The Great Seminary

Chapter 199 Wealth for Generations
Even after the sun has set, the humid heat by the sea remains oppressive during the hottest season.

In the courtyard of Sister-in-law Yu Fang in Pingyang Town.

Zhang Gui's best friend was sitting on his favorite stone stool, eating his favorite shrimp paste stewed vegetable noodles.

Having just returned home from closing her shop, Tsurugi looked at her beloved son, the one she cared for most besides her eldest son, and said affectionately:
"Jiangwazi, why are you so hungry today? Even if there's a food shortage outside, do you think you, a great scholar, will be short of food?"

Perhaps someone is being harsh on you.

If you have any information, tell my aunt, and I'll go slap him until his face is covered in bruises.

"Auntie, please don't make wild guesses. My cousin is now the Imperial Censor of the Eastern Guangdong Province."

Now, in the entire Zhang family of Pingyang, only this person is more valued than Da Gui, so who would dare to be harsh on me?

However, the weather is stuffy, and I can't eat the food that others cook.

The smell of your seafood sauce noodles just now reminded me of when Da Gui and I used to fight over the shrimp paste when we were kids, and it really made my mouth water.

"Really? Back then, you two gluttons who 'eat your mother out of house and home' really didn't care about anything."

"That salty, year-old sauce, you just scoop it up and stuff it in your mouth, aren't you afraid of turning into a 'night tiger'?"

"Auntie, I've always been able to eat salt without being afraid of it."

You always tell me that eating salty food makes you stronger.

"You're such a good argumentative kid."

Even if you eat salt as your staple food, it will still harm your health.

The girl named Qiedan brought over a bowl of noodle soup.

“Yes, sister-in-law,” Zhang Gui’s aunt, Qiedan Sangjia, replied loudly from the kitchen.

She had four daughters, but unfortunately the two eldest had died young. Fortunately, the remaining third and fourth daughters were healthy and are now in their teens.

At this point, the mother has to worry extra about finding the best, most reliable, and wealthy husband for her daughter.

Qiedan Sangjia was no exception.

Today it's Zhang San, tomorrow it's Li Si—just wild guesses.

I never dared to hope that someone like Zhang Jiujiang, a scholar, would be a suitable candidate.

But as my nephew gains momentum, I now think it's worth a try.

As the saying goes, "cast a wide net and catch fish slowly."

So Qiedan Sangjia quickly started working with both hands, using two large ladles to toss and turn the soup, and soon a large bowl of noodle soup had cooled down.

She called her third daughter over and said, "Tongwa, I still need to cook. Go and take the soup to Young Master Jiang."

Cai Yangtongwa has a baby face. Last year, she looked like a little girl playing with a carp in a New Year's painting, festive and cute.

But as the saying goes, "A girl changes a lot as she grows up, and she becomes more and more beautiful."

In just a few months, her face changed, and her original 'cute' appearance transformed into 'lovable'.

Before I knew it, many smiling faces of teenagers began to appear around me.

Unfortunately, unlike Zhang Gui's aunt's fourth daughter, Cai Yang Ai Lin, who was beautiful from childhood, Cai Yang Tong Wa was so adorably clueless that she never noticed anything.

He remained as shy and honest as ever, always listening to the adults.

My mother called me into the kitchen, and I bowed my head, took the noodle soup with both hands, and took it to the yard.

"Thank you for bringing the noodle soup, sister."

In the prime of youth, a fine young man.

Even at your best friend's house, in front of your best friend's sister, you absolutely cannot have any other thoughts; you must present yourself as handsome, refined, and polite.

He also needed to use his sunny smile and good manners to silently show the girl that...

"Although I am your brother's best companion, I am completely different from his despicable, filthy, and unkempt appearance."

She's the kind of person who's charming and polite to the opposite sex.

Zhang Jiujiang stood up with a hearty laugh and took the noodle soup from Zhuo Yangtongwa's hand. When he saw the girl's vaguely familiar yet exceptionally beautiful face, his heart skipped a beat, and he almost spilled the noodle soup in his hand.

Just then, a noisy voice came from the top of the wall.

“Zhang Jiujiang, you’re not just tempting me, you’re trying to usurp my position as the ‘eldest son’ in the family.”

Eating the noodles my mother made; sitting on the chopping block that I enjoyed eating the most when I was eating noodles;
I felt so comfortable drinking the noodle soup my aunt served and my cousin gave me.

"Da Gui, you're finally back!"

Zhang Jiujiang completely forgot about the noodle soup at this point, strode over to his friend's feet, tilted his head back, and said:
"He's already a prince of a foreign land, a rank equivalent to a first-grade official, yet he's becoming more and more degenerate the more he's promoted."

They've climbed over their own wall.

"I saw that a wooden wall was being built outside the town, and not wanting to bother to report it, I just flew over here."

But you, why did you run back to Pingyang Town when it's neither a holiday nor a festival?

They even tracked down my whereabouts at my home. Have they grown some skill, able to predict the future?"

Zhang Gui jumped off the wall and patted his friend on the shoulder with a smile.

Then she ran to her mother, acted coquettishly for a while, and then greeted her aunt and cousins.

This time, I officially met with Zhang Jiujiang, sitting on a stone bench, enjoying the warm sea breeze.

While eating watermelon from a well, they started chatting.

"You're really lucky, kid. Even though you only have one mother who loves you, she probably does better than ten of my parents. And yet you've been able to act pitiful in front of me since you were a kid."

How unjust is Heaven!

"Alright, Aunt Suzi and Uncle Bade love you very much, it's just that I'm a widow and an orphan, so it's inevitable that they spoil me a bit."

Uncle Bade in your family is ambitious and wants to cultivate you into a successful person so that you won't have to work as hard as he did in the future.

Aunt Suzi appears to be opinionated, but in reality, she listens to Uncle Bade's temperament on important matters.

In addition, there's that good cousin who's always lived with your family since he was little, the 'other people's child'.

Life will not be so pleasant then.

Stop making things harder on yourself.

By the way, speaking of your good cousin, he's really getting more and more 'profound'.

His appointment as Imperial Censor of Dongyue was perfectly timed.

"Your mouth is getting more and more 'profound,' you're really good at talking and making empty promises."

Now, by acting as a barbarian prince, he can gather support and influence among the common people, and then it will be the perfect time to vie for the throne and power.

A friend's joke actually exposed Zhang Gui's scheme of the past few years.

This startled him slightly, then he clapped and laughed.

"You truly understand me, Jiujiang!"
If I achieve great things in the future, Your Highness, you are a remnant of feudalism, so we will not promote your ideas, but we can still ensure your wealth and prosperity for generations to come.

A lifetime is not too much, but a lifetime is not too little.

From you, Zhang Jiujiang, onwards, all your children and grandchildren will be like my own children…

"You brat, you're taking advantage of your brother again. Shut up!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Jiujiang angrily shoved a piece of watermelon into his friend's mouth and shoved it around a few times.

Zhang Gui smiled and said:
"Look at the state my cousin Tongwa was in just now, she looked like she had lost blood in her head."

"She and I are only one generation apart in terms of bloodline. If you two really end up together, hey Zhang Jiujiang, you son of a bitch, why aren't you making a scene with me? Instead, you're blushing..."

The two buddies laughed and joked around again, when suddenly Zhang Jiujiang said something.

"Da Gui, I want to go to Yuanshan."

(End of this chapter)