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

Chapter 422 Undercurrent

To be honest, Liu Ya originally wanted to express her gratitude and put her mind at ease.

But after the conversation, I felt even more depressed, as if a huge rock was blocking my way.

Although she is intelligent, she grew up in a simple environment and has never had any intention of harming others.

Seeing that Qian Youyi had already walked out of the room, Liu Ya calmed herself down before following him.

Just as Qian Youyi said, if this matter were to get out, it would have a very bad impact on her reputation, and she would have to keep it to herself for the rest of her life.

No matter what, she would never allow anyone to destroy her hard-earned good life!

When the two of them arrived at the main hall, Daya, Erya and Wuya's families had already arrived.

When the children saw Qian Youyi coming out, they hurried over to wish their aunt a happy new year.

Qian Youyi asked the maid to bring the prepared red envelopes and gave one to each child.

Daya was a little embarrassed and said with a smile: "These kids are really lucky, they even get double the New Year's money!"

"Sister, it's the New Year, so everyone should share in the joy. From now on, when the children come over, I will give them double the New Year's money," Qian Youyi said with a smile.

Seeing that everyone was gathered, Xu said, "Since everyone is here, come and have breakfast. After breakfast, be safe. Take your wife to your father-in-law's house quickly, otherwise you will be too late and lose etiquette, and your in-laws will blame you!"

When everyone heard this, they all said, "We really need to go early. Let's eat quickly!"

During the meal, the female members of the family were fine. They were all sisters and chatted freely. They were also very considerate of the new daughter-in-law's feelings, and the scene was very harmonious.

Among the men, the ones who talked the most were Zhang Laoer and his fifth son-in-law Fang Ziqi.

Zhang Laoer has been thinking about how to manage the affairs on the farm better, as he will have to sow seeds after the spring.

In this regard, Fang Ziqi gave a lot of advice. His own father worked in the household department. Although he was just a low-ranking official, he knew a lot about people's livelihood and was very clear about what crops would bring better returns.

The father-in-law and son-in-law got along better and better as they talked.

It makes the other sons-in-law look a little dull.

Zhang Ping'an was worried about not being well-received, so he took the initiative to talk to the others: "Brother-in-law, how are you doing at the Five Cities Military Command? Are you getting along well with your colleagues?"

In fact, Zhang Pingan was really overthinking it. The rest of the people were all working hard to eat.

Liu Sanlang wiped his mouth and paused after hearing the question, replying, "My colleagues are all very nice. No one bullies me, and the salary is high. Most importantly, there are plenty of steamed buns, which can save a lot of food for my family. I think this job is great!"

At the end, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl up.

Zhang Ping'an knew that his elder brother-in-law was a man of few words, but now that he had replied with such a long string of words, it was clear that he was very satisfied with the job.

"That's good," Zhang Pingan felt relieved after hearing that.

Lin Junhui was indeed very thoughtful in finding jobs for his brother-in-law and Xiao Yifei.

My second brother-in-law Liu Husheng also put down his chopsticks and continued, "I feel that since we came to Lin'an, our lives have been getting better and better. We really made the right decision to come to Lin'an."

"Yeah, I think so too," Liu Sanlang said naively.

"I'm working on a canal boat now. Although I have to travel a lot and sometimes miss home, I earn much more money than before. My family is well-off and my two sons are in school. I have hope for the future," Liu Husheng continued.

The wind was strong on the river. After working on the boat for more than half a year, Zhang Ping'an saw that his second brother-in-law had become visibly darker, and there were cracks on his face and hands caused by the wind.

"It will get better and better in the future," Zhang Pingan said firmly.

Liu Husheng smiled brightly: "Of course, I plan to learn from my father and support my two boys to study hard. Only by studying can they have a bright future. As long as they can keep studying, I will continue to support them!"

Zhang Laoer agreed after hearing this and continued, "That makes sense. As long as Pengpeng and Manman are suitable, I, as their grandfather, will support them!"

At this point, Zhang Lao Er thought of his sixth son-in-law again. He turned to Yu Shiqi and said, "Shiqi, your Yu family is a family of officials, so I imagine the atmosphere of reading is even stronger. How old were you when you first started learning?"

Yu Shiqi put down his chopsticks and said, "To answer my father-in-law's question, I started learning at the age of five. My family had a clan school and I attended it until I was fourteen. The teacher said I wasn't very good at studying, so my father found me a job and I stopped going to school!"

"Haha, it's okay. It's good to have a job that pays the emperor's salary. You can raise your children well when you have them in the future," Zhang Laoer encouraged.

Compared to these trivial matters, Fang Ziqi was more concerned about his brother-in-law's future. "Little brother, how confident are you in this year's imperial examination? I heard that the court attaches great importance to this examination and wants to vigorously select talents from it to prepare for the future recovery of the north!"

"It's hard to say. We'll know the result only after we finish the trial," Zhang Ping'an replied conservatively.

After all, nothing has been decided yet!

Fang Ziqi nodded and tactfully stopped asking.

After the meal, Zhang Ping'an said hello to everyone and took Qian Youyi back to the Qian family.

When the two arrived, there were already quite a few guests at the Qian's house. Except for Zhang Ping'an, the others were basically children from wealthy families.

Although Minister Qian had only two legitimate daughters, he also had many concubines. In addition, Grandpa Qian and his wife had passed away, and Minister Qian was the eldest son of this family. Therefore, Minister Qian had to entertain his sisters when they returned to their parents' home.

Among them are two younger sisters, who are only half a year older than their daughter Qian Youyi and have just been married for half a year.

There are many children, both legitimate and illegitimate, in wealthy families, and the interpersonal relationships are very complicated!

Minister Qian and his wife didn't have much time to take care of Zhang Ping'an and his wife today.

Zhang Pingan understands this very well.

It would be nice to play chess and drink tea with other brothers-in-law of the same age.

Before I knew it, half the morning had passed.

Drinking too much tea will easily lead to going to the toilet.

The Qian Mansion's thatched hut was built in a secluded corner of the courtyard. It was a long way to get to it, and there were tall banana trees planted around it for shade.

Zhang Ping'an had just finished his work and was about to come out when he heard a group of people coming over on the side road.

She even mentioned herself, "Our eldest brother-in-law, I really don't know whether to call him stupid or dumb. He married a good legitimate second daughter to a poor boy with no foundation. He thought that this way he could avoid having to take sides. Humph! I guess he's about to get into trouble now!"

The other person's voice was noticeably calmer, and he replied, "We are all related by marriage, so stop making sarcastic remarks!"

The second daughter of a legitimate wife and a poor boy with no foundation, isn't that me?