First, Meng Fangxun's family. They were typical farmers; besides Meng Fangxun, no had even left the county. Now Meng Fangxun was going to the capital for the exams; they could only help pack, offering little other assistance.
Fortunately, Meng Fangxun was diligent. Not only did he become a Juren, he also found a quite good fiancée. Thinking of his fiancée, Old Man Meng felt somewhat comforted, squatting by the door urging his family, "Pack all the my we have for him!"
In recent years, planting ginger and sugarcane had earned them a considerable sum. Meng Fangxun looked at the stack of my his family pressed on him, amused and touched. "I won't need this much."
"Take it even if you don't need it," Old Man Meng insisted. "Be prepared for a long journey. The capital is far. If anything happens, we can't help. Having my is better than not."
Meng Fangxun thought of Xu Huaiqian and the others, saying hstly, "I have friends to rely on."
"Take it," Meng Fangxun's elder brother also shoved the banknotes into his hand. "Better not trouble others too much."
Unable to refuse, Meng Fangxun accepted the my. Thinking it over, he happily said, "Father, if all goes well this time, when I return from the capital, I'll definitely bring Wei Lan back to you."
"Good, good, good!" At this, Old Man Meng's wrinkled face smiled even deeper. "Nothing else matters much; bringing Wei Lan back is what's important."
Meng Fangxun was twenty-three now. Previously, Old Man Meng worried about finding him a wife. As a scholar, marrying a village girl would mean they couldn't converse—wouldn't that harm the girl?
But finding another educated match? Where would their farming family, who only knew manual labor, meet educated, literate girls? There were no matchmakers nearby who knew such girls.
Just when they were anxiously stuck, Meng Fangxun quietly announced, "I found myself. She's the daughter of a seventh-rank official in the Hanlin Academy in the capital. Once I become a Juren, I can propose. You needn't worry."
His quiet yet shocking announcement—that he had connected with an official's daughter in the capital—left them bewildered. How could he, from this remote place, have met a capital official's daughter?
At first, the family didn't take it seriously, thinking he was lying to comfort them.
Until Meng Fangxun showed them the letters exchanged with the official's daughter. Seeing the handwriting, so different from their son's, they had to believe—their son really had connected with an official's daughter in the capital.
Even more bizarrely, the girl's father had sent them a letter of greeting, saying that once Meng Fangxun became a Juren, the two families could begin discussing the marriage.
After Meng Fangxun passed the provincial exams, they sent his birth details and a betrothal jade pendant via a security escort service. The other family kept their word, reciprocating with a jade pendant and the girl's birth details.
They consulted a matchmaker: a heavenly match! A perfect union!
Only thing was unsatisfactory: they hadn't met the girl yet. Communication was solely through letters. They only knew from their son that she was a very cute and understanding girl; nothing else was clear.
But since their son had chosen her himself, she must be good-looking.
Old Man Meng never imagined that Meng Fangxun hadn't met her either.
Like his family, Meng Fangxun only knew her name and birth details. Her appearance and height were unknown to him.
However, after years of correspondence, even if she were plain, he was certain her personality was bold and lovely.
If she weren't bold, how could she dare engage in a letter-based courtship without seeing his face? She even showed their letters to her father and persuaded him to agree to the betrothal.
Regardless, this fiancée was his.
Next was Pei Wangshu's family. Although Du Yuerong appeared calm about her son becoming a Juren, she was secretly thrilled.
Her good son had brought her great honor!
Previously, shopkeepers around her would shake their heads seeing Wangshu, thinking her investment in his education was wasteful. Now, seeing him become a Xiucai and then a Juren, they were all envious.
Outside, people no longer called her "Manager Du" but "Mother of Juren Pei." "Mother of Juren" sounded much better than "Manager Du" or "Mother of Xiucai."
"Focus on the exams in the capital; don't get involved in unsavory activities," Du Yuerong repeatedly warned. "The girls and men in those establishments aren't clean. If you feel the urge, find a proper wife quickly."
As some with experience, Du Yuerong knew men were easily tempted. Their small county hadn't yet seen the emergence of those dubious "houses," but the capital was different.
