Chapter Fifty-One

  The county magistrate of Linqing, surnamed Niu, had previously passed the imperial examination to become a juren, but failed to pass the jinshi examination. Later, he relied on his connections and walked through the back door to become the county lieutenant. After the old county magistrate retired, he was promoted to take over, and has been in this position until now.

  To say that County Magistrate Niu is not a talented person, but he is smooth-tongued and understands human relationships, so his relationship with the prefectural city's zhīfǔ (a high-ranking official) and even higher officials are not bad. His first wife, Madame Zhou, was the daughter of a xiucai (a scholar who has passed the imperial examination), and their family background is also quite good. It is said that Madame Zhou comes from a collateral branch, and her direct lineal ancestors had produced noblewomen in the palace, so they have some connections in the capital city.

  County Magistrate Niu has two sons by his first wife. His eldest son is several years older than Jin Fenghua, although they are not studying under the same master, they often meet each other. The eldest son of the Niu family follows in his father's footsteps and is not considered intelligent, but he has a xiucai identity, and is slightly arrogant, but his character is still good.

  The second son of the Niu family is still young and has just started learning. Madame Zhou also has a daughter, Niu Daguang (Big Sister Niu), who is thirteen years old this year. She looks quite good, and because she is the only girl in the family, she has been spoiled since childhood and is somewhat arrogant.

  Note: I've kept the translation as close to the original text as possible, without any additional explanations or descriptions.

  It's just an old story, Niu Daguang was waiting for her older brother outside the library one day, but unexpectedly saw Jin Fenghua coming out from inside. This is a county town, and Niu Daguang has seen only a handful of brothers and cousins. Adding to that, Jin Fenghua is hard to find even in the entire Pei country, otherwise Cui Gonggong wouldn't have used his tricks to get a son from a fifth-grade official's family. The girl's emotions had just begun to sprout, and she already had a naive heart towards boys. Moreover, in Pei country, being fair-skinned and handsome is considered beautiful, Jin Fenghua almost met all the fantasies of a male god in the hearts of Pei country girls. It's impossible for other girls not to have expectations from Jin Fenghua, but his status isn't high, and he's already married, so most girls would just be heartbroken for a few days and then forget about it as a romantic dream. Just like those fans who chase stars in the previous life, no matter how handsome or charming the male god is, they can't really get together with him. Most of them are just admiring their male gods from afar and find someone else who matches them. Who knows, one day the male god might get married, and his fans would still bless him sincerely.

  What kind of person is Ke Ni Da Gu Niang? She is the daughter of a local tyrant, and since she was young, she had to get whatever she wanted. Moreover, she had heard that Jin Fenghua's legitimate wife was born into the Jin family, so she felt that it was like putting a flower in cow dung. Although her elder brother told her that Jin Fenghua was an illegitimate son, with a low status, and even if he were the son of a fifth-rank official, he would not be worthy of a legitimate daughter, she still thought that since Jin Fenghua's father could divorce his wife after achieving success and remarry, why couldn't Jin Fenghua take the imperial examination, achieve success, and then divorce his legitimate wife to marry her? Maybe Jin Fenghua would even be grateful for her condescension in marrying down and treat her with extra care.

  It's just a matter of their daughter getting married, and as parents, they have to follow the rules. Niu Daguai is just shouting loudly, but without any matchmaker or betrothal gifts, everything she says is empty talk. As a result, County Magistrate Niu and his wife are worried to death. County Magistrate Niu is still okay; although he thinks it's possible for his daughter to marry Jin Fenghua, if Jin Fenghua really doesn't have that intention, he can't force him either. After all, with his temperament, he won't offend anyone if he doesn't have to. Moreover, Jin Fenghua is a capital city resident, and his family is an official in the capital; County Magistrate Niu is just a county magistrate, and it's unlikely that he can move up to the prefectural city. If things get messed up, it won't be good. However, County Magistrate Niu's wife, Zhou Shi, has always been kind-hearted, but she can't resist her daughter's pleas for death or life. She also thinks that the Zhou family in the capital is a noble family, and giving Jin Fenghua another wife would add to their power. She thinks Jin Fenghua should be grateful to her instead. So, after careful consideration, she starts asking around about Jin Fenghua's character and learning.

  If a student in the academy has a teacher with a not-too-low status, then during the Chinese New Year period, most teachers will take students who are going to participate in the imperial examination that year to visit the county magistrate or county lieutenant's residence as guests. Of course, this requires local officials to be interested in interacting with these students and wanting to establish a good relationship, or for the teacher to have a strong background and local officials to want to curry favor. However, there are many students who go to take the imperial examination every year, and teachers cannot bring all of them, so most teachers will look for some students they think have a chance of passing the exam in order to establish personal connections for future officialdom.

  Jin Fenghua was originally not supposed to go, after all, he had to go to the county magistrate's mansion, at least with the identity of a scholar. However, Jiang Fuzi valued Jin Fenghua highly and thought that being a scholar was just a trivial matter for him. Moreover, the county magistrate also wanted to take a look at the young man his daughter had set her eyes on, wanting to probe the bottom line so as not to mistakenly pair up with the wrong person, thus making Jin Fenghua the only commoner among this batch of people going to the county magistrate's mansion for New Year's greetings.

