Chapter 94: Letting Her Be My Concubine
After Scholar Wong left the restaurant he went to a private school in town. The one which was closest to “The Xiao’s Cuisine” was called “Bamboo and Orchid School”, which was counted as the best private school in Qinghe. The environment was wonderful with a lot of bamboo and orchids planted around the grounds, making the school very serene.
There was a row of classrooms in the school and different teachers were teaching various subjects in each classroom. Students were allowed to learn different subjects, even including martial arts. The martial arts coach here taught students some basic kung fu to build up their bodies.
Scholar Wong went directly to see the principal of the school.
The principal was also a lecturer in the town, responsible for educating and training local talents. He looked rather surprised to see Scholar Wong.
“Yanbo, what brings you here?” The principal warmly asked Scholar Wong to come into the room.
Scholar Wong said, “I’m here to visit you, Sir.”
“But I think you must have come here for a purpose. What on earth do you want? Just tell me straight,” said the principal.
Scholar Wong then stopped beating around the bush and said directly, “Actually, I have a student in the county and although I’ve only been teaching him for several months he is very smart and, as he has moved into town recently, his family wants to transfer him to a school in town. I wonder if you could admit him here, sir?”
“Several months?” The principal stroked his beard and said, “What’s his level now?”
“He just finished reading Four Books but he had made quite some progress.”
“Well…” The principal hesitated, “I’m afraid he’s not qualified here as I only take very outstanding students and he may not be able to keep up with the others. Yanbo, why don’t you transfer him to Danxin School? Their standard is much lower.”
Scholar Wong smiled. “Danxin is bit too far from his home. This student of mine, though he is week at the basics, is really diligent and will surely improve himself to keep pace with the others. Please trust me.”
The principal hesitated for a long while before finally speaking up. “As he is your student I’ll do you a favor and let him in, but the tuition fees here are expensive also; six taels of silver per year. Is your student a village boy? Can he afford it?”
“He certainly can. If it’s convenient, I’ll bring the boy and his family here tomorrow morning.”
After leaving the Bamboo and Orchid School, Scholar Wong immediately went back to “The Xiao’s Cuisine” and found Ye Xiaoxian.
“I’ve already asked about the private school in town. Bamboo and Orchid School is willing to let Baofeng in. It’s just that their tuition fee is much dearer at six taels of silver per year. Do you want to give it some more consideration?” Scholar Wong asked Ye Xiaoxian.
“No problem, six taels is fine, as long as he can learn stuff,” said Ye Xiaoxian without hesitation.
Scholar Wong added, “If you’re certain that you wish to transfer Baofeng there, you can take him there to pay the tuition fee. I’ll go with you tomorrow.”
“Right, but can my ma go to pay the fee tomorrow?” asked Ye Xiaoxian.
However, Scholar Wong had his own little selfish motives. He said, “But I said to the school that Baofeng’s studies are in the care of his sister-in-law and the principal also wants to meet you, so I’m afraid you have to make it yourself.”
“Um, fine. There won’t be many customers in the morning so I’ll bring Baofeng there personally.”
Scholar Wong smiled and nodded.
Scholar Wong went back home after leaving “The Xiao’s Cuisine”. He was teaching in the county though his family was actually in town, and his father was a country gentleman with a rather well-to-do family.
Scholar Wong stepped into the lounge and saw his pa, Lord Wong, whom he saluted.
Lord Wong asked him, “Why have you come home so early today? That shabby rural school of yours gave you a break?”
Scholar Wong then replied, “Pa, I’m just about to discuss this with you. I decided to stop teaching in Windward Hall tomorrow and concentrate on preparing for the imperial examination.”
“But if you don’t go there that shabby school will be short of a teacher, won’t it?”
“There is already a new teacher arranged and he’ll be there in no time,” said Scholar Wong.
Lord Wong continued, “The exam is in the autumn of next year, so it’s still a year or so away. Why don’t you get married first? As the saying goes, a man should marry first and then settle down. You haven’t got married yet so how can you settle down?”
Scholar Wong suddenly felt headache coming on. The reason he went to the county to teach in the school there was to avoid being nagged by his family about marriage all day long. What he faced in the school was merely a group of children and while he was teaching them he could also do his own revision, but his father would talk his ear off when he stayed home.
“Pa, let’s talk about it later after I finish my exam and get back from the capital city next autumn. I don’t want the whole marriage thing distracting me.”
Lord Wong said, “Why is it distracting? You should settle down once you have got married, besides, how many people can pass the autumn exam? Are you so sure that you’ll be chosen as Zhuang Yuan (the title conferred on the one who comes first in the highest imperial examination)? You’ve a Xiucai (one who passes the imperial examination at the county level) already, and the best you can make is a Ju Ren (a successful candidate in the imperial examinations at the provincial level). Even if you make it to be a Ju Ren, won’t you also come back to inherit our family property? We’re a rich family with great business and the money you’ll make from family business is no worse than the salary of a Ju Ren, furthermore, even if you become a major official, the risk is so great that once one of your superiors is not happy with you, you’ll be doomed.”
“Pa, how many times I have told you, it’s not about the salary but my personal ambition, and I don’t care about the risk either.” Scholar Wong felt his pa was such a philistine.
“Humph, when you reach my age, you’ll realise that ambition is just a whole lot of bullshit which is far more unstable than managing your family business.”
“Pa, I’m tired. I’ll just go back home and read some books,” said Scholar Wong.
“You…you child, why do you never listen to my opinion? I’ve already chosen several young maidens for you and as they haven’t married yet, you’d better…”
However, Scholar Wong could not be bothered to listen at all and went back to his room without hesitation.
Just after Scholar Wong had gone back to his room Ye Xiaoxian’s figure appeared in his mind. In Qinghe County, he could be counted as a rich young master and had seen many women in his life but he did not know why he could not erase Ye Xiaoxian from his mind. Her optimism, diligence, virtue and kindness had been carved into his mind.
He was a scholar, however, and knew that Ye Xiaoxian and he were not made for each other. On the one hand, they were not from the same class and on the other hand, Ye Xiaoxian perhaps was also not willing to remarry with him.
He sighed, feeling at a loss.
He then thought again. What if Ye Xiaoxian also liked him and was willing to marry him? After all he heard Xiao Baozhu say that Ye Xiaoxian’s husband was not very good to her and they were spouses in name only. If Ye Xiaoxian was willing to remarry to him, was he willing to take her?
Scholar Wong found it all so difficult. Firstly his pa, Lord Wong, would prevent this from happening in all kinds of ways because Lord Wong was determined to find him a woman with a similar family background and social class. Secondly, Ye Xiaoxian had to persuade her mother-in-law to let her go. Although her mother-in-law looked nice, she would not tend to let Ye Xiaoxian go if she wished to remarry to someone else. What was more, if he really married such a common girl who was also engaged in trade and, meanwhile, if he passed the imperial exam and became a Ju Ren, would his peers mock him?
Maybe he would have to end up making her his concubine.
Scholar Wong thought it wouldn’t be too bad to let her be his concubine, so long as he doted on her.