"Mr. Fang acted quickly."
Just as Shen Yu was getting a little dizzy with excitement, another familiar voice rang out.
Shen Yu turned around and saw a familiar person. The person looked to be around forty or fifty years old, with a graying beard, and was also wearing the white robes with ink-wash patterns unique to the Yin-Yang Academy.
"Mr. Li?" Shen Yu quickly bowed.
The second-in-command of the Li Family is Li Yunfeng, the current Grand Secretary of the Wenhua Hall of the Imperial Li Family.
"I'm still waiting to find a son-in-law from the list of successful candidates, but I haven't found anyone yet, and you slippery fellow beat me to it." Li Er, the second head of the family, approached with a smile and looked at Shen Yu: "Marriage is a serious matter, so don't make decisions lightly. You can't just say you're making decisions on your own; you need the head of the family's consent, don't you?"
Shen Yu swallowed, momentarily at a loss for words.
"Haha, look how scared this child is! I'll come to your Shen Family to ask for a drink, you don't mind, do you?"
"What you say, sir." Shen Yu quickly bowed, " The Shen Family would be more than happy to receive such a gift!"
"Yes, you said it yourself," Li Er said with a smile. "Then I'll go to the Shen Family after my studies. Oh, and by the way, my youngest daughter is only fourteen years old, a few months away from her coming-of-age ceremony. If you're interested, young master, you can wait a little longer."
"This..." Shen Yu suddenly felt her breath becoming hot.
What's going on today?
Normally, it's hard to even exchange a few words with these teachers, so why are they rushing up here today?
Is this the treatment you get for making the list?
This question wasn't unique to Shen Yu; some students who witnessed the scene nearby were also puzzled.
"No way? The Li Family too. What's up with that kid?"
"I don't know either. Does Brother Hu know?"
The man next to him, addressed as Brother Hu, shook his head. "I don't know either. It's certainly rare to be included on the list, after all, he's a candidate for future academic administration. But there are quite a few people on the list this time, and Shen Yu's ranking isn't high, almost at the bottom. There are dozens of people with better family backgrounds and better aptitudes than Shen Yu, but I haven't seen the Li Family and Fang Family as enthusiastic as they are."
The others around nodded in agreement, but one of the tall, thin men, pale-faced, said coldly, "You'd better not be curious about this."
"Oh? Brother Jiang, you know the inside story?"
"I know some things, but I can't say," the tall, thin man said with a half-smile. "What I can tell you is that this kid doesn't have that kind of luck with women. If things don't go well this time, the Shen Family could face annihilation!"
"Ah??"
--
"Master, what's going on?" In Shen Yuan's room, watching her husband constantly flipping through the letters Shen Yuan had sent, Madam Zheng asked cautiously from the side.
Shen Yuan, who was reading the family letter, paused for a moment, and after a few breaths of silence, replied, "You should care more about Shen Yuan."
Most of the letters were addressed to Madam Zheng. But that's understandable. He was so busy with his own affairs that he rarely saw even the most promising Shen Yu. Not to mention a child without any magical talent, who probably only caught a glimpse of him from afar during the New Year's feast. How could there be any sense of closeness between them?
So, apart from the last letter home, almost all the previous ones were written to Madam Zheng.
But Madam Zheng didn't even read a single letter.
If she had seen it and been willing to mention it when she went home to rest, perhaps she would have noticed Shen Yuan's situation much earlier.
There were nearly a hundred letters. Since the other party took office in Jiangnan, there were almost four or five letters every month, reporting on his political career and complaining about Chen Qing and so on.
The letters were interrupted in some places because Jiangnan was under lockdown, but once Jiangnan lockdown was lifted, the letters arrived immediately.
With Jiangnan under lockdown and Shen Yuan's fate unknown, his subsequent letters home were essentially a way of reassuring them that he was safe, yet Madam Zheng still didn't read a single one.
If they had even read one letter, the Shen Family wouldn't be completely unprepared now!
"I care about him?" Faced with Shen Yan's questioning, Madam Zheng laughed in anger, "Does Master mean I'm mistreating him?"
" Shen Yuan is my first son. Do you think I want to distance myself from him? But what did you do, sir? After it was confirmed that his aptitude for the technique was low, you brought in concubines one after another, and sons were born from their wombs one after another. What could I do?"
The thought of those days chilled Madam Zheng to the bone. If she had married into a scholarly family and given birth to a legitimate son, she would have secured her position long ago. But it was different in the family of sorcerers. Not only did she have to give birth to a legitimate son, but the son also had to be successful. Otherwise, no matter how formally she married, the concubine's child could rise above her own son and even force her son to work as an assistant and handle household affairs!
In such a materialistic environment, can she become less materialistic?
Back then, Madam Wang had three children in a row, all of whom had the aptitude of a sorcerer. However, she was not born into a prestigious sorcerer family and did not have a powerful maternal family. She was always in danger of being divorced by her husband. That sense of crisis kept her up at night!
How could she possibly be close to that good-for-nothing child?
If it weren't for Yu'er's determination, she probably would have been driven mad by the torment within a few years!
Now tell me, I should pay more attention to Shen Yuan.
Even the old master, who was in seclusion, knew that Shen Yuan had become the second-highest scorer in the imperial examination. Didn't you know? If you cared, why didn't you check it out yourself?
