Chapter 141 Socializing is tiring
In the courtyard, Shen Zheng was chatting and laughing with seven or eight people.
Cheng Wanwan asked Wu Huiniang to light a fire and boil water first, and she went to the inner room to find Cheng Zhao. Cheng Zhao was sitting in the main room, pounding rice.
"Zhao'er, those are your classmates outside. What are you doing hiding here?" Cheng Wanwan took the club from him. "They framed you and got you expelled from Nanfu Academy. If it were me, I wouldn't say a word to them. But among those seven or eight people, there's the son of the Fenghuang Town magistrate and the son of a wealthy businessman. They're all wealthy and powerful people in the surrounding area. There's no harm in making friends with them."
Cheng Zhao pursed his lips: "Second Aunt, do you want me to lower my posture and cling to the powerful?"
"Of course not," Cheng Wanwan said earnestly. "If you were to enter officialdom one day, you would probably be a seventh-rank official when you first enter. Everyone around you would be your superior. If you don't like someone and you avoid them like you are today, do you think you will ever get ahead in officialdom? To be a person, you should be genuine, but you can't be too genuine. You need to learn to hide your true feelings and learn to maintain a superficial relationship with people you don't like. This is a great skill."
Cheng Zhao stopped what he was doing and nodded thoughtfully.
He stood up and said, "Second Aunt, let me go with you to make tea."
Wu Hui Niang boiled water, and when it boiled, Cheng Wan Wan threw some herbs into the pot. It was a recipe for herbal tea that she bought at the mall. These days, everyone in the family puts these in their drinking water, and drinking this will not easily cause heatstroke or inflammation.
Cheng Zhao took out the porcelain bowls he had bought from selling ice jelly, filled them with seven or eight bowls of cool tea, placed them on the stove, and fanned them with large leaves to cool them down. When they were almost ready, he took them out and handed them to the seven or eight scholars sitting under the shade of the tree.
"Thank you so much, Brother Zheng, Brother Chen, and all my classmates, for helping with the rice harvest. I am deeply grateful." He cupped his hands and said, "We were too busy during the autumn harvest and our hospitality was not up to par. Please forgive us for the lack of proper hospitality. We have prepared a bowl of cold tea."
Qian Hui looked down upon the bowl of cold tea. He had not forgotten the purpose of his visit today and asked in a cold voice, "When are you planning on returning to Nanfu Academy?"
Cheng Zhao said, "I said before that I would not be returning to the academy for the time being."
"you!"
Qian Hui stood up.
He followed Zheng Wangfeng to come to Cheng Zhao to apologize. He first went to Chengjia Village, but found no one there, so he turned to Dahe Village, apologized and gave gifts, and also did farm work here for more than an hour. He had done so much, what else did Cheng Zhao want? Did he want him to kneel down and admit his mistake?
He angrily pointed at Cheng Zhao's nose.
If it were in the past, Cheng Zhao would definitely walk away. He never indulged these second-generation rich kids.
But now, he pursed his lips, cupped his hands and said, "Brother Qian, please don't misunderstand. That matter is long gone from my mind. Even if Nanfu Academy hadn't expelled me, I probably wouldn't have been able to continue my studies. Cheng Zhao's family is poor, so I will stay in the village to teach during this period. I hope to raise enough travel expenses as soon as possible so that I can go to Huzhou with you all next year to take the imperial examination."
Qian Hui's anger, which had just arisen, had dissipated somewhat.
He knew Cheng Zhao's family was poor, but he didn't expect them to be this poor that they couldn't even afford the money for his schooling...
"Everyone, stop standing there and have some tea." Cheng Wanwan walked out with a smile. "Zhao'er is rather introverted and not very good at speaking. He may have offended you all unintentionally. Please don't take it to heart with him, he's so stubborn."
Zheng Wangfeng said politely, "Mrs. Zhao, you're too polite. We're classmates..."
"Oh dear, I'm not some kind of lady." Cheng Wanwan laughed exaggeratedly. "I'm just an elder at most. You can all call me Auntie like Shen Zheng does. Auntie is really busy and there's not much food at home. Otherwise, I would definitely invite you all to stay for a meal today."
