The daily life of a peasant girl taking the imperial examination

Meanwhile, Zhuge Laifu, seeing his father who wanted to beat him to death, dodged while his mind raced, trying to come up with a solution.

Before he could come up with anything, the exhausted old man Zhuge leaned on the table, panting heavily. He had a lot of cursing words to say, but his vocabulary was lacking, and he could only manage to utter, "How could Da Hua have a father like you?"

He actually meant to say "short-sighted," but the words just came out of his mouth and became what they were.

Zhuge Fengshou thought to himself that he still lacked knowledge. No, he should ask Shuanzi (Zhuge Yunli) more questions when he had free time.

Zhuge Laifu didn't care about his father's ulterior motives, and at this moment, he didn't care about being beaten; he looked on incredulously.

“Dad, how can you say that? If I weren’t Da Hua’s dad, I bet you’d never even have a place to cry.”

Zhuge Fengshou: "..."

That makes sense, but why do people just want to smoke?

Seeing that he had rendered his father speechless, Zhuge Laifu felt emboldened and continued speaking:

“Look at my eldest brother, second brother, and fourth brother. All three of them combined are not as smart as me alone. And my eldest and second sisters-in-law are even less comparable to Fourth Sister (Lin Shi). The fact that our Zhuge family has a child like Da Hua who is so talented in studying is all thanks to Fourth Sister and me.”

Zhuge Fengshou: "..." This bastard.

Did he not know that this kid was trying to change the subject? Well, if he wanted to change the subject, how could he have the nerve to say something like that?

Even his father was ashamed for him. He had the nerve to say that his son was the smartest in the family. In his opinion, his third son used all his intelligence to cheat people out of food and drink and to shirk his responsibilities.

Zhuge Fengshou gets furious whenever he thinks of his three silly brothers, the eldest, the second, and the fourth, who used to trick him into giving them food when they were kids so they could complain to him.

When you're feeling down, you need to vent.

So Zhuge Laifu got another good beating.

The other members of the Zhuge family outside the house shuddered in fright when they heard the screams that started again after a brief silence inside.

They thought to themselves, "The old man is still the old man. Even though Zhuge Laifu has earned so much money for the family, he still can't avoid a beating when he makes a mistake."

Especially Su and Zhang, they exchanged a glance. They had been thinking of asking the third son to find jobs for their brothers and nephews in town, but looking at the scene inside the house, they were glad they hadn't said it yet, otherwise they would have been punished as well.

Who told the old man to be so ruthless, even to his own successful son?

However, compared to the panic and fear of others, Zhuge Yunshu and Lin Siniang were much calmer.

It's not that they don't feel sorry for Zhuge Laifu, but that they understand him.

If she had really been hurt, she would have run out of the house long ago. But looking at the figure running around inside, Zhuge Yunshu believed in her father's skills and estimated that he probably hadn't been hit by many blows.

Moreover, Zhuge Laifu had taught her since she was a child that if she was hit by an elder, she should cry out pitifully so that the person hitting her would think that they had hit her too hard and thus go easy on her or stop hitting her altogether.

Sure enough, after only a short while, there was no more movement inside the house.

Zhuge Yunshu knew that her grandfather had long been completely controlled by her father.

Inside the house, Zhuge Laifu knelt before Zhuge Fengshou, wiping away tears and sobbing.

"Father, I know you're upset that your son is wasteful and has caused trouble for Da Hua and the Zhuge family, but I did all this for Da Hua and our family's sake!"

After so many years of wits and courage, if you ask who in this family understands the old man the most, he would be second to none.

Zhuge Fengshou, who was still quite angry, immediately found a stool and sat down when he heard Da Hua mentioned, staring intently at Zhuge Laifu.

The meaning is very clear, as if to say: Please start making excuses.

Zhuge Laifu immediately understood when he saw his father's expression.

"...Father, look, with Dahua's talent for studying, she might even achieve more than that second uncle in the capital. That's why I'm thinking that Dahua will be studying and taking the imperial examinations in the county, prefecture, or even the capital. We, as her parents, can't be with her all the time, so we're thinking of training someone suitable for her as early as possible."

"You don't know, but the prominent families in town have trained pageboys for their children from a young age. These pageboys do more than just accompany the children in their studies. The most important thing is that they help with daily chores, such as washing clothes, cooking, taking care of daily life, and even handling social interactions. Think about it, if someone helps Da Hua with all these things, wouldn't she have more time and energy to study?"

Seeing his father's visibly softened expression, Zhuge Laifu pressed on, saying, "Although our family can't compare to the wealthy and powerful families in town, our Dahua is smarter than their children who are good at studying. We, as parents, can't help in other ways, so we can work hard and earn money to give Dahua the same respectability."

"Besides, I didn't buy them entirely for Da Hua alone. It's because you two have worked hard your whole lives, and now that your son is earning money and able to earn it, you can also enjoy a comfortable life..."

"..."

Zhuge Fengshou initially thought his son was right and reasonable, and he regretted wronging his third son, who was only just beginning to understand things in his prime, feeling that his son's vision was much longer than his own.

But looking at his own son, who was rambling on and on, and after thinking about it carefully based on his years of understanding of him, he suddenly realized that he had been fooled by him again.

"Hold on, does Da Hua need eight people to accompany her while she studies?" Zhuge Fengshou glanced at Zhuge Laifu leisurely.

Trying to fool him? No way.

Zhuge Laifu: "..."

His father is really hard to fool, but who is he? There's no one he can't fool, and no promise he can't keep.

“Dad, we need to think long-term. Think about it, with my earning power, I might go with Da Hua to do business in the county town, the prefectural city, or even the capital. That means we'll very likely buy houses and shops in those places. Think about it, with so many houses and shops, we'll need someone to manage them, and our family isn't enough manpower. So I'm thinking of hiring more people. Besides, everyone in the family is literate, and everyone has a skill they can rely on…”

What followed was a long string of praises about how amazing Aunt Wu's family was.

"..."

"Anyway, a family as capable as theirs, if it weren't for the son's kind help, why would they be willing to come to our farmhouse? Don't you think so?"

Zhuge Fengshou threw away the wooden stick in his hand. Although he knew that what the third brother said was not entirely true, it was not without reason.

He also learned about the various prices in the human market from his son. To be honest, his son really got lucky; he barely managed to get through this hurdle.

Although the third son and his wife were a bit unreliable, they were the ones who gave birth to Da Hua, the granddaughter of the Zhuge family.

There's no way around it; the credit is too great, so sometimes we can only turn a blind eye.

If Zhuge Laifu heard his father's true feelings, he would probably vomit blood.

He's been beaten so badly, he's lost all face and dignity in front of his family, and this is what his father meant by turning a blind eye.