Marrying Gold and Jade

Sensing that Lin Ji was about to speak, she spoke first: "But if I were still this person, not a young lady at home but born to be a servant, would brother think that I am a good match for him?"

The man opposite was silent for a while.

Seeing that she had no further words, he slowly said, "Isn't that what you think?"

"In the carriage, I asked you about the daughter of the Cheng family, but you avoided talking about her appearance and character, but only said that she was from a noble family and a good match for me."

"I……"

That's exactly what she said.

But those words were just to fool him.

Lin Ji always uses what she says casually to refute her.

"How you are the same as me."

"How different?"

He asked: "Be strict with others and lenient with yourself, is this your way of dealing with the world?"

Lin Yu didn't want to talk to him anymore.

He was the top scorer in the imperial examination, and he was good at writing essays. Why did he make himself look bad?

I simply stood up and leaned against the window, letting the cool breeze from the lake brush my face, turning my back and ignoring him.

Seeing that she was unhappy, Lin Ji took a sip of tea at the table and did not say the words he had prepared.

The weather was fine today, and there were many cruise ships and pleasure boats on the lake. In order to avoid the dense lotus flowers on the side, the Lin family's pleasure boat slowly approached another one.

When the two boats were close together and parallel, a man's voice floated from behind the curtain on the opposite side.

The man said vaguely: "She is just a merchant's daughter. No matter how pretty she is, she is not worthy of being married to a gentleman. She is just from a wealthy family."

It's very familiar, even the tone of voice is very familiar.

Lin Yu was not sure at first, so she pricked up her ears and listened carefully, and found that the person in the houseboat next door was actually Tan Jinghe, her fiancé in her previous life.

Another person in the boat said, "But after all, Lin Ji is doing well. It seems that the Lin family will also rise with the tide."

"Am——" Tan Jinghe was still unconvinced, and raised his voice, "How old is Lin Ji this year? He has won three prizes in a row, and he is not afraid of biting his tongue!"

"In my opinion, Mr. Lin must have done a lot of things to save face. Everyone knows that he is as rich as a country, and I'm afraid the examiner's family can't afford the gifts!"

As the boat approached the center of the lake, the lotus leaves were so dense that the boats almost collided with each other. Even Lin Ji, who was sitting at the table, heard some of it.

Tan Jinghe was completely unaware, and continued while leaning against the couch, "Besides, ordinary second-class Jinshi have to complete two years of study in the Hanlin Academy before being transferred. But Lin Ji was lucky, he was transferred back after only two months."

"You know, although he was selected as the top scholar, he did not receive the emperor's favor; how can a fourth-rank prefect in the southeast compare to a Hanlin close to the emperor? I think your majesty also regrets it and feels that he has made a mistake..."

The sarcastic voices gradually faded away as we passed the narrowest part of the lake and the two pleasure boats moved further away.

In response to this, Lin Ji remained unmoved and focused on peeling the lotus seeds in his hand.

Lin Yu refused to comply.

No matter how much she disliked Lin Ji, there was one thing she couldn't deny: he was really, really hardworking.

When he was learning to read and practicing the piano at a young age, he was studying seriously; when he was resting and playing, he was still studying seriously.

Even though he had just heard Tan Jinghe's sarcastic remark about him, a dull bookworm like Lin Ji was classified as a relative of someone with connections. Who knew what he had said about him before?

Lin Yu couldn't think about it, and the words "Why not ask Lin Yu to come as a dowry, and I will make her a concubine" echoed in her ears again.

This is a coward who flatters the powerful and looks down on the weak.

"Indigo, Indigo!"

The little maid pushed the door open and came in: "What's wrong, young lady?"

"Go tell the boatman to catch up with the pleasure boat just now. I met someone I know!"

Qingdai responded "yes" and immediately ran to the stern of the boat.

Seeing the boat approaching again, Lin Yu carefully looked at the man beside him.

