Chapter 30 Should she acknowledge this "fellow townsman" as her...?
The winner of this year's Luzhou Prefecture Literary Competition is actually a woman!
Such an unprecedented event was happening right before their eyes, and many people were already mentally preparing to share their extraordinary experience with their family and friends when they got home.
One of the teachers pondered for a moment and said, "These excellent essays today, especially the one that won first place, are insightful and beautifully written. Should we copy them down so that the students at the academy can study them as well?"
No sooner had the words left his mouth than an indignant voice rang out from the side: "Absurd! How can a woman's writing be considered refined literature? Does this mean that the model essays for the imperial examinations in the future will also be written in such flowery language?"
Upon hearing this, the teacher's face suddenly darkened, and he immediately retorted: "Whether an article is good or bad should be judged by its reasoning, its wording, and its meaning. What does it have to do with whether the author is male or female?"
"If that day ever comes and the imperial court opens a women's examination and allows women to take the exam, in my humble opinion, it's still uncertain who will be the top scholar in the imperial palace!"
The man was speechless, his face flushed, and he stammered for a long time, but could not utter another word. Under the thoughtful gazes of those around him, he could only flee in embarrassment.
Despite differing opinions, this was not an imperial examination, but a literary gathering held locally. As the head of the prefecture, Su Lin had the final say.
Although Lu Hongguang and the others found it unheard of for a woman to win the championship and were extremely resistant, they were powerless to refute Su Lin's reasonable decision and could only sit there with livid faces.
When the awards ceremony was held, it was Lu Chengzhou's turn to go on stage to receive his insignificant ranking as a memento.
He was already filled with shame and indignation, and no longer caring about etiquette, he pushed the person in front of him away and stumbled off the stage amidst a sea of astonished gazes, fleeing this place of trouble without looking back.
The barrage of comments in front of Wen Yu immediately erupted in laughter.
[Hahaha, this guy's defenses have crumbled! If you can't handle losing, don't play! Hehehe!]
[Dianzhongdian: Although you are all PhDs, I am a man! How can you women defeat me? (Foaming at the mouth)...]
[Lord Su is amazing! This farming novel is practically a perfect male lead setup!]
[Hey everyone, please don't make any random pairings. Our livestream focuses on farming and building our careers; there's no romance involved.]
When will this literary gathering event end? I just want to see farming; I'm not interested in these bureaucratic matters...
[It's only been a few days! Let's let the children have some fun first; we'll be back soon anyway!]
As the comments scrolled merrily, the long-awaited system notification finally sounded.
[Ding! Congratulations, host! The positive review rate for your live stream has successfully exceeded 30%! System shop access is now available for you!]
Very good!
Wen Yu was overjoyed.
She immediately opened the online store interface in her mind, and in an instant, a dazzling array of products appeared before her eyes.
A dazzling array of high-quality vegetable seeds and high-yield grain seeds were lined up, and there were even various fruit tree seedlings with considerable prices. She could start growing fruit trees!
Not only that, but a side shelf also displays many modern foods: self-heating hot pot, ham sausage, instant noodles... these are the "junk foods" she has been longing for.
Oh, and the seasonings!
Wen Yu's eyes lit up, and she quickly searched and found a specific category.
Not only did she have salt, sugar, soy sauce, and vinegar, but also precious pepper and chili powder... In this place where cooking seasonings were scarce, she had had enough of the bland food, and these things could save her life.
She could already imagine using them to make delicious dishes.
However, she cannot exchange for these items yet. The system said that the only currency for exchange is her food.
She had already calculated the timing. By the time she finished her business here and returned to the village, the millet harvest would be just around the corner. She would sell some of it to grain merchants and keep the rest to exchange for items in the mall. Her life was thriving and prosperous.
Wen Yu reluctantly closed the interface and brought her attention back to reality.
The awards ceremony was nearing its end.
After distributing the prize to the last person, Su Lin turned around and greeted everyone: "Thank you all for coming today. This literary gathering has now come to a successful conclusion. Please feel free to leave."
The sky was already pitch black, and servants in the park stood by the roadside with lanterns in hand, guiding departing tourists back home.
Su Lin also stepped down from the stage and was having a gentle conversation with Wen Qingshi on the side of the stage. Gu Ming and the others did not go up to disturb them, but simply bowed from a distance and quietly retreated from the side.
Wen Yu exchanged a glance with Ning Shengan, who was not far away.
Ning Shengan could tell that she still wanted to stay, and said knowingly in a low voice, "I'll go redeem my winnings first and wait for you at the exit."
Wen Yu nodded.
