Visiting the Xu Family
Zhao Ruxin's fiancé is a newly appointed Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations) who now works in the Ministry of Rites as an Subordinate Eighth Rank official. He is an only child with meager family property. After passing the Jinshi exam, he simply had his parents sell the hundreds of acres of land in their hometown and buy a two-courtyard house in the capital, along with several dozen acres of land.
Zhao Yuanxun had made many inquiries before choosing him, finding him to be handsome, honest, hardworking, gentle, and polite. His family was small, and his parents were kind people. Although his family wasn't particularly wealthy, they owned a house and land, and received a monthly salary, so they were financially secure.
After several meetings, he asked someone to mediate. Zhao Ruxin and the man met once and were quite satisfied with each other, so they got engaged.
Zhao Ruxin is getting married next spring.
Before the family split up, the children of the Earl of Suiping's Residence got along very well. At that time, Zhao Jingli was still the heir apparent, and although Zhao Ruxin was born out of wedlock, she was still his older sister. He was very interested in this marriage and had even gone to see the man twice. He knew everything about Zhao Ruxin's marriage.
Now that Zhao Ruxi had brought it up, Zhao Jing felt he knew how to arrange Zhao Rurui's marriage.
Seeing his expression, Zhao Ruxi quickly reminded him, "Marriage is about mutual consent. If Fourth Sister isn't willing, no matter how well you arrange things for her, it won't help. You still have to change her mind first. If you can't change her mind, arranging a marriage like this for her will only cause her trouble."
Zhao Jingli nodded.
He pulled out a few math problems he couldn't solve and asked Zhao Ruxi. Finally, he asked, "Is the Xu Family renting the house from Tenth Madam Zhao? I'd like to get to know Brother Xu Chongwen sometime. I've heard he's quite well-educated and a very good person. I'm always cooped up at home. Brother Xu will have some free time at the end of the year, so I'll have a place to go."
Zhao Jingli used to have a group of friends. However, after the Earl of Suiping's Residence's title was reduced, he returned to the second branch of the family and was no longer the heir of the Marquis's family. In addition, the Lady Wei's affair caused a great uproar, and Zhao Jingli became withdrawn for a while. His friends did not come to see him, and they lost contact with each other.
He has almost no friends now.
When Zhao Jingli brought this up, Zhao Ruxi also thought it was a good idea for Zhao Jingli to be friends with Xu Chongwen.
Xu Chongwen used to study at a private school in Beining County, but now he has entered the Zhao Family Clan School. Because the teacher is very strict and because of Zhao Yuanxun's connections, the students at the family school are quite friendly to him, and he has made a few friends. But these are all people from the bottom of society.
Zhao Jingli was, after all, the heir of a marquis's family. His education and the people he interacted with were completely different from Xu Chongwen and his classmates. It could be said that they lived in the upper and lower strata of society, respectively; they were two completely different worlds.
The two became friends. Zhao Jingli gained a better understanding of the lives of people at the bottom of society, became more down-to-earth, and was more practical in his dealings with others. Xu Chongwen, on the other hand, broadened his horizons and gained more knowledge, so that he would not be timid or flustered when he came into contact with people from this class in the future.
They can learn about the lives of social classes they've never encountered before through each other, gaining a more comprehensive understanding of the world and a broader perspective, which benefits both of them.
She said, "Today is a day off, so Chongwen should be home. How about I take you there now so you can meet him?"
Zhao Jingli was overjoyed and said, "That's excellent!"
He observed Zhao Ruxi's expression and cautiously asked, "Should I ask Jing'an to come along?"
Although Zhao Jing'an's estrangement from Zhao Ruxi wasn't obvious due to their limited contact, Zhao Jing'an Zhao Jingli believed that Zhao Ruxi, with her intelligence, would definitely sense it.
"Whatever you say." Zhao Ruxi remained noncommittal.
"Then I'll go to Jingtai's place first," Zhao Jingli said, and left Slender Bamboo Courtyard first.
Neither of them mentioned Zhao Ruyu.
The Xu Family has been living in the clan compound for so long, yet Zhao Ruyu has never once visited them, revealing her cold-hearted nature. This is also the reason why Zhao Jingli is indifferent to Zhao Ruyu.
So no matter how much Zhao Ruyu tried to please him and showed that she was more capable and talented than Zhao Ruyu Zhao Rurui, he remained indifferent to her and had no brotherly or sisterly feelings for her.
Seeing Zhao Jingli leave, Zhao Ruxi instructed Dianjiang, "Go to the Xu Family and tell them I'm taking the Zhao Family brothers to visit. The eldest young master wants to get to know the young master Xu. Ask them if it's convenient for him."
Dianjiang responded and hurried off.
It's unclear how Zhao Jingli persuaded Zhao Jing'an, but not long after, he took Zhao Jing'an and Zhao Jingtai to Slender Bamboo Courtyard.
"Please wait a moment. I'll have Dianjiang go and say hello. We'll go over after she replies."
It is basic etiquette not to be an uninvited guest. The three brothers had no objection.
As Zhao Ruxi spoke, she estimated that Dianjiang would not be back for a while, so she ignored the three of them and went back to her studio to paint.
Zhao Jingtai had been learning to paint from his older sister. After mastering sketching, he then began learning traditional Chinese painting from her.
Therefore, upon seeing his older sister painting, he immediately followed her like a little tail, standing quietly beside Zhao Ruxi, watching and learning.
Zhao Jingli pulled Zhao Jing'an along, and the two followed behind Zhao Jingtai.
Zhao Ruxi remained completely unaffected by them, continuing to paint at her own pace.
The competition had a time limit. Zhao Ruxi wanted to create a grand and majestic painting, and the original sizes were all very large, taking several hours to complete, which was somewhat inconvenient during the competition.
She now plans to paint some smaller paintings, which will inevitably require reducing the original composition of her paintings. She has put a lot of effort into figuring out how to reduce the number of subjects without affecting the expressiveness of the paintings. Therefore, she has been thinking about this matter for the past few days.
She concentrated for a moment, then opened her eyes and began to paint. Soon, a rushing river appeared before everyone's eyes. Although there were no towering peaks, and the trees and rocks along the riverbank were sparse, and only half of the river's width was depicted, one could still sense the river's grandeur and its surging momentum like a thousand horses, and a sense of pride would well up in one's heart.
She had created this new painting style, Zhao Jingli had never seen before. When he saw Zhao Ruxi's painting, he was immediately amazed.
Zhao Jing'an was so shocked that he couldn't close his mouth for a long time.
Seeing Zhao Ruxi put down her brush, examine the painting, and shake her head seemingly in dissatisfaction, Zhao Jingli whispered to Zhao Jingtai, puzzled, "It's painted so well! Why isn't your sister satisfied?"
"That's because you haven't seen your sister's real paintings," Zhao Jingtai said, shaking his little face with great pride.
Seeing that Zhao Ruxi had washed her hands, Zhao Jingli knew she was no longer painting, so he quickly stepped forward and said, "Fifth Sister, may I see your painting?"
Zhao Ruxi didn't answer his question immediately. Instead, she turned to Dianjiang, who had just returned and was standing silently to the side, worried about disturbing her painting, and asked, "How is it? Are they available?"