Yu Qing left the Zhong residence again and returned to the Liezhou guild hall.
This time he went back to pack his things. There was no other way. The Zhong family had found him. He did not want to stay at the Zhong family home and the Zhong family was not willing either.
They sent someone to take him back. He only needed to pack his own belongings. He did not need to worry about anything else. The Zhong family would naturally handle the official documents on the government side. None of these were problems.
In the main hall of the inner residence, the husband and wife who had seen Yu Qing off fell into silence. They each had their own thoughts.
In the end it was Wen Jianhui who broke the silence. She asked, “Did you not say that once he came to the door this time you would settle our daughter’s marriage? Why did you not mention it at all?”
Zhong Su snorted. “Is my daughter unable to get married? Do I need to beg him to marry my daughter? This matter should be him taking the initiative to ask for her hand in marriage.”
He had originally wanted to bring it up. But he found that Yu Qing did not touch on the subject at all. It seemed as if there was no engagement at all. He gave hints here but the other side acted as if he did not understand and seemed to be deliberately avoiding the marriage. So he could not bring himself to say it. As the saying goes, he could not accept anything that would cheapen his own daughter.
She was being pretentious again. Wen Jianhui could not help rolling her eyes. However she had other ideas. She tried saying, “Master of the house, do you think the possibility of Ah Shiheng passing the imperial examination and staying in the capital is high? Are we really going to let our daughter marry into that remote countryside place far from the emperor?”
Previously she had no such thought. After learning that Ah Shiheng’s parents and family were all deceased, she began to examine this engagement with a different eye.
She knew how much power that former Minister of the Ministry of Revenue had held when in office. Even after being dismissed, it was enough to intimidate her.
Now that those factors were removed, she still hoped her daughter could marry into a family of equal status.
When she married the family clerk in her early years, she did not think this way. Now after experiencing wealth and honour, and with age, her ideas had gradually changed.
Zhong Su said, “Even if he does not pass the examination he does not necessarily have to return to Liezhou. He can stay in the capital and continue studying. He can also take the examination again next time. Could it be that we cannot even afford to support the two of them?”
Wen Jianhui said, “What if he keeps failing? Are we going to keep supporting him forever? When outsiders laugh, can he endure it, or can we endure it forever? If he returns to Liezhou he might be able to fill a vacancy. He might still have some future. We have no need to delay him… My daughter cannot go to that poor and harsh countryside place. She must stay by my side.”
She almost said outright that the two sides should not delay each other.
Zhong Su gave her a cold sideways glance. “What do you want to say? Now that you know his parents are gone, you want to break off the engagement?” After many years as husband and wife, how could he not understand her.
Wen Jianhui had been hit on her true thoughts. She refused to admit it and muttered, “It is not that I want to break off the engagement. You saw his attitude too. You yourself are not happy about it either. Are you worried that the steward and Du Fei will have some opinions?”
“Li and Du, I have managed them for many years. I still have some confidence in certain matters. Their affection for us will not be less than for that person.” Zhong Su stroked his beard and turned around. He gazed at his wife. “But some things are not as simple as you think. A centipede dies but does not fall stiff. The cost of breaking the engagement… I fear our Zhong family cannot bear it.”
Wen Jianhui was quite unconvinced. She said resentfully, “Even that person’s identity had people who dared to kill his whole family. Once his son’s identity as our son in law is exposed, are you not afraid it will implicate our family?”
“It is already too late to worry about this now. We have long been tied together. You would not understand.” Zhong Su let out a deep sigh toward the sky.
In the middle of the afternoon, the Zhong family took Yu Qing away from the Liezhou guild hall.
A small courtyard at the easternmost side of the Zhong residence was also neatly tidied up and Yu Qing was welcomed to move in.
Under Madam Zhong’s instructions, apart from a few people in the know, no one knew Ah Shiheng’s true identity. The servants only knew he was the son of an old friend of Zhong Yuanwai.
For the convenience of Yu Qing’s examination preparation, Steward Li personally inquired. Whatever was needed for the study, Yu Qing could mention it freely.
Yu Qing had no interest in those things that could not be taken away. He was not particular at all and was very casual. As long as there was something to use it was fine.
Besides, the conditions here were already good enough. There was even a pavilion and a small pond in the small courtyard. It was more refined and elegant than anywhere he had lived so far.
However some things still needed to be mentioned.
After Steward Li took him around the small courtyard where he would stay, he finally spoke up. “Uncle Li, can you help me find a tutor? The kind who has experience with the metropolitan examination. Look, after all this is my first time taking the metropolitan examination. If there is someone experienced to give some guidance, it might be of some benefit.”
It was still the meaning that Ah Shiheng had instructed. It does not matter if you fail the examination. No one expects you to pass. But you cannot let people look at your paper and immediately want to investigate you. That would be too much. He knew nothing about how to answer questions or the formats and so on. It really would not do if he did not find someone to teach him.
He had originally not wanted to come to the Zhong residence. Now that he had already come, he naturally had to make use of this convenience so he would not need to find another way himself.
Steward Li smiled bitterly in his heart. It seemed you also know your provincial examination ranking is worrying. On the surface he smiled and said, “You can rest assured about this. The master has already thought ahead and has sent someone to contact a very reputable tutor.”
Yu Qing hurriedly waved his hand and said, “No need, no need. Just find any one. There is no need to spend a lot of money to find some famous one.”
Steward Li said, “How can such a matter be done casually? Since we are looking, we naturally want to find a good one.”
