The Ace Bigshot Becomes A Farmgirl

The capital city was bustling with various rumors.

Meanwhile, Meng Yunzheng, who was the center of these discussions, had already returned from the palace and was enjoying the filial service of his young nephew.

Little Song Le was either massaging his legs or patting his back, acting as if Meng Yunzheng was exhausted from his trip to the palace.

Little Huohuo imitated him, but after a short while, he got bored and started climbing all over Meng Yunzheng.

Shu Yu brought in a bowl of freshly washed strawberries and told the two children to wash their hands. She ate one herself, sat beside Meng Yunzheng, and said with a smile, ”You seem quite relaxed now. Today, when Manager Yun heard about you refusing the official position, he was so surprised that he almost rolled down the stairs.”

Meng Yunzheng pondered for a moment, ”I indeed should have given him a heads-up.”

”But you couldn’t have warned them all. Mister Qi and Uncle Yao were also quite shocked by you.”

Besides his family and the Lu family, only the Emperor and a few confidants knew about Meng Yunzheng’s plan to open an academy. Others mostly didn’t know and just assumed that passing the examinations and embarking on an official career was the natural path. Who would have thought he’d pull such a move?

”I’ll personally visit another day to apologize.”

Seeing the two children run back after washing their hands, Shu Yu poured out half of the strawberries, letting them take the rest to eat outside.

Little Huohuo grabbed one in each hand and didn’t bother with the rest, as if two big strawberries were already a lot, munching away until his mouth was full of juice.

When the room was left with just the two of them, she asked, ”Since you’re not taking the official position, does that mean you don’t need to participate in the upcoming ceremonies?”

”Mm, no need to go. The Emperor said since I can’t serve as an editor at the Hanlin Academy, he’ll promote the next Advanced Scholar. Tomorrow, he’ll issue a decree promoting Chu Qiuping to a sixth-rank editor at the Hanlin Academy. Xie Bo, who ranked fourth, will become a compiler. Chu Qiuping will then lead the other scholars to the Confucius Temple for the ceremonial rites.”

As he spoke, he reached out to hold her hand, gently rubbing the back of it, and said with a low laugh, ”Once we’ve wrapped up our affairs in the capital over the next few days, we can return. It’s already late March; the journey home will take quite some time. Our wedding is in May, so we need to hurry.”

Shu Yu’s mouth twitched, ”Didn’t I say the date was too early? Another two months later would have been fine.” No, it should have been at least four or five months later; the weather would be just right, not too cold or too hot.

However, Meng Yunzheng suddenly said, ”This timing is just right; any later, and we might truly not be able to wed this year.”

Shu Yu was stunned, ”What do you mean?”

Meng Yunzheng fell silent for a moment, tightened his grip on her hand, and replied with a bitter smile, ”The fortune-teller who set our wedding date was right; he said if May 20th doesn’t work, we’d be entangled with trivial matters for the rest of the year and wouldn’t be able to get married until the latter half of next year.”

Shu Yu remembered these words because the old lady immediately decided based on what the fortune-teller said, not giving Shu Yu a chance to oppose.

She once even suspected that the fortune-teller was spouting nonsense.

Listening to Meng Yunzheng now, could there be an unexpected turn of events?

Shu Yu was startled and asked softly, ”What happened?” Realizing he had just come out of the palace, she furrowed her brows and guessed, ”Does the Emperor have any issues with it?”

”No, it’s not an issue. The Emperor simply asked me to handle one last task for him.”

”What is it?”