Taking a breath, Madam Zheng suppressed her anger and asked in a low voice, "Will Shen Yuan's matter delay Yu'er's marriage?"
"Marriage, marriage!" Shen Yan suddenly became irritated. "All you think about is this, you ignorant woman, don't you even know what the situation is?" He paused for a moment, then sighed, "That's true, after all, you're not from a family of sorcerers, the duties of a matriarch are still too much for you!"
Upon hearing this, Madam Zheng was struck dumb, her face turning pale as she staggered backward. She opened her mouth to question him but dared not, fearing that she would ask an answer she would never accept!
That sense of crisis from back then has resurfaced.
And it's all because of Shen Yuan!!
Achoo!!!
Outside the city gate, Shen Yuan sneezed several times in a row, looking blankly in the direction of the city, his expression becoming complicated.
"What's wrong?" A tall man beside him looked at the other man with amusement. "Are you being missed by a beauty?"
"This is a sign that someone is talking badly about you, okay?" Shen Yuan rolled his eyes at the other person.
The tall man was Wei Gongzhan. He had come along excitedly after hearing that he was going to the capital. He didn't really understand what the other man was so excited about. Was he some kind of farmer who could just come back to the Wei Household and shout about how fortunes change every thirty years?
"It's been so long since I've had my mother's noodles," Wei Gongzhan said with a smile. "This time, we should take advantage of the opportunity to bring her back to Jiangnan to enjoy her retirement."
"Oh, so that's what you were thinking. No wonder you were so enthusiastic."
" Shen Yuan, what about you? Have you considered bringing your mother to Jiangnan this time?" Wei Gongzhan asked curiously.
"I'm the legitimate daughter in my family." Shen Yuan rolled his eyes at the other person. "How can I take the matriarch of the family away?"
"Ah, Brother Shen, you're a legitimate son? A legitimate son of the Shen Family?"
"What's the problem?" Shen Yuan frowned as he looked at the other person's surprised expression.
"You're doing pretty badly, aren't you? Nobody came to pick you up at the door."
Shen Yuan: "."
" The Shen Family," a lazy voice sounded from behind just as Shen Yuan was about to slap the Rune Stone in his hand onto Wei Gongzhan's face.
"Speaking of which, we have some connection with them."
" Seventh Master." Both of them quickly bowed.
Seventh Master Shen chuckled, "Ah, the capital city, it's been so many years since I've been here. Now that I think about it, not being able to beat the Laosan to become the Underworld of Nanyang might not be such a bad thing. At least I can come out and stroll around from time to time, unlike him, who can hardly ever leave Nanyang."
At the beginning of the allocation, he was determined to get the Nanyang Underworld, but unexpectedly, there was an extra Shen Lao'er was also willing to become a god of the Underworld. Now it was not easy to allocate. The other party reserved Nanming Prefecture right away, and Shen Laosan, relying on his age, took away his Nanyang City.
For this matter, Seventh Master Shen was furious at home for a full half month, but now that he thinks about it, it might not be a bad thing. The entire Shen Family is involved in the Underworld, so someone has to do something else, right?
For example, he found it very interesting that they came here this time to use Shen Yuan as a point of reference to trick the various powerful families.
"I've heard my elders say that the Shen Family of Jiangnan and our Shen Family in the capital have some connection, but the older folks don't seem willing to elaborate. Does Seventh Master know the details?"
"Of course I know," Seventh Master Shen said with a smile. "Every few hundred years, the Shen Family's ancestor would undergo a dragon transformation. After the transformation, most of the chosen direct descendants would be sacrificed, but some clever ones managed to escape, like your Shen Family's great-grandfather, Shen Danian!"
Shen Yuan: "."
"Hmm, I remember. The head of your Shen Family is Shen Qingfeng, right? Oh dear, that kid was so arrogant back then as a direct descendant. Later, my Laosan and I found an opportunity to set him up and beat him up. He even knocked out his front teeth. Tsk tsk, I wonder what he looks like now."
Shen Yuan remained stunned for a long time before finally smiling bitterly, "The current head of the family is my father, Shen Yan!"
" Shen Yan?" Seventh Master Shen immediately spread his hands and said, "Oh dear, this is what happens when you don't go out for years; you're so out of touch with the world."
Wei Gongzhan and Shen Yuan both felt a twitch in their faces, sensing that this Seventh Master was quite frivolous. Was it really so unreliable that their master had sent him to oversee this matter?
Do you think I'm unreliable?
"Huh?" The two were taken aback. This guy... can read minds?
"It's okay if I'm unreliable," Seventh Master Shen patted Shen Yuan on the shoulder, "As long as you're reliable, that's all that matters. Don't get it wrong, this time, you're the one in charge of this matter, little guy!!"
Sigh, I was planning to post at least six more chapters today, Mofang overestimated my abilities.
I can't take it anymore, I'll stop here for now, I'll add another chapter tomorrow morning!
I just checked the monthly votes, and it's reached 6000! My goodness, you readers are truly ruthless! Even if you locked Mofang's Cube in a dark room, you couldn't write this many extra chapters!
I'll add one more chapter tomorrow morning, making a total of six chapters. I need to add twelve more chapters for every six thousand monthly votes, one chapter every day. I should be able to pay it all off by the sixth day of the new year.
You guys are terrifying! Who goes this far in the last two days? This is unsportsmanlike conduct, it's a sneak attack! How could the Mofang possibly catch up?