Chapter 598: The Imperial Examination Family-Raising System (7)

Xie Rong indeed thought exactly that.

If his daughter wanted to pluck the moon from the sky, he would have to fret, but just wanting a farm boy from a village below? That was simple! It must be satisfied!

"Eldest! Third! Call your wives over!"

After the eldest daughter-in-law Chen Shi and the younger daughter-in-law Liu Shi arrived, Xie Rong spoke of his little daughter taking a fancy to the eldest son of the Song family third branch in Qinghe Village, and finally entrusted the matter of proposing marriage to these two daughters-in-law.

The second daughter-in-law Feng Shi was six months pregnant, so she was not asked to go.

But she was present, and after hearing their father-in-law's words, the sons and daughters-in-law were all stunned: "!!!"

What?

The little sister/sister-in-law took a fancy to a budding scholar in Qinghe Village? When did this happen? What? In just this half-morning's time?

Does that mean she wants to settle the engagement right after just taking a fancy to him?

Wouldn't that be too overbearing? What if the man's side doesn't agree?

The eldest and younger daughters-in-law, having received the task, felt bitter inside; would they be beaten out by the Song family?

From now on, they would never complain about their sister-in-law sleeping in all day! Sleeping in was better than going out to wander for half a day and then wanting to snatch a man home the moment she took a fancy to him.

But their father-in-law spoiled their sister-in-law to the heavens; there were few requests of hers that he did not grant.

Never mind that the other party was an unmarried young man; even if he were already betrothed or even married, as long as their sister-in-law asked for him, their father-in-law would likely move heaven and earth to spend Silver to make him divorce and then marry their sister-in-law.

What a sin!

To be taken a fancy to by their sister-in-law, that young man was truly unlucky.

When Chen Shi and Liu Shi sat in the carriage and headed to the Song family with Doctor Cui from the Baoji Hall, and saw Song Yanqing—who had refined features and a face like jade, and despite his broken leg looking slightly disheveled, still retained his elegance—and then thought of their own plump and overbearing sister-in-law, they closed their eyes, unable to bear it any longer.

They thought to themselves, "Unlucky" is an understatement; this must be eight lifetimes of bad luck.

Unexpectedly, both Song Yanqing and the couple Song Zhisheng were extremely courteous to them.

Even when they proposed picking a date for the man's side to entrust a matchmaker to go to the Xie Family to propose, the other party agreed immediately.

Chen Shi and Liu Shi looked at each other, truly puzzled.

But since it had come to this, the task their father-in-law had entrusted to them was considered successfully completed.

They secretly breathed a sigh of relief, left the gifts their mother-in-law had them bring, and returned to the carriage to wait for Doctor Cui.

Xiao Ya helped Doctor Cui into the room, then stood obediently to the side to wait.

Doctor Cui examined the waist injury of Song Zhisheng and the leg injury of Song Yanqing in turn, stroked his beard, and pondered:

"The waist injury has been dragged out for too long; I fear it will require acupuncture for a period of time, along with drinking several doses of medicine. We shall use both methods and see the effect before making adjustments."

"As for the young master's leg, setting the bone is not difficult; the difficulty lies in the later healing. However, Miss Xie told this old man to just treat you boldly, and if it cannot be cured, she will take responsibility, so this old man will treat it boldly."

Doctor Cui accepted the double consultation fee given by Xie Yang, and having brought enough common medicine for bone and waist injuries, as well as acupuncture needles and bone-setting tools, he immediately performed acupuncture and set the bones for the father and son.

By the time they finished, it was near dusk.

As the sun set, the members of the Song family who had been working in the fields or up the mountain returned, and were extremely puzzled to see a carriage parked under the big locust tree in front of the courtyard.

Didn't their family come here as refugees? Could they have relatives here?

Liu Shi, who had stayed behind to look after her precious son, pursed her lips toward the West Ear Room: "How could they be relatives of our Song family? They are here to treat the injuries of the third branch and the second nephew. I just don't know where they got the Silver to afford a famous doctor from Baoji Hall."

When the carriage arrived, Liu Shi was in the room coaxing her son to take a nap; when she came out, she only saw Doctor Cui enter the door and did not see Chen Shi or Liu Shi, so she assumed it was a doctor hired by the third branch.

Even this was enough to make her feel resentful: could it be that her mother-in-law had secretly given money to the third branch?

In fact, Wang Shi was even more puzzled than her. They had only taken a nap, so how could the third branch afford a doctor? And a famous doctor from Baoji Hall at that? Where did the money come from?

She walked straight to the door of the West Ear Room, put her hands on her hips, and questioned: "Third, where did you get the money to hire a doctor? Don't tell me it's the embroidery work your wife has done over the years that she didn't turn over to the public fund and kept for herself? That belongs to the public fund and must be returned!"

"That's right! If it was income from before the family split, it must be returned to the public fund!" Liu Shi hurried over to chime in.

Since they had already torn off the mask of civility, Lin Shi did not give her mother-in-law any face and sneered: "It is a doctor hired by my son's future in-laws; it has nothing to do with the public fund!"

What! In-laws?

Wang Shi and the others were so shocked their eyeballs almost popped out.

The second grandson/nephew was engaged?

When did this happen?

They were completely unaware of it.

But thinking of his leg, which would remain crippled even after treatment, Wang Shi curled her lips and muttered: "The kind of family that would take a fancy to a cripple can't be any good."

Liu Shi, however, was a bit envious; a family that could hire a famous doctor from Baoji Hall couldn't be that poor.

Not caring about the various thoughts of her mother-in-law and the others, Lin Shi gratefully thanked Doctor Cui and wanted to keep them for dinner before leaving.

The future in-laws not only hired a famous doctor from Baoji Hall for them but also had the two daughters-in-law who came to propose bring enough rice, grain, and daily necessities for their family of four to last a month; it was only right and proper to keep them for a meal.

Doctor Cui wiped away the sweat he had worked up and smiled easily: "No need to stay for a meal; Miss Xie gave enough consultation fees, enough for this old man to eat a good meal at a restaurant in town."

Chen Shi and Liu Shi also got back into the carriage and exchanged polite words: "Auntie, please stay! There will be plenty of opportunities in the future."

The sound of the carriage wheels gradually faded, and the green carriage soon disappeared into the night.

Song Yanqing rubbed the small, jade-white porcelain bottle in his hand, the words Xiao Ya had brought echoing in his ears—

"The pills in the medicine bottle are for your leg injury. The young lady wants you to take one every night before sleep; it can relieve pain and heal the wound. The young lady also instructed that if you want to participate in the imperial examinations on time, you must listen to Doctor Cui and her. The plaster is for your father to apply to his waist injury; apply it every night before sleep and remove it when you wake up the next day. No need to apply it during the day, just at night..."

His lowered eyelids hid the fleeting smile in his eyes.

"Son, how does your leg feel? Is it any better?"

Lin Shi did not return to the room until she could no longer see the shadow of the carriage. She first went to check on her husband, who had fallen into a deep sleep during the acupuncture; hearing from Doctor Cui that it was a good thing he could sleep, she did not wake him, but instead walked to her son's bedside and asked softly about his leg injury.

Song Yanqing placed the medicine bottle cherishly by his pillow and laughed helplessly: "Mother, the bones were just set; how could it be that fast?"

Lin Shi nodded: "Mother knows it's not that fast. But Doctor Cui is a famous doctor from Baoji Hall; usually, you have to queue up just to hire him for a house call. House calls are also much more expensive than ordinary doctors. This time we owe the Xie Family a huge favor! Not only money and grain and household goods, but they even hired a famous doctor from Baoji Hall for us..."

The more Lin Shi spoke, the more she felt that if she didn't marry her son off... *cough cough cough*, that was wrong, if she didn't let her son marry Xie Sanniang, they would never be able to repay this favor.