The Grand Secretary's Pampered wife

"Ah, him!" Gu Xiaoshun certainly knew that his brother-in-law was going to tutor someone. His brother-in-law seemed to be possessed in the past six months. His grades were improving rapidly that there were quite a few people who wanted to ask for his guidance.

Steward Zhou pulled Lin Chengye over and introduced him to Xiao Liulang, "This is Lin Chengye, the sixth young master of my family. He is introverted and doesn't talk much. I trust Xiucai Xiao to take care of him from now on."

Xiao Liulang looked at him and said, "You’re going to take an exam today. You can't enter the academy unless you pass it. Can you understand?"

Lin Chengye nodded his head and replied, "Yes, I understand."

Steward Zhou breathed a sigh of relief when he didn’t stutter in his reply.

In fact, it didn’t matter if he didn’t pass the exam. At most, he would be stuck in the Zhongzheng Hall of Dean Li. It was not a problem if Xiao Liulang skipped classes to give him tutoring, but Xiao Liulang didn't say this.

Xiao Liulang led Lin Chengye to find Dean Li.

Dean Li went to great lengths to win over his beloved disciple, and for the first time in his life he did such an act of letting people go through the back door.

However, Lin Chengye was also determined not to fall short. He didn't fail even a single exam Dean Li gave him. His scores in scriptures and essays were all right, though the eight-part essay was a little poor. Even so, he still qualified for admission.

He was assigned to Xiao Liulang's class B, sitting at the same table as Xiao Liulang.

Lin Chengye didn't live in his assigned dorm room, instead Steward Zhou spent a lot of money to buy a school district house nearby.

Xiao Liulang spent some time every day tutoring him, one hour at noon and half an hour after school. If he came early in the morning, he could receive tutoring for another half an hour.

"Ah, why don't Xiucai Xiao just stay here as well? Why not save yourself from the exhaustion of traveling?" Steward Zhou suggested with a smile.

"My wife will be angry." Xiao Liulang relentlessly refused.

Steward Zhou：“…”

Steward Zhou, who failed to keep Xiao Liulang for the night, had to find another way to please him, such as replacing Second Uncle Luo's small oxcart with his own luxurious carriage, and providing a place for lunch as well as the lunch itself for Xiao Liulang and his party.

Gu Yan and Little Jing Kong were people who needed to take a noon nap. Lying in a wing room was better than lying in the classroom.

Xiao Liulang had no objection to these two arrangements.

Because of Lin Chengye's tutoring, several of them had to go back to the village late, but knowing that Xiao Liulang was trying to earn money to support the family, Gu Yan and Little Jing Kong had no complaints.

Gu Xiaoshun devoted himself to carving wood without complaining.

"Hungry? Why don't you have dinner here?" Steward Zhou said to the three little brothers, Gu Yan, Gu Xiaoshun and Little Jing Kong.

All three people answered in unison, "No!"

Steward Zhou was stupefied. No? Was the food here not delicious? It was all made by a skilled chef! Did the little lady in your family have better skills than the chef here?

Three people: Oh, ordinary people like you can’t imagine how delicious the food cooked by JiaoJiao(my sister) is!

……

Provincial exams were held every three years. Xiao Liulang happened to become a Xiucai this year when there would be a provincial exam, while many examinees had been waiting for it for two years.

With the approach of the provincial exam, the atmosphere in the academy became unprecedentedly tense. Even the teachers who were normally lounging about everyday began to simulate the provincial exam and draw up topics for the examinees.

Xiao Liulang also gave Lin Chengye a set of questions. His questions were even more profound and tricky than those of the teachers. Lin Chengye seriously suspected that Xiao Liulang didn’t sleep every night and specially flipped over the Four Books and Five Classics in order to give him passages that no one had ever memorized!

At noon today, Gu Yan and Little Jing Kong went to the wing room for lunch break while Gu Xiaoshun carved wood in the yard.

Two of Xiao Liulang’s question made Lin Chengye feel as though his head would explode.

Steward Zhou was watching at the door when suddenly a servant boy came up to him.

Steward Zhou moved sideways and whispered, "What's the matter?"

"The posthouse was flooded, and Big Brother Zheng was washed away by the flood. He only returned to Lin residence a few days ago, he is staying there at the moment to recover from his illness."

Big Brother Zheng was the young man who went in person to invite Gu Jiao before. He was the son of a deputy steward of the Lin Family.

After Xiao Liulang refused to go to the Lin residence last time, the young man surnamed Zheng went home. Who knew he would meet the flood halfway?

