Chapter 104: Wentao Enters the Academy

In the main room, Madam Li and her daughter were organizing the dowry, while in the kitchen, the daughters-in-law were busy clearing away the remains of the feast. Since so many delicious dishes had been prepared, the three tables in the east and west rooms had barely made a dent in the food. The Jiang family were guests and could not gorge themselves without restraint, and the Gu family members were even more careful not to act as if they had never seen good food before, leaving more than half of the dishes untouched.

However, the two tables in the outer room were different. There were only ten dishes to begin with, and with a crowd of growing boys, they were at an age where they could eat a great deal. Consequently, almost nothing was left from those tables.

Madam Feng and the others tidied up the leftovers, washed the bowls and dishes, and then returned to their respective rooms to rest. There was no need to worry about the evening meal; with so many leftovers, they could simply heat them up.

When Madam Feng returned to her room, she found Jiaoyan taking some rice and vegetables out of the pot. "Mother, you must not have had enough to eat at noon. This is some leftover rice from this morning; you should eat a little."

Madam Feng, Madam Wu, and the others had indeed not been able to sit down and eat a proper meal at noon. They had been busy serving dishes, and just as they sat down to have a few bites, the west room finished their meal, and they had to clear the tables again. Having been busy for the better part of the day, Madam Feng had only managed a few mouthfuls and was, truthfully, quite hungry.

"Alright, I will have a little." Madam Feng did not bother setting a table; she simply stood by the stove and ate a few bites of the food. "Jiao'er, did you get enough to eat at noon? I saw so many children there; even the vegetable broth was gone from the tables later on." Concerned for her daughter, she asked.

Jiaoyan smiled. "Mother, I had plenty. Big Brother and Second Brother kept piling food onto my plate, so I was quite full. The braised fish you made at noon was delicious; I ate a whole bowl of rice with the fish gravy."

For the banquet, there were three types of fish, but in the outer room, there was only one: carp, chopped into pieces and stewed. Because the quantities of fine-scaled fish and soft-shelled turtle were limited and not enough for everyone, and since the outer room was filled with family members, Madam Li had ordered that only the carp be stewed.

"Next time your father and the others go to set the nets, if they bring back fine-scaled fish or turtle, I will make them for you again," Madam Feng said, feeling a bit guilty that the children had missed out.

"That would be great! Besides, Father and Brother Wensheng are very skilled at catching fish; our family never lacks fish to eat," Jiaoyan said with a grin, knowing what her mother was thinking.

In the countryside, one must serve the best food to guests, and family members—especially women and children—usually do not sit at the guest tables. Some families make their wives and children wait until the guests have finished before eating the leftovers. The Gu family was already doing quite well by preparing a separate meal for the children, even if it wasn't as elaborate as the banquet.

After finishing her meal, Madam Feng washed the bowl with the water in the pot. "Jiao'er, you haven't been well for long. You should go lie down for a while. There’s nothing to do right now, so a nap would be good." Seeing Jiaoyan yawning, she urged her to sleep.

Jiaoyan was indeed feeling sleepy. Although she hadn't practiced her martial arts that morning, she was used to waking up early and had risen at her usual time. Later, when Gu Chengyong took Wenxiu and the others out to practice, Jiaoyan couldn't fall back asleep and had tossed and turned on the heated brick bed. Now that the drowsiness had finally caught up with her, she could barely keep her eyes open.

"Mother, I'm sleepy, I'm going to take a nap." Covering her mouth and squinting, Jiaoyan went back to her room to sleep.

Madam Feng tidied up the room and then went inside to set up her embroidery frame. Following Jiaoyan's suggestion, she hadn't taken any embroidery work from the workshop, but being unable to sit idle, she decided to embroider a folding screen. She had been working on it in her spare time, and it was already half-finished. If she had enough time, it would likely be done in about twenty days.

The colorful silk threads seemed to come alive in Madam Feng's hands as she meticulously drew beautiful patterns. Just as she was busy with her needlework, Wenfang and her two sisters entered. "Second Aunt, we’ve come to learn needlework from you," Wenfang said softly.

Madam Feng turned and smiled at her three nieces. "Work on your own pieces; if there is anything you don't understand, come and ask me. Keep your voices down, Jiao'er hasn't been feeling well and is sleeping, so don't make too much noise."

The three sisters entered on tiptoe, found chairs, and took out the fabric and threads they had brought to begin sewing simple patterns. The sisters felt that learning from Madam Feng was a rare opportunity and were quite diligent. With their heads bowed, one hand holding the embroidery hoop and the other working the needle, they looked quite professional.

