Chapter 304: Madam Qiao is shaking

Madam Sun said: “No matter what those people really think, since they have said congratulations, you have to listen carefully! You can’t let anything seem wrong with your face, otherwise they will only gossip more and say we are frivolous! Ah Ming finally succeeded and has become a shengyuan with a promising future, I really don’t know how many of them are jealous. Our family has no foundation in the village, if we accidently offend someone, we are just asking for someone to say something nasty and ruin Ah Ming’s reputation!”

“I know, don’t worry, am I such a stupid person? Just know it in your heart, of course we can’t make a mistake!” Sun Zhang Xing smiled: “I also wanted to remind you, you know best!”

“That’s good!” Madam Sun was relieved and then gave her husband a stern look: “I’m a mother, don’t I want the best for Ah Ming? Also long as he behaves, I will think about everything!”

Her husband smiled with a small sneer and said: “Didn’t you notice? You know the financial situation of our family and yet as soon as they heard the news, many people were still yelling at us to treat them to a big banquet. Isn’t this great? It’s a happy event so there must be both hot and cold noodles as well as chicken and fish!”

Not just chicken and fish, but pork as well.

As soon as he said his, Madam Sun’s heart sank and her body as slightly stiff. She sighed softly: “Their words… actually aren’t wrong. Isn’t this a happy event? Isn’t it tradition to invite them to eat? We have to have our face too! Ah, let’s just spend more money and eliminate disasters!”

The superstition of ‘spreading wealth to eliminate disasters’ was something that the couple understood well. These two, who had long been surviving in Dafang Village, knew that it was nothing more than others being jealous that their son, who was poorer than poor, was more promising than their own sons. Those other people felt that it was good for them to spend all their savings to treat them to a meal, so they didn’t feel too at ease. Why should they enjoy a good thing if they couldn’t bear to spend a little money?

This sounded very unreasonable and the logic was a bit strange but many people who were unbalanced in their hearts naturally thought like this!

“I understand!” Sun Zhang Xing sighed. “I almost forgot; we’ll have to set up at least twenty tables. There must be fish and chicken, let’s order twelve dishes for each table at least. This is likely at least six taels. Not to mention the red envelopes, paying someone to chop the firewood, buying melon seeds and peanuts for the children, renting the tables and tableware, buying rice, and so on. That’s seven taels for just the tables. When our son comes back in two days, he will also need to go and pay respects to Teacher Ming and get together with his classmates…”

Costs were everywhere!

The couple couldn’t help worrying.

It must be said that all their savings came up to only seven or eight taels!

In the end, it was Madam Sun who had a good idea. She lifted her eyebrows and smiled: “Ah, let’s talk to Miss Lian about advancing a month’s wage? This will be enough!”

Sun Zhang Xing’s expression brightened, and he was about to agree when he thought of something and hesitated. “This… let’s think about whether there is another way. Perhaps I will go to Xianteng mountain for a few days, I might get lucky!”

Annoyed, Madam Sun snapped: “What, why can’t we borrow from Miss Lian? Miss Lian will definitely agree, so why bother?”

“What does a wife know!” Sun Zhang Xing hummed softly without explaining.

Madam Sun refused to agree and tried to force him to answer her question, quickly getting into an argument.

However, it didn’t take long for the dispute to end.

While arguing, the two people suddenly remembered the silver gifted by Lian Fang Zhou. Looking down at the ten taels sealed in the red paper, the couple abruptly stopped fighting.

The two looked at each other and sighed at the same time.

“Miss Lian really is our family’s great benefactor!” Madam Sun laughed softly: “Working under her, we have come to end of hardship and the beginning of joy, really having met a noble person!”

Sun Zhang Xing nodded: “This is Miss Lian’s kindness! Let’s keep the money for now. When you see her in the future, thank her only if Miss Lian brings it up. In short, we just need to keep it in our hearts and wait for the future! Ah Ming has a promising future, we will repay Miss Lian even better!”

Madam Sun agreed.

~

Lian Fang Zhou had prepared two sets of the same gift.

One was for the Sun family and the other, naturally, was for her cousin, Lian Hai.

In any case, this was also a happy even for the Lian family. Even if they didn’t want to, it was best to adhere to etiquette. Moreover, Lian Hai treated his cousins well, whether in the past or in the future. At least for now.

However, the reactions of Lian Li and Madan Qiao were very different than that of the Sun family.

At this time, Lian Hai and Sun Ming had not returned yet.

As their outward relationship was closer, Lian Fang Zhou added two jars of flower wine and a pair of exquisitely embroidered ruyi-shaped purses to Lian Hai’s gift.

Lian Li was polite, so he curled his lip and accepted them, but Madam Qiao complained.

Angrily, she said: “What is the meaning of that little bitch? Sending such a meager gift! Hmph, Ah Hai is now a shengyuan but that second branch is still so stingy! It’s not like she can’t afford to spend more so just spend it! How disgusting, I really can’t forget it!”

Since receiving the official news that her son was admitted as a scholar, Madam Qiao’s whole body had been trembling. She was so triumphant, as if she had immediately been promoted to the Old Madam of an official’s family.

What she wanted most was to show off in front of Lian Fang Zhou’s family and humiliate the brothers and sisters.

However, she had been warned before and stopped herself. She didn’t understand very well but Lian Li knew that now that his son had a foot in the door, his mother could not be seen going around finding fault and humiliating people or else it would ruin his reputation!

Of course, if their son was a juren* or an official, no one would dare to spread bad rumors, even if his family was too much.

As long as Lian Li did not allow it, Madam Qiao could only endure it, even if she didn’t want to.

However, now that she had been ‘bullied at the door of the house’, could she endure it? Absolutely not!

Seeing Lian Li glare over at her, Madam Qiao confidently glared straight back: “What? Can I not complain? If that’s the case, won’t that dead girl just laugh at us secretly? Hmph, can there be such a cheap things in this world? How can their family just sit back and reap benefits without paying anything, this is really a joke! Are they untouchable when they go out? Don’t let others say they are Ah Hai’s cousins!”

The more Madam Qiao complained, the more she felt that her family had suffered a great loss and she immediately wanted to go find Lian Fang Zhou.

Lian Li stopped her and said: “I didn’t say that you couldn’t go, why are you so anxious? What a small matter, don’t go causing major fuss. Also, don’t talk like this in front of the door, if you want to talk to her, go inside and talk!”

Save it in case of embarrassment and loss!

TN: A juren is someone who has passed the first set of imperial examination