The True Winner of the Red Chamber

Zhen Yingjia thought for a while and asked, "You mean the one who married the second eldest son of the Jia family?"

"Exactly!" Li Yi sighed, "When she got married back then, my uncle wrote a special letter to show off, saying that she married a scholar, a 14-year-old scholar, and this is the character that a scholar should have."

After finishing speaking, he patted Zhen Yingjia's shoulder again as if he suddenly realized, "Brother-in-law, I didn't mean you."

This brother-in-law... No wonder the original owner's memory is always full of things related to him that cannot be displayed. The words are really... Zhen Yingjia looked at Li Yi with a smile, and said: "Next year in August will be the township examination. You must succeed immediately, win three prizes in a row, and make your father-in-law happy when you come back with the first prize, so that you will not insult the Li family's family tradition."

It's strange to say that his father-in-law is a nerd, and his grandfather is so serious and weird, who did Li Yi follow with his personality?

Although they are words of blessing, why do the three words "successful success", "three yuan in a row" and "the number one scholar" sound like curses?

Now it was Li Yi's turn to be dumbfounded.

Although Zhen Yingjia's words were not particularly difficult to refute, but this was the first time that Zhen Yingjia gave such an unscrupulous answer since she married Li Shi, and it was also the first time that she had a positive reaction to Li Yi's venomous tongue.

It's been almost ten years, Li Yi was in a daze.

Seeing Li Yi's stunned look, Zhen Yingjia also patted Li Yi's shoulder back, "Feiyun, Feiyun!"

Li Yi shook his head, recalled, called "brother-in-law" in a serious manner, and said: "Grandfather meant to take him over to relax, but uncle didn't agree. I don't believe I didn't see it, but I just listened." Grandfather means that uncle wants a chastity archway."

Zhen Yingjia narrowed her eyes, "He has a good plan."

Although there is no apparent opposition to remarriage now, there are many policies to encourage widowhood. For example, as long as you have been widowed for 20 years, your family can get a chastity memorial archway.

This thing... is the same as Juren's status, it can be exempted from taxes and corvee, and it is even better than the policy of exempting corvee from Juren and officials.

For example, Zhen Yingjia is a foreign official of the fifth rank, who can be exempted from Qishi's land tax and Qiding's corvee every year.Qishi's food is about three mu of land. As for Qiding's corvee, Zhen Yingjia's family does not have seven people.

But if there is this chastity archway, everyone in Li Wan's family can be exempted from corvee.

In addition to this, the chastity archway can also be exchanged for a place to study in the Imperial College.What's more, if such a daughter is taught, Li Shouzhong's reputation will be greatly improved again.

And what he has to pay is almost negligible.

Think about it, Li Shouzhong is now the Guozijian Jijiu, so go one step further.

"cabinet!"

The two said in unison, looked at each other and smiled randomly.

For the first time, Li Yi felt that his brother-in-law, under his prudish appearance, was actually quite calculating.

Zhen Yingjia also felt that leaving aside the attribute of poisonous tongue, my brother-in-law was really appetizing.

After saying these few words, several people had already arrived at the small courtyard that the Li family had specially sorted out. The servants of the two families went in to have a rest, and they wanted to see Henwan's brother-in-law and brother-in-law standing in the courtyard and continuing to chat.

"You don't have to worry too much." Zhen Yingjia said: "I remember when they got married, your sister just mentioned that the relationship between the two is not very close."

"Not only is it not close." Li Yi was almost as if he had found a bosom friend, "Her grandfather is my brother, but her grandfather moved to the capital in the early years, and I have never seen their family. It’s about the five suits.”

Zhen Yingjia grew up in an era when there was only one child in a family, not to mention the complicated relationship between five clothes and nine clans. At that time, even relatives like uncles or aunts were almost extinct.Although the original owner was clear about these sects, it took him a while to clarify the relationship.

Speaking of which, the relationship between Li Wan and the original owner's wife is probably equivalent to Yuan Chun and Xi Chun, sharing a great-grandfather.No, it is farther than the relationship between the two of them. Rongguo Mansion and Ningguo Mansion are only separated by a private alley, but the Li family in Jinling is separated from the Li family in the capital by thousands of miles.

Seeing the servants busy in the room, Li Yi took a moment, thinking that no one would be able to hear him, so he whispered, "I'm telling you something. You know my uncle..." He paused After a pause, as if to correct the not-so-close relationship between the two families, he changed his tone and said, "How did Uncle Tang come to have the Imperial Academy?"

Zhen Yingjia turned to look at him, and Li Yi said: "At the beginning, he didn't know what he said when he wrote the letter, but the person recommended by my grandfather changed from my father to him."

Zhen Yingjia raised her eyebrows, no wonder the father-in-law was angry when Jia Zhu got married.

"However, he also has some talents." Li Yi said unwillingly: "Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to offer wine to the Imperial College."

Patting him on the shoulder, Zhen Yingjia comforted him, "Father-in-law is upright, it would be more appropriate to teach in this academy."

Li Yi hummed a little, as if he also had lingering fears about his own father's character and behavior.

Not long after, things were packed, and seeing that Zhen Yingjia was not dissatisfied with the courtyard, Li Yi said: "It's almost time, let's go to the living room, I guess it's time to eat."

