More than half a year ago, before leaving the provincial capital, Chen Cui took Mu Erpang back to her parents' home to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival.
At that time, Chen was particularly enthusiastic towards Shen Cui, which made Shen Cui quite uncomfortable. Later, Zheng explained that Chen was hoping that Mu Erpang would be successful so that she could help Daya find a good marriage.
When she came back this time, Chen became her lukewarm self again.
It’s not that Shen Cui really cares about Chen’s attitude, but she is afraid that some conflicts will arise in the family again. Although she knows that Zheng can handle it, she can’t just ignore it since she has already discovered it.
Zheng knew that she had noticed it, so she didn't hide it and said, "Your sister-in-law was originally very good, waiting for our second fat man to win a good reputation this year, and then arrange a marriage for Daya. Didn't the news that Mu Yunchuan won the first place in the imperial examination come back not long ago?"
The list of top scorers in the provincial examination was announced last September, but the county town is far away, so the news was only recently passed back to the county town by word of mouth among scholars.
Mu Yunchuan won four first prizes in a row and became the pride of this small county. When scholars and literati went out to socialize, if they said that they were from the same hometown as Mu Yunchuan, they would be looked up to by others.
Then someone came to the Shen family to propose marriage - although people in the county town could find out that Mu Yunchuan and the Shen family had no blood relationship, they were still real relatives.
They wanted to get in touch with Mu Yunchuan by marrying into the Shen family. If they couldn't get in touch with him, it wouldn't be a loss. These families didn't come to ask for marriage for their eldest sons and grandsons. They all put forward their younger sons and grandsons who were not very useful in the family to get married. Moreover, Mu Yunchuan's younger brother was also a scholar. Although he hadn't gotten married yet, his talent couldn't be too bad. He was the grandson of the Shen family... In short, if they couldn't get in touch with the older one, it would be good to get in touch with the younger one.
Earlier, Shen Cui tentatively asked Zheng, saying that if Mu Yunchuan became rich, what would her family do?
At that time, Zheng took it for granted that Chen Cui was Mu Yunchuan's mother. Regardless of whether they were related by blood or not, the fact that she was "filial piety" was enough to suppress Mu Yunchuan and she could feel at ease to take advantage of him!
Now it seems that she can get a good marriage with the help of Mu Yunchuan, but she is the first one to disagree!
Why should I take advantage of Mu Yunchuan? If those people came here to get close to her own grandson, she might even look up to them and think they have good vision.
But the implications of those people's words seemed to indicate that Mu Erpang was not as good as his elder brother!
Of course Zheng refused to do it. No matter what, he couldn't get involved!
Of course, there are many wealthy families among those families, and even the boss of the old man of the Chen family has expressed his willingness. They invited a matchmaker to the Shen family, and seeing that Zheng refused to give in, they turned their attention to the Chen family.
The whole family of the Chen family was flattered to the point of being a little confused. Chen listened to her mother the most. After being instigated a few times, she became arrogant and looked down on the honest and decent family that Zheng had originally liked.
But although Daya came out of her belly, her surname was Shen, and the Shen family was headed by Zheng.
Chen felt unhappy, thinking that Zheng had blocked her daughter's good future of marrying off to a wealthy family. Of course, she was not as warm to Chen Cui and Mu Erpang as before.
After explaining the whole story, Zheng still told her not to worry, "She only dares to show off, but she doesn't dare to really surpass me. After our second fat man finishes the exam, I will arrange Daya's marriage this year, and stop her from thinking about it, so she can't be a demon anymore."
After saying that, Zheng blew out the candle and urged Chen Cui to go to sleep.
Although Chen Cui didn't worry about anything on the way back, the carriage was a bit bumpy after all, and everyone was very tired. She listened to her mother chatting beside her and soon fell into a deep sleep.
After a satisfying sleep, when Chen Cui opened her eyes again, it was already bright.
