Chapter 46

Chapter 46

“Incredible. Truly incredible!”

“The county examination in the second month, the prefectural examination in the third, the academy examination in the fourth, and the Provincial Examination in the eighth-Eldest Young Master Sheng took first place in every single one. His future is truly boundless!”

Packed in among the crowd, Song Fu was overjoyed when he heard this. He quickly fixed his eyes on the list, and sure enough, there on the board, written in bold, was his young master’s name.

“Haha, he passed! He passed!” Song Fu’s face flushed red with excitement. No longer caring about the looks from the people around him, he waved his arms and practically danced as he ran back toward the mansion.

Several strings of bright red firecrackers had been prepared early in front of Sheng Mansion.

Sheng Yuanzhong stood at the entrance, pacing back and forth, glancing toward the end of the street again and again.

Lady Lu clutched a handkerchief in her hand, her heart full of anxiety.

The steward followed behind them. Sharp-eyed, he spotted Song Fu’s figure flashing into view at the street corner and hurriedly said, thrilled, “Master, Song Fu is back!”

Sheng Yuanzhong’s eyes widened, and he anxiously looked over.

Through the curtain of rain, Song Fu had even forgotten to open his umbrella. Soaked from head to toe, he ran back with a face full of excitement.

“Congratulations, Master! Our young master passed! He’s the Jieyuan!”

Sheng Yuanzhong drew in a hot breath. The enormous stone weighing on his heart crashed to the ground at last. A rush of warmth surged through his whole body, and even the muscles in his face trembled with excitement.

The onlookers gathered around began offering their congratulations one after another.

Sheng Yuanzhong suppressed the excitement in his heart, but he could not hide the smile at the corners of his mouth. He cupped his hands and thanked them one by one.

Lady Lu stood to the side. At first, joy lit her face, but then, as if she had suddenly thought of something, a trace of worry flickered across her brow.

Sheng Yuanzhong did not notice anything unusual about his wife. He turned back and instructed the servants, “Quick, light the firecrackers!”

Several servants hurriedly brought out the firecrackers from behind the gate, lifted them high on poles, set them at the entrance, and lit them with a fire striker.

Crack, crack, crack-

The firecrackers erupted in a deafening roar.

Amid the air of joy and celebration, two sour gazes came from around the corner of the courtyard, utterly spoiling the mood.

“How petty. So what if he became Jieyuan? What’s so impressive about that? Look how happy they’re acting. If he’s so capable, let him come back as the top scholar of the empire!”

Lady Liu glared at Sheng Yuanzhong and Lady Lu by the gate, grinding her back teeth so hard they nearly shattered.

“Exactly. What’s there to be so smug about?”

Sheng Zhaoyan toyed with the cricket in his hands and echoed her without even lifting his head.

Lady Liu immediately turned back and shot her son a vicious glare.

“And I haven’t even started on you! Look at the Eldest Branch. Their son was barely found and brought back, yet he’s already won them so much face. Then look at you. When will you ever amount to anything?”

Sheng Zhaoyan froze for a moment. “Weren’t you just saying he wasn’t anything special? How did this suddenly become about me?”

“You-” Lady Liu choked, her chest tightening with anger until she could not speak.

She had never imagined that she, shrewd her whole life, would have risked everything to give birth to a son as stupid as a pig.

When she was young, the Eldest Branch had beaten her to producing the legitimate eldest grandson, causing her to fall a step behind for nothing. That had been bad enough. But now, even after losing their son for more than ten years and finally finding him again, the Eldest Branch still had someone who outshone Sheng Zhaoyan in every way.

Lady Liu practically wished she could stuff him back into her belly and give birth to another one instead.

Sheng Zhaoyan looked completely innocent, not knowing which of his words had upset her this time.

Lady Liu glared at him in bitter disappointment, stamped her foot, and stormed off in a huff.

Holding the cricket in his hands, Sheng Zhaoyan watched her leave and muttered under his breath, “What’s wrong with her now? What fit is she throwing this time?”

…

Outside the gate, the celebration was still in full swing.

Seeing that Sheng Yuanzhong and Lady Lu might not be able to get away for a while, the steward spoke up to remind him, “Master, the Old Madam…”

Only then did Sheng Yuanzhong come back to himself.