A place where land was priceless and extravagance knew no bounds—it must be full of temptations. Her son, still naive, might succumb. A mother couldn't help but worry.
"Mother, stop it," Pei Wangshu's ears turned red with embarrassment. "What mother talks to her son about such things?"
"If I don't say it, you won't understand." Du Yuerong was dismissive. "You're twenty. I tell you to find a wife, but you don't. I know you look down on girls in the county now, but I don't know any outside girls. What if some hooks you with a finger? You're my only son; where would I find you?"
Du Yuerong saw clearly: her son wasn't short of my, so financial temptations wouldn't work. The only thing that could tempt him was beauty.
"To hook me, they'd have to be some I fancy." Pei Wangshu rubbed his burning ears. He felt he might never find a wife he truly liked.
"Don't set your standards too high," Du Yuerong thought her son must have some issue. "Some to get by with is enough. Your father and I had never even met before we married, yet we managed."
"Who gets married without meeting now?" Betrothals involved meetings between the parties. Pei Wangshu refused to believe there were fools who would commit without meeting. "Anyway, I insist on marrying only some I love."
Du Yuerong was puzzled: "What kind do you like?"
"I don't know." Pei Wangshu shook his head. "Good-looking, able to protect me, pamper me, cherish me—that kind."
He admired how Chen Liejiu treated Xu Huaiqian. He wanted some like that.
Du Yuerong rolled her eyes. "You're not looking for a wife; you're looking for a mother!" Where in the world were there women or men who could protect a man?
The Zhang family was also reluctant to part. Zhang Jiming, Teacher Zhang, considered his proudest achievement teaching two outstanding disciples: was his disciple who became the Jieyuan, the other was his grandson, who became a Juren at seventeen.
"Xiao Wen, follow your senior brother properly!" In his life, besides visiting Yong'an Prefecture in his youth, Teacher Zhang had never traveled far. Old and unable to accompany his grandson to the capital, he could only entrust him to Xu Huaiqian. "If you don't understand something, don't be shy; ask your senior brother directly. I can see it now: this ailing disciple of mine is truly a dragon among men. You won't lose out by following him."
"Father, have you forgotten me?" Zhang Bingwen's father, Zhang Yanliang, reminded him upon hearing Teacher Zhang assign his son to a "sickly" disciple instead of him.
"Oh." Only then did Teacher Zhang remember he had a son. "You just focus on safely escorting Huaiqian and Xiao Wen to the capital."
They had chartered Zhang Yanliang's boat for the journey to the capital. Logically, as the elder and Zhang Bingwen's father, Zhang Bingwen should be entrusted to him. But long disappointed in Zhang Yanliang, Zhang Jiming had no expectations of him.
"Father—" Zhang Yanliang looked resentfully at Zhang Jiming. "Even if I didn't bring you honor through the exams, at least I gave you Xiao Wen." Couldn't they let bygs be bygs?
"Hmm, right." Zhang Jiming had almost forgotten Zhang Yanliang fathered such an excellent grandson. "Then be careful on the journey. Don't let Xiao Wen or Huaiqian get seasick and delay the Metropolitan Exams."
"Yes, yes! Medicine, we need medicine on the boat." Teacher Zhang patted his head, realizing belatedly. "In case of headaches or fevers, we need to be prepared."
"Grandfather, we have it!" Zhang Bingwen glanced at his dejected father, suppressing a laugh. "A classmate of mine studies medicine. His pregnant husband is traveling to the capital with us. The boat is stocked with medicine."
"Good, that's good." Teacher Zhang felt relieved. Looking at Zhang Bingwen, now taller than him, he remembered something. "Xiao Wen, shouldn't we be arranging a marriage for you?"
Zhang Bingwen was bewildered: "...Huh?"
"Your senior brother married at seventeen," Teacher Zhang thought of Xu Huaiqian. "If you have some you like, I can arrange the betrothal."
Zhang Bingwen shook his head. "Not yet. Let's wait until I pass the Jinshi exams."
"Alright." Teacher Zhang nodded. "Once you become a Jinshi, a seventeen-year-old Jinshi—perhaps countless girls in the capital will want to marry you."
Zhang Bingwen felt nothing about this. He felt he hadn't grown up yet; how was it already time to marry?