When Cui Zian hurried back to his house, he saw an unrecognizable young man wearing a blue shirt sitting in the main hall of his house.
He was not surprised by the scholar's appearance. After all, on his way home from the next morning, the streets were bustling with people. He only quickly heard from the butcher's mouth that his sister was almost raped and was fortunately saved by a scholar. .
Now when he heard that his sister had encountered such a bad thing, he was naturally anxious and worried.
After all, the eldest brother is like the father. Their parents died young, and he has been attracting this girl since he became an adult. He has indeed developed a worrying temperament.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he stepped into the room, the first thing he saw was not Lingwei, but the scholar who saved people.
He called Lingwei.
On the contrary, when the scholar saw him, he immediately stood up respectfully. He only said, "Hello, Mr. Cui!"
Cui Zian only nodded lightly when he heard this.
The scholar then said again, "Lingwei and her sister-in-law are cooking in the kitchen."
Cui Zian felt a little relieved after hearing what the scholar said. He looked at the young man lightly and said, "Is this the Lingwei you saved today?"...
"The student is ashamed. He wanted to help Miss Lingwei, but he failed and was beaten up instead. It was Miss Lingwei who was smart and called someone to help afterward." Wen Mingwei said humbly in a low voice.
How could Cui Zian not know that the scholar was being modest? He whispered, "If you save me, you will save me. If my sister doesn't have you today, I don't know how she will live in the future."
After saying this, he looked at Wen Mingwei's injuries and said, "Your injury looks serious. Is it better now?"
Wen Mingwei nodded.
While Cui Zi'an was talking to Wen Mingwei, he saw Lady Cui coming out with a dish in her hand. This was the common side dish of stir-fried mallow.
She put the dishes on the open dining table, and then said to her husband Cui Zian, "Husband, this young master saved my family Lingwei's life today."
Cui Zian only said, "I understand, where is Lingwei?"
During the questioning, Lingwei came over with a plate of shredded pork with green pepper.
Cui Zian just looked her up and down, and then said, "How did you meet those people? Don't you take a few women with you when you go out?"
Cui Lingwei's eyes darkened when she heard Cui Zian's blunt question, and then she snorted softly.
However, Madam Cui grabbed Cui Zian, who was confused due to concern, and just shook her head at him, indicating that it was inconvenient to say that there were guests at the moment.
Cui Zian did not ask any more questions to his sister. Instead, Lady Cui smiled and said to Wen Mingwei, "Mr. Wen, I'm really sorry. I didn't know this would happen today. Please forgive me for the poor hospitality."
Even though Ms. Cui said so, a table with eight dishes was something that most people might not be able to afford even during the Chinese New Year, not to mention that her husband was just a capital official who was transferred to the capital from other places.
This money is not much, and his husband is not a greedy person, so he is a Beijing official. His life may not be better than other ordinary people in Beijing.
It costs money to rent a house in Beijing, money to eat, and money to travel during the New Year. How much money can a seventh-rank Beijing official have?
If Madam Cui hadn't had some money at home, and Madam Cui had pawned her last golden hairpin today, it would have been so easy to come up with these eight dishes tonight.
Although Wen Mingwei didn't know about Lady Cui secretly pawning the gold hairpin, he also knew how difficult it was to put together these eight dishes.
He was studying in the capital. Fortunately, he was recommended to the Taiyuan University because of his excellent grades. There were dormitories in the Taiyuan University, so he was able to gain a foothold in the capital.
But the accommodation problem can be solved, but the food problem is still a problem. Although Taiyuan University will give students with excellent grades money every month, in a place like the capital where every inch of land is so precious, the money is only enough for him to eat steamed buns and pickle vegetables.
And a seventh-grade academic official's monthly salary is only twenty taels, so Wen Mingwei quickly stood up and said, "What did my sister-in-law say? This is really too polite."
Seeing Wen Mingwei's formal expression, Cui Lingwei couldn't help but said, "Okay, why are you so polite? Let's eat quickly, otherwise everything will get cold in a while."
After listening to Cui Lingwei's words, Mrs. Cui just smiled and said, "Yes, let's eat."
While talking, Mrs. Cui only said something to Cui
Zian said, "Husband, do you know that Ming Weizheng is also from our Huaitai Mountain City?"
After hearing Lady Cui's words, Cui Zian naturally nodded.
This student does have some abilities. After all, I had read this young man's strategy before, and the person who showed him this work was one of my colleagues.
It's just that he and the scholar had political disagreements, so he didn't go far enough to revise his thoughts. He only criticized some expression issues with word meanings.
However, this scholar is still considered the best among his peers.
Therefore, he paid more attention to the scholar.
I just didn't expect him to meet a real person today.
And the other person is also his sister's savior.
Therefore, even though they had different opinions, Cui Zian was still determined to help the scholar before he became an official.
He turned to look at Wen Mingwei and said, "I have read one of your policy papers before. I have modified some parts for you. I wonder if you still remember it."
