Farmhouse Green Plum

Chapter 323 Grudges

Song Ying looked confused and hesitated for a while before speaking: "Wu Mingzhi?"

"Yes, yes, it's Master Wu Mingzhi." The maids responded hurriedly.

Song Ying hesitated: "...I guess so."

Last night, there were two major camps. One was the five scholars from Mindi, and the other was the scholars from Qingshui County. In the end, Yuan Qing defeated Lin Wencai, which could also be considered as Shen Yonghui defeating Wu Mingzhi.

The maids were extremely happy, as if they were the ones who had defeated Wu Mingzhi.

Thinking of the confrontation between Shen Yonghui and Wu Mingzhi during the competition, Song Ying's mind moved and he asked, "Who is Mr. Wu Mingzhi? Does he have any grudges with our Shen Mansion?"

"Sister Song Ying, you have never been to the capital, so you don't know how annoying the people in the Wu Mansion are. Our old master resigned from his post and returned to his hometown due to mourning, so he couldn't join the cabinet. This was a good opportunity for Minister Wu. His servants boasted to everyone they met, saying that our master was a walking bookcase and was not as good as their master.

Really, our old man was the top scholar in the imperial examination, and Minister Wu is not even worthy of carrying his shoes!"

Song Ying keenly caught a word, "Two-legged bookcase? What is this saying?"

During the competition last night, Wu Mingzhi also called the people of Qingshui County "walking bookcases".

Xiaolu shook his head, not knowing what this curse word meant. "It's still a curse word after all."

Song Ying thought to herself, you don't even know what it means, but you are so sure it is an insult and you are so angry. She found it a little funny.

At this time, Fang's mother came out and explained, "This is to scold scholars who do not want to learn to write, but take shortcuts by memorizing the Wenfu in order to cheat on the exam questions and plagiarize the articles of their predecessors.

This matter is about an old grudge between our two families. When my old grandfather took the imperial examination, he came across a question that he had memorized before, and he wrote it down. Later, this matter was known by other candidates in the same year, especially those who failed. They privately insulted our old grandfather as a walks-on-the-wall bookcase.

Later, during the palace examination, the old man wrote an essay in class. The essay was completed in one go and was so brilliant in writing that His Majesty praised him and named him the top scorer. The previous insults against him as a two-legged bookcase were refuted, but Minister Wu was the only one who still felt resentful.

He was the second in the imperial examination, far ahead of our old master. He thought he was sure to be in the top three, but he didn’t expect that in the final palace examination, he was squeezed out by our old master.”

Song Ying was speechless after listening to this. If things were really as Fang's mother said, then Minister Wu was really narrow-minded. There was no rule that prohibited copying questions that had been memorized during the exam.

You can't even afford to lose such a small thing, and you're still talking about it today. You're really narrow-minded.

She was not the only one who had such thoughts. The young maids only knew that the Shen Mansion and the Wu Mansion were enemies and had been hostile to each other for so many years. This was the first time they knew the original origin of the grudge between the two mansions. They all despised Shangshu Wu's narrow-mindedness.

Just as everyone was denouncing the incident, an uninvited guest walked into the yard.

Everyone fell silent instantly, not daring to speak casually. Fang's mother took a breath, put on a smile and greeted them: "Auntie is here to get the food. What do you want to eat today?"

Song Ying was somewhat surprised to hear this. So after all this time, Princess Shun'an still hadn't assigned a maid to serve Concubine Lian? Now she had to come and get food by herself?

Aunt Lian didn't care at all that she had ruined the excitement in the courtyard, and said coldly, "Don't worry about the meal first, give me a basin of hot water."

After that, she paused and added, "Hot water for bathing."

"Take a bath?" Mother Fang was stunned. Song Ying and others were also surprised. How could a basin of water be enough for a bath?

Aunt Lian did not answer. She turned her head and looked around, as if looking for a suitable position. As she moved, Song Ying saw that she was holding a kitten in her arms. The cat was wrapped in a piece of cloth, and only the snow-white hair on its head was exposed, so it could be inferred that it was a white kitten.

It was too dark that night and she couldn't see clearly. Now she realized that the cat was very small, probably a kitten about one or two months old. Moreover, its eyes were not blue as her master said, but yellow, shining golden in the sun like a topaz.

When they saw the kitten, everyone realized the misunderstanding. Aunt Lian asked for hot water, probably intending to give the kitten a bath.

Song Ying thought for a moment and said, "Auntie Lian, it's best not to give the kitten a bath now. It's too young, and the weather isn't very warm right now. It's easy for it to get sick. Besides, cats are afraid of water."

Perhaps because she remembered the kindness of Master Song Ying and his apprentice in helping her find and catch the kitten, Aunt Lian's attitude towards her was not so cold. She frowned and said, "But it has fleas."

"You can use fresh peach leaves, chop them up, apply the juice on the kitten's body, and then wrap the kitten with a cloth, leaving only the head exposed. If there are few fleas, it can be removed in one go."

After thinking for a while, Song Ying added worriedly: "Don't use too much juice. It's too small. If you can't get rid of it all at once, try again a few times. When it grows bigger and the weather gets warmer, if there are fleas again, you can mix peach leaf juice with hot water to give it a bath."

Cats and dogs in rural areas often have fleas, which can jump onto people if you are not careful, causing great trouble. Therefore, children like Song Ying were warned by their families from an early age to stay away from cats and dogs, especially not to hold them in their arms.

But Song Ying remembered that when Grandma Sun was still alive, her cats had no fleas. When the weather was warm, Grandma Sun used this method to get rid of fleas on her cats.

Aunt Lian's expression softened a little, and she nodded and said, "Thank you very much. I'll try it later."

Xiaolu and other maids were shocked as if they had seen a ghost. How could Aunt Lian actually say thank you to others?

Aunt Lian then said to Fang's mother, "No more hot water. Where is the meal prepared for Miss Seven's cat?"

Mother Fang sighed secretly and ordered, "Xiaolu, go and bring out the cat food."

Xiaolu agreed, got up and went into the kitchen.

Mother Fang smiled at Aunt Lian again: "Aunt, what do you want to eat for lunch today?"

"I'll get it myself."

Aunt Lian pushed her aside and entered the big kitchen. After taking the cat food from Xiaolu, she picked up a few dishes and put them in the food box, then carried it away.

As soon as she left the courtyard, the maids pulled Song Ying and exclaimed: "What's going on? Aunt Lian actually thanked you!"

Song Ying thought about how surprised she was that night when she first discovered Aunt Lian would thank her. She shook her head and said, "I don't know. Maybe after having the kitten, she has something to worry about?"

The maids laughed. What was the point of worrying about a kitten? Besides, was Aunt Lian the kind of person who would worry about others? She wished she could make everyone uneasy every day.

Song Ying pursed her lips. She really felt that way. She felt that after having the kitten, Aunt Lian showed signs of living a good life. She didn't care what she ate at all. Now, for the sake of the kitten, she would specifically ask for Miss Seven's cat food.