A Complete Explanation of the Negative Textbooks for the Imperial Examination

Strange new lady

   The day after the new wife Wu Junru entered the door, Zhao Xiu Lan fell ill.

 

    Since the departure from Zhuo County, Zhao Xiu Lan’s body has not been recovered. After finally settling down in Chang An, she should have taken the opportunity to recuperate. But she has been continuously attacked. On the day when Wu Junru and Xiao Ying got married, she was finally completely defeated.

 

    The illness was so severe that Xiao Jing Duo stayed in front of Zhao Xiu Lan’s bed all night, barely closing his eyes. Qiu Ju handed a hot handkerchief to Xiao Jing Duo. She distressedly said, “Lang Jun, you are going to see Hou Ye and… Madam Hou today. I will guard madam, so you can go back to rest for a while?”

 

    Xiao Jing Duo placed the handkerchief on his eyes. After a while, he took off the handkerchief, got up and said, “No need.”

 

    Xiao Jing Duo’s eyes were covered with a thin layer of bloodshot. He smiled inexplicably and his tone with indifferent mockery: ” Since he dares to terminate his wife and marry another. I want to see how he plans to settle me, the original eldest son.”

 

    “I’ll go to the main hall.” Xiao Jing Duo said to Qiu Ju as he walked out, “I’m fine. Just take care of my mother. I may come back later.”

 

    Today is the day when the bride serves tea. The main hall of Dingyong Hou’s mansion was full of people in the early morning.

 

    When Xiao Jing Duo arrived, the people from the second and third rooms were already there. Seeing Xiao Jing Duo appear, their eyes changed slightly, revealing meaningful smiles.

 

    The cousins ​​seemed to have changed into different individuals overnight. Not only did they lose their attentiveness towards Xiao Jing Duo but they even vaguely shunned him. All of this happened within a few months.

 

    Xiao Jing Duo ignored the probing or pitying eyes from all directions. He stood on one side without moving. After a while, the old lady arrived with the help of Xue Lan. When she saw Xiao Jing Duo, she seemed to want to call Xiao Jing Duo over, but in the end, she still didn’t say anything.

 

    Although she loves her grandson, there is no doubt that the eldest son is more important. What’s more, Xiao Jing Duo has been repeatedly disobeying these days. The old lady is also temperamental. So she just took this opportunity to hang him for a few months and let him think clearly about whom he should stand for.

 

    After a while, the complicated footsteps gradually approached. Old Lady Xiao immediately cheered up, and the whispering in the room stopped.

 

    Xiao Ying walked steadily in the eyes of everyone, and beside him was a woman in red, obviously the bride Wu Junru.

 

   Seeing Wu Junru’s face, many people couldn’t hide their disappointment. This new lady was very powerful before and after marriage. She shook with the name of the famous family. While shocking everyone, she also invisibly raised everyone’s expectations for her. Unfortunately, Wu Junru herself did not meet this expectation.

 

    It’s not that Wu Junru looks ugly. She is average in appearance. She is considered a beautiful woman among the people. However, in the aristocracy, it is really not good-looking. To put it in a bad way, Xue Lan and several other favoured maids are also prettier than Wu Junru.

 

    What’s worse is that although everyone in the Xiao family is from a low background, they have good looks. Xiao Ying could be favoured by the Wu family not only because the Wu family would use the marriage to win over him, but his appearance also played a big role. Xiao Jing Duo has gathered the strengths of his parents’ appearance. Before he went to Beijing, he was a well-known handsome boy in eight townships. When he was raised in Chang An for a period of time, his appearance became more prominent. Even the cousins ​​in the second and third rooms are not bad. Although the complexion has not been whitened yet, in terms of facial features, all of them are beautiful. Standing in such an outstanding family, Wu Junru forms a sharp contrast. The original appearance of six points was also contrasted into four points.

 

    In fact, I can’t blame Wu Junru for this. In the past, when the officials were elected, they could only look at their family backgrounds. The aristocratic family, with its identity, refused to have an intersection with the commoners and had intermarried within several large families for hundreds of years. In this way, although the lineage is kept, there has been no fresh blood flowing in for decades. Many things have solidified and the progress of the offspring’s appearance is not obvious.

 

    The servants whispered about her appearance but the new wife Wu Junru was very calm. She just smiled dignifiedly.

 

    With such a flawless smile, Wu Junru knelt down and offered tea to the old lady. “My daughter-in-law will serve tea to my mother-in-law.” The old lady hurriedly took the teacup and drank it, and then handed Wu Junru the greeting gift that Xue Lan had prepared.

