The journey of the only child of a peasant family to take the imperial examination

"Is this meal cooked by the same chef as last time?" Uncle Xu asked after taking a few bites of the food and smacking his lips.

"Haha, you are really picky. You are the chef that Ping An invited for the Juren banquet last time," Zhang Laoer said with a smile.

"This chef is skilled and efficient, so we'll invite him this time. Although the price is not cheap, our family's status is different now, so the banquet still needs to be decent," Xu said, with a hint of showing off.

Uncle Xu was also clever and flattered, "Well, I'm lucky. I come to your house every now and then for banquets, and I'll have to come again in the twelfth lunar month to attend Liu Ya's wedding!"

After saying that, he casually asked, "I guess Ping An will be here soon, right?"

Zhang Laoer was tongue-tied by the question and didn't know how to answer. He could only say, "Well, eat the food, eat the food, this fish is good!"

Zhang Ping'an did not refute this and said that he would talk about it when he went to the Qian family to propose marriage!

Wu Ya was married off, so the neighbors only had one meal together. Xu prepared return gifts, and after the meal, the neighbors all went home.

Daya and the others had to stay for dinner.

Now that the weather is cold, leftovers are fine.

Xu asked Mrs. Hu to tell the cook to pick out the clean meat dishes and keep the rest.

Erya smiled and said, "Mother is much more generous now. In the past, when we had a banquet, as long as the weather was cool, she would always save even the leftover soup for us."

"I think you are so bold that you even dare to make up stories about your own mother," Xu said with a smile.

"I dare not, I dare not," Erya quickly begged for mercy.

The afternoon is a rare leisure time, and everyone sits together and chats.

Men and women sat in two groups.

Jinbao looks a little depressed today.

Zhang Pingan asked, "What's wrong with you?"

"Your fifth sister is not much older than us, and she is married now. I guess my mother will nag me again when I go back today. Alas! Why do people have to get married?" Jinbao was a little depressed.

"What kind of person do you like? We've been talking about marriage for a long time, but there's no sign of anything happening."

Jin Bao's eyes were a little confused, "I can't really say."

Most of his life was arranged for him, and he was a good child in the eyes of his parents, but marriage affected his entire life, and he didn't want to have three wives and four concubines in the future, so he didn't want to settle down too hastily.

Zhang Pingan couldn't even handle his own marriage, let alone help Jinbao.

After dinner, everyone said goodbye and left.

Xu gave some cloth and candy as a return gift.

He also asked Mrs. Hu to bring out a food box for Daya, saying, "These are all the clean meat dishes I asked the cook to set aside in advance. Take them back and heat them up for Sanlang and your father-in-law. He had an exam today and couldn't come, so this is a meal to make up for him."

"Oh, thank you, mom. I will send the lunch box back tomorrow," Daya took it with a smile without any hesitation.

After all the guests had left, Xu rubbed her aching lower back and sat down to rest, muttering, "I'm really getting old, and my body is so delicate now. I get tired after doing a little work. Fortunately, I have Mrs. Hu to help me!"

"Once Sixth Sister and I get married, our family's major affairs will be settled," Zhang Ping'an said with a smile.

"Yes, now that you are married, your father and I have completed our mission," Mrs. Xu also smiled.

The next day, Zhang Ping'an got up early and was preparing to go to the Imperial College to study.

Unexpectedly, the matchmaker came with the Qian family's housekeeper.

Both of them were very polite.

It is mainly for the list of betrothal gifts, including betrothal money, betrothal cakes, seafood, three kinds of meat, jewelry, silks and satins, various dried fruits, invitation boxes, incense, firecrackers, bracelets, gold, etc.

It was very detailed and had everything you needed, even specifying what to buy and where to buy it. The gift list was more than ten pages long.

Zhang Laoer and Xu were stunned by what they saw.

Did they really not expect that so many things needed to be prepared for a betrothal proposal, or were they simply ignorant?

After the butler finished speaking in one breath, he took a sip of tea to moisten his throat and continued, "Here are the banknotes. You can use them to buy things in the next few days."

Zhang Ping'an took it and looked at it. It was a thick stack, and each note had a maximum denomination of one hundred taels. A rough estimate was that the total was nearly ten thousand taels.

I have to say, this is indeed a huge fortune.

Zhang Laoer and Xu were both stunned and a little dazed by the blow.

The matchmaker said enviously, "Mr. Zhang, you are so lucky!"

"In addition to the betrothal gifts, my master has also prepared a house. You should choose a date and move there as soon as possible. My young lady Qian's wedding banquet cannot be held in an alley," the housekeeper said calmly with a hint of arrogance.

After saying this, the housekeeper and the matchmaker said goodbye and left.

The three people left in the main room looked at each other in bewilderment.

It was obvious that they could not go to the Imperial College today. Purchasing was a time-consuming and laborious task, and it was definitely not possible to rely solely on Zhang Laoer and Xu to prepare these dozen pages of gifts.

Zhang Ping'an divided the gift list into several parts, giving the simpler ones to his father and the more expensive ones to himself.

I never thought that there would be a day in my life when someone would hit me with banknotes. I feel a little complicated.

Zhang Laoer has always been reliable in his work. After being surprised, he took the gift list and prepared to go out.

Time is tight, so the sooner you buy, the better.

Liu Ya was also very surprised to learn today that her younger brother had proposed such a marriage.