Did the third place winner regret it today?

Chapter 28

On the way back, Mrs. Shen did not ask Yin Shi to ride in the same car with her. Instead, she rode in the same car with the Third Lady, and the two of them talked affectionately all the way.
Yin Shi had the car all to himself and rode it comfortably all the way back home.
Mrs. Shen also kept her composure and went home to clean up and wash herself, and everything was as usual. The eldest lady came to see her and said, "Since you're already gone, why don't you stay there for a few more days?"
Madam Shen said angrily: "I'm not a little girl."

The eldest lady sighed, "You were just a little girl back then, and I was only a new bride for a few years before you married off to the capital. I don't know how many times I'll see you again in this lifetime."
In that era, transportation was inconvenient, there were wild beasts on the road, and the journey was expensive. Many people never left where they lived in their entire lives, and some country people had never even been to the county town in their entire lives.

The probability of women traveling far away is much lower than that of men.
Even if the daughter of a rich family marries far away, she may not be able to return to her parents' home. Whether she can return to her parents' home is not decided by her parents' family, but depends on whether her husband's family is willing to spend the money.
Most of them are unwilling.
In comparison, Mrs. Shen had already returned to her parents' home twice, and was indeed a happy and lucky woman. And she herself knew that there would probably not be a third time.
They all sighed.

After a night's rest, Mrs. Shen solemnly went to her brother and sister-in-law's courtyard the next day to propose marriage in person.
Master Yin San and his wife were both stunned.

When Shen Ti was young, Master Yin San knew that he was dreaming. Now that Shen Ti has been ranked third in the imperial examination, Master Yin San only hopes that his nephew will have a wealthy and powerful in-law family, so that he, as his uncle, can also benefit from it.
I won't even think about strengthening the relationship.

When this matter was first told to the old grandfather, his first reaction was "Good things won't fall into my family out of the blue, there must be some hidden story or shortcoming". However, Master Yin San was far worse than his father. His first reaction was "Good things have finally come to me!"
In this respect, he is even worse than Yin Shi.
Of course, it may also be because Master Yin San only benefited from this matter, and if there were any bad consequences, it would be Yin Shi who would have to bear the consequences.

In short, Mrs. Shen was reassured by the head monk and believed that the fate of Yin Shi and Shen Ti was blessed by Buddha, so she decided to engage Yin Shi.
The Third Master was so happy that he immediately called for help, "Go, call Fourth Lady to come quickly!"
The Third Lady patted him, gave him a glare, and told the maid, "Ask the Fourth Lady to tidy up before you come back. Don't be so casual."
"Yes, yes, yes!" The third master suddenly realized, "Fix it up!"
As for the engagement, it’s better to be engaged to the Shen family, so my daughter has to dress decently.

But his father's love was always unstable. When he was in a whim and missed the old people, it would surge, and when he was not in the mood, it would disappear like the ebb tide.
The fourth daughter gradually became an old spinster who could not get married and became a nuisance, so he did not like her very much.
At this time, the third master only regretted that he did not pay more attention to the child and did not know whether she had decent clothes.
He simply pushed his wife: "You go, go yourself."
The third wife had no choice but to go there in person.

When he got to Yin Shi's place, he took her hand and led her into the house to talk: "Good girl, good things have finally come to you!"
The third wife was beaming with joy, taking all the credit for herself: "It's no wonder that I always speak well of you in front of your aunt. Guess what, your aunt came back this time to strengthen the relationship and become in-laws with our family. Thanks to my praises and compliments every day, your aunt has chosen you. From now on, you will be the wife of a Jinshi!"

Yin Shi's acting was very good. He took a breath and acted surprised: "Is what mother said true?"
"Of course it's real, pure gold!"
Yin Shi wiped his eyes with his sleeve: "Mother, I will never forget your kindness."
The third lady was very satisfied and urged her, "Hurry up and change your clothes and go with me to see your aunt."

Yin Shi called Kui'er to get some clothes, but the Third Lady was not satisfied: "Are there no new ones?"
How could a wealthy family lack clothes? Of course they had new clothes. Yin Shi did not disobey, put on the new clothes with pleats, and followed the third lady to Madam Shen.

