Scholarly Prosperity
After mentioning the new version of the “Three Obediences and Four Virtues” to Xiao Qingqing, Shen Taohua paid close attention for a few days. Seeing that her mother hadn’t made any moves, she even thought she had guessed wrong.
It wasn’t until two days later that she suddenly realized her mother had, in fact, put it into practice on her father.
Her father, Master Shen, was tormented to the point of near collapse, while Xiao Qingqing, who had just acquired a new set of “husband-taming” techniques, was feeling refreshed and energized. In her good mood, she even gave everyone in the household an extra month’s wages, which delighted the entire estate.
Shen Taohua was amused. Indeed, the joys and sorrows of different people are not shared.
As the greatest contributor, she naturally wanted some credit and a bit of pocket money. Just then, Xiao Qingqing called her over.
Shen Taohua naturally assumed she was about to receive a reward. Unexpectedly, as soon as she entered the room, she heard: “Tomorrow morning, go meet someone again.”
Shen Taohua: “???”
She stared at her mother in disbelief.
My heart was true, but Mother, why are you repaying kindness with ingratitude!
Facing her daughter’s accusatory and resentful gaze, Xiao Qingqing gently soothed her: “This time, the matchmaker found you a weak scholar. He’s poor, but young and ambitious, fully focused on the imperial examinations. He definitely won’t be as outrageous as the one from the Xue family or Meng Jun. Didn’t you also like scholars for a while before?”
Shen Taohua’s expression stiffened slightly. She muttered awkwardly under her breath, “That was ages ago. I don’t like them anymore.”
Lady Shen glanced at her and used her trump card.
“Recently, my cloth shop just received a batch of fine southern fabrics, cloud brocade, Shu brocade, and Xiangyun silk. I originally planned to send them to the prefectural city to sell. You can go pick whatever you like and keep it.”
Shen Taohua instantly perked up.
Southern fine fabrics? What perfect timing!
She had been planning to buy some anyway. If she could get them for free, even better.
She immediately smiled brightly. “Mother, what are you saying? Who cares about some brocade or fabric? I’m not the kind of person who minds that little thing! You’re my mother and the head of the household, of course I’ll give you face! And just as you said, I love making friends, I especially like scholars! Scholars are cultured! I love befriending talented people!”
Xiao Qingqing couldn’t help laughing. “Stop being so sly. I’m not forcing you. Just go take a look; if you really don’t like him, I won’t make you do it.”
Shen Taohua nodded happily. “No problem!”
Now, which fabric should she choose…
Hmm, she’d better decide on the color first.
Otherwise, even if the material is good, it won’t match the color or style.
Because she was in a hurry to pick out fabrics, Shen Taohua left early the next day for the cloth shop under her mother’s name.
By the time she had decided on the colors of the new fabrics and roughly figured out which bolts to keep, it was already close to noon without her noticing.
So when she arrived at the restaurant her mother had arranged the meeting at, she casually ordered a full table of dishes according to her own preferences while waiting for the scholar to arrive.
By the time the scholar showed up, the food had just been served.
Shen Taohua usually didn’t lack rich food in her diet, so the table wasn’t all meat dishes; it was a balanced spread of six dishes and one soup, with both meat and vegetables.
But the scholar came from a poor family, where meat was only seen during festivals. Suddenly seeing a full table of fine dishes, vegetables glossy and appealing like crystal pig trotter, sweet-and-sour ribs exuding a rich meaty aroma, he couldn’t help swallowing hard several times.
After a long moment, he finally managed to pull his gaze away and nodded in greeting to Shen Taohua, who was looking up at him.
“Miss Shen, greetings. I am Song Fugui. I believe your mother has already mentioned me.”
Seeing his polite, scholarly demeanor, Shen Taohua gave a casual “Mm” and said offhandedly, “Sit. Eat first. We’ll talk after you’re done.”
As she spoke, she casually opened her system panel to check Song Fugui’s information.
Song Fugui, trying to appear restrained, said “Alright” with a composed expression. But inwardly he was struggling to control himself; his hand kept unconsciously reaching for the meat dishes.
By the time he came back to his senses, his mouth was greasy, and his stomach was so full it felt like the food was almost up to his throat.
His expression stiffened slightly, but he quickly regained composure and set down his chopsticks as if nothing had happened.
Noticing that Miss Shen had slowed her eating while there was still more than half the food left on the table, he frowned and said, “There are only two of us. There is really no need to order so many dishes. Many families in the city may not even have meat once a year, and many beggars are still starving. Leaving so much is too wasteful.”
Then he sighed again. “My mother used nearly all her savings just to support my studies. Our family lives so frugally that every copper coin must be split in half to spend. If she knew so much food was left from a single meal, she would surely be heartbroken.”
Shen Taohua glanced at Song Fugui’s data and replied casually, “Your family really does have it tough.”
She ignored the implicit criticism in his words and instead asked directly, “Since your mother is willing to sacrifice so much to support your studies, that means you’re pretty good at studying, right? Have you achieved any titles yet? A xiucai? Or a juren?”
Song Fugui paused slightly. “I’ve taken the exam twice before, but I wasn’t lucky and didn’t obtain the xiucai degree. Most likely, the examiners were deliberately suppressing me because I’m still young. With my talent, I will definitely pass next time. My mother and elder brother’s family all believe in me and fully support my studies. Once I top the imperial examinations, I will not fail them and will let them live a good life.”
Shen Taohua politely clapped her hands. “Wow, you’re really amazing.”
