Starting from a thatched cottage, the farmer embarked on the road to wealth through imperial examina

When Dai Xing heard Ye Changyan's instructions, he nodded and agreed. Dai Xing did not expect Ye Changyan to be so generous that he even covered the expenses of books, paper and pens for Yang Lin's two sons.

During the past few months since Ye Changyan came to Shengjing, Dai Xing carefully observed and found that the patriarch seemed to be more doting on his little disciple than on other disciples. Moreover, this Seventh Young Master could cook delicious dishes, which alone pleased the patriarch.

The head of the family has no children, and there are no relatives left in his hometown in Haidong. The head of the family will be seventy years old next year. After a hundred years, the family property will most likely be handed over to one of his disciples.

In the past, Dai Xing believed that the eldest disciple who was brought back from Zhangzhou by the master of the family and the sixth disciple who was raised from a baby by his wife were the most likely to inherit the Cai Mansion's property.

But now it seems that the seventh new disciple may be a very competitive option.

Since the last time Dai Xing built the experimental greenhouse, he secretly decided to do his best to complete the tasks assigned by the Seventh Young Master, hoping that the Seventh Young Master would arrange a better place for his two grandsons in the future.

Now with the precedent of Yang Lin’s two sons, Dai Xing became more determined in his previous plan.

When Yang Lin heard that Ye Changyan had assigned Butler Dai to take care of Dahu and Erhu's studies, he hurriedly took Dahu to express his gratitude to Mr. Cai, Ye Changyan and Liang Jingcheng.

When they came out of Cai's house, Yang Lin and his son received a reward of ten taels of silver from Butler Dai. They expressed their gratitude and repeatedly assured Butler Dai that while the vegetables in the greenhouse were ripe, he would go to the city every two days to deliver fresh vegetables. Then the father and son took the reward and pushed the cart out of the city.

Seeing that there were quite a lot of vegetables in these two large baskets, Ye Changyan thought that the people in Cai Mansion would definitely not be able to finish them in three or two days, so he asked the housekeeper Dai Xing to divide some of them and send some to several senior brothers so that they could also have a taste.

That afternoon, Mr. Cai finished the class early, leaving Ye Changyan plenty of time to make dumplings.

Ye Changyan prepared three kinds of fillings: leek pork, leek mutton, and leek egg, and with the help of Aunt Zhen and others, he made six dumplings.

Ye Changyan not only made boiled dumplings and soup dumplings, but also made two plates of fried dumplings. It was the first time for Mr. Cai to eat fried dumplings made by Ye Changyan.

"For this year's New Year's Eve dinner, you must prepare fried dumplings stuffed with leeks and mutton!"

After Mr. Cai finished eating the last fried dumpling, he made a request to Ye Changyan without even wiping the oil stains from the corners of his mouth.

New Year's Eve is here in a blink of an eye. The custom in Shengjing is to visit the ancestors' graves and pay New Year's greetings three days before the first day of the New Year.

Last year, Master Cai was unable to return from Yuzhou Prefecture, so several of his disciples from Shengjing brought offerings, incense, candles, and paper money to the cemetery outside Shengjing to visit the grave of their master's wife.

Early in the morning on New Year's Eve, Zhu Yuchun and several of his fellow apprentices arrived at the Cai Mansion. Together with Mr. Cai, Ye Changyan and Liang Jingcheng, they got on a horse-drawn carriage and left the city to visit the grave of their master's wife who was buried in the suburbs.

Ye Changyan also brought some snacks he made himself, as well as Weihaojia’s candies and biscuits.

Although it was New Year's Eve, many people went out of the city to worship their ancestors and visit their graves. The carriage took an hour to arrive at the grave of Master's Wife Xiao.

Mr. Cai introduced Ye Changyan to his late wife in a casual tone, just like he did when Xiao was still alive.

"Master's wife, I'm Ye Changyan, your youngest disciple. I don't know what you like, so I cooked some snacks for you myself. I also brought you some Wei Hao Jia candies and biscuits that are very popular in Shengjing. Please pick out the ones you like and try them."

Ye Changyan's words made all the fellow disciples beside him look solemn.

Ye Changyan took out the snacks, candies and biscuits he had brought, and placed them on the altar in front of the tombstone in front of his master's wife Xiao's grave.

Then, just like when he first worshipped Master Cai as his master, he knelt down and paid homage to the grave of his master's wife, Mrs. Xiao.

Mr. Cai, who was standing by, did not expect that Ye Changyan would perform such a great ceremony in front of his deceased wife's grave, and a warm feeling welled up in his heart.

After performing the kneeling ceremony, Ye Changyan carefully took out a white porcelain bottle, looked at the tombstone of his master's wife Xiao, and spoke.

"Master's Wife, I remember that Master once said that your favorite flower is the lotus flower that grows out of the mud but remains unstained. It's a pity that it's winter now and we can't find any lotus flowers in full bloom. But when I was still in Yuzhou Prefecture, I specially made a bottle of unique lotus perfume for you. I hope that you will be as pure as this lotus flower in your life."

Not to mention Ye Changyan's fellow disciples, even Old Cai and Liang Jingcheng looked at Ye Changyan in surprise. They didn't know that Ye Changyan had prepared such a precious and rare gift for his mistress when he was in Yuzhou Prefecture.

Everyone was staring at the small white porcelain bottle in Ye Changyan's hand. Ye Changyan carefully scraped off the wax seal, removed the lid, and sprinkled the lotus perfume in the white porcelain bottle on the tombstone and grave of his master's wife.

In an instant, a faint and elegant lotus fragrance wafts around, making people intoxicated for a moment, as if they were deep in a lotus pond with lotus flowers in full bloom.

As Mr. Cai smelled the intoxicating fragrance of the lotus, he recalled the time when he and his late wife rode on a black-sailed boat in Zhangzhou and picked lotus pods in the lotus pond. For a moment, he could not suppress his emotions, and a crystal tear quietly slid down his face.

All the fellow disciples truly felt the true affection that this little fellow had for his teacher and his mistress.

Just when everyone in front of the grave was moved, Ye Changyan looked at his master's wife's tombstone and spoke.

"Master's wife, can you smell the fragrance of this lotus? If you like this lotus perfume, please bless me so that I can be admitted to the Imperial College after the new year."

As soon as Ye Changyan finished speaking, he heard a burst of laughter from his fellow brothers. Mr. Cai, who was originally lost in longing, was also made to laugh and cry by Ye Changyan's trick.

After visiting the graves and returning to the city, Zhu Yuchun, Zhao Mubai, Ji Yunting and Lu Geang were all married people. After entering the city, they went their separate ways and went home to reunite with their families.

Although Wang Xinkuan has not yet married, he still has parents and siblings at home, so he also wants to go back to reunite with his family, so he parted ways with Ye Changyan and the others.

"The children are all grown up, and have started their own families and careers. They should be together with their families on New Year's Eve. Fortunately, I still have you two to accompany me. Just like last year in Shanglin Village, we can go back and prepare the New Year's Eve dinner early, and then stay up with me after dinner."