"When did this happen?"

"Half a month ago."

The trip to the provincial capital was uphill, so the journey was slower, while the trip from the provincial capital was downhill, which was faster. As a result, Lin Chengye, who came from the provincial capital, managed to avoid the flood perfectly.

But if Xiao Liulang had gone to the provincial capital with Steward Zhou at the beginning, perhaps they would have also encountered the flood in the posthouse during that time just like the young man surnamed Zheng.

When Xiao Liulang came out after tutoring Lin Chengye, he saw Steward Zhou’s expression as if he had avoided a calamity. He could not help but ask, "What happened?"

"Ah, that's right." Steward Zhou told him about the flood in the posthouse half a month ago.

Xiao Liulang knew that posthouse. It was the only posthouse on that official road. In other words, as long as they went to the provincial capital, they would definitely stay in that posthouse.

Based on the time they were supposed to set off, they would have been caught in the flood.

Lin Chengye wasn’t caught in the flood since his journey from the provincial capital was quicker. He had long passed that posthouse half a month ago.

Xiao Liulang suddenly thought of Gu Jiao preventing himself from going to the provincial capital.

This coincidence wasn’t the first time——

Because she asked him to buy osmanthus cakes for her, he avoided the medical trouble in the medical hall.

He also escaped the collapse of his dorm room because she came to him and asked to have lunch together.

Then, he missed the snowstorm on the way back home because they spent the night in town as per her suggestion.

Once or twice was a coincidence, three or four times was somewhat thought-provoking.

In the evening, Xiao Liulang went to the kitchen to help Gu Jiao as soon as he got home.

Gu Jiao cooked while he lit up the fire, adding firewood from time to time.

Both pots on the stove were used. One for steaming sweet potatoes and cornmeal, the other for cooking wood ear mushroom soup. The thick soup gurgled, and a nice fragrant pervaded the kitchen.

Xiao Liulang broke a dead branch and put it into the stove chamber, seemingly inadvertently saying, "Today, Steward Zhou said that the Qishan Posthouse was caught in a flood half a month ago. Fortunately, I didn't go to the provincial capital, otherwise I would have been washed away by the flood."

Gu Jiao: "Oh."

Xiao Liulang looked up at her, asking, "Aren't you surprised?"

Gu Jiao momentarily paused and reacted again, "Oh!"

Xiao Liulang: “…”

Xiao Liulang asked her, "Do you know about the flood?"

Gu Jiao replied calmly, "No."

Xiao Liulang gave her a deep look, bowed his head and broke another dead branch. He said, "I'm going to the provincial capital this time. I’m going to stay in the Lin residence."

Gu Jiao moved the spatula in her hand and said, "Didn't you say you won’t?"

Xiao Liulang said, "It's more convenient if I stay in the Lin residence. Besides, I also asked Steward Zhou. Steward Zhou said that although the daughters of the Lin Family are beautiful, they are all married already, there’s no longer an unmarried daughter in the house, so you don't have to worry about that. "

Was the Lin Family daughters what she was worried about? She was worried about the cousin of the Lin Family!

Did he not want happiness for the rest of his life or what!?

Gu Jiao stifled a breath, unable to expel it. In an instant, her face turned black!

Xiao Liulang was somewhat amused by the way she wanted to burst out but couldn't.

The conversation was about to continue when Little Jing Kong rushed in with a little chick in his arms, "JiaoJiao! Brother Gu Yan's puppy bit my baby chick!"

Ever since Gu Yan's little puppy also lived in the house, the family experienced for themselves what was called chickens flying and dogs jumping[1] literally.

As long as the little puppy and the baby chicks got out of their cages at the same time, chicken feathers and dog furs would be all over the ground.

The little puppy was bigger, but the baby chicks were bigger in numbers and they could also get into a formation. Both sides were simply not afraid of fighting.

Gu Jiao asked him, "Did your baby chicks peck at the puppy of Brother Gu Yan again?"

Little Jing Kong fell silent in an instant.

Little Jing Kong looked up and said, "Oh, the food smells delicious! I suddenly remembered that I haven’t finished my homework yet, I’ll be doing my homework first!"

A certain little monk, who just reenacted the saying, “the wicked complains first”, made sure to hop away super adorably in order to make JiaoJiao so charmed that she would forget to get angry.

He hopped to the backyard, stuffed the baby chick back into the chicken coop, and then ran away with heavy footsteps!

1. ↑ — Idiom that means utter chaos or confusion.