The Zhao family left without a trace, leaving behind a group of refugees who knelt on the ground and kowtowed in gratitude.

When Lord Duan learned that there was such a kind and generous person under his jurisdiction, he was eager to get to know him, but little did he know that the generous person had been hiding in his backyard for more than ten days.

The road conditions ahead were still not very good, and the return trip was unusually slow.

The mountain that was once an insurmountable barrier has completely changed. The barrier is now blocked by rocks, and the entire mountain peak looks like its head has been cut off.

Now it looks like a small hill that isn't very high or steep.

If the Zhao family hadn't been driving the cart, they probably could have climbed the mountain and gotten home by now.

Having just experienced an earthquake, it was best not to take any risks. So the Zhao family chose the road next to the mountain, taking a detour rather than risking their lives.

What should have been a three-day journey took the Zhao family eight days to reach home. It was already mid-September.

On their way back, the group passed through Qingyang County and went to check on the shop. It wasn't open yet, and the door was locked. They guessed that the shop had probably been taken away by family members.

The same was true in Wufang Town. After buying some things in town, they hurried home on horseback. Upon entering Zhao Family Village, they noticed the changes in the village.

It seems to be much prettier than before. Upon closer inspection, it turns out that there are many more bamboo houses that were previously unseen.

Before the Zhao family could figure things out, they were surrounded by villagers.

"Congratulations, congratulations, sir! Oh my, look at us, we have such a young sir here."

"Master Qianci, do you want to hold a celebration banquet? Five scholars from one family, this is a great event. It's a remarkable thing for a family to produce one or two scholars in the surrounding villages."

"Your family has produced five this time alone; your ancestors' graves must be emitting auspicious smoke!"

"Haha, how about we go up the mountain tomorrow and see if the ancestral graves are smoking?"

"Don't get off there. Our Zhao family's ancestral graves are in our hometown. We don't even know what they look like now. We've been fleeing famine to Lingnan Prefecture for decades."

"Yes, we should go back to our hometown to pay our respects if we have the chance, or we could move the grave to Lingnan Prefecture. It's just that the journey would be too expensive."

"You're kidding me. You're just saying useless things. Those are our ancestral graves back home. Do you know what ancestral graves are? They're where our ancestors are buried."

With so many ancestors, do you want to move a few away and leave the rest behind?

If your ancestors knew about this, they would surely come out and beat your buttocks into eight pieces, hahahaha…”

The various noises made it impossible for the Zhao family's carriage to move an inch.

In order to get rid of this situation, Huang shamelessly pushed her own old man off the car.

"Go have a good chat with my eldest cousin, and while you're at it, return the money he gave us for the good news. As for whether it's a banquet or a lavish feast, you decide; we're not short of money."

Before Zhao Qianci got off the carriage, Huang gave him some instructions and then wanted her grandson to drive the carriage home as quickly as possible.

"Fellow villagers, we've traveled a long and dusty road, so we need to hurry home and pack up. We'll definitely have a banquet, but as for when, that's something my old man will discuss with the village chief."

Everyone, let's wait for news.

The group surrounding the Zhao family's carriages and horses rushed towards the village chief's house. Only a few old women who were considered to have a fairly good relationship with the Zhao family stayed behind to exchange a few pleasantries with Huang before also running off.

Zhao Qingyan almost choked with laughter in the car.

"Grandma, this is your best friend? So throwing a banquet is more important than chatting and building relationships? Hahaha..."

Zhao Qingyan laughed incessantly, and Huang Shi, having given up all hope, also became increasingly reckless.

"What? You think my reputation isn't worth a big meal? What? You have a problem with that? Is your reputation more important than a feast?"

Zhao Qingyan stopped laughing, waved her hand and said, "It's not important, I don't even have a fake friend."

The group received unprecedented attention upon arriving home.

Especially the young ladies and servants living in the old bamboo house, upon hearing that the master and mistress had returned, lined up at the gate of Qingshan Xiaozhu.

Each person held a ribbon and waved it.

"Welcome, welcome! A warm welcome! Welcome home!"

Congratulations! Congratulations to the old master, the young master, and the family for passing the imperial examination with flying colors!

This scene completely baffled the people in the carriage. Zhao Qingyan pointed to the welcoming procession lining the road and the slogans.

"This must be some kind of trouble caused by my older sister and the others, but I like it."

"The ribbon in my hand won't do; it's too thin. I'll have to get a wider one later," Zhao Qingyan said.

"It doesn't matter whose doing it is, as long as it's lively," Zhao Minggeng said with a smile.

Back in the village, the carriage that Huang and Zhao Qianci had been riding in drove ahead, and Huang lifted the curtain and got out of the carriage.

The welcoming party immediately rushed forward.

"Mother, you're back! Get out of the car quickly, where's my father?" It was my aunt's voice.

Then my second aunt said,

"Mom, you're finally back! We were so worried about you."

If it weren't for the good news delivered yesterday, we wouldn't have known that our fathers had passed the imperial examination and become scholars.

This is truly a wonderful and joyous occasion.

Mrs. Huang patted her two daughters-in-law's arms and said,

"Why did I just hear someone say that the wedding gift was given by your uncle? What's going on?"

"Hey, isn't this a coincidence? Yesterday, Chang Geng took the three Qingfeng brothers to the valley because he was worried that the crops planted in the mountains would rot in the ground if they weren't harvested soon."

I was with the girls and guards of our family, harvesting crops on our hill. The main gate was locked, so we didn't hear anyone knocking on the door immediately.

When my eldest uncle heard the commotion, he came over and naturally helped our family give the wedding money.

Yesterday, after we learned about the letter, we sent it over, but my eldest uncle refused to accept it, insisting that my father return it to him personally when he came back.

"That's why this whole mess happened. It's all my fault; I didn't plan well. I shouldn't have left no one to guard the gate."

Aunt Wang Caixia blamed herself.

Huang nodded.

"This must never happen again. Our Qingshan Xiaozhu Garden is quite large; we can't leave it unattended, especially since most of you are women and children."

"Without a strong person guarding the door, what if a thug forces his way in? If you're unprepared and something bad happens to you, what will you do?"

Wang Caixia nodded.

“Mother-in-law’s words are right. Caixia will definitely not make the same mistake again. However, it’s still better for our family to have mother-in-law around.”

The second aunt next to her nodded coolly in agreement.

Thinking about it now, it's really frightening. Apart from a few guards, the family is basically all women. In the future, the men in the family really can't all go out to work.

Fortunately, the nurses all seemed to be in good condition and were doing their best to work for the family without any complaints.