280 votes added

  ****

  "We used to live in the house of Mr. Jian Sheng, not far from here, called Yao Wang Miao Hutong. You'll know when you go there, that's the tallest gatehouse." Xia Ershu gave the address, which was the mansion where Tian Jian Sheng had settled Zhang Qiaor. He also said welcome to Xia Dagu and his family to visit.

  Besides, he specially told Xia Zhi and Xiao Hei Yu to go find Wu Yue and Qi Yue to play when they have time. "Er Zhu doesn't have as much free time as you two. Don't look at his young age, but he's also a manager in the shop... Who would have thought that just a few days ago, someone invited us to come to Fu Cheng? Hehe, hehe."

  When Xia Ershu said this, he deliberately glanced at Xia Dagu. The last sentence was obviously meant for Xia Dagu to hear, and it was a slap in the face for her. This time when Xia Dagu returned to her mother's home, there was no direct conflict between the two siblings, nor did they explicitly mention anything. But Xia Ershu wasn't stupid either, he naturally understood that Xia Dagu didn't look down on Wu Yue.

  Xia Dagu didn't take a liking to Wu Yue in May, which means she looked down on him as the second brother.

  Xia Dagu couldn't hear the meaning behind his words. Her expression didn't change: "I congratulate Second Brother." She said it was congratulations, but her attitude was somewhat flat.

  Guo's uncle had a smile all over his face and said, "Second brother will be living in the city from now on, so we'll have more relatives to visit." He mentioned that neither he nor Xia Dagu had any close relatives in the city. Then, seeing that it was getting late, he asked Xia Dagu to arrange for the kitchen to prepare a few more dishes and invited Xia's second uncle to stay for dinner.

  "I'm not eating anymore, I have to go back." Xia Ershu refused, "I still have things to do for my daughter's husband, and because I saw Chang Sheng, I didn't even greet him before coming over... Let's do it another day." As he spoke, he stood up and bid farewell.

  Xia Dagu also said she wanted Xia Ershu to stay for dinner. Xia Ershu still refused, saying he had something to do.

  "Second Brother has something on, so we won't keep you any longer. Anyway, Second Brother and his wife aren't in a hurry to return to the village, we can go anytime," said Xia Dagu.

  Everyone sent Xia Ershu out. When they walked to the hall, Xia Ershu suddenly remembered something and looked around, then asked Xia Dagong and Guo Aiyi with a somewhat exaggerated tone: "Why didn't you see my niece Pearl?"

  Zhenzhu remained in the western house and didn't come over even when Xia Ershu arrived. Zhenzhu was unwilling to socialize with relatives from the Xia family side.

  But Xia Dagu was also negligent this time, and it was indeed because of Xia Ershu's sudden matter. At this time, if she called Zhenzhu out again, it would not be very good. Therefore, Xia Dagu immediately said that Zhenzhu had gone out to visit relatives.

  "...went out with Yu Huan from her uncle's family, don't know where they went. I just sent someone to look for her at her uncle's house, but couldn't find her." Xia Dagu explained lightly.

  "Zhenzhu has been like this since she was a kid." Xia Ershu chuckled twice. He meant that Zhenzhu is arrogant and doesn't care about others.

  "Second brother, look at what you're saying." Xia Dagu's face didn't look good, and she immediately smiled and spoke. "Zhenzhu is just a child, not very understanding. Our own children are not as sensible as other people's children. Second brother, you're her uncle, so remind her from now on."

  She said so, although on the one hand she still continued to maintain her pearls, but had already yielded to Xia Ershu.

  Xia Er Shu chuckled twice: "It's me, this uncle, who doesn't care about appearances. If I were a wealthy man or a high-ranking official, Zhen Zhu would understand." This was somewhat unreasonable and didn't give Xia Da Gu any face.

  Xia Dagu's face became even more unbearable, and she secretly blamed herself for not doing well in etiquette due to a momentary lapse, and was caught by Xia Ershu. Xia Ershu said so ruthlessly to Zhenzhu, actually still giving her no face. She knew that because of the May incident, she had offended Xia Ershu. Xia Ershu was taking revenge.

  But she had done her best to handle things properly, trying not to offend Uncle Xia. But the result was still like this, and she couldn't help it. She really didn't expect that Uncle Xia's family would enter the city so quickly, with a sudden burst of energy.

  But she didn't regret it. She had done everything she could. But to let Changsheng marry May, this was absolutely impossible. She had always been steady and able to hold her temper, but at this time, she still slightly frowned. "Second brother, what are you talking about! Your niece is not here for a moment, and as her uncle, it's not worth humiliating her like that! Tomorrow I'll take her to pay respects to Second Brother and his wife."

  "Heh heh, big sister, I was just asking about Pearl, and I also asked her if she's doing well. Don't be too worried." Xia Ershu said indifferently and walked away with a swagger.

  Guo's uncle's face was also a bit stiff, but he quickly recovered. He sent Xia Ershu to the street and even let Changsheng take a car to send Xia Ershu.

  Xia Dagu only sent them to the front yard, then turned around and left. Xia Zhi and Xiao Hei followed behind Xia Dagu, and Xia Zhi saw that Xia Dagu's face had turned black. Her heart skipped a beat, and she stopped in her tracks.

  Xiao Hei Yu made a signal, and Xia Zhi then said to Xia Da Gu: "Da Gu, I'm going with Uncle to wait for Zhang Sheng Ge up ahead. I asked Zhang Sheng Ge to find out some things."

