Chapter 174: Not Borrowing Light
The Crown Prince changed into a pair of shoes, a lustrous royal blue, embroidered with large and small paeony patterns in gold thread.
Li Xiaonan looked from the shoes to the placket of his clothes; the long gown was also royal blue, with large paeony patterns as a hidden design.
So these shoes and clothes were a matching set, how meticulous.
“Your Young Lord said that your persuasion of Wu Miaozhen was unintentional, a mere fluke, I don’t quite believe it,” the Crown Prince said with a smile.
“Mr. Huang said: Mrs. Wu sends food, tea, and gifts to Qing Jin every day, very thoughtfully. But that Qing Jin curses Mrs. Wu daily, with very venomous words.
“Qing Jin said that Mrs. Wu told her that Mrs. Wu knew she didn’t kill the Foreman Zou, and that she was only investigating the real culprit. Qing Jin said Mrs. Wu poisoned Foreman Zou, and also said that Mrs. Wu’s son was born through a surrogate, claiming that only she and Foreman Zou knew about it, and that Mrs. Wu wanted to silence her.
“Mr. Huang also said that Qing Jin revealed everything about the Zou family’s affairs, saying Foreman Zou called Mrs. Wu as ugly as a yaksha, and that Mrs. Wu was just a shrewish housekeeper, and Foreman Zou never ate or slept at Mrs. Wu’s place. There was much more.
“I just feel that while Foreman Zou was alive, Mrs. Wu’s life was quite miserable, miserable for over thirty years. Now that Foreman Zou is dead, she should have a few years of comfortable living.
“She definitely came over yesterday because she had already planned to seek refuge here, it certainly wasn’t because of my words. Our trip with Wan Jing merely provided her with a ladder; even without that trip, she would have come.”
Li Xiaonan said in one breath.
The Crown Prince looked at Gu Yan, who shrugged and smiled.
“If you hadn’t made that trip, she wouldn’t have come,” Gu Yan said with a smile. “Wu Miaozhen is a person of strong emotions. How was the mochi?” Gu Yan changed the subject abruptly.
Li Xiaonan hummed, realizing, and quickly curtsied to the Crown Prince, “It was very delicious, thank you, and for the tea.”
Hearing the word “you,” Gu Yan couldn’t help but frown. The Crown Prince waved his hand at Gu Yan and smiled, “Miss Li is very polite. I’m glad you liked it, you’re welcome. Persuading Wu Miaozhen will greatly benefit your Young Lord’s affairs. What else do you want? I’ll reward you on his behalf.”
“No, no! I really didn’t intend to persuade her. The Young Lord has helped me far more than I’ve helped him. Besides.”
Li Xiaonan’s thoughts raced, and she decided to elevate her perspective.
“What the Young Lord does is for the country and the people. Helping him is also my duty as a commoner.”
The Crown Prince chuckled and said to Gu Yan, “She speaks much better than you.”
“Too bold,” Gu Yan said with a helpless expression.
“This is very good,” the Crown Prince said as he stood up.
“If you have time, go see Fourth Mistress…”
Before Gu Yan could finish his sentence, Li Xiaonan quickly replied, “I don’t have time!”
The Crown Prince burst out laughing and tapped Gu Yan with his folding fan.
“Miss Shi is perfectly fine, you don’t need to feel overly guilty,” Gu Yan said, holding his breath.
“I really have things to do, I have a pile of things, I’m very busy, I need to go back right now,” Li Xiaonan said with a forced smile.
Watching Gu Yan and the Crown Prince and others walk away, Li Xiaonan slowly exhaled, raised her hand, opened it, and looked at the sweat in her palm.
Sigh, she had never been this nervous even when facing her boss before.
“Are you really going back?” Wan Jing watched for a moment longer than Li Xiaonan, and only after seeing Gu Yan and the others disappear from sight did she step forward.
“Of course, I’m going back to rest well. Talking to the Crown Prince is more tiring than working,” Li Xiaonan wiped her palms on her skirt.
