Chu Shanchang gave Lord Liu a look that said, “Come clean.”

Lord Liu stopped hiding anything and explained the situation to his wife.

Headmistress Chu listened and said indignantly, “You! A few days ago, you came back late and sneaked over the wall, and nobody saw. Today, you come back early, and you’re still up to these sneaky behaviors… Luckily, it was someone from Cuiwei Academy who saw you. If others had seen and spread it, I wonder where you would hide your face!”

Lord Liu blushed at the scolding and coughed again.

Chu Shanchang stopped chiding him further and asked, “Do you have intentions in that regard?”

Lord Liu nodded and said, “Our family doesn’t have much foundation. Whether Yue Yue marries up or down, I worry she might be wronged. It’s rare to find such a suitable match. Of course, neither of us is old-fashioned, so this is just a start. As for the future, it depends on the children themselves.”

Chu Shan Chang didn’t know Mu Er Pang personally, but she was familiar with Shen Cui — when she invited Shen Cui to be a temporary lecturer at the girls’ school, she had someone investigate Cuiwei’s background.

Almost everyone who had interacted with Cuiwei Academy had nothing but good things to say about the academy and Shen Cui.

Now that Cuiwei’s students had graduated, some would occasionally visit their former mentor Lord Lui.

With a Headmaster who could produce such students, her character was undoubtedly impeccable.

Knowing all this, Headmistress Chu had her niece invite Shen Cui to come over.

Moreover, the first time Shen Cui visited the school, she got along very well with Liu Muyue.

Such harmony between people was hard to explain and rare to find.

Liu Muyue had been talking about Shen Cui’s next visit to the girls’ school these past few days, looking forward to meeting this amiable elder again.

Furthermore, Lord Liu had privately mentioned more than once how much the newly crowned top scholar used to admire him.

Although he didn’t publicly support Mu Er Pang when he was the prefect, he did regard him highly.

Every year, he would inquire about Mu Er Pang’s exam results and personally review his exam papers.

When this year’s top scholars were announced, Lord Liu didn’t show much reaction outwardly, but once he returned home, he couldn’t help but enjoy a drink in secret.

The connection between the two families ran deep.

Chu Shan Chang nodded, “That’s settled then. Let’s just provide them with an opportunity, and whether it succeeds or not depends on them. If it works out, that’s great. If not, considering Shen Cui’s character and the upbringing of her son, they wouldn’t spread this matter around, and we’ll look for another match.”

Meanwhile, Mu Er Pang returned to the academy, where everyone was waiting for him to start dinner.

After dinner, he went to the classroom with Mei Ruochu.

Although they had only been in the Hanlin Academy for less than half a year, their workload hadn’t become so heavy that they needed to bring work home. However, old habits die hard, and they would often spend some time reading or practicing calligraphy after dinner, or discussing their studies to aid digestion.

Today, however, they didn’t go to their usual spots. They each focused on their own tasks.

As usual, Shen Cui made her rounds and noticed Mei Ruochu writing some strange symbols on paper.

Since the salaries at the Hanlin Academy weren’t high, Mu Er Pang sometimes took on external written work.

Shen Cui didn’t inquire further.

Mu Er Pang, on the other hand, first wrote out five poems and then stared at them, deep in thought, as if he were in an imperial examination hall.

Only after a long while did he start to write his evaluations.

Shen Cui couldn’t understand Mei Ruochu’s work, but after observing Mu Er Pang for a while, she realized he was writing evaluations for the poems.

Mu Er Pang had put in a lot of effort into poetry and literature in the past, doing plenty of preparation work like writing reflections on famous poems.

However, he didn’t genuinely enjoy writing poetry, so after passing the exams, he hadn’t touched it much except when genuinely inspired.

Seeing him start again today, it was no wonder Shen Cui couldn’t help but take a closer look.

“It’s an ‘assignment’ from Lord Liu,” Mu Er Pang explained simply.

Lord Liu was renowned for his poetry and literature.

Mu Er Pang probably had truly offended him today, prompting him to set such a challenge, much like he used to test Mu Er Pang in the examination hall.

That’s what Mu Er Pang thought.

As Shen Cui took a closer look at the poems, she realized they all depicted cheerful scenes of autumn, like enjoying crabs or going on outings.

Connecting the dots, Shen Cui immediately understood what was going on.

“You, you’re such a lucky fool!” Shen Cui chuckled, scolding him lightly.

Like Lord Liu and Chu Shanchang, she also didn’t want to directly intervene in this matter, so she didn’t expose anything.

Mu Er Pang was still puzzled, but Shen Cui didn’t say anything further and returned to her own seat.

Lord Liu had asked him to write a two to three hundred-word evaluation for each poem, totaling over a thousand words for five poems.

Lord Liu’s reputation in poetry and literature was well-established, so these over a thousand words had to be substantial, and Mu Er Pang had to complete them within three to five days, the sooner the better.

With tight deadlines and heavy tasks, coupled with Lord Liu’s fame, getting such “assignments” from him was considered a blessing.

Mu Er Pang didn’t bother to ask further and promptly started working on the “assignments.”

From that day onwards, Mei Ruochu and Shen Cui agreed to stay back an extra half hour.

Mu Er Pang also started coming back late occasionally, presumably to meet with Lord Liu and submit his “assignments.”