 

    Immediately after is the reception of the junior. Xiao Jing Duo stepped forward. The first thing he saw was Xiao Ying. The eyes of the father and son were fierce. Instead of father and son, these two are more like enemies. Then, Xiao Jing Duo’s eyes met Wu Junru’s. They both looked into each other.

 

    Neither of the two of them spoke first. The old lady felt bad. She said quickly, “Duo’er, give your mother a courtesy.”

 

    Xiao Jing Duo wanted to say that his mother was still sick in the backyard. But he knew that the situation was stronger than people. Since he is weaker than the opponent now, he can only admit defeat. There is really no need to be stubborn on such unimportant details. Maintaining the so-called face will not help the overall situation.

 

    Xiao Jing Duo paid the junior salute, but he did not call out the phrase “mother” anyway.

 

    Seeing Xiao Jing Duo’s willingness to cooperate, Old Lady Xiao was so happy that she was about to cry. How could she care about this little detail? Even Xiao Ying didn’t expect his eldest son to be able to bend and stretch like this.

 

    The displeasure in Wu Junru’s eyes flashed past. But it was quickly covered up. She put on a gentle and generous smile again with an impeccable mother-in-law attitude and said to Xiao Jing Duo: “It turns out that this is Da Lang Jun. Seeing is better than hearing. This is what I embroidered at my mother’s house. I’ll give it to Da Lang to play.”  

 

   Wu Junru walked in and out with a smile from the beginning to the end of the ceremony, as if she was a walking female beauty, and no one could fault it. Everyone in Xiao Mansion, who was still watching, was convinced by Wu Junru’s demeanour. They secretly thought that this new wife, the daughter of an aristocratic family, was a lady who could be a housewife of the Hou Mansion. In comparison, Zhao Xiu Lan was nothing. However, Xiao Jing Duo keenly captured the hostility in Wu Junru’s eyes, and his heart sank heavily. His stepmother was more difficult than he imagined. The most terrifying thing is that Wu Junru is clearly scheming, but she has to put on a gentle and generous appearance. It is not good news to be the enemy of such a person who is good at superficial skills. Wu Junru and Xiao Jing Duo fell into a strange silence here. Old Lady Xiao hurriedly motioned Xiao Jing Hu to go up.

 

     According to the sequence, Xiao Jing Duo is the eldest of the grandchildren, followed by Xiao Yu Fang, Xiao Yu Li, Xiao Yu Mang, Xiao Jing Hu, and Xiao Jing Wu, who is only two years old. However, there are differences between men and women. So the one behind Xiao Jing Duo is the little overlord, Xiao Jing Hu.

 

   Several juniors greeted in turn. Wu Junru looked dignified and elegant the whole time. She asked them in a soft voice how old they were and what they liked to do. Xiao Yu Fang and the others grew up in the village, and her mother was also vulgar and unrefined. When she saw Wu Junru this time, she felt that the women she had been in contact with in the past were all inferior, not even compared to a finger of Wu Junru. At the same time, Xiao Yu Fang admired her. There was also a trace of self-pity in her heart.

 

    Although Wu Junru spoke to the Xiao family in a gentle voice, her attitude was still high, just like a noble and a corporal, which is a kind of gentleness of condescension. But everyone here didn’t care. They even thought that this was the style of a noble family.

 

    The previous dynasties valued prestige. The officials in the dynasties all came from aristocratic families. It can be said that the aristocratic families controlled the entire court. The royal family changed every day, but the important officials in the dynasties were the same group. Therefore, the aristocratic families relied on their identity. They even looked down on the royal family. The folk worship the aristocratic families fanatically even more. Although the Wu family is not a well-known surname, it has been passed down for nearly a hundred years. It is still relying on the big tree of the Qinghe Cui family. So Wu Junru’s willingness to marry Xiao Ying is really surprising. After all, even if Xiao Ying is awarded a marquis by military merit, it cannot change the fact that he is a civilian. The family rank of the Xiao family is far inferior to that of the Wu family.   

 

   Xiao Jing Duo really couldn’t figure it out, how could Wu Junru take a fancy to Xiao Ying who has a minor family background? No daughter of an aristocratic family who grew up in her hometown would have such a whimsical idea. After a while, the bride’s serving tea and greetings are over. The second room and the third room went out one after another. Xiao Jing Duo did not want to face his so-called blood relatives, so he also left. Wu Junru’s gaze was fixed on Xiao Jing Duo’s back, and she didn’t take it back until she could no longer see him. From an angle that no one was paying attention to, Wu Junru smiled lightly. Xiao Ying really gave her a big gift. She had just passed the door and then she had a nine-year-old son. Hunting wild geese all day long, the geese pecked at the eyes.