Female Supremacy and Rise to Power: Lin Shu's Imperial Examination Adventures

With that, Chen Danu realized she had forgotten to give an IOU, but readily pulled one out from her chest. Although they were thugs at the gambling den, they wouldn't deliberately make things difficult for her as long as she paid back the money on time.

Upon seeing this, the villagers immediately erupted in uproar.

Villager: "Wow, Lin Shu is really rich! That's fifty taels of silver! She just pulled it out like that?"

Villager: "Who says otherwise? I'm almost green with envy..."

A villager said, "I think the real envious one is someone else. I heard Lin Shu's younger sister is taking the imperial examination next February, and Lin Dafeng is still worried about money. Look, Lin Dafeng's second husband is secretly watching..."

Everyone looked in that direction and, sure enough, Lin Dafeng's husband, Du Ruo, was furtively watching the situation at the Lin family's place, his eyes somewhat cryptic.

"........."

In the courtyard of the Lin family's thatched cottage.

Lin Shu paid no attention to what outsiders thought. After the people from the gambling den left, the villagers felt there was no more excitement to watch, so they dispersed in small groups.

In front of the three men, Lin Shu rummaged through her purse and took out a tube of anti-swelling ointment. She walked up to Su Mu and handed it to him.

Su Mu was stunned and didn't dare to take it for a moment. Even Song Yun shrank back in fear.

[Could it be that she thinks she lost money today and wants to poison me? But she just stood up for me; has she really changed for the better? No, absolutely not. She must have saved me because those people from the gambling den made her lose face in front of the villagers.]

Su Mu shook his head, as if trying to shake off all those unrealistic thoughts from his mind.

"Alright, come here." Seeing his furrowed brows and constantly changing expression, Lin Shu couldn't help but sigh and took the lead towards Su Mu's room.

Su Mu hesitated, but Lin's father, Xue Wen, nudged him from behind, signaling him to hurry up and catch up.

Lin's father finally understood that his rascal had finally matured after being sick, and he was naturally happy to see the children develop a relationship.

The atmosphere inside Su Mu's house was slightly awkward.

"sit!"

With a handsome face that exudes a refined and gentle air, Su Mu sat on the broken wooden bed with a calm expression and slightly stiff movements. He didn't look like a tall man of 1.8 meters, but rather like a reserved young wife.

A barely perceptible smile flashed in Lin Shu's eyes. She then bent down and looked at Su Mu's slightly swollen left cheek, pinching Su Mu's chin with her thumb and forefinger and gently lifting it.

Su Mu was forced to look up, feeling quite uncomfortable. He even forgot to resist and hurriedly lowered his eyes, not daring to meet Lin Shu's gaze. The atmosphere became somewhat awkward for a moment.

At that moment, a hand gently applied a cool ointment to his face. He smelled the cool, refreshing scent emanating from the other person, like that of a cedar tree, and couldn't help but look up abruptly.

Just then, his gaze met Lin Shu's cool, peach-blossom eyes. Looking at Lin Shu's handsome face so close to his own, he felt as if he were enveloped by her cool and domineering aura. He was so nervous that his heart felt like it was going to jump out of his chest, and his eyelashes fluttered incessantly, like two butterflies frantically trying to escape.

Lin Shu's lips curled up slightly. For some reason, she suddenly wanted to tease him. So she slowly moved her pretty face closer to the man, watching his eyelashes blink faster and faster, and suddenly chuckled.

Su Mu then realized he had been tricked and was about to get angry when a familiar white jade hairpin suddenly appeared in front of him.

"My lady, what is this?" Su Mu stared intently at the hairpin, tears welling in his eyes. It was a gift from his father, and he had thought his wife had sold him out. Now, a thorn that had been piercing his heart for so long was slowly being pulled out.

"Here you go." Lin Shu took his hand and had just placed the hairpin in it when she heard her father push open the door and call out to her.

"Shu'er, a lot of people have come to deliver things outside, saying that you asked them to deliver them..." The moment the door opened, the two people inside the room quickly separated.

"Okay, I'll go take a look. Father, please check if there are any areas that need more medicine." Lin Shu said this and then stepped out the door.

Looking at that tall and ruthless figure, Su Mu felt a little wronged for a moment. He then lowered his head and clenched the jade hairpin in his hand to hide his reddened eyes.

......

Lin Shu stepped out of the courtyard and found that the people from the grain and oil shop and the cloth shop had arrived at the same time. After thanking them, she spent quite a bit of effort carrying all her things into her home.

"Shu'er, what are these...?" Lin's father looked at these things, his heart filled with complicated emotions.

"I bought it." Lin Shu thought for a moment, then explained, "I dug up a ginseng on the mountain earlier, and I exchanged it for some money today."

Lin's father/Su Mu/Song Yun: [No wonder Shu'er/her/my wife was able to produce fifty taels of silver at once today.]

Lin Shu looked at them, paused for a moment, then turned to look at Su Mu and Song Yun, and said, "That's why I didn't intend to sell you before."

It was indeed the original owner who wanted to sell them, and it had nothing to do with her. Since they would be living together for a long time to come, it was essential to avoid any unnecessary trouble.

"My dear Shu'er, I knew that even though you've been confused for so many years, your heart is still good."

Lin's father pulled Lin Shu along, raising his hand to pat her head, but seeing his hands, which had become somewhat rough over the years, he couldn't help but feel a little sad and slowly withdrew his hand.

Looking at her father's forlorn eyes, Lin Shu felt a pang of sadness for some reason. Without thinking, she took her father's hand and placed it on her head.

Seeing the deep affection between the father and daughter, both husbands at home unanimously believed Lin Shu's explanation. They couldn't help but think to themselves that if Lin Shu continued to be this good, living together wouldn't be so difficult.

Song Yun even went to the kitchen to pour her a bowl of water and handed it to her.

"Thank you."

Lin Shu took the water and drank it all in one gulp, then began distributing the supplies.

"Each person gets a bolt of cloth. Father's is bluish-brown, Su Mu's is white, Song Yun's is yellow, and the blue one is mine. The other two bolts of blue will be used to make four quilts. There's also cotton. Make yourself a cotton-padded coat in the next couple of days. You can arrange the rest as you see fit. I'll leave my clothes to Father."

She's good at fighting zombies and killing people, but making clothes is no easy task for her; she can only rely on the men in her family.

"Shu'er has grown up." Lin's father sighed again.

"Thank you!" Su Mu said softly, his ears turning red.

"Thank you, my lady!" Song Yun looked at the yellow cotton cloth in her hand and couldn't help but touch it again and again. Her dimples were shallow and her eyes were shining. She had never worn such fine cotton cloth at home before.

"Give me the clothes, my lady. I'm really good at making clothes." It's true what they say, young people are easy to coax. Su Mu wanted to offer to help, but he wasn't really good at needlework, so he remained silent.

"Hmm. If you don't have time, you can hire someone to do it. You can decide for yourselves." He then took out thirty-five taels of silver, gave five taels to each of the three men, and handed the remaining twenty taels to Su Mu. "It's pocket money. Su Mu is the legal husband and he manages the money. If you run out, just ask me for it."

"Oh, right, I bought pork. Dad can decide what to do for dinner. I'm going to get some planks to fix your door." Without waiting for their reply, he left.

I just saw that their room was still covered by summer curtains, and there were no doors. Entering the room felt like stepping into an ice cellar.

Inside the Lin family's thatched cottage, everything was cozy, but no one noticed the petite man lurking suspiciously outside the courtyard...

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