Just then, Lin Lan ran over briskly, grabbed her sleeve, and said with a happy expression, "Sister Wenyu, Lord Su invites us to the library over there for a chat."
Oh? It's like someone just handed you a pillow when you're feeling sleepy.
She just wanted to have a chat with Su Lin.
Wen Yu smiled and said, "Okay, let's go over there now."
----
Inside the library, the attendant gently closed the door, and the room returned to silence.
At the long table in the center, Su Lin sat in the main seat, while Wen Yu sat around him with her three children.
The flickering candlelight illuminated everyone's faces.
When Su Lin looked at Wen Qing, his eyes were filled with undisguised admiration: "I never expected that Luxi Village would be such a place where hidden talents reside, and that it could cultivate such an outstanding student. I am very pleased."
Wen Qingshi had just experienced the joy of winning the championship. After all, he was still a young man. Although he tried his best to remain calm, the bright light in his eyes could not be hidden.
She gracefully cupped her hands in response, saying, "You flatter me, it is all thanks to my elder sister's excellent guidance."
Su Lin then turned his gaze to Wen Yu, and said casually, "Miss Wen, I heard that you run a school in the village?"
"Yes." Wen Yu noticed Su Lin's curiosity, nodded, and answered seriously, "It's just small-scale for now. We'll start by teaching these children."
"But if I have the ability in the future... I hope to give everyone in the village, whether women or men, the opportunity to read and write, and to understand principles and righteousness."
"Everyone?" Su Lin repeated softly.
She picked up her teacup, took a sip, looked up at Wen Yu, and asked, "Why do you have such thoughts, Miss Wen? Popularizing education is not something that can be accomplished in a day, nor can it be done by the efforts of a single village."
Wen Yu's heart stirred slightly, and a mischievous thought of testing him suddenly arose.
Should she acknowledge this "fellow villager" as a relative?
She smiled, her tone relaxed, as if discussing something perfectly natural: "There's no particular reason, I just feel that 'studying hard and making progress every day' is always a good thing. I don't dare to expect everyone to 'learn until they die,' but at least we should 'start education from childhood.'"
Although her words were very modern, the children around her were already used to the occasional novel words that came out of her mouth.
Upon hearing this, Su Lin's hand holding the teacup trembled almost imperceptibly, and a few drops of tea spilled out.
She quickly steadied her hand, quietly concealing her slight loss of composure.
But the comments section immediately picked up on this detail and started flooding in even more excitedly.
【!! Something's up!】
His reaction was off; he definitely knew it!
[Password! This is a secret code for rendezvous among time travelers! (Just kidding)]
[I'm so anxious! Hurry up and ask that question, Wen Yu! What's the next line after "odd changes, even doesn't change"?]
[Or ask about Imperial Jade Liquor and Heavenly King Covering the Earth Tiger! These two are also foolproof!]
Wen Yu almost lost her composure from the laughter that flashed before her eyes.
She forced a smile, maintaining just the right amount of it, and asked softly, "Sir... do you think there's anything wrong with what I said?"
Su Lin lowered his eyes, looking at the tea buds unfurling in the tea soup in front of him, and a very faint smile appeared on his lips.
When she looked up again, the emotions in her eyes had vanished, leaving only a calm and gentle expression.
“Miss Wen, you flatter me. To have a heart set on educating and to benefit one’s hometown is a good deed. How is it inappropriate? I can only admire you.”
After she finished speaking, she pointed to the stairs to the side.
"While the books in this pavilion may not be numerous, there are quite a few rare editions of classics, histories, philosophical works, and even some practical books on agriculture, sericulture, and water conservancy. The books upstairs are all manuscripts. If you don't mind, young lady, you can select some to take back to the village. I think that this will be of some small help in establishing a school."
Before he finished speaking, the children's eyes lit up.
Several pairs of eyes turned to Wen Yu, their anticipation almost overflowing.
Wen Yu also had a clear heart.
Su Lin's actions, ostensibly a gift of books, were actually a ploy to get the children away and create an opportunity for a private conversation with her.
That suited her perfectly.
She smiled and nodded to the children, saying, "What are you all standing there for? Quickly thank Lord Su for his generous gift."
"Thank you for your kindness, sir!" The children bowed quickly, unable to hide their joy, and ran briskly towards the stairs.
For a moment, only the two of them remained in the pavilion, the candlelight flickering and casting two quiet shadows on the window paper.
----
As the children left, the scrolling comments in Wen Yu's eyes suddenly stopped, as if gently wiped away by an invisible hand.
