They've all separated, so what does it matter to me if they get poorer and poorer?

Chapter 106 Come to say thank you
Granny Ji had gone to great lengths to teach her young lady, reciting the words "young lady's precepts" eight hundred times a day. Unfortunately, even eight hundred recitations couldn't compare to the young lady clinging to her arm and calling out "Granny!" So, after all these years, the actual effect was practically zero.

Lu Xiaoyue turned her head and waved her little hand with a smile, then looked up at Xu Zhichun: "Sister Xu, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to leave without saying goodbye last time."

The little girl earnestly repeated the reasons she had explained to Liang Mingxuan to Xu Zhichun.

"If I had known earlier that Sister Xu's house was the home of Mingxuan, the young scholar, I wouldn't have run away!"

The little girl sounded slightly regretful.

Xu Zhichun chuckled, "You were right to do what you did back then. Later, Mingxuan came back and told me you were safe and sound, and I was relieved. You've come again today, which shows you still remember this matter, which is quite remarkable."

"Sister Xu's dumpling soup is so delicious, of course I remember it!"

The two looked at each other and smiled.

Granny Ji led her maid Lanfang forward, her face beaming: "This must be Madam Xu, right? Hello, Madam Xu."

Xu Zhichun returned the greeting: "Greetings, Granny! Greetings, Miss! May I ask how we address you both?"

Granny Ji is a true spoiled young lady. She used to serve Madam Ji with utmost loyalty, and now that she is in charge of taking care of Lu Xiaoyue, she is very likely to extend her affection to Lu Xiaoyue as well.

Lu Xiaoyue had praised Xu Zhichun countless times to the elderly nanny who took care of her. Now, seeing Xu Zhichun's poised and friendly demeanor, and knowing that she, as a widowed sister-in-law, had resolutely and selflessly taken on the responsibility of supporting the family and raising her brother-in-law to such a promising future, and that she was of noble character and worthy of respect and admiration, Nanny Ji felt a surge of goodwill and pity. She smiled kindly and said, "Madam Xu, just call me Nanny Ji. This is Lanfang. There's no need for such formalities as 'Miss'."

Lanfang smiled and said, "That's right, Madam Xu, please don't be so polite. I can't accept that."

Xu Zhichun smiled and invited them into the house, saying, "In that case, I will respectfully comply. Granny Ji and Lanfang, please come in."

The place for digging konjac has changed again, and it's about 25 minutes further away than before. Zeng Xiaoyan and her husband, as well as Aunt Zhu'er, all went. Now they dig up enough for two or two and a half days at a time, so they all went there not long after returning to the village from their stall in the city.

These past few days, Liang Mingxuan has been going with her every day. He wants to help out because he knows how hard his sister-in-law has worked for him. Xu Zhichun couldn't refuse, so she had to let him go.

Coincidentally, Lu Xiaoyue and the others came today, but she was the only one at home busy with housework, the vegetable garden, and the hillside behind the house.

Upon entering the room, Granny Ji gestured for Lanfang to present the gifts she had brought, saying, "This is a small token of the Madam and Master's appreciation, Madam Xu, please don't be shy."

“Madam and Master, your kindness is truly appreciated. Thank you.”

When Granny Ji heard her address her as "Madam" and "Master" instead of "Madam" and "Sir," she knew that the woman was aware of the situation and was even more pleased. With a smile, she quickly reconciled the previous events and covered up the truth.

If anyone asked, she would say that they met by chance in the county town because the woman found the lady's lost jade pendant and returned it to her. The lady was grateful, and that's how they became friends. The young lady had come back to the village with her to visit and stayed overnight. The next day, because they had to go to town early to set up their stall, the young lady went to find the village head to escort her to town.
If anyone inquires which family's lady she is, they will know she is from the Lu family in the neighboring Qingyang County, visiting relatives.

Xu Zhichun carefully noted it down and realized that the girl had gone to the village headman to escort her back to the city that day. He would have to tell the village headman about their conspiracy later.

