The First Auxiliary Road from the Imperial Examination

Chapter 1290 Arrangement

As Sheng Yuan approached Wubenzhai, he was startled by the crying sounds inside.

"Yuan Jie'er." An Yu was beside her and whispered, "It's not just you. I was also startled when I came over just now."

"Listen to the noises inside. The two children are crying so hard that their throats are hoarse. Mrs. Shu is also grieving. You don't even need to go in to see what's going on. Just listening to the noise, it's tragic!"

He muttered this with a sense of sympathy, not wanting to earn a glare from Sheng Yuan.

"You're standing over there!" Sheng Yuan scolded him unhappily. After hesitating for a moment, he seemed to have changed his mind and turned away.

"Hey, hey, hey! Sister Yuan, Sister Yuan, you, you wait for me!"

Sheng Yuan's attitude was beyond An Yu's expectations. Seeing her turn around and leave, he was stunned for a moment, then hurriedly chased after her.

"You're not going in?!"

"Brother wants to send Shu away, and the two children are crying and fussing. Is it appropriate for me to go in?!" Sheng Yuan glanced at him and couldn't help but complain in a low voice, "You shouldn't have asked Xiaoyao to call me back! This matter is up to Brother, and none of us should say anything."

"It's not that I didn't see things clearly. I asked Xiaoyao to pass on the message because Shu and her two nephews went to the nursing home and cried and made a scene. Sister Kuang Qi happened to be there, so they started a fight. And when big brother heard the news and rushed over to scold them, he added fuel to the fire instead. The scene at that time... Tsk tsk, it was a mess. I was just understating it because I was afraid you would be anxious!"

Upon hearing this, Sheng Yuan unconsciously reproduced the situation at that time in his mind and was immediately shocked.

……

"Your eldest brother had already made up his mind to divorce Shu. He even wrote two documents, one for the divorce and the other for the resignation. He left his name and handprints on both of them. He said that if Shu signed, it would be considered a divorce. If she refused to sign, he would divorce her for being unfilial."

In the nursing home, as soon as Zheng saw her little daughter, she took her hand and sighed, "Shu naturally didn't want to choose either of them, so she called Tao and Yun to beg and cry everywhere. That scene... the adults were desperate to survive with their hair disheveled, and the children were crying helplessly and shouting hoarsely. Even if I hated Shu, I couldn't help but feel sad and uncomfortable.

After all, this matter involves two children. Your father and I think that we should not make it too embarrassing. At least we should send Shu back to her Zhouyang Shu family safely. Even if they part ways, even if they can't be happy, they should live in peace. We can't let her end up in our house."

Sheng Yuan thought it made sense and nodded in agreement: "Shu Qinan may be cruel, but our family is not that cruel... In this case, do you plan to send someone to send her back, or ask her brother to take her away?"

Zheng sighed, "Your brother didn't want to catch the Shu family off guard, so when that old man Sheng Xiangya entered the palace, he wrote a letter to Shu's brother, asking him to prepare for Shu's return home."

Sheng Yuan heard the change in meaning and couldn't help but add, "If I remember correctly, her brother's name seems to be Shu Kuangda... He seems to be quite talented in writing, and many of his poems are widely sung in the local area?"

Zheng snorted, "No matter how good one's writing is, if he can't win a place in the imperial examinations, what good is it? Shu originally hoped that this brother could become an official, but her brother is a person who loves mountains and rivers and doesn't like to be restrained. Despite her frequent persuasion of three-day letters and five-day books, and her repeated urging, the boy is only a juren. Because he has not been on the list of the imperial examinations for many times, I heard that he has not taken the exam again since the last session."

"Whether she has achievements or not is secondary. The eldest brother of the Shu family is not greedy for the dowry. He will definitely give her some compensation when he sends her back. After a few times, if her brother can be trusted, she can live a stable life when she returns to Zhouyang."

