The Lucky Farmgirl-Chapter 1930 - 1905: Reunion
When Manbao and the others felt sleepy after their meal, Mr. Zhuang leisurely returned with a guard.
He called the three of them into the room and asked again. After hearing Manbao say that it’s not necessary to fight for the inheritance, he nodded and said, "I went to sit in a teahouse today and thought that since you are here, you might as well have some exchange with the students of Shangzhou Academy. That can also count as a study tour."
He said, "Give me your posts. I will deliver them for you tomorrow. After a few days, when you have handled the family matters, you can go around and have a look."
Study tour, study tour, with ’tour’ before ’study’. Bai Erlang nodded repeatedly, immediately went to get paper and pen to write the post.
Bai Shan felt a spark in his heart too and smiled, nodding, before turning to write his post.
Manbao wanted to use her official seal as a substitute, but Bai Shan pulled her aside and said, "It’s better to write a few new ones. Either sign as a Compiler from the Chongwen Pavilion or choose a name for yourself and state that you are a student of Mr. Zhuang."
Mr. Zhuang was pleased upon hearing this and stroked his beard, saying to Manbao, "You don’t need to explicitly mention you are a Compiler from the Chongwen Pavilion. I’ve heard that Shangzhou Academy holds literary and poetry gatherings every ten days, where not only the academy’s scholars attend, but also officials from the prefecture and county magistrates occasionally participate."
He said, "Manbao, being an official, you should at least greet the local officials now that you’re in Shangzhou, even if it’s private. If you’re worried about it being troublesome, just write a letter of introduction and have someone deliver some local specialties from the capital."
Manbao: "Won’t that make people misunderstand that I’m throwing my weight around and trying to ask favors from them?" 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎
Mr. Zhuang said, "You are going to ask them for a favor anyway, why worry about what people say?"
Manbao and the others: ...
Mr. Zhuang continued, "While Ms. Xia’s family may be small, they are a native clan from Shangzhou. If they really stirred up trouble and the Shangzhou officials ignored it, it wouldn’t look good. Even if they won’t indulge you, acknowledging your courtesy might make them fairer."
"Besides, are the local specialties you brought from the capital very valuable?"
They really aren’t that valuable.
Even though there isn’t much sentiment with Ms. Xia’s side, the Zhou family still prepared gifts since they were visiting relatives.
Cough, because they haven’t met and have no relationship, they prepared local specialties from the capital that are famous for being both cheap and renowned.
Such as the famous sauces from the capital, brought in jars, which are not costly, often prepared for visits as every household usually needs them.
Mr. Zhuang said, "Select a few to send along with the post, just to avoid rudeness."
Manbao: "Have the guards deliver them?"
Mr. Zhuang nodded, saying, "You are a capital official, being friendly is enough, don’t lower your status too much."
Manbao and Bai Shan exchanged a glance, then nodded.
The three suppressed their drowsiness, then went back to their rooms to take paper and pen to write the posts.
Manbao had especially many to write, not only for the literati but also for the officials.
As for the list of literati, Mr. Zhuang gave them a list, saying, "These are some of the well-known scholars in the Shangzhou Academy that I heard about today. You can write to them."
Manbao and Bai Erlang, with great understanding, gathered their writing tools and met in Bai Shan’s room.
She first wrote posts to the literati scholars, then looked at Bai Shan.
Bai Shan had already finished writing, and seeing this, he reached out to grab a post and said, "I’ll write two for you."
Manbao cheered and planned to copy his.
After all, it was meant for officials, so it didn’t matter if they were the same, just the names changed.
Bai Shan, however, tapped her head with his pen and said, "Be more serious, add more sincerity. With such good writing and sincerity, they might show you some favoritism beyond the gifts."
Manbao became more earnest.
Thus, early the next morning, everyone from County Magistrate Zhai to the Shangzhou Prefect received posts and local specialties from Zhou Man.
The Shangzhou Prefect held a higher rank than Zhou Man by one grade, but Zhou Man was a capital official and he was a local official, so by convention, they were about the same rank.
He was a bit perplexed to receive such a gift, and when he saw on the post that she was visiting relatives, he frowned.
Although he hadn’t met Zhou Man, he remembered well the first female official. If he wasn’t mistaken, she was from Mianzhou in Jiannan, right?
Since when did Shangzhou become her hometown?
After pondering, the prefect asked someone to call for County Magistrate Zhai, planning to have him check it out, but County Magistrate Zhai didn’t even need to investigate. He directly told about Zhou Man’s connection to the Xia family and said, "By noon today, people from the Xia family should arrive. Would you like to go and have a look?"
The prefect thought for a moment and shook his head, "It’s better that you mediate. It’s not suitable for me to go."
County Magistrate Zhai also felt that it wasn’t appropriate for him to go. Hearing he wasn’t going, he quietly breathed a sigh of relief, smiling wholeheartedly, and assured he would mediate well between Lord Zhou and Ms. Xia.
Meanwhile, Xia Xia’s carriage had just stopped at the inn’s entrance. Xia Rui jumped off the carriage, intending to find someone, and immediately saw Zhou Dalang and Zhou Wulang, whom he met the previous day, causing him to pause.
Zhou Dalang and Zhou Wulang also saw Xia Rui and quickly turned to Manbao, saying, "That’s Xia Rui."
Manbao looked up and then directed her gaze towards the carriage behind him. She stepped forward to greet him with a smile, "Is it Uncle Xia, and is it Grandpa on the carriage?"
Xia Rui looked at her complicatedly and said, "Yes, you must be Lady Xin’s daughter?"
The person in the carriage coughed, and Xia Rui quickly turned to lift the curtain, "Father, perhaps you should head back first. I’ll take them up the mountain."
Xia Xia shook his head, "No need, your granduncle’s granddaughter has returned. I must personally say a word. Lady, quickly get on the carriage. I’ll take you to see your grandparents."
Manbao responded but said, "Grandpa, please wait a moment. My parents and teacher are also coming, and we need to bring some things."
Not only did Old Zhou and Ms. Qian prepare incense and paper money, but they also paid the inn to steam a large rooster. If conditions allowed, they even wanted to have the inn steam a pig’s head.
It took Xia Xia a moment to realize that when Zhou Man said "parents," she was referring to her uncle and aunt. He leaned against the side of the carriage, lifted the curtain, and looked out.
Old Zhou and Ms. Qian were still behind, only now coming downstairs. The waiter helped them carry the offerings onto the carriage. When they looked up, their eyes met.
Seeing Xia Xia, who didn’t look much older than himself, Old Zhou hesitated for a moment before calling out, "In-law uncle..."
He was quite senior in the village, and being of lower status was somewhat uncomfortable.
Xia Xia, too, hadn’t expected Zhou Man’s "father" to be about his own age, took a moment before pulling a smile and saying, "Is this Zhou’s eldest nephew? Please get on the carriage, this is our first meeting..."
He looked closely at Old Zhou and found him somewhat resembling Zhou Yin, especially in the face shape and those eyes.
After a careful look, he squeezed out a smile and said, "Even if you didn’t tell us, we could recognize you on the road. You look somewhat like Zhou Yin."
Old Zhou proudly said, "Of course, we siblings were born from the same parents, how could we not look alike?"
Only the age gap was a bit much, Xia Xia thought. If he ran into him on the road, he would definitely think he was Zhou Yin’s father.
