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

"Sister-in-law, is this girl from the Tong family pretty?"

Ye Changyan and Liang Jingcheng asked Ma in unison, and everyone looked at Ma expectantly.

"You are just a kid, how can you know what is good-looking or not?"

Liang Jingcheng was only seven or eight years older than her eldest son Zhu Shan. In Ma's eyes, Liang Jingcheng was just the half-grown child who followed her husband and called him "Big Brother". Ye Changyan was younger than Liang Jingcheng, so Ma naturally classified him as a child.

Ma's words immediately caused all the brothers to laugh.

"Sister-in-law, your words are so hurtful! When my sixth brother and I gave New Year's money to Shan Bao and Fu Bao, why didn't you say that we were just kids?"

Ye Changyan looked at Ma with a wronged expression, but Ma didn't buy it.

"You are young, but you are of a higher generation. Isn't it fair for you two uncles to share the New Year's money with your nephew? Besides, didn't your sister-in-law also give you two New Year's money?"

Ma's words left Ye Changyan speechless for a moment, and then he saw Ma walk a few steps to Wang Xinkuan.

"Alright, alright, stop talking about this. Fourth Brother, hurry up and follow your sister-in-law. The rest of you old men, don't rush over here. Don't scare the girl."

Ma glared at the several grown men present, then pulled Wang Xinkuan's clothes and walked out of the greenhouse.

Ye Changyan and Liang Jingcheng just smiled and followed Wang Xinkuan out.

"Didn't I tell you not to join in the fun?"

Ma saw Ye Changyan and Liang Jingcheng also followed out of the greenhouse, and glared at them as if they were two naughty children.

"Sister-in-law, didn't you just say that we are just kids? You just told the grown-up man not to go over there."

Ye Changyan's words made Ma not know whether to laugh or cry. She no longer cared about these two immature junior brothers and urged Wang Xinkuan to walk towards the farmyard.

When they were almost at the yard, Wang Xinkuan, who was usually calm and composed, seemed a little uneasy, and his face unconsciously turned red.

Seeing Ye Changyan and Liang Jingcheng pushing Wang Xinkuan towards the greenhouse where strawberries were grown, Ma hurriedly grabbed Wang Xinkuan and spoke in a low voice.

"Don't panic. His parents and brother are in the yard. You should at least go and greet them. Otherwise, they will think you are a playboy. That would be bad."

Upon hearing this, Ye Changyan and Liang Jingcheng froze in their tracks and turned around to go back, but Ma stretched out her hands and pulled them back.

"You two kids are really naughty. Now that you are here, go and give your senior brother some courage."

Ma lowered her voice and pushed the three people into the yard.

Wang Xinkuan was worthy of being the most calm among all of Cai's disciples. When he stepped into the yard, although his face was a little red, his expression was very calm.

With Ma supporting from behind, Ye Changyan and Liang Jingcheng could only follow Wang Xinkuan into the yard.

"Si'er, hurry up, come here, and Jingcheng and Changyan, come here too."

When Mr. Cai saw his fellow disciples entering the yard, he hurriedly greeted them.

"Just now, your second sister-in-law happened to meet your uncle Tong and his family on their way here, so she invited them to come pick strawberries together. Come on, all of you come over and pay your respects to your uncle Tong and Aunt Qian."

It is true that age brings wisdom. Mr. Cai’s official words sound really nice.

Ye Changyan saw that next to Mr. Cai sat a very wealthy middle-aged man, and next to the wealthy man sat a beautiful middle-aged woman covered in jewels. It seemed that these were the Prince of Yan, Tong Hua, and his wife, Qian. Behind Tong Hua stood a young man in luxurious clothes, who must be Tong Luyao's brother, Tong Jun.

Ye Changyan and Liang Jingcheng followed Wang Xinkuan into the yard. When they came in front of Mr. Cai, they listened to Mr. Cai introducing them.

"This is your Uncle Tong, the Prince of Yan, this is your Aunt Qian, the wife of the Prince of Yan, and this is the eldest son of the Tong family."

After Master Cai introduced them, Ye Changyan and Liang Jingcheng followed Wang Xinkuan and bowed to the Duke of Yan and his wife as juniors, and bowed to Tong Jun. Then Master Cai briefly introduced his disciples to the other party.

Ye Changyan saw the Tong couple looking at him and Liang Jingcheng with a smile on their faces, and then looking at Wang Xinkuan with eyes that seemed to be shining. The couple kept nodding with a smile. As expected, the more the mother-in-law looked at her son-in-law, the happier she was.

The Duke of Yan's Mansion is indeed a wealthy place in Shengjing. Ye Changyan looked at the jewels and precious stones on Qian's body. The extremely round pearls on the earrings alone were almost the size of pigeon eggs.

Although Qian was already middle-aged, her condition and temperament did not look like her actual age at all. Ye Changyan also smelled a faint scent of yellow jasmine from the beautiful Qian. No wonder the Prince of Yan was willing to spend two hundred taels to buy a bottle of perfume.

Ye Changyan secretly admired in his heart that the yellow jasmine perfume really matched Qian's temperament very well.

Tong Hua, the prince of Duke Yan, looks wealthy with a big belly, but looking at the appearance of Qian and Tong Jun, they are both quite good-looking, so Tong Luyao should not be too bad either.

The Tong family was able to express their intention to marry into the Wang family in front of the emperor, which meant that they had already found out everything about Wang Xinkuan. The Tong family was very satisfied with the Wang family background and Wang Xinkuan's future.

As for the reason why the Tong family wanted to marry into the Wang family, it all started from the day when Wang Xinkuan passed the imperial examination a few years ago.

On the day when the palace examination results were announced, Wang Xinkuan and several friends went to the Ministry of Rites to see the list. Tong Luyao, who was only eleven years old at the time, happened to pass by the Ministry of Rites in a carriage. When she saw Wang Xinkuan's high-spirited appearance in high school, the memory was deeply imprinted in the girl's heart.

After Tong Luyao came of age, she rejected all the marriages her family arranged for her with various reasons. Later, Qian forced Tong Luyao's personal maid to tell her that her daughter already had someone in her heart.

So she told her husband and father-in-law about this. When Duke Yan heard it, he became interested immediately. After some inquiries, he found out that although Wang Xinkuan was ten years older than Tong Luyao, he was not engaged. In the eyes of Duke Yan, Wang Xinkuan's conditions in all aspects were really impeccable.

It happened that at this time, when the wife of Duke Yan went to the palace to pay her respects to the empress dowager, she heard the empress dowager mention Wang Xinkuan's marriage. So after the wife of Duke Yan came back and told the emperor about it, Duke Yan went to the palace to find the emperor and revealed the idea of the Tong family to marry into the Wang family, and wanted the emperor to grant the marriage.

"Mother~"

Just as Tong Hua was asking and answering questions with Wang Xinkuan, a female voice as melodious as an oriole was heard from the courtyard gate.

Ye Changyan and Liang Jingcheng looked in the direction of the sound and saw a young woman at the gate of the courtyard. They were both dazed for a moment.