Chapter 015: Agreement with the quasi-old Taishan

Qin Laicai did not go out during the Dragon Boat Festival.

When Qin Xue and the other person came back, he was just about to tell someone to prepare lunch.

Hearing the rumbling sound of the carriage, Qin Laicai immediately looked towards the gate and saw her carriage enter the main gate and head straight for the second gate. She waved her hand to dismiss the people waiting for the meal and ran towards the carriage.

Before he saw the people in the carriage, he asked, "Didn't you say you wouldn't be back for lunch? Why are you back now? But what happened?"

Liu Zhiyan, who had jumped off the carriage first and was about to lend a hand to help someone, immediately withdrew his hand after hearing Qin Laicai's words and bowed respectfully to Qin Laicai, who had already walked to the carriage. "Junior Liu Zhiyan, greetings to uncle."

Qin Xue, who was about to step out of the carriage, paused when she heard his formal greeting, then got off the carriage as if nothing had happened. She then said to her father, "I have been eating and drinking all morning and really don't need lunch. He is here to see you, you entertain him, I will go back to my room first." Then she ran towards the hanging flower gate.

He was first startled by Liu Zhiyan's words "junior". Before he could figure out the situation, he was hit by his daughter's words again. Even though Qin Laicai had always been calm, he was confused by this behavior of the two.

He looked suspiciously at the overly handsome man in front of him whom he had met once before.

Thinking of his greeting just now, he hesitated for a moment and chose the safest address to speak, "Master Liu, could you explain the current situation to me?"

"I told you last time I came here that there's no master-disciple relationship between Xiaoxue'er and me. You can just call me by my courtesy name—Minxing." Reiterating that there was no master-disciple relationship between him and Qin Xue, Liu Zhiyan suggested, "Something did happen at the banquet Xiaoxue'er attended today. I have something else I'd like to discuss with you. Could we go to your study to discuss it in detail?"

Seeing that Liu Zhiyan even told him his courtesy name, Qin Laicai always felt something was wrong. After all, courtesy names are usually only told to close people.

But Liu Zhiyan's words and deeds showed that he and his daughter were not true master and disciple. So he really didn't understand what was so close about them.

However, after hearing that something really happened to his daughter at the banquet, Qin Laicai quickly stopped worrying about his relationship with him and said, "Okay, let's go to the study." He led the way.

The Qin family had a small population and the yard was not particularly large, so the two of them arrived at Qin Laicai's study in a short while.

Many businessmen these days like to pretend to be Confucian scholars, filling their study rooms with large volumes of books. Qin Laicai's antique shelves are mostly filled with antiques. Furthermore, there are numerous calligraphy works on the walls, many of which are attributed to masters.

Apart from antiques and calligraphy, there are simple tables, chairs and a kang.

From the faint smell of huanghuali wood that can be smelled in the room, it is not difficult to tell that these furniture are all made of huanghuali wood.

After leading the man to sit on the official hat chair in front of the desk, Qin Laicai said hurriedly, "Tell me what happened?"

Seeing the anxiety in his eyes, Liu Zhiyan told Qin Laicai the whole story, and then said seriously, "Although today's incident can pair Wang Xingsheng and Ruan Ruyi together, as long as Xiaoxue'er's marriage is not settled, that Wang man will not give up."

Hearing that Wang Xingsheng had dared to frame his own daughter, Qin Laicai's face was filled with gloom. "I didn't expect that I still underestimated the shamelessness of the Wang family."

He couldn't even imagine that if Liu Zhiyan hadn't known about the other party's conspiracy in advance, his Xue'er might have fallen into their trap by now.

Thinking of this possibility, Qin Laicai wished he could grind Wang Xingsheng into dust.

He won't let this matter go.

But what the young man in front of him said made sense. Xueer’s marriage could not be delayed any longer.

"To be honest, ever since Wang Xingsheng came to visit, I've been thinking about Xue'er's marriage. But after two months, I still haven't found a suitable one."

Although Qin Xue rejected Mr. Cheng's proposal at the time, he felt that the Cheng family was a rare and good match, so he shamelessly hinted at it. Unfortunately, the result was just as his daughter had said: the Cheng family was going to propose to Mr. Cheng San to marry into the official family.

Ruan Ruyi's biological brother also has some ideas.

But although the Ruan family is not as corrupt as the Wang family, it is definitely not a good place to go, and he doesn't want to consider it.

"As for me, what do you think of me becoming your son-in-law?"

"You..." Qin Laicai's eyes widened, his face full of disbelief. "You've always had this in mind, so you don't want to be Master and Disciple with Xue'er?"

"That's not the case. I actually agreed to teach her because of the Sister Ye she mentioned."

Hearing him say this, Qin Laicai didn't bother about what he was thinking. "If it weren't for what happened to Wang Xingsheng, you would indeed be a good choice." After all, since you are so good-looking, it doesn't matter if your background is a little poor.

"But with the incident with Wang Xingsheng, I'm afraid that if I find an ordinary husband for Xue'er, the Wang family will intend to retaliate, and neither the Qin family nor you will be able to escape."