“Right. Hurry and tell Mother the good news.”

The steward accepted the order and turned to head for the old madam’s quarters.

Over the past two years, good news had come to the Sheng Family one after another. First, the eldest young master, who had been missing for many years, was found. Then this same eldest young master passed the imperial examinations one after another, taking first place every time and quickly making a name for himself.

At long last, the Sheng Family, which had lain low for years, could hold its head high again.

Even the old madam, who had never been especially close to the Eldest Branch, had softened her attitude somewhat.

The steward hurried all the way to the gate of the old madam’s courtyard.

“Steward Chen, why are you in such a rush? Is something important happening?”

Qiuyue, the senior maid in the old madam’s courtyard, happened to be coming out of the room. Seeing him like this, she could not help asking.

The steward was all smiles. “I’ve come to bring the old madam good news. The eldest young master has placed first in the Provincial Examination and become Jieyuan. The front courtyard is celebrating right now!”

Qiuyue brightened at once. “Oh my, this is wonderful news! I’ll go tell the old madam right away!”

The two entered one after the other.

Autumn in Xuzhou was cold, overcast, and damp. Though it was only late September, a small charcoal brazier had already been lit in the old madam’s room.

As soon as the door opened and they stepped inside, the dry warmth dispelled most of the chill.

On the luohan couch by the west window, Old Madam Sheng sat half-reclined against the armrest. Perhaps because of the rainy weather, she looked rather listless.

“Old Madam, there is joyous news in the household,” Qiuyue said with a smile in her eyes.

Old Madam Sheng lazily lifted her gaze and glanced at Qiuyue and the steward. Then she heard the latter say, “Congratulations, Old Madam. The eldest young master has passed the Provincial Examination, again in first place. He is now Lord Jieyuan!”

“I know,” Old Madam Sheng said, her face expressionless. “With firecrackers going off that loudly outside, I have not yet gone deaf and blind.”

The smiles on the steward’s and Qiuyue’s faces froze. Only then did they realize the atmosphere was wrong.

Old Madam Sheng toyed with the hand warmer in her lap, then suddenly found it all rather dull. “For such a great happy occasion, my son and daughter-in-law do not come in person. They only send you to tell me. Truly filial of them.”

The steward’s heart tightened, and a trace of awkwardness showed on his face.

“Perhaps the front courtyard is simply too busy, and the master truly cannot get away.”

Old Madam Sheng gave a cold snort. “Then let us set him aside for now and speak of this Lord Jieyuan of ours. From preparing for the examinations, to the start of the Provincial Examination, to his name now appearing on the list, have any of you ever seen him come even once to pay respects to this old woman?”

This time, the steward had nothing to say.

He only heard her shake her head again and sigh. “A child not raised at one’s side since childhood is never close.”

The hand warmer was tossed aside.

The steward stood stiffly in the room, uncomfortable from head to toe.

In truth, if one examined the matter carefully, no one was really at fault.

Everyone in the Sheng Family, servants and maids included, knew that the Eldest Branch was not close to the old madam.

It was, in fact, a bitter story.

Back when the old madam gave birth to Sheng Yuanzhong, the Sheng Family had just fallen on hard times. They had backed the wrong side, and as a result, all their family property was confiscated. The entire household was demoted from Capital City to a tiny county office under Xuzhou.

The world was unstable then, with roving bandits everywhere. Old Master Sheng could not bear for Sheng Yuanzhong, still an infant in swaddling clothes, to suffer the hardships of a life spent fleeing from place to place. And so he sent the child to be raised in his cousin’s household.

Only after the Sheng Family’s circumstances eased somewhat and they gained a foothold in Xuzhou did they bring Sheng Yuanzhong back.

By then, however, Sheng Yuanzhong was already more than ten years old. The bond between mother and son was distant, and Old Madam Sheng later bore two more sons and a daughter in Xuzhou. Naturally, she favored the children she had raised with her own hands from infancy.

Inevitably, she neglected this eldest son.

As a result, the two of them had always seemed estranged.

Later still, Sheng Yuanzhong stubbornly insisted on marrying the daughter of a merchant family, whom she had always looked down on. From then on, the relationship between mother and son remained lukewarm at best.