Xu Lingyi whispered, "You said, Yu'er's marriage is difficult, what's the difficulty?"

The main reason was that Xu Siyu was born into a noble family but was the eldest son of a maid.

But Shiyi Niang couldn't say this in front of Xu Lingyi.

Xu Lingyi didn't want her to answer. He said in a deep voice: "The difficulty lies in where is his way out?"

Eleventh Lady couldn't help but nodded.

Xu Lingyi's words hit the nail on the head.

Xu Lingyi's son can enjoy the imperial favor, but there is a quota for this. Xu Lingyi also has a young second wife of his own. According to common sense, she will add more children to the Xu family in the future. The chance of Xu Siyu getting this quota will become increasingly slim with the birth of his younger brothers and sisters.

As the saying goes, marrying someone means having clothes and food. If a family is poor, ten taels of silver can support them for several years. But Xu Siyu was born in a rich family. Not to mention other things, he would need several hundred taels of silver a year just to entertain guests. Who would be willing to marry their daughter to a man who could hardly afford clothes and food?

"If Yu'er passes the exam, it's not a big deal." Seeing that Shiyi Niang agreed, Xu Lingyi continued, "But at least he doesn't have to kneel in court, and he's exempted from corvée and land tax. Even if he doesn't have the favor of others, with the power of our family, is it difficult for him to become a minor official? In addition, he is the eldest son of a concubine, so he can live alone after marriage." As he said this, he laughed, "So I say, when the time comes, just wait for you to choose a wife!"

"My Lord, what a fool you are!" Eleventh Lady scolded, "You scared me so much. I thought the Lord had already set his eyes on a girl from a certain family and was just waiting for Yu'er to pass the imperial examination so that he could propose marriage. After all this talk, it's still just a flower in the mirror and a moon in the water!"

"Don't worry, don't worry." Xu Lingyi smiled and comforted her, "You are older, more settled, and know how to live your life. It's too early to get married. You are both children. Sometimes you can be patient and take a step back, but you start to quarrel while talking about it. In the end, you have a knot in your heart, and your love fades. You become a couple of resentment."

Is it his own empathy?

Eleventh Lady really wanted to ask a question, but when she saw the hint of sadness between his brows, she felt quite disappointed and swallowed the words.

She brought up a happier topic: "Your Majesty, you may not know yet? Madam Wen and I cleared out a lot of clothes that Jinger wore when she was a child and sent them to Cangzhou a few days ago. The people who came back said that Zhener is doing well now. Her mother-in-law was afraid that she would be scared, so she specially invited a niece-in-law from her mother's family who is eloquent and has given birth to four sons to be a guest at home, to chat with Zhener and take care of her food, clothing, housing and transportation. In a few days, it will be August 15th. I want to write a thank-you letter and ask the person who sent the Mid-Autumn Festival gift to take it to Cangzhou. What do you think, Your Majesty?"

"We don't need to write a thank-you letter for this, right?" Xu Lingyi hesitated, "She is the mother-in-law, and we can't say anything about how she wants to treat Zhen Jie'er!"

"Oh, I'm just helping Zhen Jie to appease her mother-in-law!" Eleventh Lady disagreed, "Who doesn't want to hear nice words? If we do this, she will have face, and Zhen Jie will be more tolerant of anything she can't do." Then she smiled, "I calculated the date, and Zhen Jie will give birth in two months. I wonder if it will be a daughter or a son? The maid I sent to deliver something to Zhen Jie came back and said that judging from Zhen Jie's appearance, it should be a son. But I always feel that she is trying to cheat me out of the reward money. When I was pregnant with Jin Ge'er, everyone said it looked like a daughter..."

Xu Lingyi listened to her nagging, so he leaned close to her face and asked her in a low voice: "What about you?"

"What?" Eleventh Lady didn't understand for a moment.

Xu Lingyi laughed softly: "You gave away all of our Jing'er's clothes. What will our son wear then?"