After Sheng Yuan finished speaking, Zheng smiled bitterly and said, "That's what you said, but you don't know that within five or six days after your brother's letter was sent, Zhou Yang sent the letter back through the official post station. His brother begged him in a very veiled way, saying that if our mansion divorced his sister, with their abilities, they would be eaten alive by the Shu family. By then, they would have no chance of survival."

Sheng Yuan's eyes widened in surprise: "There is such a letter? I didn't even know about it!"

Zheng looked at her startled and couldn't help rolling her eyes: "You have been busy since the day you entered the palace. How could we bother you with such a small matter?"

As she said this, she couldn't help but pick up the topic she had just talked about: "Shu's brother repeatedly apologized on behalf of his sister in the letter. Your father and I also read the letter... Between the lines of the letter, there was indeed sincerity, and there were many tear marks on the thick stack of letter paper. After reading the letter, your father and I said that regardless of whether Shu's brother's actions were true or just a show, based on this statement, we really need to think carefully about it."

"What do you think, brother?"

"What can he think?" Zheng thought of her son's recent haggardness and exhaustion, and couldn't help but sigh with heartache, "Fortunately, Shu's brother is quite sensible. He said that as long as they don't divorce or divorce, he will accept it even if the property is divided and they live separately. As long as your brother agrees, he won't ask the Marquis' Mansion to compensate Shu. He will come to Beijing in person in the name of 'eldest sister returning home to cultivate herself' to bring Shu back to Zhouyang. As for Shu's dowry, it will be directly divided between the two children..."

"...From what I hear, Shu Kuangda is quite a man of strategy."

Sheng Yuan laughed: "I'm afraid my brother will waver."

"Your brother did hesitate. After all, he knew what the Shu family was like! To be honest, although he hated the Shu family and Sheng Xiangya's conspiracy, he never thought of letting Shu family and her brother be bullied. After all, two lives were involved."

"So what does Big Brother think?"

"Your eldest brother thought that it would be fine to divide the property and live separately, but if that's the case, then we can't send Shu back to Zhouyang. After all, other people don't know the inside story. If she flaunts herself as the Crown Prince's wife and takes on jobs outside, I'm afraid our Marquisate will be unable to do anything. Therefore, your brother plans to send her back to the Sheng clan's land, where there is the mansion that the old master gave to your father. Sending her there to live in seclusion and cultivate herself is also a proper arrangement."

"It can be considered a solution." Sheng Yuan thought of this arrangement, and for a moment she didn't know whether this was the best solution for Shu Shi, or whether she should divorce and remarry Shu Xin.

"Since it's arranged like this, why is Shu still crying and making a fuss with the two children? Isn't she afraid that her brother will change his mind after being annoyed?" Sheng Yuan couldn't help but have a headache when he thought of Wubenzhai's situation.

"Who knows? Maybe he wants to ask your elder brother for something!" Zheng joked with a wry smile.

But just as she finished her joke, her eldest son Sheng Xin came over with his two children. …

"You said you wanted to put the two children in a nursing home?!"

"You want us two old guys to raise your child?! Or two?!"

Zheng and Sheng Xiangxun exclaimed at the same time.

Sheng Xin rubbed his forehead helplessly: "My son knows that it is unfilial to trouble you two elders like this, but my son really has no other choice; although my son has sent Shu away, he has no intention of remarrying. At most, I can let Sister Kuang Qi take over the imperial edict... If so, the household affairs will be handed over to Sister Kuang Qi.

It was easy to deal with the chores, but raising Tao and Yun was a difficult issue. Not to mention that her son was worried about her taking care of them, even if she could take good care of them, the two children might not accept her. Rather than having a big fight in the future, it would be better not to let them get together.

More importantly, these two children have been raised by the Shu family since they were young, and my son neglected to care for them. He did not know how much influence the Shu family had on them, so I would like to ask you two elders to help teach and raise them. In order to prevent the two children from going astray and ruining the reputation of the Yongxing Marquis's Mansion in the future."

"You..." Sheng Xin said this. Although Zheng and Sheng Xiangxun were dissatisfied with him outsourcing the child, they could not say anything against it when they thought about their son's unreliability.