  When Xian Yi learned that Jin Fenghua was going to the county magistrate's mansion, she knew the reason behind it. However, she wasn't anxious and instead wanted to see how Jin Fenghua would react to the county magistrate's daughter, because as long as Jin Fenghua had a hint of wanting to replace his wife, she could take advantage of the opportunity to gain more benefits and then reunite with her mother to start anew. But if Jin Fenghua truly let her take the position of legitimate wife, she would have to consider taking good care of herself and giving birth to a son as soon as possible, because once she had a biological son, her position in the Jin family would be secure. She believed that as long as she wasn't foolish and didn't cause trouble for Jin Fenghua, she could live a peaceful life as Madame Jin.

  Jinfenghua put on new clothes, didn't miss Xianyi's expression of watching a good show, and suddenly ignited a spark of anger in his heart. He suddenly discovered that his wife was not as gentle as he had imagined, and might even be looking forward to separating from him. However, although he felt dissatisfied, he wasn't foolish. Some things, if exposed, would leave no room for maneuvering. Moreover, Xianyi hadn't been without attachment to him during this period, and her initial estrangement from Yuge had become a true mother-son relationship. He turned around and changed his perspective, able to understand what Xianyi was thinking: she was afraid that if he could truly satisfy her, with her sensible nature, she would never have the heart to leave him. As for waiting for him to drive her away... let her wait slowly then.

  Later I'll come out from the county magistrate's office, you bring Yu Ge to pick me up, and we'll go for a stroll on the street, all the shops have opened in the past two days.

  Jin Fenghua finished dressing and handed over a sentence before going out, leaving Xianyi puzzled and unsure. He had never let her receive it before, was he trying to make her see something? Was he trying to make her jealous or make her know difficulty and retreat?

  At the same time, Jin Fenghua, who was sitting in the carriage, thought that those men who wanted to find a woman to verify whether another woman had feelings were fools. He wouldn't do such things that would make him look foolish. Besides, it wasn't necessary for his wife to take action on such a small matter as the county magistrate's daughter. For him, all the factors that hindered him from enjoying his new life must be eliminated immediately.

  Almost without suspense, Niu County Magistrate specially arranged to have a private conversation with Jin Fenghua. After discovering that Jin Fenghua was indeed talented and knowledgeable, he regretfully found out that Jin Fenghua had deep feelings for his wife. Moreover, the woman, Yao Shi, was the one his mother had chosen for him before she passed away. Although his mother was a concubine, the Pei State valued filial piety, so unless the legitimate mother refused to acknowledge her, no one could make Jin Fenghua divorce and remarry. However, if the legitimate mother really did not acknowledge her, it's likely that everyone in the capital would laugh at him for being inconsistent. Therefore, Niu Daguang's idea of marrying Jin Fenghua was truly unfeasible.

  After the visit, all the students left the mansion one after another. When Niu Daguang learned that Jin Fenghua was also leaving, she ignored the opposition of her servants and rushed to the gate. In the end, she only saw Jin Fenghua holding his son, smiling with satisfaction, and holding his wife's hand. This scene almost blinded Niu Daguang's eyes. With a heart full of jealousy, Niu Daguang was pulled back to the backyard by her servant. Her mind was filled with the image of Jin Fenghua's blushing face, which made her heartbeat uncontrollably. She thought that even though Yao Shi was beautiful, she was born into a noble family and had no right to occupy Jin Fenghua's heart.

  Left thinking right, almost suffocating herself to death, Niu Dagu Niang saw her mother and loudly cried out: "Mother, if I can't marry Jin Lang, I'll hang myself from the beam, I won't be able to live."

  Mrs. Zhou took the opportunity to observe the students while her husband was entertaining them, thinking that if Jin Fenghua didn't agree, she could still find a suitable son-in-law among the other students. However, people are visual animals, and even she, as a mother, couldn't help but be captivated by Jin Fenghua's face, making all the other young talents pale in comparison. Moreover, Mrs. Zhou had heard from her husband that Jin Fenghua was extremely knowledgeable and would definitely pass the imperial examination this year. She also observed his elegant demeanor, gentle and refined speech, and heard that he was kind and generous towards others at school. He seemed to be a perfect person with no flaws whatsoever. As for his family background, and her husband's words about Jin Fenghua being loving to his wife, she completely ignored them, thinking only of how such an excellent son-in-law would be a great match for her daughter.

  "I think he's a good person, but it's hard for him to divorce his wife and remarry." Madam Zhou hugged her daughter, looking worried.

  "Then bring his family's slave wife here, but she is a natal daughter and still wants to occupy Jin Lang. I want her to be ashamed of herself and ask to leave the hall!" Niu Daguang wiped away her tears, and her originally good-looking face was distorted by jealousy.

  Underestimating Niu Dagu's combat power, Jin Fenghua originally thought that an ordinary girl would see someone else's harmonious family and choose a better husband. However, he didn't expect Niu Dagu to not follow the usual path and instead take his legitimate mother as a model, wholeheartedly devoted to the illusion he deliberately showed everyone. At this time, he was taking his son and wife into a jewelry store, but not for the jewelry inside, rather to let his wife choose some pearls and jade stones to bring back home. Xian Yi didn't understand Jin Fenghua's plan and thought he wanted to collect them, so she chose some high-quality pearls and jade stones with excellent luster and color.

  The whole family had finished shopping and was about to leave the store when they ran into Auntie and a familiar woman. Xian Yi thought for a moment before remembering that this was her cousin, Meng Hualan, who used to live in the Golden Mansion in Beijing. This time, seeing Meng Hualan again, although she didn't have the same rustic air as when she first came to Beijing, those silver hairpins on her head were really not pleasant to look at.