The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 772 - 761: Influence

Chapter 772: Chapter 761: Influence

Old Madam Zuo clutched at her heart, feeling a throbbing pain in her head. They had just arrived in Yizhou City, and barely become familiar with the place. Above them resided the Prince of Yizhou, and below, there was the county magistrate from a prestigious family. Either one was an entity that their family, of a mere fifth-rank official, could not afford to offend.

They had intended to put on a good front, to break into the upper crust of Yizhou City. But how long had it been since the Winter Solstice banquet? Their family’s face had been thoroughly trampled into the ground.

Their grandson was young, and moreover, a generation removed – parenting him was the responsibility of his own parents.

Old Madam Zuo could only point at Bai Yu, wordless for a long while.

Ms. Duan hurried over to calm her, but Old Madam Zuo, irritated, brushed her hand aside, saying, "You’re a mother. If your son has done wrong, it’s up to you to punish or scold him; and as a wife, when your husband errs, you too should rebuke him. Is he not your son? Is he not your husband? Is this not your home? Do you think standing by idly absolves you?"

Ms. Duan, frightened, took a step back and knelt down.

After berating her, Old Madam Zuo turned her ire to Bai Yu. "You’re an adult uncle and still an official, yet you stoop to quarrel with three children. Isn’t that shameful? You’ve led your son astray..."

Bai Yu knelt as well, and after his mother had finished berating him, he asked, "If we’re not to withdraw the complaint, then what shall we do?"

Old Madam Zuo seated herself in a chair and looked down at him. "What do you think?"

Bai Yu, of course, knew what his mother meant, but... that would just be too humiliating.

Seeing her son silent and with his head lowered, Old Madam Zuo closed her eyes and said, "Although I’ve only met those three children twice, and have spoken but a few words to Bai Shan and Bai Cheng, I can tell that they are very proud individuals."

"Especially Bai Shan and the young lady from the Zhou Family. You cannot expect them to bow their heads. It’s impossible," Old Madam Zuo said. "Don’t take lightly the spirit of the young. You regard them as without a father or foundation, but have you forgotten Bai Qi? Had he not died prematurely, the situation at our ancestral home by now... hmph."

Bai Yu lowered his head further.

After taking a deep breath, Old Madam Zuo continued, "Do I need to teach you further? Tomorrow, after his examination at the academy is over, go take a trip to the County Governmental Office."

Bai Yu could only agree.

Old Madam Zuo surveyed the room. With the parents kneeling, Bai Ling, his two sisters, and their maids also knelt down.

With the masters of the house kneeling, the servants dared not stand, so now a roomful of people were kneeling.

Old Madam Zuo felt a headache coming on at the sight. She waved her hand and got up with the help of the chair, and Ms. Duan quickly crawled up to assist her.

Old Madam Zuo glanced at her and said, "I have attendants to serve me here. Go about your business."

Ms. Duan bowed her head in compliance.

Because Old Madam Zuo had just scolded her for negligence, Ms. Duan did not leave immediately with her daughters. Instead, she helped Bai Yu up and tried to comfort him.

Bai Yu brushed her hand away, saying, "It’s not a big deal, you need not worry about it. Although it is a lawsuit, since County Magistrate Tang sent someone to notify us in advance, it clearly won’t escalate. At most, Erlang will be scolded tomorrow and fined some money. If you do not publicize it, no one will know."

Ms. Duan bowed her head and responded, but internally she scoffed: If you’ve known about it all along, why did you seek trouble with the neighbors in the first place?

Bai Yu had no time to bother with what Ms. Duan was thinking; what troubled him was how he was supposed to face County Magistrate Tang tomorrow.

Although they were not in the same department, appearing in such a manner at the County Governmental Office was too disgraceful.

Just thinking about it made Bai Yu feel like he could barely suppress his temper, and so he glared fiercely at Bai Ning and reprimanded, "Haven’t you left yet? Wait until your year-end exams are over, then I’ll punish you. Get out!"

Bai Ning’s face went pale as he retreated; after all, he was only thirteen. The thought of having to answer to the government office the next day made him ashen.

After a restless night, and with no chance to review his lessons, his focus was scattered. He had been hoping to achieve good results in his exams that year and go straight to the prefectural school’s entrance exam the following year.

He’d always thought he was no worse than Bai Shan. It was only because he was not in Yizhou City during last year’s prefectural school exams that he didn’t attend. Otherwise, he surely would have taken part.

Bai Shan had joined the prefectural school as the last-ranked entrant. If he had also taken the exam, Bai Shan might not have stood a chance, and he would have been the youngest student to enter that year.

Ever since he’d learned of Bai Shan’s achievements, the whole family, from his grandmother to his brothers, had been praising how impressive he was, having been admitted to the prefectural school at such a young age, and his father told him thrice daily to take Bai Shan as a model.

He used to be the "Bai Shan" other fathers referred to, and this was the first time he heard his own father speak to him in such a manner.

Bai Ning returned to his room in a daze and left the next morning in the same state for his examination at the academy.

Bai Shan and the others had nearly forgotten about the incident after sleeping on it. After all, the exertion from the previous evening had been immense, and any leftover anger from their complaint against County Magistrate Tang had dissipated with the labor.

Having heeded Mr. Zhuang’s counsel from the evening before, they focused on revising their lessons. Who would spare a thought for Bai Ning?

Early in the morning, Manbao stood at the doorway, waving goodbye and wishing them a smooth exam.

She then went empty-handed to the pharmacy, informing Doctor Ji that she, too, had exams in the coming days and would not be visiting.

Doctor Ji looked at her curiously. "Why would you have exams if you’re not attending the academy?"

Manbao nodded, "The teacher got me a test from the prefectural school. Books must be read, and having read, one must be examined to see how well the material has been grasped."

Doctor Ji waved his hand, "Okay, I got it. By the way, you’ve always reminded the herb growers to collect some fresh and active herbs for you, right? In a few days, they’ll be delivering them. Do you want to come and check?"

Manbao responded without much hope, "Alright, I’ll come and see."

But in reality, few herb growers would bring her fresh herbs; mainly because most herbs are wild-harvested.

Once harvested, it’s difficult to keep them alive; to preserve them, they have to be processed.

Usually, growers accumulate a month or two’s harvest before delivering it once, so even if someone intended to pot some fresh herbs for her, by the time they reached her, they were often dead.

So, for the past six months, Manbao had collected very few fresh herbs from the growers, and those few she did acquire were common in the Bai Family’s library, not worth many points.

Manbao didn’t have much hope, but some hope was better than none.

Keke felt the same.

In the past six months, the host frequented nearby areas, collecting whatever was available; those out of reach—either too expensive to purchase or simply unobtainable—remained mere objects of desire.

Returning from the pharmacy, Manbao immediately buried herself in her study to revise her lessons. She had one advantage over Bai Shan and Bai Erlang—she always managed to find an extra day for review.

Manbao felt quite delighted at the thought.

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