The Eldest Daughter of a Rural Family
Chapter 394: Don’t Play Intelligence with Mom (8)_1

Chapter 394: Chapter 394: Don’t Play Intelligence with Mom (8)_1

"If the Qian family really fell out with Lady Qian, it would be impossible for them to help her open a silk and satin shop, let alone take action against Sister Qinqin and her brother, spending Silver Coin to buy a way through is also highly unlikely!" Fang Fu said with a furrowed brow, glancing at Pei Qin, "The Shen family is large and powerful, too influential to let anyone bought by the Qian family get the better of them. There might be something else going on here."

At this point, Old Scholar Fang’s face turned ugly. Shen Songming had returned to Capital Jingcheng, probably to propose marriage to Qinqin. The Shen family would definitely not agree to him marrying a country girl, turning the imperial favor incident into an issue for Old Pei’s House. Their greatest support, now unreliable, instead fortified the rival Pei family!

Fang Hui pursed her lips and remained silent all this while, having roughly guessed that Pei Qin was old enough for Shen Songming and hoped to marry into the Shen family. With the imperial favor, she could have elevated her status, but it’s a pity Shen Songming was bewitched by her "Love Potion", and the Shen family still looked down on her. Now, she couldn’t reach that high branch even if she tried. If she had married their Dalang from the beginning, would she be in this situation now?

"The New Year is coming; let’s not think about these things anymore! Let’s just enjoy the New Year, and we can talk about it afterward," Pei Qin, who had been sitting by the side, said with a smile curling at the corner of her mouth.

Seeing that she still didn’t get it, Fang Li frowned and said, "Anyway, the Qian family isn’t easy to deal with. If you’re going to confront anyone, it should be the Pei family first! This isn’t something that can be resolved overnight. We need to plan carefully in the long term!"

That was as much as could be said on the matter.

After sitting for a while longer, Old Scholar Fang stood up to leave, and the people from the Fang family and Fang Hui also took their leave one by one.

Pei Qin left the house in the care of Pei Yuan and Pei Qian, with Lu Hao watching over it, while she took Lu Hai to the town’s shop to lend a hand.

The New Year was approaching, and the roasted seeds and nuts shop was bustling, busy every single day.

When Pei Qin came to help at the nuts shop, customers who saw her offered their sympathy, and there were whispers and laughter behind her back. They called her Silly Melon Seeds, and now she really had become a "silly melon"! The titular reward that was in plain sight had fallen into someone else’s hands!

While some cursed Old Pei’s House and scorned Pei Zongli and Qian Wanxiu, Wanxiu knew how to speak, claiming that Pei Qin and the others were but children; the titular reward was surely meant directly for the Pei family, representing them all. They didn’t steal the reward and even welcomed Sister Peiqin and her brother back as part of the dowry, and so on.

Anyway, there were many who criticized Pei Zongli, but not a few who praised Qian Wanxiu as gentle, virtuous, well-read, and reasonable. The two sons she raised were handsome, excelled at studies despite their young age, and were courteous, looking the part of Young Masters of Aristocratic Families!

After selling nuts for the whole day, Pei Qin took Lu Hai to the County Government Office to see Wu Dongsi, wishing to inquire about Zhao Yaocheng.

Wu Dongsi had also hoped for a promotion and wealth once the imperial reward for sweet potatoes was announced, but the outcome was not what he had expected, leaving him to harbor resentment in his heart against the people of the Qian family and Old Pei’s House. Hearing Pei Qin mention Zhao Yaocheng, and remembering that Pei Wenli became a Scholar the following year after becoming related by marriage to the Zhao family, he promptly dug out all of Zhao Yaocheng’s records.

There was more than one Clerk in the County Government Office like Zhao Yaocheng, who had always been cautious, trying not to bear a bad reputation, so he wasn’t very prominent. Every year he took his meager salary from the office and scraped together a bit more from other places. His corruption wasn’t immediately apparent, but Wu Dongsi, resentful and disliking him, began to investigate whether Zhao Yaocheng had helped Pei Wenli cheat.

Pei Qin knew that this kind of investigation by Wu Dongsi, hardly an upright and incorruptible official, would definitely turn up something, even if there wasn’t any major fault to find. After raising the alarm, she then brought up Pei Zongli’s matter. His scholarly title had already been reinstated. However, the file at the County Government Office hadn’t been updated yet.

Wu Dongsi, feeling as if he was in the same boat as Pei Qin, allowed her to look through the records.

Upon seeing the entry for Pei Zongli’s wife, indicating that his principal wife Lady Fang had passed away, Pei Qin couldn’t help but laugh, "Sir Wu! If Pei Zongli’s sons wish to take part in the imperial examinations in the future, how should they fill in the parents’ section of the test paper? As a woman, I’ve never studied and don’t understand these examinations. For filling in the names of the parents, should they list their father and legitimate mother?"