Mrs. Shen had been observing her for many days. When she saw that her clothes were new, she knew they were the work of the Third Lady.
Madam Shen didn't say much, just smiled and said, "Fourth Lady, why did you come here? Did your mother tell you?"
Like all the ladies of that era, Yin Shi lowered her head slightly and answered in a very low voice: "I have already said it."
Madam Shen patted her hands and said, "You will be a member of my aunt's family in the future. You don't have to be afraid as long as I am here."

Yin Shi nodded.
Mrs. Shen took out a gorgeous red gold inlaid hairpin and put it in her hair. The ruby ​​on the hairpin made the girl's cheeks look like rosy clouds.
The Shen family in the capital betrothed Yin Shi, the fourth daughter of the third branch of the Yin family in Huaixi, to the third place winner of the imperial examination, Shen Ti.

Yin Shi lowered his head.
Although he has read so many time-travel novels, novels are just novels, and Yin Shi has never had the idea of ​​"the emperor clearing out the harem for me and bestowing all his love on me."
On the contrary, Yin Shi thinks marriage is the grave of a time-traveling woman. She has been trying to plan a grave for herself that can open a skylight to breathe.
I didn't expect to have such good luck.
The biggest problem of crossing has been solved.
She couldn't help but curl up the corners of her mouth slightly.

Even so, Mrs. Shen felt that she was too calm and steady, and did not lose her composure at all.
Madam Shen was very satisfied and said to Master Yin San, who was laughing silly, "Brother, now that this matter has been decided, we should report it to our father and mother."
Master Yin San woke up as if from a dream and stood up: "Yes, yes, I'll go right away!"
He then instructed his wife: "Go to your mother."
The couple went their separate ways happily, and no one cared about Yin Shi.

Mrs. Shen sent these two people away just to talk to Yin Shi alone.
She dismissed the maidservant and whispered to Yin Shi, "Child, I know you are both shy and happy right now, but I am your aunt. Since I have decided on your life, I don't want to hide some things from you. I've thought about it, and it's better to let you know earlier so that you can prepare early."

Mrs. Shen was still thinking about her words, but Yin Shi, who had just acted "shy", raised her head, her eyes clear and black: "Aunt, do you want to talk about the girl that my cousin has been engaged to?"
Mrs. Shen was surprised: "Huh?"
Yin Shi sold Shen Ti out without any hesitation: "The other day I went to visit Master, and my cousin stopped me on the way and talked to me."

Mrs. Shen's face darkened: "What did he say? Did he say anything crazy?"
Yin Shi smiled slightly: "My cousin is a top scholar, how could he say such nonsense? He just told me about the girl and his situation, hoping that I would reject this marriage."
Mrs. Shen was so angry that she kept cursing, "Evil creature! Evil creature!" She asked Yin Shi, "How are you going to answer him?"
She has been observing Yin Shi for more than half a month.
Although the Third Lady would praise the girls of her own family in front of the First Lady and other sisters-in-law, especially Yin Shi, in fact, she complained to Madam Shen in private: "She is silly and clumsy. She doesn't know how to please others at all."
Of course, what the Third Lady meant by "pleasing" was to please her as the stepmother.

But Mrs. Shen believed her own eyes more.
She had observed for more than half a month and believed that Yin Shi was definitely not what the third lady complained about. She was much more mature than her sisters and very stable.
At this moment, what she wanted to know more was how Yin Shi answered Shen Ti at that time, and she wanted to know Yin Shi’s attitude towards this matter.

Yin Shi lived here for eight or nine years and had a clear grasp of the moral context of the times.
She began to wave the flag: "I told my cousin that marriage is entirely determined by parents, how can we two decide it?"
"If the elders agree to betroth us, I will marry you in a formal ceremony."
"If the elders let it go, we are still cousins, even if our bones are broken, our tendons are still connected, and we are still relatives from generation to generation."

