"I am just a lowly official of the seventh rank. I have to kneel far away. How can I possibly see His Majesty?"
Small officials of the seventh rank like them are just there to make up the numbers.
If the emperor had not come to Yulin Prefecture and he was an official within the jurisdiction of Yulin, he would not have been qualified to kneel down.
He spoke very frankly, without showing any sense of loss.
Tu Qingxue couldn't help but ask, "Father, don't you want to get promoted?"
"At my age now, I no longer expect to be promoted. All I want in this life is to live a stable life, to see you and your two sisters find good families, and to see your brother get married and start a family."
His starting point was too low. Influenced by his teacher, he stayed in the position of county magistrate for more than ten years.
But more than ten years have passed, and Yu Zhi’s impact will be much less.
Tu Yuzhi took over the conversation, "Father, the Autumn Examination will be held in a few months. I will definitely study hard, strive to make a good career, and protect my sisters."
"Good." Tu Zhao's face was full of satisfaction. "My son has grown up."
"He was already grown up when he entered school. How come you only just discovered it?"
"Yes, yes, we need to start preparing for his marriage. After the Autumn Examination, the child will be out of mourning. It will be too late if we delay any further."
"Yeah, that's what I meant."
When Tu Yuzhi passed the imperial examination at the age of fifteen, he became engaged to the eldest daughter of Tu Zhao, his classmate.
His classmate was the eldest son of the principal of Qianshan Academy. His family had a long tradition of scholarship, passed down for thousands of years.
If Tu Zhao and he were not classmates and understood each other, and if Tu Zhao did not want his daughter to marry into a family with too complicated background, and if Tu Yuzhi did not work hard himself, this marriage would not have been possible for their Tu family.
This year, it happened that she had been out of mourning for two or three months after Tu Yuzhi passed the imperial examination in the autumn.
"Son, when Yan Shuang is out of mourning, remember to send some gifts to him, understand?" Mrs. Tu Wang earnestly instructed.
Tu Yuzhi's ears were red and his head was almost lowered to his rice bowl.
"Yes, my son knows."
After finishing her talk about Tu Yuzhi, she turned to look at Tu Qingyu, "Yu'er, your birthday is in about ten days. How do you want to celebrate your birthday this year?"
Tu Qingyu: "Just be like usual."
"Birthdays aren't the most important thing. The most important thing is her marriage." Tu Zhao picked up a piece of food for Tu Wangshi. "After this birthday, she will be sixteen. Other people's families are married at this age, but these two in our family, one is eighteen and still unmarried, and the other is sixteen and still undecided. What will others think of this?"
Tu Wang snorted lightly, "I don't care what they think. Marriage is a big deal, so we should be cautious."
But she still said, "Don't worry, I've almost finished reading Yu'er's story. We can start talking after her birthday."
In this dynasty, there are girls who are loved by their parents and kept their children until they are eighteen or nineteen years old.
Her daughter is getting engaged at sixteen, so isn't it just right to wait two years for the wedding ceremony?
After saying that, she glanced at Tu Qinglu who was sitting next to Tu Qingyu and said, "Lu girl is already twelve years old, it's time for her to be looked after."
Tu Zhao paused for a moment, his face showing some discomfort. "If you hadn't mentioned it, I would have almost forgotten about it. But she's still young, there's no need to rush."
"Twelve is not young anymore, you can start watching."
Tu Qinglu stood up and saluted, "Thank you for your concern, mother. I'm sorry for your worry."
"You kid, the family is having a meal together, why are you standing up? Sit down quickly."
She then sat down again and smiled at Tu Qingyu.
Tu Qingyu patted the back of her hand, and she smiled even more happily.
She reached out and picked up a piece of her favorite dish for Tu Qingyu, "Sister, today's braised pork is also very delicious."
"Thank you, Lulu. You can eat too."
Tu Qingxue rolled her eyes and said, "One is born out of wedlock and the other is born legitimately. How can they act like they have such deep sisterly love?"
I've never seen Tu Qingyu treat her so well.
Tu Wang looked at the reactions of everyone at the dinner table and sighed helplessly.
She also didn't understand why the relationship between her two daughters was so incompatible.
She was obviously teaching Tu Qingxue very attentively, but she just went further astray.
In the past two or three years, she no longer bothers to do this.
Maybe some people are just born to be incompatible with each other.
Fortunately, her Yu'er is smart and sensible. It's okay for her to be good friends with Qinglu. It's good for her to have a companion. After all, she is the master's blood.
This is also the reason why she has been nice to Aunt Liu and Tu Qinglu over the years.
After dinner, when everyone went back to their own yards, Tu Qingxue came over again to say something sarcastic.
"Some people really don't understand who their biological sisters are. They don't even respect their own biological sisters, but go out every day to show off their sisterly affection to others."
Tu Qingyu glanced at her and didn't want to talk to her at all. He took Tu Qinglu's hand and was about to leave.
Tu Qingxue blocked their path and kept asking, "Is this how you treat your sister? The nanny who teaches etiquette said you are the smartest and can learn anything quickly. So what? Didn't she teach you how to respect your elder sister? Have all the books you read been lost to you?"
"Don't force me to slap you here." Tu Qingyu looked at her calmly, but his tone was firm.
It was as if he would really slap her if she said one more word.
"How dare you! I'm your sister!"
"See if I dare."
"What are you still doing here?" Tu Yuzhi came out and saw them standing at the gate of the main courtyard, as if they were arguing, so he hurried over.
"It's all because of her!" Tu Qingxue pointed at Tu Qingyu, "These two don't take me seriously at all, but I..."
"alright!"
Tu Yuzhi interrupted her, "Don't I know you? It must be about your husband again."
“Brother, you…”
"Hurry back to your own yard, or your parents will see you and punish you again."
Tu Qingxue looked into the main courtyard. At this time, the nanny beside Tu Wangshi had come out. Finally, she took a deep breath and suppressed the anger in her heart.
"Hmph." She swung her sleeves. "We'll see."
She is the eldest daughter, and she will definitely live a better life than both of them.
After she got married, she told others that Tu Qingyu often disguised herself as a man and mingled with men.
See if there is anyone who wants her. Even if he marries her because of his father's status, what's the problem?
How could a woman with a bad reputation live well in her husband's family?
Tu Yuzhi frowned as he looked at her back. Just now, he actually saw viciousness in his elder sister's eyes?
"Brother, let's go back first."
"Okay, go ahead."
"Wait a minute." After the two of them had walked for a while, he called them back, "Yu'er, the emperor is in Yulin for the time being, so don't go out and play all day. Stay in the mansion for a while and go out later."
"Your Majesty is in the capital, why would he come to our little place?"
"I'm not talking about His Majesty, but His Majesty is on a southern tour, and he brought many dignitaries with him. I'm afraid you might run into someone and that might be bad."
In fact, what he wanted to say was that his sister was so beautiful that even when she dressed as a man, she was still very eye-catching.
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