Flowers in full bloom

Hualei and Zhenzhu accompanied Madam Pei back to her room first. They talked for a while, and then seeing that Madam Pei looked a little tired, they asked Nanny Chen to help her rest.

After watching Madam Pei undress and lie down to rest, the two of them quietly left Madam Pei's room and returned to their own residence.

The two returned to their room, but couldn't sleep, so they undressed, one lying on the bed, the other leaning on the small couch, chatting about random things.

At this time, Mrs. Li, who was helping in the kitchen, came in quietly, said a few words to Qingying and Qinghe, and left in a hurry. Qingying looked at the buds on the bed, a little hesitant, and stayed where she was without saying anything.

Zhenzhu, who was lying on the small couch, spoke, "Qinghe, does Mrs. Li want to talk to you about something?" Qinghe, who was next to her, walked to the small couch and whispered something in Zhenzhu's ear.

"Miss, the master asked Mrs. Li to come and ask him about it. He said he rented a small fishing boat and wants to take a few young masters to go fishing. Do you and Miss Hua want to go? If you want to go, he will wait for you at the back door of Yingfeng Courtyard in a quarter of an hour. You don't need to bring anything. He has prepared everything."

"Go, go, go to the front yard and tell my eldest brother that we're going to go. Let them wait for me." Zhenzhu got up and came over to pull Hualei's arm.

"Sister Hua, hurry up, hurry up, let's go fishing. My brother has rented a fishing boat, let's go together."

Hualei looked at the sky. The sun was still very bright. She hesitated a little. "It's so bright. Didn't Grandmother Pei ask us to go out later?"

"Ha, let's go quietly, grandma won't know. Hurry up, get up and change clothes." Zhenzhu urged Hualei. She had already taken her clothes and started changing behind the screen.

"Or I won't go..." Hua Lei didn't want to face Rong Jin. When Mrs. Pei mentioned that Zhenzhu and Feicui were going to meet for marriage, she looked at Hua Lei with a hesitant look on her face, which made Hua Lei feel a little at a loss as to what to do.

Rong Jin is already sixteen years old. According to his age, he should be old enough to get married. Although it doesn’t matter if it’s a little later for boys, many men in the Dasheng Dynasty got married at the age of twenty.

But when Mrs. Pei looked at Hua Lei with an expression of pity and regret, Hua Lei wondered if she had interfered with Rong Jin's marriage.

It has been nearly a year and a half since they moved into the mansion, and neither Mrs. Pei nor Hua Lei has ever mentioned the engagement.

Hua Lei felt that she was out of her league and she also noticed Madam Han's indifference and rejection, so this toad gave up her ambitions and just treated the Marquis' Mansion as an old friend of her grandfather. She planned to move out of the Mansion and live back in Qingyun Lane after she came of age.

And Old Madam Pei had never mentioned the engagement in front of him. It was possible that the old marquis did not mention the engagement clearly, so Old Madam Pei did not know about it and had no way of bringing it up.

It is also possible that Madam Pei knew about the engagement, but she was in mourning and could not discuss marriage, so she did not mention it.

Of course, there is another possibility that, although Madam Pei knew about the engagement, she never thought of letting me become Rong Jin's wife. She simply treated me as an old friend, took good care of me, and would send me out of the mansion after I reached the age of 15.

No matter what the reason is, Hua Lei is not suitable to meet Rong Jin more often now.

"Hey, get up quickly and change your clothes!" Seeing that Hualei didn't respond, Zhenzhu took out Hualei's dress from the closet and put it on her directly.

"Oh, no, no, no, you're pulling my hair." Hua Lei smoothed her hair while dodging Zhenzhu's movements.

"If you don't get up, I'm going to tickle you!" Pearl threatened, stretching out her hands as if to tickle Bud.

When two people are together for a long time, they know each other's little habits. For example, Hualei is ticklish, and Zhenzhu has threatened Hualei with this several times.

"Okay, okay, I'll get up. Can't I go?" Hua Lei said helplessly, then slowly got up from the bed.

"Hmph, little brat, you always require me to use my trump card." Pearl smiled smugly.

Hualei changed her clothes and followed Zhenzhu to the back door of Yingfeng Courtyard quietly. Rong Jin, Xiaoyuan, Rong Jue and others were already waiting at the back door.

"What about the others?" Zhenzhu asked softly, looking around nervously, fearing that Nanny Chen beside her grandmother would suddenly run out and call her.

"I'll let Rong Yu take them away first. Let's go." Rong Jin replied in a low voice, turned around and took Hua Lei and Zhenzhu to walk around a row of lush bushes in front of the back door and walked quickly to the east.

After a cup of tea, Rong Jin was seen waving towards the roadside, and a coachman drove the carriage from the Lotus Manor over, and several people got on the carriage.

This carriage is different from the carriages used by wealthy families when they go out. The carriage in Lotus Manor is longer than that of ordinary carriages and can accommodate six people facing each other.

There are no front or back doors, only a piece of gauze hanging, which not only blocks the view of outsiders but also allows for good ventilation.

Although the sun was still a little strong at this time, because there was a sunshade roof on the carriage, the wind blew towards us when the carriage moved, so we didn't feel hot.

Seeing the style of the carriage, Hualei became even more suspicious whether the owner of Zhuangzi was a time traveler like herself. The style of this carriage was very similar to the battery-powered vehicles used to carry tourists in scenic spots in the past life.

The carriage drove for about a quarter of an hour and then stopped. Several people got off. Hua Lei saw a river in front of her. The river was only about two meters wide. It turned out that the lotus pond was planted along a small U-shaped river. Now the lotus has grown tall, and the river on this side can no longer be seen from a distance.

In fact, this is a normal flowing river, but it is a little small. At this time, there is a fishing boat leaning against the shore. It may be more appropriate to call it a cruise boat.

It is eight or nine meters long and less than three meters wide. In the middle of the boat, there is a platform for tourists to rest and enjoy the scenery, and there are rows of fixed chairs on both sides.

There is a small round table in the middle, also fixed on the boat board. There is a canopy on the hull, and a veil is hung on the canopy to block the view. If you don't want to block it, you can hang it with a hook.

Rong Yu was already standing in the cabin with a few of his brothers and sisters, and had set up their fishing rods. When he saw Rong Jin and the others, he hurriedly asked them to get on board.

The boat and the shore were connected by a wooden plank, which was only a foot wide and about 1.78 meters long. Rong Jin stood on the shore, first holding Xiaoyuan and Rongjue's hands and sending them to the boat, and then holding Zhenzhu and carefully sending her to the boat.

He turned around and stretched out his hand in front of Hualei, ready to help her cross the gangplank and get on the boat. His hand with distinct knuckles lay flat there, waiting for Hualei to put her hand on it.