Chapter 114

During the past ten days or so, Cui Wuniang was busy with her own business, while Shen Cui went about her daily routines at the academy, and the two didn’t cross paths.

But they had agreed to keep in touch often, so Cui Wuniang would send letters through her servants.

Since they lived in the same city, they didn’t need to exchange lengthy pleasantries in their letters like long-distance communication.

In fact, they could just jot down a few sentences on a piece of paper, similar to chatting on future messaging apps, and have it delivered.

Since their houses weren’t too far apart, the servants who went out for daily purchases would also deliver the letters.

This time, Cui Wuniang came in person, naturally because achieving the top scholar title was a big joyous event that required her personal congratulations.

Shen Cui had anticipated this, but since Cui Wuniang made a special trip, she had to show some surprise and invited her in for a cup of tea.

Passing by the central part of the estate, which was the academy, Cui Wuniang went to the main house.

Since they communicated frequently, Cui Wuniang had become more familiar in her way of speaking, so after sitting down and having a sip of tea to relax, she genuinely expressed her admiration, “I heard about your clever youngest son earlier, it’s such good fortune. But I never expected your luck to be this good, with your son being the top scholar. I’ve only heard of one such case in my life. How did you manage to raise him so well? You must teach me!”

“It’s all Yun Chuan’s own effort, he’s talented and hardworking. I truly have no credit,” Shen Cui explained honestly.

Coincidentally, Mrs. Zhou came over, and Shen Cui shared the good news with her.

Mrs. Zhou was ecstatic, her cheeks flushing, but because they had guests, she couldn’t show too much excitement.

After taking a few deep breaths, she calmed her agitated breaths, then looked somewhat shyly at Shen Cui.

Shen Cui immediately understood and asked Cui Wuniang, “When is Yun Chuan planning to return?”

The young wife’s thoughts were written all over her face, and Cui Wuniang had already understood.

She smiled and replied, “Actually, according to the schedule, they should have returned earlier. But my brother keeps his lips sealed tightly, not revealing the reason, only saying there’s something to take care of before returning, but surely they’ll be back within this month. When they’re back, you must invite me to the celebration; I’ll definitely come!”

Shen Cui nodded in understanding, while she asked Mrs. Zhou, pretending to be calm, to go out and buy some snacks to go with the tea.

Meanwhile, she couldn’t help but wonder—Cui Wuniang only mentioned Mu Yunchuan’s achievement, but didn’t mention her own brother, Cui Fei.

Did he not pass the exam?

But since Cui Wuniang didn’t bring it up, she couldn’t ask.

After a while, when Mrs. Zhou returned from outside and had calmed down completely, she brought the snacks over.

Indeed, Cui Wuniang was busy, as just as she started eating a piece of the snack, a servant from the carriage came over, saying that a certain shopkeeper was looking for her.

Shen Cui decided not to inquire further about Cui Fei’s situation from Cui Wuniang, as she had said that both Cui Fei and Mu Yunchuan would be back this month.

When they returned, there would be a celebration, and she would have the chance to meet Cui Fei in person.

Thanks to moving the academy to the capital city after Mu Yunchuan became the top scholar, life at Cuiwei House wasn’t affected by the daily routines.

Otherwise, if it were like before, in the village, when the Mu family produced a top scholar, the grandeur would be even greater, and it would surely bother Shen Cui even more.

Turning back to the young men in their own academy, after entering the prefectural school, Wei Shu and Wei Xi, as well as Mei Ruochu, underwent some changes.

The biggest change was that they clearly realized what it meant when they said there are people beyond people and heavens beyond heavens.

Not to mention the knowledge and guidance they received, the teaching methods were far superior to those of Lao Buyu, who had become proficient through self-study.

Of course, the three young men wouldn’t despise Lao Buyu just because they had a better teacher, but this was an undeniable fact.

After Lao Buyu heard them talk about the content of the class, he even admitted to feeling inadequate.

Among the classmates at the prefectural school, there were many outstanding talents.

Some were good at poetry, effortlessly stringing together various beautiful lines without much effort, far superior to others; some excelled in asking questions and solving problems, to the point where even Mei Ruochu had to carefully think about them after receiving them, while they could just write them down effortlessly, and their solutions were so clever, both substantial and directly addressing the topic; others were adept at writing eight-legged essays, with sentences of just the right length, complexity of words, and pitch, so natural…

Perhaps their overall qualities were not as high as Mei Ruochu’s, but in terms of individual talents, Mei Ruochu didn’t dare to say confidently that he was better than others in every aspect.

And they also heard that some people had good results in the provincial examination but plummeted after entering the prefectural school, and eventually faded into obscurity.

Mei Ruochu immediately felt a sense of crisis.

Because in just over two months, when he reached the age of eligibility, the age examination would be held.

The age examination was for inspecting all scholars, somewhat similar in difficulty to the provincial examination.

Those who passed first-class could be promoted direcrly.

Mei Ruochu, of course, didn’t need to worry about passing the examination, but if he only managed to get second-class on his first attempt, losing the district scholar status he had earned from the provincial examination, it would be a significant blow.

He attached so much importance to this, and Wei Shu and Wei Xi became even more aware of their shortcomings.