Shen Cui had an appointment with Zhao Linsheng and the others today. She was too relaxed last night. Thinking about Zheng's presence and the Shen family being crowded and lively as usual, she couldn't sleep very late and didn't think of using the system as an alarm clock for herself.
She quickly got dressed and stood up. When she walked out of the house, she saw Zheng feeding chickens in the yard with a small bowl.
"Why are you up so early? Why don't you lie down for a while when you get home?"
Shen Cui fetched water to wash herself, and asked, "Where is Er Pang?"
"He went out early in the morning and specifically told me not to call you so that you could sleep a little longer. Don't worry, I didn't let him go alone. I asked your father to go with him."
Mu Erpang is thirteen years old, which is an age for him to be independent in this era, but I am influenced by modern people's thinking. I feel that Mu Erpang is just in junior high school at his age, so I am always worried about him.
In fact, if you think about it, a scholar of this age would be laughed at if his mother followed him in everything.
Plus, when she heard that Mr. Shen had also gone with them, Shen Cui felt relieved.
…………
Fat Mu and Mr. Shen arrived at the agreed location early in the morning.
Zhao Linsheng arrived earlier than them and was obviously very concerned about what had happened. Soon after, the other four scholars arrived one after another. They all went to the stall together to have breakfast and get to know each other.
As Zheng found out, among the four scholars, two were older and came from the same village as Zhao Linsheng. They were cousins from different families. The older one looked to be in his early twenties and his name was He Qing, and the younger one looked to be about seventeen or eighteen and his name was He Yan.
The other two were students of Mr. Huang, both about fifteen or sixteen years old. One also had the surname Huang, named Huang Junping, and the other was named Zhang Zian.
Huang Junping and Zhang Zian didn't say much after they introduced their names to each other.
Fearing that the teenagers would feel uncomfortable in front of adults, Zhao Linsheng specially invited Mr. Shen to have breakfast at another table to give them space to spend time together.
As soon as the two adults left, the two brothers He Qing and He Yan started talking.
They were all cheerful, with the simplicity typical of farm boys, and after reporting their names they took the initiative to talk about themselves - they did not go out to worship a teacher, but learned from a clan grandfather who had passed the imperial examination and became a scholar.
After the introduction, he did not forget to make fun of himself, saying that he knew he had no high talent, had participated several times before, and didn't know if he could win this time.
Mu Erpang did not look down on them because they failed the exam several times. Instead, he felt that their authenticity was very much to his liking, so he said, "The two He brothers are open-minded. Just this mentality alone is much better than that of ordinary people."
He Qing and He Yan may make fun of themselves, but of course they don't want others to look down on them. In particular, before Zhao Linsheng asked them to provide guarantees, he also told them about Mu Erpang's situation in advance.
Among the five, Mu Erpang's background can be said to be the best - this background does not refer to the wealth of his family, but that he has the support of Cuiwei Academy, which has produced three scholars a year, and he has an older brother who has won four top honors in a row.
Therefore, He Qing and He Yan were somewhat worried that Mu Erpang would be arrogant and look down on them.
Hearing that Mu Erpang not only did not look down on them, but also encouraged them, He Qing and He Yan could not help but laugh.
However, at this moment, a sneer suddenly came from the table -
The sneer came from Huang Junping's mouth. Noticing that the other four were all looking at him, he was not afraid of the stage. He raised his head and chin up and said, "The imperial examination tests real talent and knowledge. What does it have to do with being open-minded? You are young. I heard that you started learning at the age of ten. So far, you have only studied for three years... But you can't just talk nonsense."
In fact, there is nothing wrong with what Huang Junping said in the current people's cognition, but Mu Erpang has been in Cuiwei for so long that he feels that the imperial examination is not only related to real talent and knowledge, but also to the mind, physical fitness, and even luck.
Otherwise, just using Mei Ruochu as an example, you can refute the other party's words.
