Before leaving for Yeyang the next day, the horse-drawn carriage made a special stop in front of Zhang Cuicui's house.
It was still dark, before the break of dawn.
Ji Huan got out of the carriage, thinking Zhang Cuicui wasn't up yet. In reality, Zhang Cuicui had been waiting for a while and came running out on tiptoe as soon as she heard the wheels.
"Are you ready?" Ji Huan asked.
Zhang Cuicui, suppressing her excitement, said, "All ready."
"It's a long journey, and going back and forth would be a hassle. We can't have you running around with us all day, so it's best if you stay at the shop. Did you mention this to your aunt? Did she agree?"
"I mentioned it. My mother, she…" Zhang Cuicui hesitated.
When the Liu matriarch heard that she was going to the county seat to show her face in public as a shop assistant, and that she would even be living at the shop—where she wouldn't be the only young woman—she was naturally against it, without a second thought.