If he had known that Wang Xingsheng would have such thoughts, he would have arranged a marriage for his daughter long ago, and she would not be in such a dilemma now.

Qin Laicai's worries were not without reason. After careful consideration, Liu Zhiyan spoke up, "If I tell you that as long as I'm willing to take the imperial examination, I can't guarantee I'll get the top prize, but I can definitely get second or third place, would you still be worried?"

In fact, as long as Qin Laicai tells his background, his worries will disappear.

But he has never liked to talk about his status since he was a child, and he really can't do such a thing now.

Moreover, he hoped that they would value him as a person more than the Qin family father and daughter valued his background.

Qin Laicai admitted that Liu Zhiyan had a strong scholarly air, but according to him, he had been making desserts at Fang's Dessert Shop for many years. "No matter how talented you are, if you don't study hard over the years, it will be difficult to surpass others."

He once thought of sponsoring a student from a poor family to study for the imperial examination, and then inviting him to be his son-in-law in the future.

But after learning about the difficulty of the imperial examination, he gave up this plan.

It’s not that he doesn’t have the financial resources, but he is not sure that the other party will not abandon his wife after passing the imperial examination.

"This year is the provincial examination year, and the younger generation can take the exam directly."

"From what you said, you are already a scholar?" Only scholars are qualified to take part in the provincial examination.

"Yes, I took the test out of curiosity when I was a kid."

Seeing that he said it so easily, Qin Laicai began to believe what he said about his talent. "Since you have a talent for studying, why don't you continue studying?"

"Because I have no interest in serving as an official in the court."

"..." It was the first time he heard someone say they weren't interested in being an official. After thinking for a moment, Qin Laicai said seriously, "If that's the case, there's no need for you to take the imperial examination just to prove to me you have talent. After all, if you take the examination and occupy a quota, but don't become an official, then the years of hard work of those who were squeezed out because of you will have been wasted."

"I wasn't interested in getting married before, but after meeting Xiaoxue'er, I started wanting to get married. If serving as an official in the court can better protect her, then what's wrong with that?!"

If you can't even protect the person you love, you don't deserve to be a man.

What Liu Zhiyan said was really pleasing to the ear, and Qin Laicai wanted to agree to him immediately.

But he really wanted to know what kind of family could raise such a "willful" person.

I'm not interested in getting married, even though I'm old and still single.

Since he was not interested in becoming an official in the court, he gave up his talent and did not take the imperial examination.

"Can you tell me about your background?"

"My parents used to dig for food in the fields, but now they both serve the people." This was his mother's words. Whenever she didn't want to reveal his official status, he would say this. "The details will be revealed when we meet someday, and you'll know."

Qin Laicai didn't know what serving the people meant, but it didn't sound very impressive. "Are you sure you don't need their consent to be our son-in-law?"

"I'm willing to get married. They don't need to worry about me ending up alone. Why would they disagree?" Liu Zhiyan felt that it was perfectly fine. "The fact that they allowed me to not get married until now and allowed me not to take the imperial examinations shows that they're not pedantic people."

"As long as you agree to this marriage, nothing else will be a problem." Even if there is a problem, he also has a way to solve it.

I have to say, what Liu Zhiyan said was really tempting.

It was so tempting that Qin Laicai wanted to agree to the other party immediately.

But as a businessman, he had no other skills, and the only thing that could make him resist the temptation was, "Marriage is a matter of parents' orders and matchmaker's words. If your parents are not available for the time being, please at least ask an elder to propose to me, then I will agree."

"Could you please come forward, brother?" Except for his grandmother, all his other elders held important positions and were quite far away from Yangzhou Prefecture.

"The eldest brother is like a father, of course."

"Okay, then I'll go home today and write to my brother and ask him to make the decision for me."

After the matter was settled, Liu Zhiyan began to rub his hungry stomach, trying to make himself feel present. "Although I have made all the arrangements for today, I'm worried about any mistakes, so my mind has been on edge all morning. And after talking to you for so long, I'm hungry and thirsty now. Could you please give me a cup of tea and treat me to a meal?"

I was also young when I was young, so how could I not know that men like to act pitiful in order to please Old Taishan? "Look at me, I worry about Xue'er and I don't care about anything else."

However, today's events were indeed thanks to the man in front of him, otherwise he would probably have the idea of ​​destroying the world.

Thinking of this, he quickly reached out to pour him a cup of tea and quickly called someone to prepare lunch.

The newly-married future father-in-law and son-in-law happily had lunch together.

Then, Qin Laicai, like an old man, ignored all the hints from his future son-in-law Liu Zhiyan that he wanted to stay for dinner, and waved his hand to send his future son-in-law home after he had eaten and drunk his fill.

Under the pretext of going back quickly to write a letter to his brother, he tried to arrange their marriage as soon as possible.

Although Liu Zhiyan really wanted to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival with his newly-minted future husband and future daughter-in-law.

Unfortunately, the quasi-old Taishan disagreed, so he could only leave with regret.

I thought to myself that tomorrow I must act pitiful to my beloved silly girl and tell her how lonely I am spending the Dragon Boat Festival alone.