This answer was very balanced and Yin Shi had prepared it in mind long ago, so there would be no mistake.
As expected, Mrs. Shen was very satisfied with what she heard. She only scolded Shen Ti: "...you have read so much books that you are not as knowledgeable as the girls in the boudoir."
"My cousin is still young." Distance does not separate relatives. When Madam Shen scolds Shen Ti, Yin Shi has to speak for Shen Ti. "He doesn't make a fuss. He wants to solve the problem quietly in private. He knows how to consider the overall situation."

As a mother, you can only scold your son yourself, and you can't listen to others scolding him. Yin Shi defended Shen Ti at this time, which made Mrs. Shen very happy.
This daughter-in-law was indeed the right choice.
Mrs. Shen held her hand and burst into tears: "He will definitely marry Feng. You will be wronged in the future."

Yin Shi thought, so his surname is Feng.
She shook Mrs. Shen's hand and said eagerly, "Don't worry, aunt. I will go there and live with you in the future."
What is the husband? The mother-in-law is the boss of the daughter-in-law!
Look, without love to mess things up, life is very clear.

It’s so sensible that it makes people feel distressed!
She must have been born a concubine's daughter and suffered injustice at home.
Madam Shen herself was a concubine's daughter, and she had been living under the care of the old lady in the past. What's more, Madam Shen was the fourth child, and Yin Shi was also the fourth child.
Mrs. Shen looked at the beautiful girl, as if she was seeing herself in the past.
"Don't worry." She said firmly, "Since my aunt has engaged you, she will never let anyone bully you."

She said: "You must remember that I may be your mother-in-law in the future, but I will always be your aunt!"
Mother-in-law and daughter-in-law are social relationships, but aunt and nephew are blood relations that cannot be severed.
Yin Shi suppressed his inner joy and called out sincerely, "Auntie!"

This marriage shocked the entire Yin family.
The Third Lady's sisters-in-law regretted their decision and beat their chests. If they had known that Mrs. Shen was here to pick a daughter-in-law, they would have pushed their daughters forward. But who could have thought of that?
Now that I think about it, it is indeed strange that my nephew came to my maternal home after winning the third place in the imperial examination. But at that time, everyone was just proud of it.
I also heard that the old man knew about it from the beginning, but he was so tight-lipped that his daughters-in-law were all gnashing their teeth in anger.

When the old lady heard about this, she became so angry that she fell ill.
When the Shen family came to choose a daughter-in-law, they skipped her biological daughter and picked someone who was not related to her by blood.
Now the Shen family has chosen a daughter-in-law, and they have chosen one who is not related to her by blood.

When he heard that the old man had known about it long ago, he just sat up, but then lay down again in anger.
He stood up, slapped his legs and cried, "This old man just can't stand seeing me get better!"
He has a legitimate granddaughter, but he insists on marrying her to the illegitimate son's daughter.

The old man rarely came to see her, and he was so angry that he rolled his eyes.
"Is it up to me?" He said with his hands on his hips, "If it were up to me, would I marry someone else? I would marry myself to the Shen family!"
"This is life."
"Sanniang didn't have this fate back then. Now, no one else has this fate either."
"Whoever belongs to him belongs to him."

Now that this matter was settled, Mrs. Shen and her son planned to return.
Although the new scholars have holidays after the results are announced, it is still better to start some social activities early. It is rare to go back to my mother's house, but my son's future is more important.

According to the custom at that time, men and women could not see each other after they were engaged until they got married.
But before Mrs. Shen and her son set off, someone visited Yin Shi's yard.
The person who came was a boy, who looked to be about seven or eight years old, with regular eyebrows and eyes, and a cute fair complexion.

Yin Shi had seen him at Donglin Temple, but they had never spoken. He gave him some candy and asked, "What's your name?"
"Greetings, Fourth Young Lady." The child bowed politely, his manners showing that he was well-trained. "My name is Changchuan, and I serve our Master."
While speaking respectfully and politely, he stuffed the candy into his belt without changing his expression.
"The master asked me to pass a message to the girl."

"Our Master said that we don't need to worry about what the Fourth Lady said before, he will make all the arrangements. The Master said that a wife is a must, he has a plan in mind."
"The young master also said that he only asked the young lady to remember her original intention and live up to her promise."

(End of this chapter)