Chapter 180 [VIP]

When Chen Qingyan returned, Wang Ying discussed the matter of going to Kyoto with her family. She would take Yuanbao with her, otherwise she would be worried about leaving him alone in Kyoto.

However, her mother-in-law wouldn't leave. Qingyun was due to give birth in a few months, and Qingsong was also at the prefectural school, so she had to stay to take care of the two children.

Once they leave, only a widow and her child will be left at home. Wang Ying is really worried. She wishes that Cao Kun and his family could move there, so that her mother-in-law would have someone to keep her company.

However, this matter still needs to be discussed slowly, after all, moving a business is a big deal and needs to be arranged clearly.

Just as they were finishing their meal, there was a sudden knock on the door of the private room. Cao Kun got up and went to open it. A short while later, he brought in a person, who was none other than the magistrate of Longquan County.

Everyone quickly stood up and bowed.

"No need for formalities, no need for formalities, please sit down." The magistrate greeted him with a smile, then looked at Chen Qingyan inside, "This must be Scholar Chen, right?"

Chen Qingyan cupped his hands in greeting, "It is indeed I."

"I heard that Scholar Chen is coming back. I have been waiting for you for a long time. When would you like to come to my residence for a visit?"

Chen Qingyan asked, "How about tomorrow?"

"Alright, alright! Then I won't disturb your meal any longer."

Everyone got up and invited him to stay for dinner, but the magistrate only exchanged a few pleasantries and did not stay.

After seeing the man off, Wang Ying suddenly realized that her status had changed. This was a county magistrate, equivalent to a modern county head. She never expected that she would have to be so respectful to her husband.

After returning from the restaurant, they arranged accommodations. The Cao family only had three bedrooms, which were a bit too many, so Chen Rong simply took Li Shu to stay at her in-laws' place. There was only Cao's mother there, so the two of them could chat.

Cao Kun hitched up a carriage and took the two of them there. The servants arranged for them to stay at an inn in the city for two nights. They were supposed to return to town the day after tomorrow.

The county government's sedan chair arrived the next day and waited in front of the Cao family's house to pick up Chen Qingyan. Cao Kun accompanied him and they didn't return until after lunch.

Upon returning, he inevitably received a lot of things, but Chen Qingyan was sensible and refused to accept anything too valuable.

In truth, the magistrate didn't have any major business in mind when he met him. He simply offered some flattery and took the opportunity to build a relationship. Such a person was bound to rise to prominence in the future, and it was always better to be on good terms with him than to make enemies.

The county government also took over the matter of the ancestral hall. Long before they returned, the county magistrate had sent people to his hometown in Qingshui County to measure the land and prepare to build the archway for the top scholar. Now it was just the right time to build the ancestral hall at the same time.

The next morning, everyone boarded a horse-drawn carriage and headed towards their hometown, Qingshui County. They would stay for a while to finish repairing the ancestral hall before leaving.

The thought of moving back to her old family home filled Li with joy. It was the place where she had lived for half her life, the place that held the most memories, and the place she could least bear to leave.

Chen Rong and Lin Qiu also returned together. Building the ancestral hall was a major event, and Chen Rong, as the only daughter of the Chen family, naturally had to be present.

After three days of travel, they arrived at Qiushui Town. Returning to their hometown felt completely different. Even Wang Ying felt much more relaxed. Recalling the events when she first transmigrated, one thing after another flooded her mind, and she couldn't quite describe the feeling in her heart.

As I passed by the shop where he used to run, I saw Da Shun's wife standing at the door, haggling with someone.

Er Shun excitedly called out, "Sister-in-law!"

"Hey!" Da Shun's wife looked up and after a while recognized that the driver was Er Shun. Overjoyed, she didn't bother to haggle and rushed over after selling the goods.

"Why are you back? Have all the bosses returned?"

Er Shun nodded, "They're all in the car. Is anyone home?"

"Yes, yes, yes, our parents are at home taking care of the house. I'll close the shop here and go back with you!"

Soon they arrived at their doorstep. Ershun stopped the car, ran over, and knocked on the door. After a few knocks, the side door opened, and his nephew Huzi looked at him curiously and asked, "Who are you looking for?"

Er Shun laughed and scolded, "You brat, you don't even recognize your second uncle anymore!"

Tiger was stunned. "Second Uncle! Second Uncle is back! Grandpa, Grandma, Second Uncle is back!"

"Hey, why don't you open the door before you leave!"

After waiting a moment, Chen Xi hurried over and opened the gate. Seeing the carriages at the gate, he knew that the masters had returned. He excitedly said, "Come in quickly, come in quickly."

Once the carriage came to a stop, everyone got off.

Looking at the familiar courtyard, Li couldn't help but tear up.

Chen Xi pulled his grandson forward and kowtowed, saying, "Greetings to the master."

Chen Qingyan quickly helped the man up, saying, "No, you mustn't kneel at your age."

"Has the employer had a good year?"

"Okay, how are you and your aunt?"

"Thanks to the landlord, we are all doing well. She went to tend to the vegetable garden in the back and will be back soon. Come in and rest."

The whole family arrived at the main house, which had been uninhabited for a long time. Although the house was cleaned regularly, it still had a musty smell. Wang Ying and Lin Sui quickly opened the windows to let in some fresh air.

After a brief period of shyness, the children began running and playing around in the yard.

Li stood at the window and looked out: "Seeing Yuanbao reminds me of Qingyan when he was little, running around in the yard like this."

Chen Rong sighed, "Who can argue with that? Xiaomai looks exactly like Qiu'er when she was little. In the blink of an eye, we've all grown old."