It was obvious that he was about to stir up trouble, but he didn't seem to have any intention of stopping him.

Normally, Lin Yu really couldn't afford to offend Tan Jing and the second son of a bo's family.

But he had also included Lin Ji in his gossip just now, so he and Lin Ji were indeed in the same boat at this moment.

Thinking of this, Lin Yu cleared his throat and raised his voice to make sure the person on the other end could hear him.

"Some people have no ability, not only do they flatter the powerful and look down on the weak, but they also love to gossip about others behind their backs."

"I don't know how old you are, and where you are at? You are a man of seven feet tall, but you are useless to your country and family, and you dare to point fingers at the number one scholar."

"Bah! You have no shame!"

She shouted the last sentence particularly loudly, causing Lin Ji to look up.

The straight line of his lips moved, as if he wanted to smile, but then he suppressed the smile.

Swearing is not a good thing, but any unpleasant words will have a different taste when spoken in her sweet and innocent voice.

Just like that day in her room, when Lin Yu threw rouge at him and cursed, "You are sick", Lin Ji only found it more funny and could not get angry.

Not to mention that today, she was standing up for herself.

"Who!" A loud shout came from the opposite pleasure boat, "Which little whore dares to speak so arrogantly!"

Seeing through the gauze shadow on the window that the man was about to open the window, Lin Yu immediately squatted down beside the table.

He was unsteady for a moment and quickly grabbed a table leg.

Looking up and seeing Lin Ji looking down at her with a frown, she quickly put her finger to her lips and begged him not to expose herself.

Let's put aside the grudge between the two for now. After all, he is the prefect of Songjiang. If those people were found out by scolding him, even if they retorted a few words, they wouldn't dare to make things difficult for him, right?

The boat swayed slightly and Lin Yu hugged the table leg tightly.

The furrows between Lin Ji's brows deepened, and he seemed to want to speak again, but the window opposite was suddenly opened.

"I want to see who is so arrogant!"

Tan Jinghe was used to being arrogant, and when he suddenly bumped into the expressionless face under the window, his heart skipped a beat.

There was no sound.

Lin Yu stretched his neck, hating that he couldn't see Tan Jinghe's expression at this moment.

That must be very exciting.

"The speaker is unintentional, but the listener is intentional." Lin Ji didn't even look at him, but asked slowly, "Why are you so angry?"

Lin Yu covered his mouth to prevent himself from laughing out loud, and indeed he had not mentioned anyone by name.

Who says he is really useless?

If we talk about satire, it has to be Lin Ji.

Tan Jinghe obviously recognized him, and realized that the real person had heard everything he had just said. His face turned blue and red, and he couldn't utter a word for a long time.

Another person on the boat had to smooth things over: "Today the weather is fine and the air is mild, and Magistrate Lin is also coming to the lake for a boat ride!"

Lin Ji said nothing, but just sat quietly by the window, letting the lake breeze blow the gauze curtains beside him.

The man had no choice but to continue, "I think we two drank a few more cups just now and disturbed your peace. I apologize to you on behalf of Brother Tan!"

After saying that, he bowed towards this side.

Lin Ji then turned his eyes, but his gaze only fell on Tan Jinghe.

The Bo family was noble, but it was about to decline when it came to this generation. When Tan Jinghe was a teenager, he often heard his father bragging about Lin Ji, saying how this young man was formidable, and that he would rise straight up from humble beginnings.

I didn't take it seriously at first, but I didn't expect that he would really pass the imperial examination this year and become the top scorer, making the merchant family a treasure.

His friends around him kept looking at him and urging him, and no matter how reluctant he was, he had to bend his back and nod to them.

Lin Yu looked up and saw Lin Ji winking at him from above.

She immediately understood and stuck her head out. Seeing that the two of them were all gathered together and Tan Jinghe was lowering his head with a frustrated look on his face, she suddenly felt refreshed.