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Chapter 255 Marriage is a Major Event, Left to the Parents' Deciding

Back home, Su Youcai mysteriously pulled the landlady into the house.

"Guess why Brother Zhu invited us over today?"

"What are you doing?" The proprietress naturally knew the answer, but she had to provide enough emotional value.

"A blind date!" Su Youcai exclaimed, slapping the edge of the bed.

"Huh?!" The proprietress looked surprised. "Who's who?"

"Miss Zhu and Chun-ge!" Su Youcai said proudly.

"Second Brother is amazing! I didn't even realize it," the proprietress said admiringly.

"Hey, I didn't figure it out myself. Brother Zhu told me about it in private," Su Youcai laughed. "He told me to come back and ask Chun-ge if he's interested."

"Did you ask?" The proprietress's expression tightened.

"No, I just didn't get the chance," Su Youcai said. "Chun-ge'er is shy, he can't ask in front of those two brats."

"It's good that they didn't ask." The proprietress breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Second Brother, you might as well take it easy for now."

"What? Brother Zhu is still waiting for a reply." Su Youcai asked, puzzled.

"If we ask now, Chun-ge'er probably won't say anything nice," the landlady said. "What will we tell Brother Zhu then?"

"What?"

"Firstly, Chun-ge'er is focused on the exam; he won't consider matters of love until he passes the imperial examination," the landlady said, knowing everyone in the household inside and out. "Secondly... Miss Zhu's behavior today frightened him somewhat."

"Really? I think the little girl is quite cute," Su Youcai said with a smile. "She's so genuine."

“In the eyes of a kind and benevolent gentleman like Second Brother, Miss Zhu is just a child playing around. If they were ordinary fellow disciples, Chun-ge could tolerate it.” The proprietress shook her head and smiled, “But how could Chun-ge, a gentleman who strictly adheres to etiquette, possibly agree to marry such a wife?”

“Indeed.” Su Youcai suddenly realized, “Luckily you reminded me, otherwise I would have messed this up.”

“My second brother is destined for great things, so it’s only natural that I’m the one to remind him of these small matters,” the proprietress said with a smile.

"Alas, what great things can I accomplish?" Su Youcai was quite self-aware, yet somewhat worried, he said, "Then how am I supposed to respond to Brother Zhu?"

"Second Brother, just tell the truth... I thought about it again after I got back. Chun-ge'er is focused on the imperial examination right now. To be on the safe side, let's wait until after the exam to ask him." The landlady said, "Someone like Brother Zhu will understand as soon as he hears it, and it won't hurt his feelings."

"What if he gives up?" Su Youcai asked worriedly.

"Don't worry, they won't," the proprietress said with a smile. "Madam Zhang said that Miss Zhu has extremely discerning taste and hasn't found anyone she likes in five years. Now that she's finally taken a liking to Chun-ge, how could the couple just let it go so easily?"

“That’s true, but I’m afraid that Chun-ge’er will still disagree when the time comes,” Su Youcai said.

"If you don't make a good impression, just find a way to improve it. There's still plenty of time!" the proprietress laughed. "As the saying goes, it's easy for a woman to pursue a man; it's not that difficult."

As she spoke, her face flushed first, and Su Youcai quickly put his arm around her slender waist and said, "I was the one who pursued you."

"Second Brother..." the landlady murmured, then turned into a lump of spring mud.

~~
The embroidered tower in the back residence of the Zhu family.

Miss Zhu was staring blankly at herself in the mirror when she heard the door open.

"A beauty is here! A beauty is here..."

"Mother." Miss Zhu hurried downstairs to greet her, and sure enough, she saw Madam Zhang looking at her parrot with a helpless expression.

"Can you make it shut up?"

“It’s telling the truth, Mother is indeed very beautiful.” Miss Zhu helped Madam Zhang sit down.

"You brat, what's the point of trying to talk your way out of this?" Madam Zhang said, unmoved, poking her forehead repeatedly with her finger. "I sent you out on a blind date, and what are you doing?"

"Mother, just stab me to death." Miss Zhu wanted to stab herself. "If there were a pill to undo regrets, I would buy it no matter the price."

"Finally regretting it?" Madam Zhang was delighted.

"Mm." Miss Zhu nodded.

"So you've taken a liking to that child?" Although Madam Zhang already knew the truth, she still wanted to hear her say that slang term.

"You guys can decide this, it's not my place to make the decision," Zhu Yin said shyly.

"Hooray..." Madam Zhang had waited five years for this question, and she was overjoyed. She then deliberately asked, "Don't you want to get to know them?"

"A daughter trusts her father's judgment." Zhu Yin murmured, twisting her handkerchief. In other words, "I only need to look at his face..."

"Sigh, you're happy about this, but I'm afraid you'll scare the young man away," Madam Zhang sighed.

"Don't worry, I'll chase him to the ends of the earth and bring him back!" Zhu Yin clenched her fist, determined.

"Sigh, if only I had known this would happen, I wouldn't have done it in the first place," Madam Zhang shook her head. This was truly a case of spitting in the wind and reaping what you sow.
The next day, Su Lu took Mr. Zhang to visit Headmaster Zhou at Heshan Academy, but unexpectedly Headmaster Pang also returned.

"Old Headmaster, you're back at the academy again?" Su Lu greeted him with delight.

"Hehehe..." Headmaster Pang laughed until his eyes disappeared. "It's too boring at home, it's much more interesting at the academy."

"Now that the old headmaster is no longer angry, his family can rest assured," Headmaster Zhou said with a smile.

