Will You Support Me Taking the Imperial Examinations?

Xu Xi had no desire for anything from the Lady Wei. Not only had the system already investigated her background and confirmed that she was the daughter of the First Madam, not the Second Madam, but even if it were discovered that she was indeed the daughter of the Lady Wei family, she still didn't want to be associated with Lady Wei.

The original owner of this body in his previous life was mostly ruined by the woman in front of him.

"No need, Second Madam. First Madam has made me plenty of clothes; I have enough to wear. I'm still growing rapidly, and these clothes won't fit next year anyway, so having more would be a waste. You should send them to Sixth Miss instead."

Xu Xi said, too lazy to argue with Lady Wei, and walked inside very quickly.

"Are you still blaming your mother? Waaah..." Lady Wei's sobbing came from behind, along with Matron Li's comforting voice.

Qingfeng followed behind Xu Xi, and only after they were far away from Lady Wei others did she whisper worriedly, "Miss, people will gossip if you do this."

Xu Xi chuckled, "Who cares about her?"

People naturally sympathize with the weak, especially since the nannies and mothers in the household are all mothers themselves and can't stand anyone disrespecting their elders.

In their eyes, no matter how badly Lady Wei had behaved before, such as switching the babies and slapping Xu Xi after she returned, no parent is ever completely wrong. Lady Wei had already lowered herself to please Xu Xi, yet Xu Xi, as her daughter, was still so stubborn. It was truly outrageous. Perhaps it was because she had rudely talked back to Lady Wei that Lady Wei had slapped her.

In ancient times, women valued their reputation above all else. Xu Xi's reputation for being unfilial and disobedient spread, she would never find a good husband—what mother-in-law would marry such a daughter-in-law? Did she have a death wish?

But this tactic was completely ineffective against Xu Xi.

Xu Xi approached Rongxi Hall, she ran into one of Rongxi Rong's maids. She quickly asked her, "Has Sixth Miss returned?"

"She's back, she's been back for a while now," the old woman said with a smile. "Fifth Miss is a bit late today."

"Something came up at the academy, so I came back late," Xu Xi explained.

After the old woman had gone some distance, she turned to Qingfeng and instructed, "Go and inquire. If the Sixth Miss has already left the Old Madam's place, and only the Old Madam and the First Madam are in the main courtyard, then come and report to me. I'll go back to Tea Tasting Residence and wait for your news."

"Yes."

The two parted ways on the road; Qingfeng went to the Rongxi Hall, Xu Xi returned to Tea Tasting Residence.

A short while later, Qingfeng returned and said, "Sixth Miss has paid her respects and left. The First Madam is helping the Old Madam serve the meal."

Xu Xi stood up. "Come with me."

When the two arrived at the Rongxi Hall, before they could even pay their respects, the First Madam asked, "Why are you back so late today?" Her face was full of worry and concern.

"Teacher Cui from the academy asked me about something." Xu Xi bowed to the two men and sat down to their left.

"What is it?" the old lady asked.

Xu Xi then explained the matter of the imperial examination, saying, "I didn't dare to agree to Teacher Cui, so I came back to ask you two first."

"You mean you got first place in the Four Books and Five Classics exam?" the old lady asked in surprise.

Xu Xi nodded. "That's what Teacher Cui said, but he hasn't announced it to the class yet."

"Then that's correct," the old lady said.

Because Beining is a county under the jurisdiction of the capital, it has a superior geographical location. In addition, the terrain there is flat and the land is fertile. Many wealthy families in the capital have estates and fields in Beining. The Marquis of Suiping's Residence's family used to have fields there as well, but later the Duke fell ill and there were many other problems in the family, so they sold the estates there.

When the current emperor ascended the throne, he granted Beining to Princess Shangde fiefdom, which reportedly caused quite a stir within the royal family. This shows just how coveted this place was.

Because of this geographical advantage, coupled with Grand Princess Shangde's prestige and status, it was very convenient for the Beining County Women's Academy to hire renowned teachers from the capital, making its teaching staff even stronger than that of many provincial Women's Academy. Many ladies from wealthy and noble families who were also highly educated, as long as they were not bound by domestic affairs and had no political or personal conflicts with Grand Princess Shangde, were willing to accept the invitation from the Beining Women's Academy.

This applies not only to them, but also to older officials who have passed the imperial examinations.

Because Xu Xi was studying at the Beining Women's Academy, the old lady had specifically sent someone to inquire about the academy. She knew that Madam Cui, Madam Zhang, Madam Chen, Madam Xiao, and others there were all ladies from wealthy and powerful families.

People of this status and position would naturally not joke about the imperial examination with Xu Xi.

Thinking of this, the old lady looked at the first wife and smiled, "I never expected that our Marquis's mansion would produce such a promising scholar."

The original Duke was a military general. However, because Zhao Yuanxun was in poor health and the old lady suppressed her illegitimate son, no one in this generation went to serve in the army.

The eldest of the younger generation, Zhao Jingli, is only fourteen years old. He is currently learning martial arts at home with his martial arts instructors, and plans to seek a job in the army when he is older. As for the battlefield, since each branch of the family has few children, with only one or two sons each, they are naturally reluctant to let them go.

If a military officer doesn't go to the battlefield, his future is pretty much the same; at best, he'll just get a nominal position and coast along.

The old lady and the first lady had considered having their children take the imperial examinations, but Zhao Jingli was going to inherit the title, and Zhao Jingtai was a restless and unruly child who had driven away several of the hired tutors. How could they possibly expect anything from him?

As for the children of the second and third wives, they did not show any particularly outstanding academic talent, and the old lady and the first wife did not want them to be more successful than the first wife. Therefore, Zhao Yuanliang and Zhao Yuankun did not mention it, and they were happy to play dumb.

Both generations were neither skilled in literature nor martial arts, so the decline of the Marquis's mansion was predictable.

Now that Xu Xi has appeared, even though she is a woman, the old lady is pleasantly surprised.

The First Madam's gaze towards Xu Xi was different from that of the Old Madam; the complex emotions contained within were something even the First Madam herself couldn't explain.

"What are your plans? Do you want to go?" the First Madam asked.

Xu Xi had also been thinking about this issue for the past two days, and now he nodded and said, "We can give it a try."

Whether she'll get married in this lifetime is another matter; if she finds a suitable person, there's no harm in marrying him. If a guy is unreliable, they can always part ways. But having her own child to raise is something she thinks is still a possibility.

Getting married and having children is fine, but keeping her confined to the inner quarters for her entire life is impossible, absolutely impossible. She'll definitely have to be out there, either doing business to earn money or doing something else.

In this way, obtaining an official title through the imperial examinations would not only allow one to more legitimately roam the world, but also make it perfectly natural to earn money, do business, or teach at the Women's Academy.

"Then let him take the exam," the First Madam said.

Xu Xi blinked.

She could guess that the old lady might support it, but she didn't expect the first lady to agree so readily.