A system notification sounded in her mind: [Confidential information detected in subsequent conversations. To prevent leaks, the live stream perspective has been temporarily switched to Wen Qingshi's location.]
Wen Yu was slightly taken aback.
Aside from the privacy blocking mechanism being automatically triggered during showering and sleeping, this was the first time her live stream was proactively cut off by the system during normal times.
The background of this Lord Su is probably far more unusual than she imagined.
The two sat quietly facing each other, and for a moment the only sound in the library was the soft crackling of the candlelight; the air seemed to freeze.
Su Lin lowered his eyes to look at the tea leaves swaying in the cup. After a long while, he finally looked up. His usually calm and smiling eyes were now filled with mixed emotions.
There are memories, there is pain, and there is also desperate honesty.
“Miss Wen,” she began, her voice slightly lower than usual, her fingertips lightly tapping the table, “I won’t beat around the bush with you.”
Wen Yu involuntarily sat up straight.
“I have seen a world completely different from this one, a place… perhaps similar to where you came from.”
Su Lin seemed to be describing a distant dream: "It is very similar to what you described. Both men and women can go to school and study, and establish themselves in the world based on their own talents. Women are not confined to their boudoirs. They can wield power, fight on the battlefield, and choose any path they want to take."
"At first... I thought it was just a dream." She smiled bitterly. "Although my family was ordinary in that world, my parents did everything they could to support my education, hoping that I could make something of myself."
“I completed my studies for more than ten years in an orderly manner, and even got into one of the most prestigious universities in that world to continue my studies. Only then did I truly believe that it was not a dream, but another life that I had actually experienced.”
"And then?" Wen Yu asked softly.
Actually, even without Su Lin saying it, she already knew what happened next.
Meeting her in this world meant that Su Lin's dream was destined to be shattered.
Su Lin's voice gradually lowered, and he said wistfully, "Later... when I was full of ambition and thought I could make a difference in that world with my knowledge, Heaven withdrew its favor."
"The dream is over."
"I'm back here, back to being the neglected illegitimate daughter of the Su family."
She paused, her tone calm: "Later, my only elder brother died young, and the family was on the verge of ruin. The head of the family had no choice but to take a risk and let me take my brother's place, which allowed me to embark on the path of the imperial examinations and eventually reach my current position."
Wen Yu fell silent.
“Every day I sit in this position of prefect, I feel like I’m walking on thin ice. Once my identity as a woman is exposed, everything before me… my family, my official position, my ideals, will collapse in an instant and be reduced to dust.” Su Lin finally turned his gaze back to Wen Yu.
Those eyes, which always hid their emotions so well, now held a hint of confusion.
That was a person who was not accepted by the world, and whose helplessness had been suppressed for too long.
“Miss Wen, from which world do you come? Can you tell me…” Her voice trembled slightly at the end, as if pleading, “What should I do?”
Wen Yu sighed softly.
Even with the system as her support, she still struggles to survive in this world.
Su Lin had nothing, but with the knowledge and temperament he had accumulated in modern society, he was able to accept such a disparity and struggle to climb to the position of a prefectural lord.
She is stronger than she imagined.
Having lived in modern society for twenty years and enjoyed such an equal and free environment, being thrown back overnight to an era that treats women as appendages is a disparity that could drive a person crazy.
Su Lin not only endured it, but also made it to where he is today.
But she didn't have anyone she could be completely honest with, so she could only keep it all bottled up inside until today, when she finally dared to confide even a little bit to someone who was practically a stranger to her.
Once she had truly lived as an independent "person," how could she be willing to be a puppet controlled by them?
Wen Yu did not answer immediately, but got up, picked up the teapot, and refilled Su Lin's already cold cup with tea, as wisps of white steam rose up.
She sat down again and spoke softly through the dissipating mist.
“Your Excellency,” she addressed him by his official title, yet gave the most solemn promise, “If… I mean if, one day, the storm comes and the truth comes out, you will have nowhere left to stand in this world.”
"Come to Luxi Village to find me."
“As long as I, Wen Yu, am alive, there will always be a place for you in Luxi Village. There will never be a place there for an ambitious and talented woman.”
The flickering candlelight illuminated Wen Yu's eyes at that very moment, making them shine brightly.
"I swear on my life."
-----------------------
Author's Note: The literary gathering storyline is almost over, and we're now returning to the farming plot.
I really wanted to write about the unreserved trust and life-and-death bond between the sisters, but my writing skills are limited, and I always feel that what I write is not satisfactory.
Never mind, I'm going to finish my first book properly and not let everyone down! [Sprinkling flowers]
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com