Initially, Mu Er Pang thought it was a one-time thing, but to his surprise, Lord Liu started giving him new poems at an increasing pace…

As Mu Er Pang read more of the poems, he could tell from some poetic habits that they were written by the same person, but not Lord Liu.

At first, he was doing it as a way to make amends, but as he evaluated more poems, he didn’t mind it.

After all, while the poems weren’t exceptionally brilliant, they were lively and interesting.

Reading them in his spare time helped him relax.

In mid-September, Lord Liu was officially promoted from Assistant Minister of Rites to Minister of Rites.

As Assistant Minister of Rites, his position in the Ministry of Rites was only second to the Secretary and the Minister.

However, reaching the rank of Minister, a third-rank official, was a crucial and difficult step to take.

As a semi-disciple of Minister Wang, who had nurtured him for many years, Lord Liu had endured over a decade in the position of Assistant Minister of Rites and three years of exile as a prefect before finally achieving this promotion.

The difficulty can be imagined!

So this is definitely a great joy for the Liu family.

The Liu family is going to hold a lively banquet, and Liu Muyue personally came to give Shen Cui the invitation.

During this period, Shen Cui had already visited the women’s school several times, and she was more familiar with Liu Muyue than before.

After accepting the invitation, Shen Cui smiled and said, “There’s no need for you to come in person to deliver the invitation! We will definitely go then!”

The weather in September was already considered cool, but Liu Muyue dressed very formally on this day, representing the Liu family’s serious invitation, so she still sweated a little on her forehead.

Shen Cui wiped her sweat with a handkerchief and brought her some warm tea to drink.

Liu Muyue didn’t behave too reserved in front of her, allowing her to wipe the sweat gently, and even took a few sips of tea directly from Shen Cui’s hand before catching her breath and saying, “I’m so tired. In the morning, I went with my mother to deliver invitations to several families. It’s only now that I’ve come alive…”

She complained pitifully.

If it weren’t for her hair bun being combed so formally, Shen Cui couldn’t help but want to ruffle her hair.

She was just so adorable that Shen Cui’s heart was melting!

After chatting for a while, Liu Muyue suddenly remembered something and hurriedly said, “I did come to deliver the invitation to you at the last minute, but it wasn’t meant to be disrespectful.”

Shen Cui asked her to take a few more sips of tea, then said, “I understand. It’s not about being disrespectful, it’s about being close! The last family to send me here, you just happen to be able to rest here with me.”

Liu Muyue didn’t dare to mess up her hair bun, so she just nestled her head in Shen Cui’s arms, “My mother also said so. The house is being set up for the banquet, it’s very messy. She rushed back to take charge of the overall situation, so she just put me here to catch my breath.”

Shen Cui was used to being frugal, and now that she was comfortable shopping, she didn’t spend recklessly. But seeing her exhausted look, she softened and went to the kitchen again, bought some modern snacks, opened the packaging, and took them out for her to eat.

Liu Muyue came in the afternoon and had been resting until dusk when it was time to say goodbye.

Before leaving, she lightly kicked the ground with the tip of her shoe, seemingly casually asking, “Isn’t today a rest day for the court? The academy is unusually quiet.”

“It is indeed a rest day, but if there is a gathering among the colleagues, they won’t be at the academy,” Shen Cui explained, watching Liu Muyue’s face slowly flush red, understanding who she was really asking about.

Indeed, Master Liu himself is a talented person in the imperial examinations, and Lady Chu is also a remarkable woman. How could their daughter be a fool?

She was probably already aware that those poetic evaluations did not come from her own father’s hand, and she had also guessed the identity of the ghostwriter from the clues.

And after guessing, she did not reveal it—yesterday, Shen Cui had seen her son writing new poetic evaluations with her own eyes.

Today, she was acting a bit coquettish, most likely quite satisfied with Mu Er Pang, this ‘poetry friend.’

“Then I’ll be going.” Liu Muyue stood up with a red face, and Shen Cui personally escorted her out.

Later in the evening, Mei Ruochu and Mu Er Pang came back together for dinner.

Shen Cui first mentioned the Liu family’s invitation for Cui Wei and everyone to attend the banquet, then couldn’t help but laugh looking at Mu Er Pang.

Mu Er Pang asked her why she was laughing.

Shen Cui still smiled and said, “Laughing fools have foolish luck!”

Mu Er Pang would definitely ask more this time, but Shen Cui still didn’t want to reveal it.

Especially now that everyone was present, she planned to find an opportunity to chat with Mu Er Pang alone and indirectly ask about his opinion on that ‘poetry friend.’

“Eat, eat.” Shen Cui deliberately avoided answering and picked up the public chopsticks to pick food for both of them.

Turning to Mei Ruochu, she said strangely, “Is this robe you’re wearing new? It seems like I haven’t seen you wear it before.”

Mei Ruochu’s robes have always been sewn or purchased by Shen Cui, and he himself doesn’t pay much attention to dressing.

After passing the exam, Shen Cui mentioned several times that she wanted to make more decent clothes for him, but he always declined, saying it’s enough to wear a formal robe when it’s appropriate, and it’s comfortable to wear old clothes normally.

Today, he wore a brand-new sky-blue straight robe, which not only fit him perfectly, but also had bamboo patterns embroidered on the cuffs and collar, making him look even more elegant.

Mei Ruochu, who was just drinking soup, suddenly choked and his face turned red at a visible speed.