Chapter 605 Triple Happiness
That night, the moon was bright and the stars were few.
The room was brightly lit by candlelight and filled with a faint, calming incense. Meng Jinyao lay on her side on the bed, one hand supporting her cheek, her black hair cascading down her pillow. Her breathing was deep and even, indicating that she was asleep.
Wanwan slept in her arms, smacking her little lips, as if she was dreaming of something delicious.
When Gu Jingxi returned from outside and entered the room, she saw her two children, one big and one small, sleeping soundly. Looking at their peaceful sleeping faces, she felt all the fatigue from a busy day disappear.
He stepped forward to tuck the blankets around the mother and son, and kissed them both on the cheek. Just as he was about to turn around and ask the maid to prepare water for their bath, he met a pair of sleepy almond-shaped eyes.
Meng Jinyao yawned and stared at him sleepily: "Husband is back?"
Gu Jingxi nodded: "Yes, I just got back. Go back to sleep. I'm going to take a shower."
Meng Jinyao nodded, and was about to rub her eyes when she found that the hand she was using to support her cheek was numb and she couldn't move it for a moment, so she frowned uncomfortably.
Seeing this, Gu Jingxi sat down on the edge of the bed, considerately reached out to help her lie down, and then massaged her numb hands.
After a while, her hand was no longer numb, and she was no longer sleepy. Meng Jinyao asked again, "Has my husband had dinner yet?"
Gu Jingxi replied, "I've already eaten. I'm going to take a bath first."
After saying this, he got up to leave, but his sleeve was tugged by his wife. He looked down at her, as if to ask a question.
The next moment, he heard his wife say meaningfully, "Husband, I haven't taken a bath yet."
Upon hearing this, Gu Jingxi paused, his gaze suddenly becoming deep and unfathomable. When he kissed her earlier, he clearly smelled the faint fragrance of soap left on her body after her bath. The meaning behind his words was self-evident.
"Little liar, lying will be punished."
Gu Jingxi chuckled softly, bent down, lifted the quilt and picked up his wife from the bed. He then used one hand to tuck his son in, and carried her to the bathroom.
Emerging from the clean room, Meng Jinyao was so exhausted that she didn't even want to move her fingers. Lying on the bed, she glared at the man beside her, seemingly resenting his lack of self-control.
When Gu Jingxi met her gaze, he felt a little guilty. He moved his son, who was sleeping between them, to the inside, then pulled his wife into his arms and coaxed her softly, "Ayao, please calm down. Your husband was wrong."
Meng Jinyao snorted: "You've said that countless times. When have you ever said it differently?"
Gu Jingxi remained silent; he couldn't refute those words.
"Fine, I'm too lazy to argue with you." Meng Jinyao glared at him again before changing the subject. "My second brother came over early this morning. Guess why?"
Upon hearing this, Gu Jingxi frowned, a bad feeling creeping over her. She quickly asked, "Has something happened at home?"
Meng Jinyao nodded: "Something did happen, but Mother has already taken care of it."
Gu Jingxi pressed, "What is it?"
Meng Jinyao sighed softly, gritting her teeth and spitting out, "My unreliable father actually tried to make a move on my third sister. He's shameless; he can do something like this."
Upon hearing this, Gu Jingxi was dumbfounded and asked in surprise, "He still wants to disregard ethics and morals and take his third sister as his concubine?"
Meng Jinyao shook her head repeatedly: "No, no, no, that's not what I meant. He's not that shameless. He wouldn't do such a thing. He wanted to marry his third sister off to Jiang, the Minister of Personnel, who is over forty years old, as a concubine, selling his daughter to secure a real position for himself. Fortunately, my mother discovered his motives and had a big fight with him. He was beaten into submission and didn't dare to mention it again."
Gu Jingxi breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good. Not only is Minister Jiang old, but he also has nine concubines in his harem and a large number of illegitimate children."
