Su Bai felt the burning gazes on her and smiled even more broadly, "Lord Qin, it's noon now, why don't you two sit down and have some food?"
Magistrate Qin instinctively wanted to refuse, but his nose was filled with the aroma of spicy and savory food. Looking at the colorful and fragrant dishes on the table, the words of refusal immediately swirled in his mouth. "In that case, I shall respectfully accept your offer."
These past two days I've been dealing with the Black Wind Stronghold bandits at the county government office, so busy that I haven't even had time to go home, let alone sit down and have a proper meal.
Moreover, food is all about color, aroma, and taste. Even though he hadn't tasted it yet, just by looking at its appearance and smelling its aroma, he knew it was just as good as the signature dishes at Tianxianglou.
Qin Yucheng saw through his father's little smirk.
He even suspected that the "serious business" his father mentioned was just a pretext, and that he was clearly just looking to freeload off his father.
After all, out of dozens of people in the family, none of them ate as much or as often as his father ate Su's spicy hot pot. He even praised the vegetables that the Su family sent him.
Su Bai's smile widened, and she waved her hand, "Second and third sons, go and move the table next door over. Eldest son, eldest son's wife, come with me to get another dish."
Seeing this, Magistrate Qin raised his hand to stop her, saying, "Madam Su, there's no need to go to such lengths. We only have two mouths to feed, so we can just move to another place and eat together."
"This is hardly an expense! Lord Qin has worked diligently for us common people all these years. I am so happy that he can come to our Su family for a simple meal today!"
Su Bai waved her hand with a smile, "Besides, these foods were already prepared and kept warm in the iron pot. We just need to take them out."
Having said that, she didn't give him a chance to refuse and quickly led her son and daughter-in-law to set up another table of food next to the main table.
People say that the yamen is a place where officials are easily swayed, and those with reason but no money should not enter. But this Magistrate Qin was an exception. When the Meng family sent Wang Ergou to steal the jade hairpin, the Meng family tried to bribe Meng Chengshi to reduce her sentence, but the magistrate caught them and instead gave them an extra year in prison.
Later, when Zuixianju caused trouble at a mala tang stall, he also ruled fairly that the other party should dig up the city wall until they died.
Therefore, she always had a very good impression of this county magistrate.
Seeing the Su family's politeness, Magistrate Qin stopped refusing and instead glanced at Qin Fu beside him.
The latter understood immediately, secretly rummaged through the money bag, and drew a "one" on the man's palm.
When Magistrate Qin heard that he still had ten taels of silver left in his private savings, he finally felt relieved and sat down on the stool.
How could an official waste the food of ordinary people? Having ten taels of silver to add to the house-raising ceremony isn't too bad.
His wife manages the finances. Today, unaware that the Su family was holding a housewarming banquet, she went out without informing them. For the time being, she can only use her own savings. However, after giving gifts today, her savings are almost gone.
However, considering his wife's relationship with Su Hua, he might be able to get reimbursed for the ten taels of silver if he went back and talked to his wife about it.
The main table originally housed the Su family, Elder Xue, Xiao Jinhan, Qin Yucheng, the old village chief, and others. Now, a new table has been set up, separating the men and women. The three children, Su Dalang, are still sitting with the women at the table.
In addition, Xue Lao and Xiao Jinhan were too lazy to move their chairs, so they remained at the original table.
At the men's table, Su Dahu brought over two pots of warmed wine and said with a light smile, "I wonder if you usually prefer stronger or milder wines? This pot is shao dao zi, and the other is apricot wine. The apricot wine was sent from Yu Cheng a few days ago."
"I have official business to attend to when I return to the yamen today, so I won't drink any wine. I'll just have soup." Magistrate Qin ladled a bowl of fish and mutton soup with a ladle, and looked up to see that Su Dahu had a scholarly air about him.
I couldn't help but laugh and said, "I heard from Yu Cheng that you are studying at Baichuan Academy. Will you be taking the children's examination this autumn?"
Su Dahu lowered his brows slightly. "Reporting to you, sir, I do indeed have the idea of giving it a try."
The imperial examination for children during the reign of Emperor Yu was held twice every three years. There was one this autumn. If you don't participate this year, you'll have to wait two years.
He is nineteen years old this year. Although he is not the oldest among the students, he is much older than the students who are ten years old.
Moreover, his memory seemed to be improving day by day, and he could memorize what the master taught him every day after just one reading.
If he can achieve a good ranking in the children's exams this fall, he can take the subsequent exams much faster. His younger sister is getting stronger every day, and he can't stay stagnant forever.
Upon hearing this, Magistrate Qin nodded slightly. "I have some past exam questions. I'll have Yucheng bring them to you when I get back. You can use them as a reference."
Ordinary people would study for at least two or three years before taking the imperial examination, but Su Dahu had only been enrolled for a short time and it would still be less than half a year before the autumn examination. Regardless of the result, his dedication was commendable.
Su Dahu cupped his hands in thanks, his eyes deep and thoughtful. "This student thanks you, sir."
In previous years, the teacher also had the exam questions, but as a newly enrolled student, he was shut down before he could even open his mouth. Now, with Magistrate Qin willing to help, his chances of winning the preliminary exam have increased by another ten percent.
While eating, Su Hua listened intently. When she heard "past exam questions," her heart stirred. This must be equivalent to the five-year college entrance exam and three-year mock exams that she used to do often. It must be a huge undertaking.
Nowadays, besides working at the school, the eldest brother helps out at home and restaurants every day. On his days off, he also teaches his family to read. He has to squeeze out time to study for himself, and sometimes you can see him studying by lamplight when he gets up at night.
Since he has chosen to retire this year, she needs to persuade him to shift his focus to his studies.
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