"Jin'er is grown up now, and he doesn't need those clothes anymore..." Shiyi Niang said, and suddenly understood what Xu Lingyi was referring to. She couldn't help but blush, paused, and then said awkwardly, "Everyone says that Jin'er is blessed, and the Crown Princess was able to give birth to the eldest grandson smoothly, all because of his blessing... I also want to comfort Zhenjie..."

"The eldest grandson of the emperor has benefited from Brother Jin'er's blessing?" Xu Lingyi was stunned. "Who said that?"

"You really don't know?" Eleventh Lady felt more at ease and smiled, "I went to see Madam Gan two days ago. I met the fourth wife of the Tang family of the Marquis of Zhongshan at the residence of the Earl of Zhongqin. When she saw our Jin'er, her eyes lit up. She insisted that we go to her house as guests. She said that her wife was already pregnant with her fourth child, all girls, and wanted our Jin'er to sit with her wife. If I hadn't told her that Princess Fucheng had sent someone to ask me to go to the princess's residence, I'm afraid I wouldn't have been able to get away. Even so, she still didn't believe it and only broke up with me when we were at the door of the princess's residence. Otherwise, I wouldn't have rashly visited Sister Zhou's house!"

Xu Lingyi laughed and teased Shiyi Niang: "I think it's better for Jin Ge'er to go sit with his mother first!"

Eleventh Lady couldn't help but hit him on the shoulder: "You mischievous ghost!" Then she burst out laughing.

"I'm talking seriously." Xu Lingyi teased her with a smile, "Tell me the truth, how many pieces of Jing'er's clothes did you give to others..."

Eleventh Lady laughed so hard: "How can there be someone like you... I gave a few pieces to Zhen Jie'er, two pieces to Mrs. Tang Si, and two pieces to Princess Yong'an before..."

The two chatted and laughed, which made Xu Lingyi temporarily forget the feeling of Wang Jiubao's conviction.

* * * * * *

As August began, a drizzle began to fall in Yanjing.

Eleventh Lady looked at Xu Siyu's brand new royal blue silk gown with a black rising flower pattern and said with a smile, "Fortunately your father reminded me to take out your examination basket and examination curtain to dry in June. Otherwise it would be terrible!" She added, "The Marquis said that this examination basket and examination curtain accompanied you through the county and prefectural examinations, and will definitely accompany you to take part in the provincial and metropolitan examinations in the future."

Before entering the examination room, she wanted to give Xu Siyu more encouragement.

Xu Siyu smiled and said nothing, but his eyes lit up.

Xu Lingyi was not used to Shiyi Niang saying such things in front of her son. He coughed lightly and said calmly, "Well, it's getting late. After paying your respects to grandma, you should go out. Otherwise, everyone will come in droves and block the road. If it rains, you have to walk to the examination room." Then he instructed Xu Sizhun who was standing beside him, "Go with Chief Steward Bai to send your brother to the examination room!"

The two brothers bowed and replied "yes" respectfully.

Jing'er ran over.

He held Xu Siyu's hand, blinked his big eyes and looked up at his brother: "I want to go too!"

Xu Siyu laughed.

He bent down and said gently, "Wait until you are older!"

Eleventh Lady hurriedly hugged him and said, "Brother is busy, please don't make a fuss. I will tell you a story later."

Jing'er has also reached the age to listen to stories. Like Xu Sijie, he tells them over and over again, and he doesn't stop until his mouth is dry.

Although he didn't insist on going with them, Jing'er pouted and seemed a little unhappy.

Eleventh Lady was afraid that he would affect Xu Siyu's mood, so she hurriedly urged Xu Siyu to go out: "I'll let Zhu Xiang take you to grandma! Grandma is also worried about you going to the exam. She should be up by now!"

Xu Siyu said "hmm", but did not leave immediately. Instead, he asked Jing'er: "What do you like to eat? I'll bring it to you when I come back!"

