Chapter 49
Third place?
Qi Shuning is so good at studying? Now he's a scholar?
Chen Qing was excited and couldn't wait to tell Li Xin the news, but there were too many people and it was really difficult to squeeze out. He was also short and easily stepped on.
Zhou Yuan simply picked Chen Qing up, put him on his shoulders, and swaggered out of the crowd.
Chen Qing had never been lifted onto anyone's shoulders before. He only remembered that his father had carried him on his back when he was very young, but he couldn't recall the feeling from that time.
He sat on Zhou Yuan's shoulders, feeling a little dizzy. He hugged Zhou Yuan's head and said, "Put me down."
Chen Qing didn't dare look at the people around him, knowing without a doubt that they were all watching them.
Zhou Yuan reluctantly put Chen Qing down, placing his hand on Chen Qing's shoulder. They hadn't eaten breakfast yet and were feeling excited and hungry at the same time.
At a roadside stall, Zhou Yuan ordered a bowl of wontons for Chen Qing and bought five sesame seed cakes for himself. Chen Qing had a small appetite, so he ate half of the wontons and only half of the cakes. The rest went into Zhou Yuan's stomach. After they finished eating, they went to a pastry shop and bought some pastries for Li Xin and Niu Niu.
It was already afternoon when Chen Qing returned to the village. He couldn't keep anything to himself, so he told Zhou Yuan, who was still unloading the truck, and then ran to the Li family's house.
The Li family's new house is being built quickly, and it will be ready to be completed soon. Li Xin has been staying at home with Zhang Yin recently, so you should be able to find Li Xin if you go to the Li family's house now.
When he arrived at the Li family's house, Li Xin and Zhang Yin were talking and tidying up the cables in the yard, while Qi Shuning was teaching Niu Niu to write with a stick on the ground.
"Why is Aqing running so fast?" Zhang Yin stopped winding the line and looked at Chen Qing, who was panting heavily.
Chen Qing, panting heavily, greeted Zhang Yin first, then placed the snacks on their small table: "We went to the county town yesterday, and today we saw the results."
Upon hearing the words "results will be released," Qi Shuning stood up and walked over to Li Xin: "It seems that the results will indeed be released in the next few days."
Li Xin looked at him with a hint of disappointment: "With a memory like yours, it's no wonder you won't pass the exam."
Qi Shuning wasn't angry when he said that; she just smiled and scratched her head.
Zhang Yin poured Chen Qing a glass of water. This tea set was brought from her parents' home and she had always cherished it, so it looked brand new.
After finishing his water, Chen Qing said, "We saw the results; he came in third."
Li Xin's eyes widened in disbelief: "You can't read, you must be mistaken?"
Qi Shuning, the person involved, seemed only slightly surprised before remaining calm: "The result is almost exactly what I expected."
Li Xin: ?
"Why have you never told me this before?" Li Xin walked up to him and pinched his ear.
"You're not interested?" Qi Shuning wasn't angry even as he twisted her ear. "If I can't even do well in the academy exam, I'll be letting my parents down."
Chen Qing laughed as well: "They said the procession to announce the good news won't arrive for another two days. It'll definitely be very lively then."
After Chen Qing finished speaking, he looked at Zhang Yin, who had a smile on her face and was very pleased: "A Ning is very hardworking, and it is only natural that he can get good grades."
"Right now, Aning has passed the imperial examination and become a scholar, and your new house will soon have its roof beam raised. These are all good things." Her eyes crinkled, and she couldn't stop smiling.
Chen Qing instinctively turned to look at her, feeling that something was amiss, but he was quickly overwhelmed by the festive atmosphere in the courtyard.
Just then, Li the blacksmith returned from outside and heard cheerful laughter coming from the courtyard: "What's making you so happy?"
Zhang Yin walked to his side: "Aqing just came back from the county town. He said that Shuning got third place in the exam and he's very happy right now."
Li the blacksmith raised his eyebrows: "Oh? You passed the imperial examination and became a scholar?"
Qi Shuning nodded: "I must thank you, Father. Without you, how could I have achieved what I have today?"
Zhang Yin patted Li the blacksmith on the shoulder: "Go to the butcher's and buy some meat and some wine. Let's celebrate at home tonight."
