Chapter 278: An Invitation from the Academic Administrator

Chapter 278: Chapter 278: An Invitation from the Academic Administrator

"I was actually planning to tell my mother about us today..."

The atmosphere had just started to relax when a single sentence from Song Jing made Ji Huan’s nerves tighten again.

"D-d-did you tell her?"

What she really wanted to ask was, ’Didn’t we agree not to tell Mrs. Meng about us yet?’

’Meeting his parents right after we confessed our feelings... that’s a terrifying thought, no matter how you look at it.’

’It’s one thing if his parents aren’t satisfied.’

’But if they *are* satisfied, won’t they immediately start pushing for a proposal, then a wedding, then children?’

’If I can’t produce a son, I’ll have to keep trying. And after one son, they’ll want a second. Then come the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law conflicts...’

’I can see the whole process laid out before me. Just thinking about it makes me lose the will to live.’

Besides, being put in a passive position, to be scrutinized and picked over, would be deeply unsettling.

But there was no helping it. She was living in ancient times now. If she truly wanted to be with Song Jing, she had to change her way of thinking and her habits as soon as possible.

’The idea of just dating for a while is completely out of the question here.’

So when she spoke, it sounded as if she was extremely nervous about Mrs. Meng’s opinion.

But it wasn’t so much Mrs. Meng she was worried about, but rather the troubles she was about to face.

Love and marriage really were two different things.

And she had no experience or preparation. To walk into a marriage blind... there were just too many uncertainties.

If problems arose, they could find ways to solve them. If there were obstacles, she and Song Jing could overcome them together. But... what if they faced the kind of irreconcilable conflict that could never be resolved?

Song Jing clearly noticed the change in her mood and rushed to explain.

"Don’t be nervous. I was planning to tell her, but I haven’t had the chance yet."

That afternoon, both he and Mrs. Meng had something to say, and etiquette dictated that the elder should speak first.

However, after Mrs. Meng finished speaking, the two of them got into another argument, so the topic of a marriage proposal was naturally set aside.

"I’ll find another chance to bring it up with her," Song Jing promised.

Ji Huan waved her hands. "There’s no rush, no rush at all. Don’t we still have a trial period? And we originally said we’d wait until after the provincial examinations..."

"About the trial period," Song Jing began, his expression serious, "I thought about it after I got back. You’re a young woman. For you to be with me without an official status would be too unfair to you. That’s why I want to settle things as soon as possible. We get engaged now, and then we marry after the provincial examinations. How does that sound for a trial period?"

Ji Huan was left speechless.

’Once you’re engaged, how is that a "trial" anymore?’

’Status. That inescapable matter of status. Life was so difficult for men and women in ancient times.’

"However..." Song Jing frowned, his tone troubled. "As things stand now, it looks like the engagement will have to wait until after the provincial examinations as well."

Mrs. Meng’s mood wasn’t likely to improve anytime soon, not unless he achieved another resounding success in the provincial examinations.

Ji Huan breathed a sigh of relief and quickly nodded. "Then let’s talk about it after the provincial examinations. After the examinations."

Ji Huan didn’t ask what Song Jing and Mrs. Meng had argued about, and Song Jing didn’t say.

As he was about to leave, he hesitated for a moment. He wanted to ask Ji Huan if she had finished embroidering the pouch for him.

But on second thought, he decided to wait until after they were engaged.

He had asked for it before in a moment of sudden joy, desperate for something tangible to confirm that it was all real.

But upon further reflection, he realized their relationship was different now. A private exchange of gifts, should it become fodder for gossip... would ultimately be bad for Ji Huan.

’I can’t be impatient.’

’It’ll be soon enough, anyway.’

The two of them thought that on such a dark and windy night, in such a remote location, no one would ever spot them.

What they didn’t expect was that a pair of lovers having a secret tryst happened to pass by and witness the entire scene.

After the examination results were posted, some were ecstatic while others were utterly dejected. Either way, it was impossible to find peace in the immediate aftermath.

This was especially true for Song Jing, the top scorer in the county examination. Celebratory banquets were unavoidable, and friends and relatives came to visit in wave after wave.

Things were better in the village. Although Mrs. Meng closed their doors to guests, Village Chief Meng helped with the socializing, so she didn’t have to put in much effort.

But as for the invitations from outside the village, he had to handle those himself.

In addition to the feasts hosted by his teachers and classmates from the academy, there were also people with whom he had little contact—some not even in his year—who hosted banquets under the pretext of "learning from his experience."