  Xia Dagu also stopped, and her facial expression softened a bit. Just as Xia Zhi had guessed that she would definitely scold Zhenzhu when she entered the house, she also guessed that Xia Zhi was not going to wait for Changsheng, but deliberately avoided him.

  What a sensible child. Xia Dagu couldn't help but praise and sigh deeply in her heart. If Pearl had even one-tenth of Xia Zhi's understanding and cleverness, she wouldn't have to worry about anything.

  She wanted to teach Pearl a lesson and didn't want her younger brother and niece present. On the one hand, she was afraid that they would lose face in front of them, on the other hand, she wanted to save face for her daughter.

  "You want to wait for Changsheng, then go ahead." Xia Dagou still smiled, but the smile did not reach her eyes. At this time, she could still maintain this demeanor, which was extremely rare.

  Xia Zhi didn't say anything else and pulled Xiao Hei Yu forward. Xia Da Gu wanted to teach Zhen Zhu a lesson, and she agreed. Zhen Zhu's little head needed more guidance, otherwise with her temper, she would probably suffer losses in the future.

  ……

  Guo's uncle saw off Xia Ershu and then looked around the shop for a while before returning to the backyard. As soon as he stepped into the hall, he heard the sound of Pearl crying softly from the west wing. Guo's uncle immediately guessed that this must be Xia Dagu scolding Pearl because of what happened earlier.

  He had always been very fond of his little daughter, Pearl. Although Aunt Xia would scold Pearl, he couldn't bear to say a harsh word to his daughter. As soon as he heard his daughter's crying, he immediately felt heartbroken and hurried to the west room.

  Xia Dagou and Pearl were both sitting on the kang. Pearl was hanging her head, crying. Xia Dagou had a stern face and was still scolding Pearl severely.

  ".... Didn't you hear your second uncle coming? You had to be called out by me before you came out. That's your second uncle, not some other person. Don't you know you should come out and greet him?"

  The pearl cried even harder.

  Guo's uncle hurried over, wanting to intervene between Xia Dagu and Zhenzhu. However, he was deterred by Xia Dagu's cold glare and hesitated, ultimately not daring to intervene, so he sat down on a chair under the kang instead. He still had to plead for his daughter.

  "I think Pearl definitely didn't do it on purpose. Was she asleep and didn't hear her second uncle come?" As he said this, he also asked Pearl, "Is that right, Pearl?" Meaning to get Pearl to follow his words and smooth over the matter.

  Zhenzhu still had a bit of a stubborn temper, and she just sobbed and refused to take this opportunity to back down.

  "Look at Big Auntie Guo, and then look at Pearl. Her temper is not coming from the same place. You know it's not like that, but you're still helping her! If you help her now, you'll end up harming her, do you know or not? This child has been spoiled by you, and doesn't even give our relatives a bit of face! Our relatives are broad-minded and don't usually bother with her, but once they encounter a problem, she'll be the one to suffer. And it will drag us down too, so we'll all lose face!"

  She was angry and taught Pearl a lesson, not just because of Xia Ershu. Xia Dagu thought for the sake of her children, she thought very far ahead. Pearl's temper, usually not many relatives came to visit, the relatives on Xia's side didn't bother with her, so everyone just let it go. But after Pearl grew up and got married, would others still be so tolerant of her?

  It's still light for someone like Xia Ershu to lose face in front of everyone!

  Xia Dagu was determined, no matter how Guo Gufu pleaded, this time she couldn't let Zhu Pearl off easily.

  ……

  Xia Zhi and Xiao Hei waited outside the gate for a short while before Chang Sheng arrived. It turned out that Xia Ershu had only asked him to send them to Gui Fang Zhai, which was not far away. After sending them there, Chang Sheng chatted with them briefly before returning.

  Seeing the two children, Zhang Sheng jumped down from the car. He asked Liu Qiang to drive into the yard and accompanied the two children to walk back and forth. Without asking Xia Zhi, he remembered what Xia Zhi had entrusted him with.

  "Just passed by, Old Shu, Sixteen, you two are in a hurry." With a smile, Changsheng took out a paper scroll from his sleeve and handed it to Xia Zhi, "Here, this is a copy of the list that someone copied. I saw it and simply bought a copy."

  "Thank you so much, Brother Changsheng." Xia Zhi smiled and thanked him while unrolling the scroll.

  Changsheng laughed and said: "Li Xiashan's name is on the list, still the first case!"

  He said this when Xia Zhi had already seen Li Xia's name, and indeed it was the first case of the prefectural examination.

  Xiao Hei swam over, peeking out to look at the rankings with Xia Zhi. As he looked, he couldn't help but laugh: "Hey, Li Xia really did it! Sixteen, let's go find Li Xia and congratulate him!"

  "That's for sure." Xia Zhi nodded, her mind already calculating that she would go find Li Xia tomorrow. She didn't put down the scroll, but instead looked at the list from top to bottom. Then, she saw another name.

  Tian Kuai also got in!

  "Xīnguā?" Chángshēng was perplexed, thinking to himself who among their acquaintances had this name. The name was quite interesting. Chángshēn chuckled twice.

  When it comes to summer solstice, I realize that longevity is a misunderstanding. Tian Kuona, the unlucky child, doesn't even know who gave him this name. Obviously, that character has another pronunciation.

  She explained to Zhang Sheng which two words they were, then told him: "Tian Kuo is Li Xia's older male cousin. Li Xia's mother is Tian Kuo's aunt."

  "Ah," exclaimed Chōsei, "that must be the young master of the Shimizu family on Lion Street."

  (。)