To divorce his wife, the top scholar preferred being cuckolded to wearing a red hat.

When Fu Jingsheng and his family came to the capital, they brought more than 10,000 taels of silver with them. At the time, they thought that the silver would be enough to furnish some houses and hold a thank-you banquet in the capital.

Who would have thought that Fu Jingying would come into the picture?

Fu Jingying looked aggrieved: "This can't be blamed on me. Who knew their jewelry was so expensive? I didn't think that since I just arrived in the capital, I couldn't be worse off than others. Your thank-you banquet is coming up again. I'm the sister of the top scholar, I can't let you down, can I?"

"What?" Madam Qian felt a pang of heartache upon hearing this. "Jingying, what's wrong with you? No matter how expensive other people's things are, you have to take good care of them. Why did you smash them? So much silver could buy more than a dozen jewelry sets back in our hometown. Could it be made of gold? It's so expensive."

In their small county town, anyone who could produce jewelry worth one or two hundred taels of silver was considered a very important person.

"How would I know? I was surprised at the time, thinking he was trying to cheat me out of my money, so I handled it a bit too roughly. I never expected it to fall to the ground and break. I spent so much money, and I didn't even get the jewelry I wanted." Fu Jingying became more and more aggrieved as she spoke. What a ridiculously expensive curio cabinet! The things inside are outrageously expensive.

When Su Mingyue arrives, she will definitely take Su Mingyue to Duobaoge so that she can buy something for herself and also let that lousy manager take a look.

“What’s done is done, blaming your sister won’t help. We’ve just arrived in the capital, and no one has told us about the people and things in the capital. Don’t blame your sister for not knowing. Mingyue has probably already sold the shops. You should send someone to pick her up as soon as possible. Once she’s here, we’ll have money to use.”

“Yes, brother. Selling the shop would bring in at least ten thousand taels. Once she comes, we'll have money again. Besides, even after what happened to me today, that Miss Su didn't even offer to give me a set of jewelry. She has no manners whatsoever as a young lady from a prominent family.”

"How dare you say that? Your outburst today has made me so embarrassed." She boasted that her mother was from a merchant family, but her younger sister made a scene over a five-thousand-tael jewelry item, which was utterly shameful.

“Jingying definitely knows she was wrong about this. When are you going to send someone to pick up Mingyue? If she doesn’t come, we won’t have much money left in our household. I’m still planning to hold a grand thank-you banquet for you, to show everyone the strength of the Fu family.”

The Qian family planned to hold a grand banquet to thank Fu Jingsheng.

We also need to show others that the Fu family is not from a poor background and that we are not short of money.

"I was originally planning to bring her over in a few months, but it looks like I'll have to do it now. As for her, once she's here, you have to tell everyone she's my cousin; don't let it slip." Don't worry, we're not that stupid.

Fu Jingsheng nodded and turned to instruct Fu Jingying: "Before your sister-in-law arrives, you should stay home as much as possible to avoid another embarrassing incident like today. When your sister-in-law arrives, ask her to buy you any jewelry you fancy."

Fu Jingying thought so too, and smiled, "I know. My sister-in-law loves me the most. I'm just making such a small request, and she'll definitely agree to it."

……

Su Ziyu sat by the window, letting her maidservant apply nail polish to her nails. She had a languid expression and stunning beauty; she was one of the most beautiful women in the capital.

Fu Jingsheng was indeed talented, but that wasn't her reason for wanting to find a husband through the imperial examinations. She had noticed Fu Jingsheng long ago and knew he was married. His wife was Su Mingyue, her nominal elder sister.

Her elder sister was quite remarkable; she ran away from home at the age of twelve and has been missing ever since.

Unexpectedly, many years later, she would find her elder sister in this way.

"Su Mingyue, you probably never imagined that the scholar you longed to marry and the one you went to great lengths to support is now longing to marry Su Ziyu."

Thinking of this, a faint smile appeared on her lips, and a hint of smugness lingered in her eyes.

"Miss," the maid Donghong whispered as she helped her mistress protect her nails, "Are you really going to marry that Fu Jingsheng? His sister looks like a country bumpkin. Are you really going to marry him? I'm afraid you'll have to deal with her all the time."

"His sister and mother have always lived in the countryside, so it's normal that they haven't seen much of the world. She's just a young girl; if you don't like her, you can just marry her off. As for her mother, I've heard she's a very easy person to get along with."

"I'm just worried that you'll suffer if you marry into this family. With your status, you could easily marry a prince or something. I don't know why you chose this top scholar."

“He’s very good.” Su Ziyu put on a stern face: “He is talented and will definitely have a bright future. You are not allowed to mention him in front of me again.”

"Yes, it was my fault for being so talkative." Donghong knelt on the ground.

"Alright, get up." Su Ziyu waved her hand: "Send a set of jewelry to the Fu family in my name."

"Is this a gift for Miss Fu?"

"Hmm, it's just a set of jewelry. Consider it a gift from me to her when we first met." Su Ziyu curled her red lips, a mocking smile playing on her lips.

She was confident that this set of jewelry would be enough to win over his sister.

……

“Miss Fu, Duobao Pavilion was also at fault today. How could they not have reminded you to handle things with care? We are very kind to you, so we specially sent a set of jewelry to you. This set is much better than the one you saw at Duobao Pavilion. Please take a look.” Donghong brought the jewelry to Fu Jingying with her servants.

Fu Jingying glanced at it and found it to be more attractive and sophisticated than the one she had seen today.

She was so happy she could hardly speak, and she couldn't take her eyes off her.

It's covered in pearls, there must be over a hundred of them. Such a beautiful headdress would cost at least tens of thousands of taels of silver in the Treasure Pavilion.

As expected of Miss Su, she's so generous.

She had her maid, Meihua, accept the gift, and replied with a smile, "Thank you so much for your kind gift, Miss Su. You are beautiful and kind-hearted. I will definitely visit you another day to express my gratitude."

"Our young lady said that you must be unfamiliar with the capital since you are new here. She invited you to have tea and go shopping together tomorrow."

"Thank you so much!" Fu Jingying was overjoyed to hear that.

As soon as Donghong left, Fu Jingying couldn't wait to tell Qian Shi the news: "Mother, Miss Su really likes my brother very much. In order to marry into our family, she is now starting to think about how to get along with me."

Madam Qian smiled and said, "Your brother is so talented, he's the top scholar in the imperial examination, what girl wouldn't like him? But she is, after all, a young lady from the Su family. When you're with her, you must refrain from talking nonsense, at least not now."

"I'm not stupid. I know what I can and can't say. It's just that if Su Mingyue comes, should I take her with me or leave her at home?"

"You brat, why are you bringing her up?" Madam Qian snapped.