100, whisper in your ears

100, whisper in your ears

“Knock knock—”

"Who is it?"

"Mother, it's me."

Hearing her eldest son's voice, Mrs. Lu came over and opened the door.

The mother and son looked at each other without saying anything. Old Mrs. Lu knew that her eldest son wanted to see them for something, so she opened the door and let him in.

At this time, Old Man Lu was sitting in the house smoking. When he saw his eldest son come in, he just looked up at him, then continued to smoke his pipe with his eyes lowered.

That night, Boss Lu stayed in Ye Niang's room for a long time before going out.

Xiao Wang, who lived in the east house, heard the sound of a door opening from her mother-in-law's house, and vaguely seemed to hear someone talking. She felt a little curious about who went to her mother-in-law's house so late at night.

When she heard the door open again, she walked to the door and looked out through the crack, wanting to see who had gone to sit in her in-laws' room so late.

But after waiting for a while, no one came out. Xiao Wang suspected that someone from the first room had gone to her mother-in-law's room. Otherwise, if someone from the fourth room had gone to her mother-in-law's room, they would definitely have come out.

Because only my mother-in-law and the eldest wife live in the main house, the people from the eldest wife can go to my mother-in-law's room to talk at night without having to go outside.

But it was already dark, what could someone from the main house do in my mother-in-law's room? Little Wang's eyes rolled around, and she pondered this matter in her mind.

"What are you looking at?" Seeing his wife hiding behind the door and looking out, Lu Laoer came over and asked curiously.

"Hey!" Xiao Wang was startled by the sound. She turned around and glared at the man behind her. "You're walking without making any sound. You scared me to death!"

After pulling the person away from the door and bringing them to the bedside, Xiao Wang lowered her voice and said, "I just heard someone enter A Niang's room."

"Just go in, why do you care so much?" Lu Lao Er lay down on the bed and said indifferently.

"Think about it, our family just told us today that Qilang passed the imperial examination, and the people from the first house went to A Niang and her family's room in the evening. They must be talking about Qilang passing the imperial examination!" Little Wang was sure that she was not wrong.

Speaking of this, Xiao Wang couldn't help but slap her husband, and said with a little jealousy in her heart: "Our Wulang is so smart. If he had the opportunity to study in the past, he would definitely not be worse than Dalang and Qilang!"

Thinking about how they had used all their family's strength to support their eldest nephew's studies and imperial examinations for so many years, and that now his eldest nephew had passed the examination and it had nothing to do with their second branch, but instead it was their eldest sister-in-law who often showed off in front of them, Xiao Wang felt a little angry when she thought about this.

Instead, her mother-in-law married their eldest daughter to an old widower and used the betrothal money to build a new house. Of the seven rooms, the second branch only received two, while the first branch took three without paying a penny. Even the betrothal money for her eldest nephew's marriage and the wedding banquet came from their daughter's betrothal money! Thinking of this, Xiao Wang became even more angry.

Moreover, the eldest wife has no daughters, only four sons. The betrothal gifts and expenses for the nephews to marry their wives in the future must have come from the betrothal gifts of the second and fourth wives' daughters. Why should the betrothal gifts of their daughters be used to marry the sons of the eldest wife?

Thinking about how she had given birth to only one son despite having several daughters, her mother-in-law was always dissatisfied and picky with her, and her eldest sister-in-law was always showing off in front of her, Xiao Wang was unwilling to use the betrothal money from her daughters to marry off her nephews from the first wife's family. If she spent this money on her own sons and grandsons, maybe her second wife could also raise a scholar?

Little Wang was thinking this in her heart, and she also said this to her husband, "Our Wulang didn't have the opportunity to study. Don't you want Wulang's children to study in the future? You also saw that Dalang passed the examination and became a student. What benefits can our second house get?"

"Da Lang's wife is going to give birth in a few months. If it's a son, he will be our eldest grandson. Look, Da Lang is already married, but our Wu Lang doesn't even have a wife. If our family chooses another child to go to school, it will definitely be Da Lang's eldest son. Our second wife's children and grandchildren will definitely farm to support the eldest grandson of the first wife to go to school."

"Dad, it's enough for us to support Dalang's studies. I don't want Wulang and Wulang's children to have to support Dalang's son's studies in the future..." When Xiao Wang thought that her descendants would have to support the eldest son and grandson of the first house to study, she felt unwilling and resigned.

The last sentence touched Lu Laoer's heart.

While the couple from the second house were talking about the affairs of the third and first houses, Chen from the fourth house was also telling her husband about her nephew's passing the imperial examination.

That night, the couples from the second and fourth rooms both had trouble sleeping.