Song Fugui completely failed to notice her perfunctory tone. Instead, as if a switch had been flipped, he launched into an endless account of how difficult his family’s life had been because of him, how guilty and distressed he felt, and how he was working hard in response.
Shen Taohua continued eating the cold dishes intermittently, replying with no real emotion: “Oh, is that so. I see.”
Finally, Song Fugui added casually, “I just wonder when my mother and the others will finally be able to enjoy a good life.”
Shen Taohua smacked her lips and said, “Who knows. Maybe the hard days are still far from over.”
She had originally thought Song Fugui was simply from a slightly impoverished household. Only after reading the system’s information did she realize that his family had borrowed dozens of taels in debt just to support his studies.
To her, dozens of taels was nothing, but for ordinary families, even those in the city, that amount of money would be enough to live on for at least two or three years.
She had no idea what his family was thinking. They were already in debt, yet still planning to marry him off?
And was the imperial examination something you could just “decide” to pass and then pass?
He had already failed the xiucai examination twice and still dreamed of ranking on the golden list and becoming a jinshi?
All that could be said was: people with dreams are truly remarkable.
“???” Song Fugui said in surprise, “Miss Shen, what did you say?”
At a time like this, shouldn’t she be comforting him, encouraging him, or even offering to support him as much as possible?
Shen Taohua set down her chopsticks, took a handkerchief from Ping’an, and wiped her mouth. “I’m saying, since your family conditions aren’t good, wouldn’t marrying into your family mean I’d have to suffer as well?”
Song Fugui replied without hesitation, “Doesn’t the Shen family give you a large dowry?”
Shen Taohua: “…?”
Ping’an, standing nearby: “…”
Shen Taohua said with a fake smile that wasn’t quite a smile, “So what you mean is, if I marry into your family and don’t want to suffer, I’d still have to rely on my own dowry to live? You can’t even support a wife, why are you even thinking about marrying one?”
Song Fugui looked a little displeased and argued, “As a son of the Song family, it is my duty to carry on the family line. Why wouldn’t I be allowed to marry? Once you enter the household, you become a member of the Song family. A family sharing both hardship and fortune is only natural.
Although I cannot currently provide my wife with a very good life, as the saying goes, ‘the sharpness of a sword comes from grinding, the fragrance of plum blossoms comes from bitter cold.’ My day of success will not be far away! The suffering now is merely a test from heaven. As long as I endure it, years later when I look back, it may well become a beautiful memory.”
Shen Taohua: “Pfft.”
Song Fugui, deeply moved by his own words: “??”
What was so funny about that?
Shen Taohua pressed her lips together. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh. I just really can’t control it.”
Beautiful memories?
Some people might indeed like to reminisce about hardship with a touch of sweetness, but ask them this: if they had a choice, would they willingly go through that suffering again?
After finally becoming wealthy, would someone truly miss the days of eating coarse grains and swallowing bitter vegetables?
It would probably still scratch the throat just thinking about it.
Precious memories might barely count, but calling them “beautiful memories” was just dishonest.
Originally, when she saw that her compatibility with the other party was only thirty, she already knew today would be another wasted effort. Song Fugui’s brainless-sounding remarks only further confirmed that their values were fundamentally incompatible.
It wasn’t exactly disappointment, since she hadn’t had any expectations to begin with, but she did feel somewhat listless.
Still, she had just gotten quite a few valuable fabrics for free today, and after enjoying a meal that suited her taste, she was in a fairly good mood. So she didn’t make things difficult for him any further, only thinking she would have her mother refuse the match later.
After that, she casually brushed off a few more exchanges, said she had other matters to attend to, and quickly ended the meeting.
On the way back, Ping’an kept complaining.
“That scholar, was he trying to get something for nothing? Saying hardship is only temporary, he’s already failed the exam twice. Who knows if he’ll just keep failing? Does that mean Miss will have to keep using her own dowry to support him?
And he still talks about how a family should share both hardship and fortune. I think it’s just that they don’t want to suffer anymore and are hoping to use your dowry to share the fortune instead, to escape poverty! What wishful thinking!”
Shen Taohua said matter-of-factly, “That’s what it’s like when you pick a family with a lower background. You end up having to subsidize everything yourself.”
If you don’t, they’ll say you’re selfish, that you only think of yourself, and don’t treat your husband’s family as your own.
But if you choose a family of similar status to the Shen family, you can’t avoid concubines and all that.
And if you marry up into a higher family, it’s even worse.
Not only would you have to endure grievances, you’d likely also have to voluntarily bring out your dowry to please your husband’s family. If you don’t, you’re just “lacking social awareness.”
In short, marriage is unreliable; relying on your parents is still the best option.
Suddenly, as if remembering something, Shen Taohua said to Ping’an, who was still grumbling, “Have your Brother Zhuangzhuang look into the specifics of the Song family and report back to me.”
Brother Zhuangzhuang was Liu Mao’s nickname.
He often followed his father around the city and knew many drivers, gatekeepers, and servants from other households, so he was well-informed about all kinds of gossip.
The system would list the family members of whoever it scanned, but it wouldn’t show how those people actually got along, so she had to find out that part herself.
Ping’an was a little confused. “Why still investigate? It’s obvious that Song Fugui isn’t suitable for Miss. After Madam hears about it, she definitely won’t object either.”
Shen Taohua replied, “I’m just a bit curious.”
As for what exactly she was curious about, she didn’t say, only told Ping’an to have Liu Mao look into it first.