She turned back again: "Aqing, go home and call Ayuan and your mother over, let's have a good time."
Chen Qing nodded: "Then I'll go back first, and come back to help in a bit."
Watching Chen Qing's departing figure, Li Xin looked at Zhang Yin and asked, "Mother, don't you think Aqing has changed a lot?"
Zhang Yin nodded: "Aqing has had a hard life, but after having Ayuan, he is finally a little happier."
Chen Qing took a longer route back. He chose to go to Aunt Sun's house. Aunt Sun happened to be home and, seeing Chen Qing enter the yard, went with him to feed the pigs.
The once pink and tender piglet has grown to twice its original size in almost half a year, lost its original cuteness, and even become smelly.
Although Grandma Sun had tried her best to keep the pigsty clean, the pigs still smelled, and Chen Qing was already showing some disgust.
"Mother, Qi Shuning passed the imperial examination and became a scholar, and he even came in third place." Chen Qing poured pig feed into the trough and spoke to Aunt Sun. "Aunt Yin invited us all to dinner tonight, saying she wanted to make it more lively."
Grandma Sun was taken aback for a moment: "It's not appropriate for me to go, you can go instead."
Chen Qing fell silent: "But Aunt Yin specifically told me to invite you too, if you don't go..."
Grandma Sun also felt that Chen Qing had changed a lot and had now learned to play the victim: "Okay, okay, I'll go, but I still have to bring some gifts when I go."
Chen Qing nodded; Sun Da Niang was more knowledgeable than him when it came to social etiquette.
Like a little bee carrying a message, he has finally decided to go home.
Zhou Yuan was sweeping the yard when he saw Chen Qing return and poured him some water: "Have the message been relayed?"
Chen Qing held his cup and drank some water. After finishing, he let out a long sigh of relief: "I've passed it all on. Aunt Yin wants us to come over for dinner tonight."
“Okay.” Zhou Yuan put down the broom. “Let’s go get some wine. We definitely have to have a drink tonight.”
Chen Qing nodded, put his purse in his pocket, and followed behind Zhou Yuan. There was a family in the village who brewed wine, and the villagers would go to their house to drink.
They ran into Li the blacksmith on the road. Li the blacksmith was carrying a slab of fine pork ribs and two pieces of pork shoulder. When he heard that they wanted to buy wine, he went home first and said to Chen Qing, "Come to my house to help out later. Li Xin's cooking skills are really not good."
Chen Qing quickly nodded: "We'll go over after we get the wine."
Zhou Yuan directly ordered two jars and asked Chen Qing to pay. Chen Qing took out his purse, and he hadn't even noticed that it was much heavier than before. He opened it and found some loose silver and copper coins inside.
Fearing that the other party would have to wait too long, Chen Qing paid the money first before asking Zhou Yuan, "Did you put the money in my wallet?"
Zhou Yuan, holding the wine jar, nodded: "From now on, you'll be the head of the household, so of course you'll be in charge of the money."
Chen Qing smiled with pursed lips and quickly arrived at Li the blacksmith's house.
Li Xin was busy inside the house, and Qi Shuning was tending the fire by the stove. Zhang Yin was worried and wanted to help, but Li the blacksmith held her down and wouldn't let her move.
Soon after, Aunt Sun arrived. She had always lived a frugal life, and this time she brought some eggs with her.
Zhang Yin said she was being too polite, but Aunt Sun just smiled and went to talk to Zhang Yin on the side.
Chen Qing also squeezed into the kitchen, and Zhou Yuan pushed Qi Shuning away from the stove door and started the fire himself.
Li Xin snorted at him: "How dare you disrespect Scholar Qi?"
Zhou Yuan gestured with his fist, which was bigger than his own clay pot: "Even if you become the top scholar Qi, you'll still get punched if you don't do well."
Chen Qing focused on preparing the ingredients and didn't talk to them.
A spare rack of pork ribs was chopped into small pieces about the length of an index finger and marinated with scallions and ginger. Li Xin quickly said that he wanted to make this dish himself. His maternal grandfather's family had a specialty dish called sweet and sour pork ribs, which was Niu Niu's favorite.
Chen Qing didn't argue with him and went to deal with other things.