Wen Mingwei hurriedly said excitedly, "How dare students dare to do that? Mingwei is lucky to have the guidance of his teacher."
Wen Mingwei's words were not an exaggeration. Cui Zian was known for his talent and learning. People often said that having Cui Zian's guidance would be worth a fortune.
Cui Zian said calmly, "Actually, there is a bigger problem in your policy statement, but I didn't tell you. If you are willing, you can come to the Cui family to find me tomorrow."
There is no reason why Wen Mingwei doesn't want to do it. He just said quickly, "There are reasons why students don't want to do it. As long as the teacher is willing to teach, it will be fine."
Seeing them acting like this, Mrs. Cui just smiled and joked, "I can't stop your mouths even if I eat."
After Wen Mingwei had eaten, it was getting dark, and Wen Mingwei didn't care to say anything more to Cui Zi'an. He just said goodbye in a hurry and left.
But before leaving, he received an ointment as a gift from Cui Xiaomei, and also received some hard-to-find books lent by Wen Mingwei.
After returning to the dormitory, Wen Mingwei was naturally ecstatic and thirsty for knowledge.
On the other side, after Mrs. Cui finished taking care of household affairs with Cui Lingwei, she also urged Cui Lingwei to go to bed.
Since candles cost money to light up at night, both master and servant in the Cui family turned off the lights and went to bed early at night.
After Lady Cui went to bed with Cui Zian, she couldn't help but talk about some of the affairs in the house now.
"Cui Lang, who do you think will be the person who attacked the little girl today? They all said they came for you."
Hearing Lady Cui's words, Cui Zian only whispered: "Recently, I have been busy checking out the birthplace information of this imperial examination scholars. If you want to offend someone, I have indeed offended someone, and the person I offended is also..." Quite a few. The scholars admitted in this class are almost all children of aristocratic families, or those with connections to aristocratic families. On the contrary, very few students from poor families are admitted."
"The purpose of your Majesty's wide-ranging imperial examinations is to introduce students from poor families, so as to slowly disintegrate the power of these big families. Therefore, His Majesty is very dissatisfied with the results of this imperial examination. Therefore, he asked us to investigate the matter ourselves. I Now we have found some clues.”
Hearing this, Mrs. Cui couldn't help but break into a cold sweat. "You are a seventh-grade academic and political officer. His Majesty asked you to investigate this?"
Cui Zian nodded.
"Do you know how many people you will offend with this move? This is not a problem of one aristocratic family. This is an aristocratic family in the world. They have controlled resources and the path to advancement for generations. Now opening the imperial examination is taking away their lifeblood. Do you think Can they let it go?" At this point, Lady Cui sighed heavily.
"Of course I know, but if I don't investigate, how can I explain to others?" Cui Zian whispered.
"You paid back what they told you, so what do you do? What do Lingwei do? What do I do?"
At this point, Lady Cui whispered, "Husband, why don't we just leave this matter alone?"
Cui Zian shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, Huiniang. I can promise you all other things, but I can't promise you this alone."
"I can walk on the road I am today without the help of many, many people. If I can't walk on this road myself, I will block the road of those who have been kind to me in the past and those who come after me. In this way He is so prosperous and wealthy, but I cannot feel secure in such an official position."
Hearing Cui Zian's words, Cui Lady was even more heartbroken.
Feeling sad, she asked with only a glimmer of hope, "Can't we just stay like this? We don't want to be officials anymore. How about we go back to Huatai Mountain City? Then you can open a private school, I will spin, and we will find a new home for Lingwei." It’s a good marriage from Men Huaitai.”
After hearing Lady Cui's words, Cui Zian only said, "If I did that, I would be tantamount to a coward."
When Lady Cui heard this, she felt that all her hopes had been shattered. She turned over and turned her back to Cui Zian.
The two people who were clearly in love seemed to be separated by a Milky Way.
How could Cui Zian not know that Lady Cui was angry?
Seeing Madam Cui like this, he could only turn around and say to Madam Cui, "In a few days, take Lingwei back to Huaitai Mountain City. Your father and my brother are there. Even if they want to take action, they should We won’t move to Huaitai either.”
Mrs. Cui heard this for a long time before she said, "I really hate that I chose you in the first place."
But she also knew in her heart that if she didn't love his stubbornness, how could she be with him?
In the final analysis, it's just yourself who is to blame.
And after hearing Lady Cui's words, Cui Zian felt extremely guilty, but no matter how guilty he was, he could only say "I'm sorry" to Lady Cui.
Lady Cui did not answer his words, but just whispered, "I can take Lingwei back to Huatai Mountain City in a few days, but before that, we have to talk about Lingwei's marriage with the Du family in advance, and Return it.”
After hearing Madam Cui's words, Du Zechi only whispered, "That's natural."
After that, the night was silent, and although the two of them slept in the same bed, they said nothing more.