What the other person said was right and they were not short of money. Yu Qing had no reason to object so he could only go along with it. After all it was not his own money being spent.
Steward Li said, “However we cannot guarantee that we will definitely be able to invite him. People like him never lack people wanting to hire them. They are all snatched up at high prices. Fortunately he has been teaching in the home of one of the master’s friends for the past two years. We hope that side can show the master some face and make an accommodation.”
Yu Qing was quite sensitive to the words “high price”. Moreover someone that even this wealthy household’s steward called high price immediately surprised him. “A tutor is so impressive?”
Steward Li said seriously, “This tutor cannot be underestimated. It is said that he claims to have figured out seven or eight tenths of the literary paths of the capital’s civil officials. He is extremely good at predicting exam questions. As soon as the examiners set the questions, he can roughly guess the scope of questions the examiners will set. This is not boasting. It has been proven by facts. Among the candidates he has instructed over eight sessions, twelve people, two of the candidates he instructed passed the imperial examination as jinshi, and one passed as a tong jinshi.” He spoke with a look of admiration on his face.
Yu Qing could not help laughing. “He instructed twelve people and only three passed. This is called impressive?”
Steward Li was somewhat speechless. He looked Yu Qing up and down, not knowing where a provincial examination candidate ranked over a hundred got the face to mock like this.
He could not help sighing and said, “Young master, let alone three, if an ordinary person can instruct one and teach one jinshi, then in this lifetime in the capital he will never worry about making a living. There will be plenty of people begging to send their own children to you for training.
In each metropolitan examination, there are over ten thousand candidates taking part. Only two or three hundred make the list. On average only one comes out from dozens or even over a hundred. Among the twelve people he instructed, three passed. That is one out of every four succeeding. This probability is already quite astonishing. He is already not a person that ordinary families can afford to invite.”
After hearing him say this, Yu Qing understood and felt enlightened. He nodded silently in approval. But he asked doubtfully, “Since he is so capable, why is he still a tutor himself? Would it not be better for him to pass the imperial examination and become an official? Is he aloof? Unwilling to be an official?”
Steward Li shook his head. “It is not that. That tutor is surnamed Ming. It is said he came from a poor family but was intelligent from a young age. At sixteen he passed the provincial examination and came to the capital for the examination. In the end he did not pass, so he stayed in the capital to study and take it again. However living expenses in the capital are high, so he taught on the side to earn some extra money. Then a joke came out. He himself failed but the students he instructed passed.
Perhaps people have their fate. Once every three years, he took the examination for nine sessions without success. That means he took it from age sixteen to forty. No one knows whether after turning forty he became enlightened or fell into confusion. After that he no longer took the examination. Later he did not return to his hometown. He did not even collect the monthly salary silver issued to him locally and left it all for his wife back home. Perhaps he felt he had no face to see the elders of his hometown again. Of course, his own income from teaching in the capital was enough to let him live freely and happily.”
Yu Qing listened and clicked his tongue in wonder. He had not expected there to be such an obstinate silly bird. For one examination he had taken it for nearly thirty years. The best years of his life had been wasted like this in vain. The key was that he even abandoned his family. If he had returned home to seek a position and become a local official, with this perseverance and painstaking effort, why would he care about getting his name on the golden list? Perhaps he could have entered the capital and taken a position in the court as well.
That evening, the Zhong couple held a dinner banquet to entertain Yu Qing. The two daughters did not appear. The reason was that they were young ladies of the inner chambers.
After the banquet, Zhong Su said he wanted to see how the arrangements in Yu Qing’s living quarters were. He accompanied Yu Qing on a walk back to the eastern courtyard and did not let anyone else follow.
After looking around the study, bedroom and hall, the two finally circled back to the main hall.
After Zhong Su sat down in the main seat, he was clearly thinking and weighing something.
Yu Qing felt that this person did not seem to have come just to take a look.
Sure enough, as soon as Zhong Su opened his mouth it made his teeth ache. “Shiheng, did your father ever tell you about the engagement between our two families?”
Yu Qing felt puzzled. He did not want to face this, yet it had come. It was hard even to pretend to be ignorant and muddle through. The problem was he could not help Ah Shiheng deny it. It was impossible for him to say on Ah Shiheng’s behalf that he had never heard of it. He could only brace himself and say, “I know.”
Zhong Su continued, “Back then your father and I agreed on one item as the marriage token and betrothal gift. Do you know about it?”
Yu Qing gave a vague affirmative sound. “I know.”
Zhong Su asked again, “Did you bring the betrothal gift when you came to the door?”
He could not bring himself to take the initiative to ask the other party to marry his daughter, so he had prepared this line of talk. If you brought the betrothal gift when you came to the door, then naturally you are the one coming to ask for my daughter’s hand in marriage.
Yu Qing felt quite helpless inside. Could it be that he had to say he forgot to bring it? For such a big matter, could he help Ah Shiheng forget it? That would mean treating the Zhong family too lightly. He also could not say that Ah Shiheng was already disabled and that he was a substitute.
He was not stupid either. Ever since he mentioned that Ah Shiheng’s parents had passed away, he had already sensed the subtle change in Madam Zhong’s attitude in her words. He became even less daring to say that Ah Shiheng was disabled.
Some things are not something people will believe just because you say there is a chance to cure them.
After a pause, he reached into his bosom, pulled out the metal cylinder that Ah Shiheng had repeatedly instructed must not be lost, and presented it with both hands in front of Zhong Su.
Upon seeing this item, a strange light flashed in Zhong Su’s eyes.