Chapter 72 Eighteen Scholars

Unexpectedly, Huang Xiaomei still didn't come the next day, but Gu Yunze did. However, as a man, he couldn't easily enter the girls' room, so Lu Xun and the others stopped him outside the courtyard.

Xu Jiajia was very annoyed. She didn't expect that although she hadn't had much contact with Gu Yunze, he had recently started to seize every opportunity to get close to her.

Gu Yunze, who was blocked outside the courtyard, was also annoyed. "We're all educated youth, it's normal for me to come and visit some of the other educated youth, Xu. It's too much of you to stop me from entering like this."

Zhou Zipeng rolled his eyes. If he weren't so careful, he would have punched this guy. "Men and women are different. Don't you know you should avoid suspicion? Captain Liang has already come to see the female educated youth as a representative. That's enough."

If you want to know about Xu Zhiqing and the others, you can go back and ask Captain Liang, or you can ask us. We can talk about it here.

Gu Yunze had no desire to chat with the two grown men. Seeing that they were blocking the way so thoroughly, he knew he couldn't get in with them there, so he left with a displeased expression.

Zhou Zhipeng and Lu Xun closed the courtyard gate after Zhou Zhipeng watched him enter the educated youth compound.

"Ah Xun, do you think I should take leave to be with Jiajia and the others? What if someone comes while we're not here?" Zhou Zhipeng was very worried.

Lu Xun shook his head. "First, spring plowing is busy now, and the brigade leader won't approve your leave. If you dare to ask, you might have to write another self-criticism."

Secondly, others may not know, but don't you know their situation? And what about Ning Xuan's strength? Aren't you worried about her?"

Zhou Zhipeng suddenly remembered, chuckling to himself, "Oh yeah, I was just subconsciously worried about Jiajia, I completely forgot..."

Seeing that Gu Yunze had been sent away, Xu Jiajia felt a little better. She was fine when she didn't see Gu Yunze, but if he came up to her or she heard his name, she couldn't help but think of the things in her dream. She was really worried that she would lose control and slap Gu Yunze a few times.

Ning Xuan guessed that there must have been a problem with the plot involving the male and female leads. Xu Jiajia didn't seem to like Gu Yunze, or perhaps their relationship was a slow burn and would take time to develop.

However, she doesn't plan to interfere in the relationship between the male and female leads. If Xu Jiajia's relationship changes in the future and affects her, she will decisively distance herself from her.

For now, let's just leave it at that.

During her lunch break, Ning Xuan received another message from Wang Erya, this time also asking for help.

Perhaps because things were going relatively smoothly for Wang Erya, she stopped contacting Ning Xuan for transactions every day. The last time she proactively sent a request for help was when she was offering a gift.

Ning Xuan read the message; it turned out that this time it was still about giving gifts.

.

Wang Erya has encountered a rather troublesome situation this time.

Because the crystal bracelet she gave to the governor's daughter last time amazed everyone present and even outshone the gift that another official's daughter had spent a lot of money to try and please the governor's daughter, that young lady harbored a grudge.

This time, the camellias on the prefect's wife's estate were in bloom, so we specially organized a spring outing to the estate to admire the flowers.

Originally, the governor's daughter didn't want to go because it was a gathering organized by her stepmother. However, her stepmother whispered in her ear, and the governor didn't think much of it. Worried that his daughter would be bored at home, he specially instructed her to go along and have a good time.

The second wife then mentioned the benefactor who had saved her daughter last time, saying that she was too busy to properly entertain him last time, and specifically asked the prefect to remind her daughter to invite the benefactor as well.

Thus, Wang Erya inexplicably stumbled into the circle of high-society ladies in the city.

But she never expected that this would be a trap.

There's a place on the estate that's not open to the public, where camellias are planted. It's a gift the prefect is preparing to send to the capital. After this year-end assessment, he'll be facing a reassignment, so he needs to prepare for the year-end assessment in advance and pull strings.

This camellia is very special; it is a rare variety known as the "Eighteen Scholars". Its pure white petals are evenly symmetrical in each ring, making it extremely beautiful and elegant.

The Minister of Rites was a man of refined tastes, especially fond of beautiful flowers. His wife often enjoyed hosting various flower-viewing banquets, and their home contained many novel and rare varieties. Whenever they came across a new variety, the Minister of Rites' wife would send it to the Empress.

Therefore, when giving gifts to the Minister of Rites, he might not accept other gifts, but if the flowers are beautiful, he will generally not refuse them.

This camellia seems to bloom a bit slower than other varieties. While the others have already bloomed quite a bit, this one has only produced a few scattered flowers so far.

However, this is the perfect time to send them. According to the schedule, once they arrive in Beijing, they should bloom quite a bit after another day or two, and there are still some very small buds that can continue to bloom for a while.

The prefect has already arranged for people to surround and guard this camellia tree. He will personally lead people to deliver the camellia tree to the carriage tomorrow, when he has a day off.

This gift was of great significance; he needed to see with his own eyes that his servants were taking proper precautions before he could feel at ease.

However, unexpectedly, the prefect's wife, not wanting her first wife's daughter to have any other support, deliberately had her servants casually reveal the camellia's information to the official's daughter after realizing that the official's daughter was hostile towards Wang Erya.

Then the prefect's wife used her authority to lure away the guards of the eighteen scholars, thus giving the official's daughter the opportunity to frame Wang Erya.

She first deliberately broke the flower branches of the Eighteen Scholars, and then had someone lure Wang Erya to the Eighteen Scholars under the pretext that the governor's daughter was looking for her.

Then the governor's wife and other guests were brought over, and everyone subconsciously assumed that Wang Erya had deliberately destroyed the flowers.

"Oh dear, aren't there people watching here? How did you get in? This flower is of great use to you, sir! What should we do now?" The prefect's wife exclaimed dramatically.

The governor's daughter was also pale. Although she didn't know much about her father's official career, he had personally instructed her yesterday that there was a camellia in the estate that he wanted to give as a gift, and that someone had already been assigned to watch over it, so they shouldn't bring anyone over to see it.

If they want to watch it, their father will take them to watch it together tomorrow, when they have a day off.

Wang Erya was at a loss. She explained that the flowers here were like this from the moment she arrived.

But nobody listened to her explanation.

"She really is an ignorant countrywoman..."

"Those country bumpkins don't know their stuff; they'll probably think these are just ordinary wildflowers that they can pick at will."

The crowd was abuzz with discussion. After Wang Erya stood up for herself last time, her background had already been investigated. She was just a refugee who had fled famine and had settled down in the prefectural city with some money.