Chapter 415 - Chapter 415: Chapter 411: Narrow Road for Enemies_1 (1/2)
Chapter 415: Chapter 411: Narrow Road for Enemies_1
July came in a flash.
This month is time for laypeople to honor their ancestors.
There’s also a belief that the souls of ancestors are welcomed back home for a reunion, hence it’s inappropriate to visit friends or marry during this month.
Therefore, Yingbao and her mother remained at home for the entire month, except for one time when they went with Old Madam Luo to pay their respects at Ling Mountain Temple. The rest of the time was spent at home, tending to newly purchased flower pots and plants.
Her mother, Chunniang, helped plant many flowers for her daughter; some seedlings were purchased from florists, while others were grafted and transplanted herself.
Yingbao cultivated a significant number of mandarins and peaches in pots; they were budding now and would soon bear fruit.
One day, her younger brother, Jiang Jie, suddenly brought Li Xu home.
It turned out that Li Xu was also taking the imperial examination this year and had just arrived in Beijing.
However, Wen Shu and Lady Wen didn’t accompany him. They simply had two servants escort Li Xu to Beijing.
Chunniang promptly arranged a room for Li Xu.
Li Xu didn’t hold back. He spent his days with Jiang Jie, sometimes even attending lectures with Mr. Wu.
Soon it was August, time for Jiang Jie and Li Xu to take the Imperial examination.
Yingbao prepared examination baskets for both of them, stocked with medicinal pills and various foods.
Since it was autumn, and the nights could be quite cold, Yingbao also prepared quilt and cloak for them. She provided a candle and charcoal brazier for each and two wind-blocking oilcloths, along with a hammer, nails, and so forth.
Thinking back to her brother’s embarrassing situation during the provincial examination, she also prepared a pee pot and a chamber pot for him.
If he has indigestion, he can use the chamber pot as a temporary toilet. Afterwards, he can just dispose of it. This was certainly preferable to having the examiner leave a “shit stamp” on his exam paper.
The imperial examination was similar to the provincial examination, nine days long with examinations held across three rounds each lasting three days, and with breaks in between each round.
During these nine days, the examinees were crammed into tiny compartments, barely able to sleep at night.
If it rained, an examinee could fall sick from the cold or dampen his examination papers, all his years of hard work and studying can be ruined.
In the early morning, when it was still dark outside, Yingbao and her stepbrothers sent Jiang Jie and Li Xu to the Examination Yard. They watched as the two boys carried their heavy examination baskets into the gates before they returned home in the coach.
It was still dark, Jiang Quan went back to sleep, while Yingbao lay and chatted with her mother.
“Baobao, do you think Xiaojie will pass?” Chunniang asked.
Yingbao replied, “He will.” And even if he doesn’t, it doesn’t matter. He’s still young and can try again in three years.
Chunniang: “Once Xiaojie becomes an official, your mother can ask Madam Wu to find a good match for you.”
Yingbao let out a sigh.
Chunniang sighed: “Baobao, we can’t delay this any longer. Look at everybody else. They get engaged at the age of thirteen or fourteen and get married at fifteen or sixteen. When your mother married your father, she was only …”
Yingbao turned her head. “Only what?”
Chunniang coughed softly. “Just in her teens.”
Yingbao laughed quietly, “I heard from dad that you married him when you were nineteen.”
“Nonsense! Your mother was only eighteen.” Chunniang scolded, “Your father only talks nonsense!”
Yingbao laughed for a while and then said seriously, “Mom, I won’t marry until I’m twenty-one.”
“What? Twenty-one?” Chunniang pinched her daughter: “By then, are there any suitable choices left?”
Most men marry or get engaged by the time they have their coming-of-age ceremony around twenty years old.
“Then I just won’t marry.” She didn’t care about getting married; she just wanted to stay with her parents.
“No way!” Chunniang thought for a while and suggested, “Why don’t you get engaged first, then… wait until you’re twenty-one to have the wedding.”
Yingbao kept silent.
Her mother was being too naïve. What man would wait that long?
Moreover, if she were to die at the age of twenty-one, wouldn’t that harm others?
Chunniang continued to mutter to herself. “Wei Zhan is a good boy, and so is Wen Hengyin. You know their mothers well, so you two will definitely get along.”
“Xiao Xiaoyao is now a Colonel, and he might get promoted soon.”
“If you are not interested in any of them, I could ask Madam Wu to…”
When Chunniang turned her head, she noticed that her daughter had closed her eyes and fallen asleep, lightly snoring.
“You mischievous girl.” She pinched her daughter’s nose before closing her eyes too.
…