The father and son left the academy one after the other, but Yue Xian did not give him any money, but walked all the way home.

"Dad! Dad! Where are you going?" Yue Hongcai kept shouting as he chased after him.

Yue Xian walked home with big strides, even faster than Yue Hongcai.

When they arrived at the door of the house, Yue Xian was full of energy, but Yue Hongcai was panting. Yue Xian couldn't help but frown, wondering why he was so weak at such a young age!

The two came to the main room, where Zhao Qiucui was having afternoon tea. In front of her was a large table of food, including pork elbows, roast chicken, roast goose...

What a sumptuous afternoon tea...

Seeing the two people coming in, Zhao Qiucui greeted them warmly: "Come here, son, you look so thin, eat something to nourish yourself!"

As she spoke, she handed over a chicken drumstick.

Yue Xian was simply ignored.

He hadn't touched Zhao Qiucui for a long time and couldn't bring himself to do it, so the two of them treated each other with respect.

"Sit down!" Zhao Qiucui shouted at him, "What are you standing there for?! Why did you come back so early today? Didn't you go to that vixen's place?!"

I want to go, I really want to go, I don’t want to go home at all.

Yue Xian was crying like a river in his heart, but he still had a smile on his face, "I have something to discuss with my wife."

"Speak!" Zhao Qiucui glared at him.

Yue Xian glanced at Yue Hongcai and said, "Our Hongcai is not young anymore and now he has something to do. I think we should let him get married soon."

Yue Hongcai's eyes widened as he chewed a chicken leg.

Zhao Qiucui bit her elbow and said, "Didn't he get engaged? My Hongcai is still a child. Let him play for another year before we talk about it!"

Yue Hongcai nodded quickly, "Yes, yes, yes! There's no rush to get married! No rush!"

After he finished speaking, he raised his head and waited for Zhao Qiucui to wipe his mouth.

"But he's already this big..."

"That's right!" Zhao Qiucui suddenly realized, then looked at the two maids in her room, "How about I give you these two too?"

Zhao Qiucui has changed her maid five times in the past two years. The previous ones were all given to Yue Hongcai. It can be said that her maid is the backup candidate for Yue Hongcai's concubine maid.

Yue Xian really wanted to tell her that this boy was as weak as a cotton ball, so she should stop giving him maids. But when Zhao Qiucui spoke, did he dare to refute her? He could only mutter: "I heard that the girls of the Duan family are very pretty..."

Zhao Qiucui slapped him in the face, "You even dare to think about your daughter-in-law? I think you are really tired of living!"

Yue Xian covered his greasy face and said, "I mean, the maids around you are all dark and ugly. It's better to marry a daughter-in-law. You will be good-looking and you can eat more bowls of rice..."

The more Zhao Qiucui listened, the more her frown relaxed. She really had a poor appetite recently and could only eat two large pork elbows for a meal. Thinking of her daughter-in-law serving her with a humble look, she immediately picked up another large pig's trotter.

"I think this is a good idea! Then, when do you think we can let him get married?"

Yue Hongcai bit the chicken leg and said reluctantly, "Mom! I don't want to marry that Duan..."

"Son..." Zhao Qiucui wiped the oil off his lips with a doting look in her eyes, "It's time for someone to serve you well. A maid is a maid after all, and only a wife can serve you well! Besides, what is the status of the Duan family? Even if she marries in, you can still do what you want. If she doesn't listen, you can make her a widow!"

Only then did Yue Hongcai reluctantly start to eat the chicken leg.

Yue Xian showed a satisfied smile. Although he was slapped today, his goal was achieved. When Duan Zhanfang married, he would find a way to steal the dowry without anyone noticing! But he didn't expect that when he went to the Duan family to mention this, Mr. Duan was not happy! "The wedding date has been set, why do you suddenly want to move it forward?" Mr. Duan is a shrewd person. The Yue family used to be a top figure in Tongcheng. Now that Baichuan Academy is opened, it's hard to say what will happen.

Besides, Prince Su and his wife had been staying at Prince Jingnan’s Mansion for quite some time, so the two families must have a good relationship. The originally low-key Prince Jingnan Mansion was apparently becoming more and more famous.

If they get married next year, it’s hard to say who Duan Zhanfang will marry.

If he could become the Crown Prince's Consort, he would cancel the marriage immediately! Yue Xian didn't know what he was thinking, and said with a smile: "I asked someone to calculate it, and it said that Hongcai is not suitable to get married next year. I think if we delay it for another year, your Zhan Fang will be eighteen years old. I'm afraid people will say something bad about her by then..."

"That's not a problem." Master Duan was ready to take advantage of the situation when he heard this. "It can be done the year after next. Her wedding dress is not ready yet, so we should take our time."

I'll stick with it until the year after next...

How can this be possible?

Yue Xian hurriedly apologized with a smile, "No way! No way! My wife wants to have a grandson sooner. How about this, we buy a ready-made wedding dress and order it next month!"

"This... this is not a trivial matter. Let me discuss it with my wife." Mr. Duan said something clever.

Yue Xian had no choice but to let others consider it.

He was busy with this matter for the past two days. When he returned to the academy from Duan's house, he was surprised to find that the academy was very quiet today.

The sound of reading became much quieter, and they sounded lazy and unfocused, as if none of them had eaten enough.

This shouldn't be the case! He peeked out the window of the school and was shocked.

Originally, every classroom was full, but now, for some reason, only half of the students were there. And it wasn't just one or two classrooms, but all the classrooms were like this!

Could it be that these people were punished to copy books?

His shop of brushes, inkstones, and paper must be doing very well, right? The door must be broken by the crowds, right? He ran over excitedly.

But the result disappointed him greatly. The store was completely empty, and there was no long queue at all...

So he turned back and happened to meet Yue Hongcai who was just finishing teaching his teacher. He asked, "Where is the person?"

Yue Hongcai rolled his eyes at the sky, "I said to beat them, but you refused and insisted on punishing them by copying books. Now, the teacher has made them copy books these past two days. Ten times is a minimum, there are also some who asked them to copy books twenty or thirty times. Those poor students have stopped coming and have dropped out!"

Yue Xian breathed a sigh of relief. "Just those poor students? Are the rich ones still here?"

"Of course, the teacher doesn't dare to punish them. If you pull out a carrot with mud on it, who knows which one is related to which one? I'm afraid of offending people!"

Yue Xian was not worried. It was too difficult for those poor students to get some money together. Some of them were still in debt, and some of them were using things as collateral. It was better to have money like these. They would give as much as they wanted, and sometimes they would give them gifts. It would be a pleasure to sell the official positions later!

But he didn't expect that just a few days later, these rich students would make him worry so much that his hair turned white.

He didn't expect that Su Bei invited people to watch the play at the Jingnan Palace, and he actually lost all his money! This time, Su Bei invited people to watch the play with the intention of letting the Jingnan Prince choose a daughter-in-law. Because Cheng Shi's reputation had changed last time, more people came this time than last time. And their status and position were higher.

Even the daughters of County Magistrate Yue and City Guard Yue came.