At that moment, Lu Dalang, who was enjoying a night out in the city with his classmates, had no idea that his cousin had passed the examination for a Tongsheng (a student of higher learning) and even placed first in the county exam. Even if he knew, he wouldn't have cared, because he himself was a Tongsheng. He simply believed that no matter if a Tongsheng ranked outside the top 100 or ranked first, they were still Tongsheng.

***

Early the next morning, Lu Wulang and Lu Liulang left home after having breakfast. The two brothers quietly left the village through a small path behind the village and headed towards Kyoto Prefecture.

The two brothers had secretly been to Kyoto Prefecture several times over the years, so they knew how to get to Kyoto Prefecture by land.

After leaving the village, the two walked along the main road towards Kyoto Prefecture. After walking for a long time, they saw the gate of Kyoto Prefecture appear before them.

The two of them entered the city smoothly and found where their third aunt (third aunt) was setting up her stall.

They just watched their third aunt busy at the stall from afar, and neither of them dared to go up and say hello.

Liu Sanniang was busy looking up at the other side of the street and saw two people standing there. At first, she thought they were just passers-by, but she didn't recognize them at first glance and continued to work with her head down.

"Send it to the table at the back for the two masters." Put the prepared braised pork rice on a tray and ask the worker to send it to the back for the guests.

Suddenly remembering something, Liu Sanniang looked up again and saw two people still standing there looking at their stall. Only then did she recognize that the two young men standing opposite looked familiar, like her nephews?

After a pause, Liu Sanniang lowered her head and said something to the people working next to her, asking Madam Xie to take her place. She wiped her hands on the apron around her waist, left the stall, and walked across the street.

"San Auntie."

"Third Aunt."

Seeing their third aunt (third aunt) walking towards them, a look of panic flashed across Lu Liulang and Lu Wulang's faces at the same time, but they both stood where they were and did not run away.

"Why are you here?" Liu Sanniang's feelings were somewhat complicated upon seeing her two nephews. Although she felt very disappointed with the Lu family mansion, her parents-in-law, the first wife, and the second and fourth wives' behavior of not helping the third wife in her previous life, she didn't dislike these two nephews who had played well with her son and had never bullied her children.

So when she saw her two nephews standing on the side of the road looking at her again, she came over to greet them and asked them why they were there.

"I, we heard that Qilang passed the examination for the title of Tongsheng, so we wanted to come and congratulate you, Third Aunt." Lu Wulang said stutteringly.

This is the reason that the two brothers came up with after thinking about it since last night.

"Oh, you are so thoughtful." Liu Sanniang didn't know whether her two nephews were telling the truth or not. Since her nephews were here, she invited them to have a meal at their stall. "If you don't mind, come to Aunt San's stall and have a meal."

"No, no need." Lu Wulang waved his hands hurriedly.

Lu Liulang also said no.

Although they could smell the aroma of braised meat coming from the food stall across the street, the two brothers did not have two copper coins in their pockets, so they knew that if they went to their third aunt's (third aunt's) stall to eat, they would definitely not be able to pay.

At this time, both brothers looked a little embarrassed.

Liu Sanniang was used to the shameless faces of those people in the Lu family's old house. Suddenly, seeing her two nephews showing embarrassed expressions, she couldn't help but laugh. However, she didn't laugh, but just dragged her two nephews to their stall to eat.

She poured a full bowl of braised pork rice for each of her two nephews, and also served them a bowl of hot soup, saying, "Eat. If you're sorry, please help me clean up after you finish eating."

"This, this is too much." Lu Wulang said embarrassedly when he saw the food in front of them.

Lu Liulang didn't dare to sit down.

Seeing the bowls filled with meat, the two brothers couldn't help but swallow their saliva, because they had never eaten such delicious food in all these years at home.

"Have a seat, sit down and eat. I'm busy here, please don't delay my business." However, Liu Sanniang did pull the two nephews to sit down without saying anything, and said to them, "Ming Fei is studying at home and is not here. After we pack up and go back, I will call someone to take you to find Ming Fei."

Liu Sanniang naturally knew that her two nephews had come to the city specifically to look for their eldest son. She did not object to the two nephews coming to look for the eldest son, because she knew that the two nephews were not bad people.

"Thank you, San Auntie."

"Thank you, Auntie San."

Lu Wulang and Lu Liulang felt a little warm in their hearts and their eyes were a little sore when they saw that their third aunt (third uncle's mother) did not dislike them at all because of the relationship between the adults and did not stop them from interacting with their little cousin.

Liu Sanniang just waved her hand and asked her two nephews to eat here, and she went to do her work.