The three sisters focused on their work, asking Madam Feng whenever they hit a snag. Madam Feng was generous with her knowledge, teaching them patiently and occasionally taking a few stitches herself to demonstrate. In this way, Wenfang and her sisters learned quite a lot.

Gu Xiulan and her sisters only stayed at the Gu residence for two nights. Early on the morning of the seventh day of the fifth lunar month, they prepared to return home. Madam Li was reluctant to see her daughters leave and tried to keep them for a few more days, but Xiulan and her sister were firm. "Mother, there is still so much to do at home. My husband can't manage the restaurant alone, so I must return," Gu Xiulan explained.

"Mother, we are also very busy. It was already a blessing that Zhengshan could accompany me back to stay for these two days. If we stay any longer, the family business will suffer." Since they were both married, they had their own households to manage; they couldn't just stay at their parents' home indefinitely.

Gu Mingcheng and Madam Li could only sigh; once a daughter is married, she belongs to another family and must naturally consider her husband's household first.

Madam Li gathered many things from the house for her two daughters, including dried wild vegetables and dried fish. "Alright, it's good that you're going back; there is so much to do at home. When Xiuli returns for her formal visit, you girls can stay here for a few days, and we can spend some quality time together."

When Gu Xiuyun's family arrived, they had driven their own carriage, so they would drive themselves back. Xiulan’s family had hired a carriage, so they had to go to the town first to find transport back to the county seat. Madam Li, feeling sorry for her daughter, ordered Gu Chengyong to hitch the cart to take Gu Xiulan back to the county.

Since the farm work wasn't busy, Gu Chengyong drove the cart and took Xiulan and her children all the way back to the county seat.

By this time, Gu Xiuli's wedding was just awaiting the groom's arrival. With the sixth day of the sixth lunar month approaching, there was still much to prepare, and with Madam Li and Xiuli busy all day, Madam Li didn't make things difficult for her daughters-in-law.

The Gu family's life continued in this peaceful manner. In the blink of an eye, half a month had passed. Jiaoyan had long since recovered and was once again full of energy. She resumed her routine: practicing martial arts in the morning and then going to Miao Suwen's house to study medicine.

Her brothers took turns escorting her to and fro, terrified that she might run into unruly children and be bullied again. Jiaoyan felt helpless about this, but she couldn't bring herself to hurt her brothers' feelings, so she obediently let them escort her. It was fine with the others, but whenever it was Wentao's turn, Jiaoyan got a headache.

Wentao disliked Jiaoyan going out to learn medicine, and he disliked Qin Shaoyuan even more. Every time he escorted her to the Miao residence, he and Shaoyuan would stare each other down. No matter how hard Jiaoyan tried to resolve the situation, she could not stop it, leaving her feeling quite helpless.

As it happened, a word from Gu Chengyong provided a solution for Jiaoyan. Gu Chengyong had found a private school in town—the same one where Gu Chengren studied. The teacher of this school was a *juren* (a successful candidate in the provincial examinations) who had served as an official for a few years but, finding the bureaucratic life ill-suited to him, had returned to teaching.

The old scholar was quite famous, and several of his students had gone on to pass the examinations to become *xiucai* or *juren*. The old man was selective about his students; if they lacked the aptitude, he wouldn't accept them, even if they offered him mountains of gold and silver.

Gu Chengyong had visited the old scholar with gifts and arranged for Wentao, Wenping, and Wenzhi to take an entrance exam. He had originally intended for Wenxiu and Wenqi to study as well, but they were unwilling.

Wenxiu simply said he wasn't cut out for the scholarly path and didn't want to waste time on it. He had already studied for a few years and could read most books, which was enough for him. Wenqi felt the same, and their attitudes were resolute. With no other choice, on the twenty-first day of the fifth lunar month, Gu Chengyong took his three sons to town.

Wentao, Wenping, and Wenzhi had all studied before and had a solid foundation. Moreover, all three were bright, and the old scholar's questions failed to stump them, so he agreed to accept all three. In particular, the old scholar was very impressed with Wentao's talent and expressed a desire to take him on as a formal disciple.

Because Master Zhou was so renowned, his private school was large and employed many teachers. Being favored by Master Zhou and taken on as a personal disciple to be taught with care was what countless students in the school dreamed of. Wentao had heard about this from his father and had learned a bit about Master Zhou, so upon hearing that the master was willing to accept him, he gladly knelt and performed the kowtow ceremony to acknowledge his teacher.

Gu Chengyong was overjoyed and immediately paid the tuition and textbook fees for the three boys. The school's fees were not low: three taels of silver per month for each boy. With the added costs of the distance from the village, the need for lunch at the school, and various other expenses, the total for the three of them came to ten taels of silver.