When they got home, Second Madam Ding was very angry. Ruan Jiading happened to come out to drink water. Seeing her so angry, she was quite surprised: "Shujun, what's wrong with you?"

Mrs. Ding Er looked at her husband and tears immediately flowed down her face. Ruan Jiading was of course very impressed by this and immediately hugged her and said, "Shujun, tell me everything you have."

But the second wife of Ding still shook her head: "Husband, you promised me that you must do well in the exam this time, otherwise not only me, but also our daughter will be bullied by the people in the clan."

This is the writing style of the Spring and Autumn Period, and Mi Niang admires it very much. Her mother could not read a single word, had never read any military books, and had never been in the court or the backyard, but her approach was very clever.

If her mother talked about the disputes with her sisters-in-law, her father would definitely think that these things were trivial and not worth mentioning. He might say a few words of comfort but not take them seriously in his heart. This is the case with all things in the world. If the knife does not cut you, you will not feel the pain at all.

But her mother looked like she had suffered a great humiliation, but she kept it to herself.

People who don't know probably think that Second Madam Ding was humiliated because of Ruan Jiading, so she behaved like this.

Ruan Jiading was very angry when he heard this: "I have heard a lot of such gossip in the countryside. Those people were not even worthy of carrying my shoes before. If my family had not fallen into poverty, why would I bother with this?"

After that, he comforted Second Grandma Ding: "Don't worry, I will definitely pass the exam."

He was very confident this time, but Mi Niang also knew that her father did pass the exam this time. Although his ranking was not very high, he still passed.

But of course Mi Niang wanted her father to rank higher this time. At least the students on government stipends were different from ordinary students, so she had to think of a way.

But while Mi Niang was still thinking about what to do, Grandma Shu was already singing her praises at home.

"It's better for men to be more pragmatic. It's not that easy to study and gain fame all the time. You don't know, I also feel sorry for my second sister-in-law. She is in poor health and has a little girl to support. To be honest, she can earn two dollars a month as a waiter. Why bother?"

Zhou Li also agreed: "There was a poor student in our village before. He failed the exam all his life. His family had to eat coarse food. His sons and daughters all got married in their thirties. Unless you are really smart, you will make your family poor and let the whole family suffer."

After hearing this, Grandma Shu slapped her thigh and said, "That's exactly what my sister-in-law said. To be honest, there are educated people in our clan, like Ruan Shiyi from Grandma Gui's family. He has a rich family and is young. I won't say anything about his education."

What she meant was that Ruan Jiading would definitely not pass the exam.

There was a plate of red bean glutinous rice cake on the table. Zhou Furou had already eaten quite a bit of it. There was still some snack crumbs on the tip of her nose, which made her look particularly cute.

Grandma Shu took out a handkerchief and lovingly wiped her clean. She thought she was very cute: "Little greedy cat."

"Aunt, Congge likes potato cakes. I want to bring some for him tomorrow." Zhou Furou thought of her little friend.

This Cong boy was the only son of the wife of the inspector, named Zhang Cong. Although Zhou Furou did not become a rolling bed boy last time, she met Zhang Cong by chance at Grandma Gui's house, and the two children had a great time playing together.

Mrs. Zhang also liked her very much. Not only did she recommend her to go to the girls' school, she also invited her to have lunch at the Zhang residence on weekdays.

When Grandma Shu heard that the inspector's son liked it, she smiled so much that she couldn't stop and hurried to prepare it.

This niece was really lucky. She didn't become a rolling-bed boy, but was unexpectedly connected to the Zhang family. Lu Shujun tried every means to let her daughter take Fu Jie'er's place, but it was useless. I heard that Mrs. Zhang secretly disliked Lu Shujun for being a village woman, which made Mrs. Gui dislike Lu Shujun and her daughter.

Grandma Shu and the eldest sister-in-law Zhou Li sneered and said, "Our sister Fu will rise to a high position in the future, but the funny thing is that Lu Shujun is still dreaming of having her daughter become the daughter of an official. I think this can only be realized in dreams."

The closer it got to the imperial examination, the quieter the house became. Even the spinning mill was moved to Mi Niang's room by Ding Er Niang.

Fortunately, Mi Niang went out to play with the children in the alley during the day, and went home to eat when she was tired, so her sleep at night was not affected at all.

Early that morning, Ruan Jiading had a rare opportunity to have lunch with Second Madam Ding, not for any other reason, but because Second Madam Ding was pregnant.

Mrs. Ding had always been cautious. She had sensed the pregnancy before, but she waited three months to go to the clinic to see a doctor to confirm that she was pregnant before announcing it. Of course, the first person to be happy was Ruan Jiading.

