In Love With My Fierce Farming Wife!
Chapter 1230 - 1142: Birds of a feather flock together, so do people!

Chapter 1230: Chapter 1142: Birds of a feather flock together, so do people!

Miss Lei unexpectedly nodded in agreement, "Hmm, sure! Help me investigate carefully and find out who that person really is!"

Thinking of how her father intended to betroth her to that man, and how she was somewhat willing after seeing his appearance, she had assumed he came from the countryside and would certainly not carry any undesirable habits with him. However, she never anticipated that she would encounter him today while passing by this way!

Resolved, she decided that since she had run into him, she would find out everything about his character no matter what!

Su Ke and the others, laughing and chatting, walked into an elegant room on the third floor.

There were many elegant rooms on the third floor, and the group was ushered into a spacious one. The room was sizable and extravagantly furnished, a rare sight in such a location west of the city. Even more exceptional was that the elegant room was divided into an inner and outer layer, the former for social gatherings and the latter for temporary rest.

As they followed the waiter through the door, there was no one else inside the room.

"Hey, didn’t you say you had arranged to meet your friend here? Why isn’t anyone here? Could it be that they’ve decided not to come today?"

Su Ke curiously looked around.

"Don’t be anxious. Haven’t you noticed the time?"

Qin Hui only ordered a few cups of clear tea, then had the attendant bring over a table, writing materials, and a folding screen before dismissing him.

Once the waiter had left, Qin Hui gave Su Ke a secretive look, even winking at him, "Such a romantic occasion naturally requires candlelight and lovely silhouettes. How does that saying go again? It’s something about sitting or something..."

"Sitting is Zen, walking is Zen, one flower one world, one leaf one Tathagata. Spring brings green to flowers, autumn brings leaves to fall, the boundless wisdom-heart is at ease, speech and silence, motion and stillness, the body naturally understands."

Su Ke helped him complete the phrase, "The saying you were trying to recall was this one, right?"

"Exactly, exactly! Ke’er, you’re amazing to have known what I was going to say—it’s like magic!"

Qin Hui clapped his hands, visibly excited. Qin Hua and Qin Bin also expressed their admiration.

Su Ke was rather embarrassed, "Not at all, I just happened to guess right."

Was it really just luck? He merely remembered those Buddhist phrases from his studies—it must have been luck, right?

...

While the four chatted, the evening quickly enveloped the surroundings.

Before long, boisterous laughter and playful shouts came from downstairs, and gradually people entered the adjacent private rooms. Just as Su Ke was growing a bit impatient, the door of the room finally opened.

"They’re here, they’re definitely here."

He then laughed and went to greet them at the door. Soon, Su Ke saw the newcomers. They were four young men, dressed as high-ranking youths in their early twenties, quite good-looking, and clearly very familiar with Qin Hui, calling each other by their names and entering the room with arms over each other’s shoulders.

Upon seeing Su Ke, the young men came to a halt.

"Qin Hui, is this the childhood friend you were talking about? Did he also participate in this year’s Spring Imperial Civil Service Examination?"

The one who spoke, clearly taking the lead, was unfamiliar to Su Ke. However, that made sense, as this year’s examination involved more than ten thousand candidates, including those who had passed last year’s Beneficent Examination, previous years’ successful candidates, and those who had won the exams from all regions.

Given that the examination hall for the Spring Imperial Civil Service Examination was so expansive, with so many small compartments sectioned off within a single room, it was perfectly normal that he hadn’t seen it before.With this thought, he smiled and raised his hand in a greeting, "And this gentleman is...?""Oh, this is Young Master Ning, this is Young Master Song, this is Young Master Shen, and this is Young Master Cao."Before the other party could speak, Qin Hui introduced the three men and then introduced Su Ke to them, "This is my childhood friend, surnamed Su, just call him Master Su, and that’ll do."Neither party said much, they exchanged fist-greetings and sat down, each reading a scrutinizing intent in the others’ eyes.Long before arriving, Su Ke had agreed with Qin Hui not to reveal his identity.At first, Su Ke thought these men were successful candidates of the Spring Imperial Civil Service Examination, but after a few exchanges, he realized he had thought too much!These men were merely companions who had followed their cousins to the capital to gain some exposure and had subsequently met Qin Hui.This custom was prevalent in many places. If someone in the clan had succeeded in the Beneficent Examination, the family would usually arrange two to four promising young clan-brothers to accompany him. If he became an official in the future, these people would either become indispensable subordinates responsible for running errands and carrying out tasks inconvenient for an official, handling money and bribes.This situation was not just for post-examination officials; daughters of wealthy families also had similar practices.If a lady from a prominent family were to marry, one or two of her female cousins would follow her as concubines, and only after the lady became pregnant or gave birth, would she, acting as the mistress, favor her husband with these women.And these few gentlemen present were exactly such attendants!But Qin Hui, unwittingly, got along splendidly with the men which caused Su Ke, who knew the truth, to feel extremely uncomfortable.Birds of a feather flock together; people are known by the company they keep!Although he wasn’t looking down on anyone, being seen with them would still be exceedingly awkward.All of this didn’t matter, what mattered most was that conversing with them gave Su Ke the impression of talking to a wall!The feeling of not being on the same wavelength was indeed terrible, especially considering that these men seemed to think highly of themselves, radiating an intense sense of superiority and appearing eager to trample Su Ke into the mud, which truly made it difficult for Su Ke to harbor any fondness.He could no longer sit still and simply stood up, intending to take his leave.But before he could voice his departure, there was a knock at the door of the private room, and a young lady wearing a veil hat pushed open the door. Accompanied by two maidservants, she entered the room, then removed her veil hat to reveal an exquisitely beautiful face, smiling warmly as she bowed to everyone.Her voice was crisp and pleasant, "I am Hanmei, and I greet the gentlemen here.""So it’s Miss Hanmei who has arrived; please do come in. Come here, come sit with me, sit!"The so-called young masters, behaving like lecherous fools, ogled at Miss Hanmei shamelessly.Despite their gaze, Miss Hanmei managed to move with ease and sat down gracefully to the side. The young masters, seeing this, hurried to occupy seats on either side of her.Young Master Ning, even more so, extended his lecherous hand and gently caressed Miss Hanmei’s small hand back and forth."I had long heard of Miss Hanmei’s unmatched beauty, and seeing you today, it seems your reputation is well deserved. Even for me, summoning Miss Hanmei was indeed quite the effort."