughed a few times. Seeing that her younger sister was still looking at her expectantly, she smiled and said, "Mother said that this is mine."
Luo Cuizhen pouted in disappointment, "Sister, can you give me a bowl that isn't broken? I'll go to the kitchen courtyard to ask for porridge tomorrow. Luo Fengming only gives me broken bowls, and I'm afraid they'll leak."
After the servants had served all the dishes, the three children, as usual, stood up straight and bowed to Zhuo Yu.
Zhuo Yu smiled and nodded with satisfaction, then gestured for them to sit down and start their meal before returning to the main courtyard with peace of mind.
****
The Luo family doesn't have the rule of "not talking while eating or sleeping," and since the parents don't sit at the same table anymore, there's always a lot of chatter and laughter during meals.
Luo Cuiwei and Luo Fengming now manage the family business together. In front of outsiders, they naturally adapt their behavior to different situations, speaking one way to one person and another to another. However, when they are with their close relatives, their temperament and mannerisms are no different from their thirteen-year-old sister, Luo Cuizhen.
Luo Fengming took a sip of soup before glaring at his younger sister with a cold smile: "Luo Cuizhen, wasn't it you who went to call your older sister out this afternoon?"
These past few days, the academy where Luo Cuizhen was studying had given her a break, so she didn't go out to play because it was freezing outside. She stayed home all day, like a little worm.
"Well, I saw the situation was turning sour," Luo Cuizhen said, knowing she was in the wrong, holding her rice bowl high to hide most of her guilty face. "My uncle and his family are always making trouble, and my mother is too soft-hearted..."
"But I'm still here, aren't I?" Luo Fengming said angrily. "My sister is recovering from an illness. It's such a small matter, why are you bothering her? Why don't you just bring up Father? You have no sense of propriety."
Luo Cuizhen, feeling dejected after being scolded, buried her head in her rice, muttering, "I just didn't trust you..."
"Alright, alright, I'm not seriously ill. I've had enough rest for a while now. I'm not that delicate," Luo Cuiwei said as she tried to mediate when her younger siblings started to make a fuss. "Stop arguing, you two. How old are you? You can't even shut up while eating."
Luo Cuizhen seemed to suddenly remember something, her eyes darting around as she chuckled as she ate her rice.
Luo Cuiwei and Luo Fengming looked at her in surprise.
"Sister, I have something to tell you that will make you scream in anger." Luo Cuizhen smiled mysteriously and licked her lips.
Luo Cuiwei raised an eyebrow: "Tell me about it."
Luo Cuizhen picked up her bowl, stood up, and moved to a spot further away from her before laughing and saying, "After you and Luo Fengming left this afternoon, my third aunt said that you're already twenty-five and still so fierce and arrogant, you'll never get married." She had heard everything from outside the main hall door.
Luo Cuiwei's hand holding the chopsticks paused for a moment, and sure enough, anger surfaced on her face.
She slammed her chopsticks on the table and gritted her teeth, saying, "Who's twenty-five?! She's only twenty-five! Her whole family is twenty-five! I'm only twenty-three!"
Luo Cuizhen stared in disbelief at Luo Fengming, and then the two of them burst into laughter, nearly falling over.
Dear sister! Shouldn't you be angry that people say you can't get married?
Even after they finished eating, the three of them went to the garden to digest their food, and Luo Cuiwei was still fuming.
Luo Fengming smiled and put his arm around her shoulder, comforting her, "People talk about age in the traditional Chinese way, isn't that how age is calculated?"
"What kind of lousy algorithm is this? It makes someone appear two years older with just one extra year!" Luo Cuiwei was clearly very insistent on this, "I didn't, I didn't, I don't admit it."
Luo Cuizhen laughed and said, "You'll be twenty-four after the New Year, but you're only a year younger than expected."
"Shut up," Luo Cuiwei glared at her, hands on her hips. "If you utter another sound, I'll send you out to beg for food! And give you a broken bowl!"
****
Five days later, Luo Fengming brought the account book to Luo Cuiwei's study.
After the two finished checking the accounts for the season and talked about their plans for next year, Luo Fengming began to sigh.
"The Prince Zhao's residence returned the visiting card."
In the past five days, he had sent three visiting cards to the Prince Zhao's residence, but each time they were returned, which made him somewhat frustrated.
Luo Cuiwei coughed lightly twice, smiled, picked up the jujube tea in front of her, and took a small sip: "You only returned the visiting card?"
Luo Fengming seemed to wake from a dream, his clear eyes shining: "I've taken those paintings and calligraphy!"
Because Luo Cuiwei had instructed him beforehand not to send money directly, and that the value of the gifts should be carefully considered, he only selected a few calligraphy and paintings with auspicious meanings to send along with the visiting card.
Luo Cuiwei nodded: "Is it a piece of calligraphy by my aunt?"
The "little aunt" she mentioned was none other than Luo Huai's younger sister, Luo Bibo. Luo Bibo was a well-known woodblock print artist in the capital; her calligraphy and paintings, while not worth a fortune, were certainly not worthless.
“Yes, you instructed that it shouldn’t be too valuable,” Luo Fengming said, though he didn’t quite understand why. “But then again, since you suspect His Highness Prince Zhao is short of money, why don’t we just send him silver directly?”
“This is what Father taught me,” Luo Cui smiled and winked at her younger brother. “We have never had any dealings with the Prince Zhao’s mansion. If we were to send them gold, silver, or other valuables without their consent, would you dare to accept them?”
“That makes sense,” Luo Fengming said, somewhat understanding. “So, when can we confirm whether Prince Zhao’s mansion is truly short of money?”
If we cannot reach an agreement with King Zhao on the passage through Linchuan by spring, we will still be held hostage by the Huang family in Songyuan next year.
It's already December, and the Luo family has at most three months left.
"Have someone investigate the whereabouts of those paintings and calligraphy," Luo Cuiwei tapped the table with her fingertips. "If they were exchanged for money, then it's pretty much a done deal."
Luo Fengming pressed his head in frustration: "Sister, if we guessed wrong... then we can't discuss the matter of borrowing a route through Linchuan."