"If they won't agree, I'll just lie there every day and not say a word. That scared them half to death in a few days." Pang Shanchang proudly revealed his little trick, then looked at Mr. Zhang and asked, "And this gentleman is?"

"This is the student's tutor, Mr. Zhang Yanqiu," Su Lu quickly introduced.

"Zhang Yanqiu pays his respects to the esteemed elder!" Mr. Zhang hurriedly bowed deeply, showing great respect for this upright and unyielding old scholar.

"Hehehe, Mr. Zhang, there's no need for such formalities." Headmaster Pang happily invited him to sit down and said, "I want to thank you for cultivating such a good student."

"You flatter me, sir. It was mainly due to Hongzhi's own intelligence and hard work that I was fortunate enough to be there. I dare not take credit for it." Mr. Zhang hurriedly said modestly, "Sir, you are too kind. Please call me by my courtesy name, sir."

"Ah, I can see that Hongzhi respects you from the bottom of his heart." Pang Shanzhang waved his hand and asked, "Since Molin came to Luzhou with Hongzhi, he must be here to see you off to the exam, right?"

"Yes." Mr. Zhang nodded and said, "This is the first time I've been on official business like this. I'm completely clueless, so I had Hongzhi lead me to pay my respects to the headmaster."

"All of our students from Sheng Shen Zhai have passed the county examination. Mr. Zhang has no students to teach for the time being, so he was assigned this mission," Su Lu said with a smile, flattering Mr. Zhang.

"So impressive?" Mr. Zhou exclaimed in surprise. "My apologies, Mr. Zhang. Would you be interested in teaching at Heshan Academy?"

"Hehe," the old headmaster laughed, "Don't mind him, Mo Lin. Qingheng has this problem. Whenever he sees a capable teacher, he wants to recruit him to his own team."

"Thank you for your kindness, Dean Zhou. The students will seriously consider it." Even if Mr. Zhang was not good at worldly affairs, he could not refuse outright, as he still needed someone's help.

"Very well, the gates of Heshan Academy are always open for you." Headmaster Zhou then asked warmly, "Brother Molin, how many students have you brought to take the exam? Please feel free to tell me if you have any difficulties."

“Not counting the thirty students from Hongzhi. It’s mainly because there was no preliminary examination last year, so we accumulated a lot of students.” Zhang Yanqiu said somewhat embarrassedly, “This means we don’t have enough places for the Wenzhan Hall.”

"How many places does Wenzhan Hall allocate to Taiping Academy?" the old headmaster asked.

"Fifteen," Headmaster Zhou said softly. "In previous years it was ten, but considering that there was no exam last year, we increased it to five this year."

“Fifteen is already quite a lot,” Zhang Yanqiu said softly. “But we did so well on the exam this year, and deciding who gets to go and who doesn’t is a big problem.”

"Then let's go by rankings. Let the top fifteen go to the literary battle hall." Headmaster Zhou was naturally unwilling to give it up, because the two academies were going to compete in the state examination. If the upper academy lost to the lower academy, where would he put his face?

"Headmaster, could you add a few more chairs?" Su Lu chimed in, "Everyone came to Luzhou early for the Wenzhan Hall; it wouldn't be right to turn them away, would it?"

"I have to consider the interests of both students," said Zhou Shanzhang, looking troubled.

"Oh, right," the old headmaster suddenly said with a smile, "Qingheng, there's something I forgot to tell you."

"What are your instructions, Headmaster?" Headmaster Zhou asked.

"During the Spring Festival, the prefect visited my home and mentioned that Taiping Academy was going to move to Hejiang County," the old headmaster said.

"Moreover, the previous headmaster was a Huangjia Chuanlu (a high-ranking official), so the successor headmaster must also be of a high caliber. Therefore, I think you are the most suitable candidate, and asked me if I could reluctantly give up this position. I thought that you also had the same idea, so I did not refuse him and said I would consider it and give him an answer."

"Didn't the headmaster disagree at the time?" Headmaster Zhou forced a smile.

"That was then. Now that the academy has moved to the county town, it's the perfect time for it to make its mark." The old headmaster laughed, "If you want to go, I won't stop you."

He paused for a moment and then said, "Of course, you don't have to go if you don't want to. It's up to you."

"I'll go..." Headmaster Zhou had spoken too confidently before, so now he had no choice but to bite the bullet and agree.

"No rush, think it over some more." The old headmaster said with an apologetic smile, "When you get old, you just say whatever comes to mind. You guys continue, hehehe..."

"Yes." Zhou Shanzhang nodded bitterly and asked, "Where were we?"

"The school principal must take into account the interests of both students," Su Lu reminded him.

"Ah, yes." Headmaster Zhou coughed twice and said seriously, "Considering the interests of both schools' students, they are both my flesh and blood. It's just a matter of adding two more chairs; there's no need to limit the number of students! From now on, any student from Taiping Academy who passes the county examination can come to the Literary Battle Hall!"

He then asked the old headmaster, "Headmaster, do you think this is acceptable?"

"Hehehe, very good." The old headmaster nodded with a smile and said, "They are all our students, this arrangement is perfect."

"Thank you so much, sir! Thank you so much, Headmaster Zhou!" Mr. Zhang was overjoyed upon hearing this and quickly stood up to express his gratitude.

"It's nothing, it's a small matter." What Zhou Shanzhang regrets most now is that he just asked to poach Zhang Yanqiu, and now he has to find a way to dissuade him from that idea.

"Mr. Zhang, come with me. I'll take you to handle the enrollment procedures."

"Thank you for your help, Headmaster Zhou."

(End of this chapter)