Li the blacksmith not only bought meat, but also killed a chicken, a hen at that. When Li Xin saw this, she said, "I'm going to make chicken soup for my mother to nourish her body."
Chen Qing cleaned the chicken, put it in his family's clay pot, added water to boil it to remove the scum, then added more water, ginger slices and goji berries to simmer. Li the blacksmith saw the soup pot that Chen Qing had set up, went into the house and found a ginseng root to stew.
After making the chicken soup, Li Xin also put the pork ribs into the pot. The originally tender red ribs became shiny and oily after being coated with the sauce that Li Xin stir-fried. They also smelled sweet. Zhou Yuan said that it was no wonder Niu Niu liked to eat them. Kids all like to eat sweets.
Chen Qing looked at the ribs that Li Xin had stir-fried, and then glanced at the piece of pork shoulder in his hand. He asked Li Xin to stir-fry some sauce again, and then poured in the blanched pork shoulder pieces, coating them with the sauce as well. Zhou Yuan had turned up the heat a bit too high, and a lot of oil had been rendered out. Finally, Chen Qing used a spoonful of broth to slowly stew the meat.
The remaining dishes were simpler: stir-fried shredded potatoes, stir-fried cabbage with vinegar, and cured pork that had been dried during the Lunar New Year. After the cured pork was boiled, it was sliced thinly, and the originally greasy fat became crystal clear, as if it could be seen through.
As the sun set, a large table of dishes was ready. Li the blacksmith's table was big enough to fit everyone around.
Except for Niu Niu and Zhang Yin, everyone had a glass of wine poured in front of them. Li the blacksmith, being the patriarch, raised his glass first: "Today is a good day."
Li Xin and Zhang Yin both laughed, and Li the blacksmith also laughed. Then he looked at Qi Shuning, who was the most cultured person here: "Ah Ning is cultured, Ah Ning, you speak."
Qi Shuning stood up and scratched his head: "Thank you everyone."
Everyone at the table burst into laughter. Zhou Yuan spoke up, "Let's not talk about it for now, Niu Niu's drool is going to drown his bowl."
So everyone started eating, and they became less reserved as they ate. Next to Zhang Yin was Aunt Sun, who was sipping a bowl of chicken soup. Looking at the large table of people, Zhang Yin whispered to Aunt Sun, "I feel like I've achieved my goal."
Grandma Sun smiled and said, "Yes, it's so nice to have such a lively atmosphere."
Zhang Yin continued, "After Li Xin got married, I had one less thing on my mind. Now it's all about Niu Niu. I hope he can grow up healthy and happy."
Grandma Sun paused, her chopsticks poised to pick up some food, a sense of foreboding creeping into her heart. She looked at Zhang Yin.
Zhang Yin was also looking at her: "Sister-in-law, now that our two families are related by marriage, we will all be one family in the future."
Grandma Sun's heart sank even further, but Zhang Yin didn't say anything more and continued to listen to them talk with a smile.
Li the blacksmith and Zhou Yuan drank the most, but neither of them were drunk. Qi Shuning, on the other hand, drank too much and his eyes were glazed over. Li Xin took a few sips, and Chen Qing only took a small sip. When they parted, Li Xin and Qi Shuning did not leave but slept in Li Xin's previous room.
Grandma Sun had something on her mind, and she remained silent on the way back. Seeing everyone so happy, she ultimately didn't voice her worries.
When she got home, she didn't rush to let Chen Qing and Zhou Yuan leave. Instead, she went back to her own home and voiced her doubts.
"I noticed that your godmother doesn't seem to be doing well lately."
Chen Qing and Zhou Yuan exchanged a glance before Chen Qing said, "But she was in great spirits tonight."
Grandma Sun paused for a moment before saying, "She said some things to me last night, and it sounded like she was entrusting her child to someone."
Zhou Yuan: "You mean..."
"She felt that everything had settled down. You and Li Xin were married, and Qi Shuning had passed the imperial examination. The breath she had been holding in was about to be released."
Chen Qing then began to feel fear, because he had previously worried that after Grandma Sun finished Meng Tao's funeral, she would commit suicide.
Chen Qing looked at Zhou Yuan, completely bewildered.
Zhou Yuan nodded: "Mother, I understand. I will talk to my godfather about it tomorrow."
Back home, Chen Qing was filled with worry all night.
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