Chapter 230: Elegant Scholar

Old Mrs. Chen dressed up specially today and took out a dark blue slanted-collar jacket from the bottom of her chest.

Her hair was combed smooth and sleek, with a copper hairpin inserted in it.

A thick layer of powder was applied to her wrinkled face, and at the end she smeared the rouge that Chen Ruolan used at home on her lips.

She looked happily at her reflection in the basin, left and right, until she was satisfied, and then she went to Chen Zhancai's room.

As soon as I entered the room, I saw Chen Zhancai dressed in elegant scholar's clothes, and my eyes lit up.

"Oh my, my Zhancai is a natural clothes hanger. Luckily, we are at home. If we saw him on the street, we would have thought he was some rich boy!"

Chen Zhancai was secretly proud of himself. This long gown was a symbol of the scholar's status. In order to buy this outfit, he spent most of the little money he had, just to show off in front of his fellow villagers today.

"Mom, this son follows you, otherwise how could I have given birth to such a handsome boy."

Upon hearing this, Old Lady Chen was overjoyed. "Of course. When Mom was young, she was a great beauty in our village. Everyone in the surrounding villages knew her. If it weren't for the good financial situation of the Chen family at that time, I would never have fallen for your father's stupid sheep-eyes."

"Okay, Mom, please stop talking. If my dad hears you two will start fighting again."

"I'm afraid of him! My son is a scholar now. If he dares to poke me, I'll show you how I'll deal with him."

Old Mrs. Chen changed her tone and said with a smile,

"Zhancai, Fengjiao, how are you two preparing? The villagers coming to congratulate us are about to arrive. We have to hurry outside and wait to greet the guests."

Chen Zhancai is proud of his high status and is no longer on the same level as the villagers. How could he lower himself?

"Mother, don't be anxious. Letting those peasants come to my wedding banquet for passing the imperial examination is a great honor for them. Let them wait outside for now."

Old Mrs. Chen nodded repeatedly. "My son is right. You two can go ahead and do your work. I'll go to the kitchen to check on the people helping with the cooking. If they steal food, we'll be in big trouble."

"Mom, come back." Just as Old Lady Chen turned to leave, Chen Zhancai stopped her. "My dad is there, why are you going there?"

"Yes, mother, you can rest assured that my father is here!" Liu Fengjiao also said with a smile.

Old Mrs. Chen curled her lips. "What can you do with your father's damned character? He's simply the reincarnation of a starving ghost. From yesterday until now, his mouth has never been idle. He's either eating a handful of peanuts, chewing on a radish, or quietly grabbing a sesame cake. If I hadn't locked the sesame cakes in the cabinet like a thief, he would have eaten them all."

Chen Zhancai frowned when he heard this. "Mom, you've made my dad look like a nobody. He's been busy buying food these days and hasn't even had time to eat. It's only natural for him to have something to eat. Why are you hiding the food?"

"You don't know, I bought fifty pancakes in total. I just counted them and there are thirty-eight left."

Old Mrs. Chen stared, gesturing with her fingers as she spoke.

"Tell me, twelve pancakes are missing in less than a day. How can I not hide them?"

Chen Zhancai was used to eating fine grains in the town. When he returned to Nanshan Village these days, he had a meal of mixed flour steamed bread and a meal of rice bran and vegetable porridge. The meals made him feel acid reflux. When he saw the rice bran porridge, he thought of the pig food in the pigpen and felt very sick.

He finally bought dozens of pancakes yesterday. He ate several of them in one go and secretly hid a few under his quilt to eat when he was hungry at night.

His face turned red with embarrassment, and he said, "My dear mother, you really wronged my father this time. I ate all the sesame cakes."

"So you like eating sesame cakes too. I thought your father ate them!" Old Mrs. Chen looked at her most beloved son with satisfaction, her eyes full of doting. "Eat it, eat it. If you like it, I'll get you a few more."

"No need, Mom. I'm not hungry yet. Can you help me quickly and see if this outfit of mine is okay?"

"Okay, it's really great. It gives people a bright feeling."

Old Mrs. Chen looked at the folding fan in Chen Zhancai's hand and then frowned.

"It's not a hot day, and it would be strange for you to hold a fan with you. Why don't you put it away?"

"You really don't understand anything!" Chen Zhancai casually opened his folding fan and waved it gently. "This is not only a tool for cooling off, but also a symbol of the status of scholars and writers, and it's also a fashion. Forget it, forget it, I won't tell you anymore. Even if I tell you, you won't understand."

"Okay, then don't tell me. If you think it's good, take it."

At this moment, Old Man Chen hurried in and said, "What are you all doing in the house? The head of the village is here. Go out and greet him."

"Okay, okay, got it. Go out now and keep an eye on those people who are cooking. Don't let them steal any food."

Old Lady Chen quickly pushed him out and turned to Chen Zhancai, saying, "Son, that's enough. Don't make Wu Baoan wait too long. After all, he's the head of the village, so we have to give him some respect."

"Okay, then I'll go out and greet them." Chen Zhancai straightened his clothes, held his head high and chest out, and walked out of the room with his hands behind his back.

Old Mrs. Chen followed closely behind, and just as she was about to step forward to greet Wu Baoan, she was grabbed by Chen Zhancai's arm.

"Don't be anxious, mother. You are a scholar's mother now. Don't be so impatient. Pay attention to your manners."

"Okay, I'll listen to you." Old Mrs. Chen was a little dazed. She didn't know where to put her hands, and she didn't know how to move her legs.

Chen Zhancai came up to Wu Baoan with a smile, clasped his hands and said, "Village Head, I'm sorry for not welcoming you to my humble home. Please come in quickly."

Seeing his hypocritical appearance, Wu Baoan almost vomited because of nausea. He waved his hands repeatedly.

"Alright, Zhancai, we all live in the same village, there's no need to be too polite, it's fine like this normally."

He didn't want to listen to Chen Zhancai's nonsense anymore, so he hurriedly said to the old lady Chen behind him, "Auntie, are all the things ready?"

"It's all ready, it's all ready." Old Mrs. Chen said, pointing to the table next to her covered with a thick red cloth. "Look, the pens, ink, paper, and inkstone are all ready. We're just waiting for you to come and record the gifts."

"Okay, then you guys go ahead and get busy. I'll take care of the bookkeeping for Dabao and me."

"No hurry, no hurry. The guests haven't arrived yet. Why don't you go inside and have some water?"

"No need, you should go to the door and prepare to receive the guests!"

As he was speaking, he heard someone shouting outside the gate,

"Aunt, we are here to congratulate your family."

"Congratulations, Zhancai!"

Seeing that all the villagers had arrived, Old Lady Chen went out to greet them with a big smile on her face, "Please come in quickly and find a place to sit in the yard."

Chen Zhancai also bowed and put on a polite manner, "Thank you all for your support, fellow villagers. Please come in."

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