“You’ve done work?” Wan Jing looked disdainfully at Li Xiaonan wiping her hands on her skirt.
“Of course I have! Yesterday, I fed the chickens and swept the chicken coop!” Li Xiaonan patted her skirt and strode out.
“I told you, I forgot to mention on the way, I heard Sister-in-law Zhang from the kitchen this morning say that the Eldest Madam ate a lot at dinner yesterday, and that Yu Lan was so happy she gave her a handful of copper coins as a reward!” Wan Jing caught up with Li Xiaonan and started gossiping.
………………………………
At the Kunshan County wharf, a ship bearing the Hong family’s name docked. Hong Zhenye disembarked dejectedly, got on a horse, and then fell off again. He waved his hand in annoyance, “Don’t ride a horse, standing so high is too embarrassing. Find a cart, I don’t want to see anyone!”
The servant Qing Feng quickly waved his hands, busily spinning in place as if the attendants and stewards rushing to find and hire carts were under his command.
A cart arrived. Hong Zhenye climbed into it, lowered the curtain, and sat inside, covering his face.
In this examination, he placed first in the County Examination, and first again in the Prefectural Examination. He hadn’t dared to hope for first in the Courtyard Examination, but he never expected to fail!
He felt his scholarship and essays were passable, not much different from Xuedong’s. Moreover, the presiding examiner was Educational Commissioner Wei, Educational Commissioner Wei!
A Nan visits the Prince’s Estate every few days and is so close to the Young Lord, yet Educational Commissioner Wei actually failed him!
Failing the examination was one thing, but the words of his fellow students were truly infuriating!
They said: “You actually failed, it shows your scholarship is far from adequate. We really can’t help you. You’ll have to put in more effort and study hard in the future!”
What kind of talk is that! It’s infuriating!
He felt that Educational Commissioner Wei, considering his indirect connection to the Young Lord, hadn’t gone easy on him but had instead built a dam for him!
Hong Zhenye ordered the cart to bypass the main gate of the Hong family residence and stop outside the corner gate. He stealthily got out of the cart, entered the corner gate dejectedly, and went straight to find his grandfather, Old Master Hong.
Old Master Hong was sitting under the corridor, pursing his lips as he teased the mynah bird he kept.
“Grandpa, don’t you know I failed again?” Hong Zhenye plopped down on a goose-neck chair opposite Old Master Hong.
“I know, I knew yesterday morning,” Old Master Hong replied, then continued to tease the mynah bird.
“I failed!” Hong Zhenye leaned his head in front of his grandfather and shouted.
“What’s there to shout about failing? It’s not like you passed,” Old Master Hong slapped Hong Zhenye away.
“Didn’t you say that my scholarship and essays, with a little bit of the Young Lord’s influence, would be enough to qualify as a Xiucai Scholar?” Hong Zhenye said with a tearful voice.
“That influence of the Young Lord isn’t something we can just borrow. Crying to me is useless. Your wife is at home, go cry in front of your wife.
“Crying only works if you find the right person!” Old Master Hong patted his grandson and said earnestly.
Hong Zhenye came to his senses, stood up, and rushed out.
Old Master Hong watched his grandson’s retreating back, pursed his lips, and continued to tease the mynah bird.
A Nan is getting closer and closer to the Prince’s Estate, and that’s enough. Being a Xiucai Scholar or not is insignificant.
Hong Zhenye rushed into his courtyard. Upon asking, he learned that Yinzhu had been called away by his mother. Hong Zhenye stamped his foot and headed straight for his mother’s courtyard.
He had just returned from a long journey, so he couldn’t directly summon Yinzhu back. He had to pay his respects to his mother and then call Yinzhu back. He had a lot to say to Yinzhu!
He had no complaints about failing the previous examination, but failing this time was truly unfair, he had a belly full of grievances!
Yesterday’s was indeed not good, all deleted.
