Su Xiaoqi stood up, about to explain, when Shen Yun approached holding the signed and stamped documents.
He took her hand, signaling her to calm down and leave it to him.
Su Xiaoqi looked behind him and saw a tall, thin young man following.
He had delicate features and his eyes sparkled. He raised his arm and said,
"Everyone line up. I recognize this thing they're distributing.
It's called corn and potatoes. I have a relative from Zhao Family Village in Mianzhou City.
The people there are planting it, and I heard the yield is very high.
If we take it back and plant it according to their method, we're sure to grow high-yield grain, and we won't have to worry this winter."
"Er Gouzi, are you telling the truth?"
"Uncle Wang, when has Wang Ergouzi ever lied to you? I said if you followed me to the prefecture city, you wouldn't starve. Did I do as I said?"
"Yes, yes, Er Gouzi is right, I believe him."
"Our Great King Village believes him."
Thus, the 130 people from Great King Village all left.
Su Xiaoqi watched, her lips curved into a bright smile.
Seizing the opportunity, Shen Yun leaned in, "How does my wife plan to thank me?"
Su Xiaoqi smiled thinly, "We are husband and wife, one flesh and blood. Why say thank you? It's too formal."
Shen Yun: "..." That made so much sense, he couldn't refute it.
"Here, there are more books. Give one to each village.
Su Xiaoqi just finished counting. There were twenty villages that came.
As she was leaving, she inexplicably went to Zhao Liushun.
She got thirty-six books copied by his students.
After giving out twenty, sixteen remained.
She took them out and placed them in the shop, offering them for free loan to those who came to buy seeds.
The group worked from the early hours of Chenshi until Yushi.
As the sun set in the west, they finally sent away everyone from Tongchuan County who had come.
Looking at the grain shop, it was already empty.
"Wow, so much sold... no, given away." Du Yiyi tapped her arm.
She was tired all day and finally understood that being a shopkeeper was not easy.
Watching them put up the shop shutters and leave,
Several people who had been waiting in the shadows emerged.
A shopkeeper-like man said in a low voice,
"Eldest Miss, our grain shop only sold one dan of grain today."
"When others give it away for free, of course, you can only sell one dan." Su Yuru's beautiful face held a coldness.
She glanced at her brother standing beside her, who was staring intently at Su Xiaoqi's retreating back with displeasure:
"Why is that Su Xiaoqi everywhere?"
"Little sister, don't say that."
"If I don't say it, what do you want me to say? Look, she's opened a shop here and is deliberately opposing our family's shop." Su Yuru was very unhappy.
"Hey, little sister, I told you not to follow me to the prefecture city, but you insisted on coming.
You said you just wanted to see the sights of the prefecture city and buy some good food and fun.
But as soon as you arrived, you started worrying about the shop's business. What's the point?"
"Second Brother, you saw it yourself. When she was in Mianzhou City, she opened a shop and stole business from our Su Ji Grain Shop.
She even forcibly took the manor from Officer He's family right out of your hands.
Do you know Father was very unhappy when he learned you didn't handle that matter well?
And he told me to tell you, you are not allowed to give her a single coin from now on, or your allowance will be cut off."
Su Yuru, by coaxing and scaring, attempted to get Su Jiamo to stand on the same side as her.
"Didn't Father himself dislike Li Zhuang? If someone else bought it, so be it.
And when did I give her money?
Look at her, she doesn't even acknowledge me now." Su Jiamo looked wronged.
Except for the fifty taels Su Xiaoqi had pocketed earlier, he hadn't given her any money.
"It's you, though, copying others to buy paintings, a hundred taels a piece.
And you were still tricked into buying fakes. Now you're lecturing me, your elder brother, righteously."
Su Jiamo was not one to be easily bullied. Being contradicted by his sister like this, he became angry.
Su Yuru was also unhappy. As the saying goes, don't hit someone in the face, don't reveal their shortcomings.
The siblings argued, neither giving way, and bickered in the street.
The usual brother-sister harmony was gone.
Meanwhile, Su Xiaoqi and her group knew nothing of this. They walked back to the inn and ordered a table of dishes by the window. The three of them sat down to eat.
Midway through the meal, someone slowly approached.
Shen Yun glanced up. It was an acquaintance—Li Yuanjia.
He was a classmate from the county school and the one who had jointly guaranteed him.
He stopped at their table, looking at Shen Yun with a conflicted expression.
"Brother Xuzhi, may I... speak with you in private?" As he spoke, he glanced outside, appearing to be afraid of something, wishing Shen Yun would get up and leave with him immediately.
Shen Yun, however, smiled and said, "No need."
"Brother Xuzhi, listen to me,
Wang Tian and the others..." Li Yuanjia's face grew more anxious.
Shen Yun didn't want to listen, but he felt he had to say it.
Tomorrow was the day they would enter the examination hall.
His guarantor's document would have issues.
Shen Yun's thin lips moved slightly, and he said expressionlessly, "Brother Li, I appreciate it, but my brothers have arrived."
As he spoke, Wang Tian returned with three friends from outside.
They didn't know who they had seen, but they looked excited.
Seeing Li Yuanjia standing next to Shen Yun, Wang Tian shot him a cold glance.
Li Yuanjia's heart trembled. He immediately lowered his head and moved away with difficulty.
He reassured himself that he had wanted to tell Shen Yun, but Shen Yun didn't want to hear it.
He had done his best. If something happened to him tomorrow, he couldn't be blamed.
Su Xiaoqi looked over and saw that Wang Tian and his friends were accompanied by Huang Yuanxiang.
This was the county magistrate's son, who had not been seen since the Xishan Lake incident.
Unexpectedly, he was also a student in this provincial examination.
Truly, fate brings people together.
On the eighth day of the eighth lunar month, the autumn air was crisp and clear. Su Xiaoqi took Du Yiyi's carriage to see Shen Yun, who was well-prepared, off to the Gongyuan (examination hall) outside the prefecture city's southeast.
Many carriages were already parked there.
They were all family members seeing off candidates, and they seemed to have endless things to say, chattering away intimately.
Su Xiaoqi, however, didn't have much to say, only remarking, "Study hard, believe in yourself."
Shen Yun touched his forehead.
Why wasn't his wife more perceptive?
Did he want such ordinary words?
"Wife, won't you say anything else?"
Su Xiaoqi thought for a moment and said, "Hurry inside, don't be late."
"Wife..." Shen Yun called out to Su Xiaoqi, enunciating each syllable.
Su Xiaoqi suddenly remembered something and took out a spirit pill from her怀.
This was a spirit pill she had exchanged in her space the previous day.
"If you feel unwell, be sure to take this."
Shen Yun knew that the day before yesterday, when he had suddenly fainted, Xiaoqi had given him this pill, which had helped him recover.
He had always wanted to ask what kind of medicine it was.
But seeing Xiaoqi's enigmatic expression, she didn't seem willing to tell him.
Su Xiaoqi, also afraid he would ask too many questions, quickly urged him to go inside quickly before the gates closed.
"Wife..." Shen Yun suddenly pulled her into his embrace.
He couldn't bear to leave her.