CHAPTER 661: CHAPTER 648: SLAPPING THE TRANSMIGRATOR (PART 3)

Anning spent several days sorting things out.

She is now in the Ji Family in the Jing Dynasty Capital.

The Ji Family is a noble family, whose ancestor had helped Emperor Taizu of Jing to establish the dynasty and was granted the position of a Duke after founding the nation. Anning belongs to the fourth generation, which shows that the Jing Dynasty has not been established for a very long time and it is currently in its golden age.

Anning’s body belongs to the legitimate eldest daughter of the Ji Family. Her parents had died early, but she still has a younger brother named Ji Anhe, and they live with their aunt and uncle.

Since Anning’s parents died early, the servants in the mansion no longer mention them. The once known as Second Old Master Ji is now addressed by everyone as Mr. Ji.

Mr. Ji and Mrs. Ji are not as close to Anning as their own children but harbor no ill intentions, and overall, they have raised Anning and her brother well.

Even the marriage arrangement previously set with the Eldest Son of Cui Family when Anning was younger, they also helped to maintain it well. Now that Anning is sixteen, it’s time for her marriage, and Mrs. Ji has also prepared a generous dowry. In essence, they have treated Anning and her brother fairly.

Furthermore, although Miss Ji Er and Third Miss Ji may have their own small schemes, they are overall decent towards Anning.

Although the three sisters sometimes have minor conflicts and small obstacles, there are no major conflicts. There is not the chaos or back-stabbing among sisters like in some other families.

Overall, the environment in the Ji Family is quite acceptable, and the original owner lived quite freely there.

Unfortunately, the original owner seemed to have caught someone’s eye. She was about to be married but fell into the river while visiting a temple, and coincidentally, a poor scholar rescued her.

Because of this, the marriage arrangement with the Cui Family was called off. The original owner was already unsettled, and due to the cancellation of the marriage, she became so angry and annoyed that she fell seriously ill. If Anning hadn’t come, the original owner might have already died.

Anning took advantage of the days she was recuperating to sort everything out, and then gradually started to recover.

When she was able to get out of bed and move around, she discovered that the girls of the Ji Family hardly knew how to read.

Whether it was the original owner, Miss Ji Er, or Third Miss Ji, they only recognized a few characters, enough to understand account books, but books such as the Four Books for Women or the Four Books and Five Classics had truly never been read by the girls of Ji Family.

The Ji Family is a peculiar case among the noble families in the Capital.

Other families’ daughters, even if they do not study serious books like the Four Books and Five Classics, would at least read some of the Four Books for Women. However, the girls of the Ji Family do not even read these, and aside from not reading, they also do not know female arts like embroidery or cooking.

However, the girls of the Ji Family do have skills in managing wealth, and housekeeping can be considered their strong suit.

Since the original soul did not know much about reading, Anning always had to maintain the original character setting, thus she pretended to be ignorant of reading.

When her health was gradually getting better, Mrs. Ji came to visit.

This was Anning’s first time meeting Mrs. Ji.

Mrs. Ji appeared to be in her thirties or forties, dressed brightly and maintaining a good figure, and seemed to have a cheerful and pleasant personality.

Upon entering, she immediately smiled: "Ningning, you are finally better. Your uncle and I have been terribly worried these days. Seeing you looking energetic and your complexion rosy, I am finally relieved."

Anning quickly got up to offer her seat: "Madam, please have a seat. Moli, quickly bring some tea."

Mrs. Ji took Anning’s hand and sat down: "Oh, my dear child, how have you become so thin?"

Anning smiled a little: "I’ve been ill these days and didn’t feel like eating, so I definitely lost some weight, but I’m better now. I’ll regain my strength in a few days."

Mrs. Ji then chatted with Anning about everyday matters before asking Anning: "What do you plan to do regarding your marriage arrangement? Xiao family has sent a matchmaker to our door again, I came to ask what you think? Would you like to marry Young Master Xiao? If you decide to marry, your uncle and I will start preparing. If you are reluctant to marry into the Xiao family, that’s fine too. Your uncle said the Cui Family retracted the marriage due to awkward entanglement, and you haven’t really had any interactions with that Young Master Xiao, so what is there to fear? If you have someone else in mind, your uncle can help settle that too. If it doesn’t work in the Capital, we can find a suitable match elsewhere, and with your uncle’s influence, we can surely get you married off respectfully."

Anning bowed her head in thought for a moment: "Madam, may I... meet Young Master Xiao? The day I was rescued, I passed out and didn’t see the person who saved me. I don’t know what kind of character he has; how can I marry him? I must meet him in person to gauge his character before I make a decision."

Hearing Anning say this, Mrs. Ji breathed a sigh of relief: "That’s only right, I’ll speak to your uncle later and have him arrange it."

Anning saw Mrs. Ji agree and looked up with a smile: "Thank you, Madam. I know that you and Mr. Ji care deeply for me and love me very much. When I was sick, you must have been very anxious as well. Fortunately, I have thought it through now. The Cuis’ home is not a good place after all. If the marriage proposal falls through, so be it. I will certainly take good care of myself from now on."

This was Anning’s sincere feeling, and Mrs. Ji could tell.

She breathed a sigh of relief and felt some pity for Anning at the same time: "Good child, it’s good that you think this way. In the future, let’s keep some distance from the Cui family."

After sending Mrs. Ji off, Anning didn’t know what to do for a while.

She couldn’t read at the moment, and anything related to books and writing was off-limits. She didn’t engage in needlework, nor did she know cooking. What exactly should she do staying at home every day?

Without the memories of her former self, she didn’t know what her former self did every day. Utterly bored, she decided to take a walk in the garden.

That walk indeed led to some happenings.

The Ji family’s garden was located in the backyard, close to the street. There was just a wall separating it from a small alley, which led to the bustling main street.

Standing in the garden, Anning could hear the hawkers calling out along the street outside.

It was already autumn, the weather was getting cooler, and many flowers in the garden had withered, except for a few pots of chrysanthemums, there wasn’t much to see.

Those few pots of chrysanthemums were placed not far from the back wall. Anning gave them a glance but couldn’t muster much interest.

Although the chrysanthemums of the Ji family were also of fine quality, Anning had visited so many worlds and seen countless varieties of flowers, these chrysanthemums hardly caught her eye in any special way.

However, Anning didn’t know what else to do, so she just sat down beside a rock next to the chrysanthemums and stared at them in a daze.

After zoning out for a while, she heard several thuds coming from the other side of the wall—these sounds were long and short and combined into a secret code.

Anning’s eyes lit up as soon as she heard these sounds.

She said to Chuntao who was following her: "I’m a bit cold, get me a cloak quickly, go now, I’ll wait here for you."

Chuntao agreed and left.

As soon as Chuntao left, Anning looked around to see no one else was around, and she knocked on the wall a few times herself.

Just as she finished knocking, a head peeked over the wall.

It was a quite young gentleman who looked around, saw Anning, and smiled while waving his hand, and then he leaped in with one nimble motion.

Anning quickly stepped back a few steps, and took a good look at the gentleman. After a glance, she smiled and said, "Xiao Yuan."

"Um."

Xiao Yuan was also sizing up Anning: "It’s me. How are you now?"

Anning quickly pulled Xiao Yuan to a secluded spot to sit down, and she explained her situation to him. Xiao Yuan also shared his circumstances, and comparing their stories, they couldn’t help but laugh.

It turned out that Xiao Yuan was indeed Young Master Xiao who had rescued Anning.

He had arrived the day before yesterday, and after gaining the memories of his original self, he had quickly come looking for Anning after sorting out all the matters.