Shen Yun was displeased that Su Xiaoqi thought that way.
But he couldn't do anything in front of his family.
He could only hook her finger and lightly pinch her palm.
"You..." Su Xiaoqi quickly withdrew her hand.
She couldn't believe Shen Yun would do such a childish thing.
After digesting the news, the family happily celebrated.
Shen Xiaomei dragged Zhao Xiaozhu to check the cellar for food.
She wanted to prepare something delicious for her beloved eldest brother to celebrate.
Madam Zhao took Shen Erdan to prepare incense and paper money for ancestral worship and to appease the ancestors.
Instead, Su Xiaoqi and Shen Yun were the most idle.
"That's great, Yun Ge'er finally passed. By the way, where is your maternal uncle?" Old Madam Yu asked impatiently from her bed.
Shen Yun told her that his maternal uncle had ranked twenty-first.
The messenger bearing the good news must have already passed.
A look of joy spread across Old Madam Yu's emaciated face as she praised her nephew and grandnephew for their intelligence and capability.
She also said that she could now rest in peace even in death.
"Grandmother, you must live well. The good days are still ahead," Shen Yun comforted her, holding her hand.
Old Madam Yu nodded, wiping away tears.
One's own grandchildren are one's own to cherish.
As the news spread, Zhao Baoren, the village head, was the first to arrive to offer congratulations.
Zhao family village was small, and in all the years since its establishment, only Zhao Ci had ever passed the provincial exam as a Xiucai.
For decades after that, no more scholars emerged.
Now, two had appeared at once.
This brought him great prestige in the surrounding villages and towns.
He first expressed his congratulations to Shen Yun, then looked at the cramped and dilapidated small courtyard.
He said in a conversational tone,
"According to custom, our village holds a banquet for those who pass the imperial examination.
Where do you plan to hold it?"
Shen Yun pointed to the courtyard and said they would hold it there.
"It's too small; it's even cramped to set up three tables." Zhao Baoren shook his head and suggested they hold it at his place, as his courtyard was large enough to accommodate ten or eight tables.
Shen Yun was unwilling.
But he was tactful and wouldn't openly defy the village head in front of everyone.
Zhao Baoren left, satisfied.
Holding the banquet at his house seemed like he was lending them his space.
But in reality, all the good fortune brought by the guests would gather at his house.
Perhaps, relying on this popularity, his family might also produce a capable scholar someday.
When Su Xiaoqi heard that it was a village tradition to hold a banquet, she didn't say anything.
She even actively planned the banquet dishes with Shen Xiaomei.
Combining local customs with Su Xiaoqi's creativity, they finalized ten dishes.
Next, they would prepare the ingredients according to the number of people in Zhao family village.
While they were discussing, congratulatory visitors arrived one after another.
Led by the village head, people from the village came to offer their felicitations.
Their gazes towards Shen Yun shifted from disdain to respect.
Shen Yun was no longer the person who had repeatedly failed the provincial exams and couldn't become a Xiucai.
Hearing the village head say he was very learned, not only could he become a Xiucai now, but he could also pass the Juren exam in the future.
Everyone took out their household reserves to give gifts.
However, having just gone through a famine year and then the busy farming season, most people couldn't produce anything valuable.
The generous ones contributed ten eggs, while others brought a fish, or offered their treasured osmanthus candy.
The stingy ones gathered freshly grown wild vegetables from the mountains, picked some mushrooms, and dug up some bamboo shoots.
Or they produced scraps of fabric that had been hidden for who knows how long.
In short, out of fifty households, Su Xiaoqi truly experienced what "a wide variety" meant.
But no matter what they sent, it was a gesture of goodwill, and it had to be accepted.
The most valuable among these was from Zhao Ye.
He pulled out a black paperweight from somewhere.
The surface looked unremarkable, but Su Xiaoqi touched it and found it was made of black jade.
Shen Yun's surprised expression confirmed her guess.
"Where did he get it?" Su Xiaoqi asked.
Shen Yun shook his head, saying he really didn't know Zhao Ye's background.
In the past, to him, Zhao Ye was just a fellow villager who couldn't speak.
The kind of person he wouldn't even greet when they met.
The next most valuable gift was from Zhao Liushun, who had also passed the Xiucai exam.
He gifted an ink stick.
It was said to be made by a famous craftsman.
It was a