Song Jing politely declined every one of these invitations that he could.

By doing so, he inevitably offended people. The gossip was that as soon as he found success, he became arrogant and forgot his old acquaintances.

Song Jing didn’t know where these rumors were coming from.

’We were never acquainted in the first place, so how could I have forgotten them?’

But he never bothered to argue.

Ji Huan had once told him that when you reach a certain height, those who criticize you will naturally fall silent.

He found her words to be very true.

However, while some invitations could be declined, others could not—like the one from the Academic Administrator, Mr. Fang.

A prefectural Academic Administrator inviting a mere student to his private residence—it seemed rather peculiar, no matter how one looked at it.

Song Jing made some inquiries and learned that other students had been invited as well, so he didn’t think too much of it.

Academic Administrator Fang had taken up his post the year before last. His official government office was in Youyang, but his wife’s family, the Yue Family, happened to be in Yeyang, so he also maintained a private residence there.

From the outside, the private residence looked unremarkable, but the interior was a different story, with multi-storied pavilions, winding corridors, and swarms of maids and servants. Every detail exuded extravagance.

"To think a private residence could be even more magnificent than Lord Pan’s home at the county government office."

The one who spoke was Wu Rongying.

Besides him, Li Guanchun was also among those who had come.

Thanks to Pan Jiadao’s efforts, Yeyang had a quota of twenty-five students this year, and their academy alone had claimed three of those spots.

Many people were curious how the unremarkable Juyong Town had suddenly produced such a flourishing literary spirit.

Some said it was because the righteous deeds of Song Jing and the others during the war and the snow disaster had earned them merit.

Others would mysteriously correct them, saying it wasn’t a literary spirit that influenced these young men, but the aura of a soaring dragon.

This theory, however, was largely ignored.

It was unclear whether Wu Rongying’s remark was a sneer or a sigh. Li Guanchun remained in his usual state, oblivious to the world around him, so Song Jing had no choice but to offer a quiet reminder, "Brother Wu, be careful what you say."

Wu Rongying huffed and turned his head away.

The three classmates had all passed the county examination, which should have been a joyous occasion. But with one of them becoming the top scorer and leaving the others far behind, it was hard not to feel a sense of bitterness.

Suddenly, Wu Rongying pointed.

"Look!"

Everyone followed his gaze.

Across a cobblestone path, about ten paces away, was a covered walkway. Its floor was wet, as if it had just been mopped. A young woman in fine clothes had stumbled and fallen at a corner. She seemed to have fallen hard; she tried to get up several times but couldn’t, and there was no one around to help her.

Seeing her plight, the students all rushed over in unison.

Song Jing and Li Guanchun remained where they were. While the others rushed off to play the hero, the two of them even turned away, pointing at the lake on the other side and starting a conversation.

A short while later, the group returned, their expressions varied.

One of the more outspoken ones blurted out, "I can’t believe it was Miss Fang. A pity..."

A pity because he had been at the front of the pack, the one most likely to help Miss Fang to her feet, but at the last second, her personal maid had rushed over and shouted at him to stop.

Someone who didn’t get along with Wu Rongying deliberately took a jab at him.

"Don’t you have a fiancée, Brother Wu? Shouldn’t you have been avoiding any hint of impropriety? How did you end up running faster than all of us?"

Wu Rongying’s face instantly flushed red. "Saving someone in distress is the duty of a gentleman!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a roar of laughter erupted.

"If it had been an eighty-year-old crone who fell, I doubt you’d have been so eager to do your ’duty,’ would you? What do you think, Brother Song?"

Wu Rongying was always trying to pick a fight with Song Jing, so everyone expected Song Jing to take the opportunity to put him in his place.

But Song Jing said, "From a public standpoint, there’s nothing wrong with the desire to help someone. From a private one, both parties were at fault."

The words were barely out of his mouth when someone with a soft spot for fair maidens declared indignantly, "Both at fault? What did Miss Fang do wrong? She just fell and needed help!"

But others had already put the pieces together. One pointed out bluntly, "As a woman of the inner quarters, why would Miss Fang appear in an area for receiving guests?"

"Well..."

"Perhaps it was an emergency..."

But the excuse wasn’t very convincing.

As everyone knew, in the residences of prominent families, the front courtyards and the rear quarters, while part of the same complex, were kept separate and independent.

For the convenience and privacy of the women, in particular, the paths between the rear quarters and the front halls were deliberately segregated. Unless she had intentionally made her way here...

At this thought, the students glanced at each other before quickly looking away.