Chapter 26: A Grand Reunion

Xu Nuo’s jaw dropped as if it might hit the floor.

“What, what is happening here?”

Zhang Yan, the most bewildered person present, looked around in confusion. Having spent every day with them, he felt as if he had missed out on an entire century of events.

The large-scale reunion was quite overwhelming, leaving the three kids utterly speechless.

“Yu Niang!”

Wang Shi’s eyes had already turned red as she slowly turned her head down. “Why did you come all this way?”

At this moment, the old lady Qi couldn’t hold back anymore and rushed forward to embrace Wang Shi. Both women started weeping uncontrollably, no one daring to intervene. After twenty years of suppressed longing, emotions erupted in this solemn moment. Even Old Master Qi covered his face with his sleeve, letting his tears flow.

After the emotional outburst, when everyone had calmed down, the old lady Qi began recounting the memories that had been locked away for over twenty years.

Shangguan realized that his maternal grandfather was not dead, as he had once thought.

Hearing the words from Shangguan, the old lady Qi laughed. “Qian’er, you ought to save that comment for when we’re in front of those old fogies! They’re hard of hearing and won’t catch it.”

Shangguan wasn’t a three-year-old; he quickly discerned that his aunt was trying to stir up the elders of the family.

“Ziqian, you mustn’t! Aunt, please don’t tease him!” Wang Shi said, rising in panic and waving her hands toward Shangguan.

“Don’t worry, I know,” Shangguan replied, fully aware of the implications but still eager to act.

As soon as Xu Nuo grasped the situation, she could sum it all up: a noble young lady had fallen in love with a poor scholar and resolutely refused to marry anyone else. However, family opposition led to a severance of ties, resulting in a tragic love story fraught with trials and hardships.

Wang Shi’s full name was Wang Yuqin, the youngest daughter of the prominent Wang family from Langya, and she had been the apple of the family’s eye. As a child, she followed her grandfather, learning poetry, etiquette, and music, and was remarkably bright and charming.

Later, when the old lady Qi married out of Jinling, she joined her family in Quanzhou. It was there that she met Shangguan Ziqian’s father and fell in love.

At that time, they had hoped to gain the approval of their families, but it was hardly easy for a woman from an aristocratic family to gain the right to love freely. Even if the head of the family, her grandfather, had consented, the older generations stood firmly against the match. Shangguan Ziqian’s father lacked both post and lineage, making his bid to marry into the Langya Wang family completely unwarranted.

Thus, two decades passed without any contact. What the old lady Qi hadn’t anticipated was that Yu Niang’s husband had such a short life—truly, the heavens seemed to envy the talented!

“Yu Niang, come with me to the estate! Your old courtyard is still here; don’t you want to take a look?” Old Master Qi could only think of making up for the hardships his sister had endured over the years, completely ignoring the sentiments of everyone else.

“Right, right, right! Let’s go home, Aunt has already prepared everything for you,” Wang Shi said, taking her aunt’s hand and gently swaying it as she used to when she was younger. “Okay, let’s go home.”

She turned back to her cousin and added, “But I’ll just take a look. I need to come back here to watch over the children; someone has to keep an eye on them!”

“Why return? This large residence has no place for you to stay?” Qi Zhengxing became anxious, bewildered as to why everyone seemed eager to leave.

His son could be excused, but what about his cousin, who had been away for over twenty years? Finally returning, and she just wanted to come take a look? Did that mean the house was merely a place for visiting?

Qi Zhengxing was now frustrated. “Tonight, no one is allowed to leave. You all have to stay at home!” With that, he dramatically swept his sleeve and headed toward the carriage.

Wang Shi knew her cousin’s temperament and was taken aback by how little it had changed after becoming the head of the family. She felt that if they were told not to leave tonight, that implied her children could indeed return. Therefore, she didn’t make them pack things up and simply locked the door, heading for the Qi estate.

Xu Nuo felt a bit nervous, her mind racing as she processed the implications. Since her mother was the youngest daughter of the Langya Wang family, it meant the Wang family was Shangguan Ziqian’s maternal family. With Qi Zhengxing being the governor of Quanzhou, it also made him Shangguan’s uncle. While Shangguan had not yet entered government service, this examination offered him strong backing. What would that backing look like when he did become an official?

Conversely, this influence could be a double-edged sword for Shangguan Ziqian. After all, in his family, the old conservatives had yet to acknowledge his identity. If he wanted to bring his mother back into the family openly, it would be a long, hard road ahead. Originally, he had planned to remain indifferent toward the examination, but it had now become a serious endeavor.

After dinner that evening, Wang Shi began conversing with the old lady Qi. Xu Nuo looked at Shangguan Ziqian, who stood before the window in his blue robe, for some reason sensing a touch of sadness.

“What’s wrong?” Xu Nuo couldn’t understand why the main character of the story radiated such melancholy. In her recollection, the book described the male protagonist as spirited and energetic.

Shangguan, recognizing that his wife was almost unbearably perceptive, quickly adjusted his mood, hiding the concern in his eyes. “Nothing, just thinking about our upcoming journey.”

Mentioning their plans energized Xu Nuo. “You’ve indeed wasted a lot of time. The exams are coming up soon, and you really should buckle down!”

Xu Nuo was already contemplating which academy in Quanzhou would be best. She wanted Shangguan to audit a few classes, with a teacher guiding him at his side. That would be far better than him puzzling things out on his own.

Moreover, the quality of the instructors in Quanzhou was high; many had previously worked on examination papers, so hitting the right topics would be a walk in the park!

Xu Nuo shared her thoughts about this with Shangguan, who understood the importance of this matter. Though she initially intended to turn to Old Master Qi for assistance, Shangguan refused, not wanting their purely familial bond to become muddied with other interests.

He had already planned that his first stop in studying would be the Quanzhou Academy. He had heard that many of the teachers there were once top scholars but had returned to Quanzhou after unsuccessful political careers, seeking a simple life as teachers.

Nor was Xu Nuo the type to sit still. With Shangguan going to school, she couldn’t slack off either, so she decided to share her desire to reopen her snack stall with him.