Cui Weizhen's voice suddenly sounded, and Ye Zhenzhen remembered that she was so busy watching the fun that she forgot to bring him food. She quickly handed over the food box and told him what happened just now.
"After this incident, Third Uncle should wake up."
For him, it was both lucky and cruel.
Sure enough, after the bracelet incident, no matter what Li Erniang tried, she could not even enter Ye Sanyong's house. As for Ye Shiming, he had no money in his pocket and was full of misdeeds. No one was willing to talk to him anymore, and he completely kept a low profile.
.
Ye Zhenzhen didn't care about the second wife, and focused on Rouge Fang and Cui Weizhen.
Rouge Square is on the right track. In Wang Qi's letter, he also said that several members of the direct family members had joined Man Tingfang and made huge profits when the first month's dividend was not as expected. They all wanted to hold Wang Qi accountable.
, and then I realized that Rouge Square had become someone else’s possession.
It’s not that they don’t want to make a fuss. Firstly, they want to make up for the loss. Secondly, the owner of Rouge Square is Cui Weizhen’s wife. In other words, it is Cui Weizhen’s property. With the clan trying to win over him, if they dare to cause trouble for the Cui family, they will definitely escape.
However, he was not punished by the clan rules, so the matter was settled as it was.
Ye Zhenzhen was free to concentrate on taking care of Cui Weizhen.
The provincial examination was scheduled for August 5th, and it was already May, and March would arrive in the blink of an eye. During this period, the Cui family was very careful, and even spoke softly, for fear of disturbing Cui Weizhen's study.
As soon as August entered, Ye Zhenzhen got busy, tidied up everything inside and outside, and prepared to go to Fucheng with Cui Weizhen.
Aunt Cui also packed her parcel and said to them, "After the exam, we have to wait for the results to come out. It means we will have to live in Fucheng for a month. We might as well go together so that I don't have to worry about you at home alone."
That’s okay too.
Cui Weizhen was quite helpless, but he could not refute his mother's words, so he took his whole family and servants with him and headed to Fucheng.
The city was still prosperous, but the prefect had changed. The Qin prefect abused his power and framed women from good families. After returning to Beijing, Zhou Weiran unceremoniously intervened. Not long after, he was sent to the southern barbarian land as the county magistrate.
Therefore, the Cui family moved to Fucheng without worrying about old grudges.
This time, it was not Aunt Yu's yard that they lived in, but Ye Zhenzhen and Aunt Cui who first went to Fucheng and rented a large yard for a year so that they could accommodate their family and still have something left over.
After Aunt Cui settled down, she brought gifts to visit Aunt Yu. Ye Zhenzhen asked Cui Weizhen, "Brother Zhen, we still have some rooms left in our yard. Do you have any friends of the same age who you want to invite to live here?"
There is a reason why she asked that.
The city is full of scholars from various counties rushing to take exams, the inns are full, and the courtyards are expensive. Choosing a place to live is a difficult problem. Fortunately, she had the foresight to book a house for a year, otherwise she would be running around like a headless fly now.
Cui Weizhen shook his head when he heard this, "No, it's just that as soon as you enter the courtyard, you and your mother are family members, so I don't worry about them moving in. Before coming to Fucheng, I asked Zhang Yuan and Xu Ziqin that they planned to share the courtyard with others and settle down.
I'll come visit you later, so you don't have to worry."
At the end of the year, the people who got along best with Cui Weizhen were Zhang Yuan and Xu Ziqin. They would come to his house for lunch from time to time. Ye Zhenzhen also knew them well and knew that their families were well off and renting a yard was not a big deal.
Relax.
Sure enough, in the afternoon, Zhang Yuan and Xu Ziqin came together. Ye Zhenzhen served the prepared cakes and tea and did not leave. She stayed there and listened to their conversation.
"It's been a long time since I've eaten food from my siblings, but I'm really hungry."
Zhang Yuan and Xu Ziqin thanked each other. They were used to Ye Zhenzhen's behavior and didn't think there was anything wrong with her being a woman listening to a man, so they began to share information about the provincial examination.
"In the past, the college exam only took three days, and I could go home every day. Now I need to stay in there for eight days. How can I survive this?"
Zhang Yuan said distressedly, "I eat, drink, have sex, and sleep in a small room. The weather is so hot that I'm afraid my body won't be able to hold on. Also, I heard that the Gongyuan has not been repaired for a long time, and I don't know if it will leak."
, there are spiders, insects, mosquitoes, etc. If you get bitten, you won’t be able to take the exam.”
"It's nothing. I'm just afraid that I'll get a bad name, and then I won't even be able to remember the meaning of the scriptures."
Xu Ziqin felt chills all over, as if he was remembering some unpleasant experience.
Ye Zhenzhen saw Cui Weizhen frowning and looking at a loss for words, so she quickly asked shamelessly, "What's the bad name?"
Zhang Yuan answered her, "The stinking cell is the place where candidates' feces are disposed of. Since the beginning of the exam, no one is allowed to enter or leave the Gongyuan. Therefore, the feces discharged during the exam every day need to be collected by the guards and poured into the hut. The room close to the hut is called
Stink."
When Ye Zhenzhen thought about that scene, she couldn't help but feel a chill.
With Cui Weizhen's mysophobic temperament, if he got a bad number, wouldn't he be vomited to death?
Xu Ziqin and Zhang Yuan continued to share information. Although Cui Weizhen had a father who won three yuan in a row, his father died early and there was no time to inform him of these experience information, so he would not think of these aspects at all.
It's no wonder that people from aristocratic families don't want to take the imperial examination. They definitely don't want to condescend and suffer such pain.
After the two of them talked about what they might encounter on the field, they began to talk about who this year's examiner was, what their political views were, what books they had published, etc. These must have been information they had gathered, and they were willing to share it with Cui Weizhen.
There is enough friendship.
After all, Cui Weizhen had stayed in Beijing. With his father's official position and connections, he was very familiar with those officials with Hanlin and Jinshi backgrounds. He happened to know the two chief examiners and four deputy examiners sent by the imperial court this time, and he was familiar with them.
The hobbies and preferences are so numerous that Xu Ziqin and Zhang Yuan were amazed.
"The information we spent money to buy is not as detailed as the information you know, Wei Zhen."
Both of them sighed. It was indeed their family background. Some officials' children relied on the imperial examinations to gain some advantages over them.
It seems that there is no need to waste money next time, just ask him directly.
So they asked again, "There are many poetry gatherings these days. It's a good opportunity to find out the strength of our competitors. Wei Zhen, will you go?"
Cui Weizhen shook his head, "There are only a few days left. It is useless to know the strength of the opponent. It will only disturb the mood. It is better to stay in the room and prepare for the exam to prevent any accidents."
Zhang Yuan and Xu Ziqin broke out in a cold sweat when they were reminded that if they went out to eat and had a bad stomach or something, it would indeed be an injustice.
They thanked me solemnly and really stayed in the courtyard to prepare for the exam and stayed behind closed doors.