When Liu saw her daughter-in-law hitting her beloved grandson, she immediately grabbed her hair and started cursing. Chen was also furious. Everyone else, except for her and her daughter, could eat a steamed bun, but they, mother and daughter, were starving. Why?
"Help! Someone's been beaten! Someone's been murdered..." Chen cried and screamed.
"You wretched woman, who killed someone? You foul-mouthed wretch! It's all because your daughter became mute. We spent so much money on treatment, and she still isn't cured. If only we hadn't wasted that money, we wouldn't be starving... You're such a money-loser..."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Qiurong burst into tears. She couldn't speak, but she could hear.
Her grandmother actually disliked her...
"Mother, please don't do this, let Guilan go first..."
"Get out of my way! I'm going to teach this wretched woman a lesson today. If you dare to pull me away, I'll kill myself..." Liu said, kicking her son as she spoke.
"Enough, all of you stop!" Jiang Fuyi slammed his fist on the table in anger.
Hearing the noise inside, Ye Xianya smiled and turned to the shopkeeper, saying, "Then I'll trouble you, shopkeeper."
"No trouble at all, no trouble at all, it's just a matter of a word, young master, you're too kind," the innkeeper quickly replied with a smile.
He only needed to deliver a single message to earn five taels of silver. If such a good thing happened every day, he would be laughing in his sleep.
"Please, shopkeeper," Ye Xianya said with a smile.
"Alright, alright, I'll go right away, young master, please wait a moment." After saying that, the shopkeeper quickly knocked on the door.
The shouting and cursing inside the house stopped instantly.
Jiang Minghe came to open the door, and the person who came in was the shopkeeper. His heart immediately jumped.
Could they be here to collect room fees?
They've already paid their room fee for today!
Do we have to collect tomorrow's orders in advance?
A room costs two hundred coins a day. The whole family is crammed into this room. Except for his father and two sons, everyone else sleeps on the floor. Even so, they can't afford it.
Mother only had a few dozen coins left, not enough for tomorrow's room fee.
"Manager, could we pay for tomorrow's room tomorrow? Once I find my brother, I'll definitely pay double," Jiang Minghe said cautiously.
"Don't worry, I'm here to show you the way," the shopkeeper chuckled.
"What clear path?" Liu asked hurriedly from the side.
Upon hearing this, Jiang Fuyi glared at her fiercely. How could a woman have the right to interrupt a man's conversation?
Liu was startled and quickly covered her mouth.
“Didn’t you say that the person you’re looking for is an official from the Hanlin Academy? The capital is too big, and you won’t be able to find out where he lives in a short time. In my opinion… it would be better to go directly to the Hanlin Academy to find him.”
"Go straight to the Hanlin Academy!" Everyone's eyes widened upon hearing this.
Jiang Fuyi asked cautiously, "Won't we, ordinary people, get into trouble if we go to the government office to find someone?"
"Look at what you're saying. Your son is an official in the Hanlin Academy, and your whole family are officials' relatives. How could you possibly get into a lawsuit? Besides, you're just looking for someone, not trying to force your way in and cause trouble. You're just waiting outside. Nothing will happen," the shopkeeper chuckled.
"Thank you, shopkeeper." Jiang Minghe was overjoyed upon hearing this and said excitedly, "Father, I will go to the Hanlin Academy to see my elder brother tomorrow."
"Alright." Jiang Fuyi nodded quickly and bowed to the shopkeeper, "Thank you so much for showing us the right path!"
After the shopkeeper left, Jiang Fuyi said to Jiang Minghe, "Second brother, you will go and keep watch outside the Hanlin Academy for a day tomorrow."
Jiang Fuyi suddenly stood up and said, "I'll go with you."
If they can't find their son soon, they'll starve.
“I’m telling you, don’t just stand there like idiots waiting outside the Hanlin Academy. Go ask the gatekeepers; they must know the officials inside!” Liu said loudly from the side.
“Don’t listen to your mother. Let’s wait until the afternoon. If we don’t see your elder brother, we can ask him then.” Jiang Fuyi said, glaring at Liu Shi. “Our son is an official, after all. If we go to him dressed so poorly, his colleagues will laugh at him.”
Upon hearing this, Liu realized it made sense and dared not say anything more.
...
"Young master, the message has been delivered." The innkeeper arrived at the entrance of the inn and saw Ye Xianya waiting outside, so he quickly greeted her with a smile.
"After that father and son leave tomorrow, you can chat with that old lady for a few more minutes," Ye Xianya said, giving the shopkeeper another five taels of silver and whispering a few more instructions.
"Don't worry, young master, I'll definitely get it done for you!" The shopkeeper nodded hurriedly.
Having achieved her goal, Ye Xianya left without lingering.
She went out onto the street and saw the carriage they had just bought.
In a place like the capital, it would be very inconvenient to go out frequently without a carriage.
Ye Xianya specially brought Qi Jiu and her mother out in the afternoon to buy a horse-drawn carriage.
The one rushing to catch the carriage now is, of course, Qi Jiu.
He can ride a horse, and although driving a carriage is a first for him, it's not a big problem.
"Xianya, how did things go?" Ye Miaoyun reached out and pulled her daughter's hand, asking with a smile.
"It's all taken care of. Now let them fight like dogs. We'll just watch the show. Once they've made a scene, we'll file a lawsuit against Jiang Mingtao in the capital. I'll just wait for him to be ruined and lose everything," Ye Xianya said coldly.
“Okay.” Ye Miaoyun nodded quickly: “There’s no rush. We can take it slow. Once we’ve established ourselves in the capital, we can sue him.”
Although she hated Jiang Mingtao intensely, she also knew that acting impulsively would not lead to revenge.
Moreover... killing Jiang Mingtao with one blow was far too lenient on him.
She wanted that bastard to slowly lose everything and taste the bitterness of despair.
...
The officials of the Hanlin Academy have been very busy lately, especially those in charge of the autumn imperial examinations.
The Great Yan Dynasty has a total of thirty-six provinces. The chief examiners of each prefecture are all officials from the Hanlin Academy. The officials sent down range from the fifth to the seventh rank, while the two fourth-rank officials are responsible for staying in the capital to serve as chief examiners for the autumn examinations. Jiang Mingtao is one of them.
According to the rules of the imperial court, the results of the autumn imperial examinations would be announced a month later.
Today is September 11th, and the results will be released in five days.
Jiang Mingtao has been extremely busy lately. Yesterday, he stayed at the yamen instead of going home, working until late at night with several colleagues to review the exam papers of the shortlisted students in order to ensure that everything was perfect.
Around noon, everyone finished all their work and waited to submit their reports for review by the head of the academy. The results would be released in a few days.
Jiang Mingtao breathed a sigh of relief and said to his colleagues who had been busy for more than half a month, "My colleagues, you've all worked hard lately. Today I've booked two tables at Penglaiju. Let's go have lunch together and have a couple of drinks to relax."
The work that needed to be done has been completed. Everyone has been working late into the night these past few days and is exhausted. Today we can finally go home and rest early.
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