Meng Jinyao said, "The results of the provincial examination will be released in two days. If my second brother is on the list, we will arrange a marriage for him after the results of the palace examination are released. If he is not on the list, we will see what he wants: whether he wants to get married first or study hard for another three years and get married after passing the imperial examination. If my second brother's marriage can be settled this year, my third sister can also get married this year or next year, so that Father will not be so greedy as to cause any more trouble."
Gu Jingxi comforted him, "Don't worry, Yao. He got a beating from his mother-in-law, so he shouldn't dare to do anything for a while."
Meng Jinyao scoffed, "If he had been that ambitious when he was young, he wouldn't be resorting to all sorts of dirty tricks to seek personal gain at his age."
Gu Jingxi hugged her and soothed her gently, "Ayao, don't be angry. Don't ruin your health over someone like that. It's not worth it."
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Two days later, the results of the imperial examination were announced.
The Gu family was filled with joy. There were three happy events in the mansion today. The servants in the mansion also received rewards because of the happy events in their master’s house. Everyone’s face was full of smiles and they worked extra hard.
The first piece of good news today is that Gu Xiuyuan has passed the provincial examination. After three years of hard work and accumulation, he has finally achieved a good result, ranking fifty-seventh among ten thousand candidates. He will be able to enter the palace examination in ten days. Regardless of his ranking in the palace examination, he is now one foot in the door of officialdom.
The second piece of good news was that Gu Xiuwen also made the list, and even scored better than his brother, ranking twentieth.
As for the third piece of good news, it came from the second branch of the family. After the servants returned from reading the list of successful candidates in the imperial examinations, they brought good news. While everyone was immersed in joy, Xiu Hong's wife, Song Yuan, suddenly started vomiting. They called a doctor to take a look and found out that she was more than a month pregnant.
Three joyous events occurred in one day, bringing happiness to the entire family.
Zhang cried tears of joy more than once. Her husband was useless, so she pinned all her hopes on her two sons. Now that her two sons were so successful, their eldest son's side could finally stand up. Even if they separated in the future, they wouldn't live too badly.
Although Madam Chen had never mistreated her daughter-in-law, she had always disliked her. Now that she knew her daughter-in-law was pregnant and would soon be able to fulfill her wish of holding a grandson or granddaughter, she found her daughter-in-law much more pleasing to the eye. She even took off her own precious jade bracelet, which she cherished greatly, and put it on her daughter-in-law's wrist, saying, "Ah Yuan, you've worked hard. If you need anything, just tell your mother."
Song Yuan was flattered. She knew that her mother-in-law had never liked her and was usually indifferent to her. Now, her mother-in-law was suddenly being so nice to her and even gave her the jade bracelet she wore every day. She was really not used to it and looked to her husband for help.
Gu Xiuhong smiled and said, "Your mother gave it to you, so please accept it."
After hearing this, Song Yuan accepted the gift and thanked Chen Shi, saying, "Your daughter-in-law thanks you, Mother."
Looking at her still-flat stomach, Madam Chen smiled kindly: "What are you thanking me for? Aren't all my things going to belong to you and your husband in the future? Giving them to you sooner or later makes no difference."
Seeing this, Song Yuan knew that her mother-in-law's change in attitude towards her was also because of the child in her belly. Thanks to the child, her mother-in-law had finally accepted her. But no matter what, her mother-in-law had finally accepted her, and her husband would no longer have to be caught in the middle.
Madam Gu was overjoyed and asked her daughters-in-law to prepare a family banquet to celebrate.
The three sisters-in-law, Zhang, Chen, and Meng Jinyao, were also happily preparing a family banquet. Today, all three of them had happy events: Zhang's two sons had passed the imperial examinations, Chen was about to become a grandmother, and Meng Jinyao was also delighted because her second brother had passed the examinations, ranking fifth.
As for the top scorer in this imperial examination, it was Shen Yunzhou, the heir of the Duke of Shen, who was already famous in the capital when he was thirteen or fourteen years old.
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