Lu Xiaoyue ran around inside and outside the house and courtyard, curious about everything. She even dragged Granny Ji to see the woodpile where she had secretly hidden that night, which made Granny Ji hug her tightly and say "Oh dear" with heartache.

Granny Ji was also quite interested in sweet potatoes and potatoes, so Xu Zhichun simply took them up to the hillside behind the house to take a look.

The slope is very gentle, and after being cleared, it has been turned into vegetable plots, so it is not difficult to walk up it.

Looking at the lush green plants and the sweet potato vines creeping densely on the ground, Granny Ji couldn't help but feel a little pleased: "These crops are growing so well, it makes me happy just looking at them!"

Lu Xiaoyue was also very curious, "Are these the sweet potatoes and potatoes that Sister Xu gave me before? My mother and I both said they were delicious. Can Sister Xu give me some more when they are ripe?"

Xu Zhichun nodded and smiled: "Of course it's good. The first thing we'll do when it's ripe is to report it to the adults!"

Seeing that it was getting late, Granny Ji urged Lu Xiaoyue to leave several times before she finally did so reluctantly. She specifically instructed Xu Zhichun that the ointment she brought was extremely effective and would leave no scars after application.
Speaking of this, the little girl still felt a bit guilty and embarrassed. Xu Zhichun was a little angry and felt sorry for her child at the time, but later she found some ointment in the warehouse space to apply to him, and the wounds gradually disappeared, and her anger also gradually subsided.

Looking back, the little girl's stress response when she was terrified was actually quite normal.

Upon hearing the girl mention it again, Xu Zhichun quickly nodded in agreement: "Don't worry, it definitely won't leave a scar."

"Okay! Goodbye, Sister Xu. I'll come back in a while. Oh, I'll come to check on the potatoes and sweet potatoes for my dad!"

Both Xu Zhichun and Granny Ji laughed at what she said.

"As long as Master Lu agrees, we will certainly welcome him!"

"Then it's settled!"

Lu Xiaoyue happily boarded the carriage.

As the carriage left the village, many people watched with great curiosity from afar.

The carriage was nowhere to be seen, but Xu Zhichun's house was bustling with activity.

They're all here to gossip.

Everyone actually thought they were there to curry favor with Mingxuan, the student who had just passed the imperial examination. Xu Zhichun was both amused and exasperated.

Judging from her limited experience of reading "Fan Jin's Success in the Imperial Examination", one would have to be a successful candidate in the imperial examination to fawn over someone, offer them money, land, and houses.
Not necessarily, since each dynasty was different.

Fan Jin was able to become a minor official even if he didn't take the higher-level exams, which meant he could wield power, so naturally people would try to curry favor with him.

Nowadays, it's really too difficult to obtain useful and authoritative official information. She genuinely doesn't know anything about things like college admission policies and benefits.

However, in short, Granny Ji and the others really weren't trying to curry favor with him because he was a student of the Imperial Academy; that's the real story.
Xu Zhichun took the opportunity to recount the story she had conspired with Granny Ji. Good, now there was an immediate chance to put it into practice. She could review it while the memory was still fresh and avoid making mistakes.

"So this is ah!"

"That's quite remarkable. I knew Zhichun was a good person, and she's right."

"No!"

As a result, Xu Zhichun received another round of praise.

Xu Zhichun: "."

After enjoying the melon, everyone left satisfied.

What Xu Zhichun didn't know was that because of this incident, her aunt Zhang was in another embarrassing situation.

News travels fast in the village. Before Lu Xiaoyue and Granny Ji had even left, the whole village was buzzing with the news that it was a wealthy city person who had come to curry favor with the little prodigy.

Zhang was unconvinced and said sourly, "My son isn't home right now. If he were, someone would definitely come to our house too! My son doesn't care about that. He's still studying hard at school. He's just a student, nothing to be proud of."

Although everyone thought this was boasting, there was some truth to it.

After the rumors about Granny Ji and the others' identities were debunked, the truth came out. Zhang then had someone mock her a few times, which infuriated her, and she got into a huge fight. It was Uncle Liang who found out and dragged her home, giving her a good scolding.
Finally, the rating reached eight points! Thank you so much!
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(End of this chapter)