Chapter 56: Returning to the Sect

  Yang Yunqiu returned home with Er Ya and Zhou Dali, and unexpectedly met her "father" who she hadn't seen in twelve years.

  To be honest, Yang Yunqiu felt that fortunately, the Yin Dynasty did not popularize kneeling etiquette. Except for ancestor worship and formal occasions to meet the monarch, it was not allowed at other times. Otherwise, with so many elders suddenly appearing, he would be bored to death.

  He respectfully greeted Sun Zhifu, who looked his son up and down, seeing that he resembled his mother, with elegant features, extraordinary bearing, and an air of refinement about him.

  "Alright, alright, Ming must study hard, come on, let's have dinner together."

  Yang Yunqiu sat down obediently, and the three of them had dinner together. After a long and unbelievable meal, it was already dark outside. Sun Zhi naturally didn't leave either, staying behind to flirt with Chen Jinniang for an entire night. The next morning, when he left, he still lingered reluctantly.

  Of course, mainly because I don't want to give up the good food here.

  Since Yang Yunqiu came over, she first trained Er Ya's culinary skills and then trained the kitchen maid.

  Later, using the excuse that there were hot springs on the mountain, they also grew a lot of green vegetables. They worried that not having green vegetables to eat in winter would be bad for their health.

  He can make do with everything else, but this body needs nourishment, and food must be carefully prepared. When it comes to eating, he cannot be careless. Yin Chao's cooking is too simple, all the cooking skills are just boiling and roasting, vegetables are boiled in a pot, meat is also boiled in a pot, seasonings only have salt, which is coarse salt, the dishes made are not even willing to eat for pigs.

  Yang Yunqiu was new here and didn't know the situation, eating some of the local dishes just to try something fresh, which were still relatively light and palatable, but after a long time, he couldn't stand it.

  At first, in order to teach the kitchen staff how to cook, Er Ya was so scared that his face turned pale. As the saying goes, "a gentleman keeps a distance from the kitchen", it was absolutely unacceptable for scholars of this era to approach the kitchen.

  Fortunately, Chen Jv Nang was not a pedantic person, so she did not punish the servants led by Er Ya.

  When they ate the dishes made by Yang Yunqiu, Er Ya no longer said that Young Master was not allowed to enter the kitchen. After all, she was a little girl with a big appetite. When Yang Yunqiu went to the mountain to collect some wild seasonings, the flavor of the dishes became more and more delicious. Er Ya almost wished that she could learn the cooking methods of her own Young Master in one day, and spent the whole day competing with the real cook for the pot lid.

  Fortunately, she was proactive and soon let Yang Yunqiu escape from the kitchen.

  Magistrate Sun's family was quite well-off, but at home, he couldn't enjoy the delicious food here. One meal made him so comfortable that he couldn't help but compose a poem to praise the heavenly delicacies that didn't exist in the mortal world.

  It can be said that the desire for food and sex is human nature. A woman who wants to capture a man's heart must first capture his stomach, this sentence is really very reasonable.

  Magistrate Sun returned and sent Yang Yinqu a complete set of valuable brush, ink, paper and inkstone.

  Moreover, she often comes up with excuses to visit, and Chen Jiu Niang is worried that the grandmother at home will be jealous and hire someone to kill her.

  Even so, she would not do anything to drive Sun Zhifu away.

  Sun Zhifu even proposed to truly bring Chen Jyuniang into the family, giving her a proper name and status, not for Chen Jyuniang's sake, but for Yang Yinquiu's.

  The title of "outside son" is really unpleasant to hear, and it's easy for people to look down on him. Since Yang Yinqu has a good reputation, he would naturally want to pave the way for his son. The Sun family isn't some big aristocratic family, just a nouveau riche one that started to rise in the previous generation of Sun Zhi Fu's father. There aren't many talented young men in the family, and now the only one who can hold his head high is Sun Zhi Fu's eldest son Sun Zhao Yang. Now if there's another one, no one would be unhappy about it.

  Chen Jiu Niang didn't put on airs, let alone talk about freedom outside. Once she entered that household, she still had to kowtow and pay respects to the legitimate wife, being controlled and living a life of servitude. While it was true that she was free outside, if she didn't have a man or a name, when Sun Zhifu died in the future, she wouldn't be able to get anything. Moreover, a woman without a family or husband would become a lonely ghost after death, not even being accepted by the underworld.

  People of this era already believe in these things.

  Yang Yunqiu doesn't care about the original owner's parents. If he were to worry about these things, he would probably be troubled by being a private son, and his 'mother' not wanting fame, snatching someone else's man would also be troubling, and there are too many troubles. Before choosing this body, he had already calmly considered the troubles he would encounter and the benefits he could get, repeatedly comparing them, and only then did he choose it.

  I don't know how Magistrate Sun explained it to his wife, but in any case, they decided that during the New Year's celebration, they would welcome Chen Jiuniang into their home and add Sun Zhaoming to the family register.

  Yang Yunqiu guessed that Mrs. Yu probably thought that her husband having a mistress and an illegitimate child outside would not be good for their reputation, which might affect Yang Ge's marriage prospects. That's why she agreed to it. Moreover, Sun Zhi's mother was still alive, and the old lady wouldn't make things difficult for her own son. Before, when Sun Zhi didn't mention it, she could pretend not to know, but now that he did, there was no reason for her not to agree. Besides, Sun Zhao Ming was after all a descendant of the Sun family, and the old lady would surely be happy about having more children and grandchildren.

