Chapter 444: Chapter 433: The Farmer Top Scorer
Ye Wangshi, seeing her father-in-law Ye Baomin not speaking, got a bit anxious, she looked around and asked: "Auntie, where is Zhaoxing? Why haven’t I seen him?"
"Why are you looking for him? Being a scholar, of course he is studying." Wang Po glanced at her with a hint of impatience on her face, as if to say that Ye Wangshi had asked a stupid question.
Ye Baomin immediately glared at his daughter-in-law, then coughed and straightforwardly said: "Sister Wang, I came here today with no other intentions but to take a liking to young Zhaoxing and wanting to make a marriage alliance with your family."
When speaking these words, Ye Baomin displayed some sense of superiority, as if he felt this marriage would be a bargain for the Wang family. After all, without considering the future, Wang Zhaoxing was merely a Scholar, and Wang family’s condition was not as good as Ye Family’s. Most of the future family assets would belong to Wang Zhaoxing’s elder brother, Wang Zhao Yang. If Wang Zhaoxing doesn’t advance further, the Wang family would indeed be marrying above their station.
But this premise needs to be clear, the current situation is that Wang Zhaoxing, still young, has already become the top scorer, with no special circumstances, with his talent, becoming a scholar is practically guaranteed, just need to wait a few more months, then it would be Ye Family trying to marry up to the Wang family.
Regrettably, it seems Ye Baomin has not recognized this situation, or maybe he has but is unwilling to lower his pride as the village chief.
Now Wang Po doesn’t fear Ye Baomin. Wang Zhaoxing has already passed the scholar exam and doesn’t need Ye Baomin’s recommendation letter anymore. Besides this bit of farmland, what else can he do? If worst comes to worst, they could just move to the county town. This marriage is something she definitely does not want.
Thus, Wang Po tactfully smiled: "I’m really sorry, our Zhaoxing is already betrothed."
"Who?" Ye Baomin furrowed his brows.
"The sister of Zhaoxing’s schoolmate." Now Ye Qiu hasn’t even taken the County Examination yet. Wang Po spoke with reservation, but what she said wasn’t wrong. Although Wang Zhaoxing has now gone to the academy in the State Mansion, he had indeed attended a school with Ye Qiu before, where Xiuya is his schoolmate’s sister, wasn’t she?
But Ye Baomin was taken aback by Wang Po’s words, Zhaoxing’s schoolmate, weren’t they people from the State Mansion? They were indeed out of reach for them.
"How come I’ve never heard you mention this, Auntie?" Ye Wangshi said, skeptically, somewhat disbelieving.
"I was afraid it might affect the child’s examination. I was thinking of announcing it after the Imperial Examination; by then, you all must definitely come for a celebratory drink!"
Hearing what Wang Po said, Ye Baomin and his group felt reassured; it seemed the matter was true. Could such an advantageous marriage alliance actually slip through?
Not having achieved the result they wanted, Ye Baomin and his group sat for a while then returned home; Ye Baomin still sat in the main seat, looking at his anxious son and daughter-in-law, and after pondering for a while said: "For the next few days, keep an eye on Wang Zhaoxing’s whereabouts, and coach Ye Mei, this girl. Whether this marriage can happen now depends on you."
Ye Wangshi’s eyes lit up after hearing this, then she assured: "Father-in-law, rest assured, I will not slip up."
In her boudoir, Ye Mei who heard about the unsuccessful marriage proposal felt embarrassed and annoyed, but upon hearing her grandfather’s instructions and her mother’s assurance, hope was reignited. The process did not matter; what mattered was that she had to marry Wang Zhaoxing.
"Be careful these next few days, and make sure not to be alone," Wang Po’s intuition was similar to Ye Qiu’s, always feeling that the Ye Baomin family would not give up so easily. In these times, vigilance towards men and women wasn’t so strict, but if a man saw a woman’s body, he definitely had to take responsibility, and Wang Po did not want to marry into her family a daughter-in-law of dubious character.
As the saying goes, ’a wise wife makes for less misfortune for the husband,’ but having a relative like Ye Baomin means that even if Zhaoxing excels in his exams, he won’t go far.
Zhaoxing’s holiday was only three days. He stayed at home for the first two days and went nowhere until on the third day when he had to return to the academy, he hesitated again and again but finally decided to ask Ye Qiu to send him off on part of his journey.
Ye Qiu didn’t refuse. He also felt that Mrs. Ye was not pure-hearted, haven’t you seen her loitering nearby these two days for no reason!
"You’re going to the county town, right? Take us for a ride." The speaker was the unexpected Mrs. Huang, Ye Baomin’s daughter-in-law, who moved in next door to Ye Qiu’s home two years ago after the family split, and has since maintained a relationship that is neither friendly nor hostile.
Ye Qiu didn’t know much about her, but he also knew that although she was quiet, she was not without schemes; although she didn’t cause trouble, she was not necessarily a good person.
In his past life, the division of Ye Baomin’s family occurred later than in this life. By then, "Ye Qiu" had died, Xiuya was sold to a wealthy family and became a maid, Xiutong hastily married, and Xiuying’s whereabouts were unknown. Yet, the Ye family’s house eventually belonged to Ye Gang and Mrs. Huang. If either of them had a shred of guilt, they wouldn’t have allowed Little Ya to starve and run into the deep mountains.
Ye Qiu didn’t know why Mrs. Huang, with whom he had only nodded acquaintance these two years, suddenly wanted to ride in his carriage, but after just a thought, he agreed. They still lived in Ye Village, and it was best not to make enemies. As long as he was around, all plots and schemes would be revealed. Since there were women, Mrs. Huang sat inside the donkey cart, while Ye Qiu and Wang Zhaoxing sat outside.
"Wang Zhaoxing has left. Meimei, wait by the small river you must pass on your way to the county town. When they arrive, jump into it. Then shout for help loudly, I’ll find a way to stop Ye Qiu, and then Wang Zhaoxing will have no choice but to save you. Remember, after you get to the shore, hold on to him tightly," Mrs. Ye instructed her daughter earnestly.
Ye Mei nodded excitedly, her heart pounding.
"Save me, help!" Sure enough, when they reached the riverbank, they saw an overturned ox cart, and Mrs. Ye, who looked very anxious. However, she couldn’t swim and could only fret helplessly. When she saw Ye Qiu and the others approach, it was as if she had grabbed a lifeline.
"Save me, help me, I can’t swim!" Ye Mei was sinking and floating in the river, looking like she might sink any moment.
Ye Qiu and Wang Zhaoxing exchanged glances, thinking that it really had happened as expected, and it was quite a mean trick.
"Qiu, Zhaoxing, hurry and save Meimei, she can’t swim!" Mrs. Ye ran over and grabbed Ye Qiu.
"Aunt Wang, how can I save someone if you hold me like this?" Ye Qiu said exasperatedly. Despite being strong and having practiced the Body Forging Technique for two years, he still couldn’t break free immediately, which showed how much force Mrs. Ye was exerting.
"Help!" Ye Mei’s cries for help from the river grew louder as their mother waited for Wang Zhaoxing to jump in.
"I’ll do it!" Suddenly, Mrs. Huang burst from the donkey cart. Before Mrs. Ye could react, she splashed into the river.
Mrs. Huang, who had worked in the fields all year round, had a strength not comparable to a young woman like Ye Mei. Even if Ye Mei didn’t want to get out of the water, being choked by Mrs. Huang’s grip around her neck, she had to come ashore involuntarily. Originally pretending, she ended up swallowing several mouthfuls of water and kept coughing non-stop after getting ashore.