Before anyone came closer, Yu Jiao turned and entered the yard, closing the gate very quietly.
The footsteps were getting closer. Yu Jiao saw one of the faces through the crack in the door. It was Chen Zhiqing.
The others were Chen Gensheng, Chen Genfu, and the two Chen Qins.
When they walked past the Yu family's gate, their pace obviously quickened a lot, and they carefully looked at the Yu family's gate a few times.
When they looked over, Yu Jiao alertly withdrew her gaze and moved away from the crack in the door.
She didn't see clearly what the Chen family was carrying, but Chen Gensheng and his men were holding shovels and other objects, as if they were going to dig something.
The footsteps gradually faded away. Yu Jiao did not go out to spy again. She sat in the yard for nearly half an hour. Just when Yu Jiao was about to fall asleep with her chin in her hands, there was another noise outside the door.
She lay on the crack of the door and looked outside quietly. The people from the Chen family had returned, but this time the things they were carrying in their hands were gone.
Maybe instead of digging, bury.
Yu Jiao thought so.
The footsteps faded away, she pounded her numb legs, stood up and went back to her room.
The next day, Yu Qizhe woke up and rubbed his forehead which was a little dull and painful. He saw that he had not changed his clothes when he went to bed yesterday, and they had many wrinkles. He thought that he should drink less in the future, as his alcohol tolerance was really not that good.
Last time at the Mu family, I was cautious and only drank one glass, but yesterday I indulged myself a bit.
He got out of bed and wanted to change his clothes. He looked down and saw the broken silver coins scattered on the ground. He glanced at the book box thrown on the bedside. Yu Qizhe picked up the broken silver coins on the ground, thinking that the book box was accidentally knocked over last night.
After collecting the change into the book box, Yu Qizhe paused to see that it was empty. He had put all the money he had saved in the box. There were quite a few small copper coins in it, but now they were all gone.
Could it be that someone took it away last night? But why are there still a few pieces of silver on the ground?
His parents and elder sister would definitely not touch his things. Yu Jiao... would not look down on the money in the box. It could only have belonged to someone from the third room and the old lady. As for the few taels of silver that fell on the ground, they were most likely taken by someone who came to his room to steal money and suddenly heard the noise and had no time to take it away.
Thinking of this, Yu Qizhe's eyes turned a little colder.
He didn't like others touching his things, and he was saving the money for...
During breakfast, Yu Hanshan came back from the outer room yawning, looking haggard. He didn't even eat and went back to the west room to sleep.
"What did you do last night?" Zhao asked with a strange look on her face. She only found out when she woke up in the morning that Yu Hanshan, who used to sleep next to her, was missing.
Yu Hanshan rolled his eyes and said impatiently, "Gousheng from Lao Huang's family invited me to have a drink. I heard that Fifth Brother passed the imperial examination and insisted on asking me to come. I drank too much at Lao Huang's house last night and squeezed in with Gousheng for the whole night. I didn't sleep well. I'm going to sleep for a while."
He concealed his guilty conscience and pretended to yawn a few times, as if he was extremely sleepy.
Yu Hanshan often drank with Gousheng and a few other people in the village. Zhao no longer suspected him. She put down her bowl and chopsticks, and got a basin of water for Yu Hanshan, asking him to wash before going to bed.
However, Yu Jiao didn't believe that Yu Hanshan had just gone out to drink. His eyes were tired, his eye bags were dark, he looked listless, his face was pale, his steps were unsteady, and he walked with a heavy head and light feet. These were clearly symptoms of excessive indulgence.
Yu Jiao withdrew her gaze and noticed that Yu Qizhe was staring at the west room thoughtfully, and wondered if he knew something.
In fact, Yu Qizhe just suspected that the money in his room was taken away by Yu Hanshan.
After breakfast, Yu Jiao went to Yu Qizhe's room to practice calligraphy. She had been a little lazy and slack since she came back from Qingzhou. She had also been deliberately avoiding Yu Qizhe some time ago, so she had not practiced calligraphy properly.
Yu Qizhe also wrote a new copybook for her. If she didn't practice calligraphy well, she would be doing a disservice to the calligraphy that he, the top scholar, had taken so much trouble to write.
Seeing the book box on the corner of the table, Yu Jiao curled her lips and smiled, subconsciously looking up at Yu Qizhe.
Yu Qizhe was leaning against the bed reading a book. From Yu Jiao's perspective, he had an angular profile, dark-black eyebrows and deep, slightly raised peach blossom eyes. His high nose and straight jaw formed a beautiful arc.
After clearing the remaining toxins from his body, combined with medicinal and dietary supplements, the boy's body has become much stronger, and his facial features have lost a lot of their immaturity. His bone structure is very good, and one can already glimpse some of his masculine toughness.
Yu Qizhe seemed to sense her gaze and looked towards Yu Jiao.
Yu Jiao was not panicked at all after being caught peeping. She cleared her throat calmly and asked, "Fifth brother, if a family member dies, do we need to observe mourning?"
Last night, I ran into the Chen family burying something. Yu Jiao analyzed it later and found that the Chen family was heading to the mountain behind the village. They went there secretly in the middle of the night, so they must have buried something shameful.
The old lady of the Chen family calculated the time and found that he should have passed away, but there was no news of a funeral from the Chen family. Coincidentally, Chen Zhiqing passed the imperial examination yesterday, and they went to the back mountain to bury the things at night.
That's why Yu Jiao asked this question.
"A child is born three years before he is free from his parents' arms. The three-year mourning period is the most common mourning period in the world. It is a must to observe. When a parent dies, the children and grandchildren must observe mourning at home for 25 months. During this period, they are not allowed to marry, take exams, or take up office. Current officials must also resign and return home."
Yu Qizhe explained in detail, "The three-year mourning period ends after twenty-five months. Although it is a three-year mourning period, in fact, the mourning period can be stopped after two months of mourning, which means that the mourning period is two years."
When Yu Jiao heard him talk about taking the exam, she already found the answer to her doubts.
Chen Zhiqing passed the imperial examination with great difficulty, but the old lady of the Chen family passed away at this time, so he had to stay at home to observe mourning for two years and could not take the exam. This delayed his bright future.
If it was Old Mrs. Chen whom the Chen family buried secretly last night, it must be so that Chen Zhiqing could continue to take the imperial examination that they kept the news of Old Mrs. Chen's death a secret.
After figuring out these things, Yu Jiao couldn't help but get goose bumps all over her body. Human hearts are complicated and driven by interests. For the sake of their future, they would even give up the death of their closest relatives and elders.
While copying the calligraphy, she couldn't help but wonder, if it were Yu Qizhe, would he give up something for his future?
Then, she felt that she shouldn't miss him like this. He remained unmoved even though the Yang family was such a good in-law. So observing mourning for two years should not be a big deal.
After practicing calligraphy for nearly an hour, Yu Jiao put down her pen and rubbed her wrist. Seeing that Yu Qizhe was still reading with his head down, Yu Jiao couldn't help but admire him. No wonder he could be the top scholar in the imperial examination. She didn't have the determination and temperament to study hard.
Yu Jiao poured herself a cup of tea and planned to take a short rest when she heard the lively voices of Mrs. Zhang, the eldest wife, talking in the courtyard.
News spreads fast in small places, let alone such a famous event as the emergence of a doctor in the imperial examination in Qingyu Village. When Zhang's eldest daughter Yu Gancao heard that Yu's brother was the doctor who won the imperial examination, she brought her husband Li Hanqiu back to her parents' home to congratulate them.
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