Jinger had never eaten anything outside, and unlike Xu Sijie when he was a child, he would eat a piece of candy with relish. Although he was never picky about food, he never asked for a certain thing.

He tilted his head and thought for a long time, then looked at Shiyi Niang and said, "Eat the crispy fish!"

Everyone couldn't help but laugh.

There is fried fish for breakfast today.

After laughing, Xu Siyu said seriously: "Chunxi Tower should have small fried fish. I will bring it to you after I leave the examination room!"

Jing'er snuggled up to Shiyi Niang with a smile on his face.

Xu Lingyi said, "Just do your test well. Send a servant to buy him some crispy fish."

Neither the father nor the son had any intention of lying to Jing'er.

Eleventh Lady felt relieved.

She is most afraid that adults will make random promises to children because they think they are young and ignorant, and then fail to fulfill them. Over time, children will lose trust in adults.

After Xu Siyu finished his duty, he brought back some crispy fish for Jing'er.

It’s a pity that Jing’er has fallen asleep.

Xu Siyu said apologetically, "I was planning to come back earlier, but Brother Fang was waiting for me outside the examination room and took me to have tea... There were also some of his classmates and colleagues, so I asked Sizhu to come back and give him a message... I wanted to hand it to him personally, but I didn't expect the conversation to be a bit long..."

You can imagine.

Just like the class reunion the day after the college entrance examination, no matter how well you did, you can feel relieved. As for whether to go to a key university or repeat the year, that is something to consider in two days.

She smiled and said, "It's okay. I'll give it to him tomorrow!"

Xu Siyu left apologetically.

Xu Lingyi, who was sitting on the kang next to the window waiting for Xu Siyu to come back, put down the book in his hand and asked, "When did he become so close to Fang Tanhua?"

I had someone guarding the door before, and asked him to come over and greet Xu Siyu when he came back. But when he saw Xu Siyu, he didn't ask a single question.

Eleventh Lady couldn't help but smile.

"Yu'er and Fang Tanhua have always been good friends!" she said, "It's just that they each had their own standpoints regarding the matter of Qin'er's daughter-in-law. Now that the two families have reconciled, they have become closer."

Xu Lingyi nodded and didn't ask any more questions.

The next morning, when Jing'er got up, he saw a bag of crispy fish on the bedside table and looked a little confused.

"This was bought by the Second Young Master at Chunxi Tower for the Sixth Young Master." Mother Gu said hurriedly, "When I brought it to you last night, you were already asleep."

Jinger was delighted, picked up the crispy fish and ran into Shiyi Niang's inner room: "Mom, mom, my second brother bought me some crispy fish!"

Eleventh Lady smiled and kissed Jin Ge'er on the cheek: "Remember to thank Second Brother when you see him later!"

Jing'er nodded, and when he saw Xu Siyu, he thanked him obediently.

"No need!" Xu Siyu smiled and touched Jing'er's head.

A little maid ran in and said, "Madam, the second lady asked if the second young master came to greet him. If he did, please ask the second young master to go to Shaohua Courtyard."

Before she finished speaking, another maid ran in: "Madam, Sister Yuban from the Madam's side came over. She said she was following the Madam's orders and asked if the second young master had come over. If he had, she would let him go!"

Xu Siyu came back too late yesterday, and neither the old lady nor the second lady waited for him.

They are concerned about how Xu Siyu performed in the exam, right?

Eleventh Lady couldn't help but laugh.

On the contrary, Xu Lingyi acted as if nothing had happened.

She smiled and ordered Xu Siyu: "Go quickly! Be careful not to make the Madam and your second aunt wait anxiously!"

Xu Siyu responded and left.

A few days later, news came from Shuntian Prefecture that Xu Siyu had ranked ninth in the exam.

He became a student on government stipend in the Great Zhou Dynasty. Not only could he attend classes at the government school, but he could also receive six dou of rice every month.

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I went to pick up Xiao Zhizhi today, and used the scheduled release method. I will post a draft first and then correct the typos when I come back.

O(∩_∩)O~