Grandma Chen was also very curious, "Yes, what kind of surprise is it?"
Chen Zhancai waved his hand mysteriously, "You'll see when the time comes. It will definitely be a new milestone for our Chen family."
"What kind of monument?" Old Chen was confused again. "You child, why would you erect a monument on such a joyous occasion? Forget about this thing, it's unlucky."
"Dad, you really don't understand anything. This monument is not the kind you think it is. This kind of monument is meant to commemorate a major landmark event. Never mind, you wouldn't understand even if I told you."
"That's right, don't waste your breath on him!" Old Mrs. Chen rolled her eyes at Old Mr. Chen. "You should say less. He doesn't understand anything, so why pretend to be an expert? Just stay quiet."
"Okay, okay, I was wrong." Old Chen shrank back in fright.
Chen Zhancai passed the imperial examination and became a scholar. As the village head, he could only come to congratulate him and go through the motions. He couldn't get involved in the Chen family's affairs, or he would be blamed if he didn't manage things well.
Seeing Chen Zhancai's pretentious manner, Wu Baoan forced himself to stand up, suppressing his annoyance.
"Auntie, now that the banquet has been arranged, I won't bother you any longer. You all should take good care of such a joyous occasion."
"Wait, don't rush off!" Old Mrs. Chen hurriedly stopped him, her face full of smiles. "Security, there's one more thing that needs your help. Others probably don't have that much influence."
"Auntie, you flatter me too much. Your Zhancai is now a scholar, and even the county magistrate has to give him some face. Is there anything I can help with?" Wu Baoan said modestly, unconsciously raising the threshold of the Chen family's status in his words.
Grandma Chen felt incredibly happy, as if she had been filled with honey. Now, even Wu Baoan didn't dare to mess with the Chen family, and they could really walk around the village with impunity from now on.
She grinned and said, "Security guard, don't say that. This favor is only for you. It probably wouldn't be enough if someone else did it."
"Auntie, just let me know if you need anything. I'll do my best to help."
"Here's the thing, since our family is going to have a big celebration, we have to invite everyone in the village to attend the banquet."
Although Zhancai has passed the imperial examination and become a scholar, his prestige in the village is certainly not as high as yours. So, could you please help spread the word in the village and tell them to come to Zhancai's wedding banquet in three days?
After hearing this, Wu Baoan paused for a moment, then nodded in agreement, "Okay, no problem. I'll take some time to notify each household when I have time, so don't worry!"
"Thank you, security guard, you've gone to so much trouble." Old Mrs. Chen said with a calculating look on her face, and then added with some concern, "Remember to invite everyone in the village, don't forget anyone."
Wu Baoan looked troubled. He had already done it out of desperation, since Chen Zhancai had passed the imperial examination and become a scholar. Now, asking him to invite everyone without exception was indeed asking too much.
The elderly Chen couple were not well-liked in the village to begin with, but in recent years, because a scholar had emerged from their family, they felt superior to others, which had long caused resentment among the villagers.
However, since they are all fellow villagers, no one would easily offend a scholar, so they would all come to offer their congratulations.
But he couldn't be sure about Chen Zhanshan's family. Qingya was a woman of principle who hadn't succumbed to Old Lady Chen's tyranny even in the most difficult times.
Now that her family is getting richer and richer, they probably won't give Chen Zhancai that kind of face.
He considered refusing, but then thought that passing the imperial examination would be a joyous occasion for Nanshan Village.
Even if Qingya had objections, she probably wouldn't refuse, since they'd see each other all the time, and offending Chen Zhancai wouldn't do her any good.
It's only natural for people to get together.
Thinking of this, he nodded in agreement, "Don't worry, I will definitely inform them all."
"Okay, okay, good. I've gotten the message across."
"Alright, you guys go ahead with your work, I'll head back now."
"Then walk slowly."
Just after seeing Wu Baoan off, Sun came back from outside. Old Mrs. Chen hurriedly asked, "Where's Da Bao?"
"Mom, Da Bao went to town to deliver goods. He probably won't be back for a while."
"What a dim-witted idiot! He's always running around town like a donkey. He has no idea that such a wonderful thing happened in his family!"
"Mother, why are you being so unreasonable!" Madam Sun frowned and retorted, "Dabao has his own things to do. He can do whatever he wants. Is it necessary for you to insult and scold him like that?"
Chen Zhanliang's face darkened as well. "That's right, what do you mean by a brainless idiot? How can you talk about your own grandson like that? If Da Bao hadn't been working for Qing Yatou, and if we hadn't run out of food last autumn, our whole family would have starved to death long ago. How could we still be alive now?"
“Who says otherwise? When the family ran out of food, why didn’t you ask the third brother for money to buy more? Ruolan’s dowry was only 250 taels of silver. Why didn’t the third brother think of leaving some for the family?”
As she spoke, Mrs. Sun rolled her eyes in annoyance.
As the old saying goes, "What's far away smells good, what's close by smells bad; those who can do are not as good as those who can talk, and those who can talk are not as good as those who can pretend; a good heart can never compare to a silver tongue."
Chen Zhancai's face fell. He knew his family was running out of food, but that little bit of silver wasn't nearly enough to cover their expenses. He had to lie countless times to squeeze 150 taels of silver out of Liu Fengjiao; otherwise, how could Ruhua have followed him so devotedly...?
Liu Fengjiao was speechless. She thought that Wang Qizhang would let her go after receiving fifty taels of silver as hush money, but that beast broke his promise and extorted another fifty taels from her, making it a full one hundred taels of silver.
But in the end, she underestimated Wang Qizhang.
Wang Qizhang, having taken the money, had no intention of letting Liu Fengjiao go. Instead, he intensified his threats, saying that if she dared not to have an affair with him, he would expose her for seducing him, ruining her reputation.
She was afraid, so she kept it all to herself...
Hearing Sun speak ill of them, Liu Fengjiao bit her lip, her expression one of sorrow.
"Second sister-in-law, it's all my and Zhanliang's fault. We took the money because we were afraid Ruolan would suffer and wanted to leave her a way out. We wouldn't dare to spend a single penny of this money recklessly; we gave it to Ruolan long ago."
Chen Zhancai, who had been looking down, suddenly looked up and echoed, "Yes, yes, we really don't have any money right now, otherwise how could we bear to neglect our families?"
Mentioning Chen Ruolan reminded Old Mrs. Chen of her beloved granddaughter, and she hurriedly asked, "Zhancai, Fengjiao, how is Ruolan doing? Is Fan Tong treating her well?"
Liu Fengjiao shook her head and smiled bitterly, "Mother, I've never seen Ruolan before. I have been to the Fan family a few times, but they never let me through the gate."
Chen Zhancai was also furious. He thought that if his daughter married the town's richest man as a concubine, he would benefit from it, but he didn't expect that the Fan family would not recognize him as their father-in-law at all.
Not long after Chen Ruolan entered the Fan family mansion, Chen Zhancai and several classmates were eating, drinking, having fun, composing poems, and chatting happily at Qingfeng Restaurant.
During the meal, in order to show his status, he told his classmates that he was Fan Tong's father-in-law.
Some people didn't believe it, but Chen Zhancai, in a moment of impulsiveness, decided to take them to the Fan family to see Chen Ruolan...
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