If not abolished

Hu Shanxiang returned home and opened the letter and read it again.

Zhan Xinan:

Since the Lantern Festival, due to many inconveniences, you and I have not met again.

I have to stay in Shuntian Prefecture for a while now. I still remember the promise I made at that time, so don't worry about me.

Shun Song Shi Sui

Although it was only a few words, I felt relieved because I finally had some news about the person involved. I really needed to think carefully about how to reply.

After a few days, it was the day of the imperial examination. The examination was divided into three sessions, one every three days. The first session was on the ninth, the second on the twelfth, and the third on the fifteenth. You had to go one day in advance.

Hu Shanji saw her husband off and just watched him go in from a distance in the carriage.

"Ma'am, shall we go back now?"

"Well, let's go back." Hu Shanji returned home and prayed to God, hoping that her husband would pass the imperial examination.

The exam was not over until the 16th. All I could do was wait for the results. The results were not announced until a month later. This month was long and exciting.

Every ten days, the Hu family would go to the temple to worship Buddha. Hu Shanji had not come before because she was worried about her husband's exams, but now she was just waiting for the result, so she came with Mrs. Hu and Madam Hu, and also asked Aunt Liu to come with her. Madam Hu always treated everyone equally, so Aunt Qin also came, and except for a few younger girls, all the girls from the fourth lady onwards came.

Hu Shanxiang knelt on the mat, listening to the sounds around her, which was very hypnotic. She nodded her head and was about to fall asleep. Fortunately, everyone else had their eyes closed, otherwise she would have been criticized.

After the ceremony, Mrs. Hu said she wanted to stay for a vegetarian meal. Hu Shanxiang liked this very much, as the vegetarian meal in the temple was quite delicious.

"Her, help grandma to the meditation room to rest for a while. We'll call you for dinner later." Mrs. Hu arranged. "Others, go do your own things."

Hu Shanxiang walked over and helped her grandmother, "Grandma, be careful on the steps. I'll help you go and rest for a while."

"okay."

When we arrived at the meditation room, the old lady was in good spirits, though a little tired.

"You little lazy cat, you must be sleepy." Old Mrs. Hu joked.

Hu Shanxiang denied it: "No, I didn't."

"I heard that you often go out to play with Miss He recently?" Mrs. Hu asked suddenly.

"Well, Sister He is my only friend in the capital." Hu Shanxiang rarely hid anything from her grandmother.

When Mrs. Hu heard her say this, she said, "It's a good thing that you can make friends. It's good to have a few close friends when you are young."

"Yeah, but my mother doesn't like me playing with Sister He." Hu Shanxiang complained.

Madam Hu smiled and said, "Your mother has her reasons. The He family is a military family and they don't have so many rules for girls. But your mother wants you to be like the young ladies from the big families, so naturally she doesn't want you to be too close."

"But I don't want to be like those young ladies in the capital."

"Just don't make any mistakes on the surface, and don't be too concerned about the rules. One lives for oneself, not for others. Grandma remembers that you liked to play chuiwan last year, but I haven't seen you play it this year." Old Madam Hu changed the subject so quickly that Hu Shanxiang didn't know what she wanted to know.

"My second brother played several games with me last year. This year, he is too busy to accompany me. My sisters don't like these things either. They are busy learning flower arrangement and embroidery."

"These are not good. Your sisters are better than you. What are you going to do in the future?"

"Grandma, I... Mother said that my eyes are getting bigger and bigger, and in two years they will arrange a marriage for me. What do you think mother will choose for me?"

"They're just a family similar to ours, so this kind of thing requires a good match." Old Madam Hu said this, but she knew in her heart that her son would probably not let his daughter-in-law interfere in her granddaughter's future marriage.

"Really? Just make it similar to ours."

"Of course, don't worry too much." Old Madam Hu asked again, "Why, last time you said you didn't want to get married and wanted to stay with me for the rest of your life, but now you want to meet someone else. You're good at bluffing."

"Grandma, no, I do want to get married, but I can't make the decision on this matter. Mother always talks to me about getting married in the future, so I'm curious about what kind of family my father and mother would be satisfied with."

"It's hard to say. If you weren't in the capital, the person you'd marry would probably be about the same as your second brother-in-law. But right now, with your father's position, there should be a lot of people who want to marry you. And you're the legitimate daughter of the family, so it's possible that your father won't be able to do whatever he wants, and he may have to consider various issues."

"Then...if someone comes to propose marriage, do you think your father and mother will agree?" Hu Shanxiang suddenly said.

As soon as these words came out, the old lady was also shocked, and an idea immediately popped up in her mind, "What? Someone is proposing to you, Er, you wouldn't have secretly decided to spend your life with someone whose identity you don't know?" The old lady was even frightened by her own idea.

Hu Shanxiang thought about her own situation and thought that perhaps her behavior, in that era, was considered a secret marriage.

The old lady looked at her granddaughter, hesitant to speak, as if she didn't know what to say, and there was something she didn't understand. The old lady stood up angrily and said angrily: "Kneel down, how could you do such a thing? If others knew about this, you would ruin the reputation of your sisters in the family, right?"

"who's that person?"

"I... I don't know either, I..." Hu Shanxiang had never seen her grandmother so angry, and she didn't know what to say for a moment.

"What do you mean you don't know? You... have you been cheated by some scoundrel?" The old lady was stunned. They got engaged without knowing anything. What on earth was this? Oh my God.

Hu Shanxiang stammered, "I really don't know who he is. We just met by chance in the Imperial City Temple, and later... later I found out that he and my second brother were colleagues, and my second brother came to see me with him."

The old lady became more and more confused as she listened. How could it be related to her grandson? "Your second brother also knows about this?" Then the unmarried brother sold his own sister. This is not something her grandson would do.

"Second brother doesn't know. He only knows that we know each other, but he doesn't know that we...we have secretly decided to...get married. If he knew, it would be terrible."

"So what's the situation now? And you just mentioned that he wanted to propose marriage. Could it be that he has agreed to come to our house to propose marriage?"

"No, no, I was just talking nonsense, I..." Hu Shanxiang said while waving her hands.

"Tell me, from the beginning, word for word."