After tidying up the main house, the group went to tidy up the back yard. Yang was planting vegetables in the small vegetable garden she had left behind. When she saw Wang Ying and the others coming over, she was taken aback and quickly went up to greet them.

"Auntie, get up quickly, Ershun is back too, go and see him in the front yard."

"Okay!"

The house in the backyard was locked, so Wang Ying reached under the stone at the door and found the key.

A musty smell wafted out when I opened the door, so I quickly opened the windows in the front and back to let in some fresh air. The house was still the same as before, except for some cobwebs and dust, which made it look a bit old.

Chen Qingyan took a broom and hung up all the cobwebs on the wall, then filled a basin with water and wiped the tables and windowsills. Wang Ying had packed a lot of bedding in the experimental field when she came, so after cleaning up the beds, she took them all out and laid them out, and the room returned to its old state.

Lin Sui and Lin Qiu also cleaned the house in the west courtyard, so they could stay there for the night.

After everything was tidied up, it was time to eat. Chen Xi asked his two sons to go to town to slaughter a pig and bring it back. At noon, he stewed a large pot of pork.

"We didn't know the master was coming back, so we didn't prepare anything at home."

Li said, "It's not like we're going somewhere else. Why should we go back to our own home and prepare anything?"

The family sat down together for a reunion dinner after the meal was prepared, but unfortunately Qingyun was pregnant and couldn't come back.

After finishing the meal, Chen Xi said, "A few days ago, a lot of people came from the county town, saying they wanted to build a memorial archway for our family. I don't know anything about this, so I let them go to the village to measure the land themselves."

Wang Ying said, "They were sent by the county government. Qingyan passed the imperial examination with top honors and they specially built a memorial archway for our family."

Upon hearing this, Chen Xi's eyes widened. "My God! This is incredible! Our master actually passed the imperial examination with top honors! Isn't this a divine star descended from heaven?!"

"We came back this time to build an ancestral hall in the village and enshrine the ancestral tablets."

Chen Xi said, "This is a serious matter. When the master was alive, he had thought about repairing the ancestral hall, but then he suddenly fell ill... and the matter was left unresolved."

This is a good opportunity to write out the family genealogy at the same time.

The news of Chen Qingyan's return as the top scholar in the imperial examination spread throughout the town the very next day. People, both acquaintances and strangers, came to visit in droves. Several ladies, who were old friends of Li Shu, also came to see her.

Among them was Madam Lu, whose son had been deceived by Scholar Zhang and gathered a group of people to mock Chen Qingyan at the vegetable shop, which made him sick.

So many years have passed, and Chen Qingyan has become the top scholar in the imperial examination, while his son has still accomplished nothing.

A few years ago, Mr. Lu died of illness due to a flood. His son was useless, and his daughter-in-law was mean and mean. Now she is living a very miserable life and looks more than ten years older than before.

When they met, Li Shu didn't dare to recognize her. After talking for a while, she realized that she was Madam Lu, and her face immediately darkened.

Mrs. Lu said apologetically, "Are you still blaming me?"

"So much time has passed, there's nothing strange about it, it's just that I don't want to associate with your family."

Madam Lu blushed deeply upon hearing this. "I just came to see you... I have something to do at home, so I'll have to go now..." she said hurriedly and left.

Sitting next to her, Madam Song whispered, "She's not having an easy time these days either. Her business went downhill after the flood, and with Master Lu dead, her son is stuck in a rut, always trying to pass the imperial examinations but failing even to become a Xiucai (a lower-level scholar). He's wasted a lot of money, and I heard he sold all his shops last year and is now living off the rent."

Seeing her former best friend in such a state, she felt uncomfortable. Li sighed and said, "Let's not talk about her. You were just saying that your family has twins?"

...

There's a saying: "When you're poor, you have no relatives or friends in the bustling city; when you're rich, you have distant relatives even in the deep mountains."

For three or four days in a row, the threshold of her house was almost worn down by visitors. Besides those bringing gifts, there were also people who wanted to find a concubine for Chen Qingyan. This annoyed Li Shu so much that she simply closed the door to visitors.

Chen Qingyan, Chen Qingsong, and Chen Xi went back to the village together and discussed with the people in the county town about building an ancestral hall on the site of the old villa.

All the men in the village went to help, and it was completed in about a month. During this time, Chen Qingyan gathered all his relatives together and began to repair the family genealogy, filling in all the missing parts.

The Chen family branch migrated from another place, and there is no way to trace their ancestry back. All we know is the name of the great-grandfather, and then the grandfather and father.

Many of the collateral branches had lost contact, and several families had even died out during a flood. The genealogy was repaired in just four or five days.

After completing the family genealogy, Chen Qingyan planned to take her mother to Tianyang County. Although she didn't say it, she always wanted to see her maternal uncle.

On April 26th, Chen Qingyan took her younger brother and mother back to her maternal uncle's house.

Before leaving, Wang Ying instructed Chen Qingyan to stay there with her mother for a few more days. The elders were getting old, and it was really not easy to see each other after living so far apart. She was afraid that it would be difficult to see them again in the future.

He and Yuanbao didn't go; the child was exhausted from the back-and-forth travel and had diarrhea for several days, making her face thinner. However, she was in good spirits, spending her days playing mischievously with Qing'er and Xiaomai, climbing trees and playing in the mud.

Life in my hometown was slow-paced. I would sleep until I naturally woke up, tidy up the house, tend to the flowers and plants, and then take a stroll in Lin Sui and Lin Qiu's yard. The day would pass by in no time. It was so carefree.

This continued until mid-May, when my mother-in-law and her family returned from Tianyang County.

When I returned, I brought back terrible news: Li's eldest uncle had fallen ill and was now bedridden, probably not long for him...

A note from the author: