Chapter 85: Cutting Off His Path to the Imperial Examinations

After finally managing to put it on, the village's oxcart had already left by then, so they had to use their family's handcart to push Tian Yaozu to the medical clinic in town.

At the medical clinic, after the doctor's diagnosis, all the bones in both his wrists were shattered.

They quickly applied Bone-Setting Ointment, fixed his hands in place, and also prescribed medicine and filled the prescription.

The Tian family looked at the doctor anxiously, "Can his hands still get better?"

"He's not old, so he should recover, but he won't be able to exert force anymore."

"Then, what about holding a brush?"

"I'm afraid not, but then again, it's uncertain—it depends on how well he recovers."

The doctor didn't say it definitively, still giving the patient's family a sliver of hope, but Tian Yaozu's heart was already dead ashes.

"Aiyo, tell me which damned bastard did this, my son is about to take the exams, if I catch her, I'll have to split her in half, aiyo, it's driving me mad!"

The family left the medical clinic, and the Tian family couldn't swallow this anger, so they went to the Mayor's House.

"It's beef, marinated, seared over fire, eaten hot. Why is it called Beefsteak? Because the meat is beef tenderloin, so it's called Beefsteak, understand, old sir?"

Ever since Qiao Mai left the Tian family, she had been doing better and better, while the Tian family not only had a ruined reputation, but also had one thing after another happening at home, losing no small amount of money.

Old Mr. Wang was outside the kitchen, craning his neck to look inside, sniffing with his nose. This Qiao Niang had been fussing around in there for ages, why wasn't there any fragrance at all?

With his wrists broken, even after they healed, he could no longer study. Not only could he not study, he couldn't even do farm work.

"It's gone!"

With her family back, she didn't have to take care of Ling'er, leaving her completely free.

"Of course, family is family, money is money. I won't take advantage of you either. After I go back, I'll have my son and granddaughter come over. You prepare the recipe, and let them taste these things while they're at it?"

"Is a hot pot okay?"

"No problem, I just spent a lot of silver building the house, so now I'll have some silver again."

"There are big prawns, fish balls, crab sticks—is that okay?"

Some were watching the fun, some were gloating.

Having dealt with Tian Yaozu, Qiao Mai was in a good mood. After breakfast, she started preparing lunch.

This was only the first day, and the Tian family had already changed their faces so quickly.

"Then I'll fry them for you first thing tomorrow morning. Eat your fill and then leave."

"Stop saying useless things. She's just a woman, selling goods at home during the day and taking care of the child at night. Her husband and the older kids are all in Fucheng studying. There's no way she could have done this, and she doesn't have the ability either."

"If we're talking about enemies, it's that Qiao Niang in town. We've clashed twice, she must hold a grudge against me."

"Then what else would you like to eat?"

It took a long time before things quieted down. As for Tian Yaozu's misfortune, the villagers expressed that they could do nothing to help.

Qiao Mai smiled without exposing it. Yuan Jiaqi heard from outside and immediately came to the Keting to start wiping the table and setting out bowls and chopsticks.

The lamb was truly thin and tender, and had been rolled up, neatly arranged on the plate—it was really beautiful.

"What's for lunch? I'm a bit hungry!"

"It's that Qiao Niang. No one else hates me that much."

"Originally, supporting you to study put a strain on the family. Now we have to treat your injuries on top of that—it's adding frost to snow. If you're not grateful and still picky, then we'll just return the medicine money, and your hands can heal however they like."

The whole family was giving him cold faces. Even if he had no sense of the situation, he could still notice.

They told the mayor about Tian Yaozu's persecution. Although the mayor didn't like the Tian family, at this critical juncture, as the mayor, he still had to protect these scholars.

"That's right."

"I just tinkered with this myself when I had nothing to do. Are you interested in this?"

So he sent guards to follow them back to the Tian family home. They searched inside and out for traces and clues, and also asked Tian Yaozu and his family about everything that had happened from yesterday to this morning.

Now, it had directly cut off his path to the imperial examinations. Now everyone was the same—no one could look down on anyone else. From now on, they'd just stay home and farm, and maybe they couldn't even farm anymore.

Instantly, the Tian family's expressions turned ugly, and they all cursed Qiao Mai in their hearts.

At mealtime, seeing the food was bad, he wanted to throw a tantrum, but he didn't expect Tian Laotou's one sentence to choke him to death.

"Thank you, old sir. I don't want anyone other than my family to know about this."

Feng'er and the other two were playing with Ling'er in the Yuanzi. As soon as they heard "hot pot," their eyes lit up. They were still thinking about that hot pot from before the new year.

Now Qiao Mai was doing well in town, richer and more influential than them. If they had lent a helping hand back then, Qiao Shi wouldn't have ignored them if something happened in the future.

"Naturally, our Wang Family will take full responsibility."

"How about leaving tomorrow afternoon instead? At noon, you can prepare another table?"

"Is there any seafood?"

Still, they had eaten quite a bit of today's dishes.

Both guards had received favors from Qiao Niang. Seeing them like this, they knew that upon hearing this news, the family was definitely cursing Qiao Niang in their hearts.

"Tian Yaozu, do you have any enemies?"

After venting their anger, the Tian family finally thought about Tian Yaozu's situation.

So he said sternly, "Since you can't provide any leads and have no evidence, let's leave it at that for now."

"Girl, many of these things on your table haven't been seen in our Ming Empire."

"Yeah, he went after the new year and comes back three days a month. I heard he's an old gentleman, and a jinshi too."

"Wow, great, Mother, thank you, Mother."

After everyone was seated, Old Mr. Wang couldn't wait to pick up some meat and swish it in the pot. One look and you could tell he was a carnivore who loved meat.

"Interested, I'm interested in all of it. You know, in the Ming Empire, so many families support themselves with their own businesses. Our Wang Family naturally has quite a few businesses too."

It was all because the Tian family was always showing off in the village, saying things like Tian Yaozu would become a high official someday, looking down on the other villagers.

Tian Yaozu shook his head dejectedly, a strange, unknown glint flashing in his eyes.

"What else? Even if you went to the Yamen, it would be the same."

Old Mr. Wang swallowed, "Alright, set the table quickly, I'm starving," though he was actually just getting cravings from hearing it.

At noon it's a hot pot; just prepare all the various ingredients and foods.

"Got it, we'll eat that first thing tomorrow morning."

"You just make it however you like; as long as it's tasty, that's fine."

The guard opened his mouth, "She can't do it, what about anyone else?"

Old Mr. Wang, listening on the side, was completely confused, "Qiao Niang, what Beefsteak? Huh?"

Having eaten and drunk his fill, he was still pondering.

And there's beef, right, beef—when will we have another pan‑fried Beefsteak that the lady mentioned?

Chuan'er thought of pan‑fried Beefsteak in his mind and blurted it out; as soon as he said it, everyone stared fixedly at Qiao Mai.

"My formula is sold only, not given away; don't think that just because you're my Xianggong and the child's father."

"Fine, let's have the hot pot first."

"I guarantee you'll like it."

Qiao Mai looked at their expectant eyes and said, "Tomorrow morning you'll go back, right?"

"What did you say? The man and the child are studying in Fucheng?"

Zhenzhen is truly a useless person; Tian Yaozu still hasn't faced reality.

Now, the Village Head feels a bit regretful.

Back then, the Village Head turned his elbow toward the Tian Family because they had a scholar.

"In the future, keep any good formulas; our Wang Family won't need them, we can help you sell them to others."

"Arresting someone requires evidence; you don't even have an enemy, how could you arbitrarily cut off someone's imperial examination path? That's impossible."

"So my Dizi's hand would be injured for nothing?"

The result was a pointless question; when asked, they knew nothing, there were no traces around, which left the guard at a loss.

The two guards turned and left; the Tian Family instantly erupted like a boiling pot, and their shouts could be heard from afar—how awful they sounded.

Qiao Mai smiled and glanced at the old gentleman, "A gentleman's word?"

"Four horses are hard to chase!"

"Alright, I trust Miss Wang even more than old Mr. Wang; I hope our two families cooperate happily?"

"Absolutely!"

(End of chapter)