Chapter 69 (Part 2)

When Wu Niang heard that Master Qian had failed the exam, she hurriedly asked Luo Zhensheng, "What about the fourth brother-in-law? What about the eldest brother?"

"My eldest brother and my fourth brother-in-law both passed the exam." Luo Zhensheng said, "And my fourth brother-in-law did better than my eldest brother." Seeing his sister's pale face, he couldn't help but comfort Wu Niang: "My brother-in-law just didn't pass the exam this time. He will pass it if he takes more attempts. When my eldest brother and I went to see the list, we saw several people older than father who passed the same exam as my eldest brother!"

Wu Niang was so angry that she kicked him out.

Luo Zhensheng didn't know how he had offended his sister again. He walked out of the door in embarrassment and ran into Amber.

"Fourth Master, is Sister Dijin feeling better?"

Luo Zhensheng couldn't help but frowned: "I don't know what happened? She hasn't recovered yet. I said I would get her a doctor, but she said her elder sister passed away. My mother is unhappy and will probably blame her for being nosy if she knows. If you are free, go see her. It will also prevent her from lying in bed all day."

Amber couldn't help but smile, covering her sleeves.

No wonder everyone says that the Fourth Master has a good temper...

"Are you here to see the Fifth Miss?" Eleventh Lady was kept by the First Mistress's side every day during this period, and the maids had nothing to do. Amber was bored and talked to Luo Zhensheng.

Luo Zhensheng nodded: "Fifth brother-in-law failed the exam. I'm here to comfort Fifth Sister."

Amber smiled and said, "Fourth Master is really considerate..."

The maids in the house all liked to talk to Luo Zhensheng, and Luo Zhensheng also liked to talk to the maids.

He started chatting with Amber: "...Look at my elder brother and his wife, they take such good care of us. Look at Mr. Qian, he said that he was almost late that morning in order to save a few taels of silver on the car hire..."

"Really?" Amber smiled, "It's still remarkable that Master Qian can study in the Imperial College!"

Luo Zhensheng nodded: "I told my fifth sister the same thing..."

The two of them talked a lot of things until the maid from Luo Zhensheng's room came and they went their separate ways.

When Shiyi Niang came back in the evening, Amber Wine talked about this with Shiyi Niang: "...Speaking of which, Mr. Qian failed the imperial examination because his family was too poor!"

Shiyi Niang believes that the main reason why Qian Ming failed the exam was that he spent too much time on other things!

But in this case, Wu Niang must be very disappointed, right?

Just as she was thinking about it, Binju came in with some hot water: "Miss, is the Third Master here?"

"At this time?" Eleventh Lady was very surprised.

Binju nodded.

Amber immediately said, "I'll go take a look."

Eleventh Lady nodded.

After she finished washing up, Amber came back and couldn't stop laughing: "The third elder also sent people to check the list. He was very happy when he saw that the eldest master passed the exam. He specially came to teach the eldest master how to participate in the palace examination!~"

Eleventh Lady couldn't help but laugh.

The next morning, when Eleventh Lady went to pay her respects to the First Lady, the First Lady told her about the Third Elder's visit. "... You see, relatives are relatives, and uncles are uncles. If it weren't for the fact that your Third Uncle's two children were still young and had no son-in-law, why would he come to instruct your eldest brother? Otherwise, your eldest brother is the first one in the "Zhen" generation to pass the imperial examination, why didn't you see your Second Uncle come to give your eldest brother some instructions?"

This means that the second elder did not come to instruct Luo Zhenxing because his son-in-law would compete with Luo Zhenxing in the palace, and the second elder valued his biological daughter, so he also valued his son-in-law. The reason why the third elder came was because there was no conflict of interest between Luo Zhenxing and Luo Zhenkai and Luo Zhenyu.

The first wife said this to tell herself that Luo Zhenxing was the only one who was her elder brother, right?

Eleventh Lady nodded solemnly.

A look of satisfaction flashed across the eldest wife's face.

On the day of the palace examination, the eldest and third elders personally sent Luo Zhenxing to Donghua Gate - Luo Zhenxing would take part in the palace examination in the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

On the third day, the results of the palace examination came out.

Yu Yiqing won the third place, and Luo Zhenxing ranked tenth in the second class.

The Luo family celebrated the event. Although Gongxian Hutong was not decorated with red and green, everyone had a smile on their face. When offering sacrifices to their ancestors, Mr. Luo couldn't help but mutter, "The Luo family can prosper for another 40 years." Then he wrote to his classmates and friends to tell them the good news.

Yongping Hou immediately sent a gift - a jasper-inlaid white ink bed.

Luo Zhenxing liked it very much and wrote a letter to express his gratitude.

The third elder told him to study hard and prepare for the upcoming imperial examination, and he often came here to check on Luo Zhenxing's homework.

If he passed the exam to become a Shujishi, it would mean that Luo Zhenxing could stay in Yanjing. If he failed, Luo Zhenxing would be sent out. Two different starting points meant two different careers!

The Luo family was filled with a tense atmosphere, and everyone would involuntarily slow down their steps when passing the back house.

Even at the critical moment, the first wife did not forget Mr. Qian.

Not only did they rent a beautiful courtyard near the Imperial College for him, but they also asked Hang Mama's son Hang Xincai to bring two servants and two maids to serve him.

A few days later, it was April 22nd, the day of Yuanniang's funeral.