Ruan Jiading also told Mi Niang: "You can't let your mother hold you in your arms in the future. Your mother is pregnant with a little brother. Do you know that?"

Mi Niang felt aggrieved: "Every time it is you, mom and dad, who insist on holding me." She is a grown-up child and doesn't want to be held.

"Okay, okay, husband, please don't talk about Mi Niang anymore. Mi Niang will always be my good child." Second Madam Ding said softly.

Only then did Mi Niang feel relieved.

There is no doubt that her mother will always love her the most.

Pulling back the thoughts, Mi Niang was reborn, but with a different identity and young age. If she said something too outrageous, she would be regarded as an alien.

But she remembered the question her father asked. It was not her father who told her, but her aunt's son who told her while they were having dinner at the table, and he even asked her father how he solved the question.

"Dad, my daughter had a dream yesterday."

Ruan Jiading laughed and said, "You have dreams every day. Yesterday your mother said you wanted to eat chicken drumsticks. She was drooling. Don't worry, I will buy some from you when I pass the imperial examination."

Mi Niang shook her head: "No, I dreamed that there was an old man with a white beard who kept whispering some strategy or advice in my ear."

Question?

Ruan Jiading and his second wife, Mrs. Lu, looked at each other. Mrs. Lu couldn't help but said to Ruan Jiading, "Second Master, children's dreams are very accurate. This little girl kept saying that she dreamed of silver carp when I was pregnant. My good wife interpreted my dream and said that I might be pregnant. Sure enough, I was pregnant."

You have to know that when people are very nervous, they will believe in some external forces.

This is also normal.

When Mi Niang was a virtuous concubine in her previous life, she might not have believed in it in her heart, but she worshipped Buddha very devoutly.

Besides, the two people in front of her are her parents. They have always been very good to her and she would not doubt them.

"Mi Niang, do you remember what the old man with white beard said?"

Mi Niang frowned and thought deeply, "Dad, I don't understand what that means. It seems to be something like [Wu of Jin conquered Wu with his own decision, Fu Jian conquered Jin with his own decision and was destroyed, Qi Huan relied on Guan Zhong to become the hegemon, Yan Kuai relied on Zi Zhi to be defeated, the events were the same but the achievements were different.]"

What she said seemed very difficult and it looked like she was reciting it, but Ruan Jiading was overjoyed to hear it.

He couldn't help but think that maybe God was kind to me and deliberately told me in advance through my son's mouth, so who else could win the first place in this case if not me.

"Daddy, the old man with white beard said not to tell anyone, otherwise...something...will be gone." Mi Niang shook her head.

Ruan Jiading seemed to be hiding a huge secret, and hurriedly said to his daughter: "Good Mi Niang, Daddy knows. Don't worry, if Daddy wins this time, Daddy will buy whatever Mi Niang wants to eat in the future."

Mi Niang shook her head and said, "Mi Niang doesn't want to eat anything. As long as Daddy listens to the old man with white beard in the future, that's all."

It's unrealistic to ask her father to listen to her, but if she pretends to be an expert, they might believe her.

Ruan Jiading was originally quite knowledgeable and had studied hard for many years. Even when he went to work as a teacher in a community school, he did not neglect his studies. Later, he went to a college, and it took him more than two years to move from an outer dormitory student to a middle dormitory student and then to an upper dormitory student.

He has only been studying hard these days, but the knowledge has already been in his mind.

After hearing this question, he had to stay at home to cook. In the past, he would come out to drink water at home, but now he stays in the study all day long. Second Aunt Ding would quietly bring him meals and then leave.

Ruan Jiading knew that his wife and daughter were not having a good life, so he tried his best to give it a try this time and worked very hard.

Until the day of the college entrance examination, he entered the examination hall without any fear. When he encountered the policy questions, he was even more ecstatic.

After seeing her husband off, Second Lady Ding went out with her good mother-in-law, Mi Niang, for a rare occasion. On the street, a sedan chair carried by eight people passed by, with countless servants around. Her good mother-in-law exclaimed, "The lady sitting on it is so young, she is about the same age as our lady! And she has such a grand ceremony, so impressive."

Such a grand ceremony had already attracted many people. Grandma Shu was nearby, of course. She heard what the good mother-in-law said, and couldn't help but deliberately said loudly: "Mrs. Zhang's husband passed the imperial examination at the age of 19. He is a young talent, really extraordinary. It's not that he thinks he has achieved fame and honor just because he has read a few books. There is a saying that goes, don't despise the poor young, don't despise the poor middle-aged, don't despise the poor old. Some people will never learn anything in their entire lives."