But Mu Erpang just smiled and said nothing. For one thing, he didn't want to bring up his brother in the academy as an example to discuss, and it would be easy for him to appear to be showing off his own academy and his family. Secondly, he was only seeking guaranty, not making friends, so there was no need for him to discuss his own experiences with the other party. He just needed to make sure that the other party was honest and reliable. It could be seen that He Qing and He Yan had simple and enthusiastic personalities. Although Huang Junping was arrogant and his words were not very pleasant to the ears, arrogance also had its advantages, and such a person would not cheat in the imperial examinations.
The other Zhang Zian, on the other hand, hadn't said a word yet, which made people unsure. Fatty Mu couldn't help but look at him.
Zhang Zian noticed his gaze and misunderstood it, thinking that Mu Erpang wanted him to help smooth things over. After all, he and Huang Junping were classmates taught by the same teacher, so he had the responsibility and obligation to do so.
He cleared his throat and said, "Hmm... The wontons at this stall are really good! Come here, Brother Huang. I'll give you two. Eat more."
Eat more and you won't have time to say those annoying words.
Mu Erpang really couldn't help laughing this time. It turned out that Zhang Zian was an honest man who didn't talk much.
After breakfast, the five young men had a rough understanding of each other's personalities and remembered each other's appearances. Zhao Linsheng then took them to the county government's ceremonial room to register and receive their floating tickets.
Zhao Linsheng still had to go to the county school to attend classes, so after going through the process and formalities, he parted ways with everyone else and agreed to meet outside the examination hall on the day of the exam.
After he left, Huang Junping also left, leaving only four young people - Mr. Shen was still standing far away, not listening to or disturbing the conversation between them.
He Qing and He Yan were both going back to the village. This morning, Mu Erpang was scolded by Huang Junping because of them. Before leaving, he did not forget to say to Mu Erpang, "Brother Mu, stay calm. You will definitely do better than Huang Junping in the exam!"
Later, even Zhang Zian came up to him and said, "Brother Huang is just like that. He is not targeting you alone. Don't take it to heart. Just prepare for the exam well."
Mu Erpang nodded in agreement, exchanged a few words of encouragement with them, and then the group separated.
After returning to Chahu Lane from outside, Mu Erpang first went to inform Shen Cui and Zheng that he had completed the registration procedures, and then went back to the house thoughtfully.
Zheng was the most worried about him. Noticing that his reaction was not right, she immediately called Mr. Shen into the house, closed the door and asked what happened this morning. Registration went wrong?
Mr. Shen was a dull person, and he hardly said a word the whole morning, but he was a very reliable person. Although he seemed not to be participating, he was actually listening with his ears perked up.
When Zheng asked, he told her about how Huang Junping had teased Mu Erpang during breakfast.
Zheng raised her eyebrows, "It's my fault too. I was only thinking about whether people were reliable, but I didn't think about carefully finding out their personalities. The county exam is just around the corner, what's the matter with that little scholar surnamed Huang scolding people for no reason? If he affects our second fat man's mood and makes him do poorly in the exam, I will definitely go to his parents to settle the score!"
Shen Cui stroked Zheng's back soothingly and said that it was not necessary.
She knows her own son best, because he has a pure heart and is much more open-minded than most adults. If he really wanted to argue with Huang Junping, he would have plenty of things to refute, but he was too lazy to argue with others, which showed that he obviously didn't care at all.
But after Mu Erpang came back, he was indeed quieter than before. To other students, sometimes it was inconvenient to ask some questions directly. Shen Cui was more accustomed to looking at their mood values in the system. As for Mu Erpang, she was more inclined to take the initiative to chat with him and ask questions. The mother and son talked about everything and did not need the system as a medium.
Shen Cui asked Zheng and Mr. Shen not to worry for now, and she would go to see Mu Erpang in person.
At this time, Mu Erpang was in the room with one hand on his chin, holding the floating ticket in the other hand, frowning and thinking about something.
Could it be that I was thinking wrongly? Is it true that the fat son’s mentality was affected by a few scoldings?
As Shen Cui was thinking this, Mu Erpang noticed her coming in and asked, "Mom, this float ticket says I'm 'short'. Am I really short?"
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