Grandma Chen dressed up specially today, and pulled out a dark blue diagonally-buttoned jacket from the bottom of her trunk.
Her hair was combed sleek and shiny, with a copper hairpin inserted in it.
Her wrinkled face was covered with a thick layer of makeup, and at the end, she even applied some of Chen Ruolan's rouge from when she was at home to her lips.
She looked at her reflection in the basin with delight, from left to right, until she was satisfied before going into Chen Zhancai's room.
Upon entering the room, one's eyes lit up at the sight of Chen Zhancai dressed in an elegant scholar's attire.
"Oh my, my Zhancai is a natural clothes hanger! Luckily we're at home. If we saw him on the street, people would think he was some rich kid!"
Chen Zhancai was secretly pleased with himself. This long robe was a symbol of a scholar's status. He had spent all the money he had on this outfit, just so he could hold his head high in front of his fellow villagers today.
"Mother, I take after you; otherwise, how could I have been born so handsome?"
Upon hearing this, Old Mrs. Chen beamed with joy. "Of course! When I was young, I was the most beautiful woman in our village. Everyone in the surrounding villages knew me. If the Chen family hadn't been well-off back then, would I have even fallen for your father, that dead-eyed sheep?"
"Alright, Mom, stop talking. If Dad hears you two, you'll start arguing again."
“I’m afraid of him? My son is a scholar now. If he dares to cause trouble, I’ll teach him a lesson.”
Old Mrs. Chen changed her tone and said with a smile,
"Zhancai, Fengjiao, how are your preparations going? The villagers who are coming to offer their congratulations should be arriving soon. We need to hurry outside and wait to greet the guests."
Chen Zhancai considered himself to be of a high status, and that he was no longer on the same level as the villagers. How could he lower himself to such a low status?
"Mother, don't rush. Letting those peasants attend my celebration banquet for passing the imperial examination is already an honor for them. Let them wait outside for now."
Grandma Chen nodded repeatedly, "My son is right. You two go ahead and do your work. I'll go check on the people helping with the cooking. If they steal some food, we'll be at a huge loss."
"Mother, come back," Chen Zhancai called out as Old Mrs. Chen turned to leave, "Isn't my father there? What are you going to do?"
"Yes, Mother, you can rest assured with my father here!" Liu Fengjiao said with a smile.
Old Mrs. Chen curled her lip and said, "What can your father do? He's practically a reincarnation of a starving ghost. His mouth hasn't stopped since yesterday. He's either grabbing a handful of peanuts to eat, gnawing on a radish, or sneaking around to steal a sesame seed cake. If I didn't lock the sesame seed cakes in the cupboard like a thief, he probably would have eaten them all."
Chen Zhancai frowned as he listened. "Mom, you've made my father sound like he's not even human anymore. He's been so busy buying ingredients these days that he hasn't had time to eat properly. It's only right that he eats something to tide him over. Why are you hiding the food?"
"You don't know, I bought fifty sesame seed cakes in total, and I just counted them, there are thirty-eight left."
Old Mrs. Chen stared wide-eyed, gesturing with her fingers as she spoke.
"You tell me, twelve sesame cakes have gone missing in less than a day. How can I not hide them?"
Chen Zhancai was used to eating refined grains in the town. These past few days, he had been eating coarse grain buns for one meal and rice bran porridge for the next. The food made him feel nauseous. The sight of rice bran porridge reminded him of the pig feed in the pigsty, and he felt extremely disgusted.
He finally managed to buy dozens of sesame cakes yesterday, and he ate several of them in one go. He also secretly hid a few more under the covers to eat if he got hungry later that night.
He blushed and said, "My dear mother, you've really wronged my father this time. I ate all the pancakes."
"So you like sesame seed cakes too! I thought your dad ate them all!" Grandma Chen looked at her most beloved son with great satisfaction and doting eyes. "If he ate them, he ate them. If you like them, Mom will go get you a few more."
"No need, Mother, I'm not hungry right now. Can you quickly check if my outfit is okay?"
"Great, absolutely fantastic! It's a real eye-opener."
Old Mrs. Chen looked at the folding fan in Chen Zhancai's hand, then frowned.
"Zhancai, it's not hot today. It looks out of place for you to be carrying a fan. Why don't you put it away?"
"You really don't understand anything!" Chen Zhancai casually opened his folding fan and fanned himself a few times. "This is not only a tool for cooling off, but also a symbol of the status of literati and scholars, and a kind of fashion. Never mind, I won't talk to you anymore, you wouldn't understand anyway."
"Okay, okay, if you don't want to say, then don't. If you think it's good, then take it."
Just then, Old Man Chen rushed in, saying, "What are you all doing in the house? The village head is here, hurry up and go out to greet him."
"Okay, okay, I got it. You go out now and keep a close eye on the cooks, don't let them steal any food."
Old Mrs. Chen quickly pushed him out and turned to Chen Zhancai to discuss, "Son, that's enough. Don't keep Wu Baoan waiting too long. After all, he's the village head, so we have to give him some face."
"Alright, then I'll go out and greet them." Chen Zhancai straightened his clothes, held his head high, and walked out of the room with his hands behind his back and a swaying gait.
Old Mrs. Chen followed closely behind, and was about to go forward to greet Wu Baoan when Chen Zhancai grabbed her arm.
"Mother, don't rush. Now you are the mother of a scholar. Don't be so hasty in everything you do. You need to be mindful of your demeanor."
"Okay, okay, I'll listen to you." Old Mrs. Chen was a little stunned and didn't know what to do for a moment.
Chen Zhancai smiled and approached Wu Baoan, cupping his hands in greeting, "Village head, it is an honor to have you grace my humble abode with your presence. Please come in."
Seeing his pretentious act, Wu Baoan almost vomited from disgust and waved his hands repeatedly.
"Alright, Zhancai, we all live in the same village, no need to be so polite. It's fine as it is."
He didn't want to listen to Chen Zhancai's pedantic nonsense anymore, so he quickly asked Old Mrs. Chen behind him, "Auntie, is everything ready?"
"Everything's ready, everything's ready." Old Mrs. Chen said, pointing to the table next to her covered with a thick red cloth. "Look, the writing brush, ink, paper, and inkstone are all ready, just waiting for you to come and collect the gifts and keep accounts."
"Okay, then you guys go ahead and get busy. Leave the bookkeeping to me and Da Bao."
"No rush, no rush. The guests haven't arrived yet. Why don't we come inside and have some water?"
"No need, you should go to the entrance and prepare to greet the guests!"
Just then, they heard someone shout from outside the gate.
"Auntie, we've come to congratulate your family."
"Yes, Zhan Cai, congratulations!"
Seeing that all the villagers had arrived, Old Mrs. Chen hurriedly went out to greet them with a big smile, saying, "Please come in quickly and find a place to sit in the courtyard."
Chen Zhancai also bowed and greeted them with a polite expression, saying, "Thank you all for coming. Please come in."
......
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