The two went out together, but met a person on the path, and he had never seen this person before.

Zhen Yingjia felt a little strange, this place was regarded as the inner courtyard, let alone he had two daughters, even though they were young ones.

Zhen Yingjia glanced at Li Yi, only to see that Li Yi squinted his eyes suddenly, stepped forward to say hello with a smirk, then turned around to introduce Zhen Yingjia, biting his teeth and said: "Brother-in-law, you haven't met Kang He yet. This is the top spot in the academy for two consecutive seasons."

Zhen Yingjia also took a step forward, Li Yi smiled horribly, "This one is my brother-in-law."

The two greeted each other, and when they got closer, Zhen Yingjia realized that this Kang He was half a head taller than herself, with a handsome appearance, tightly frowned sword eyebrows, and tightly pursed thin lips.

Because there are two people on Zhen Yingjia's side, he is actually standing a little to the side of Kang He, so he can't help but look at his side face again. The outline is as tough as a knife and an axe, and the bridge of the nose is high. So profound, Zhen Yingjia couldn't help but stare dumbfounded.

Kang He greeted the two with a stern face, Zhen Yingjia recalled, and heard Li Yi say again: "My brother-in-law brought my two nieces here, you should also pay attention."

Kang He nodded at Zhen Yingjia, and said, "Just now I took this test paper to the teacher for comment, and he has already told me."

Hearing this, Li Yi's expression became more and more uncomfortable.

Zhen Yingjia held back her laughter.

He knew what was going on. As the grandson of the head of the mountain and the son of the chief lecturer, Li Yi's knowledge was naturally no problem. The bully fell.

This is really a sad thing.

When they met for the first time, they didn't say anything, and besides, when it was time for dinner, Kang He's tone was cold when he said goodbye to Li Yi, but he warmed up a little when he talked to Zhen Yingjia.

When the person was gone, Zhen Yingjia smiled and said: "He looks a few years older than you, and he has been studying for a little longer than you..."

Without saying a word, Zhen Yingjia noticed that Li Yi's expression became strange, he subconsciously stopped his mouth, and heard Li Yi blurt out three words, "17 years old."

Zhen Yingjia didn't react for a while, and asked again, "17 years old?"

It's just that this rhetorical question seemed unfriendly to Li Yi, and he said harshly, "Kang He, the academy he came to last year is only 17 years old."

Zhen Yingjia didn't know why her brain turned, and blurted out, "So Kang He is a name, not a word?"

Li Yi also listed Kang He's various hateful things on the side, such as getting along well with his classmates, but being particularly strict with him alone, or often getting one-on-one guidance from his own father, etc. In short, it was particularly unpleasant .

Zhen Yingjia shook her head, "Are you sure it's not because you went up to provoke first?"

Li Yi choked up, "Brother-in-law, you are really..." He didn't know whether it was better to be prudish before or comfortable now.

The lunch was made in the large dining hall of the academy, although it was not exquisite, the smell of the dining hall brought back some memories of Zhen Yingjia, and the food was refined and tasty.

Afterwards, the four members of Zhen's family went back to freshen up and took a nap at noon. The children were picked up by their grandmother to talk, and Zhen Yingjia went to see his father-in-law and grandfather.

In fact, Li Yi had already told his father and grandfather once before this.

"I think my brother-in-law seems to be a little different." Li Yi still hesitated when he said it, "The last time I saw him..." Li Yi recalled, clicked twice, looked up at his grandfather who was sitting upright, and had a look on his face The serious and serious father swallowed "pretend to be real".

"I think it's because of your sister." Li Shixin said in a deep voice, "If your sister hadn't gone, how could your brother-in-law have changed so much. Hey... pity my daughter."

Li Yi still wanted to refute, but he saw Li Shixin looked at Li Daji cautiously. Could there be something about his grandfather?

Li Yi's intuition has always been very accurate, and as expected, Li Daji coughed twice, "Back then your grandmother...I also..."

Although he didn't say anything, he could guess what was going on with just one word. Li Yi recalled it carefully, and it seemed that his father took him with him during that time, even to make morning and evening appointments for his grandfather.

Li Shixin thought of his daughter, and for some reason he thought of Li Wan whose husband died, and then Jia Zhu who was awarded a scholar at the age of 14. He sighed and said, "When the Zhen family begged for your sister, they saved it and left it. The road of the imperial examination, but it seems that almost ten years have passed, and even four children have been born, and he is still... a white body."

Li Yi opened his mouth, but didn't say anything.

Strictly speaking, it's not right to be white. Although my brother-in-law has not passed the scientific examination, he is already a fifth-rank official, only half a rank lower than his uncle, who was the Imperial Academy's sacrificial wine.

Just when the three men in the room were lost in their own thoughts, a servant brought Zhen Yingjia in.

Zhen Yingjia saw that everyone was there, so she stopped being indirect and said directly: "I have resigned from office and plan to study in the academy and take the county examination early next year."

The three men in the Li family were stunned. Li Yi, the youngest, reacted the fastest. He was also influenced by Cai Cai's father, so he didn't even want to blurt out.

"Brother-in-law, are you finally willing to make progress?"