"Mother, I heard in the capital that the emperor has bestowed upon you the title of a ninth-rank Confucian scholar?"
Lin Chaodong asked, forcing himself to answer. This was the main reason he had come back; he wouldn't be able to sleep peacefully tonight if he didn't get the answer.
"oh."
Yue Jiuyue's reaction was still indifferent. If Lin Chaodong weren't her son, she wouldn't even bother to talk to him right now.
He only came back because he heard that she had been granted the title of Lady Ruren!
If she hadn't been granted the title of Lady, who knows when that ingrate would have remembered her as his "own mother"! After all, he always knows how to buy gifts for his daughter and son, and he never forgets to bring them back when he's in a hurry to go home, but he's never thought about her as his "own mother"!
So, Lin Chaodong is a complete ingrate! She had included him in her plan, but things didn't go as planned. Just as her plan was beginning, he ran off to the capital with his wife and didn't intend to come back.
I just hope that Liu will be more careful and not sign a contract of servitude!
If she really signs, she doesn't care, but the two children will suffer.
Although the two children will not become slaves because of Liu, having a slave mother might hinder their future, especially Dazhuang, since the couple still wanted him to study and take the imperial examinations in the future!
"Mother, is what you're saying true?!"
Lin Chaodong's face was filled with disbelief.
Although he had heard from Lady Liu that the emperor had rewarded that peasant woman last year, she had been granted the title of a ninth-rank Confucian scholar this year.
But that was just hearsay! Although he was excited, he also felt it was impossible. After all, his mother was just an ordinary old woman from the countryside. How could she possibly be granted the title of Ninth-Rank Lady by the emperor?
Like the other villagers, he didn't understand what "Ruren" or "Anren" meant. He only knew the term "ninth rank," which meant a rank that was even more powerful than the village chief or ward chief!
After all, even the county clerk was only a ninth-rank official, while the clerk, postmaster, and river god were all low-ranking officials.
Therefore, it is foreseeable just how incredible the shock that Yue Jiuyue's conferment of the title of Ninth-Rank Lady would bring to those around her would be.
Therefore, it's understandable that Lin Chaodong didn't believe it. If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, who would believe that the emperor would bestow a reward upon a village woman from a thousand miles away?
Even Yue Jiuyue hadn't thought about such a thing. Although she felt that her innate "scholar" rank was higher than "madam," she never dared to dream that the emperor would grant her an imperial edict. She thought that a reward of two or three thousand taels of silver would be quite good, and she would be very content!
"Otherwise what?"
Yue Jiuyue was getting impatient. At this moment, she desperately hoped that Lin Chaonan and Lin Chaobei could come back soon, so that she wouldn't have to face that bastard son Lin Chaodong. She really had no patience for him at all.
If it weren't for the fact that the child is still young, and if she couldn't bear to see the child suffer, she wouldn't want to raise his child at all!
"mother……"
Lin Chaodong was helpless. He really didn't expect that his mother would treat him like this when he came back this time. How could he say anything after that?
The reason he returned was not only to spend the Mid-Autumn Festival with his family, but also to ask how much reward the emperor had given him. He also wanted to buy a house in the city so that he could bring his son to live with him.
He admitted that he favored boys over girls and didn't plan to take his daughter away immediately. He intended to wait until he or Liu Shi could earn more money before taking Xiao Man'er away. At that time, he would also hire a tutor or something similar to educate Xiao Man'er on how to be a good lady so that she could marry into a good family in the future.
All of this was discussed with Liu Shi on the day she had some free time. If Liu Shi hadn't really planned out the future of the two children, he wouldn't have been in such a hurry to come back this time. He just wanted to come back as soon as possible, buy a house as soon as possible, and start a new future as soon as possible.
However, it seems that the couple had oversimplified things before.
To be honest, the couple was too presumptuous!
The two of them were actually in a dilapidated rented room, scheming to use their mother/mother-in-law's money to plan for the future of their family of four, without ever considering that the money was not theirs, much less something they could take at will.
The main reason was that both of them were too emotional when they suddenly heard the news. In addition, Lin Chaodong was the eldest son and Dazhuang was the eldest grandson of the eldest branch. With this double layer, Liu Shi naturally assigned most of the family to their eldest branch. Even Lin Chaodong did not feel that anything was wrong.
After returning, Lin Chaodong gradually regained his senses amidst Yue Jiuyue's cold attitude.
So, he really can't bring himself to speak now.
We can only proceed gradually.
Seeing that Yue Jiuyue didn't even utter a "hmm" this time, Lin Chaodong's expression turned somewhat unpleasant. If it weren't for the two children chattering and making a ruckus in front of him, he would probably be so embarrassed that he wanted to crawl into a mouse hole.
Why did he suddenly become so impulsive before coming here, thinking that getting the money to buy a house was a sure thing? Who gave him this inexplicable confidence?
"Um, Mom, I'll go back to my room and tidy up first."
Lin Chaodong made an excuse to slip away; staying here was just too embarrassing and too much of a strain on his heart.
“Your room is currently occupied by your brother and sister. There is no suitable bed for you to sleep in. If you don’t mind, you can go to the servants’ quarters on the west side, find a room and a bed to make do for now. You’ll only be staying for one or two nights, so it will pass by.”
This was the longest sentence Yue Jiuyue had said to Lin Chaodong today, but it turned Lin Chaodong's face into a deep purplish-red.
Should we let him stay in the servants' quarters?
Before he went to the state capital, he wouldn't have minded sleeping in the courtyard. He thought it didn't matter where he slept; having a place to sleep was good enough.
However, ever since Liu went to a wealthy family to be a wet nurse for a newborn girl, especially after she told Lin Chaodong about the relationship between masters and servants before she left, Lin Chaodong has become extra careful about the master-servant relationship, for fear of breaking the rules between them.
Unexpectedly, he had barely returned home when his mother was about to send him to live in the servants' quarters. If he really went there, wouldn't the servants think he was nothing but a nobody in the family? Would they stop treating him with respect? Would they all outwardly obey him but inwardly defy him? Would they turn a blind eye to him? Or would everyone kick him while he was down?
"Mom! I'm not going! I'll just sleep on a makeshift bed in my room!"
Lin Chaodong frowned and refused.
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