……

In the room, Zheng and Sheng Xiangxun accepted Sheng Xin's request with suppressed anger; outside the room, Sheng Yuan and nephews Tao and Yun stared at each other in silence.

"Aunt, can't you really plead for my mother?"

Tao brother pleaded again in a low voice unwillingly, his pair of red eyes flashing with sorrow far exceeding that of his peers.

"Tao'er, Yun'er, now that things have come to this, your father should have told you two brothers everything that happened, right?" Thinking of her eldest brother's temper, Sheng Yuan looked at her two nephews with certainty.

After the two children nodded, she continued, "Of course, no matter how rebellious and deserving of exile her actions may seem to the world, for the two of you, pleading for her is the duty of a son, and it is what you should do!

However, there are two sides to every story. You two have received education, so you should understand the principle of putting yourself in other people's shoes! Since you know the inside story, you should know that as a daughter, I also have the responsibility and obligation to seek justice for my parents.

Now, it is only out of consideration for you two brothers that I have not added insult to injury, and this is already the biggest compromise. How can I possibly say those words of understanding now that I have compromised?"

Tao Ge'er was stunned when he heard this, and then lowered his head dejectedly.

Yunger looked at Sheng Yuan and then at his brother as if he understood something. The little guy pursed his lips sadly, trying hard to hold back the tears.

"You have all started to learn to read, and you should know that 'admitting one's mistakes is the best way to correct them'. If I had considered her mistakes, let alone divorced her directly, I would have reported her to Shuntian Prefecture, and she would have been punished. Now I am only sending her back to her family's old house to reflect and cultivate herself. This is giving her a chance to admit her mistakes and correct them.

If you two brothers just keep trying to stop her, even if you keep her, do you think she can still correct her mistakes? !

If you don't learn your lesson, you will make a bigger mistake next time. If the government can't make arrangements like it is now, where will you two brothers go and who will you ask for mercy?! At that time, when you look back at the present... do you think it is good for her to stay in Beijing?! "

After saying this, Brother Tao and Brother Yun showed thoughtful expressions on their faces.

"Think about it carefully!" Sheng Yuan raised his hand and touched the heads of his two nephews. "When you figure it out, you won't be so sad."

"Aunt, what did my mother do wrong?" The young Yun Ge'er suddenly raised his head and looked at Sheng Yuan stubbornly, "Is it wrong to seek benefits for the mansion?"

When Sheng Yuan heard this, he knew that this was Shu's self-defense, and couldn't help but laugh: "Yun Ge'er doesn't like cheese, but aunt thinks cheese can make Yun Ge'er healthy, so she only gives Yun Ge cheese for three meals a day, okay?!"

Immediately, Yunger covered his mouth with his hands.

"So, don't force your own goodness on others... More importantly, what your mother wants is too valuable and too unrealistic! Even if you really give it to her, it's unworthy of her position! If she succeeds in her plan, I'm afraid her fate will be countless times worse than her current situation."

"But she, she just wants the best for everyone." Yun'er still couldn't help but speak well of Shu, and even Tao'er nodded slightly.

“If you want everyone to be well, you should rely on your own abilities to achieve it, not on shortcuts.”

Sheng Yuan looked into Yun Ge'er's eyes patiently: "If your mother had used the energy she put into studying and running a business, she might have achieved success a long time ago... Unfortunately, ever since she married into the mansion, she has only had eyes for the inner house and the backyard."

After sighing, Sheng Yuan felt that the last sentence was quite stressful for the two nephews, so he added: "If you want to see her again, you should study hard, be a good person with both talent and virtue, set an example for yourself, write to her often, and let her be a good person with integrity."

……

"Miss, someone from the palace has come to summon you!" Sheng Yuan had just handed the two nephews who had been persuaded to leave to her parents when Xiao Yao hurried over from outside and reported quickly, "The eunuchs from Yongxiang Palace are waiting in the reception room of the outer courtyard!"