Zheng Wangfeng took a sip of tea and was slightly surprised: "This herbal tea tastes really good."
Qian Hui looked down on it at first, but after taking a look, he found that the porcelain bowl for the herbal tea was very beautiful. He touched it and knew that it was a top-quality product, not much different from the bowls and plates they usually used at home.
There were red petals at the bottom of the white porcelain bowl, filled with brown herbal tea. It was not as dirty and shabby as he had imagined.
He took a sip and nodded: "It's quite delicious."
Cheng Wanwan smiled and said, "I just picked some herbs from the mountain, put them in boiling water and boiled them together. The kids in my family love to drink it."
At this moment, one of the scholars recognized her: "Isn't that the auntie selling ice jelly at the entrance of Nanfu Academy?"
Cheng Wanwan nodded: "Yes, that's me. What do you think of the ice jelly?"
Zheng Wangfeng smiled politely, "A bowl of ice jelly is very refreshing on a hot summer day, but why has it been unavailable for the past few days?"
"I'm busy at home right now. Once I'm done with this, I'll research some new recipes. You all have to come and support me!"
"Don't worry, Auntie, I'll be the first to support you."
"If the ice jelly is so delicious, the other dishes must be delicious too."
"We're just waiting for the auntie to come to the academy to sell new food!"
Cheng Wanwan chatted happily with several scholars.
Cheng Zhao, standing to the side, could hardly believe that his second aunt could get along so well with these spoiled brats. He had suffered a lot at the hands of these people, and he would rather avoid them than talk to them. He always felt that these people were unreasonable.
But now, these classmates who used to talk to my second aunt seem to have become a different person.
Cheng Zhao was watching silently from the side.
After chatting for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, Zheng Wangfeng finally took his leave, and the large group of people left in a grand procession.
Cheng Wanwan breathed a sigh of relief. She had never had so many concerns when negotiating business with clients before. But in this class society, socializing with people from the upper class was really tiring. If she said something wrong, she would get into trouble. Fortunately, these people were all seventeen or eighteen years old, with simple minds. Time passed by just chatting casually.
She glanced at Cheng Zhao, the child standing under the shade of a tree, silently thinking about something.
She turned and went into the kitchen. While she was making tea, she boiled an egg, took it out of the pot, rinsed it with cold water, and then handed it to Shen Zheng: "You exceeded your task today, so here's an egg as a reward."
Shen Zheng looked completely incredulous. He wiped his hands on his clothes before daring to take the eggs: "Are they really for me?"
Cheng Wanwan smiled and said, "When you finish making the stone roller, I'll reward you with a big chicken drumstick."
She picked up the carrying pole from the ground and said, "You've finished your work, so take a good rest. I'm going to work in the fields now."
She put on her straw hat and continued working in the fields.
Shen Zheng held the egg and smiled foolishly.
Afu covered his face. If he remembered correctly, the young master hated eggs the most. He used to throw eggs at him whenever he saw them on the table.
He wished the young master would throw him the eggs like before.
Ah Fu swallowed his saliva in frustration.
But Shen Zheng treated the egg like a treasure, putting it into his chest.
From childhood to adulthood, no one had ever praised him, either at home or at school. Everyone said that he was extremely naughty and unworthy of big responsibilities. Although his grandmother loved him, she would never praise him for his intelligence.
This was the first time someone praised him for his intelligence and rewarded him with an egg.
The eggs were his prize, and he wanted to keep them for his father to see.
"Cousin Cheng, are you there?"
Suddenly, a girl's voice came from the gate of the yard.
Shen Zheng looked up and saw a girl standing at the gate of the yard. The girl was wearing a light red dress embroidered with peony flowers, which made her eyes and eyebrows look like spring. She was very beautiful. This was the cleanest and most beautiful girl he had ever seen since he came to Dahe Village.
However, the girl was staring at Cheng Zhao.
Could this be Cheng Zhao's future wife...?
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