  Opening the ancestral hall is a troublesome matter, but what's troublesome isn't Yang Yunqiu. He just waits until the end to go to the ancestral hall for a visit, sees the clan head, then goes to see Madame Yu and his three brothers at home, exchanging greetings with each other, everyone addressing him as Second Young Master, with two younger sons following behind, ranking in order, that's all.

  After the fuss, Chen Juniang and Yang Yunqiu finally moved into the main house of the Sun family with their servants before the Chinese New Year. Madame Yu did a good job on her face, allocating a not-so-small courtyard for Chen Juniang to live in, and also arranged Yang Yunqiu to move to Su Xiang Garden in the front yard, following the example of the other two concubines.

  The main house of the Sun family didn't leave a good impression on Yang Yaqiu, who always felt it was too gloomy. However, there was a small side gate in Suxuan Garden that directly connected to the street, making it convenient for entering and exiting. Yang Yaqiu understood that this was probably because Mrs. Yu was worried that he would corrupt her own son, so she arranged for him to stay far away. But what she thought didn't matter; what mattered was that Yang Yaqiu found it convenient.

  He entered Sun's house and got closer to Li Shanshan.

  That girl has also come over for a while, although the person possessed is a weak and timid woman who rarely goes out of the house, but the change is quite remarkable. Before, she seldom took the initiative to talk to others, now she will use the communicator to contact Yang Yiqiu to report peace.

  He understood in his heart that leaving the familiar environment of Earth did indeed make Li Shanshan feel much more at ease. Sometimes, changing one's surroundings and identity was truly important. What's more, she had obtained the memories of the original host, a girl named Yin Xiping. The original host was a girl with poor health but a lively and lovely personality who yearned for the vast sky outside. Even if it was just this memory, it would still have an impact on Li Shanshan.

  Now two people live in the same house, occasionally go to their elders' home for a morning visit and still meet each other.

  Every time this happens, Li Shanshan will sincerely give Yang Yunqiu a courtesy to express her gratitude. The servants of the Sun family are all very surprised, and even Er Ya's heart is suspicious, not understanding why this young lady is so polite to their young master. It's worth noting that this young lady's status is not low, she is an official's daughter, while their young master is just an unremarkable illegitimate child, and the two parties should not have any intersection at all.

  Fortunately, Li Shanshan didn't make any other moves. As time passed, everyone gradually got used to it and just thought that Yang Yunqiu had cast a loving glance at Miss Biao.

  Apart from these trivial matters, after moving into the Sun family, Yang Yinqu also added a task, which was to go to the family school to read books.

  However, the so-called family school had a muddled old scholar teaching, and the young masters of the Sun family were just mixed in it. Sun Zhuoyang didn't go there, his family hired a large group of teachers for him, his curriculum belonged to elite education, while the family school was mass education, which was not suitable for someone like him who was a genius.

  As a younger son, Yang Yunqiu naturally didn't have that kind of treatment. He went to class honestly and if he performed well after a while, perhaps Sun Zhifu would specially invite a teacher to instruct him.

  The courses in the family school were simple and wouldn't interfere with Yang Yunqiu's other chores, but they were quite useful. That muddle-headed Mr. Hu was a scholar after all, and besides being a licentiate, he often liked to talk about imperial examinations when he had nothing else to do.

  Yang Yunqiu had never participated in the imperial examination before, even if reciting books was not difficult for him, and writing essays was also not difficult for him. If someone who understood the trade taught him the ways of the imperial examination, he would certainly be happy. Every time he attended class, he would bring some snacks or small dishes to go with wine, and in his spare time, he would send them to Mr. Hu, and the two would chat and have a drink together.

  Never mind, Mr. Hu actually quite liked him, he wrote a good article with good words, and his appearance conformed to the aesthetics of this dynasty, maybe in the future he could really get on the golden list. Mr. Hu was old and had nothing to strive for, just thinking about living a peaceful life in the Sun family's home school, but if even a scholar couldn't be taught, I'm afraid Sun Zhifu wouldn't be happy either. Since Yang Yunqiu had talent, he didn't mind putting his heart into it, and when there was nothing to do, he would give him some small tasks, and also asked his own classmates to get some topics from previous imperial examinations, and let Yang Yunqiu do them.

  In the past, Yang Yunqiu read that among the children of a large family, they would often frame and slander each other to gain favor. However, he had never encountered such events. The eldest son, who should have been displeased with these few illegitimate sons, had only met him once on New Year's Day, exchanging fewer than three sentences, and hadn't even gotten a clear look at his face. It was likely that if they ran into each other on the street, they wouldn't recognize each other.

  He guessed that this famous romantic talent probably really wanted to pursue the princess, and was now particularly active. As long as it was a literary gathering held by someone with a reputation, he had to attend, and often produced excellent poems and lyrics, desperately trying to make a name for himself, and would be taking the imperial examination this year.

  Sun Zhaoyang was busy like this, naturally didn't have the energy to pay attention to a younger brother born out of wedlock.

  Mr. Hu also thinks that Yang Yunqiu's current level, participating in the children's test to obtain the qualification of a student, and participating in the county examination next year, will not be a problem if he passes, but whether he can get a good ranking is another matter, as for the imperial examination, it's hard to grasp.

  He didn't think much of it, and his attention was not on the imperial examination at this time - Liu Sheng mentioned that the Wei Wang would finally "arrive" in Quanzhou, he had been waiting impatiently, almost thinking that Liu Sheng's news was wrong.