Cheng Lang's visit to Baoding wasn't due to his long-held admiration for the Luo family's teachings. While the Luo family's teachings were impressive, they couldn't compare to the Cheng family's. Instead, Cheng Lang wanted to visit a certain gentleman in Baoding. This gentleman had recently retired from the Hanlin Academy and was well-known throughout the court and the public.
After listening for a while, Yining lost interest. The girls also didn't understand and came back yawning.
Mrs. Luo was drinking ginseng soup. Chen Lan and Lin Hairu, due to their different levels of education, sat in silence, unable to exchange a single word. But no one paid any attention to the girls' peeking; it was a tacit agreement. After all, their opportunities to interact with male relatives were so rare, so they just let it slide.
Yining saw the usually arrogant Luo Yiyu blushing and returning to her mother like a little girl.
Chen Lan looked at Mrs. Luo inquiringly.
Old Lady Luo shook her head and said, "Cheng Lang looks amiable, but he's actually quite scheming. As someone from a prominent family, he's not suitable for Yi Yu."
Chen Lan didn't say anything, so Yi Yu anxiously explained, "How did Grandma know—"
Old Mrs. Luo said with a smile: "I, your grandmother, have lived for so many years, how could I not know? Okay, you all go back and have a rest. Look, Yining is yawning." Yining was yawning and feeling sleepy beside Old Mrs. Luo. When she heard what she said, she found that everyone was looking at her.
She put her hands down, thinking that since she was the youngest, she would naturally be sleepy more.
After everyone left, Mrs. Luo tapped Yining's nose and said, "Yining, what do you think of Cheng Lang?"
Yi Ning blinked and could only slowly say, "Grandma, he's fifteen and I'm only seven. What can I think of him?" Could it be that Mrs. Luo was still planning on Cheng Lang for her? Forget it.
Old Mrs. Luo laughed, and even Mother Xu chuckled.
Mrs. Luo continued, "Although Grandma loves you, you are not as educated and well-mannered as your fourth sister. You are even less worthy of Cheng Lang, and I'm afraid he won't agree. Grandma is just asking you, he gave you a string of Buddhist beads today, what do you think of him and your fourth sister?"
Yi Ning was silent for a moment, then shook her head. Cheng Lang wasn't treating his future wife well. He was just as Mrs. Luo had described him. He appeared to be smiling and amiable, but in reality, he was calculating. It would be better if she didn't marry him.
Old Lady Luo pondered for a while: "Even if we have the intention, we are afraid that she won't have any dreams. Forget it, it's better to give it to the young master of Yi Yu's mansion as I said before." She didn't mention the matter anymore and asked the servants to help Yining to rest.
After Yining fell asleep, she had a dream.
In the dream, little Cheng Lang was white and chubby, following behind her with his arms swung, and said with a smile, "Auntie, hold me, Auntie, hold me."
Yining picked him up. He held something carefully in his chubby hands and said to Yining, "I caught this in the back garden. I'm giving it to my aunt." His little hands slowly opened, and a dragonfly landed on his palm.
Yining looked at the pale green dragonfly. It fluttered its wings and suddenly flew away when Cheng Lang opened her hand. Cheng Lang tried to catch it but failed. With a look of regret on his face, he turned around and said, "Aunt, it flew away."
Yi Ning pinched his little nose and said, "If it flies away, I don't want it anymore."
The young and naive Cheng Lang watched the dragonfly fly away, lying on Yining's shoulder and watching it for a long time.
When Yining woke up, she found that it was raining heavily outside the window.
Xuezhi came over and closed the lattice window, then smiled and picked up Yining: "It's raining heavily today. The old lady said that you don't need to go to school."
After getting up, Yining drank a bowl of porridge. She hid inside, hugging her blankets as she watched the rain fall outside. The entire courtyard was engulfed in a patter of rain. The trees swayed in the wind, and she could almost smell the damp grass. Songzhi came from the corridor, holding an umbrella. Her skirt was completely soaked, and she was wringing out the water under the eaves. She returned with a bag of warm, sugar-roasted chestnuts for Yining.
"This is given to you by the third young master." Songzhi said.
Yi Ning wondered if she really loved eating. Why did Luo Shenyuan always bring her food? Sometimes it was cloud cakes, sometimes it was pine nut candies... but he would open the paper packages and eat them one by one. She asked Songzhi, "Did my third brother go out of the house? Wasn't it raining heavily?"
Songzhi said, "I heard that they will go to visit the teacher together tomorrow morning, so let's go out and buy some gifts together."
"You're leaving tomorrow?" Yining suddenly felt a little reluctant. "Then how long will it take before you come back?"
Songzhi smiled and said, "How can there be a fixed number for this? It could take three to five days at the fastest, or ten days to half a month at the slowest."
Yining tossed and turned on the Luohan bed for a while. Seeing that the rain outside had almost stopped, she asked Xuezhi to bring an umbrella and decided to go and see Luo Shenyuan off.
After the rain, the weather cleared up quickly, and the sun was even warm. Yi Ning arrived outside Luo Shenyuan's yard and found the boxes already packed and placed in the courtyard. Luo Shenyuan's servant was still helping to move things.
Luo Shenyuan saw her coming, but his expression was not surprised at all. He flipped through the book and asked her, "Are the sugar-roasted chestnuts delicious?"
Yining sat on his box and talked to him: "Third brother, I heard that you are going to visit that teacher. The provincial examination will be held this autumn. Are you going to take the exam?" If she remembered correctly, Luo Shenyuan should be the one who passed the exam this year.
Luo Shenyuan still had a few books in his hands. After putting them away, he said, "I haven't made up my mind yet."
Yi Ning looked at her third brother's back and thought that he couldn't miss this provincial examination. She said anxiously, "You can't not go—"
Luo Shenyuan thought she was going to say something profound, but the little girl frowned slightly and said righteously: "If we don't take the imperial examination, how can we get promoted and make money?"
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