CHAPTER 774: CHAPTER 774: OFFICIALLY BECOMING A DISCIPLE

Gu Jinli looked at his annoyingly smug smile, feeling a mix of annoyance and embarrassment, and pointed ahead, saying, "Hurry up and go, I don’t want to see you right now."

Every time he tricks her, he’s not cute at all.

Qin San Lang reined in his smile, looking pitifully at her and asked, "Is Xiao Yu angry?"

Gu Jinli, seeing his pitiful look, softened and said, "I’m not angry, but you’ll be late if you don’t leave now."

Qin San Lang laughed, "So Xiao Yu is actually worried about me."

Gu Jinli: "..."

This feeling of being tricked again, she really wanted to flip the table.

Come to think of it, shouldn’t she be the one flirting with him? Why is she being flirted with by an ancient person? Oh, it’s so embarrassing.

Qin San Lang, afraid that she would really get angry, dared not say more, mounted his horse, leaned over, and said to her, "You should head back, don’t catch a cold."

After speaking, he even reached out to adjust her falling hood.

She looked up at Qin San Lang, holding onto her hood with one hand, and waved at him with the other, "Hurry up and go, you always dawdle so much, it affects my going back to sleep for a bit, you know?"

Qin San Lang’s lips curved in a smile and said, "Yes, my mistake, I’m leaving now, Xiao Yu should go back to sleep."

After speaking, he took a deep look at her, her lovely face hidden in the hood, her lively eyes looking at him, her eyelashes trembling slightly as she blinked, which made his heart tremble as well.

He quickly averted his gaze and rode off.

After running for a while, he looked back once more, seeing her turning to walk home, then he left with relief.

...

Gu Jinli took great care of Qin San Lang’s personal savings, took out the box he gave her, divided the silver notes inside into three parts, and separated the indentures, house deeds, and manor’s land deeds, planning to hide them in different places to avoid going broke if anything went wrong.

She was busy in the house until dawn when Brother Cheng knocked on the door, "Second Sister, have you woken up from your nap?"

Every time Second Sister would wake up to see off Brother San Lang, everyone in the family knew about it, only she thought they didn’t know... But the eldest brother said that she probably did know but pretended that we hadn’t noticed because of her thick skin. Brother Cheng found this very reasonable and admired the eldest brother even more.

Gu Jinli said, "I’m awake, come in."

Brother Cheng pushed the door open and saw her not in the inner room, but sitting on the wooden couch in the outer room, organizing things, "What are you doing, Second Sister?"

Gu Jinli: "Nothing much, just dividing some money."

Brother Cheng walked over, his hands braced on the wooden couch, looking at the several small boxes on the couch, which were additionally wrapped in sheepskin for waterproofing, and asked curiously, "Why wrap them so tightly? What are these valuable items?"

Gu Jinli thought about it and told him the truth, "They’re Brother San Lang’s belongings."

Brother Cheng’s mouth twitched, "Eldest brother was right, our family’s Bai Cai really has grown legs."

Managing Brother San Lang’s belongings, this Bai Cai is not going to be kept, right?

Gu Jinli quickly packed away the divided boxes, "What do you mean Bai Cai has grown legs? Besides, would you rather have the Bai Cai rot in the ground?"

Brother Cheng: "...Our family has money now, it doesn’t matter if the cabbage rots in the field, we can eat meat."

Meat tastes so good.

Gu Jinli huffed and stopped talking.

Brother Cheng looked up at his second sister and smiled, "But the neighbor next door is quite poor, we could give our cabbage to them as a gesture of fostering friendship."

Then asked Gu Jinli, "How was the new word I used?"

Gu Jinli was very pleased and pinched his cheek saying, "You used it well, I’ll reward you with a plate of ham slices."

After tasting the ham slices, Brother Cheng fell in love with the rich flavor, but since it was for making money, it wasn’t good for a child to eat too much of it. Gu Jinli only allowed him to have it once a month, which left him craving more.

Brother Cheng, delighted about the prospect of ham slices, said, "Thank you, Second Sister, you are the best to me."

In his heart he muttered, if Second Sister wants to ask something, why not just ask directly? It’s so tiresome to keep up with her roundabout questions.

Big Brother always says being an older brother is tough, but being a younger brother isn’t easy either.

Hmm, he also decided not to have a daughter in the future; it’s too worrisome thinking about her getting married.

After tidying up, Gu Jinli went with Brother Cheng to the kitchen, they brushed their teeth, washed up, and had breakfast, then headed to the pharmaceutical workshop to start the day’s work.

Even though it was only the third day of the month, the pharmaceutical workshop was opening tomorrow. With the cold weather, many people suffered from colds and coughs, so the workshop needed to rush production in order to ship out orders.

Meanwhile, Gu Dashan and Mrs. Cui were busy with arranging Gu Jin’an’s apprenticeship.

On the first day of the New Year, Gu Jin’an and Brother Cheng had visited Scholar Shang to wish him well for the New Year, and Scholar Shang had set the apprenticeship ceremony for the ninth day of the New Year. Now, both families were busy preparing for it.

The Jiang family took the matter very seriously too and were planning to host more than a dozen tables for the event. They wanted to invite the Jiang family members, people from the Shang Family Clan, some friends of Scholar Shang, and Master Ouyang to make the occasion lively.

In the town, Yanfu Building was set to open on the eighth, but because of the Jiang family’s banquet plans, it was postponed to the tenth. The ninth would be specifically reserved for the ceremony at Scholar Shang’s.

Gu Dashan and Mrs. Cui had planned to pay for the banquet themselves, but the Jiang family declined, insisting on paying themselves, asking both their and Scholar Shang’s family not to worry about it.

Gu Dashan and Mrs. Cui felt it inappropriate since it was their son’s apprenticeship, but after Gu Jin’an convinced them, they agreed. The Jiang family was overjoyed, feeling like Yuanyuan now had an additional elder brother to rely on, which was why they insisted on paying for the banquet.

Gu Dashan and Mrs. Cui understood the Jiang family’s feelings and compromised.

However, Gu Dashan was also busy starting today, going to discuss the details of the apprenticeship day with Scholar Shang. He was busy but happy, and came home every day cheerfully sharing the arrangements agreed with Scholar Shang.

"Scholar Shang truly treats our Good Brother An as his own son; he thinks of many things I wouldn’t have considered," said Gu Dashan and then sighed to Gu Jin’an, "Dad isn’t very capable, but with Scholar Shang looking after you, even when going to the Prefecture to take the exam, Dad can be a bit more at ease."

However, there were also malicious people who went to Gu Dashan claiming that Scholar Shang was trying to steal his son, but Gu Dashan didn’t listen. If they persisted, Ah Jiang would retort, and if the words became too hurtful, Ah Jiang would physically confront them.

When Scholar Shang and his wife heard about this, they learned it was certain clan members who coveted their family property who were behind it, and they were infuriated.

Scholar Shang approached Village Chief Shang to deal with the matter.

Village Chief Shang consoled him and punished those responsible, declaring that anyone who tried to sabotage a clan member would be expelled from the clan.

With Village Chief Shang’s intervention, things within the Shang Family Clan quieted down a bit, but those envious of Scholar Shang’s wealth and eager to seize his property after he and his wife passed away remained displeased.