Their level of diligence had increased compared to the past.

After dinner, before they gathered to study together, they used to tell Mu Er Pang some interesting stories from the prefectural school.

With laughter and banter, chatting for about an hour or two as a break. Now, this only “entertainment activity” had stopped, and even dinner time had been compressed to half an hour.

In the original plot, Wei Xi became even more diligent and studied even better after entering the prefectural school.

Shen Cui thought that perhaps it was partly because he was competing with Mu Yunchuan, and on the other hand, he probably realized the strength of others as well?

But it’s different now. Wei Xi isn’t pushing himself too hard out of spite for others, disregarding his health.

Instead, he approaches learning with a mindset of enjoying this healthy competition, so it hasn’t affected his health.

Even if he occasionally feels a bit tired and his physique drops a bit, Shen Cui can immediately notice it and then spend some money to buy him supplements.

The original book didn’t spend much ink on how Wei Xi fared in the county, prefectural, or provincial examinations.

It only mentioned that he had always been overshadowed by Mu Yunchuan at the beginning, but clearly pointed out that he achieved the second place in the provincial examination.

This was supposed to be his achievement, so Shen Cui also encouraged them together.

With them leading the way, Mu Er Pang naturally felt the urgency too.

But he never let his studies distract him, and in Shen Cui’s eyes, his sleep time was also pitifully short.

Unable to squeeze out more time, he would even read a book while eating or using the restroom, that’s how dedicated he was.

…

At the end of September, Mu Yunchuan and Cui Fei returned to Qingzhou Prefecture from Linnan Prefecture.

After entering the city gate, Mu Yunchuan said to Cui Fei, “It’s because of me that you’ve been delayed in Linnan Prefecture for so long, Brother Cui. Your family must be worried sick. You don’t have to accompany me; go home quickly and reunite with your family.”

Cui Fei waved his hand indifferently and said with a smile, “We’re already here anyway. It won’t take much effort to send you back. Besides, my sister said your family is renting a property of hers. I know the place, and the coachman knows the way. Letting you find your own way back will only waste time.”

The coachman was a servant of the Cui family, so naturally he followed Cui Fei’s instructions and sent Mu Yunchuan back to Cuiwei.

After the carriage stopped, Cui Fei wiped his sweat and said, “I’m in quite a sorry state today, so I won’t go in to pay my respects. Please apologize to your mother for me, and I’ll visit next time.”

Mu Yunchuan nodded, and they parted ways.

After the Cui family’s carriage left, Mu Yunchuan glanced at the mansion and then looked up at the slightly old and shabby plaque of Cuiwei.

After hesitating for a moment, Mu Yunchuan knocked on the door.

The servant in the back room heard the noise and came over, asking who was at the door.

This question slightly startled Mu Yunchuan. Of course, he wasn’t there to visit anyone; he was just returning to this ‘home’ that didn’t belong to him.

Unexpectedly, when the servant opened the door and saw him, he immediately asked, “Are you Master Mu, the top scholar?”

Seeing Mu Yunchuan nod slightly, the servant opened the door wider and smiled, “The Headmaster instructed us that you would be returning these days. I apologize for my slow recognition.”

This servant wasn’t one of Wei Shu’s personal attendants; he only handled menial tasks on a daily basis and had never met Mu Yunchuan before, so naturally he didn’t recognize him.

Mu Yunchuan was slightly surprised, but he didn’t show it on his face. He just maintained a warm smile and casually asked, “Has my mother mentioned me?”

The servant nodded, “Indeed. The Headmaster mentioned that among the ten scholars, you were particularly refined and extraordinary. At that time, I even thought to myself, the Heaaster is much more educated than us, why is his description so lacking in eloquence? Among these ten scholars, eight are refined and extraordinary. How am I supposed to distinguish them? But now that I’ve seen you, those two words just popped into my mind spontaneously, proving that the Headmaster was not wrong.”

As he spoke, the servant led him near the second hanging flower gate and stopped. “You can go in now. The academy is behind. The Headmaster instructed us that outsiders shouldn’t come over unnecessarily, so I won’t accompany you.”

Mu Yunchuan pursed his lips. “Then it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to go over?” After all, in Mu Yunchuan’s view, he was indeed an outsider.

The servant didn’t understand, scratching his head, “The Headmaster didn’t say, just said you could come and go as you please.”

Mu Yunchuan didn’t want to trouble him further, so he let him go about his business.

After several upgrades, the academy had expanded, so when the two of them appeared near the hanging flower gate, she noticed that Mu Yunchuan had returned.

She put down her pen, left the classroom, and went to the hanging flower gate area.

After three years, Mu Yunchuan had grown from a young boy into a young man. His figure was no longer as slender, and there was a slight loss of innocence on his face, replaced by a hint of maturity and ruggedness.

As for Shen Cui, she had slimmed down a lot from before, but otherwise, she hadn’t changed much, looking even younger.

With no one else around, they didn’t need to perform any scenes of deep mother-son affection or tearful reunions.

After exchanging a few probing glances, Mu Yunchuan calmly addressed her as ‘mother,’ and Shen Cui responded with a simple “Welcome back safely. Have you eaten?” That was their greeting.