Eleventh Lady was left behind by the First Lady, and Luo Zhenxing went to the Xu Residence before dawn with the Second Lady, the Third Lady, Luo Zhenda, Luo Zhensheng, Luo Zhenkai, Luo Zhenyu, Yu Yiqing, Qian Ming, the First Lady, the Third Lady, the Fourth Lady, the Fifth Lady, the Tenth Lady and others.

The eldest wife asked Eleventh Lady to help her prepare a gift for the lady's birthday.

A pair of Shoushan stone bonsai, a pair of sky blue glazed folded flower vases, a cowpea red Fulu Shou Sanxing Weng, a blue and white glazed red Taibai Weng, a pair of green glazed plum vases...

Eleventh Lady and Mother Xu were busy for a whole morning before they packed all these things.

The eldest wife asked Eleventh Lady, "Have you finished making the two pairs of round-toed blue cloth shoes that the eldest lady asked you to make?"

"Sit down." It's not that Eleventh Lady was very familiar with the list given to her by the Grandmother, but she had never made this pair of shoes in this size before.

The eldest wife nodded and asked Eleventh Lady to bring the shoes over. She then pointed to the things in the room and said, "These are gifts from our Luo family. You should also show your appreciation."

If there was no incident with the courtyard, this would naturally make people feel caring and warm, but now... Shiyi Niang thought about the way the lady looked at her when she was in the courtyard and when she was mourning Yuanniang, and felt that this was too deliberate, and she was afraid that the lady would not appreciate it. But she couldn't refute the eldest lady - after all, the so-called letting her into the mansion was just speculation and rumor, and no one had said it to her.

In the evening, when Luo Zhenxing came back, the eldest wife had to ask in detail about Yuanniang's funeral, and naturally she cried again. The eldest master comforted her for a long time, and the eldest wife felt a little better, and Luo Xuan took care of her and she went to sleep.

The next day, after breakfast, the eldest wife was sending someone to deliver a birthday gift to the old lady when Lord Wang, the commander of the Tiger Battalion of the Imperial Guard, came to visit in person with Wang Lang.

Because their sister had passed away, they had to observe nine months of mourning, so Wu Niang and Mr. Qian's marriage had to wait until winter.

Unexpectedly, the Wang family came at this time!

If you can't wait and want to just break up, that's fine.

Eleventh Lady hurriedly sent Amber to find out what the Wang family had said.

Amber replied, "...the Wang family said they want to make the decision on November 28th." Then she smiled and said, "Sister Shanhu said that Young Master Wang is tall, handsome, and generous. Although he is very arrogant in his words, it is normal for him to have a temper given his noble status."

But Eleventh Lady felt chilled when she heard this.

Wu Niang was very angry: "You are not a royal concubine, why are you so impatient? You made a decision right after you finished your great work!"

Ziwei and Ziyuan naturally wanted to persuade Wuniang: "You can study with peace of mind now, and you will be on the list of successful candidates in the imperial examinations. By then, you will have an imperial decree and a bright future, which is no match for a duke's mansion that is only in name only. We don't have any titles either, but we still live a comfortable life!"

Wu Niang listened but her expression remained unchanged: "No..."

Ziwei and Ziyuan looked at each other in confusion, not knowing what Wu Niang meant.

"Mother disliked Aunt Yang so much, how could she treat Shi Niang well just because Aunt Yang died?" She looked at him with sparkling eyes, "Besides, I can feel that it was clearly me that Madam Jiang had taken a fancy to..."

Ziwei and Ziyuan were shocked when they heard this: "You mean... but Prince Wang looks very respectable..."

Wu Niang laughed and said, "There's still a long way to go. We'll know as we go along!"

When the lady heard that the birthday gift sent by the Luo family included two pairs of shoes made by Shiyi Niang herself, she asked Wei Zi to find them.

They are two pairs of very ordinary blue cloth round-toed shoes, but they look much more bright and beautiful than the usual blue cloth round-toed shoes.

The lady was slightly startled.

Wei Zi was surprised and said, "Madam, please look." Then, she handed the glasses to her.

The lady took a closer look and discovered that the shoe toes were embroidered with the same auspicious color.

"What a clever idea!" Wei Zi took the other one and looked at it carefully. "It's so beautiful that it's half-revealed like this!"

The eldest wife held the needle in her hand for a long time without saying anything, but she told Wei Zi: "Go and find Madam Niu from the Needlework Bureau for me."

When Aunt Niu came, the lady pointed at the shoes and asked, "Can you help me take a look? Where did the blue cloth come from? Whose silk thread is it? Can you tell when it was made?"

If her eldest sister died and she still had the mood to make shoes, then...

The lady thought about it and couldn't help but sneer in her heart.

Madam Niu looked at it carefully for a long time. She smiled and said, "The cloth is three-shuttle blue cloth from Songjiang. The palace also uses this kind of blue cloth. I can't tell where the thread comes from, but it must be from Jiangnan. As for when the shoes were made, it's hard to say. They look quite new, but if you take good care of them, some shoes that have been made for many years can also look like new ones."

The lady was somewhat disappointed after hearing this. She talked to Aunt Niu for a few words and then looked tired.

Aunt Niu immediately stood up and said goodbye cleverly.

The lady had no choice but to ask for a reward and send Nanny Niu back to the palace.

Mother Du comforted the lady, "...She is still young, and she is a concubine's daughter, so she must listen to her mother. There are some things that you can teach her slowly after she gets married."

The lady sighed and said, "I hope I am just being too suspicious!"

"Why are you suspicious?" Mother Du smiled and poured a cup of tea for the lady. "The Luo family suddenly gave you a daughter-in-law. It's reasonable for you to take a closer look!"

End of this chapter