I dress up as a poor noblewoman, and I bring my whole family home with my literary talent.

Chapter 100 Xie Yanshu Returns to Beijing

In the last game, Zhou Yisheng secretly vowed to let his opponent win, but he couldn't resist Master Song's poor chess playing. It was even harder for him to lose than to win. After he lost a few pieces without anyone noticing, he was finally defeated.

Zhou Yisheng stood up. Although it was winter, sweat broke out on his back. "I admit defeat!"

Master Song patted Zhou Yisheng on the shoulder with satisfaction, "Hahaha... My dear son-in-law plays chess very well. He is quite like me in my old age. Let's play again next time, let's play again next time..."

"..."

It was not until the afternoon that the young couple left and peace returned to the Song residence.

…………

On the third day of the Lunar New Year, only a few shops on the streets are still open, and people are either visiting relatives and friends or going out of town for sightseeing.

Song Lingyi's first visit to the Imperial Master's Mansion

In her imagination, since the master was an important official of the country, his mansion must be comparable to Xiangyuan. However, to her surprise, although the master's mansion was large, with all the necessary rockery, strange rocks, pavilions and towers, it had a sense of simplicity.

For example, seasonal vegetables were planted instead of flowers, and grass carp and crucian carp were raised in the pond instead of ornamental fish.
The Imperial Master had been traveling for sixteen years, and even the servants in the mansion were newly bought, giving off the feeling of a makeshift team. Even the servant who brought Song Lingyi into the mansion didn't look older than her.

The servant did not lead Song Lingyi to the hall, but to the edge of a field, and shouted to the white figure working hard in the field: "Master, Miss Song is here."

……

A great master of state actually grows vegetables in the yard

It suddenly reminded her of her past life, when her grandmother loved to go to the fields and tinker with her vegetable garden whenever she had time.

The master's age is evident
Ye Xu'an, who was squatting in the field and watering the newly planted vegetables, looked up and saw Song Lingyi's slightly surprised expression. He raised his eyebrows and stood up with the gourd ladle, "How come you have time to come to my place today?"

Song Lingyi came back to her senses and smiled awkwardly: "Master, look at what you said. As the saying goes, once a teacher, you are a father for life. You are half a father to me. Isn't it normal for your disciple to come and wish you a happy new year?"

This set is very useful for Ye Xu'an, who is accepting disciples for the first time.

Sure enough, his expression softened a lot after hearing this.
"Have you been studying hard recently?"

Song Lingyi nodded hurriedly, "Of course I have, I will work hard now!"

After stopping the watering work, Ye Xuan took Song Lingyi to the kitchen. When they passed by a vegetable field, he asked her to pick some fresh vegetables from the field.

Lunch consisted of three dishes and a soup prepared by Ye Xuan herself. Hearing that she liked spicy food, he specially made a dish of fried pork with chili peppers.

Simple, but made Song Lingyi feel the warmth of family love
Today is sunny
In the courtyard, the master and the apprentice sat opposite each other.
Ye Xuan took out the peach blossom wine that he had buried under the peach tree before leaving Chang'an and poured a cup for Song Lingyi.

In the hot air, Ye Xuan mentioned that when he entered the palace yesterday, His Majesty was going to reward the inspectors generously because the inspection in the north had yielded fruitful results. He also mentioned that the inspectors would arrive in Beijing the day after tomorrow.

He raised his eyes to see Song Lingyi's reaction, but found that she had no reaction at all. He couldn't help but wonder, "Why don't you react at all when I talk about Xie Yanshu coming back?"

Song Lingyi grabbed the ivory chopsticks and swallowed a mouthful of food, "How should my disciple react?"

"..." Ye Xu'an tilted his head, "Are you unhappy?" Song Lingyi still recognized the bet with Xie Yanshu. Now that he was coming back, she should be happy, but the more time passed, the more panic she felt. First, she didn't think that Wu'an Marquis and his wife would let Xie Yanshu ask the emperor for marriage smoothly; second, true feelings change rapidly, and she was not sure whether Xie Yanshu was still firm. The last time she received a letter from him was in December last year.

Seeing that she was in a state of confusion, Ye Xu'an took a sip of wine and changed the subject, chatting about which shop in Chang'an had the best pastries and which shop had pure wine...

After a glass of wine, the master and apprentice lost all their restraints, and Song Lingyi even taught her master a drinking game she learned from modern TV dramas. At first, she could win a few games, but after Ye Xu'an learned it thoroughly, she could only lose.

In the end, the entire Imperial Master's Mansion was filled with the laughter of the master and his apprentice.
…………

The next morning, officials from the northern region arrived in Beijing. With soldiers leading the way, a long procession of horse-drawn carriages slowly entered the city from the west gate, and the crowds on both sides of the street became slightly agitated.

Xie Yanshu rode a tall horse. The wind in the early morning was biting cold, blowing the flags on the carriage and ruffling a few strands of hair on his forehead. The two imperial censors who accompanied him on the northern inspection tour, Imperial Censor Zhang and Imperial Censor Liu, were both dressed in their official robes and followed behind on horseback.

When the carriage team approached the Song residence, Xie Yanshu's eyes involuntarily wandered among the crowd, looking for that familiar figure.

It was not until the team was about to pass the Song residence that Xie Yanshu saw Song Lingyi being pulled out of the house by Song Changling. His eyes passed through the crowd of people and met her from a distance.

Song Lingyi looked up at the young man sitting on the tall horse. She felt that he had lost a lot of weight and was much darker. After his experience in the northern inspection tour, his temperament was more stable than before.

Song Changling was standing next to Song Lingyi. Facing Xie Yanshu's gaze, she thought he was looking at her. She lowered her eyes shyly and poked her sister beside her, "Do you think the young marquis has become more handsome?"

"..."

His skin has become darker and he looks wilder than before.

"And... I think the young marquis is looking at me..."
Song Lingyi frowned: "Third sister, you don't like Xie Yanshu, do you?"

It’s not that she is jealous, it’s just that this kind of triangle relationship is really awkward and bloody.

Song Changling's eyes flickered after being exposed, and he said proudly, "Why?! Song Xianglan is allowed to marry into the Zhou family, but I am not allowed to covet the Marquis of Wu'an Mansion? I am not worse looking than her."

"...But he is the only son of the Marquis's family. If his parents disagree..."

"So what?" Song Changling interrupted without thinking, "In the future, it's him who will live with me, not his parents. Does that mean my second brother-in-law's mother likes my second sister? They can still live their lives. Besides, marrying into a marquis's mansion is the highest honor. The ancestors of the Song family could only be third-rank officials at most, and the status of Wu'an Marquis's mansion is higher than that of the first-rank!"

……

Song Lingyi's thoughts drifted back to the day of boating on the lake. She clearly had a modern soul, but her thoughts seemed to be imprisoned. She was always concerned about the family background between her and Xie Yanshu, and deliberately ignored his flattery and promises. She was not as open-minded as the serious ancient people.

In fact, putting aside the idea of ​​family background disparity, Xie Yanshu is quite in line with modern ideas about choosing a spouse. He has a good family background, good looks, a good personality, and treats people wholeheartedly. It is hard to find such a good husband even with a lantern.

But she kept retreating

"LeLe, what are you daydreaming about?" Song Changling stretched out his hand and waved it in front of her.

Song Lingyi came back to her senses, raised her eyes and stared at the figure that was getting farther and farther away. "Nothing... Let's go in."

After saying that, he turned and walked in.