When Chen Yuan arrived in Anping County, he found no one there.
Gu An'an was not at home.
"Big brother, what brings you here?"
Chen Bei felt a sense of closeness to his elder brother and went up to talk to him.
This somewhat intimate gesture completely dispelled Chen Yuan's displeasure.
Chen Yuan had never been close to his younger brother since childhood, and he liked to wear makeup and dress in women's clothing, so Chen Yuan couldn't be bothered to pay attention to him.
Unexpectedly, he's acting like a brother to me today. It seems being thrown out of the house for a while did work.
"I just happened to be passing by and wanted to see you."
Chen Bei laughed, her beautiful face showing a hint of intimacy. "Big brother, have you received my letter?"
"What letter?"
The young master of the Chen family immediately lost his smile. "You didn't receive the letter I wrote to you?"
He thought his older brother had received his letter asking for help and had come to assist him.
Chen Yuan certainly received it, but he had other thoughts about it. "No, perhaps I was away from the tent for a couple of days and missed it. What letter did you write to me?"
Chen Bei frowned upon hearing this. "It's nothing, it's alright if I didn't receive it. I'll be going home in a few days, why did you come all this way, brother?"
"I was afraid you'd be so engrossed in your pleasures that you'd forget to come home, so I came here specifically to see what kind of paradise this place really is." Chen Yuan wasn't wrong about his brother. He and Chen Bei didn't have much contact, but his mother wrote to him every day. Although she wasn't at home in Anzhou Prefecture, Chen Yuan knew everything that was going on at home.
Naturally, she also knew that her brother had been writing home less often lately, from once every two days to once every three days. Her mother was a little worried, fearing that he had changed his bad habits but had become estranged from the family.
"Where did Manager Gu go?"
Chen Bei laughed, "He went to find Scholar Sun. Brother, do you want to see Sister Gu? Sister Gu has been busy lately and hasn't had time to see you. Since you've finally come all this way, I'll treat you to a meal. Sister Gu's cooking is excellent. Let's go to her restaurant to eat."
Chen Yuan chuckled upon hearing this, "She's really a very busy person."
Even though he, the military commander of Anling and the three prefectures, came in person, he still couldn't see a little woman.
If this gets out, it'll be a joke.
Chen Bei didn't catch the underlying meaning. "Sister Gu is always busy. Mingyi was unwell and couldn't go to the academy to study for a while, so she was thinking of hiring a tutor to help him with his studies."
Chen Yuan wasn't interested in the Gu family's affairs. "Didn't she go looking for someone? Then what are we going to do at her shop? Eat leftovers?"
“Sister Gu isn’t here, but Ninth Sister is in the shop.” Chen Bei pulled her brother outside. “I guarantee they’ll all be fresh dishes you’ve never tried before. I asked Sister Gu, and she’s planning to open this shop in Anzhou Prefecture. We’ll be in for a treat then.”
Chen Yuan reluctantly complied with his brother's wishes and left Lushui Lane, still complaining, "Even when Mother personally washed your hands and cooked for you, you didn't seem to care this much."
These words brought back unpleasant memories for Chen Bei: "With my mother's cooking skills, I would rather never eat her soup for the rest of my life."
He was still somewhat unwilling, "Big brother, are you really worried about it?"
Chen Yuan's expression became slightly unnatural. "Why are you talking so much?"
To be honest, although their mother was good at business, she was really bad at cooking. Whenever she cooked, even if it was just making soup, she could make it look unappetizing and make people want to change their clothes after eating it.
It's really not suitable for me to be busy in the kitchen.
"By the way, why are you playing here all by yourself?"
"Oh, Zhu'er went with Sister Gu to find Scholar Sun, Mingyi took Bao'er to the bookstore to find books, Mingxu went to play next door, and I didn't want to go, so I stayed home to study chess and practice chess scores."
At home.
Chen Yuan keenly noticed this word, and the way he looked at his brother changed slightly.
"Yes, it's quite boring to be alone. You should go home early. Your mother and Shu'er miss you very much."
Now that he no longer wears heavy makeup and women's clothes, I believe his mother must be very happy to see her handsome and refreshing youngest son.
Little did he know that the word "home" made Chen Bei's smile disappear.
He lowered his head and hummed in agreement, his previous excitement completely gone.
The two brothers were preoccupied with their own thoughts, and Chen Bei's slight unusual behavior went unnoticed.
As for Gu An'an, she found out where Sun Hanzhou, the Jinshi, lived and went to visit him.
Jiang Mingzhu insisted on coming along, and Gu An'an had no choice but to take her with her.
She naturally knew that Jiang Mingzhu was worried that she would run into trouble.
Having only learned martial arts for a few days, the girl's skills were merely rudimentary; if she were to encounter real trouble, no one could save her.
Gu An'an did not refuse.
However, when Jiang Mingzhu found the Sun family's address, she was also dumbfounded.
"Wasn't he a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations)?"
yes.
Jinshi (进士).
Among scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants, scholars ranked first.
Those who passed the imperial examination had seen the emperor after the palace examination.
Not to mention the whole of Anping County, even in the small village of Jiangjia Village, the teacher Zheng, who taught children from several villages, was just a Juren (a successful candidate in the imperial examinations) who later bought an official position but had a bad career and returned to his hometown, yet he still received such courtesy.
Surely the scholar Sun wouldn't just live in this thatched hut?
A gust of wind blew by, sweeping away several blades of grass.
Some children even formed human walls and carried away thatch from the roof, laughing and joking as they walked away.
The door of the thatched hut immediately opened from the inside, and a tall, unshaven man came out carrying a bottle of liquor. "Openly breaking and stealing! The world is going to the dogs! The world is going to the dogs!"
The children retorted, "We didn't push open your door, so how could it be burglary? It was blown down by the wind and landed on the ground."
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